Alex patched to Roy. “The meteor is going to fire again, but this time it’s going for the left side.”
“Gotcha,” Roy replied. “Left side, when you hear the thing fire, scatter. Once the beam passes, reform and take out any leftover vermin, got it?”
A chorus of “Hell, yeah” filled the comm system.
The confident response was quickly cut off by the sound of the meteor’s energy beam firing again. The air grew hot and acidic with energy as another green beam rocketed toward the riders. They were barely able to swerve out of its path of destruction, narrowly missing being obliterated.
Luckily, there were no casualties this time, and since the riders had enough of a heads up, only a few creatures escaped from the tight net the riders had cast.
Alex continued to push on with Roy and Jim. Gill’s voice cut into her comm. “Hey,” he said. “You know that click we keep hearing? That’s the meteor gearing up to fire. We have thirty or so seconds from the click until it fires. It also seems like the meteor needs to recharge for up to five minutes before each shot.”
Alex was constantly impressed by Gill. Even when she didn’t know what he was doing, the drow was always thinking, working out how to get around a problem. “All right, let Roy and Toppinir know too. Maybe they can think of something.”
There was a half-formed plan hatching in Alex’s mind, and it had nothing to do with what Gill had just told her. That was someone else’s problem. She had one right in front of her, and the solution was becoming more obvious.
Hey, Chine, how big can you make the gravity warper?
Roughly the size of the meteor above us. Give or take a few meters.
Perfect. On my call, I want you to kick it into gear, but I want the gravity field over all of these creeps. Triple it toward the ground. All right?
Understood.
Alex patched into Toppinir, Roy, and Jim. “Hey, guys, the longer we do this, the more likely it is we’re going to get fried.”
Roy laughed bitterly and replied, “I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of a suicide mission.”
“Well, I have a way to speed it up. When I say go, we push down hard, all right?”
“If it gets me out from under the giant green death ray, I’m more than happy to do it.”
Alex leaned forward and shouted, “Now!” as she plunged. Chine activated his gravity field, and there was a noticeable tug downwards. Alex watched as a nearly invisible aura spread over the dragonriders and the monsters they were herding.
Then gravity really kicked in. Alex was yanked to the ground. Chine shot off small bursts of ether fire to encourage the monsters to move faster. In a few seconds, the entire seething mess of riders and monsters was rocketing down at the speed of a falling elevator.
Roy popped out of his cockpit for a second to get a better look at what was happening. “Yippee-ki-yay!” he shouted before ducking back into his mech.
The dragonriders didn’t have much control at this point, but it didn’t matter. The gravity well was driving everything groundward anyway. The only problem was how they were going to stick the landing. Chine, deactivate the gravity well a few feet from the ground, all right? Alex suggested.
Chine already knew what Alex was thinking. Will that be enough time?
Let’s hope it is.
Alex patched into the rest of the dragonriders. “All right, guys, the gravity is going to disengage in a couple of seconds. We gotta pull up after that. Otherwise, we’re going to crash into the ground, all right?”
There was a murmur of agreement as the dragonriders prepared for the last-minute change to the trajectory.
The ground was rushing up fast. Alex could hardly see it through all the beating wings beneath her, but when she caught a glimpse, she knew it was going to be a hard maneuver, even by her standards. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too much for the rest of the riders.
From above came the familiar dread-inducing click. Alex’s heart sank. She assumed the same was happening for the rest of the riders. Forty-five seconds, tops. That was all they were going to have to pull this off.
Alex counted to herself as she felt the gravity start to loosen up. Chine was slowly tapering it off, giving the rest of the riders more freedom to determine how they were going to pull up.
Then the gravity cut off. Alex had lost count of how long had passed since the meteor’s last click, but it didn’t matter. The important thing right now was making sure she didn’t go headfirst into the ground. Alex pulled up with everything she had and banked left. The rest of the riders did the same.
As the dragonriders tried to avoid the ground and move in another direction, the meteor fired, a hellblast of green energy penetrating the ground. The riders scattered like chaff in the wind, many of them being tossed around by the vacuum created by the energy beam.
The monsters weren’t as lucky as the riders. Still caught in the throes of the gravity well and without competent riders, they were all but defenseless. The green energy beam cut through the monsters, turning their bodies to flames and ashes.
Alex was overjoyed as she looked over her shoulders. The green energy beam faded. “Talk about a lucky break!” she shouted.
Roy cackled over the comm. “All right, riders, let’s mop this mess up!”
The dragonriders descended on the remaining monsters, Toppinir leading the charge. He started in the same fashion the riders had used to corral the monsters initially, forcing the remaining creatures out of the vantage point of the energy beam.
It was time for Alex to finish what she had started. She and Chine swooped through the vrosks and bats, which were tripping over each other, flapping their wings
