The cockpit vibrated like a living beast as the ship tore through the slipstream. Starlight stretched into rivers of silver around them, distorted by speed. Behind, the corporate interceptors closed in, their engines burning like hungry eyes in the void.
Lyra's hands were a blur across the controls, her gaze sharp and unflinching.
"They're faster than I expected," she muttered. "Looks like someone upgraded their toys."
Kaelen gripped the railing, knuckles white. "Can we lose them?"
Lyra's grin was sharp and reckless. "Lose them? No. Outfly them? Absolutely."
She yanked the controls, and the ship spun violently, spiraling through the current. The interceptors scattered, beams of plasma tearing past, so close Kaelen swore he felt the heat.
A blast rocked the hull. Alarms screamed across the console.
"Shields at sixty percent," the ship's system intoned coldly.
Kaelen staggered to his feet, chest tight. "If they board us—"
Lyra cut him off with a barked laugh. "Relax, Doctor. No one's boarding my ship while I'm still breathing."
She hit a switch, and the vessel's underbelly roared with gunfire. Streams of burning plasma erupted from the cannons, cutting across the slipstream and forcing the interceptors to scatter again.
One didn't move fast enough. Its hull ignited in a burst of molten light, debris tumbling away into endless darkness.
Kaelen stared, heart pounding. He wasn't a soldier. He wasn't ready for this. But Lyra looked at home in the chaos—eyes blazing, lips curled into a wolfish smile.
"Two left," she said. "And they're angry."
As if on cue, the remaining interceptors surged forward, weapons flaring. The ship shuddered under the barrage. Sparks rained from an overhead conduit.
Kaelen stumbled to the nav console, pulling the crystal free. The alien glyphs burned brighter than before, reacting to the chaos, pulsing as if alive. His breath caught.
"What are you doing?" Lyra shouted over the alarms.
"The signal—it's changing!" Kaelen's voice cracked with awe. "It's… it's opening a path!"
Before them, space distorted. The slipstream bent unnaturally, a rift tearing open in the starlight. It wasn't a jump gate. It wasn't human technology at all.
Lyra's eyes widened. "That's no safe lane. That's—"
"Alien," Kaelen whispered. His pulse thundered in his ears. "It's where the coordinates lead."
Another blast shook the ship, snapping Lyra back to the moment. She cursed under her breath, knuckles white on the throttle.
"Well, Doctor," she growled, "do we dive into the mouth of hell—or let these bastards tear us apart?"
The rift loomed larger, pulsing with impossible light. The interceptors closed in, their weapons ready to finish them.
Kaelen met Lyra's gaze. For a heartbeat, everything stilled—fear, defiance, and something else flickering between them.
"Take us in," he said.
Lyra's grin returned, wild and reckless. "Thought you'd never ask."
With a deafening roar, the ship plunged into the alien rift.
And the universe tore open around them.