Natalya was about to order Co to open up with everything she had to break the metal tube, an extraordinarily unlikely possibility, but the only option they had. Before she could speak, however, Natalya heard the beeping of a console as Pul ran his fingers through Shihuangdi’s defense systems.

“What are you doing?” Natalya asked.

“Looking for the weakest part of the hull. There!” Pul said, and pointed to a spot near the front of the bridge, just at the curve of the viewscreens. “Your friend punched a hole for us. There. Shoot there!”

“Do as he says,” Natalya ordered, and opened fire.

“Stand close to me!”

Their guns roared in the thinning atmosphere, turning the image of stars into shrapnel as Co used the last of her cannon-slugs to puncture a hole in the dome. They blasted through the bridge bulkheads to the crater Ptolemy had opened in Shihuangdi’s side, the blackness of space visible through a narrow gash in the ship’s hull.

Oxygen leaked out of the bridge, further depleting their dwindling air supply.

“Close together. To me!” Pul demanded. Natalya stood near the man, Jasper, Co, Augustus, and Sisi squeezing together as they gasped for breath.

Pul looked at Sisi, at Natalya, gritted his teeth and said, “Hang on.”

With a double-fisted punching motion, Pul shot a powerful shield pulse at the hole in the bridge, tearing it open like he was ripping a door off its hinges. Oxygen erupted out the gaping hole. Just before Natalya felt the cold wash of space, Pul projected a shield around her and the rest of her crew.

“The stars still glow,” Pul said.

With the shield securing them together, Pul leapt at the opening.

“Sisi!” Natalya gasped through thinning oxygen. “Welpro!”

“This is so cool!” Sisi said, choking out the words. Augustus helped her hold the welpro steady while she fired it behind them.

The bubble of shielded energy flew out a burning tunnel of debris-strewn hull and in moments they entered the black of space.

Stars glowed all around them, the yellow glare of the gas giant dimming the diamond-studded view. Panic welled inside Natalya as she looked at the vast emptiness. She took a shallow breath, blinked, and suppressed her fear with the knowledge that Pul’s shield protected her.

Natalya felt a hand around her waist, and realized Jasper was squeezing her close. She smiled, and held his hand, reaching toward the stars with the other as if the entire galaxy was there for her to touch.

A spark interrupted her thoughts as Pul ripped a tube out of one of the devices in his back. It hissed and Natalya realized the man had some sort of emergency oxygen supply he released inside the shield.

Only when she could take a full, deep breath did she realize oxygen deprivation had likely caused a bit of her euphoria. She blinked her vision clear and looked back at the ship they’d fled.

Debris bled from the holes in Shihuangdi, the ship turning like a wounded animal. But the damage, while effectively targeting its central systems, was not mortal. Natalya knew its weapons would soon be able to blast them into a ball of plasma. She doubted Pul’s shields could withstand even a single volley.

“Ptolemy,” Natalya said into her communicator.

“I see you, Captain,” Ptolemy said.

The gas giant had hid it from view, but Natalya finally spotted Chimera speeding toward them, silhouetted before the yellow planet.

“Sisi, pull us in,” Natalya ordered.

Sisi aimed her welpro at Chimera and Natalya saw it grow steadily closer. Ptolemy turned the ship about, angling its stern toward them so they could land in the wide gap where the cargo bay used to be, Sisi guiding them toward the repaired aperture hatch.

The hatch opened as they neared. They hit the deck and filed through, Pul last inside to keep his shield around the crew, and Natalya sealed the hatch behind them.

“We’re in — let’s go!” Natalya announced.

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Not a second after she’d spoken, Chimera rocketed away from Shihuangdi.

Augustus opened the bulkhead that had protected the ship’s corridor and ran inside, long legs bounding toward the bridge. He took the stairs three at a time, Co right behind him and Natalya trailing.

Natalya made it to the bridge right as Augustus put both hands on the wheel. Ptolemy had directed them straight at the yellow gas giant, and Augustus adjusted their speed and alignment so they could orbit the planet at a swifter angle.

Ptolemy paused before going to the communications console, he and the captain exchanging a calculated look.

“Thanks for coming back,” Natalya said.

“Thanks for making it back,” Ptolemy replied.

Chimera shook as proximity missiles exploded behind it. They were far from the ship, but Shihuangdi had recovered, closing fast and opening fire.

“Let’s get moving. Augustus, steep orbit. Jasper, plot a course to Farbind. Sisi, keep those engines flush, and Co, flash that son of a bitch!” Natalya ordered, standing in the center of the bridge as her crew took their stations.

Every console was occupied, each crewman sweating to keep Chimera away from the cannon erupting around them. Even Pul stood at the engineering console, shifting power from the forward to the rear shields.

The yellow gas giant enveloped the front viewscreens as Chimera skipped along its atmosphere, orbiting the planet with a wake of exploding missiles.

“We’re coming around the other side,” Augustus announced.

“Is that course locked in?” Natalya asked.

“Having some trouble with the charts. Signals are jammed all around,” Jasper replied, furiously signaling the navigation console to prep the opalescents.

“Captain! I’m getting signals from Gaozu and Changyu ships!” Ptolemy announced from the communications console. “Hundreds of them!”

“What?” Natalya asked.

The gas giant’s atmosphere fell away from Chimera’s shielded sides. Through the viewscreens Natalya could see the entire Prosper fleet lying in wait in front of them.

“Those aren’t colony ships. That’s the fleet. That’s Prosper’s home guard!” Natalya announced.

“They’re reading as Gaozu and Changyu,” Ptolemy said. “Shihuangdi is the only Prosper ship on scanners.”

Regardless of whose ships they were, they had just opened fire.

“Missiles incoming!” Co announced, turning Chimera’s cannon forward to shoot down the salvo.

“Hard astern! Take us back into orbit!” Natalya ordered.

Augustus turned the ship end over end, rocketing back toward the gas giant.

“We orbit and we’ll be headed right back at Shihuangdi,” Augustus advised, straining to guide the ship close enough to the planet to dodge the incoming missiles, but not so close the atmosphere and crushing gravity overwhelmed the shields.

“Jasper!” Natalya said.

“Almost there,” the Prophet replied.

“Go into the planet,” Pul said.

“We’ll be crushed. The atmosphere’s too thick,” Augustus countered.

“I can keep us together, just go! I’ll buy you the time you need.” Pul didn’t wait for confirmation. He bolted out the bridge, making his way to the engine room and shield emitters.

“Take us in, Auggie,” Natalya ordered as missiles exploded closer and closer.

Augustus bit his lip and angled Chimera toward the center of the planet. Thick clouds turned an ugly mustard color on the viewscreens.

“Shields failing,” Sisi announced. “Compression in the opal-plants is… growing?”

“How we doing, Jasper?” Natalya asked.

“Almost coded in. The opalescents are getting a better signal the further we are from the fleet,” Jasper answered.

“I don’t know what Pul’s doing, but our shields are modulating to the atmosphere,” Sisi declared. “We better hope none of those missiles get through, though.”

“The planet’s gravity is detonating all incoming projectiles a safe distance away,” Co announced.

“Course locked in!” Jasper declared.

“Make him moan, Auggie,” Natalya said.

“With pleasure,” Augustus replied, and activated the opalescents.

Clouds condensed around the ship, pooling in a thick storm. An instant later, Chimera exploded out of the planet, sending a plume of yellow gas into the far-reaches of space as it turned into an opalescent tear in the galaxy.

“Damage?” Natalya asked.

“Systems are a bit fried,” Sisi answered. “But no structural damage.”

“The only thing broken was Qin’s pride,” Augustus declared.

“It’ll take a lot more than escape to do that, I’m afraid,” Ptolemy countered.

“We’re on course, though. Steady,” Jasper added.

“Weapons?” Natalya asked.

“Situations like that are why we should have more neutron bombs,” Co noted.

“You always say that,” Augustus replied.

“That time it might have been true,” Natalya said with a deep exhalation. “Ptolemy, ship speakers.” Ptolemy pressed a button on the communications console so Natalya could talk over Chimera’s loudspeakers. “I don’t know what you did, Pul, but thank you.”

Slow, light steps on the stairs heralded Pul’s approach. The man soon appeared in the bridge doorway, reluctant to step inside. “You’re welcome,” he said.

“We’re not out of this yet, Captain,” Jasper said. “If Qin knows where the station is, he’ll come after us.”

“He knows where it is?” Ptolemy asked. “How?”

“He tortured and killed Erika to learn its location. They tried torturing me as well, but since you had only shared that it was in the Farbind system, I couldn’t give them their answer. Thank you, Ptolemy. Not knowing the answer to their questions made it… easier to withstand their methods.”

Ptolemy nodded, thinking. “The Farbind neutral zone still stands. The Prophets may be distracted by these events, but the DMZ agreement hasn’t broken. You could move a ship like Chimera through unnoticed, but an entire Prosper fleet? The second Qin enters the area, the Changyu and Gaozu will know about it.”

“Which is why they’re broadcasting as Changyu and Gaozu,” Natalya guessed.