“Captain Murdock, two sigilships identified,” Volker said, the Sentry’s systems so much faster to register and report bogies than ours. “Passing their markers to you now.”

  “Copy,” I replied as the two ships appeared in yellow on the sensor grid. Nothing else had populated yet. “We’ve got them.”

  The launcher fell away and Matt hit the thrusters, pushing us the last fifty feet to the end of the tunnel and out into space.

  CHAPTER 18

  Immediately upon launch from Prestige, Matt scaled Head Case up to full size and took a hard turn to port, pointing us in the direction of the first sigilship. The grid began populating with the rest of the contacts around us, the sheer volume of nearby objects quickly filling the screen. The Sentries launched their starfighters on our tails from both the port and starboard tunnels, while the two sigilships bore down on us and nearly twenty enemy warships launched fighters of their own.

  One thing was for certain. Fake Commander Kritchek had cost us any chance of taking the enemy by surprise.

  Pumping out Voodoo Child, making plenty of mistakes along the way, I had to squint past the glow of the sigibellum to watch the displays and sensor grid. Our older computer could barely handle the traffic, updating too slowly to be of much use. Thankfully, I didn’t need it. Still thousands of kilometers distant, the sigilships stood out with their glowing hulls and the lightning that launched from them, stretching across the black to tickle the wings of the Royal starfighters. One went up in a quick burst of flame, the first casualty in the fight.

  “T-minus three minutes to orbital assault,” Commander Volker said over the officer’s channel.

  A volley of torpedoes shot past Head Case, splitting into three groups of four and targeting the Niflin corvettes trying to intercept us before we reached the sigilship. I activated absorb as the first ion cannon blasts pulsed across the black at us. So far, the enemy ships had only committed a small percentage of their firepower to the effort.

  The energy hit the invisible sphere surrounding us, the brightness joining that of the sigibellum bathing me in light. I didn’t hold onto the energy for long, gathering and dispersing it behind one of the groups of torpedoes, most of which hit their mark. The corvette’s shields flashed as they captured the destructive energy of the warheads, the damage enough to knock out the nodes. The combined energy of a dozen ion cannons flashed past the warship, burning a gash in its side. The corvette veered off its attack vector but didn’t lose power or leave the fight, switching to an alternate target instead.

  “Matt, keep an eye on that Sentry,” I said. “We don’t want to wander into any friendly fire.”

  “I’m just trying to avoid everything at once,” he replied with a laugh. “I don’t care which side it comes from.”

  Head Case changed directions, its vectoring thrusters throwing us sideways to escape the pair of enemy torpedoes that shot past us. I quickly pulled them into a passing Niflin starfighter, which had no chance against the powerful ordnance before returning my attention to the sigilship. The same problem that had dogged me during the last fight would repeat itself here. One-on-one, the fight was relatively balanced, but facing more enemy ships than that still presented a big problem. I had to remind myself we weren’t alone this time. Volker hadn’t and wouldn’t abandon us like Rickard had.

  “Commander,” I said. “I need two squadrons of fighters on that sigilship asap.”

  “Captain, we’ve already lost a dozen men to its attacks.”

  “Do you want to win this fight?” I replied.

  “Aye, Captain,” he answered.

  The grid revealed the selected squadrons quickly changing course and accelerating to join us, rocketing toward the sigilship from opposing flanks. Volker had picked the units well, and together we created a three-pronged assault against the vessel.

  “Justus, I want to see whether the archon plans to play offense or defense. Open fire.”

  “Aye, Captain,” he replied. The newly installed heavy ion cannons belched huge balls of energy across space ahead of us, covering thousands of kilometers in seconds and smacking into the sigilship. Regular shields flared, suggesting they were going to stick to offensive sigils unless they were in real trouble. The sigils on the enemy ship’s hull glowed a little brighter, a half-second’s warning before it activated.

  The Royal Guard starfighters split apart and spread out. I expected more lightning, only to have my jaw left agape when a ring of energy swept out from the ship like an exploding Death Star, catching Royal Guard ships on both sides of the sigilship in its path. Every starfighter hit by the ring disintegrated, not even leaving debris behind.

  “Geez,” Dryka whispered beside me. “Emerald’s right.”

  “Not if I can help it,” I replied. “Matt, get us in there!”

  “Captain, we just lost fourteen fighters with that attack,” Volker complained. I hated it too, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

  Head Case lunged forward, the increased thrust threatening to push too hard for me to play through. I kept my fingers moving, not even sure I was still playing anything recognizable as a song as I diverted some of the chaos energy into my construct. When the sigilship cast another ring of energy out ahead of us, I easily separated it with my construct, creating a path between them and us.

  “Justus, open fire!” I shouted.

  He didn’t hesitate, again firing heavy ions at the bow of the sigilship, which began frantically trying to turn out of our path, its powerful sigil momentarily spent. I enhanced the cannon fire as it left the turrets, adding chaos energy to its natural energy and giving it a reddish hue. Matt swung Head Case up and over the sigilship as the ion blasts smashed through the enemy’s shields, burning deep into its hull.

  I wasn’t finished yet. I pulled the sigilship backwards against its momentum, pouring energy into the maneuver. The effort put inordinate strain on the now-damaged superstructure, the bow stretching and bending out of shape. A web of cracks spread out from the holes the energy blasts had created, breaking the lines of the sigils and rendering them useless. “Volker, that one’s just a normie ship now,” I said. “Hit it hard.”

  “Copy,” he grunted back. The sensors showed four torpedoes streaking across space toward the sigilship’s stricken bow. I turned my head to the rear-view feed to watch multiple explosions tear the vessel apart.

  “One down,” I said. “One to…”

  I trailed off as a secondary defense fleet popped in from hyperspace. Thirty more ships immediately accelerated toward the fight.

  “Shit,” Matt said. “Maybe Emerald was right.”

  “Not you too,” I replied. “Focus on the sigilship.”

  “Captain, another sigilship,” Volker said, passing it to our computer. The ship turned yellow on the sensor display, joining the one Matt was already racing toward.

  Now that reinforcements had arrived, that ship suddenly seemed less inclined to get into a direct confrontation with us. It vectored in behind a friendly ship, using it for cover as it ran parallel to Prestige, lashing out with lightning bolts and cannon fire, stabbing at the Sentry. The huge ship’s shields remained constantly lit, deflecting as much energy as the enemy could dish out.

  But for how long?

  The Royal starfighters ganged up on the corvettes, launching coordinated strafing runs that managed to quickly tear out portions of their shields. Once they disabled their defenses, Prestige sent a barrage of guided torpedoes toward the corvettes, the blasts tearing deep into their hulls. Secondary explosions tore the ships apart, one after another.

  Three had fallen that way by the time we maneuvered around Prestige’s aft, still chasing the sigilship. Justus kept the ion cannons firing with surprising accuracy, the heavy ion blasts continuing to knock out enemy starfighters. For as impressive as it looked, the sheer number of bogies made the kills seem like a drop of water in a still-expanding ocean. Nearly fifty warships were converging on Privilege and Head Case, and if each one held only ten starfighters, that would make five hundred to the Sentry’s one hundred and forty-seven. We were badly outnumbered and overmatched.

  “T-minus two minutes to orbital assault,” Volker said, his voice remaining calm despite the chaos all around us.

  Prestige was taking a pounding, but it was also continuing to advance on the planet, moving into position to launch the four Marine dropships that would bring our ground attack into play. I had already toured the dropship where the newly-promoted Sergeant Tsu and her unit were deployed. I would be ready to take my away team over when the time came.

  The Royal Sentry, at least for the moment, was giving as good as she got. Dozens of ion cannons aligned across the ship’s hull spewed constant energy at the enemy, peppering shields and providing cover for the starfighters swarming each warship. Keeping an eye on the sensor grid, I continued pushing through Voodoo Child, layering in a few licks just to keep it fresh as I jammed.

  “Matt, swing past that corvette, but don’t slow down,” I ordered, spotting one of the larger Niflin warships moving into position to add its firepower to two others targeting the Sentry’s thrusters.

  “Aye, Captain,” Matt replied, my legs already straining as he changed his path, closing in on the impromptu target.

  I activated immolate, sending a gout of fiery plasma out across the black and into the corvette, spewing fire over its dragon design. The unnatural fire went right through the ship’s shields, breaching the hull and allowing the unforgiving emptiness of space inside. The corvette slowly fell apart, trailing debris and bodies sucked out of the open wounds.

  The change in vectors only cost us a few seconds of time.

  But it nearly cost us everything.

  The sigilship noticed my diversion and changed direction, shooting toward us at full burn. Tracing the glow of the active sigil, I recognized it as reflect.

  “Justus, the sigilship is reflecting; watch your fire,” I warned.

  “Aye aye,” he replied.

  I had just identified the sigil when the sensors lit up, the sigilship loosing a dozen torpedoes right at our face. Too close to avoid. Impact warnings flashed and blared through the displays. I abandoned reflect, afraid the ricochet might send the projectiles into Prestige, and just barely managed to activate absorb. I caught the energy of the detonations just ahead of the ship, the explosions blinding me and no doubt Matt as well. It left us vulnerable in the brightness ahead of us.

  Eyes clamped shut, I nearly lost my rhythm. “Ixy, pick me up!” I shouted.

  She started clacking, creating a pattern more intricate than a simple metronome. It matched my playing beat-for-beat, even though she had never heard the song before.

  “Disperse the energy, man,” Matt shouted, forgetting decorum in his desperation.

  I looked at the sensor grid, forgetting the displays. The second sigilship was nearing the first, the pair obviously planning to gang up on us. Still hampered by the whiteout, the first ship was already too close for comfort. Quickly eyeballing the three-dimensional projection, I held onto the absorbed energy as the two vessels closed in from opposing flanks. The second one slid over and behind the first one, engaging reflect as a shield while its archon activated something they probably hoped would overwhelm my absorb. Worst case, it would further blind us to whatever was happening beyond the energy.

  “Matt, do—”

  “I see it,” he interrupted before I could finish the order, flying by the sensors to alter Head Case’s position relative to the first sigilship. “Now!”

  I dispersed the energy, throwing it back at the lead sigilship. Safe behind its sphere of reflect, it didn’t even try to avoid the hit or change course, which was exactly what I had been hoping for. The released power skidded off the invisible shield, bouncing toward the second sigilship behind it. Its offensive sigils went dark, the defensive ones beginning to activate when it ran out of time. The energy slammed into the ship, crippling the shields and dealing a heavy enough blow to force the ship to break away from the fight. The remaining sigilship continued to charge hard, apparently intent on using its reflect sigil against Head Case as a battering ram. I didn’t know what would happen when we collided with it, and I didn’t want to find out.

  I activated push, using it to shove us up and away from the sigilship faster than the thrusters could manage. The sudden escalation in Gs pushed me to my knees, the huge weight shoving my hands off the guitar and nearly pushing Ixy off her web. Dryka and Shaq were flattened to the deck while Sheri and the others groaned under the strain.

  It was over in seconds, my loss of the music triggering a loss of the action. Fortunately, it didn’t matter. The sigilship shot past beneath us, already fighting to change direction. Glancing at the sensor grid, I noticed two squadrons of Royal Guard starfighters engaging the stricken sigilship, digging in hard where it was already damaged. A flash of lightning lanced out from it, catching four of the fighters, but the rest kept coming, peppering the damaged section of the hull until it split open, venting atmosphere and setting the ship adrift.

  Matt turned us around too, swinging Head Case toward the sigilship and pushing the mains to the max. The change in direction would slow us to a stop before we could build up speed again, making it a risky maneuver, especially with so many enemy corvettes around us. While most were still occupied with Prestige, a few had us in their sights, and they fired torpedoes, sending twelve projectiles shooting our way.

  From my knees, I started playing Voodoo Child, quickly gathering chaos energy and using it to pull us toward the enemy sigilship. The abrupt change in direction and velocity strained Head Case’s superstructure, creating loud whines and an echoing pop. Already on my knees, I was pushed backward so hard I let myself be thrown all the way onto my rear, my ankles bent painfully to keep my boots maglocked to the deck. Shaq dug his claws into the metal to hold himself in place, while Dryka maglocked her hands to remain stable.

  Somehow I managed to keep playing.

  Having changed direction so fast put us right on top of the enemy sigilship, still drifting backward as it fought to correct its out of control roll. The ship’s archon renewed reflect, hoping to keep us at bay.

  “T-minus one minute to orbital assault,” Volker announced. “Captain, we’re taking heavy damage. I don’t know how much longer we can last.”

  “You need to last one more minute,” I growled back.

  “There are too many of them.”

  “If we lose here, the whole Spiral is lost!” I snapped. “Do you want that on your head, Commander?”

  “No, Captain.”

  My eyes returned to the enemy sigilship, decelerating in front of us, maintaining its defensive posture. Right now, it was doing as good a job by keeping us out of the fight with the corvettes as it would do by attacking.

  “Matt, forget the sigilship; go for the nearest corvette.”

  “Forget him?” Matt replied. “Are you—”

  “Do it!” I shouted back.

  “Aye, Captain,” he replied, peeling away from the sigilship and sending us rocketing toward a corvette.

  “Volker, we’re coming to you,” I said. “Mind the sigilship, he’s not out of the fight.”

  As we approached, Justus opened fire on the corvette, and I enhanced the energy blasts, combining chaos energy with ions to pummel the enemy’s shields. A squadron of Royal starfighters swung in behind us and finished up the job while we hopped to the next target, this time using immolate to burn it out of the battle.

  The enemy sigilship, needing to quickly come to a stop and reverse to accelerate again and then come to a stop, fell further and further behind. It gave us time to race among the other warships, inflicting heavy damage with both our sigiltech and gun batteries. The pressure against Prestige decreased as the Sentry made headway against its targets. The enemy was down seven corvettes within thirty seconds.

  We couldn’t have cut it much closer.

  “Thirty seconds to assault,” Volker said.

  Prestige had nearly reached the drop point just inside the planet’s upper atmosphere. We were still twenty seconds or so away from the dropships, but distance didn’t matter for us.

  “Dryka, you’re up,” I said, eying the constant flashes of battle all around us, while small bits of debris burned unceasingly against our shields. It would take another five minutes for the dropships to reach the surface. I had to be on the dropship Fireline to ensure at least one of them made it down.

  “What about the sigilship?” she asked as I hopped off the sigibellum, still playing. “I’m not strong enough to destroy it.”

  “Focus on the corvettes. The fewer there are, the better Prestige can hold its own against the sigilship. You don’t need to do anything fancy, just stay alive for a few more minutes and help the Sentry get clear.”

  She stepped onto the sigibellum, crouching down to touch it with her hand. It immediately lit up, responding to the chaos energy it helped her pull through the veil. The ease of the process left me jealous.

  “Ten seconds to assault.”

  “Away team, release!” Ki shouted. Sheri and the others tapped the bar over their waists, releasing the restraints, which swung up and away. Meanwhile, I activated my sigils through my construct, quickly opening a portal that would take us to the dropship, Fireline, while moving to their positions.

  “Matt, away team is transiting now. You have the ship.”

  “Aye, Captain,” he replied. “I have the ship.”

  “Volker, we’re transiting now.”

  The away team grabbed onto one another with me in the lead, Ki right behind me, his hand clamping down on one of my shoulders as Shaq jumped to the other.

  “Good hunting, Duchess,” I shouted to Dryka. I couldn’t tell if she heard me or not, her full attention fixed on the sensor grid and the threats surrounding us.