Stormbreak (Seafire #3) - Natalie C. Parker Page 0,78

to get a clean shot.”

With a single voice, the bridge crew responded, “Yes, Captain!”

The gun towers fired again, and Caledonia caught a round of vibrant explosions in her peripheral vision as the missiles landed among her fleet.

“Harwell,” she said, locking her eyes on the incoming ships. “Radio the Deep Cut and tell them to follow our lead.”

Together, the fifty-six ships of their combined fleet soared forward, guns blazing. The Luminous Wake bucked as a missile struck its nose, yet Caledonia held tight to her resolve. All around her fleet was suffering under the onslaught of a hundred ships and the constant battery from those towers.

“Deep Cut reports they’re down five ships!” Harwell shouted. An explosion shook the cabin and he paused to maintain his grip on his station. “We’ve lost three of ours!”

Eight ships down still left forty-eight. Forty-eight to Lir’s one hundred and seventy. In an instant, the air had filled with the bite of smoke. It clung to the back of Caledonia’s throat as her ships struggled to hold its own.

They wouldn’t be able to resist much longer. Everything hinged on those towers. Without them, she was marching her entire fleet into a massacre, and if the infiltration team had been discovered, then that was exactly what she was doing. But backing down too soon would be just as bad as staying too long. For a brief second, fear gripped Caledonia’s lungs and squeezed. She heard the screams of her people, tasted the hint of copper on the air, and felt the flush of explosive heat rising around her.

The wrong decision now would be catastrophic.

As the gun towers fired again, striking a ship on their starboard side, Caledonia steeled herself. Time. She needed to give the infiltration team just a little more time.

But as an arm of Lir’s fleet split west, aiming for her flank in an effort to surround her entire fleet, she knew time was the one thing she no longer had.

“Hold this course, Nettle.” Caledonia left the bridge at a jog, then slid down the companionway ladder to the main deck.

She spotted Oran, hunched beneath a rail, reloading weapons he could not fire with his fingers still wrapped in braces, but one look from her and he was on his feet. Without a word, they hurried belowdecks, racing to the weapons locker on level two.

“You’re sure?” he asked as they reached their destination.

“I’m sure. We don’t have any other options, and we are so close, Oran.” She hesitated, feeling the full weight of what they were about to do land on her shoulders. “We can end this here. Now. We just have to hold on.”

There were no more questions. Oran unlocked the storage container, revealing a wall of star blossom bombs. Four black orbs rested in stabilizing racks, but at the pull of a lever, their restraints came loose. Oran pulled a cloth hammock from the floor of the locker, stretching it between them so they could carry all four bombs.

The ship lurched to port, nearly knocking them off their feet as they raced topside once more. The sky was clouded with smoke and streams of fire. Round after round fired from the gun towers, exploding against Caledonia’s fleet. Smoke clouded her vision, stinging her eyes and making them water as screams threaded the air. It was all they could do to face off with the ships between them and the breakers, while still others were close to flanking them. Caledonia could see Lir’s fist quickly closing around them, getting ready to squeeze the life from her entire fleet, and her stomach twisted painfully.

“Hurry!” she shouted, beginning to climb to the forward deck.

They rushed to four of the catapults bolted against the nose and as quickly as they could loaded a star blossom bomb into each.

“Captain!” The call came from the lookout atop the bridge, where one of Amina’s Knots pointed toward the city.

She turned in time to see the southernmost gun tower explode. Spires of flame shot into the sky as black stone crumbled down. For a moment, the crew paused in horror, and Caledonia knew they were all wondering the same thing she was: who had been inside when it exploded? If they’d been unable to wrest control from the Bullets, destroying the tower was likely the best option the team had had, but which team had it been?

“Ready,” Oran said, racing back to her side.

Caledonia ripped her gaze from the fire. The tower was out of play, which meant their team was