AETHER MIDNIGHT

The News From the Upper Port

WHIIINNNN-VROOOM!

The sharp roar pierced the air as a yellow Hoverbike zoomed into the workshop's courtyard. The high-speed vehicle, a favorite among street racers and lower-district gangs, came to a halt with hard braking, forcing its rough stabilizers to screech loudly against the momentum.

Risha pulled off her helmet and let out a free, ringing laugh. The workshop breeze immediately caught her shoulder-length silver hair, framing the pale blue skin characteristic of an Aurelith girl. Her pointed ears peeked out from beneath the strands, while her bright eyes, which typically held the cold, guarded gaze of a street dweller, now gleamed with sheer excitement.

Jogging close behind her was Kael. The street kid looked dirty with oil and circuit dust, his eyes sporting dark bags from lack of sleep, but his smile was wide.

Perched comfortably on Kael's shoulder was a small bipedal synth, worn white with faded grey accents.

Bwoop-bweee!

Spark chirped cheerfully, the pair of flexible sensor antennas on its head wiggling happily upon seeing me. The tiny Pix Unit hopped down from Kael's shoulder. As a synth designed for exploration companionship and mechanic assistance, its movements were incredibly agile. With its slender metal legs, it trotted over to me, radiating curiosity like a pet before rubbing its body against my boots.

I looked down, gently petting its boxy head. A slight pang of longing throbbed in my chest. Spark was the silent witness to my darkest times, the only one who accompanied me when I was almost swallowed by hatred. But now, seeing it so lively and cheerful following Kael, I knew my decision to let it go as the kid's mechanic assistant was the right one.

"You're back," I said, observing Kael who immediately ran to the tool rack to return some wrenches. "All night at the racetrack? I thought I told you to sleep, Kael."

"Sorry, L!" Kael called out from behind the rack. "But Risha's combustion circuit clogged on the second lap. Spark and I had to replace the core spark plug in under a minute! And we did it!"

Trill-woo! Spark agreed with a long, proud beep.

Risha hopped off her bike, brushing dust off her chest plate. "This kid is saved my life last night, L. If it wasn't for his repairs, I would've crashed into the repulsor wall in Sector 9." Risha walked over to the break table, rummaging through a drawer for her favorite synthetic jelly candies.

"You owe him a pit crew salary, you know that" I said, going back to assembling Cora's AC.

"Already paid him with a meal at Bolo's diner this morning," Risha smiled, chewing her jelly candy. But slowly, the Aurelith girl's smile faded. She looked out the busy workshop door. "Hey, L. Did you hear the news from the upper port last night?"

My hand, which was holding the screwdriver, stopped turning for half a second before I resumed with the same rhythm. "Just rumors about cartels attacking each other. The usual."

"Not between syndicates," Risha argued, her voice dropping. She glanced at Cora, who was busy typing at the terminal, making sure the new administrator wasn't listening too closely. "Some friends of mine at the racetrack saw it firsthand. There was a Crimson Skull blockade on the north landing pad."

Risha looked at me with eyes full of disbelief. "We all know they're an interstellar criminal organization that monopolizes every smuggling route in this outer sector. But... someone just slaughtered all of them without leaving a trace."

"Maybe a rival gang hired a bounty hunter," Kael guessed, newly emerging and wiping his dirty face with his sleeve.

"The thing is, eyewitnesses said there were no traces of plasma fire," Risha leaned forward. "They said the shadow moved too fast. And the weapon it used... it glowed red and didn't fire any projectiles. The thing let out a terrifying hum and could slice through airtight steel doors as if they were wet paper."

In the corner of the room, Cora's fingers stopped typing for a moment.

"High probability of a highly modified plasma projectile weapon, or a vibro-energy sword undergoing thermal overload," Cora analyzed from her desk without turning around. "An inefficient anomaly for a mass assassination."

I said nothing. My heart began beating again to a battle rhythm I had long buried. Risha's story confirmed the metal scrap Jax had brought last night. The Eclipse Agent wasn't just passing through; he was looking for something. Looking for the source of that three-second signal. And sooner or later, his interrogations would lead him down to this underground level.

The rest of the day passed in routine. Customers came, Cora managed them with her absolute strictness, Kael and Spark learned to modify small circuits, and I fixed engines.

But when night finally embraced Noctis Reach, and the workshop was tightly sealed, silence once again took over. Cora had gone home to her apartment with her new AC, and Kael had returned to the Mezzanine corner to rest.

I turned off the main neon lights, leaving only a dim glow in the back area of the workshop.

Standing in the middle of the room, I stared at the lubricant-stained floor. Denying the situation wouldn't change reality. If that dark side Veil user arrived at The Garage's doorstep, throwing kunai or making stupid excuses wouldn't save anyone. I couldn't let this place, or the ecosystem that had come to life within it, be destroyed by my past.

I walked to the darkest corner of the workshop, right beneath the heavy oil storage rack. Pressing a panel that looked like a standard bolt, a faint click of a magnetic lock sounded. I shifted a hidden lever, and the one-square-meter steel floor in front of me hissed open.

A worn ladder led into the pitch darkness beneath the foundation of this workshop. A lead-lined isolation chamber, where I had buried who I truly was.

Taking a deep breath that felt cold in my throat, I stepped down into the shadows.