The Rustfang screeched into Outpost Beta's docking bay, its hull scorched from the nebula chase and the Architect enforcer ship's parting shot. Kael Voss unbuckled from the pilot's seat, his heart still hammering from Aria's warning: They're coming for you. The massive station loomed around him, a labyrinth of neon-lit corridors and humming machinery orbiting a black hole's eerie glow. His holo-device pulsed on his wrist, its red warning fading but leaving a cryptic echo in his mind: You're the key, Kael. The words felt like a splinter, sharp and unyielding, from a life he couldn't fully grasp.
He stepped onto the station's metal floor, boots clanging in the controlled gravity. The air was sterile, too clean for a place that looked like a junkyard bolted together by ambition. Holographic vendors flickered at every corner, their voices droning over the crowd: "Quantum rifles, 3,000 StarCredits! Shield cores, half price!" Players bustled through, their tags glowing above their heads—[Scout_Lyra – Rank #127], [Gunner_Trax – Rank #89]—while a leaderboard overhead blazed with names. Commander Zorak's tag mocked Kael from the top three, his kill count and custom destroyer ship a testament to his dominance in StarCore.
Aria's hologram materialized beside him, visible only to Kael, her silver hair glinting under the station's flickering lights. "We need a data shard from the black market," she said, her voice low but urgent. "It's got the coordinates to the Core Nexus—the server that controls StarCore. Get that, and we can start unraveling this simulation before the Architects lock you out."
Kael glanced at his holo-device, its interface glitching faintly, sparks dancing across its surface. "Black market, huh? Sounds like my kind of place." On Asteroid K-17, he'd bartered for smuggled parts to keep the mining rigs running, dodging corporate overseers. This couldn't be much different—except for the alien overlords hunting him and the fact that death here might be permanent.
"Keep your head down," Aria warned, her violet eyes scanning the crowd of players haggling over glowing plasma swords. "Zorak's probably already here, sniffing for you after that missile trick. And the Architects' drones won't be far behind."
Kael smirked, weaving through the chaos, his patched-up spacer outfit blending into the crowd. "You mean saving our skins? You're welcome." But her words gnawed at him. The memory fragment—You're the key—felt tied to the reactor explosion, to the strange device he'd seen in his vision. Had he been more than a miner? His holo-device buzzed, interrupting his thoughts: [Debug Mode: Scan for Hidden Nodes.]
He tapped it, and a faint signal pinged, highlighting a concealed door in a grimy maintenance shaft tucked behind a vendor stall selling glowing ship skins. Kael slipped inside, the door hissing shut behind him. Aria's hologram glided beside him, her presence oddly grounding despite her flickering form. The shaft opened into a dimly lit chamber, its walls lined with crates of contraband tech. A cloaked NPC with reptilian eyes and a glitching texture stood behind a counter strewn with glowing circuits and weapons.
"Data shard," the NPC hissed, holding up a pulsing crystal no bigger than Kael's thumb. Its light throbbed like a heartbeat. "Ten thousand StarCredits. No questions."
Kael checked his balance on the holo-device: 200 StarCredits, scraped from the pirate ships he'd blasted. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered, glancing at Aria.
Her hologram leaned closer, her voice a whisper that sent a shiver down his spine. "Use your glitch. Rewrite the price."
Kael's fingers hovered over the holo-device. Messing with the system again felt like drilling into unstable rock—one wrong move, and the whole shaft could collapse. But what choice did he have? He activated Debug Mode, and lines of code flooded his vision, the NPC's transaction script glowing like an open lock. He typed: [Price Override: 200 StarCredits.] The NPC's reptilian eyes twitched, its glitched form stuttering as if confused, then it handed over the shard without a word.
"Done," Kael said, pocketing the crystal. Its faint pulse warmed his hand, like it was alive with secrets. But as he turned to leave, the station's lights flashed red, alarms blaring through the chamber. [Alert: System Breach Detected. Admin Enforcers Deployed.]
A squad of drones materialized at the entrance, their sleek, black frames humming with Architect tech. Red optics glowed like predators, their laser sights locking onto Kael. Aria's hologram flickered violently, her hand reaching for his arm—impossibly solid for a split second, her touch warm and real. "Run!" she hissed, her voice sharp with panic.
Kael bolted through the shaft, drones firing plasma bolts that scorched the walls, leaving trails of molten metal. His holo-device sparked, offering: [Debug Mode: Unlock Stealth Module.] He tapped it without thinking, and his body shimmered, blending into the shadows like a ghost in the machine. The drones' scanners swept past, their optics missing him by inches as he pressed against the wall, his breath shallow.
Aria's voice was breathless, her hologram flickering beside him. "You're rewriting the simulation faster than I've seen any player do. But the Architects will send worse than drones if you keep this up."
They slipped back into the station's main corridors, blending into the crowd as the alarms faded. Kael's mind raced—the shard, the drones, Aria's touch. "You felt real back there," he said, his voice low as he glanced at her. "NPCs don't do that. What's your deal, Aria?"
Her violet eyes softened, but a tremor ran through her voice. "I told you, I'm a glitch. I… feel things I shouldn't. Memories, emotions, fragments of someone I used to be. And you—" She cut off, her hologram glitching as if the system was choking her words.
Before Kael could press her, they reached the Rustfang's dock. But a familiar silver ship blocked their path—Zorak's destroyer, its weapons trained on Kael's junker. The commander himself stood in front, his mech-suit gleaming under the station's lights, a plasma rifle slung across his shoulder. His tag blazed: [Commander_Zorak – Rank #3].
"You're a glitch, Novice," Zorak sneered, his voice dripping with malice. "The Architects pay well for snitches. Hand over that shard, or I'll turn you and your little holo-girlfriend into scrap."
Kael's hand hovered over his holo-device, his pulse spiking. "Big talk for a guy who runs from pirates."
Zorak raised his rifle, its barrel glowing. Aria's hologram flickered, her voice urgent. "Kael, he's not bluffing."
The holo-device sparked, offering: [Debug Mode: Disable Enemy Weapon.] Kael's eyes locked on Zorak's. Outpost Beta's lights pulsed, the black hole's shadow looming outside. He had one shot to turn the tables—or lose everything.