Chapter 22 · The Core's Other Face

The gunship’s nose punched through the command chamber ceiling before Leia could raise her weapon.

Glass and burning metal crashed around her. The half-closed shutters caught the gunship in the breach while its cannons swung toward her chest.

The Covenant Engine pulsed behind her eyes.

"Root access is failing," it warned. "The city has marked you for execution. Memory continuity is available."

"Not now."

Blue-white light crawled along the nearest cannon.

Kane moved first. He shoved Nolan behind a console and crossed the platform under fire, coat snapping in the heat. Three bullets struck the gunship’s targeting assembly. The armor held, but the cannon shifted half a degree.

That was enough.

The beam tore through the platform where Leia had been standing. Metal ran like wax. Two dead drones dropped through the hole into the dark below.

"Leia!" Kane shouted.

She hit the floor, rolled through sparks, and came up on one knee. Across the chamber, Nolan was already working the cracked interface. Blood ran from his nose. He wiped it away with a shaking hand.

"I can close the canopy," he said.

"You can barely stand."

"Then I’ll do it sitting.