ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)(6)

Later, when the Council discussed this, Quilan would testify that he was perfectly docile and reasonable, and I was going to look like the problem.

My fingers pierced through the armrest. I was going to owe Rinakin for repairs, but I wasn’t sorry. It felt good.

If that made me aggressive, so be it.

“I don’t like leaving you here,” I said. “You could come with me.”

“Our branches fork here,” Rinakin said. “But we’re still connected at the root.”

Pretty words that meant there was no convincing him otherwise.

I reached across the negative realm, searching for that strange planet, the rock with the eerie, clear atmosphere surrounded by orbital platforms and a thick layer of debris.

I found it, but as I tried to form the coordinates in my mind, the surface of the planet felt slippery. Empty. Blank.

They had a cytonic inhibitor. When had that happened? That hadn’t been there when I’d left them. I didn’t think they had enough cytonics or enough knowledge to form one—this was probably more similar to the ones used by the Superiority, especially because it seemed to cover the entire planet.

    I scanned over the area searching for a gap, but I found none. Instead I sensed a mind hovering in their atmosphere—Jorgen. His abilities were still active, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to find him.

Superiority cytonic inhibitors operated with a key—a set of impressions that allowed a cytonic to bypass the inhibitor. That made the inhibitors particularly nasty, neutralizing all cytonics except for those the Superiority sanctioned. I didn’t imagine the Superiority had handed the humans one—they must have somehow found one on their own.

At least I could speak to Jorgen, even if I couldn’t hyperjump to his location.

Rinakin released the ship doors and stepped out with his hands held clearly in front of him. “Quilan!” Rinakin said. “Thank you for escorting me. I was going home to prepare, but since you’ve gone to the trouble I’d be happy to come with you now. Alanik has business of her own to attend to, so I’m afraid she’s going to have to request an extension—”

A flare of cytonic energy blasted from Quilan—a concussion bolt that sent Rinakin to his knees.





Three


Rinakin knelt, looking up at Quilan, who remained in his ship. He’d been stunned by the bolt—a mindblade cut through physical material, but a concussion bolt passed right through it, bouncing around inside your skull. Quilan had surprised Rinakin, hit him dead on. He’d be stunned for a few minutes at least, and would probably have a headache for days.

Two security guards stepped up on either side of Rinakin, each taking him by an arm. They weren’t rough with him, but they placed their hands on him firmly and hustled him into the hold of the ship.

I thought this didn’t have to get aggressive, I sent to Quilan. He was going to come with you.

We welcome your cooperation, Quilan said.

I had to get out of here, but if they were going to hurt Rinakin, I was bringing him with me whether he liked it or not.

I couldn’t let them take him, not to hand over to the Superiority. I could hyperjump to him—one touch and I could take him with me as I escaped. I reached toward the ship, past Quilan, who stared at me with a hard look on his face. Into the back, where I could see the bone ridges of the top of Rinakin’s head, where he sat sandwiched between the two guards.

My mind hit a pocket of dead space.

No. They had a cytonic inhibitor on board, creating a space behind Quilan that I couldn’t reach with my powers, even though Quilan could obviously use his.

    Cytonic inhibitors required cooperation from multiple cytonics, but if Quilan had brought everyone he would have surrounded the ship to keep me from escaping as well. Beyond Rinakin and the guards, I spotted two diones with bright blue skin. This was Superiority technology, run by those diones because the Superiority would never entrust something that powerful to a “lesser species.”

Unity was already working with the enemy, trading away ReDawn’s autonomy for the ability to destroy the Independence.

Alanik, Quilan said. Step out of the ship, if you would. He sounded so reasonable, which only made me angrier.

I wasn’t coming with him. I reached into the negative realm toward his mind, ready to tell him so, when I caught a bit of cytonic communication coming into his ship.

—have them yet? someone asked.

Not yet, Quilan responded. —picking them up—

—getting impatient…wants humans, but we don’t have them…they will have to do. We need to make the offer before—

I paused, my hands on the altitude control. Quilan’s ship hovered over my wing, but if I engaged my boosters, I could shoot out from under his wing and then ascend. I’d flown with Quilan in the junior leagues. I knew I was a better pilot.

But what was that? The Council was getting impatient. They didn’t have any harbored humans to turn over, so instead they were going to make an offer.

What were they offering?

Rinakin and me?

    I wasn’t going to be their next bargaining piece. But Rinakin—they were going to give up the leader of the anti-Superiority movement as an offering to appease them.

You’re going to give us to them? I asked Quilan.