The Engineer

The Engineer

Author	Will Wight
Language	English
Series	The Last Horizon
Genre	Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Published	December 5, 2023
Media type	ebook, paperback, audiobook
Preceded by	The Captain
Followed by	The Knight

Synopsis

“I can’t juggle starships. I make the ones who can.”

The battle with the Iron Legion has left The Last Horizon battered and broken, drifting in space. Varic needs an exceptional Engineer to fix his ship, and there’s only one person for the job: Mell, the master Aether Technician.

But first, they have to break her out of prison.

Mell has been captured by the Advocates, a group of super-powered vigilantes who dominate their corner of the galaxy. They are led by Starhammer, an invincible champion with a personal obsession with Mell.

The Last Horizon may be crewed by the greatest heroes in the galaxy, but even they have to be careful with Starhammer. Every time he survives a battle, he grows stronger.

In another life, Varic saw the end of that road. If he lets Starhammer become too powerful, the galaxy is doomed.

Plot Summary

For a chapter by chapter summary, see /Summary.

Completing the Crew

Queen Shyrax is on her way to The Last Horizon, and Varic and Horizon prepare to recruit her. Sola, Raion, and Varic teleport onboard to Shyrax’s battlecruiser. Shyrax challenges Varic for the Captain position, and Horizon agrees to accept her if she overcomes him in his strong suit, magic. Shyrax accepts defeats in their match, and then challenges Raion for a duel, where she is defeated again. Varic invites her onto The Last Horizon, to give her an official offer. Onboard The Last Horizon, Shyrax is offered the position of Commander. To convince her to follow him, Varic explains his other lives to her. Shyrax accepts with the goal to regain her throne.

Horizon informs Varic about Mell's arrest and imprisonment. With Shyrax now onboard, The Last Horizon travels toward Carturus, the place where Mell is being held. However, due to the damage the Subspace Drive sustained in the battle with the Iron King, they emerge on the border of the Free Worlds in front of the Advocates. The crew splits up, with Varic, Sola, and Shyrax flying towards Carturus while the remaining crew stay behind and deal with the Advocates. Meanwhile on Carturus, Starhammer has heard of Mell’s arrest and visits her. The two are arguing when they are interrupted when a disguised Shyrax and Sola break in and kidnap Mell. Starhammer tries to stop them, but is defeated by a trap set by a disguised Varic. He manages to escape into subspace before Varic kills him, where he triggers his Evolution Engine. Meanwhile, Varic, Sola, Shyrax, and Mell escape the Advocates on a stolen ship until they reach teleportation distance from Horizon. With Mell now onboard, the contract for her to become the Engineer is conducted. After some doubts and hesitation from the other crew members, Mell requests to find all the Zenith Devices. The exact phrasing of her request is debated, but afterwards Horizon suggests a lead to find the Zenith Colony and Varic hesitantly agrees to follow it. With that, Mell finally begins progress on Horizon’s repairs.

Post Starhammer Fifth Evolution: The Shadow Ark

As the ship heads towards Murrok, Shadow Ark’s last known location, Horizon receives a message from the students Varic taught in the Magic Tower, who want further training. Varic and Omega head out on a shuttle to reach them. Upon reaching the colony the students were at, they discover that Advocates are searching incoming vehicles. Varic sends Omega to retrieve them, which turns out to be unnecessary as a life-pod with the students onboard heads towards the shuttle. Meanwhile, the colony’s water purification plant is destroyed by Steel Avalanche, one of Varic’s past life enemies. After ordering Omega back to the ship, Varic attacks Avalanche from the ship.

After bringing back the students, The Last Horizon reaches Murrok. There, Horizon and Varic negotiate with the World Spirit and learn Shadow Ark is currently kept in the Advocate headquarters. After some debating, the crew decides not to attack the Advocates and withdraw from the Free Worlds to focus on repairs. Meanwhile, Starhammer has undergone repairs and wakes up. He is hit by a scan emitted by the now awake Shadow Ark, and after meeting each other, they join forces.

Sometime into Horizon's repair, Mell points out that it would take a year to return the ship to full power at their current rate. Paranoid that they need to act fast, Varic calls his father and determines that they were about to be ambushed by the Galactic Union, the Karoshans, the Advocates, and Shadow Ark. Over the next week, the crew prepares for the ambush. When Starhammer and the fleets arrive with Shadow Ark to capture the Last Horizon, he is enraged when he realizes they had been prepared. Starhammer and Varic parley, but before a ceasefire can commence, Solstice explodes its own ships to ensure battle, and the Perfected start to engage. Without another choice Starhammer and the Advocates attack as well. Varic and Shyrax work on the battle playing out, while Omega, Sola, and Raion deal with Starhammer directly. Raion manages to land the final blow on Starhammer, and Mell says her goodbyes to Starhammer. However, Starhammer’s Evolution Engine triggers again, and Varic tries in vain to kill him, but Shadow Ark swallows Starhammer allowing him to escape.

Post Starhammer Sixth Evolution: The Final Battle

The crew discusses the results of the battle, and what Starhammer could do next. Varic determines that Starhammer will begin to take hostages.

Meanwhile, Starhammer undergoes another Evolution. Clockworker, a trusted Advocate, takes Leilari, Starhammer’s wife, to keep her from Starhammer. They discuss the severity of his evolutions, but are interrupted by Starhammer himself. Starhammer kills Clockworker after revealing him to have worked with the Priest of Night. Later, he announces Clockworker’s betrayal to a crowd of Advocates and declares the Last Horizon a threat.

The crew splits up and collects potential hostages. Omega rescues his grandson and Raion saves the former Yellow Knight. Varic and Mell stay onboard The Last Horizon, observing the others' progress, though Varic remains skeptical over how well the plan is going.

Starhammer and Shadow Ark however overview their own plan. They head directly towards The Last Horizon through Subspace, and Starhammer emerges in front of a decoy-bot disguised as Varic. Varic reveals that it was him who rescued Leilari the year before, and explains the alternate life he saw when Starhammer took over the galaxy. Furthermore, Varic reveals Leilari, who he had rescued again. Though grateful, Starhammer insists he still needed to arrest Varic. Ark reveals himself, unable to find Horizon. Varic self-destructs his decoy-bot, and Mell’s Nova-Bots begin to attack Starhammer. Starhammer is able to track The Last Horizon, and with Shadow Ark, escapes and heads towards the ship’s real location.

Back onboard The Last Horizon, Varic has Horizon send Mell away as the Shadow Ark emerges and swallows the ship. Inside the Shadow Ark, Varic and Starhammer fight. Starhammer defeats Varic, and demands for Mell to come out. When he realizes she isn't there, Starhammer is about to kill Varic until he is stopped by Shadow Ark. Instead, Varic is taken into prison. He is questioned and kept under high anti-magic security, and is guarded by Steel Avalanche, who is suspicious that he is up to something. Indeed, Varic is working on collapsing the anti-magic defenses while waiting for his crew to come for him. Leilari questions him briefly. Later, the crew, previously gathered by Mell, begin their attack. Varic collapses the defenses and defeats Steel Avalanche, and makes his way to the surface.

Meanwhile, Starhammer is undergoing repair when The Last Horizon attacks. Mell threatens to expose Starhammer's secret, and in a rush, Starhammer kills the Aether Technicians working on him and joins the fight. Leilari, who had been waiting for him outside, is horrified by this and reveals Starhammer’s secret on the Advocate Subline.

On the battlefield, the tides slowly begin to turn against Starhammer as the Advocates receive Leilari's message. When Starhammer realises this, he begins to attack the Advocates. Varic finally reaches the surface, and tries to stop him.

Meanwhile, Mell breaks out The Last Horizon and convinces Shadow Ark to abandon Starhammer. Using the supplies inside Ark, Mell makes rapid repairs to the ship to last long enough for the fight. The The Last Horizon emerges onto the surface and the crew members are teleported onboard. With the crew at their stations, Horizon takes control of the battle and defeats Starhammer. His Evolution Engine starts to activate again, but Varic casts Absolute Burial on Starhammer, sealing him away.

The spell-anchor is placed into Horizon's vault. Varic, Horizon, and Ark discuss the Zenith Devices, and Horizon and Shadow Ark reassure him that no more than two devices will never be awake at the same time, and have never been awake at the same time since the Zenith Era. Meanwhile, across the galaxy, the Zenith Devices begin to awake.