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“Which means they were in on the Venom Squadron but didn’t trust them.

” Kelta is quick-witted. “Esthi, I heard you were in isolation for a long time. I was, too. Out here, you have to trust your equipment and your knowledge and always have a backup escape plan ready. Be willing to do the impossible, and we’ll get through this. Copy?”

“Copy.” I think.

“Great. I need you on guns. Flip the red lever, spread your feet, and in this heat, aim a little further ahead of the shot.”

“Where are we headed?”

“Clearing the skies, then following the BlazeStar as protection.”

The com feed crackles. “This is Commander Savage. Scant is down. Poison Arrow in pursuit. Venom ships causing severe damage! Our engines are down. SunFlux pending DOI. Switch to Honeybadger Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.”

“Boltburner on approach. Tap out in ten!” a voice growls.

“Menace, drop some of your pack on these snakes, will you?” Savage’s voice adds. “Let’s see how they do against their own creations.”

“Pleasure, sir.” A dark vessel arcs through the battlefield, banking left and right, dropping mutant wolves out the back onto Skysprinters and other Solcruean fighters.

Kelta leans forward in her seat. “Holy stars, is that your mate?”

I squint against a flare of light until my visor autotints. Armor rides atop the CSP transport, wings spread and covered in shiny new metal.

“Magma must’ve coated his wings.” My heart stalls for a beat as he jumps from the ship and soars across the desert, catching a Titan who’s jumping from a small SunFlux vessel.

“They all talk in their heads a ton. Want to hear the idle chatter?” Kelta switches something in the dash, and a hundred or more voices turn the channel into a mass drone that almost sounds like static.

“Shit. How do they sort that?”

“Visually and programming.”

Armor’s shield takes hits as Venom ships, coated with crystalline sheens, become visible in the air like purple ghosts.

“I can repair a lot of internal components, some programming. But designing and troubleshooting Titans is beyond me, same with cyberpsyches. If my sister was still my sister, she could tell you how to make a Titan do anything with the right coding.”

Kelta looks over at me. “Anything? Like…turn against their own kind?”

Evo comes to mind. That’s why they took Creators. Not to punish them, to use them.

My head is starting to split open from the mess I’ve found myself in. “Why did you say you just had to keep me alive until the battle is over?”

She flips a switch and motions to our starboard side. “Fuck that up, pretty please.”

I shoot up the incoming Skysprinter.

“Because we always need medics after battle. Rebel and Taline can only do so much.”

“We have Atox, too.”

“And you.”

The com feed clicks and switches to a woman’s voice. One I recognize.

“Alright, Ladies. I’m a bit late to this jamboree. Mother— One second. Eat my dust, snake!” Explosions rattle the speakers. I pair them to the other SunFlux vessel arcing high in the sky, taking out three Solcruean fighters in the distant mountains.

“Okay, let’s try that again. Hey, I’m Leah. I know we’ve got a lot of new pilots out there. Here’s the deal. You’ve trained for this life in one way or another. Take your pain and anger and channel it into killing these slimy, gilkyworm-loving, arrogant—”

“Okay, Leah. They get it,” a gentle voice calls out.

“Sorry, Cara. I will try to be precise. Take out the green asses and save the hot gray ones! Nobody has to die if we work together and watch each other’s backs. I’d like to be on mine after this. Give them hell, girls! Leah, out.”

“She’s a kick in the pants,” Kelta chuckles.

They all have a lot more guts than I do, but I feel more confident about our chances.

“Hang on!” Kelta banks us hard, slinging me deep into my seat.

I swear a string under the pressure while Kelta laughs with dark delight. “Now begins the scary part.”

“Are you kidding?”

“We’re the bait. Thruster is reassigned to target another bait-ship’s attacker. And we get someone else.”

“Who?”

She shrugs. “Maybe nobody. We’re switching up the guards and mixing up the maneuvers.”

A green flare sends a jolt through the ship. Kelta slumps. “Torque syncdrive is out on engine two. You wanna fix or fly?”

She’s clearly a better pilot. I get up and dig through the bins for tools, find a belt, and strap it to me.

Climbing out onto the turbulent roof, I catch sight of an incoming missile and duck beneath it. The hot propulsion sends red alerts flashing around the exterior of my visor.

My heart lurches in my chest. I start to panic until I see Armor flying in erratic patterns as he hops from one ship to another, rescuing Titans and humans, placing himself between Venom shots at their targets. And I’m over here worried about one silly little missile.

Mutant wolves continue to drop from the BoltBurner. They tear at Venom ships, Skysprinters, soldiers, and Titans. They have no discretion.

I feel unsteady as I clomp my way to the engine, but I try to trust my suit, like Kelta suggested.

“How we doing up there, friend?” Kelta calls over the com.

I find the toasted unit. “Trashed. I’ll wire in a straight shot. You’re going to have both engines on one’s commands.”

Bypassing the syncdrive, I hard wire the gears to engine one’s console. “They’ll power up and down together.”

“Esthi, get down! Boogie, nine o’clock!”

A metal mass clips my shoulder and sends me tumbling backward.

“Esthi!”

My magnetic boots fail under the force, and I’m falling, scrambling for a handhold, watching Kelta’s ship clumsily fly into the smoky skies.

Alert: Impact imminent.

Screw! This is not how I thought my life would end. I find Armor and wish I could ask for help, but he’s so far away and so busy with his brothers that I can’t bring myself to call him.

There has to be something I can do. I don’t want to die like this!