Spensa performs a maneuver to get on the ace's tail, trails them for a bit, and eventually gets a shot off as the ace spins around and takes a shot at Spensa. Spensa sinks into her subconscious and attempts to activate M-Bot's cytonic hyperdrive, but M-Bot informs her it is offline.

While waiting, she flies closer to Detritus so that the planet's defense systems will begin targeting the Krell, thus negating their superiority in numbers. The drones help the ace corner Spensa, so she tells M-Bot to call Jorgen. Spensa blasts a drone out of the sky, but runs into its debris, as there is no gravity in space to bring it down to the ground. Spensa performs maneuvers to evade the enemy ace, as her shields are down and theirs are not. She sees a smaller, sleek black Krell ship, not a drone, but a Krell-manned ship, an ace. Spensa starts slipping deeper into her trance, when M-Bot jolts her out of it by informing her that he has detected a new ship. She feels the eyes begin to burn her, full of hatred, as she recalls activating her cytonics at the Battle of Alta Second after slipping into the nowhere.

Spensa is presented with a chance to return to the main battle, but she peels off to confront two Krell drones, and she begins to sink into her subconscious, into the nowhere. Spensa, able to hear and react to the Krell's faster-than-light (FTL) communication faster than themselves, easily uses her IMP to disable the Krell shields and swing around with her light lance to destroy them. Spensa deviates from this plan, however, and flies back toward Detritus, where Rodge McCaffrey and the engineers have succeeded in recapturing some of the ancient defense systems and platforms of the planet. M-Bot reminds Spensa that she's supposed to be leading the Krell back to her flightmates for an ambush, as the Krell will seek out flashy and experienced pilots to hurt the humans' air force. She contemplates M-Bot's lost advantage in not having to worry about being ripped apart in Detritus's atmosphere, as she and the Krell are now fighting in the vacuum of space, independent of drag and air resistance. Spensa flies around outside the atmosphere of Detritus in M-Bot, fighting Krell.

Starsight book 3