The mist parted like a curtain revealing a nightmare. Arthur's stealth ships emerged from the grey nothingness, their angular hulls cutting through the fog with deadly precision. They were faster, stronger, and better armed than anything the Academy could build. 🌪
"Brace yourselves! They've locked onto our signal!" Zion shouted, his fingers flying across the makeshift control panel he had designed himself.
The sea turned crimson as laser fire erupted across the waves. Arthur's ships didn't waste time with warnings or demands—they opened fire immediately, determined to erase this threat before it could reach the Frozen Archive.
Zion activated his greatest invention: the Electro-Magnetic Disrupter. A pulse of energy rippled outward, temporarily blinding the enemy sensors. For a precious moment, the stealth ships drifted blindly, their weapons unable to lock onto targets.
"Now, Nyra!" Zion yelled.
Nyra, who had slipped into the water unnoticed during the chaos, emerged beside one of the enemy vessels. With the skills she had honed over decades of survival, she attached small explosives to its hull and vanished beneath the waves again.
The explosion lit up the fog like a second sunrise. One ship listed heavily, smoke pouring from its wound. But the others adapted quickly, their systems compensating for the disruption.
The battle raged for what felt like hours but was only minutes. By the time Arthur's ships retreated, two of them were crippled, but Zion's vessel was barely holding together. Smoke filled the cabin. Water was seeping through damaged hull plates.
"They know why we're here," Zion gasped, wiping blood from a cut on his forehead. "We can't stop now. We can't."
Nyra pulled herself back aboard, dripping and exhausted. "Then we keep going. No matter what." 🛶