“Good, get it ready. You have nine minutes. Nathan?”

  The young man looked up.

  “You’re with me.”

  They ran back to the bridge and assumed their seats.

  “Can you connect to the drone?” Nori asked.

  Nathan nodded. “I think so.” He closed his eyes, and his seat shifted, turning into a capsule. A partially transparent visor covered the Technomancer’s face.

  The leftmost viewscreen flickered, displaying a new image from the butler drone’s perspective, which was currently flying down a corridor. Curved, white walls bordered the inside of the speaker’s ship. As they watched, the drone entered a room containing other utility drones and approached an open box. Several robotic arms emerged out of the box, reaching into the drone and replacing its used dishes with new ones.

  Nori watched intently as the small hovering drone resumed its flight over the ship, moving through several other corridors and open hallways. “There!” she said suddenly. The picture froze, displaying an open doorway that was bordered off with an intensely bright force field. “What’s in there?”

  “Engine room,” Nathan said confidently from inside his capsule. The picture unfroze, returning to show the drone's point of view.

  “Can you make the drone go in there?”

  “No. Still too far to control. Also, the drone doesn’t have access.”

  “Captain,” Lana said tensely. “They’ll reach the freighter in three minutes.”

  “We’ll make it in two,” Nori said, turning back to the viewscreen. “We have to make every moment count, looking for an advantage. Alert me again in one minute.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  They continued observing the drone’s patrols through the ship but didn’t find any obvious vulnerabilities.

  “Two minutes!” Lana’s voice cracked.

  Nori instantly brought up her hands, already wrapped in the holo controls. Within three heartbeats, the ship zoomed away, hurtling to intercept the intruders.

  ***

  As they neared the industrial zone, they could clearly see the larger freighter had landed right next to a mound of processed ore. Dozens of people were busy loading the large vessel with everything from simple wheelbarrows to anti-grav carriers.

  As they drew near, half a dozen armored vehicles burst into view, barely braking in time to avoid running over the surprised workers. Two scores of armed man poured out of the vehicles carrying heavy, high-caliber machine guns. A couple were holding missile launchers. They moved in a hurry, looking for the best firing position.

  “Damn it,” Nori cursed. “It won’t be enough.”

  High above them, NO_ONE’s ship was quickly descending.

  “How’s that mech looking?” Nori asked sharply.

  “We still need a few minutes,” Bulco’s voice came back over the comms.

  “We don’t have a few minutes!”

  “Incoming transmission,” Lana said.

  “Put it through.”

  “I find it quite odd that you have deployed armed forces at my destination,” NO_ONE said coldly.

  “They’re only there to protect your cargo,” Nori said, making it up on the spot. “We didn’t want to risk not meeting our quota in case of a Warped attack.”

  “And that explains why your pathetic little freighter is on an intercept course? I think the time for fake pleasantries is over. I’m going to make an example out of those primitively equipped soldiers of yours as a lesson for the others. Interfere or try to stop me and you doom your planet to the system lord’s wrath.”

  The main viewscreen showed NO_ONE’s Corvette hovering over the landed freighter. Several gun ports opened from the seamless hull and multiple cannons, energy crackling around them, emerged from within.

  “Wait!” Nori said, checking the range on her consoles. “We have something valuable you’d be interested in, courtesy of your rival. We’re willing to give it to you for free.”

  “What is it?” the speaker asked sharply.

  The distance between them closed to two hundred meters.

  Nori cracked a smile and pressed the console. “Your shield’s override code.”

  Intense light flashed all around the Corvette as her multi-layered shields flickered, then went away.

  “FIRE!” Nori roared.

  Nathan instantly shot the cannon. Despite not having the right Path to aim properly, at two hundred meters away, it was hard to miss.

  The men on the ground started firing as well. All sorts of small and high caliber bullets hit the ship’s hull, pinging against her thick armor like a rain of lead. Several missiles exploded on impact.

  Throughout it all, the ship remained in place. Pristine and untouchable as ever.

  “Their armor’s too tough!” Lana shouted. “All we’re doing is scratching their paint.”

  “Fools!” NO_ONE’s voice was full of cold fury. “I’ll make an example out of you all!”

  Several gun ports pointed at Unity, the others pointed to the ground around the landed freighter.

  Then all hell broke loose as they opened fire.

  Bolts of energy and streams of light shot out in all directions, turning vehicles into smoking craters, and catching several fighters in the open, vaporizing them on the spot.

  Nori swerved roughly to the left, narrowly avoiding several energy blasts. She sent both her controls sideways, while simultaneously summoning a small console and manipulating it with her fingertips. The upgraded thrusters proved themselves as the complex maneuvers caused Unity to swerve to the sides and turn on a different axis, avoiding more shots. A single hit scraped against their hull, and the entire ship shook violently from the impact.

  “Nathan!” Nori shouted. “Get that drone to the engine room! I can’t evade their shots much longer.”

  “It’s already there,” the Technomancer shouted back at her. “But it can’t pass through the force field!”

  The leftmost viewscreen showed the glowing sheet of blue power, blocking off the entrance.

  Unity swerved violently left, right, upward, and spinning lengthwise, avoiding more and more rays of death. The people on the ground fared much worse. The armored cars were all blown away and the hostile ship was picking off the survivors one by one.

  The asteroid cannon continued to fire every three seconds, and several more missiles from the ground exploded as they hit the enemy ship, without any discernible effect. Then a dark bolt of energy impacted against one of the smaller cannons, blasting it away in a shower of sparks.

  “Hold on!” the Sharpshooter’s voice called over the comms. “Only nine more cannons to go!”

  The enemy ship continued to fire. An energy discharge impacted Unity’s top fully, and the ship was hurled down, nearly hitting the ground before the Navigator managed to bring her back under control.

  “What the hell are you doing to my ship!” Bulco shouted, coming at a run from the cargo hold. The large man literally jumped into the seat that sprouted out of the floor and instantly called for his consoles. “That impact went through our external plating. The second floor is missing part of the roof right now.”

  “The entire ship is going to be open to space if we won’t do something quick!” Lana shouted. “Their armor has minor external damage only!”

  “We’re going to have to drill through that armor!” Nori yelled, her arms reaching for the relevant control.

  Alter mode engaged.

  The ship started transforming.

  “Don’t be stupid!” Bulco yelled back at her. “Their ship is too small, there’s no place we could latch onto outside the range of their weapons. They’ll blast us right off their hull!”

  “We have no other choice! I’ll try to aim for the spot with the broken cannon and hope Unity’s new form can take it!” Nori clenched her teeth and directed the controls forward. Unity’s new hind leg thrusters flared up, causing her to jump ahead, eating the distance in a few seconds.

  “Unity, break away,” an authoritative, familiar voice came through their comms. “The cavalry is here.”

  “Martin!” everyone exclaimed in unison.

  Appearing out of the horizon, like a majestic dragon in flight, the small, arrow-shaped scout vessel zoomed in. Her forward cannon pulsed, sending out a continuous beam of energy. The stronger, ship-to-ship weapon was much more effective than anything they’d thrown at the enemy so far. The beam scorched a hole through the ship’s thick armor, causing it to shudder. The small dart vessel zoomed away, nimbly evading the return fire.

  On their view of the enemy ship’s insides, several power conduits ruptured around the small butler drone. The force field protecting the entrance to the engine room flickered once and died out. The way was cleared.

  “Nathan!” Nori cried.

  The small drone hovered onward, entering the engine room. A large spherical power core lay in the middle of the chamber. All around it, the ship’s engine was humming loudly. Several components were spewing bolts of electricity.

  “Over there!” Bulco shouted, pointing at a lightning-filled gap in the engine.

  A stray shot from the enemy ship caught the scout vessel's rear. The small ship instantly started losing height, her thrusters leaving a trail of thick black smoke.

  “They’re targeting all the cannons on us!” Lana cried.

  The small drone reached forward with six slender arms and flew directly into the crackling opening. Their view was instantly cut off, switching to the area around them.

  A series of explosions erupted all over the enemy ship. It angled downward, losing altitude as more explosions erupted out of its thrusters.

  With a huge impact the tough Corvette crashed down, raising a cloud of smoke and debris.

  The enemy ship was down.

  “Ha!” Bulco grunted. “Who’s a minimal threat assessment now, assholes?”

  “Martin! Martin! Are you alright?” Nori called anxiously.

  There was no response.

  “Damage report!”

  “Structural integrity down to 60%. Second floor sustained heavy damage, and we have a hole the size of a car over the galley, but it’s all just wrappings. All main systems are fully operational.”

  “Alright, I’m flying us over Martin’s vessel, maybe he’s still—”

  “You dare?” A voice full of cold hate shouted through the still open comm link.

  Lana gasped and touched her console.

  The main viewscreen zoomed in, displaying the downed enemy ship. A hatch opened on its side, and a familiar figure stepped out of it.

  NO_ONE.

  The six advanced combat drones followed him out, taking guard positions around him, their weapons raised.

  “I’m not going to wait for the system lord to pay you a visit. I’m going to exterminate every last human from the face of this planet myself.”

  On the viewscreen, the combat drones started firing their weapons, aiming at the human workers who had tried to hide throughout the battle. A few of the surviving fighters fired back, but all their shots rebounded harmlessly off the drone’s superior armor. A bolt of dark energy streaked by, aimed at NO_ONE’s head. A bright yellow force shield erupted around his body, harmlessly deflecting the attack.

  “Serk, they need you out there!” Nori barked.

  “Get me down there, Captain. Justice will be served today.”

  Nathan fired the asteroid cannon. The Mithril-tipped projectile hit one of the drones. The force was enough to send the unit falling, but it was not enough to punch through its armor. The ricochet hit a nearby wall, reducing it to rubble, revealing two hiding workers. The drone quickly got to its feet.

  “Nathan, stop firing,” Nori ordered. “Serk, I’m bringing us down, get ready.”

  “Nori!” Lana cried, frantically working over her console.

  “What?”

  “The two warships, they left the station! They’re heading straight for us.”

  Nori’s face clouded as she directed the ship down, hitting the ground with an audible thud.

  The four-armed, five-meter-tall mech burst out of the cargo bay.

  It’s two larger arms were spread wide to the sides, and it carried two Balatium rods the size of tree trunks in its smaller hands. The giant machine barreled straight into the seven enemies. The rods flailed to the sides while its two larger arms plucked up two drones and hurled them to the ground with tremendous force.

  Despite the sheer brutality of the attack, the patchwork mech couldn’t overcome the drones’ superior armor. Its considerable mass, however, allowed it to punch through the defensive line and reach their leader.

  The other four drones opened fire.

  Beams of energy washed over the mech’s lower torso, cutting it apart and blowing off its legs.

  “Serk!” Bulco shouted.

  The machine of destruction continued to flail its limbs as it tumbled down. A widely swung baton landed a glancing hit on the Syndicate speaker.

  The alien’s force shield flared up, completely negating the impact. The giant mech tumbled down at its feet, legs gone, torso crumbling away. Defeated.

  “They’re here,” Lana whispered in fear.

  Two dark spots appeared high in the sky, holding position above the battlefield.

  “Primitive fools!” NO_ONE roared. “You thought you could defeat me so easily? Me? I’m the Syndicate’s third Speaker! I’ve toppled whole factions on a whim! Watch me lay waste to your planet.” He brought his wrist console to his eye level just as Nori’s own console chimed.

  The young captain smiled. “We might not have your ships or your weapons,” she spoke calmly to the comms. “But we have something that you don’t.”

  The speaker paused before inputting the final command. “Oh?” he asked mockingly. “And what is that?”

  Nori smiled. “Stronger friends.”

  A huge section of the sky erupted in lightning as an immense amount of static electricity built up instantly, forming into a gargantuan sphere, dozens of kilometers long.

  A moment later, the space was filled up, all at once, with an unbelievably huge mass. A kilometers-long hovering island, covered with small protrusions, filled the air above them. The two hovering warships next to it looked miniscule in comparison.

  NO_ONE stumbled backward. “No … that’s impossible … a planet?”

  Nori smiled grimly. “A planetoid, actually.”

  The Syndicate speaker touched his console, and the two warships started firing, targeting the new arrival.

  The sentient planet swept sideways effortlessly, impacting the firing warships. The two vessels instantly disappeared, transforming into two small explosions on the planetoid’s exterior.

  All around the battlefield, comms and communicators suddenly chirped to life, letting out a static sound that was quickly replaced by a deep, authoritative voice. “I am Grotula3, and Earth is now under my protection.”

  “No, no, that’s impossible,” the Syndicate Speaker stuttered as he took a step back.

  The downed mech twitched. The two smaller arms snapped forward, trying to grip the alien’s body. His personal shield flared up, keeping the arms at bay. The top of the mech blew off, revealing a small green alien. Serk.

  The Aky met the shocked Inthidlon’s eyes. His own eyes blazed. A long thin blade, coated with purple energy, appeared in his hand, and he thrust it forward. The blade passed through the energy shield as if it wasn’t even there, sinking into the other alien’s unprotected chest like butter.

  Serk held his enemy’s eyes with his own. “Your administrator title has just been revoked.” He twisted the blade. A stream of purple blood pooled on the ground. “Justice is served.”

  NO_ONE fell, twitching and clutching at his chest. He was dead before his body hit the ground.

  With their master suddenly gone, the drones around him froze in place.

  The fight was over.

  “Well that’s something you don’t see every day,” a familiar voice sounded over the comms. “Where the hell did you find a talking planet?”

  “Martin!” Lana exclaimed. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. My ship took a beating, but it's still mostly in one piece.”

  “Thanks for the save,” Nori said. “We almost didn't make it there.”

  “You know me. Just a Justicar, doing my thing.”

  “Martin?” Diamond’s voice sounded. “Get your ass over here ASAP. We have a vote to cast.”

  ***

  “All in favor?”

  Diamond, Martin, Nicolas, Gary, and a woman by the name of Aly, all raised their hands.

  Haven’s official leadership recognized.

  Pending issues:

  Low morale detected

  Insufficient housing detected

  Criminal activity hampers efficiency

  Tec Contract violated: 1

  “Well?” Nori looked anxiously at the five new official ‘rulers’.

  “It worked,” Diamond said with a relieved sigh. “I was afraid we were too late to intercept the Tec contract violation.”

  “I’m guessing the message was sent but then rescinded once the leadership motion was passed,” Lana said.

  “Alright, let’s check what that Tec contract violation means,” Martin said, his eyes distant as he concentrated on his personal view. “Hmm, looks like someone was a bad boy: violating personal safety clause, failing to reach an agreed resource quota … it goes on a bit.”

  “So what does it mean for us?” Nori asked, nearly holding her breath.

  Martin looked up at Unity crew gravely. “These are a severe transgressions. Extreme punishment is advised.”

  Lana gulped.

  Martin slowly lifted a finger, looking severe.

  Then he cracked a smile. “Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. Bad kids. You are hereby officially reprimanded.”

  The other leaders chuckled, and the tense mood lightened. Everyone joined the laughter.

  “Phew, you had me worried there for a moment, boss,” Cattie said, smiling.