A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (The Salvagers, #1)

by Alex White

I’ve been strongly advised to extradite you to the Gantry Station authorities.” “I’ll end up dead if you do that.”

Flamekeepers

“Espionage and heresy,” said the Flamekeeper. “They were spotted infiltrating your vaults and stealing from the royal family.”

Either way, Nilah understood the onrushing betrayal, and her racer’s instincts kicked in.

she heard the duke screaming amid licking flames.

The statues were dispersers—and someone had switched them off.

With all of her concentration, she was able to switch on the dispersers.

“You said Flicker was unbeatable.

Haha

She should have grabbed his sword.

Her Flicker master had tested her against multiple opponents in the studio,

she saw an opportunity to drive the blade into his heart.

She’d never killed anyone, though. In the moment’s hesitation,

“It’s worse than that. Those dispersers… someone had deactivated them. Someone in the palace guard might be in on this.”

Cordell’s

A spell ricocheted off the wall next to Orna’s head,

Magic bolts? Like in Star Wars? Question

Whatever had killed these soldiers had been swift and surgical. Then Nilah heard one of them snore.

“He’s a sleep mage.”

Haha handy for a doctor.

“A nap is getting off too lightly,” she growled. “I agree, but we’re better than them.

If a guard stood in their way, Malik would draw his murmuring purple glyph and hurl the spell into the sentry, who would collapse under the weight of his own exhaustion.

homing fléchettes.

Ranger sealed Orna inside and sunk into a low, catlike crouch before bolting into the open garage antechamber.

Nilah could finally see Malik’s age with his face distorted in exertion.

He shooed her out of the way, pushing the flashing magic into the group of guards before ducking back behind the corner.

He tried to write a glyph, but his convulsing fingers wouldn’t listen to him, the soft luminescence of purple smoke dissipating before he could make any progress.

Hot streaks of water ran from Nilah’s eyes. Malik had been such a paragon of calm and rationality, and seeing him afraid shook her deeply.

She stood and wiped her nose. No time to go to pieces.

the enraged quartermaster standing amid the pile of sleeping bodies, blades sharp and willing.

The duke’s garage had been a temple as holy as any race paddock.

Simile

The palace guard was clearly a part of the conspiracy, or they’d been tricked into thinking she and Orna were the murderers.

the pair

There are 4 - question

their drive had to be the total package: speed, acceleration, cornering, and braking.

saw the Carrig...

Michael Carriger

She wrote out her spell, and her mechanist’s art linked her to the computer. It responded that it did not, in fact, have any fuel. Oh, good. I’ve climbed into my own coffin.

Ridiculous

now, with a rapidly melting engine and punctured aero work, it was junk. Really fast junk.

Haha

Human reaction times were terrible. If she could get up enough speed, maybe she could get clear before a wave of magical death crushed their escape.

Ranger’s grip was too tenuous to hang on to the car, Malik, and the slinger.

Haha

“You can’t just shoot policemen!” “This planet runs on corruption,” grunted Orna. “It’s kill or die.”

a smoking spire above the mountaintop,

the Flamekeepers’ treacherous blaze roaring out of control on the top levels—

Boots

Midnight Runner,

The Capr...

For a marauder-class crew, it was always do or die. Sometimes, it was both.

Cordell,

focusing his magic through the amps.

What kind of mark? Question

Arbrevert,