Eon>>Evo: Battle in progress. Solcrue are blocking our escape from the nebula. All ships with steady shields are engaged. Numbers are dwindling. Do not return.
“Fuck that.”
Aera lifts her head with a gentle hum and a few loose hairs stuck to her face. She puffs out a breath that sends them dancing out of her eyes, and it’s so nice to see comfort on her face that I don’t want to tell her what we need to do. “What did you say?”
I try to unlock my jaw, but all I can manage is a sigh.
“Evo...”
“Solcrue found the nebula. We’re heading into battle.”
She leaps up and throws herself in the co-pilot’s seat, belts in and hovers her hands over the controls, quickly orienting herself. Aera has the weapons systems online in seconds.
“Got it,” she says with a terse nod. “You fly. I’ll barbecue some snakes. You ever eaten snake?”
“Uh, no.”
“It’s a bit like fishy chicken. Bigger snakes are a little more like venison, or deer.”
I smirk as we race toward the cloud of purple mayhem ahead of us. My mate, Aera, doesn’t hesitate to love or to dive into battle. “You are as violent as a Relic.”
She clicks her tongue and laughs darkly. “That’s because I am one. But don’t worry, I’m not interested in my kind or theotherkind. Not since I wentRogue.”
Chapter 24: Aera
Evo gives me instructions as we fly into the mayhem of missile fire, blasts, and clashing Titan and Solcrue forces. “We cannot cause a Solcrue detonation of a cruiser or larger with all the humans so close. That will cascade into the nebula and destroy ships that don’t have shields. Not all of the Rebels have them. Many were damaged during the escape from Ellipsis.
“Target Solcruean shield generators, the green bars that look like pairs of fangs. That will help Titans board and disable the ships as necessary. And conserve ammo. If you miss, let it go.”
I focus on the first ship we approach, a small fighter that cuts us off. “How do I know who isn’t just one of us flying a stolen ship? I know the Ravenger is blue. But there are so many. We’re a mess.”
Evo sets his hands on the flight control screens. His eyes fill with moving light that spreads out over his face. The window ahead of us paints with a schematic of ships. Targeting brackets appear, isolating green forces from blue. “Rogues are holding off Solcrue forces while Relics and Rebels portal out. They’re moving your colony now.”
We’re up against three warships, a multitude of cruisers, frigates, and fighters in a massive battle, like I’ve never been in before. But Evo’s counting on me.
My heart rate rockets as we make our way into the nucleus of the war. I target a Solcrue fighter, shoot out the engines, and watch it bloom in a puff of light and gases. Then another tries to cut us off, and I target and fire, taking it out. It becomes a pattern, pushing me faster until I’m picking out and targeting and firing at multiple ships at once as Evo dives and banks andsways us through the crisscrossing weave of enemy and ally fire and attack patterns.
Three Skysprinters surge by us, going the opposite direction.
Evo reaches over, grabs the chest strap of my harness, and yanks it tighter. “Hang on!”
He punches the thrusters on the belly, and we careen upward, rotating over the nose of the ship, before racing after the three that just passed us.
The disorientation stalls my hands for a moment as my sense of gravity rushes into my head.
“Aera!”
I frantically target the three fighters that fire at Craze and Navi’s Ravenger.
I take out the one closest to us. Evo pushes us faster, and we dart through the spray of fire and parts to the second. It takes three more rounds to wreck the second ship. The third darts away from the Ravenger.
Red alerts flash in the cabin.
“Got a cruiser on our ass.” Evo grunts.
“Hang on?” I ask.
“Yes.” He dives us sharply, sending blood into my head again. Then we dip beneath a Solcrue frigate and charge toward a warship. The vessel breaks away to avoid crashing into the frigate, and the red alerts shut off.
