Chapter 13 — No Way Out
The alarms were deafening.
Sirens blared through the underground compound as red lights pulsed like a heartbeat. Every corridor, every screen, every trembling voice carried the same message:
DOMINION FORCES INBOUND.
Lyra barked orders into the comms. Mira strapped on her armor, jaw locked. The boy — Asset 47-B — clutched his datapad like a lifeline.
Kael could barely stay upright.
The PRIME armor flickered and crawled across his skin in painful waves, reacting to the incoming threat like a predator scenting blood.
Mira caught his arm, steadying him.
"You should be in bed."
"I should be dead," Kael muttered, "but we don't always get what we should."
Lyra slammed a fresh magazine into her weapon and glared at him.
"Save the suicidal hero talk. We need a plan."
The holo displays flickered as more Dominion signatures appeared. Battleship silhouettes. Carrier transports. Too many.
Kael stared at the map.
"This… isn't a capture force."
Lyra nodded grimly. "No. This is a purge."
The hangar shook — a dull, distant rumble that vibrated up through the floor plates.
Kael winced. "Artillery?"
Lyra shook her head. "Orbital bombardment. They're softening our escape routes."
Mira stood very still, processing.
"We can't evacuate. We can't outrun them."
Kael glanced at the containment case holding the PRIME core.
"Then we don't run."
Mira rounded on him. "You're not using the core."
"The Dominion wants it. If we move with it, we're dead."
Lyra frowned. "You want to leave it here?"
Kael gestured around them.
"This whole base is a tomb if we don't change the rules."
Mira grabbed his jaw, forcing him to meet her eyes.
"You can barely stand. If you overload the core inside that armor, it will burn through your nervous system."
Kael shrugged weakly. "Better that than all of you."
The boy stood suddenly.
"No."
His voice cracked, but he didn't back down.
"You think dying helps us? It doesn't. They need us alive — both of us. PRIME doesn't work without a compatible host."
He lifted his datapad, hands shaking but determined.
"I can access the PRIME core commands too."
Kael blinked. "You're… trained?"
"No," the boy answered, too quickly. "But they made me learn. Every neural pathway. Every override phrase."
Mira's eyes widened. "He could trigger a forced sync…"
Kael felt ice settle in his spine.
A forced sync meant linking PRIME directly to their nervous system. No armor buffering. No protection.
Just raw power.
Pure agony.
The boy swallowed hard.
"If someone has to use it… let it be me."
Kael shook his head—
"No. You're a kid."
The boy met his eyes.
"And you're dying."
The compound shuddered again — a sharper vibration this time, accompanied by the rising hum of power loss.
Lyra checked the monitors.
"They breached the outer hangars. Infantry deploying."
Kael grabbed the boy's shoulders, voice low.
"You are not a weapon. Not theirs. Not mine."
The boy whispered:
"That's not your choice."
The lights flickered.
Then the PA crackled.
A voice came through — cold, smooth, amplified across the entire base.
"Kael Renn."
The three of them froze.
Kael knew that voice. The one that haunted his nightmares.
Commander Varek.
The man who built PRIME.
"We know you can hear me," Varek continued. "You have something that belongs to us."
Mira lifted her rifle. "Ignore him."
But Kael stepped toward the nearest wall speaker, fists trembling.
"Varek."
A chuckle echoed through the PA.
"It's time to come home, Kael."
Kael's next breath felt like glass.
The armor pulsed.
‹ Host threat detected. Deploy lethal protocol? ›
Kael hissed through clenched teeth. "Shut up."
Mira moved closer, voice urgent.
"We fight from here. Lyra's going to seal the inner barriers. We make them pay for every corridor."
Lyra took the containment case and handed it to Kael.
"Whatever happens, you protect the core. The boy stays with me."
Kael opened his mouth to argue—
The next explosion cut him off.
A shockwave ripped through the chamber, blowing out half the lights. Debris rained from the ceiling.
Then came the sound — metal ripping.
The reinforced door at the end of the hall bent inward.
Mira raised her rifle.
Lyra drew her blade.
The boy stepped behind Kael.
Kael braced himself, PRIME flaring to life.
The door exploded.
Dominion armored soldiers stormed through — faceless, merciless, weapons leveled.
Kael felt the armor surge, its voice a whisper of violence.
‹ Eliminate. ›
He lunged.
Red energy erupted from his palm, carving through the first wave like molten light. Mira swept left, precision headshots dropping three soldiers. Lyra moved like a shadow, blade cutting through armor joints.
But more soldiers poured in.
Kael staggered. Vision doubled.
He couldn't hold this.
The armor pushed harder — flooding his nerves with power, burning hot.
‹ Override recommended. Full sync available. ›
"No—" Kael gasped. "Not full sync. Not here."
The armor didn't stop.
The boy screamed: "Kael! Behind you—"
Too late.
A Dominion soldier slammed a shock staff into Kael's back. Electricity roared through his body. His muscles seized.
Kael collapsed to one knee.
The containment case skidded across the floor.
The Dominion commander strode in behind the soldiers — tall, immaculate armor, glowing command sigils.
Commander Varek.
He stopped ten feet away, hands clasped behind his back.
"Kael."
Kael forced himself upright, body shaking with rage and pain.
"Go to hell."
Varek smiled.
"Why would I go anywhere when hell comes to me?"
He snapped his fingers.
Soldiers seized the boy.
Kael roared and tried to lunge, but his vision blackened.
The PRIME armor pulsed a single word into his mind.
‹ Choice. ›
Varek held out his hand.
"Come with me willingly, and the others live. Resist…"
He gestured.
"…and I harvest the boy first."
Kael stared at the boy's terrified face.
At Mira and Lyra, fighting to stand.
At the PRIME core lying between them all.
There was no way out.
But maybe—
There was a way through.
Kael whispered, voice shaking:
"Full sync."
The armor answered.
‹ Confirmed. ›
Pain ignited like wildfire.
Kael screamed.
The world went white.