Page 24 of Blightfall

Gilaf caught up, flying out in front of me on my left. He hit his destructors as the oncoming ships neared us, and I joined him, creating streams of fire to keep the ships off Orator.

“Almost there,” Sadie said.

Two of the drones fired directly at Gilaf and me. I took another hit to my shield before I had to dodge to avoid losing it entirely.

“Amphi,” Nedd said, “we’ve got incoming up top and below.”

He was right. The other four ships had split off into pairs, two above us and two beneath. With the two on our tail, that meant they were coming at us from four different directions, and we only had four ships left to defend against them.

We’d always fought outnumbered, and we’d always had to outfly the Krell to protect our own. But we never had to do it with so few and no way to call backup to our aid. If Gilaf and I left our position in front of Orator, the diplomats would be exposed.

“Angel, Sentry,” I said, “can you protect Orator from those ships?”

“I’m almost there,” Sadie said.

“On it,” Alanik said, though she didn’t sound confident. Alanik was usually practical enough to ask for help when she needed it, but she’d know now that there was no help to spare.

“Angel,” I said, “how close are we to the edge of the inhibitor?”

“I don’t know,” Alanik said. “I won’t be able to tell until we pass it.”

The planet loomed larger below us, nearly filling my field of view. I focused on the enemy that had me in its sights. I traded shots with it, drawing closer. If I used my IMP, I’d leave my flightmates exposed while I withdrew to reignite my shield, but the Krell defenses were so much better than ours that they were scudding hard to shoot down without taking out their shields first.

“They got past me,” Alanik said. “There are too many.”

“Amphi!” Nedd shouted. “On your six and below!”

I saw the ship on my monitor, cutting a fierce path up toward Orator. They must have clued in that we were protecting the diplomats’ ship, because they’d dodged around the rest of us and were heading straight toward it. I flipped an Imban turn. My ship flew in a half-moon shape, my nose pivoting a hundred and eighty degrees with my tail rotating out behind me—

I exited my spin just in time to see the ship from below obliterate Orator’s shields. I opened fire, but the enemy bombarded Orator, blowing a hole in the front of the ship.

“No!” I shouted, pounding the edge of the dash.

Orator tumbled off course as the boosters cut out, no longer propelling the ship forward.

“Flightleader?” Suki’s voice squeaked over the radio.

Oh, stars. Some of them were alive in there—though there was no chance Ferret was among them, given that Orator’s cockpit was now a concave hole.

“Suki,” I said, trying to force the desperation out of my voice, “what is your situation?”

“Dire!” Suki said. “Our cabin has depressurized, and our ship appears to be out of control.”

That was an understatement. Their ship was spinning near enough to the planet that they would soon be overcome by its gravity. The faster Orator fell, the sooner we should be able to leave the inhibitor behind and hyperjump the survivors clear of the wreckage.

But if these drones murdered us all beforehand, we wouldn’t even get the chance to attempt a rescue. “Skyward Flight,” I said over the radio, “I’m going to grab Orator and flee toward the planet. Protect us and try to keep up.” I streaked toward Orator, connecting to the ship with my light-lance at the front of the fuselage just behind the wrecked cockpit. I sped toward the planet, plotting a course around the last remnants of the debris field before we hit open atmosphere.

“Suki, sitrep?” I asked.

“I’m still here!” Suki said, her voice significantly higher than normal. She had a flightsuit and a face mask for protection, at least, though that wouldn’t protect her from injuries if the ship continued to disintegrate.

“Are there any other survivors on board?”

“Unclear,” Suki said. “Dasha and Katri are both unconscious and, oh!”

That didn’t sound good.

“Oh?”