ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)

“I meant us,” FM said. “We aren’t giving them up. The politicians will have to come to ReDawn and take them from us.”

I smiled. “I’d climb that tree with you.”

“I imagine Cobb will too,” Rig said. “He can’t be in favor of this.”

—your generous offer— another voice said over the hypercomm. Admiral Cobb, I thought. —need time to collect the taynix—transport them to you and continue our negotiations—

“Um,” I said. “It sounds like he’s also considering it.”

“Seriously?” Rig said.

FM shook her head. “We should get more of the taynix out while we still can.”

“We can’t take them if we aren’t ordered to,” Rig said. “We’d need to talk to Cobb.”

“Cobb says he’s in favor of sending them to the Superiority!” FM said. “If that’s true, he won’t help.”

“He might be saying that for optics,” Rig said. “Maybe he’d be glad to have an opportunity to send them away so they can’t be turned over.”

“He can only do that so many times,” I said, “before your politicians will catch on.”

“That’s true,” FM said. “Maybe we should take them ourselves, without asking.”

    Rig looked at FM in alarm, but he didn’t argue with her.

“Where would we find them?” I asked.

“The ones that can hyperjump are all over the platform,” Rig said. “We have most of them partnered with pilots. Some of the hypercomm and mindblade slugs are kept in Engineering, but it’s crawling with people right now.”

So we wouldn’t be able to pull them all out without alerting people to our presence. “I think we should get my ship and get out of here as soon as possible. Is it capable of flight?”

“Not right now,” Rig said. “I’m sorry, I haven’t had time to—”

“Can you fix it on ReDawn?” I asked. If not, we’d need to take another human ship. When it was time for us to make our move, I wanted all the Independence pilots in the air with us.

“Yes,” Rig said. “Given a few hours, I could put it together again.”

“What else is the Superiority saying?” FM asked.

I’d been distracted from the transmission, but I focused on it again.

—meeting to assure you of our intentions—do what is best for your species and the intergalactic interests—

“They’re setting up another meeting,” I said. “Probably to turn over taynix, I’m guessing.”

“What about Gran-Gran?” Rig asked.

“Who?” I said.

“Becca Nightshade. Spensa’s grandmother. If the Superiority is really asking them to turn over the cytonics, she might be in danger.”

“Would you like me to contact her?” I asked.

    “We should at least warn her,” FM said. “Maybe we should take her with us.”

I paused, reaching toward the planet below. Into the planet, beneath the surface, through the underground caverns where the humans lived.

A voice reached out to meet me.

Alanik? it said.

So she’d heard of me. I spent so long unconscious on this platform, it made sense.

Yes, I said. Your government is considering a deal to turn their cytonics over to the Superiority. Do you need us to rescue you?

What followed wasn’t words exactly, but a strong sense of reluctance. Detritus is not our home, Gran-Gran said. But these are my people. I won’t abandon them.

Jorgen left to help me, so I felt the need to defend him. Jorgen didn’t abandon them, I said. He’s gone for help. You could come with us.

I didn’t know Gran-Gran, but I wasn’t about to let an old woman to be given over to the Superiority. Besides, we could use another cytonic. The more we had on our side, the more we evened the playing field with Unity.

They are coming for you, Gran-Gran said. You need to go.

Who? I asked. Quilan and the other UrDail cytonics couldn’t hyperjump, but the Superiority cytonics could.

Did they know we were here?

Go, Gran-Gran said. A warrior fights. She does not yield, and she does not abandon her people.

I nodded. “She wants to stay here,” I said. “She knows they might try to use her as a bargaining chip, but she won’t abandon Detritus.”

    “Is that a good idea?” FM asked.

“If it’s Gran-Gran’s idea, you won’t talk her out of it,” Rig said.

“I can respect her decision,” I said. “But she says they’re coming for us. I don’t know who, but we need to go.”

“I still think we should try to get more of the slugs out before we go,” FM said. “There are dozens of them here with the other pilots.”

“The entire military isn’t going to desert,” Rig said. “We’d only put ourselves in danger trying to convince them.”

“Jorgen can get them to answer him, right?” I asked. “What if I called them to come to me? Do you think they’d do it?”

“Depends,” Rig said. “They might be attached enough to their pilots to stay. They’d be more likely to come if you promised them something like caviar.”

“I have a little,” FM said. “Not enough to feed them all. If you promise them caviar and we don’t deliver, that’s bad for their training, but not as bad as being given to the Superiority.”

I grabbed a large box of algae strips on the shelf. “We could bring these. The people on Wandering Leaf are going to be getting hungry, so we should probably bring some for them anyway.”

“Good idea,” Rig said, and he picked up a jug of a white substance.

“Custard,” FM said. “Kimmalyn will be happy.”

“If I’m going to try to call the slugs, it’ll draw attention,” I said. “We should do it from the ship, so we can leave immediately afterward.”

Rig looked at FM, as if to ask if we were actually doing this.

“I think you should,” FM said to me. “I don’t feel good about leaving them here, even with their pilots, when we don’t know if the other flights will defend them.”

    “They probably won’t,” Rig said. “The assembly has come down pretty hard on you guys for what you did, and Cobb has had to go along with it.”