Helen pet her dog, afraid that Sprite may not make it out alive, but not knowing what else to do. She didn’t know a lot about daggering other than these other aces wouldn’t do it. She didn’t understand what sort of danger could happen to someone simply scouring the waves, but there must have been more to it that she just didn’t know.

“Are you ready, Sprite?” Ling asked, tuning her monitors, contrasting readings.

Sprite drew in a long breath. “Yeah,” she said, stretching. “Let’s do it.”

“Darkholm?” Ling asked.

He nodded, eyes glued to his screens.

“Vapor?”

“You bet.”