The command deck was already active when they arrived.Unlike the battlefield, the chaos here was controlled. Officers moved with precision between stations, streams of data shifting rapidly across large projection screens that dominated the center of the room. The atmosphere wasn’t calm, but it wasn’t panic either.It was momentum.Selene stepped in first, followed by Ronan, Tristan, and the remaining elite operative. None of them had fully recovered. Their movements were steady, but the fatigue was there, carried beneath the surface.No one commented on it.They didn’t have the time.“Unit confirmed,” one officer said as they entered. “They’re here.”The central display shifted immediately.A projection of the Astra Divide Relay filled the space.It was no longer symmetrical.One side—the Velmora sector—flickered with instability, entire sections dark, others pulsing irregularly as residual energy collapsed inward. The structures were still there, but the system that had once contro

The shift in the room was immediate.Tristan frowned. “Calista, this isn’t—”She shook her head, cutting him off. “You don’t understand.”Her gaze locked onto Lucien’s image, as if nothing else in the room existed.“He’s not—he’s not doing this for no reason,” she said, her voice breaking. “He wouldn’t just come here like this unless—”She couldn’t finish.Selene’s expression hardened slightly, but she didn’t interrupt.Because this—was real.Calista turned.To Ronan.Her steps faltered for a moment, then she moved closer, desperation clear in every movement.“Ronan… please,” she said, her voice softer now but more fragile. “You can say something. They’ll listen to you.”Her hands clenched slightly. “You’re the one who destroyed the core. You’re the reason we won. If you say we shouldn’t kill him… they’ll consider it.”There was hope in her eyes.Fragile.Misplaced.“Please,” she whispered. “Help him.”The room went still.Not just silent—tense, as if every movement had been paused m

The silence in the room lingered.Lucien’s last words still hung in the air, calm and certain, as if they had already settled into place long before anyone else could react.Ronan stood where he was, his gaze fixed on Lucien.He did not respond immediately.Then he spoke.“I don’t believe you.”The words were flat. Direct. Without hesitation.Lucien didn’t react.Ronan took one step closer, just enough to make the distance between them feel intentional.“You didn’t come here to surrender,” he continued. “And you didn’t come here to help us.”Lucien’s eyes remained steady.Ronan’s voice did not change.“But that doesn’t matter.”A brief pause.“Because if you’re going to lie,” he said, “you should at least make it useful.”That was the shift.Not acceptance.Not rejection.A direction.Lucien’s gaze sharpened slightly, the faintest sign of interest appearing.Ronan held his gaze.“You want to be treated as one of us,” he said. “Then start talking like one.”Another pause.“Give us some

The command chamber was already filled before the projection activated. This was not a room meant for ordinary briefings. The scale, the positioning, and the presence of those inside made that clear. Generals stood across the chamber in composed silence, each representing a different sector of Arken’s military command. No one spoke. No one moved unnecessarily.They were waiting.Lucas Crowne stood among them, his posture steady, his gaze fixed on the central projection space. His expression remained unreadable, but his attention was absolute. A direct summons from the throne was not something that came lightly.The projection activated. Light gathered at the center of the chamber and formed into a clear figure.King Aurex.The moment he appeared, the room settled into a deeper stillness. Every general straightened slightly. When he spoke, his voice was calm and controlled.“Report the current state.”One of the senior generals stepped forward. “Velmora’s primary core ship within Astra

The advance continued without interruption. Arken fleets moved deeper beyond Astra Divide Relay, tightening their formations as they entered Velmora-controlled space. Strategic points fell in sequence, not through overwhelming force, but through precision that felt increasingly unnatural.On the command deck, projections updated continuously.“Forward node secured.”“Enemy resistance minimal.”“Intercept successful. No losses.”The pattern repeated too cleanly.Tristan watched the display, his expression sharpening with confidence. “We’re ahead of them. Every move.”Selene did not answer. Her gaze remained fixed on the shifting routes, tracing the paths Arken had taken.Ronan stood slightly apart, silent.Because the pattern was not reactive.It was guided.A new signal cut through the flow.“Emergency alert from Sector Twelve.”The tone shifted instantly.“They’re surrounded. Multiple Velmora signatures converging.”The projection isolated the sector. A small Arken fleet appeared at