I looked around. We were jumbled up every which way, all our arms and legs entangled and none of us moving. Shattered window glass lay all over us. Somewhere off to my right, I recognized Tyler’s groan. “Tee, you okay?”

  “Been better. Still alive. I think.”

  “I might have broken my hand,” Ally offered, her voice barely audible. “Damn, it hurts.”

  Matt picked up his head and looked around before glancing out through his shattered window. “We need to keep moving. The shuttle’s deploying mercs.”

  That was enough to get everyone crawling out of the closest broken window, and into the street. I paused, remaining crouched low as I watched a half-dozen armored figures drifting down from the shuttle toward the ground like Iron Man, bright blue flames firing from the bottoms of their boots. A whine from behind stole my attention, and I cringed when the armored transport that had been hot on our tail finally caught up. It stopped two blocks back to unload Zariv’s bots.

  “Come on, you two-legged toasters!” Tyler angrily dared, waving his metal fist at them. “I got a knuckle sandwich right here for ya! Come and get it.”

  “Zariv’s dead. Why do they keep coming after us?” I griped.

  “Maybe because we killed him?” Ally answered, voice quivering.

  “There’s no way out of this,” I murmured, losing hope. Zariv’s forces wouldn’t be kind to the group responsible for their leader’s demise. I absently wondered if Zariv had a vengeful offspring like Nyree.

  “This way!” Matt called out, pointing to the apartment building adjacent to our mini war zone. The place looked empty, apparently abandoned for the burbs.

  We broke for the cover, Matt firing wildly toward the first two mercenaries to reach the asphalt. They fell to their stomachs to lower their profiles, resting rifles on the pavement and returning fire. Their aim wasn’t very good from that position, and we approached the building unscathed.

  “Tee, punch it,” Matt cried when we neared the door.

  “Rocket punch!” he shouted, throwing his metal fist into the door. It smashed right through, leaving the locking mechanism in pieces before snapping back to his wrist. Matt kicked the door open, pausing to hold it while we filed inside.

  “Don’t stop!” Matt urged. “We’ll go out the back.”

  “They’ll expect that,” Tyler countered, though he kept moving.

  “We don’t have any other choice,” Matt replied. “We’re not exactly winning right now.”

  The dingy corridor ran straight through the building to the rear, a bank of elevators on one side, two stairwells on the other—one going up to the roof, the other down to probably a parking garage. It looked as though the place hadn’t been used in years.

  “We do have a choice,” I said, stopping when I reached the stairwell.

  “Noah, don’t stop!” Matt barked. “That shuttle has more missiles.”

  I swallowed hard at the thought but held my ground. “Our plan was to meet Lantz and Tarvik at the shipyard, scale up Head Case, and skip town. Ben’s ready. He can do it from the roof.”

  “No,” Matt said. “It’s too risky. As soon as we’re spotted, we’ll be right back where we started, trying to dodge a fleet of orbital defense ships. All of this would be for nothing.”

  “We’re not exactly making good time here,” I countered. He looked like he wanted to strangle me for my back talk.

  “Matt,” Ben said, voice muffled over the RFD in Matt’s pocket. “Noah’s right. It’s our only play. If we move quickly enough, I think we can make it. We’ll have a head start.”

  “Strange time to drop a pun, Ben,” Matt growled, but it still drew a grin from me and a nervous guffaw from Tee. Matt still didn’t look happy, but he seemed less happy with the thought of standing in the hallway waiting for a missile to blow us to bits. “Up we go,” he said.

  We rushed into the stairwell, climbing as fast as we could. Already mentally and physically exhausted, none of us wasted oxygen talking as we climbed toward the roof…what I estimated had to be twelve flights up.

  Pounding metal feet at the bottom of the stairs warned us when the first of the enemy forces were on their way up. They were mercs, not bots, their boots pounding too lightly and quickly to be the heavier bots. Not that it mattered. They both wanted us dead.

  Once again, they were gaining on us.

  “Matt, we’ll meet you on the roof,” Ben said. “I’m on my way to the sigibellum.”

  “Copy,” Matt replied.

  “This is going to be close,” Tyler said, looking back over his shoulder as the echoes of pounding feet grew louder at our backs.

  My leg muscles burned by the seventh floor, and it took all of my willpower, plus the threat of getting shot in the back, to keep me moving all the way up to the roof. By the time we reached the doorway to the roof, the mercenaries were only on the floor right below us, mere seconds from acquiring us in their line of sight. And consequently, their line of fire. My entire body ached with exhaustion, and the set of Tyler and Alyssa’s faces confirmed they felt the same. Matt remained Matt at all times, a seemingly endless fountain of zenergy despite his wound.

  “Ben, are you playing?” Matt asked as we rounded the last platform, the doorway to the rooftop visible at the top of the final flight.

  “He’s rockin’,” Meg replied. “Scaling in ten.”

  “Please make that five,” Matt requested, lunging up the last six steps to throw his good shoulder against the door. He still grimaced in pain, but he was able to put enough force into the blow for the door to burst open, its rusted hinges complaining about the sudden disturbance. Waving us through once more, I spotted Head Case sitting off-center on the rooftop, nearly invisible at its current size.

  We skidded to a stop a few feet from the stairwell. Matt spun to face it, firing his rifle through the door to delay the mercenaries’ arrival. Meanwhile, their shuttle rose behind the edge of the roofline like a killer whale about to devour its prey. A menacing machine gun hung just beneath the glass canopied flight deck, pilots visible through the tinted transparency. More orcs. Behind me, Matt’s gun whined but didn’t thump, out of its charge.

  “Ben, any day now!” I cried as the shuttle’s gun barrels started spinning, a precursor to converting all of us to ground meat.

  One moment, Head Case wouldn’t have been out of place on a putting green. The next, it expanded to full-size, occupying so much of the rooftop that the ramp would have just enough room to extend.

  The shuttle vanished from sight behind our ride, the crackling thunder from its gun made lightning bolts spark off Head Case’s shields for the few seconds it took Leo to swivel the top cannons to face the craft. At the same time, the mercs poured out of the building’s stairwell onto the roof, ready to open fire. Head Case’s lower guns rose up and down like they were waving at them to get their attention. Immediately, the mercs on the rooftop lowered their rifles, while the transport behind Head Case veered off, uninterested in going toe-to-toe with a pair of heavy ion cannons mounted on a starship that had just appeared out of thin air.

  “Mattssss!” Ixy cried from the hangar as the smaller door opened and the ramp extended to meet us. “Letsss goesss!”

  Matt waved us up the ramp, keeping his full attention on the armored mercs as he backpedaled behind us. The orcs knew better than to do anything stupid. They probably weren’t being paid enough for to commit suicide.

  With Zariv dead, they might not be paid at all. Besides, I wasn’t sure if they were smart enough to think for themselves.

  I made it up the ramp and into the hangar—sweaty, aching, and exhausted. The ramp retracted as Matt crossed the threshold, Leo already guiding the ship up and away.

  “Leo, we need to get to the shipyard,” Matt said. “Lantz and Tarvik are awaiting pickup.”

  “Copy that,” Leo replied.

  “Noah, you need to get to the flight deck. Now!”

  “Me? What about you?”

  Matt tapped his wounded shoulder. “I won’t be flying for a few weeks at least. I’ll start feeling the pain a lot more once the adrenaline wears off, so I’m heading straight to sickbay for a shot of painkiller.”

  “I’m with you,” Ally said, holding her right arm protectively across her chest, her obviously broken trigger finger bent at an awkward angle. “By any chance, do we have some kind of memory blocker? I’d like to forget all of this happened.”

  ”Afraid not,” Matt replied. “Noah, get going.”

  I nodded. I’d get my burn looked at later. Since the plasma had done nothing more than graze me, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Matt’s full on hit.

  I rushed up the stairs with Tee hot on my heels. The shipyard wasn’t far from our position. We would probably arrive before I could take over from Leo behind the stick. Our departure this time might be less demanding than our last attempt, but that didn’t mean it was going to be easy.

  CHAPTER 29

  The elevator took forever to reach the flight deck. Despite my physical exhaustion, I still had enough adrenaline coursing through my veins after our narrow escape to keep my foot bouncing like a jackrabbit on a bungee cord.

  "Dude, take a breath," Tyler said, touching my shoulder. "You've got this."

  I nodded. “I know,” I said, trying to calm down. As much as I wanted to get us out of here, panicking wouldn't help. I needed to keep a cool head if I was going to be half the pilot Matt was.

  I was still lamenting his injury and my need to fill in as our best chance of escape when the elevator doors finally slid open and we hurried out onto the flight deck. Leo sat at the pilot station, guiding the ship toward the closing outline of the shipyard. An angry orange glow was visible ahead of the sprawling yard.

  "What's going on down there?" I asked as I dropped into the co-pilot station.

  “Something’s burning,” Leo replied.

  “That looks like our motel,” Tyler commented, squinting through the forward transparency.

  “Yeah, I think it is,” I replied, using the station’s display to zoom in on the blaze. Already completely engulfed in flames, a handful of flying firefighting drones circled the building, foam spraying from nozzles mounted to their wings as they frantically tried to extinguish the inferno.

  "Looks like someone wanted to send us a message," Leo said grimly. My heart sank. If Zariv's forces had torched the hotel, it was unlikely Hzzt and our engineers had escaped unscathed.

  “Nah,” Tyler countered. “I think Lantz and Tarvik wanted to destroy the evidence, so they set fire to the place.”

  I liked Tee’s reasoning better and decided to go with that, scanning the area desperately for any sign of the two engineers and maybe Hzzt. Where were they? Had the fire claimed them too? Dread threatened to overwhelm me when a faint laser light caught my eye near the center of the yard, flickering out a pattern that had to be from our guys.

  "There!" I jabbed my finger toward the beacon. Leo adjusted our course, relief evident on his tired face. Our friends were still out there, signaling us. As we closed on the site, I made out three figures huddled beneath a half-built ship. Even at a distance, Hzzt's spindly frame was unmistakable.

  “Leo, I have the stick,” I said, eager to bring Head Case to their rescue.

  “Aye aye,” he replied. “You have the stick, Noah.”

  It took me a second to regain my feel for the controls. My arms quivered from tiredness, my brain struggling to focus. I pictured Matt at the stick instead of me, so cool and confident, with no sign of wilting under pressure. Modeling that, I steadied my grip, adjusting the throttle, vector, and gravitational resistance to bring Head Case rapidly downward, diving toward an open area near the unfinished vessel’s superstructure. We were halfway there when the sensor grid lit up, detecting a number of bots advancing toward our collaborators’ position.

  “Leo, activate the pew-pews and open fire,” I said.

  “Aye aye,” Leo replied. The cannons opened up in two directions, spewing heavy ions at the bots closest to the engineers. Seeing our firepower directed toward something nearby, Hzzt emerged from hiding, loping urgently toward salvation. Lantz and Tarvik were just steps behind, dashing at a full sprint.

  Head Case continued spitting blistering fire at the bots. Two more went down before they could fire back at us, but the rest scattered for cover amidst the partially-built starships and heavy machinery littering the yard. Disregarding us entirely, they sent plasma bolts toward the escaping trio on the ground.

  I nearly forgot to extend Head Case’s skids in the chaos, hitting the control at the last moment before we touched down. The ship jostled roughly on the landers as Leo activated the hangar door controls, opening the smaller door and extending the ramp.

  Hzzt was first to board, spindly legs carrying him faster than the other two. He dashed to the top, where Ixy waited to usher him inside. I could tell the moment he noticed her by how his already large eyes expanded, and he seemed to hesitate, quickly deciding between her and the bots before finally coming aboard.

  Lantz and Tarvik raced for safety behind Hzzt, legs pumping furiously while plasma bolts sizzled through the air, hitting the ground all around them. They were so close now. Just a little further and they'd make it.

  A bot suddenly popped up from behind a stack of crates, rifle swinging around to draw a bead on the trailing Tarvik.

  “Leo, take it out!” I shouted, hoping he could target that bot in time. But it was already too late. A plasma bolt lanced out, catching Tarvik squarely between the shoulder blades, leaving a burning hole in his back. He collapsed only feet from the ramp.

  "No!" I cried, once more wishing I had a save game to go back to, a second chance to save another life. First Nyree, now Tarvik. Matt was injured. Ally, too. How many more people would suffer because the Warden refused to just tell us how to get home, or send us back there himself. I was sure he could, if he wanted.

  I forced those thoughts aside, watching as Lantz staggered to a halt, clearly torn about leaving his friend behind. But more bots were appearing on sensors, enough to replace the machines Leo blasted. Not to mention, the incoming orbital fighters were getting dangerously close.

  "Run, Lantz!" I screamed through Head Case’s external speakers.

  Spurred on by the ear-splitting cry, Lantz sprinted the last few steps to the bottom of the ramp. It began retracting as his foot landed on it, Lantz diving headlong through the closing bay door. He tumbled ungracefully inside just before the door slammed shut behind him.

  I clutched the controls in white-knuckled fury, glaring hatefully down at the bots that had murdered Tarvik. But staying to recover his body meant sacrificing everything. With a growled curse, I hauled back on the stick. Head Case lurched skyward, gaining speed and altitude, flying straight toward the incoming starfighters.

  Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

  “Everyone, hold on,” I said, redoubling my focus as we scaled the heights. We wouldn’t get another chance to escape. And if we didn’t make it out of here…

  I didn’t want to think about what that would mean.

  Proximity alarms began blaring. Multiple red icons representing starfighters blinked to life on the threat grid, angling to intercept us. Cacitrum's orbital guardians were no doubt eager to shoot us down.

  I wrenched Head Case into evasive maneuvers, trying to avoid giving them an easy target while again wishing Matt or Ben was at the stick. I was woefully out of my depth here.

  A pair of sleek starfighters swooped in toward us, brilliant lances of energy reaching hungrily for a quick kill. The deck shuddered violently under multiple impacts as our shields repelled the worst of the attack. The starfighters streaked past us, making a hard turn and moving into position on our six. I juked hard to port, avoiding the worst of their strafing run as another pair of starfighters tried to outflank us. New alerts signaled missile lock, and I twisted the stick and hit the throttle, spinning wildly before the projectiles were even fired.

  “Leo!” I cried, pushing Head Case into a hard climb.

  “On it,” Leo replied as I bounced the ship in random directions, hoping to keep the enemy’s fire control systems confused.

  Our ion cannons thundered, splashing one fighter's belly with charged particles. It pinwheeled away, spewing fuel and debris before finally coming apart in a brilliant flash. Its wingman immediately broke off, unwilling to brave our rear guns alone

  More fighters converged as we continued accelerating hard for orbit. My blood ran cold as more of Cacitrum's heavier defense ships moved toward us intending to cut off every avenue of escape.

  Missile tubes yawned open along their dark hulls as the massive warships surrounded us and maneuvered into attack positions. I only had time for a frightened gasp before their first salvo launched, dozens of missiles streaking toward us. I threw Head Case into a sudden, gut-wrenching corkscrew that left me pinned to my seat, desperately trying to evade the deadly swarm.

  Leo fired on the projectiles, frantically spewing ion charges, while we continued climbing right at them. I didn’t have a choice. If the warships formed their blockade, we wouldn’t make it away from Cacitrum alive.

  Three enemy’s missiles succumbed to Leo’s barrage, the remaining group rapidly approaching. “All shields to the face!” I cried, though both Leo and I were too occupied to carry out the command. I winced, turning my head away, expecting everything to end in a flash.

  The flash did come. Eight of them, detonating against our shields in brilliant white flashes. The flight deck heaved and pitched violently beneath us as alarms blared angry warnings, our shields perilously low with some of the nodes destroyed.

  “Damn, that was close!” Tee shouted from the engineer’s station, where he had managed to push more power to the forward shields just in the nick of time.

  “We’re not going to make it,” Leo said, face and knuckles white as I pushed the throttle to max, accelerating toward the warships and our freedom.

  “We’re going to make it,” I ground out, eyes narrowing with focus on the surround and then the sensor grid, making hundreds of subconscious calculations. “Prep the hyperdrive.”