“M-Bot?” I asked.
“If it lets me get out of this ship into something built in the last century,” he said, “I’m for it.”
I flicked the comm back on. “All right, Peg. You have a deal.”
“Ha! Words.”
“One thing though,” I said. “You’re going to have to clean up another bunk. I’m bringing a friend.”
I turned off the comm and steered us back the way we’d come. The other ships must have landed while we were flying, since as I approached the Broadsider fragment I could see that the pirates were all outside, gathered in front of their hangars. A ragtag group to be certain, but I supposed I’d seen worse. Skyward Flight, for example, when we’d first started training.
I guided my ship over and settled down. With a shared look of determination, Chet and I climbed out of the cockpit. I still half expected the Broadsiders to take us captive, but fortunately nobody pulled a gun. We even got a few cheers.
It was forced, and I saw in Maksim’s eyes a healthy distrust. An emotion I’d certainly earned.
Well, I would deal with that. Because at long last, Operation Ship-Steal had succeeded. And tomorrow I could finally continue the Path of Elders.
The next day, I awoke with renewed determination. Peg assigned me the new ship—a powerful two-seat striker. Fully loaded with formidable destructors and twin boosters, it was larger than most ships I’d flown, but should still be maneuverable.
It was the best ship in Peg’s small fleet. I transferred M-Bot to it—after some careful digging I realized they still didn’t know he was an AI; they thought I had used remote control to make the ship hover the previous day. I made some modifications he said would insulate his core systems from destructor blasts, then installed a lightlance.
After that, Chet and I climbed aboard.
“You sure you don’t want your own ship?” I asked him as we strapped in. “I don’t particularly need a copilot, since, you know…”
M-Bot was humming happily. Apparently he approved of the specs on this new ship.
“I wouldn’t want to try the controls with this wounded arm,” Chet said, fitting on a flight helmet. “And beyond that, it has been…well, centuries since I’ve flown. I think perhaps I should like to take this slowly.”
Fair enough. As we readied ourselves, a small group of Broadsiders prepared to escort us. Peg, the resonants, and Maksim—who unfortunately inherited my weaker ship. In a few short minutes we’d all launched into the air and started on our way. I immediately felt the joy of flying a real starfighter. It banked at a touch, accelerated or decelerated with ease. At high speeds, I could close my eyes and barely make out the whistle of air outside. Not a single rattle.
It felt like forever since I’d had a true top-of-the-line starfighter.
“What’d I tell you?” Peg said through the comm. “Are you growing keefos yet?”
I thought those were the happy ones. “At least seven,” I said, banking again.
“I took that ship out myself a few times,” Peg said. “Never into combat though. It was just too spectacular to risk damaging it with my clunky flying. But you…you’re perfect for it, Spin.”
“Will Guntua forgive me for taking it?”
“She has been wanting to back off from flying anyway,” Peg said. “Take a break, do some ground duty instead.”
How could anyone grow tired of this? I didn’t know Guntua well—she was a heklo from one of the other flights—but I supposed if she’d wanted to keep flying, she’d have been given what was now Maksim’s ship.
Peg genuinely seemed to have forgiven me, but the others now stepped far more lightly around me. It hurt to see how Shiver made certain never to let her ship stray out in front of mine, as if she worried I’d start shooting again.
I couldn’t blame them. I would have acted the same way—or likely worse. At least Chet seemed to be enjoying himself; I could call up his camera feed on the corner of my screen. He was looking out the canopy with an almost childlike grin on his face.
We soared across several fragments, startling a small herd of something that looked like ostriches—but with feet on their backs as well as underneath them. The readout said it would take roughly two hours of flying to reach our destination, and though a part of me was wistful for the time Chet and I had spent adventuring together, I was certainly glad I didn’t have to hike all this distance on foot.
“So,” Peg said, her voice in my ear via my new helmet, “don’t suppose you’d be willing to give us a few tips as we fly. To improve our combat, make it like yours?”