ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)(65)

Rig was already putting Drape back in the hyperdrive box.

“Alanik,” Jorgen said. “Can you give him coordinates near where Gran-Gran is?”

“Yes,” I said, and I stretched myself across the space between galaxies, pinpointing her location and then sending it to Drape.

“Ready,” I said.

“Drape,” Rig said. “Go.”

We slid into the negative realm beneath the distracted eyes, which then shifted into glittering stars as the entire platform came out the other side in the airspace around Detritus.

A small human passenger ship was docked at the outside of a boxy Superiority transport ship a couple kilometers away. The transport ship wasn’t nearly as big as some I’d seen arrive at ReDawn, not even as big as Wandering Leaf.

    “You’re going to need backup,” FM said. I didn’t think FM and Jorgen had really resolved their issues with each other, but that didn’t seem to matter to either of them at the moment.

“We are,” Jorgen said. “I want the rest of you in your ships, ready to fight in case we need additional air support. It doesn’t look like they brought fighters, but they could hyperjump them in at any moment.”

“Okay,” FM said.

Jorgen turned to Arturo. “You command the flight while I’m in there. Make sure everyone’s ready to go on my signal.”

Arturo looked at me, and I thought maybe he’d been planning to volunteer to go with us to the Superiority ship. I wished he would. “Got it,” he said, and he spun around from the doorway, moving toward the hangar. “Skyward Flight,” he yelled, “everyone to your ships!”

The flight scattered. “I’ll get Boomslug back in the weapons system,” Rig said.

“Good,” Jorgen said. “Alanik, you don’t sense any cytonic inhibitors on that ship, do you?”

“No,” I said. “Not yet.”

Rig handed him Snuggles, and Jorgen slipped him into his sling. “Alanik,” Jorgen said, “can you give Snuggles directions to the command room on Platform Prime?”

“Yes,” I said. “But I can’t jump us into the Superiority ship afterward. I’m not familiar with it, so I could end up materializing us in the middle of a wall.”

“The taynix seem to be able to avoid that,” FM said. “You said they took some of the taynix with them, right? Could you hyperjump to them?”

    “We’ll have to try it,” Jorgen said.

“It would probably be the ones issued to the other pilots,” FM said. “The ones who didn’t come with us. Try Corgi or Snide, or maybe Waffle or Pipsqueak.”

Jorgen blinked at her. “I’ll…try to remember that.”

“You’d better,” I said. “Are you ready now?”

Jorgen closed his eyes, like he was steeling himself for battle. “Ready,” he said.

I put a hand on his shoulder and sent Snuggles the coordinates for the room where I’d met with Cobb and Jeshua.





Twenty-three


We emerged next to the conference table where Jeshua Weight had turned down my offer of an alliance. The room was empty, and Jorgen strode out the door, moving with purpose. I followed behind him as he walked up the hall—he knew where he was going better than I did.

A man sitting behind a desk looked up and visibly startled.

“I need to talk to Cobb,” Jorgen said. “I’m to report to him immediately. Is he here?”

“Of course,” the man said. “Hold on a moment.” He went to the door behind him and knocked, then opened it. “Jorgen Weight to see you,” he said.

Admiral Cobb shuffled to the door immediately, looking over the shoulder of the receptionist at Jorgen and me. “Stars, I’m glad you’re back,” Cobb said.

I could see Jorgen scrutinizing him. This man had Cobb’s cane and his limp. His voice sounded the same to me, but so had Rinakin’s.

Jorgen closed the distance between them, and I stayed close. I wasn’t going to be left behind. Jorgen put a hand on Cobb’s arm and slid his sleeve up just enough to reveal the bracelet on his wrist. It was identical to the one not-Rinakin had been wearing.

“What are you—” fake Cobb began.

“Snuggles, take us to Corgi,” Jorgen said.

“Corgi!” Snuggles said.

A moment later we materialized in front of a very startled-looking pilot who was lying on a bunk with his jumpsuit half off, taking a nap.

    Oh. Apparently Jeshua hadn’t taken all the slugs we’d left behind with her.

“Hey—” fake Cobb shouted, but Jorgen didn’t give him a chance to finish.

“Snuggles, take us to Snide!” he shouted.

“Snide!” Snuggles said.

We passed beneath the eyes, and then suddenly we stood in a storage room on an unfamiliar ship, next to a box containing several small cytonic minds.

I could feel Gran-Gran moving away from us. There were a few other taynix on this ship in other directions, probably powering Superiority hyperdrives or hypercomms.

Fake Cobb recovered enough to wrench himself away from Jorgen and move toward the doorway, but Jorgen caught him by the back of the neck, shoving him to the ground and then twisting his arms behind his back.