“Pardon?” Carrak coughed. “A rock?”
“It’s about the size of my head,” Ziaexplained. “He knows I don’t have any ammo. Even the paint is gone,and I’ll bet he’s been keeping track of it. So he won’t beexpecting anything. But I can throw the rock at him. Try to hit hismain camera. That’s my goal. And even if my aim is off a little, itmight startle him enough so he miscalculates his trajectory. ThenI’ll use my jets to keep my balance.”
“You picked up a rock?”
Zia grinned. “Good thinking, right?”
“Yes. Very innovative. We should see whatcomes of it. Are you ready, Quito?”
“Yes.” Zia turned the intercom back on. “Rem?Can you hear us?”
“What happened? I lost you for a minute. Ifigure you either messed something up or you were plotting againstme.”
Carrak’s voice resounded over the airwaves.“Are you ready, Captain Stone? On my signal, you will topple theQuito colossus. Ready? Go.”
It all happened in an instant. Rem fired hisjets and headed into a classic swoop pattern. Zia raised her rightarm as if to fire, and she heard him chuckle, which told her he hadindeed been keeping track of her paint supply, and therefore knewshe was bluffing.
He didn’t bother protecting his camera as hebegan his descent, and by the time Zia hurled the rock, it was toolate for him to do so. She wasn’t sure she hit the camera dead-on,but she took two quick steps backward in the hope that she had doneso, and that he would now be blind—at least until he switched to anauxiliary camera or resorted to the view from his paint-splatteredwindshield.
For extra insurance, she took an additionalstep to the left.
And just like that, Rem adjusted his pathwith pinpoint accuracy.
The crash was deafening, the impactmonstrous. And the second impact, as she and her colossus hit theground, was even worse. Zia screamed with fear and frustration,then screamed again, with absolute hilarity, as she realized Rem’sskirmisher had just landed on the ground beside her with ananticlimactic thud.
“Did you see that?” Zia demanded happily.“General Carrak! I took him down with me. Did you see it?”
“Wait till I get my hands on you,” Rem warnedher, his voice dazed. “Man, I didn’t see that coming. Whatthe hell was it? It totally effed up my timing.”
“General Carrak?” Zia asked again. “Hetoppled me, but I toppled him too. That must count for something,right?”
A somber voice replied. “Captain Quito? Thisis Taryak. General Carrak has been taken to the hospital.”
“What? Is she okay?”
“Her lung collapsed a few moments ago. Butshe would not allow the doctors to remove her until she witnessedyour maneuver. I do not blame her. It was an inspiring sight.”
“Her lung? Oh, God, how serious is that?”
“We will know soon. In the meantime, she lefta message for you.” Taryak’s tone was soft with finality. “She saidto tell you congratulations. You may have her place in thechallenge.”
Chapter17
All his life, Rem Stone had wanted to be likeDaniel Quito—to topple a colossus with a skirmisher, and then savean entire planet in a glorious one-on-one battle. Skirmisher versusskirmisher. He couldn’t imagine anything better.
But he had never really understood orappreciated Daniel Quito’s most important quality—the ability tolead. To inspire confidence. To fight unselfishly. To fight evenwhen defeat seemed inevitable.
Now on the morning of the second challenge,Rem needed to be exactly like his hero. But he didn’t knowhow. All he could think of doing was jumping into a shuttle,leaving the safety of the Malaran transport, and traveling to theAlluvan vessel to negotiate a new configuration. Convince them topull back their giants. To make this a skirmisher-versus-skirmisherbattle like he had always wanted it to be.
But that wasn’t going to happen. In place ofhis dream, Rem was living a nightmare. Two giants and a skirmisheron the Alluvan side. And for the Malarans? One giant—pilotedby an inexperienced girl; a skirmisher with a recuperating prowlerpilot at the helm; and Rem in the Quito skirmisher.
Two-one versus one-two.
It wasn’t just that it had never worked yet.Or that it had never even been tried before.
It couldn’t work. At least notnow.
With Carrak—the hero of Zellot—it might have.Probably not, but there would have been hope.
Instead, this was going to be a massacre.
And the worst part was, the others knew ittoo. Zia’s bravado had descended into despair the moment she heardthat Carrak—her leader, her hero—wasn’t going to be part of theteam. And Annyak? She was more martyr than anything else—gloriousin her self-sacrifice, but also quiet in her acceptance of thetruth: she was going to die today.
They were all going to die. And there wasn’ta damned thing Jeremiah Stone could do about it.
* * * *
“Maybe we should go over our strategy onemore time.”
Zia exhaled slowly, knowing she should try toseem upbeat, just for Rem’s sake. But what was the point? They hadlost their best colossus. They were about to be massacred. Therewasn’t any strategy in the universe that could controvert thatsimple, unavoidable fact.
“Okay,” she murmured, settling down at theconference table in the strategy room of the Malaran transport.They were headed for Jairqua, which would again serve as thechallenge site, this time in less than two hours. “The whole ideais for you to take down one of their giants right away. Right?Annyak’s job is to use her skirmisher to distract theAlluvan skirmisher. My job is to engage the second giant—hopefullywithout getting myself killed so quickly it sets a newwarrior-challenge record.”
Rem nodded. “You can do it, Zee. Trust me.When they see your silver-and-red giant, they’ll quake. Usethat. Buy me some time.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll take down thefirst giant, then go after the second one. When I’m doing that,you’ll both team up against their skirmisher. Annyak? Jump him.You’re an amazing strategist, so I know you can do it. Quito? Justkeep firing. Target his jets. You’ve got phenomenal aim, so useit.”
Annyak gave a laugh that sounded even moreskeptical through the muffled speaker of the oxygen mask she waswearing to prevent being infected by already afflicted Malarans.“It would be ambitious to ask a skirmisher to take down onegiant. Our
