09:45, February 10, 2295

  Section 4, Xinyi Road, Taipei, Taiwan, Imperium of Dragons territory

  Lorna settled into the car seat with a soft hiss as she shut the door. "Xin, is the comm-link ready?"

  "Yep, all systems connected and synced to your communication channel," Xin's fingers flew over the control panel, navigating through layers of encryption protocols.

  "Thomas, Manny, we are en route to Terminal 7 of Songnei Starport. See you at Rally Point Echo," Lorna spoke into the car's built-in communication system from her position in the front passenger seat.

  "Copy that, Lorna. Diego's StarWhale will be landing soon. Drive safe," Thomas's voice came through the speakers. "And howdy, Xin. This is Thomas."

  "How do you do, Thomas?" Xin replied, his fingers tightly gripping the steering wheel as he started the fusion-powered car. Urgent red and amber lights flashed across the sleek dashboard. "I look forward to meeting you all."

  The vehicle hummed to life, its fusion core pulsing with a gentle vibration that Lorna could feel through the seat. Outside, Taipei's skyline loomed like a forest of gleaming monoliths, each adorned with massive Imperial banners that fluttered in the morning breeze. The city was a strange fusion of ancient architecture and modern technology – towering pagoda-style skyscrapers with quantum computing cores occasionally visible through transparent sections of their facades.

  Lorna glanced back at their rearview mirror, taking in the swarm of pursuers that were quickly closing in on them. About a dozen Bloodtroopers rode crimson red Hoverbikes, each carrying a deactivated Thermal Battleaxe on their back. The morning sun glinted off their armor, turning them into streaks of blood-red lightning cutting through the traffic.

  "Do those troopers recognize your car or something?" Lorna kept her eyes trained on their pursuers, noting how pedestrians scattered from the sidewalks as the Bloodtroopers approached.

  "Yeah, I guess working too much has its downsides. All the security and Dilinur's lackeys know my car," Xin responded calmly as his foot pressed down on the gas pedal. "Plus, it's painted green. Not exactly favored in these parts."

  The car surged forward, its fusion drive emitting a high-pitched whine as it accelerated, weaving between automated delivery drones and civilian vehicles.

  Lorna's heart raced as she sat in the passenger seat, keeping her gaze fixed on Xin as he expertly maneuvered through the busy traffic. "Why is a green-colored car looked down upon?"

  "In year '77, there was a rebellion to overthrow the Imperium and establish our own country - the Constitutional Republic. Their flag had a green sparrow and tree branch. So now, green has become associated with anti-Imperium sentiments," Xin explained, his voice tense but his eyes focused on the road ahead. He jerked the wheel sharply, taking them down a narrow alley where laundry lines stretched between buildings like colorful spider webs. "Obviously, the rebels lost, or else I wouldn't have to pretend to be a happy, loyal Imperial."

  "Lorna. Director Otis has authorized you to use weapons in public," Diego's disembodied voice came through the car's speakers, snapping Lorna out of her thoughts. The sound was tinged with static as they passed under a disruption field near what appeared to be a finance district. "Do be cautious. We don't want any accidents with the locals."

  "Got it, Diego," Lorna nodded before looking at Xin. "Keep us steady. I'll shoot."

  "Understood," he replied, voice strained but eyes focused. "I'm lowering the windows."

  Outside, the towering buildings cast harsh shadows under the cloudy morning sky, as if holding their breath. The air smelled of ozone and industrial chemicals, with underlying notes of street food from scattered vendors who were hastily closing their stalls at the first sign of Imperial pursuit.

  "Now, Xin!" Lorna's voice cut through. At her command, the windows slid down with a smooth hiss, exposing them to the raw chaos outside. The scenery flew past them in a blur of light and shadow, the wind whipping Lorna's blonde hair across her face as the noise of the city – honking vehicles, shouting pedestrians, and the high-pitched whine of the Hoverbikes – rushed in like a tidal wave.

  "There you go!" Xin shouted over the din, his knuckles white against the steering wheel as he navigated a sharp turn around the base of a building. Lorna's Quantum Watch hummed, a holographic label above its dial displaying 'Taipei Financial Tower. Note: Anti-money Laundering (AML) regulations in effect'.

  Without hesitation, Lorna leaned out of the window, gripping her 10mm Magnum tightly in her left hand. The metal was cold against her palm, the weight familiar and reassuring. Her aim was precise as she fired at the red Hoverbikes, three shots each time, disabling their propulsion systems one by one. The gun's report was shockingly loud in the urban canyon, echoing off the glass and steel surfaces. Sparks erupted from their hoverpads as they sputtered and fell behind in pursuit, the smell of burning electronics and fusion coolant filling the air.

  Four Hoverbikes fell back and relinquished their pursuit, their riders tumbling onto the pavement in a clatter of armor and curses. But the rest pressed on, their horns blaring loudly in warning as they weaved through traffic with practiced precision. One Bloodtrooper activated his helmet's targeting system, the red laser dot dancing across the back of their car.

  "They're calling for reinforcements!" Xin warned, glancing at a holographic notification that popped up on his dashboard. "Imperial checkpoints are being established at all major intersections ahead."

  "Then we need a shortcut," Lorna replied, scanning the urban landscape around them. "Any ideas?"

  Xin nodded grimly. "The old underground markets. Entrance coming up on the right – they were part of the rebellion's network. Not on any official maps."

  He wrenched the wheel hard, sending them down a steep ramp that looked like nothing more than a service entrance. The daylight vanished as they plunged into a dimly lit tunnel, the fusion lights of their car illuminating abandoned stalls and faded revolutionary slogans painted on the walls. The ceiling was low, forcing the Bloodtroopers to slow down as their Hoverbikes entered the confined space.

  A Hoverbike zoomed closer towards their car from the left, with a Bloodtrooper riding it and pulling out a golden chain. "You won't escape, Alliance bitch!" His voice was distorted through his helmet's speaker, but the hatred came through clearly.

  "Xin, get back!" Lorna yelled, her eyes widening as she glanced to the side.

  "Got it!" Xin shouted back, pressing a button on his side. He immediately sat upright in his seat, which moved back just enough to avoid Lorna's shooting line with her 10mm Magnum.

  As Lorna extended her left arm and took aim, the pistol hummed with a low, resonant thrum. She fired seven quick shots, each one propelled with force. The kinetic rounds slammed into the Bloodtrooper's helmet, one after the other, with unerring accuracy. The helmet cracked and splintered under the relentless impact, and the Bloodtrooper let out a pained groan before toppling off his Hoverbike.

  The unmanned bike careened into a support column, exploding in a shower of sparks and flames that briefly illuminated the cavernous underground market. The fire cast dancing shadows across abandoned stalls.

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  "Hard left here!" Xin called out, taking them through a narrow passage where the walls were close enough to scrape the car's paint. "This leads to the old pneumatic transit system. It'll put us back on track."

  But the sheer recoil of the shots caused her wrist to throb with a dull ache. She winced slightly, massaging her wrist as they emerged into a wider section of the underground network. "Uh, I hate using guns."

  "Why's that?" Xin asked, navigating around a collapsed section of ceiling. "You're pretty good with it."

  "Psionics is cleaner," Lorna replied, checking her magazine. "Guns are... primitive. And the recoils, ugh." She didn't add that they reminded her too much of her early days on the run, before she'd fully mastered her abilities.

  Lorna withdrew her 10mm Magnum and briefly massaged her wrist once more with her right hand before looking ahead. "How many troopers left?"

  Glancing at the rearview mirror, which showed the pursuing Hoverbikes weaving through the collapsed sections of the underground market, Xin responded shortly. "Seven."

  "Fuck." Lorna exhaled before continuing. "You Imperials work hard, I'll give you that."

  "I suppose we do," Xin made a smile that did not reach his eyes as they burst from the underground passage into the gray morning light. They had emerged in an industrial area, where massive cargo haulers rumbled along dedicated roadways. "That's why the rebellion failed. The Imperium just...never stops coming."

  "In the Terra Alliance, though," Lorna leaned forward in her seat, watching as the Bloodtroopers emerged from the tunnel behind them, "we prefer working smart."

  "So I heard," Xin grinned as he looked at Lorna, swinging the car onto a wide avenue that led directly to the Starport's massive perimeter. "What's it like?"

  "Watch this," Lorna replied with a mischievous smile. She removed the magazine from her pistol, revealing only 5 bullets remaining. The magazine felt warm in her hand, thrumming with potential energy. She held up the dark teal magazine and spoke to it. "Luna, Custodem Fulminis."

  The air around them grew cold as an intense power surged through her body, sending a wave of bio-electricity radiating from her palm. Silver-blue light coursed along her arm like liquid lightning, crawling across her skin and gathering around the magazine with increasing intensity. The hair on Xin's slender arms stood on end as the electrical charge built up in the confined space of the car.

  As her chant ended, the magazine's surface was covered in an intricate web of lightning, crackling and spitting with barely contained energy. Without hesitation, she hurled the magazine out of the car window and onto the road behind them.

  As Lorna glanced at the rearview mirror with a cunning grin, she saw the magazine exploding into a network of electrified bolts that engulfed the road and the airspace above it. The expanding web of energy resembled a ghostly blue spider's web, stretching across the entire width of the avenue. The remaining Bloodtroopers on their Hoverbikes were caught in the chaos, their vehicles short-circuiting upon contact with the electric web. Shouts of confusion echoed as their bikes malfunctioned and they were forced to flee on foot. The resulting pile-up of disabled Hoverbikes created a tangled heap of metal before being destroyed by a blast of blue energy.

  The electrical discharge was so powerful that nearby streetlights flickered and died, and the electronics in surrounding buildings momentarily went dark. Civilians who had been watching from windows or doorways quickly retreated inside, knowing better than to witness Imperial forces being defeated.

  As the car sped forward, leaving their pursuers behind, Lorna finished her move and slumped into her seat, coughing as she closed her eyes. Her skin felt clammy, and there was a metallic taste in her mouth – the familiar aftermath of depleting her Aether reserves.

  "You okay, Lorna?" Xin immediately expressed as he continued driving and peeked at Lorna. The concern in his voice seemed genuine.

  "Yeah…out of Aether," Lorna replied with a weary sigh, reaching into her trench coat to retrieve an iridescent vial filled with dark blue liquid. The bottle was cool to the touch, with strange symbols etched into its surface that seemed to shift and change as she handled it. Taking a sip, she let out a satisfied hum as warmth spread through her body, chasing away the cold emptiness left by her depleted reserves. She returned the vial to her pocket. "Hmm — much better."

  "Indra-Sprite," Xin looked at the vial in recognition. "The New Indo-Pacific Union down south exports lots of it. I heard psionic people use it a lot?"

  "We do," Lorna replied, leaning back in her seat with a tired sigh. "It replenishes our Aether after casting more powerful spells. How did you know it was Indra-Sprite?"

  "I…joined a club at college once, hoping to become a psionic by drinking it," Xin hesitantly shared as he drove with the windows rolled up.

  Lorna giggled, looking out the windows. "That's so silly. Kinda cute, though."

  "I envy psionic people, you know," Xin admitted. "You all can do such amazing things. I wish I had that kind of power."

  "You don't want to be like us, trust me," Lorna suddenly muttered in exhaustion, looking out the window as they left the bustling city behind and entered a major thoroughfare leading to the Starport. "All these incantations do something to your brain. It's not fun."

  "I see," Xin shifted in his seat. "If there's anything you want to talk about, I'm all ears."

  An incoming call rang in the car, the dashboard flashing with an Imperial encryption code that shouldn't have been able to reach them. Xin pulled one hand off the steering wheel to answer it, his expression a mixture of surprise and resignation. A hologram of the woman appeared between Xin and Lorna in the front seats, her countenance glowing in the ambient car light. Her jet black hair held into an updo by the familiar red pin that marked her rank within the Imperium hierarchy.

  "Well, well. It seems you Alliance scum are more capable than I gave you credit for," Dilinur taunted, her hologram flashing an arrogant grin. Her image flickered slightly as they passed under a transit overpass, but quickly stabilized.

  "We have the Moondust Crystal's data, Dinu. A rebellion is coming," Xin exclaimed, drawing the flash drive from his pocket to brandish it in front of Dilinur's hologram. His voice carried a conviction that Lorna hadn't heard before.

  "Rebellion, Xin?" Dilinur's hologram responded coolly, her eyes narrowing as she regarded him. "You're just a thief assisting Alliance hypocrites. I thought better of you."

  "Dinu, listen." Xin said intently. "If anyone in the Five Realms could stand up to the Imperium of Dragons, it's the Terra Alliance."

  Dilinur's expression hardened. "I see you're truly, irredeemably insane."

  "Dilinur. Why does Skarn have cybernetics?" Lorna leaned forward in her seat, challenging Dilinur, deliberately changing the subject to spare Xin from further threats. "The Svalbard Concordat of '93 specifically stated. You people were to keep him sealed after our combined forces took him down. Nothing else."

  "It is not my place to decide what the Concordat demands of our Imperium. Or how we honor it," Dilinur smirked, though her eyes betrayed a momentary flash of something – guilt? fear? – before her mask of arrogance returned. "We could have kept Skarn contained if you Alliance dogs hadn't invaded our territory today."

  "Wrong. You were to seal him in his defeated state. Instead, you healed him back up and enhanced him." Lorna ground her teeth, the taste of Indra-Sprite still lingering on her tongue. "What game are you playing?"

  "I will NOT discuss such important matters with an Alliance whore," Dilinur's smile disappeared and her voice turned menacing and malicious.

  "You were experimenting on him," Lorna's disgust was palpable. "Do you have any idea what you've unleashed?"

  "What we've unleashed?" Dilinur laughed, the sound hollow and cold. "The Concordat was a demonstration of the Imperium's mercy. We could have studied him, learned from him, harnessed his power. Instead, we honored your ridiculous demands to contain him."

  "You've violated international law and endangered billions." Lorna snapped.

  "International law, or just rules made up for the Alliance's benefits?" Dilinur's hologram leaned forward, her eyes burning with intensity. "Do not repeat your parents' stupid mistakes, Xin," her gaze shifted to him, "Step aside, or be squashed."

  Before either could respond, Dilinur's hologram flickered and vanished, leaving behind a tense silence broken only by the hum of the fusion engine.

  "Step aside or be squashed." Xin repeated bitterly, but his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel told a different story. "Spoken like a true Imperium officer."

  Lorna glanced at him, seeing the conflict written across his face. She thought of her own lost family, and felt a surprising pang of empathy for this Imperial who perhaps wasn't so different from her after all.

  "We're almost at the Starport, right?" she said, choosing her words carefully. "You're doing the right thing. Just keep at it."

  Xin nodded, his jaw set with determination as they approached the Starport's perimeter checkpoint. Ahead, Thomas and Emmanuel would be waiting with their escape route – if they could make it past whatever reception the Imperium had prepared for them.