Placing his hand on Clarice's face, gently closing her eyes, Reno remained silent.
In his mind, scenes of when he first met Clarice flashed.
Conversations on the balcony, the sensual act of changing clothes in the flying car, and the reluctance upon parting... Although much of it was illusion, Reno believed there was some genuine beauty amidst it all.
Unable to distinguish what was real from what was fake, Clarice was gone, leaving only memories.
Reno sat there, dumbfounded, motionless.
Beams and gunfire continued to shuttle outside the hangar. Nora, wielding her gun, rushed in from outside. "Reno, she's dead, we need to leave quickly."
Reno shook his head. "I killed her... Even though she deceived me, she wasn't an enemy. I'm the one who caused her death..."
"Enough, Reno," Nora shouted. "Now is not the time for this. We don't even know who they are, everything must proceed according to plan. The operation has begun, you can't give up! Don't forget, you're our leader!"
The last sentence boosted Reno's spirits.
He looked up at Nora.
Nora spoke slowly and emphatically, "The lives of two thousand eight hundred people are waiting for you to save them. Don't delay yourself for a woman!"
Reno took a deep breath.
He nodded. "Thank you, Nora, I was just momentarily agitated."
He gently laid Clarice down, stood up, and walked towards the hangar exit.
More security personnel were pouring in, gunfire illuminating the surroundings.
But Reno paid no attention, only gazing towards the distant sky.
At this moment, Sereni was piloting a shuttle, ascending into the sky.
She dialed a terminal, "Bonnie, the plan failed, launch the Thor's Hammer, we need to leave here."
A crisp female voice came from the other end, "The plan failed? How could this happen? What about Clarice?"
Sereni glanced downwards, sighing, "She sacrificed herself."
"Oh, God!" came a low sob from the other end.
"Enough of the mourning, we must leave immediately, that damn Jonny Reno has caused us big trouble," Sereni ordered.
"Understood, Captain," came the response. Above Hudson Port, a starship began to slowly depart from the port.
After leaving the port, it descended downwards to rendezvous with Sereni.
But during the descent, a cry came from the Thor's Hammer, "Captain, trouble incoming!"
"What trouble?"
"It's the Earth Fleet, they're moving towards us!"
"Damn it!" Sereni angrily slammed the console, cursing, "Jonny Reno again!"
No need to ask, Reno was behind all of this.
"I don't understand, Captain, why would he do this!" Bonnie shouted.
"I don't know, but there must be a reason. We have to leave here before they arrive!" Sereni said loudly. "Bonnie, halt the Thor's Hammer's descent, ignite the engines, and prepare to ascend."
"What?" Bonnie was shocked. "But you haven't come back yet."
"Shut up!" Sereni yelled. "If the Thor's Hammer can't break free from the gravitational field before the Earth Fleet arrives, we won't be able to jump. Hurry up and ignite the engines, get ready to ascend. Don't worry about me, I'll catch up with you before you jump."
"...Yes, Captain!" The officer responded reluctantly.
The Thor's Hammer stopped descending and began flying towards space.
Sereni pushed the shuttle to its limits.
She accelerated recklessly, paying no heed to anything, flames billowing behind the shuttle, its speed skyrocketing, like a beam of light shooting into the sky.
Meanwhile, in the distance, a fleet of starships, escorts, were flying towards them. The fleet was like a dark cloud, almost suffocating, appearing as dense red dots on the display screen.
In the command hall of the Thor's Hammer, it was bustling with flying officers.
If one looked closely, most of the pilots here were women.
Sitting in the captain's seat was a young female officer with deep blue eyes.
Her name was Bonnie, Sereni's deputy.
She anxiously watched the screen, muttering prayers, "Faster... Sereni, faster..."
"The engines are fully charged, ready to enter full-speed mode. Shall we proceed?" a pilot asked loudly.
"No, wait!" Bonnie ordered. "We must wait for the captain to return."
"The Earth Fleet is closing in, we have one minute until they reach near-earth orbit."
Bonnie shouted, "Maintain steady ascent, activate energy shields for defense!"
A curtain of energy rose on the Thor's Hammer.
As it fell into the eyes of the distant fleet, a flying officer reported, "Captain, the enemy is entering a defensive stance."
"Full speed ahead, fire ion beam cannons... We want them alive."
"Yes, Captain!"
The distant fleet began to shine with flashes of energy.
"The enemy is charging!" a flying officer shouted.
"Activate the defense deck, prepare for defense!"
The Thor's Hammer began to turn, presenting its toughest side to the incoming enemy.
Then the sky lit up with a bright flash, followed by beams of light shooting towards the Thor's Hammer.
Since the battle was fought in near-Earth orbit, it was essentially a close combat battle. When the fleet rounded the Earth's curvature and entered the same plane as the Thor's Hammer, they went straight into battle mode.
The distance between them was so brief, like two people meeting at a corner, separated only by an arm's length.
For this reason, Bonnie didn't hope to evade the attacks but instead chose to confront them head-on.
The ion beam cannons from the fleet immediately fired, with at least a dozen beams striking the hull. The surging energy pierced through the shields, landing on the rear defensive deck, creating a brilliant display of light.
However, due to timely response, the starship itself wasn't severely damaged.
"Continue flying, prepare to break free from the gravitational field!" Bonnie shouted, while urging Sereni, "We're under attack, Captain, you better hurry up!"
"I know!" gritted Sereni through her teeth.
The shuttle darted through the clouds, its speed almost igniting flames.
Sereni pushed the throttle to the maximum, disregarding everything. She burst out of the clouds into the vast emptiness of space, where the streaks of flame traversing the sky were clearly visible.
"Bonnie, turn forty-six degrees, deactivate the shields, activate maximum power load!" Sereni commanded.
"What?" Bonnie hesitated.
"Do it!" Sereni yelled.
"Yes!" Bonnie quickly complied.
The Thor's Hammer began tilting as Sereni instructed, skewing in the sky like a fish in an unusual swimming posture.
Although Bonnie didn't understand Sereni's intentions, an Earth Fleet commander, an elderly man with graying hair, detected the problem.
He suddenly roared, "Damn scoundrels, cease fire!"
They couldn't stop because the Thor's Hammer was actually placing its engines at the forefront, and they had also deactivated the energy shields. This meant that the next attack could hit the Thor's Hammer's engines at any moment, and given their current state, they were at maximum load. Once they exploded, it would generate a tremendous shockwave.
In space, such a shockwave wouldn't mean much, but they were above Earth.
A massive explosion above Earth would cause tidal waves to engulf half the planet.
Although angry, the old general couldn't afford not to stop the attack.
The gunfire from the Earth Fleet ceased, and the Thor's Hammer crew erupted into excited cheers.
"Full speed ahead, open the rear hatch, prepare for transit!" Sereni shouted.
"Full speed ahead, open the rear hatch, prepare for transit!" Bonnie excitedly relayed the command.
The rear hatch of the Thor's Hammer slowly opened, and the shuttle rushed into the hangar like a fireball.
Boom!
The top cover of the shuttle flew open, and Sereni jumped out of the cockpit.
"Bonnie, prepare for transit!" she shouted as she ran towards the command hall.
"We're leaving the gravitational field, we're too close to Earth."
"Don't worry about that!" Sereni yelled.
"Understood, activate the engines, release the warp field, prepare for transit!" the deputy began issuing a series of commands.
A small vortex appeared in front of the Thor's Hammer, gradually expanding as it swirled.
This was a precursor to the initiation of warp transit.
However, at that moment, a gravitational wave spread from the direction of the Earth Fleet, hitting the vortex, and the cosmic whirlpool began to dissipate.
"No!" Bonnie screamed in despair. "They're using interference waves, the spacetime bubble is collapsing!"
"Damn it!" Sereni suddenly accelerated, her body forming an electric streak, roaring past. "Fire particle-enhanced energy cannons, open the rear energy barrier, fly in an arc... orbit around the Earth!"
"Understood!"
The Thor's Hammer began circling the Earth, using its curvature to evade the fleet while firing particle-enhanced energy cannons from the rear to further hinder the enemy's flight.
As long as they could shake off the Earth Fleet's entanglement, the Thor's Hammer could resume warp flight and escape from there. But the Earth Fleet obviously understood this as well, and they relentlessly pursued, sparking a chase.