Ahead, Lir’s ships were stacked three deep in front of the breakers, blocking all access to the harbor. Caledonia’s fleet, though much smaller, was driving in as hard as it could, nosing into the blockade where the gun towers would be unable to target them without also hitting their own. Caledonia cut a glance at Pisces. The look she wore wasn’t one Caledonia could easily decipher. This wasn’t the practiced mid-battle grimace she was used to, but something bristling with frisson.

Caledonia opened her mouth to say—what? She didn’t know and now wasn’t the time. She snapped her mouth shut again. For a second, they watched each other, then, with a tight nod, Pisces departed the bridge.

“Brace for impact!” Nettle shouted a second before a Bullet ship rammed them.

The Luminous Wake listed sharply to starboard. The Bullet ship latched on, throwing griphooks over the rail and pulling the hulls together. Caledonia’s crew surged across the deck, raising shields and firing on the Bullet clip attempting to board them.

Though she wanted to join the fray, Caledonia stayed put, kept her eyes on the battle surging around her.

For a moment, it was difficult to tell who was firing on whom. Her own ships were hopelessly mixed with Lir’s, and three of the four remaining gun towers fired haphazardly on both fleets erratically, as though inside each tower, the infiltration teams struggled for dominance. Beyond the breakers, a fresh contingent of Bullet ships waited in the harbor, their guns ready to snipe at any of her fleet lucky enough to break through. Caledonia was certain Lir was among them. Watching and waiting for the moment she was at her weakest.

Then, just as she was beginning to entertain the idea of retreat, a second gun tower turned its aim from her fleet to Lir’s. In the next moment, a third did the same.

“That’s three!” Nettle cheered.

Immediately, the battle shifted. With three gun towers firing on Lir’s fleet and the fourth oddly silent, it didn’t matter that Caledonia’s fleet was smaller. They finally had room to maneuver.

One of the towers targeted the ship latched on to the Luminous Wake and took it out with a single well-placed shot.

“Remind me to thank Pine later,” Caledonia said with a smile as sweat slipped from her temples to her neck.

“How do you know that was him?” Nettle asked.

But as soon as she’d asked the question, the fourth and final gun tower fired. The missile landed squarely on their bow, rocking the ship. Caledonia dove for Nettle as fire crashed against the pane of their self-healing windshield, shattering it beyond repair. She felt the painful flush of heat scrawling into her back as they crashed against the floor.