“How long have you been fighting for your lives against the weapons of the Superiority?” Rinakin asked.
That was good. Put an emphasis on their violence. Pull the curtain back on their false peace.
“My whole life,” Jorgen said, sounding more sure of himself now. “Three generations, in fact. They beat us back, made us live underground. They’ve been trying to exterminate us. But we’re still here, and we’re still fighting.”
“Yeah, Jerkface!” Nedd said.
The Superiority ship let loose a blast from the cannon. The shield around the platform sputtered and sparked, but it held—for the moment at least.
“ReDawn is with you,” Rinakin said.
“Let it be so,” I said to myself.
“Let it be so!” Chubs repeated.
Arturo and I both opened fire on the ship with the cytonic. They dodged, but we wove with them, catching them with one blast, then two, then three. Their shield blinked out and I fired off one last hit—
And missed as I dodged a torrent of destructor fire coming at me from the side.
Quilan. They’re going to destroy us all, Alanik, he said. He had the key to speak inside the inhibitor, but I couldn’t answer because I didn’t. And it’s your fault.
He fired on me and I dodged again. I’d lost track of the first cytonic ship, so I hoped Arturo still had it in his sights. Quilan bore down on me. He was bound and determined to blow me out of the sky.
But I wasn’t going to let him best me. I executed a swivel turn and unloaded my destructors directly at his cockpit.
His shield fizzled and dissipated. His ship continued flying toward mine, so close that I could see him through the canopy as I fired the final shot. He pulled his nose up—
But he was too late. The destructor blast took off the nose of his ship and cleaved the cockpit in two. His ship plummeted out of the sky.
He didn’t eject. I didn’t think he could have survived that blast, but even if he had he wouldn’t survive the fall.
He was the enemy. It should feel good to kill him.
It’s not as easy anymore, Arturo had said. Maybe it never should have been.
I pulled up just in time to see Arturo, T-Stall, and Catnip all firing at the ship with the cytonic. Both the pilot and the cytonic ejected, and the ship fell out of the sky.
The universe buzzed to life around me.
The Superiority ship fired again. The shield around the platform blinked out of existence.
One more shot and it would be gone.
“Hyperweapon is back online!” Rig said. “Jerkface, should we hyperjump out?”
“If you do,” I said, “can you be sure the Superiority ship won’t fire on the tree?”
“Alanik is right,” Jorgen said. “We need to finish this if we can, for ReDawn.”
For ReDawn?
“For ReDawn!” Chubs said.
They were going to stay and help us. Even at so great a risk.
“Hang on, Rig,” Jorgen said. “I think we need to get the cannon closer.”
“You’re going to put the platform closer to the enormous gun?” FM said. “Isn’t that giving them an easier target?”
“I don’t want to miss,” Jorgen said. “Is the hyperdrive ready?”
“Ready,” Rig said.
And then the platform disappeared and resurfaced up in the sky, blocking my view of the battleship. The autoturrets fired.
“Weapons system ready,” Rig said. “Scud, they’re charging the gun again, Jerkface, so make it quick. I don’t think the turrets are going to be enough.” I lifted my nose and shot up through the atmosphere, cresting the edge of the platform just in time to see the mindblades ripple through the battleship, cutting the metal into long, thin strips. The cannon shattered apart, the energy it had been building crackling back on itself.
“Scud! Someone just landed outside,” Rig said. “I think we must have lost our inhibitor when the shield went down.”
“Jerkface?” FM said, sounding terrified.
“All ships, converge on Wandering Leaf,” Jorgen said. “Bounce protocol.”
I didn’t wait for him to send in the others. I sent an invitation to Naga and then prompted Chubs to hyperjump inside the hangar.
Another ship had landed ahead of me and I jumped out and followed its pilot toward the command room. It was a varvax—a crustacean species I’d learned about when I was preparing to go to Starsight—but it looked so strange out of its ship, walking in some kind of armor apparatus that looked like it was made from different types of stone.