Samir gripped his seat as Providence flew towards the blue giant. Behind them, eight Inheritor vessels were firing in pursuit. The ship shook again as a shot glanced off the outer shield, skimming the golden barrier and exploding in a ball of fire.

“How long until the FTL is ready!?” Samir yelled.

Dr. Lukov held onto a nearby console as the ship took another hit. “We still need another eighteen minutes, Captain!”

Samir privately cursed at Erika. She had given him the warning ten minutes ago with instructions to wait until the first ships broke off from the battle. Not that he was grateful—she had gotten them in this mess to begin with.

The ship shook again as another shot impacted near the rear. His fingers clenched the armrests as he saw the blue giant grow larger in the distance. It would be another fifteen minutes before they reached it.

We were so close! Samir gritted his teeth. If Erika had just let the Inheritors remain battling overhead, they could’ve slipped away. All she needed to do was to refuse the offer, but she couldn’t help herself. Now, they were all at risk for her actions.

“Captain!” Dr. Lukov stumbled over to him. “The shields can’t hold continuously for eighteen minutes! They’re going to burn out before we reach the star!”

“I thought you said they were repaired!” Samir shouted.

“They were, but the entities must’ve damaged them on their way out! Instruments couldn’t see it until we turned them again! We have to buy time, otherwise the energy load is going to burn the rest of the conduits up!”

Samir shook his head angrily. “How much time do you need!?”

“Five minutes! Maybe less!”

Samir got up from his chair and went over to a crewman at one of the stations. The man was desperately managing power flows as more shots slammed against the shield. Bright light flooded the room from explosions just a few dozen feet off the ship.

Captain Singh put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Glen Tannis activated a firing protocol! Can it distinguish between targets?”

The crewman desperately turned to him. “It wouldn’t work, Captain! We don’t know how to penetrate their shields!”

“I don’t need it too!” Samir had to shield his eyes as an antimatter round barely missed above them. The red light burned above them in an unearthly crimson.

The crewman’s eyes widened as he realized what the Captain was saying. “I can try to modify it, Captain, but I don’t think the system was designed to work that way!”

“We don’t have a choice!” Samir held onto the interface as the crewman inputted the command.

He turned towards the terminal displaying the sensor readout. Recalibrated, it showed the oncoming ships and their missile fire. So far, the Inheritors had limited themselves to relatively small rounds of antimatter. Samir guessed that anything smaller would not do enough damage, and anything larger might just destroy the ship.

He saw a red dot fly forwards towards them on the screen. “Have you got it working!?” he shouted towards the crewman.

“Yes!”

Samir watched as one of the turrets turned and fired upon the oncoming missile. Several shots flew wide, and a second later, the ship shook again as the antimatter exploded against the shield.

“We have to turn the shield off now, Captain!” Dr. Lukov looked up from his data pad. “The heat will kill us if we drop it any later!”

Samir wanted to his pound his fist. If only we had more time! He bit his tongue to keep from crying out in frustration. Turning to Dr. Lukov, he gave a reluctant nod, and the man grimly typed in the command. The golden barrier flickered off, and Providence was left defenseless against the next strike.

He could only watch on the screen as another red dot flew outward. One good hit would cripple the ship.

I wonder if this was in your calculations, Erika. He spitefully thought as he saw it draw closer to them. As much as she liked to play god, she was a rather poor one. Her thought process likely stopped at getting Providence to flee once the entities approached. She just assumed that the ship could take the beating.

Samir quietly shook his head as the red dot was already halfway across the screen. If it impacted on the bridge, then they would all be killed immediately. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It would be over an instant, and then he would face judgement. He regretted that he didn’t have a chance to confess Father Soren before the two parted ways. Samir braced himself for the end.

“We have interception!” the crewman excitedly shouted.

Samir gasped as the air left him, and he nearly fell forward. He saw the red dot on the screen vanish in a ball of light. How much time did that buy us!? Life surged in him again as they had another thirty seconds before the next strike. He doubted they would be so lucky twice.

Captain Singh gripped the crewman’s shoulder tightly. “Have all the turrets fire,” he told the man desperately.

“That’ll confuse the tracking systems. We’ll lower the odds of hitting the target,” the man argued back, sweat dripping down his brow.

“We put up a screen,” Samir told the man quickly. “They’re going to fire more rounds at us now that we’re shooting back. Tracking system won’t be able keep up.”

The crewman turned and his fingers rushed to input the command. Samir turned back to the sensor readout and saw the next salvo of missiles launch. This time, three of them raced towards Providence.

Samir glanced out the reinforced windows and saw the turrets all open fire behind them. The night sky became awash with white and red, and projectiles flew through the air at impossible speeds. The sensor readout detected the wave of red as it approached the three missiles. It became impossible to track the missiles from the rest of the screen.

He shook his head as he tensed for death yet again. It could be over in a blink of an eye, and he wouldn’t even notice it. Samir squinted at the sensor readout, hoping against all hope for some sign of interception.

“There!” the crewman shouted as he pointed towards a sudden disruption. Multiple red icons suddenly expanded into a sphere, encompassing a swath on the monitor.

Samir barely had time to grin before another missile detonated on the sensor readout. Two down. His fingers clenched tight as he hoped for the third to appear. Come on. Come on. Fate would be kind to them. He just knew it. Just a few more seconds and he would see—

A missile left the ocean of red and continued straight towards them. Samir blinked, and he was thrown forward by the force of an explosion. He felt his body fall against the computer station. The missile had hit them. It wasn’t enough to destroy them, but a breach would have been made. He exhaled and waited for the end.

…is this it? He thought as a second passed. Samir opened his eyes and glanced around. All of them were dazed, but it didn’t appear that anything had been damaged.

“What happened?” he barely had time to ask.

“Missile was intercepted.” Dr. Lukov checked another computer. Glancing up, he stared at Samir. “It detonated a kilometer away from the hull. We only suffered the aftershock.”

Captain Singh shook his head, confused. “Who intercepted it?”

Looking at the sensor readout, he could see the fragments of the missile spreading out in space. The screen of turret-fire had faded, leaving only Providence and the pursing ships. He watched as one of the Inheritor’s vessels fire another salvo, but they were all quickly intercepted by missiles from another ship that had caught up.

They’re still fighting each other. He stared solemnly at the readout. No, that was wrong. They were actively defending Providence from attack. Because they have one of their own aboard this ship. Samir felt his heart sink, and he lowered his head.

That was how confident they were in the one entity remaining aboard. He didn’t know when or how, but it would be enough to draw the ship right back into their clutches.

“Captain! I’m raising the shields!” Dr. Lukov alerted him.

Five minutes up already. Samir stumbled back as he watched the blue giant engulf the entire view. An ocean of blue fire yawned before them. They were still a ways off, but the star was so massive that it appeared much closer than it was. Samir sighed, another ten minutes and they would be free.

Captain Singh composed himself and approached Dr. Lukov. Stopping a few feet away from the man, Samir hesitated. “Would it be possible to shut down the shields?”

Dr. Lukov looked at him, horrified. “Why?”

“I’ll rephrase that. Would it be possible to shut down a specific section?”

The scientists stammered, “Possibly.”

Samir nodded. “Find the section with the entity and shut the shield down. It doesn’t matter if there are people inside. We cannot allow the creature to come with us.”

He went over to the captain’s chair and sat down. Erika would threaten the sphere, of course, but he was done waiting for her to make the next move. She had forced his hand, and now it was time for him to force hers. Captain Singh leveled his eyes at the approaching star. Erika Terese, it’s time to see which one of us blinks first.