“I DON’T KNOW if we need the backup,” Jorgen said, looking over Sadie’s shoulder at her sensor screen. “The Unity forces are retreating.”
“Thank the stars,” Arturo said.
I concurred. From inside the command center, I could hear Rinakin resuming his broadcast about the strength of ReDawn and her ability to resist. He seemed to be using the word progress a lot. I bet Nanalis was going to love that, but Rinakin’s broadcast would make certain that blame for the Superiority’s appearance fell squarely where it belonged.
“He’s going to want to parade you around at the Council tree,” I said to Jorgen. “You’re the hero of ReDawn now, apparently.”
Jorgen looked horrified, and I laughed.
“Hey,” Nedd said, coming up and slapping Jorgen on the back. “If you want, you can tell them I’m Jorgen Weight. I’ve always wanted to be in a parade.”
Jorgen looked like he might consider it. “We need to report to Cobb,” he said. “Tell Command we’ve been successful here. After that, hopefully we can go home. If I can talk some sense into my parents, maybe they’ll even send an official diplomatic coalition instead of a flight of pilots.”
Actual aid, and a renewal of our old alliance. I’d gone to the humans looking for help—but until this moment I don’t think I’d let myself believe help would actually come.
“Thank you,” I said to Jorgen, “for not abandoning my people to the Superiority when the inhibitor went down.”
Jorgen looked confused. “Of course,” he said. “That’s what an alliance is. It means we protect each other.”
So many of my own people backed down at the first sign of inconvenience that I’d expected the same of the humans. They could have left and waited out whatever that ship would have done to Tower in retribution. They’d risked their own lives to save my people. They’d done it again and again.
I’d misjudged Jorgen. He was an incredible leader, and it was a privilege to fly with him.
“Yes,” I said. “That’s what an alliance is.”
Jorgen still looked confused, like this was so obvious it didn’t bear saying. “I’m going to try to reach Cobb on the hypercomm,” he said. “We need to warn them about what the Superiority almost did to the people who were supposedly working with them.” He ducked into the command center.
“I told you he wasn’t going to turn on you,” Arturo said. He leaned against the corridor wall, watching me.
“You did tell me that,” I said. “But you also said you thought I was going to turn on you.”
“I said I didn’t think you would,” Arturo said. “But that it was a possibility.”
“I seem to remember you being very threatening,” I returned. “And quite concerned.”
Arturo grinned. “Fine. Maybe neither of us is a perfect judge of character.”
“If I’d really believed you all weren’t trustworthy,” I said, “I never would have asked for your help to begin with.”
“That’s probably true,” Arturo said. “Though did you have other options?”
“Not good ones,” I admitted. “So thank you.”
Arturo’s expression grew serious. “You shot down that other cytonic,” he said. “You knew him?”
I could still see Quilan’s face as he bore down on me, destructors firing.
“I did,” I said. “He was going to kill me, and I got him first.”
“Right,” Arturo said. “That seems like it should make it easier, doesn’t it? But I’ve never had to shoot down someone I talked to. Someone I knew.”
I wanted to say the world was better off without Quilan in it, but I wasn’t sure that was true. My people had so few cytonics. We needed every one.
Maybe Rinakin was right. There was a place for persuasion. Quilan’s death was a waste, of a leader as well as a cytonic. Killing him had been necessary, but everyone would have been better off if we could have persuaded him to change his mind to fight for our side.
Now he could never change his mind, and there was a kind of tragedy to that.
“I’m not glad he’s dead,” I said, “but I’m glad I’m still alive. I wish it had all gone differently, but I don’t know what I would have changed, or if I even had the power to change it.”
“You had the power to do something really good for your people and ours,” Arturo said. “Does that make it feel better?”
I thought about that. “I don’t know,” I said. “But I don’t regret it, I know that.”
Arturo nodded. “Yeah. Neither do I.”
He held my gaze for a moment, and something about the way he looked at me was thrilling and terrifying all at once. I followed after Jorgen into the control room.
Rinakin was finishing his broadcast. He slumped against the control panel, looking exhausted. His daughter stood by his side, urging him to come rest in one of the bunk rooms.
“We need to get him medical attention,” she told me.
“I know,” I said. “If the Independence medic can’t care for him, we’ll take him to a hospital soon.” Rinakin’s injuries didn’t look life threatening, but he should still receive treatment.
Jorgen leaned against the wall by the hypercomm. The purple and orange slug from his ship was now in there, and he tapped his fingers on the control panel, waiting.
“Admiral Cobb will speak to you now,” someone said, and then Cobb spoke through the hypercomm.
“Jorgen,” he said. “It’s about time you reported in.”
Jorgen frowned. Cobb had told him not to call, hadn’t he? Because he was trying to stay in good with the politicians, and not let anyone know he was involved in Skyward Flight’s desertion.
“We’ve been successful here,” Jorgen said. “We were able to save Alanik’s people and establish an alliance with them.”
FM and Rig appeared in the doorway. Rig’s hair was a bit messier than normal, probably due to some human mating ritual. I was still fuzzy on the details of all that, but humans were clearly uncomfortable discussing these things, so I wasn’t going to ask.
Arturo at least had been open to talking about his former girlfriend when we spoke before. Though the idea of asking him about human mating rituals felt… disorienting.
“That’s good,” Cobb said. “I’d like you to return as soon as possible for a full report. And bring some representatives of the UrDail with you, if you would. We’d like to begin official talks with them.”
Jorgen looked over at me. “Is it safe, sir?”
“Of course. It’s perfectly safe. The shield is holding fine. You have nothing to worry about. I have new orders for you as soon as you can get your people back here.”
FM and Rig exchanged a glance.
“You said before that the UrDail should stay away,” Jorgen said. “Because you worried they might become a bargaining chip in the negotiations with the Superiority.”
“Oh,” Cobb said. He sounded surprised, like he’d wanted to pretend he’d never said that. “No, the negotiations are at an impasse. If you return immediately, I can—”
Jorgen pushed the mute button on the hypercomm. “Something’s up with Cobb,” he said.
“Is your mother in the room with him?” FM asked.
“Maybe,” Jorgen said. “But why would he respond to my call if my mother was right there?”
“Maybe he got the message that you’d tried to reach him in front of her,” Rig said. “So he didn’t have a choice.”
“Or maybe it’s not him,” I said.
The three of them stared at me.
“What?” Jorgen said.
They didn’t know. We hadn’t had time to tell them. “The Superiority stole the holographic technology from Spensa’s ship. The Rinakin who was working with Unity was a fake—a Superiority plant. If they did that to us…”
“Scud,” Jorgen said. “You think maybe this isn’t Cobb?”
“Cobb didn’t behave like himself when we saw him last,” FM said. “I assumed there must be an explanation.”
“I think Alanik just gave us one,” Jorgen said.
“Jorgen?” Cobb said over the hypercomm. “Are you still there?”
Jorgen turned on the microphone again. I’d missed the last thing Cobb had said, and I didn’t think he’d paid attention to it either. “I’m here, sir,” Jorgen said. “I’d like to speak to my mother, if that’s all right.”
That was a good move. Jeshua might not be helpful when it came to diplomacy, but she’d surely be on our side if she knew she was dealing with a Superiority fake.
“You’ll have to be sure she’s not also a plant,” I whispered, and Jorgen nodded.
“You can talk to her when you return,” Cobb said. “I need you here immediately. That is an order.”
Jorgen muted the microphone again. “This has to be a trap.”
“It sounds like it,” I said.
Jorgen swore and turned on the microphone again. “Sir, I’m ordering our people to prepare to return,” he said. “It may take us a bit to gather the UrDail delegation together.”
“Get here as soon as you can,” Cobb said.
“I will. Thank you, sir.” Jorgen turned off the microphone. “I need to communicate with my mother somehow. Warn her and the assembly that the Superiority has infiltrated the DDF.”
“What do you think they did with real Cobb?” FM asked.
“They probably replaced him when they met for peace talks,” Rig said. “Right after you left for ReDawn. We worried it might be a trap, but Cobb and Jeshua went anyway because the offer to negotiate a truce was too good to refuse. And they didn’t want to let them inside the shield because that could potentially be worse.”
“That sounds like the Superiority,” I said. “They pretended to talk about peace and used the opportunity to undermine you.”
“So Cobb has been in their custody for a while,” FM said. “Do you think they’ll hurt him?”
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” I said.
“I can’t contact my mother directly,” Jorgen said. “She’s not cytonic.”
“We could contact Spensa’s grandmother,” I said. “She might know something, since the Superiority is demanding your cytonics. They might have collected her by now.”
“Yes,” Jorgen said. “That’s true.”
I was already reaching out through the negative realm, finding Detritus and canvassing the planet. I found Gran-Gran’s mind far enough from the planet that she had to be in a ship.
That wasn’t a good sign.
Gran-Gran, I said, It’s Alanik. Are you all right?
These vat-suckers are looking to trade me for their own freedom, Gran-Gran said.
Who’s trying to trade you? I asked.
Some bottom-feeders from the National Assembly, Gran-Gran said.
Is Jeshua Weight with them?
She is, Gran-Gran said. War hero my wrinkled behind. They’ve brought that blue alien too, and the alien isn’t happy about it.
Cuna was a defector from the Superiority, so it made sense that the Superiority would also want them turned over. Gran-Gran seemed to understand what was happening at least.
Where have they brought you? I asked.
They’ve got us on a ship taking us to some delegation, she said. They’re dressed to the nines too, like they’re meeting royalty.
Oh no. “They’ve got Gran-Gran and Cuna on a ship en route to some delegation with the Superiority,” I said. “Your mother is there, and some people from the assembly.”
Jorgen swore. “That has to be a trap too. Tell her to tell them to turn around.”
Of course. Tell them it’s a trap. The Superiority isn’t going to work with them. They’ve replaced Admiral Cobb with a Superiority operative using a holographic disguise. They offered progress to my planet and then turned their guns on them instead. Tell them nothing will come of this but ruin.
I’ll tell them, Gran-Gran said. But they didn’t listen to me before and they aren’t going to listen to me now.
“She says she’ll tell them,” I said. “But she doesn’t think they’ll listen.”
“She’s probably right.” Jorgen squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. “Do they have a hypercomm on board?”
I searched the area near Gran-Gran. I could sense taynix, all clustered together like they were trapped in some kind of container. “They have a box with slugs in it,” I said. And another one alone, sitting a few feet from the others. I probed at its mind, trying to send it coordinates to talk to our hypercomm, and it felt receptive, like it understood the message.
I did the same with the slug in our hypercomm. “Try it now,” I said. “I think you’ll be able to talk to them.”
“Mom?” Jorgen said into the hypercomm.
There was a beat of silence, and then, “Jorgen?” Jeshua Weight said.
“Mom,” Jorgen said. “You have to turn the ship around. You’re walking into a trap.”
“We’re walking into a trap? You fled the planet against orders. Where are you?”
“ReDawn,” Jorgen said. “We negotiated that alliance. We have people willing to work with us against the Superiority.”
“Then you’re undermining everything we’ve been working for here,” Jeshua said. “We’ve met with the Superiority, and they want to arrange a treaty.”
“I don’t think they do—” Jorgen said, but his mother cut him off.
“I think they’re being sincere,” Jeshua said. They always did—that was the problem. So many people couldn’t taste the poison past the sweetness of the tea. “We can’t keep fighting like this. We’ve been losing the war for years. If there’s a chance we can save our people’s lives, we have to take it.”
“Mom, they replaced Cobb,” Jorgen said. “He’s a Superiority operative wearing a hologram like the one Spensa used to infiltrate Starsight.”
Jeshua was quiet for a moment. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You saw this?”
“No,” Jorgen said. “But they used the same trick on someone here, and when we talked to him something was off about him.”
“Jorgen, I’ve been with Cobb for the last two days. He’s tired like we all are, but it’s him.”
Jorgen hit the edge of the control board with the heel of his hand. “It isn’t, Mom. You can’t go to that delegation. You’re walking into a trap.”
A man’s voice came over the radio. “Jorgen,” he said, “I know this is all hard for you to accept. We raised you to hate the Krell. We’ve hated them all our lives. But son, if we keep fighting them you’re going to die up there some day. That’s what we’re trying to prevent. The Superiority is offering to train you. This is a huge opportunity, and you need to try to accept it.”
“They tried to kill me today,” Jorgen said. “They’re lying when they offer us peace.”
“You should never have gone to ReDawn.” Now Jeshua was talking again. “Can’t you see we’re trying to keep you safe?”
Jorgen muted the mic again and swore, covering his eyes with his hands.
Arturo appeared in the doorway. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “The Superiority replaced Cobb, same as they did Rinakin, and Jorgen’s parents are taking Gran-Gran and Cuna to a meeting with the Superiority right now.”
“Scud,” Arturo said. “We have to stop them. We can’t let them walk into that.”
In my mind, Gran-Gran and the tiny slug presences stopped moving, as if they’d arrived at their destination.
“I think they may already be there,” I said.
“We need to go now,” Jorgen said. “We’re taking the whole platform. We’ll come back to finish the alliance with Alanik’s people, but for now we may need the air support.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Rig was already putting Drape back in the hyperdrive box.
“Alanik,” Jorgen said. “Can you give him coordinates near where Gran-Gran is?”
“Yes,” I said, and I stretched myself across the space between galaxies, pinpointing her location and then sending it to Drape.
“Ready,” I said.
“Drape,” Rig said. “Go.”
We slid into the negative realm beneath the distracted eyes, which then shifted into glittering stars as the entire platform came out the other side in the airspace around Detritus.
A small human passenger ship was docked at the outside of a boxy Superiority transport ship a couple kilometers away. The transport ship wasn’t nearly as big as some I’d seen arrive at ReDawn, not even as big as Wandering Leaf.
“You’re going to need backup,” FM said. I didn’t think FM and Jorgen had really resolved their issues with each other, but that didn’t seem to matter to either of them at the moment.
“We are,” Jorgen said. “I want the rest of you in your ships, ready to fight in case we need additional air support. It doesn’t look like they brought fighters, but they could hyperjump them in at any moment.”
“Okay,” FM said.
Jorgen turned to Arturo. “You command the flight while I’m in there. Make sure everyone’s ready to go on my signal.”
Arturo looked at me, and I thought maybe he’d been planning to volunteer to go with us to the Superiority ship. I wished he would. “Got it,” he said, and he spun around from the doorway, moving toward the hangar. “Skyward Flight,” he yelled, “everyone to your ships!”
The flight scattered. “I’ll get Boomslug back in the weapons system,” Rig said.
“Good,” Jorgen said. “Alanik, you don’t sense any cytonic inhibitors on that ship, do you?”
“No,” I said. “Not yet.”
Rig handed him Snuggles, and Jorgen slipped him into his sling. “Alanik,” Jorgen said, “can you give Snuggles directions to the command room on Platform Prime?”
“Yes,” I said. “But I can’t jump us into the Superiority ship afterward. I’m not familiar with it, so I could end up materializing us in the middle of a wall.”
“The taynix seem to be able to avoid that,” FM said. “You said they took some of the taynix with them, right? Could you hyperjump to them?”
“We’ll have to try it,” Jorgen said.
“It would probably be the ones issued to the other pilots,” FM said. “The ones who didn’t come with us. Try Corgi or Snide, or maybe Waffle or Pipsqueak.”
Jorgen blinked at her. “I’ll… try to remember that.”
“You’d better,” I said. “Are you ready now?”
Jorgen closed his eyes, like he was steeling himself for battle. “Ready,” he said.
I put a hand on his shoulder and sent Snuggles the coordinates for the room where I’d met with Cobb and Jeshua.
