Chapter Thirty-One Sadie
Thirty-One
Sadie
Nedd and I kicked off the hallway wall, propelling ourselves toward the hangar.
Suki zipped ahead of us on her disk, alternating worried glances ahead at Alanik and Gilaf and back at Nedd and me.
Nedd and I collided as we hurtled through the room with the dead varvax, clinging to each other to avoid being flung in opposite directions.
Normally I would be thrilled with this much bodily contact, but right now, all I cared about was that we survived.
We hit the far wall just above the hole that used to be the hangar door, and I rotated, kicking off the ceiling and dragging Nedd with me as I soared through the gap.
We flailed wildly in the air until we hit the hangar floor.
Gilaf had managed to reach the Dulo, still carrying Alanik.
Scud. With Alanik injured, we were down one pilot.
“Should we put Alanik in my cargo space like Dayan?” I asked.
Nedd shook his head. “Put her in the Dulo. I’ll fly her ship.”
“The enemy ships are still going to be waiting for us out there,” I said. “You’ll be flying immediately into combat.”
“Alanik is injured,” Nedd said. “She needs a proper seat. I can handle it.” He dragged himself down the wall to the button that controlled the hangar doors. As soon as we opened them, the drone ships outside could get to us again.
“Let me do it,” I said. “You get to Alanik’s ship.”
Gilaf was already strapping Alanik into the copilot’s seat of the Dulo, and Suki joined him, tucking herself into the kitsen-sized seat in the Dulo’s dash.
Arturo and Dayan came flying through the hole in the wall, clinging to each other, propelled by Dayan’s whip.
Dayan lassoed the nose of Arturo’s ship and dragged them both over to it.
“I’m taking Alanik’s ship,” Nedd called to him. “Sadie’s got the door controls.”
From the way Arturo glanced at Alanik, I could tell he’d rather be the one flying with her, but he didn’t protest. “Copy,” Arturo said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Nedd popped Alanik’s canopy and hauled himself inside, dragging Alanik’s pack with several of the slugs in it with him. Once Dayan was strapped in and all my other flightmates were in their ships, I hit the hangar door controls and kicked off the wall, propelling myself at my own ship.
The others lifted their ships into the air while I scrambled to my seat and strapped in.
Through my canopy, I saw the varvax’s taynix cannon sliding up through the hole in the wall, aimed in our direction.
I didn’t give them a chance to catch me in its blast. Lifting off, I spun my ship around and shot out of the hangar after the others, leaving the drag of the oxygen bubble behind.
The enemy was waiting for us and opened fire immediately. I found Nedd and stayed on his wing in case he ran into trouble, though his flight path was steady. Together we hit overburn, rocketing away from the station in the direction of the planet.
“Ghost,” Arturo said. “How’s Angel?”
“Unconscious,” Gilaf said. “But she’s breathing.”
Arturo swore. “We need her to tell Bob to put in a request for the hyperjump.”
“Bob!” Naga said over the radio. “Hyperjump!”
“I think they’ve got the message,” Nedd said.
“Make for the edge of the inhibitor,” Arturo said. “The sooner we’re clear of the dead zone, the sooner Bob can put in the request. We’ll hyperjump down into the forest and hide, like we did before. For now, stick to evasive maneuvers. Your objective is to stay alive and stay together.”
“Copy, Amphi!” I said, dancing my ship in an erratic pattern to keep the enemy from getting a bead on me.
“Nedder,” Arturo said. “How are you doing?”
“Still here,” Nedd said, though his ship was starting to tremble with the drag as we reentered Blightfall’s atmosphere.
I glanced down at the slugs by the side of my seat and found that Hoid’s stripes had returned.
“How’s Bob coming on that permission?” I asked.
“On that permission!” Twist said, though I guessed we didn’t actually have it, because no one had hyperjumped.
“My light-lance broke during the fight,” I said over the radio. “So someone will have to connect to my ship when we’re ready to jump.”
“I’ve got you,” Nedd said, though at the moment he didn’t look like he had the ability to do much besides keep his ship steady as we cut through the atmosphere and neared the planet. I could make out Epiphany now, far below us, a white dot against the sea of purplish grey.
The enemy caught up to us and three ships flew up on my tail, all of them firing in a crisscross pattern, impossible to dodge. I tried anyway, throwing my ship into a twin-scissor, but I couldn’t avoid all the fire and my shield took a hit.
Nedd fared worse. He didn’t have the dexterity for complex evasive maneuvers. The enemy ships shot past me, hitting his shields once, twice. Three times.
“Nedder!” I shouted. “Amphi, Nedder’s in trouble!”
A final shot hit his wing, and his ship began to fall. My stomach flew into my throat as I watched Nedd scramble for control, but even the most dexterous pilot couldn’t have pulled their ship out of that uncontrolled descent.
“Nedder!” I screamed over the radio. “Eject!”
For a horrifying moment, Nedd’s ship began to spiral with him still inside it. And then Nedd’s ship split apart, the explosion catapulting his seat into the air while the wreckage continued to spin down, down, down. An enemy ship swooped toward him, continuing to fire.
Stars, he was completely unprotected. If they were going to keep firing on us even after we were down, then I couldn’t leave him to land in the forest. I swung my ship around in an Ahlstrom loop and fired at the ship that pursued him.
It turned its fire on me, and I danced away, kiting the other enemy ships along with me.
Below me, I saw Nedd’s parachute open. If I could keep these ships off his back, he would hopefully make it okay.
“Sentry?” Arturo asked. “Sitrep?” On my monitors, I could see his and Gilaf’s ships continuing to speed away toward the city, swarmed by several more enemy ships.
Arturo had Naga and I had Twist, so if Bob could get permission for two hyperjumps, we could still get out of this even if we were separated.
“I can’t leave Nedd,” I said over the radio. Nedd had a handheld radio, but if it was on his person, he probably wouldn’t be able to maneuver and use it until he’d landed.
“We’re coming back around,” Arturo said.
“More ships are headed your way,” I said. Stars, I didn’t think we could take them all together. I moved away from Arturo and Gilaf, flying lower, staying focused on avoiding enemy fire.
I couldn’t find Nedd against the backdrop of the forest anymore. It was possible he’d landed already. Stars, I hoped he survived impact.
Twist squeaked next to me. “Permission!” she said urgently. “Permission!”
Stars, it was about time.
“I think Twist has permission to hyperjump,” I said.
“Take it,” Arturo said. “Go.”
I took another hit to my shields as enemy ships surrounded me. “What about you?” I asked.
“Sentry,” Arturo said. “Go!”
I took a sharp turn to the right to avoid enemy fire, g-forces slamming me to the side in my seat as my GravCaps maxed out. There were four ships on my tail and more headed my direction.
“Okay, Twist,” I said. “Hyperjump!”
“Hyperjump!” Twist said.
She was waiting, I realized, for me to tell her where to go.
“Take me to Nedd,” I said to Twist.
And suddenly the world went dim.