The air in the strategy chamber was cold enough to see breath. Holographic displays flickered with data streams depicting the Corrupted armada—a swarm of organic warships and crystalline dreadnoughts gathered at the edge of the Shattered Expanse. At its heart pulsed the Dreadnought Abyssal Heart, command vessel of the fleet's Admiral.
Commander Selene stood rigid before the display. "The fleet is commanded by Admiral Nox, confirmed Nightmare-Class. Intelligence profiles suggest a tactical genius corrupted three centuries ago during the Fall of the Luminarian Homeworld. He doesn't just consume—he strategizes. He's studied our patterns."
General Krall, the Drakani loyalist, pointed a clawed finger at a smaller signature. "This is your insertion point. A Corrupted supply tender, the Chitin Hauler, makes regular runs between the Abyssal Heart and a corrupted asteroid refinery. It has minimal shields and a predictable patrol route. You'll board it, hide within its cargo of raw biomass, and ride it into the dreadnought's lower hangar."
Echo studied the schematics. "Once inside?"
"You have twelve hours before the main Ordered fleet engages," Selene said. "Your objective: locate Admiral Nox, plant a Soul-Scrambler Charge on or near his person, and extract. The charge won't kill a Nightmare-Class, but it will sever his neural command links to the fleet for approximately forty minutes. Long enough for our forces to break their formation."
"Extraction plan?" Ryn asked, her cybernetic eye scanning the hologram for weaknesses.
"There is none," Selene said flatly. "Once the charge is active, the Abyssal Heart will be in lockdown. You'll need to fight your way to a secondary hangar, steal a ship, and run the gauntlet. Survival probability is calculated at 8%."
Leyla's tail lashed. "We've beaten worse odds."
Mira's fingers traced the spatial coordinates. "The interior of the dreadnought… the spatial geometry is wrong. Twisted. My powers may be unstable inside."
"That's why you're going," said a new voice. Scholar Varia entered, carrying a small, ornate case. "Your unique skill sets are the only combination that might survive in there. The Corrupted have learned to counter standard tactics. They won't be prepared for a Blood Sovereign, a Moonstalker, a World-Walker, and a Tech-Infiltrator." She opened the case, revealing four injectors filled with a shimmering silver liquid. "Reality-Anchor Serum. One dose each. It will temporarily stabilize your personal reality field, granting resistance to the dreadnought's spatial distortions. Lasts six hours. Side effects may include temporal disorientation and synaptic feedback."
They took the injectors without hesitation, pressing them to their necks. A cold fire spread through Echo's veins, and for a moment, his Error-Sight showed him the stable threads of his own existence amidst a sea of chaos.
"You launch in four hours," Selene said, her gaze lingering on Echo. "The fate of Astra Prime, and the momentum of this war, rests on your team's ability to become the perfect spear thrust into the heart of darkness."
As they filed out to gear up, Kaelen fell into step beside Echo. "A word."
She led him to a secluded balcony overlooking the Academy's training grounds. "The traitor purge within the Drakani wasn't complete," she said quietly. "General Krall is clean, but his second-in-command, a Major S'vir, has made unexplained data transmissions to dead zones in the Expanse. The encryption matches Shadow Court patterns."
Echo's blood ran cold. "The Shadow Court is leaking our op to the Corrupted?"
"Or ensuring you have just enough help to reach Nox, but not enough to escape. They want you in that dreadnought. Maybe they want you to kill Nox for them. Maybe they want you captured. Either way, you're walking into a nest of vipers where both sides want to use you."
"Why tell me this now?"
"Because you need to know who you can't trust. And because," she met his eyes, "I've seen what you're becoming. The Academy sees a weapon. The Shadows see a tool. But I see a man trying to build something worth protecting in the middle of a multiversal graveyard. Don't die proving me wrong."
She handed him a small, non-traceable comm-bead. "If you get in trouble even your bonds can't get you out of… use this. It's a one-way signal. I'll hear it. I can't promise I can help, but I'll hear it."
Echo took the bead. "Thank you, Kaelen."
She gave a curt nod and walked away.