The ship plunged through Earth's atmosphere with a violent roar, rattling everything inside. Warning chimes lit up the cockpit—stability failing, hull temperature spiking. Kaelar and Velaria worked furiously, hands flying across glowing holographic panels as they fought to keep the ship on course.
"Left wing, reduce thrust! Navigation's drifting hard!" Kaelar barked, gripping the control lever until his knuckles whitened.
"I know!" Velaria snapped back, eyes fixed on a red-flashing console. "The stabilizer's fried from the hyperspace fallout. I'm trying to compensate—give me a second!"
Behind them, Lyra, Draven, and Vega clung to their seats as the ship bucked like a wild beast.
"Lyra!" Draven shouted over the shaking. "If this is the end, I just want you to know, I hated the meal you cooked yesterday!"
Lyra whipped her head toward him, panic and disbelief mixing on her face. "Draven! Seriously? That's what you choose to confess right now?"
"What? If these are my final words, I want them to be memorable!"
"Both of you, shut it!" Velaria yelled. "If anyone flies out of this ship, I am not fishing you back in."
Kaelar exhaled sharply, forcing the ship level. "Brace for landing! No promises it'll be pretty, hold onto something!"
The ship slammed into the fields of Ravara, carving a long scar through the grasslands near Kirana's home. They screeched across the ground, metal screaming, dirt spraying. Finally, they shuddered to a stop.
Silence. Then a collective sigh of relief.
Kaelar unbuckled. "Nobody dead. That's good enough for me."
Velaria stared at him, appalled. "Good enough? We almost dropped out of the sky!"
"But we didn't," Kaelar said with a thin grin as he lowered the ramp. "Come on. Let's assess the damage."
They stepped out onto dew-soaked soil. Kirana's old house stood quiet, too quiet. It felt like a place frozen in memory, waiting for answers no one wanted to ask aloud.
Lyra wiped sweat from her brow, voice trembling. "I still can't believe Kirana and Zephyr aren't with us. What… what happened in hyperspace?"
Draven kicked a pebble, eyes lowered. "I'm not even sure what I saw. Aelina just changed."
Velaria crossed her arms. "That wasn't the Aelina we know. Something was controlling her… or rewriting her entirely."
Inside the house, the silence was heavier. They gathered in the main room. Vega sat apart, hunched over a portable scanner, holographic panels reflecting in his eyes as he sifted through shifting data streams.
Kaelar approached. "Talk to me. What do you have?"
Vega didn't answer at first. His fingers continued adjusting controls, tracing signals, redirecting nodes. Finally, he spoke.
"I found a signal. Faint, barely there. But it's from Kirana and Zephyr." He paused. "And… they're not in this system."
Lyra's head jerked up. "What? Then where are they?"
"Lytherion," Vega replied quietly.
Draven frowned. "Lytherion? Never heard of it."
"Few have," Velaria said. "It's practically uncharted. Even the Edena avoid it. Hardly any ships can reach it. If they're there… someone put them there intentionally."
Kaelar leaned over the table, his expression all steel. "Can we get to them?"
Vega inhaled slowly. "We can. But the ship needs repairs, major ones. After that crash landing, half the systems are hanging by a thread."
Kaelar stood straight. "Then we don't waste time."
Lyra got to her feet immediately. "Draven and I will head to the Althera Desert. We need to inform the Federation there. If we get support, we'll have a real shot."
"Go," Vega said. "But be careful."
Velaria grabbed her datapad. "Vega and I will hit the nearest city. We'll scavenge whatever parts we can buy, trade, or steal. This ship won't survive another hyperspace jump without them."
Kaelar glanced at the battered hull outside. "I'll stay here and patch up what I can. Meet back fast, we don't know how long Kirana and Zephyr can hold out."
Lyra slung a small kit over her shoulder and paused at the doorway. "They've saved us more times than I can count. Now it's our turn."
Kaelar nodded, voice quiet but firm. "We'll bring them home. Whatever it takes."
Lyra headed down the dirt road toward Althera, her footsteps echoing in the morning light. Behind her, Vega and Velaria prepared to leave for the city, while Kaelar already had the ship's outer panel open, tools in hand.
The rescue had begun.
***
A few days later…
Morning crept quietly over Ravara Village. Soft sunlight slipped through the windows of Kirana's old home, casting warm shapes across the wooden floor. The front door groaned open, breaking the silence as Vega and Velaria stumbled inside with several heavy crates stacked in their arms.
"Ugh… finally," Vega groaned, dropping the last crate on the table with a thud. He rubbed the back of his neck, wincing. "I don't remember the last time I hiked this far while carrying half a scrapyard."
Velaria chuckled faintly as she set a gleaming metal component on top of another box. "At least we got everything. With these, our ship actually stands a chance of flying again."
Vega flopped onto the sofa, letting out a long breath. "If I sit too long, I might never stand up again."
"Then don't sit," Velaria replied, laughing as she dropped into the sofa beside him. "But… I really need a break too."
Across the room, Kaelar stirred at the noise. He blinked slowly, groaning like a hibernating bear roused a season too early.
Velaria snorted. "Oh, look who's alive. I thought you'd stay asleep until noon."
Kaelar dragged himself upright, yawning wide. "You're loud," he muttered while rubbing his eyes. "How was the trip?"
"Long. Exhausting. And full of people staring at me like I was carrying a bomb," Vega replied, nodding at the crates. "But yeah, we got everything."
Kaelar stretched and headed for the bathroom. "Good. I'm taking a shower. Don't touch my food."
Minutes later, he returned, hair damp, clothes fresh, a little more human. He carried three cold cans from the tiny fridge, tossing one to Vega and another to Velaria.
"Here."
Vega caught his can single-handedly and cracked it open with a hiss. "Finally. Something cold."
Velaria gave Kaelar a small smile. "You look more awake now. Slept well?"
"Well enough to survive," Kaelar replied, sinking into a chair. "So? What's next? It's been days since we last talked about Kirana and Zephyr. Any updates?"
Vega set his drink down, expression shifting to something far more serious. "We're still verifying the last signal… but from what I've got so far, their coordinates place them in the Lytherion system. On a desert planet called Thaross."
"Thaross?" Kaelar frowned. "You're sure?"
Velaria opened a small holographic map on her wrist device and projected it between them. "The signal is weak, but consistent. If they're alive, this is the most likely location."
Kaelar rubbed his chin, thinking. "All right… so what do we need?"
"With the parts we brought," Vega said, "I can finish the repairs in a few days. After that… we try to breach hyperspace toward Lytherion."
"And the risks?" Kaelar asked, masking his worry poorly.
Velaria answered before Vega could. "Hyperspace around Lytherion is unstable. There are a few possible routes, but every one of them risks gravitational interference from the surrounding stars. If we're not careful, we could get trapped."
Kaelar sighed. "Great. But we don't have a choice. We can't leave them there."
"Exactly," Vega agreed. "And we should prepare for complications on Thaross. If we picked up their signal, Edena might pick it up too."
Kaelar's jaw tightened. He placed his drink down hard enough to make it thump. "Then we move fast. What can I do to speed things up?"
Vega gave him a faint grin. "Help me check the propulsion system. It's one of the critical pieces. And start prepping the weapons… just in case."
Kaelar nodded. "On it."
Velaria stood and straightened her jacket. "I'll assist Vega with the navigation system. We can't afford errors on the route."
For a moment, the three of them shared a silent look, each carrying the same weight of urgency.
***
Several days passed in relentless work. When they finally sat together again in the main room, rough sketches of their Thaross route were spread across the table, every hyperspace point drawn, crossed out, redrawn, reconsidered.
"I think we're ready," Vega said at last, exhausted but satisfied. "With a bit of luck, we'll reach them in a few days."
"Luck?" Kaelar scoffed softly. "I prefer preparation over luck."
Velaria laughed gently. "Both tend to work better together."
Kaelar leaned back, exhaling long and slow. "All right. Vega, Velaria, tomorrow night, we depart. We don't know what's waiting for us out there, so be ready for anything."
Vega lifted his drink like a toast. "Ready for anything, and so is our ship."
Velaria raised her can as well. "For Kirana and Zephyr. And for all of us."
Kaelar allowed himself a small, solemn smile. "For Kirana and Zephyr. And for finishing what they started."
***
The next day, under Ravara's star-washed sky, the three of them locked in their resolve. Time felt thin, but they moved anyway.
Their ship rose through Earth's atmosphere with a low hum. Vega sat in the pilot's chair, eyes flicking across rows of holographic panels. Behind him, Kaelar leaned back while checking his rifle. Velaria sat beside him, scrolling through a hyperspace chart on her handheld.
"All systems ready," Vega said, adjusting the throttle. "Propulsion stable. Full power. Hyperspace route locked."
Velaria didn't look up. "Good. I don't want surprises once we're inside the corridor."
Kaelar snorted. "When was the last time hyperspace didn't throw surprises at us?"
She gave him a thin smile. "Fair. But if we don't move now, Kirana and Zephyr might not have time left for us to catch them."
"Exactly," Vega added. "Their signal could drop at any moment. If we lose it, they're gone, stranded in Lytherion with no trail."
He pressed the activation key. The ship trembled.
"Brace. Entering hyperspace in three… two… one..."
A deep, resonant hum filled the cabin as the ship slipped into the corridor. Light surged across the viewports, blue and purple streams twisting into an endless tunnel.
Kaelar stared out the small window. "Still feels like we're punching the universe in the face."
Velaria shifted, hiding the tension in her fingers. "We'll handle it. We have to."
***
"We're halfway through," Velaria reported. "The route's more stable than I expected."
"Hold up." Vega pointed at a side display. His voice tightened. "What's that?"
Velaria expanded the feed. A small gravitational vortex spun directly on their path.
"That's a gravity trap. One of the anomalies flagged in the old logs."
Kaelar stood, moving behind them. "Can we avoid it?"
"Not cleanly," Vega said. "The corridor's too narrow. We can skim past it, but if we get too close, it'll drag us out of hyperspace."
"And if we drop out inside the anomaly," Vega added, "we could end up anywhere. Or nowhere."
"We're not breaking apart today," he said, gripping the controls. "But it's going to need precision."
The ship shuddered harder as they neared the vortex. Velaria kept her eyes on the rising indicators.
"Gravity spike!" she warned. "Auto-nav's struggling to compensate!"
Kaelar braced himself against his seat. "What do we do?"
"Reduce hyperspace velocity," Vega said. "But that means we stay in the danger zone longer."
"Do it," Kaelar ordered. "Late is better than dead."
Vega eased the propulsion down. The ship lurched violently.
"Hold on!"
The vessel swung right, nearly clipping the vortex's edge. Vega yanked it back with a sharp pull, jaw tight, sweat forming along his brow.
"It's getting stronger!" Velaria shouted. "We have less than a minute!"
"Give me five seconds," Vega muttered, laser-focused.
"Five seconds is too long!" Kaelar snapped.
"Trust me."
Vega cut the throttle again and pulled the control rod sharply to the right. The ship skimmed the very lip of the vortex but they slipped free, sliding back into the stable corridor.
The shaking faded. The cabin stilled.
"You did it," Velaria said, shoulders finally dropping.
"Told you," Vega breathed.
Kaelar clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Nice work. I almost wrote my will back there."
Velaria let out a dry huff. "As if that's new for you."
Kaelar grinned. "Look, I just prefer shooting enemies over being chewed up by cosmic whirlpools."
They returned to cruising speed. Hours later, the navigation screen revealed a faint dual-star system ahead—Lytherion. Several dim planets orbited the pair of pale suns.
"We're close," Velaria said. "Thaross is the third planet. Entry in a few minutes."
Vega prepared the descent. "Stay sharp. Whatever's down there won't be friendly."
Kaelar checked his rifle again. "We're always sharp, right Velaria?"
She fastened her comm device. "Ready. Let's bring Kirana and Zephyr home."
The ship dropped out of hyperspace. Thaross filled the viewport, dust storms sweeping across its barren surface, its horizon sharp and unforgiving.
Their real journey was about to begin.
...