The Last Station Standing
With a final, deafening crack of static, the screen flashed:
[UPLINK COMPLETE. DATA TRANSMITTED.]
Elara went limp in Kazimir’s arms.
Across the room, the green light on her father’s pod flickered, turned red for a terrifying second, and then stabilized back to green.
The data was gone. Her father was alive.
But as the security doors began to hiss open, revealing a second, larger wave of Thorne's elite Aether-Guards (human soldiers in powered armor), Elara didn't move. She lay deathly still in Kazimir’s arms, her skin pale and her pulse fading.