Stormbreak (Seafire #3) - Natalie C. Parker Page 0,40
the better, but how could she be sure? Maybe this was a moment to run, not fight.
She didn’t know what to trust.
“Cala?” Pisces faced her sister with a knowing expression. “What do you see?”
Caledonia looked from Pisces to the approaching vessel. The problem was she didn’t see anything. Just like she hadn’t seen anything before the attack on Cloudbreak. There was no clear path, no obvious right answer. Fear clutched at Caledonia’s throat. Her next decision could get more people killed, and she didn’t trust herself to know which was the right one.
Pisces moved in closer, her hand twisting in the fabric of Caledonia’s shirt. Such a small yet familiar gesture, one that calmed Caledonia just enough. If she couldn’t trust herself, she could at least trust that her crew was up to one more fight.
Spinning on her uninjured heel, Caledonia called, “Maintain course and speed!”
The bridge crew answered with a confident chorus of “Yes, Captain!” and she turned her attention to Pine and his gunners, now ready on deck with an impressive array of missile launchers.
“The second they’re in range, I want you firing. Understood?”
“Yes, Captain!”
Caledonia returned to her position on the nose of the ship, doing her best not to limp. Behind her, the rest of the crew was coiled and ready, eyes trained on the approaching vessel, fingers resting firmly on triggers.
The wind ripped strands of red hair from Caledonia’s braid, lashing them against her cheeks and eyes, the very tips still bleached a brassy blonde from her short disguise as a Bullet. As it grew out, it looked less like her mother’s vibrant curls and more like hungry flames burning in her peripheral vision.
The ship was closer now. Barreling forward at high speeds. Either they planned to swing around and flank her immediately or they had no intention of stopping. A direct hit of any sort could be devastating for the Luminous Wake, but as this ship grew nearer, she knew without a doubt that a hit from its broad nose would be catastrophic.
She would have to strike first.
“Ready!” Caledonia called, pacing the ship’s approach. “Fire!”
Three missiles flew overhead, screaming against the sky. In response, the Bullet ship attempted to adjust its course while gunners on deck sniped at the incoming artillery. In seconds, they’d destroyed one of the missiles. Two remained.
Caledonia shouted for her gunners to ready themselves as the Bullet ship veered hard to starboard, narrowly avoiding a second missile. The third found its home on their aft deck, exploding with a pop of orange flame.
The ship soared closer still, hemorrhaging smoke into the blue sky. Pine roared for his gunners to raise their shields and open fire.
Now that they were near, Caledonia could see the Bullet crew scrambling to put out the fire. What they weren’t doing, she realized, was taking aim against the Luminous Wake. Not a single gun was pointed at her crew.
“What are they doing?” Pisces asked, dread making her confusion sharp. “Why aren’t they firing?”
That’s when Caledonia saw her.
Standing tall on the forward deck of the Bullet ship was a woman with round hips and dark hair pulled into a severe braid. In her hand, she held a gun, arm resting at her side. Over the narrowing slice of water between them, she found Caledonia’s eyes. Then she raised her gun and fired a single shot into the ocean.
Recognition washed over Caledonia. This was no Bullet, but her friend and ally Gloriana.
After Slipmark, where Gloriana had helped Caledonia to free the captured crew of the Mors Navis, the woman had vanished into the night, only to turn up after the Battle of Cloudbreak with a different ship and a small crew of defected Bullets. They’d become a crucial part of Caledonia’s information network, constantly sailing out and back with news of the Bullet Fleet. Caledoina had dispatched them to verify the Fivesons’ deaths a week ago.
On a different ship.
Before she’d completed the thought, her gunners fired. Gloriana’s crew hit the deck, while she stood tall and unflinching, the gun hanging nonthreateningly in her hand.
The guns stopped, the air cleared, and each crew eyed the other warily. Soon, the two ships were port to port with a bridge laid between them.
“Captain,” Gloriana said, crossing the bridge to the deck of the Luminous Wake with a wide smile. “We thought this looked like the Luminous. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Sorry for the less-than-warm welcome,” Caledonia said with a glance toward the still-smoking patch on