The Celestial Way

Chapter 26 - The Celestial Way

CHAPTER 26 – THE CELESTIAL WAY

"The journey will never end, yet we will always return home."

– Leikanto Planeo, "Stars Beyond Reach"

The Shard, Terra Para, at the heart of the Reality Vortex

"WARNING! LOSS OF REALITY ELEVATION IMMINENT!" Yeoman Cloud boomed over the commlink.

Ouroboros tore through the cosmic void, going at nearly twenty percent lightspeed. The titanic dreadnought cleaved into Terra Para, plunging within a mere instant into its grey-white expanses.

"Dump velocity NOW!" Kiana screamed.

Ouroboros fired its mega-charged inertial nullifiers, assisted by dozens of Æther-channeling Radiant Knights. In the span of a second, the starship lost nine-point-nine tenths of its forward momentum, decelerating explosively sixty kilometers above sea level. The dreadnought shook from the hypersonic boom of its own atmospheric re-entry as its terminal dive continued, its golden hull passing a mere klick apart from the violet-white gigablazar of the Reality Vortex. Twenty kilometers below, past the ultra energy jet, the Shard's crystalline bulk lay besieged by a maelstrom of warpstorms.

Airo and Veralla stood ready in one of the forward assault hangars. Red lights flared everywhere, a barring signal raking their stiffened nerves. The hull variformed away, revealing the hellish landscape in naked truth, unshielded by AR screen filters. Sensors could detect no hostiles, battered by the intense full-spectrum interference.

Then, a swarm of luminous shapes poured out of thin air right in the dreadnought's path and proximity alarms blared as over a hundred draconic Revenant charged skyward.

"Contact! Hostiles straight ahead!" Yeoman Cloud reported."Bearing 0-0-0, numbers high, advise immediate action! Rerouting additional shields power!"

"Battlestations! Everyone, battlestations!" Kiana shouted across the commlink. "Strike teams, deploy now! Repeat, full deployment!"

"Puskam Srbsko!" Yeoman Cloud added with egregious enthusiasm.

The commlink exploded with chatter and adrenaline-pounding, turbofolk soundtrack. Ouroboros fired its forward point defense cannons, blasting a barrage of veronite energy lances at the oncoming swarm of Revenant. The draconic apparitions scattered and the dreadnought tilted, maneuvering into combat position.

A second later the whole world was rocked by a supernatural, bone-rattling roar and an enormous black shape emerged from the storm-shrouded ridges of the Shard, swiftly ascending toward Ouroboros.

"Red alert! Red alert! Alpha Target in sight! Alpha Target in sight!"

"Deploying Spark One!"

Veralla dashed forth toward the launch bay's containment forcefield as the hangar lights all turned blindingly green.

"GO, GO, GO!"

Take care!, Airo thoughtcast hastily, his mind rigid from tension.

You too!, she cast back, her own hearts racing. She spread her wings, the heavy jetpack strapped between them roaring to life, and with a leap disappeared into the pandemonium outside.

The lights turned red, hundreds of reflective surfaces radiating in forbidding glare.

"Spark One is away! Spark One is away! Preparing deployment of Spark Two!"