Sunreach (2021)

Sunreach is a novella by Brandon Sanderson co-written with Janci Patterson, taking place in the Skyward universe. It is limited to E-book and Audiobook formats although a print version is planned for sometime in 2022. Sunreach was released on September 28, 2021 by Delacorte Press, before Cytonic. Sunreach is also referred to as Skyward 2.1 because it takes place between Starsight and Cytonic. The audio book version of this book is part of Brandon Sanderson's Mainframe project.

Synopsis
When a planet-destroying Delver suddenly appears in the sky of Detritus and vanishes just as suddenly, FM knows that the last free human society got lucky. Her Skyward Flight companion, Spensa, figured out how to draw this Delver away, but it won’t be so easy next time.

The forces of the Galactic Superiority will be back—and if the Defiant Defense Force can’t figure out a way to escape the planet, humanity’s destruction is only a matter of time. Spensa’s mission to infiltrate the Superiority unveiled the secret to their hyperdrives—a cytonic slug species called the Taynix. Now FM’s flightleader, Jorgen, has found a large group of Taynix hiding in the caverns far below Detritus’s surface.

FM and Jorgen must work together with the engineer Rig to awaken the mysterious alien Alanik and unlock the powers of the Taynix, or humanity will be trapped. With Spensa’s friend Minister Cuna of the Superiority stranded at the outpost of Sunreach, they need to figure out how to rescue her—or the Superiority government will be in the sole clutches of those who want to wipe out Detritus once and for all.

Plot Summary
FM woke up to find that all of the   flight crews were called to duty. She and the rest of Skyward were called to join her friend Lizard's flight crew, Nightmare flight. After battling for a short time FM was told over radio to turn off her comms and fly silently with no explanation. She told her flight mate Sadie to keep close to her since she wouldn't be able to call for help, before turning off the radio.

Flying in silence, FM decided to turn on music with her transmitter to keep her company. Fighting off the Krell FM and Sadie try to survive, when FM notices that her friend Lizard had several Krell tailing her. She tried to lose them with her various turns and rolls but ultimately she was killed trying to make herself a target. After watching her Lizard die, FM found herself looking at a giant alien ship standing out against the vacuum of space. After it was safe to turn her comms back on, FM was called to return to Detritus.

Four days after the battle, FM demanded an explanation from Jorgen and Nedd as for where they went. They explained to Cobb that Jorgen was a Cytonic and they were hunting the slugs that were key to the war being living hyperdrives. FM decided to help Spensa's engineering friend Rig and her flight mate  Jorgen to observe the Slugs and build a platform defense. As the three continued to experiment with the slugs, a red one exploded in Jorgen's face, causing the theory that different slugs had different abilities.

The DDF decided it was best to wake up the humanoid alien Alanik that had crash landed, so that they could learn how to communicate with the ambassador Cuna who had sent them a hologram message asking them for their help. Alanik warns FM not to trust anyone in the Superiority who would only give them a false peace. Commander Joshua, Jorgen's mother, came and interrogated the alien leading her to not trust the DDF and used her Cytonic abilities to teleport away after telepathically giving Jorgen a message.

After the encounter, FM angrily goes to talk to Rig giving him information on their experiment where the slugs moved the box they were in with them when they teleported. FM asks Rig why he was so weird around her and he replies that he had been crushing on her. FM told him she didn't want to commit to a relationship but she didn't want their encounters to be awkward anymore.

Later, the trio continued to work with the slugs and decided that Jorgen should try to use his cytonic abilities to teleport by putting the slug I to FM's starfighter. Jorgen was able to teleport to the debris field,which in turn alerted the Superiority of what they were doing. FM and Jorgen got a call from Cobb that the Superiority was sending their biggest starship, which had had planet-killing weapons, to Detritus.

When they returned, the city of Alta was in panik, every flight crew called to fight in hopes of destroying the ship. Cobb informed them that he wanted to put Rig in the cockpit with FM so he could use his knowledge on the field. FM showed Rig the music she could play on her transmitter.

When it looked like they were losing the world, Skyward flight fixed the debris that made a shield surrounding the planet and to their surprise, held up. Jorgen told FM that he saw the reflection of Spensa in his dashboard, and that she told him that she was in the nowhere, the place she goes when she uses her Cytonic abilities, and that it was supposed to be impossible to leave.

After finishing the battle, FM talked to Rig about the current situation and things that they are afraid of. The two of them start an experiment trying to see if they could get the slugs to teleport willingly.

Admiral Cobb was able to reach Cuna and Jorgen, after receiving the coordinates, tried teleporting to the admiral's location, taking FM and a few other members of Skyward flight with him.

Then they found themselves in front of a large rock in space inhabited by a giant beast with tentacles that decided to kill Jorgen, being able to tell he was Cytonic. Cuna had described this location as Sunreach, an abandoned research facility. While Jorgen was being attacked by the creature, his ship was ripped apart, and Jorgen was assumed to be dead.

FM was teleported to the Sunreach facility by Gill the slug.She found Jorgen there safe standing next to Cuna. The two of them informed Skyward of what had happened.

Jorgen explained that the only way to save Cuna was to sacrifice himself. FM, not liking that idea, tried something else. She had Jorgen send the slugs off to teleport the rest of Skyward close to them. FM then ordered the slugs to bring them home. They returned safely and Cobb scolded them for leaving behind their starships. FM decided that she didn't want to live for survival but just live in the moment.