Page 131 of Stars in Nova

‘Doing what he does best,’ the cassocked warrior rasped, jerking his chin toward the Cephei, now positioned over the stronghold.

Through the swirling dust billowing around the bridge port, Samira just managed to glimpse her lover’s silhouette high above. He stood in Cephei’s control room, his meta gaze on the chaos below.

He appeared to sense her, swiveling his head to lock eyes with her for a moment.

She sensed the kinetic jolt he sent and blew a kiss before tearing away to focus on the fight.

‘Duck, he’s about to let all hell lose.’ Sax helped the Vaelorian woman scramble under a fallen boulder, their eyes fixed on the Cephei.

The Sarabaite lifted a hand and gave a thumbs up.

Kisan must have received his message because the growl of his gunship’s Alcubierre drive reached a crescendo.

Seconds later, the Cephei unleashed fury in the form of a weaponized pulse, wielding it with surgical precision.

It tore through the stronghold’s uppermost tower, shattering more of the throne room roof.

‘Hell yeah,’ Samira yelled as a flurry of activity exploded around her.

Her fellow Vaelorian fighters surged into the vast space, rappelling, jumping, and firing from fast-moving skimmers and flyers.

With the Cephei providing cover, their kinetic-enhanced lasers cut through the attacking android guards.

The air filled with the sharp hum of energy bolts and the metallic clang of crats collapsing under the assault.

Samira joined the fight, her blaster emitting precise bursts of kinetic beams that disoriented the enemy’s bio-electric systems.

One cyborg lunged for her, its claws gleaming, but she ducked and rolled, firing upward into its chest. It collapsed in a heap of sparking metal.

Sax, meanwhile, was a whirlwind of motion.

His belt’s metanoids shimmered as he moved, deploying small explosive capsules that detonated with controlled precision.

When an enormous android charged him, he activated the kinetic barrier in his amulets, deflecting the attack before countering with a well-placed shot from his long gun.

A second ripple of kinetic energy from the Cephei surged outward, focused on the throne room below.

The wave hit like a tidal force. Cyborgs froze mid-motion, their limbs seizing as their bio-electric systems short-circuited.

Sparks erupted from their joints, and many collapsed outright, their mechanical components inert.

Emperor Marius staggered back into his grotesque chair, clutching his head as the pulse overwhelmed him.

His robotic appendages twitched uncontrollably, and a guttural groan escaped his lips, unable to fight the onslaught.

‘You think this will stop me?’ he roared, his voice distorted and filled with static.

But his body betrayed him, writhing against the invisible force that scrambled his inner workings.

The Cephei fired again, the dynamic shockwave expanding outward in a cascading wave.

Each fallen cyborg’s released energy amplified the surge effect, feeding power back into the wave as it cascaded through the throne room.

The entire citadel trembled under the rolling, incessant relentlessness of the assault.

The kinetic surge spread beyond the throne room, rippling through the fortress and the surrounding landscape.

Cyborg frigates and fighters in the vicinity dropped from the sky, their systems fried.

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