Prologue
Contains spoilersOverview
Darrow infiltrates Mercury’s orbital graveyard to intercept a corvette ferrying the captive Orion to Atalantia. After brutal boarding combat against Gorgons, the Love and Death Knights, and Ajax, Tongueless is slain but Rhonna extracts Orion. Darrow detonates rigged ship reactors to cripple pursuers, escaping toward Mercury with Orion and a narrow strategic win.
Summary
Among the wrecks of the White Fleet over Mercury, Darrow reflects on Atalantia’s ambush, Orion’s capture by the Fear Knight Atlas, and the looming annihilation of the Free Legions. With Alexandar, Thraxa, Rhonna, Tongueless, and pilot Colloway aboard the stealth shuttle Necromancer, he rigs derelict reactors and prepares to intercept the corvette Blood Medusa transporting Orion to Atalantia’s psychotechs.
As Atalantia feints with a western-hemisphere strike, Darrow tracks the Medusa cutting into the orbital debris. Colloway’s shot webs the hull, Darrow breaches, and the team fights through crash webbing and Zero Legion Gorgons. Tongueless brings a ripped ripWing cannon to bear; Alexandar carves a path while Thraxa hammers a flank. They push toward the prison block under intense fire.
The corridor choke ignites when the Love and Death Knights block the route and Ajax arrives from the rear. Ajax blitzes Tongueless and kills him with surgical precision. Darrow decapitates the Death Knight, but the combined threat of Ajax and the Love Knight stalls the push as Thraxa and Alexandar bleed, buying time for Rhonna’s flanking plan.
Executing the contingency, Rhonna welds in from the hull behind the brig, snatches Orion, and plants a bomb. The blast rips open the aft section, venting the Love Knight and Ajax into space as the Necromancer scoops the team. Darrow triggers the rigged reactors in the graveyard, unleashing cascading explosions that savage the onrushing destroyers and cover their escape.
Safe aboard, the team opens Rhonna’s vacuum bag to reveal a mutilated but alive Orion, who greets Darrow with "Hail Reaper." The rescue denies Atalantia crucial defense intel, but the cost—Tongueless’s death—and Ajax’s prowess foreshadow brutal battles ahead on Mercury.
Who Appears
- Darrow
Narrator; leads a high-risk boarding mission to rescue Orion, fights Olympic Knights, detonates rigged reactors, and escapes with Orion.
- Alexandar
Darrow’s lancer; lethal in boarding assault, duels the Love Knight, is stunned in combat but survives.
- Rhonna
Darrow’s niece; executes the hull breach, plants the bomb, and physically extracts Orion in her starShell.
- Thraxa au Telemanus
Apex fighter; smashes through corridors, shields Alexandar, wounds mount as she clashes with Ajax.
- Ajax
Aja’s son; terrifyingly fast blade master who kills Tongueless and nearly stops the rescue.
- Orion
Captured fleet commander; rescued from the corvette, mutilated but alive, critical intel denied to Atalantia.
- Tongueless
Obsidian ally; wields a ripWing cannon to clear corridors, killed by Ajax during the assault.
- Colloway
Necromancer pilot; webs the target corvette, flies precision pickup under fire, and hails for cover.
- Atlas au Raa (Fear Knight)
Enemy commander; orchestrates Orion’s transfer and reports operations, catalyst for Darrow’s interception.
- Atalantia au Raa
Dictator of the Society; architect of the Mercury ambush, seeks Orion’s mind for Republic defense intel.
- Love Knight (Kalindora)
Olympic Knight allied with Atalantia; duels Alexandar and teams with Ajax before being vented into space.
- Death Knight
Olympic Knight; clashes with Darrow in the corridor and is decapitated.
- Gorgons
Fear Knight’s elite guerrillas; mount disciplined resistance throughout the ship, inflict heavy pressure.