Nathan stood on the deck of the command center moping next to Hailey. He had been confident he could help with the defense of Three Cities by acting as a sort of radar. But it turned out his trick to scan everything around him with impulse didn't extend past the dome. Something about space made his senses fuzzy.

Luckily Rover was able to pick up the slack for Nathan. The AI yipped at the fighters about to reach their position. "Ready the turrets again!" Hailey commanded.

Nathan felt the omega laser power down and the various gun emplacements rumble to life. The trump card created as a last resort had been brought out in their first battle to take down the shield of the Varnoss. Luckily the laser succeeded, he shuddered at the thought of it not working.

It had been made with the combined help of every forger in the city and used the dome itself as the focus. Every crafting skill, every power even remotely useful, every formation created had been involved in its creation. The result was a rainbow of light combining the strength of everyone in the city.

No wonder that goddess blessed everyone. Pellere spoke. Nathan had felt the presence of his patron once Three Cities had left the atmosphere. Oh look, our fighters found one of the hangers.

I can't look. Nathan complained.

What? Use that pulse echolocation whatever thing.

It's not working past the dome.

The paladin was feeling rather useless. He should have gone with Alex and June but thought he could help more if he was helping control the battle. But since he couldn't see outside of the dome all he was good for was inspiring the others around him with his shiny plate mail. He felt a flick on his forehead.

Stop sulking. Peller chided. Lemme take a look. Use the thing again.

Sighing, Nathan pulsed his power. The outlines of Hailey appeared first, followed by John and Athena. The pulse continued on to the edges of the command room and past it. The outlines of a walkway appeared, connecting to turrets and buildings. Finally, the pulse hit the dome and stopped.

Oh it really was an echolocation thing. Pellere said.

Nathan was confused. What? He asked his god.

Bro you don't honestly think the vacuum of space would stop the god of impulse didja? The god replied.

Then what am I doing?

I told ya, echolocation. You're only taking the impulses of sound and using them to make an image. You gotta think bigger my guy.

He was using it wrong? Nathan frowned. He'd always thought he'd been using his blessing to read all the impulses in his sphere of influence. But the more he thought about it the more it made sense. He could sense the impulses of thought as well, those calls to action that came and went in a heartbeat. He had never included them because it was passive, but did that mean he was ignoring other impulses as well?

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Yep. Pellere said. Looks like you defaulted to sound since it was familiar.

Nathan blinked. It was that simple wasn't it. He'd never seen light so he never thought to look for its impulse. Sound and touch were his eyes before, sight was never a part of it. He'd been ignoring an entire set of impulses.

Nathan breathed in, reaching deep into his blessing. He prepared a pulse but opened it to everything. The impulses from sound, from thought, from movement, from light, all of it. He released the bubble of power out to the world and saw the world.

Nathan saw Hailey's impatience, John's eagerness, and Athena's brashness. He saw the pulse of emotion enter their minds and leave for calmer thoughts. He saw the sound of breathing pulse through the air in waves, rebounding off the walls. The walls pulsed too, with small jumps of energy as the sound hit. But it wasn't just sound, there was light. It would pulse so fast Nathan could hardly sense it, but he sensed where it landed. Light would create pulses of energy all around. Nathan realized the light transferred some energy when it hit anything in its path.

His blessing kept traveling, farther than it had ever gone before. It moved past the command center, past the dome and out into space. It wasn't completely empty, there were tiny specks that pulsed with energy. He felt light hit it, saw the jumping pulse of heat, and then watched as it left just as quickly. Nathan wondered if this was what stars looked like.

An outline of metal rushed through his senses. It was one of the Varnoss fighters coming to intercept Three Cities. Nathan felt the pulses of emotion and energy through his blessing. The pilot was rushing, his mind filled with fear and resolve. Anger would rise to the surface only to be chilled by the pilot's resolve.

Nathan grabbed at the impulse and pushed with his blessing. Anger filled the pilot's mind now, burning away the cold resolution. The pilot's ship joined him, burning its engines bright to reach Three Cities. It loomed closer and Nathan felt impatience flare as the pilot readied to fire. Nathan encouraged the emotion and watched as the energy shot out of the ship and towards the city. But the pilot had fired early, overshooting the dome by a yard. Another impulse of impatience reached Nathan from a guardsman in the city. Nathan suppressed it, watching as the guard shot down the incoming fighter.

The world was open to Nathan now, he was a conductor directing the impulses of emotion around him. He directed the Varnoss and found themselves a bit more battle-hungry. He conducted the guardsmen and they became steeled veterans. Flashes of energy surrounded him in a symphony of war as bullets hit hulls.

But it was draining. This pulse took so much of the power Pellere gave him. After only ten seconds of using the ability, Nathan had drained everything.

Pellere whistled inside Nathan's head. So I had no clue that would happen. I'm gonna dub that bullet time. Holy cow look at that.

What. Nathan replied.

You got like every fighter in your range woah.

Can't do it again though.

Who cares! You're Neo now!

How do you know about that movie?

Hey us gods need entertainment too ya know.

Nathan shook his head. He felt sweat drip down his hair and onto his neck. It probably wasn't correct to call his power bullet time. It wasn't like he froze time or anything. But he couldn't deny the amount of control he had over the battle.

I need to recharge, faster than normal. He said to Pellere.

Can't help ya there bud. The god said. You gotta get me more followers if you want more power.

Nathan groaned. You know how hard it is to preach about a god of impulse? "What's his motto?" They ask. "Does he have commandments?" "Do we get to use the power as well?" All I can really do is shrug and say I don't know.

Eh who needs those strict types in a religion anyways.

I'm one of those types! My whole life was a set of rules before you came!

Well then make some up. I don't care.

Nathan went to pinch his brow but forgot he was wearing his helmet. Metal gloves clanged and Nathan felt people look his way. Muttering a curse, the paladin mumbled an apology and sat down. Fine. I will. He grumbled at Pellere.

Hell yeah~! But first worry about the battle, maybe don't use bullet time all at once or something. Okay I'm going to go watch those Matrix sequels see ya~!

Pellere's presence vanished from Nathan's senses. The paladin sighed, feeling the link to his god fill with a bit more power. He waited until it felt like enough and activated bullet time again. He made sure to cut it off almost immediately. Even still half of what he collected had drained away. But it was enough. Nathan had grasped the general area of the incoming fighters and went to work bolstering the defenders most likely to encounter them.

When he was unsure of the enemy's position. He pulsed again and did the same. He felt the tactic working. Slowly, he whittled down the enemy, only stopping when the remaining fighters left his range. It was up to June and Alex now.