Kora circled Miner's Danger. Didn't see one person.
Cannon-fire blasted The Ginger Star—like firecrackers during Authority celebrations, announcing general happiness, sickness, taxes, slave labor and death to all.
"What do we do?" yelled Scarlet, waiting for a chance to do something, her long rifle across her legs. Kora flew them back towards The Ginger Star.
Kora had met many pirates and smugglers. She was one. She had plenty of experience and had heard plenty of stories. In this case, however, she didn't understand the pirates' plan.
Normally, they wouldn't sink a ship this soon.
Unless…
That's when she realized. "There's a bounty on my head."
Kora flew over The Ginger Star, heart breaking as she watched cannonballs tear into it. It was flying on auto-pilot.
Kora figured she had two choices at the moment: fly down to Miner's Danger or fly down to Ginger Star.
She could drop onto Miner's Danger, try to dismantle it from the inside. Destroy their engine. The Resistance had supplied them with a few grenades—but to get those grenades she had to touch down on her ship. Which was what she wanted to do anyways.
She needed to steer The Ginger Star away from Miner's Danger, fly up above the cannonballs. Keep the pirates guessing. She aimed for the deck of her ship, cutting down hard. It was time to take back her ship and end this. Being up here, flying around, had given her too much time to think. To get angry.
Then she heard a whirring noise—a small motor.
Suddenly, a girl flew in from out of nowhere, on a flying board, right at them, slicing through the air. Kora had no time to react. The girl flew right into Scarlet, smacking the bottom of the flying board right into Scarlet's center and sending her off the rowboat.
Then the girl was gone, flying straight up into the storm, spiraling upwards in full control. Kora kept her eyes up for a moment, taking her pistol in hand. Waiting. She saw the girl come back down twenty feet over.
Standing, Kora tried to take a shot—the muzzle flash BRIGHT against the dense sands—the brightness blasting back into her face. Missed. Too much distance for these pistols. Too much sand. The girl sliced down towards The Ginger Star. Kora sat back down, took hold of the rudder, started down for Scarlet. But she kept her eye on the flying girl for a moment. The girl landed on the deck of The Ginger Star.
The girl was sleight of frame, the same size as Kora, and kind of looked like Kora from here, though Kora hadn't gotten a good glimpse at her face. She hoped her crew wouldn't mistake her for Kora and get killed.
The girl had been flying a high-powered board, much more expensive and current than the one Alex had been flying earlier.
Kora pointed the rowboat nearly straight down.
Problem was, they'd been between the two ships.
Cannons were still firing into The Ginger Star.
And Kora had to fly between the ships, through the cannon fire.
*****
Alex could hear nothing but the roar of the sands. The low bass of the powerful winds wrapping around her like a warm hug. It was hot in this storm, even with the wind. Her forehead was sweating.
She realized, with a smile, that perhaps the winds felt like a warm hug because Felix was holding his arms tight around her—holding on for his dear life, which basically was the definition of a warm hug in her book.
That's when Alex heard the cannon fire.
The ships were close by.