The realization struck him hard—someone from within the Empire itself was behind this. According to his knowledge, this mission was known only to a select few: the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and the First Princess.
He knew the mission was far too important—perhaps critical to the Empire's very existence. If the intel about the weapon was true, the stakes were beyond imagination. But Ranger chose to set those thoughts aside and focus on the present.
He turned to me, his expression grim. "What are your orders, sir?" he asked in a serious tone.
For now, survival was the priority. And with me being the highest-ranking officer present, the responsibility was mine. The choice was mine. What would we do next? Could I get us out of this situation alive?
Alive—just like I had managed in countless situations before. Though I'll admit, this one was by far the hardest I'd ever faced. But hey, I'm a warrior. And a proud one at that. I won't accept defeat without a fight. That's my price—either I survive trying, or I die doing it.
"And this is what I'll do," I said under my breath.
I glanced at Admiral Ranger but didn't answer him directly. Instead, I turned sharply to the special operations officer stationed near the aft console—he was in charge of one of the most critical systems aboard our ship.
A system built precisely for situations like this.
But before giving him the go-ahead, I issued one more command.
"Initiate evasive maneuvers—now. While we're still inside hyperspace. Do everything possible to keep us in the corridor just a little longer."
The navigation team moved instantly, scrambling to reorient the ship's path. I knew it wouldn't hold us for long—we were already being dragged out—but even seconds could make a difference.
Then I turned back to the special officer.
"Status of the Phantom Leap Drives?"
He didn't answer immediately—just checked a nearby panel, then nodded."Charged at 27 percent, sir."
Exactly what I'd hoped.
Protocol required a minimum 20% charge at all times. We were lucky.
The Phantom Leap Drive—our emergency short-range teleportation system—was designed to extract a vessel from precisely this kind of trap: blocked trajectories, spatial ambushes, and gravity well snares. Each ship in the fleet had one, though capabilities varied by class.
At 20–30% charge, we could leap anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 kilometers—not enough to escape the system entirely, but maybe enough to get us out of direct fire or break a lock.
Our destroyer was equipped with a Class-2 Phantom Drive—heavier, more powerful. Frigates in the fleet had Class-1 systems, still capable of short leaps—likely around 10,000 meters at this charge level.
It wasn't perfect.
But it was something.
And right now, in a system crawling with hidden enemies and hostile tech, something was better than nothing.
"Good," William muttered—more to himself than anyone else. Not out of pride. Out of relief.
He'd quietly feared sabotage. Trust ran deep in his fleet, but betrayal had already brought them this far. Someone had sold them out. And if he made it through this, he'd find out who—and deal with them personally.
At least the Phantom Drive was operational. That meant the trap wasn't airtight. And he wouldn't need to keep one eye on his own crew.
He turned to the comms officer.
"Relay to the entire fleet: Prepare Phantom Drives for immediate activation. Once we're forced out of hyperspace, I want each ship to leap in a different direction. Repeat—different directions. Immediately."
He let the words hang for a moment.
"Expect heavy fire the second we drop. Raise shields as soon as the jump completes. No formation, no regrouping—this is survival protocol. Scatter, evade, and escape."
The command deck went silent. No questions. No hesitation.
"Good," William said. "Whether we survive this ambush depends on timing—and luck. Don't assume for a second that getting out of the gravity well means we're safe."
He paused briefly, then continued, his voice steady.
"This trap wasn't set yesterday. It was built for us. Our enemy's had time to prepare for every textbook move. But even the perfect plan has cracks. Find one—and stay alive."
He scanned the bridge. Steady hands. Focused eyes.
"May the stars protect us. Over and out."
Then William turned to the navigation officer.
"Stop resisting the gravity well. Let it pull us out of hyperspace."
The officer nodded tightly and disengaged the counter-thrust systems. A subtle tremor passed through the ship. The same ripple hit the rest of the fleet's vessels.
Four ships in total. Five with his.
Next, he faced the special systems officer.
"Activate the Phantom Drive the second we exit hyperspace. No delay. Repeat—no delay."
The officer nodded firmly, already at work. "Coordinates are locked, Commander. Randomized offset protocols confirmed and active."
Good. At least someone was taking this as seriously as he was.
William moved to the shield station.
"Raise all shields to full power. We're going to be fired on the moment we drop, and it won't be gentle. Brace for impact."
Admiral Ranger stepped up beside him, grim as ever.
"They know this system better than we do," the admiral said. "They'll hit us fast and hard—try to destroy us before we can jump."
William nodded, the temperature in the command room seeming to drop under the weight of what they were about to face.
One mistake, and the entire fleet—all of them—would be vapor.
He confirmed with the weapons officer that all systems were online and armed. If they made it out, they'd likely land right into another setup.
He inhaled slowly and braced.
Everyone did.
The pull intensified. The starry corridor of hyperspace began to ripple, distort… and then—darkness.
The pull intensified. The starry corridor of hyperspace began to ripple and distort… then—darkness. Before him stretched a vast emptiness, but slowly, a star-filled expanse emerged into view.
They were out.
Just as William had predicted, a hail of fire greeted them the moment they emerged into real space. Blaster lances. Torpedoes. Beam weapons. They came at them like a wave.
Each ship in the fleet flared instantly to life—shields surging as they braced for the impact of the enemy battle cruisers' unleashed fury.
Explosions bloomed all around them. The space outside lit up crimson with energy bursts and streaking plasma. A battlefield had opened around them the instant they dropped out of hyperspace.
Our shields were being hammered relentlessly.Five enemy destroyers and four battlecruisers unleashed hell on us.
The ship's shielding shimmered and fluctuated under the stress.And let me make this clear—not even a full second had passed yet.
We were running Tier-1 shields—top-tier defensive tech, capable of withstanding direct hits from battleships—for a while.
But this wasn't just a "while." And it wasn't a single battleship. It was multiple battlecruisers and frigates, all firing their main weapons at us with ruthless precision. This wasn't a skirmish—it was an ambush, designed to crush us on contact.
Our ship—Phantom, a destroyer-class vessel—was holding up, but the lighter frigates in our fleet were already on the verge of collapse. The only reason they hadn't gone down yet was because Phantom, William's ship, had taken the brunt of the assault. The enemy focused their heaviest bombardment on us, not our sister ships.
If we took one more volley, their shields would fail—then the hulls would follow.
Admiral Ranger's voice cut through the chaos outside."These aren't just pirates—not that we ever really believed that. But this formation, this intensity, this precision… this is military precision."
Before William could answer him, the special systems officer called out.
"Sir! The Phantom Drives are charged and locked. All fleet ships report ready."
he turned toward him, eyes sharp."Then do it. What are you waiting for? Activate!"
The comms link opened, and the other ships heard the order.
Just before the second wave of enemy bombardment hit us...
A burst of translucent energy surged around each of our ships—And woosh—we vanished.
The space we had just occupied was consumed in a storm of crimson energy, detonations shaking the void. Missiles and laser fire slammed into empty space.
If we'd stayed a few milliseconds longer... we'd have been turned to ash.
Elsewhere, 2,000 kilometers away, Phantom reappeared in the far reaches of the same star system. The jump had saved us—but only barely.
Our sister ships had scattered in different directions, jumping as instructed. Most were already charging their warp drives to escape the system entirely. Their Phantom Drives needed time to reset and reboot, and their main FTL drives were still cycling. Knowing they wouldn't get another chance to use the Phantom Drive—it was on cooldown—they were making the best of what they had: the warp drive.
Even though they were only running on Warp Factor-1, it would be enough to put some distance between them and this kill zone. With luck, they might just escape the star system. The crews onboard knew one thing for sure—they weren't the target.
Back aboard the Phantom, Admiral Ranger and I weren't relaxing. If anything, we were more tense than before.