The Paragon

Chapter Twenty-Two

"The peninsula is a spot where the Imperial ships end up spread out," the navigator was explaining as the whole of the bridge tensely stared at the display. "There's more space between them here than any other part. At least, according to the last intelligence we had on the blockade."

"How old is that information?" Nadia asked.

"Over six months," the navigator replied solemnly. Nadia pursed her lips and nodded. "Keeping course?"

"Keeping course," Nadia agreed. I looked back to the display—the red dots were still following us. If you went out on the rear deck of the ship, you could actually see the ships in the distance, following behind, watching. Like sky sharks, circling prey, waiting for us to make a mistake or lead them home.

I looked up at the front window now, seeing the coast in front of us. We'd traveled all the way up the peninsula and now our only way out was over the sea. But even as I looked out, I could see the Imperial ships several miles out in the deeper water. It looked like there was hardly any room to go by.

"Damn it," I heard Nadia mutter, and I knew she saw the same thing. "Does engineering have an update on where our hull integrity is?"

"They've repaired most of the damage they can safely reach, but our bottom is most threatened in this scenario, Wayfinder," another technician said.

"And our shields?"

"Only fifty percent power available."

Nadia cursed under her breath again. "They'll put a hole right through us." I saw her look over at me again. "Paragon, we really should evacuate you. This is a dangerous plan."

"This is the only plan," I said firmly. "Evacuation won't help if we still only have one way to go, and the shuttle will be killed a lot more easily than this ship." I knew that this was the right way to go, but there had to be a safer way to do it. Nadia was right—the ships out there probably already saw us coming. They wouldn't fire until we were closer, but when they did...

We needed our shields. That would be what would protect us. The ships, both those in the air and in the sea, wouldn't follow us past the blockade—they couldn't, and not provoke attack from the Free Nations eventually. Not to mention, it would be scarcely worth following us at that point; at least, not if they couldn't kill us.

They had to not be able to kill us long enough for us to get away, long enough for them to think they couldn't follow. We needed a shield.

My eyes widened as I remembered our escape from the Imperials. We couldn't run from the Imperials that had found us after getting off the rooftops, not without them shooting us immediately. So Tabitha had used a force field to give us time to run.

Tabitha hadn't made it back either.

I pushed that thought from my mind and turned to Phoenix. "I know what to do," I said, then hurried towards the door. "Keep going, as fast as you can!" I called over my shoulder to the crew on the bridge.

"Paragon?" Nadia called back. "Where are you going?"

"Imogen!" Phoenix shouted as he followed me. I just kept running, finding the ladder I was looking for and climbing up it, then running for the door that led out to the main deck. The doors opened and I was out in the open air, my hair immediately whipped up into a frenzy. "Immy!" he called again as he followed me out. "What are you doing?"

I turned around to look at him, his cloak billowing in the wind around us. "We need a shield!" I looked over my shoulder to see we were over the water now—the blockade was approaching quickly. "What about a force field?"