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21
RHIANNON
I went outside and walked through the gardens, staring up at the twinkling ships above and tracking their movements. They were certainly closer than they'd been the night before, but that was helpful, because now I could easily identify the Patrol ships from all the others. There had to be some way to strike at the heart of their forces, but it would have to be something our side could easily avoid. It had to be a very precise weapon.
I walked some more, scanning the ground around me and some of the debris that had fallen from above. I still had a few scraps left over from the launcher I'd built.
I meandered around the back of the estate and discovered Nikathy's transport and several other parked vehicles. I eyed them curiously. It would be rude to go snooping about, but they might hold the key to winning our next skirmish. In any case, Nikathy seemed so absorbed with his radios this morning, he probably wouldn't notice I was gone for some time.
All I really needed to know was what weapons each vehicle had on board. Not all vehicles came armed for battle, but it came as no surprise that a vehicle belonging to someone like Nikathy was well-outfitted, not only with the standard array of guns but also with several decoys and other tricks for slowing down an enemy. I paused, looking over the equipment. Tentatively, I let go of the handles of the walker and held myself up, flexing my toes and ankles as my full weight pressed down on them. My ankles felt brittle, like old twigs, and I was afraid that a single step would send me tumbling to the ground, but slowly, I made my way over to the first vehicle and tried the door.
It opened immediately, and I shook my head at Nikathy's carelessness. I lowered myself into the front seat and examined the buttons ahead of me. The thing was totally foreign to me, and I hadn't driven in many years. Suddenly, the thought that I was going to hop into this thing and save the day seemed utterly ridiculous. I stared hopelessly at the controls.
"Need some help with that?"
I looked up in surprise. Nikathy stood in a doorway that led out from the back of the house, giving me an even look that neither confirmed nor denied my concerns about our relationship. He traipsed out of the house and slid into the passenger side of the vehicle, reaching nonchalantly across my lap to press a button. At once, the thing hummed to life and lights came on all around me.
Nikathy looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to make up my mind, I supposed. Honestly, I didn't have much of a plan, and now that he was close to me in the confined space, all I really wanted to do was demand an explanation for his earlier behavior. But I bit my tongue and raised my hand to the steering wheel, testing it gingerly before tapping the accelerator and yelping with surprise as the vehicle jumped forward. Nikathy cackled beside me, his eyes bright with amusement.
I tried again, and this time we sped up smoothly as I turned the vehicle around and wound my way back toward the front of the estate.
"Where are we going?" he asked casually.
I pressed my lips in a thin line, irritated with his cavalier attitude, and still not sure I had a suitable answer."Somewhere that has an unobstructed view of the entire city."
He looked at me curiously. "I know just the place."
"We can't go just yet. We need weapons. I don't mean to go up there and watch the sunset, Nikathy. I mean to blow those Patrol ships out of the sky the second they break free of the clouds."
I kept my hands steady on the steering wheel and my eyes straight ahead, but I could sense that he was watching me. I wanted to meet his eyes. I wanted to know what he was thinking.
"Where did you get those missiles you had before?" he asked.
"I couldn't find my way back there if I wanted to. Besides, those were nothing compared to what we really need. If we're going to do this, we need the weapons that you find mounted to ships. Something meant to stop one of those fighters dead in its tracks."
"We don't keep that sort of thing just lying around, you know."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Bullshit. You have weapons smugglers coming and going from your port all the time. You can't tell me you've never seen one or two of these things fall off a shipment."
He eyed me warily, but I didn't back down. There had to be something here we could use, and if anyone knew where it was, Nikathy would.
"Fine," he muttered, punched in directions on the vehicle's display, and it started steering itself.
I sat back, satisfied that I had won the exchange, and we were on our way to doing something useful.
As we rode, I found myself needing to make conversation, desperate to fill the space with something other than my troubled thoughts.
“How does a small-time smuggler end up in charge of a palace and a city?”
He gave me side eye, and I could read the exasperation in his face. “He was unfortunate enough to be born to a visionary,” he answered coldly. “My Pops founded this place. When he died, it sort of fell on me.”
He was staring out the window now, and in his profile I could just make out the weary frown that creased his face.
“So, this wasn’t some big dream of yours? Running a city, I mean.”
He snorted. “No. In fact, my father and I weren’t close. I had no idea how complicated things were here until it was too late.”
“Ah…”
