“You? As the voice of reason? Spin, I’m an idiot, and even I wouldn’t believe that.”
I grinned, then joined Nedd in accelerating to Mag-1.2, trying to catch up to the Krell. Unfortunately, the DDF pilots broke to the right—straight into a tunnel leading farther into the depths of the old station.
A part of me couldn’t believe we were doing this. Flying through the center of an ancient piece of debris while it was in the middle of plummeting toward the ground? How long did we have until the thing crashed? Minutes at most?
I gritted my teeth, letting up on the throttle as Nedd and I banked, then chased the Krell into the tunnel. Red lights lined the tunnel, and they flashed in a blur as we zipped through at Mag-1.2, already a dangerous speed for what amounted to indoors. I didn’t dare go faster, but a quick glance at my proximity sensor indicated the Krell were still well outside IMP range.
Nedd unloaded with his destructor, and I followed his lead—but as Cobb had warned, aiming was difficult, even with six targets swarming in front of us. The Krell shields easily absorbed the few shots that connected.
Far ahead, our fellow pilots speared the wall with light-lances and cornered into another tunnel. The Krell followed, less adroit. I speared the wall with my own lance, then pulled myself into a tight curve to follow. My GravCaps flashed, absorbing the g-forces and keeping me from getting flattened.
I gave them a workout as we wound through the innards of the ship, taking turn after turn—moving through such a frantic, tight sequence, I didn’t fire a single shot. My attention was totally consumed by watching the Krell thrusters—using their motions as a guidepost for where to place my next lightlance. Turn, release, dodge, lance, turn. Repeat.
“Just . . . a little . . . closer . . .,” Nedd said from right ahead of me.
Lance. Turn. Release.
“I’ve got an updated battle projection,” M-Bot said happily.
Ahead, a Krell ship missed its turn, clipping the side of the tunnel wall. The shield absorbed the impact, but the rebound sent the ship slamming into the opposite wall. The sudden, violent explosion made me back off on my speed. I made my turn, barely, debris and sparks crackling off my ship’s shield.
“You forgot I was here, didn’t you?” M-Bot said.
“Busy,” I said through gritted teeth. Nedd hadn’t slowed at the explosion—in fact, he was overburning, closing in on Mag-1.5, trying to get closer to the remaining Krell.
I sped up to keep pace with him, but this was starting to feel like too much. Even for me.
“I could just go back into hibernation, if you’re not interested in talking,” M-Bot noted. “You’d, um, miss me, if I did that, right?”
“Sure.”
“Ah, you humans are so sentimental! Hahaha. By the way, you have precisely three and a half minutes until this station hits the surface. Maybe less than that, as the Krell have begun firing upon it.”
“What?”
“Now that the bulk of your ships have retreated, the Krell are focusing on the station, trying to keep it out of your hands. I believe some bombers are preparing explosive charges on the top, and ordinary fighters outside are destroying all the acclivity rings to drop it faster.”
“Scud. We could probably build several flights’ worth of ships with the salvage from this place.” The Krell weren’t going to let that happen.
But why allow this thing to fall in the first place? Why not destroy it up above?
Trying to figure out Krell motivations now was a waste of time. I pulled into another turn after Nedd. I could barely make out the enemy; they were losing us.
Far ahead, the bright orange flash of an explosion lit the tunnels. One of the ships we were trying to protect had just been destroyed.
“Nedd!” I shouted into the comm. “This place is coming down. We have to get out!”
“No. I have to help!”
I took aim, then—gritting my teeth—risked spearing him with my lightlance. The glowing red line of light stuck to him and made his shield crackle. I cut my booster, then spun my ship on its acclivity ring and boosted the other direction, pulling him backward, slowing his ship.
“Let go of me!” he shouted.
“Nedd . . . We can’t help. We’re not good enough for this sort of thing yet. Stars above, it’s a wonder we survived that run through the tunnels.”
“But . . . But . . .”
We hovered there, burners pulling us opposite directions, connected by a cord of light.
“Coward,” he whispered.
The word hit me like a slap to the face. I wasn’t—I couldn’t be—
Coward.
“I’m cutting my booster,” he said. “Step yours down, or we’ll end up careening into that wall.”
I bit off a response to him, then lowered my thrust before cutting the lightlance. We fell still, but somewhere distant, the entire structure groaned and shook.
“Which way?” he asked. “Where do we go?”
“I don’t know.”
M-Bot made a throat-clearing noise. “Would you like instructions on how to escape the flaming death trap that you’ve inconveniently found yourself—”
“Yes!” I snapped.
“No need to get prickly. Fly ahead until I tell you, then take a left.”
“Follow me!” I said to Nedd, slamming the throttle forward and leaping into motion. I tore through the tunnels, the flare of my booster reflecting off the abandoned metal walls. Nedd followed.
“Left, down that tunnel just ahead,” M-Bot noted. “Great. Now go two tunnels—no, not that one—there. Take that one.”
I used my lightlance to turn sharply into the tunnel.
“You have slightly under two minutes until you die a fiery death and I’m left with only Rig and the slug. I haven’t been able to compute which of those two is the less engaging conversationalist. Take that tunnel above you.”
I followed his instructions, curving through the maddening complex of turns and tunnels. The sounds outside grew louder. Wrenching steel. Shaking. Hollow explosions.
Sweat soaked the sides of my helmet. I gave my entire attention to the flying, absorbed. Dedicated. Focused.
Though I never lost control of my flying, a part of me started to feel disconnected. The insides of my helmet began to grow hot, and I could swear that I could hear voices inside my head. Just fragments of words.
. . . detonate . . .
. . . turn . . .
. . . booster . . .
Nedd and I burst back into that cavernous opening at the outer rim of the shipyard. My focus faded into relief, and I didn’t need M-Bot’s instructions to turn straight for the glowing gap in the wall.
Nedd and I darted out of the hole and nearly plowed right into the ground. The shipyard had almost hit the surface.
I pulled up and skimmed the blue-grey surface, kicking up dust behind me. Nedd cursed softly. We’d entered a narrow, shrinking gap of space between station and ground.
“The Krell have just detonated several large explosives on the top of the shipyard,” M-Bot said.
I bolted forward under the shipyard. The steel ceiling overhead lowered, chunks of metal breaking off and warping around us as the thing’s structural integrity collapsed.
“At current velocity, you will not escape the blast wave,” M-Bot said softly.