Chapter Seven Arturo #2
Gilaf caught up, flying out in front of me on my left. He hit his destructors as the oncoming ships neared us, and I joined him, creating streams of fire to keep the ships off Orator.
“Almost there,” Sadie said.
Two of the drones fired directly at Gilaf and me. I took another hit to my shield before I had to dodge to avoid losing it entirely.
“Amphi,” Nedd said, “we’ve got incoming up top and below.”
He was right. The other four ships had split off into pairs, two above us and two beneath. With the two on our tail, that meant they were coming at us from four different directions, and we only had four ships left to defend against them.
We’d always fought outnumbered, and we’d always had to outfly the Krell to protect our own. But we never had to do it with so few and no way to call backup to our aid. If Gilaf and I left our position in front of Orator, the diplomats would be exposed.
“Angel, Sentry,” I said, “can you protect Orator from those ships?”
“I’m almost there,” Sadie said.
“On it,” Alanik said, though she didn’t sound confident. Alanik was usually practical enough to ask for help when she needed it, but she’d know now that there was no help to spare.
“Angel,” I said, “how close are we to the edge of the inhibitor?”
“I don’t know,” Alanik said. “I won’t be able to tell until we pass it.”
The planet loomed larger below us, nearly filling my field of view.
I focused on the enemy that had me in its sights.
I traded shots with it, drawing closer. If I used my IMP, I’d leave my flightmates exposed while I withdrew to reignite my shield, but the Krell defenses were so much better than ours that they were scudding hard to shoot down without taking out their shields first.
“They got past me,” Alanik said. “There are too many.”
“Amphi!” Nedd shouted. “On your six and below!”
I saw the ship on my monitor, cutting a fierce path up toward Orator.
They must have clued in that we were protecting the diplomats’ ship, because they’d dodged around the rest of us and were heading straight toward it.
I flipped an Imban turn. My ship flew in a half-moon shape, my nose pivoting a hundred and eighty degrees with my tail rotating out behind me—
I exited my spin just in time to see the ship from below obliterate Orator’s shields. I opened fire, but the enemy bombarded Orator, blowing a hole in the front of the ship.
“No!” I shouted, pounding the edge of the dash.
Orator tumbled off course as the boosters cut out, no longer propelling the ship forward.
“Flightleader?” Suki’s voice squeaked over the radio.
Oh, stars. Some of them were alive in there—though there was no chance Ferret was among them, given that Orator’s cockpit was now a concave hole.
“Suki,” I said, trying to force the desperation out of my voice, “what is your situation?”
“Dire!” Suki said. “Our cabin has depressurized, and our ship appears to be out of control.”
That was an understatement. Their ship was spinning near enough to the planet that they would soon be overcome by its gravity. The faster Orator fell, the sooner we should be able to leave the inhibitor behind and hyperjump the survivors clear of the wreckage.
But if these drones murdered us all beforehand, we wouldn’t even get the chance to attempt a rescue.
“Skyward Flight,” I said over the radio, “I’m going to grab Orator and flee toward the planet.
Protect us and try to keep up.” I streaked toward Orator, connecting to the ship with my light-lance at the front of the fuselage just behind the wrecked cockpit.
I sped toward the planet, plotting a course around the last remnants of the debris field before we hit open atmosphere.
“Suki, sitrep?” I asked.
“I’m still here!” Suki said, her voice significantly higher than normal. She had a flightsuit and a face mask for protection, at least, though that wouldn’t protect her from injuries if the ship continued to disintegrate.
“Are there any other survivors on board?”
“Unclear,” Suki said. “Dasha and Katri are both unconscious and, oh!”
That didn’t sound good.
“Oh?”
“No, flightleader,” Suki said quietly. “The other diplomats did not survive.”
“Just hang on,” I told her. “Any word on the taynix?”
“Both alive,” Suki said. “We are huddling together.”
“Huddling together,” Naga said sadly.
“Hang on,” I repeated. Stars, we all had to just hang on. On my monitors, I saw the enemy drones gather on my tail, and my own flight form up behind me, keeping pace.
“Naga,” I said, “we need that hyperjump.”
“Hyperjump,” Naga said. She quivered with anticipation.
“Angel!” I said. “Any news from Bob? Can he contact the delvers to initiate hyperjump?”
“We’re still in range of the inhibitor,” Alanik said. “Until we—There! We’ve cleared the inhibitor. Bob is putting in for a hyperjump now.”
Stars. At least that was still possible.
“We can’t jump off planet,” Alanik said. “I can’t sense anything outside the inhibitor field.”
At the moment, I’d accept anywhere but here.
“Tell Bob and Naga to target the jump as close to the human city as possible,” I said.
I’d ask Naga to do it, but this did not seem like the moment to rely on her ability to understand me without a mind-to-mind connection.
Though if Naga got clearance to hyperjump at this moment, we would leave everyone but Orator behind.
“As soon as the clearance comes through, everyone connect with a light-lance and I will give the order to go.” Our best hope was to hide and hope that no nearby cytonic could sense our specific arrival point.
“Copy,” Alanik said.
“City!” Naga said. If she didn’t understand my words, Alanik would make sure she understood my intent.
“Near,” I said. “Hide.”
“Hide near,” Naga replied, and I hoped that between Alanik and me, we’d communicated effectively.
“Amphi, on your right!” Nedd shouted as destructor fire streamed toward me. I threw my ship into a Barrett sequence. Stars, it didn’t matter where we went now. All we could do was stay together, stay ahead of the enemy, stay alive.
“More ships incoming,” Nedd said.
I couldn’t see them on my monitors, so I zoomed out and there they were. More ships. Ever more ships. How big a force could one small, isolated, untested, scudding forgotten contingent of the Superiority really need?
“Orders?” Alanik asked.
“Time,” I said. “Fly evasives, protect Suki, and buy ourselves time.”
“Copy!” Sadie said, and she and Gilaf began a dance of evasive maneuvers, taking potshots at the enemy ships to keep them engaged. Alanik followed on my tail, just behind Orator’s fin, ready to protect us if we got into trouble.
I leveled out, not getting any closer to the surface of the planet.
We didn’t really know what was down there.
The Superiority records indicated these people weren’t spacefaring, but clearly not everything here was as it seemed, and I couldn’t guarantee they didn’t have some kind of antiaircraft weaponry that might blow us out of the sky.
We cut through the atmosphere, now thick around us, the wind resistance dragging on what was left of Orator.
“Suki, how are you doing?” I asked.
“I am ready for rescue anytime, flightleader!”
Stars, weren’t we all.
An enemy ship accelerated on my right, launching fire at Alanik, but Sadie cut in front of it, taking a hit or two to her shield, but kiting it away again.
“Bob says we are a go to jump!” Alanik said.
“Go!” Naga chimed in. “Jump!”
“Not yet,” I said to her. “Everyone connect!” I shouted over the radio.
Alanik already had her light-net connected to Orator before I asked. Gilaf hit Alanik’s left wing with his light-lance, and Sadie came barreling in from my right, connecting to the lower part of my fuselage. My ship quivered from being pulled so many directions.
“Cut your boosters!” I shouted. If we didn’t and Naga teleported us into a tight space, we’d crash immediately. “Go, Naga!”
“Go!” Naga replied.
Then the planet below us disappeared, and my ship suddenly plunged into darkness.