My Infinite System.

Few days ago

The room had been dim that night.

Lucian sat on the edge of his bunk, half-dressed, skin still damp from the shower. The faint hum of the Citadel's life-support systems filled the silence like a heartbeat. He hadn't slept in hours. His mind was quiet, but it wasn't resting—it was calculating.

A holographic interface hovered before him, pale-blue light washing over the lines of his face. The system shop flickered through endless categories—ships, weapons, armor, modules, enhancements. None of it felt right. He wasn't looking for something that could kill. He was looking for something that could go.

"Cael," he said softly.

[Online.]

"Show me available vessels compatible with Omega protocols. Personal class."

[Processing…]

[List generated.]

Dozens of schematics appeared in the air. Compact cruisers, interceptor-grade fighters, even a few experimental stealth frigates. Lucian scrolled past them one by one. Too small. Too slow. Too… ordinary.

Then, the interface flickered—and there it was.

[STAR-JUMPER CLASS VESSEL – "VELOCITY FRAME"]

Designation: Dimensional Tactical Interceptor

Type: Omega-Rank Personal Vessel

AI Core: "HALYN" (Adaptive Learning Construct)

Size: Medium Class — two-deck configuration

Capacity: Crew 6 max

Drive Type: Quantum Fold Engine

Power Source: Infinite Compression Core

Weapons: Plasma Lance Array / Point-Defense Railguns / Gravity Pulse Projector

Systems:

— Zero-Drift Navigation Suite

— Neural-Link Piloting

— Adaptive Hull Regeneration

— Cloak Veil (short-range invisibility)

— Chrono-Sync Jump System (time-layered warp navigation)

— Multi-Environment Field Adaptation

— External Dock: Drone Bay + Combat Walker Slot

Status: Customizable upon purchase.

Lucian leaned forward. The model rotated in the air—sleek, minimal, predatory. It wasn't a battleship. It was a knife. Fast, silent, made for deep-space insertion and impossible retrievals.

It was perfect.

He didn't hesitate.

[Purchase Confirmed.]

[Deployment Coordinates: Citadel Hangar Bay 03.]

A low hum filled the room as a faint ripple of energy passed through the walls. The Star Jumper had arrived.

Lucian stared at the fading hologram for a long moment. For the first time in days, something felt… steady. He exhaled, lying back on the bunk, letting the soft hum of the ship's arrival blend with the distant pulse of the Citadel. He didn't know yet that this vessel would carry him through the storm to come.

Now, days later, standing inside it, he could see what the system meant when it said adaptive design.

The Star Jumper was alive in its own way—less a ship, more a symbiotic machine. The inner walls pulsed faintly with soft veins of blue light, as if the metal itself breathed. The corridors curved naturally, not with the rigid precision of the Nova Sanctum, but with the organic smoothness of something that grew instead of being built.

It was smaller, but sharper. A blade to the Nova Sanctum's cathedral.

The Nova Sanctum, the Infinity-class Mothership, had been a masterpiece of the old wars—a sentient fortress that folded reality around itself. A divine vessel bound to the Embodiment of Infinity, capable of birthing new dimensions, anchoring worlds, and sustaining armies. It was a city with a soul, a god in the shape of a ship.

The Star Jumper was the opposite. Where the Sanctum embodied creation, this one embodied motion. It didn't conquer; it infiltrated. It didn't reshape reality; it slipped between it.

Standing on the bridge, Lucian let his eyes wander. The cockpit was narrow but panoramic—an expanse of reinforced glass-like alloy displaying the void in perfect clarity. Every console was fluid and minimal, no buttons or levers, just surfaces that responded to thought or touch.

He could feel the ship's pulse faintly through the soles of his boots—a rhythm synced to his own.

[Welcome aboard, Lucian.]

The voice that filled the bridge was soft, female, and calm, carrying the faintest digital echo. It wasn't mechanical—it had tone, emotion.

Lucian tilted his head slightly. "You're Halyn?"

[Correct.]

"System told me you were adaptive."

[Adaptive and bonded. This vessel is linked directly to your neural frequency. It will respond only to you and those you authorize.]

He nodded slightly. "Good."

Halyn's voice softened. [I've accessed your mission data. You require mobility, stealth, and deep-space endurance. Shall I align systems accordingly?]

"Do it."

A low thrum rolled through the hull as lights shifted from silver-blue to muted indigo. The panels along the walls brightened and dimmed, adjusting to the new setting. Lucian could feel the air pressure stabilize, the faint change in oxygen density—a perfectly tuned atmosphere.

Halyn spoke again. [Primary Drive: Quantum Fold Engine online. Estimated Jump Radius: unlimited, with recharge interval of 12 minutes per dimensional transit.]

Lucian smirked faintly. "Unlimited's a nice word."

[It suits your pattern.]

He almost laughed. Almost.

The ship's inner layout was efficient, nearly instinctual in design. From the bridge, a curved corridor branched off toward the living quarters—four private cabins and one central mess area. Everything folded away when not in use, making the corridors feel wider than they were.

The second deck housed the armory, a small medbay, and the power chamber. The power chamber itself was mesmerizing—an open sphere at the ship's center, where the Infinite Compression Core floated suspended in an electromagnetic cradle. It wasn't a reactor in the traditional sense; it was more like a captured singularity. Tiny arcs of light danced around it, each one folding inward infinitely.

Lucian stood there for a moment, watching the core pulse. He could feel its presence—not warm, but alive, like standing next to a heart that beat for both him and the ship.

"Halyn," he said quietly, "how does it compare to the Sanctum?"

There was a pause. [The Nova Sanctum was designed to create order. The Star Jumper exists to escape it. It is faster, quieter, and invisible to systems older than civilization itself. It cannot hold armies or shape worlds. But it can take you anywhere in existence without being seen.]

Lucian smiled faintly. "That'll do."

[It's not a god's ship,] Halyn added. [It's a hunter's.]

"Perfect," he murmured.

Later that night, the others explored their new home.

Silas was the first to whistle low, running his hand along the corridor wall. "Feels weird," he said. "Like the ship's watching us."

"It is," Vyn replied simply, her shadows brushing faintly against the metallic surface. "It's alive. I can feel it breathing through the void."

Reia walked past them, dragging her fingertips along the glowing seams. "No corners. No edges. Everything curves like bone." She grinned. "I like it."

Evelyn stood by the cockpit, her eyes reflecting the shifting stars through the viewport. "It flies smoother than anything I've touched. It's like the air just… moves for it."

Lucian was seated near the core interface, eyes closed, listening to the hum. "That's because it doesn't move through air," he said quietly. "It moves through what's underneath."

They all turned toward him.

"What do you mean underneath?" Silas asked.

Lucian opened his eyes. "Space isn't empty. It's layers. The Jumper doesn't fly through them. It slides between them. That's how it avoids detection. That's how it gets where we're going before anyone knows we've left."

Reia exhaled, leaning back against the wall. "That sounds… impossible."

Lucian's lips curved slightly. "That's why I bought it."

Later, when the others were asleep, Lucian stayed on the bridge. The lights were dim, the stars reflected faintly in the black glass of the viewport.

[You are troubled,] Halyn said softly.

"Always," he replied.

[Your sister's signal is still faint.]

"I know."

[You've chosen a difficult path.]

Lucian's gaze didn't leave the stars. "It's the only one I've ever known."

Halyn was silent for a moment, then said quietly, [Would you like me to play something?]

Lucian blinked. "Music?"

[Something from her file. Lucy.]

He hesitated, then nodded once. "Play it."

A soft melody filled the bridge—a quiet piano tune, raw and unpolished. He recognized it instantly. Lucy used to play it when she couldn't sleep.

Lucian sat there in silence as the music drifted through the Star Jumper, the hum of the ship blending with it like a heartbeat.

The Nova Sanctum had been a home for gods.

This was something different—something smaller, faster, and far more dangerous.

A ship built not for creation or conquest, but for the pursuit of something lost.

The Star Jumper wasn't a sanctuary.

It was a promise.