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She snickered. “Yield? What is this? An Errol Flynn movie?”

“A what?”

“Old Earth,” she said. “Actor.”

This was the first time I’d heard her reference anything from Earth popular culture, not merely Earth history. She’d been raised by human parents for part of her youth. Unless that had been a lie.Had they…watched Earth films?

“Brade,” I said to her, “I’m on your tail and your shield is down. I can shoot you.”

“So why don’t you?”

“I…”

“Whatreallyhappened to you in the nowhere?” she asked me. “Why do you make the air vibrate when you feel pain? How did you learn to cut through inhibitors? And why are you suddenly so hesitant to fire on your enemy?”

Scud, was I doing it again? Holding back because Iwantedher to be something that she wasn’t? Or was this a lingering effect of having been among the Broadsiders, of learning to fight worthy opponents without killing?

I wasn’t in the nowhere any longer. And last time I’d tried to trust this person, she’d betrayed me.

I pushed the button, sending twin streams of destructor fire straight toward her. Brade chuckled, dodging in a spin, barely evading my shots—which hit some of the tentacles. They absorbed theenergy, and suddenly all of the nearby green jellyfish strands started to tremble and whip, making them far, far more difficult to avoid.

I threw my ship into a sequence of dodges, speeding up, despite how dangerous it was. Brade laughed even harder as she increased her speed, and both of us were forced to boost forward, spinning and weaving as tentacles started trying to grab us. I narrowly avoided a sequence of them before bursting back into open space, out through the worm’s butt, which was open like the front.

This was…not the glorious image of a starfighter pilot I’d always imagined for myself.

Sweat running down my face, I broke right, trying to quiet my heart. In the rush, I’d caught up with Brade, and we’d burst out of the worm at the same moment. Now Brade—denying me time to reignite my shield—managed to get me in her sights. She filled the space with destructor fire. I was forced to dive down, spinning, but behind me the worm turned and followed us—moving faster than the other one had. Somehow it picked up enough speed to keep pace with us. Scud, how was that even possible?

I supposed it had seen me as mere space debris before. Now I was prey, and Brade had thoroughly tricked me into alerting it to that fact.

“Shoot another worm,” she suggested over the comm. “Make this interesting.”

“Shut up,” I growled.

She laughed again, but then she did something and the worm suddenly cut off the chase, undulating in the other direction. I frowned, watching on the proximity monitor but not daring to look back. What…?

“Use your IMP,” she said. “The blasts hit with a frequency the things don’t like.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I suppose.”

Her destructor fire around my ship trailed off. Maybe she was luring me into complacency. But why call off the worm in that case? Scud, I hadno ideahow to read this woman.

“So, doyouwant to yield?” she asked.

“Not a chance.”

“Good,” she said. “Reignite shields and go another round? Winzik is preparing ships to come after us, but we might have enough time for one more go.”

I soared back toward the derelict Evensong. There, I put a building between myself and her and cautiously stopped. I didn’t reignite yet, in case she was waiting for me to be vulnerable and attack.

She didn’t. She stopped her own ship in the air and started the process, so I pulled the lever to start my shield ignition as well. It would take around thirty seconds.

“So what is it?” she asked. “That strange distortion around you? The mess you make of inhibitor fields? Whatreallyhappened, Spensa?”

Ah…so that was what this was about. Let me out, duel with me, get me talking. Brade was confused by my new powers.

And she wanted them for herself.

Now that I understood, a lot of things made sense. Was this some calculated plan with Winzik to figure out my secrets?