The tension aboard the Tartarusios climbed to its peak. General Rozasar's demand was unacceptable, but even more confusing than the demand itself was the way he had referred to Youri. A dukedom was one of the highest ranks any noble could hold, and for the general to call Youri the Duke of Kaelthorn made no sense at all. The name Kaelthorn was known across the galaxy as one of the great powerhouses of the Terrian Empire, and the current head of that family was none other than General Leonora Kaelthorn — Youri's wife, though the crew had no idea of that yet.
Youri was lying in the galley, still dazed from the drink, when the doors from the corridor hissed open. Oscar rushed straight to him and began shaking him in a desperate attempt to wake him up. He even slapped him twice. Youri's eyes snapped open, blurry and irritated. "What the hell is going on?"
"We're surrounded by more than a hundred Imperial ships!" Oscar said, with real panic in his voice. "And they're asking for you! They asked specifically for Duke Youri Kaelthorn!"
Youri slapped his own face to force himself awake, and the realization hit him like a shockwave. "Shit. Was it Leonora asking?"
Oscar let go of him. "It was General Mikhail Rozasar. Just what did you get yourself into?"
Youri pushed past him and headed for the second hangar, where Altopereh stood waiting. "It's a long story, Os," he said over his shoulder. "I married into that family."
The words hit everyone in the galley like a hammer. It was unbelievable, but the situation left no time for disbelief. Oscar ran after him, shouting at him to stop and stay away from Altopereh, but he was too late. Youri was already climbing into the cockpit, and once he had linked with its systems, he opened the hangar doors himself.
Outside, the Morphius had already deployed more than thirty Orbitons. They were waiting for Altopereh to show itself and draw out the two God Units. Then the deafening roar of Altopereh's thrusters sent a shockwave across the Basin of Trass that shoved back several of the Orbitons at the front of the formation, and there it was, hanging in the air above them all. The Vanisher.
As Altopereh hovered there, a message came through to Youri. The voice was unmistakable. It was Leonora.
A few hours before the Empire made landfall on Antia, Leonora had gone aboard the Morphius to make a request of Mikhail. Emilia was there on the command deck with her brother finishing the final preparations. When the doors opened and Leonora walked in, Emilia nearly jumped to attention. She had admired Leonora for years, and now she was standing face to face with her role model. She straightened at once and saluted with stiff precision. "It's an honor to meet you, General," she said, and her voice trembled.
"You as well, Commander," Leonora replied, returning the salute, and then she turned to Mikhail. "General, I want to ask you for one thing."
Mikhail nodded. "Go on."
Leonora drew a soft breath. "If he deploys, I want a direct line to Youri. I want to know for myself whether it's really him."
Mikhail was silent for a moment before he answered. "General, I know your situation, and out of respect for you, I'll grant it. But you'll have to make the call from your own fleet. I can't have you on the front line. It's too dangerous."
Leonora bowed slightly. "Thank you, General. You have my deepest gratitude."
She went back to her own forces, hidden behind Antia's twin moons, and when Altopereh finally appeared on the screens in front of her, her heart sank. The rumors were true. She ordered her communications officer to patch her through the Morphius. Mikhail granted the line, and she sat with her hands trembling and stared at the silent screen until the call finally connected. It was voice only. She rose slowly from her seat. The disappointment of not being able to see him passed across her face, and she let out a breath and bit her lip.
"Not even a glimpse, huh?" she said softly. "Now I'm sure it's you." She lowered her eyes for a moment, and when she lifted them again, her voice was steady but tender. "I didn't mean those last words you heard from me. And I know you know that. If there's still a place for me in that scattered heart of yours, surrender and come with us. This really is your last warning."
For several long minutes, there was no answer. Altopereh hung silent and motionless in the air, so still that the whole battlefield seemed to hold its breath. Then its hand twitched, and its enormous fingers rose and pointed toward the moons, toward the place where she was hiding. Youri's voice finally came through.
"I'm sorry. But surrender isn't an option."
And in that moment, the battle began.
Altopereh vanished, and in less than a heartbeat it reappeared above the Morphius with its plasma blade ignited, ready to cut the flagship clean in half, space folding around its movement like ripples chasing a stone. As the blade came down, a flash of silver tore across its path. A steel wing caught the strike an inch from the hull in a scream of scraping metal and sparks. Perciosa had entered the battle.
Inside her cockpit, Anemone's excitement was boiling over. Altopereh was matching Perciosa's speed — her velocity, her precision. "Hey, Max — this is going to be fun!" she shouted. She drove Perciosa's clawed limbs forward and shoved Altopereh backward in a grinding impact.
In the next instant, Sirius appeared behind the Vanisher with one arm outstretched. The ground beneath them began to tremble as massive pillars of rock tore free and launched upward like artillery fired at impossible speed, slamming one after another into Altopereh's back and shoulders and driving it toward the ground. It spiraled down like a meteor and crashed headfirst into the surface in a towering mushroom of dust. High above, Perciosa climbed and fired a sonic beam straight down into the cloud. The air rippled as the blast scoured the ground clean and revealed nothing but a mound of pulverized rock.
"Careful, Ane," Maximilian warned. "I think he went underground. Don't let him take you by surprise."
"Come on, Max," she scoffed. "I think we hit him so hard we buried him. There's no way that guy can catch me off guard—"
A shadow fell over both of them.
It was already too late. The Vanisher had entered sync mode.