Chapter 80 - 79: Two Fronts

Chapter 80: Chapter 79: Two Fronts

The transport dropped out of the starlane into a region of space that looked, at first glance, almost disappointingly ordinary, pale stars scattered thin across a dark, empty stretch of territory with nothing visible to suggest the centuries of fearful avoidance the sealed records had described.

"Sensor readings are already showing irregularities," the lead scientist reported, hunched over her console with sharp, focused attention. "Gravitational fluctuations that don’t match any natural stellar body in range."

Ren stood near the viewport beside Yegard and Reven, studying the empty expanse with old, uneasy instinct prickling at the back of his neck. "It feels wrong," he said quietly. "I can’t explain it better than that."

He never got the chance to explain it at all.

The attack came without warning, three unmarked vessels dropping out of concealment with coordinated, practiced precision, and the transport rocked violently as weapons fire tore across its shields, alarms blaring through every corridor at once.

"Hostile contact," the pilot shouted, already banking hard to evade a second volley. "Multiple vessels, heavily armed, this isn’t Vorhesk, this is considerably more sophisticated."

Reven was moving before the ship had finished its evasive maneuver, already barking orders into the comm, security personnel scrambling to battle stations throughout the vessel. "Shields at seventy percent and dropping," he reported grimly, watching the tactical display. "They’re targeting our propulsion specifically. They don’t want to destroy us."

"They want to board us," Yegard said, understanding landing hard and immediate. "Ren, stay close."

Ren’s blade bloomed instantly around his forearm, old instinct overriding fear, but even as he moved to position himself defensively, something strange rippled through the air around him, a pulse of unfamiliar energy that made his vision blur and his knees buckle without warning.

"Ren," Reven’s voice tore through the chaos, sharp with immediate alarm, but Ren’s limbs had gone suddenly, inexplicably heavy, his containment flickering and destabilizing despite every effort to hold it steady.

"Something’s wrong," he managed, voice slurring slightly as the strange pulse intensified, disorientation crashing over him in waves.

The boarding happened fast after that, armored figures cutting through the transport’s compromised defenses with brutal, efficient speed, and Ren, already weakened and disoriented, found himself unable to properly resist as hands closed around his arms, dragging him backward even as Yegard and Reven both fought desperately to reach him.

"Let him go," Yegard roared, cutting down one attacker only to find two more immediately taking his place, the sheer numbers overwhelming even his considerable skill.

Ren fought against the growing fog clouding his mind, desperate to break free, but his body refused to properly respond, the strange energy field apparently designed specifically to counter exactly his dual classification’s natural defenses. "No," he gasped, vision darkening at the edges as he was dragged toward a waiting shuttle. "Reven—"

The last thing he saw, before unconsciousness finally claimed him entirely, was Reven’s face, contorted with raw, desperate fury, close enough to almost reach him before the shuttle’s doors sealed shut between them.

---

Three star systems away, the palace erupted into chaos at almost the exact same moment.

Alouis felt the first explosion through the floor itself, a deep, resonant tremor that sent her scrambling upright from where she’d been reviewing security reports in the private wing’s common area. "Milo, Finn," she called sharply, already moving toward their rooms.

Milo appeared first, Finn close behind him, both boys’ faces pale with fear as additional explosions rocked the palace structure, emergency lighting flooding the corridors in response.

"What’s happening," Milo demanded, old protective instinct already settling over his young features despite his obvious fear.

"We’re under attack," Alouis said, forcing her voice steady despite her own racing pulse. "Stay close to me, both of you."

They made it only halfway toward the designated safe room before their path was blocked entirely, three armored figures emerging from a side corridor with weapons already raised, clearly having anticipated exactly this evacuation route.

Alouis moved instantly, drawing her own weapon and placing herself between the attackers and both boys. "Run," she commanded sharply. "Find another way to the safe room."

"I’m not leaving you," Milo said, something fierce and stubborn in his young voice despite the obvious terror underlying it.

"Milo, now isn’t the time—"

The nearest attacker lunged, and Alouis barely managed to deflect the strike, the force of it driving her back hard enough that she stumbled, momentarily off balance. The attacker pressed the advantage, weapon rising for a killing blow, and Alouis knew, with sudden, sickening clarity, that she wouldn’t recover in time.

Milo moved before conscious thought could stop him.

He didn’t understand, afterward, exactly what happened in that single, desperate instant, only that something inside him, something that had apparently been quietly waiting, finally answered a call he hadn’t known how to make. A blade of pale, silver-blue energy bloomed around his small forearm, and he drove it forward with instinctive, desperate precision, catching the attacker’s strike and deflecting it entirely before the weapon could connect with Alouis at all.

The attacker staggered back, visibly startled, and Milo stood frozen for a heartbeat, staring at his own glowing arm with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Milo," Alouis breathed, scrambling upright, shock and fierce pride warring across her features.

"I don’t know what just happened," Milo said, voice shaking, though his stance remained instinctively, protectively angled between the attackers and his younger brother.

There wasn’t time to properly process it. The attackers regrouped fast, and Alouis pulled herself together, fighting alongside Milo’s untrained but apparently genuine ability, the two of them holding ground together while Finn pressed back against the corridor wall, eyes wide with terrified awe at his brother’s sudden, impossible transformation.

Elsewhere in the palace, the Emperor fought his own desperate battle, cutting through attackers near the throne room with the practiced, devastating efficiency of a man who’d clearly not forgotten decades of military training despite years of comparatively peaceful rule, while the Queen, considerably more dangerous than his elegant appearance had ever suggested, fought with fierce, deadly grace near the royal wing, protecting staff and visiting dignitaries alike with a skill that belied every delicate, beautiful feature.

"They’re coordinated," the Emperor said grimly through the palace’s emergency comm, voice carrying clearly despite the chaos of his own ongoing battle. "This isn’t opportunistic. Someone planned this precisely to coincide with Reven’s absence."

"The expedition," the Queen’s voice came through, sharp with sudden, horrified understanding. "This is connected."

Alouis, still fighting alongside Milo’s desperate, untrained but increasingly confident defense, felt cold dread settle hard into her chest at the confirmation. "They’re after Ren," she said into her own comm, voice tight with growing horror. "This whole attack, it’s a distraction, or a consequence, of whatever’s happening with the expedition."

The battle raged on for what felt like hours, though the palace’s internal chronometer later confirmed barely forty minutes had actually passed before Imperial reinforcements finally arrived, overwhelming the remaining attackers and securing the palace’s various breached sections.

Alouis found herself, in the aftermath, sitting exhausted beside Milo, both boys safely secured now that the immediate danger had passed, though her hands still trembled with lingering adrenaline. Milo stared at his own arm, the blade long since faded, something overwhelmed and uncertain in his young expression.

"I’m a Sentinel," he said finally, voice quiet with disbelief. "Like Ren."

"It appears that way," Alouis said gently, pulling him into a careful, grateful embrace despite her own exhaustion. "You saved my life, Milo. Both of our lives, probably."

Finn, still pale but no longer quite so terrified now that the immediate danger had passed, pressed close against his brother’s other side. "Does that mean you’re going to leave too," he asked, small voice carrying old, familiar fear. "Like Ren did, for training?"

Milo’s expression tightened at the question, old uncertainty warring with fierce, protective instinct. "I’m not going anywhere," he said firmly, pulling Finn into a tight embrace. "Whatever this is, whatever I can apparently do now, I’m staying right here with you."

Alouis watched the exchange with careful, aching tenderness, old worry for Ren’s safety tangling painfully with fresh concern for exactly what Milo’s unexpected awakening might mean going forward. She reached for her comm, voice tight with urgency.

"This is Alouis," she said, connecting directly to the Emperor’s private channel. "The palace is secured, casualties being assessed now. But we need to reach Reven immediately. If this attack was timed to coincide with whatever happened at the expedition, I fear Ren may already be in considerably more danger than any of us properly anticipated."

The silence that followed carried its own grim confirmation, and Alouis felt cold, fresh dread settle deep into her chest as she waited, desperately, for any word from the expedition that might tell her Ren was still safe.