Shin had barely finished speaking when a sudden impact threw the three of them to the floor. "Pirates! Drives are down. Six vessels, three off the port bow, and three off the starboard aft. Shields at ninety-eight percent, shielding at ninety percent. Incoming!"

The second volley hit while they were still recovering from the first blow, with a third rocking the ship only a moment later. Shin couldn't even update them on their status before a third hit them and then a fourth.

Still, on the galley floor, Savros knew they weren't going to make it to the gunner-pods, but he was still going to try. Polly must have had the same intention because she, too, was forcing her way to the galley door through the impacts and explosions against the shields.

When the fifth impact rocked the KaiStar, panic set in. Savros could see no way out. Shin wasn't saying anything, and he and Polly hadn't even made it off the bridge yet. They were out of time. Savros looked back at Polly, next to him and Jaen, just coming out of the galley door, as his heart raced faster and faster.

The panic was apparent in his own as much as the other's eyes. His heart felt like it would explode and kill him even before the pirates could. Standing back up, he saw embers floating up past his face. Thinking KaiStar was on fire, he jumped to his feet, pulling his arms out of danger. Only to see his arm and hand already severely burned.

His heart stopped in his chest as he stared at his hand.

"All systems c-c-critical, we won't survive another-r-r-r attack." Shin's voice sounded digital and glitchy.

Time stopped entirely as he looked back to see Polly had abandoned going to the pods and instead tried to make her way to Jaen. They fell into each other's arms and time came to a complete stop as Savros made it to his feet in total panic. He had to do something, anything. He had to protect his family.

His vision was getting blurry, and the skin on his arm looked like liquid fire swirling along the lines of the burns. He looked around, desperate for anything he could use, anything he could do. Finding nothing, the panic consumed him. His eyes darting around the bridge, they landed on Polly and Jaen, hugging each other. He couldn't let anything happen to them. After everything they've done for him, he had to do something.

There was no answer, no way out, nothing he could do. Panic turned to rage, and his vision failed him entirely. Standing alone in the dark, he couldn't see anything at all.

Then he saw three ships in front of him to his right and, looking back, he saw three behind him to his left. Next, the hull of the KaiStar began to appear around him. Everything came back into place as he watched his arm move on its own.

His right arm lifted straight out in front of him as he turned to the hull on his right. His left arm extended above his head. Twisting his right arm as it pulled in near his ribs. A circle of white light appeared at the end of his fist, with a white point in the center. While a similar but larger ring appeared above his left hand.

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His right arm flew forward, untwisting on the way out until his arm was fully extended again. The circle of light kept going when his arm did not. It sailed across the remaining distance to the hull in front of him. Upon contact with the hull, the circle grew and morphed as the point in the middle became a line then separated into two lines. The circle continued to grow and divide into geometric shapes until it covered most of the distance from the floor to the bridge's ceiling.

He looked up at his left hand. The brightly glowing ring of light pulsing with intensity. His voice made a sound, and the ball of light dropped down the length of his arm past his face, torso and continued down to his feet. When it hit the deck, it began expanding. A complicated series of symbols changed and morphed within as the circle grew. Beyond the boundary of the hull, the symbol continued to grow, forming a flat plane through and beyond KaiStar.

Savros began walking toward the hull. From his position, he watched as his body moved and did things beyond his control. As he approached the hull, the symbol glowed with more intensity until, within arm's reach, the shapes inside the circle began to break away. Floating off in either direction. Taking the hull with it.

He tried to turn and run in terror when he saw the inky black view beyond the hull. Despite his efforts, Savros stepped through the hull into the vacuum of space. As he stepped out of the hull, his foot landed in open space, but when it was level with the bridge's floor, a symbol appeared under his foot, and he stepped out onto it. He took another step, and another symbol appeared.

Savros watched his body move and witnessed the impossible things he was doing, but he was in no way in charge. As he watched his body do these things, he didn't even really understand what he was seeing. A few paces outside of KaiStar, his body turned to face the three pirate ships in front of them. His arm lifted above his head and came down in a swooping arc as his other hand arced upward. A large circle with a geometric symbol in it appeared in front of him. He heard his own voice say something he couldn't understand.

The symbol pulsed with energy as he spoke. When his voice was quiet, the symbol began to shrink down until it blinked out of sight. He heard his voice again and watched as it reappeared in the midst of the three ships in front of him. As the symbol grew, the three ships began moving toward it as though they were pulled in by gravity. Just before impact with the symbol, an explosion obliterated the three ships and blasted the debris outward at great speed until there was no longer even a trace of the ships.

His body turned and began walking back toward the hole he had walked out of. He never saw any sign of the other three ships that had been behind them. His next concern was Polly and Jaen, inside the KaiStar with a massive hole in the hull. Where he was terrified before, now he was infuriated. No matter his urging or struggling, his body only moved at the pace it wanted to.

As he approached the hole, he saw the triangular pieces of the hull still floating and glowing on the edges. He stepped back through the opening as the parts returned to their original positions. The symbol, whole again, pulsed a few times and disappeared. He saw Polly and Jaen, still exactly as they had looked the last time he saw them. Another step, and he collapsed under the weight of his own body.

"Savros! SAVROS! Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

He could hear Jaen's voice, but he couldn't see her. He tried to answer, but his voice didn't make a sound. It didn't matter. He'd done it. He'd protected his family. He smiled as he relaxed and gave in to the darkness.