The crawlspace narrowed around him. Ravik slid forward on his elbows, the suit scraping faintly against the metal. Pipes hummed on either side, their heat bleeding through the insulated fabric. Red pulses blinked on the schematic in his visor each time he drifted off course.

“Progress?” Kael asked, his voice low but commanding.

“Data core’s three levels down. East quadrant. Should be past this corridor.”

“Should be?”

“It’s not exactly a tourist map.”

“Keep going,” Sarin murmured over the comms. “You’re clear—for now.”

“EMP hits in thirty,” Veyra’s voice said, clear in his ear. “You’ll feel it.”

Ravik reached the end of the shaft and braced against the hatch. His gloved fingers locked onto the edge, counting down with the timer in the corner of his HUD.

At zero, the world dimmed.

A low, static hum trembled through the structure, and for a moment, everything held its breath. Lights flashed. Systems froze. Surveillance feeds cut out. Power returned—slow, unfocused. The grid's awareness was gone.

“Window’s open,” Veyra confirmed. “Ninety seconds.”

Ravik dropped into the corridor below, landing in a crouch. The interior was cramped, a support passage lined with conduits and dim hazard strips. The rest of the team was still outside, but their signals pinged faintly across his display.

Sarin: still keeping overwatch.
Veyra: moving toward the eastern conduit spine.
Kael: silent, already advancing.

Ravik sprinted through maintenance access tunnels. His target was a secured server node buried inside the mid-level admin deck, defended by one of the Empire’s standard adaptive AI cores.

The route twisted once, then dropped into a central chamber. He paused in the shadows at the edge of a grated platform, scanning the space. The AI chamber sat at the far end, pulsing with faint light beneath its armored shell.

He crossed quickly. No alarms.

The interface port blinked red as he approached.

“Veyra, I’m on the node,” he said.

“Seventy seconds left. The outer network’s rebooting.”

“I’m starting the override.”

The node’s touchpad was sluggish under his fingers, like the system was already resisting him. Ravik pulled a bypass core from his belt and jacked into the panel. Code burst across his HUD, encrypted, recursive, fragmented.

“Kael?” he asked. “Status?”

“Keep going. You’ve got cover.”

Ravik’s hands moved faster.

Firewall layers peeled back one by one, each sequence requiring re-entry, randomization, a second decode pass. The AI surged in response, trying to reroute its own architecture. Countermeasures flickered across the screen: static bursts, timeout delays, system loops.

He didn’t flinch.

“Thirty seconds,” Veyra warned.

The node pushed back again. He pushed harder. Hands steady, eyes scanning the algorithm trees. The final lock fell.

The node dropped into standby, its light blinking blue.

“Override complete,” Ravik said. “AI is down.”

“Nice timing,” Sarin cut in. “You’ve got two patrols about ten meters out. Kael—?”

“Engaging,” Kael replied.

Shots fired, muffled through steel bulkheads.

“Clear,” Kael said. “Veyra, move in.”

The corridors narrowed again. Veyra met him at the junction between core access and the transmission array. She opened her demolition pack, pulling out the first of the shaped charges.

“I’ll start on the transmission array. You guard the door.”

Ravik posted at the entrance, rifle steady. He could hear the dull grind of the station’s gravity locks above them. Something shifted, enough to make the floor vibrate.

“Station’s destabilizing,” Sarin said. “You’ve got maybe twenty before it starts eating itself.”

“Copy that,” Kael replied. “Veyra, finish up.”

Veyra didn’t answer. She was already arming the detonators.

Ravik kept his eyes on the corridor.

One shadow. Movement left. Pivot. Brace. Nothing. Just the half-light flickering through cracked power lines overhead. The walls strained, the air tight with pressure.

“Charges set,” Veyra said, standing.

Kael dropped into position beside them, rifle raised. “Sarin, extraction path?”

“Hostiles ahead,” Sarin said. “Veyra, help me light ‘em up.”

Kael nodded once. “Veyra, stay close. Ravik, stick with me.”

Behind them, the sound of gunfire erupted as Veyra fired in controlled bursts, her rifle bucking against her shoulder.

“They’re pushing hard!” Veyra shouted over the comms. “Two sentries, closing fast!”

“On it,” Sarin replied. From his perch, he tracked the drones through his rifle’s scope. The first fell with a single shot, its mechanical shell spiraling into the station wall. The second tried to dodge, weaving erratically, but Sarin’s second shot found its mark.

“Drones neutralized,” he said. “But you owe me for that, Veyra. Maybe dinner?”

Veyra fired another round, the corner of her mouth twitching. “Sure, if we live.”

Kael fired a burst of suppressive fire into the hallway, forcing an enemy guard to duck behind cover. “Eyes up, Ravik. Let’s move.”

The station shook harder as they moved, not from weapons fire, but from gravitational failure. Alarms sounded. At one point, they passed a viewing pane, and Ravik caught a glimpse of Delkar-7 rising below them, the cloudlines dragging them down like ropes.

“Ten minutes, tops,” Sarin said, and for once, he wasn’t joking.

A security patrol rounded the corner ahead of them. Veyra fired first and the soldier dropped. Kael moved left, caught the second in the side. Clean shots. No hesitation.

Ravik kept up, breath tight, rifle steady. His heart slammed against his ribs, but his hands didn’t shake.

“Extraction point’s two turns ahead,” Kael said. “Go.”

The team bolted through the corridors, Veyra covering their retreat with quick, precise shots that dropped two more guards. The walls shuddered violently as explosions rippled through the station, sending sparks and debris raining down. Ravik stumbled, then a hand caught his shoulder.

“Welcome to the zone,” Kael said, pulling him forward.

The station’s interior groaned. The floor pitched. A pipe above them burst, spraying sparks and heat. Then the Revenant appeared, cloak dropped, hangar doors open, boarding ramp extending.

They sprinted.

“Board now!” Sarin shouted. “Docking bay’s collapsing!”

Kael turned back, rifle covering. “Move!”

Ravik hit the ramp at full sprint, boots skidding. Veyra followed, launcher slung across her back. Kael came last, vaulting up as the ramp retracted behind him.

The bay exploded in fire behind them as the Revenant peeled away.

Through the rear viewport, Ravik watched the station fall, fracturing into burning segments, swallowed by the clouds of Delkar-7.

Silence settled around them.

The team was still catching their breath, helmets off, gear discarded to the floor. Ravik braced against the bulkhead.

Kael finally looked up. “You held together.”

Ravik straightened. “That was the job.”

Across the cabin, Sarin let out a low whistle. “Not bad, Captain. For a first time, that was almost graceful.”

“I wasn’t aiming for graceful,” Ravik muttered.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Sarin said. “I mean, I’m not impressed, but… Veyra might be.”

Veyra didn’t look up from her seat. “I’m not.”

“Give it time,” Sarin said, stowing his rifle.

Ravik leaned back, eyes closed. The zone still flickered behind his eyes.

Outside, Delkar-7 spun away into the dark.