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‘They’ve spotted us,’ Miral’s voice murmured through the channel, clipped and tight. ‘Rail guns have locked on. Repeat, we’re compromised.’

Savvine’s breath caught. ‘How?’

Outside the viewport, the void sparkled with sudden motion, then erupted.

From beneath theEterna’sstern, a swarm of obsidian-hulled UAVs spilled outward like ink in water, fast, angular, predatory.

Each one bristled with silver-mounted rail spears, their cores pulsing with illegal nano-reactors that gleamed in eerie blue flickers.

They swarmed to the perimeter, where they stopped, in a wave that almost obliterated all view of the ark shop beyond.

‘What the hell are those?’ Savvine muttered, pointing at the screen, to the structure on the side of every one of the hovering robotic army.

Xander zoomed in on the colossal drones, flicking the feed to the holo display.

‘Those are swarmingOedipusEM energy missiles in massive multi-missile pods.’

Savvine’s heart sank. ‘I’ve only heard rumors of these. They’re worse than theHades-class.’

‘Fokk, that’s enough payload to detonate the sun and explode an electro-magnetic pulse, destroying all electronic devices in the flotilla. All comm tabs, appliances, controls, and ships will go down.’

‘Also, they have a propulsion system, meaning they can change direction mid-battle.’

‘This isn’t possible,’ she hissed. ‘My family doesn’t have anyOedipus-class munitions.’

Xander’s voice came through wrathful and brutal. ‘They do now.’

‘Holy shit,’ she gasped, ‘we can’t fight them.’

‘Nada,we cannot,’ Xander shot her a regretful look. ‘If we do, we won’t come out alive, and neither will anyone within several thousand klicks. We also don’t have enough point defense rounds. We can only hope tofokkin’ out run them if they deploy.’

His voice dropped as he sent her a private neural node message.

.:: Savvine, mi cielo, we’ll need to turn back, and return for your family when Miral has a good enough deterrent to challenge the Oedipus weapons ::.

They stared at each other for a beat, then she gave him a tight nod, her heart sinking even as she did.

More warnings flared in Savvine’s helmet, harsh crimson glyphs pulsing across her HUD.

‘The freakin flying robots are charging weapons,’ came Miral’s clipped voice in her ear. ‘They’re deploying normal missiles for now. Seems they’re keeping theOedipusfor the ultimate moment, whatever that might be.’

‘Shields,’ Xander growled.

Seconds later, the void ignited.

The wave of obsidian drones unleashed a barrage of torpedoes.

‘Evasive maneuvers!’ Xander barked through the neural net.

Plasma spears sliced through the black, lighting up the battlefield.

The drones swarmed with ruthless precision, breaking through stealth shields and hammering down hard. Warning beacons exploded across the Signet fleet’s displays.

‘Abort! Fall back! Full retreat!’ Xander’s growl roared through the channel as his fingers flew over his controls, veering off. ‘Back to base! If the missiles follow, shelter underSombra’sshields.’

He wrenched theÚltima Xinto a steep, elusive angle.

Behind them, the accompanying Signet Corvettes broke formation, launching evasive maneuvers and countermeasure chaff to confuse any incoming missiles.