The bridge of the Celestial Vanguard didn't hum to life; it groaned. It was the sound of a beast waking up from a very long, very cold hibernation.
"Okay, 'Starborn'," the AI's hologram flickered, turning into a tapping foot. "You said 'wake the dragon.' Metaphorically, that's cute. But literally? I need about 1.21 gigawatts of raw power, and I don't see a plug socket."
Kael kept his hand on the console. The cold metal was warming up, responding to the strange, thrumming energy in his blood. "It's not a metaphor," he muttered, his eyes squeezed shut. "I can feel... a heartbeat."
"Heartbeat?" The AI paused. "Kid, check your oxygen levels. This is a Heavy Cruiser Class-4. We run on ionization, not cardio."
SCREEEEEECH.
The sound of tearing metal echoed through the ship. Sparks showered down from the airlock door at the far end of the bridge corridor. The tip of a Vorthax plasma-cutter—a spinning blade of red energy—punched through the heavy blast doors.
"They're knocking!" the AI yelled, her avatar turning red. "And they aren't selling cookies! Do the magic thing! Now!"
Kael didn't know how to do the magic thing. He just knew the feeling of the Cube in his satchel, and the burning sensation in his chest. He visualized that fire flowing down his arm, into the console.
Feed the fire, the voice in his head whispered. The Sky-Drake hungers.
"Wake up!" Kael screamed, shoving both hands onto the interface.
A shockwave blasted outward from him. It wasn't electricity; it was a ripple of pure, azure light. It raced through the circuitry of the bridge, illuminating lines of code on the walls that looked less like programming and more like glowing runes.
The ship shuddered.
Thump-thump.
The sound was massive, deep enough to rattle Kael's teeth.
"Whoa," the AI said, her voice dropping an octave. "My sensors... I'm reading a biological signature in the engine room. A massive biological signature."
"I told you," Kael gasped, sweat dripping down his nose. "The Dragon."
CLANG.
The blast doors flew inward. Smoke billowed onto the bridge. Three Vorthax Skulkers stepped through the haze, their optical sensors locking onto Kael.
"Target: Starborn," the lead Skulker droned. It raised its arm cannon. "Priority: Dissect."
"Dissect?" Kael's eyes went wide. "I vote no!"
"Defensive systems offline!" the AI panicked. "I can't shoot them! I'm barely running life support!"
The Vorthax fired. Three bolts of red plasma screamed across the room.
Kael threw his hands up, bracing for death.
But the death didn't come.
A wall of shimmering, hexagonal scales materialized out of thin air in front of him. The plasma bolts slammed into the barrier and dissipated into harmless smoke.
The ship spoke. Not the AI. The Ship.
"VERMIN."
The voice didn't come from speakers. It vibrated through the floor plates. It was ancient, arrogant, and incredibly angry.
The Skulkers paused, their logic processors struggling to compute.
"Unauthorized bio-signature detected," the Skulker beeped.
"Unauthorized?" The ship's voice boomed. "YOU DARE BOARD MY CARAPACE?"
Sudden movement erupted from the floor. Cables—thick, black bio-cables—shot out from the walls like snakes. They weren't just wires; they were muscular, pulsing with blue light. The cables lashed out, wrapping around the Vorthax soldiers.
"Warning. Structural integrity failing," the Skulker chirped before a cable tightened around its torso and crushed it like a soda can. Metal shrieked, oil sprayed, and the Vorthax unit crumbled into scrap.
The other two opened fire on the walls, but the ship seemed to absorb the energy.
"Vent them," Kael said, the idea popping into his head. "Blow the airlock!"
"On it!" the AI shouted. "Override accepted!"
The blast doors behind the Skulkers slammed open. The vacuum of space roared, creating a violent cyclone. The debris, the crushed Vorthax, and the remaining two soldiers were sucked backward. Their magnetic boots tried to hold on, but the bio-cables whipped them, knocking them loose.
With a final mechanical shriek, they were ejected into the void. The doors slammed shut.
Silence returned to the bridge, save for the heavy breathing of Kael and the soft whir of the rebooting systems.
"Okay," the AI said, her avatar reappearing. She looked frazzled. "That was... new. I've been the Operating System of this vessel for three millennia, and I never knew I had 'Killer Tentacles' mode."
"It's not a mode," Kael said, collapsing into the captain's chair. He felt drained, like he'd just run a marathon. "It's him. The ship... it's alive."
The lights on the bridge dimmed, then flared to full power. The main viewscreen flickered on. Outside, the debris field of Sector 4 floated peacefully. But in the distance, Kael saw them—a swarm of Vorthax fighter drones, buzzing like angry hornets, heading their way.
"We have company," Kael said. "Lots of it."
"LET THEM COME," the deep voice rumbled again.
"Who are you?" the AI asked, looking around the room. "I'm the OS. You're... hardware?"
"I am Ignis," the voice growled. "The Last Ember. And I have been asleep too long. My joints are stiff."
"Ignis?" Kael asked.
"The Boy carries the Spark," Ignis said. "You woke me, Starborn. Now, steer me. Or we die."
"Steer you?" Kael looked at the complex array of controls. "I don't know how to fly a starship!"
"I do!" the AI interjected. "I can handle navigation and thrusters. You just need to keep the juice flowing. You are the battery, kid. Ignis is the engine. I'm the steering wheel. We're a team. A very dysfunctional team."
"Incoming missiles!" Kael yelled, pointing at the screen. Six trails of smoke were spiraling toward them.
"Hang on to your lunch!" the AI screamed.
The ship didn't just accelerate; it lunged. The sensation wasn't like a mechanical thruster firing. It felt like a giant beast kicking off the ground.
The Celestial Vanguard shot forward with a roar that defied the vacuum of space. The G-force pinned Kael to the seat.
"Evasive maneuvers!" the AI shouted.
The ship spun, dodging the missiles with a fluidity that was impossible for a vessel of its size. It moved like a bird, not a brick.
"They're locking on again!" Kael warned. "We can't outrun them forever!"
"WE DO NOT RUN," Ignis rumbled. "WE BURN."
"Open the solar-fins!" Kael shouted, interpreting the dragon's intent. "He wants to breathe!"
"Opening thermal vents!" the AI confirmed.
On the exterior of the ship, massive armored plates shifted and opened like wings. From the front of the vessel—which Kael now realized was shaped vaguely like a dragon's maw—a gathering light began to build.
It wasn't plasma. It was fire. Cosmic, magical fire.
"DRACARYS... or whatever the kids say these days," the AI muttered.
A beam of concentrated stellar flame erupted from the ship. It swept across the swarm of Vorthax drones. They didn't explode; they melted. The beam cut through the dark sky, incinerating everything in its path.
"Whoa," Kael breathed.
"Hyperspace drive charging," the AI announced. "We need to get out of this system before the Capital Ships arrive. Destination?"
Kael looked at the star map. He didn't know where to go. He was a scavenger who had never left the junk belt.
Seek the Anchor, the Cube's voice whispered in his mind. The Desert of Lost Time.
"Set course for the coordinates I'm sending you," Kael said.
"That sector?" The AI looked skeptical. "That's the Rogue Zone. Time flows backward there sometimes. It's a graveyard."
"Perfect," Kael grinned, his fear finally giving way to the thrill of the adventure. "Nobody will look for us in a graveyard."
"HOLD FAST," Ignis commanded.
The stars outside the window stretched into long lines of light. The ship shook violently, then, with a sound like a thunderclap, they vanished into the slipstream, leaving the Vorthax swarm biting at empty space.
Kael slumped back in the chair. He was alive. He had a magic dragon ship. He had a sarcastic AI.
And he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
"So," the AI said, popping up on the armrest of his chair. "I'm E.L.I.S. Enhanced Logical Interface System. But you can call me Elis. Since we're going to die together, we should be on a first-name basis."
"I'm Kael," he said.
"Nice to meet you, Kael," Elis said. "Now, would you mind telling me why you have a glowing rock in your bag that smells like the end of the universe?"
Kael looked at his satchel. "It's a long story."
"We're in hyperspace," Elis said. "We have nothing but time."
End of Chapter 2