Aboard Nomad, floating in space, Vanessa’s console made a soft sound. A new ssage had appeared on their secret channel. It was from Seraph. And it made no sense.
Jonah and Ariana gathered around her console, the light from the screen lightning up their faces.
The ssage was short and seed unbelievable.
The plan has changed. We have a new asset. Stand by for shield drop in five minutes. Hit it with everything you have.
That was it. No explanation. No details. Just an insane tiline and a command that made no sense. A new asset? What could they have possibly found in that power plant? Jonah read the ssage three tis, as if reading it over might show so secret aning hidden in the short ssage.
"What does that an?" Ariana asked, her voice tight and her mind unable to understand this part of the plan. "A new asset? It could be a trap. Silas could have forced her to send this."
"No," Jonah and Vanessa said at the sa ti.
"If Seraph sent this," Vanessa said, her eyes locked on the ssage, "then it’s the truth. She would die before she would lead us into a trap."
"She’s telling us to trust her," Jonah said, his face becoming serious. He looked out the main viewer, at the beautiful marble of his world. Seraph and Draven were down there, fighting for survival and they were counting on him.
He would not let them down.
He turned from the window and sat down on the pilot’s chair, closing his hands over the controls. He could feel Nomad’s strong energy vibrating all around him, like a powerful weapon ready to be fired..
"Five minutes," he said, looking at Vanessa. "Let’s give them a show."
They trusted each other completely. And they acted right away.
Vanessa’s fingers moved fast over her console, her face looking calm and focused. She began redirecting Nomad’s power, pulling energy from the starlight-infused sails and channeling it, not into the weapons, but into a protective layer around the Progeny’s hull.
"Energy systems are set up for atmospheric entry," she called out, her voice calm and professional. "We are ready for the dive."
Jonah took a deep breath. He closed his eyes, fully connecting his thoughts with the living starship around him. He then gave the command.
Nomad moved.
It pointed its nose downwards, directly at their ho planet. Then, with a powerful push, it began to fall.
The descent started slowly. But the planet’s gravity was a powerful presence. It grabbed them, and it started dragging them down. Jonah felt his stomach lift, that awful floating sensation of free fall. Beside him, Ariana gripped her armrest tightly.
The Progeny’s body began to glow. A soft, purple-blue light appeared across its body. The Void-Jelly was reacting to the first, thin traces of the upper atmosphere, forming a natural, glowing heat shield. It was beautiful in a terrible way.
From the ground, if anyone had been looking up, they would have seen a new star being born in the night sky.
But inside the cockpit, it was anything but silent.
The gentle glide beca a violent drop. The view outside their window looked like a mix of fire and plasma, colors that shouldn’t exist bleeding into each other. A deep, loud noise began to fill the cockpit, the sound of the atmosphere trying to break the ship apart.
WHOOSH!
"Entering the upper thermosphere!" Vanessa shouted over the loud noise. "Hull integrity at ninety-eight percent! The heat shield is holding!"
The cockpit shook hard. The vibrations were so intense it felt like their teeth were rattling, like the whole ship might just co apart at the seams. Jonah gripped the controls tight, his eyes fixed on the chaos happening outside. He was not just piloting a ship. He was riding a teor, and the line between control and catastrophe was getting thinner by the second.
He could feel the pressure building, not just on Nomad’s hull, but within its core. The energy he and Ariana had sent into it was a violent, moving force, just waiting for the chance to be let out. It wanted to explode, to burst free, and he had to hold it there, keep it contained until the exact right mont.
"Lower atmosphere in thirty seconds!" Vanessa called out, her eyes locked to her countdown tir. "Get ready, Jonah!"
He closed his eyes, blocking out the swirling fire. He reached into that violent, moving power. He gathered it, forming it with his mind, pulling every bit of the saved starlight and his own golden energy into one solid point. It hurt. Not his body, but sothing deeper—the part of him that was more than flesh.
He was forging the Starfall Lance once more. Not from a place of rage, but from a place of pure, focused purpose. He was the tip of the spear. The heavenly blade, ready to strike.
"Shield drop in ten seconds!" Vanessa’s voice cut through his concentration, sharp and clear.
He could feel the power building, a star burning inside his own soul. Too bright to look at directly. Too hot to touch.
"Nine!"
The roar outside was a physical thing now, a solid wall of sound and fury that pressed against his eardrums.
"Eight!"
He could feel his target below, could sense it the way you sense soone watching you in a dark room.
"Seven!"
The blade was ready. Perfect. Deadly.
"Six!"
He opened his eyes. The fire outside was all he could see, the world reduced to fla and light.
"Five minutes," he whispered to himself. Five minutes since Seraph had sent her signal. Their friends, their family, had held up their end of the bargain, whatever it was. Whatever impossible thing they’d done down there. Now, it was his turn.
The final attack was coming down from the sky. The ground team had bought him this one chance. The two fronts of the war, separated by millions of miles, were about to co together in an instant.
"Five... four... three... two... one..."
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