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Chapter 46: The Last Working Engine
The escape pod didn't land; it insulted the laws of physics and slammed into a salt dune at three hundred miles per hour."Is the screaming over?" Elangga’s voice muffled through a mountain of discarded soy-protein rations. "Because I’d like to resume my tactical meditation."Jevan kicked the pod’s reinforced hatch. It didn't budge. He kicked it again, his boots sliding on a slick of hydraulic fluid. "It’s over if you consider being buried alive 'over.' Svara? Niskala? Miri?""Still here," Svara wheezed from the wreckage of the navigation chair. "Niskala is currently using a riot shield as a blanket. Miri is... Miri, what are you doing?""Checking the exterior sensors," Miri grunted, her hands buried in a smoking terminal. "The bad news is we’re in the middle of the Dead Sea Basin. The worse news is the Warlord is still breathing."Jevan looked at the corner of the pod. The Warlord sat perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the cracked viewscreen. The heavy iron collar around his neck hum
Chapter 45: The Descent into Darkness
"Coffee?" Jevan’s wrench clattered to the floor, his fingers twitching toward his waistband where his empty holster mocked him. "Who the hell are you?"The person standing in the doorway was a girl no older than sixteen, wearing a lab coat two sizes too large and goggles pushed back into her hair. She held a plastic bucket that sloshed with murky, gray-tinted water."Name’s Miri. And I’m the only reason you aren't currently being vented into the stratosphere with the rest of the Sector 9 trash," she said, tossing a rag onto the floor. "Pick up your weapon, 'Mr. Engineer.' You’re making me nervous."Svara didn't pick up her pipe. She stayed low, her eyes scanning the shadows behind Miri. "Why aren't you under lock and key? Sector 0 is a dead-zone. The Warlord's troops haven't been down here in decades."Miri smirked. "The Warlord’s troops are busy melting down in the atrium. Nice work with the acid, by the way. Very messy. Very inefficient. I approve."Elangga straightened his floral-p
Chapter 44: The Stairwell Standoff
"Keep your knees locked, Jevan. You’re tilting four degrees to the left. It’s a tactical disaster.""I’m tilting because this 'interface suit' is made of recycled radiator fins and spite, Elangga. My left hip is currently being pinched by a rusted hinge.""Pain is just the body’s way of saying it’s not tactical enough! Now, chin up. Here comes the checkpoint."Jevan gritted his teeth, the metal plates of his makeshift apprentice disguise groaning with every step. They were deep in the guts of the Core Relay, walking a narrow gantry suspended over a pit of humming server stacks. Ahead, two White Guards stood like stone pillars, their pulse-rifles crossed.Between them hovered a Mark VII Security Drone. Its central lens was a dark, unblinking red, but the chassis was vibrating with a rhythmic, erratic shudder.Twitch. Twitch. Whirrr."Halt," the lead guard barked. His visor was polarized, reflecting Jevan’s ridiculous silhouette. "Identification and maintenance manifest. This sector is
Chapter 43: Sparks and Secrets
"The electrical sabotage is going to cost us the entire floor, Jevan. The cooling units aren't just sparking—they’re screaming.""Let them scream, Svara. It beats the alternative." Jevan slammed his wrench into the exposed copper junction, the smell of ozone and burnt rubber instantly filling the corridor. "If the power-grid doesn't trip, the drill reaches the aquifer. Then we lose the only leverage we have against Kaelen.""Leverage?" Elangga’s voice pitched high, bordering on a squeak. He was currently crouched behind a pile of shattered shipping crates, his tactical vest looking like it had been through a shredder. "My current tactical assessment is that we are about to be toasted by a three-story drill or incinerated by a short circuit. Where is the leverage, Jevan?""Right here," Jevan said, pulling a jagged piece of vellum from his shirt. "The blueprints. Kaelen thinks he’s ahead of us, but he’s playing for a sector he doesn't own anymore."CRACK-BOOM.The floor beneath them did
Chapter 42: The Data Retrieval Run
"The server rack is pulsing, Jevan. It’s not just a cooling cycle, it’s a heartbeat.""Keep your eyes on the door, Svara. Elangga, if that bypass doesn't trigger in ten seconds, we’re going to be breathing lead instead of air.""I am currently vibrating at a frequency that is arguably un-human, Jevan! The data retrieval is at ninety-two percent. My fingers are effectively fused to the interface!""Just hold it," Jevan hissed, his grip on the pipe wrench so tight his knuckles were white. The central server chamber was a mausoleum of humming chrome and blinking amber lights. Every few seconds, the floor shuddered, sending a spray of fine, metallic dust down from the ceiling."Twenty percent of the compound is gone," Niskala whispered from the threshold, her knife vibrating in her hand. "The Warlord’s drill hit the primary thermal line. The whole sector is leaning.""Let it lean," Jevan grunted. He stepped toward the glowing console, his eyes locked on the scrolling raw data. "We just ne
Chapter 41: The Commander's Secret
"Don't breathe, don't twitch, and for the love of the aquifer, don't try to narrate your own funeral," Jevan hissed, pressing his back against the vibrating bulkhead."I am a portrait of stoic, tactical stillness, Jevan. My lungs are essentially decorative at this point."The observation deck was a tomb of glass and silence. Kaelen stood by the central console, his movements fluid, unnervingly perfect. He wasn't looking at the screens; he was watching the reflection in the observation glass—watching them."I know you're there, brother," Kaelen said, his voice smooth and devoid of malice. "The ventilation sensors detected your carbon dioxide emissions three minutes ago. You aren't hiding. You're just waiting for a mistake I haven't made yet."Elangga stiffened, his floral shirt rustling against a discarded maintenance crate. "Tactical error! He’s trying to goad us into a poorly executed assault!""Shut up," Jevan muttered, his grip on the cracked pipe wrench tightening until his knuckl
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