Carlos went back to the fallen Hell Fox Marines without a word and started stripping their external exosuits. He chose the least-damaged pieces and began locking them onto himself.
Starling stepped close, frowning. “What are you doing?”
Carlos kept working as he spoke, explaining what he’d seen at the shuttle bay.
As he talked, Starling’s expression tightened with the same grim understanding.
“Then what do we do now?”
“There’s only one way,” Carlos said.
“What way?”
“I draw them off. You take Linneya onto the assault craft.”
Starling’s voice caught. “And you?”
“You tell her to wait for me a few minutes. I’ll shake them, loop back, and meet you.”
Silence.
“Isn’t there another option?” Starling asked quietly.
“No.” Carlos snapped the last strap into place. “There isn’t.”
“No, Dad. We go together,” Linneya said.
“No time,” Carlos said, forcing his voice gentle. “This is the only way. And I know these corridors. I can lose them.”
He grabbed spare magazines and a handful of grenades from the dead marines, loading his pouches with the ruthless efficiency of someone who’d decided on an outcome.
Starling saw the decision in his eyes and stopped arguing. “Fine. We’ll wait for you.”
Carlos checked his gear, even slung the long knife across his back. Then he crouched in front of Linneya and smiled—bright, confident, almost convincing.
“Don’t worry. Your dad’s tough. A few robots aren’t going to stop me.”
“You’ve to come back,” Linneya said, eyes wet. “If you don’t, we don’t go.”
Carlos nodded once. He kissed her forehead.
“Okay,” he murmured. “Baby—trust in miracles one more time.”
The corridor ahead branched into multiple forks. Carlos had Starling take Linneya to hide around a rear corner. Then he unclasped his wristband and handed it to Starling.
He leaned close to her ear and whispered, low and urgent: “Five minutes. Max. If I don’t come back… take care of Linneya.”
Starling’s face tightened, but before she could answer, Carlos sealed his helmet and moved.
He ran.
Carlos burst around the corner like a grenade himself—throwing a grenade first, then a smoke bomb, then firing several grenade rounds down the corridor.
Explosions slammed together. Three or four Exilers dropped instantly.
“Come on, you tin freaks!” Carlos shouted as he fired. “Die! Every last one of you!”
The Exilers answered with a storm of rounds. Bullets hammered his exosuit, kicking up showers of sparks.
Carlos ducked into a side branch, using the corner to trade fire in quick bursts. When he was sure they were fully engaged—fully committed—he turned and sprinted for the far end of the passage.
The Exilers swarmed after him.
Pressed to the wall, Starling listened to the thunder of footsteps rushing away. When the sound finally faded, she peeked around the corner to make sure the way was clear—then grabbed Linneya’s hand and ran.
They reached Bay Three in under thirty seconds.
The outer hatch had indeed been blown open. The freighter that used to sit there was gone. The sky yawned in front of them.
The view outside had changed completely since before. The airspace was empty now; both sides’ fighters and ships had vanished.
The clouds that had been below the Sunflower were now above. Looking down, Starling could see a long sweep of mountains.
She raised Carlos’s wristband and tried to reconnect to the last frequency.
Nothing.
She copied what Carlos had done, stepping out toward the platform edge to improve line-of-sight.
Still nothing.
She scanned the sky. No assault craft. No Kofira.
Two minutes passed—two minutes that felt longer than two hours.
No rescue came.
Panic tightened around Starling’s ribs.
“Damn it,” she said—her first real curse in her life.
Linneya coughed hard in the thin air. Starling pulled her back toward the middle of the platform and wrapped her arms around her.
They clung together like two birds caught in a storm.
From inside the ship, faint gunfire and distant blasts still carried through the bay. Carlos was fighting for his life, and the time he’d bought was bleeding away into nothing.
Then, when Starling was starting to break, a new sound rose from below—the deep thrum of engines.
They looked up.
A bright craft climbed into view from beneath the bay opening, then hovered at the threshold.
Relief hit Starling so hard her knees almost gave out.
Kofira eased the assault craft into the shuttle bay. Once she’d settled it, she opened the hatch. Starling and Linneya rushed aboard.
“I’m sorry,” Kofira said, guilt in her eyes. “I saw Exilers launching out of Bay Three nonstop. I realized I’d pointed you to a trap. I circled a few times and didn’t dare come close.”
Then she noticed there were only two of them.
“Where’s the third?”
“My dad’s coming,” Linneya said quickly. “He’ll be here any second.”
“Yes,” Starling said. “He drew the Exilers away so we could get on.”
“Oh—my God.” Kofira went pale and looked toward the inner corridor. “You mean he pulled those Exilers off by himself?”
“Yes.”
“If he doesn’t come, we’re not leaving,” Linneya said, stubborn as iron.
…
Seconds crawled. Then minutes.
Carlos still didn’t appear.
Kofira’s anxiety rose until it was almost physical. She’d been away from the main force too long already, and the flight back to base would be long. This was enemy airspace—who knew how many intercepts she’d face.
“I don’t think he can make it,” Kofira said finally.
“If he doesn’t come, we’re not leaving,” Linneya repeated, gaze locked on the inner doorway. From the moment she’d climbed aboard, she hadn’t stopped watching it.
Starling stared too, telling herself over and over that the next second would be the one.
He didn’t need to outrun every Exiler. He just had to loop back, close that inner hatch—five seconds, maybe ten seconds of cover—and he’d have time to sprint onto the craft.
But Carlos didn’t come.
How long had it been? Starling didn’t even know. She hadn’t checked.
The gunfire was gone now. Had he taken the wrong route? Had he—
Starling swallowed hard and turned to Linneya. “You stay here. I’m going to look for your dad. He might be lost.”
“I’m coming too,” Linneya said immediately.
“No.” Starling forced firmness into her voice. “If I take you, we’ll be slow. We can run fast.”
“I’m not slow,” Linneya insisted.
Starling gave her a look—sharp, angry enough to cut. “I’m serious.”
Linneya’s mouth trembled. “Okay… but you’ve to come back. Both of you.” Tears spilled again. “You both have to come back…”
Kofira leaned forward, alarmed. “You shouldn’t go. If you leave and he comes back—”
Starling raised the wristband. “You can connect to this, right?”
Kofira nodded. “Yes.”
“Then message me if he shows.”
Starling started down the hatch ladder.
“Wait!” Kofira turned and thrust her sidearm into Starling’s hands. “If you insist, take this.”
Starling didn’t argue. She accepted the pistol and climbed down into the broken ship.