Two suns rose over Asheron's Reach, painting the sanctuary's jagged peaks in red and gold. In the time before dawn, the Vesper Pact's warriors moved like ghosts—sharpening blade arms, calibrating symbiotic armor, and trading whispered war stories in the cavernous halls.
Julius Reyes found Brinley and Vara in the armory, inspecting a rack of experimental weapons recovered from Hive wrecks.
"This spike launcher can breach the thickest carapace," Brinley explained, hefting the rifle-like device. "Suppressive rounds along the barrel. Ricochet kills for smaller drones."
Vara nodded, adjusting the balance of her new seraphic glaive. "And these incendiary grenades—they'll buy us precious seconds in close quarters." She glanced at Julius. "You good?"
He flexed his symbiotic forearm, plating shifting with a soft hiss. "Echelon's running final diagnostics. I'll be at ninety-nine-point-nine percent by launch." He paused. "How's Seraphel?"
Vara's eyes softened. "Solid. The bond's stabilizing. I feel her… memories sometimes. Flashes of a laboratory on Lunaris Prime—then you and I, fighting side by side." She smiled faintly. "Feels like coming home."
Before Julius could reply, a comm alert chimed. Orla Vey's hologram flickered into view.
"All units assemble in central cavern. Tactical briefing in ten."
They shared a look and strode through winding tunnels toward the war room. Along the way, they passed squads of Vesper fighters—some bonded, others only partly grafted, but all united by purpose. A sense of unity thrummed beneath the station's stone and steel.
Inside the war room, Orla paced before the three-dimensional holo-map of Dyris-5. Tiny icons marked landing zones, defense emplacements, and the suspected location of the Hive control nexus. Surrounding them were pact lieutenants, each bearing scars of past battles.
Orla tapped a glyph. "We deploy two teams:
Strike Force Alpha—Julius, Brinley, Vara, and five bonded Vespers. Your objective: infiltrate the Hive tunnels, disable the nexus before it activates.
Strike Force Beta—Captain Kessler, with the Ironshell Legion. They'll secure the landing zones and hold off reinforcements."
A lieutenant interrupted, voice tense. "What about the civilian flux? The moon's crust is unstable—one wrong shot and we collapse half the tunnels."
Orla met his eyes. "We don't have volleys. We're precision. Use suppression to herd them, not shatter the rock." She gestured to Julius. "You lead Alpha. Beta moves on your signal. Synchronize their comm channels on channel twelve."
Julius's face was unreadable, a calm storm. "Understood."
Orla softened. "You'll also have a wildcard embedded—Dr. Selene Mora. Ex-Archaium scientist. She has data on Hive nexus protocols. She'll be aboard Alpha."
A murmur rippled through the room until Brinley groaned. "A scientist? In the tunnels? Great."
Vara laughed. "Don't worry—Selene's survived worse than Hive mutagens. She'll be fine."
Moments later, Dr. Selene Mora arrived. Her lab coat was frayed, her hair shot through with silver. But her eyes burned with determined intelligence.
"Doctor," Julius greeted, inclining his head. "We'll need your expertise."
She offered a wry smile. "And I'll need your blade arms. Let's hope we both get out in one piece."
Orla's voice closed the briefing. "Launch in one hour. Rest if you can. Remember—Vorr's hive adapts quickly. Move fast, move silent, and trust your bonds."
As the assembled warriors dispersed, Brinley clapped Julius on the shoulder. "Feel ready?"
He activated his HUD, schematics flickering. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Vara looped her arm through his. "Then let's go wake the Ash Core's wrath in Dyris-5."
Selene slipped between them, carrying a pulsating data-pad. "Time to reboot old nightmares."
Together—bonded and determined—they left the war room. The shadows stretched before them, but so did hope.