Kai held down the trigger, and the twin-barrel cannons roared to life, firing relentlessly as they carved a path forward through the endless swarm of machine creatures. Rounds tore through their ranks, ripping apart their thin armour and sending debris spiralling into space.

  He watched the ammo counter ticking down— it was still in the tens of thousands, but so were their enemies. And he knew, without a doubt, that there were more of them than there were bullets in his reserves.

  At peak production speed, the Black Swan could manufacture over three thousand rounds per day—an impressive number, considering the process was fully automated and unsupervised.

  "Prep EMP missile!" Robert’s voice came sharply, over the comms.

  "Roger," Teresa responded immediately.

  Ray was at the helm—by pure chance, it had been his shift—and he had taken control without hesitation, flying the Black Swan through the thickest part of the swarm, dodging and weaving through chaos.

  Kai wanted to scream—to let out the frustration, the rage, the pressure building inside him. Instead, he squeezed the trigger harder, as if sheer willpower could somehow force the cannons to fire faster.

  He wished they were on an Imperial warship instead. The massive, laser-armed ships of the empire could have shredded these machine creatures in seconds with their instantaneous energy beams, melting straight through their thin exoskeletons.

  It wasn’t that the Federation lacked the knowledge to build laser weapons—far from it. The Prime Minister of the federation had deliberately phased them out.

  Laser weapons, as futuristic as they sounded, offered little tactical advantage in large-scale space battles. Sure, the invisible beams could hit enemy ships without warning, but they required sustained fire to burn through armour. Against fast-moving ships that could adjust their angle in an instant, lasers became far less effective than one might hope.

  Furthermore, they demanded an enormous amount of continuous energy to operate. In prolonged battles, that drain was a major liability. Even the old Imperial flagship, ISS-Vengeance, had once suffered a complete blackout in the middle of combat when one of its main laser cannons overheated, forcing it into a humiliating retreat.

  Ballistic weapons, on the other hand, were the superior choice. Their armour-piercing kinetic rounds could rip through hulls in a single shot, causing devastating internal damage without the need for prolonged exposure.

  In the end, laser weapons had been relegated to point-defence systems or used as a symbolic show of power by some of the older Imperial warships still in service.

  Kai imagined the original inventor of the laser weapon watching this never-ending swarm of mechanical creatures and laughing—"I told you lasers were superior."

  The ammo count dropped to four digits. Kai gritted his teeth but refused to ease up on the trigger. The swarm wasn’t letting up—if anything, they were closing in faster.

  "EMP, out!" Robert’s voice rang through the bridge.

  A sudden wave of static electricity rippled through space as the EMP detonated, sending a shockwave through the enemy formation.

  For a brief moment, the entire swarm stalled, their bodies freezing mid-flight, breaking apart just enough to create an opening.

  "Engage jump drive, get us out of here," Commander Grayson ordered into the comms.

  Fine particles returned, swirling in the void outside as the Black Swan initiated another FTL jump. Thanks to its dual-jump drive design, the ship was capable of making two consecutive jumps within minutes. It was a rare and unique feature for deep space exploration, and it was now their only saving grace. It would put immense strain on the power plant, but at this moment, they had no other choice.

  The swarm vanished from sight as the ship was pulled into faster-than-light travel.

  Kai’s finger never left the trigger. His knuckles were white, his breathing steady but sharp. He couldn’t shake the fear that when they emerged on the other side, the machine creatures would be waiting for them again.

  No one spoke.

  The crew was already preparing for the next battle. No relief. No celebration. Just the quiet, unspoken understanding that this wasn’t over.

  And they were right. Kind of.

  The Black Swan exited the jump, and the moment the stars stabilized in view, the ship’s sensors pinged as they were being followed once again.

  Kai tensed. But as his targeting system scanned the space behind them, he exhaled, shoulders loosening slightly.

  Only three of the machine creatures were following them now.

  They kept their distance, maintaining a silent pursuit just beyond the range of the Black Swan’s weapons. They had no chance of winning a direct fight, and they knew it.

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  But they also weren’t giving up.

  Kai had no doubt that these three stalkers were transmitting their location, feeding intel directly to their hivemind overlord—the same intelligence that had orchestrated the battle at ISS-Nightfall.

  The same one that had spoken to him.

  He felt as if they were fighting the universe itself.

  Like they were a toy in the hands of a god, and all they had managed to do was jump from its palm… to the back of the same hand.

  For now, however, they were safe. The Black Swan cruised steadily through space, maintaining a constant speed, ever watchful in case the swarm showed up again.

  This brief reprieve allowed the crew to replenish both their systems and themselves, taking a moment to catch their breath before the inevitable next encounter.

  Kai turned around just in time to see the girls bringing in drinks and quick meals for the active crew.

  Eliana smiled at him as she handed him a quick bite and a steaming cup of tea. Kai took it gratefully, his stomach welcoming the sustenance as he dug in.

  Eliana's eyes lingered on him for a moment, her smile warm. "Alright, enjoy your meal. I’m going back to my station to help with some of the calculations."

  Kai nodded, watching her as she walked away. Even in moments like these, when the weight of their situation loomed over them—he couldn’t help but stare at her until she disappeared behind a seat.

  After finishing the food Eliana gave him, he washed it down with the hot tea, feeling the warmth spread through him, and then went back to his task.

  He needed more ammo.

  He set whatever material he could find to load into the manufacturing queue and immediately set them into production. Any moment they were not under attack was another moment the ship could use to manufacture more ammunition.

  Kai filled the queue and checked back on the machine creatures trailing them. There were four now—one more than before. They made no move, still maintaining a safe distance, just watching.

  "Looks like they’re going to play the long game with us," Commander Grayson muttered, taking a slow sip from his own cup. From Kai’s angle, he could see it was some kind of coffee, the steam curling lazily into the air.

  Kai shifted in his seat, his brain already running through the possible scenarios.

  It was clear to him now—there was no hope of escaping the machine creatures if they had eyes in every system they jumped to.

  They still had a long journey ahead before they were out of No Man’s Land, and sooner rather than later, they would need to refuel again.

  If he was right—and he had to assume he was—then the machine overlord had already anticipated this. From a tactical standpoint, it was the most logical move.

  There was no need to search for them in the vast emptiness of space—the area between stars was too large. It would take forever to gather a large enough force to take them down.

  Instead, if Kai were in their position, he would set up an ambush at the one place they had no choice but to go—the star, where they would inevitably have to refuel.

  His chest tightened.

  "Commander Grayson," Kai turned to him, his voice steady. "I think they’re waiting for us to refuel."

  Commander Grayson nodded, his expression grim. "My thoughts exactly. And we’re not far from needing a refuel either."

  Kai’s mind raced. "Isn’t there another way we can get fuel without going to the star?"

  "Unless we magically stumble upon a space station willing to sell us fuel?" Teresa cut in, her voice sharp with frustration. "Oh wait—right. We’re in the middle of nowhere."

  Kai fell silent, thinking.

  There had to be another way.

  His eyes flicked back to the navigation charts.

  "What about planets?" he said suddenly. "Planets with raw materials we can refine into fuel. It might take longer, but it’s our best chance to escape without walking into a trap."

  The bridge fell into silence, everyone lost in thought over Kai’s idea.

  In theory, it was a great suggestion—but where were they going to find a suitable planet in the middle of No Man’s Land?

  Kai opened the log records he had gone through before, hoping that a previous ship might have passed through the system and documented a terraformable planet with natural resources they could use.

  He started with the nearby systems first, scanning through the data logs—but found nothing indicating a suitable planet for refuelling.

  That was fine, though. He had just begun searching, and finding a terraformable planet was no easy task—otherwise, No Man’s Land wouldn’t be "No Man’s Land" but "Many Man’s Land."

  Kai expanded his search, looking into star systems further away. As long as he could find one within jumping range, there was still hope.

  As if reading his mind, a notification pinged—a message from Eliana.

  "Check this out."

  Kai opened the attachment. It was a data log from an independent exploration team, nearly two decades old.

  His eyes scanned downward, noting that Eliana had highlighted a section for him.

  He focused on the highlighted text—a documented terraformable planet. But then he saw the rating.

  E-Rated—The lowest rating possible.

  E-rated planets were technically terraformable, but they were plagued by extreme conditions—severe weather, volatile climates, and hazards that made colonization unprofitable.

  Kai kept reading.

  At the bottom of the highlighted section, one detail caught his attention.

  "High frequency of ion storms detected on the planet surface."

  His heart quickened.

  Now he understood why Eliana had sent him this log.

  Ion storms, when combined with the right type of surface minerals, could create brief moments of quantum coherence—a rare event where energy stabilizes in a harvestable form.

  Kai shook his head but smiled—gathering fuel on this planet covered in constant ion storms was arguably more dangerous than scooping fuel near a star.

  It was like holding a lightning rod in the middle of a thunderstorm, hoping to catch electricity without getting fried.

  Nonetheless, he passed the information to Commander Grayson, leaving the final decision to him.

  Grayson studied the report, his expression grim. "I don’t like the idea, but if no other planets are found, this will have to do." He exhaled sharply, setting the datapad aside. "Although, there’s another problem we need to deal with before we can even think about refuelling."

  He turned, locking eyes with Kai.

  "We still need to lose the few machine creatures that will be tracking us."

  Kai scratched his head, then nodded. He knew exactly what the commander wanted him to do, and in truth, there wasn’t anyone else on the Black Swan who could do it.

  His eyes flashed faintly, a soft blue glow pulsing in his irises before he stood up from his seat. "I’ll let Baiyan take over the turret."

  He had something he needed to find, something he needed to test. Something that, if he was right, could confirm his growing suspicions.

  Kai walked out of the bridge, making his way down the corridor.

  There was a question he needed to answer before he could do what he was about to do next.

  He stopped in front of a metal door, the label clear:

  EQUIPMENT STORAGE ROOM.

  Kai stared at it for a moment, his mind repeating the question that had haunted him ever since he first heard the machine creature’s message.

  "Am I really one of them?"

  Thank you for reading. ?? ??