“Which would you say is the most accurate?” I asked.
“It’s impossible to say for certain, of course,” Juno said. “But I’ve always given credence to the theories of Ito, who wrote that—”
“Jorgen!” Arturo’s voice came from the handheld radio clipped to my belt.
“Yes?” I responded.
“Superiority carrier ship,” Arturo said. “There are fighters headed this way.”
Scud. The Superiority. I’d hoped they hadn’t heard Kauri’s signal and didn’t realize we were here.
Apparently I was wrong. “We have to go,” I told Alanik.
“If you are going to use your new skills against the enemy,” Juno said, “perhaps I could accompany you.”
I didn’t know if I was ready for that, but a kitsen wouldn’t take up much space in my cockpit. Even less than the slugs, though I hoped he didn’t want to cuddle as close. “Okay,” I said. I called to Snuggles, and she appeared instantly on my shoulder with Boomslug in tow, because she couldn’t seem to go anywhere without him anymore.
I put one hand on Alanik’s shoulder and one on Juno’s platform and asked Snuggles to hyperjump us all to the beach.
Twelve
The carrier ship loomed in the sky above Dreamspring, illuminated by the ivory-colored moon peeking over the horizon. The ship sat directly above the city, ringed by puffs of clouds. It looked out of place over the idyllic landscape.
“They are here for you?” Juno asked. He didn’t sound like he blamed us. He was simply gathering the facts.
“Probably,” I said. We’d brought this down on the kitsen. It was our responsibility to do what we could to protect them.
I didn’t have to give the order for my flight to get to their ships. They were already running. I kept my hands on Alanik’s shoulder and Juno’s platform and directed Snuggles to hyperjump us to FM’s fighter. “We need to release the taynix,” I said. “We might need them to retrieve the others.” I raised FM’s canopy and released Gill, and then Alanik and I raced between the ships, opening the boxes. When we finished, I had Snuggles hyperjump Juno and me straight to my cockpit.
Alanik ran for her ship, while Juno took up position right behind my seat. We lifted off as four enemy ships swooped in overhead.
The rest of the flight were still running. We needed to provide air support or they were going to get gunned down before they got into the air.
Cover me, I said to Alanik.
Got it, Alanik responded.
I flew straight at the enemy ships, opening fire so they had to scatter or lose their shields. Juno gave a little squeak of surprise, like he hadn’t expected the fighter to…what? Fight?
Alanik got a few good shots on the ships as they rolled, and then followed on my wing as I pursued the ships long enough to draw their fire and lead them out over the ocean away from the beach.
“Well, that was exciting,” Juno said. He seemed to have affixed the boots of his power armor to his hovering disc so he wouldn’t go flying off as I accelerated.
“You haven’t seen anything.” Circle around and cover the others, I told Alanik, and she peeled away and shot at one of the enemy ships, which had also turned back.
For all Alanik’s talk about proving yourself in combat, she fit effortlessly into the flight and never argued when I gave her orders.
“Jerkface,” Arturo said over the radio, “the others are getting in their ships now, but Quirk and Sentry are pinned down over by where we had that feast.”
“Got it,” I said. “Angel, cover the others until they get in their ships, then back me up.” I darted off down the beach, immediately spotting the ship Arturo was talking about. It was peppering the rock with destructor fire, and I hoped Kimmalyn and Sadie had found good cover. I opened fire, getting in one good hit before the ship went into a bank, then rolled and returned fire. I flew beneath the ship, forcing it to turn again and keep its attention on me. Once I had it, I threw my ship into a wave sequence, evading its fire, leading that ship out over the ocean again.
I caught the attention of two more tails. Arturo and Nedd were both in their ships now, circling over the area where Kimmalyn and Sadie had been pinned down.
“Amphi,” I said, “how are Quirk and Sentry?”
“Climbing out of an oven, it looks like,” Arturo said.
“How clever,” Juno said behind me.
“They’re coated in soot,” Arturo said. “We can cover them to their ships.”
“I’ve got it,” I said. Kimmalyn and Sadie couldn’t call to their slugs, but I could let the slugs know where they were. I sent Cheeky and Happy a mental image of the oven area. I felt the slugs hyperjump to the ovens, and then to the ships.
“They’re here!” FM said. “Very dirty, but they appear to be fine.”
“Good,” I said. “Everyone sound off when you’re in the air.”
My three tails were trying to catch me in their crossfire, and I darted through another defensive sequence while the flight sounded off. Instinct took over while I kept mental track, making sure no one was missing.
“Is someone helping Jerkface?” Kimmalyn asked over the radio.
“I’ve got it,” I said. My tails were right behind me, all three targeting me at once, though I still had my shield and they were firing wildly.
“This might be a good time to try a meditative exercise,” Juno said.
“How do you figure?” I asked, going into a barrel roll. Juno’s platform tipped to the side, and he let out a little squeak that sounded suspiciously like a whoop.
The others were all in their ships now, so I didn’t have to worry about leading the enemy away. I didn’t want to encourage the enemy to fire on the kitsen city, but I also didn’t want to leave the city alone for too long and have it get blasted in our absence. I didn’t know what the Superiority’s orders were, so we had to plan for anything.
“Remember the fragments,” Juno said. “Your breathing.”
“I’m busy,” I said.
Juno continued as if he hadn’t heard me. “Breathe in, breathe out. You are now completely relaxed.”
I was not at all relaxed. I’d seen the biofeedback reports, tests where the DDF tracked our vitals even on routine flights. We functioned on pure adrenaline up here. “Juno,” I said. “I don’t think—”
“You are a stone, skipping on the sea,” he said, and I remembered that sensation, the skimming across the nowhere. The vibration I felt along the boundary between this world and the nowhere was not unlike the vibration of my ship as it cut through the sky.