“Fee!”
She half-turned to look over her shoulder, in time to see Natta, face stark with terror, slam the door closed. The runner shot off to the side just as a massive cable slammed into the sand where the runner had been sitting.
Sand flew up in a tidal wave and then the cable whipped away.
She almost collapsed with relief that they had managed to move in time, and then felt a touch to her shoulder.
She turned back slowly, careful not to make any quick movements.
The grahudi was staring up at her.
“I don’t know where it’s safe to go,” she told it. As she said it, the cable swung back and she heard a terrible grinding sound.
She ran up the slope beside the gate, trying to work out what had been hit, and saw the runner lying half on its side about a ten minute run from where she was standing.
A whistling sound filled the air, and something slammed her to the ground.
She fell face first and rolled, looking up as the hooked end of a cable whipped away just above her.
She turned to look at the grahudi, crouched beside her.
“Nice save.” Her hands were shaking. She would have been cut down if that had hit her.
She lifted her gaze right up to nearspace, and saw theUnhilwas listing, as if it were perched on a cliff, and suddenly one side of it broke off and fell in an explosion of orange.
She sat up and watched as the piece fell in a fiery trail down on the far side of the amphitheater, saw the frame get draggedup the side and pulled along the sand, and then theUnhilgave up the battle and started to plummet.
CHAPTER 41
“We got them.”Yiko’s usually calm demeanor showed almost feral anticipation.
“Where?” Hal bent closer to her screen and she shuffled to the side so he could see theCiolla’sposition.
Once Yiko had finished reverse engineering the reflective tech that kept theCiollainvisible, he had ordered theIlliumhigh above Balco, circling around Larga Ways in a massive sweep, hunting . . . and there they were.
Sneaky, sneaky.
Captain Hunner had moved his ship to hover in Balco’s nearspace, over the desert. He hadn’t thought he needed to use Kyber’s Arm’s natural interference to hide, so the ship’s signature was clear, a few thou from the storm’s position.
“Why there?” Chel asked.
“Because he’s waiting at the ready in case theUnhilneeds him,” Hal said.
Even as the words came out of his mouth, theCiollamoved, and Eazi was suddenly in his ear.
“TheUnhilis breaking up. Bunny was a little too successful.”
“What do you mean theUnhilis breaking up?” Hal turned and ran for the tube to get back up to the bridge.
Chel and Yiko kept pace with him, and Voa broke into his earpiece as they shot upward.
“Captain, there’s a massive explosion in Balco’s nearspace!”
The tube doors opened and he was out, ice in his gut because Fee was being held prisoner below that explosion.
“Get us there,” he ordered Chel as they took up their positions, eyes on the screen Voa had brought up.
TheUnhilhad one side missing, and as Hal watched, it began to fall.
