It was true. The two crescent ships that had put themselves in front of us hadn’t changed course. Green beams of energy struck our ship, and yellow bolts answered. The one on the right was smoking, but it was far from being out of commission.
I had to think fast. Why are they flying right at us? What do they expect us to do? Are they really willing to sacrifice themselves to destroy us? I thought the latter was probably true. However, if they were willing to sacrifice two ships in order to take us out, why not all four?
“Target the ship on the right!” I ordered. “Nyna, slam us right into it at the last possible second!”
She didn’t respond, but I felt the ship begin to drift slightly to the right as our guns opened up. And as the crescent ship came apart, Nyna jerked us hard to the right while rolling in the same direction. The impact was hard enough to let us know we hadn’t completely destroyed the crescent ship, but we’d survived, which meant it had been enough.
“We took a lot of damage on that one,” Nyna said. “I’m seeing systems down all over the place. The fires are out, but power is down by ten percent. There’s a rattle somewhere, too.”
“Keep fighting,” I ordered my team. “Take us back to the controller!”
Nyna pitched the nose of our ship down hard and to the left as she drove us straight for the enemy vessel. All four guns opened up, and though we were still far away, little explosions on the enemy’s hull told us we were close enough.
I held the trigger of my gun down and thought about the Lakunae. If they were watching out for me—or intervening on my behalf—I hoped they’d hear my thoughts and guide my hands and my crew. We needed the triangular ship destroyed. It was the only way to achieve peace on the planet.
I watched the temperature gauge on my little screen increase. I wasn’t sure how hot the thing could get before it shut itself down, slowed its rate of fire, or exploded, but it didn’t matter. If the controller ship didn’t go down, we didn’t have a chance anyway.
Nyna pulled up at the last minute, and I was left without a target, wishing we still had the second belly-gun. Skrew would have had a field day peppering the ship every time we passed. When Nyna turned the ship and prepared for another pass, we found ourselves in the thick of it again.
There were thirteen little fighters left, but the way they were swarming, it felt like a thousand. They didn’t seem to be targeting us anymore. Instead, their goal was to get our pilot to panic and flee, but Nyna was made of tougher stuff than that. Three more explosions announced three more dead Xeno, and when Nyna saw the opportunity, she rolled our craft to the left and took one out with the edge of our ship.
The impact was hard, but we emerged from the swarm and found one of the crescent ships drifting below us. Nyna turned us toward it and gave all the gunners a clear shot, which we took, shredding the vessel into confetti.
Then, the world began to spin.
“What’s going on?” I called out to Nyna.
“Two little ones,” she grunted, “rammed us! I didn’t see them coming.”
Our ship spun and rolled. Everything was a blur, and it felt like my eyes were being sucked from my skull. Since I was certain there weren’t any friendly aircraft around, I kept my finger on my gun’s trigger. I imagined our ship looked like a spinning saw blade chewing through a cloud of nails, with sparks shooting in every direction. Two seconds later, the world righted itself, but the ship continued to rattle.
We’d lost a lot of altitude and were smashing through trees as Nyna worked hard to bring the nose of our vessel up. There was a smashing noise before a cloud of smoke filled the cabin.
“I’m okay!” Reaver called out. “But my gun’s down. Keep going!”
We were down to half our firepower. The situation was getting desperate, but Nyna had pulled us from the trees. I found myself thanking Tortengar for not sparing expenses or effort building this fine ship. It was too bad the thing would be no more than a heap of rubble by the time we were done with it. Well, it would have served more than its purpose.
“Re-engage!” I ordered Nyna.
She did, pulling up hard on her controls so that we were headed straight at the belly of the control ship. The remaining vessels were swarming around it like a cloud, but as we drew closer, they coalesced in our path.
“They will not let us attack their mother,” Beatrix said.
“Attack ugly mother!” Skrew roared as he fired.
I started firing as well and a moment later, Beatrix joined.
“Everyone, shoot the same spot!” I roared, spurred on by Skrew’s enthusiasm. “We need to drill a hole through this bitch, ignore everything else! Nyna, keep us on course! It’ll be a rough ride, but we can do it. Don’t turn for anything!”
Nyna didn’t answer, and I didn’t bother turning my head. I knew she was scared. I knew they were all scared, but our ship was tough, and I was certain she could take it. The people of Druma, this world, needed us to keep fighting, and they needed us to win. The Ish-Nul would likely become the focus of the Xeno’s wrath. They were now in charge of a city the bugs had once owned. They had helped to ruin the Xeno’s plans, and now, their slave-breeding planet was causing them no small measure of trouble.
Time seemed to stretch out into infinity as I watched each individual energy bolt leave my gun. Two other guns were firing in the exact same spot as a shower of hot sparks began to rain down on us.
One of the little ships broke off from the
