Page 4 of Blightfall

So I answered.

“Amphisbaena,” my mother said. She managed to utter my callsign in the same tone she used to call me by my full name when I was a kid. “What are you doing with two of our family starships outside the debris belt?”

If I was already in trouble, I might as well double down. “Just going for a joyride.”

“Is that Nedder with you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nedd said.

“Is he flying our starfighter with a prosthetic arm?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nedd said again, though I heard the tightness in his voice. My mother didn’t have to say that she didn’t think he was fit to fly—and she wouldn’t, not with Nedd on the line. She’d save that lecture for later, when she caught me alone. I would do my best to ensure that didn’t happen anytime soon.

“There are procedures for use of the family ships,” Mom said. “Procedures to which you did not adhere.”

“That’s true,” I said.

Silence followed. Silence in which my mom was no doubt deciding if she was going to chew me out for my recklessness with Nedd listening.

“Turn those ships around and return to the hangar,” she said.

“Copy, Minerva,” I said, using her old callsign from her days in the DDF.

I didn’t turn my ship around, and neither did Nedd.

“Amphi?” Mom said. “I don’t see those ships returning.”

“I’m looking for the safest place to turn around. Wouldn’t want to put the ships at risk.”

I waited for my mother to call my bluff, but instead she said, “I have a meeting with Admiral Weight this evening. I intend to inquire about your advancement.”

I gritted my teeth. Advancement in the DDF would inevitably mean joining Command and giving up my wings. I didn’t want to advance to the point where I could no longer fly.

Removing me from a ship was, of course, my mother’s primary objective for my life, mostly because she loved me and didn’t want me to die. “I’m happy where I am. The flight needs me.”

“Your flight has been separated,” my mother said. “Almost all of your contemporaries have been promoted.”

“And I was promoted to flightleader,” I said. “Skyward Flight has new members, and I’m proud to lead them.”

“Alien members,” my mother said.

I bristled at the judgment in her voice. Officially, she couldn’t object to me flying with aliens; my new flightmates were part of the larger galactic alliance of species that had helped us break free of the Superiority. But old prejudices died hard. If my mother couldn’t accept me flying with aliens, she wasn’t ready to know how close I wished to be with one of them.

“Sorry, Mom, you’re breaking up,” I said, even though she wasn’t. “Must be interference from one of the platforms. We’ll bring these ships back right a—”

I switched the channel mid-word. My mother would know exactly what I’d done, but at least this way I had plausible deniability.

“You ready to turn around?” Nedd asked.

“No.” That conversation with my mother made me want to keep flying and never return. “Do you want to go back?”

“No.” Nedd was quiet for a moment. “Jorgen offered me a job.”

That didn’t surprise me, much as I hated it. Nedd was an excellent pilot and a better person. As admiral, Jorgen would want to find someplace Nedd could be of use. “You already have a job.”

“A job on the ground,” Nedd said. “With Command.”

It made sense, but if he took it, this might be the last time Nedd flew. “What did he offer?”