Our ship, being a destroyer-class, was equipped with a dual FTL system. The primary was a Class-2 Hyperdrive—slower than top-tier models, but reliable. The auxiliary was a Warp Drive, rated at Factor-3—slightly faster than the ones installed on our sister ships, thanks to Phantom's enhanced power core.
It wasn't cutting-edge, but it was something. And right now, "something" was better than nothing.
"Engage the FTL," I ordered. "Plot a course out of this system—anywhere away from here."
And in a single moment—thanks to our advanced navigational systems and calibrated equipment—Phantom jumped into hyperspace.
Just as the phantom slipped into hyperspace, narrowly escaping the ambush, another ship—massive and unmistakable—dropped out right where Phantom had been moments before.
If William and his crew had seen it, they would've recognized it instantly. It was one of the battlecruisers that had been hammering them in that kill zone.
Inside that enemy vessel, a man stood at the command deck, dressed head-to-toe in a sleek black uniform.
"Status?" he asked, his voice calm—almost laid-back.
An officer turned to him."Sir, based on our sensors, they should have still been here—but it looks like they jumped using their auxiliary drives. We've managed to lock onto their exit vector."
"Then set a course for their exit point," the captain said coldly. "We'll arrive before they do—and wait for them."
He turned to his comm officer."Inform the others—we have the target's coordinates. Have all units converge there immediately. Let's finish this."
"Yes, Captain!" the officer saluted, already relaying the commands.
Back on the Phantom, some of the crew finally allowed themselves a sigh of relief.
But not me. And not Ranger.
We both felt it—this wasn't over.
An hour passed.Phantom was preparing to exit hyperspace.
"Commander," said the nav officer. "We're approaching re-entry into realspace."
I nodded, silent.
But the feeling in my chest—the pressure, the weight—only grew worse. A formless, choking instinct screamed at me.
We dropped out of hyperspace into what should've been a remote, empty sector of open space.
But it was too quiet.
Too still.
I frowned.
"Why do I still feel like we're in danger?"
I didn't have time to think further. The navigation officer's voice suddenly cut through the bridge.
"Sir, detecting vast spatial fluctuations— and same signature as the ships that hit us earlier!"
His face paled.
He slammed the alert button.
Alarms blared.
Admiral Ranger gritted his teeth."Proximity alert. They followed us."
William clenched his fists as the horrible truth sank in.
"They tracked our jump." I said grimly.
The nav officer shouted from below the command platform."Sir! They're exiting FTL—right on top of us!"
And then—one after another—massive ships began punching into real space.
Dozens of them.
Nearly a hundred.
Battlecruisers, destroyers—all exiting like a blade drawn across the void.
The officer choked on his words, but I finished them for him—voice cold, grim, final:
"They've brought numbers."
Back on the enormous ship, William watched his final moments unfold like a movie in front of him.
Despite being surrounded by enemies—this time in overwhelming numbers and scale—he felt calm.
Even in his mortal state, stripped of divine power and strength, William had not lost his resilient soul or unbreakable will.
He has witnessed countless cycles of creation and destruction—some brought about by his own hand. He has watched eras rise and fall, pass into dust, and he has seen it all. A being who has risen above any constraint that could hope to bind him. And now, a scene like this, playing out before him, meant nothing. His mortal form in a previous life situation held no sway over someone like him.
For anyone else—perhaps even a seasoned veteran—this would have been paralyzing event. The sight of such a crushing force would've shattered their will to move. It reminded William of Commodore Norrington: a man of pride and arrogance, someone who lived with the illusion of control until reality spiraled beyond his grasp, leading to his collapse at the end.
William could have ended up like that—if he hadn't been who he was.
Still, even he knew there was no way out this time.
Before, he had escaped situations like this using the Phantom Drive—even from the same enemy just moments ago—but now it was on cooldown. It would take hours to reset, a luxury he could no longer afford.
And he wasn't the only one aware of that. Admiral Ranger and the crew of the Phantom knew it, too.
Death was no longer a threat—it was a certainty.
Admiral Ranger and the crew of the Phantom knew it too—death was no longer approaching, it was inevitable.
William watched himself walking toward the central command console, hands steady as he began entering a series of commands. A red-tinted holographic interface materialized in front of him—clear indication that he had initiated the supercharge sequence for the Phantom's star engines.
The crimson glow didn't go unnoticed. The crew tensed. Admiral Ranger, his face grim and stone-like, finally spoke. His voice wasn't laced with hesitation or fear. It wasn't desperation that moved him—but the need to voice what everyone else was thinking.
He knew what William was doing. They all did.
The overcharged star core, the configuration—this wasn't an escape. It was a self-destruction protocol, one that would detonate with such force it would take the enemy fleet with it.
And yet, Ranger still asked the question echoing in every heart on that bridge.
"Commander… is there truly no way out of this? Do we really have to do this?"
He already knew the answer. But hope dies last.
William, calm and focused, didn't even pause as his fingers moved across the console, accelerating the sequence. His voice was steady, neutral.
"None that I can see, Darian. At this point, only a miracle can save us."
Then he looked up at the viewscreen. Enemy ships were forming ranks, surrounding them in a tightening ring of steel and fire.
"And that," William added, eyes fixed on the impossible odds, "seems unlikely."
He turned to face everyone present—his crew, his comrades—for what would likely be the final time.
Then, without a word, he resumed the final steps of the self-destruction protocol.
while thinking!!
It wasn't that William wanted to die.
But faced with the overwhelming number and power of the enemy, he knew there was nothing he could do to save them—not unless he could unleash his true power. And he couldn't. Not because someone else had stopped him, but because of the very restrictions he had placed on himself.
That, however, was another story.
The real issue now was the enemy. This was no ordinary threat. Their pursuit was too precise, their presence too calculated. They hadn't stumbled upon the Phantom—they had come for him, and they knew exactly where he was going.
And the ships surrounding them weren't random, patched-up junk just like Admiral Ranger had said. They were unified in design—coordinated, sleek. Tier-One class vessels, just like the Phantom.
While the Phantom, his current ship, was also a Tier-1 vessel, there were differences even within the same classification.
the Phantom was a different beast entirely. It was a masterpiece, crafted from the highest-grade materials and outfitted with cutting-edge tech, it outmatched most ships in its class. In fact, its capabilities could rival even top-tier battleships.
In many respects, it could rival even standard battleships, both in firepower and defense.
But even that had limits.
Yes, the Phantom could challenge a battleship. But it wasn't one. At its core, it was a destroyer—a sleek, powerful vessel, not designed to take on a fleet alone. Especially not a fleet this size, and certainly not when half of it included heavy cruisers.
There was no hope of victory in a direct confrontation. Even a covert escape was impossible. The combined firepower of the enemy would overwhelm the Phantom in minutes.