“And you.”
The com feed clicks and switches to a woman’s voice. One I recognize.
“Alright, Ladies. I’m a bit late to this jamboree. Mother— One second. Eat my dust, snake!” Explosions rattle the speakers. I pair them to the other SunFlux vessel arcing high in the sky, taking out three Solcruean fighters in the distant mountains.
“Okay, let’s try that again. Hey, I’m Leah. I know we’ve got a lot of new pilots out there. Here’s the deal. You’ve trained for this life in one way or another. Take your pain and anger and channel it into killing these slimy, gilkyworm-loving, arrogant—”
“Okay, Leah. They get it,” a gentle voice calls out.
“Sorry, Cara. I will try to be precise. Take out thegreenasses and save the hotgrayones! Nobody has to die if we work together and watch each other’s backs. I’d like to be on mine after this. Give them hell, girls! Leah, out.”
“She’s a kick in the pants,” Kelta chuckles.
They all have a lot more guts than I do, but I feel more confident about our chances.
“Hang on!” Kelta banks us hard, slinging me deep into my seat.
I swear a string under the pressure while Kelta laughs with dark delight. “Now begins the scary part.”
“Are you kidding?”
“We’re the bait. Thruster is reassigned to target another bait-ship’s attacker. And we get someone else.”
“Who?”
She shrugs. “Maybe nobody. We’re switching up the guards and mixing up the maneuvers.”
A green flare sends a jolt through the ship. Kelta slumps. “Torque syncdrive is out on engine two. You wanna fix or fly?”
She’s clearly a better pilot. I get up and dig through the bins for tools, find a belt, and strap it to me.
Climbing out onto the turbulent roof, I catch sight of an incoming missile and duck beneath it. The hot propulsion sends red alerts flashing around the exterior of my visor.
My heart lurches in my chest. I start to panic until I see Armor flying in erratic patterns as he hops from one ship to another, rescuing Titans and humans, placing himself between Venom shots at their targets.And I’m over here worried about one silly little missile.
Mutant wolves continue to drop from the BoltBurner. They tear at Venom ships, Skysprinters, soldiers, and Titans. They have no discretion.
I feel unsteady as I clomp my way to the engine, but I try to trust my suit, like Kelta suggested.
“How we doing up there, friend?” Kelta calls over the com.
I find the toasted unit. “Trashed. I’ll wire in a straight shot. You’re going to have both engines on one’s commands.”
Bypassing the syncdrive, I hard wire the gears to engine one’s console. “They’ll power up and down together.”
“Esthi, get down! Boogie, nine o’clock!”
A metal mass clips my shoulder and sends me tumbling backward.
“Esthi!”
My magnetic boots fail under the force, and I’m falling, scrambling for a handhold, watching Kelta’s ship clumsily fly into the smoky skies.
Alert: Impact imminent.
Screw!This is not how I thought my life would end. I find Armor and wish I could ask for help, but he’s so far away and so busy with his brothers that I can’t bring myself to call him.
There has to be something I can do. I don’t want to die like this!
