SABIRA AND THE others rushed to the eastern point of the sanctuary. The Safehold’s orbit had taken them out of the nebula, revealing a panorama of the Shattered Gates backlit by the milky wash of the Home Cluster’s many stars. Lightning crackled across the ancient megastructure, erratically silhouetting and strobing Krishnamurti Tower, the Shishiguchi, and the CDV Egalitaire.
“You should have let me go after her,” Sabira said. “Now she’s coming for us.”
“What do you mean?” Cal asked.
“She means Daggeira,” Gabriel’s gold-tinted eyes rolled up and to the side. “I linked with the Safehold’s command crew, asking them to notify our people out there to be on high alert.”
“Normally I’d say alert the Legacatic cruiser, as well, but they’re tense enough already,” Persia added.
Little torch blasts flared and subsided along the hull of the Republic cruiser as it maneuvered into a new position. The sword-shaped vessel pointed its sharp tip directly at the Gates.
“Can we get a zoom-in?” Sabira requested.
Persia blinked, and the monitor’s view whooshed past the tower until the Gates loomed large before them. The tremendous arcs of lighting grew brighter, more intense, culminating with a blinding, white-blue flash. A ship emerged from one of the triangular gateways, passing from impenetrable shadow into strobing, erratic light. Shaped like an elongated hexagon, it bristled with cannons.
“—That’s not the Theocrats.” Ed pointed all four hands toward the newly emerged vessel. “That’s a Monarchy warship!”
“A Vleez ship?” Aquila asked. “I thought the Vleez didn’t know how to use the Gates?”
“Only Adept Hanada knows the secret,” Gabriel replied.
“His father knew, too,” Sabira said. “Or at least enough of it.”
After the Vleez warship had fully emerged, intense pulses of lightning again consumed the Gates in their crackling light, building to another crescendo. The pointed prow of a second ship emerged from the darkness within. The regal silver and red of its biomech hull was scorched a messy black.
“—This new vessel appears to be a tetrahedron,” Jiddu said. “Is this the Godsfall weapon, Sabira?”
“No. That’s a Unity pyramid. The godsdamned Ihvik-Ri. My old battleship.”
“I thought the Holy Unity and the Monarchy were at war?” Persia asked.
“They most definitely are,” Gabriel said.
“Why are they together?” Aquila looked from face to face, hoping to find reassurance.
“We don’t have time to waste.” Sabira insisted. “Get me to Orion now and get the hell out of here.”
“What’s happening?” Persia asked.
“They’re snared. Should have seen it right away.” Gabriel rubbed his hand roughly over his scalp. “Just like we were.”
“Daggeira won’t be far behind,” Sabira said. “See me now. I know her. She’ll let me get close so that she can gloat. If I can get close, I can stop her.”
“No, don’t go again,” Cal said.
“Cal is right. We need to stay together,” Gabriel said. “I’ll contact the captain and inform him to warm up the slicer engines. Best to leave this to the military.”
“You saw what Godsfall did to that moon.” Cosmic lightning bolts cast spasms of shadow and light across their faces. “The Egalitaire is in just as much danger as we are. Daggeira’s already snared two warships.”
“She’s right,” Grandfather Spear said. “Sabira’s the only one who has a chance of getting close to Daggeira.”
The lightning suddenly stopped. Only the bloody red glow of the nebula illuminated the Shattered Gates. A third ship emerged from the dark, triangular portal—a six-sided diamond intersected by a sphere. Its surface, dark purple marbled with smokey black, was dotted with bright torches propelling it forward. Atop the zenith perched the Hizashi, scarlet and radiant.
“That”—Sabira pointed to the monitor—“is Godsfall.”
Persia took a step forward, studying the display with an intense gaze. “I’m patching in the hails from the tower.”
A barrage of vocal transmissions sounded from the monitors as the view zoomed back to include Krishnamurti Tower again. The transmission sounded like the same person speaking in multiple languages simultaneously—Connish, Vleezian, Khvaziz, and Ihziz-Ri. The little bird throbbed hotly behind Sabira’s ear, and she flinched at the overwhelming torrent of voices. Within the next heartbeat, the little bird had resolved them all into Khvaziz for her.
“—Greetings. This is the Aligned Research Workgroup observatory station, Krishnamurti Tower. Please identify yourselves.” The transmission repeated on a loop. The three ships, limited to sublight speeds within the stochastic horizon, sped toward the tower without a response. After the third hail, the blue shimmer of energy shields enveloped the tower and the Constellation ships. A white shimmer formed around the Republic cruiser.
“—Unidentified vessels, please respond. We want to initiate peaceful contact. Please respond.”
The Shishiguchi pulled back from its position by the tower, drawing nearer to the Safehold.
“All three ships have passed the horizon,” Persia said. “They’re decelerating.”
“Is that good?” Cal asked.
“There’s nothing good about this,” Sabira said. “Gabriel, can you get through to Orion?”
“—Look!” Ed shouted. “It’s coming apart.”
The thrusters detached from Godsfall and entered a tight circular orbit, creating a halo of spinning fire around it. Seams of sulfurous radiation traced long, complex patterns across the superweapon’s surface. The seams of light widened as segments of the hull pulled away from each other.
“Not apart,” Aquila said. “Unfolding. Like a bloom of flower petals.”
Great swaths of Godsfall peeled back from its center, radiating out like a nine-pointed star. Or a nine-legged predator. A shudder ran through the extrusions, and they shifted, repositioning themselves. Four spread out like vast, angular wings. Four more unfurled into abstract arms and legs. The zenith point extended into a strange polyhedric head, with the Hizashi a hard red star on its brow.
Aquila’s eyes widened, her face flushed. “It looks like a Revelation Angel.”
“—There’s no such thing,” Jiddu said, though his voice lacked conviction.
Sabira remembered the pendant Lieutenant Djeli wore. This was no messenger of a God bringing divine revelation. Recalling the utter devastation of Loshan’s moon, she whispered, “Obliteration Angel.”
Aquila turned to Sabira, face pale and eyes trembling with fear.
A new transmission emanated from the monitor, speaking Ihziz-Ri. “I am High Godseer Lonno Atu Madzo of the Holy Unity, chosen by the Gods beyond the Gates of Heaven as Their mercy, Their wisdom, and Their wrath. Long ago, the Gods decreed all life is to be unified under Divine Will. And ever shall it be. Lower your shields and deactivate your weapons immediately. Rejoice, you lost tribes of Rohkahv Trickster! Your time of unification has come at last!”