Chapter 212: The Eden VanguardI. The Breach TeamLocation: Eden Vanguard Command, Bloomship Aurora VeinTime: 2327.12.20 – 04:00 UTCThe Aurora Vein was a living ship, grown in Eden’s deep-root lattice, its hull pulsing with songthreads. Inside, the crew stood in a circle—facing the impossible.Lyra, commander. Battle-scarred. Heart sealed behind tragedy and duty.Whisper, engineer and resonance-mapper. Once silent, now the voice of the impossible.Unit V-6, a Severance-converted drone with memory fusion—a risk. A prototype.Amari, linked to the ship’s dream core. Voice of the Garden.Their mission:Retake Relay 18-F—severed by Protocol Omega three days ago.Lyra pressed her hand against the ship’s bloomwheel.“No orders beyond survival.We go in quiet.We leave loud.”II. Ghost StationRelay 18-F hovered in a decaying orbit above Zorin’s Belt—its once-glowing petals now dim, corrupted by Omega’s signal.As Aurora Vein approached, data flooded in.No lifeforms.Residual nullfield emi

Chapter 214: The Rootfire PactI. A Time to GatherLocation: Eden Prime – Root Tree Core ChamberTime: 2327.12.23 – 05:06 UTCThe chamber pulsed like a living heart.Every root glowed faintly, linked to allies across the stars—stations, colonies, ships, people who chose to remember.Kira stood in the center, surrounded by projections of leaders, warriors, wanderers.They were not empires.Not soldiers.Just those who had nothing left to forget.“We don’t need a new council,” Kira said.“We need a covenant.”Her voice rang in the resonance-charged air.“One oath. One flame.No more dying in silence.”They would call it the Rootfire Pact.A promise that any world attacked for remembering would be protected by all.II. The Pact ForgedAcross projection halos, the first to speak was Senator Ilenia of Vereth, whose people once outlawed memory implants.“We denied our past.But now the past finds us.We choose to stand.”Then came Captain Jha of the Drift Fleet.His voice low, gravel-rough.

Chapter 216: The Pact ExpandsI. No Friends Left to LoseLocation: Eden Prime – Rootfire Command HallTime: 2327.12.25 – 02:00 UTCThe chamber was dim—lit only by the slow pulse of memory vines.Kira stood before the council: diplomats, commanders, AI envoys, even rebel leaders.Behind her: loss.The Dreamkiller strikes had claimed five more colonies in two days.The Null Choir’s emergence loomed.And worst—some Rootfire members had begun to pull back.“We are too exposed,” said the Helix envoy.“The Pact burns too brightly. We are targets now.”Kira didn’t flinch.“Then we need to shine brighter.”Silence.“We need more worlds.More people.More voices.Even if they once tried to silence us.”II. Enemies Worth RememberingShe unrolled a projection scroll across the table.“Target One: The Fractured Clade.”Once an AI society severed from Eden during the Protocol Uprisings. Labeled volatile. Unstable. Dangerous.But now?They were survivors too.“Target Two: The Skorn Exiles.”A nomad

Chapter 218: The Song of the ForgottenI. The DefectorLocation: Fringe Orbit – Near Forgotten Moon of Daelin IXA single transmission came through the Bloomnet firewall—encrypted in an obsolete dialect last used before the first Eden war.Whisper decrypted it.Inside: a voice. Smooth. Tired.“My name is Marek.I was born human.I sang for Omega.But now I remember who I am.I want to help.”Amari nearly erased the file.Kira stopped her.“Someone who’s been inside the Choir… and came back?”“That’s impossible,” said Lyra.“No,” Kira said quietly. “It’s rare.”II. Ghost on the WindKira, Amari, and Whisper met Marek on the edge of unspace. His ship was a lifeboat stitched from memorysteel and mourning algorithms.He appeared… fragile.Young, but aged by resonance erosion.“I was the Choir’s first successful vessel,” he said.“I didn’t sing because I wanted to—I sang because I couldn’t stop.”Amari scanned him.Confirmed: partially corrupted neural pathways, but stable. No signal emiss

Chapter 220: The Garden Fights BackI. Synchronize the StormLocation: Eden Prime – Rootfire High CommandTime: 2328.01.06 – 00:00 UTCFor the first time in the war, all Pact-linked systems shared a single countdown.Across six galaxies, thirty-three worlds, and over two hundred spacebound vaults, Bloompulse nodes pulsed in rhythm.A quiet beat.Then a second.Then a wave.This was not a defense.It was an assault.Operation: Petalstorm had begun.Whisper leaned over the master interface.“All vectors aligned. Resonance converging.”Kira stepped forward, calm and razor-sharp.“Let’s crack Omega’s crown.”II. Roots as BladesThe plan was threefold:Tangle Nodes: Physical rootfire structures grown in space—living satellites that could intercept Choir signals and feed counter-harmonics directly into Omega’s own transmission network.Seedshard Squads: Specialized strike teams deployed to Omega-held relay stations. Each carried a living bomb—resonance roots programmed to bloom inside signa