Home / Sci-Fi / The Red Rock / Chapter 105: Fire Without Light
Chapter 105: Fire Without Light
Author: Neo Moroeng
last update2025-09-10 23:14:40
The air in the war room was as thick and cold as the Martian fog that blanketed the southern canyon mouth. It hummed with the pulse of a hundred tactical displays and the stifled anxiety of a team on the brink. Heat signatures pulsed across our main holo, a swirling, shapeless mass that danced like phantoms in a swirling, red dust storm. The data was a kaleidoscope of static, too blurry to confirm. I felt the weight of my officers’ eyes on me, but it was Ta’klan’s gaze that pressed hardest—a burning, insistent demand for action.

“General,” he rasped, his voice a raw, sandpaper whisper, the bruises on his neck a livid, dark stain. "They're coming. If you hesitate, the Rake will be in The Oasis before dawn. Give the order."

I didn’t look at him, but I felt his proximity like a physical heat. My focus was on the shifting fog where the signatures bled into one another, too ambiguous to call. I could almost hear Ka!ri’s voice in memory, her steady tone echoing a lesson from our time in Mahi
Neo Moroeng

And there we have it—a victory forged not in aggression, but in patience. This chapter was a crucial moment for our General. She's been living in the shadow of her past, and Ta’klan’s quiet torment was an open invitation for her to fall. But in a moment of clarity and courage, the General held her ground, trusting her instincts over her fears. She's reclaimed a piece of her authority, both in the eyes of her team and, more importantly, in her own. The cost of this victory, however, is the chilling knowledge that Ta’klan is now a wild card, an unknown variable with his own bitter agenda. The war isn’t just outside the walls; it’s inside the room, and the real game has just begun. -N.M

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