The shuttle pierced the sky, trailing smoke and fragments of debris behind it like scattered embers against the night. Below, the base erupted again, explosions cascading in a furious chain, swallowing entire sections of the structure and sending shockwaves rippling outward. The massive underground chambers imploded, collapsing inward, pulling the surface down like an enormous sinkhole.

  Inside the cockpit, silence clung to the crew for several tense moments, broken only by the muffled alarms and occasional groans from the shuttle’s stressed hull.

  “Diagnostics?” Jarek barked, finally breaking the quiet. He released his harness and steadied himself against the vibrating walls of the cockpit.

  “Not good,” Pepe chirped, lights flickering erratically. “Hull integrity at 47 percent. Thrusters are holding, barely. The nav computer’s having a panic attack.”

  Brinn’s knuckles were white around the controls. “We’re stable for now, but this thing wasn’t built for a war zone.”

  Sai peered out the viewport, his face taut. “We’re not safe yet.”

  Jarek leaned forward, scanning the instruments. “Sensors show something strange. Pepe, get me a visual on our position.”

  “Working on it,” Pepe said, voice strained as he interfaced with the shuttle’s damaged systems. A moment later, a holographic projection flickered weakly to life, showing a star chart filled with unrecognizable constellations.

  Ramm frowned. “That’s not Relic’s sky.”

  “Because we’re not on Relic,” Jarek said darkly, reading the panel in disbelief. “That facility… we went through something back there. We’re in a different star system entirely.”

  A heavy silence hung in the air.

  Brinn swallowed hard, hands steady on the controls. “We crossed space?”

  “More than that,” Sai whispered, studying the chart. “We jumped galaxies.”

  Before anyone could respond, the shuttle’s proximity alarm blared. Red dots began filling the tactical display—enemy signatures flashing to life.

  “We’ve got company!” Pepe screamed.

  Through the viewport, dark shapes emerged from the distant planet’s atmosphere, sleek fighter crafts with sharp edges and angular wings. They moved like predatory birds, swift and coordinated.

  “Defensive positions!” Jarek snapped, pulling up targeting data on the ship’s limited weapons array. “Ramm, keep those shields online! Brinn, evasive maneuvers—now!”

  Brinn jerked the controls sharply, and the shuttle dove, spiraling downward, narrowly dodging a salvo of plasma bolts that streaked past and detonated in brilliant blue-white flashes.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Sai strapped himself into the weapons station. “Weapons hot, firing now.”

  A volley of laser blasts erupted from the shuttle, striking two fighters directly. One exploded instantly, a bright burst of flame and twisted metal; the other spun out of control, disappearing into the darkness.

  “Nice shot!” Ramm yelled, gripping his console tightly.

  “They’re regrouping,” Sai said, eyes never leaving the targeting screen.

  More enemy ships filled the void around them, swarming like hornets, weaving through space with deadly precision. The shuttle rocked violently under the barrage, lights flickering as it struggled to hold together.

  Pepe buzzed anxiously. “Hull integrity at 36 percent—dropping rapidly!”

  Jarek clenched his jaw. “Brinn, find us a path out. Now.”

  “On it,” Brinn grunted, throwing the shuttle into another sharp roll. They dove toward a dense asteroid belt, fragments of rock tumbling chaotically through the blackness like shattered worlds.

  “You’re taking us into that?” Ramm shouted incredulously.

  “You see another choice?” Brinn snapped back, knuckles bone-white against the control yoke.

  Behind them, the enemy fighters formed into tight pursuit formations, engines flaring as they accelerated, gaining rapidly. Laser bolts sliced through space, narrowly missing the shuttle’s hull.

  Pepe’s voice shrieked through comms. “Less commentary, more shields, Ramm!”

  “Doing what I can!” Ramm growled, eyes wild as he rerouted power to the deflector screens.

  The shuttle barreled into the asteroid field, Brinn’s hands precise and quick on the controls as they navigated through tumbling rocks and spinning debris. Massive stones loomed, dark and silent, their surfaces glinting ominously in the dim starlight.

  A fighter clipped an asteroid and vanished in a fiery explosion, while another crashed directly into a spinning rock, vaporizing instantly. But more ships persisted, doggedly pursuing the damaged shuttle.

  “Brace for impact!” Brinn warned as a bolt of plasma grazed the hull, sending sparks flying across the cockpit. The shuttle shuddered violently, alarms blaring louder.

  Sai fired back, eliminating two more pursuers, but their numbers were overwhelming.

  Suddenly, a massive shockwave erupted from the direction of the distant planet, visible even from within the asteroid field. The shuttle lurched violently as the wave surged through space, disorienting everyone onboard.

  Ramm’s eyes widened in horror. “The base—”

  They turned, momentarily frozen by the scene unfolding behind them.

  The planet cracked, splitting open along fiery fissures as it consumed itself. A massive, blinding burst of energy surged outward, an explosion so powerful it warped the fabric of space itself, swallowing the enemy fighters in a wave of obliteration.

  Brinn punched the controls, fighting to maintain stability as the shockwave reached them. The shuttle was thrown forward, systems flickering violently, tumbling end over end through the asteroid field.

  “Stabilize, stabilize!” Jarek roared, gripping his harness.

  “I’m trying!” Brinn shouted, muscles straining as he wrestled the controls.

  Slowly, agonizingly, the shuttle stabilized, spinning to face the aftermath. The planet was gone—reduced to dust and drifting debris, a swirling cloud of destruction where it had once been.

  Nobody spoke, their breathing ragged, eyes fixed on the unimaginable devastation.

  Pepe’s voice finally broke the silence, quieter than usual. “That’s…that was a planet. They sacrificed an entire world to hide what they were doing.”

  Jarek’s face was pale, drawn. “They’re willing to destroy worlds rather than lose.”

  Sai stared out at the drifting rubble. “Then our fight just became much bigger.”

  Brinn exhaled slowly, eyes still locked on the devastation outside. “Where to now?”

  The silence stretched, thick and heavy with uncertainty.

  Ramm finally whispered, barely audible, “Anywhere but here.”

  Jarek shook his head slowly. "No, we need to get back to Relic. We have to warn the others. The Weavers aren’t stopping at one planet. They're coming for all of them."

  Outside, space stretched infinitely—indifferent and silent—as the ruins of the destroyed world drifted solemnly behind them, an endless expanse of ashes and echoes.

  galactic, and the crew’s next decisions will matter more than ever. Everyone’s bruised, rattled, and barely holding it together, but they’ve survived—and that counts for something.