We slipped beneath the unseeing eyes and appeared beneath the black sky, marred grey by periodic clouds. I could see the carrier ships Alanik was talking about up above the clouds, pieces of their large boxy shapes visible behind the fluffy obstructions. Arturo hovered right above the platform’s surface, close enough that he wouldn’t be hit by the autocannons.
“Scud, Jerkface,” Arturo said. “That thing popping out of nowhere is terrifying.”
The platforms shook as the guns fired at some enemy ships that had been waiting right inside the clouds. They scattered and retreated.
“Welcome back,” Kimmalyn said over the radio.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m going to do something about those carrier ships. Everyone else steer clear of the platform and defend the city.”
“We’ve got more kitsen ships on our side now,” Arturo said. “They’re gathering over Dreamspring.”
“And we will feast on the souls of all who dare to harm our beloved city,” Goro said.
“I sure hope that’s metaphorical,” FM muttered, then turned to me. “Gilaf will contact you over the radio when he and the other UrDail pilots are ready to jump out to help. I’m going to take Gill to my ship.”
“Do it,” I said. “Amphi, I want you to command the flight. It’s too hard for me to keep track of you all while I’m working the platform.” Last time I’d had Rig to handle this, and all I’d had to do was command Boomslug to shoot the hyperweapon. This was going to be more complicated.
“Copy, Jerkface. What is our strategy?”
Scud, we needed one of those. Not only for our flight, but for everyone. “Protect the city,” I said. “Victory Flight, make sure the city itself doesn’t take fire. Keep the enemy distracted.” I paused. “Amphi, have we heard from Cuna?”
“They’re working with the medical people to get Cobb and Gran-Gran moved to the library. Going toward the cliffs doesn’t seem to be causing their vitals to drop.”
It all had something to do with that portal, but I didn’t understand what. “Good,” I said. “They’ll have better cover there. But we still need to protect the city. Stardragon and Ivy Flights, intercept the enemy ships before they reach the city. Your goal is to make sure Victory sees no action.”
“Copy, Jerkface,” Robin said.
“Skyward Flight will take point. All flights stay at least five klicks from the platform to avoid the autofire. Our objective is to convince them we aren’t worth it and pull their ships back. If you have a hyperdrive and need to be pulled out of the heat, let me know. Otherwise, Amphi will give you specific formation instructions.”
“Okay,” Arturo said. He probably wasn’t prepared to do that for multiple flights, but he started doing it anyway.
Which left me free to focus on the new carrier ships in the sky. I wasn’t going to sit here and wait for them to pour out their fighters to bombard the city.
I was going to take them out first.
“Jerkface,” Alanik said, “your sidekick wants to join you again. I think he’s given up on me.”
“Send him over with Snide,” I said.
Snide and Juno appeared a moment later, both riding on Juno’s platform. A moment later Alanik called Snide back, and the slug disappeared again.
“I did not give up on her,” Juno said. “I simply said she appeared to have less aptitude for mindblades than you do. It wasn’t a qualitative judgment.”
“To Alanik it probably felt like one,” I said.
“Is there some particular meditation you would like to try?” Juno asked. “I don’t have all my books, but I could—”
“Not right now,” I said. I called to Snuggles, who appeared in my arms with Boomslug. I tucked Snuggles into the taynix box where Gill had been. “Maybe later. Right now I need to concentrate.”
“The purpose of meditation is to help your concentration—”
I tuned him out, loading Boomslug into the platform’s hyperweapon. Then I focused on the airspace near the carrier ship and sent Snuggles the instruction to go.
We slid beneath the eyes and then Wandering Leaf reappeared beneath the carrier ship. Our inhibitor field encompassed the enemy ship, preventing it from hyperjumping while the autoturrets fired, weakening the shield, piercing through it in a few places to punch holes in the hull. The hangar doors opened and ships poured out, trying to escape. The big guns couldn’t possibly hit all those targets. The sensors showed that my people were still flying low—I didn’t need to worry about clipping them yet.