he time between the strategy session and midnight was a frantic period of focused preparation. Anya worked feverishly over the recovered nutrient cable. She borrowed some sophisticated analysis tools from the Palace clinic under the guise of preparing specialized nutrient packs for the delegation. Within hours, she had her results.
"The nutrient is a highly concentrated botanical serum—derived from a rare, neuro-stimulant moss found only in Sovereign Empire's deep mines. It rapidly heightens Gift sensitivity but is toxic to the nervous system over prolonged exposure. It explains the Captain's tremors. To neutralize it, I need to introduce a heavy alkaloid agent—a common mineral found near the old Royal Docks. Willow, you need to collect it." Anya informed the team.
Willow took the mission immediately. Her speed was perfect for the task; she could move through the abandoned, broken infrastructure, identify the mineral vein Anya needed, and return before the night cycle shifted.
Sir Eryndor returned from the Docks with his report. "The hydro-generator is massive, Your Highness. The main turbine and power couplings are intact but dormant. It will be a simple matter to reroute the energy flow, but we need raw power to engage the coupling remotely. Mira Lune's Gift will be perfect for that."
Mira Lune was unnerved by the risk, but resolute. "My fire is pure energy. I can heat the coils and force the magnetic coupling to engage, but it will take all my focus."
As midnight approached, the team gathered for the final briefing.
Vaelorian speaking to the team. "The plan is a coordinated strike at 12:30 AM—the peak of Valerius's broadcast. Phase One, the Infiltration. Sir Eryndor will teleport Riven and Barron directly to the hidden maintenance tunnel leading into the hydro-generator facility at the Royal Docks. Willow will already be there with the mineral counter-agent. Phase Two, the Redirection of power. Riven and Barron will secure the area. Mira Lune will use her fire to generate the massive heat needed to engage the dormant hydro-generator coupling, effectively turning it into a temporary energy sink. Phase Three, the Attack. While the machine is running, Sir Eryndor will teleport Anya into the tower itself, using the few seconds of distraction. Anya will inject the alkaloid agent into the nutrient vat. Phase Four, the Suppression. Riven and I will maintain a telepathic connection. We'll create a powerful counter-force, a 'mental dampener' that suppresses Valerius's concentration at the critical moment."
Riven (Telepathy) to Vaelorian: Suppressing his Gift at peak broadcast is dangerous, Your Highness. He might lash out. Let me do it alone.
Vaelorian (Telepathy) to Riven: We're gambling here, my love. I can't let you do this alone. If we break his focus together, the machine will be unstable. The sudden energy drain from the Docks will destabilize the system, and Anya's counter-agent will destroy the nutrient supply. The tower will shut down, but Valerius will survive, giving Anya a chance to act.
Seeing the logic in Vaelorian's words, Riven agreed with a discreet nod.
At 12:20 AM, the Sovereign capital was dark and quiet. Vaelorian stood in the suite, closing his eyes, focusing his mind to maintain the five simultaneous telepathic connections.
Meanwhile, Sir Eryndor gripped Riven and Barron, and they vanished, reappearing instantly inside the cavernous, damp space of the old hydro-generator.
Willow, waiting there with a sack of crystalline white mineral, immediately handed it to Barron. "Barron, get this into the primary water pump before the pressure builds. It has to dissolve quickly."
Mira Lune stood before the massive, rusted coupling, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "I need three seconds of pure heat to engage it. Be ready to redirect the energy flow."
Anya (Telepathy) to Vaelorian: I am ready, Your Highness. The moment he acts, send me in.
12:30 AM. The precise moment Valerius began his broadcast.
In the suite, Vaelorian felt a sudden, aggressive mental pulse—Valerius's influence washing over the city, a wave of subtle, pervasive control.
Vaelorian (Telepathy) to Riven: Now. Suppress him!
Riven's eyes snapped open. He and Vaelorian focused their combined Gift, a heavy blanket of mental silence, smothering Valerius's concentrated broadcast. Inside the tower, Valerius suddenly flinched, his eyes wide, a trickle of blood starting from his nose. His concentration fractured. The central crystal sphere began to vibrate violently.
Sir Eryndor (Telepathy) to Vaelorian: It's working. We need Anya in there now!
Vaelorian (Telepathy) to Sir Eryndor: Get Anya in there. Go now!
Sir Eryndor teleported Anya directly into the heart of the tower. She moved with blinding speed, using her Gift to force open the rusted nozzle of the nutrient vat and slam the alkaloid powder into the thick, dark fluid. The fluid immediately began to hiss and bubble, turning a sickly yellow-green.
Simultaneously, at the Docks, Mira Lune unleashed her fire. A searing, white-hot torrent erupted from her palms, bathing the hydro-coupling in heat. The ancient metal screamed, and then, with a heavy CLANG, the coupling engaged. The old generator roared to life, pulling immense energy from the grid.
Back in the tower, the crystal sphere pulsed erratically, starving for its stable power and its nutrient. The system buckled, overloaded by the sudden, massive energy drain and the compromised nutrient.
With a final, shattering CRACK, the tower's central crystal sphere exploded internally, the shockwave silent but devastating to the sensitive equipment. The broadcast was over.
Vaelorian (Telepathy) to Team: It's done! Withdraw! Now!
Sir Eryndor instantly retrieved Anya from the tower and then teleported to the Docks, snatching Riven, Barron, and Mira Lune in a rapid sequence.
The air in the Imperial suite fractured with a sharp crack of displaced atmosphere as Sir Eryndor completed the last extraction. One by one, the team stumbled into the room, gasping for breath as the adrenaline of the midnight strike began to fade into a bone-deep exhaustion.
Riven leaned heavily against the mahogany desk, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge. His eyes were still dilated from the intensity of the mental suppression he had shared with Vaelorian. Across the room, Mira Lune slumped into an armchair, her hands still faintly glowing a dull orange as they slowly cooled from the white-hot intensity required at the docks.
Vaelorian: "Everyone, check in. Anya? Status Report."
Anya, wiping a smudge of yellow-green residue from her glove. "I'm intact. The nutrient vat is completely compromised. The alkaloid reacted even faster than I predicted. Between the chemical crystallization and the energy vacuum from the docks, that crystal didn't just stop—it disintegrated."
Willow spoke next. "The docks are silent. The generator is back in its dormant state, and I cleared the mineral sacks. To any Sovereign investigator, it'll just look like a freak mechanical failure caused by a surge in the old grid."
Barron shapeshifted from the likeness of a Sovereign guard back into his own form, shedding the heavy armor with a sigh of relief. He looked toward the window, where the silhouette of the distant sea tower stood dark against the moonlit horizon before speaking.
"Valerius survived. I saw him clutching his head as the system blew. He was alive when Eryndor snatched Anya out, but he looked like someone who had just had his entire world rearranged from the inside out."
"The spatial ripple from the explosion was localized. The Sovereign Palace will be in an uproar by dawn, but there is no evidence tying the malfunction to this suite. I've scrubbed the teleportation signatures." Sir Eryndor informed Vaelorian.
Vaelorian walked to the center of the room, his gaze moving from one friend to the next. The mental dampener had taken a toll on him, leaving a dull throb behind his eyes, but his posture remained rigid.
"Good job everyone. But it's not completely yet. He will be suspicious. He knows what he felt—the feeling of a power that shouldn't be here. But he has no proof. We have neutralized the weapon and protected the Sovereign people without firing a single shot of open war. Princess Lyra will take things from here."
The tower was disabled. Valerius was silenced for now, and no one in the Sovereign capital knew the Imperial delegation had just saved their future.