Page 120 of Stars in Aura

At some point, exhaustion won out.

They drifted off, his arms locked around her, her head nestled into his chest, the warmth of their bodies tangled in the sheets.

Without warning, klaxons blared.

A violent wail shattered the stillness, the ship-wide alert blaring through his neural node.

Ki’Remi’s eyes snapped open.

Issa jerked awake beside him, reaching for the chrono at his bedside and scanning the emergency transmission message on her screen.

A voice boomed overhead, repeating the flashing words.

‘All personnel to battle stations. Incoming hostile fleet detected. Immediate intercept is imminent. Prepare for an incursion.’

They moved fast.

Ki’Remi was off the bed, scrambling for his combat suit, Issa behind him, in sync.

He secured the dark armored plating over his body, checking the integrity of his weapons, as Issa slipped into her lightweight combat gear and holstered her blasters.

He tapped his neural node. ‘Sable to Command, status report.’

The holo screen in his suite lit up.

What he observed made his blood run cold.

Massive shadows loomed, materializing from the nothingness of deep space.

Hulking warships, their obsidian hulls gleaming, jagged and cruel, de-cloaking in waves, cutting off their path.

Each one dwarfed the Perseus Prime, a colossal dreadnought in its own right.

He leaned in, eyes searching.

He spotted no markings, and there were no transponders.

Nada.

Yet the hulls resembled the single gunship that attacked them in Allorian space.

Fokk.

Issa’s breath hitched. ‘It’s them.’

Ki’Remi whipped his head toward her, piercing gaze on her pale face.

‘You’re sure?’

She swallowed, her a husky whisper. ‘Naam.’

Of course, she was.

At his neural command, the live holo feed shifted.

The fleet of armored ships moved like ghosts, positioning themselves between the Perseus Prime and its escape trajectory.

With no warning, a second fleet blinked into existence.

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