Three MYTH battlecruisers shot past the Athena, their engines grinding as they banked toward the attacking fleet. Fire and missiles burst from the weapons bays of both fleets, streaming toward their closest targets in a blast of fire.
As one of the enemy cruisers pulled away, an explosion shook the air around them. Below, near the center of the city, a gaping crater had opened up, smoking and blazing with fire.
Renna unlatched her harness, her stomach tightening at the sight of the city below them. She had to clear her throat before the words came out properly. “Stay here. I need to check in with Finn,” she said to Myka.
His eyes widened, and he put out a hand to stop her. “But Renna…”
“I’ll be right back. I promise.” She smiled reassuringly, waiting to pick up her pace until she was out of sight. She raced back to the bridge and heard Finn barking orders before she spotted him pacing in front of the holomap.
“Bank hard to port. Keva, patch through Dallas’s comm feed. I need to know what’s happening on the ground. Bokal, charge the guns. We’re going to need them before we’re out of Hesperia’s atmosphere.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” Keva typed in a command at her console, and the crackle of static from the intercom filled the ship.
The roar of an explosion from the comm shook the bridge before Dallas’s voice boomed out. “Evacuate! Get all support staff to the bunkers! Team Alpha to the ground entrance! Order the fighters to come around for another assault!”
Finn stared down at the console, his hands clenched into fists. “Dammit. They’re getting killed out there. We have to do something.”
Keva frowned. “You know our orders, sir. We have to escape with the boy.”
Dallas’s voice shouted through the comm. “Status on the Athena. Now!”
A woman answered. “Sir, they’re approaching atmospheric release. They’ll be away in three minutes.” Her voice was cool and collected, a sharp contrast to the sound of explosions in the background.
“Keep the fighters on the offensive! Captain Finn has to get away. Evacuate all personnel from the facility. Then get to safety yourself.”
The woman’s voice came again. Renna assumed she was one of the technicians she’d seen in the command center. “What about you, sir?”
“I’m on my way. Now get going!” Ragged breathing sounded over the intercom, then Dallas spoke again. “Finn, I don’t know if you’re catching this, but the attackers are on the ground. They’ve destroyed most of the city center and the Warehouse District. They’re looking for the boy. Keep him safe. We’ll do our best from here.”
The comm crackled again, a whine filling the air. The next second, a blast shattered through the comm speakers. A moment later, the ship shivered with the aftershock.
Renna dashed to one of the portals and pressed her forehead to the glass to peer down at the tiny city below them. A mushroom of smoke and fire rose almost to the atmosphere. The city of Veth was nothing but a smoking ruin now. There was no way Dallas had survived unless the facility had been made of bombproof material.
“Try him again!” Captain Finn shouted, pounding a fist on the control panel.
“Sir, we’re almost out of the ground-to-air comms range. There’s nothing there. We’ll be clearing Hesperia’s atmosphere in thirty seconds.” Keva’s gaze never left her screen, her lips a thin slash on her face.
“Dammit!” Finn slammed his fist down again.
Renna had one last glance of the enemy battleships starting to retreat before the Athena shot into the twilight of the upper atmosphere. Below them, Hesperia rapidly shrunk into a glowing ball.
Renna took a deep breath and released her death grip on the portal edge. It took her a moment to realize the trembles she felt in her limbs weren’t vibrations from the ship. The icy rage that had silently crept into her belly as she watched those f**kers destroy her home and slaughter millions of innocent people rushed through her veins until she was shaking.
Boyd was dead. The crazy woman down the hall was dead. The guy who always walked his kids to school so they wouldn’t be bullied by thugs was gone. And so were his eight-year-old twins.
The whole godsdamned city—nothing more than ashes of bodies and buildings.
Suddenly, she didn’t care that she’d been blackmailed into boarding this ship. She didn’t care that MYTH had enough information on her to send her on a one-way ticket to hell. None of that mattered anymore.
Because this? This act of war? Bombing her city?
It was personal now.
The intercom clicked on, and Finn’s voice filled the ship. “MYTH headquarters is silent. We are on our own now. Let’s take a moment to remember those whose lives were taken in the attack.” There was a long pause before he spoke again. “Everyone, settle in for now. We’ll land on Krooss in twenty-four hours, where we’ll refuel before moving on to Dr. Aldani’s labs.”
He ran a shaking hand through his dark hair and snapped off the comm. His shoulders sagged for a moment, and he stared down at the console in a moment of despair. Renna wanted to go to him, to tell him it was going to be okay, but before she could move, Finn sucked in a deep breath. With that one action, his shoulders straightened, and he was back to the cool, unflappable Captain Finn. He wasn’t the one who needed her now.
She spun on her heel. Dammit. Myka.
EIGHT
Renna rushed back to the port observation deck just as Myka unhooked his harness. He slipped from his seat to gaze out into the darkness of space.
“You okay?” she asked, coming to stand beside him. The cool recycled air from the vents brushed her skin, made her hair tickle her face. She pushed it away, forcing a smile. The kid had been through enough already. He didn’t need to see how pissed she was.
“What happened?” he asked. “All I saw was smoke.”
“They hit Veth pretty hard, but we got away. You’ll be back with your uncle soon. I promise.” The word slipped out before she could stop it. Promises were few and far between in her line of work, and she never said it unless she meant it. It was a personal policy of hers.
From the corridor came the heavy thud of boots on the metal floor. Captain Finn stood in the doorway, his eyes shadowed and tired. Renna saw the effort it took him to keep his face friendly as he looked down at the boy. “Everything all right over here?”
Myka threw his shoulders back, head held high. “We’re fine.”