“What?”
“They use this one on us! They split, dive, and fire up at us in an X pattern that crosses fire and makes it impossible to escape. Dive!”
Evo slams the roof thrusters on, and we drop hard and fast. I fire up at the Skysprinters as they shut off their guns and try to retarget on our new position. But I remember Charlee’s rage-cry when they pulled this on her brother.
“For Jascen!” I don’t care how much ammo it takes, but I make damn sure to waste every single one of them. They meet their fates in masses of fragments, gas, and exploding fuel cells.
Finally, I’m getting some appropriate revenge, and it bolsters my confidence.
Evo swerves us toward a midsize battleship. “Fenrir, Panther, and Yeti need help. Clean sweep the hull.”
I see the Titans running on the side of the smoking ship, as three squads of Solcrue in star suits chase them down and spray a sheet of weapons fire at their backs.
Sliding my fingers over the targeting screen, I select a spread zone and, the second we’re within range, I set my finger on the weapons screen over a rapid fire gun I haven’t tried yet, something listed for closer combat. It sprays bullets through the squads to the rapid thunder of a rotary drum.
“Fuck yeah. Eat lead, bitches,” I mutter.
Evo dips close enough that the Titans can jump the span. We now carry six Titans toward Tharsiiren.
He swerves us to another darkening fighter, and a shiny metal Titan smashes into our nose. He crawls up beside Javelin. The four over our heads shimmer with the reflecting firelight of missile tails, explosions, and the nebula.
“Chrome,huh?” I refocus on the SkySprinters that target a batch of Rebel ships. “I knew we made you guys tough. I didn’t know how pretty and sparkly you were in battle.”
Evo makes a noise I can’t decipher.
I burst out in a single laugh as I switch back to my regular short-range missiles, target the next frigate, and release a set of three at each shield generator. “Sorry. But it really is stunning watching you fight.”
As we pass the frigate, heading for Tharsiiren, steps thump and leave our hull. I look out the side window and see Yeti, Fenrir, and Panther land on the frigate and collectively rip an access door open before we’re out of visual range.
They don’t waste time.
“Aera, my brother is in trouble. He is on Aidathrin. Support mission in progress.” Evo’s eyes flash as we dip under Tharsiiren. I clutch my harness as we do another orbit maneuver and thesparkle crewjumps, landing on Thariiren’s hull.
Evo banks us away from the warship and circles to another area around the nebula. “I’m going to need to help him. That means...”
“You need me to pilotandshoot.”
He draws in a deep breath and looks down at me with worry in his eyes. “This ship has good shields. But if you take more than five hits, you must retreat to the nebula. We will figure it out.”
“What’s wrong?”
“MothershipAidathrawas the one that tried to stop us from leaving Ellipsis. Aidathrin is its warship. So they’re far more pissed off than the others. We killed hundreds with the anti-Solcrue detonation. Those left...”
“Got it.”
Evo taps a screen that lights up the pilot controls in front of me. Then he gets up and disappears into the back. I’m not sure ifI havegot it. The vessel is far more advanced than any I’ve flown. But I’m going to try because that’s what Evo needs from me.
I make a few subtle adjustments to get the feel of the ship. It’s highly responsive and, honestly, impressive. Solcrue may be shitty when it comes to morals, but for a moment, I wonder what we could become if our best and their best could engineer a future together. There are a few that have promise, like Jeris and Sythius. Some are just coming around to the realization that what they were told about their society might not be true, like Crezlith. I just hope the ones we could potentially work with aren’t the ones I have to kill today to save my own people.
Evo returns to me decked in Solcrue weapons. “I will love you like you deserve when this is over.”
He takes me gently, under my chin, tips my head back and, as he leans over me, he kisses me upside down with such heat and passion that I melt, and my hands slip from the controls.
Evo chuckles, guides my hands back to place, kisses my neck over the healing scrapes from Crezlith, and then directs me toward a shiny chrome ship racing toward Aidathrin. “Stay away from the warship. Just get me to the RageBurner with my Brothers.”
“Evo, Aera. Do you copy?” he asks over my ear com without verbally speaking.
“I copy.”
