A week had passed since the Arbitration.
The Nexus was healing.
Economic stability had returned, markets were surging with renewed confidence, and hundreds of smaller systems were flocking to join the growing coalition. Kairos Vant had become a name whispered across the galaxies—not just as a Sovereign Trader, but as a symbol of resistance.
But beneath the victories, something stirred.
A code. Buried deep in the arbitration logs. Not visible to ordinary traders or AI analysts. It pulsed like a heartbeat. Ancient, layered beneath the Nexus System Core. Something only Kairos could see.
[You have fulfilled the First Principle.][Your actions echo those who once built the stars.][Vault Access Unlocked: The First Market.]
Kairos stared at the message, reading it over and over.
His first thought?
It wasn't part of the system.
This wasn't something written by the Cartographers, or the Elder Traders, or even the Divine Council.
It was older.
