Page 6 of My Tiny Giant

Instead of taking up space on the ramp, I fired up the suit’s engines and flew over the heads of the climbing Ravils.

Once inside the aircraft, I activated the guns on my forearms again, shooting at any yirzi below that the suit’s system detected. My fire power provided the Ravils the cover they badly needed being exposed on the ramp.

Through the dense foliage, I spotted the few last Ravils hurrying to the transport. Agan was the very last one to reach the ramp.

Seeing us ready to depart, yirzi increased their fire, shooting at those who climbed up the ramp and at the aircraft itself. A blast hit the hull near my face, the bright sparks fanning across the front of my helmet and blinding me for a moment.

Another blast hit a blade of one of the propellers. The impact of that one roughly jolted the aircraft to the side.

“Move it! Move it!” someone yelled.

The ship tipped in the air, rising over the treetops. The sound of the ramp being winched back up reverberated through the ship’s metal body.

Agan was the last one left on the ramp, now. Promptly climbing up, he was getting closer and closer to the entrance. A strong wind was blowing through his wavy hair and shoving his tail aside.

A laser blast from a yirzi gun hit the metal in front of him, sending a fountain of sparks into his face. Another one grazed his shoulder at the very same moment. Agan jerked back, his feet slipped. His hands missed the next rung on the ramp, and he tumbled down into the open air below.

“Lieutenant!” Ravil warriors shouted in horror.

One of them promptly grabbed a rope, clipping it to his belt. “I’ll get him!”

I shoved off the door frame and jumped out before he did.

It was a split-second decision. The Ravil with the rope at his belt would never reach Agan in time, risking his life for nothing. Wearing my suit, I had a much better chance to rescue Agan and survive.

The moment my feet disconnected from the aircraft, I engaged the suit’s engines, launching after Agan at a higher speed than his freefall.

I caught him around his middle, a short distance from the jungle canopy. A moment before we would have crashed through the treetops, I opened the solar wings of the suit.

We soared above the jungle, aided by the long solar panels of my suit that acted as wings. The shiny black surface of the wings was soaking up the energy of the afternoon sun, recharging the suit’s batteries. Today’s long battle had almost depleted their power.

Agan stirred in my arms, and I adjusted my grip on him. The dark mass of the Ravils’ transport ship hovered high above us.

“You’ll be fine, Lieutenant. I’ll get us back to the transport—” I didn’t finish my reassurances.

Rapid laser fire from below hit my suit, sending fireworks of sparks along the surface of the solar wings. The expanded panels made me a much larger target, I realized. There was enough power in the suit’s engine to get us back to the aircraft. I tried to close the wings, but only one slid back in its compartment on my back.

The other wing must have been damaged because it stuck halfway. The half-extended panel sent me into a tailspin. A message flashed in red across my helmet screen, warning of the malfunction. An alarm blared as I crashed through the trees.

Shielding Agan’s head with my arm, I did my best to keep us in the air, using the engine power to counterbalance and slow down the spin. The laser fire continued from the ground, and I used the little control I’d gained over the suit’s navigation to get us as far away as possible from the yirzi .

We flew through the leaves, vines, and branches at full speed, losing altitude by the minute.

The laser fire finally ceased, telling me we must’ve made it far enough from the yirzi . However, the ground was advancing rapidly as we descended. There was nothing I could do about it. We were going to crash.

I hit the jungle floor with my shoulder, forcing the suit to take the full impact of our collision with the ground. My back burrowed a deep trench in the soft orange dirt of Tragul as I twisted, making sure that Agan ended up on top of me.

Finally, we came to a complete stop.

Consulting my suit’s system, I made sure we’d left the fescods and yirzi far behind. The system detected neither in the vicinity.

“Lieutenant Drankai?” I carefully rolled Agan off me, hoping I hadn’t gotten him killed during my rescue maneuver. I might not like the guy much, but I didn’t want him dead.

“Call me Sixteen-O-Eight,” he groaned. “Or just, Agan. I’m not your superior—we’re not in the same army.”

He wouldn’t be my superior even if we belonged to the same army. He held the same rank I did. I was a lieutenant, too.

“Are you okay?” I asked, relieved he was alive and conscious.