The group continued crawling through the narrow maintenance tunnel.
The sound of metal colliding echoed from somewhere far away.
Closer.
And closer.
Each vibration traveled through the enormous structure of the mothership, shaking the tunnel around them.
Dust and tiny metal fragments fell from above.
Vinh frowned.
"Hey, Levi."
"Hm?"
"If we get out of here..."
"Are you planning to return to Earth?"
Levi stayed silent for a moment.
He continued moving forward before finally answering.
"Probably."
"But there's a problem."
Vinh waited.
Levi let out a bitter laugh.
"How do we even find it?"
"There are stars here I've never seen before."
"Entire systems I didn't even know existed."
"It could be nearby."
"Or it could be beyond countless stars."
"One thing I know for sure..."
"I have no idea which direction leads home."
Nobody replied.
The only sound left was the constant trembling of the ship.
Suddenly, Apoloziro stopped.
His hand shot up.
Everyone immediately froze.
Hongco almost crashed into him.
"What is it?"
Apoloziro pressed his ear against the cold metal wall.
After a few seconds, faint voices reached him.
"...they may have escaped through the maintenance routes."
"...seal every access point."
"...dispatch search teams immediately."
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Levi clenched his fist.
They were getting closer.
Very close.
Nobody needed further explanation.
The group immediately increased their pace.
Then the lights began flickering.
One lamp died.
Then another.
Then another.
Darkness swallowed the tunnel.
Vinh glanced around.
"Did the power just go out?"
The moment he spoke, a distant explosion shook the tunnel.
Then another.
And another.
The entire mothership trembled.
Levi's expression changed.
"No."
"This isn't a blackout."
"The defenses were breached."
Far outside the ship, the Dejteo fleet had found an opening.
Without hesitation, countless smaller vessels surged forward.
Like a swarm of predators sensing weakness.
The automated defenses on several sectors had gone silent.
For the Dejteo, it was an opportunity too valuable to ignore.
The impacts came one after another.
New breaches opened throughout the ship.
New explosions erupted.
Then a voice echoed through the internal communication system.
"All combat personnel."
"Proceed immediately to Sector Three, Sector Four, and Sector Seven."
The voice stopped.
A different voice replaced it.
Cold.
Mechanical.
"Five."
Vinh looked up.
"What is that?"
Levi shook his head.
"No idea."
"Four."
The tension inside the tunnel became suffocating.
"Three."
The warning sirens suddenly stopped.
"Two."
Even the vibrations seemed to pause.
"One."
A brief silence followed.
Then—
"Fire."
The next moment, the entire mothership lurched violently.
BOOOOOOM!!!
It no longer felt like an explosion.
It felt as if the ship itself had collided with a celestial body.
Vinh was thrown into the air.
His body slammed into the tunnel wall.
His ears rang.
Every sound disappeared.
Only the endless vibration remained.
Cracks spread across the tunnel ahead.
One.
Then several more.
"Hold on!"
Levi shouted.
But his voice was drowned out.
CRACK!
The tunnel beneath them finally gave way.
The entire section collapsed.
Everyone fell.
...
Vinh opened his eyes.
Darkness.
Sparks burst from broken cables around them.
Hongco was the first to stand.
"Is everyone alive?"
HE78 emitted a mechanical tone.
"Operational capacity: normal."
Apoloziro brushed debris from his shoulder.
Levi slowly got up and looked around.
His expression immediately changed.
"Not good."
"What?"
Vinh asked.
Levi pointed ahead.
A gigantic door stood before them.
Several layers of armor plating covered its surface.
Multiple security seals glowed faintly.
The Axian insignia was engraved across the center.
Even at a glance, it was obvious.
This place was important.
HE78 stepped forward.
His sensors activated.
Several seconds passed.
Then he spoke.
"Target located."
Everyone turned toward him.
"What target?"
HE78 replied.
"Starship deployment sector."
Silence.
Levi's eyes widened.
Vinh immediately understood.
If HE78 was correct...
Then beyond that door...
Were the ships they had been searching for.
Elsewhere aboard the mothership.
Nyxara quietly stared at the device resting on the table.
The medical room had become unusually quiet.
Kraith stood beside the observation window, occasionally muttering curses directed at Levi.
Velkar remained seated beside Nyxara's recovery chamber.
Only Nyxara was thinking.
The object wasn't a keepsake.
It wasn't a toy.
And it certainly wasn't something created by an ordinary being.
She remembered what had happened earlier.
The metallic sphere.
The mechanical legs.
Its strange interaction with Axian technology.
Everything about it felt wrong.
"Velkar."
"Hm?"
"Don't you find it strange?"
"What?"
"Them."
"You mean Levi's group?"
Nyxara nodded.
"One controls water."
"One controls electricity."
"One is practically a machine."
"One came from a distant world."
"They're being hunted."
"But none of them seem afraid."
Velkar remained silent.
Kraith immediately interrupted.
"That's because they're idiots."
"I'll kill Levi myself."
Nyxara ignored him.
Her gaze returned to the device.
A thought had appeared in her mind.
If it could interfere with technology...
Could it interfere with a ship?
At that moment, the door opened.
The Axian technician from earlier entered carrying a data slate.
"I've completed my analysis."
Nyxara immediately looked up.
"What did you find?"
The technician glanced at the device.
"You truly don't know what this is?"
Nobody answered.
He placed the slate down.
"By itself, it does very little."
"But if connected to a compatible processing system..."
"It may be capable of temporarily overriding smaller technological networks."
Velkar's eyes widened.
"A starship?"
The technician laughed.
"No."
"Controlling an Axian warship requires authorization far beyond this device."
"But smaller vessels."
"Recon ships."
"Transport craft."
"Possibly."
Nyxara and Velkar exchanged a glance.
Even Kraith stopped talking.
For the first time since entering the room, he wasn't thinking about Levi.
He was thinking about ships.
If they had a ship...
They could pursue him.
The technician never noticed their reactions.
After finishing his report, he turned to leave.
Meanwhile, Nyxara silently closed her hand around the device.
A new idea had begun forming.
And this time...
Her goal was no longer exposing Levi.
Her goal was finding him.