The alarm kept ringing long after Kael silenced it.
The bridge lights shifted to emergency red, glowing against steel walls. The air felt different, tighter, like the ship itself was holding its breath.
Rhea stood beside him, eyes locked on the main screen. "It's still gaining on us."
Kael didn't blink. "Distance?"
"Eight hundred kilometers and closing fast."
Too close. Far too close.
The Astral Warden was one of the fastest vessels in the fleet. Nothing should have been able to catch it. Nothing human, at least.
Kael leaned forward, studying the approaching silhouette. It wasn't a ship. It was a shadow. A long, needle-like figure gliding through space without engine flare.
No heat signature. No communication signal. No identification.
Just silent movement.
That scared him more than any weapon.
"Power up the shields," Kael said.
Rhea nodded and relayed the order. The floor vibrated as energy surged to the hull.
It did nothing to ease the unease crawling under Kael's skin.
The voice from the earlier transmission returned to him.
We found her.
He pushed the thought aside, but it stubbornly lingered, like a wound refusing to close.
"Captain," the ship AI said. "External scan complete. The vessel material is unknown. Structure does not match any registered organization, military, or civilian."
Rhea frowned. "Could be alien tech."
Kael shook his head. "If an alien race had ships like that, Earth would already belong to them."
He straightened, jaw set. "Bring up a visual."
The screen sharpened, revealing the ship in full.
It was smooth and pale, like bone stretched into a blade. No windows. No seams. No lights. Completely seamless, as if it had grown rather than been built.
A cold chill ran through the bridge.
Crew members exchanged looks. No one spoke.
Kael finally broke the silence. "Weapons online."
Rhea hesitated. "Should we fire first?"
"Only if it attacks."
She nodded but looked unconvinced.
The ship drifted closer. Slow. Deliberate. Studying them.
Kael hated being studied.
A message flashed across the console.
Incoming transmission.
No signal source. No frequency. No encryption. It appeared on the screen like a ghost.
Kael swallowed and opened it.
A simple sentence burned across the display:
YOU CAN NOT RUN FROM WHAT YOU CREATED.
The bridge went silent.
Rhea turned to him. "Kael… what does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
He didn't need to. The crew already sensed it.
This wasn't a random encounter.
This ship came for him.
The message disappeared. A bright light formed at the vessel's center. The shape expanded, swirling like a miniature star preparing to detonate.
Kael reacted instantly. "Brace for impact. Raise shield strength to maximum."
Rhea strapped herself in. The crew followed.
The light shot forward.
But instead of exploding, it wrapped around the Astral Warden like a web of shimmering threads. The entire ship jolted. Power flickered. Systems failed one by one.
Lights fell dark.
Engines shut down.
Gravity faltered, tossing several officers upward before stabilizing again.
Kael gripped the console. "Report."
Rhea tapped buttons that no longer responded. "We're locked. Something is draining us."
"They are boarding," the AI said.
"How?" Rhea snapped. "We still have shields."
"No," Kael said. "We don't."
He stared at the pale vessel pressing closer. Not touching, but forcing its presence into the Warden like an infection.
The hull groaned.
Then came the sound no crew ever wanted to hear.
Metal bending.
Not from impact, but from opening.
Kael drew in a slow breath. "Arm the crew."
Rhea grabbed a pulse rifle and tossed another to him. "You think it's human?"
"No."
He checked the charge anyway.
Doors slid open across the ship. Not from manual override. From something else accessing the system.
Something smarter.
Something familiar.
Kael motioned to Rhea. "With me."
They moved through the dim corridor. Emergency lights flickered, casting the ship in broken color. Every step echoed like footsteps in a tomb.
Kael's heart didn't race. Fear wasn't new to him. But this… this felt different.
Like déjà vu.
Like a nightmare returning after years of pretending it never happened.
Rhea glanced at him. "Who did you leave behind, Kael?"
He didn't answer right away.
They turned a corner and froze.
A figure stood at the end of the hallway.
Tall. Motionless. Wrapped in a strange suit that looked grown rather than manufactured. Its helmet reflected faint red light. No emblem. No weapon.
Just presence.
Kael lifted his rifle. "Identify yourself."
The figure didn't move, didn't speak. The silence stretched until Kael considered firing.
Then the helmet dissolved into smoke.
And a face was revealed.
A young woman. Pale, hollow-eyed, hair floating slightly as if underwater. Her expression carried no emotion.
Rhea stared. "Is she… human?"
Kael's throat tightened. He knew that face.
He had memorized it.
He had mourned it.
"Lysa," he whispered.
Rhea looked at him sharply. "This is her? The survivor?"
Lysa didn't blink. "You left me."
Her voice was soft, but every word cut through him like sharpened wire.
Kael lowered his weapon slowly. "Titan-6 was doomed. I thought you died with the others."
"I did," she said.
Rhea took a step back. "What does that mean?"
Lysa's pupils dilated, turning pitch black. "They rebuilt me. Improved me. And now I belong to them."
Behind her, two more figures emerged. Same pale suits. Same empty eyes.
Kael's blood ran cold.
"Who are they?"
Lysa smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "The future you tried to destroy."
The hallway lights burst. Sparks rained down.
Rhea raised her weapon. "Kael, order the shot."
Kael didn't move.
Because he finally understood.
This wasn't a rescue.
This wasn't revenge.
It was a warning.
"You shouldn't have come back," he said quietly.
Lysa tilted her head. "We didn't come back. We came to take you with us."
The ship groaned again, louder this time.
Something bigger was waking.
Kael lifted his rifle, jaw set. "Over my dead body."
Lysa blinked once. "That can be arranged."
And the corridor erupted into chaos.