?? Suggested Listening:

  “Inelius, think you can get these doors open?” Aurania asked.

  Inelius looked over the control panel for the elevators. “Yeah, shouldn’t be too hard.” He grabbed Soren by the wrist and pulled him over to the door marked ‘3A.’

  “If you’d be so kind,” Inelius indicated to the door.

  Soren punched through and yanked them open, exposing the elevator shaft.

  “Not exactly what I meant,” Aurania muttered.

  “So?” Inelius shrugged. “I delegated.”

  “Looks like… they’re 3 levels down,” Soren’s voice echoed off the chasm walls as he leaned in to look. He keyed comms, “Tamiyo, we’re right above you.”

  “Okay,” Tamiyo answered. “Well we need to get the elevator down, all of our gear is still on this thing.”

  “Alright, hang tight.” Soren turned to the team. “Ideas?”

  “Hmm,” Aurania said. “Crack open the elevator shaft next to it.”

  He stepped over and tore it open.

  “Where’s the car?” Aurania asked.

  Soren looked down, then up. “Above us.”

  “Perfect. Think you can target the doors five floors down and tear them off?”

  “Uh… I’ll try.”

  He jumped into the elevator shaft and grabbed the cables. After taking a moment to catch his bearings, he reached his free hand down. Aurania heard metal groan, then an abrupt SHRIEK, followed by clanging.

  Soren swung back through the door. “Okay. Little messy, but I got it.”

  “Damn, you’re like a skeleton key,” Amalia quipped.

  “Alright,” Aurania said. “Soren, you’re staying up here with me. Violet, you’re going down 3A, I need you to grab Morgan’s Mercy from the gear crates. The rest of you, get down and make sure the path is clear for us when we land.”

  They all sounded off various confirmations and began moving, scaling down their directed elevator shafts.

  While they waited, she asked Soren, “Hey, you doing alright?”

  His head tilted. “Why do you ask?”

  “Because I can feel how much strain you’re under. You’ve been channeling that power a lot more in the past week than you ever have before.”

  “I’m… I’m alright.”

  “Hey!” She strode forward, put a hand flat on his chest, and backed him up against the wall. “Do. Not. Lie to me.” It wasn’t lost on her how she couldn’t have even pushed him an inch, much less up against the wall, if he hadn’t let her.

  His expression softened. “I’m tired.”

  Aurania let out a small sigh. “I thought so.” She stepped back. “Are you good to get us out of here?”

  “Yes.”

  She stared at him for a moment, expression stern. “As soon as we’re off this ship—as soon as we’re safe—you’re going to sleep. Got it?”

  He gave her a bashful nod. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Alright,” she walked toward elevator 3A. “I’m going to crawl up the shaft a bit. Focus on pulling the cable to you with your gravity. I’ll sever the line and you grab it. Then lower them down, got it?”

  He walked up next to her. “What about the elevator brakes?”

  “That’s Violet’s job. Think you can hold the weight?”

  “Of course.”

  “Can you do it if you’re not glowing?” She cocked an eyebrow at him. “I want you to take a breather, even if it’s just a little one.”

  He looked conflicted.

  But after a moment, he took a deep breath and then sighed. The glow slowly faded until he was back to normal.

  Yeah. ‘Normal.’ Ethereal hair, vibrant green eyes with shifting silver. Oh, and there goes some of that elusive gold—

  “Aurania?” Soren asked.

  She shook her head, blinked once, and realized she had been staring. She turned and yelled down the elevator shaft. “Hey Violet! Got it?!”

  “Yep!”

  “Do you need a hand getting up there?” Soren asked, looking up the shaft.

  “Pssht, no,” Aurania said a little too dismissively. So to make up for it, she looked back in his eyes. “But you can still give me one if you want.”

  Her heart fluttered at the way he smiled.

  Aurania hopped up just enough to leave the deck and bent her knees. Soren caught her, palm up, so she sat perched along his forearm. She weighed almost 600 pounds and he could hold her like she was made of air.

  “Ready?” Soren asked.

  Her legs tensed. “Do it.”

  With a smooth surge, he hurled her up the elevator shaft. The walls blurred for a second as she rose up, then she swung her axe hard into the wall and hung there from it.

  “Ready?!” she yelled down.

  A faint white aura started glowing around the cables, and they groaned as they barely began to pull toward Soren.

  “Yep!”

  Aurania took a breath, planted her hooves against the wall, then—

  In one swift motion, she yanked her axe free and swung, slicing through the cables. The instant they snapped, the elevator car lurched and began to drop. The cables shot into Soren’s waiting palm and he took the full weight, keeping it from plummeting.

  Aurania kicked off the wall—then again—jumping back and forth in a controlled descent. She passed Soren, continuing downwards until she reached Violet and landed on top of the elevator.

  Violet had been watching the whole thing, brow high, mouth agape. “You’re a freak of nature, Boss. You both are.”

  Aurania just smiled at her and keyed up the comm. “Are we clear down there?”

  “We will be by the time you get down here,” Inelius answered.

  Aurania looked up. “Alright, start lowering it down!”

  The car lurched. Bit-by-bit, it moved downward. He wasn’t letting it slide through his grip—he went hand-over-hand, so the elevator car bobbed a little bit as they progressed. After they’d dropped a little over half a level, a loud CLICK echoed through the shaft, and the cable went slack.

  “Everything good out there?” Raine called up through a small access hatch.

  “Yeah!” Aurania yelled down. “Brakes just engaged!”

  Violet pulled Morgan’s Mercy out of its holster. “Cover your ears, Boss.”

  Aurania set her axe down, kicked the access hatch closed, and pressed her palms over her ears. “What about you?”

  KRAK—

  Violet shot the first brake. “I have my earplugs in.”

  KRAK—

  The second brake exploded in a show of sparks, and the elevator car shifted.

  “Pull the line tight!” Aurania called up.

  She heard yelling above. “Stay where you are!”

  Apparently more LU troops had arrived.

  Aurania just shrugged and waited for—

  KRAK!

  The elevator car shifted again.

  “Is it just these four?” Violet asked. “Any more on the bottom?”

  Aurania furrowed her brow at the girl. “Violet, when’s the last time you saw an elevator in Berilinsk? Your guess is as good as mine.”

  Violet returned a blank look, then pointed her gun at the last brake without even looking.

  KRAK!

  The car fell—

  And stopped as Soren caught it.

  “Hey!” Someone yelled above. “What are you doing?”

  Aurania sensed his response through their mental link and rolled her eyes before he even said it.

  “Just hanging out.”

  Aurania let out a groan, picked her axe up, and yelled up, “Stop playing with your friends and lower us down!”

  There was more yelling above but she didn’t pay attention to it. The car dropped lower and lower, finally reaching the cargo level where they needed to stop.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Hold there!” Aurania called out.

  She kicked the access hatch open again. “Stand back!”

  She lifted her axe high and swung down with all her might—cleaving a gash right through the metal. She lifted it again, roared, and swung. Three more swings and the hole in the ceiling was finally large enough for her to fit through.

  She dropped down into the car. The freight elevator was large, but it was cramped with all of their gear crates, two CIPHERs, two d’moria, and Elias’ cryo pod.

  Aurania wasted no time, driving her axe-blade into the doors and prying them open. She stepped out to find over a dozen LU personnel groaning from various injuries along the hallway.

  “Hey Babe!” Raine hopped out of the elevator towards Inelius.

  “Get everything out!” Aurania barked.

  They began hauling the gear crates out into the corridor, Inelius and the CIPHERs watching for more opponents while the rest of them loaded up.

  Aurania yelled back up the adjacent elevator shaft, “Soren! We’re good, get down here!”

  A moment later the elevator in 3A plummeted downward. It slammed into the bottom of the shaft, the sound of twisted metal echoing up at them.

  “Sorry guys, gotta go,” his voice echoed down. Aurania didn’t miss the note of exhaustion in it.

  And then he was there—Soren dropped down, grabbed the ledge, then pulled himself up. The rest of them noticed he wasn’t lit up anymore, but they stayed quiet.

  “Move!” Aurania barked. “Riza, Inelius. Go ahead with Tamiyo and Raine! Get us access to the cargo hold.”

  “Got it,” Riza said, and they rushed ahead.

  The gear crates were loaded onto large dollies Brana and Brolgar had procured so they could just be pushed along. But they were bulky, so they had to move carefully.

  Plus there was Elias.

  Soren lifted the cryo pod onto his shoulder and ran.

  The way was clear from adversaries save for the odd groaning soldier slumped against a wall, and less than two minutes later they came upon the cargo bay doors, already standing open.

  And there it was.

  The Aether ship sat in the cargo bay like some massive technological predator at rest. The forward section tapered to a needlepoint prow, low and aggressive, while the wings jutted midway down its body at the rear, compact and heavy with embedded thruster arrays. Landing struts splayed wide, gripping the deck as if ready to spring. The cockpit canopy sat recessed and narrow, its dark glass hiding the strange systems that waited inside.

  The ancient, advanced ship looked like it had been built to outfly, outgun, and outlast anything in the sky. Even dormant, it radiated menace.

  Tamiyo already had the ramp extended and they stormed up it with their gear. There would be time later to sort and put everything away—for now it all just went up against the nearest walls they could find. Elias though—Soren gently set him down and made sure the cryo pod wouldn’t go anywhere when they escaped.

  “Soren!” Raine yelled. “We need you down here in the engine!”

  Aurania ran down with him to see what was happening.

  The drive core was insane.

  Aurania had expected something big—maybe even something alien—but not this.

  A black sphere the size of a dropship floated in the center of the chamber, suspended in midair by nothing she could see. Four curved pylons rose from the deck around it, arching inward like the ribs of a titan, each wrapped in cables and fluid-filled conduits that faintly pulsed with light. Three concentric rings lazily rotated around the sphere that shimmered between silver and pale gold.

  The surface of the sphere was glass-smooth, but beneath it, veins of light swirled like liquid starlight—Aether Dust in motion. Every so often, a ripple passed across it, subtle as breath. Instead of the mechanical hum of a normal engine, it sang—low and resonant. The sound was a deep vibration in her chest, a high, crystalline tone woven throughout it.

  The sphere felt alive.

  Raine was at a console tucked between two pylons, half-lit in the glow of the rotating rings. “Fuckin’ insane, right?”

  “What is it?” Aurania asked, completely amazed.

  “Aether Core,” Raine answered. “Tamiyo’s up in the cockpit. We can fly this thing, but you, Big Guy,” she pointed at Soren. “You’re the fuel.”

  His eyes got wider. “I’m the fuel?”

  “Sort of. We can explain more later but I need you to channel some of that glow magic into this thing. It’s the only way we’re getting out of here.”

  Aurania followed as he stepped forward. The light from the sphere caught in his eyes, reflecting the same silver-gold veins beneath its surface. The moment his palm pressed against the surface, the rings halted their rotation—then flared along with Soren. The veins of light inside the sphere whipped into motion, circling faster and faster until they became a storm of luminous streaks. The pylons lit from base to tip, sending cascading pulses of light through the conduits.

  The vibration deepened, blooming into a layered chord that rattled the decking. The sphere’s glow spread outward, licking along the chamber walls until every panel and conduit in the room was awake.

  On the console, readouts flared from red to green. Raine grinned. “Drive’s online.”

  Soren stepped back, the glow fading from his hair eyes. The core kept humming, steady and alive. Aurania locked eyes with him. He wouldn’t admit it—he’d play strong for the rest of the team—but she could sense it.

  He was tapped.

  It was good they were on the ship, because he probably couldn’t draw any more power after charging that thing.

  “Come on,” she said to him, and they headed back upstairs.

  When they reached the main deck, Aurania noticed the boarding hatch was still open. Something felt off.

  “Sit,” she ordered Soren, and left him in the main room. Back outside the ship, she spotted Violet and Amalia at the bottom of the ramp.

  Talking to Garrin.

  She made her way down to them, simply greeting him with, “Garrin.”

  “Aurania,” he responded flatly.

  “I hope you’re not expecting to stop us.”

  He faintly smiled and shook his head. “I’m not so foolish. But I at least wanted to say goodbye.”

  “Aww,” Amalia let out. “We’ll miss you too, Garrin. It’s not goodbye forever.”

  “You sure? You all seem to have burnt some bridges in there.”

  Violet shrugged. “Better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

  “Violet, Amalia, time for us to go,” Aurania said sternly.

  “Shame we’re probably being recorded,” Amalia said. “Or I’d give you a goodbye kiss.”

  Violet started backing up the ramp and Amalia followed.

  “Save it for me?” Garrin smirked.

  “Next time we meet,” Amalia said.

  All three of them ran up the ramp. The hatch sealed shut and Aurania felt the deck rumbling beneath her hooves—the Aether Core’s deep chord resonating throughout the hull. She ran towards the cockpit, taking the steps two at a time.

  Tamiyo was already strapped in, fingers flying across controls foreign to Aurania’s eyes. The CIPHER seemed fully locked in, though. Through the viewport, Aurania could see the cargo bay doors they had entered through, Liberty Union personnel pouring through.

  “This thing have an external comm?” Aurania dropped into the co-pilot’s chair.

  “Uh, yeah,” Tamiyo replied without looking up. “One second… there you go, it’s open.”

  “Garrin!” Aurania yelled. “We’re going to blow the cargo bay doors wide open. Unless you and your men feel like taking a short trip in a vacuum, you might want to clear out!”

  The LU crowd froze. Then they scrambled back toward the exit.

  “We’re ready,” Tamiyo finally looked up.

  “Hold,” Aurania told her. After a few moments, the last of the LU troops ran out and the cargo bay doors began to slide shut.

  Aurania gripped the armrests. “Alright, let’s move.”

  Tamiyo’s hands slid over the throttle. The Aether Core’s song rose in pitch, and the ship shivered like a beast begging to be set free. The thrusters whined, a layered, otherworldly tone that was nothing like a standard drive. The ship lurched as it lifted clean off the deck, anti-gravs humming as the nose swung toward the bay doors.

  From somewhere deep in the hull, a charge began to build. Aurania felt a sharp, rising tone vibrate her teeth, and the view through the canopy shimmered as a gauge filled on the dashboard’s holographic display.

  Aurania’s pulse quickened. “What is that?”

  Tamiyo shrugged. “Not completely sure.” Her voice was calm and eyes bright. “But I’ve been itching to press the trigger since I found it.”

  The charge hit its peak with a sound like crystal under strain, then snapped forward in twin beams that tore across the hangar. The bolts hit the outer doors dead-center, the metal folding outward, leaving a jagged-edged wound open to the black beyond. Pressure alarms wailed across the hangar as the atmosphere roared out into space, scattering tools, crates, and the various cargo into the void.

  “Neat trigger,” Aurania breathed.

  Tamiyo throttled forward, and the ship slid through the breach without so much as a scrape. The Aether Core’s hum smoothed into a purr as they broke free, the Liberty Union ships outside already shifting into pursuit vectors. Aurania found the ship’s internal comms and keyed it up. “Everyone strap in, Tamiyo’s going to show us what we pay her for.”

  “You don’t pay me,” Tamiyo said flatly.

  She gunned the throttle.

  Everything turned to blur as the craft accelerated almost impossibly fast, fueled by that strange cosmic particle. The inertial dampeners groaned, trying to keep the crew in their seats.

  “Holy shit,” Aurania muttered as she felt the momentum shift herself pressing her into the seat. A blip on a screen to her left caught her attention. “Looks like two LU gunships coming right at us, Tamiyo—”

  “Already on it.”

  She dropped the nose and rolled them under the nearest gunship’s firing arc. The hull vibrated as green tracer fire hissed past overhead.

  “Hold onto,” Tamiyo warned.

  A 3D display showed the ship’s status—wings flexing as hidden maneuvering vanes unfolded along their edges. The ship cut sideways like a knife through water, inertia sliding around them in a way that made Aurania’s stomach flip. The gunship shot past in a blur.

  Aurania glanced at the readouts. “I think they’re locking missiles.”

  “What’s this button do?” Tamiyo chirped.

  A salvo of sleek, needle-nose projectiles streaked toward them. Aurania braced for evasive maneuvers, but Tamiyo flicked a control, and the ship’s skin shimmered. The silver-gold glow bled across the hull, refracting space like heat haze.

  The missiles lost them, screaming past and veering into empty black before their failsafes self-detonated.

  Tamiyo grinned, eyes still locked ahead. “We have a cloak.”

  “Please stop winging this.”

  “Aura,” the CIPHER’s eyes slid to her with a mischievous grin. “Don’t doubt me.”

  A second gunship tried a broadside pass, but Tamiyo shot their ship over its dorsal arc. She squeezed the trigger she’d used in the hangar, and another lance flared—short and surgical. It speared the gunship’s starboard engine, causing it to spin away, venting plasma.

  Aurania checked the display. “That’s two down. Nothing else currently in range.”

  “Time to go then,” Tamiyo said innocently.

  She shoved the throttle forward. The Aether Core’s song swelled into a roar, and the stars stretched into streaks. Whatever type of Jump Drive this monstrosity had installed, they were definitely accelerating faster than normal. The Cradle, The Bastion of Libertas’ fleet, and the system’s twin suns shrank behind them into the dark.

  Aurania blew a long breath out of her cheeks. “Set course for Nox.”

  “Copy that, Boss,” Tamiyo replied. The ship purred under her touch, and Aurania noticed how comfortable she looked—like she was right where she belonged.

  “You good to keep flying?” Aurania asked. “Feel pretty confident with this thing?”

  Tamiyo smiled at her. “Yep. Followed Riza’s orders, I’ve spent wayyy too much time in this thing over the past several days. And I didn’t have to fight my way off the flagship, so no naps needed here.” She tilted her head, antennae accentuating her whimsical tone. “Go get some sleep, Aura. You’ve earned it.”

  Aurania smiled back warmly, and rose from her seat. “Thanks, Tamiyo.”

  She left the cockpit, taking the stairs slower this time, letting herself begin to feel the adrenaline withdrawal. The ship was amazing—sleek, advanced, and spacious even for her large frame.

  In the central room, her team sat exhaling the stress of the mission.

  Amalia and Violet were sprawled in two of the large, comfortable crew chairs present throughout the main room. Veolo was inspecting Inelius’ hands for breaks and bruises—he had fought with the fierceness of a lacravida despite not being one. Brana had pulled bedding from somewhere and was bringing it to Riza. Their pregnant legend was curled up next to Elias’ pod.

  Brolgar was already unpacking crates.

  Aurania sighed and let the tension ease from her shoulders. “Good work everyone, I’m proud of all of you. Get some rest.”

  She walked over to Soren. He was partially reclined in one of the large chairs, looking… drained. Not weak, not broken—just exhausted.

  She reached for his hand. “Come on.”

  He looked up at her with wide, curious eyes, but followed without question. She took him down to one of the large bedrooms, which were all identical from what she had seen. All were large and comfortable.

  “What are you doing?” Soren asked in a small voice.

  She gave him a gentle smile. “Nothing crazy, don’t worry.”

  She nudged him toward the bed, and he dropped onto it with a quiet exhale. Aurania kneeled down and began working at the ties to his boots.

  “You don’t have to,” he tried protesting.

  “I know.”

  She pulled both boots off, then his socks, and she found herself staring for a moment.

  “What?” he asked quietly. Then a little more concerned, “Do they smell?”

  She looked up at him, a small laugh escaping. “No, nothing like that, it’s just…” She could feel the exhaustion growing stronger throughout her body. “I don’t have feet like yours. They’re interesting.”

  Aurania stood up, sat next to him on the bed, and wrapped one leg around his body. She leaned back, pulled him down, and let his head rest on the soft swells of her chest. For a moment he stayed tense—holding himself up like he was afraid to put his full weight on her. But she curled an arm around him and pressed her cheek to his hair.

  “Sleep,” she whispered.

  It didn’t take long. He pushed an arm around her torso, making himself more comfortable, and moments later, his breathing slowed. His weight settled fully against her and it felt like their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces.

  Aurania meant to stay awake—meant to watch over him so they didn’t accidentally share a memory—but the rhythm of the ship, his warmth, and the exhaustion pressing into her bones began to pull her under. Outside the ship, the stars blurred past on their way to Nox. But Aurania didn’t notice anything beyond what lay right in front of her.

  They both were soundly asleep.