The bridge of the Nautilus became a blur of controlled, frantic activity. The three-hour clock had started ticking, and Rostova's focused search of Sector Gamma-9 would be impossible to evade.
"A drone's Aetheric projector is a toy," Anya said, her fingers already a blur across her console as she brought one of the deep-sea drones into the ship's internal maintenance bay via a robotic arm. "Its output is negligible. What kind of 'roar' do you think you can make with it?"
"I'm not going to use its power source," Ren explained, his mind racing as he formulated the plan. "I'm going to use yours. The ship's main Aetheric reactor. We're going to bypass the drone's internal core and turn its projector into a nozzle for the reactor's full output."
Anya stared at him, her scientific mind immediately grasping the sheer, reckless insanity of what he was proposing. "That's not possible! The drone's conduits can't handle that kind of energy flow! You'll vaporize it. You'll create an Aetheric explosion that will lead them right to us!"
"I won't," Ren countered, his voice steady. "Not if I control the flow. I won't be dumping raw power into it. I'll be weaving a signature. A convincing one."
"The boy is learning," Zephyrion noted with a hint of pride. "He thinks not just of might, but of its application. Deception and power, intertwined. A true Raijin gambit."
Anya hesitated for only a second before her own daring intellect took over. The idea was madness, but it was brilliant madness. "It will take me twenty minutes to create the bypass and shield the conduit," she said, already working. "And the power drain will be immense. We will have one shot. One single, massive burst. And it will leave us running on fumes."
"One shot is all I need," Ren said.
The next twenty minutes were the most intense of their lives. While Anya physically rerouted the ship's power, Ren sat with his eyes closed, the Soul-Forge Gauntlet on his hand, studying the stolen Pagoda data on Aether Beast signatures. He couldn't just create a random blast of energy; that would be suspicious. He needed to create a believable monster. He found what he was looking for in the data for Project Chimera: the Aetheric signature of a 'Deep-Trench Leviathan', a legendary Master-level beast known to inhabit abyssal trenches like this one. Its signature was a chaotic, powerful, and complex song of rage and hunger.
"The bypass is complete," Anya announced, her voice strained. "The drone is now a loaded cannon, and our reactor is the gunpowder. It's all yours, Ren."
Ren walked to the drone, now locked in a launch tube. He placed his hand upon its casing and extended his will. He did not touch the ship's reactor. He took control of the final output node, the projector itself. He was the gatekeeper.
"Rostova's ship enters the primary scan sector in five minutes," Anya warned.
"Launch the drone," Ren commanded. "Send it to the far side of the canyon system, five kilometers away."
The drone shot out of the Nautilus and vanished into the darkness.
On the bridge of the Vindicator, Rostova watched her tactical display. "Begin the deep-resonance pulse," she ordered.
"Captain!" her sensor lieutenant suddenly shouted. "Massive Aetheric signature detected! Bearing 0-9-0! It's… it's huge! Master-level, at least! It just appeared out of nowhere!"
Rostova's eyes snapped to the location on the map. It was on the far side of the canyon system she had intended to scan. It was a chaotic, predatory signature, the unmistakable sign of a powerful, dormant beast being awakened by their pulse.
This was the perfect explanation for the original energy surge from Melas. A powerful beast had been disturbed. The rogue Apprentice had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had likely been eaten.
Her target had just been rendered irrelevant by a far greater threat.
"All hands!" Rostova roared, her strategic mind instantly shifting gears. "Forget the search pattern! We have a Master-level hostile in the sector! Move to engage! I will not have such a creature roaming in GAMA-patrolled waters!"
The Vindicator and its escort skiffs abandoned their search, turning and accelerating towards the phantom Leviathan on the far side of the trench.
Aboard the Nautilus, Ren collapsed against a wall, his body trembling, a thin trickle of blood dripping from his nose. He had held the gate open for only ten seconds, venting a colossal amount of the ship's power into a single, perfect lie.
"They took the bait," Anya breathed, watching the GAMA ships race away on her screen. She looked at Ren with a new, profound respect. "You didn't just create a diversion. You gave a GAMA Captain a new mission. You changed her entire reality."
Ren simply nodded, too exhausted to speak. He had given them a roar. And now, under the cover of the chaos he had created, the ghost was free to slip away into the silent, deep dark.