THE JUDAS FELL TO ITS DEATH.

SHADOW DRIVE((?))

LOST.

SURVIVORS((?))

TWO LIFEBOATS WEBBED, ENCOMPASSED. ONE LOST BEFORE PATTERN INSERTION..

THE FOURTH…

FOURTH VESSEL CONTACT LOST, PRESUMED PLANET IMPACT.

A SUPPOSITION. A MISTAKE. THE COST IS LIFE.

I OBEY. MAY MY DESCENDANTS BETTER SERVE YOU.

A flash of non-existence. A shriek of pain and pleasure. Shards of insanity beckon.

RECOUP. JUNCTURE IN THE BELT. THE BATTLE IS AS YET A DRAW. THE PURPOSE WILL BE OURS. THE PURPOSE WILL BE COMPLETED.

A smile? The blackness closes in upon itself.

“We’re losing it!”

Reynald struggled to regain control of the lifeboat as it fell out of the sky to the planet below.

“Captain, navigation is gone!”

Plunging from the night, the lifeboat left a trail of white behind it. Reynald saw the blackened earth below them, spangled with clusters of city lights.

“Impact trajectory?”

“A lake in one of the northern continents—”

“Well, at least it’s better than land. How long?”

“Two minutes.”

The cities below them drew closer. Reynald saw a glint of water on the horizon. Closer and closer…

“Brace for impact. Shields at maximum.”

They went down.

Half a world away, debris from the Enemy that had been destroyed above the planet cut through the atmosphere at a phenomenal rate. A shard of the vessel half a mile long fell from the sky and struck the small atoll of Santa Fosca in the Pacific with a force greater than any weapon ever made by man could have achieved. The inhabitants of Santa Fosca felt no pain.

Pulled down in the phase wake, Magdalene glided over the atoll as the Enemy wreckage struck. She was blinded by the impact, and she felt herself rocked by the waves of pattern energy released from the crash. Traveling at many times the speed of sound, she could not maintain control of the Judas at such depleted energy levels. The sleek form of the vessel flew over the sun-dappled waves, leaving a fury of torrents in her wake.