"Now! Of all times! This can't be a coincidence! Damn the Tyrant Sun!" The dark-haired man lamented as he hurriedly secured an elegant space fighter made of white and blue jade alloys to the hangar deck. He wore a simple but effective protective suit to keep him alive should the hangar lose atmosphere, with 'Fortis' sewn into the name patches. Those crew hands that had put on their void suits were with him, working to secure the ship's complement of void fighters. Outside the great bay that had been the womb of the Starstriding Engine was abuzz as personnel were rushed aboard. Beyond the metropolis-sized doors of the launch bay, in the infinite void around the Machine God's titanic body, was a sky full of stars. Starships great and small burned from the great battle that swarmed in the vicinity of Autochthon.
    As he tied down another strap and directed crew on which void fighters were priorities, Syd Fortis reflected that this was the worst assault on Autochthonia in centuries, and he would bet a month's rations that the Primordials had found out about the World Seed Expedition. He shook his head, muttering rude comments about spies and traitors. "This is why we can't have nice things, hm?" he said to himself.

    Within the Starstriding Engine's bridge, crew gave terse status reports to a captain in a shining golden void suit. A voice broke into the noise.
    "Control to Ot, what is your ETA on launch?"
    The emotionless voice of the Alchemical Exalt at the core of the city-ship answered precisely. "At present rate, ten minutes."
    "You don't have ten minutes. The Defense Line is having trouble keeping the launch corridor clear of Primordial forces. Break-through in five."
    The gold-clad captain slammed a fist in frustration on the communications panel, opening a ship-wide alert. "This is Captain Oren. All hands prepare for immediate launch." Terse, to the point, and not at all the grand speech she had planned for the start of the expedition.

    Outside the klaxons blared as the Starstrider Engine's umbilicals blew free and retracted. The remaining people who were supposed to board instead fled into the interior of Autochthon, guided by lit emergency glyphs in the deck plates and Terrestrial Exalted clad in battle suits. Loud warnings told everybody in the twinkling twilight-lit space of the hangar to clear out and of the impending evacuation of the air inside. A low hum rose and dominated the senses as the sub-light engines of the Starstriding Engine cycled on, the ship rippling from their spatial distortions.
    Another, more urgent warning blared; the collision alarm. An enemy destroyer careened into the hangar door, sending flaming wreckage inwards, then back out as the air began howling into the void, taking people, bodies, and loose items with it.

    Ot said, with that clipped calm voice that Oren found incredibly infuriating in the present circumstances, "Hangar doors inoperable."
    Oren swore, then looked at the weapons control officers. "Shoot the doors open."
    The young Exalted officer who was responsible looked at the captain with shock. "Ma'am, but what about all the-"
    The captain cut them off. "They were dead the moment the hangar doors were breached. Do it! And may the Maidens have mercy on us." She whispered the latter, unwilling to let the other officers hear a moment of doubt from their captain.

    The enormous series of mechanisms that had been the doors to the city-ship's hangar blew outward in shards and white hot chunks. Emerging like a bat out of hell was the multi-tiered conical shape of the Starstriding Engine, roiling clouds of heatless distortion blasting outwards from the engines. The ship's innumerable defense guns were shooting debris as the heavier weapons kept track of larger and mobile threats. Every heartbeat felt like borrowed time for the crew, but their allies in the Defense Line managed to keep the Primordial fleet occupied for enough time.
    "Ot Actual to Control. We're clear and ready."
    "Mercury's blessings. Fly fast. Fly far. Fly free."
    With a flash of light, the Starstriding Engine accelerated to superluminal speed.