Diferencia entre revisiones de «Resumen:Escuadrón»

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* [[Zeen Nightshade]]

* [[Matthew Cobb]]

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* [[Aluko]]

* [[Becca Nightshade]]

 

;Plot Summary

 

=== Chapter 2 ===

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* [[Alfir]]

* [[Vmeer]]

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* [[M-Bot]]

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* [[M-Bot]]

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* [[Judy Ivans]]

* [[Rodge McCaffery]]

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* [[Matthew Cobb]]

* [[Judy Ivans]] (mentioned only)

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Zeen Nightshade]] (mentioned only)

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

 

;Plot Summary

 

=== Chapter 9 ===

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

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* [[Doomslug]]

* [[M-Bot]]

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

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* [[Doomslug]]

* [[M-Bot]]

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* [[Doomslug]]

* [[M-Bot]]

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* [[Doomslug]]

* [[M-Bot]]

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* [[Kimmalyn]]

* [[Bim]]

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* [[Matthew Cobb]]

* [[Spensa Nightshade]] (mentioned only)

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* [[Matthew Cobb]]

* [[Jorgen Weight]]

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* [[Matthew Cobb]]

* [[Jorgen Weight]]

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* [[M-Bot]]

* [[Rodge McCaffery]]

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* [[M-Bot]]

* [[Matthew Cobb]]

 

;Plot Summary

 

=== Chapter 24 ===

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* [[M-Bot]]

* [[Jorgen Weight]]

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* [[M-Bot]]

* [[Matthew Cobb]]

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* [[M-Bot]]

* [[Matthew Cobb]]

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* [[M-Bot]]

* [[Matthew Cobb]]

 

=== Chapter 28 ===

 

The girls hang out in the dorm, making conversation and eating soup and bread, until Hurl enters the room, holding a slice of chocolate cake for each of the girls. FM informs Spensa that they have a pool and organized sports at the flight school, which Spensa wishes she could participate in. The girls then show Spensa the flight maneuvers they've come up with, and Spensa admits that sometimes she gets scared. Kimmalyn admits that not all of the quotations of the Saint she gives are actually from the Saint. After a few hours of talking, Kimmalyn and FM go to the bathroom, and Hurl tells Spensa that she's sorry that she compared Spensa to her father, and the two make a pact to be brave and to never back down.

 

=== Chapter 29 ===

 

Spensa wakes up before the girls and leaves to cleanse herself. She passes by the classroom, and sees the lights on, at 0530 no less. She peeks in, and sees Jorgen replaying the fight where Bim and Morningtide had died. She leaves the flight school, fearing that the MPs will report to Admiral Ironsides that she never left the flight school. Spensa turns on her radio, and M-Bot tells her he doesn't know whether or not he's a Krell, but Spensa doesn't believe he is anymore. Spensa then reenters the flight school, and an MP stops her and brings her to Admiral Ironsides. Ironsides tells Spensa she knows that Spensa has a hidey-hole at the flight school and that she's been stealing food from the mess hall, and Spensa tells her she has to protect the other girls. Ironsides tells her to quit, and that the cadet's pin will get her a lucrative job down below, and Spensa realizes the Ironsides can't simply kick her out of the flight school, she needs to prove that she was right to not want Spensa in the flight school, that she's dangerous and not suited for flight. She calls Spensa a coward, but Spensa holds a salute and walks away from Ironsides knowing that she has more power than the head of the entire Defiant Defense Force in this matter.

 

== 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.

 

=== Chapter 34 ===

Spensa walks towards the crash site. M-Bot contacts her on her radio to ask if it is a good idea, but Spensa tells him to leave her alone. She has gone around two hours from Alta when a hovercar approaches and Jorgen stops to ask if she is really going to walk all the way there considering how dangerous it is outside. He offers to give her a ride, and she reluctantly accepts it since it will cut the trip down from days into hours. Jorgen tells Spensa that he wants to go with her to Hurl's funeral, and that he brought materials for a pyre. Jorgen tries to talk to her as they drive, but Spensa shuts him down and asks if he really cares. She then asks why he puts up with her, and Jorgen replies that even though she is insubordinate, she saved Nedd and helps save lives when she flies with the team. Spensa points out that Hurl and Kimmalyn are still gone from the flight, and Jorgen replies that it is his duty as flightleader to keep everyone together. Jorgen calls the AA-gun battery to keep them from being shot at as they pass, and they soon locate Hurl's wreck afterwards. They get out of the car and walk to the wreck, before heading to where the cockpit is. Spensa looks in and confirms to herself that Hurl really is dead. Examining the skid marks made by the crash, Spensa realizes that Hurl was nearly horizontal at the end, almost managing to safely land her ship. Jorgen takes a look in the cockpit, before turning away. Spensa sticks herself in and pulls Hurl's pin off her body. She thinks about the defiant expression on Hurl's face and wonders if it mattered whether someone was brave or cowardly in they died in the end, before chastising herself for being disrespectful. Jorgen gets the supplies out of the car and they set up a pyre around the cockpit, before Spensa ignites it. The two stand back and Jorgen recites part of an officer's elegy. The two stay and watch as the fire burns itself out. Jorgen tells Spensa that he isn't really defiant, since he is just going with what his family wants, and will be pulled out of the DDF after spending six months as a full pilot and gaining enough of a reputation in politics. He adds that he will miss flying, and that controlled joyrides won't be enough after he has experienced piloting a starfighter. Spensa comments that even though Jorgen's father isn't called a coward, he still is trapped in his shadow. As the fire dies down, Spensa comments that Hurl was more like her than she herself in some ways. The two start to go back to the car, when Spensa looks over the wreck again and sees how Hurl managed to keep some parts of the ship intact, the booster included. She thinks to herself for a moment before asking Jorgen for help moving the booster.

 

=== Chapter 35 ===

As they drive back, Jorgen tells Spensa that he is catching on to her intentions of building a starship. He says that if she found a crashed ship, she should turn it in to the DDF. Spensa replies that Ironsides has a grudge against her and won't let her fly, so she has to find her own way around things. Jorgen chastises her on the impracticality of her plan, and asks if Spensa is really just going to run away from the DDF. He provides that if he got the chance, he would hire her to fly his private ships instead, but admits that the slots are fiercely competed over and she would need a good reputation to take one. As they approach Alta, Spensa asks for Jorgen to drop her and the booster off near her cavern. As Jorgen drives back to base by himself, Spensa thinks to herself on how he somehow has even less freedom than herself. She greets M-Bot and tells him that she brought him the gift of freedom.

 

=== Chapter 36 ===

 

Spensa presents Rig with the booster, and Rig confirms that he will probably be able to fit the booster into M-Bot. Rig asks Spensa to mention him in her speech when she hits ace, as well as name her firstborn son after him, to which she responds that she has already planned to name him Executioner Destructorius. Spensa goes back into the cockpit while Rig tries to figure out how to put the booster into M-Bot, and M-Bot and Spensa strike up a conversation about the human fear of death and free will, among others. Rig tells Spensa that the shield design M-Bot had that he took to his superiors didn't go through because he simply couldn't explain it, they'd need professional engineers to take M-Bot apart and reverse engineer his best features. After Rig tells her he won't need her help for a few days, Spensa exits the cave and sets off at a brisk pace for Alta Base, in search of the true holorecording of the Battle of Alta.

 

=== Chapter 37 ===

Spensa gets back to Alta Base and heads to Cobb's office, where he is working at his desk. Cobb tells her that FM has been looking for her, and the radio frequency for contacting her flightmates. Spensa steels herself before telling Cobb about getting Hurl's pin and handing it over. Cobb is a bit irritated over her and Jorgen not getting permission with the salvage crews. Spensa adds that they gave Hurl a pilot's burial and asks that the pin be given to Hurl's family. Cobb tells her that she can get off lightly this time, but should try to avoid making trouble. Spensa comments that her medical leave is frustrating and she doesn't know what to do with the time, to which Cobb agrees. She then asks if she can go watch recordings of old battles, and Cobb quickly agrees and gives her his authorization code to enter, to her surprise. Cobb tells her that cadets aren't supposed to be allowed in the archives and that she can use the excuse of fetching things for him as an excuse. As she turns to leave, Cobb tells her that sometimes the answers one needs don't match the questions she's asking and that a coward can make fools of wiser men, before dismissing her. As Spensa heads to the archives, she realizes that Cobb spotted the fact that she wanted to watch the Battle of Alta, and is confused as to why he simply let her do it. She looks around for a while, before finding the right case. Spensa sees that there are no viewing devices nearby, and so just takes the case. She walks out, deep in thought about how much she owes Cobb and where she is going to watch the battle recording. Distracted, Spensa is startled by FM spotting her, and lets her flightmate lead her out of the base and towards some buildings she hasn't paid attention to before.

 

=== Chapter 38 ===

 

FM pulls Spensa into a dimly-lit restaurant mostly occupied by young pilots and cadets. FM leads Spensa to a table where Kimmalyn, Nedd and Arturo, along with his friend Bryn are sitting. FM gets Spensa a purple, bubbly drink and a basket of fries, both extremely delicious compared to the rats she's been eating for months. The group reminisces about Hurl, and Spensa tells them what she and Jorgen did. When Bryn gets up to use the restroom, only members of the original flight remain, and they begin talking about the hushed up true strategy of the Krell, and why the Defiants know so little about them. Spensa enjoys a third basket of fries, before leaving the restaurant to find out once and for all what really went down at the Battle of Alta.

 

=== Chapter 39 ===

Spensa plugs the recording into M-Bot's systems, and the ship's holoprojectors start playing the Battle of Alta. Spensa notes to herself that M-Bot has better projectors than the DDF, and can see the ships in clear detail. She watches the earlier parts of the battle and using her knowledge of flight tactics, sees how desperate the fight was. Spensa picks out a single ship that seems to fly better than the others, correctly guessing that it is Chaser. As she continues to watch, she gains a new respect for the First Citizens, thinking that while their government system is still flawed, they were brave. The recording progresses to the point where the Krell are repelled for the first time, where Chaser was said to break ranks. Spensa sees her father's ship pull away from his flight, but then head upwards to a hole in the debris instead of fleeing, presumably to track down where the Krell come from. She feels vindicated, now certain that the DDF were lying about her father's cowardice. She starts telling M-Bot about her thoughts, and M-Bot fast-forwards the recording a little. Chaser's ship returns from above, reaching the rest of his flight before IMPing them. Shocked, Spensa watches as her father attacks his own flightmates and other First Citizens, supported by the Krell. He shoots down four allied ships, including his flightmates Rally and Antique, before Cobb manages to shoot him down. Spensa spends the rest of the recording staring at the projected wreckage of Chaser's ship and ignoring the rest of the battle. She then asks M-Bot if the data could have been faked, and he tells her that it is authentic. Spensa wonders aloud what her father saw up there that made him turn against his allies, to which M-Bot replies that her father said something unusual when he saw the hole in the sky in the voice recordings. She asks him to play that section, and hears Chaser pleading with Ironsides to let him fly up there, claiming that he can hear the stars. She relents, and Chaser's ship leaves ranks. Spensa then asks if her father said anything after he came back down, and M-Bot gives her a single clip, in which he mournfully declares that he would kill everyone. Spensa asks why the DDF would hide what happened to her father when the truth was worse. M-Bot comments that he doesn't know enough to give a good answer. Numb, Spensa climbs into the cockpit and goes to sleep, ignoring M-Bot's attempts to talk to her.

 

=== Chapter 40 ===

 

Spensa spends a day sleeping in M-Bot's cockpit, trying to process what her father did, while Rig continues to work on M-Bot. After a day of sleeping, her period of leave is over and she reports to the classroom at 0630. All of the mockpits have exposed wires and parts missing, as they have had work done on them while the pilots had their periods of leave, and Cobb informs them that because they only have five weeks of flight school left, they will be practicing exclusively in real starfighters. The cadets report to the launchpad, and take their normal Pocos, except for Arturo, whose ship is still awaiting a shield igniter replacement, so is forced to board Kimmalyn's old ship, Skyward Six. Spensa begins climbing the ladder to Skyward Ten, and turns around to ask something of the ground crew, only to see Cobb standing there. Cobb hands her her helmet and informs her that Flight Command is still monitoring her brain. He also hands her a memo from Dr. Thior, who was tipped off that Spensa was residing in a cave in the wilderness and living off rats. Cobb indirectly tells her that it was he who left the tip, to which she is extremely grateful, even to tears. She then asks Cobb if what happened in the holorecording is true, and Cobb grimly nods, telling her the look he saw in Chaser before he was forced to shoot him down haunts Cobb to this day. Spensa then asks him if the doctors can really determine if she'll do what her father did just by scanning her brain, and Cobb tells her it's utter nonsense, that a person can't inherit cowardice, and that they are responsible for forging their own path. He then, noticeably more quietly, asks Spensa if she's ever seen "the eyes" and if she could ever hear the stars. She is horrified that Cobb knows, but refuses to tell him for fear of him insisting that she exit the cockpit and quit flying.

 

=== Chapter 41 ===

 

Spensa, Arturo, and FM are on scout duty with a woman callsigned Blaze, and she explains to them that if they become scouts, they will be issued a Val-class ship with normal 138 Stewart destructor traded out for a single 131, with much better sensors for detecting Krell ships. Blaze explains that it can be hard sometimes to continue scouting with a battle going on below, with every instinct screaming for you to descend and help your colleagues. Eventually the flight lands, and Spensa tells Siv that the ship has a couple of problems, but she leaves to go help a Camdon-class fighter who participated in the battle, ship smoking, to get out of his ship. Spensa , Arturo, FM, and Jorgen grouped up to go debrief with Cobb, only for them to find him standing next to a woman, Arturo's mother. He has been honorably discharged with a full pilot's pin, in order for him to go to the lower caverns to supervise cargo flights from other caverns. Walking back to the classroom, Spensa vents her anger about the rich, privileged kids having a leg up, getting into the flight school for free, with many of them already having flight experience, and then they get yanked once things get dicey. She and Jorgen hug for a while, and she feels better.

 

=== Chapter 42 ===

A few days later, Spensa and FM have dinner with members of Inkwell and Firestorm flights. The cadets discuss whether they'll be put together into a single flight, and what name they'll take. Spensa stays quiet and eats quickly, listening to the others talk. One of the other cadets, Drama, comments on Spensa being quiet, which she is thrown off by. After dinner, Spensa heads back to her cavern to check on M-Bot and Doomslug. Spensa greets M-Bot with the name Massacrebot, which he is irritated by, and Doomslug mimics Rig cursing and the sound of hammer on metal. Spensa finds a note from Rig on the ship's fuselage, informing her that his repair work is done and thanking her for helping him find a successful career with the Engineering Corps, closing off with telling her to enjoy her ship. Spensa excitedly prepares to fly M-Bot.

 

=== Chapter 43 ===

 

Spensa and Rig are back in the cave, ready to take M-Bot on another test run. Many more of M-Bot's capabilities are online, such as his life support and booster. He still lacks destructors, self-repair features, and his cytonic hyperdrive. With the booster attached and M-Bot superior GravCaps, Spensa is able to fly at Mag-10 without feeling a thing, even on sharp turns and loops. M-Bot then informs Spensa that he can project a battle for her, the Battle of Alta, which he made a copy of. He arms himself with holographic destructors, and changes the simulation each time Spensa kills a Krell fighter. As Spensa is about to pick another one off, another Defiant beats her to it, her father. Him and Cobb make a phenomenal team, with Chaser possessing the ability to constantly dodge and confuse the Krell to get close enough to IMP their shields, which allows Cobb to easily pick them off. Spensa begins trailing her father, but even with M-Bot's superior turning and speed, Chaser is still faster. She asks M-Bot to evaluate Chaser's reaction speed to the Krell's movements, only for M-Bot to tell her that her father is anticipating the Krell's movements, and moving before they do. Spensa then reaches the point in the holorecording where her father flies off into the hole in the debris shield, and she hears her father say he can hear the stars. She reaches for her father, and then hears a sound like a thousand intertwining musical notes. She imagines herself, as her Gran-Gran says, reaching for the stars. The cockpit goes black, and then all around her, millions of pinpricks of light turn on, eyes, focusing on her. She screams for M-Bot to turn it off, and he does, and she struggles for a moment, grappling with her sanity. She and M-Bot begin the descent to the cave, and M-Bot informs Spensa that he does not believe that he is still capable of convincing Spensa that she cannot take him into battle, so he informs her that he will power down and await his long-dead pilot to return. Spensa screams for him to stop, telling him this is suicide, that his pilot is dead, to which he tells her that he knows, but he is incapable of disobeying the orders he was programmed to live by, to lie low and wait for his pilot to return. M-Bot powers down and Spensa is left in the pitch black of the powered-down cockpit.

 

=== Chapter 44 ===

 

With graduation looming, Cobb arranges for Spin, FM, and Jorgen to practice in different types of ships, such as Largo and Slatra-class starships. Spensa continues to find herself distracted, thinking about the eyes and her father's betrayal. When the flight lands, Spensa doesn't talk to anyone and goes straight to the orchard. She doesn't find solace there, and sees Jorgen preparing to leave via hovercar, so goes over and talks to him. She tells him about her learning the truth about her father, a fact Jorgen already knew, and then he tells her she's worried she might to the same thing because she exhibits some of the same symptoms her father had, such as the eyes and claiming to hear the stars. Jorgen asks her if she knows about the mutiny aboard the ''Defiant''. She says no, so Jorgen tells her that in the final days of the ship's voyage, there was a disagreement about what the fleet should do, so half of the ship rebelled against the command staff, including Spensa's ancestors, the engineers, and Jorgen's ancestors, the scientists. Some people thought the engineers had colluded with the Krell to put the last humans of Detritus, which is where the talk of the defect comes from. Jorgen then tells Spensa that she is amazing and that she inspires him, and Spensa's true feelings about Jorgen begin to boil over. He leaves, and she decides that with her half-day off, she needs to visit her family in Igneous Cavern.

 

=== Chapter 45 ===

 

Spensa heads down the elevator to Igneous, and when she exits, the people there part, letting her through, some soldiers even saluting her. Spensa goes to where her mother sells algae wraps to off-shift workers, her mother sees her, and runs over to embrace her. They go back to selling wraps, and Spensa realizes her mother thinks she's been kicked out of Flight School. Spensa shows her the jumpsuit and cadet pin and tells her that she'll graduate in two weeks. Spensa tells her mother that once she graduates, they can move into a bigger apartment and me rich, to which her mother tells her that the DDF made the same promise if she would simply publicly accept that her father was a coward. She opted not to, so remains poor and selling algae wraps as a show of public defiance. Spensa tells her mother of her fear of the defect, and her mother tells her it's made up, but that her Gran-Gran has a different opinion. Spensa goes to her old apartment and sees her Gran-Gran, near blind, sorting beads by color. She starts to help her, and her Gran-Gran asks her if she wants to hear a story about Alexander the Great, or Hervor, or Beowulf. Spensa tells her she is scared and confused and doesn't want to hear any more stories, and she asks her Gran-Gran if any of the people in the stories she tells Spensa are real. Gran-Gran tells Spensa it doesn't matter, as stories bring normal people hope. Spensa then tells Gran-Gran that she saw the holorecording of the Battle of Alta, and that it's true that her father turned coward. Gran-Gran considers this for a moment, then tells Spensa she's going to tell her a story. Spensa protests, but Gran-Gran tells her it is her own story, and Spensa stops, intrigued, as she's never heard a story about Gran-Gran before. Gran-Gran tells her a story about back when she was a little girl aboard the ''Defiant'' and her father, a historian, would tell her stories about great heroes from their days on Earth. It was Gran-Gran's mother who could hear the stars and power the ship to far away places. She then tells Spensa that the ''Defiant'' and its small fleet became involved in an intergalactic war, and the Krell began fighting them. They fought back, and the Captain of the ''Defiant'' ordered Gran-Gran's mother to take the ship somewhere, but she refused, and used all of her strength to send the ''Defiant'' to Detritus. Gran-Gran believes this is why the others hate Spensa and her , because they control where humanity can ultimately travel to, and now that they have no communal starship capable of traveling great distances, the others have no need of Spensa and her family's ability. As Spensa begins to climb down the ladder, Gran-Gran forcefully tells her to stop, and tells her that if the humans are to ever truly win and escape the Krell, they need someone like Spensa who can hear the stars.

 

=== Chapter 46 ===

 

The remaining members of Skyward Flight are scouting out salvageable debris with Nightmare Flight. Their flightleader, Nose, tells Bog and Tunestone to take Spensa and FM one way, while he tells Sushi and Nord to take Jerkface. Bog and Tunestone start making fun of Jorgen, but Spensa and FM rush to his defense, telling the full DDF pilots that he's a good flightleader and keeps them focused on their ultimate goal. Bog and Tunestone then shift their mockery to Spensa and FM, and Spensa tells them to watch out for the cadets going after the full members' kills and ace. Bog and Tunestone try to show off their lightlancing, Tunestone overshooting slightly, thinking that all the cadet flights have focused on destructor play and dogfighting. Spensa and FM perform a two-fourteen with a double flatline at the end and a V-sweep, expertly playing off the rocks and even each other, leaving the two full pilots and Nose stunned. After a period of awed silence, Nose asks them if they're looking for a flight when they graduate. FM declares she wants to be a scout, and Sushi, Nord, and Jorgen rejoin the radio channel. Spensa, FM, and Jorgen climb to 700,000 feet and Spensa begins to worry the defect will overtake her, this close to the stars. The cadets see something gargantuan falling through the debris field, and Spensa recognizes it as the other half of the C-137-KJM orbital shipyard that took Nightstorm Six and Seven's lives. They see the shipyard's turrets firing at something they can't quite see, and Jorgen reports the shipyard to Cobb and Nose, who relay it to Flight Command, as the shipyard likely contains hundreds of acclivity rings, just as its other half had. Suddenly, a group of Krell fighters break through the debris and turn towards the flight.

 

=== Chapter 47 ===

 

 

== Part Five ==

=== Interlude I-3 ===

Ironsides walks away from the launchpad and into the command building with Rikolfr, feeling a little guilty but dismissing the feeling. She approaches a small conference room, where three National Assembly Leaders are waiting, and briefly checks with Rikolfr over the shipyard recently spotted by scouts. The two enter the room, and Ironsides tries to put on a positive front, only to be interrupted by the NALs criticizing her handling of the DDF. Ironsides is internally frustrated because she doesn't have too many resources to work with, but holds it in, instead presenting the reports Rikolfr gave her on the shipyard, telling the NALs that if they manage to claim it, the DDF will have hundreds of new acclivity rings for their ships. She proposes that they send everything they have at the shipyard to claim it, emphasizing how important it is. The others comment on how it will be an all-or-nothing fight, like the Battle of Alta. Ironsides tells the NALs that she knows what the implications are and that they're out of options, and manages to convince the NALs to give their support.

 

=== Chapter 48 ===

Spensa attends the graduation ceremony, feeling conflicted as she watches Jorgen and FM receive their pilots' pins. Ironsides gives an unusually short speech and leads the graduates away, announcing that they have an operation to perform. Spensa is puzzled at why so many are needed as she watches a flight of ships take off. She turns to leave, but is stopped by Cobb, who asks her if she is simply going to give up, and also informs her that the DDF are trying to claim the shipyard she spotted earlier. Spensa tells him that she has the defect, and then morosely turns to leave, watching another flight take off. She is interrupted again by Nedd, who is looking to gather Skyward Flight's members for a party. Spensa tells him that Jorgen and FM are flying a mission, then follows Nedd. Spensa, Nedd, Arturo, and Kimmalyn gather around a radio from Arturo's family in a restaurant, listening to reports of the ongoing battle. It is mentioned that all the flights will be engaged, even the reservists. Finding the Assembly monitoring channel too dull, the cadets switch to listening to the actual flightleader radio channel. Cloak, a scout, reports that a hundred Krell ships have been spotted, meaning that the Krell are fully engaged as well. Ironsides orders the flights to protect the shipyard. Spensa imagines the grand battle that must be happening, as a bomber is spotted, and Ironsides orders them to drive it away, even though it will push it towards Alta. The cadets express frustration at their inability to do anything to help. They continue listening, tense, as the shipyard battle rages on, nervous about the bomber heading towards Alta. Cloak says that the bomber is moving faster than most, and Ironsides orders her flight to engage, only using scouts. Spensa inadvertently does Gran-Gran's exercise, and is startled and unnerved by the star-eyes and the unnatural things seeing her. The scouts manage to shoot down the bomber before it reaches the death zone, but FM announces that only three of the twelve scouts survived the blast. The cadets, getting even more frustrated at their helplessness, discuss the three private ships Arturo's family owns, and they make a plan to steal them, since they can't take the ships by consent. Spensa tells Arturo and Nedd to take Kimmalyn instead of her, and encourages the girl when she expresses doubt, saying that she herself can't fly. Alone, Spensa continues listening as a woman from an antiaircraft gun outpost contacts the flightleader channel and announces that her post was destroyed by the lifebuster, and that she has spotted Krell ships heading towards her position. Ironsides hurriedly orders Riptide Flight to head back, but there isn't enough time for them to make a difference. Spensa decides that she has to do something, and realizes that there is still a single ship in Alta Base she could use.

 

=== Chapter 49 ===

Spensa hesitates for a moment, but decides to go anyway, chastising herself for being afraid to discover who she is. She thinks about using M-Bot, but can't because the ship has shut down. Instead, she heads towards Alta Base, and asks the ground crew to prepare Arturo's broken-down ship for her to use. Dorgo protests, but Spensa insists that someone needs to stop the second group of Krell, and he relents. As they prepare, Dorgo tells Spensa that while the ship's destructors are functional, the shield system is entirely burned out and the acclivity ring is not working very well. The preparations finish, and Spensa takes off.

 

 

=== Chapter 50 ===

Ironsides contacts Spensa on her radio, giving her the coordinates for the Krell after Spensa insists on it. Spensa tells the admiral that reinforcements might be coming (in the form of her former flightmates managing to steal ships) and that her Poco's shield isn't working, then heads in to fight the Krell. She notices and radios in about spotting a lifebuster, and Ironsides orders her to try and take out the bomber. The Krell ships try to distract Spensa, which she doesn't fall for, but she is unable to get to the bomber either. As she flies, Spensa realizes that she can somehow hear the commands being sent to the Krell ships.

 

 

=== Chapter 51 ===

Spensa considers ejecting, but then realizes that she is the only one stopping the Krell from reaching Igneous. She turns off her ship's atmospheric scoop, opting to fly through lift instead. Spensa tries to gain enough altitude, but fails and crashes. Arturo calls in, announcing that they are coming. Flight Command orders her to leave the wreckage after learning her ship is nonfunctional, but Spensa is stuck in her straps. A Krell bomber escort ship flies over, firing at Spensa's wreckage. She is saved by Cobb flying M-Bot, who defeats the Krell ship by throwing it into the ground with a light-lance. Cobb lands, and M-Bot greets Spensa. Spensa tells Cobb that she does have the defect and can hear the Krell, but Cobb and M-Bot tell her that it doesn't matter at this point. M-Bot reveals that he rewrote part of his programming to accept Spensa as his pilot instead. Spensa climbs in, and as they lift off, tells M-Bot to go at full speed and to turn off the stealth system so that the Krell can see her coming.

 

=== Chapter 52 ===

Ironsides watches as the Krell forces get closer to Alta. She hears powerful families radioing that they will flee to deeper caverns and thinks of them as cowards, though she isn't surprised. Rikolfr informs her that there is a little under five minutes until the bomber reaches Alta, and Ironsides refuses when he asks her if they should evacuate the command center to one of the deeper caverns. She contacts Arturo, and tells him to shoot down the bomber despite it being in the death zone, saying that Alta is irrelevant now. A technician yells at her about an unidentified ship moving at a speed beyond what DDF ships are capable of. Ironsides thinks they might be attacked by another Krell ship, but then Spensa radios in.

 

 

=== Chapter 53 ===

Ironsides observes in the command center as Terrier, flightleader of Riptide Flight, announces that the lifebuster bomb has been dropped and orders all nearby ships to pull out. She braces herself and hopes that the Defiants can rebuild after Alta Base is destroyed. Suddenly, she notices Spensa diving towards the bomb instead of trying to escape.

 

 

=== Chapter 54 ===

Spensa feels herself entering a place of nothingness, and sees a field of stars or eyes that suddenly focus on her. She feels as though they not only see her, but know her as well. Spensa jolts out of the place and back into M-Bot's cockpit, stressed. The diagnostics report that the cytonic hyperdrive is now offline, and M-Bot tells her that they are 100 kilometers away from the blast site, despite almost no time passing, commenting that they must have used FTL travel. They contact Alta Base, to cheering. Suddenly, Spensa sees a hole in the debris field, leading to the stars. Ironsides contacts her after she puts her helmet on, telling her to come back and saying that she'll pardon Chaser and needs to talk to her about the defect. Spensa tells her that she won't be coming back to the base yet, and flies upwards into the hole.

 

=== Chapter 55 ===

Spensa thinks to herself that choosing to fly through the hole is an unwise decision, but she feels an intense need to see what is up there. As they continue going upwards, she realizes that the debris fields are really a series of organized platforms. They eventually see a space station and some boxy Krell ships, and Spensa realizes that she can hear their communication, sent through the nowhere-place she can sense, and wonders if they know about the dangers of using it. M-Bot tells her that they are also using normal communications that he can decipher. Suddenly, Spensa is hit by something, and realizes that the Krell are trying to overwrite her vision. M-Bot engages his stealth and jamming system, and the sensation goes away. She tells M-Bot about the defect that she has, and that she thinks her father turned traitor on his flight because the Krell made him think that they were dead and that he was shooting at Krell ships. They observe the Krell ships, which have brighter colors, and M-Bot translates the words on their sides as "Penitentiary maintainance and containment of Earthlings". Spensa tells M-Bot to lower the systems he was using to block cytonics, and she listens in on Krell chatter. One of the aliens expresses fear that Spensa is going to eat them, and outright panics and flees after she makes a face at it. M-Bot hacks their systems and downloads some data before getting caught. Some Krell interceptors come out from the space station, and they decide to leave. Strangely, the interceptors do not fire at them, and stop following after they pass through a few layers of debris. Spensa asks M-Bot what he got from the Krell computer, and he tells her that while he didn't retrieve too much data, what he did get is rather helpful.

 

== Epilogue ==

[[Spensa]] shares the information [[M-Bot]] discovered about the [[varvax|Krell]]. It is revealed that, after humanity failed to conquer the galaxy, the other intelligent races deemed it too dangerous for mankind to possess FTL travel technology. The crew of the ''[[Defiant (starship)|Defiant]]'' had remained neutral during the war and, after a mutiny, they crash-landed on [[Detritus]]. Since then, the race humanity knows as the Krell have worked as guards to maintain Detritus as a sort of prison/preservation for humanity. Only recently, there has been some internal disputes among the Krell over how much development they are to tolerate from mankind. The Epilogue ends with Spensa pondering the fact that the Krell know to target anyone who can use [[Cytonics]] and courageously choosing to 'Be Defiant'.

 

{{summaries|done}}

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