An alert siren startled me awake. I pulled my mask off and carefully slipped my arms free from their straps. I glanced at the pinion, smiled, and then looked at my wrist. Nothing. Did Joseph even know I was here? Why had I recorded that sappy message and not just said hello?
In the main galley, Tsawo paced in front of plates of fruit, nuts, protein bars, and cookies. “Three Islan ships are headed directly for the Sun’s Orbit. That’s two more than we’d expected. We appear to be a target.”
Marti and I shared a worried glance. Why would the Islans direct three full-size battleships at an old retrofit like the Orbit?
Tsawo continued, “We could get the opportunity to fight some ships our size, one on one. We’ve been told to watch out for drone bombers, too.”
A frisson of excitement ran through my nerves.
“And of course, the Sun’s Orbit has autonomous weapons, too. So be careful of friendly fire. Our current orders are to get out there and stay near the ship.”
He looked around to see if we shared his excitement.
I had been designed for risk. Fear felt good to me. Marti, however, looked frightened and a little ill.
Tsawo ended with, “That’s all the orders we have now. We’ll get more.”
Jagruti bustled around the galley. She wore a flowing black Keeper’s uniform, her hair coiled in fine, complex braids. She helped pull my helmet on and attached the breathing apparatus. Fliers couldn’t wear full environment suits, so the little ships we flew were our atmosphere suits. The breathing equipment let me take in extra oxygen if I needed it and should keep me alive for a short time even in a vacuum. My flier’s lungs were huge; I’d need to empty them fast in a breach. If I succeeded, the helmet and oxygen bottles would provide a little time, in spite of the horrors of vacuum. At least the ships were hard to breach.
My war bubble had room for one flier and one wingless. We didn’t have any extra wingless humans on Anvil, so we would each fly solo.
Adrenaline buzzed through my nerves.
I settled into piloting position: legs shoulder-width apart, torso on a padded bench. My arms were each able to direct the ship with simple gestures. Supports took the weight of my wings.
Jagruti helped me tug thick gloves on. I had been forced to wear them in the simulator and knew my hands would sweat in the damned things. As Jagruti helped snug the buckles that would hold me fast to the bench, she leaned down and whispered, “Remember everyone does their best. There is no truth, but everyone strives for it.” She touched my chest and the back of my neck and whispered something too low for me to understand.
A prayer?
Then she tightened a big, padded strap over my mid-back just below where my wings joined my back, and stepped out of the door, her face a mask of formality.
Tsawo stuck his head inside. “Stay safe.”
The memory of his kiss tickled my nerves. “You, too.”
His return smile was hot with adrenaline, his eyes shining.
The Anvil ejected me with a quick push.
I floated, waiting for the other two. Stars were startlingly clear points of light obscured on my right side by the angles and sharp planes of the Anvil.
It took ten minutes for Marti to join me.
Tsawo followed eight minutes after that.
We ran with low lights, hard to see. Induan would have approved.
I should have told Joseph we’d lost Induan. I whispered, “Look at me now,” to her ghost and then tilted my hands to speed the craft ahead, following Tsawo.
A display in the far-right corner of my helmet showed our positions near each other.
With no further orders, Tsawo led us away from the bigger ships. His voice sounded tinny in my helmet speakers. “Cy is sending battle information to your HUD. Look to the right quadrant.”
Amber light bloomed, with black figures against it. I flicked my gaze back and forth, watching the screen and the space in front of me while Cy’s voice played in my ears. “The Islan ship Wild Wind 3 is coming in from below you, targeting the Sun’s Orbit.
One of the figures on the HUD blinked. The Wild Wind 3 looked bigger than the Sun’s Orbit and the Sky Anvil put together.
Cy’s voice kept me from drifting past the current moment. “The Star Speed 1 is also coming in, from a different angle.”
The third ship, the Space Soldier 7, was farther away, but apparently close enough to pose a threat within a few hours.
Cy spoke to all of the human flying weapons he’d sent out. That included the three of us, but also a number of other manned ships, including the Lily Star. “Stay out of the way of the Orbit’s guns and stay invisible so you don’t draw fire.”
Thirty minutes passed.
I played with the bubble, named it Cat in my head, thinking of the paw-cats and the way they surprised, attacked, and then got away.
“Torpedo.” Cy’s voice.
A single line on my HUD showed it streaking in from above, which meant from Star Speed 1. I decided to call it One. So One fired a single torpedo, and the Sun’s Orbit fired back.
The two missiles chased each other through the sky and then detonated together.
“Another … Another … Another.”
Staccato.
Two of the incoming torpedo lines extended past the Orbit. One of those nicked the Anvil, which bucked but continued. The third torpedo put a hole in the Orbit.
A plume of gas leaked out but stopped quickly. Cy gave us no damage information for either ship. He simply called shots which were coming at us, and occasionally gave us navigation instructions to keep us clear of the Orbit’s own small ships. The Orbit seemed to be firing mostly defensively. But then, we were its primary offense, and there were no threats close enough for us to react to yet.
I practiced small maneuvers with Cat and kept a watchful eye on the enemy ships.
We lost three small manned ships. Only one of the pilots had time to curse.
The Orbit disgorged a swarm of small unmanned craft as the other Islan ships came closer.
We bobbed, waiting, trying not to be targets.
Cat was small and tight, and while I could stretch my wings, they were mostly in the way. Here I was, flying beautifully and faster than I’d ever flown, graceful as hell, but my wings themselves were cramped and in the way.
I blinked, told myself to focus.
A cloud of even smaller objects floated free of the Wild Wind 3.
Cy’s voice. “Tsawo? Can you three help shoot at those?”
“What are they?”
“I don’t know. But you might be able to kill them.”
All three of us flowed toward the objects. They were small metal boxes with thrusters, maybe a quarter the size of the Cat.
“Cy?” Tsawo said. “I don’t like these. I can’t tell what they do.”
“Are you close enough to shoot at one?”
“I’ll try.”
My fingers twitched, but I wasn’t the one with the orders to shoot.
A tiny flash of light gave away Tsawo’s position. The flying box darted at him, faster than I thought it should be able to.
Something hit the Cat, just above my head and slightly behind. A long metal claw appeared overhead.