Stormbreak (Seafire #3) - Natalie C. Parker Page 0,79

still fighting. Maybe if she could give the remaining members a little more time . . .

“On my mark,” she said. She left Oran by the catapults as she rushed back to the bridge. “Nettle, bring us around. I want us nose-to-nose with those ships coming around our flank.”

In a moment, Nettle had the ship facing west, their nose driving hard toward a cluster of Bullet ships swooping around behind her.

As soon as they were close enough, Caledonia nodded to Oran.

One by one, he fired the star blossoms. They flew high, black orbs against a dawn sky blossoming with pink and purple and the sharpest blue. It had hardly been any time at all since the attack began.

As the bombs fell on four Bullet ships, the screams that rose pierced the percussive song of battle. The pain of that sound settled into Caledonia’s blood like thorns of ice.

The flanking fleet stopped advancing, their thrusters churning fearfully against their own momentum as the four ships she’d struck coasted ahead. Their guns were quiet, while their engines revved with no one left to guide them.

The star blossom bombs had done their work and cut through hundreds of Bullets without an ounce of mercy.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“Caledonia!”

Her name, but also an accusation. Pisces stood just inside the bridge. Her mouth gaped and her eyes were wide and unbelieving. But there was no time for discussion. A new volley of fire loosed from one of the four remaining gun towers. It flew high and Caledonia held her breath as she tracked its progress.

One of Lir’s ships stuttered, its nose shoved into the water by a sudden explosion.

Caledonia’s crew roared in triumph.

“That’s one!” Caledonia grinned. “Bring us back around, Nettle! Harwell, tell the fleet to keep driving in. Our team just needs a little more time to get the rest of those towers!”

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