Jaenna felt a rush of adrenaline surging through her body like a lightning strike as she heard gunshots crackling through the air like thunderclaps behind the door connecting their living quarters to the main hall. For a moment she stood there as she felt her nerves being electrified and every detail of her surroundings burst into sharp relief as if viewed through a magnifying glass.

She remembered. Get downstairs.

It almost seemed like a disembodied voice whispered those words into her ears, as if uttered by a presence standing right behind her. She turned around, but nobody was there.

The gunshots ceased. Get downstairs, now.

The girl sprinted towards the center of the room, pushing their dining table aside, the metal coffee mug hitting the ground with a clunking sound and spilling its content onto the oddly placed, violet carpet. Jaenna pulled the carpet aside and uncovered a round, rusty hatch. It hasn’t been opened in a long time, but using all her strength she managed to lift it. A metal ladder reached into the dark void below, waiting to swallow her.

Hurry.

“Get yourself together” she thought, attempting to cut through her mind’s chaos with a sudden clarity. She grabbed onto the cold rungs of the ladder, hastily making her descent into the darkness. Each step was a muffled clank that echoed through the escape shaft’s silence. The air grew colder and heavier, as the light and resonating hum from below grew more noticeable and distinct, a distant promise of refuge. She felt like she must have always been halfway down, as she heard a loud clunking sound from above. Her heart pounded inside her chest as she knew the sound could only mean that the hatch had been lifted by someone else. Her heartbeat was now a drum, each beat urging her downward.

As she neared the bottom, the smell of ionized air and cryogenic coolants mixed with the distant echoes of the person on the other end of the ladder. Her feet finally touched the ground of her family hangar, as she heard the man shout “Hey! Stay where you are!”. The rough concrete was a welcome relief from the ladder’s cold metal. She glanced around the dimly lit hangar, its space enveloped by shadows cast by the flickering neon lights above.

To her surprise, both her family’s ships stood right where they left them three years ago. They were old, but reliable models, their elongated hulls battered but intact. Beneath the dust, their surface shimmered with a subtle iridescence that changed with the light. The muted glow of the hangar’s neon light reflected faintly of their optic panels, casting delicate patterns of light and shadow across the grime-freckled surface.

How the hell did they escape without a ship? Jaenna rushed toward the ship closer to the entrance, pressing her hand against the biometric scanner. Nothing happened. Don’t betray me now, please! The clunking sounds in the background got nearer and nearer, as she rushed to the second ship, slapping her hand against the side. Nothing again. She pulled out the ship’s service panel, her fingers shifting through the different cables and wires, trying to bring the power systems back to life. I really should have paid more attention to Mom’s mechanics lessons. Sweat dripped down her brow as her frustration mounted.

Suddenly a blinding flash of light illuminated the hangar, forcing her to whirl around in terror. She froze, her breath catching in her throat. In the far corner of the hangar, a prismatic fracture began to appear in the air. It shimmered with an otherworldly light, like a cracked mirror reflecting fragmented stars. The edges of the rift wavered, as if struggling to contain the raw energy within from spilling out.

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The rift refracted the light around it, creating an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of purples, oranges and deep blues. It spread like liquid glass, distorting the hangar’s contours around it into a swirling mosaic of fractured light and shadow. Through this chaotic but beautiful display a figure emerged - a Veilwalker. Behind them the rift closed once again, returning the hangar to its mundane state, now tinged with the eerie echoes of the Veilwalker’s otherworldly arrival. Jaenna felt like the very essence of the hangar had been touched by something both wondrous and profoundly unsettling.

“Solveig?” Jaenna rubbed her eyes, she couldn’t believe what - or rather whom - she saw. But it was clearly Solveig, her mother’s best friend from when they still lived on Nyreen?

“There’s no time for explaining, we have to leave”, Solveig said, as she got closer to Jaenna. She was wearing a dark-gray, fitted jumpsuit with reinforced patches at the elbows and kness. Over it, a rugged, dark cloak framed her figure. The cloak’s interior features a subtle, shifting pattern reminding Jaenna of the rift she just witnessed before.

“Leave? How? Neither of our ships will start”. Jaenna’s voice rose, matching the clanking footsteps closing in. Solveig pressed her hand against the biometric scanner of the ship beside them, but it still wouldn’t come to life. “Solveig, someone’s coming”, Jaenna urgently hissed to Solveig, her voice trembling with fear. Solveig shut her eyes, placing her other hand on the ship’s hull. A shifting light emerged from her palms, quickly encompassing the entire ship in rippling waves of a prismatic sheen. The ship vibrated with a gentle hum as its systems awoke from their long slumber. It was as if reality itself was momentarily bending to the Veilwalker’s will.

Turn around.

Jaenna spun around, catching sight of a man descending into the hangar. His landing was swift and deliberate. Even in the dim light she could make out the unmistakable sigil of the Inquisition etched into the soldier’s armor. His veilgun was already aimed at them.

“Stop right there” his voice echoed through the air, sharp and commanding. “Step away from that ship.”

Jaenna’s mind was racing. Her eyes flicked to Solveig for a brief moment before locking onto Rycan. He was Inquisition—her enemy, part of the force that hunted them down like animals. But there was something in his stance that told her this wasn't just a soldier following orders.

“And if we don’t?” she shot back, the tension in her voice betraying her attempt at sounding brave.

“Then I’ll have no choice but to eliminate you!” There was a sharp edge to the soldier’s voice, but something in it told Jaenna that he’d rather avoid that outcome. Could she reason with him? As she tried to decide, Solveig’s hand gripped her arm and yanked her inside the ship. The slim, metallic door closed right behind them, as a series of sharp, hissing gunshots sliced through the air, barely missing the ship. The pair rushed into the ship’s pilot node. Through the optic panel Jaenna could see that the soldier had lowered his gun and eased his stance in defeat.

Solveig’s brown, sharp eyes flicked to Jaenna, her fingers tapping sharply on the console. “Can you get this thing in the air?” she asked, her voice crisp with impatience. Jaenna trembled as she looked at Solveig. “I’m a terrible pilot. I don’t even know how to get this thing off the ground.”

Solveig shot her a terse nod and lunged for the control, hesitating for a fraction of a second, her fingers moving clumsily over the unfamiliar console. The ship roared to life, its engines sputtering as she wrestled with the controls, trying to get them airborne. The vessel shuddered and groaned, slowly making its way towards the hangar’s exit.

“Hold on!” Solveig barked over her shoulder, her voice tight with strain. She yanked the throttle, and the ship lurched upward, barely clearing the hangar’s lip. Rain lashed against the viewport, a chaotic curtain of droplets obscuring the view as they shot out into the storm. The ship veered erratically, as Solveig wrestled with the controls, pushing through the storm’s relentless assault. Rain lashed against the viewport. Jaenna, eyes fixed on the trembling control panel, could barely look up.

Slowly, the storm’s fury subsided. The ship surged upward, breaking free from the tempest's grip. As they emerged into space, the storm's chaos faded and was replaced by the serene expanse of the galaxy’s stars. The ship steadied, the interior of the pilot’s node now bathed in the soft glow of the void. Jaenna glanced up, her tension not easing as the moon, her home, receded into the distance.

Let go, Jaenna.