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‘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 under Sombra’s shields.’

He wrenched the última X into a steep, elusive angle.

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

Savvine’s HUD display stuttered with warnings, glyphs, and blinking signals. Her breath came fast and tight.

The multiple heat signatures or radar reflections created by the scattered chaff threw off the missiles’ radar tracking.

The Corvettes shook under a near miss.

Miral cursed over comms as a dozen projectiles came dangerously close before her precise rail gun shots took them out.

The Signet convoy leaped, the thrusters at maximum,

Despite their propulsion, the enemy’s missiles’ range was no match for the Signet Corvettes, and they lagged and fell away.

The Signet crew were free in seconds, streaking at high speed towards the Sombra .

‘Where did the Oedipus and the Hades tech come from?’ Savvine muttered even as her heart slammed inside her ribs.

‘The aliens.’

Her stomach dropped at Xander’s calm, cold reply.

Then, soft and lethal, he growled:

‘Who the fokk are they, and what do they want with your house?’

She had no answer, as fury burned beneath her chest, and the grim, chilling certainty hit that this was only the beginning.

A new voice crackled over comms as the Corvettes winged through the void back to the Signet dreadnought.

‘Commander Roman, copy. The Sombra is under attack.’

Xander’s breath hissed in. ‘From whom?’

‘Fleet IDs show that the ships are Lombardi, flanked by gunners from the minor houses.’

Xander swore in a tone so raw it vibrated across the neural channel. ‘ Fokkin ’ traitors.’

Savvine’s jaw clenched. ‘It’s all-out war.’

‘On all fronts.’

They raced back.

Kaal and Boaz’s rail guns wiped out those who kept on Signet’s tails.

The missile warning klaxons died away, and Savvine gave a quiet sigh of relief.

Besides her, Xander was still focused on the console, his neural node patched into telemetry, speaking in tight whispers with the rest of his pack.

She gave him space and monitored the bands for any surprise attacks.

Soon, the massive form of the última Sombra loomed like a crouching beast.

Its outer cannons spun into formation, shields flaring out in a translucent pulse of blue energy.

As the Signet Corvettes raced for home, the drones began to split up, some diving back toward the Sombra , and others pursuing the enemy with mindless fury.

From above, the Lombardi ships descended in a crescent configuration.

Although smaller, faster, and bristling with weapons, they weren’t prepared for what was coming.

As Xander’s squadron punched into the protective field of the mother-ship, La última Sombra awakened.

Turrets roared to life. Rail guns focused on targets with lightning efficiency. Missile bays opened with smooth synchronicity, and the sleek destroyer unleashed its fury in a heartbeat.

Red and gold fire lanced the sky.

Signet fighters screamed overhead, darting through the chaos, protecting the dreadnought’s flanks.

Xander’s voice rang out again, timbred and lethal: ‘Miral, lock them down. No survivors if they don’t stand down.’

‘On it, boss.’

Savvine gripped the edge of her console, eyes locked on the unfolding battle, her heart pounding.

Minutes later, Savvine was itching to get into the fray.

‘Xander, please, I need in,’ she said, spinning toward him. ‘Let me fight.’

Xander took an exhale, slicing his eyes to her. ‘I can’t stop you, can I?’

‘ Nada , I just need rail gun or weapons access.’

‘I never share my controls, ‘Xander growled, but his eyes danced. ‘Take the última Pena . My gunner and racer. Think you can manage her?’

She blinked. ‘If there’s one thing I can do, it’s race and fire, baby.’

After a beat, he gave a dark laugh. ‘Have at it. She’s in the rear hold. I’ll patch you in via your neural node. You blow even a fuse inside my girl, I’ll bill you in kisses.’

She smirked. ‘Not a deterrent that’ll work on me, guapo .’

The corridor to the rear deck vibrated with energy as Savvine sprinted down it, her heart drumming in rhythm with the emergency klaxons and her rising adrenaline.

Xander’s deep voice echoed in her helmet. ‘Boaz and Miral just cracked the Lombardi’s shields. Team, standby for noid deployment.’

Her HUD sent a livestream of the action outside.

A tremor rippled through the última X as dozens of canister pods, hidden in armored casings beneath the Signet Corvettes, split open.

From within each, a cloud of gleaming, liquid-black nano-organic units, morals metanoids, swarmed out like intelligent ink.

They darted toward the drones, every noid locking onto their targets with eerie synchronicity.

Savvine reached the rear deck’s chamber just as the carnage outside began.

The noids bracketed the Lombardi’s UAVs in a tight formation, then attacked with vicious precision, dissolving them molecule by molecule.

Sparks. Implosions. A kaleidoscope of destruction shimmered against the void like fireworks of war.

Savvine slowed in the passageway, mouth agape in wonder.

‘Miral?’ she gasped. ‘Wow.’

‘You’re welcome,’ came the smug reply.

Her astonishment twisted into pure awe as the bay doors she raced toward hissed open with a release of vapor and magnetics, revealing the sleek, glorious form of the última Pena .

She was a beast in miniature, an obsidian-dusted, razor-winged Trans-planetary Racing Pinnace, polished to a mirror gleam.

Twin ion engines curved back into aerodynamic stabilizers, the intakes glowing a predatory blue.

The body was skeletal-light, stripped for velocity, not comfort.

A two-seat cockpit nestled inside a crystalline carbon shell, weapons tucked beneath retractable panels, like claws waiting to strike.

Savvine’s breath caught in her throat. ‘Hello, beautiful.’

She slid into the swivel crash couch, which auto-wrapped a semi-adaptive harness over her limbs.

Her neural node was linked to the helm with a soft chime, and the controls flowed into her HUD, an intuitive second brain.

Virtual toggles shimmered along the curved interface: propulsion, weapon spread, auto-drift aligners, stealth buttons, pulse dampeners. Her fingers flew over them with instinctive ease, heart swelling at the raw, perfect feel of her.

‘I’m in,’ she whispered. ‘She’s to die for.’

Xander’s voice grumbled back, amused and a little lewd. ‘Try not to make love to her in front of everyone, mi cielo . You’re still on comms.’

Savvine chuckled darkly. ‘Then close your ears, Commander.’

The deck doors peeled open like the petals of a flower, and she launched.

The Pena screamed into the black, a streak of furious light and thunder, tearing toward the fray with grace and fire as Savvine’s every synapse lit up with combat lust.

Tonight, she would burn the stars and whoever dared stand up to her in this ever-unfolding battle.