The thermal charge blinked. In the next instant, Iris initiated the sequence.
"Overload active. Coolant systems destabilizing. Stand by for cascading pressure failure."
A low groan echoed through the refinery walls, followed by a deep, mechanical wail. Warning klaxons snapped to life, and overhead lights flickered from red to strobe white as the plant's emergency subsystems kicked in.
Then came the blast.
A gout of white steam burst from a rusted overhead pipe. Alarms howled. Pressure doors slammed down across the facility with violent hisses. Somewhere distant, a klaxon choked mid-cycle, cut off by power failure or damage. Either way, chaos had arrived.
Ethan moved.
Sliding down the shaft wall, cloak flaring behind him, he hit the ground running. His boot steps were muted by sound-dampers as he closed the distance toward the platform edge. A sentry, Iron Veil, staggered into view, distracted by the sirens.
Too slow.
The butt of Ethan's shock dart pistol cracked across his helmet with a sharp crunch, and the man dropped in a heap.
Another guard turned, raising his weapon, too late. A flash of motion, the glint of obsidian, and the Astral Slayer whispered across his throat. The body collapsed, silent.
"Two targets neutralized," Iris said. "Secondary squad converging from maintenance stairwell. ETA: twenty-four seconds."
"Noted."
Ethan slipped into the catwalk maze, using height and confusion. A plasma bolt scorched the air behind him, searing a support beam. He vaulted sideways, using the vertical scaffold poles like a shadow-born acrobat. Always moving, always vanishing between beats of perception.
More guards spilled in, Iron Veil muscle and Specter Coil operatives in sleek armor, their movements disturbingly efficient.
They weren't here for cleanup. They were here for control.
He reached the crate. The resonant coil was secured inside a transport container, mag-locked to a freight rail. With a flick of his wrist, Ethan activated the rail's manual override.
The track lit with faint blue pulses as the container jerked into motion, rolling along the old cargo spine toward the outer shaft.
"Cargo route initialized," Iris confirmed. "Drone pickup ETA: ninety seconds."
He turned, just in time to see a Specter Coil enforcer leaping from a higher gantry. The operative's boots hit the ground hard, blade already drawn.
Ethan parried the first strike, arm ringing with impact.
They exchanged a blur of blows, psionics flaring silently in Ethan's limbs as he enhanced his movement speed and dodged, rolled, struck low.
The Astral Slayer kissed the enforcer's ribs.
No blood. Just collapse.
Another came in, swinging a modified vibro-staff. Ethan ducked beneath the arc and drove his knee into the attacker's gut, followed by a psionic push that sent them slamming into a power relay, where electricity arced violently.
Two left.
The last Specter Coil agent was smarter. She circled, keeping distance, trying to coordinate with a Veil lieutenant who charged from the side with a spike rifle.
Ethan didn't wait.
He blurred forward, slipped low between them, and turned a spin. His blade cutting a shallow line across the rifle barrel, disrupting the power feed. Then a thrust, sharp, decisive, dropped the Veil fighter.
The agent hesitated. He didn't.
One final strike, across the side of her armor's unsealed plating. She staggered.
And he ran.
The container was halfway through the shaft.
His thigh burned where a glancing bolt had clipped him, but adrenaline and psionic focus dulled the pain. He hit the wall panel and launched himself onto the maintenance rail, grabbing the rear magnetic latch just as the container hit the tunnel curve.
Below, the platform erupted. Specter Coil and Iron Veil fighting each other now in the confusion, or maybe still searching for the intruder.
He didn't care. They'd lost.
The end of the shaft opened into a dark, forgotten hangar beyond the refinery's edge shielded from overhead scans and long abandoned.
The Wraith's retrieval drone, a half-sized shuttle, hovered just inside, waiting.
Ethan dropped with the crate, slammed the lock shut behind him, and gave the all-clear.
"Extraction complete," Iris said. "Initiating low-profile ascent."
They lifted off, skimming the rocky contours of the moon, hugging shadows and interference bands as pirate ships, merc transports, and smugglers came and went above the crust. But no one noticed the small drone slipping away.
They were gone.
The loading ramp sealed behind him with a quiet thunk. Ethan dropped the crate gently into the main bay, then pulled off his cloak and body armor. He was drenched in sweat, flecks of grime smeared across his jaw.
He walked to the bridge. Sat. Breathed.
"Iris," he said.
"All scans show no pursuit. Stealth field is engaged. We are currently invisible to orbiting patrols and ground scans."
"Good."
"Would you like diagnostics or comm debrief first?"
He stared at the crate.
"No. Just tell me what you found."
A beat.
"The Iron Veil systems were compromised weeks ago. Federation-grade surveillance protocols were layered across their security framework, non-native. Remote-access monitoring. Specifically flagged for interest in resonant phase technology."
He exhaled slowly.
"This wasn't about the tech," he muttered. "Trask's resonant coil was just a side note."
He turned, eyes narrowing.
"That container… that's what they were really protecting."
"Agreed," Iris said. "Specter Coil agents weren't trying to secure the coil. They were tracking reactions to it. Targeting curiosity. And you triggered their flag."
Ethan leaned forward, elbows on knees, silent.
"Captain," Iris said gently, "I think we've inadvertently become involved in something far larger than we expected."
He chuckled dryly.
"That incident in Aldaron Sector with the frozen courier in a cryo-pod and the R.D.C. agents…"
He rubbed his face.
"The chaos at the auction on Xanthe's Dream in Enover… now this damn ambush in Haltris."
He looked up at the stars beyond the viewport, jaw clenched.
"Am I cursed or something?"
"I did not believe you to be the superstitious kind, Captain," Iris replied. "However, I advise we contact Trask Molten discretely. Deliver the coil without delay. Begin stealth core installation before circumstances further escalate."
He stood.
"I'm not superstitious. But my instincts say all of this is connected. Every damn thing. And Specter Coil might be the thread that ties it all together."
He turned back toward the cargo bay, where the resonant coil waited in its unassuming case.
"Let's build the damn stealth core," he said quietly. "Then we pull the veil back on whoever these shadow players really are."