Location: Valtherion Blacksite Evac Tubes – Lower Orbit Transfer Hub
The stolen dropship shook violently, sparks shooting from ruptured ceiling panels. Alarms wailed in fractured synthcode, warning of hull breaches and atmospheric destabilization.
Aika gritted her teeth. She was strapped into the gunner's seat beside Rin, hands flying over weapons diagnostics. Selene sat in the command node behind them, wires trailing from her wrist ports into the ship's neural spine.
"Hull integrity at forty-three percent," Selene announced coolly. "If we don't reach low orbit in the next ninety seconds, we're going to be a new crater."
Rin's hands flew over the manual override. "I've got engine bleed—redirecting plasma flow to lift thrusters. We'll skip atmosphere and freeburn straight into the mesosphere."
Aika looked out the side viewport. Below them, Valtherion's research spire burned—its labs ruptured, clone tanks shattered. The scream of alarms echoed in her head even now. She had done that. They had done that. And now they were being hunted.
"Interceptor craft inbound," Selene added. "Three signatures. Valtherion model-9 Spectres. Armed and crewed."
Aika grabbed the rail-mounted pulse cannon and swung it into position. "Let them come."
The Spectres came from above—sleek, black, manta-like vessels armed with arc lances and hypersonic harpoons. Rin threw the dropship into a sharp pitch, sending their shuttle into a brutal dive.
"Hold them steady!" Aika yelled.
She fired. Bright blue pulse rounds ripped through vacuum, slamming into one of the pursuing ships. It spun, aflame, before vanishing in a shimmer of overheat detonation.
The second locked on with a tracking beam. Selene's fingers danced over her neural port, sending a feedback virus through open comms. The ship faltered, spun—and collided with its sister.
Two down.
The third wasn't so sloppy.
It came fast, smarter. Adaptive AI core.
Aika locked eyes with Rin. "Get me closer."
Rin didn't argue.
The ship twisted through the orbital gate's shattered ring. Aika stood mid-flight, unstrapped, and tore open the top hatch. Wind and heat screamed around her. She braced herself, cocked her plasma spear—standard Federation gear scavenged from a corpse—and launched herself toward the enemy ship.
Zero-G met adrenaline. Her body sang.
She landed with a brutal clang atop the Spectre's hull.
The pilot AI activated its defense field—crackling blue current around the hull. Aika's skin shimmered, resisting. Her Omega-splice enhancements flooded her muscles with synthetic strength.
She slammed her fist into the ship's dorsal brainpan. Once. Twice. Sparks flew. The ship bucked.
Inside, the AI screeched in machine dialect: "UNAUTHORIZED GENOME—ERROR—ERROR—"
With a primal scream, Aika drove the plasma spear through the command core.
The ship imploded in silence, and Aika somersaulted back through open air, caught mid-leap by Rin's maneuvered craft.
Aftermath –
Selene stood from her interface node, pale but steady. "Trajectory stable. We'll reach the outer zone in five minutes. No pursuers."
Rin exhaled, hands slackening. "Remind me never to piss you off, Solaris."
Aika collapsed into the gunner's seat, sweat dripping down her temples. Her body pulsed with unnatural heat. Not pain. Not even exhaustion. Something deeper—
A hunger.
Not for violence.
For answers.
Elsewhere…
Beyond Federation space, far deeper in the ruined hollow moon known as The Heartforge, a pulse of unknown quantum resonance lit the buried chamber.
A girl stirred in a glass chamber. Her heartbeat synced to an ancient code.
But Aika wouldn't find her yet.
Not until her next mission.
Not until the past reached forward and touched the future.