The hyperspace jump was short and jagged. Two massive ships—one a heavy obsidian dragon, the other a sleek golden serpent—dropped out of warp in the shadow of a shattered moon.
Below them lay Junkyard Prime, a planet-sized graveyard of dead dreadnoughts and forgotten satellites. To anyone else, it was a tomb. To Kael, it looked like home.
"Aurelia is leaking chronometric fluid," Lyra said, her hands still dipped in the liquid-gold interface. She looked pale; the 500-year stasis had left her physically weak, even if her Starborn resonance was a staggering Tier 4.0. "And Ignis's forward shields are fused. We can't take another Vorthax ambush."
"I AM NOT LEAKING," Aurelia sniffed through the comms. "I AM PERSIPIRING WITH STYLE."
"You're dripping gold oil all over the vacuum, you overgrown necklace," Elis retorted from Ignis's speakers. "Kael, we need specialized cooling coils and a batch of Grade-A graviton flux. But this sector is a 'Dark Zone.' No trade, no allies."
Kael stood up, a spark in his eyes that hadn't been there when they were fighting Star-Eaters. "I don't need a trade post. I need ten minutes on the surface. I know this model of ship. The old Republic cruisers used the same coils."
Valerius looked out at the rust-colored world below. "You want to go 'diving' while a Vorthax fleet is hunting us?"
"Trust me, General," Kael said, grabbing his mag-gloves. "In a palace, I'm an outcast. In a junkyard, I'm a King."
The landing craft hissed as it touched down on a mountain of rusted hull plates. Kael, Lyra, and Valerius stepped out. The air smelled of ozone and ancient decay.
Lyra stumbled, her bare feet hitting the jagged metal. Kael caught her, pulling a spare pair of boots from his pack. "Here. The 'Sands of Time' are one thing, but 'Rusted Scrap' is another. Don't want you getting tetanus."
"Thank you, Kael," she whispered, looking around at the mountains of trash. "It's... overwhelming. So much history, just thrown away."
"It's not thrown away," Kael said, his mag-glove humming as he scanned a nearby pile. "It's just waiting to be useful again."
He closed his eyes, activating his Tier 2.2 resonance. Usually, he used his power to blast things. This time, he sent out a soft pulse—a "Sonar" of the soul. He wasn't looking for life; he was looking for intent. He was looking for the hum of a functioning coil.
"There," Kael pointed.
Deep inside a collapsed engine block of a 'Sun-Eater' class freighter, something was glowing.
As they climbed toward it, a group of small, red optical sensors blinked in the darkness. Scrap-Crabs. Six-legged maintenance droids that had gone feral over the centuries, building armor out of discarded kitchenware and weapon parts.
"Problem," Valerius said, drawing his sword.
"Don't hurt them!" Kael stepped forward. "They're just hungry for power."
Kael didn't attack. He held out the Starborn Cube. He allowed a tiny trickle of pure cosmic energy to leak out. The Scrap-Crabs hissed, scuttling closer, captivated by the blue light. They began to "purr"—a mechanical vibration of cooling fans.
"They'll help us," Kael said. "If I feed them a little spark, they'll dig out the coil for me."
Lyra watched him, her eyes wide. "You don't just command things, Kael. You... you listen to them."
"In the slums, if you don't listen to the machines, they explode on you," Kael joked.
Within minutes, the crabs had unbolted a pristine, vacuum-sealed cooling coil. Kael hoisted it onto his shoulder. "Got it. Let's get back to the—"
BOOM.
The sky above the junkyard turned red. A Vorthax Interceptor-Carrier dropped out of stealth, its massive shadow engulfing the scrap mountain.
"They tracked the gold-leak!" Valerius roared. "Kael, get the girl to the ship! I'll buy you time!"
"No," Lyra said. Her voice suddenly dropped an octave, resonating with power. She stood on the edge of the scrap pile, her silver hair whipping in the wind. "I am tired of hiding in suns. Kael, give me your hand."
"What are you doing?"
"Dual-Resonance," Lyra said. "Your raw Spark. My refined focus. Let's show them why the Starborn were feared."
Kael grabbed her hand. The power surge was like being hit by a freight train. His Tier 2.2 fused with her Tier 4.0.
A massive, golden-violet dragon avatar, made of pure energy, manifested above them. It was the size of a building. With a single roar, the avatar swiped its claws through the air.
The Vorthax Interceptor's shields didn't just fail; they shattered into glass-like shards. The ship veered off, its engines sputtering as the Starborn energy scrambled its logic-cores.
"Go!" Lyra gasped, the glow fading from her eyes as she slumped against him. "Before they... recalibrate."
Kael scooped her up in one arm and the coil in the other. "Valerius! Back to the ship! We're leaving!"
As they soared back toward the Vanguard, Kael looked at the coil. It was a small piece of junk, but it was the key to their survival. He realized then that he wasn't just a battery or a warrior. He was a Bridge.