High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,1
was going until the day they left. Standard operating procedure. Another of Lancaster's precautions.
“The Spikes are good. I’ve been through them a few times since the war, looking for sky lane routes. Are you going with a group?” He stretched out his long legs, which wasn't as easy to do up front, and she hoped he'd get uncomfortable enough to move to the back.
“No. I don't know anyone in Touka. Not any more. Part of why I thought I'd hike it, actually.”
That was a lie.
She was happy her friend Lucca had moved, because if he'd known about her trip up the Spikes, he'd have tried to come along.
She wanted no witnesses to what she planned to do in the mountains.
Iver angled himself toward her, and his leg pressed against hers. “I thought you had a friend there.”
She nodded, shifting her leg away. “I did, but Lucca got a job in Permeo a couple of months ago. He's loving it there.”
“Going up on your own isn't such a great idea.”
She didn't know what to say to that. That's none of your business just didn't seem right. She shrugged. “If the weather looks dicey, I won't take chances, I'll come right down.”
Another lie.
She would see her trip out, no matter what.
He didn't respond, and she concentrated on the job. They were over the hills and skimming the plains, something the autopilot would have taken care of on Themis, her home planet, or any of the planets of the Verdant String, for that matter. Here on Faldine, though, pilots were more than just window dressing in case things went wrong.
She hung onto the stick, leaning forward, her eyes on the horizon as the sun dipped lower in a blaze of oranges, purples and reds.
She caught a glint off to the right, the last flare of sunlight on something metallic on the ground below, and just because she wanted something to do, something to distract her from the subtle rub of Sugotti's shoulder against hers, the heat where they touched, she took the Sig straight up, all in the name of being unpredictable. Just following Lancaster's orders, if Sugotti should ask her what the hell she was doing.
The missile missed them by two meters.
She saw it literally fly beneath her feet through the clear bubble nose of the Sig as the collision detector squawked in her ear.
It would come back round, of course, so she followed it, banking sharp left and trailing in its wake, not giving it any room to maneuver.
Sugotti had gone still beside her, and when she glanced at him to gauge his reaction, she saw he had a dart gun in hand. Looked like a military standard SAL.
She had to twist and turn in the Sig to keep up with the missile, but it only had so much hard fuel and it would have to drop out the sky soon. She brought up the display, watching for a second Sweet-D, because if they were serious about taking out a Sig, they must know they'd need two.
She switched to voice command, and hunched her shoulders to get rid of the kinks. “Bring up guns.”
“Bringing up guns.” The smooth voice of Siggy, her onboard system comms, made the moment almost cool. She hadn't had cause to bring up the guns since the war ended, and never in a Sig.
But . . . no.
She'd rather skip the cool bit and not have a missile coming at her.
“Fire at target.”
“Firing at target.”
She caught the quick flash of laser fire as the two guns on either side of the front nose let loose, and then she lifted them almost vertical to avoid the shrapnel as missile number one blew into tiny little bits.
She heard Iver make an appreciative noise at the back of his throat, then go silent as the display in front of her began to beep.
Missile number two. Right on time.
“Well, damn.”
Iver gave a snort, and put out a hand to brace himself as she spun them around and fired directly at the incoming.
It was a dicey move, but she didn't have much choice. No time, nowhere to go, and she felt the cold, queasy hand of dread grab her gut as an exploding piece of missile number two clipped one of the blades above the Sig's sleek body.
The Sig lurched hard left, and she was grateful she'd taken them so high to begin with.
It was a fight to the ground, but she had a few precious seconds to get them level, find