May we be at ease in the star-filled night.
20
Lana
The feeling of acceptance from both Ceredes and Jeren scares me so badly that my hands begin to shake. I can’t let this happen, can’t let them go, but they’re on the other side of the massive Sentient ship.
“Their cannons are gone on this side.” Kyte picks off more of the small drones that float away from the gigantic ship like spiders on a breeze. “Help them, Lana.” He says this silently, and I nod.
“Tilda, take over.” I close my eyes and focus on Ceredes and Jeren as Kyte trains his fire on the Sentients’ virudivan engine. Uaxin takes control of the smaller guns and picks off more of the drones, though they’ve managed to get in a few good shots.
I send my thoughts down the bond to Ceredes, then Jeren. They’re still fighting, still trying, and they’ve managed to disable the cannons on their side of the ship, but they can’t hold off the wall of drones. Their ship is disabled, and all they have left are the guns.
“No.” I won’t let them go. I can’t.
“You’re all that matters,” Ceredes says, his stern tone somehow comforting in its familiarity.
“We’ll see you again in the space between the stars.” Jeren concentrates on shooting the never-ending wave of drones.
“No.” My voice grows into that thick cord that’s more than just me. It’s all of us, the power we share coming together as one. With nothing more than a thought, I wrap their ship in a cocoon of diamond. It’s the hardest thing I can think of.
It doesn’t stop the drones from firing, each blast like a jolt to my brain, the line connecting me to Jeren and Ceredes sizzling and scorching. But I hold onto the barrier, repairing any spots that start to crack. I open my eyes but keep at least part of my focus on the barrier protecting my two Alphas.
“That’s it!” Kyte howls as his focused fire breaks a chunk off the Sentient ship. “I can see blue. If I can get a shot through to the core, I’ll be able to blow this side.”
“Do it.” I patch and repair the barrier again and again as Uaxin destroys more drones and Kyte keeps shooting at that one critical spot. The Sentients seem to have forgotten about the fleet ship they were chasing. Then again, it’s still on fire as it begins to enter Centari’s atmosphere. It may not survive a landing, and we’re an active threat. They send more drones, and a new cannon, possibly hastily repaired, begins to fire. “Tilda, get us closer.”
“I can’t. Their ship is large enough to catch us in its wake. I can’t risk it, especially if we blow the core. We’ll get caught in the blast.”
“Uaxin, take out the cannon.” I shudder as part of the shield around Ceredes and Jeren shatters, then I send more focus to it, repairing it and thickening it. Once they’re safe, I focus on my ship, on the core, on that bright blue. When I put my hands on the controls, they switch from Tilda to me.
“Lana.” Her tone is brittle.
“I got this.” I maneuver us toward the black ship, getting as close as I can. My craft begins to shake, but I don’t let up. Instead, in my mind, I take my bright blue color pencil and add more and more color to our core, brightening the blue until it almost burns to look at. “We can’t let it breach Centari’s atmosphere. If it gets to the city or the Academy, it will kill everyone there with its guns or a crash.”
The ship rattles, but we’re close now. I fight against the wake to prevent a full-on collision with the Sentient’s hull, but I still let us drift closer and closer, the engine sparking bright as I up the power. An ache starts in my stomach and turns into unpleasant tingles all through my body. But I don’t stop.
“Just a little closer,” Kyte grits out.
My shield around the other ship shatters, and I gasp. “What was that?” My thoughts go to Ceredes, and it’s as if I’m him, looking through his eyes. The drones have begun dashing themselves against the barrier. Hundreds of them coming at once in kamikaze fashion. I throw the barrier back up despite the pain that courses up my spine and into my skull. It’s getting worse, but I can’t stop.
“Almost got it. I need to hit it just right between those two panels.” Kyte is firing with all he has, and Uaxin has trained her smaller gun on the hint of blue between two sections of black metal. The drones don’t venture close to us. They can’t fight the wake.
I peer at the panels Kyte mentioned and realize we aren’t close enough. Edging us in tighter, I lean onto my console, my head throbbing as I keep it all going, every plate spinning, every ball in the air.
“Lana, we’re too close,” Tilda warns.
I fight the pull toward the Sentient hull, but Tilda’s right. I’m losing it. We’re too close. But we haven’t blown it yet. Taking the one sliver of focus I have left, I send my thoughts through Kyte and into his controls, then down into the far smaller virudivan core that powers his weapon.
“Careful, Lana.” His voice is a tight-lipped whisper. “The weapon’s engine isn’t as stable as the ship’s.”
“I can do it.” Pain stabs through my forehead like a spike as I increase the gun’s power.
Kyte yells as each shot booms from his cannon, the blue lighting up the windshield as shot after shot targets the thin break between the black panels.
I think it still isn’t enough. But then I can feel it. The chain reaction beginning. As if a piece of me traveled on one of the blasts and is relaying information back to my brain.
With a hard pull, I wrench us away from the Sentient ship, then focus my power on our engine, powering us away as fast as I can.
