It was enough.

  “Negate!” I shouted, figuring I needed to keep using focus words. Blorb’s grip on me vanished, and I dropped to the floor just in front of him. “Reflect!” I said, watching as his attempts to spear me bounced off the sudden shield, the momentum knocking him off-balance. “Immolate!” I cried, holding out my hand to burn him to ash.

  His tentacles wrapped around my wrist and tugged. He was so strong he whipped me onto the sigibellum and sent me crashing into the curved display. It shattered and sparked. As I landed on the deck, additional tentacles wrapped around my throat, choking me before I could recover.

  “Impressive,” Blorb said. “But not enough.” He squeezed more tightly. “I want you dead more than I want to know how to reverse.”

  I slumped on the floor of the sigibellum an open flow of chaos energy burning my body. I tried pushing him, but without verbalizing it, I didn’t seem to be able to do it. The fates just had to mess with me like that.

  My eyes landed on the etched surface of the sigibellum beneath me, and I saw my chance to snatch victory from the tentacles of defeat. Slapping my hand on the floor, I activated the device, which instantly glowed brightly beneath us.

  Blorb wasn’t impressed. “That won’t help you, Ben,” he laughed. “All of the sigils are outside the ship.”

  I would have laughed too, if I could breathe. Not with him. At him. He thought he was so smart. But he didn’t catch on that a transit portal could be opened anywhere, and I didn’t need a focus word to use the sigibellum.

  The rift opened beneath his feet, large enough to swallow half the room, including my guitar and crown. His head snapped down, mouth opening in a silent scream as he started falling into the void. More tentacles stretched out, latching onto one of the sigibellum’s saloon doors. I grabbed the tentacle around my neck, trying desperately to remove it as he dangled halfway in the rift, his vital sack rising toward safety above the rift opening. I didn’t have the strength to dislodge the appendage around my throat.

  If I couldn’t beat him, it was better to join him.

  I threw myself at him, wrapping my arm around his head while keeping my other hand pressed to the platform. Knowing that the portal would close if he pulled me in completely, he let go of my neck.

  We hung together halfway between time and space. I looked down at him. He looked up at me. Only now I was the one who was smiling, and he was the one afraid.

  Because I controlled the transit. Because my throat and voice were unrestricted.

  “Pull!” I wheezed, letting go of him.

  I was lifted away from the sigibellum, losing contact with it, the loss of energy forcing the portal to snap closed. Most of Blorb was trapped inside the void, except for his one limb still attached to the saloon door and his head resting on the deck. I canceled the pull and belly flopped onto the deck. The chaos energy still raging inside me, I remained there on my stomach for a few seconds while I sucked in huge gasps of air.

  I had done it. I had actually won. I glanced over at Blorb’s head, already beginning to melt into goop. I forced myself back to my feet. I couldn’t afford to linger. My friends were still in trouble.

  If any of them were hurt, there would be hell to pay.

  CHAPTER 47

  I had only made it back into the corridor outside Dominator’s sigibellum compartment when my comm badge chirped and activated.

  “Ben, do you copy?”

  I couldn’t have hit the badge any faster if I’d wanted to. “Zar! Are you okay? Is everyone okay?”

  “We’re a little beat up, but we’re alive,” she replied. “What did you do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The bridge was clear when we reached it, but we still didn’t take it for granted that Lyke was anything other than a lying piece of crap. The others flanked the entrance, while I hacked the door. As soon as it opened, I was thrown across the passageway. Next thing I knew, four archons came out of the bridge, ready to smoke our tails. Shaq got one of them, and Ixy grabbed the other. She webbed the bitch’s mouth full before she could say anything, but the other two managed to throw shields up. We just kept firing at them, not giving them a chance to drop their defenses. And then all of a sudden, they dropped dead like they had been shot. Just collapsed. I figured with them dead, maybe the comms would work. And they do. What happened to you?”

  “Lyke wasn’t Lyke,” I replied. “She was Blorb.” I froze. The shock of learning Alter had always been Blorb hadn’t worn off yet. “Alter was Blorb, too. The entire time.”

  “What?” she hissed. “How…”

  “Yeah. I’m still not over that reveal. Matt, are you there?”

  “I’m here,” he replied. “I’ve got chills from what you just said. I always knew there was something off about Alter, but I didn’t expect that.”

  “Yeah, you did think she was questionable. While I fell for her lies—hook, line, and sinker.”

  “That’s just because you’re a gullible softie. Well, maybe not so much anymore. Your heart was in the right place.”

  “There’s more to the story, but it’s not important now. The important thing is that I trapped Blorb in the void. I can only guess that he was somehow tethered to the other Aleals on this ship, and when he left the universe, the severed connection killed them.”

  “They were archons, Cap. Not Aleals,” Quasar said. “Aleals can’t use sigiltech.”

  “That’s what we thought. We were wrong. Blorb learned to mimic my DNA. They can evolve so fast it’s scary what they might be capable of becoming, given enough time and opportunity.”

  “It’s scary to think of what Hiro might become.”

  A chill ran down my spine. I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. “We’ll need to keep a close eye on him to make sure he remains one of the good guys.”

  “But if Blorb can use sigiltech, he won’t stay trapped in the void for long, will he?” Matt asked. “All he has to do is open a portal.”

  “It doesn’t work like that. You can’t transit out from inside the void. Only through it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Postive. Keep always warned me about being careful not to get lost in the void. Zar, you said that Dominator’s bridge is secure?”

  “Aye, Captain. I’m here with George and Ixy. Emerald and Shaq are—”

  “Boo!” Emerald shouted, coming around the corner up ahead. Shaq buzzed excitedly from her shoulder as they ran toward me. She threw her arms wide, and I braced myself to catch her as she ran into me and squeezed me tight with her good arm. Shaq hopped to my shoulder, nuzzling my neck. “You made it! I’m so happy.” She rested her head on my chest, looking up at me, her smile disappearing. “You’re burning up.”

  “It’s the chaos energy,” I replied. “I managed to open a line through the veil. I’m not sure how to close it now.” I reached out, placing my hand on her wound. “Restore,” I said gently.

  “Oooh,” she replied as deep, painless healing quickly knitted her wound back together. “Thanks, Boo. It feels so much better now.”

  “A real wizard,” Shaq buzzed in English.

  “Just call me Harry,” I replied. “Zar, can you fly this ship?”

  “Badly,” she answered. “I only know rudimentary Niflin. I could use some help.”

  “I’m on my way to the bridge,” Justus said, breaking in suddenly.

  “You’re alive!” I cried, my smile stretching wide.

  “Yeah well, I tried sending you updates, but the comms were down. I was still trying to figure out how to get past the guards when the archon in the group collapsed like his strings had been cut. I got the drop on the others, and was about to enter engineering when my comms came back online and I heard you talking. It sounds like Dominator is ours and the Star is safe where it is. I can help you fly her.”

  “Fantastic. Matt, is everything good on Head Case?”

  “We had a second round of tangoes come knocking, but Dutch took care of them.”

  “Zar, can you open the hangar doors?”

  “I can in a minute. Gia’s working on gaining access to the systems.”

  “Matt, once the doors are open, get back into the fight. We’ve still got some mop-up to do.”

  “Aye, Captain. What about you?”

  “I’ll be right behind you,” I replied.

  “Sweet,” Matt said.

  “Come on, Em.” I jerked my head in the direction of the sigibellum, and we quickly made our way back to the compartment. The displays had taken some damage during the fight, making them a little harder to use, but the device itself remained intact.

  “Ewww,” Emerald said, stopping in front of the puddle of goop that had been Blorb’s head. A second blob dripped off the door where the tentacle had been. “Gross.”

  “Yup.” I stepped over the blob on the deck and onto the sigibellum, reaching out with my chaos energy to activate it. The sigils on the platform began glowing as I turned my attention to the displays. An entire section of the feed was destroyed, but there was enough left for me to see the entire starboard side and port sides from amidships back. Brito’s fleet had drifted pretty far away, still mixing it up with both the Niflin corvettes and the remaining sigilships. It amazed me that the count had managed to keep a few of his ships and himself alive for this long. I had no doubt they were in dire straits, the minimal volume of flashes from their ion batteries confirming it.

  “Justus, keep the enemy fleet on our right if you can, and get us into the action, asap.”

  “Aye aye, Captain,” he replied. “I’ve almost reached the bridge.”

  “Hangar doors are opening,” Gia said over the comms.

  “I’m in position,” I said. “Matt, as soon as you're clear.”

  “We’re clear,” he answered. “Heading out.”

  I saw the light of the inner hangar appear in the feed. Ten seconds later, Head Case shot out past the camera, rocketing toward the bulk of the fighting.

  “I’m on the bridge, Cap,” Justus announced. “Here we go.”

  Dominator began turning, the inertia barely noticeable as he throttled the huge ship up, the glow of its main thrusters creating a hue over the back half of the nearly circular feed.

  I stood in the center of the sigibellum, hands clenched into fists. Chaotic fire still burned through my veins as I watched Head Case sweep around in front of us, leading the way into the faltering battle.

  The enemy ships no doubt saw us coming on their sensors, but with Head Case racing ahead of Dominator, they must have thought Lyke had resumed chasing me. They barely paid us any mind as they kept the pressure up on Brito’s remaining forces and the forty or so Royal Guard starfighters that had somehow survived this long. Having started with over thirty ships, Brito was down to only a handful, all of which were so damaged I could hardly believe they were still spaceworthy.

  “Gia, give me a channel to Count Brito,” I said.

  “Channel open, Ben,” she replied.

  “If you expect me to surrender, you can forget it,” Brito said before I could speak, likely thinking I was Lyke or Blorb. “I’d rather die than give myself up to the likes of you.”

  I laughed. “Glad to hear it, Val. I’m not looking for surrender. I’m looking for retribution.”

  “Murdock?” he said, obviously surprised and elated by my hail and what it meant for our side of the battle.

  “Watch this,” I said, looking to a grouping of three sigilships and five Niflin corvettes in the process of flanking Brito and his ships. “Palpatine,” I barked. The focus word didn’t matter as much as the intent, and the sigibellum glowed with an intensity I had never seen before. A thick, blindingly bright bolt of energy crackled out from our bow, passing beneath Head Case and crossing thousands of kilometers. It branched out from there, a dozen tongues stabbing into each of the targets, catching them completely off guard. The attack broke right through their shield nodes, cutting each ship in half.

  One shot, eight enemy ships destroyed.

  “That was crazy ridiculous.” Emerald laughed, watching the carnage. “You go, Boo!”

  “Justus, turn us a little more starboard,” I said.

  “Aye aye, Captain,” he ardently replied.

  It took a few seconds for the other enemy ships to register what had just happened. By the time they did, Head Case had swooped in on one of the six remaining sigilships, ripping through it with a combination of heavy ion blasts and immolate.

  Panic ensued. The corvettes and sigilships disengaged from Brito’s fleet, turning in every direction and making every effort to run. “Dampen!” I said, directly channeling motes to weaken the reflect shields that popped up all around the nearest sigilship. I combined it with another palpatine from Dominator, satisfied when the warship exploded as violently as anything could in the vacuum of space. Meanwhile, Brito and Head Case ganged up on a second sigilship, quickly overwhelming it and leaving it a dead, drifting husk.

  The rest of the enemy ships accelerated their retreat. Within seconds, hyperspace fields began spreading around them. Seconds later, they were gone.

  And we had won.

  “Woooooo!” Emerald cried from her spectator position, launching into an impromptu dance that integrated plenty of bunny hops. “Team Hondo is awesome!”

  The rest of my crew congratulated one another more sedately over the comms, the losses we had endured, especially on the Nobukkian side, impossible to ignore.

  “Nice work, Murdock,” Brito added to the compliments. “I knew as soon as I saw you that there was something special about you.”

  I didn’t answer right away. The initial moments of calm gave my mind a chance to rewind to what Blorb had said. Sedaya had been planning his coup for years. But I was the one who had given Blorb the idea to take the reins for himself. These deaths were because of me.

  “Respect, Ben,” Gia said through my comm badge. “I know what you’re thinking. But you can’t change the infinite complexities of time and space. And you definitely can’t control them. Well, maybe you can control time. The point is, the what ifs will get you nowhere. Blorb is gone, the Hegemony is safe, and you did it.”

  “No,” I replied, rejecting her statement. “We did it.”

  “Damn right, we did,” Shaq buzzed.

  “Ben, I’ve got an incoming hail,” Gia said. “From the surface.”

  “Pass it through,” I replied.

  “Hey kid,” Keep said calmly. “Count Brito tells me you just finished saving the universe. I never doubted you for a second.”

  “Keep! Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “Prince Hiro and I are fine. You’d never believe who I ran into during my effort to get Hiro out of the Imperium to safety.”

  “Hey, Ben!” Jesse said excitedly. “Don’t worry about the Regent and the Prince. I sent one of our extraction teams to the Imperium as soon as the attack started. They’re in a Nelson Robotic’s bunker not far from there.”

  “Extraction team?”

  “You should see them, Ben,” Hiro said excitedly. “They’re all robots! It was so cool.”

  I hesitated a moment before speaking. Hiro had identified himself as originating from Alter. In fact, he hadn’t even recognized the name Blorb at the time. Blorb had said Hiro was good because of Hiro. Was his human essence gravitating him toward Blorb’s good side, even if that good side had all been an act? Or had he been deceiving me too? Was he still deceiving us? I wished I could be certain. One thing was for sure, we would definitely need to keep a closer eye on him, especially as time went on.

  “I’m sure it was,” I finally said.

  “Nelson Robotics wasn’t about to risk losing our best customers,” Jesse explained.

  “What about Nattic, Vaslon, and the others?” I asked.

  “Sorry, kid,” Keep said. “They didn’t make it. Hiro and I would have been dead too, if not for my rings. Badabing badaboom.”

  “All of New Haydrun is in pretty bad shape,” Jesse said. “Other cities on the planet, too. But don’t worry. Whatever the Hegemony needs, Nelson Robotics is there. We’ll rebuild it all, newer and better than ever.”

  “I know you will,” I replied. Finally calming down, I felt the chaos energy draining away. “Keep, we’ll meet you on the surface once we’ve tied up all our loose ends up here.”

  “No problemo, kid. We’ve got some work to do to calm down the population and pass along the news of our victory. Your victory.”

  “You’re my hero, Ben,” Hiro agreed.

  “And you’re my Hiro,” I answered. “I hope you’ll stay that way. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m suddenly starving.”

  CHAPTER 48

  TWO WEEKS LATER…

  “Murdock!” Count Brito shouted, eyes lifting over the shoulder of the woman he was speaking with as I entered the room. Matt stood at my right hand. Shaq, of course, rode curled up on my shoulder, with Quasar on my left and the rest of my crew filing in behind us.

  Brito’s call drew the attention of many of the other people in the large atrium that served as the waiting area for one of the huge meeting rooms in Nelson Robotic’s headquarters, located just outside of New Haydrun. The building had also become the temporary seat of both the Manticore Spiral’s Emperor and his Regent, as well as home to the local Atlassian governing body.

  While the influx of construction crews from all around the Spiral had done an incredible amount of work in the last two weeks, there was still so much more for them to do. The palace grounds were cleared and leveled, ready for the construction of a new building, but it would be some time before Hiro and Keep could take up residence there.

  The hundreds of people milling about in the room quickly silenced, all eyes turning toward me. Then, all of a sudden, someone started clapping. Everyone else joined in, adding cheers and whistles to the mix, making my cheeks warm up in response. Thankfully, I had decided to regrow my beard following the events on Dominator. I nodded to the closest people—mostly business owners and government officials—as I made my way through the raucous crowd.