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“Ooooo,” Happy said.

The wurm aimed a mouth the size of a large cargo bay toward her and took a swipe at her with the long tendrils surrounding it, then recoiled as she was out of reach. It had tried to grab her and gobble her up, ship and all.

Very well. Kimmalyn was not unknown as a battlefield danger herself. She turned around, and didn’t even bother to find her clarion peace. She thumbed her destructor, and shot the thing right in the—

“Oh!” Kauri shouted through the comm. “Tosura says not to shoot it!”

“You…don’t say,” Kimmalyn mumbled, watching her destructor shot zip straight into the wurm’s mouth.

“Oh dear,” Kauri said.

“What?” Kimmalyn asked.

The thing started to glow with blue points of light all down the sides of its body.

“This is unfortunate,” a new kitsen voice said over the comm—the science officer, Kimmalyn assumed. “Before, we were the things threatening to steal its food. And now…”

The wurm uncoiled and started undulating through space straight toward Kimmalyn.

“Let me guess,” she said, overburning away. “Now wearethe food.”

“I’m afraid so,” he said.

36

As the battle progressed, I developed a plan that I hoped would help me escape Brade’s clutches. I just had to find a way to test a specific theory.

For now, I watched specks fly through the air in the hologram. Defiant forces in red, arrayed to face Superiority forces in blue. Starfighters that swarmed the battlefield, falling into dogfights as they tried to secure inhibitor stations. Gunships took shots at them as they flew, as did the gun emplacements on theDefiant,both trying to blast down any fighters that paused too long or focused too much on their dogfighting.

In the background, the two large battleships took up bombarding positions and began to lay into theDefiant—trying to force it to withdraw. Space distances being what they were, theDefiantwas able to maneuver despite its enormous size. It still took plenty of hits, but modern capital ships bore fairly powerful shields. TheDefiantcould likely take a beating for a long period of time.

Unless a synchronized group of fighters activated their IMPs close enough to bring down the shield. So the ships all played a delicate game. Enemy fighters trying to get close, and ours driving them back. Battleships trying to wear down theDefiant’s shield,and the flagship—in turn—trying to anticipate shots and get out of the way.

It was hard to watch it from here, rather than being there in a cockpit myself. I could never do what Jorgen did, leading from afar. It would rip me apart. Though maybe it did the same to him, and he was just strong enough to withstand it. Watching, my insides twisting in knots with worry for my friends, I thought maybe I understood him and what he’d given up to take command.

Brade did it with aplomb. She gave the orders, even going so far as to instruct flights of starfighters. As she did, the glow of the hologram reflecting in her dark brown eyes, I saw her smile in a satisfied way.

“What did we do to you?” I asked. And my body—seated by the wall, handcuffed in place—whispered it to Brade. My eyes seemed a little dead to me, but when I spoke, my lips moved. “Why do you enjoy destroying us so much?”

“I don’t,” she said, glancing toward my body. “You merely stand between me and what I must do.”

“There is no ‘must’ here, Brade,” I said, moving my phantom arms, making my fleshy ones pull against my bonds. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she said. “I revise what I said, then. Your people stand between me and what Iwantto do.” She looked up as the door opened, her hand immediately going to her sidearm. She was jumpy, even with her own people.

That helped prove my theory. Back on Starsight when we’d trained together, I’d taken her standoffishness as a sign she had an attitude problem with those in authority. I saw something deeper now. A distrust of everyone and everything. A person who assumed everyone was potentially plotting against her. This attitude had probably served her well over the years.

I needed to exploit that.

“Why?” I asked Brade. “Why do youwantto do this? Why not just walk away?”

“And let your people continue to build power?” she asked, sounding amused. “They’re the onlylegitimatethreat to my rule.”

“But why do you want to rule?”

“Really?” she asked. “You have to ask why? Why did Alexander the Great conquer?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I’ve always wanted to ask him.”