House of Sky and Breath

Cormac teleports Bryce, Ruhn, Hunt, and Tharion to Ydra, one of the islands of Coronal Islands where cargo is being unloaded from a ship. Cormac tries to convince the Ophion Command to keep the arms away from Pippa because she might use them for unnecessary destruction. Human rebels wearing old-fashioned mech suits bring out the new prototype. The rebels have agreed to let Hunt study the suit so he can understand its technology and pass it on to them. Pippa Spetsos finally appears on the scene, giving the rebels a code to unlock the suit, which Hunt studies. It is infused with gorsian stone, which can absorb firstlight and also disable the Vanir. The suit is designed to draw energy from any source, and is thus itself like a nuclear bomb. While the Asteri want to use the suit to crush the human rebellion, Pippa wants it to destroy the Vanir. Hunt thinks the suit is best destroyed because it is a “death machine” (474). Bryce wants to know why Pippa is hunting Emile. Pippa replies the boy is useless to them now because they have the mech-suit prototype. He is safe in an area where even Hunt wouldn’t like to tread.