Janiel’s sudden appearance left Carlos and Linneya staring like their brains had shorted out. Carlos’s raised blade startled her just as badly.
He lowered it at once, scanning her from head to toe. “Captain Janiel… you—you’re okay?”
“Janiel!” Linneya blurted, relief breaking through her fear. “Did you get away from that monster robot?”
Apart from being soaked through and deathly pale, Janiel looked untouched—no cuts, no burns, not even a torn strand of hair. She swept wet hair behind her ear with a trembling hand.
“Yeah,” she said. “That giant is slow and clumsy in the water. It dragged me back into the cargo hold, but it loosened its grip for a second. I took the chance and slipped away.”
“Is it still after you?” Linneya glanced down the stairwell, voice small.
“I don’t know. We shouldn’t stay here.”
Janiel broke into a run down the corridor. When she passed Starling she only gave her a quick look—no questions, no time.
The three of them hurried after her. The ship was still easing back toward level; the deck no longer felt like a cliff face beneath their boots.
“Are you the one leveling the ship?” Carlos asked, breathless.
“I’m.” Janiel’s words came fast, clipped with urgency. “I throttled down the other four reactor engines. She’s righting herself, but the price is altitude—we’re losing it. The rescue fleet is here, the passengers are staged. We’ve to get the transport ships docked.”
“How?”
“I can remote-open the other bay doors. But the Zone A docking hatch is jammed. We’ve to open it by hand.”
They passed three bulkhead doors and reached another stairwell. Janiel didn’t hesitate—she took it two steps at a time, heading down. Carlos followed with Starling and Linneya right behind.
At the bottom, they were back on the cargo deck. It was still flooded, but only to their ankles now. To either side stretched the wide, shadowy hold. Straight ahead, a heavy steel door led into the docking bay.
Carlos pressed to the wall, checked left, checked right, then stepped out.
Janiel grabbed the wheel on the hatch and heaved. The others piled in. Even Linneya, face red with effort, threw her weight onto one of the spokes.
The wheel inched around—slow, stubborn—until at last it broke free.
The hatch opened onto a small pressure-lock chamber, like the shuttle bay Starling had seen earlier. Across it, a square sealed door waited: the docking hatch that would meet another ship.
As the Sunflower continued to level out, the standing water deepened again. The moment the hatch opened, water surged into the chamber—but the floor was an open steel grate, and it sluiced downward through the gaps.
Janiel tapped commands into her headband and brought the bay’s drainage system online.
***
A few minutes earlier…
Battle erupted on every side of the Sunflower. The bridge area was the worst: Julian drove wave after wave of Avengers into the breach, but they still couldn’t retake it.
Ground Control’s fear bled into every transmission. The ship’s systems had a firewall, but no one knew how long it would hold. If Phantom Forge seized full control of the Sunflower, the consequences were unthinkable.
Half an hour earlier, a Goliath missile had obliterated Reactor One—and the radar bay along with it. Julian and Ground Control lost all contact with the Sunflower. Ten transport ships had arrived, but with the huge liner canted at an angle, even Julian felt trapped by physics.
The situation was awful. Under relentless pressure from Ground Control, Julian decided to force it anyway.
He ordered all twelve frigates, both carriers, and every available fighter to wrap tight around the Sunflower—an iron shell. At the same time, he personally took control of four heavy transport ships. Matching the liner’s tilt, he angled them as well and guided them toward the four docking bays.
Circling outside, Kofira watched the tilted transports creep in and shook her head in disbelief.
“Julian—no. This won’t work. It’s too dangerous,” said the pilot famous for loving danger.
“I know,” Julian replied. “But we’re out of time.”
“Give me a team. Let me dock first and see what’s happening inside.”
“No time. The Sunflower can’t take another missile.”
“You’re insane,” Kofira muttered.
Then, a beat later, she snapped up. “Stop—Julian, stop! The ship is leveling out!”
Julian didn’t answer, but the four transport ships halted immediately.
The Sunflower’s remaining four reactor engines were adjusting, slowly rolling her back toward level. She was also steadily dropping—falling.
“At this rate, the ship will crash in forty-two minutes,” Julian said.
“At least it means we still have control,” Kofira said. She squinted. “Wait—what’s that? Why is water pouring out near the Zone A docking bay?”
“Probably a leak from a storage section,” Julian said. “It doesn’t matter. Time is bleeding. Dock now.”
“Good luck,” Kofira said, and banked away.
***
By the time Janiel finished the last command sequence, the Sunflower was fully level. On the docking panel, the indicator light flipped from red to green.
Janiel let out a breath and, for the first time, allowed herself a thin smile. Around her, the others brightened too.
Across the four major zones, passengers had been queued for what felt like forever in the corridors leading to the docking bays. At Janiel’s order, the crew opened sections of sealed passageway, one by one.
People surged forward—crying, shouting, pushing—driven by terror and the raw instinct to live.
Carlos stood to the side with Linneya’s hand in his, watching the stream of bodies file onto the transport ship. For the first time in hours, his shoulders loosened.
“We should board too,” he said to Starling and Janiel.
Janiel looked at him and smiled—almost kindly. “You two go.”
Carlos blinked. “What? You’re not coming? Are you taking the next ship?”
“No. I can’t leave. And…” Janiel nodded toward Starling. “She can’t either.”
Carlos’s smile collapsed. Linneya tightened her grip on Starling’s hand until her knuckles went white.
“Why?” Carlos demanded.
“We’re bio-humans.” Janiel shrugged as if the answer should be obvious.
So what?” Carlos stammered, frustration making his tongue clumsy. “You can still command once you’re aboard. You—”
“This isn’t about command, Mr. Carlos,” Janiel cut in, impatience sharpening her voice. “It’s about what we’re. We’re not human. Now get on the ship. There isn’t room to take everyone.”
“No.” Carlos’s face flickered through anger, disbelief, and something close to panic. “No, that’s not—”
Starling’s gaze dropped. She turned and started toward the line of bio-human attendants standing in disciplined rows after finishing their guidance duties.
Linneya burst into tears, clinging to her. “Starling, don’t go. If you go, I’m not going either!”
Starling tried to speak, but Carlos reached out and caught her wrist too.
“Starling,” he said, voice hard with resolve, “this time we’re not getting separated.”
Janiel’s face went gray with fury. The attendants stared. So did the remaining passengers in the corridor.
“But…” Starling whispered.
“No buts. We’re going.” Carlos scooped Linneya into his arms and hauled Starling toward the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Janiel called after him.
“Your plan,” Carlos said without looking back. “We’re taking the ore freighter out.”
Janiel didn’t stop them. She stood with the other bio-humans and watched them vanish around the stairwell bend.
***
The first wave of four transport ships filled quickly and peeled away from the docking bays.
The attendants withdrew to marshal the next batch of evacuees. Soon, only Janiel remained at the glass of the docking hatch, watching the transports drift outward and turn to clear space for the next ship to slot in.
From the outside, the rescue looked smooth. Plando’s pressure had eased. Kofira, watching from the sky, finally let herself breathe and smile.
Then her smile froze.
“What the hell…?” she murmured.
Several Metal Storm Defense Towers—silent for a long time—began to rotate. Their clustered barrels swung in perfect unison, lining up on the four departing transport ships.
Inside the docking bay, Janiel’s mouth curved into a private, predatory smile. So softly only she could hear it, she whispered:
“Plando will prevail.”