Ellara stood on the bridge of *The Nameless*, her cybernetic eye's blue glow reflecting against the viewport. The projection of **Saint Dove Core** shimmered faintly over the control panel, its silvery wing-edges pulsing like flowing currents of electricity. She watched as the base grew smaller in the distance, its engineering lights blinking like fireflies scattered across the void. "All ships report ready," Kirah's voice came through the comm, tinged with uncharacteristic wistfulness. He stood at the edge of the Universal Port, watching Ellara's fleet drift away. The searchlights of the X10 engineering vessel carved luminous arcs through the asteroid belt, while the FG3000 frigates ignited their ion thrusters, leaving pale blue trails behind. On the *Steel Dove*'s hull, the fresh scars of repairs gleamed faintly under the starlight. Suddenly, Saint Dove Core's image sharpened. "Quantum fluctuations at the Lagrange node are intensifying. Recommend immediate activation of the warp drive." For the first time, a subtle tremor entered her voice — as if some ancient subroutine stirred within the data stream. Ellara's fingers brushed the core of the Saint Core AI embedded in the console, where scorch marks from the battle with the **Fuser** still lingered. "Initiate jump protocol." She pressed her palm onto the biometric panel. A deep blue light flared at the interface of her mechanical right arm. The hull of *The Nameless* began to vibrate, and the Lyman Crystals embedded in the armor hummed with low resonance. Saint Dove Core's projection expanded across the bridge, dissolving into countless motes of light that seeped into every corner of the ship. As the warp engines bathed the bridge in blue, Ellara caught sight of Kirah waving from the port. The ever-composed technician now wiped his eyes with trembling fingers. Over the Universal Port's broadcast system, his voice cracked: **"May the stars guide your course, Captain."** In the moment of the jump, Ellara's consciousness was pulled into chaos. Countless visions of galaxies flickered before her — the ruins corrupted by the Fuser, the dark matter trails left by the Obsidian Legion, and the rift Saint Dove Core had torn open in the depths of data space. Her cybernetic eye suddenly locked onto a familiar fluctuation — an ancient quantum beacon left behind by the Holy Empire, sending out a faint pulse from the far end of the galaxy. "Saint Dove Core…" she tried to speak, but her voice twisted into an archaic frequency, warped by the folds of spacetime. Saint Dove Core reformed before her, her data-stream wings solidifying into a hazy image — countless wrecks of *Nameless*-class ships drifting in the void, each one standing a captain with a cybernetic eye — all her. "This is no illusion," Saint Dove Core said, her tone heavier than ever. "We have found another version of ourselves in the folds of time. When the Fuser's corruption reaches the last thread of the Lagrange network, all possibilities will collapse into a single inevitable path." Ellara dug her mechanical fingers into her palm, the pain keeping her grounded. She knew this journey would take them beyond any known star system, possibly into dimensions sealed away by the Holy Empire itself. Yet, in that moment, she felt an eerie calm — the same quiet certainty she had once felt as a young scavenger on an asteroid mining colony, touching the wreck of *The Nameless* for the first time. "Adjust course," she said to the void. "Let's find the source of that signal. Whether it leads to hope or a trap… we must know the truth." With a thunderous roar, *The Nameless* tore through the fabric of space. On the bridge, Saint Dove Core unfolded a vast star map. Among countless glowing coordinates, one point pulsed with an eerie rhythm — as if waiting for the arrival of something long foretold. When the warp field finally dissipated, Ellara saw the planet suspended in the void. Its surface was covered in glowing veins, like the circulatory system of some colossal being. At its center floated a tower made entirely of black crystal. Saint Dove Core's projection flickered violently. **"Warning… This is the 'End Gate' of the Holy Empire — the legendary device connecting all possible realities."** Ellara focused her cybernetic eye on the tower. The glowing patterns were shifting, rearranging themselves into a symbol she recognized instantly — the very emblem engraved on the bow of *The Nameless*. In that moment, she understood. This journey across the stars had never been about war or survival. It had always been about finding the answer to a single question — **When the flame of civilization is swallowed by eternal darkness… who guards the last spark of hope?**
