Understanding and relief washed down Oran’s face. He climbed to the roof of the can and moved back while Nettle nudged the ship even closer. From within the remaining cans, they could hear pounding on the walls.

“Stay steely, girls!” Caledonia shouted.

“The hatches are too low,” Pine said, steel punchers in hand. “They’ll have to swim and climb.”

Caledonia had reached the same conclusion, and while she didn’t like it, there wasn’t time to find a better solution. If the northern jetty wall opened behind them, they’d be forced away from the cans whether they had her crew or not. “They can do it.”

Pine tossed a steel puncher to Sledge, and when Caledonia reached for the third, he laughed. “Not a chance, Captain. Starling!” He tossed the steel puncher to a boy who’d been named for his song. “In the water.”

Starling plucked the steel puncher and leapt overboard. Sledge was right behind him.

“Jetties on the move!” Mint shouted from the aft deck.

Pine dropped to the ocean below as Caledonia turned her steps toward the command deck. All around the sky was dark except for the dagger of Slipmark. The town was now slicked with light, a blue-white blade nestled in the deep black clutch of hills. In the bay, the northern wall began to open.

“Gunners ready!” she shouted.

Behind her, the steel punchers went pop-pop-pop! The hatches of all remaining tide cans would be open in seconds, her girls soon in the water. If only they had a few more minutes.

On the main deck below, five Blades rushed to the railing to throw rope ladders over and help the first of her crew on board. Caledonia’s heart thrashed in her chest. She wanted to run to them, to throw her arms around them and kiss their cheeks, but she stayed put. She needed to keep her head in the fight.

Almost as if summoned by her thoughts, a missile speared the middle tide can, exploding on impact. Her stomach lurched. Had all her girls made it out of that can?

Behind them, the wall opened even more, and a single ship pushed through. It roared toward them as a second missile sang past another can, exploding in the water some distance away.

“Move, move, move!” she heard Sledge’s voice thundering over the water.

Her girls needed little encouragement. They dropped into the water even faster than before, swimming toward the Beacon.

Caledonia kept her eyes on the approaching ship. She had a decision to make: bring the rear of her own ship around to shield the girls still in the water, slowing down their rescue by several minutes, or hold steady and rely on darkness to conceal them until the last few climbed aboard.

A second ship zipped through the walls.

“Gunners!” she cried. “Target the first ship! I want constant cover now!”