But he didn’t know what else to do.

  “Do you have any other suggestions?”

  Abort the mission. Land in another city. We’ll locate General Haeri on our terms.

  “And what about Sheriff Duke?”

  He can take care of himself.

  “Vyte knows we’re here, and we urged Hayden to move forward with the plan knowing Haeri was in trouble. We practically wrapped him in a damn bow. And I’m supposed to just walk away?”

  And live to fight another day. Sheriff Duke knew the risk. He decided to take it. If you fire on the Centurion Space Force, they will shoot us down and kill us.

  “I understand that.” Caleb paused, another thought crossing his mind. “But maybe that’s the best thing they can do.”

  You lost me.

  Caleb’s mind burned through the scenario as it started to come into better focus. Vyte had instructed the Judici to bring Hayden to the Judicus Office at Centurion Prime. The only reason that made sense was so he could bait Caleb into coming after him, saving the effort of having to locate a Skinned human in a city of millions. By locking out the dome, he was making Caleb use force to have a shot at rescuing Hayden.

  I don’t understand the part where doing exactly what Vyte wants is the best thing we can do.

  The Space Force would try to shoot him down. And they would succeed. The Stiletto would crash somewhere inside the dome, but Caleb wouldn’t be in it when it did. He would bail out and use the Skin to make himself disappear, just another Centurion or Judicus among the crowd. If he was successful, he would have freedom of movement in a base already on alert and scrambling to clean up the sudden mess. The chaos would help cover his presence long enough for him to find Hayden before it was too late. Then they could escape into Praeton together and continue the hunt for General Haeri.

  And if you aren’t successful?

  They would be dead, and it wouldn’t matter.

  It matters to me. I’m not in favor of this plan.

  “Are you ever in favor of my plans?”

  When they’re good plans. It isn’t my fault they rarely are.

  “We’re desperate, Ish.”

  There’s a difference between being desperate and stupid. Please don’t do this.

  Caleb eyed the dome ahead, closing at a decent clip.

  “Judicus Crux, this is Control. You have entered Praeton airspace without authorization. Divert to an alternate location immediately, or you will be considered hostile. Do you copy, Judicus? Divert to an alternate location, or we will shoot you down.”

  Caleb exhaled, lowering his head slightly as a series of thoughts passed through the helmet to the ship’s computer, arming the Stiletto’s missiles.

  Caleb.

  “Judicus Crux, you have ten seconds to comply,” Control said.

  Caleb fixed the aiming reticle on the metal that surrounded the dome’s seal, preparing to fire.

  Caleb. This isn’t going to work.

  He wasn’t going to let Ishek’s negativity stop him. He had come to Proxima with Hayden. They were a team.

  And he didn’t leave his teammates behind.

  Caleb, we’ll find him another way. This is a bad idea.

  “Judicus Crux, you have five seconds to comply,” Control said. “Four. Three.”

  Caleb, Sheriff Duke would want us to finish the primary mission. Otherwise his wife and children died for nothing.

  “One.”

  A thought disarmed the missiles and sent the starfighter into a hard bank away from the Centurion base. Caleb’s hands balled into fists, seething inwardly at his decision to let Ishek change his mind.

  “Diverting, Control,” he spat into the comm. “Thanks for nothing.”

  He looked back at the base, trying to find the tower at the edge of the tarmac. He flinched as one of the Stilettos on the ground inside the dome exploded.

  What the hell?

  26

  Aeron

  “Now!” Tora snapped, rising from her position near the edge of the Judicus Department building.

  Aeron joined her in a sprint from the front corner of the structure around to the rear entrance. Alarms began to blare in the background. They had reached the next corner when the second of Tora’s timed explosives detonated, blasting another Stiletto into smoke and ash.

  That explosion was followed by shouts from the Centurions who had come running after the first explosion, along with the exodus of additional men and women waking to the sudden alarm, hastily grabbing their gear and scrambling out of the barracks behind the hangar.

  It was the riskiest part of Tora’s plan to create a diversion. While the explosions would draw the guards and Centurions scattered around the base to a central location, it was going to add to the number of combatants on the scene. The hope was that the units who reacted to the attack would spend the next few minutes disorganized and confused, and then searching for the source near the detonation. It would give Aeron and Tora the time they needed to enter the Judicus Department, locate Sheriff Duke and get him to safety.

  Aeron turned the corner, staying close against the wall with Tora less than a meter in front of him. Behind him, shouting from near the hangar increased in volume and density. Then he heard the whine of reactors powering up and paused.

  What the hell?

  Aeron had listened to Stilettos powering up enough times to know the sound, but he didn’t understand why they were powering up now. Did they think the attack had come from outside the dome? All Command had to do was look at the sensor data and they would know there was nothing out there to fight.

  “Aeron!” Tora hissed, regaining his attention. He whipped his head back, realizing the rear door to the Judicus Department was open. A pair of dark-armored clones moved into the split, taking up guard positions at the door.

  As if they knew the explosions were an intentional distraction.

  As if they were expecting him.

  The clone on the left turned in their direction. There was nowhere to hide in the two-meter wide corridor of the split. No way to keep the guard from seeing them. Both clones turned in unison, rifles coming up.

  Aeron fired first, ion blasts crossing over Tora’s shoulder and hitting the first guard in the chest. Tora’s rounds slammed into the second, punching into his combat armor and through, knocking him down.

  “They were waiting for us,” Tora said. “They knew you would come for him. We should have gone to the spaceport.”

  Aeron was about to answer her when a dark streak crossed over the dome. An aircraft was out there after all.

  “Did you organize that?” Aeron asked Tora, pointing to the bright blue of thrusters as the aircraft accelerated away.

  She shook her head. “Stay focused.”

  Aeron stared at the ship until he couldn’t see it anymore. Whoever it had been, he didn’t blame them for trying to get out of the area. He could hear the whooshing of the seals between the interior and exterior of the dome beginning to open, and the whining hum of an entire wing of fighters preparing to rise to meet the threat. Command must have thought this ship had something to do with the explosions, though he had no idea how that could be.

  He felt sorry for the poor bastard for being in the worst possible place at the worst possible time.

  “General!” Tora snapped, finally using his title to get his attention.

  Aeron looked back at her, their eyes meeting. He wasn’t normally this distracted. He chided himself for getting sloppy, joining her as they approached the rear door. They were just meters away when the door swung open again. A pair of rifles emerged from the exit, the guards remaining in a safe position behind the door and using the link to their combat network to aim around it.

  “Shit,” Aeron said as he hit the ground and rolled to one side of the space, Tora to the other. He came up on one knee and took aim as bullets crackled from the doorway and down the split between them. Aeron fired a single shot, catching the shooter in his gun hand before pivoting to hit the next. Before he could fire, a knife sprouted from the back of the second guard. His rifle clattered to the ground.

  Aeron jumped up, sprinting ahead as the two more clones exited the door, pistols in their hands. Aeron trained his blaster on them, prepared to fire.

  Loud booms echoed from inside the building. One guard’s head snapped sideways, and then the other’s. They both fell into a combined heap, their heads turned to mush inside their helmets. Aeron glanced at Tora, receiving a shrug in response. The bullets had come from inside the building.

  Aeron kept his blaster up, approaching the doorway more cautiously. Then another person stepped out, trailed by two more. A smile creased Aeron’s face as he slowed to a stop, staring at Sheriff Duke in amazed disbelief.

  “I take it that’s our objective?” Tora asked, noticing his expression and stopping beside him.

  “It is.”

  “He’s a mess,” she offered quietly.

  “So are you.”

  Sheriff Duke walked toward Aeron. The people behind him were familiar to him as well.

  “General Haeri,” Hayden said. “If you’re here to rescue me, you’re a little late.”

  Tora huffed in amusement. “I like him.”

  “Sheriff Duke,” Aeron replied. “I should have guessed you wouldn’t need my help, though I wouldn’t have guessed you would have recruited new deputies so quickly. Nova. Jason.”

  “General,” Colonel Gray said. “It’s good to see you in one piece, sir.”

  “Thank you,” Aeron said. “It’s good to still be in one piece. Sheriff, this is Tora. Also known as Code Nineteen.”

  “A pleasure,” Tora said, nodding to him.

  “Likewise,” Hayden replied.

  “You’re Code Nineteen?” Gray said. “I always thought—”

  “What you were supposed to think,” Aeron interrupted.

  “We need to go,” Tora said.

  “I assume you have a plan to get us out?” Hayden asked.

  “I do. Always be ready, Sheriff.”

  Aeron looked up as a large, dark shape came around the corner of the building in front of him. Hayden noticed his reaction immediately, head whipping back around to see what he saw.

  A Defender robot pivoted in place, a pair of twin-barreled cannon arms taking aim at the group.

  “Are you ready for that?” Hayden asked.

  27

  Caleb

  They’re coming.

  “I can see that,” Caleb replied, his eyes glued to the five red pyramids on the tactical grid projected through his helmet. “But why?”

  It was obvious they thought he had something to do with the explosions down below, but he had peeled off at the last second, letting Ishek convince him to abandon his rescue of Sheriff Duke against what he thought was his better judgment.

  Was it better? He still wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter now. For better or worse, he had made his choice.

  “Judicus Crux, a wing of Stilettos are coming to escort you into Centurion Prime,” Control said. “I’m sending you a flight path now. You will maintain that path until the wing is in position, and then you will remain within their zone of control until you’re skids down on the tarmac. If you show even a hint of failing to follow this procedure, you will be blown out of the sky. Do you understand?”

  “I understand,” Caleb replied. “I knew I could get you to let me in.”

  “Do you think this is a joke, Judicus?”

  “Negative, Control,” Caleb growled as the flight pattern appeared on the grid. “I’ve received the path. I’m entering it now.”

  He guided the Stiletto into the flight path, carefully following the heading, altitude and velocity outlined by the orders and locking them into the computer. He turned his head, looking down at the Centurion base as the airlocks finished sliding open. He could see the six Stilettos lined up on the tarmac, ready to launch. He also saw the burning wrecks of the damaged ships on the ground from the rear of the starfighter and more activity from the front. An APC was crossing the base, a pair of robots pounding the tarmac on either side of it. The machines reminded him of a Badger, with twin-barreled cannons for arms and a loping gait. They were probably more advanced derivatives of that original and now antiquated design.

  He followed their path to identify their destination, his eyes freezing on a group of people pouring out from the front of one of the buildings.

  One of them was Sheriff Duke.

  “Shit,” Caleb said, leaning forward and tilting his head to keep his eyes on the action below. Hayden and the others noticed the APC. They turned and started running, trapped between the approaching forces and a group of Centurions who had responded to the initial explosion. “Damn it. We have to do something.”

  The wing of Stilettos beginning to lift off the ground had his full attention. They accelerated through the seals and out into the open.

  Caleb’s heart started to race as he shifted his attention from Hayden to the starfighters and back. When he and Hayden had entered the portal, he expected a much more stealthy and subtle approach. This was as far away from that as he could imagine.

  “Judicus Crux,” Control said. “You were advised to remain in the flight path as prescribed. According to my sensors, you’ve deviated by three degrees.”

  “What?” Caleb snapped back, looking at the grid. He watched as the flight path suddenly changed, shifting to intentionally put him out of it.

  Vyte.

  “Son of a bitch,” Caleb spat, the cockpit suddenly chaotic, red alert lights flashing and audible warnings buzzing.

  The wing wasn’t moving into place to escort him.

  It was moving into place to destroy him.

  Caleb banked hard, taking sudden evasive maneuvers only moments before the lead Stiletto achieved missile lock. The reprieve was temporary. The rest of the wing changed their vectors to give chase.

  “This is ridiculous,” Caleb growled, straining against the sudden g’s he was pulling to evade the fighters behind him. He threw the craft into another hard turn, swinging the nose up and increasing thrust. Plasma bolts sizzled past the fighter, coming within centimeters of slagging the fuselage as he darted past.

  I recall you wanted to be shot down a few minutes ago.

  “Shut up,” Caleb said, rolling the fighter over as more plasma blasts zipped by. Ishek wasn’t completely wrong, but he had planned to get into position inside the damn dome before he was forced to eject. Instead, he was shooting high over the military base and the bubbles of Praeton below, while Sherriff Duke was down there and in trouble.

  He had to get down there.

  He eyed the tactical again, quickly absorbing the positions of the enemy starfighters. They had split into two groups, one trio tracking behind him while the other had broken off to try for a better angle of attack.

  The warning tones continued blaring in his ears, the computer telling him the craft on his ass were still trying to achieve missile lock. He couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if they managed to shoot him down and he crashed into one of the civilian domes. Could the material withstand that kind of hit?

  As if combat against the enemy wasn’t hard enough, it was doubly hard when he had no idea who the real enemy was. Were the pilots of the other Stiletto’s khoron-infected? Was the Centurion on the other side of the comm? Were the Marines following orders from someone they didn’t know was Relyeh?

  “Ish, you need to go into the Collective. You need to see what you can do. Vyte already knows we’re here. He knows where we are. It’s a resource we can use, and we need to use it.”

  He winced as he felt the sudden pressure of Ishek’s compliance, at the same time he guided the Stiletto into another sharp turn, angling the nose downward. If he could get the craft into a steep dive and then corkscrew around, he might be able to align his vector with the base airlock.

  A quick visual search found Hayden and the others running full-speed down one of the streets, making a beeline for a building on the opposite end.Before the Badger robots could get a clear line of sight to shoot, they dove for cover. The APC had stopped in the street further down, dozens of black-armored Centurions jumping out and giving chase behind the powerful machines. It was only a matter of time before Vyte’s forces caught up to them, putting an end to any hope they had of finding the answers they needed.

  Caleb, two of the pilots are khoron.

  Caleb rolled the fighter, breaking another near lock. The second half of the starfighter wing was almost in position. He couldn’t shake them and stay on course to enter the base at the same time.

  “Switch places with me.”

  Caleb closed his eyes. Only for a second, but it was a dangerous move at their current velocity. He felt the change almost instantly, his awareness sinking back as Ishek’s surfaced, seizing control of the starfighter.

  “I’ve never flown a starfighter before,” Ishek said.

  Just think about what you want it to do, and it will try to do it. Don’t screw it up, or we’re going to die.

  Caleb could still see through his eyes, but he had no control over where Ishek looked or how his body reacted. In exchange, he gained what he could only describe as a new sense. A natural connection to the Collective, currently closed off.

  He opened it as if he were opening a door and stepped through. An immediate weight fell on him, a vague sense of the billions of Relyeh on the network descending into his understanding. He had to be quick. If Vyte sensed him, he would use Nyarlath to overpower him. And then he would die.

  The khoron were close. He found them easily, splitting his attention between the pair. They fought back, pushing against his sudden invasion. They couldn’t resist. All of the traits that had made him a standout Marine made him more powerful in the Collective. His focus. His resolve. His willpower. Their walls crumbled away, Caleb’s inner senses gaining sight of the world through both their eyes.

  He was suddenly inside the cockpits of two Stilettos, not surprised to find the khoron were the wing commander and his second. Half of him was trailing almost directly behind Ishek, the other having nearly completed the maneuver to put his body and the Advocate in the firing line.