Infiltration was Elara's ballet. She hacked the building's sentry network, creating a ten-minute loop of empty corridors. Kira silenced guards with precise, non-lethal neural disruptor shots. Skodar and Kaelen moved like shadows, the former using muted pulses of energy to bypass physical locks.
They descended the utility shaft, the hum of the massive machinery growing louder. The air here was thick with the cloying, peach-colored dampener agent. Skodar felt the drain immediately, like a weight on his soul. He activated Vaktari's crystal fragment. A warm, blue glow spread from his chest, fighting back the nullifying effect.
The final door stood before them: a circular hatch of shimmering purple alloy—quantum-coded.
"Malakor's personal cipher," Kaelen stated. "My access was revoked upon mission failure."
Elara was already at work, a complex multi-tool interface plugged into the door. "I can brute-force it, but it'll take time and will definitely trigger a silent alarm."
"We're out of time," Kira said, watching the corridor behind them. "Do it."
Elara's fingers flew. Seconds ticked by like hours. Finally, with a soft chime, the hatch irised open.
The core chamber was anticlimactic. A single, crystalline column pulsed with soft light in the center, connected to a web of conduits. This was the heart of the Silent Night.
"Plant the spike," Skodar ordered.
Elara rushed forward,attaching the device to the base of the column.
It was then that the lights brightened to a blinding white.
A calm,familiar voice echoed from hidden speakers.
"A predictable vector of action. Driven by sentiment. By the need to 'protect'."
Malakor's hologram appeared in the center of the room, ignoring them, observing the core. "The spike is a clever design. Primitive, but resonant. You truly are your ancestor's child, Vaktari."
He turned his void-like eyes to Skodar. "You passed the first test. You overcame the Hound. Now, the second test: Logic versus Heart."
The walls of the chamber shimmered. Four panels slid open. From them emerged not soldiers, but stasis pods. Inside each pod was a Vakhas—an elder, two young adults, a child. They were unconscious, but alive. Wires connected them to the Calm Spire's core.
"The spike's resonance burst will be channeled through these living conduits," Malakor explained clinically. "It will vaporize their neural pathways. A painless termination. To destroy the Spire, you must kill four of your own. To save your people, you must sacrifice your people. What is your calculus, Patient Zero?"
He smiled his cold, empty smile. "I am curious to see the result."
The hologram vanished.
The countdown on Elara's remote detonator was active:60 seconds.
They were trapped. The doors had sealed. The spike was armed.
Skodar stared at the four innocent faces in the pods. He looked at Kaelen, whose own face was a mask of turmoil. He looked at Elara, pale and horrified, and Kira, who simply shook her head—this was a choice beyond her.
59 seconds.
The weight of the galaxy pressed down on him.