The alarm made a loud noise that filled the small ship. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! On the main viewer, the red dot of the Syndicate scout drone was getting closer to their ship.

"They will start shooting as us any minute from now.," the ship's tactical officer called out, his voice sounding so terrified. "Our shields won't be able to stop a direct shot from its energy weapon"

Vanessa looked from the approaching drone to the dead shell of Nomad floating just outside their ship. Then she looked at Jonah, who was sitting in the middle of the bridge, with his eyes closed and his face pale but determined.

"Ariana, we have to abort this operation," Vanessa said, her voice urgent. "We can try to run. If we start the transfer now, we'll be a sitting duck!"

Princess Ariana stood by next to her seat, her face showing no emotion. She stared at the approaching red dot, her mind calculating a thousand different possibilities in an instant. Running was not an option. The Silverwing was fast, but it was not built for war. The drone would hunt them down. Their only hope was to finish what they started.

She turned away from the screen, her eyes locking with her bridge crew.

"Ignore the drone," she ordered. "Begin the transfer." She said, her voice loud over the noise of the blaring alarms.

The officer's eyes looked shocked. "Your Highness, the shields…!"

"Will be down," she finished for him, her voice leaving no room for argument. "Begin the process. Now."

She looked at Jonah and gave a sharp nod. This was it. The ultimate gamble.

Jonah nodded back, a silent promise.

"Diverting all power," the officer said, his voice serious and unhappy as he followed the dangerous command.

"Three… Two… One…"

CLICK.

The lights on the bridge went off. The buzzing sound of the ship's systems faded into silence. The red emergency lights turned on, painting the bridge red. The Silverwing was now a defenseless ship.

"Interface is locked," Vanessa said with a strained voice. She kept working at her console, which was running on its own power. "I'm opening the channel. The energy flow is all yours, Ariana."

"Reactor is open," Ariana responded with her hands resting on a glowing crystal on her chair. "May the Gods help us all."

She closed her eyes.

At the same time, Jonah felt it.

The power started as a tiny flow, then it increased to a strong one, and finally became a loud unstoppable flow of wild energy. It was the energy source of a star, a huge rush of light and heat so big that it felt like it would destroy him. He was the bridge between two power sources.

He shouted in pain as the raw star energy hit him violently.

He reached for the Dragon's Star-Chart within him, the ancient, cosmic knowledge. He imagined it not as a map, but as a way to safely control the energy flow.

The energy fought him. It was too strong. It wanted to burn, to expand and destroy. He felt his own consciousness starting to break, dissolving in the blinding light.

"Jonah!" He heard Vanessa's voice, which sounded like a distant, desperate cry. "It's too much! The flow is unstable!"

On her console, red lines of data were spiking wildly. The energy was not flowing smoothly. It was rushing in too fast, and it was about to cause every system to fail.

Ariana gritted her teeth, sweat forming on her forehead. She was trying to control the flow from her end, but it felt impossible.

Outside, the Syndicate drone kept moving towards them. A panel under the drone slid open, showing the glowing nozzle of its weapon.

Target acquired, a robotic voice quickly said inside the drone's programming. Weapon systems charging.

Back on the Silverwing, Jonah was losing. The psychic pain was too much to handle. The intense light was all around, making his thoughts and memories disappear as if they were being destroyed by fire.

He saw a flash of memory. The Undercroft. The feeling of being small, and weak, and hunted. He remembered his promise to himself. *I will survive.*

He saw Seraph's face, her fierce, unwavering loyalty. He saw Draven's grudging respect turning into true brotherhood. He saw Vanessa's smile, her absolute, unshakable faith in him.

He would not let them down.

He dug deeper, pushing past the pain. He stopped fighting the energy. He stopped trying to hold it back. He opened himself to it completely, letting the river of starlight flow *through* him, not just *into* him. He used the Star-Chart not to block the power, but to guide it, to speak its own language, to calm its wild heart.

*Weapons lock achieved,* the drone's mind chirped. *Firing in three…*

"He's doing it!" Vanessa gasped. On her screen, the wild, chaotic spikes of energy began to smooth out, forming a steady, powerful, golden wave.

Two…

Jonah felt the shift. The violent, burning power began to feel… warm. It felt like the heart of the dragon. It felt like home. He grabbed the calmed river of energy with his will and pushed it forward, out of his own soul and into the sleeping heart of Nomad.

One…

The drone fired. A silent, brilliant spear of red plasma shot across the void, aimed directly at the dead, helpless ship.

At that exact moment, Jonah screamed. It was a sound of pure agony, and pure, absolute triumph.

A wave of golden green light burst from the *Silverwing*, a silent explosion of life.

Outside the ship, Nomad's dark, inert body twitched. Its two massive solar sails, once grey and lifeless, snapped open with a silent, thunderous boom. They blazed with a new, incredible light, a fusion of Jonah's own gold and Ariana's pure starlight.

The red spear of plasma slammed into them.

But it did not explode.

The sail caught the blast, the energy spreading across its surface in a ripple of beautiful, harmless light. The deadly attack was not blocked. It was absorbed.

Nomad was alive.

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