A massive sense of exhaustion assaulted us. But as my mind cleared, I regained clarity over my surroundings. We had already arrived inside Skyhawk. We had four hours to take control of the ship.

I struggled up before walking over to Jack and helping him up. At that point, the others were also slowly regaining their strength. One after another, they stood up to study the ship. Skyhawk was a Milky Way–class battleship powered by nuclear and electrical power. The ship was massive, and we were all inside the bioelectric cultivation room.

With Jack leading the way, we soon headed toward the command room. We had been inside a different Milky Way–class battleship before—Captain Wessex's Starpath. That ship's incredible firepower had left a deep impression on us.

Skyhawk's internal design was basically the same as Starpath's. Looking through the window, we could see that the ship was semicircular...