ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)(64)

Some bottom-feeders from the National Assembly, Gran-Gran said.

Is Jeshua Weight with them?

She is, Gran-Gran said. War hero my wrinkled behind. They’ve brought that blue alien too, and the alien isn’t happy about it.

Cuna was a defector from the Superiority, so it made sense that the Superiority would also want them turned over. Gran-Gran seemed to understand what was happening at least.

Where have they brought you? I asked.

They’ve got us on a ship taking us to some delegation, she said. They’re dressed to the nines too, like they’re meeting royalty.

Oh no. “They’ve got Gran-Gran and Cuna on a ship en route to some delegation with the Superiority,” I said. “Your mother is there, and some people from the assembly.”

Jorgen swore. “That has to be a trap too. Tell her to tell them to turn around.”

Of course. Tell them it’s a trap. The Superiority isn’t going to work with them. They’ve replaced Admiral Cobb with a Superiority operative using a holographic disguise. They offered progress to my planet and then turned their guns on them instead. Tell them nothing will come of this but ruin.

I’ll tell them, Gran-Gran said. But they didn’t listen to me before and they aren’t going to listen to me now.

“She says she’ll tell them,” I said. “But she doesn’t think they’ll listen.”

    “She’s probably right.” Jorgen squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. “Do they have a hypercomm on board?”

I searched the area near Gran-Gran. I could sense taynix, all clustered together like they were trapped in some kind of container. “They have a box with slugs in it,” I said. And another one alone, sitting a few feet from the others. I probed at its mind, trying to send it coordinates to talk to our hypercomm, and it felt receptive, like it understood the message.

I did the same with the slug in our hypercomm. “Try it now,” I said. “I think you’ll be able to talk to them.”

“Mom?” Jorgen said into the hypercomm.

There was a beat of silence, and then, “Jorgen?” Jeshua Weight said.

“Mom,” Jorgen said. “You have to turn the ship around. You’re walking into a trap.”

“We’re walking into a trap? You fled the planet against orders. Where are you?”

“ReDawn,” Jorgen said. “We negotiated that alliance. We have people willing to work with us against the Superiority.”

“Then you’re undermining everything we’ve been working for here,” Jeshua said. “We’ve met with the Superiority, and they want to arrange a treaty.”

“I don’t think they do—” Jorgen said, but his mother cut him off.

“I think they’re being sincere,” Jeshua said. They always did—that was the problem. So many people couldn’t taste the poison past the sweetness of the tea. “We can’t keep fighting like this. We’ve been losing the war for years. If there’s a chance we can save our people’s lives, we have to take it.”

    “Mom, they replaced Cobb,” Jorgen said. “He’s a Superiority operative wearing a hologram like the one Spensa used to infiltrate Starsight.”

Jeshua was quiet for a moment. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You saw this?”

“No,” Jorgen said. “But they used the same trick on someone here, and when we talked to him something was off about him.”

“Jorgen, I’ve been with Cobb for the last two days. He’s tired like we all are, but it’s him.”

Jorgen hit the edge of the control board with the heel of his hand. “It isn’t, Mom. You can’t go to that delegation. You’re walking into a trap.”

A man’s voice came over the radio. “Jorgen,” he said, “I know this is all hard for you to accept. We raised you to hate the Krell. We’ve hated them all our lives. But son, if we keep fighting them you’re going to die up there some day. That’s what we’re trying to prevent. The Superiority is offering to train you. This is a huge opportunity, and you need to try to accept it.”

“They tried to kill me today,” Jorgen said. “They’re lying when they offer us peace.”

“You should never have gone to ReDawn.” Now Jeshua was talking again. “Can’t you see we’re trying to keep you safe?”

Jorgen muted the mic again and swore, covering his eyes with his hands.

Arturo appeared in the doorway. “Everything okay?” he asked.

    “No,” I said. “The Superiority replaced Cobb, same as they did Rinakin, and Jorgen’s parents are taking Gran-Gran and Cuna to a meeting with the Superiority right now.”

“Scud,” Arturo said. “We have to stop them. We can’t let them walk into that.”

In my mind, Gran-Gran and the tiny slug presences stopped moving, as if they’d arrived at their destination.

“I think they may already be there,” I said.

“We need to go now,” Jorgen said. “We’re taking the whole platform. We’ll come back to finish the alliance with Alanik’s people, but for now we may need the air support.”

“Agreed,” I said. “Let’s go.”