Chapter 14 · The Enemy Arrives Early

The stars came back wrong.

Evan knew it before the navigation array finished unfolding. The dead corridor had spat them into realspace beneath a bruised violet nebula, its clouds boiling around a black tear of gravity. The Dawn’s left engine screamed through the hull. Every bulkhead shuddered in uneven pulses, as if the ship had a failing heart.

Then the tactical display filled with red.

Not three contacts. Not a patrol wing.

A fleet.

Enemy destroyers drifted out of the nebula’s violet glare in layered formation, their armor reflecting no light. Behind them hung two siege carriers and a command ship long enough to blot out a moon. Its prow was split into three armored blades, each one crowned with a pale sensor crown.

The enemy flagship.

Evan’s fingers locked around the edge of the navigation console.

“No,” he whispered.

On the command deck, alarms rose and fell like panicked voices. Mara Quill’s station spat sparks. Oren Cade swore over the engineering channel, followed by the deep metallic boom of something breaking loose in the engine bay.

Sera Vale stood behind Evan, one hand braced against the captain’s chair. The emergency lights washed her face red.