Kane's command was like grasping at a floating straw in a raging storm—seemingly absurd, yet the only possibility in this desperate situation. The asteroid fragment torn from the planet's surface by CME energy was hurtling outwards from the shadow region at an extremely high speed, its trajectory like an arrow shot from a bow, pointing precisely at the edge of the safe zone initially calculated by Leia.
"Calculate the intercept trajectory! Quickly!" Kane's voice was unusually sharp amidst the overload and piercing alarms.
In Leia's eyes, the data stream was burning at its limit; even her synthetic skin began to crack. "Calculation in progress… The fragment's speed is extremely high, its trajectory is affected by residual CME energy and gravitational disturbances, and there is uncertainty! Interception window… only **5 seconds**!"
5 seconds! On a cosmic scale, this is a fleeting instant.
"Rex! Listen! Change thrust direction! Target: Delta-7, make minor adjustments as instructed! We're going to crash into that rock!" Kane roared into the communicator, gripping the control stick tightly and forcefully steer the ship toward the approaching, churning giant rock.
"What?! Crash into it?!" Rex's incredulous roar came through the communicator, but long-standing trust compelled him to execute the order immediately. "Damn it! I'll do it your way! Thrust redirection!"
The blazing plasma stream at the Nightingale's tail abruptly changed direction, propelling the ship in a treacherous arc as it hurtled head-on toward the fragment several kilometers in diameter, its surface still glowing with the red light of lava and crystalline debris!
The distance was closing rapidly! The debris magnified dramatically outside the porthole, its craters and cracks clearly visible! It seemed as if a head-on collision was imminent!
"Now! Rex! Maximum thrust! Hold for 3 seconds! Then shut down the engines immediately! Listen to my countdown!" Kane's pupils reflected the massive rock, his heart nearly stopping.
"3!"
The ship charged towards the debris without hesitation.
"2!"
The debris filled the entire field of vision ahead, like a mountain pressing down on us.
"1!"
At the last moment before impact, Kane yanked the control stick back all the way, simultaneously unleashing all the upward attitude thrusters at full power!
"**Now! Maximum thrust!**"
"**Charge!**" Rex's roar mingled with the engine's roar!
The Nightingale didn't crash directly into the debris, but at an extremely dangerous angle, almost grazing its surface, using a combination of its own gravity and overload thrust to create a brief but violent **gravitational slingshot effect**!
Whoosh—!!!
A powerful, redirected gravitational force instantly acted on the ship! Fueled by the frenzied thrust of its engines, the Nightingale, like a stone launched from a catapult, instantly **soared** to an unprecedented peak speed!
The immense overload even caused Kane and Leah to momentarily lose their vision!
Three seconds later!
"Shut down the engines!" Kane roared, battling the dizziness.
Almost as soon as he finished speaking—
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion rang out over the communicator, followed by a shrill busy signal on Rex's channel!
The engine room… had exploded due to overload!
But just moments before the engines shut down and the engine room exploded, the immense kinetic energy combining the gravitational pull of the shattered star and the overload thrust had successfully provided the Nightingale with the **final push** needed to escape!