Chapter Three: Fire Across the Stars
901 Words
Echoes Through the Force
Chapter Three: Fire Across the Stars
War announced itself with no fanfare.
No speeches.
No glorious music.
Only the shriek of engines and the terrible silence that followed the first explosion.
Seris's fighter banked hard through a cloud of burning debris as fragments of a destroyed frigate spun past her cockpit. Warning lights flashed across the console.
“Three fighters on your tail!” crackled the comm.
“I know,” she answered through gritted teeth.
She cut power for half a heartbeat, letting the pursuing ships overshoot before reigniting her thrusters. Her cannons roared.
One enemy fighter erupted into flame.
Another spiraled helplessly into the atmosphere below.
The third broke away.
There was no time to celebrate.
Ahead, the Resistance fleet was losing.
Capital ships traded volleys that lit the void like miniature suns. Escape pods scattered between them while medics’ shuttles darted recklessly into the crossfire, chasing survivors.
A transport exploded.
For one frozen second, dozens of lives became nothing more than sparks against the stars.
Seris swallowed hard and pushed forward.
There were still people she could save.
---
Miles away aboard the flagship Nightfall, Kade Vire stood before a panoramic viewport, hands clasped behind his back.
His officers barked orders.
Tactical displays flickered.
Yet his attention drifted elsewhere.
Toward a presence he could not see.
Toward a mind he had come to recognize among billions.
You're here.
The realization struck with impossible certainty.
And then—
The Force surged.
The bridge disappeared.
---
Seris jerked in her cockpit.
The stars outside vanished, replaced by polished black floors and crimson banners.
Kade stood only a few paces away.
Only this time neither of them was safe.
Around Seris, alarms continued blaring from her real fighter.
Around Kade, officers raced across his command deck.
The bond had opened while both were in the middle of battle.
“You're commanding this attack,” Seris accused.
“You're flying directly into it.”
“Call your ships off.”
“You first.”
An explosion echoed somewhere behind her—real or imagined, she couldn't tell.
Kade studied her face.
There was soot on one cheek.
A cut above one eyebrow.
“You're hurt.”
“So are thousands of people because of you.”
His jaw tightened.
“And because of yours.”
For the first time, neither had a clever reply.
The war hung between them like an executioner's blade.
---
Reality crashed back.
Seris rolled her fighter just as green bolts lanced past the canopy.
A damaged Resistance corvette drifted ahead, engines failing.
Its distress beacon blinked desperately.
Without hesitation, she accelerated toward it.
“Seris!” her commander shouted over comms. “You can't reach them in time!”
She ignored him.
Inside the crippled vessel were nearly two hundred crew members.
She would not abandon them.
Her shuttle locked onto the emergency docking port.
The instant she landed, smoke poured through the corridors.
Crew members staggered through failing life-support systems, dragging the wounded behind them.
“Evacuate to the hangar!” Seris yelled.
The deck lurched violently.
Somewhere below, another explosion tore through the hull.
A young technician no older than nineteen froze in terror beneath collapsing beams.
Seris sprinted.
She reached him just as the ceiling gave way, throwing both of them across the corridor.
Metal screamed.
The lights went dark.
For a moment there was only dust and silence.
Then the technician whispered, “I thought I was dead.”
“So did I,” Seris replied, helping him to his feet.
Together they stumbled toward the escape craft.
---
On the Nightfall, an officer rushed to Kade's side.
“Commander, the corvette is disabled. We have firing solution.”
Kade looked at the tactical display.
One command.
One sentence.
The ship would be erased.
He should have given it.
Instead, his eyes unfocused.
Through the Force, he felt panic.
Smoke.
Collapsing steel.
Seris.
He closed his fist.
“Redirect batteries,” he ordered.
The officer blinked. “Sir?”
“Target the escort cruiser behind it.”
“The corvette may escape.”
“I gave an order.”
The officer obeyed.
Moments later, the escort cruiser erupted under concentrated fire while the crippled corvette drifted into the cover of a debris field.
No one questioned the decision aloud.
But whispers began immediately.
---
Hours later, the battle ended.
Neither side claimed victory.
Too many ships were gone.
Too many names would never answer roll call again.
Seris sat alone in the medical bay, arms wrapped around herself.
She could still feel the echoes of fear through the bond.
Not her own.
His.
And somewhere aboard the Nightfall, Kade stood in darkness, staring at the stars.
He had spared an enemy vessel.
No strategist could explain why.
No officer would understand.
Then the bond stirred once more.
Only for an instant.
No words.
Just one shared image.
A tiny silver pendant hanging from Seris's neck—a keepsake she had worn since childhood.
Kade recognized it.
His breath caught.
He had seen that pendant before.
Not on a battlefield.
Not in a vision.
But years ago, in the possession of someone whose disappearance had been buried under layers of classified records.
The connection snapped shut.
Leaving him with a single impossible question:
Who was Seris Vael… and why did a relic from his own forgotten past belong to her?
- Writer
