“They’re getting antsy,” Jace grumbled.

  “Do we have anything capable of taking down a battleship?” she asked.

  Jace looked back at her and grinned. “Maybe not with our wingtip cannons. But you just built two of the scariest rifles I’ve ever seen.”

  She grinned. “It’s time for a test?”

  “Precisely.” He pulled the Gull into a climb, aiming for the battleship.

  Clearly, the Alliance had tracked him and Lessa here. There was no other reason to attack the almost empty countryside. But the good news was, if they destroyed the battleship out here, and when it was so high in the sky, it’d break up before hitting the surface and wouldn’t do too much damage.

  “I’m aiming for the hangar,” Jace said.

  There was an opening on the side of the battleship’s hull. It was by no means a carrier, but it had enough starfighters and dropships. A squadron of four starfighters raced out to meet them, but Jace swerved to the side, relying on the Gull’s incredible maneuverability to destroy them.

  By the time he reached the hangar, they only tried to deploy one more squadron, but it’d only made it halfway before Jace blasted the front two. The hangar’s emergency doors slammed shut on the second two fighters in the squadron.

  But [Hyperdash] was off cooldown. He simply launched the Gull through the hangar doors and appeared on the ship’s inside. Instead of landing, he kept the repellers at their maximum strength and slowly spun, using the starship’s plasma cannons to disable any of the docked starfighters and landing craft.

  He set the Gull down, then he and Lessa hopped out of the cockpit. Alliance soldiers converged, but Jace and Lessa fended them off. Once the initial barrage slowed down, they opened up the storage compartments and pulled out their two new rifles. As Lessa prepared her weapon, Jace snatched up some ammunition from the fallen soldiers.

  “Aim for the stern,” Lessa said. “That’s where the reactors are.”

  Jace slotted his rifle into the hip brace, then widened his stance and fired an automatic barrage into the back wall. It chewed through his magazine in seconds, but left deep holes in the wall. Lessa fired slower, but each of her blasts had more immediate destructive potential. They each cleaved tens of meters into the hull of the ship.

  While she fired off blasts, Jace continued searching the dead soldiers for more ammunition. One of them, and only one of them, had been equipped with a repeating rifle, which he took hold of. Jace took its drum magazine and slotted it into his own weapon, then rejoined Lessa’s barrage.

  Their blasts cleaved through the ship’s bulkheads, and within a few seconds, the ship groaned. A secondary explosion went off somewhere deep in the hull.

  After a few more blasts, there was a deep rumble, and all the lights went out. The roar of the thrusters stopped, and the thrum of the repellers dimmed.

  “I think that was the reactor,” Jace said.

  The battleship plummeted. Its deck tilted, and debris slid across, threatening to sweep Jace and Lessa off their feet.

  They sprinted back to the Gull and hopped in—just in time for [Hyperdash] to come off cooldown.

  Jace slammed the cockpit canopy shut and linked his attributes while Lessa fired up the thrusters. LeeKay clanked a warning, and Jace triggered a hyperdash as soon as the link completed.

  He emerged outside the hangar doors and took off, surging the thrusters and rushing as far away from the crashing battleship as he could. It fell through the night sky, burning up in the atmosphere and splintering into hundreds of chunks.

  When it finally impacted the ground, it created a shockwave and a swell of dust, which pattered on the farmhouse windows like snow in a blizzard, but it didn’t do any real damage.

  Jace landed the starship out the front of the house, then hopped out and ran to face the others. The commotion had caused Mrs. and Mr. Calder to run outside, along with Wyatt and a few of the others.

  “What was that?” Mr. Calder asked, holding his shotgun.

  “Sorry,” Jace replied, leaning against the Gull’s nose. “We found some old friends. They’re looking for us, and they’re not going to stop until either they find us, or they run away and leave with our only ride back to the place I came from.”

  “We have to go back,” Lessa said. “And we have to leave now. They’re not going to stop coming after us.”

  Everyone was silent.

  “If this goes well, I’ll find a way back,” Jace said. “I’ll come and visit from time to time. But if it doesn’t…well, I’m sure you’ll know too. The point is, we have to go.”

  “I understand,” Mrs. Calder said.

  “Hopefully, I see you guys later too!” Lessa exclaimed. “And thanks for everything!”

  “Thank you!” Jace added quickly.

  Everything fell quiet. A few of the children waved. Jace grimaced, knowing that if he didn’t win, people like this were going to die. He’d never get to come back to Earth and experience anything normal again.

  But really, no matter what happened, nothing was going to be normal again.

  Did it matter, though? If the Enemy was simply going to destroy them, and they faded out of existence entirely…this was the cost.

  But he forced himself to take one last look back outside at the faces staring up at him, believing in him and living.

  How beautiful it was just to exist. He couldn’t let that fade away.

  Attaching his attributes to the Gull, he pulled back, lifting the little starfighter up, then flew toward the stars. As soon as they’d left the upper atmosphere, he activated the scanners and plotted a course back to the Outcast. It was still there, but Jace didn’t know for how long, and he wasn’t going to take any risks with their only ride back.

  When the Outcast came back into view, it was looking worse for wear. The surface of the repurposed world was covered in dark smoke clouds now, which its artificial atmosphere kept in check. The massive ring had black scars across it, signs of battle damage that hadn’t been there before, and nearly half of its defensive lasers had been destroyed.

  But the command bridge was still intact, and the hangar that Jace and Lessa had landed in the first time was still sealed.

  It might not be for long, though. A trio of battleships hovered around the Outcast’s command bridge, hammering the shields with plasma fire.

  Whatever sort of civil war was taking place, Jace wanted no part in it. They could leave the battleships behind.

  Sure, they’d be able to do a little damage to Earth. Maybe they’d try to conquer it. But they’d run out of starcoals soon enough, and most of their power would be gone. Jace had bigger issues.

  It seemed like the crew of the Outcast had repaired the hangar blast doors, which was a shame, because Jace was going to have to break them again. They were open, allowing access to and from the hangar. Surely, though, he could damage the air-seals enough that the doors closed automatically.

  He aimed for the hangar and used [Hyperjump] to pass through the shield unhindered.

  When he landed in the hangar, a horde of Alliance ground crew members surrounded them. They weren’t openly hostile, but some of them didn’t speak the common language and it was hard to tell what they were thinking. For good measure, he turned the starfighter toward the hangar door controls, then blasted them with a pulse of plasma.

  The emergency doors slammed shut with a whoosh of steam, locking the hangar shut. It might not have been necessary, but Jace didn’t want anyone following them in or trying to throw them out.

  Then he popped the viewscreen. “Who’s in charge here?” he called.

  A man in a brown uniform stepped forward. He held a clipboard and had a small rank seal projected above his breast pocket. He was a Soul-Circle Opening Wielder, but he also looked like a mechanic. “I am,” he said. “We have held this hangar in the name of the Deniers. I am Lieutenant Mechanic Bergter, and I am in service of the Captain.”

  “Deniers?”

  “Those who believe the Hand is false—we believe he wishes destruction upon the galaxy and universe. And we believe you to be the only thing who can stop him.”

  “Great. You’d be correct, but we don’t have time for the details. Who’s in charge of the hyperdrive?”

  “The Believers.”

  Well, at least the names were obvious enough.

  “Do not despair,” the Wielder said. “The Deniers may be outnumbered, but we have the Captain on our side, and he has held the main bridge. The Believers have kept the hyperdrive intact, because they wish to return as well. They wouldn’t be so foolish to destroy their only means of returning home.”

  “Would they let us make a jump?”

  “They won’t have a choice. The Captain has held the bridge, and he alone can activate the hyperdrive. We’ve kept it charged and ready for your return.”

  Lessa whispered, “These guys seem alright.”

  “Don’t touch the Gull,” Jace said, then motioned down at his starfighter. “Otherwise, we’re going to the bridge.”

  “Why were the Believers even attacking us on Earth?” Lessa asked. “Or was that someone else?”

  “They thought that if you two were to die, we would be unwilling to stay and relent. That we would return to the Hand so we can serve him. So, in effect, they are still getting what they want. Since lines of communication are failing across the ship, they might not even know the order came from an enemy.”

  Jace nodded. “How hard is it to get to the bridge?”

  “You may have to fight through some Believer forces. They are currently mounting an attack.”

  “ ‘May’ sounds like ‘will absolutely have to’,” Lessa commented.

  Jace shrugged. “Well, let’s get moving then. Anyone who wants to go home, and doesn’t want your home to be destroyed by a suicidal madman, come with me.”

  46

  IN TRANSIT

  Jace and Lessa sprinted out of the hangar, this time heading out into the main ring-circling hallway. It was startlingly empty, but they continued to run toward the command bridge.

  Having entered through the closest hangar to the command bridge, they didn’t have far to travel, but when they reached the first roadblock, they skittered to a halt. It was quite literally a roadblock. In the massive hallway leading to the command bridge elevator, the Alliance Believers had managed to get a trio of tanks in position, and they’d set up a wall of sandbags between the tanks.

  Unlike the Realm’s trapezoidal tanks, these tanks had a more traditional body shape—or, a shape that Jace was more used to seeing on tanks—but with a massive turret embedded in its body, like an old ironclad ship’s main gun. It was an upright cylinder with a plasma cannon facing forward.

  All three tanks fired directly at a blast door, trying to break it down. Defenders climbed on a walkway above, trading fire with the foot soldiers who had also joined the roadblock.

  About ten other mechanics and ground crew from the hangar had followed Jace and Lessa, carrying scavenged plasma rifles. One especially large man—who was a few heads taller than Jace—carried a starfighter’s plasma cannon in his bare hands.

  “Take out the tanks!” Jace called. “Bergter, you and your men take one, Lessa get the middle one!”

  Lessa knelt down, aimed her new rifle, then fired a charged blast at the tank. It ripped the vehicle to shreds, disabling its main gun immediately. The mechanic carrying a starfighter cannon—who everyone called Small Wrench—fired it over and over at the tank on the far side.

  Bergter, a metal-aspect Wielder, activated a technique card and crushed the third tank with a clench of his fist.

  “I’ve only got one high-powered shot left,” Lessa said.

  “Let’s save it for a Wielder, then,” Jace replied.

  He launched forward with a hyperdash, flashing toward the sandbags, then triggered [Veins of the Universe]. He spread the technique as far as he could, trying to expand it as far as it would let him.

  Tendrils of solid hyperspace-aspect Aes snaked through the floor, ripping up panels and scattering the sandbags, leaving the defending soldiers helpless, and the rest of the defenders took them down.

  “Hold this point,” Jace instructed the defenders—including the mechanics. He looked up to the walkway above them. “Can you open the blast door a crack? We need to get to the bridge!”

  “More will be coming!” a soldier replied. “They have been attacking in waves, and we cannot hold them back for much longer!”

  “We’ll come back and help. Just get us through the door!”

  After a few seconds of hesitation, the door creaked open a crack. Two metal sheets parted, revealing a short hallway and a set of elevators.

  Jace and Lessa ran to the first elevator and activated it. The doors opened immediately, with a pod ready for them. “I guess no one’s been using the elevators much,” Lessa commented.

  They took the elevator to the top, and when the doors opened, they came face-to-face with a hallway full of Alliance soldiers waiting for them. There were a few bodies in the hall, but there was no fighting currently, and as soon as the soldiers recognized Jace and Lessa, they lowered their rifles.

  Jace gave them a thankful nod, then sprinted down the hallway to the main command bridge.

  “We need to get this ship moving!” he shouted. “Where’s the captain?”

  “I am here,” said the man, stepping forward. “I will make the jump. Where is our target?”

  “Aim for Kinath-Aertes,” Jace replied.

  “Understood. You will have about a week before we arrive.”

  Jace turned to Lessa and whispered, “Let’s just hope the planet hasn’t fallen by then.”

  “Trust Kinfild and Ash,” Lessa replied. “I’m sure they’re doing their best.”

  “Their best might not be enough. But no matter what happens, at least we’ll have been there at the end.”

  As soon as the Outcast blasted away into hyperspace, Jace and Lessa ran back to the hangar, then ensured that everything was locked up. The last thing they needed was to let the Gull get damaged in some skirmish between factions aboard the ship.

  Afterward, they ran back to the old Believers’ roadblock, which the Deniers had taken over for the time being.

  There wasn’t anything to do but wait, but while they waited, Jace could make do with what he had. He activated his main status sheet and observed it.

  In the last few days, he’d advanced to stage three of Spirit Burning, but he hadn’t even realized it. It had been nothing but a minor tingle, and he’d suppressed the Split’s messages without even noticing. He’d been getting better at manipulating it, that much he could say.

  “I guess you’re not going to advance completely until we arrive…” Lessa replied.

  “No,” Jace replied. “I think stage three is as high as I’m going to get—I’ve hit a wall with how unbalanced the Split is. Nothing is going to change until we merge it with the Enemy, and any enlightenment would push me farther off-course.”

  “Yeah…but you do have some more attribute shards to distribute, right?”

  “Thirty.”

  It seemed like a massive boost for doing almost nothing, until Jace considered that technically, they were Aes manifestations from killing the Sentinels. It was still Aes he had earned, and massive amounts of it from tough battles. He felt slightly less guilty when he pulled himself into his dreamspace plane and began distributing them.

  He divided them evenly among Strength and Resistance, putting fifteen in each, then drew himself out of the Dreamspace plane and checked his main status sheet.

  [Gathered Analytics]

  Name: Jace Scott Baldwin

  Classification: Hyperspace Vagabond

  Advancement Progress: Spirit Burning 3 (0.3%)

  [Attributes]

  Strength: 127

  Vital: 180

  Resistance: 332

  Agility: 127

  Potency: 2

  [Technique Cards Socketed (7/7)]

  Hyperdash (Reforged)

  Wanderer’s Banishment

  Purify

  Radiance

  Questforger (Reforged II)

  Veins of the Universe

  Impact Channel

  [Titles]

  Worldjumper #5 (this Title cannot be removed). Effect: You have a Mark of Fate. Agents of chaos and darkness will seek you, knowingly or not.

  Champion (this Title cannot be removed). Effect: You can interact directly with the Split.

  Witness of the Ancients. Effect: You viewed a Luminian megastructure for the first time. +1 Agility.

  Delver of Ifskar (this Title cannot be removed. Effect: You braved the depths of the Ifskar Tomb and purged the dark stain. +10 Vitality and +10 Strength.

  Without actually letting his body take the effects of any of those stats into consideration, it wasn’t going to make much of a difference, so that was his next order of business. He had to keep training while they held the hallway.

  But it also didn’t change the fact that, for them, they came from Earth, where it was late in the evening. Jace didn’t need the rest, but Lessa would. He would keep watch. Although they could probably trust the soldiers, he wasn’t sure, so he figured it was best if he kept watch for the beginning of the night.

  Although the lighting didn’t change, that didn’t matter. Eventually, while sitting in the hallway beside a charred husk of a tank, Lessa fell asleep, her head resting on a sandbag. Jace leaned against the side of the tank, waiting for any other soldiers to come attack them.

  Nothing happened for a few hours. After a while, an enemy scout poked his head around a distant corner then disappeared again. Even after a little while longer, nothing came of it. Jace kept his hand on his Whistling Blade just in case.

  Eventually, an Alliance soldier from their side of the roadblock—a Denier—walked up to him and said, “Are you really on our side?” He had a thick accent, which sounded pretty German, and it took Jace a few seconds to understand.

  Jace considered for a few seconds, then said, “No. Not really. There’s the question of sides, and if you want me to pick a side in the war, I’d go with the Realm. But really, that’s not the important question. If we don’t work together, we’re all going to die. Whatever’s going on with your ‘side,’ we both don’t believe in the Hand. So I’m not going to hurt you if you don’t hurt me.”