The Disruption Lance gathered enough force to break the rift wide open.
Austin aimed the summit dish at its brightest repeating band. The wave bounced between the fleet and the tear in space, gaining strength each time it returned.
“Send the opposite rhythm,” he told himself. “Don’t overpower it. It’s active noise cancellation, on a sun-blast scale.”
He closed the switch.
A white-gold transmission crossed the gap. It met the lance, matched its motion, and canceled the destructive peaks. The rift lost the force holding it open and snapped shut.
The backlash ran through the fleet.
Control runes went dark. Lift fields failed. Twenty-nine dreadnoughts settled into the ley-current, disabled but supported. The flagship’s damaged engines could not hold it.
The Sovereign Eye of Judgment rolled and began to fall.
