Jace soared between the towers of Xanadu, dodging chunks of dome and metal from the tops of the highest buildings. Streak twittered, obviously glad to be out of the stall, even if that meant avoiding potentially harmful missiles.
   He looked down and saw patches missing from the street, falling into the lower levels. People were flocking towards the lifts that led down into the plateau, hoping to escape the debris. Cracks had spread throughout the entire dome, threatening to shatter at any moment.
   More fighters roared over the top of the dome, their engines now audible through the fractures. Energy shots were flying everywhere, trying to hit an invisible target. Ships from supply freighters were hastily taking off, joined by personal ships that had stopped for refueling.
   Jace's targeting systems located Tyri's ship through the chaos, still on the landing pad, though the engines were ready for takeoff. He directed Streak to land next to the bay doors on the bottom of the ship. As soon as they touched the ground, the doors opened and Tyri appeared on the rim, beckoning for him to go up. Streak spread his wings and pushed upward with one powerful stroke, spreading them again right before they hit the ceiling.

   Soron reached the hatch to the fighter bay just in time to see the the bay doors close, catching Jace and the creature he had been riding, resulting in a loud clang. Jace had a standard advanced trooper helmet covering his face, but Soron could still hear him groaning as he got up, mirrored by the creature five paces from him.
   Seeing Soron staring, Jace gestured to the animal. "Soron, meet Streak. Gryphons are extremely intelligent, so try to avoid staring." As Jace said this, his voice projected through the helmet in grating tones, the gryphon seemed to scowl at Soron, the feathers on his head lifting in a quietly threatening way. Soron had seen that look several times before, whenever he passed one of the Blood Terror's guards and their canine-like hounds. The message was clear: Touch my master, and I'll kill you.
   Tyri emerged from the back of the bay, stepping wearily around Streak, who was still fixated on Soron. "Kajin is flying the ship, but it won't be enough to get past the warship." As if to punctuate her words, the ship shook, tilting to the side, accompanied by a loud bang. Soron remembered why he had come down.
   "Kajin wants you back up on the bridge. He said something about needing to know the weapons specs."
   Jace touched a panel on his helmet to the side of his neck, and the panels folded over each other, retracting into a collar, revealing Jace's face. "I know this model. Aren't there supposed to be manually operated guns in the starboard blisters?"
   Tyri nodded.
   Jace looked at Streak,  whistled and motioned down. The gryphon sat and folded his wings, but seemed to make sure they could see his reluctance. Jace looked back at Tyri. "Tell Kajin I'll be controlling those guns." Then he raced past Soron and deeper into the ship.
   Tyri and Soron ran to the bridge, where Kajin was sitting in the pilot's seat. They stepped onto the bridge just in time for him to launch the ship into a dizzying set of rolls, trying to avoid energy shots. Every so often, a blast would hit the shields, and that part of the view screen would go blank.
   "Soron! Do you know how to calculate a jump?" Kajin yelled.
   Soron nodded and ran to the navigational computer. "Where are we going?"
   "Sagittarius." Tyri said, breaking off from the list of statistics she was telling Kajin.
   Soron raised an eyebrow. Sagittarius was the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Going there was practically suicide.
   But then again, he thought, no one would be crazy enough to follow us there.
   Soron poured all his attention on plotting the course as the battle outside rapidly escalated as they left the atmosphere. Kajin was frantically working at the controls, showing a familiarity with starships that went beyond simply knowing how to steer.
   As soon as they left the gravity well, Kajin yelled, "We're clear!", and Soron punched the jump control. The tunnel drives hummed, and everything fell away to be replaced by the complete darkness of tunnelspace.

   Kajin relaxed as the autopilot took over control of the jump and the star bursts of light against the shields disappeared. Tyri still wore the same neutral expression, but she was close enough that he heard her breath of relief.
   "So," he said. "We have successfully evaded an attack from a warship far more advanced than modern tech, also, I noticed, very intent on destruction, only to head to a destination that may as well be named destruction."
   Tyri looked at him in a slightly annoyed way. "It is possible to navigate debris fields, so long as you have quick reflexes and foreknowledge of the obstacles."
   "Yes, but that isn't just a debris field out there. That place is a deathtrap!"
   "What is a deathtrap?" Ayden's voice came from behind, where he, Jax, and Airi were coming up from the main cabin where they had strapped in for  takeoff, Jace following close behind.
   "The ring of debris that circles Sagittarius, the black hole at the center of the galaxy." Soron spoke up from his station. "While most substances are sucked beyond the event horizon, some have the right amount of energy to resist for a time, circling the singularity like water going down a drain. Besides that, there are also the random bits of rock, dust and ice clouds, planets, and asteroids caught in the gravitational pull that can't move away but don't get swallowed either, which are constantly colliding with each other. Colliding with just one of those objects would mean instant destruction."
   "Oh. Cheery."
   Jace leaned on the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. "So why are we going there?"
   "Because it is the most direct route to Jirinax." Tyri said. "Jirinax is where you will learn more about who you are. The only way to reach it is through a crack in the fabric of space and time. A black hole, for instance, is perfect."
   "Krikshen," Kajin cursed. "This just keeps getting better and better."
   "In the meantime," Tyri said, ignoring Kajin, "We have roughly seven hours till we reach Sagittarius. It would be wise to get some rest before we arrive." With that, she walked out of the cockpit.
  

   Airi was still getting used to being free to wander, as well as how much everything had changed in the past day. Or maybe it was two. They didn't have a night or day where she was raised, and everything was on a schedule. Kajin had started teaching her how to keep time, but it was all still very new to her.
   She roamed the ship, determined to examine every inch of it, to commit it to memory, in case she never saw it again. Kajin was still on the bridge and Soron had claimed one of the rooms leading off from the cabin. She had hardly seen him since. Jax was trying to explain how some of the mechanics of the ship worked to Ayden in the cabin, apparently motivated by some bet they had agreed on recently. When she looked in the fighter bay, she found Streak sound asleep on the floor, occasionally rumbling what must have been a snore,accompanied by a lighter, faster breath. Upon further examination, she found Jace collapsed against Streak's flank, apparently overcome by exhaustion. Airi couldn't help but be amused by the resemblance in character between man and beast, and wondered what it was like to have such a strong bond with another living creature. She found a spare blanket on a bunk and draped it over Jace. He didn't even twitch.