Been a while since I updated this, so forgive the sloppy typing. I made it at 1 am.

It has been six months since Stardust was captured and went missing because she presumably made.. this. Aanvi didn’t understand it, it seemed to defy all natural laws. Her and Sky’s ships weren’t affected by the gravity, nor were planets or stars. However, the sentinel ships were drawn towards it. It didn’t seem to make sense. Weirder now was that the sentinels had been their enemy for nearly five years. Was this some kind of deception by working with Sky?

Avalanche took a look at her notes. It made sense, the sentinels were losing, made this was an attempt to take out their best pilot. One who has yet to be shot down. If that was the case, why show the weaknesses in their system? The whole galaxy had been liberated within months after Sky had one this battle and found out that the sentinels were hacked. The whole system was being controlled by flagships, so surgical strikes on fleets gradually brought sentinels to their side. Now all that’s left is to find Stardust, and to do that, Avalanche figured someone needed to fly through that damn void.

Won*

Avalanche proposed the idea to Sky, who suggested they scout it out first. So Sky went directly to the sentinels because losing pilots needlessly would be a waste. She wasn’t sure if something that robotic would be “happy to oblige” in supplying drones, but hey, she gets to explore that void, that’s what matters.

Avalanche would pilot the drone remotely from the Horizon, escorted by a free sentinel as a wing man.

Avalanche went through the final checklist when getting the drone prepared for takeoff. “Checking systems.. fuel: completely filled. Stabilizers: perfect condition. Hull: not a scratch. Camera: online. Weapon systems: online.”

“Be careful, we don’t know what’s in there.”

“It’s not like I’m in the ship, Sky.”

“I’d like to be able to reuse the drone is all.”

“Alright then.. This is Avalanche, requesting permission for takeoff.”

Someone over the ship intercom spoke.
“You are cleared for take off, good luck out there.. wait you’re not actually in the ship..”

Avalanche flew the drone out of the main hanger bay, the free sentinel fighter was already on the drone’s side, it made Avalanche a little uncomfortable.

“Controls on the ship are a bit jerky, but other than that, I can’t complain.”

The drone was being contacted by the fighter. Instead of speaking like a lifeform, the drone relayed information via text appearing on the screen. SF-V-134 was ready to lead the drone into the abyss. On the approach, the gravitational pull grew stronger, the two sentinel craft flew beyond the event horizon.

The sentinel craft found themselves inside a dead space with no stars visible. Yet somehow there was enough light to see. In fact, Avalanche saw a whole hacked sentinel fleet ahead.

“Evasive action?”

On the side of the screen, the word “wait.” It was two seconds before the drone was being fired upon. “Now” appeared on the side of the screen, the drone hadn’t been shot down yet. Both allied drones readied what weapons they could before the onslaught of bolts and ships reached them. It wasn’t long before both ships were destroyed, but the two ships were able to rack up a nice destruction count of nearly a hundred and sixteen fighters and one frigate.

“You have a plan Sky?”

“No.. I don’t know how to beat that fleet without risking as few men as possible.”

The free sentinels however, immediately moved to engage. Tons of free sentinel ships poured into the system. They attacked in waves, sometimes only part of a ship came back. Most of the time, none at all.

The onslaught of free sentinels rushed to take out the old hacked sentinels in the abyss to spare Sky and his pilots. This would delay exploration for a couple months.