The Vault had fallen, but the war had only just begun.
Kairos stood before a massive display in the Exchange Control Chamber—an entire hemisphere of the station's dataweb rendered in cold light.
From every direction, red pulses pinged across the network—each one a data surge, an anomaly, a breach.
"Status report," Kairos ordered, voice tight.
Kessie Varn's AI projection flickered to life beside him. "We've confirmed over 2,900 independent cyber incursions within the last hour."
"And they all trace back to—?"
"Guild frequencies. Masked, layered, distributed across relay satellites and synthetic proxies."
Kairos didn't blink.
"They're not trying to steal."
"No," Kessie replied. "They're trying to burn our credibility to the ground."
Sector Instability
The Free Exchange operated on more than trade—it thrived on trust.
Every citizen, merchant, and envoy linked into its system relied on the Trust Index, a living metric of reputation, reliability, and governance.
