Anna_book

Kael Riven is a deserter, a man who vanished into the silence of space to forget a war—and the woman—he left behind. But when a hidden message from Mira resurfaces, Kael is pulled back into a deadly game of secrets, war, and redemption.

In a galaxy ruled by fear, one man’s past may be the key to its future.

The Last Orbit

Chapter 31 — A Fragmented Alliance

The silence in the control chamber wasn't the comforting kind—it was the kind that hinted at betrayal, where even the soft hum of the systems felt like a warning.

Mira stood to my left, arms crossed, her brow furrowed as she watched the holo-map display flicker. Allan Cort leaned over the console, running diagnostics on our intercepted transmission from the outpost near Nova Vail.

"We're not alone out here," She said finally, her voice lower than usual. "That message wasn't automated. It was human—and recent."

I didn't respond at first. Something inside me already knew. The unease in my gut hadn't been about the silence of space; it was about the voices that should've never returned.

"There's a new faction," Mira said, glancing my way. "They call themselves the Aethran Ring. Survivors, scavengers… and soldiers."

I blinked. That name had only circulated in whispers among defectors—rumors of a hidden force building strength in the shadow of the Empire's collapse. I thought they were just that—rumors.

Allan brought up an encrypted log, the playback warbled with static, but one name punched through the noise: Kael Riven.

"They're looking for you," Allan said. "And they're using your name as bait."

It hit harder than I expected. I hadn't felt hunted in a long time, not since I walked away from the Empire and buried the man I used to be.

Mira placed a hand on my shoulder—steady, grounding. "What did you do, Kael? What don't I know?"

I looked away. "There are files in the Empire's archives—deep ones. Classified under Obsidian Protocol. I was part of a program designed to create tacticians who could rewrite war outcomes in real time. They called it neural war-bending."

Allan let out a low whistle. "So you weren't just a soldier."

The words tasted bitter. I'd always tried to distance myself from that identity, but now it was clawing back into relevance.

"The Aethran Ring must've retrieved part of that archive," I continued. "If they have access to my old data, they could manipulate war zones before they even start."

"They want to finish what the Empire began," Mira said. "But why call you out?"

"To test me. To pull me back in—or end me."

For a long moment, none of us spoke. Then Mira turned to the map. "We need allies. We can't do this alone."

"There's someone," Allan offered. "Captain Seris Halden of the Phoenix Syndicate. She owes me a favor. But she doesn't trust easily."

"Then it's time to remind the galaxy why I walked away from the Empire," I said quietly. "And why I survived it."

Mira tilted her head. "And after that?"

I gave her a small smile. "Then we burn their map and draw a new one."

For the first time in days, I saw something in her eyes that had been missing—hope.

But as the stars blinked outside the viewport, I knew hope alone wouldn't be enough. The war was no longer between empires. It was personal.