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Above and behind them,La Última Sombraloomed, a floating cathedral of obsidian steel and pulsing violet corelight.

Xander leaned back, flicked on comms, and looked over at her. ‘Ready, Chief?’

She slid her visor back down, voice steady. ‘Let’s free my ship from the enemy.’

With a deep hum of thrust and ignition, the Corvettes detached from the star destroyer’s rear deck and dropped into black space.

Quiet, swift, and armed, cutting through the dark with righteous intent.

The journey to theVenantia Eternawas silent, almost too hushed.

The only sound in Savvine’s ears was the soft, rhythmic breath inside her helmet and the whisper-click of her suit syncing with the HUD feeds projected across her vision.

She sat strapped into the crash couch ofÚltima X.

Her fingers flexed and un-flexed over the armrest, and her legs were restless beneath the sleek compression fabric of her gear.

Beside her, Xander commanded the pilot’s seat, hands moving with practiced precision over the navigation console.

He was a rock, calm, unmoved.

The blue of space reflected in his dark violet hair and glittered in the cyber-sheened threads woven into his jacket.

He didn’t speak much; he didn’t need to. His presence was grounding, like gravity shaped itself into a man.

But none of it eased the pounding in her chest.

She ran through the touchdown plan in her mind for the fifth time: While Xander and the Signet Corvettes took on the external defense system, she would drop onto the aft service deck.

She’d bypass the outer hull sensors through the maintenance ingress, override the security grid using her neural node, and open the corridor locks from within.

Simple, surgical, and clean.

Until then, all she had were her thoughts, which kept spiraling back to her mother’s quiet wisdom. To her father’s dignified pride, and her sisters’ laughter echoing through their quarters.

She mulled over how her nieces always raced to greet her when she walked through their front door.

Now, they were held hostage by whatever entity supplanted Eugene.Stronzo.

She sensed Xander glance at her, a subtle brush of awareness.

His hand reached momentarily and touched the edge of her leg.

She turned to look at him, and he gave her a raised chin. ‘I’ve got you,belleza.’

It helped, just a little.

Soon, the stealthed Signet Corvettes slowed to within a few thousand feet of theEterna’ssafe perimeter.

From this angle, the generational vessel loomed like a sleeping beast, a vast silhouette against the speckled black of space, its posterior decks lit by navigational strobes.

Savvine watched as the countdown to the operation began. Comms were silent as much as possible, with Miral limiting them to flashed messages in their neural nodes or HUDs.

.:: Prepare to release the scout drones ::.

Then Savvine’s HUD flared.

.:: WARNING: BOUNDARY BREACH DETECTED ::.