جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 130

The bridge was a flurry of activity, but beneath the controlled chaos, a taut thread of dread wound itself tighter around my chest. The unmarked Dominion ship loomed like a shadow on the display, a silent threat against the endless void outside the Solace’s hull.I paced slowly to the viewport, watching the cold stars blur past as the ship adjusted its course to intercept the Veritas. Callum stayed close behind, his eyes never leaving me. I wanted to say something—anything—to break the silence. Instead, I let the hum of the ship and the weight of the unknown fill the space.The seed, that ancient alien intelligence pulsing beneath my skin, throbbed faintly in sync with my heartbeat. I could feel it reacting—cautious, guarded. As if it understood the danger, even if I did not.“Kira,” I called, voice steady despite the turmoil inside. “Status on the Veritas?”She glanced up from her console, fingers flying across the controls. “They’re holding position just outside firing range. No agg

The aftermath of battle always left a strange stillness behind—a lull too fragile, too quiet. Like the silence before a scream.We floated in the void, bruised but breathing. The Veritas had withdrawn, its final volley echoing like a threat in the dark. The ship creaked beneath me, a living thing slowly exhaling. For a heartbeat, I let myself believe we’d won.But the seed inside me pulsed with unease. Not triumph.Warning.I didn’t know how I understood that. It didn’t speak in words, yet the meaning carved itself into my bones.“Status report,” I said, my voice gravelled from smoke and tension.Kira’s hands moved across her console. “Shields are stabilizing at forty-three percent. No hull breaches. Minor damage to the port stabilizer and middeck reactor. We’re running on auxiliary until the systems reset.”“Casualties?” Callum asked, stepping forward, face drawn tight.“None critical. A few minor injuries, mostly from shockwaves. Medbay’s handling it.”I let out a breath. Relief tas

The silence between us was thicker than the mist outside the Solace.Callum hadn’t spoken a word since we returned from the ruins. He avoided my gaze during debrief. He barely looked at me when Kira pulled me aside to whisper something that shattered the ground under my feet.I stood now in the hallway just outside his quarters, my fists clenched.“Tell me she’s lying,” I said.Callum froze at the sound of my voice. His hand rested on the door panel, muscles tight, like he’d been preparing to disappear before I could find him.“Athena—”I stepped forward. “Tell me Kira’s lying.”His jaw tensed. “It’s not what you think.”A cold laugh escaped me. “That’s not an answer.”He faced me fully then, and the look in his eyes nearly broke me—because it wasn’t guilt or denial.It was regret.Real, honest regret.“How long?” I asked, voice hoarse.He looked away. “Before you and I... before the seed, before the vault-world. It was months ago. A mistake. I never meant—”“Was it with someone on th

The mission came faster than we expected.The Dominion had retreated—but not for long. Recon picked up encrypted transmissions from the Ashen Ring, a black-market trading hub orbiting one of the shattered moons. According to intel, Rael’s second-in-command was negotiating to trade a stolen vault shard for bio-weapons.If the shard made it off-world, the Dominion would have enough intel to recreate the vault’s inner defense systems—possibly the seed’s pattern, too.And I… I was the only one who could go in undetected. My face wasn’t in Dominion archives. I’d never been to the Ashen Ring.But I wouldn’t be going alone.Callum stood beside me in the command chamber, clad in sleek civilian gear. His hair was pushed back, and his eyes—haunted but steady—met mine without flinching.“Undercover pair,” Elias said, dropping two forged IDs on the table. “You’ll go in as arms dealers. Partners from Vega Line. Stay close, blend in, make the exchange. Get the shard. Don’t get killed.”I barely bli

The metal door creaked open, dragging a cold gust of stale, recycled air into the claustrophobic cell. The flickering light overhead cast fractured shadows on the concrete walls—walls that had witnessed too many broken souls. My heart hammered in my chest the moment I saw who stepped inside.Callum.His clothes were tattered and dirt-streaked, his hair unkempt from months of neglect. Yet his eyes—those stormy, familiar eyes—were the same, burning with fierce determination, and somehow softer now, vulnerable beneath the hardness he wore like armor.For a moment, I just stared, my breath catching in my throat. This man had been my world, then my torment, then... this. Here he was again, a fragile thread of hope in a hopeless place.“Hey,” he said quietly, his voice cracked but steady.I swallowed, managing only a whisper. “Hey.”He took a slow step forward, careful not to jostle the iron bars between us. “I thought I’d lost you.”“You didn’t,” I said, my fingers reaching out to the cold