ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)(61)

And missed as I dodged a torrent of destructor fire coming at me from the side.

Quilan. They’re going to destroy us all, Alanik, he said. He had the key to speak inside the inhibitor, but I couldn’t answer because I didn’t. And it’s your fault.

He fired on me and I dodged again. I’d lost track of the first cytonic ship, so I hoped Arturo still had it in his sights. Quilan bore down on me. He was bound and determined to blow me out of the sky.

    But I wasn’t going to let him best me. I executed a swivel turn and unloaded my destructors directly at his cockpit.

His shield fizzled and dissipated. His ship continued flying toward mine, so close that I could see him through the canopy as I fired the final shot. He pulled his nose up—

But he was too late. The destructor blast took off the nose of his ship and cleaved the cockpit in two. His ship plummeted out of the sky.

He didn’t eject. I didn’t think he could have survived that blast, but even if he had he wouldn’t survive the fall.

He was the enemy. It should feel good to kill him.

It’s not as easy anymore, Arturo had said. Maybe it never should have been.

I pulled up just in time to see Arturo, T-Stall, and Catnip all firing at the ship with the cytonic. Both the pilot and the cytonic ejected, and the ship fell out of the sky.

The universe buzzed to life around me.

The Superiority ship fired again. The shield around the platform blinked out of existence.

One more shot and it would be gone.

“Hyperweapon is back online!” Rig said. “Jerkface, should we hyperjump out?”

“If you do,” I said, “can you be sure the Superiority ship won’t fire on the tree?”

“Alanik is right,” Jorgen said. “We need to finish this if we can, for ReDawn.”

    For ReDawn?

“For ReDawn!” Chubs said.

They were going to stay and help us. Even at so great a risk.

“Hang on, Rig,” Jorgen said. “I think we need to get the cannon closer.”

“You’re going to put the platform closer to the enormous gun?” FM said. “Isn’t that giving them an easier target?”

“I don’t want to miss,” Jorgen said. “Is the hyperdrive ready?”

“Ready,” Rig said.

And then the platform disappeared and resurfaced up in the sky, blocking my view of the battleship. The autoturrets fired.

“Weapons system ready,” Rig said. “Scud, they’re charging the gun again, Jerkface, so make it quick. I don’t think the turrets are going to be enough.” I lifted my nose and shot up through the atmosphere, cresting the edge of the platform just in time to see the mindblades ripple through the battleship, cutting the metal into long, thin strips. The cannon shattered apart, the energy it had been building crackling back on itself.

“Scud! Someone just landed outside,” Rig said. “I think we must have lost our inhibitor when the shield went down.”

“Jerkface?” FM said, sounding terrified.

“All ships, converge on Wandering Leaf,” Jorgen said. “Bounce protocol.”

I didn’t wait for him to send in the others. I sent an invitation to Naga and then prompted Chubs to hyperjump inside the hangar.

    Another ship had landed ahead of me and I jumped out and followed its pilot toward the command room. It was a varvax—a crustacean species I’d learned about when I was preparing to go to Starsight—but it looked so strange out of its ship, walking in some kind of armor apparatus that looked like it was made from different types of stone.

I ran toward it, though what I was going to do against a creature in armor I had no idea. I knew less about hitting people than Arturo did.

The creature reached the doorway, far ahead of me.

“Boomslug, help!” Rig called from inside.

A torrent of force emanated from the command room and cut the armor of the varvax into pieces. The creature inside the armor scuttled out, and then disappeared into the negative realm again.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Rig said. He reached the doorway of the command room and knelt to pick up Boomslug. “I am going to get you a whole crate of caviar, Boomslug. I promise.”

Boomslug nuzzled Rig, looking quite pleased with himself. And then FM came running up and threw her arms around both of them, knocking them hard against the doorframe.

“Don’t squeeze the slugs!” Jorgen said, running up right behind me. No one listened to him.

Arturo came up beside me, staring up through a skylight at the battleship that was breaking into pieces above us.

“Jerkface,” Sadie called from her ship. “We have incoming!”

I looked out through the entrance of the hangar and I could see them—numerous UrDail ships painted a bright blue.

More Independence fighters coming to our aid.

    “We did it,” I said. The Superiority would surely come after us again, but we weren’t alone anymore.





Twenty-two


“I don’t know if we need the backup,” Jorgen said, looking over Sadie’s shoulder at her sensor screen. “The Unity forces are retreating.”

“Thank the stars,” Arturo said.

I concurred. From inside the command center, I could hear Rinakin resuming his broadcast about the strength of ReDawn and her ability to resist. He seemed to be using the word progress a lot. I bet Nanalis was going to love that, but Rinakin’s broadcast would make certain that blame for the Superiority’s appearance fell squarely where it belonged.