Tye

My people stand behind me and as we crest the ridge, the Elixr comes into sight. The ship engine's are humming. I wonder what Lord Oliver intends and then I see it.

The ship's guns, equipped with high powered plasma rifles and ion cannons, swivel in place. They're manned and ready to defend. Surrounding the ship, his troops create a three-man deep barrier. Even with one hundred Shadows behind me, we are outgunned and outnumbered. My heart sinks, but I lift my chin and focus instead on what's possible. Loss, but not defeat.

"Oh no," Niah whispers beside me. "How will we ever get through that?"

I look at her. "We don't have to take them all down. We just have to get through to the ship."

Blake growls, "Chortessa's guts! We could punch through the men but those guns will take us out before we ever reach them."

"I have an idea." Niah reaches into a deep pocket in Bellamy's coat and pulls out Hart's tablet. "Why didn't I think of this before?"

"What is it?"

"Hart has a direct link with the Elixr. We can control the ship from here."

I lean over, trying to make sense of what's on the screen. "What do you mean? We can control their guns, their thrusters?"

"Well, we can't fire the cannons remotely, especially while they are manned. The Narian controls override us. But we can prevent them from firing at us."

"That, at least, takes out that problem. What about men?"

"Well, it's like you said, we just need to get through to the ship. If you can get me onto the ship, I can release the cure and find Wish."

"We can," I say.

Niah turns to me. Her smile is as radiant as both solars combined. I catch my breath, my heart racing. We can do this, we have to. I turn to Blake.

"Blake, can you get us through?"

Blake's face is lit up too. I can see his eagerness to get into the fight. "We'll hammer those men so hard they'll forget which way the solars rise in the City of Light."

Jenin touches my hand. "Be careful, Tye. Lord Oliver won't consider mercy when he finds you. You're expendable to him, but not to us."

"I'll be careful." I turn to Niah. "Let's go."

We make our way down over the ledge toward the ship. The guns swivel toward us but with a few commands Niah directs their aim into the sky.

"I can take care of the ship's guns," Niah says, "but what about theirs?" She points to the Stalkers. The men in the forward line turn their plasma pulsers against us.

From either side of us, a troop of our Shadows pulls into formation. They charge forward like a spear. My heart aches as I hear the blasts of plasma. Lances of laser fire hit their marks. I can't see our men fall, but I hear their cries. I can hear their sacrifice.

Beside me, Blake grips my elbow. "For the cure," he says quietly. "Go, Tye. Make their deaths count. You must complete Captain Bellamy's mission."

I nod and take Niah's hand in mine. She grips my fingers. I feel the heat burning through her skin. "You okay?"

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"I can do this."

Through the channel of Shadows, we charge forward. Either side of us the battle rages. Shadows and Stalkers confront each other. Our Shadows are armed with an arsenal of scrap weapons foraged from the land but they face the superior fire power of the Stalkers' plasma pulsers with courage. Around us, men fall in agony, pierced or singed by the weapons.

I force myself to ignore their pleas for help. We race forward to the doors of the ship which are just feet away, but between us stands another row of men.

I glance at Niah beside me. She has to make it. As if sensing my decision, she turns to me. "No, Tye."

"You have to do this Niah. I can't do it for you." I feel her fingers tighten around mine but I pull away.

"Don't leave me."

"I have to make sure you get inside."

With one last look, I lean forward and brush my lips across hers. I want to linger, but I force myself to break away. With a roar, I charge toward the Stalkers. They stand firm as I rush them. I ram my shoulder into the nearest Stalker. His chest is like a rock wall but his feet shift and he falls to the ground. I turn and kick another Stalker out of the way. For a moment, there is a break in the line. Niah has a clear path.

I glance at her as she hesitates. "Go, Niah! Now!"

I see the streaks of her tears as she runs past me. I try to follow, but slam into a Stalker that charges forward to stop her. His thick hand grips my arm and he pulls me backward. I sigh as Niah disappears into the ship. Then, I turn to face my challenger.

***

Niah

I glance back but Tye's face is lost in the sea of Stalkers. "Tye," I gasp. My voice is a whisper as his name breaks on my lips.

I swallow the crushing weight of my fear and suck a breath into my lungs. I force myself to turn away from the chaos of battle outside the ship and instead make my way through to the lift. My temples throb and I hear the pounding of my heart in my eardrums. Time is running out. I can feel it in the swirl of my stomach and the heat of my skin. If I'm going to do this, I need to do it quickly, before my body betrays me again.

I stand in the lift as it travels up. I step out into the corridor and try to remember the way to the core. I don't think it was near these crew quarters, was it? I grimace, then I remember the tablet and pull it free from Bellamy's coat.

The display flickers as it takes a moment to gather feedback. A map appears, detailing the long corridors, the lift, the crew quarters, the med lab. Ticks later a small blue light starts to flash and the display flickers again, turning three-dimensional as it scatters multiple ship layers across the screen.

Homed in, the little blue flicker idles in a small room one floor down. "Hart?" I gaze at the beacon, and the small white dot pacing nearby. "Wish!"

I turn back to the lift and race inside. I gasp in relief as the doors open on the empty corridor below. I head into the port wing and past the rec room. The cells beyond seem to serve a double use as both brig and storage.

Wish glances up through the bars as I walk into the corridor. "Niah?"

"Wish!" I cry, throwing my arms around her through the bars.

She hugs me back, then pulls away, her lips turned down with concern. "You're hot again, Niah. You're sick, you need to rest."

I shake my head. "There's no time. The Shadows are fighting the Stalkers. They're buying us the time we need to release the cure, Wish. We have to complete the mission."

Wish shakes her head. "Lord Oliver's men took the fabrication drive."

Hart's jets hum as he crosses the cell toward us. His blue orb eyes are sharp and sparking. A thin line of blue cuts across his face. Twin eyebrows dip in a furious glare. "They've disabled Elixr."

"What do you mean?" I pause to listen, then add, "Her engines are humming. Can't you hear them?"

He makes a low growl. "They disabled her automation and took control by force."

"Oh." I plug the tablet into the system controlling the cell door. It's a simple hack. With the Elixr's systems down, there's no defensive line and the whole unit acts without any of its normal sentient systems.

Hart paces the cell while he waits for the door to click open. The sparks of his jets flare with red highlights.

Wish shakes her head. She pulls on the door as it clicks open. The metal bars swing inward. "We'll get her back, Hart. But first, we have to help Niah."

Hart nods. "Fabrication drive." The line of his mouth curves down. "Without access to Elixr's mainframe or my internal sonic system my navigation facilities are compromised."

I glance at the tablet in my hand with a frown. "You need this?"

His blue orbs blink and he tilts his head. "Indeed. My sonic system." He flicks open his chest cavity and pulls out a connection to link the tablet up to his main unit.

"Hang on." I flip through the settings, trying to memorise the route to the cure chamber. Three stories up. Secret door. "Okay, I think I've got it."

I plug the tablet back into Hart's console and click it into place. I go to flip through his settings but the screen starts scrolling through text faster than I can read. I blink, trying to understand, then snatch my hands back as Hart closes his chest again and turns to jet out of the door. "Several Stalkers are holding the fabrication drive in the cargo bay."

Wish turns to me. She grasps my fingers. "We'll get the fabrication drive, Niah. You get to the cure."

I gaze at my sister as my heart thuds hard against the wall of my chest. I don't want to leave her, to risk losing her again. She pulls me tight against her chest and I can't help but admire her courage. It's hard to remember that I'm supposed to be the big sister. How did she get so brave?

"It's okay, Niah. We can do this." She takes my arm and together we walk back toward the lift. She raises her head as we near the corner and then turns to me with a grin. "It's not a tiolf, but it'll do." She nudges her chin to a mini-zip tucked against a wall as if stacked for storage.

"You don't even know if that still works."

She flicks the controls and it revs to life. She nudges it into the lift, turning it back to the doors with a grin. "Have some faith, Niah. We've got this!"

I laugh, feeling my heart lift at the way her whole body seems to light up with joy at the adventure of it all. I shake my head. The doors close and the three of us descend.

My heart shudders as the doors open on the next floor and Hart and Wish step out. I reach out, grip Wish's shoulder and pull her into a tight hug. "Be careful, Wish." I whisper. She strokes the tear from my cheek.

"You too."