Flash.
Chaos.
Alarms howled inside the cockpit. The HUD flashed red. Broken formation. No orders—just the raw madness of battle. Targets everywhere. Friendlies blinking out one by one. Silence followed.
> "All squadrons fall back to—" static "—shield core ruptured—" "Command is down—command is—"
Her fighter dove. No time to think. Just instinct. Bank. Roll. Fire. A beam sliced past. Another struck. The impact rattled her frame. Metal shrieked. The cockpit shook. Something burned. Her left hand went numb. The smell of scorched insulation flooded her nose—synthetic, acrid.
To her left, an enemy battleship cracked apart like dry bark—air, flame, and bodies spilling into the void.
She screamed into the comms. "Squadron Eight—respond! Anyone!"
No one answered.
---
Her fingers twitched on the Chancellor's chamber floor.
---
Flash.
Two interceptors on her tail. She didn't need radar—she could feel them. That pressure at the base of her neck.
She flipped the craft—an inverted roll. Slammed the afterburners. Dove through a corridor of drifting wreckage.
One of the pursuers clipped a shattered hull and vanished in a flash of light. The other stayed with her.
She didn't slow. She lured him. Threaded through the skeletal ribs of a broken cruiser. Fired once.
Direct hit. Gone.
---
The fleets collided in waves of precision and destruction. Massive beams tore through space like lightning across black water.
She pushed the throttle. Slipped between two capital ships. Point-defense fire lit up—ripping apart her last pursuers.
Then—impact.
HUD blazed red. Critical hit. Power failure. Hull breach.
A shot from nowhere—unseen. Perfect. Fatal.
Her chair ejected before she could even react. An automatic override. The last thing she saw—before the black—was a shape. Distant. Massive. Triangular. Watching.
Dark sky. No air. Just drifting silence.
And in the silence, one last thought:
> This is it. This is where I vanish… like the rest.
---
Her body jolted on the floor.
Niri's eyes snapped open—but they weren't focused. Her chest heaved. Breath uneven. Cold sweat streaked her brow. Her legs had gone slack beneath her. Her breath came in sharp, shallow bursts—like someone drowning on dry land.
She mumbled something—unintelligible. Not know languages in the reach..
Her knuckles were white.
Lu'Ka was already beside her, steadying her head.
Mr. Rout rushed in, coat sweeping behind him. He dropped beside her, medical tools already active.
"Pulse… extreme. Heart rate's spiking. She's flooded with adrenaline," he muttered.
His scan flickered across her body.
"This isn't a seizure. She's reliving something. Deep recall—neurological strain at max."
Her breathing came shallow. Fast.
"Niri—" Lu'Ka said softly.
"No sedation," Rout cut in. "Not until we understand her chemistry."
Chancellor Yvith approached, silent but tense. Her wings had shifted slightly behind her—her outer set of wings tightening slightly, a silent gesture of distress among her kind.
Niri gasped. Still trembling. Her voice slipped out, raw and broken:
> "I got hit… I survived somehow."
Rout adjusted her gravity field again.
"She's stabilizing," he said. "But what she accessed... it wasn't small."
He glanced at Lu'Ka. "But her muscles were locked tight. Whatever she saw, she fought it."
They all watched. Her sweat shimmered under the dim light. A survivor of something even she couldn't explain.
---
Gradually, her awareness returned. Her eyes moved between them, recognition dawning.
Rout helped her sit up, carefully supporting her back.
Yvith stepped forward. Her voice, for the first time, was quiet. Personal.
"How are you feeling, Ms. Niri?"
Lu'Ka and Rout exchanged a look. Even they hadn't heard that tone from the Chancellor before.
Niri shifted. "I feel… off. Like my body's lighter very lightly than it should be."
"Your gravity belt's still at zero," Lu'Ka said gently. "You were heavier than expected when you collapsed. I adjusted it."
Even with her small frame, it didn't make sense. But no one questioned it—yet.
"Don't stand," Rout said. "Let me finish checking your pressure levels."
Yvith dismissed the floating projections. Not for protocol—out of concern. She wasn't going to risk another collapse.
---
After a few minutes, once Niri's breathing had evened out, Yvith asked softly:
"Tell us what you remember."
Niri's voice was quiet. Measured.
"I was in a battle. A massive one. Fleets on both sides. I was a pilot."
Neither Lu'Ka nor Rout interrupted.
"I got shot down. I ejected. I… don't remember how I survived."
She paused, then looked toward the Chancellor.
"There's something else. I wasn't going to say anything. But after this... I can't keep it to myself anymore."
They waited.
"A while ago, when classes were canceled… I went into the city with Qiri and Ronan. We passed a drink shop near the upper ring. There was a retired officer talking to someone—"
Her eyes narrowed, digging for the details.
"He mentioned something at the edge of the Dakun sector. A ghost ship. A massive black triangle. Said it looked like it didn't belong."
Yvith tensed—just slightly.
Niri looked down at her hands, then back up.
"I didn't remember it. But I knew it was mine. That ship. Somehow, I was part of it."
She exhaled slowly.
"I'm sorry. That's all I have."
The silence that followed wasn't heavy. It was reverent.
---
Yvith spoke once more.
"Do you remember when this happened?"
Niri nodded faintly.
"The officer said it was two solar cycles ago. After the incident at his observation post. He was discharged shortly after. He said everything collapsed when the ship appeared—that massive black triangle. It came through something. A kind of gate. A rift made of orbs. He couldn't explain it."
She looked up again.
"But I know it. I know I came through it."
---
Chancellor Yvith slowly activated her personal database, fingers gliding across the interface. She began searching for anything tied to the officer's account.
Niri remained seated on the floor. Mr. Rout continued silent diagnostics.
Lu'Ka stepped closer and said quietly:
"We have something priceless in the Reach, Chancellor. The truth of her origin is no longer speculation. It's starting to unfold."
Yvith didn't respond. Her eyes flicked between the search results and the girl on the floor.
She understood the gravity of what was happening.
Even if she was loyal to the Ascendancy, she saw it clearly now— Niri's presence was a faultline. A spark. And once it ignited, nothing in the Reach would remain untouched.
---
She continued scanning incident logs. And as she worked, her eyes drifted again toward the girl breathing softly beneath the dim lights.
Niri looked calmer now. But the faint tremble in her fingers hadn't stopped.
Mr. Rout adjusted her vitals readout. Still watching closely.
Yvith didn't speak. But a single thought echoed in her mind:
This girl doesn't yet understand what she is.
---
Finally, Yvith paused—her screen dimmed slightly.
She'd found something. A classified entry. Black protocol.
She saved it for later review.
Then turned to Niri once more.
"When you feel ready," she said carefully, "can you help us analyze the ruins?"
Niri blinked once. Her voice low.
"I've already seen enough. It feels familiar. But not in my memories."
Slowly, she stood up. Everyone watched her. Lu'Ka, ever polite, stepped forward.
"Please, Ms. Niri—careful."
Niri gave a small nod. "I'm okay. Just a little dazed. Nothing serious."
She turned to Yvith.
"Chancellor… I feel it's a bad idea to go there. Really."
Everyone stilled. Curious. Intrigued.
"Why, Ms. Niri?" Yvith asked.
Niri hesitated. "I don't know why. But I feel it in my chest. It's wrong."
Yvith watched her carefully. She understood the instincts of the Gateborn were not trivial.
But the counsil had already made their decision. The expedition couldn't be canceled without evidence. Any delay would raise questions. Dangerous ones.
So she simply said:
"The trip… we can't cancel it."
Niri didn't argue. She just nodded slowly.
"I hope my instincts are wrong."
Yvith replied gently, "We will speak again, Ms. Niri."
She turned to Lu'Ka and Rout. "Return to ours post prepare everything for the trip
As the chamber emptied, Yvith remained.
She stared at the darkened projection of the high-gravity planet—and wondered if this warning was the first of many.
Before any students set foot there, she would send a Grounx Legion to land first.
Just in case Niri's fear wasn't just instinct..