Caledonia’s eyes strayed back to the deck of her ship, where her crew was moving together so seamlessly it might have been choreographed. They needed her, but they also didn’t, and that gave her all the confidence she needed to redirect her thoughts and her mission. Theirs was to finish this battle. Hers was to end the war. And as much as her heart still longed for vengeance, Lir wasn’t the war.

“I will,” she promised. “Pisces! You’re in command!”

“I have command!” Pisces shouted for all to hear.

Smoke now stretched across the deck, and Caledonia’s crew turned to her as she draped one leg over the rail of the ship. They were all there. Ready to hold the line for her, ready to finish this together.

Even Oran. He stood in their midst with a gun in his hand, and though he looked as if it took every bit of his will not to race to her side and haul her into his arms, he didn’t.

“See you after, Captain,” he said.

The unspoken promise lingered just beneath the surface of those words. Caledonia intended to come back for them.

“Stay steely, girls!” she shouted, and then she dropped over the edge.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Her boots hit the shallow hull as a spray of gunfire peppered the Luminous Wake just above her head; a missile drove beneath the waves and exploded nearby; and all around the ocean was furious with vigorous, slapping waves that rocked her small boat.

She dropped her pack, revved her engine, and ducked low behind the wheel, aiming for the megaship. The second she pulled away from the Luminous Wake, three ships drove up on either side of her. Narrow noses sheared through the waves like needles, sliding alongside her with ease. Each bore a single pilot, their bodies bent low so that they were nearly prone against the boat. From their slender hulls, webs of electricity arched in a dome, cocooning them in a shield that dispelled gunfire as if it were nothing more than rain.

The two nearest edged in until they were close enough that Caledonia felt the hum of electricity against her skin. Then, with a snap and a vibrant shock, the two shields merged into one with Caledonia safely in the center.

They drove hard, skimming along the waves as they angled around and between larger ships. Inches above Caledonia’s head, gunfire snapped against the shield in a constant refrain. Ahead, the megaship loomed large against the blue sky, while just beneath, two dark holes like eyes marked the channels that would carry her through to the other side. She aimed for one, bracing her feet on either side of the narrow hull.