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“Where are we?” I asked, losing my facade in an instant.
“The Vaclanheim. You know that already.”
“Yes, but where? I need to tell my friends so they can come get me.”
Torgus sat up abruptly, a wild look in his eyes.
“No. We cannot give away our location. Your friends cannot come here.”
“Okay, then give me a landmark. Somewhere that they could meet me. I would need a ride, but they will come.”
“How do you know?”
“I… used the radio.”
He scowled at me, laying back down on his bed with a grunt.
“When will they come?”
“I’m not sure. They’re on their way though. I need to give them a meeting place. I’m begging you. We both know it’s best if I leave before Malik comes back. Nothing good will come of waiting.”
“Fine. In the morning, I will help you. For now, rest.”
16
MALIK
“Let’ssee how they like the taste of that,” I muttered to myself, leaning back in my captain’s chair with self-satisfaction.
In the near distance, I watched the flicker and sputter of a Sovann’ash beacon post-missile strike. It wasn’t much, but it lifted my spirits all the same. This was my mission now. If I couldn’t have Mia back and I couldn’t have Cosma, this was all that was left for me. Every beacon and drone I took out was worth it. Maybe someday it would feel like it was enough.
A blip on my radar caught my attention, and I sat up, arching a brow curiously.
“Well, hello there.”
The little dot moved slowly across the screen, heading straight in my direction. A quick scan confirmed it was a drone, sent to investigate the lost beacon and send back a report.
Gripping my yoke, I turned my ship and prepared for a dogfight. It had been a while since I’d felt the thrill of danger so poignantly, but in this moment, it was almost as good as having Cosma. Almost.
I tapped my fingers on the yoke, counting down the seconds until the drone was within range of my guns. For the first time in days, all of my focus was on the space ahead of me. There was no room for anything else.
I fired first, sending bullets ricocheting across the drone’s nose cone, but it did not slow. I tilted my yoke, making to the starboard side to rake down the drone’s side as it went by.
As I did, I watched in confusion as the top of the drone seemed to change shape before my eyes, opening up like a strange flower. The red-orange bubble detached itself from the drone’s body and seemed to hang in place.
“What the hell is this?” I growled.
If it was a replacement beacon, it was unlike anything I’d ever seen from the Sovann’ash before. It just hung there, not moving, as the drone moved away at the same steady pace with which it had approached.
It did not take long for an uneasy feeling to settle in my stomach. The drone was not engaging with me. It didn’t even fire a single shot at me, despite my thoroughly pummeling it.
A moment later, I was blinded by an astonishing light as the thing unfurled itself with violent speed. A horrified gasp escaped my throat as I clutched the yoke, trying to hold my ship steady as the thing unleashed wave after wave of energy at me, rattling me all the way to my core.
All at once, my ship came alive, squealing in protest as every alert ignited at once. No matter how hard I wrenched on the controls, I could not move. I was held captive in the shockwaves produced by that… thing. I couldn’t be sure if it had disabled my ship or if my own nerves were so shot, I only thought I was moving the yoke. All the same, I was trapped, and it filled my head with a piercing wail that would not stop.
Eventually, I could peel my fingers off the controls and reach for my headset. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I needed help. I needed to warn the Vaclanheim. I needed… I needed to hear Cosma’s voice one last time, even if it was only to hear her say she hated me.
I did not even manage that before the edges of my vision grew grey and fuzzy and I slowly fell backward into darkness, clinging to the image of Cosma’s face smiling up at me, before I lost it all.
