Jace prepared the next torpedo. He pushed it forward in the tube and slammed the breach gate shut, but before he could launch it, he looked up. Another starfighter launched both of its torpedoes. Jace watched them streak through the void towards their target. It passed through the gap in the torpedo net, and when it collided, it exploded. But when the dust and smoke cleared, all he saw was a slightly bent, slightly cracked sheet of armour plating. It hadn’t pierced through.
Even then, it wouldn’t destroy the queen-core. Light-based techniques were capable of destroying queen-cores, not the plasma blasts generated by torpedoes.
They needed more power.
Jace’s grip on the handlebars hadn’t broken, and he held tight to the starfighter’s saddle with his legs. They were past the breach in the battleship’s torpedo net, now, and they’d have to circle around. A swarm of Koedor-Terginian starfighters surged towards them, and while the thegn’s corvette blasted most of them, some still slipped through.
Jace steered the starfighter around the stern of the battleship, past its smokestacks. “If I leave the breach open, we’ll still have a bit of time before all the air floods out, right?”
Lessa gulped audibly. “I don’t like where this is going…”
“Right?”
“Yes!”
As they shot around the prow of the telesignal ship, two enemy starfighters leapt into his way. He channeled his Aes and fired his starfighter’s wingtip cannons. He shot one’s wing off, and the remaining starfighters of the thegn’s squadron dealt with the other.
Again, Jace had an open shot at the gap in the torpedo net. He pulled the torpedo tube open all the way. Air began to rush out of the starship. A gale pulled him forwards and tore the air from his lungs, and his breath condensed.
Now wasn’t the time to panic. He leaned over and gripped the back of the torpedo, then squished it as tight as he could between his hands. As soon as he felt the metal biting into his skin, he activated the Wanderer’s Banishment card and blasted the torpedo out like a bullet. It flashed away, and Jace slammed the breach door shut behind it.
A streak of golden light speared through the center of the queen-core battleship. Then, like a spurt of blood, a wedge of golden light seared through the other side. It tore through the hull and splintered the ship’s massive bulkheads.
Wisps of darkness seeped out of the battleship’s hull. The shattered armour revealed a dark sphere the width of a hockey rink, and that was where the shadowy dread had emanated from.
That was the queen-core. The torpedo speared through its center and detonated upon impact with the gathered orb of pitch-black Aes. A lightspeed impact and a detonation of high explosives ripped the core apart, releasing shadows off into the void. They integrated with the darkness, returning to the normal state of empty darkness.
But the front half of the battleship shrank. Its metal hull crumpled inwards, drawn in by the authority of a greater void.
“Get us away!” Lessa exclaimed.
“Away?”
“The magazine is going to—”
Before she could finish, the front half of the battleship ripped apart. The hull exploded outwards, sheets of metal and streaks of magenta light pouring into the void.
Jace gripped the handlebars as tight as he could and clasped his legs tight against the saddle. Instinctively, he yipped at the starfighter like it was a horse, though he knew it couldn’t hear. He pulled them away from the blast, dipping and weaving between the enormous chunks of shrapnel. He pushed the starfighter up around a ripped disk of steel and swerved away from a dislodged plasma cannon battery.
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On cue, a sheet appeared: [Quest complete: Destroy Kobold Queen-Core. Reward claimed: 150 Standard Aes Units]. A bright spear of raw Aes slammed into his gut and surged into his body. He clenched his teeth, ignoring the sensation as steered the little starfighter.
By the time that they were out of the explosion’s range, the duelling starships were barely a glimmer in the distance. All around him, the remains of the thegn’s starfighter squadron had gathered. He counted six others, and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the corvette.
He had to get back. He had to keep fighting; there was nothing else to do, now. He took a deep breath, blinked away the tiredness in his mind, then leaned towards the melee of starships.
“Ready to keep going?” Jace asked, looking back at Lessa. There was still more they could do.
“Are you?” she returned.
The wounds he’d sustained in the fight against Stenol weren’t life threatening, but his blood was still seeping out and dripping onto the floor. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t yet.
There was still more they could do to help. They might have disabled and deactivated the kobolds, but now, they had a space battle to sway. He tightened his legs. The small starfighter took off again, racing toward the band of flashing lights.
Enemy starfighters swerved towards them. The tiny ships unleashed a barrage of magenta plasma. Jace swerved back and forth—if they didn’t, they would be an incredibly easy target to hit.
“Shields, Jace,” Lessa reminded him. “We don’t need speed.”
“I—” He paused. “You’re right. I’ll get them up.” He adjusted the power shunting levers until they were even with each other. A plasma blast dissipated across the shields just in front of the viewscreen.
He lined up the small targeting reticle with an enemy starfighter, then activated the plasma cannons. A pair of blasts raced out from the wingtips. The first blast dissipated against his target’s shields, and the second struck in the exact same spot. They didn’t harm the vessel, but he recognized the glimmer of the shields deactivating, like paper peeling away from a notepad. He fired a third blast, and this time, the plasma tore through the fuselage. The starfighter tumbled out of control and exploded.
He dueled with enemy starfighters for as long as he could. He stayed forward in the saddle, maneuverable and quick to adjust. It was more like trying to maneuver a horse through a maze than riding in open fields, and the maze kept changing. “How are we doing for coal?”
“I’ve got half a bunker left on the starboard side,” she said. “And the port side is empty.”
He inhaled sharply, then steered into a cloud of exhaust smoke. They passed between the enormous starships, dodging debris, flotsam, and shrapnel. He dipped through a smoking hole in a Starrealm battleship’s flank, then shot out between a pair of Koedor-Terginian battleships. Before they could disintegrate him with plasma, he pulled back on the handlebars, launching the starfighter upwards into a climb.
It was a dead end up ahead. An enemy battleship blocked their path, and all around, swarms of starfighters converged. He lost sight of the rest of the thegn’s squadron. There was nowhere to run.
Jace clutched the handlebar grips tighter, trying to counteract his sweaty palms. “How are we doing on ammunition?”
“Jace—”
“I take it we don’t have much left?”
“Jace, wait!” Lessa leaned forward and put her hand on his shoulder. “Look.” She pointed over his shoulder at the scanners. Dim triangles glimmered on the screen. “Hyperspace shadows. There’s a large fleet coming out of hyperspace! Nearly a hundred capital ships, and other support craft! They’re travelling hard and fast!”
At first, he didn’t want to believe it. He whispered, “Those better not be reinforcements for Stenol’s fleet,” so if it turned out to be true, he wouldn’t have to deal with the disappointment.
At least he would’ve spent his second life doing something useful. Doing something interesting, important.
A series of booms resonated through the cockpit, as loud as thunder. One by one, a fleet of cruisers appeared. They announced their arrival with flashes of golden light, forming a wall abreast. The sleek gray Starrealm battleships were unmistakable.
“Kinfild…” Jace breathed.
“And not just him,” Lessa said.
Immediately, the Koedor-Terginian battleships turned to face the new threat. The enemy starfighter squadrons broke away from Jace and raced towards the new fleet.
A flurry of plasma-Aes spewed from the Starrealm vessels. It reminded him of fireworks, and he couldn’t help but enjoy the sight. The Starrealm fleet churned forwards. Countless starfighters leapt off their mothership’s davits and raced ahead, washing over their enemy with a wave of destruction.
Jace tried to calm himself, but he couldn’t clear the adrenaline from his body with just a few small breaths. He set his trembling hands back on the controls, and prepared to guide the starship back towards the surface of Eight.
They had done it.
They had won.