Camellia picked herself up off the deck and blinked a few times. Tears had begun to dry in her eyes, but she could see again. The spell’s light had faded, making the bridge seem dark.

“Are you alright?” Florian asked in Camellia’s ear.

She felt his hand on her shoulder.

“Yes, I’m pretty durable,” Camellia answered.

“Just the same.” Florian helped her to her feet.

Rooks paced the deck. “Where are we?”

“The location doesn’t match any star charts. Not the new Iruedian ones…not Girandola…and, so far, not the places we’ve scanned through the Ferrans’ other wormholes. We’re still working on that.”

Camellia could hear the voice waft up from the lower level, but she couldn’t see the face. She thought the man sounded a bit intimidated. She couldn’t blame him. Rooks looked more than a little flustered.

Rooks turned on Inez and Eder. They sat on the deck, slowly getting their bearings.

“Why did the wormhole entrance move?” Rooks asked.

Eder shook his head. He didn’t meet Rooks’ eyes.

“That was completely unintended.” Inez put up both hands and shook her head. “We didn’t write that into the spell. I have no idea why it happened.”

Rooks turned away from the Ferrans. “Meladee? Any ideas?”

Meladee shrugged. “How should I know? It’s not my spell.”

“You looked at it. In fact, nearly a hundred mages have looked at it, and no one caught this potential outcome?” Rooks’ face seemed frozen, halfway between anger and detached calm.

Camellia and Florian moved to the back of the bridge and stayed against the wall.

“Curator? We have another ship. Twenty-five lightyears aft.”

Rooks looked at her screen. “Bring us around.” She glanced at the windshield, but as there was nothing to see there yet, she returned her attention to her screen

Camellia had no screen, so she gazed at the windshield. She saw a starscape, filled with more stars than the space around Iruedim. But, that wasn’t exactly hard to achieve.

Camellia grabbed Florian’s hand in a tight grip.

A quick hum of magic caught Camellia’s ear. She twisted her head side to side and searched for the source. A magic circle faded from Meladee’s vicinity.

“What was that?” Rooks snapped.

“Shield spell. Don’t worry, no rot, just standard protection.” Meladee pulled herself up on to the bench.

Camellia almost sat on the bench, but the windshield held her attention. The other ship was coming into view.

Panphila had landed in the crew pit in a spectacular feat of lost balance. She’d squashed a young Scaldin man and accidentally slapped a more experienced woman on the way down – in the face too.

Pan gave them a half-hearted apology, jumped on to a console, and pulled herself back onto the central dais.

Sotir sat in the middle, tangled up with every other arcane. Irini, Aria, Kat, Hagen, and Chara, along with Sotir, had become a ball of limbs. Gavain tried to pluck his arcane from the pile. He cared a great deal about Aria. Of that, Pan had no doubt.

Alban stood by his seat, and with narrowed eyes, gazed out the view. “That ship…What make?”

Pan trotted to his side and looked upon the behemoth vessel before them. It seemed bigger than the Ischyros by a factor of three, or maybe, that was just because the foreign ship resembled a falain, with glittering barnacles along its hull.

“We can’t identify the ship, Sir.”

“Our location is also unknown. It’s nowhere near Scaldigir.”

Alban’s attention snapped to his crew. “Completely unknown?”

“Yes,” the crew member answered.

Pan kept her eyes on the large vessel. Light circled it.

Pan’s mouth dropped open. She’d just seen an arcane ring, not a simple creation with a single circle of runes. This ring possessed four circles, nested inside each other. Symbols inhabited each circle, and a star drew lines across the whole arrangement.

“Did you see that?” Pan pointed.

“I did,” Alban agreed.

“Volanters,” Pan said.

Alban nodded, a hint of panic in his eyes. “Fire,” he ordered. “All weapons. Give them everything. Pan, try to get us some distance. Portal us away if you can. Did you learn the time message circle?”

“No,” Pan said. “But, I’ll get a portal started.”

To the crew below, Alban ordered, “Determine an escape route.”

Pan agreed with the sentiment. There was no way they could beat a ship of Volanters. She had barely beat a single Volanter – and one that was a dementia patient at that.

Camellia covered her eyes before the light exploded across her view. She’d seen enough weapons fire in Girandola to recognize what was happening. The other ship had begun shooting at them.

Thanks to Meladee’s spell, they didn’t feel it.

“Curator. A lot of direct hits, but no damage.”

“That’s a little ship. I think they just fired everything they have at us,” Rooks said.

Another round of fire followed. Camellia covered her eyes again. She peeked through and watched shading come over the glass to dull the brightness of their opponent’s weapons.

“Can’t say I blame them.” Rooks tapped at her screen. “We did just appear out of nowhere. Maybe, we took them along for the ride. Can we communicate? Send a message.” Rooks turned from her console and met Camellia’s eyes. “If my communications officers can’t understand them, I might need your help.”

Camellia looked at Florian to find him looking back at her.

Camellia nodded. “We’ll try.”

“Between the two of us, we know a fair number of languages,” Florian added.

“Yes, and ones we might not.” Rooks turned back to her controls. “Good spell, Meladee. Nothing’s gotten through.”

“You bet it hasn’t,” Meladee said. “It’s just a forward-facing shield though. I don’t want to make the attempt to protect the entire gigantic ship. So, uh…don’t turn around.”

Eva, who stood silent by the wall, stepped forward. “Sten and I would like to work on our location. We can go to the navigation room and use the resources there.”

Rooks held up a hand. “Let’s see if communicating with them helps things first. They might be able to tell us where we are.” Rooks’ head snapped up. “Actually, there is one thing you can do. Take Inez and Eder. Search for the wormhole. Go.”

Eva gave a short nod. She strode to the door, but Camellia grabbed Eva’s shirt.

“But, Eva can learn languages quickly. We might need her.” Camellia kept a hold of Eva’s shirt, even after the confused look she got.

Rooks glanced up. “Alright, Eva stay. Sten and Ferrans go.” Rooks looked back at her console. “Is there anything from the other ship besides another damn volley?”

Pan struggled to place a portal. She didn’t see the point in sending projectiles to their enemy’s back. As for escape, she worried that she wouldn’t take them far enough. Could she get the ship out of range of Volanter technology and magic? She doubted it.

Pan debated using her telekinesis circle, but she didn’t know if levitation would work in space.

Kat scrambled to Pan’s side. “You’ve got a lot in that repertoire of yours. Do something.” Kat gestured to the windshield.

“What works? It’s space.”

“All of it,” Kat promised.

“Even fire?”

“Yes. Even fire.”

Pan felt her eyes go wide. She drew a portal. “Send it through.”

Kat raised an eyebrow. “It would be like holding a match to the wall of a stone skyscraper. Use your telekinesis.”

Pan frowned. She let the portal drop. She focused on the telekinetic circle. The runes appeared around the nose of the great ship. Pan watched those runes, as if they weren’t her doing and were instead some fascinating natural phenomenon. They surged, with strong light, and Pan felt the call to move the foreign ship. She pulled and brought the ship’s nose down, tilting it into a dive. The big vessel appeared to be tail up at sea.

Kat shrugged. “They might not feel that inside, but at least, you ruined their view of us.”

“They’ll have cameras trained on us. But, that’s a nice view of their flank. Fire,” Alban called to the crew below.

As if they hadn’t been doing that all along. Pan shook her head. She watched, as yet more gunfire streamed in the direction of the big ship. The lights hit the ship’s rear, and a bit of fire erupted from a small point.

The crew gasped. Some sent small cheers into the air above the pit.

“Why are you so happy?” Alban snapped. “That’s a bruise! Fire at the bruise, and Pan, if you can capture gunfire from the rear of our ship, we would really be firing on them with everything we have.” He thrust a tablet into her hands.

The tablet showed her a camera view of their ship’s rear and the space directly behind. Only a few guns waited back there.

With the camera view as guide, Pan drew a portal. Runes scribbled over space, and the circle captured several streams of gunfire, creating a short cut to the enemy ship. Gunfire headed inside the aft portal and out the exit ahead, trained on their enemy.

More fires erupted over the enemy’s flank.

“Now, you may cheer,” Alban said.

“Stop!” Sotir called. “They aren’t attacking us.”

Alban looked at Sotir. “They’re Volanter. They’ll get to it.”

The Volanter’s complex circle wrapped itself around the big ship again.

Alban kind of growled. “I doubt anything is getting through now.”

Pan had to agree. It was some kind of shield circle.

At her side, Alban shook his head. “We need to run. Pan…”

She stared down at the tablet. “I’ll place a portal.”

She let the original aft portal die. The gunfire died with it. She drew a new portal that would take them back into space. She could see both instances of the new portal as the runes drew themselves across the camera view. One portal sat close, large enough to let the Ischyros slide inside. The other was just as large, but so far off, it didn’t look it.

Alban stared down at the tablet. “That probably won’t be enough. But, we’ll start with this distance for now.” Alban took the tablet and adjusted the camera to give Pan a better backwards view. “Back into the portal,” he ordered the helm.

Alban handed the tablet back to Pan. She stared at the view, watching the first portal ring grow closer.

Sotir grabbed Pan’s arm and almost upset the tablet. He dropped his staff and grabbed Alban’s arm as well. “Where are we going to go?” Sotir asked. “We’re a long way from home. We don’t know where we are. We need their help. We need to wait for their communication.”

Alban stared into Sotir’s eyes. “Who says they’ll communicate?”

Sotir stared back. “My read of the future.”

Alban looked away and ordered his crew, “Keep firing to cover our retreat.” Alban brushed Sotir off and turned to Pan. He tried to release her from Sotir’s hold.

Pan was surprised to find Sotir’s grip like a vice. All that card shuffling had given him some strong hands. She would have helped Alban free her, but Sotir’s trepidation gave her pause.

“If we run, we’ll get stuck out here!” Sotir let Pan go of his own accord. “They aren’t Volanter. Wait.”

Alban froze. He took a deep breath. “Hold our position.”

Panphila felt uncertainty grace her face as she looked from Alban to Sotir. Alban was all nerves and skepticism. Sotir was the epitome of calm.

“Communication incoming, Sir.”

Alban released a breath and slumped. “Alright. Cease fire. What does it say?”

“Nothing we can understand. You might be happy to know - it’s not Volanter,” the com officer reported.

Pan walked to his side. “Who are they?”

Sotir raised an eyebrow. “I think it should be obvious. They’re children of the Volanter. Just like us.”

Aria clutched Gavain’s arm and said, “We need to send something back.” Her wide eyes seemed awake for the first time on their little journey.

“Alright. Send a standard greeting in Scaldin,” Alban said. “Maybe, we’ll come to some sort of understanding.” Alban waited by his console and nervously tapped the side. “Also, I hate to suggest it, but if they don’t respond, send a greeting in Volanter. They might understand that.”

“We’ve got a response!” cried a joyous officer to Rooks.

Camellia smiled because Rooks looked so relieved.

“What did it say?” Rooks asked.

“We can’t understand it, Curator. But, they’ve stopped their attack.”

“Alright.” Rooks stepped to the side of her console and swept a hand in its direction. “Camellia. Florian. Eva. Take a look.”

The three hurried to the console. Camellia won the race, with the aid of night and her enthusiasm for the task.

Camellia read over the words but understood nothing. She looked at Florian. He shook his head. Both anthropologists looked at Eva.

“It’s not enough for me,” Eva said.

“Hmmm,” Rooks hummed her thought. “Alright. We’ve tried an assortment of languages from Girandola. Let’s try the same from Iruedim. Northern Trade, Groazan, Tagtrumian, Ponk Unified, and Lurrien. Camellia, Florian, Eva…check over the work when Knight finishes the messages. I don’t want to send any broken…”

“We have another message,” the com officer interrupted.

Camellia saw it come in on Rooks’ screen.

She and Florian both drew a sharp breath. Camellia struggled to find the words, and Florian managed only a cry of surprise as well.

Eva said, “It’s Volanter. They’re greeting us.”

“Volanter?” Rooks asked.

Camellia read, “This is the Ischyros, Scaldin vessel number 33. We are descendants of the Volanter, traveling home. Why did you take us off track? What is your exact relationship to the Volanters?”

Camellia looked between Rooks and Florian.

“Be my guest.” Rooks gestured to the console.

Camellia began to compose a message, with Florian and Eva urging her on.

Sotir, Gavain, and the com officer were the only people who could read Volanter on the Ischyros’ bridge.

Pan waited just behind Sotir, hovering by his shoulder. She glimpsed Volanter words but nothing too informative. It all looked like gibberish runes to her, though she recognized some from her circles.

“Would you read the message please?” Alban nodded to Gavain.

Gavain, being the only ambassador aboard and a mighty convenient one too, read the returning message aloud. “This is the Fauchard, flagship of Iruedim’s ancient fleet. We are distant descendants of the Volanters, performing a wormhole experiment. We are off track as well and deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused to you. We are lost and searching for our location. Any information you have concerning this area of space would be appreciated.”

Alban harrumphed. “We’re both lost. Wonderful. You know, Irini. I have a job for you, but first, let’s meet these people. Who’s willing to bet they have tentacles?”

Sotir smiled. “Not me.”

Pan tugged on his sleeve. “Are they dangerous?” she whispered.

Sotir shook his head. “I think we’re quite a bit more Volanter than they are.”

Pan didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.