The convoy arrived just after sunset.

Three transports, heavy with weapons and surveillance equipment, rumbled up the cracked roads of Ashalara and halted outside the Black Ring's southern gate. Each bore the cold, clean insignias of the Weaver regime—black triangles within circles, like hollow eyes.

Sai was already there. Watching from the broken frame of a collapsed security pylon, unmoving.

He timed the gate rotation. The cycle was precise: fifteen seconds from clearance to closure. When the second transport slowed for secondary scan, Sai moved. A blur against the gloom.

He landed silently atop the rear axle, then slid beneath the undercarriage. Hidden.

The convoy rolled forward into the belly of the Black Ring.

The interior was just as Sai had imagined from stolen maps and rebel hearsay—clinical, angular, and engineered to repel anything human. The walls were seamless alloy. The lighting was soft and cold. Footsteps echoed with strange restraint.

It was less a military base, more a perfectly calibrated machine.

Sai detached once the convoy reached the unloading bay and slipped unseen between shadowed cargo towers. He stuck close to the metal ribbing that lined the walls, weaving past two patrols and a technician crew logging crate inventory.

He didn’t speak. Didn’t breathe too loudly. He simply followed the motion of the base and let it guide him to its truths.

In one of the upper mezzanines, he found what he was looking for.

A pair of mid-ranking officers stood near a suspended walkway, overlooking the southern launch pad. One held a datapad; the other leaned on the railing with casual arrogance.

“We expecting anyone special with that convoy?” the younger one asked.

The older shook his head. “No VIPs on this one. Just equipment and a short-term posting from the Core. New general in training—still no official profile submitted.”

“Another invisible officer?”

“Command likes keeping things quiet. They’re sending him to the Sapphire Halo Room 304 tomorrow evening. Civilian contact trial. Standard protocol.”

Sai blinked once.

Sapphire Halo. A district inn near the outer wall. That would be the opportunity.

The older officer added, “We’ll escort him ourselves once the new armor arrives. Let him show off, keep morale high. Better we put him in a room full of strangers than soldiers who might question things.”

Sai memorized every detail—names, timing, formation. His breath barely stirred. One wrong step, one wrong sound… and this mission would end before it began.

His escape was quiet.

As another shift rotated out for dusk perimeter patrol, Sai positioned himself near the gate staging area. He waited until the techs cycled the outer lights. When one of the perimeter soldiers passed close to a drainage alcove, Sai slipped into the shadows of his silhouette.

One step. Two.

And gone.

An hour later, he emerged from an access hatch four blocks from the Hollow Flame. A homeless bot looked up, scanned him, then went back to sleeping. The stars above were faint, barely visible through Ashalara’s smog. But Sai didn’t need them to navigate.

Back at the rebel base, Brinn was asleep with a wrench on his chest. Ramm was wiring a panel that wasn’t broken. Jarek sat near a dim terminal, polishing his sidearm with a steady hand.

Sai dropped a folded note onto the table.

“Sapphire Halo. Tomorrow night. Trainee general will be there. Unconfirmed identity. High potential for replacement.”

Jarek looked up. “You heard that directly?”

Sai nodded. “Officers talking. No guards listening. They think it’s secure.”

Pepe hovered over the table. “Oh good. Nothing screams secure like ‘let’s hold a secret military briefing at an inn with table service and optional cocktails.’”

Brinn rubbed his face. “We follow him in?”

“Shadow him. Confirm his identity. If we can capture him quietly, we get access to the base.”

Ramm grinned. “Sounds like a plan that will almost definitely not get us all killed.”

Sai vanished into the back corridor, already preparing.

The Black Ring was a fortress. But even fortresses had cracks. And sometimes, the right target walked straight into yours.