Page 94 of Defiant

A set of holographic heads appeared at the perimeter of the central hologram. Mostly diones, but some tenasi, a couple of avian heklo, one varvax.

“Captains,” Brade said to the people arrayed before her, “I have instituted our contingency plan and have formally taken control of our military, following the disposal of our puppet. He was about to undermine our military operations, and I couldn’t allow him to continue.”

“Good riddance,” said one of the diones. “What are your orders, sir? I think we’ve been invaded.”

Ah,I thought.These are the captains of the fleet she has assembled here, beyond Evensong.

“It’s not the ideal moment,” Brade said, “as Winzik’s slow gathering of our forces this past week means we’re without immediate reinforcements. I’ve sent orders, and hope to have access to more ships soon. Still, our fleet is much,muchlarger than theirs. We should be able to win this. Just don’t get close to that battle station planet. They have long-range anti-ship cannons, not to mention a shield network that can withstand bombardment.”

“Understood,” one of the captains said. “So we make them come to us?”

“The victor of a battlefield,” Brade responded, “is often the one who can best use the terrain to her advantage. They’re going to have to send in fighters to try to bring down our inhibitor stations—which gives us the advantage. Follow my directions. I’ll show you what a human tactician can do, as long promised.”

The group of them gave affirmatives as some flustered aides hurried into the room, setting up to help Brade run the battlefield. I circled her, and she didn’t seem to be able to see me—so I scoped out the battlefield hologram.

Brade was right. Her side had a far superior positionanda much larger fighting force. We might be able to match them for starfighters, but they had all those gunships, carriers, and battleships. A true fleet.

Chet quivered further. But, I told him forcibly, we had our own advantage. Primarily, we had Detritus, which was enormous and highly defended, with awesome firepower. Brade was right; my friends were going to have to fly in to bring down the inhibitor stations one at a time. Destroy enough of them, and it would let Detritus approach.

It was a path to victory. If Detritus could draw close enough to Evensong to bombard it, we’d be able to…well, we’d be able to destroy all the enemy slugs. My stomach churned at that thought.I wasn’t certain Jorgen would authorize so much death, but Brade didn’t know that.

If Detritus could get close, the Superiority would have essentially lost the battle.

Impossible,Chet thought.It’s too difficult.

He had a point. This was a tenuous path to victory for my side.I’d advocated for our forces to come here, but now I saw how dangerous the assault would be. My friends would have to flyinsidean enemy inhibitor field. Brade’s forces would have cytonic capabilities, and we would not. No jumping away if our ships got hit. I doubted many of the enemy starfighters would have hyperslugs—those were normally reserved for larger ships. But still, we’d be at a huge disadvantage.

There is a way out,Chet thought to me.

What?I asked, eager for anything that could help our side win.

Instead, he showed me something. The nowhere. With a wave of his arm, it seemed to be there, a tunnel into oblivion. A place where no time passed. In there, he and I could infinitely delay the arrival of the battle. We would never have to watch our friends die, because death—and time, place, and self—would stop existing.

It was seductive. A part of me was horrified I would view it that way—particularly after how far I’d come, and everything I’d done. Another part was mesmerized. I’d spent so long learning about the delvers, and I’d thought I understood what they’d been through.

But in that moment, I couldfeelit. The desire to escape and run away with Chet. It was like what I’d felt when living with the Broadsiders, but magnified a hundredfold. Because I knew, the moment I took this step, everything would stop mattering. There would be no guilt, because guilt simply wouldn’t exist.

Step through there, and I’d never feel pain again. Just the joy of being part of something that was perfect and unchanging.

They were in there too. The other delvers. Watching. Lurking. Waiting. If I joined them, would they leave my people alone? Was that the sacrifice I needed to make?

Spensa?M-Bot’s voice said in my mind. That brought me back to awareness in a heartbeat, and Chet’s tunnel to the nowhere collapsed.Spensa, are you there?

M-Bot?I sent him. And my voice had two tones to it. Mine and Chet’s.M-Bot, yes. I’m here, at Evensong.

Thank Turing!M-Bot said.Spensa, I managed to talk to Jorgen! And he talked back! I’m learning so much, growing so much. He was already planning to attack Evensong per your plan. When I told him I’d sensed you, he moved up the attack. Everyone is here! We’ve come to save you.

It was a rescue operation. They’d brought the entire scudding planet…to get me.

Scud. Chet trembled even more.

M-Bot,I sent to him,I’m worried about the delvers. Brade is keeping them in reserve, but she thinks she can mobilize them to join this battle if needed. We have to do something about that.

I…M-Bot said.I still don’t know how to use their weakness against them, Spensa. I’ve been focused on learning to use my powers, to talk to Jorgen and you.

We don’t have much time,I said to him.We have to be ready, you and I, to stop them if they join the battle.

“The enemy has sent a communications request, sir,” one of the varvax aides said to Brade in the somewhere. “And…something’s changing about the battle station planet.”

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