The lift doors opened to blinding sunlight and chaos. The streets of Ishtar's Crown were no longer still — Custodian guards in white-and-gold armor swarmed in tight formations, blocking intersections, setting up plasma cannons on rooftops. The wail of sirens echoed off the sandstone walls.
Meera's voice crackled in Ashoka's earpiece. "Commander, the Custodian air guard just scrambled their skiffs. I'm reading a dozen, maybe more, converging on your position. And…" There was a pause. "…Ashoka, the hunters are here. They just dropped out of warp in high orbit."
Of course they were.
"Tell Praveen to warm up the main guns," Ashoka said, keeping his pace steady as he moved through the narrow streets toward the landing pad. "And keep the Aryavarta's shields between you and the hunter formation until I'm aboard."
A squad of Custodian guards rounded the corner ahead, rifles raised. Ashoka ducked into an alley, the heat from a plasma bolt scorching the wall beside him. He thumbed his comm. "Riya — light smoke along the pad perimeter. Make it thick."
By the time he reached the Aryavarta's landing bay, the air shimmered with white vapor, cutting visibility to a few meters. Shadows of Custodian soldiers moved at the edges, but none dared push into the smoke without covering fire.
Ashoka sprinted up the ramp, the hum of the ship's engines vibrating through the deck plates. "Lift us, now," he ordered.
The Aryavarta rose from the pad with a deep, resonant roar, the smoke billowing below. Almost instantly, the first wave of Custodian skiffs dove in, their sleek hulls glinting in the sun. Plasma bolts lit the air. The Aryavarta's dorsal turrets spat return fire, ripping through the lead skiff's engines.
"Sir, hunter ships closing from high orbit — eight of them," Praveen reported. "They're breaking formation, trying to pin us between them and the Custodian fleet."
Ashoka took the command chair. "Then we'll punch straight through before the jaws close. Helm, vector for high atmosphere — full burn. Weapons, priority fire on any ship that moves to block us."
The Aryavarta surged upward, cutting through the thin upper clouds as the Custodian fleet tried to close ranks. Two larger war-barges moved to intercept, their mirrored hulls reflecting the blinding sun.
"Target the lead barge," Ashoka ordered. "Main guns — now."
A brilliant spear of plasma lanced from the Aryavarta, tearing through the war-barge's shield array and detonating along its starboard flank. The second barge veered off, leaving a gap just wide enough to push through.
But the hunters had anticipated the move. Four black-hulled ships dropped from high orbit directly into the escape vector, their crimson energy lines flaring as they powered weapons.
"Brace!" Meera called out as the first hunter volley slammed into the Aryavarta's forward shields.
Ashoka's mind raced. If they slugged it out here, they'd be overwhelmed before clearing the planet's gravity well. He needed an opening — fast.
"Praveen," Ashoka said, "vent the auxiliary coolant into the forward conduits. Helm, on my mark, flip us one-eighty, fire everything, then burn past them on a lateral vector."
The maneuver was insane — and exactly what they needed.
"Mark!"
The Aryavarta spun sharply, spewing a cloud of superheated vapor that confused the hunters' targeting systems. Turrets roared in a coordinated barrage, pounding two ships into retreat. The others scrambled to realign — just as the Aryavarta banked hard and shot past them, breaking free into open space.
"Clear of gravity well," Riya confirmed. "Jump coordinates locked."
"Punch it," Ashoka said.
The stars stretched into lines, and the world of Serekh vanished behind them.
Ashoka leaned back in his chair, the golden pulse of the new relic fragment faint against his hip. They'd escaped — but barely. And the hunters wouldn't stop now.
Somewhere ahead lay the third fragment… and a war that was drawing closer with every jump.