As we’d climbed in, there had been a few weird voids that formed, spaces people had been reluctant to fill. Benches had been quickly claimed, then ceded to the injured. The center aisle down the back of the craft was harder to fill, but Defiant deployed drop-down handholds from the ceiling. There had still been a void, however, around Defiant. Like nobody wanted to bother him or seem too familiar.

I braved it, stepping into those five feet or so of empty space. There was a passenger seat, and I stood with my back to it and to Defiant. Sveta found a position just to my left.

Byron sat down hard on the seat, metal against metal, and put his head back, eyes closed.

Couldn’t be easy, even with the general help Chris had provided. And there was no Vista backing him up here. She had her own people and team to look after. Presumably in the Dragon ship with a single curved horn that I could see outside.

“ETA: ten minutes,” Defiant said. “Whatever she’s doing back at the Wardens’ headquarters, it’s her final move before she goes after Titan Fortuna.”

The hatch at the back closed. The last few people crowded in. Chris took a seat with his back to the hatch, which most avoided leaning against or standing near. As if it might open mid-flight and see them tip out. I could imagine Chris growing emergency wings or a means of surviving the landing if he had to.

“Waiting for the other ships to board,” Defiant announced, without glancing back at us. His spear telescoped and he placed it in a socket in the wall. “I know you want to get there as soon as possible, but I’ll be flying every ship we have myself, and I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a ship I can’t see in the event of an ambush, especially with signal latency and reliability right now.”

“Did we make the wrong call, engaging her here?” I asked Defiant.

“There are no right calls when dealing with her,” Defiant said. “Have a look for yourself.”

A projected map of the city appeared between the two seats. I turned and looked.

The buildings were drawn out in gray-blue, with whole stretches of the city flattened or eaten up by the cracks. The good guys were icons in green, floating over scattered dots. Titans stood out in bold red, with slight color variation for Fortuna’s cluster, crimson, against Dauntless’s, pink. Arachne and the other independents were orange.

“Draw a circle with your finger to pick up.”

I experimented. Damsel of Distress was in the back of the craft, and moved closer. Withdrawal also drew closer, looking.

Keep everyone close to the Wardens’ headquarters.

“How do I play it out?”