Warhawk's Sacrifice - Ch. 10 - The Horal System - Alpha (Patreon)

“We’re dropping out a FTL in sixty seconds, so find your seats or brace yourselves.” Vi said over the comm.

Seb tapped on the center console and brought up the ship’s diagnostics. There were dozens of warnings and errors listed. Mostly around the suboptimal electrical pathways and nonfunctioning principal weapon. However, he cleared those with a press of a button to bring up the ship's shields. His repairs had some effect. They fluctuated between sixty-two and sixty-three percent.

Not ideal, but we’ll have to take what we can get, Seb thought.

The captain lowered the front blast shield, giving view to the streaks of multicolored light. He found it disorienting if he stared at it too long, but thankfully, they didn’t have long. With a twist of his chair, he gazed back at his short comm officer, who was busy tapping on her own terminal.

“Eni, when we drop out of faster than light speed, I want you to broadcast the friendly counter-signal that Zara gave us once you detect the FLS fleet scanning us.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the pracovi said, waving her hand. “This isn’t my first space battle.”

“I just want us to all be on the same page. A single ship out of hundreds could easily be mistaken for an enemy. I’d rather us not end up a friendly fire statistic because our allies have itchy trigger fingers. The Amnesty is mobile, but she’s injured. Depending on the size of the payload, all it could take is one shot.”

“Don’t worry. I have my game face on.”

Seb wasn’t sure if he liked the wink and smile she gave him, but decided it would have to do. He turned back in his chair just in time for Vi to begin the countdown.

“Dropping out of FTL in three—”

Seb let out a gasp of air as his chair’s harness pulled on his chest as his body flung forward. The steaks of light exploded into view as the ship’s frame groaned from the sudden jerk. Multiple alarms screamed as they popped up in front of Seb.

“What the fuck was that?” Seb shouted.

“I don’t know!” Vi shouted back. “Something pulled us out of FTL before the process completed. FTL core is shut down. Primary engines are unresponsive. All we have are our thrusters.”

“A Lightspeed Immobilization System was used,” Syn said calmly. “It’s pulled us out of FTL. We’re currently floating in the middle of the Horal System rather than our intended target of Noctura 2.”

“Fucking FLS,” Seb said. “They could have warned us this is what they were planning. Just give me a second to check things.”

With a flick of his hand, Seb brought up another hologram of the ship’s engine diagnostic systems. More red exclamation marks and yellow triangles filled his view. He skipped the messages instead, pulling up the readouts of the FTL core and engines. The FTL core’s temperature was growing while the fuel readout was dropping.

That’s not good, Seb thought.

With a few key presses, he signaled the core to eject the floridium rod and recycled the coolant. The temperature slowly dropped. He watched it until it passed safety levels before reviewing the engines.

Outside of the errors that indicated an engagement of the engine’s emergency shutdown features, everything looked normal. Seb cleared the message and ran another diagnostic scan, only to have it come back clean. Once it completed, he restarted each engine manually, checking the fuel mixtures, heat, and thrust readings.

“The engines are now responsive, but I’m still seeing the FTL core—oh, the rod is shunted,” Vi said.

“Yeah, I think the floridium rod is damaged,” Seb said. “I’m going to have to go down there and replace it.”

Just when things were looking better, dozens of combat pings rang like an endless school bell, signaling each individual ship that was locking on to the Amnesty.

“Gods…,” Vi said. “It’s a good thing we’re on their side.”

“Let’s give it a few seconds to ensure we’re not being fired on,” Seb said, swiping his hand along the hologram. He shifted the electronics view to the surrounding sector map. Once selected, he moved it in between him and Vi before expanding his fingers to increase its size.

There were close to a hundred red diamonds on the screen, currently flagged as threats by Syn’s computer. Based on the initial scans, there were dozens of corvettes and frigates, a handful of cruisers and battlecruisers, and a few dreadnaughts that rounded out the sepix naval fleet. That didn’t even include the hundreds of strike craft aboard each of them.

The ship’s aesthetics all matched the draconic appearance of their crew. Massive open maws of steel led to the front of open barrels of their weapons systems. Smaller support craft were shaped like flying dragon skulls with boosters coming out of their necks. Comm antennae were designed like pointed fins along a dragon's neck. Their armor plates looked like scales that acted like composite armor that deflected large flack.

Seb’s stomach dropped. He’d never seen so many military vessels gathered in one location. The closest time was when they were retrieving the Amnesty from the pracovi homeworld of Dutza when the war first broke out. The galaxy’s reliance on the small species’ ship manufacturing made them a key asset to protect.

But this was different. They were in the middle of a backwater system known for planets whose primary export was dragontar. However, it was now one of the most important systems to the war effort given it was now a frontline system for the FLS’s northern starlanes into the sectorum’s controlled territory. A feat only possible due to the Allmother’s slow progress of absorbing FLS territory.

“Seb, I just sent out the challenge response and now we’re being hailed by… Varinadae’s Spirit,” Eni said.

The captain turned in his hair and nodded. “Go ahead and put -em through.”

The projection system flickered briefly before casting an image of a familiar bulky sepix man with a horn on his snout and green scales. He was wearing a black-and-red officer’s uniform, only now it had several more teeth along his shoulder pads.

“Seventh Fang Sanaad?” Seb said before letting out a short laugh and shrugging. “What are the odds?”

“Ninth fang now,” the sepix man said with a smirk. “And it seems I can’t get away from you.”

“Yeah I’ve been told I’m the itch you can’t scratch, but I’ve been known to grow on people. Congrats on the double promotion.”

“Yes, well, the ten families seemed fit to reward me after the Battle of Guran Outpost.”

“Seems like you won, then? Glad to hear it. Sorry, we didn’t get a chance to stick around. It was a bit too hot for my taste.”

Sanaad let out a small sigh and shook his head. “The initial defense, yes, but the third was a failure. We lost it a few weeks later.”

“It seems the Allmother has been claiming victory after victory as of late.”

“The sectorum has nothing against the might of the FLS,” Sanaad growled. “It’s only due to the Allmother’s gifted foresight that they’ve managed to… outmaneuver us. However, with your weapon, that ends today.”

Seb frowned when he heard the sepix commander’s words. While they weren’t incorrect, he didn’t like the idea of Iris being boiled down to a weapon. She was more than that. However, he bit his tongue. He knew now was not the time for a play for her honor.

“Well, you’ll have to give us a minute,” Seb said. “The immobilization system you deployed damn near split my ship in half.”

“That’s not a reason to be sour, Captain,” Sanaad said. “It means that it worked.”

“I’d rather not be a test subject for your weapon’s systems. Next time, a little heads up would be appreciated.”

“Hopefully for both our sakes there won’t be a next time.”

Seb waved his finger. “That’s something we both agree on. So, what’s the plan? We didn’t really get a lot of info before we made the jump here.”

“Hold a moment,” Sanaad said before leaning forward and pressing a button.

“We’ve received a second transmission from the Varinadae’s Spirit,” Eni said. “You want me to bring it up?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” Seb said.

After a few taps on her keyboard, another hologram displayed the Horal System in a red line grid. Multiple green circles appeared scattered at a nearby moon, which Seb confirmed was the FLS fleet given their ship’s own scan.

“Do you see the map?” Sanaad asked.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Seb said.

As Sanaad spoke, the dots moved with his strategy. “As you’ve probably noticed, our entire fleet for this engagement is located at Elat. Our fleet has been reconfigured for long range engagement, perfectly set just at range where the LIS should trigger. Given that sectorum ships excel in medium range, our plan is to engage with our long range artillery and small strike craft as soon as they drop from FTL. Once our long range ordnance has expired, we will move in for medium and short range engagement with our strike craft and laser bombardment.”

“How does Iris fit into that?”

“I expect you to use her. We were briefed that she destroyed an entire station, did she not?”

“Well, yeah—”

“That’s nothing more than a ship with less defensive capabilities.”

Seb’s eyes widened. “That’s completely different, Sanaad. She was getting shot at by small arms fire. You’re talking about tactical warheads. If one goes off when she’s nearby—”

“There are no other options,” Sanaad said, rolling his tongue of his exposed teeth. “Our intelligence suggests the sectorum’s core fleet will outnumber us five-to-one. The only thing we will have is our first strike advantage and her. If she doesn’t windle down the numbers like expected, then this engagement won’t last long.”

“Five-to-one?” Seb shouted, jumping from his chair. “This is insane. Why didn’t the FLS send more ships?”

Sanaad paused, looked around him, and then whispered. “Politics? Money? Either way someone wants us to fail.”

“If you know we’re set up for failure, why are you sticking around?”

“I’m a soldier. I have my orders.”

“Well, I’m not. And neither are my crew. I’m not going to send them to die needlessly.

“I… understand,” Sanaad said.

Seb tilted his head as he heard the sudden softness of the green-scaled man. He’d expected shouting and yelling about how he had his own commitment. This Sanaad felt different than the one he’d first met. “You do?”

Sanaad smiled. “Of course I do. I don’t wish to damn the thousands under my command anymore than you do.”

“If you understand, then why not leave with us?”

“We all have our roles to play in the galaxy, Captain Warhawk. And my role and my men's roles are here to hold the line. It doesn’t matter if it’s a suicide mission or not. It’s what we were ordered to do, and someone has to do it. Whether or not we are victorious, we will ensure the Allmother remembers us on this day.”

A sudden sense of déjà vu washed over Seb as he remembered similar words told to him by the Oracle he met at Benioff’s mansion.

That was not just a coincidence, was it? he wondered. Those words he used… are we meant to be here? We knew that this would be dangerous. Could she destroy an entire fleet? Even if she’s powerful enough, I don’t like the idea of knowingly throwing her into such danger.

Seb sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll be honest, Sanaad. I don’t know what to do here.”

“Well, whatever it is you decide, Captain, you’ll want to decide it fast,” Sanaad said. “We’re expecting the Allmother’s fleet anytime in the next few hours based on our last reports.”

“Let me talk with my crew.”

“Very well…,” Sanaad said, reaching to press a button before pausing. “And Captain?”

“Yeah?”

“From one commander to another… good luck.”

Seb snorted and nodded his head. “You too, Sanaad.”

The horned sepix grinned before the hologram disappeared. Seb let out a heavy breath and rubbed his hands down his face. When he looked through his fingers, Vi, Eni, and Syn’s hologram stared back at him. He picked up his helmet, clasped it around his neck, and walked toward the elevator.

“Where in the gods are you going?” Eni asked.

Seb stopped and turned around. “To replace the floridium rod.”

“So we’re leaving?”

“I-I’m not sure, yet. I need a moment to think and to talk with Iris.”

“We’ve got the engines back,” Vi said, turning in her chair. “Do you want me to reposition us into the FLS fleet?”

“No,” Seb said. “Put us behind the fleet in between Elat and the planet behind it. When we get there, place all non-essential systems into standby. I want us to be a ghost.”

“You got it.”

Seb turned and continued his walk into the elevator. After pressing the button to the maintenance level, he leaned his head back onto the wall as he waited for the cabin to stop. He took in a deep breath, trying to release the tension in the back of his head. It was a frivolous hope as he remembered Sanaad’s words of the impending sectorum fleet’s arrival.

One thing at a time, Seb thought. Swap the floridium rod. Talk with Iris. Make the call.

When the doors opened, the captain marched down the maintenance hall. His armored boots sent clanks throughout the chasm as they connected with the metal grate floor. As he approached the circular room that housed the ship’s FTL core, a gray haze lingered in the air. A sign Seb recognized as the leaking heat, pressure, and exhaust from the machine.

When Seb reached the core, he took a moment to visibly inspect it. Heat mirages rose from the large metallic sphere with pentagonal etching along its surface. His head bobbed around all the thick metal coils that fed the core with its electricity and coolant.

He didn’t see any leaks or cracks, which was a good thing. However, when he examined the center tube where the ejected floridium rod lay, he saw the inner chamber was splattered with the bright green fuel. When Seb got close, his helmet’s HUD lit up a level one radiation warning.

That’s not ideal, but it’s fixable, he thought. He walked past the FTL core room into a nearby storage room with the fence-like walls. After scanning the room, he walked toward the corner where six solid metal crates stood stacked on top of each other.

Their surfaces shined brilliantly with a mirror-like finish, reflecting all light around them. Seb grabbed a metal ring on the side of the top one before pulling it off the group with multiple hard tugs. When it hit the ground, it sent a crashing metallic thud throughout the corridor.

“Woo, I forgot how heavy these things were,” Seb said.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he figured he could use a bit of help. He wanted to reach out to Mischa, but since she’d learned about Iris’s decision to fight, the battlenun had given him the cold shoulder. But he knew that he had to try.

After the call was answered, Seb asked, “Hey Mischa, you there?”

“I’m here, Seb. What do you want?”

“Does your armor have radiation protection?”

“It does… why?”

“Are you suited up?”

“Yes. I did as soon as Syn advised we would be engaging the sectorum fleet today. What is this about?”

“Can you meet me on the maintenance level? We were pulled out of FTL and it damaged the floridium rod in the FTL core. The floridium rod is cracked and leaking inside the core. I need help with the cleanup.”

Mischa let out a heavy sigh. “I’m on my way.”

After the call ended, Seb asked Syn to grant Mischa access to the level. He exited the storage room and walked to the elevator doors, waiting for his partner to arrive. When the doors opened, revealing Mischa’s full armor and cross-like visor, Seb waved for her to follow.

“Thanks for helping with this,” he said, leading her down the hall.

“What do you need help with?”

“I could use a bit of that muscle of yours. I need to get the cracked rod into a containment crate and they are made of solid ritanium.”

“Too weak to lift it on your own?” she asked, elbowing him in the side.

The words stung his pride more than her arm, but Seb didn’t want to let it get to him. However, he played it off so as not to let her win. “Yeah, I guess.”

Once the pair reached the storage room, Seb pointed down at the crate and positioned himself on one side. They both lifted the box together after grabbing the hand holds. They spun in place as Seb led her back out into the hall.

“You know… I appreciate you coming down,” Seb said, his smile evident in his voice. “No one else would be able to help me.”

“Mm-hmm,” Mischa muttered.

“It’s nice having someone around who can help me with these kinds of things. It’s been a while since I’ve had someone who could.”

“There was another?”

“Don’t you remember Syn’s drone from back on Gradahar?”

“Oh… yeah. You said she was destroyed after we separated.”

“Yeah, blew herself up to save us. Crazy times.”

“I’m getting the feeling every moment spent with you and your crew is a crazy time.” Mischa chided.

Seb shrugged. “Hey, I’m doing my best here.”

“I… know you are. Don’t forget, I had my own gang at one time. I know, likely more than the others, the stress of leadership.”

Seb led Mischa to the front, where the floridium rod stuck out from the center core. They dropped the container to the ground underneath it. He swiped the finger across the top, projecting a hologram. After tapping the open button, a mechanical lock whined before the box split in half. Seb pushed the top half open, displaying a hollow center filled with a green spongy material.

Seb walked to a nearby shelf and retrieved a metal pump sprayer. He shook it, ensuring there was plenty of decontaminate inside. With his free hand, he grabbed a brush with soft bristles that were as long as the inner core itself. After placing them next to the containment box, he returned to the shelf to retrieve several disposable towels and a water spray bottle.

“What’s all this for?” Misch asked.

“You want to learn something new?” Seb asked. “I’ll walk you through the process in the event you ever find yourself with a cracked floridium rod leaking inside your FTL core.”

“Sure.”

Seb spoke slowly as he performed each of the actions. “First, you need to ensure the FTL core is in a powered down state. This is just for safety reasons, so it doesn’t trigger when you’ve got your arm stuck in there.”

“What would happen if you did?”

“It not only cooks you inside your armor, but it will hit you with a level of radiation so powerful it will literally melt your insides before you can call for help.”

“Nimora… really?”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen it happen personally, but I took a course at university that was all about safety engineering. My professor spent an entire week doing nothing but showing us holovids of workplace accidents. There were a lot of my peers who couldn’t stomach it.”

Mischa snorted. “Well, if I ever run into any problems, I’ll just let you handle it.”

Seb chuckled before continuing the work. “If I’m around, I’ll be happy to help. Next, you need to remove the broken floridium rod from the core. Ideally, you have a containment crate to put everything in, so once you finish, you can vent everything into space. Once the core is out, you take your Anti-Rad wash and spray it inside the core. A light spray will do. You don’t want to soak it. Otherwise, it’s just going to make your job harder afterwards when you go to wipe everything down.”

“I’m guessing the chemical neutralizes any radiation from the floridium liquid?”

“Yup, it dilutes the fluid and bonds to any radioactive particles, neutralizing them.”

“Makes sense.”

“Once you’ve got the wash inside, you take your scrubbing brush, stick it inside the core and twist it. Just make sure you hit all the surfaces. After a few turns, take it out and throw it in the containment crate. Then spray the inside with water, scrub it with some disposable rags, and you’re done.”

“Rags, go in the crate too?”

“Yup. Technically, the anti-rad wash should neutralize everything, but I always err on the side of caution.”

Seb tossed the cloth inside the containment crate. He stood and turned to the FTL core’s controls, tapping on the interface.

“Now I’m just checking the core’s readout to ensure it’s not showing any abnormal radiation. It’s showing within functioning parameters, so we should be good to insert a new floridium rod.”

“Where are they?” Mischa asked.

“Over in that waist high crate,” Seb said, pointing to the corner.

Mischa walked over to the black plastic crate and opened it. Once she retrieved a spare, she walked over to the FTL core and slid it inside the chamber. After an audible click, Seb tapped on the controls and the core lit up. The metal exterior glowed in a soft blue, and a loud hum filled the maintenance area.

“Vi can you double check your readings up there?” Seb asked. “Everything is showing green down here.”

“The Amnesty’s jump controls are showing as active,” Vi said across the comm. “All we need is coordinates, and we can make a quick getaway.”

“Where is our position?”

“We’ve passed the FLS fleet. We’ll be at our position within the next few minutes.”

“No signs of the sectorum forces?”

“Nothing yet.”

Seb let out a heavy breath. “Good, just let me know if anything changes.”

“I will.”

Seb turned around and walked over toward a yellow water spigot with a metal pull down lever. A hologram appeared as he approached. After tapping a few times on the interface, he pulled the lever and stood under it. A spray of fluid washed over his armor. Concentrating on his arm that was inside the core, Seb waved and twisted it in the air.

“What are you doing?” Mischa asked.

“This is a diluted mixture of the anti-rad wash,” Seb said, letting go of the lever. “Just making sure I’m clean.”

“Do I need to do the same after holding the floridium rod?”

“No, not at all. The rods are inert unless they are cracked open. They’re safe to handle otherwise. Your suit isn’t picking up radiation, is it?”

Mischa paused for a minute before shaking her head. “No.”

“Yeah, neither is mine. We should be good.”

“Great. Is that all you needed?”

Seb walked over to the nearby shelves and grabbed a few towels before wiping off his armor. He tossed them into the containment bin before shutting it. After tossing the cloth inside the crate, Seb closed it. The mechanical locks squeaked as it secured itself.

He stood and turned to Mischa. “Actually, no. I need to talk to you about Iris.”

Mischa crossed her arms and nodded. “Go ahead.”

“You’ve been… distant since we spoke with the ten families.”

“You speaking with Iris beforehand and getting her approval before speaking with me was quite the conniving move…”

“I know, and I am sorry for that. I’m having my own issues feeling conflicted about Iris. She’s supposed to be this tool of war, yet when I look at her, I see this innocence that should be saved from the horrors of the galaxy. It feels wrong to use her for that purpose, however, who are we to make that decision for her? She’s a being of great importance. The perfect and last fracture of her kind.”

“We are her protectors, Sebastian. She is but a flower, freshly bloomed. She does not know the evils of this galaxy. At least not entirely before the Timura incident. We should not be pushing her in that direction unnecessarily.”

“But if the information from the nakai is true, and these Screechers are coming, shouldn’t we be preparing her? Wouldn’t it make sense for us to allow her to fight?”

“You do not prepare a recruit for war by throwing them into the thick of it. You train them and prepare them for the eventual combat ahead.”

“But the nakai created her for combat. She’s already powerful.”

“Powerful but unrefined. Much like my powersword, she is a dangerous weapon, burning bright. But without the skill to wield her power, she’s much more likely to hurt herself than vanquishing a foe.”

Seb let out a sigh. “You’re probably right. We both saw what happened at Timura Outpost.”

“Timura was a perfect example that showed that Iris is not ready. She became unresponsive. There was a time where I thought we were going to have the hard time of stopping her ourselves. If it wasn’t for you, she likely would have destroyed the entire station, killing thousands, including us.”

“The anger I felt from her when I was connected to her was… something else.”

“Exactly. It’s why I’ve been spending every hour of my day since then, attempting to teach her. To train her. Albeit not without issues given our communication barrier. But I’ll give it to her. She’s quick to learn through movement.”

“That’s good to hear. Whether or not she realizes it, she’s blessed to have you at her side.”

Mischa stepped forward and rested her hand on Seb’s shoulder. “And you, Sebastian. This is why you and I need to be on the same page when it comes to her. There will be times where we disagree, no doubt. However, I would appreciate you talking with me before making decisions with her.”

“That’s fair,” Seb said with a nod. “Then we have more to discuss. We knew that the FLS planned to lure the Allmother’s forces here, and that they expected Iris’s help. However, while the FLS’s fleet is sizable, the intelligence suggests the Allmother’s fleet is massive.”

“How massive?”

“Five-to-one.”

Mischa paced around the room, shaking her head. “This is too dangerous. There’s no commander who could beat those odds.”

“I feel the same.”

Mischa stepped toward Seb. “Then we must leave, now.”

“I…” Seb’s voice trailed as he rested his hands on his head.

“What’s your disagreement?”

“If we flee, word is going to get back to the ten families. Not only would we still be wanted by the GRC, but I’m sure we’d have a separate bounty on our head from them alone. The number of our enemies would only grow.”

“But we would live to fight another day, one without putting Iris in direct danger.”

“But what if she can do it?”

“Against an entire fleet?”

“But Timura—”

“One station!” Sister Mischa yelled. “We’re talking about one station, Sebastian, versus hundreds of starships. The problem is we don’t know the extent of her powers, yet you want to throw her in the deep of a galactic naval battle? This isn’t about her. This is about saving yourself.”

“What do you expect from me, Mischa?” Seb shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “I’m one man drowning. I’ve got fucking bounty hunters and entire governments hounding my ass. Everywhere we go, my crew ends up getting injured or part of my ship is destroyed. And I’ve got a half-dead woman on my ship who needs emergency medical attention. I never asked for any of this, but it’s the shithole I’m in. Maker be damned, I’m doing what I think is the right call. And if Iris, a fucking super weapon, can ease some of that burden, I have to at least ask the questions.”

Mischa loomed over and puffed her chest. For a second, Seb thought she was going to pick him up and throw him into the wall. But she leaned back and sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair of me to say.”

“And I’m sorry for cussing, damnit.” Seb said, trying to laugh off his feelings. “You know what’s funny? I was speaking with the sepix commander and I gave him the same shit you gave me about equating Timura Outpost to an entire fleet. I know it’s not the same. I don’t know why I repeated the same thing.”

“You were trying to rationalize a power you don’t completely understand. It’s only natural.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

The pair shared a brief laugh before an alarm rang throughout the ship. Syn’s voice echoed across the ship’s intercom. “Sectorum forces are dropping from FTL. All passengers maintain a secure position. All crew, please head to the bridge immediately.”

Seb sprinted down the hall and yelled at Mischa behind him. “Where is Iris?”

“I left her in her room,” Mischa said, following closely behind.

When he reached the end of the hall, Seb ran into the stairwell. He jumped up several stairs with each stride. His shoulder slammed into the open doorway, his eyes widened as he scoured the room.

“She’s not here!” Seb shouted.

“What do you mean she’s not there?” Mischa asked before running into Seb’s back. “She was here when I left!”

“Syn, where is Iris?” Seb asked over the team comm.

“She just floated out the airlock, Captain,” the virtual intelligence said.

“SHE WHAT?” Mischa shouted.

“She’s currently hovering outside of the ship.”

The pair scattered back down the hall, up the stairs, and onto the bridge. By the time they reached the front viewport, Iris was floating in her non-transformative form in front of the viewport. Blue flashes of light peppered the void of space, indicative of the Allmother’s forces dropping out of FTL.

“Whoa, what the fuck?” Eni said, pointing at the window. “Iris is floating outside naked. Can she do that?”

“I’d imagine she’s capable of many things,” Nalla said.

Seb scrambled in his suit’s pocket before pulling out the HIM device. He gripped it into his hand and allowed the metal glove to form over his suit’s glove. When his palm illuminated, he looked up at Iris’s pink body floating in space.

“Iris, what are you doing?” Seb asked.

The nakai turned and floated toward the front window. She gave a somber smile. “I’m going to do what’s required of me,” she said, speaking into Seb’s mind.

“You can’t. It’s too dangerous. The threat here is more than we predicted. Just come back, we’ll come up with some other plan.”

Iris shook her head. “War is always dangerous, my Inhibitor. However, I am the Divine Equalizer. War is what I was created for. If ending this conflict brings us peace and protection, I will do whatever I can to see it through.”

Seb opened himself to her to establish their personal link. He wanted her to feel the fear, concern, and everything he knew about the engagement. What he expected was for her to return to him. However, instead, he felt a warmth that washed away his concern. When he looked up at her through the window, she placed her hand on it.

“If I do nothing, our allies' lives will be lost,” Iris said. “Inaction is just the same as complacency. I’ve already made my decision.”

Iris pushed herself from the window. She brought her fists down to her side and gritted her teeth. In a flash of bright light, her skin illuminated like that of a yellow star.

Seb felt the overwhelming sense of anger like when he was back on Timura that almost brought him to his knees. However, just when he was about to shout, it subsided, replaced with a control that wasn’t there prior.

“Let me show you the power of the nakai!” Iris shouted as she zipped forward. Her speed was incredible and disappeared from view, only leaving behind a subtle orange streak in the darkness of space.

“What just happened?” Mischa asked.

“She refused to come back in,” Seb said, slumping into his chair.

“Well, go after her!”

When Vi gripped her controls, Seb reached across to his pilot. “No! There’s nothing we can do now. If we put ourselves into the field of combat, we’ll be targeted just like any enemy ship.”

“So you want us to just sit here?”

“Iris has decided for all of us. All we can do now is put our faith in her.”