Difference between revisions of "Summary:Skyward"

== Part Four ==

=== Interlude I-2 ===

Ironsides watches a holographic replay of the battle over the space shipyard. She thinks about old stories about generals in the past who boldly led from the front, and on how she is inadequate compared to those people. Ironsides notes that salvage crews reported that most of the acclivity rings are too damaged to use, and thinks to herself that her indecisiveness and unwillingness to commit were what led to them being unable to take the rings. She and her aide Rikolfr then move on to discussing Spensa's actions in the battle, noting that her helmet readings indicate the Writellum section of her brain being highly active around the Krell, and that it is proof she has a "defect". Rikolfr notes that while Dr. Halbeth is convinced, Dr. Thior, head of Alta Base's medical department, is not. Ironsides thinks about how the defect caused a mutiny on the ''Defiant'', the specifics of which a lot of merited families are trying to cover up due to being descendants of those who sided with the mutineers, but that she herself knows of the defect's dangers due to seeing them firsthand. Rikolfr reports that NAL member Algernon Weight, father of Jorgen, is supporting Dr. Thior's doubt, and helping propose questions on whether Spensa could just be used as a symbol of redemption instead of being driven out. Ironsides is irritated, and has orders sent to Drs. Halbeth and Iglom to refute Dr. Thior's claims. She is determined to make sure the defect doesn't cause any problems in the future.

 

=== Chapter 30 ===

 

Spensa and Rig are back in the cave, working on M-Bot, applying sealant to the wing and placing metal sheets on it to patch where the broken metal had been. Rig then asks Spensa to consider what she would do if her father actually had been a coward, if he had had a moment of weakness, just like all humans, and that the DDF just made a big deal out of it so they could train their pilots to be brave. Rig then reveals that he thinks FM is cute, and then tells Spensa that M-Bot is ready to fly. Spensa gets in the cockpit and fires M-Bot up. His boosters are non-functional, and his cytonic hyperdrive is still missing, but his acclivity rings are still in order. Spensa light-lances part of the ceiling to cave in, and then rises into the air with M-Bot for the first time. While climbing to 100,000 feet, M-Bot informs Spensa that his GravCaps are capable of belaying 60% of g-forces, far more than standard DDF starfighters are capable of. They climb further to 500,000 feet, halfway to the rubble belt, where Spensa stops to admire the sheer scale of the planet and how small and meaningless humans are in the grand scheme of the planet. Whilst peacefully hovering at 500,000 feet, Spensa swears she can hear the stars in the back of her mind, calling for her to come to them. She dismisses this notion, as if she went much higher, the defense system within the rubble belt would begin targeting her. Spensa begins trying to convince M-Bot that he is capable of combat with the Krell during the descent, but he puts down her argument by stating that he is unable to disobey his orders to lie low. M-Bot puts his hologram of the cave ceiling back on to hide from the DDF, and Spensa reclines in the cockpit seat to fall asleep, when she begins to hear a dull hum in the back of her mind, a hum she attributes to M-Bot, leading her to believe that he is more alive than she had previously thought.

 

=== Chapter 31 ===

 

Skyward Flight are back practicing dogfighting maneuvers in their mockpits, and Hurl explains to Spensa her previous occupation as a Digball League player. Spensa tells her she was a rat hunter in her own personal maze of caverns. Spensa and Hurl start working better as a team, with Spensa flying in close to the Krell to activate her IMP and Hurl hanging back to pick off the Krell once its shield goes down. At 1600, Cobb cuts the dogfighting exercise short and makes a holographic Krell bomber carrying a lifebuster and begins teaching the tactics and practices of scouting out and reporting lifebusters, having the flight perform hour-long exercises with six decoy lifebusters and one real one, as well as entire exercises without a single lifebuster. They do these exercises for hours, until all of the flight members are exhausted and dismissed to return to their dorms, but not before Arturo asks if the last battle simulation they underwent was the Battle of Trajerto. Cobb says that it was, with modifications. This gets Spensa thinking that the DDF may have a true Battle of Alta file hidden away that proves her father wasn't a coward. While trudging back to her cave, Spensa gets a transmission over the radio for all pilots -including cadets - to report to base for possible deployment. A force of 75 Krell fighters have breached the debris field, three quarters of their maximum flight capacity. Spensa begins the long jog back to the launchpad.

 

=== Chapter 32 ===

Spensa makes it to the DDF compound, sweaty and out of breath. She goes to her ship, only to find another pilot climbing into her Poco. She manages to convince the pilot, Vigor, and the ground crew to let her fly instead. Dorgo, one of the ground crew, gives Spensa her helmet and tells her where the coordinates to her flight is. Spensa takes off and contacts Jorgen, who tells her that he's glad to see that she made it, and that they are holding position near some AA guns. Ten minutes later, Spensa arrives and takes up wingmate position besides Hurl. The two talk about killing Krell, and start inching out of line before Jorgen orders them back into position. The cadets start talking about the nearby battle, and Cobb tells them that they are merely holding position and should just wait until some reserve pilots get there to take over. Hurl expresses irritation at not being able to fight, and Jorgen tells her that they need to follow orders and not argue with their commanders. After waiting for a while, Cobb radios in again, telling them that the scouts spotted a squadron of eight Krell ships trying to sneak past the main battle, and that they need to engage and find out if there's a bomber. Two scouts, Cloak and Underscore, call in and tell Jorgen that they are joining their flight for the battle. Spensa flies with Hurl after a Krell ship. She focuses on targeting the Krell interceptor, almost feeling like she can anticipate its movements, her helmet sensors growing warm. Her concentration is broken by Kimmalyn asking for help. Spensa, Hurl, and FM break off to help her deal with the three tails she has. Spensa and Hurl then shoot down a stray Krell ship using the IMPing maneuver Cobb taught them. Spensa takes a quick survey of the fight, and realizes that Kimmalyn is being chased by three ships again, and is in trouble. Spensa asks everyone to make a V-formation with her at the point, explaining that the Krell tend to target flightleaders when possible. The maneuver saves Kimmalyn, but Spensa ends up with four tails, and her ship takes heavy destructor fire with her shield going down. The AA gunners and Arturo take down most of the Krell after Spensa, relieving her. Spensa sees Hurl being chased by three Krell, and pulls into a risky steep dive to get closer, and IMPs the Krell. The chaotic battle continues with Hurl managing to shoot the ship she was targeting, but her shield down. Spensa, too far away to help after reigniting her shield, tells Kimmalyn to shoot the ships chasing after Hurl. Kimmalyn tries to hit the ships, but misses, and Hurl's unshielded ship gets hit by the Krell, with one of the wings getting destroyed and the acclivity ring giving out. Spensa tells Hurl to eject, but Hurl refuses, declaring that she is not a coward and is brave to the end. Hurl's ship crashes on the ground, with Spensa staring at it in shock. Jorgen orders Skyward Flight to pull out, and then pulls up besides Spensa, who is starting to cry, when she doesn't respond. Spensa replies that she hears him, and pulls out with the rest of the cadets. Spensa notes that Arturo's ship is badly damaged. Watching the other pilots in the battle, Spensa realizes she needs a lot more practice to be ready. As the cadets head back to base, Spensa's hands are shaking, which she sees as a sign of cowardice.

 

=== Chapter 33 ===

Spensa wakes up in the infirmary, to which she had been sent to be checked over and ordered to stay in overnight. She forces herself out of bed and collects her belongings and goes to clean herself up. A nurse gives her a paper telling her that she and the rest of her flight were given a week of medical leave by Dr. Thior. Not knowing where to go, Spensa heads to her classroom, still stunned over Hurl's death. As the time for class draws closer, everyone else in the flight other than Jorgen also enter. Jorgen shows up ten minutes later, and unlike what Spensa expects, simply orders everyone to line up instead of dismissing them. He has a message sent to notify Cobb about everyone still going to class, and waits with the rest of the class. Quite a while later, Cobb comes in, and yells at them to sit down when they try to salute him. He goes into a loud rant about ejecting if their ship starts falling out of control, instead of listening to what the rest of the DDF says about always trying to save their ship. Spensa starts arguing with Cobb after he calls Hurl an idiot, and at one point calls him a coward. Cobb deflates and just says that Hurl's death was meaningless. He turns to leave, but stops when he sees Kimmalyn standing up and dropping her cadet's pin on her seat. He tells her to keep the pin and that she is dismissed. Spensa and Jorgen try to dissuade her from quitting, but Kimmalyn insists that she is the weakest member in the flight and is dragging everyone down, and says that she discussed it with Cobb. She expresses her guilt over being responsible for getting Hurl killed, and Spensa tries to comfort her. Kimmalyn leaves the room without her pin. Spensa turns to Jorgen and sees him standing with a pained look in his eyes. She gets information on how far Hurl crashed from Alta Base, and tells her classmates that she is going to give Hurl a proper funeral.