Xaleyp led Lina and Mian to the lift connecting Vertyn to the carrier with ease. They passed few soldiers, all available Hyperions having been directed to the brunt of the fighting. The door of the lift was unguarded. With a few button presses, the repulsor engine sent it soaring upward.

“What are we going to do when we get up there?” Lina asked. “Did he say what he wanted?”

“No.” Xaleyp shook his head. “He never has before though.”

The lift reached the transparent portion of the tube quicker than Xaleyp expected. Outside, the battle was already starting to wear down. Most of the Hyperion fleet lay in ruins. What was still functional was being approached by transports to be boarded. The larger of the attacking ships were approaching the space station and carrier. Their weapons were not fire, cementing the fact that they did not want to damage the station.

One of the ships, however, must have seen the lift traveling upwards. A missile flared from its bay and slammed into the tube just beneath them. An explosion pierced their ears and caused the lift to rattle violently. The tube splintered into thousands of tiny pieces, the only thing keeping them alive being the repulsor engines underneath. Lina screamed and grabbed Xaleyp, who braced himself against the wall.

After several seconds of not knowing whether or not the lift was still moving, the door opened and revealed the office. Two guards stood in front of them, guns drawn and at the ready. The Emperor was moving back and forth from shelf to desk to shelf again, pressing buttons and yelling through his CAM. He wore the mask again, covering his face from view. When he saw the three of them walking forward, he stopped instantly with a book in his hand.

“There was only supposed to be one of you.” His voice was soft but quickly became enraged. “When I give an order, I expect it to be followed! When I send for just one person, I do not want three!”

He slammed the book on the desk before any of them could respond. His eyes were downcast, and he quietly muttered to himself in a semi-coherent rant that barely reached their ears.

“No, no, you’re right, Gareten, you called him here, he brought his friends, it is fine, all is well, we will get through this like we always do.”

“Sir, what is going on?” Xaleyp asked. Did he say the name Gareten? “Who are those people?”

The Emperor looked up as if seeing him for the first time.

“Who are they?” He laughed. A mirthless, almost insane laugh. “The Arcadians. They are making a power play, and we will see how it works out for them. Captain Redman, can you fill them in?”

A man near the fireplace seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He was middle-aged, his hair cut short and turning gray in some places. A stern expression was on his face. He stepped forward, walking to the center of the room as a rumble shook the carrier.

“My name is Knight Captain Erik Redman,” he said. “I am the captain of the Praetorian Guard to the Emperor. We believe there is a traitor in our midst, a General Ganex, and we used this as an attempt to draw out the Arcadians and force their hand. They were supposed to attack in another week, but apparently they had other ideas. Now, we’re getting out of here.”

“Yes, we are.” The Emperor pressed another button and a circle in the floor opened to reveal a transport ship in a hole. It was completely black, like a void in space. A ladder allowed access to the bottom. “We’ll have two extras, so it’ll be a little cramped, but we can make do. Get in. Erik, grab the sword.”

Shouting and gunshots pierced the air outside the office. The two guards moved to the door at the left, aiming their rifles at it. Another rumbling ran through the ship and the metal hull began creaking and groaning under pressure.

Captain Redman led the way down the ladder, the sword attached to his back, followed by the Emperor, Xaleyp, Mian, and finally Lina. On the bottom of the hole was a circular hatch for quick egress. Around the edges of the base were windows revealing the battlefield outside with arcs of plasma streaking past.

It was more of a graveyard. Dozens of ships lay scattered into thousands of pieces. More lay split in half or with large chunks ripped out of them. Hundreds of others bearing the crest of a sun inside a laurel wreath drifted through the area, hunting for survivors and surrounding the Royal Carrier. Their missiles and lasers were aiming for critical parts of the ship. The engines, the bridge, the communications array. They wanted it to be a husk of a ship.

When the captain reached the bottom, he pressed the side of the vessel, and it opened up. A bright white interior greeted them. A pilot was already sitting in the cockpit, helmet on and going through his preflight checklist. Several seats were arranged across the length of the side of the ship. A window behind them showed the outside, which currently was the dark gray wall. At the right end was a door leading further back.

“Get in,” the captain said as he took a seat. It immediately strapped him without warning.

All of them were in except Lina when an explosion rocked the carrier. The hatch below them burst open from a missile strike, and the vacuum of space pulled the ship out and into the open. Lina held onto the ladder, her legs flailing and her arms trying to pull her back up before the hole was automatically closed. The door of the transport slid shut on sensing the vacuum, keeping the passengers safe.

“Lina!” Xaleyp yelled. He banged on the door with both fists. The transport turned and started skittering along the bottom of the carrier, away from the small hangar. He turned to look at the pilot. A fierce determination was in his eye. “We need to go back.”

“Xaleyp, we must keep moving.” The Emperor placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We have to get out of here before they know we’re here.”

“We have to go back for her. We have to.” He shook his head. Part of him wanted to take control from the pilot and force the ship to get Lina. Another part knew that was a mistake, but he couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her behind. “I can’t do this without her.”

He moved to the window and looked around. The attackers broke the tube connecting the ship to the space station in half. A small fire burned at the space station side, the oxygen slowly feeding it and keeping it alive. The covered hole they came out of was visible, but he couldn’t see anyone there. No bodies were floating around it. That was a good sign. Missiles were striking in different places throughout the ship. Bright flashes of blues and reds erupted on the shields and hull. The carrier gave as good as it got, damaging and destroying several of the cruisers and frigates firing on it.

he said in a message to her through his CAM. He silently prayed for a response.

When her message came through, Xaleyp breathed a sigh of relief.

The transport skirted around the side and towards the office. The window came into view quickly. Xaleyp saw Lina standing there, a hand pressed against the glass. He placed his own on the window of the transport, the cold emanating into him. She smiled at him and gave him a wave. The same wave from the day they first met. He couldn’t help but smile back at her. There was so much about her that had changed over the years. Then again, there was so much that stayed the same.

A nervous laugh came through with the message. She looked down at her feet, something she did when she was worried.

He could feel himself starting to get choked up. It had been so long since he had been alone. First Rach, now Lina? He didn’t know when he would return to Vertyn. He didn’t even know if he would. Who knew where the Emperor was bringing him. It might be years before he could see her again. Hopefully, he would be able to keep in touch with her wherever he ended up. Wherever either of them ended up.

It was hard for him to form the words. Something about the finality of the sentence made him not want to say it out loud. All the memories they had… It was like getting to the end of a good book. You don’t appreciate the journey until it’s over.

She laughed as he said the words. That simple, almost childish laugh. He never realized how much he liked it.

Her message was cut short when a bright light erupted from the back of the ship. One of the engine cores exploded, sending a shockwave through the ship. As if in slow motion, the ship splintered and was torn asunder, each half drifting uselessly in space. Scraps and chunks of metal exploded outwards in all directions. Lina disappeared into a field of debris.

Xaleyp stood numb for several seconds. Even with the light gone, it left a dark spot in his vision. That didn’t happen. It couldn’t have happened. Lina couldn’t be… No, this was just a bad dream. Any minute he’d be waking up in the medical center. The doctor would walk over to him and wake him up, take his vitals or something, tell him he was making a good recovery, maybe even discharge him.

The pain that radiated from his ribs and heart told him that wasn’t true. He felt his chest pounding and his throat constricting. She was alive. She was okay. She said so. She would send him a message any minute now, telling him so.

his message asked again. Nothing but silence answered until it was returned as undeliverable.

he said in another message.

Undeliverable.

“No.” His voice was a whisper. The word came out somewhat strangled. “No.”

He hit his fist on the glass, once, twice, then slowly harder and harder, again and again, resolving himself to continue until he either broke it or it broke him. He barely felt the coolness of the glass and the gentle trickle of blood on the side of his hand as a cut opened up from the bludgeoning force. Tears began to well up in his eyes, and he tried to blink them away with no success. It was his fault. He wanted to bring her with him. The space station was fine. She would have been okay. They didn’t want to destroy it. If he had just left her there...

His best friend—the person he looked forward to seeing every morning, the person who had been by his side since the day they first arrived—was gone faster than he could even blink, without even a chance to say goodbye. He was powerless to stop it, just like he was back in that safe room seven years ago. Even now, he could do nothing.

Without thinking about it, he checked the date in his CAM. March seventh. How did he forget?

“Happy birthday, Lina.” His voice was crackly. He could barely hear the words himself.

“Xaleyp,” the Emperor said, “sit down. We’re getting out of here. There’s nothing left for us.”

Xaleyp let himself be forced into the seat, his mind a jumble. The straps pulled tight around him and locked him in place. The pain in his chest from the previous day was nothing compared to what he felt now. She couldn’t be gone. She always seemed so invincible. Like nothing could stop her or keep her down. Like she could take on anyone or anything. The signal was just blocked, that’s why the message couldn’t be sent. Once the signal was clear, she’d tell him she was fine.

Before there was a chance for anything to come through, the ship jerked as it moved into hyperspace. The streaks of stars around them compressed and stretched out. He was leaving Vertyn, and Stariek, for the first time in his life, and Lina wasn’t there beside him. She would never be beside him again.

A hand squeezed his shoulder. He turned his head slightly and found Mian sitting next to him. Her face was stoic. She didn’t know Lina like he did. She hardly even knew him. But she could tell how much Lina meant to him.

“It’ll be alright.”

“No, it won’t.” He shook his head. Somewhere inside him was a beast begging for release. “We should’ve gone back for her.”

“If we did that, we’d all be dead right now,” the Emperor said. He pressed a button on his straps to stand up. “Putting one life above the mission is a stupid mistake.”

“We could’ve saved her.” Xaleyp felt the anger rising inside him. Who was the Emperor to say that Lina wasn’t worth saving? How dare he say such a thing? He wanted to lunge at the man and show him what pain meant, but the straps held him there. “She would still be alive.”

“It’s over and done with. It’s regrettable, but we must move on. Thus is the cost of war. There are bigger things ahead of us.”

Xaleyp almost stood to lash out at the man, to make him realize his mistake. Mian digging her fingers into his shoulder, combined with the straps of the seat, kept him in place.

“She meant a lot to you.” a message came through on his CAM. From Mian. When he looked at her, she was staring directly into his eyes, her face unmoving. “More than any of us could understand. But there’s nothing you can do to bring her back. Follow the Emperor, and I guarantee you will get the revenge you deserve. The revenge that she deserves.”

Xaleyp continued looking at Mian for several seconds after the message ended. A day ago. That’s how long it’s been since they met. She seemed to know so much about him. He still knew almost nothing about this girl. What she told him, he didn’t know if he believed. Now, they were both on a path they couldn’t get off.

“Well, if you two are done.” The Emperor cleared his throat. “We’re going to be in hyperspace for a few days, so it’s best if you make yourself comfortable. There’s food and water in the back here when you get hungry or thirsty. Two bunks are also there when you’re tired. I’ll let you know when we’re getting close.”

There was a door leading further back into the ship. Xaleyp felt the urge to go to it, if for no other reason than to be alone for a while. He tried to keep Lina safe. Even when he could do something, he couldn’t save her. If he had just left her behind, like she wanted in the first place.

“Come on.” Mian pressed the button on her straps and stood. She helped him stand and led him to the back. Captain Redman and the Emperor watched them carefully. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

“I just ate with Lina.” Xaleyp shook his head. “I’m not hungry.”

“Listen.” She sat down on one of the bunks and forced him to sit next to her. She held one of his hands in both of hers. “I’m not very good at these things. Expressing myself, comforting others. It’s just not my forte. But this is not your fault. You had no way of knowing what would happen. Do not beat yourself up about this. You did nothing wrong.”

“If I didn’t have you two come, if I just left you behind like she wanted, she’d still be alive.” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “It’s my fault.”

“Anything could have happened once we left. The Arcadians, they could be planning on rounding up some of the people on the station then destroying it. They could just be toying with the Hyperions. We don’t know their motives, and there’s no reason to believe that she would have been okay being left behind. This was the one chance she had at survival.”

“I appreciate it, Mian,” Xaleyp said, taking his hand out of hers. “But I just want to be alone for a while.”

He laid down in the other bunk, turning over and looking away. Mian stood and hesitated at the door. She looked back at him for a second, then walked back to the main room of the transport. Xaleyp heard the door hiss shut, then quietly let the tears flow freely.