Ellara stood at the center of the bridge, eyes locked on the flickering surface data in the holographic projection. The underground tunnel system of **Blackstone Planet** stretched like a labyrinth — rivers of magma carved natural channels that glowed in blinding orange-red on the thermal imaging feed.
"Activate high-temperature resistance scanners," she said, lightly touching the console as her cybernetic eye synchronized with the ship's sensors. "Saint Dove Core, generate a 3D terrain model."
The blackstone cores embedded in the tunnel walls shimmered with eerie violet light under the searchlights. X10's mechanical arms carefully extracted samples when suddenly, an alarm shattered the silence.
**"Bio-signature detected!"** The FG3000 captain's voice was tight with tension. **"Distance: 200 meters — closing fast!"**
The rock walls began to tremble unnaturally. Then, with a violent burst, a massive **lava worm** erupted from the ground. Its dark red body was armored with cooled basalt plates, and its maw exhaled scalding steam. Ellara instantly pulled up the database — this was a native lifeform of Blackstone Planet, over fifty meters long, feeding off geothermal energy.
**"Fire!"**
Blue pulses from the railguns lit up the narrow tunnel. The worm let out a subsonic roar that rattled the hull. It coiled and slammed into the wall, sending large chunks of blackstone crashing down. A sharp shard sliced across Ellara's cheek, and blue hydraulic fluid seeped from the wound.
**"Commander!"** An engineer started to rush forward.
"Keep firing!" She wiped away the fluid, her cybernetic eye locking onto the creature's segmented joints. "Target the third segment — that's its neural cluster!"
The FG3000 railgun completed its charge, launching specialized armor-piercing rounds. The nano-core projectiles tore through the worm's carapace like paper, releasing superheated lava that splattered against the ceiling, carving out honeycomb-shaped craters in the rock.
As the tremors subsided, Ellara suddenly pressed a hand to her earpiece.
"Wait… that frequency doesn't match the quake pattern…"
Saint Dove Core's projection flared violently. **"Massive tectonic activity detected! It's the privateers — they've launched orbital seismic missiles!"**
The entire tunnel began to collapse. Ellara slammed into the command console — the holographic display exploded into a thousand shards of light. Through the cracks in the collapsing rock, she caught sight of the enemy fleet above, and among them — the *Shadowfall*, a **Phantom-class light cruiser**, just finishing its weapon discharge.
Its sleek frame was shedding optical camouflage, revealing the menacing barrels beneath its stealth coating.
**"Full speed — get us out of here!"** she roared, slamming the emergency thruster button.
*The Nameless*'s engines ignited with blinding blue fire, scraping past the crumbling rock face as it broke through to the surface. Burning debris followed like falling meteors, plunging into the magma sea and sending hundred-meter-high fire waves skyward.
**"Port shield collapsed! Temperature sensors are overloaded!"** came the distorted voice of damage control.
Ellara gripped the command chair through the violent shaking. The Phantom-class cruiser was forming up for another attack run, its quantum vacuum fluctuation engine leaving strange ripples in space-time. Suddenly, Saint Dove Core highlighted a reading in red:
**"Warning! Detected launch signature of 'Oblivion Shadow' missiles!"**
The warhead streaked toward them at 0.95c — carrying a **micro-singularity generator**. Ellara's pupils constricted — standard evasive maneuvers wouldn't be enough. She yanked open the emergency panel beneath the console, revealing a crimson palm scanner pulsing with cold light.
**"Initiate Time Shard Protocol."**
Silence fell across the bridge — absolute and unnatural. Saint Dove Core froze mid-projection, glowing ice-blue. Droplets of hydraulic fluid hung motionless in mid-air. Ellara felt an otherworldly force wrap around *The Nameless* — a forbidden relic she had obtained in the Wastes of Time. Every use carried irreversible damage.
The missile halted three hundred meters from the bow. She could see the oscillating anti-matter containment ring, the nascent singularity forming inside. More blue fluid leaked from her eye, but she reached trembling fingers toward the holographic interface.
**"Redefine local spacetime parameters."**
A bone-crushing distortion surged through her body as space itself twisted around *The Nameless*. The missile reversed course impossibly, screaming back toward the Phantom-class cruiser. The enemy captain's horrified face vanished as the ship was consumed by the black hole, its structure dissolving into fundamental particles amid bursts of Hawking radiation.
The time-stasis field collapsed in an instant.
Ellara collapsed to her knees, coughing up blood. Saint Dove Core scanned her vitals in distress — but Ellara's gaze remained fixed beyond the viewport, where a new anomaly had just appeared in space.
It was a jet-black warship, angular and brutal in design. The **Kuki Industries** insignia was unmistakable. Emerging like a ghost from a Corridor rift, it powered up eight **'Worldbreaker' cannons** — the *Blackrock*-class heavy assault carrier, the privateers' true ace.
**"Commander! The blackstone core—"** An engineer burst in, holding the newly collected sample, only to freeze at the sight outside.