Chapter Thirty-Two Arturo
Thirty-Two
Arturo
We were in serious trouble. As Sadie hyperjumped out, the ships that had been tailing her turned in our direction.
Gilaf and I twisted through the air, dodging and spinning to stay out of the enemy line of fire.
Neither of us dared to use our IMP to drop enemy shields, though we did manage to get enough firepower on the enemy ships to drop two of them.
As the ships fell out of the sky, Dayan yelled in my ear. “They’ll be able to see us from the city.”
“Survival comes first,” I said. “Secrecy second.”
“But you just shot ships out of the sky,” Dayan said. “Where do you think those are going to land?”
Stars. “Hopefully in the uninhabited forest,” I said, though I couldn’t spare much of a thought for that either. “Has Bob already put in for another hyperjump?” I asked over the radio.
“Bob!” Bob said, which I took to mean he was on the job.
The ships were converging on us now, and stars, I didn’t think we had enough time to wait for a hyperjump.
Gilaf led one group of ships in one direction and I led the second group in another.
Even if we both lasted long enough to jump out, he and I wouldn’t be able to connect our ships together for the jump without getting shot down.
And if my ship got hit, I couldn’t eject, not without my ejection seat vaporizing Dayan in the process.
“I’ll distract them,” I said to Gilaf. “Make for the river, fly along it and hide.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Gilaf said.
“All this trouble could have been saved,” Ivy said over my radio, “if you’d just left me alone to do my job.”
Scud. She’d cracked our encrypted channel. If we switched, how quickly could she follow? How long had she been listening?
I opened my mouth to order radio silence, but before I could get the words out my ship was pummeled by a barrage of destructor fire. Four of the ships chasing me had positioned themselves for a coordinated attack, and as I rolled my ship to the side, the fire just kept coming.
My shields winked out. Blasts pelted the hull of my ship. One of my wings tore free, and my ship began to fall.
“Scud!” I shouted. My hand moved toward the eject lever, but if I used it, Dayan was dead. If we hit the ground in an uncontrolled descent, we were both dead. I gripped the control sphere, trying to buy us time. Was there any way we could both make it out of this?
Gilaf’s ship soared over mine, chasing the ships away from me.
“Amphi?” Nedd’s voice said over the radio. “You okay?”
“I’m hit,” I said. “Gilaf, you’ve got to run. Try to lose them.” It was a long shot, but better than dying here with me.
“Any chance we can hyperjump?” I yelled to Naga.
“Any chance!” Naga said, which I took to mean not yet.
Stars. If we kept waiting for a hyperjump, we might all end up dead. One of us needed to eject to maximize our chances, but saints be damned, it wasn’t going to be me.
“Switch seats with me!” I shouted at Dayan, and I unharnessed myself, smashing myself against the canopy as the ship continued to spin downward.
Dayan only hesitated for a split second before climbing into my seat. “What the hell are you doing?” they asked.
“Strap in!” I reached down, extracting Naga from her hammock.
Dayan fastened the restraint belts around themself. Stars, I could almost make out the branches on the trees below. A few more seconds and it would be too late.
“Eject lever is between your legs!” I shouted. “Pull it as soon as I’m clear!”
I reached over and disabled the safety latch on the canopy. Then I clutched Naga tight to my chest and popped the canopy open.
Naga and I flew immediately through the air.
The wind whipped so quickly around me I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, could do nothing but hold on to Naga.
We were swept away from the ship as it continued to spiral and Dayan ejected, their seat rocketing up away from the broken hull, their parachute blossoming in midair.
They might make it, but Naga and I had precious few seconds left.