But he had to stay out of the Simurgh’s range. She was weakened, he was relatively clear of her scream, and that weakened her predictive power. It meant his shots landed, and she was forced to choose between destruction and a grazing hit, instead of destruction and a miss.

He was watching the dust cloud, and he was ready when the Simurgh emerged. Lasers raked him, and systems failed, but he was ready and able to open fire.

Dragon focused on keeping the machines from collecting the Simurgh’s parts. He focused on the Simurgh, watching the countdown.

Simple math told him that the numbers didn’t add up. The Simurgh was making her move. Seeking Fortuna. He could do the math. It took her thirty seconds to get to Fortuna. He needed forty to shoot again.

One of the monitors on his console flickered, then showed a pair of hearts, a curved line between and below them, a smiley face.

He smashed his hand into the top of the console, shattering the glass of the monitor, the crack running through one of the heart-eyes. “No!”

He kicked every thruster into action. Spearing down toward Fortuna.

His trajectory carried him past Dauntless. Dauntless, who had endured the Simurgh’s company for as long as just about any person who hadn’t lived in Lausanne, the unwitting audience for her very first appearance.

Dauntless, who had every reason to hate and resent him.

He could only trust. That Dauntless was a better man. Trust that the Dauntless who they’d discovered had spent years trapped in time with only his own thoughts could somehow hold out against the Simurgh’s influence. She had two vectors of attack, with one being prediction, the other being the ways she could grind down a man’s sanity.

The prediction would be weak right now. As for the other part… Defiant trusted that his old teammate had held onto that sanity.

No choice but to trust.

“Defiant!” Lookout’s voice came through the console.

“Not the time!”

“It has to be! Dauntless—”

“I know!” he roared.

“Tell him we have plans—”

He hit the console again. He disconnected the breaker. He didn’t need to be told. He’d followed that conversation, read the transcript as they discussed. A part of his brain had recorded it without him needing to. That part had come directly from Dragon.

The Marduk roared, the velocity causing hull to peel away, where the lasers had caught it. He swept past Dauntless, bracing himself for a shield to come between himself and his destination, or a spear to strike the side of his Marduk.

The impact to the side of his Marduk drove him off course.

He corrected.

It was telekinesis. A chunk of building.