The secondary cannons were already firing.

Vanessa saw them first. Dozens of plasma bolts were shooting straight at Ariana's tumbling ship.

"No!" Vanessa pushed Nomad harder than she had ever pushed it before. Its solar sails glowed with starlight as it flew fast.

They weren't going to make it.

The distance was too far. The shots were too fast. Ariana was spinning helplessly. Her ship was dark and dead, unable to dodge or defend itself.

Jonah felt the moment stretch. He had a terrible feeling that he was about to watch another friend lose their life

Then something impossible happened.

A ship appeared between Ariana and the plasma fire.

It was not one of theirs. This one was smaller. Its hull was midnight black.

The plasma bolts hit its shields and scattered harmlessly.

"What the..." Vanessa's voice trailed off.

Jonah knew that ship. He recognized the energy signature even before his sensors confirmed it.

Silas.

The assassin's ship made a sharp turn, placing itself as a shield between Ariana and the Apex's guns. More fire was shot. Silas's shields took it all, glowing bright with each hit.

"Why is she helping us?" Vanessa asked.

"I don't know." Jonah watched as Silas's ship send out a tow line. It hooked onto the Celestial Falcon and dragged it away from the kill zone. "But I'm not complaining."

Sterling's voice came back over the comm. He sounded annoyed.

"Silas. Stand down. That's an order."

Silas didn't respond. She didn't stop. She dragged Ariana's ship toward the safety of the Fleet's formation.

"Silas!" Sterling's voice became aggressive.

"I am your creator. Obey me."

Still nothing.

Then, Silas spoke. Her voice sounded different from what Jonah remembered.it wasn't robot-like anymore.

"No."

One word. But it changed everything.

Sterling went silent for a moment. "I see. How disappointing."

He then made an order. "tag Subject Alpha as hostile. Kill on sight."

New ships came out from the Apex's hangar bays. More Void-Hunters. At least twenty of them, all heading straight to Silas.

"She can't fight them all," Vanessa said.

"She won't have to." Jonah switched channels. "All ships, protect Silas. She's one of ours now."

The Fleet responded instantly. The remaining bonded Weavers and their living ships broke formation, racing to intercept the Void-Hunters.

Space became chaos.

Ships engaged in close combat. Explosions bloomed and faded quickly.

Jonah watched through Haven's sensors, trying to track it all. But it was too much.

A Ghost Fleet ship took a direct hit. Its pilot died before he could scream.

Another ship lost its sails. It drifted helplessly into enemy fire.

They were losing.

The Apex wasn't even damaged. Its shields held strong, powered by the hundreds of Weavers trapped in its hull. And Sterling's drones kept coming. For every one they destroyed, two more launched.

"We can't win this," Vanessa said quietly. "Not like this. We are just throwing lives away."

Jonah knew she was right. But he didn't know what else to do.

Then Ariana's voice crackled through the comm. "Jonah. I saw something. When I was up close."

"What?"

"The hangar bay. It's not shielded from the inside. Sterling is counting on his outer shields to protect it." She coughed. "If you could get a ship inside..."

"We'd be trapped," Vanessa finished.

"But we would be behind his defenses." Ariana's breathing was ragged. "And close to those Weaver pods. You could free them."

Jonah stared at the tactical display. At the tiny marker showing the hangar bay's location.

It was insane and their only shot.

"Vanessa," he said slowly. "Can Nomad phase through the shields?"

She understood immediately. "The Phase Spider essence. You want to teleport us inside."

"Can it work?"

"Maybe. I don't know." She brought up calculations on her screen. "It would drain Nomad completely. We'd have one shot. And we would be alone in there. No backup. No way out."

"So we better make it count." Jonah reached for Nomad through his link.

"Are you ready for this?" He asked.

The ship's response was wordless. It was a feeling more than a thought. It felt determine and almost eager to start.

"It's ready," Jonah said. "Let's do it."

"Wait." Vanessa grabbed his arm. "If we do this, if we go in there... we might not come back out."

"I know."

"I'm serious, Jonah. This isn't like before. We won't have the fleet to cover us. We won't have backup. It will be just us against Sterling's ship."

"I know," he said again. Then added, "But what choice do we have? If we stay out here, everyone dies. At least this way, we have a chance."

Vanessa looked at him for a long moment. Then she smiled.

"You are crazy." She said.

"Learned from the best." He responded.

She squeezed his hand. "Then let's go be crazy together."

Jonah opened a channel to the Fleet. "Listen up. Vanessa and I are going in. We are boarding the Apex. Your job is to keep those Void-Hunters busy. Don't let them follow us."

"That's a terrible plan," one of the bonded Weavers said.

"Got a better one?" Jonah asked.

Silence.

"Then cover us. And if we don't make it back... finish what we started."

He closed the channel before anyone could argue.

Nomad turned away from the fleet, speeding up toward the Apex. The massive ship grew larger and larger in their view until it was all they could see.

"Beginning phase sequence," Vanessa said. Her hands moving fast across the controls. "Thirty seconds."

The Apex defense systems locked onto them. Long lines of fire shot out.

Nomad dodged the shots. Its body shook as shots grazed its hull.

"Twenty seconds."

More fire was shot. A missile detonated close enough to shake them.

"Ten seconds. Jonah, I need you to guide it. Show Nomad where to go."

He closed his eyes and reached deep into his link with the ship. He showed it the image from Ariana's memory. The hangar bay.

*There. Take us there.*

"Five seconds."

The defense fire became stronger. They were going to die before the jump completed.

"Four."

A plasma bolt hit Nomad's side. Jonah immediately felt a sudden pain in his mind.

"Three."

The ship screamed in his mind.

"Two."

Everything went white.

Then black.

Then nothing.

They crashed.

The crash was brutal. Metal made loud grinding noises and systems exploded. Jonah's head hit something hard, and he saw sudden flashes of light.

When everything finally stopped moving, he was on the floor of the cockpit. Blood dripped from his nose. His ears were ringing.

"Vanessa?" His voice sounded distant.

"Here." She groaned from somewhere to his left. "I'm alive. Mostly."

He forced himself to sit up.

They were inside. The hangar bay was huge, filled with parked fighters and maintenance equipment. And they had just crash-landed Nomad right in the middle of it.

Alarms rang out loudly. Red lights flashed. Heavy footsteps made loud noises on the metal flooring.

"They know we are here," Vanessa said.

"Good." Jonah stood up, but he was shaky. His whole body hurt. "Let them come."

The hangar bay doors burst open. A squad of cyborg soldiers rushed in with their weapons raised.

Jonah reached for his power. For Maul.

He summoned his creation.

Maul appeared with a roar that shook the deck.

The cyborgs opened fire.

Maul charged.

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