Page 174 of Stars in Umbra
Rina stared at the ceiling. A hum of medical light pulsed overhead.
‘This might be the hope he needs to continue,’ Mirage added.
Rina pressed a hand to her belly.
She sensed the hum of life inside her, created by their shared passion and incandescence.
She nodded with a sigh. ‘Naam,’ she whispered. ‘You’re right. I’ll let him know as soon as we’re all safe.’
Mo strode back into the bomber’s bridge to its massive viewscreen.
He reached over the holo panel and activated the manual override on the vessel’s controls.
He spoke to the rudimentary AI that was piloting the ship. ‘Destination change: Alphetraz binary system. All safety protocols off.’
When a screen blinked asking for this authority to countermand, he slammed his hand onto it and let his god energy leak.
In a flash of radiance, it rewrote the code, and the AI responded, bowing to his will.
The bomber whined, its engines kicking into peak burn as it executed a turn in high G.
The nav-feed glowed red as the route locked, a direct vector into the heart of the searing twin stars.
Mo didn’t linger.
He strode once more to the exterior, touched his gear, and his HUD shimmered on his life.
With an inhale, he launched into the expanse.
His body blurred into motion, cutting through the thinning atmosphere with supernatural velocity, trailing streaks of celestial light.
Behind him, the bomber gathered speed, heading to the glowing duplicate astral objects as it executed Mo’s final command:Detonate on impact.
He reached the safe zone, hovering weightless in the void, anchored only by the gravity tether of his suit.
Then, he twisted, eyes on the show.
The bomber struck the binary system with the fury of a god’s wrath.
A detonation bloomed across the stars, rupturing the horizon in a burning, golden bloom that clawed toward the heavens.
Arcs of liquefied, hued light streamed like molten rivers through the skies of Eden II and beyond, lighting up the moon planet in waves of kaleidoscopic brilliance.
Thunder rolled seconds later, booming as the blast’s energy wave washed over, echoing through Mo’s bones.
He hovered in silence. In stillness, in inevitability.
Mirage, please report.
Her dulcet voice flowed through his neural node.She’s safe, Mo. Resting. Half-awake. She’s got eyes on the pyrotechnics in the sky like it’s a dream.
He exhaled, closing his eyes for just a moment.
His fury ebbed.
The divine storm within him subsided.
Well done, soldier,Mirage murmured.I see you. You can set your weapons down now. It’s time to indulge in what matters: family and love.
