“Get back up here, you two!” Natalya ordered over the loudspeakers.

“We’ve only got one engine, but power’s back,” Jasper announced.

“Looks like we’re in shark-mode. Hehehe,” Augustus laughed as he flipped Chimera on its side, its wing jutting out like a fin, and took the ship into the crag.

Pul, Sisi, and a one-armed Co returned to the bridge just as Chimera entered Farbind’s cracked surface, Co shutting the hatch behind her.

Augustus flew Chimera through the narrow opening toward the planet core, pitching up and down and sideways in the chaotic tunnel. Co took over the weapons console once more. Even one-handed, she blasted away rock and metal, skillfully blowing a path for them.

Shihuangdi had not given up the pursuit, however. The massive capital ship fired its main cannon at the heart of the cracked planet. It missed its first shots, the cannon-slug blasting past Chimera and into the burning core.

The core glowed bright red, pulsating with each nuclear blast from the Prosper capital ship.

But Shihuangdi wasn’t the only ship in pursuit. Butterfly opened fire with its massive cannon. It had the biggest gun of the three fleets by far, powerful enough to make the core glow even brighter. Even though its blast only scraped Chimera’s sides, the huge cannon-slug tore through their rear shields.

“Decompression in the central fuselage!” Sisi announced.

“Losing power,” Pul declared.

“Detach the central compartments!” Natalya ordered.

Co hit the ignition switches and jettisoned Chimera’s middle, including its crew quarters. The ship was much smaller now. Its rear half exploded as Butterfly scored a direct hit on the detached section, the blast continuing through to the core.

“Gee, it sure was a good thing we didn’t leave that penguin behind. It’s not like it would have blown up anyway when your quarters exploded,” Co pointed out.

“Pili wouldn’t like blowing up either way!” Sisi countered.

“At least he went out as an ambassador.”

“Fine. We’re even.”

“Even us out by getting the pyramid ready!” Natalya said.

“Core energy quotient nearing critical mass,” Sisi said. “One or two more shots will do it.”

Chimera emerged inside the hollowed-out center of the planet. Duke had compressed the molten iron, nickel, and other metals in the boiling core, leaving a wide gap between the miniature planet of fire and the spherical stone walls that encircled it. Butterfly fired once more, missing Chimera and hitting the core directly.

Chimera circled around the core, Shihuangdi’s cannon blasting the stone walls and sending an avalanche of the lower mantle raining around them. Augustus weaved through the rocks, chunks striking the ship as a cannon-slug armed with a neutron bomb exploded into the core.

“Jettison the main corridor!” Natalya ordered, thankful the bridge’s hatch was sealed as explosions ripped apart more pieces of their hodgepodge ship. Chimera was only an engine room, a bridge, and a wing as it reached the other side of the core, cracks to the planet’s surface in all directions.

“Energy reaching critical!” Sisi announced.

“Captain, that last blow knocked out our transmitter. I can’t activate Duke’s ignition sequence,” Ptolemy said.

“We’ll just have to do it manually then,” Natalya said. “Jasper, get us a path to Duke. Augustus, use those magic fingers.”

“Hold on, ladies and gents, we’re going in dry!” Augustus declared as he accelerated at a crack, Shihuangdi and Butterfly blasting one last shot into the glowing core.

Augustus flew through the broken planet directly beneath the pyramid, shields flashing as the crack grew narrower and narrower. Co cleared the way with the remaining cannon, and the ship finally reached the broken dock where Duke waited, its rings flashing as it warped the planet around them.

“Can you signal Duke to open the doors?” Natalya asked as Augustus banked toward the docking bay.

“No,” Ptolemy answered.

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Co fired at the docking bay, tearing a few holes in it just before Sisi announced a complete power loss.

“Hold on everyone!” Jasper said, grabbing the crew and holding them close as his sword glowed.

Chimera slammed into the docking bay doors, its wing tearing off as it struck the ceiling. The ship bounced from side to side and finally crashed into the far wall, coming to a stop at the edge of the docking bay.

Jasper healed the crew, mending broken bones and tearing a piece of a console out of Ptolemy’s leg.

Natalya, however, didn’t wait for healing. Pain raged in her shoulder as she rose on shaking legs.

“Sisi, Pul,” Natalya said.

“Go!” Jasper shouted.

Pul blew the hatch off its frame with a shield pulse. The staircase was gone. Burning pieces of Chimera lay strewn across the scarred docking bay.

With Pul’s help, Sisi grabbed her welpro. She and Natalya raced across the docking bay. Co, Jasper, and Ptolemy were right behind them. Co fired her massive gun at the elevator doors, blasting them open.

“Sisi, welpro,” Natalya said, and grabbed hold of the woman. Pul hung on as well as they jumped into the elevator shaft.

Sisi used her welpro to slow their fall, and Pul ripped open the doors when they reached the command center.

The hologram on the far side of the room displayed Farbind, countless explosions all around the broken planet. The Prosper fleet was clearly winning the battle, its ships positioned near the crag as Shihuangdi threatened to blast through the core itself to reach the pyramid.

Yellow Sun fled to the edge of the battle after suffering heavy damage. Progenitor stood alone in a swarm of Prosper ships.

“Shields realigned,” Pul announced as he reached the center console.

“Ignition sequence ready,” Sisi declared as she stood beside Pul.

Natalya ran to the center console and put a hand over the red button.

“Natalya Frazier,” Qin’s voice said over the command center’s loudspeakers. “Quite the clever ruse, but once again, you’ve started a battle that I will end.”

Qin’s face appeared in the hologram in front of her, grinning at Natalya as he stood on the bridge of Shihuangdi.

“Twice you couldn’t defend this planet, Natalya. Turn over that station to me. Farbind is mine,” Qin said.

“Sorry, Qin. This Duke doesn’t want Farbind anymore,” Natalya said, and pressed the button.

The tip of the pyramid opened to reveal eight triangular points that coalesced around a hollow opening. The rings in Duke’s sides flashed in sequence, and a great beam of energy roared out of the pyramid.

The beam hit the boiling core and compressed it, shrinking the glowing ball of fire. When the forces around the planet squeezed the core to the size of an asteroid, the energy inside reached critical mass and exploded.

Natalya had the chance to see the wide-eyed look on Qin’s face as half of Farbind blasted into Shihuangdi.

The planet erupted into the battling fleets, continents of metal crushing capital ships like insects before a meteorite.

Duke spun and rolled as the planet disappeared around it. Its position at the center of the explosion kept most of the energy projected outward. Pul modulated the shields to deflect what parts of the blast the station did encounter, tearing wires out of the console to keep the station together with his fine-tuned adjustments.

Where there used to be a planet, now only chunks of spinning rock, and a space station, remained.

Where the used to be three fleets, now only scattered ships remained.

There was no sign of Shihuangdi.

“Systems holding,” Pul announced as Duke shook in its debris-strewn tumble.

“Repsorp sequence cooling down,” Sisi declared.

“Prepare for communications broadcast, all frequencies, maximum reach,” Natalya ordered, bracing herself against the center console. She grunted through the pain in her shoulder, wondering if she’d broken her collarbone, and didn’t bother looking at her bleeding leg. She had a message to send.

“Ready for message when you are,” Sisi said.

Several dozen ships still showed up on the holographic projectors. Most of them were damaged, but Natalya spotted the remnants of the Changyu fleet limping back to the Yellow Sun. Progenitor shed pieces of hull as it rejoined the Gaozu fleet. The Butterfly, one of its wings blown off, acted as an assembly point for the few Prosper ships that remained.

They had paused their fight, but it wouldn’t last. All around, the ships searched for the source of the planet-destroying blast. Natalya needed to inform them just who had unleashed such power.

With a deep breath, Natalya activated the panel that would broadcast her voice across the system, and said, “I am Erika, Prophet of White. The Sevens Prophets have destroyed the planet Farbind. We insist you power down your weapons and prepare for ambassadors to end this conflict.”

Natalya cut the broadcast, leaving her bluffed threat unsaid, as the elevator arrived at the command center. Augustus, Ptolemy, and Jasper stepped off.

The Gold Prophet ran to Natalya and embraced her. Two kinds of warmth spread through the captain. The first, a healing touch that snapped her collarbone back in place and sealed the wound in her leg. The second came from her heart pounding with joy.

“If we’re celebrating, I need to get some action too,” Augustus declared.

“We’re not done yet,” Natalya said, slipping out of Jasper’s grasp. “Pul, any response?”

“I have a text communication from Gaozu doubting the Prophets’ ability to destroy a planet, and one from Prosper questioning their authority to do so,” Pul replied.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got the coordinates for the flagships,” Ptolemy said as he stood in front of the communications console. “Beginning broadcast of Jasper’s location there. Oh, we’ve just received a video message.”

“Keep it one-way for now, Ptolemy,” Natalya said, testing her leg.

“That’s what I figured.”

Ptolemy dialed in the message and Admiral Chen appeared in the command center’s holographic projectors. Her eyes were full of rage, but she wrung her hands together as she spoke. “Erika of the White!” Chen said. “A Prophet has destroyed Farbind? And you think we’re just going to lay down arms because you displayed your power? Even if you have this ability to—”

Admiral Chen screamed when a flash of white light appeared on her bridge. She leapt to the deck, shouting, “Brace!”

The admiral must have thought the flash was another explosion, that her ship was about to share the same fate as Shihuangdi. But as she raised her head, she saw there was no blast, only a White Prophet standing on her bridge.