I STILL WASN’T sure which way ten o’clock was, but I guessed which tree gap Jorgen was referring to and reached through the negative realm, pulling myself out on the far side. This was my third hyperjump in a shorter space of time than I would have liked, and the eyes seemed more fixated on me than normal, but I emerged from the negative realm half a kilometer from Jorgen and Kimmalyn, who were much closer together.
How do you do that? I asked Jorgen.
I send the slugs an image of a location. And then we ask nicely.
You ask nicely?
It’s not the only way, Jorgen said. But it’s ours.
I couldn’t argue with their results.
We had a moment to reposition while the enemy shot out of the holes in Hollow. I tried to track the battle on my sensor screen. Independence ships were in the air now, defending the base. I wasn’t sure how many Unity personnel were still inside, but we could deal with them in a minute. Hopefully once we’d won this skirmish they’d surrender.
Skyward Flight scattered, leading the enemy ships in circles around the tree and heading toward the Independence base. Jorgen and Kimmalyn hung back as Jorgen gave instructions to the others. I still didn’t understand it. If a leader did that in the junior leagues, or in air force training, they would be immediately replaced. You didn’t raise your shooting averages or your evasion scores by hanging back, and if your stats weren’t impressive enough you couldn’t advance. Watching Jorgen work made me wonder if I’d made too much of human aggression based on a few verbal arguments and the willingness to shoot out a single cockpit.
Four Unity ships charged up the branches toward us and I pivoted my ship, showering one of them with destructor fire. The ship dodged around one of the branches, flying close to the structures hanging beneath, using them as cover.
That was a cowardly move. I wasn’t going to fire at the ship while it passed over civilians, but I also wasn’t going to let it get away. I kept pace right over it, readying more fire. The ship twisted around the branch, winding up in a spiral pattern, and I followed. I waited for a clear patch of branch with no civilian targets, and then opened fire. The ship tried to dodge, but Kimmalyn flew in from the side, her destructors blocking off the path of escape. The ship’s shield went down, and Kimmalyn’s shot hit one of the boosters, sending it spinning away from the branch.
The Unity pilot ejected but missed the tree, floating down below Hollow’s jagged acclivity stone.
Alanik, Quilan said in my head. I don’t know where you found another cytonic, but you’re only making this worse on yourself by resisting.
I almost retorted that he was only making this worse on himself by fighting us, but I held myself back. He wasn’t worth it.
“Amphi, Nedder, Sentry needs support,” Jorgen said. I followed Kimmalyn back to Jorgen. Down by the base of the tree, I could see Sentry’s ship being cornered by three ships that had joined their light hooks into a net. They closed in, one of them speeding ahead and cutting her off, catching her ship in their light net and hauling her along behind them. FM was hot on their tail, destructors blazing.
“Sentry,” Jerkface said. “Want me to pull you out?”
“Affirmative,” Sentry said. “Cheeky’s ready.”
Sentry disappeared out of the net. The ships wavered for a second, probably wondering what had happened, and then reversed, trying to catch FM in their nets. Amphi and Nedder shot two of them down while FM danced away.
“Um, Alanik?” Jorgen said. “Who is this voice in my head that isn’t you?”
“Quilan,” I said. “He’s on his way.”
“He wants to know who I am, but I’m not answering him.”
“That’s for the best,” I said. “Trust me.”
We’d shaken most of the first wave of ships, but the second wave bore down on us. They’d be here in moments.
“Jerkface,” Arturo said. “We can’t take all those ships. Do we have a plan?”
“Unless we have some way to defend the base,” Jorgen said, “we’re going to have to evacuate.”
I’d hoped to have more time to reach the other Independence bases, to call more fighters to join us. If half the fighters here had abandoned us, we had even less support than I’d hoped. If Detritus had sent more of their military, maybe…
I’d told Cobb I would make use of what he was willing to send, and I intended to do it. We’d rescued my people. That was still an improvement. If the humans were willing to work with me, we could press forward together from there.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
“Where will we go?” Arturo asked. “Can we hyperjump home to Detritus?”
“Already?” Nedder said. “We were just starting to have fun.”
“No, we can’t,” Jorgen said. “I got a message from Cobb on the hypercomm. He said the assembly has arranged a meeting with the Superiority. He’s had to order our arrest upon our return to convince my mother to keep him in the loop. He’s worried about the concessions they’re making. If we bring Alanik’s people to Detritus now, he’s afraid they’ll end up as bargaining chips.”
“That’s not happening,” I said.
“Scud, those ships are coming in fast, Jerkface,” FM said. “We can’t pull everyone out with one hyperjump. We’d make too big a target of ourselves trying to connect everyone together.”
“FM is right,” Jorgen said. “We’ll have to use the hyperdrives, and that means it needs to be somewhere the slugs know, or somewhere I can see, at least for the first jump.”
“The platform,” I said. “Wandering Leaf. You can use your hyperdrives to get beneath the autoturrets. The Unity cytonics can’t teleport. They can’t come after us there.”
At least not unless Quilan could convince his Superiority friends to send hyperjumping cytonics to extract us. He wouldn’t want to do that if he could help it; he was trying to prove how useful and cooperative he could be. He’d lose his leverage if he made the Superiority do all the work.
“That might be our best option,” Jorgen said. “We’ll bring as many of the UrDail with us as we can. Alanik, can you communicate with them?”
“On it,” I said.
Quilan’s reinforcements were arriving now, destructor fire raining through the branches above. Skyward Flight met them in front of the Independence base, Jorgen giving orders for his flight to defend the airspace out front. I switched over to the Independence channel. “Independence fighters,” I said, “there’s a fleet incoming, and the force is overwhelming. We need to flee. Who is your commander?”
“Alanik,” my brother said, “our captain was injured in the blast. I can speak for the group. Where would we go?”
I was sorry any of them had been injured, but I was glad Gilaf wasn’t among them. “We’re going to abandon the base,” I said, “and retreat to Wandering Leaf.”
A long silence followed. “To Wandering Leaf,” another pilot said. “The platform that shoots at us.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Stay together in the airspace in front of the base. Have someone land and tell those without ships to gather inside the damaged Superiority vessel.” That might be the only way to retrieve Rinakin’s family and our other noncombatant allies, in addition to any wounded. “We’re coming to get you. Our allies have some… unconventional methods, but we’re not going to leave you behind.”
“Will do,” Gilaf said, though he sounded dubious.
“Hold on,” I said. “We’re going to get you out of here.”
“We’ve got your back,” Gilaf said.
“And we’ve got yours.” I switched back to the channel with the humans. “The civilians are gathering inside the broken ship. We should be able to use a light-lance to bring that with us, correct?”
“Yes,” Jorgen said. “Quirk and I are headed toward Wandering Leaf. I’ll send Quirk in first, and then the rest of our ships can jump to hers. It might take us a couple of trips to get everyone.”
I hoped their hyperdrives somehow helped them evade the eyes. They must, since the Superiority felt safe using them as often as they did.
“If you get a chance, I’d appreciate a ride from one of your hyperdrives,” I said. I didn’t want to risk taking another jump so soon, not if I didn’t have to.
“Okay, sure,” Jorgen said. He sounded confused, but he didn’t question me. “Help us defend the base, and then we’ll pull you out when we’re done.”
I followed him and Kimmalyn on the sensor screen as they approached the platform. They flew through the miasma at close to Mag-9—a speed that must have threatened to rattle their ships apart.
These humans meant business.
“Careful not to get too close,” I told them.
“We have experience with these things,” Jorgen said. “We’ll keep our distance.”
I leaned on my throttle, catching up to the humans in front of the base. Enemy ships tore through the airspace, trying to run the humans off, but they fought in tandem, harassing the enemy enough to keep them from landing and arresting my people.
I swept down toward the entrance to the hangar, taking up a defensive position near the broken Superiority ship. Even from this distance I could see people pressed up against the glass at the back of the hold, looking up at us, probably wondering what was about to happen.
At least they’d listened to me. I wouldn’t have been able to get them out otherwise.
“All right, I have visual on the surface of the platform,” Jorgen said. “Quirk, you ready?”
“Ready,” Kimmalyn said.
I watched on my proximity sensors as Kimmalyn’s ship disappeared from the sky.
“Quirk, status?” Jorgen said.
“I’m fine!” Kimmalyn said. “Near the surface of the platform, underneath the autofire. Looking for a hangar entrance now.”
“We can’t wait,” Jorgen said. “Skyward Flight, you are a go to bounce.”
“Copy, Jerkface,” Arturo said. “We’re on it.”
In the airspace directly above, I felt Quilan descending from his reentry into the atmosphere. Alanik, he said. Stop this before someone gets hurt.
Too late, I said back. I fired on an enemy ship, shaking it off FM’s tail, and FM pegged one of the Independence ships with her light-lance.
Then they both disappeared.
All over the battlefield, the humans disappeared with Independence ships in tow. A moment later FM’s ship appeared again, so close to Jorgen’s that they nearly collided.
“Sorry!” FM said over the radio. “We really need to work on their sense of space when we’re in the air!”
Several of the other humans’ ships also reappeared, and I left my post by the base entrance to provide some covering fire while Jorgen did his best to dodge his own reappearing flightmates.
“Why are they doing that?” I asked Jorgen over the radio.
“We’re using Quirk’s slug as an anchor on one side and mine on the other,” Jorgen said. “It’s a new tactic. We’re still working out the kinks.”
The humans made another lap, taking more of the Independence fighters up to the platform.
“Amphi,” Jorgen said as Arturo reappeared. “Get the Superiority ship.”
“On it,” Arturo said as I flew in front of the hangar, drawing the fire of the nearby ships and then twist-rolling over the top of the base to evade them. I didn’t see Arturo jump out with the damaged Superiority ship, but when I returned the hangar was empty. A ship closed on me, destructors blazing.
Stand down, Alanik, Quilan said in my mind. Your force is dwindling and you have nowhere to run.
That wasn’t precisely true, but I gathered Quilan hadn’t figured that out yet. I led him away from the base, and from Jorgen. I didn’t want any of the human ships getting caught in the crossfire if he decided to—
A current ripped through the negative realm by my left wing, and I sent my ship into a roll.
If Quilan was willing to throw mindblades, he must have gotten better at them recently. Last time I’d trained with him, he’d have cut himself out of the sky trying something like that.
“How many ships are left?” I asked Jorgen.
“Not many,” Jorgen said. “One more trip should do it. How’s everything on your side, Quirk?”
“Found a hangar,” Kimmalyn said. “Looks like the inside has working atmospheric generators.”
That was good. I’d assumed there wouldn’t be much of use on the platform, because if it were still useful the Superiority would have dismantled it long ago. Sometimes scavengers and thrill seekers risked the trip beyond the autoturrets, but that was about it.
Alanik, Quilan said, you can’t hide from us. Surrender immediately.
Or? I asked. Didn’t the Superiority want me alive?
Yes, Quilan said. But if you insist on resisting, arrangements will have to be made.
And with that, Quilan and two other ships behind him opened fire.
I threw my ship into a defensive sequence, but it wasn’t as deft or as immediate as it would have been in my own ship where the controls were second nature. I tipped my nose in the direction of Wandering Leaf and hit overburn, shooting out in front of Quilan and the others. My ship shook like it might fall apart and my gravitational capacitors absorbed the g-forces, but a moment later I could see Wandering Leaf through the swirling red mist—the autoturret platform was as big as one of the larger branches of Industry.
Quilan was catching up to me rapidly, and I kept my mind open to the negative realm around me so I could dodge as he sent two more bursts of mindblades after my wings. I couldn’t catch a ride with one of the humans and their hyperdrives while Quilan was on my tail, not without putting them in danger. I was going to have to risk one more hyperjump, and hope I came out the other side.
“Alanik,” Jorgen said. “Can you get out of there?”
“Working on it,” I said. I’d need to hyperjump under the automated weapons, but to arrive in a position that exact—below the autofire zone but above the platform so I didn’t crash—I’d need to be able to see where I was going.
“I think that’s the last of them, Jerkface,” Arturo said.
“Got it. We’re pulling out. Alanik, do you need assistance?”
Quilan could tear the human ships to bits with those mindblades. The only one who could see them coming was Jorgen, and I didn’t have time to explain what to watch for.
“I’ve got it,” I said, reaching through the negative realm to the space above the platform. There was a ripple behind me, and I dodged too late. A concussion bolt hit my mind, throwing off my focus and wiping out my vision so all I could see were stars. I nearly lost consciousness.
Fire hit my shield in rapid bursts, depleting it. I didn’t have time to reorient myself. I reached into the negative realm and pulled myself and my ship through to the platform on the other side.
I could barely see the eyes, though I could feel their hatred. They were reaching for me, searching for me, ready to tear me apart if they found me—
I emerged, my vision returning, but in my confusion I’d targeted a space too high in the air above the platform. One of the enormous guns pivoted in my direction and opened fire. I dropped immediately toward the platform—
Too late. Gunfire hit my booster, and my ship shuddered and shook. The gun fired again—
I targeted a spot closer to the surface of the platform and yanked myself into the negative realm. Thousands of eyes watched my ship as it coughed and skipped, and then I was back, skimming toward the surface of the platform. I tried to pull up, but I was losing altitude fast.
“Alanik!” Jorgen said over the radio. My sensors showed Skyward Flight and the Independence fighters farther behind me. My ship sputtered, the miasma parting as my nose dove toward the hard surface of the platform.
