Page 6 of Aviatrix

“We’re not making it out!” I shout, choking on the smoke and the truth scratching its way in.

Around us, the airfield detonates in a chain reaction of fire and shrapnel. One by one, jets ignite like matchsticks.

My stomach twists as a pilot is flung from the blast. He doesn’t get back up.

“We’re not getting off the ground,” Eli says quietly, scanning the wreckage like he’s already run the numbers. They’re trash.

“Which means we need to—” Gary starts, but Eli cuts him off, pointing to the control tower looming through the smoke.

I shake my head. “Lark will never let us in.”

Eli grins, cool and cocky. “You forgot my motto.” He inclines his head toward the tower. “I don’t ask permission, Quay. I ask for forgiveness.”

Gary lets out a raspy laugh. “I knew I liked this guy.”

I lean forward, taking point. “If—and that’s a big if—we make it to the tower without getting blown to pieces, we override the defense grid, call for backup, and light up anything that moves before it lights up us.”

Two jets scream above, blades through smoke. I squint up. Scooter. Thea.

“They’re airborne,” I breathe. “We still have a chance.”

“We have our mission then,” Gary says. “Get to the comms room. Regroup from there.”

“Copy that, Atlas,” I reply. The name suits him. He’s always carried the weight of everyone else’s survival on his back.

Eli’s hand touches my shoulder. Steadfast. Hot. Too real for this moment.

“Solid plan, Quay,” he says. “You ready?”

I pause. The weight of it all settles. Lives gambled on a tower that might already be ash. Backup that might never come.

“It’s a long shot,” I say.

Eli shifts beside me. “It’s our only shot.”

I draw in one last breath. “On my count.”

Gary and Eli flank me, shoulder to shoulder.

“One.” Another fighter erupts. Heat slaps my face.

“Two.” One of the alien ships spirals down, trailing black, taken out by Scooter and Thea. Precision perfect.

I’m not ready. Not for this. But they’re looking to me—Eli, Gary, even the air itself seems to be waiting.

I could freeze. Could fall apart. But that’s not who I am. That’s not Nova.

My father didn’t vanish so I could crumble in his shadow.

I nod once, to no one in particular.

“Three.”

We run. Into fire. Smoke. Chaos. Muscles scream. Lungs burn. Asphalt blurs underfoot.

This isn’t how I trained to die. Not at the Academy. Not in simulations. Not like this. Not today.

We prepped for rogue states. For betrayal. For war. But not this. Not ships that move like predators. Not metal that flexes like muscle. Not enemies who leave no bodies, only ash.