Chapter 36 · Burn the Black Sky

"Hold that line, Cassian! If it slips, the whole forward deck cooks!"

The copper conduit bucked under his gloves.

Heat punched through the leather and into his palms. Cassian locked both arms around the pipe and drove his boots against the warped deck plating. The conduit had torn loose from the core cradle, spraying white-hot sparks across the engine chamber. Every spark landed in a puddle of black oil and died with a sharp hiss.

Above him, the ironclad shook.

Something slammed into the hull. Metal screamed. A second impact sent Brant Thorne rolling across the chamber, one shoulder smashing into the bulkhead.

"Drones on the upper fins!" Brant shouted. "Three of them, and they brought cutting charges!"

"Then shoot them!" Cassian yelled.

"I would love to. My gun is missing half its barrel!"

"Use the other half!"

"That isn't how guns work!"

Lyra stood beside the ruptured core cradle with one hand pressed to the brass sensor ring. Her white cane lay snapped under her boots. Thin gold light crawled beneath the skin of her fingers, pulsing every time the conduit kicked.

She turned her face toward Cassian.