Kat blinked.

  “Wh—”

  Her stomach clenched like a fist had just been driven into it.

  The puke came.

  Gagging sounds surrounded her.

  Then that wet waterfall that took her back to junior ranger school hell weeks.

  “Oh God! The smell—”

  She recognized Steph’s voice.

  “Alright, get kitty litter on that shit and get it off my floor!”

  She didn’t recognize that voice.

  She rolled over away from her vomit and lay on a cold floor, staring at bright lights.

  That had been a terrible experience.

  It was like her entire body had been sucked into her bellybutton for an excruciating moment and then spat back out in a flash out through a tiny hole.

  One could say a belly button-sized hole.

  “Up and at ‘em, rangers! Ain’t gots the time to hold your hair and stroke your back. You got switched by Captain Mouthy and your mouth tastes like the ass end of an ass. She didn’t do you no favors. You’re on the Raynanaut and we’re elbow deep in the shit. Got them damn birdwoman pecking at us. Got soldiers and monsters on board. All hands on deck! Repel boarders! You know what to do!”

  Hands helped her up and put a stool under her.

  Someone shoved a glass in her hand.

  She took a sip and swirled it around and spat on the floor.

  Mouthwash.

  Took the whole glass to clear out the foulness.

  A second glass.

  Energy water.

  Someone jammed a candy bar in her mouth.

  Told her to chew.

  More instant energy and stomach settled.

  “Gear up! Captain Mouthy had your gear brought on board.”

  Her armor and weapons waited for her on racks.

  She blinked the tears away.

  The gear looked like hers.

  It had been awhile since she had left them at home to maintain her Mist Spekters cover.

  A simple, up and coming mercenary group wasn’t armed with a Threnium katana and Threnium armor.

  “Switch Skill?”

  “Yeah. Captain Mouthy. I heard you were captured. She and some other captains took your place. Got a bunch of you out.”

  She glanced at the rest of the chamber.

  A quick head count.

  Pretty much all of the Mist Spekters that were also Rayna’s Rangers had been pulled out of those jail cells of golden light.

  With a few exceptions.

  No Alin, but she knew that was going to happen if the captain had to use her Skill.

  The cobwebs cleared.

  She had to focus.

  Couldn’t help him before helping herself and her fellow rangers on the Raynanaut.

  She rose with a groan and began stretching.

  Steph was next to her.

  “That’s not my stuff.” He pointed at the Threnium armor styled like a gladiator’s.

  The chestplate was sculpted in the form a muscular man’s bare torso complete with nipples and belly button.

  The helmet was also weird. It was a mix of something like a wide-brimmed hat with a fin on top, a faceplate that resembled a window screen with large holes and a collar.

  “Nope.” The ranger helping him held up a note. “See this? Says it’s for you. So, put it on. I hear you’re a decent gladiator. We could use you out there.”

  “Only decent?” Steph muttered, but he allowed the ranger to help him get into his armor.

  Kat grabbed her katana and drew it from the sheath.

  It felt just as she remembered.

  The samurai-styled armor, however…

  “That’s… different from what I remember.”

  “Yeah, you got an upgrade. Every frontline fighter did. I had no idea we had so much top shelf gear. I guess Commander Kayl decided it was time to empty the vaults. We’re in more of a survive at all cost situation instead of a level through adversity one. So, uh, you can change in there.” The ranger pointed to a narrow, curtained square.

  She found an undersuit waiting for her.

  A few seconds later she stepped into her armor.

  The ranger explained as it sealed and her HUD booted up.

  “I heard you were on an undercover Quest for like almost two years.”

  She nodded, focusing on her HUD.

  “Yeah, so, the system hasn’t changed much. It should be familiar. Like riding a bike again. I see on your record that you’ve never worn one of these outside of training, so basically, don’t overthink things. The artificial muscles will make you stronger, faster and all that good shit, but the system won’t let you hurt yourself. That’s the cybernetic link. It’ll move with your intent.”

  The bay shook.

  Combat alerts on her HUD told her that some kind of enemy or enemies were making their way toward her position, which was on the starboard side and a few decks away from the ventral outer hull of the skyship.

  “Ah… I see the breach.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know a lot, but last update we got was that there were a couple. One down a few decks from us. Bad luck you got switched here, huh?”

  “All green on my end.”

  “Copy, green.” The ranger tapped his tablet. “You are authorized for combat, Ranger Swordweeb. Good luck! Slice their legs!” He rushed to help another.

  “All comms: This is Ranger Swordweeb. Where am I needed?”

  “Kat! Thank Rayna you made it!”

  “Songbird? I thought you were on the Rayn of Fire.”

  “Got promoted a few times. I’m the Raynanaut’s vice captain. I’m only managing comms because I used to be a comms officer. We took some casualties from the first set of enemy boarders.”

  “It’s good to hear your voice. We’ll catch up later. Tell me where you need me.”

  Songbird took a deep breath. “We will for sure. The breach near you. Do you see it in your HUD?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I need you to take charge of your ‘Mist Spekters’ and kill everyone and everything on your way to it and I need you to hold it so we can get a team down there to seal it. If you guys can do that then I won’t have to pull guys from other squads that are fighting elsewhere.”

  “Copy that.” Kat glanced across the bay. “Songbird, if you didn’t know, Bluewolf made it here with me.”

  “I know, Kat. I talked to him already. Thanks.” Songbird let out a breath. “Fight well, ranger. We’ll do our part up here.”

  “Copy that.”

  She wiggled her gloved fingers.

  They were armored, but they felt closer to thin leather gloves.

  Sheathed katana went to her side and locked in place magnetically.

  The wakizashi joined it.

  She checked her old bag of holding.

  Yari, bow, arrows, guns, grenades.

  Less useful inside the skyship’s corridors.

  A blinking icon in her HUD drew her attention.

  “Nice!”

  An integrated weapons system.

  She was configured with guns in her gauntlets and one shoulder-deployable magic missile launcher.

  All meant for use inside the skyship.

  No armor piercing, no high explosives.

  To all that she added a recoilless pistol to her hip loaded with projectiles for soft targets.

  “Anyone that can move, let’s go! We’ve got boarders to kick off our skyship!”

  She regarded the other Mist Spekters.

  Most of them were still down.

  Some were still puking.

  Skills…

  She scowled.

  At a guess it looked like the ones that had only been inducted into the rangers a short while before heading out as Mist Spekters had been hit the hardest.

  Steph was one, but he probably had gladiator Skills that made him tougher or let him bounce back quickly.

  So, her, Steph, Bluewolf, Luzi and Catelin.

  Only five and the latter two were average fighters at best.

  The armor would have to carry them.

  “Listen, Kat. This is insane, but I’ve got your back,” Steph said, trident in his right hand.

  The left arm and hand of his armor was bulkier than the right and covered in short, jagged teeth-like protrusions.

  Kat remember him wearing something of its like during his GCA fights except made from steel, leather and cloth.

  The knuckles of his left fist were spiked wickedly.

  “You like?” He brandished it and jabbed.

  The spikes shot out and retracted as he pulled his fist back.

  “Impact fist system! It says I can change out the attachments! And this!” He stabbed with his trident. “It’s enchanted! Like, I’m talking, top tier enchantment! Like a year’s worth of points in the arenas for me!”

  She couldn’t see his face behind his weird screen-like helmet, but she could hear his smile.

  “You’re gonna get to test it out.”

  She gathered her team.

  “We’re going to kill everything between here and a breach. Then we’re going to guard it until a team can seal it. Let’s keep it simple. I’m on point as tank. Catelin, Luzi, you guys are ranged. Keep back at least five meters if there’s room in the corridors. If not, then shoot from corners or any cover you can find. Steph, you’re off-tank. You’ll stick with Cate and Luzi. If the enemy gets behind us then it’s on you. Bluewolf, pick your spots.”

  Calm on Bluewolf’s face.

  Nerves on Catelin’s and Luzi’s.

  “Close quarters, right.” Steph nodded as he sadly stuffed his new toy into his bag of holding to replace with a short sword in the style of Early Rome. “This is enchanted too, but not as good as the trident.” He shrugged. “Do you think I’m going get to keep them?”

  “Worry about that after, you goof!” Catelin’s laugh sounded forced.

  Kat regarded the rest of her fellow Mist Spekters.

  “We need you to recover quickly. You have to defend this space. And be ready to come running if we need help. Mist Spekters. Rayna’s Rangers. All that matters is that we fight together.”

  She strode toward the door as her short-handed squad fell in behind her.

  “You should’ve roared that last part,” Steph whispered. “You don’t really have the voice for it. Too cutesy. But, if you can dial up the intensity to the max then it’ll beat cutesy.”

  “I’ll practice my roars later.” She checked her HUD for the approaching enemy.

  The ranger guarding the door nodded and unlocked it.

  “Comms only from here.”

  …

  “Incoming. Left turn. Soldier squad. Five count. Injured. Only noteworthy one looks like a beast controller-type with three spike dogs on point,” Bluewolf said. “I’ll let them pass and hit the backline.”

  Spike dogs.

  Not common as a combat pet.

  Despite the name they weren’t dogs.

  They were quadrupedal monsters with a dog-like body and head surrounded by a mane of sharp spines that they could shoot with lethal velocity out to about four meters.

  “I’ll get their attention first.”

  Kat dashed around the corner, drawing her katana with one smooth motion.

  Wind Wall Iai.

  Spike dogs howled as they charged and launched a volley of spines.

  She sheathed her blade and rushed forward with her gauntlet pointed.

  Flame Spray washed over the spike dogs.

  Soldiers met her charge or fired into the fangs of her snarling oni faceplate.

  She made herself big to occupy as much space in the corridor as she could.

  Bullets pinged off her Threnium armor.

  Flechettes whistled over both her shoulders before bouncing off a blue magic shield.

  “I Challenge You, Dumbshits!” Steph called out.

  The soldiers hesitated for the second it took to fight of the taunt.

  She stepped into the opening.

  Draw into an upward cut through the last spike dog’s head.

  Step into a downward cut through the soldier’s shield arm before he could re-cast the magic shield.

  Boot to the chest.

  Step into the gap and a horizontal cut across assault rifle and hands.

  Farther behind the American frontline, Bluewolf dropped camouflage and his armored body from the ceiling.

  Blade stabbed into the back of a mage’s neck at the same time he kicked the healer into the wall.

  A quick spin ended with blade in the healer’s throat before he could cast.

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  Kat finished the shooter with a slice to his neck.

  The beast controller roared, aiming a wild overhand smash with a wicked battleaxe.

  She stepped back, allowing the blade to spark off the metallic floor.

  Her counter cut took him from crown to belt.

  One last soldier to deal with.

  He’d bleed out from his stump, but that was cruel. And taking a prisoner was inconvenient.

  Nevertheless, she had Catelin perform first aid and secure the soldier.

  Kat flicked her blade clean and sheathed it.

  A decent job.

  She let out a breath.

  Only used two Skills, preserving her energy.

  The others had expended even less.

  “Damn! You cut through their armor like nothing!” Steph nodded appreciatively.

  “Threnium lets me use vibrating blade without worrying about durability issues.” She studied the minimap in her HUD. “Bluewolf, please scout this area. We’re moving as soon as the prisoner is secure.” She pinged him.

  “I’m done. He’ll live.” Catelin scowled as she restrained the soldier.

  “I’m also done.” Luzi tossed the broken remains of an assault rifle in a pile of broken weapons. “I feel so strong! What about their bags of holding? Grenades? I’m assuming we’re taking those with us.”

  Kat nodded.

  Guns and steel melee weapons were redundant, but one simply did not turn down more explosives.

  “Cleared one group, Songbird. Moving to the next.”

  “Copy that. We have eyes on you. Your six is still clear. Proceed.”

  Thanks to Bluewolf and their information edge, they ambushed the second group of enemy soldiers.

  Kat expended more of the mana batteries in her armor rather than her Skills.

  It wasn’t fair.

  The Americans couldn’t get through their Threnium.

  “These guys don’t seem to be high level,” Steph said. “Even compared to us.”

  “They do look young,” Catelin said.

  “We don’t rate their best,” Luzi said.

  “You’d think they send good people up here,” Steph said.

  “No, you don’t understand. They don’t have enough truly elite fighters to spread around. They tend to group them together to protect VIP’s, to respond to big threats or hit spawn zones and challenges. I’m guessing there’s too many threats right now for them to respond to each the way they’d want to,” Luzi said.

  Bluewolf broke in.

  “Good news, Steph. You want a high quality opponent? You’ve got one. Got eyes on an old manlet. He’s dual-wielding an old SAW and a tomahawk. Also, got a revolver on his hip. It might be just cause he’s a manlet, but it looks huge. Like the impractical guns those Destiny weirdos loves so much. Set off my danger sense, so I’m not taking a closer look. He’s parked in the corner of two long corridors. He feels like a miniboss.”

  Kat eyed her HUD.

  They had cleared out all other enemy groups in the section, which left the old soldier guarding the breach.

  Old people still fighting were scary.

  “Songbird, we’re near the breach. There’s an old soldier guarding it. We could use reinforcements. I’m thinking Level 30 minimum based on what Bluewolf said.”

  “Well… shit. I don’t have anyone to send. We’re closing the other breaches, but it’s costing us. What about the guys you came in with?”

  “No good. Most don’t have the levels and the ones that do are too messed up for me to take them up against this guy.”

  “If you can contain that section we can eventually re-route squads to you. But, I can’t promise or tell you how long that’ll take.”

  Kat felt a sudden conviction that they needed to deal with the breach immediately.

  She told Songbird.

  “Same here. That’s been happening a lot. Gut calls saving us all over the battle. I’m leaving the call to you.”

  “We’re going for it.” She turned to her squad. “Ideas?”

  “He doesn’t have cover. So… shoot him?” Catelin shrugged.

  “That goes without saying, but we need a plan for when that doesn’t work,” Luzi said. “Because if a guy isn’t using cover then I have to guess that he probably doesn’t need it that much.”

  “He’s got heavy armor,” Bluewolf chimed.

  “Guys, I have a net,” Steph said. “No, I mean, don’t look at me like that. It’s a net made out of Threnium fibers. I know, right! So, I just net him and… we win?”

  “That’s— that can work. If he’s not strong enough to break free?” Catelin mused. “What’s the tensile strength on that net?”

  Steph told her after a few seconds consulting his HUD.

  “Yeah, sorry, I thought knowing that number would help me calculate… stuff.” Catelin shrugged.

  “Does that net have a rope attached?” Luzi said.

  Steph gave her thumbs up.

  “Yeah. Also Threnium fibers! Hey, do you think they’ll let me keep all this stuff?”

  Kat ignored the latter half.

  “I’d bet against him having enough strength, active and passive to overpower three of us with our power armor artificial muscles.”

  “You thinking what I’m thinking?” Luzi said.

  “Yup. Don’t want to steal your idea, though.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t care about accolades and glory. I’m not like…” she darted her eyes over to Steph. “But, anyways, the plan is simple. Steph nets old man scary and the three of us,” she pointed at Steph, Catelin and herself, “use our new strength to drag him into that hole in the side of our skyship.”

  “Can you even throw that thing accurately inside a narrow corridor?” Catelin said.

  “Yeah, easy! I have a Skill!” Steph said. “I’ve made net throws hundreds of times in the arena and practice. Can’t screw up in front of the audience.”

  “Alright. Here’s the plan,” Kat said. “You three approach from the back side of the hull breach. I’ll attack from the other side and distract him so you can make the throw.”

  “I’ll help you,” Bluewolf added.

  “Questions?”

  “Don’t die!” Catelin blurted.

  “Ah ha! That’s not a question!” Steph pointed.

  …

  Kat turned the corner and sprinted.

  The distance to the old soldier vanished quickly with her enhanced strength.

  Nevertheless, he reacted instantly and emptied the drum mag of his SAW before she got halfway.

  The bullets punched her all over her chest, face and legs.

  They hit harder than they should’ve and slowed her enough for the old soldier to reload in a flash and keep firing.

  Bluewolf threw smoke bombs as he sprinted out from behind her and up the corridor wall to the ceiling.

  Her HUD outlined the old soldier through the smoke.

  The barrel of his gun glowed red then white hot.

  He tossed it into her face as she drew close enough to activate a Viper Strike Iai.

  Katana blade flashed against a sudden golden shield of light in the old soldier’s hand.

  “Looks like I finally get some action,” he drawled. “Fancy armor. You elite ‘rangers’?”

  She saw his smirk on account of his helmet only going going down to just under his nose.

  The tomahawk lashed out in a blur.

  Too quick for her.

  It clanged against her helmet.

  The flared curtain deflected the blow away from her shoulder.

  She leapt back, spraying flame.

  Throwing knives zipped past her, landing around the old soldier.

  Small strips of paper attached to their ring pommels flashed and burned away.

  Yellow lighting caged the old soldier.

  He threw himself through it with a roar, barely slowing.

  A loud bang shook the corridor and activate her helmet’s auditory protection system.

  The old soldier’s eyes widened, but like a professional he never took them off her.

  He flicked his tomahawk.

  All wrist, yet it clanged into her faceplate with enough force to send her staggering back despite the enhanced strength in her armor.

  “Alert! Alert! More soldiers! And monsters are coming through the hole!” Steph cried out.

  “You’re going to handle it!” Bluewolf snapped. “We can’t fuck around with this guy!”

  The sounds of combat filled both corridors.

  The old soldier’s handheld cannon boomed.

  Kat found herself staring at the ceiling.

  And surprisingly pain free.

  She jumped back to her feet just in time to see Bluewolf take a shot to the face.

  A puff of white smoke.

  A cut log shattering into a thousand pieces.

  No sign of Bluewolf.

  The old soldier reacted quickly and blasted her in the snarling oni face.

  Again, her head rocked back.

  She activated her magic missile launcher.

  Glowing marble-sized balls of magic arced through the smoke and burned into the old soldier’s thick chest armor.

  “Weak shit starter magic. I’m gonna crack your shell like you was a crab in a good ol’ southern crab boil like my gramps used to do. Gonna get me that sweet, sweet meat, girly.”

  Bluewolf appeared at his left shoulder.

  The old soldier turned and slammed him into the wall.

  The clone popped into smoke.

  “Superior Weapon Disarm.”

  The real Bluewolf ripped the handheld cannon out the old soldier’s grip and vanished into the smoke.

  “Recall Weapon.”

  The old soldier’s smirk vanished when his tomahawk flew into his hand.

  He spat in disgust.

  “It don’t matter. You weak. Kill you with a stick and a rock.”

  Kat gripped her katana.

  Iaijustsu Simple Domain: Automatic Defense.

  She activated her Skill with a thought.

  The corridor was narrow enough that she could reach both walls and the ceiling with her blade with plenty of room to spare.

  “Come on, old man. This is your retirement party.”

  He laughed.

  “Look like a demon, sound like a little girl. I ain’t needing to waste Skills on you.”

  He bulled forward behind his golden shield of light.

  She drew her blade without conscious thought, slicing upward on the diagonal, left to right.

  The impact stopped his charge.

  The blade returned to her sheath before he could regain his footing.

  Tomahawk struck high to low like a diving bird of prey.

  Blade sparked against blade.

  A dozen exchanges in the span of seconds.

  The old soldier attacked.

  Kat parried.

  Frustration grew, but pride held out longer.

  She lost track of time.

  Minutes passed.

  She parried every attack he launched inside the range of her extended blade.

  He snarled and activated an enchantment on his tomahawk.

  The cutting steel glowed red.

  “Got this from those freaks from another world.” He sneered. “Said it’ll cut through anything.”

  Blade struck blade.

  But this time she parried with the flat.

  She didn’t want to risk her edge in a bind.

  He struck.

  The blow swerved at the last instant.

  A physical impossibility made possible by a Skill.

  The red hot tomahawk sheared through a portion of her shoulder armor.

  “Special ain’t so special no more.”

  She eyed the tomahawk blade.

  Red hot to white hot.

  If it was plain steel then it had limits.

  He struck with the same Skill.

  She tried to anticipate, but missed.

  The strike sheared across the top of her sword arm vambrace, taking a long chunk out and destroying the magic gems.

  The old soldier began destroying her armor one sliver at a time.

  She could call for help.

  All her focus needed to be on her defensive domain Skill since it was the only thing keeping her alive.

  “Cull The Weak!”

  The old soldier powered through her block, forcing her blade against her chest as the tomahawk bit into her faceplate.

  The only thing that saved her was a sudden pull on her back.

  “Bull’s Charge.”

  He plowed her into the wall behind his golden shield.

  The light was harsh.

  Her eyes were no longer protected.

  The slice in her faceplate had widened into many cracks.

  “There you are, pretty eyes! Damn shame what I’m gonna do to them.” He leered up at her.

  She pushed, but even with the artificial muscles she barely budged them.

  He snorted.

  “Your fancy armor might give you strength, but the you inside is much weaker than me and that means I just made that gap even wider. You’re always gonna be weaker than me and that gap’s just gonna keep growing the longer we tangle.” He raised the white hot tomahawk.

  She yelled and pushed.

  Somehow, he flew off her and into the opposite wall.

  She re-sheathed her blade hen stepped into a cut.

  Rising Spirit Iai!

  Doubt turned into utter certainty.

  Her sword arm became as sure as it could ever be. Her blade never wavered from the path she intended. Down to the exact target spot.

  She met the falling tomahawk exactly where she saw its weakest point.

  Threnium shattered enchanted steel.

  White hot shards exploded.

  The old soldier yelled.

  The perils of even a partially open helmet.

  He kicked her away, but the strength gap wasn’t so wide anymore.

  She stepped into a second cut, placing her free hand on the back of her blade and drew it downward across his front.

  The sum of the effects overpowered the protections on his armor.

  Layers of material parted until she reached flesh.

  “Bitch!”

  He punched her away and staggered back, reaching for a healing potion at his belt.

  He never got it.

  A dark net flew out of the smoke and enveloped him like a giant octopus’ tentacles.

  “What the fuck is this shit!”

  The old soldier struggled as the net closed, pulled taut at the other end.

  Kat helped.

  She lunged.

  When faced with a choice between the blade and falling back the old soldier picked the latter.

  He hit the floor and was dragged away.

  Kat rounded the corner and found carnage.

  Bodies lay all over the corridor.

  Bluewolf, Luzi and Steph gazed out of the gaping hole in the bulkhead.

  “Is he?”

  Steph pulled his empty net back from the hole.

  “Shit! Cate—” she saw her friend seated against the wall.

  Blood smeared the inside of Catelin’s faceplate.

  Kat rushed over.

  Catelin grimaced.

  “It’s fine,” she said weakly before slumping over.

  “Cate!”

  “She’s fine, check your HUD,” Bluewolf said. “Oh, sorry. Her vitals aren’t in the red.”

  “How? I don’t see any entry wounds. Her armor looks mostly okay.”

  Luzi groaned.

  Her armor bore scorch marks, but no tears, gouges or missing slices.

  “Got stabbed in the gut with some kind of ethereal sword. Armor systems kept her alive. Got Steph too.”

  Steph shrugged.

  “It’s not a big deal. I can’t feel my arm past the elbow, but I’m hoping it’s not, like, cut off or anything.”

  “We’ll get it looked at. Just hang on a little longer. I’ll call the repair team in—”

  “—coming!” Steph knocked her and Luzi down.

  A small golden orb, a clockwork skull flew threw the breach and exploded.

  Magic washed over them.

  …

  Kat woke up.

  The others remained tangled on the floor.

  American soldiers climbed through the breach.

  Time lost meaning.

  She fought with all her Skills and skill. She emptied her armor of its weapons. Emptied her bag of holding. Spellguns, normal guns, until only her blades remained.

  She fought without conscious thought as if another guided her movements.

  The enemies she felled she shoved back out the hole to make room.

  A mighty eidolon appeared.

  Somehow, she triumphed and the only thing it cost her was half her katana.

  Two sword style.

  Broken katana equal in length to her wakizashi.

  Kat blinked.

  Time and space lost all meaning for her.

  Another life.

  A happy wedding.

  Happy years.

  A sad ending, though not devastatingly abrupt.

  Kat blinked.

  She slumped to her knees.

  Blades slipped from her hands.

  She couldn’t see the enemy in front of her through the tears in her eyes.

  “Alin…”

  Soldiers raised their weapons.

  “Kat!”

  Steph’s voice.

  “I Challenge You!”

  Dimly, she was aware of his dark gray trident singing over her head.

  Then it flying back from whence it came.

  The net flew into its absence.

  Then Steph was in front of her with trident and gladius.

  …

  “What was that?” Steph said. “Like an enemy trick?”

  “You know exactly what it was,” Luzi snapped.

  “It’s like a dream,” Bluewolf said. “I can feel it slipping away.”

  “Shut up! I’m trying to memorize it before that happens.” Luzi’s eyes screwed shut.

  “Alin’s dad said…” Steph’s shoulders slumped.

  “It was real,” Catelin said as leaned down to place her arms around Kat’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry…”

  “You shouldn’t be moving around with a gut wound.”

  “Check my vitals, Bluewolf.”

  “How are you green?”

  “Healing gel, I guess.”

  “It shouldn’t work that fast.”

  “That doesn’t matter. Come on, Kat. We have to at least get into a defensible position before more of them come.”

  “We hit the waves, dude,” Steph’s voice was thick. “Me, him and Victor, like when we were kids. There were dolphins. Then we hit up the hot dog guy for some Cali dogs, but that the old dude retired years ago. But, like, it tasted just like I remembered it…”

  “It’s over,” Kat whispered.

  The pain in a body pushed beyond its physical limit was a distant thing.

  Unreal compared to the pain in her heart and soul.

  She remembered it now.

  Alin’s dad had done what she had asked.

  She remembered all of it.

  The memories crashed into her like a wave.

  She felt like she was drowning under the weight, but she refused to give it up.

  Alin’s face was in front of her.

  She could see him.

  She reached out and touched nothing.

  Kat’s scream echoed through the skyship’s cold, metal corridors.