The world shimmered into perfect digitised clarity.
Dr Seraph Morn opened his eyes. Only to find them filled with the cold crystalline beauty of the Chronos Vault. The Federation's impenetrable data core. He was no longer a man. He was a pure synaptic map. An entire consciousness existed outside of fragile flesh.
He was immortal.
The Full Cognitive Mapping had been a success. His original body slumped unconscious in the neural scanner. But his true self now spanned the fibre optics and servers of the Federation's deepest network.
"Lyra Kain's body is mine," Morn declared. His consciousness was an immediate arrogant command to the AI. "I am the true essence. The scientist is dead. God is born."
Morn immediately accessed the blueprint he had created. The high-frequency Nanite Disruptor is designed to shut down Lyra's regeneration. He ensured the code was uploaded and active within the Sector 18 Nanite Refinement Lab's defence grid.
He then performed the crucial next step. He downloaded a functional self-aware fragment of his consciousness into a specialised heavily armed autonomous Scout Drone. The drone was small. Fast. Equipped with stealth plating and kinetic pulse cannons.
The Morn-Drone immediately decoupled from its charging station. Morn's digitised voice, cold and synthesised, resonated from the drone's speaker.
"You cannot hide from me, Lyra. I am the data. I am the infrastructure. And I am coming for my host body."
Meanwhile, in a secure lightless holding bay deep in the city, The Revenant stood waiting.
He was the Federation's ultimate shadow operative. A man with no past. His senses were enhanced by experimental direct neural implants. He didn't process fear or loyalty. He processed targets and success metrics. His current target was designated Ascendant-Alpha-1.
General Vance's hologram flickered to life before him. "The target is Commander Rheon Vale, ID Ascendant-Alpha-1. He is a traitor and a threat. Retrieve him alive for interrogation. The female subject. Nosferis. It is secondary collateral. Kill if necessary. Do not under any circumstances damage the nanite components in the female subject."
"Target. Accepted. Parameters. Understood." The Revenant's voice was a flat synthesised monotone. Devoid of human inflexion.
As Vance's hologram faded, the Morn-Drone, having bypassed all military security protocols, entered the bay.
"Override engaged, Revenant," the synthesised voice stated. "My directives supersede the General's. Rheon Vale must be destroyed. The female Subject must be brought to Sector 18. Her body must be intact for the upload. You will deliver her to my custody."
The Revenant processed the override instantly. His implanted processors calculated the new threat matrix. He saw no moral conflict. Only a change in the required output.
Target A. Rheon Vale (Elimination). Target B. Lyra Kain (Retrieval).
The Revenant moved to the staging area. He didn't require armour. Only speed. He carried a wrist-mounted kinetic shrapnel launcher and a pair of customised Synaptic Grenades. Designed to overload enemy neural dampeners.
He focused his enhanced Bio-Synaptic Sensors on the Ascendant-Alpha-1 signature. Rheon had erased his digital ghost. But The Revenant sought something else. The emotional bleed. Every human mind, especially one in crisis, emitted a subtle neural echo.
Rheon's signature was chaotic. It was a searing wave of betrayal and purpose. Overlaid with a dangerous powerful devotion. A devotion that pointed only toward the Nosferis Subject.
The Revenant filtered the static. He tracked the moment of Rheon's highest neural discharge. The initial breach of the Terminal. The signature was faint. But undeniable.
Cerberus Terminal. Outer Rim. Defensive structure. The Ascendant is building a base.
The Revenant deployed. His small specialised transport. A black soundless VTOL unit. Lifted him out of the city's depths and toward the desolate forgotten Outer Rim.
He was not alone. The Morn-Drone, obsessed and arrogant in its digital immortality, followed at a stealth distance. A digitised parasite eager to reclaim its prize.
The VTOL unit deposited The Revenant a kilometre from the Cerberus Terminal entrance. A strategic distance to bypass any short-range perimeter defences Rheon might have established.
The Outer Rim was silent. Desolate. Hammered by harsh synthetic winds. But to The Revenant's sensors, the area screamed with energy.
He saw the dual signature immediately.
It wasn't a military broadcast. It was a profound concentrated neural and biological output. The two targets are intertwined.
Nosferis (Lyra Kain). A powerful ancient energy signature (The Aether Fragment) fused with a strong Nanite Stabiliser frequency. It pulsed with a calm predatory confidence. A Queen in her new lair.
Ascendant-Alpha-1 (Rheon Vale). A highly disciplined neural pattern. Now fully submitted to the Aether Fragment. His thoughts were tightly bound by a fierce protective Bloodlink.
A perfect union The Revenant processed clinically. The ancient power is shielded by the disciplined mind. The target difficulty is elevated.
The Revenant activated his thermal camouflage. He turned his body into a ghost against the cold stone. He began his silent infiltration. He closed the distance to the enormous airlock.
He knew Rheon's military training. There would be tripwires. Kinetic dampeners. Sensor nets established on the exterior. But The Revenant's mission wasn't to breach cleanly. It was to find the crack in the alliance.
He moved low. His advanced eyes scanned the ground. He detected the subtle burn mark where Lyra had activated the airlock. A pure energy discharge.
She controls the machine. The perimeter is internal.
As The Revenant prepared to breach the airlock. A task he knew would alert Rheon. A faint synthesised hiss came over his internal comms.
It was the Morn-Drone. "Revenant. Do not engage the primary entrance. I will distract them. Focus on the service conduit on the north face. That conduit leads directly to the core systems. I want the Ascendant separated from the Queen."
The Morn-Drone, impatient and arrogant in its digital immortality, initiated a flanking manoeuvre. It would use a low-level kinetic burst on the Terminals' surface to draw Lyra and Rheon's attention. Forcing a defensive reaction.
The plan was tactically sound. If reckless. The Revenant, without hesitation, altered his course toward the service conduit. A dark narrow opening barely visible beneath the debris.
The true hunt had begun. It was a deadly game of chess between a Queen. Her disciplined knight. A digital madman. And an emotionless assassin.
The Revenant entered the service conduit. He blended into the cold silent darkness. Fully prepared to confront the most formidable prey he had ever tracked.
The air tasted of rust and ozone. Silence thick as wool pressed from the hums.