"—harvesting schedule accelerated by forty-eight hours. Secure the remaining assets in the lower foundry immediately."The audio cut out with a sharp, violent click of static."Did you hear that?" Rafi’s voice dropped to a razor-sharp whisper, his hand instinctively dropping to the hilt of his combat knife. "They aren't just locking us down. They’re moving the execution window forward.""Forty-eight hours," Tika muttered, her face going pale under the flickering amber glow of the emergency panel. "That doesn't just mean a purge. That means they’re cleaning house because the board is visiting.""We need to move, right now," a cadet whispered from the shadows behind them. "If they know we’re down here—"Before the cadet could finish his sentence, a heavy metallic clang echoed down the narrow steam pipe corridor. It wasn't the distant hum of academy machinery. It was the distinct, rhythmic crunch of heavy combat boots hitting the grated metal floor."Company," Rafi hissed, cutting off th

"Code numbers for the upper access elevators. Now," Rafi demanded, pressing the flat of his combat blade against the hollow of Dimas's throat while Arga thrashed helplessly in the grip of two bruised cadets."Go to hell, Blackwell," Dimas wheezed, his face darkening from lack of oxygen as he glared up through the dripping mist. "The board is already purging the lower sectors. You aren't getting past the foundry.""The foundry's automated lockdown is active," Tika snapped, slamming her cracked data-pad against a dead terminal near the bulkhead. "If we take the elevators, we walk right into a kill zone. The only way past the primary security checkpoints is straight through the active manufacturing floor."Arga stopped struggling, his eyes widening in pure horror as he stared at Tika. "Through the smelters? Are you insane? The drone assembly lines haven't had a manual override in a decade. The industrial presses will crush you into paste before you cross the first cooling vat.""Then it'

"Move, move, move!" Rafi yelled, shoving Dimas and Arga forward as the heavy terminal screen in front of Tika suddenly flashed a violent, blinding crimson. "Maya, what just happened?""The local loop just slammed shut!" Maya’s voice crackled through the comms, half-drowned out by the shriek of tearing metal. "Corporate security just breached the server room on level four! They’re rerouting every automated drone in the foundry straight to your sector!"A deep, metallic groan echoed from the cavernous depths of the manufacturing floor ahead, vibrating straight through the soles of their boots. Above them, suspended from massive overhead gantry rails, rows of semi-finished security droids dropped from their charging racks with heavy, synchronized thuds. Their optic sensors flared to life, casting blinding cones of white light across the mist-choked catwalks."Ambush!" Arga shouted, instinctively ducking as a heavy kinetic bolt ricocheted off a steel pillar inches from his head, sending a

"An hour isn't enough," Arga snapped, his voice tight as he checked the magazine of his scavenged rifle. "The second Citra realizes the foundry’s primary grid is down, she’ll lock down every lift between here and the surface.""Then we don't use the lifts," Rafi said, stepping up to the reinforced maintenance hatch set deep into the upper administrative ring's exterior wall. "We go through the penthouse."Tika stared at him, her eyebrows shooting up toward her grease-dusted hairline. "The Deputy Director’s personal suite? Blackwell, have you lost your absolute mind? That's high-value territory. The automated defense grid up there isn't just standard security—it's military-grade.""Which means it's connected to the master terminals," Rafi replied, his tone flat, leaving zero room for argument. "Maya needs a direct node to upload that logic bomb without the academy's firewall eating it alive. The Deputy Director's office is the only place left with an unencrypted uplink."Dimas looked u

"Two minutes is all we need, Maya. Keep downloading," Rafi snapped, his eyes darting toward the heavy double doors of the private office."I'm burning through their firewall as fast as I can!" Maya's voice cracked over the compressed audio feed, background static nearly drowning out her frantic typing. "The core ledger is massive. It’s not just student rosters—it’s an entire regional archive.""Hurry up!" Arga urged, keeping his rifle shouldered toward the silent hallway. "If Citra's enforcers catch us here while the file is only halfway decrypted, the lockdown will trap us forever.""Just hold the damn door!" Dimas shouted, shoving a heavy mahogany desk against the entryway to create a makeshift barricade.The heavy oak doors groaned as a sharp, rhythmic impact struck them from the outside. Once. Twice. The reinforced magnetic locks sparked, spitting blue fire against the polished obsidian floor."They're using a breaching charge!" Tika yelled, dropping to her knees beside Rafi with