ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)

“They’ve got the inhibitor up!” I said. “We need to get them out of formation or we can’t hyperjump out of here.” We could leave the platform, I supposed, and run for our lives. But we’d still need time for the humans to light-lance all the Independence ships. We might not all make it.

    “Jerkface,” Nedd said over the radio. “We lost another one of the Independence ships. Kimmalyn had to fall back to reignite her shield, and we couldn’t keep them from—”

“Boomslug can’t fire the hyperweapon as long as that inhibitor is up,” Rig said. “I don’t know what else to do to help.”

The longer we let them maintain that formation, the longer Quilan would have to concentrate on getting a concussion field over the area, knocking out the Skyward and Independence pilots so they could be picked out of the air one by one.

And then on my sensor readout, something enormous appeared in the sky above us. I tilted my ship upward to get a better look through the canopy.

It was a Superiority ship. A battleship, judging by the enormous cannon pointed right at us.

At me and my allies. At my people on Tower.

“Jerkface?” Nedd said. “Are you seeing this?”

“I’m seeing it,” Jorgen said.

“Is that the one from Detritus?” FM asked.

“Looks like it,” Jorgen responded.

“I think so too,” Rig said. “That means those are planetary weapons.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means ReDawn is in serious trouble,” Jerkface said. “Unless we can figure out how to take that ship out. Rig, do you think the mindblades are up to the task?”

    “I don’t know,” Rig said. “We can’t use them with the inhibitor up.”

“We need to get those cytonics out of formation now,” Jorgen said.

“T-Stall and Catnip are trying to run one off,” Nedd said. “They need backup.”

Getting just one of the ReDawn cytonics out of position would disturb the inhibitor. I couldn’t sense them anymore through the oppressive silence. “Where are the cytonic ships?” I asked.

“I see them,” Arturo said. “Follow me.”

“Copy that,” Jerkface said. “All Skyward pilots are clear to provide backup.”

Arturo took off beneath the platform and I followed. The Superiority wasn’t going to extract the humans. They were going to shoot them down, right here near a population center. I didn’t know how much damage that cannon could do.

And I didn’t want to find out.

“Guys,” Rig said over the radio. “You’re going to want to listen to this.”

Rinakin’s voice came over the general channel. “People of ReDawn,” he said. “You’ve all been deceived.”

“Is that broadcasting generally?” Jorgen asked.

“Yes,” Rig said. “He’s broadcasting to the planet.”

“This is a dark day in our history,” Rinakin said. “Unity operatives kidnapped me and then had a Superiority agent take my place, giving you a message I myself would never give. The Superiority has turned on us, and now a battleship threatens Tower. But we will not give in, and we are not without support.”

    Oh. I saw what Rinakin was doing. I held my breath, following Arturo as he sped away from the platform out into the miasma. I could see the ships ahead now, T-Stall and Catnip contending with a group of Unity fighters.

“For today marks the historic reunification of our alliance with the humans,” Rinakin said. “They’ve come to help us in our hour of need.”

“Um, Jerkface?” Rig said. “Rinakin wants me to put you on—”

“On the radio?” Jorgen said. “What does he want me to—scud, okay, do it.”

Above us, the cannon started to glow with an ominous blue light.

“They’re going to fire on us,” FM said. “We don’t know how long the shield on the platform will hold, so we’d better be fast.”

Arturo and I reached the ships and joined T-Stall and Catnip in a barrage of destructor fire. The other ships returned fire, while another ship darted away toward the platform.

That would be the ship with the cytonic, then. “This one,” I said to Arturo, then flipped back to the general channel.

“It is my pleasure to introduce to you Jorgen Weight, human of the planet Detritus, whose people have long struggled under Superiority oppression.”

“Um,” Jorgen said. “Hi. That’s me.”

An alert blinked—Arturo trying to get me on our private channel. I switched over. “Let’s split up and come at them from either side,” he said.

    “Done,” I said, and we veered away from each other, still rocketing toward the ship with the cytonic.

“How long have you been fighting for your lives against the weapons of the Superiority?” Rinakin asked.

That was good. Put an emphasis on their violence. Pull the curtain back on their false peace.

“My whole life,” Jorgen said, sounding more sure of himself now. “Three generations, in fact. They beat us back, made us live underground. They’ve been trying to exterminate us. But we’re still here, and we’re still fighting.”

“Yeah, Jerkface!” Nedd said.

The Superiority ship let loose a blast from the cannon. The shield around the platform sputtered and sparked, but it held—for the moment at least.

“ReDawn is with you,” Rinakin said.

“Let it be so,” I said to myself.

“Let it be so!” Chubs repeated.

Arturo and I both opened fire on the ship with the cytonic. They dodged, but we wove with them, catching them with one blast, then two, then three. Their shield blinked out and I fired off one last hit—

And missed as I dodged a torrent of destructor fire coming at me from the side.

Quilan. They’re going to destroy us all, Alanik, he said. He had the key to speak inside the inhibitor, but I couldn’t answer because I didn’t. And it’s your fault.

He fired on me and I dodged again. I’d lost track of the first cytonic ship, so I hoped Arturo still had it in his sights. Quilan bore down on me. He was bound and determined to blow me out of the sky.

    But I wasn’t going to let him best me. I executed a swivel turn and unloaded my destructors directly at his cockpit.

His shield fizzled and dissipated. His ship continued flying toward mine, so close that I could see him through the canopy as I fired the final shot. He pulled his nose up—