Chapter 55
[Velmora – Ruined Launch Strip, Forty Minutes to Impact]
The air was thick with static.
Ash. Smoke. The hum of dying machines. Kiro sprinted across the cracked tarmac of the abandoned launch zone, the rebels close behind. Ahead, silhouetted in the fire-lit dusk, stood a half-loaded transport ship—its plating scorched, engines still hot.
Not all the ships had left.
"Get that hatch open!" Kiro barked, vaulting over debris. "Move fast!"
Two rebels ran ahead, forcing open the rusted loading bay doors with a scream of metal. Inside: crates of food, medical synths, weapons, armor—everything a survival colony would need. The ship had been prepared for an emergency.
Just not this one.
But it was theirs now.
"I can get it flying," Kiro muttered, sliding into the cockpit. The controls buzzed against his skin like they recognized him. Blood pulsed through the circuits, his system already interfacing.
And then—he heard it.
Screaming.