“She’s ready to go, Hawk,” Varn said.
“Luther, you’re sure you know how to operate the Pod?” I verified. We had a replacement Pod from SeaTech on board, this one not painted like Holland’s, but she could fly just the same.
“I can do it.” Luther sounded confident.
“Good.” We were still out of range of the Squids, and I arced the Racer farther away, deciding to let the fleet of Stin distract the Velibar. Obelisk remained docked at the station, and I wondered if Preston was nearby with his ship. He was close, and I wished I knew where. I had so many questions for my grandfather.
An hour passed, and the Stin were nearing their opposition. They looked like gnats swarming an elephant, but I’d seen their hive mind in action on Refuge. I imagined it was a lot easier to win a battle when you lacked a physical body. The Stin didn’t have children or spouses at home to protect. They were programs, each a small piece of the main Stin we’d met with a few days ago.
“I’d better go,” Luther said. I clasped hands with him, meeting his gaze.
“Follow Zonrial’s lead. Get those Hidan loaded onto the Kvan Sabres and fly back to me, understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Luther snapped a salute and dashed off, climbing from the cockpit.
The planet of Biks filled my viewscreen. It looked pleasant enough, but dark angry clouds spread below in the direction we guessed the Hidan were held captive. “Hold on to your hats,” I told R11 and Jade, and plunged toward Biks.
Luther sped away in the Pod as soon as we broke into the atmosphere, and I saw the rounder Sage Sprinter join him. Aster and Luther dropped, moving alongside Trid and Zonrial’s Pursuer. I trailed behind them, anticipating some form of suborbital attack.
Lightning flashed across the black clouds, and I said a silent prayer as I sped into them. When we breached their underside, one of the forks struck our ship, then another. I accelerated, sinking closer to the ground. It was rolling green hills, with a red forest in the distance.
“Where are the Hidan?” I asked.
“I’ve released the probes,” Jade advised. “There’s a city two hundred kilometers across the forest.”
“Okay, that’s our destination.” I noticed Zonrial was taking the same path. Fifty Stin arrived directly above me and sped ahead, flanking the Pursuer. I wished I knew what was transpiring outside the planet. I left Varn to his fight, not wanting to distract the Racer pilot. Jinx would be helping him on the controls instead of Aster.
The flyers came from nowhere. One second, the coast was clear; the next, a dozen of the smaller Velibar fighters arrived, blasting pulses at us. I swerved Pilgrim out of the way, avoiding a blow. “R11, you’re on weapons!”
He acted quickly. His timing was impeccable. The enemy blew up under the barrage of strikes. I flew through the carnage, searching for another target. Five of the flyers were fending off Trid’s Pursuer. The Stin escorting them branched apart, leaving an opening just wide enough for one of the opposition. It fired on the Pursuer, hitting the shields. Another blast, and they flickered. Instead of shooting again, the flyer dove, landing hard into the Pursuer. A flare of fire erupted, and I lowered closer so R11 could fend off the second opponent attempting to duplicate his friend’s pattern.
We ended the threat, but the Pursuer was going down. They dropped as we soared over the red forest. “Zonrial, what’s your status?” I shouted into the comms.
“Our balancer has been damaged. We need to land,” she responded.
“Damn it. Jade, any clearings?”
“Searching. Nothing for fifty kilometers,” she said. “But I might have an idea.”
“Tell her, not me!”
Jade rushed to my side, speaking loudly. “Zonrial. Tell your crew to release the pressure in the cargo holds. Airlock them if you have to. This will give you enough buoyancy in the balancer to keep you upright until the clearing ahead.”
Another Velibar penetrated the Stin defenses, and one of the robot craft shot it down. A second Velibar fighter appeared directly behind it. R11 fired, but this shot went wide.
“We’ll attempt it,” Zonrial shouted. Their Pursuer dipped lower, snapping over the treetops. They weren’t going to make it.
A rush of debris flew from the rear of their ship, striking a Stin. It blew up, harming a flyer in the process. The Pursuer lifted again, and Zonrial let out a cheer over the comm lines. “Nice work, Serrano,” she said. “Going to the clearing now.”
The Stin took care of the last few adversaries as we went on, and finally, I spied the city in the distance. I’d been expecting something unimpressive, a lackluster colony for the Hidan. What emerged was anything but. It was an old, established city, unlike anything I’d ever witnessed.
“We have to land,” Zonrial advised us. They were still twenty kilometers from their goal. One of the other Pursuers came behind, settling to the clearing in the forest before them.
“Good luck. We’ll place the bombs,” I told her as I veered, breaking from our group.
“This is remarkable, Arlo. Are we sure we should be destroying it?” Jade asked.
“Stats, R11?”
“The city is forty-seven square kilometers in size, with twenty-six structures higher than fifty stories.” He continued rattling off facts, and my gaze drifted to a gigantic mountain looming behind the city in the horizon.
The storm was finally catching up to us, and the dark clouds rolled in, covering the metropolis. I used the viewscreen to zoom on the city, recognizing Velibar on the streets. They were walking about, traveling between buildings. It all looked so… normal.
In the center of the city was a massive body of water. The lake was protected by a series of the tallest structures, one of them glowing brightly with lights as the dark storm surged overhead.
“This isn’t a Hidan village,” Jade whispered.
I reached out to Zonrial. “I don’t think your people are here. This is a Velibar city.”
I continued flying low
