Chapter 28: Fire and Passion

The galaxy doesn’t wait for love.

War moves on its own schedule, and ours had just been accelerated. The intel from Va’karr and Zhen’Vala made one thing clear: The Eternal Ones were already mobilizing. If we didn’t act first, we would be crushed beneath their war machine before we had a chance to fight back.

And yet, even with a war looming, something else was stirring in my mind. In my heart.

Ny’Vara. Sa’Kari. Zhen’Vala.

Three women. Three dangers. Three temptations.

But there was no time to dwell on matters of the heart.

Because battle was coming.

Ambush at the Sargath Rift

The attack hit us before we even reached our rally point.

The fleet had barely emerged from hyperspace when the Eternal Ones dropped out of the void like specters—sleek, black ships with energy signatures that barely registered until they were already upon us.

“Enemy ships inbound!” G’Lan shouted over the alarms. “Fifteen ... no, twenty hostiles! They must have been waiting for us!”

“Shields up!” I barked, gripping the command chair. “All hands to battle stations!”

The G’Tarok rocked violently as the first enemy salvos slammed into us. Green and crimson energy beams streaked across the void, our forward batteries returning fire in a dazzling display of destruction.

Through the viewport, I saw our fleet engaging in chaotic skirmishes. Narn cruisers exchanged deadly broadsides with Eternal warships, while Kha’reli attack craft weaved between the carnage, firing precision blasts into enemy hulls.

Then, the real nightmare arrived.

A massive Eternal dreadnought emerged from the rift—a monstrous vessel, bristling with weapons, its hull lined with glowing red runes. Energy built up along its spine, and I knew what was coming.

A planet-killer cannon.

If that weapon fired, we were finished.

“Focus all fire on that dreadnought!” I roared. “We take that thing down, or we don’t go home!”

Fighters swarmed like angry hornets. Our capital ships closed in. But the dreadnought was too well-shielded. Its cannons tore through our ranks, sending explosions blooming in the void.

We were losing.

And I wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Prep a boarding team,” I ordered. “We’re taking the fight to them.”

Ny’Vara smirked from her station. “Thought you’d never ask.”

Into the Fire

Minutes later, our strike team was aboard a shuttle, hurtling toward the enemy dreadnought.

Ny’Vara sat across from me, checking her weapons. Her golden eyes flicked up, locking onto mine.

“You always have to play the hero, don’t you?”

I smirked. “Would you prefer I let someone else have all the fun?”

She snorted. “Just try not to get yourself killed. I’d hate to have to save your ass again.”

She wasn’t the only one watching me. Sa’Kari sat nearby, silent as she checked her gauntlet. Unlike Ny’Vara, she didn’t voice concern. But the way her gaze lingered on me before we launched spoke volumes.

And then there was Zhen’Vala.

The assassin had invited herself along. She leaned back, arms crossed, watching me with her unsettling silver eyes. “You’d better not waste my time, Captain.”

I grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”