The galactic maps were no longer silent.
The Free Exchange Network had awakened.
Unseen trade lanes once choked by suppression now blinked across systems like constellations in motion. Zones the Anchors had wiped clean surged with activity, digital ink spilled across every layer of commerce. From backwater outposts to forgotten stellar ports, whispers turned to messages. Messages to deals. Deals to calls for something more.
A new name passed between lips in outlaw markets and encrypted channels:
Sovereign Kairos.
But power, no matter how righteous, came with its own predators.
And now, the Anchors had sent one.
The Message Without Origin
It arrived not through comms, not through TradeNet, but through Kairos' Sovereign Sigil itself—an override transmission that caused the hologram to flicker red.
The voice was calm. Polished.
Masculine. Deep. Unrushed.
