They soared through open space, boosters flaring to their limits as they rocketed toward their spacecraft. The warp tunnel ahead flickered with unstable light, distorting reality at its edges. Their AI systems screamed in their comms:
"Warning: Energy levels fluctuating. Warp drive not safe to travel. Stability at 42%."
The enemy fleet had been reduced to half its size, but the remaining ships were still closing in fast. Drones zipped between debris, and massive beams of energy cut through the starscape. Explosions painted the void in violent reds and purples.
Caleb's jaw tightened. "Mira, hold on!"
"I am!" she shouted, voice sharp and breathless.
The spacecraft's hatch opened just long enough for them to slip through. Caleb's gravity expanded outward, forming a cushion to slow their descent and guide them precisely toward the cockpit.
But they weren't fast enough. The distance they had wasn't enough to hit the required warp velocity. Time was slipping away.
Mira reached out, amplifying his gravity with a sudden pulse of Resonance. The effect multiplied, sending the spacecraft surging forward. The warp drive screamed against its own limits.
"Warning: Overload imminent. Recommend abort."
"Too late!" Caleb yelled, slamming his palm onto the stabilizer console.
They launched into the warp.
The tunnel closed around them like a tightening throat. The inside of the warp corridor shimmered violently—space-time stretched thin, warping into impossible colors and curvatures. The AI kept barking warnings as the ship's systems spasmed with information:
"Gyroscopic failure in sector 4. Artificial stabilizers offline. Reactor sync error. Internal containment breach possible. Heat levels exceeding operational capacity."
Behind them—more movement.
The enemy had followed them in.
Several enemy drones and at least one elite pilot ship broke through the warp gate before it started to collapse. They emerged inside the tunnel, trailing plasma and ion fire.
Caleb spun the ship sharply as Mira manned the secondary weapons.
"Left!" she called.
"I see them!" Caleb turned sharply, gravitational vectors shifting to pull debris between them and the enemy.
Mira fired. Laser arcs cut through the vacuum. One drone exploded in a burst of electric fire. Another spiraled out of control, crashing into the tunnel wall and vanishing in a pulse of light.
The last pilot ship fired a grappling spike.
"On our tail!"
"I'll get it off!" Mira leapt from her seat, grabbing one of the manual handles and launched herself toward the rear hull. Her Resonance blade ignited, glowing a pale white with red veins pulsing inside it.
Outside the rear hatch, the enemy ship clung tight.
With one clean swing, Mira severed the cable. The ship spiraled, but not before releasing a barrage of micro-drones.
They swarmed toward Mira, tiny metallic insects spitting bursts of compressed ion.
Caleb pulled hard on the gravity vector, warping space around the drones, collapsing them inward until they crushed each other.
Mira landed back inside. Her breathing was ragged, her hand on the crystal embedded in her chestplate.
It was glowing.
So was Caleb's.
Constant blinking red—the mark of instability.
Then she saw it. A mass of shiny black material, like hardened obsidian, growing behind Caleb's back. It pulsed in time with the crystal.
"Caleb—your back—"
"I know. I can't control it!"
Mira stepped forward. "Let me."
Her hand glowed with Resonance as she placed it on his shoulder. The black mass began to dissolve—but in doing so, her energy linked with his.
No limiters. No walls.
Their Evols intertwined.
The Resonance harmonized with Gravity, vibrating at a pitch that shattered their surrounding systems. The lights went white-hot. The warp tunnel twisted around them. It was no longer just a corridor—it was collapsing under the sheer force of their unity.
The AI's voice fizzled into static.
Everything turned to light.
Like a dying star—
Like a new one being born.
A burst that could rival the heart of a supernova erupted around them, drowning the pursuers in its wake, obliterating what remained of the collapsing corridor.
Then, silence.
Only the faint hum of the ship drifting—somewhere unknown.