Dalia and Tessa exchanged glances, a silent communication passing between them. Their position was increasingly untenable—pinned down by Voss's fire from the forest edge, unable to board without exposing themselves to Dayton's ambush.

  "Any ideas?" Tessa whispered, her eyes darting between the ship's entrance and the forest where occasional energy bolts still lanced toward their position.

  Before Dalia could respond, a strange humming sound began to emanate from within the ship—a resonant frequency that made the very air around them vibrate. The pitch rose steadily, accompanied by a soft blue glow that spilled from the open hatch, growing in intensity with each passing second.

  "The crystal," Dalia realized aloud, recognition dawning. "It's activating again."

  Inside the ship, the mercenary Dayton shouted in alarm. His silhouette was visible now against the intensifying glow, Arlo's limp form still held before him as a shield. But something was happening to both figures—their outlines becoming distorted, elongated, as if viewed through rippling water.

  "What the hell is this?" Dayton's voice had lost its professional calm, edged now with genuine fear. "Command, the package is doing something! I need extraction now!"

  The blue light pulsed once, blindingly bright, then condensed into a focused beam that engulfed both Dayton and Arlo. When it receded seconds later, only Arlo remained, slumped unconscious on the boarding ramp. Of the mercenary, there was no sign at all.

  Silence fell across the clearing, broken only by the continued strange humming from within the ship. Even Voss had ceased firing, perhaps reassessing the situation in light of this unexpected development.

  "Is he...?" Tessa whispered, staring at Arlo's motionless form.

  "Cover me," Dalia ordered, then darted forward in a crouching run. She reached Arlo in seconds, dropping to her knees beside him and checking for vital signs. To her immense relief, his pulse beat steady beneath her fingers, his breathing shallow but regular.

  "He's alive," she called back to Tessa. "Help me get him inside."

  Together they dragged the unconscious navigator into the ship, the blue glow washing over them as they crossed the threshold. Inside, the Crimson Gull's corridors hummed with energy, every surface vibrating slightly in resonance with the crystal's activation.

  "What happened to the mercenary?" Tessa asked as they secured Arlo in a jump seat. "Did the crystal... disintegrate him?"

  "I don't know," Dalia admitted, equally disturbed by the implications. "But we need to get the ship operational now, before Voss decides to rush us or call in reinforcements."

  The engineer nodded grimly, moving toward the engine room at a run. "I'll get to the bridge, initiate startup sequences," Dalia replied.

  Dalia raced to the bridge, her mind cataloging priorities with practiced efficiency. Flight controls, navigation, defensive systems—all would need to be operational for even the most basic maneuvers. And with the crystal apparently taking matters into its own metaphorical hands, she had no idea what systems would respond normally and which might behave in unexpected ways.

  The bridge was awash in the same blue glow that permeated the rest of the ship, control panels activating spontaneously as she entered. The main viewscreen flickered to life, displaying not the usual navigational data but a complex pattern of interlocking geometric shapes that pulsed in rhythm with the crystal's energy.

  "What are you doing?" Dalia murmured, unsure if she was addressing the ship, the crystal, or some combination of both. She slid into the pilot's seat, placing her hands on the control yoke more out of habit than any certainty it would respond.

  To her surprise, the yoke thrummed beneath her touch.

  Arlo groaned from his jump seat, beginning to regain consciousness. "Wha... what happened?" he slurred, blinking in confusion at the strangely illuminated bridge.

  "Short version? Crystal went sentient, mercenary disappeared" Dalia summarized briskly.

  "Engine power at... well, I'm not sure what metric even applies anymore," Tessa reported from engineering. "But we've got thrust available. Stabilizers partially functional. It won't be pretty, but we should be able to achieve lift."

  "Navigational systems online," Arlo added, his voice growing stronger as he focused on his tasks. "Though half the display is showing... are those mathematical formulas? Dimensional coordinates?"

  Dalia glanced at his screen and saw the same strange geometric patterns interspersed with what appeared to be navigational data. "Ignore anything you don't understand for now. Focus on getting us a clear path out of the gorge."

  Dalia engaged full thrust, sending the Gull soaring upward through a gap in the canopy. Energy bolts followed their ascent, but the ship's increased speed and altitude quickly took them beyond effective range.

  "Pursuing craft," Arlo announced, breaking the moment. "Three small vessels launching from Haven's Rest. Signature matches the attack crafts we encountered earlier."

  "They're persistent, I'll give them that," Dalia muttered. "Status of our defensive systems?"

  "Minimal functionality," Tessa's voice came through the intercom. "The crystal's energy is prioritizing flight systems over defensive capabilities. We can run, but fighting back will be limited at best."

  "Then we run," Dalia decided. "Arlo, plot a course away from populated areas. I don't want civilian casualties if this turns into an aerial battle."

  "Already on it, Captain," the navigator confirmed. "Though I should mention that the navigation system keeps suggesting this particular heading, regardless of what I input." He gestured to his display, where a specific vector repeatedly highlighted itself in pulsing blue light.

  "The crystal again," Finnian observed. "It appears to have a destination in mind."

  Dalia studied the suggested heading. It led northwest, away from both Haven's Rest and the academy, toward a region of mountains and wilderness that lay largely unexplored. Not coincidentally, it would also take them away from the pursuing mercenary craft, whose top speed likely exceeded their own damaged vessel's capabilities in a straight chase.

  "Does anyone have a better suggestion?" she asked, looking around at her crew.

  Finnian shook his head. "Our options are limited. The ship is responding to the crystal's influence more readily than to our conventional controls. Fighting against that would likely reduce our already compromised efficiency."

  "I say we follow where it leads," Arlo offered. "Tessa?" Dalia called through the intercom.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  There was a moment of hesitation before the engineer's voice came back. "From a technical perspective, the crystal's energy is what's keeping us airborne. Contradicting its... suggestions... might destabilize the integration I've managed to establish. I don't like it, but I think we follow the crystal's lead. For now."

  Decision made, Dalia adjusted their course to match the highlighted vector. The ship responded with surprising agility, the engines humming with renewed vigor as if pleased by their acquiescence to its guidance.

  "The pursuing craft are adjusting course to match," Arlo reported. "Closing speed suggests intercept in approximately twenty minutes if we maintain current velocity."

  "Can we go any faster?" Dalia asked Tessa.

  "Not safely," the engineer replied. "We're already pushing the structural integrity of the damaged sections. Any more strain could tear us apart mid-flight."

  "Then we need to be smarter, not faster," Dalia decided. "Finn, take the tactical display. Look for terrain features we can use to our advantage—canyons, mountain passes, anything that might give us cover or force our pursuers to slow down."

  As Finnian moved to comply, Dalia turned her attention fully to piloting. The Gull's responses were strange—sometimes sluggish, sometimes unnervingly precise, as if the crystal's influence fluctuated in ways she couldn't predict. She found herself flying as much by intuition as by training, feeling her way through the ship's new behavior patterns.

  The landscape below changed as they flew northwest, the Shadow Halt Forest gradually giving way to rolling foothills that rose toward distant mountain peaks. The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the terrain and creating pockets of darkness that might offer concealment if properly utilized.

  "There," Finnian indicated a deep ravine cutting through the foothills ahead. "That canyon system runs northwest for approximately thirty miles before opening into a plateau region. The walls rise nearly a thousand feet in some sections, with numerous side channels and cave formations."

  "Perfect for losing pursuit," Dalia agreed, already adjusting their heading toward the canyon entrance. "Arlo, monitor their approach. I want to know the moment they change formation or deploy any new tactics."

  "Aye, Captain," the navigator acknowledged, his focus intense despite his recent ordeal.

  "Pursuers have entered the canyon," Arlo updated. "Single-file formation now.

  "How far to where it becomes too narrow for them to follow?"

  "Quarter mile," Finnian answered. "But it may be a close call for us as well. The passage narrows to approximately forty feet at its tightest point."

  Dalia did the mental calculation quickly. It would require perfect alignment and steady hands to navigate without disaster.

  "We'll make it," she stated with more confidence than she felt. "Tessa, we'll need maximum power to the stabilizers for the next thirty seconds. Everything you can give us."

  "Acknowledged," the engineer replied. "Rerouting crystal energy now. But Captain, the readings from the cargo hold are becoming increasingly erratic. Whatever the crystal's doing, it's accelerating."

  "Pursuers entering the side canyon," Arlo updated, his voice tight. "Thirty seconds behind us."

  "Crystal energy spiking," Tessa's voice came through the intercom, edged with alarm. "Something's happening in the cargo hold. I can't explain it, but it's affecting our entire power grid."

  As if in response to her warning, the blue glow suffusing the bridge intensified dramatically. The control panels flickered, geometric patterns dancing across every display in increasingly complex configurations. The ship lurched, then steadied with uncanny smoothness, as if some new program had taken control of its flight systems.

  "We're through the narrows," Finnian announced, relief evident in his voice. "Canyon widens ahead, but still too narrow for the pursuit craft to maneuver effectively at speed."

  "Captain," Arlo said slowly, his eyes fixed on his navigation display. "The crystal... I think it's plotting a jump."

  "A jump?" Dalia echoed in confusion. "That's impossible. We don't have jump capabilities."

  "Tell that to the crystal," the navigator replied, gesturing toward his display where complex mathematical formulas were resolving themselves into what unmistakably resembled jump calculations.

  "Tessa," Dalia called urgently, "what's happening down there?"

  "I don't know!" the engineer's voice had lost its usual composure. "The crystal is... phasing somehow. Shifting between states. The energy readings are beyond anything our instruments can measure. It's like it's trying to... I don't know... fold space around itself."

  Her words were cut short as the blue glow surrounding the ship suddenly intensified to blinding proportions. The control panels exploded with light, every system simultaneously overloading with the crystal's energy. A high-pitched whine built rapidly to a crescendo that made their teeth vibrate and their ears ache.

  "What's happening?" Dalia shouted, but her voice was lost in the overwhelming noise. She could feel the ship shuddering around them, not from damage but from some fundamental change in its relationship with the surrounding space.

  For a single, impossible moment, Dalia saw through the ship's hull as if it had become transparent. The canyon walls, the pursuing craft, the very air itself seemed to bend and twist around them, reality folding like paper in invisible hands. Then, with a sensation like the universe itself catching its breath, everything snapped back into focus.

  The canyon was gone. The pursuit craft were gone. The fading light of sunset was gone.

  Instead, the viewports showed an unfamiliar landscape bathed in bright morning light. Forests of strange, blue-tinged trees stretched to the horizon in one direction, while in the other, a vast lake glimmered with an iridescent sheen unlike any body of water Dalia had ever seen.

  Silence fell over the bridge as the ship's systems stabilized, the blue glow receding to a more manageable level. The control panels reset themselves, displaying normal readings once more, though interspersed with those same geometric patterns that had appeared when the crystal first activated.

  "What..." Arlo began, his voice barely above a whisper. "What just happened? Where are we?"

  "Unknown," Finnian replied, checking the navigational systems with practiced efficiency despite his evident shock. "No recognizable landmarks. No mapped terrain features. According to our coordinates, we're..." He paused, rechecking his calculations. "We're nowhere. Or rather, nowhere that exists in our navigational database."

  "The crystal jumped us," Dalia said softly, understanding dawning. "Just like a proper jump ship, but without any of the necessary technology. It somehow... created the effect through its own power."

  "Jumped us where, though?" Arlo pressed, gesturing toward the alien landscape beyond the viewports. "This definitely isn't anywhere near where we were. The vegetation, the light quality, everything's wrong."

  The intercom crackled as Tessa's voice came through, oddly subdued. "Captain, you should come to the cargo hold. Now. The crystal... it's changed."

  Dalia exchanged alarmed glances with Finnian. "Take the helm," she instructed him. "Arlo, see if you can determine our location using astronomical references if nothing else works."

  Both men nodded, turning to their tasks with the professionalism that had become characteristic of their small crew despite the extraordinary circumstances. Dalia made her way swiftly from the bridge, the corridors eerily quiet now that the crystal's energy had stabilized.

  The cargo hold door stood open, the authentication panel dark and inactive. Within, Tessa stood before the central platform where the Arcanite crystal had been secured. But the cylindrical column they had transported from the academy was gone. In its place stood a much smaller crystal formation—roughly the size of a human head, its facets gleaming with inner light that pulsed in a steady, heartbeat-like rhythm.

  "It collapsed in on itself," Tessa explained without preamble, her voice low as if afraid of being overheard by the crystal itself. "Right as we... jumped, or whatever that was. The energy it was generating suddenly inverted, pulling inward instead of radiating outward. When it stabilized, this is what remained."

  Dalia approached cautiously, studying the transformed crystal. Despite its reduced size, it somehow felt more potent, more focused—as if the same amount of energy had been compressed into a fraction of its original volume.

  "Any idea where it took us?" she asked, not touching the crystal but circling it slowly.

  Tessa shook her head. "Nothing conclusive." She hesitated, then continued reluctantly. "I think it might have taken us through the barrier it was supposed to be maintaining. To wherever the 'Severance' is approaching from."

  A chill ran down Dalia's spine at the implication. "You think we're... what? In another reality? Another dimension?"

  "I think," Tessa replied carefully, "that we're somewhere the crystal wanted us to be. Somewhere it believes we needed to go. And based on everything we've seen so far, I doubt it was a random decision."

  "Captain to the bridge," Finnian's voice came through the intercom, startlingly calm given the circumstances. "We have company."