Tilly beeped eleven times.
“That’s not too far. Come get me, and we’ll figure out what to do.”
Tilly blatted at me.
“What? Why not?” I grimaced, realizing Tilly couldn’t answer easily. I considered, and realized she might be suffering the same problems as I.
“Tilly, do you have maneuverability?” I asked.
Tilly blatted again, then added a timorous warble.
“Too high, huh? What about your thrusters?” I asked, then considered the ramifications of her blat. I’d heard of this sort of thing from cavalrymen who flew too high chasing ascending shuttles. Tilly would probably regain flight control as we entered the lower, denser atmosphere. Her thrusters likely had little effect in this thin atmosphere, as they wouldn’t have enough air to serve as a working fluid. Likewise, her aerovanes had no air to push on. That would change as we entered the troposphere.
“Tilly, can you see Astrid?”
There was a brief pause in which my adrenaline spiked, then Tilly chirped.
Relief flooded my body. “Keep trying to maneuver. The moment you can fly, get Astrid on your back. Then come back for me.”
Tilly blatted loudly. “Tilly, don’t—” She blatted again, louder. “We don’t have time to debate—” Tilly’s negative blat was so loud it hurt my ears.
“Fine. As soon as you regain control, grab me, then we’ll save Astrid. Deal?”
Tilly chirped her assent. I scowled. We were not going to have much time once we reached the lower atmosphere.
Less than a minute later, the air started to buffet me around. I assumed the belly-down position taught in my skydiving classes. The ground was much closer now. Tilly whistled her approach as she pulled into formation with me from below and to my right. She sidled sideways, rolling to give me an angle at her handlebars, but the turbulence jerked me away. Tilly advanced more aggressively, lightly colliding with me. I scrabbled for a handhold. My legs bounced off Tilly’s aft chassis, but I caught onto her front cowling. With a herculean effort, I pulled myself forwards, grabbed her handlebars, and set myself into the saddle. Tilly’s magnetic clamps closed around my legs, and I yelled, “Get us to Astrid!”
Tilly took control, kicked her thrust coil into high gear, and sent us screaming through the atmosphere.
Astrid came into view, falling on her back, her skirts and wide sleeve cuffs billowing upwards. They must have acted like a drogue, slowing and stabilizing her fall. I couldn’t tell if she was alive or not, but at least she wasn’t bleeding from the eyes.
We were moments from impact. I didn’t have time to try and gently grab Astrid and ease her onto Tilly’s back. “Tilly, grab her the way you grabbed me.”
I heard the whine as Tilly’s docking clamp extended. Going so fast, we began to shake, hard. The ground grew larger, the sharp, rocky mountainside rushing up at us. Tilly tried to move forwards, but the turbulence pushed Astrid away. The Emperor began to flip over and over. Another five seconds, and she’d be dead.
“Grab her!” I screamed, and Tilly rushed forwards. Her clamp fastened around Astrid’s torso. Something cracked. I pulled back on the handlebars, guiding us towards a dip in the ground, desperately hoping to pull out of the dive before we hit.
We weren’t going to make it. I tried to roll, to shield Astrid from a direct impact.
We bounced. Tilly’s shield flashed. I thought Astrid’s did too, but I couldn’t be certain.
Tilly flared her airbrakes, bleeding off speed. I leaned over, trying to see Astrid beneath me. Her face was hidden by her hair, but I could see both her legs and one arm dangling below her, so she wasn’t completely beaten apart. Was she still alive?
I keyed my commlink into the channel we selected for our little confederation up on the archduke’s cruiser. “Calling any and all loyalist forces, this is Consort Levar Boylan. I have the asset, but we require immediate medical assistance. If anyone can hear me, please respond.”
My commlink immediately replied. “This is Lyudmyla. We’ve seized the armory and have medics with us.”
I keyed in the location on Tilly’s display. “We are on our way. Prepare for landing.”
Minutes later, I came screaming over the treetops. The Crystal Palace was awash with light, and the grounds fronting the armory flashed with lancer fire. The loyalists had erected shielded barricades before the main doors and driven the Imps back with disciplined volleys. I came in high and rolled into a dive, hoping to avoid the worst of the incoming fire.
It seemed most of the combatants had more important things on their minds, for not a single bolt blazed our way. I landed behind the barricades, ordering Tilly to drop Astrid from a height of less than half a meter before jumping off myself. One demon reflexively brandished her zeroblade, but lowered it and came running when she saw who we were.
“She’s hurt. We need a medic,” I shouted. I could see Astrid’s left arm was broken, crushed by Tilly’s rough grab.
“We need to get her under cover,” the demon soldier said,lifting the Emperor by the armpits and dragging her into the building. A lancer bolt vaporized a chunk of the doorframe, but we ducked inside as the defenders responded with a crackling fusillade.
Lyudmyla hurried over, two white-collared Imperial medics in tow. The demons brushed me aside. Ordinarily, I would have been terrified or offended, but right now, I was too worried for Astrid’s health to care.
