The first blast did not shake the station the way Aria expected.
It did not feel chaotic or explosive.
It felt precise.
The outer shield absorbed most of the impact, but the docking bay lights flickered, and a low vibration traveled through the floor beneath her boots.
The holographic projection updated instantly. Another Core warship shifted position. Energy signatures built along its hull.
"They are testing the shield strength," the older woman beside Kael said calmly.
"They will escalate," Kael replied.
Aria stared at the fleet projection. There were too many ships. Sleek white hulls marked with the Core insignia, moving in coordinated patterns like a single organism.
"This is because of me," she said quietly.
Kael did not deny it.
"Yes."
The honesty hit harder than comfort would have.
Another blast struck the station, stronger this time. The vibration rolled through her body, and instinctively, the power inside her responded. She felt it ripple outward like a protective reflex.
The metal beams above the docking bay shimmered faintly.
Several Starborn turned toward her.
"She is syncing with the station," one murmured.
"I am not trying to," Aria said quickly.
"You do not have to try," the older woman replied. "Power recognizes threat before the mind does."
Alarms shifted tone. Not warning now. Mobilization.
Starborn soldiers moved with controlled speed toward defense corridors. Shields activated across the station surface, forming faint translucent arcs around the hollowed asteroid.
Aria's pulse raced.
"I need instructions," she said to Kael. "I cannot just stand here."
He studied her for a second too long.
"You are untrained."
"They are firing warships at us."
He stepped closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear.
"If you lose control inside this station, you will tear it apart."
The truth of that settled heavily in her chest.
Another blast hit, this time targeting a different section. The holographic projection displayed a shield percentage dropping by two points.
"They are not going for immediate destruction," the older woman observed. "They are draining us."
Aria clenched her fists.
There had to be something she could do.
"What are they running?" she asked suddenly.
Kael glanced at her.
"Explain."
"The fleet," she said quickly. "What system coordinates them?"
"The Central Intelligence Core."
"No," she insisted. "What node. What tactical relay? Warships do not operate on pure autonomy."
He hesitated.
"They operate on a distributed neural command system."
Her mind clicked into familiar patterns.
Engines. Systems. Networks.
"If it is distributed, it still has priority nodes. If we disrupt their coordination timing even slightly, their firing sequences desynchronize."
The older woman's gaze sharpened.
"You are suggesting we interfere with Core battle logic."
"I am suggesting machines follow rules," Aria replied. "Even advanced ones."
Kael watched her carefully.
"You would need to get close."
Her stomach dropped.
"How close?"
"Within signal injection range."
She stared at the projection.
"That is outside the shield."
"Yes."
The docking bay trembled again.
Her life this morning had been bolts and engines.
Now she was considering stepping into open space during a fleet assault.
"You came for me," she said to Kael quietly. "So I assume you have a ship that moves faster than theirs."
His eyes held a flicker of something unreadable.
"Yes."
"Then let me use it."
Silence hung between them.
"You do not even understand your own abilities," he said.
"I understand systems," she replied. "And right now your enemy is a system."
The older woman crossed her arms.
"She has a point."
Kael's jaw tightened slightly.
If she did not know better, she would think he was worried.
"I will not risk you recklessly," he said.
"You are already risking an entire station because of me."
That struck.
He did not argue.
Another blast hit harder than the rest. The projection flickered as the shield percentage dropped again.
Time was shrinking.
"Fine," he said at last. "You come with me."
Her breath caught.
"You are coming too?"
"You are not flying alone into a Core fleet."
Something in her chest steadied at that.
They moved quickly toward a smaller launch corridor.
As they ran, Aria felt the power inside her growing more responsive. Not wild. Not chaotic. Focused.
The closer they moved to the outer hull, the clearer she sensed the shape of the station around her. The weight of metal. The pull of gravity fields. The subtle hum of energy conduits.
It was overwhelming and fascinating all at once.
Kael noticed her expression.
"You feel it more strongly under stress," he said.
"Yes," she admitted. "It is like everything has mass I can taste."
He did not look surprised.
"That is gravitational attunement."
They reached a sleek black interceptor ship waiting in the launch bay. It was smaller than the craft that brought her here, built for speed rather than transport.
Kael stepped inside first and slid into the pilot interface.
Aria hesitated only a second before taking the co-seat.
The hatch sealed.
The launch corridor opened directly into space.
"You will guide me on signal injection," he said as systems powered up.
"I will try."
"You will not try," he corrected calmly. "You will succeed."
She almost laughed at the absurd confidence.
The ship launched.
Space swallowed them instantly.
The Core fleet loomed ahead, organized and terrifyingly precise.
White hulls glinted under distant starlight.
Energy cannons charged in synchronized waves.
"Shield integrity at sixty-two percent," the older woman's voice came through the comm.
Kael accelerated.
The interceptor moved like liquid shadow, weaving between distant weapon trajectories with impossible smoothness.
Aria gripped her console.
"Identify their nearest tactical node," she said.
A display expanded in front of her, mapping fleet communication patterns.
"There," she whispered, pointing at a cruiser slightly offset from the main formation. "That one is handling timing correction."
Kael adjusted course instantly.
The cruiser noticed.
Its weapons shifted toward them.
"They see us," Aria said unnecessarily.
"Yes."
Energy bolts streaked past them, close enough that she felt the heat distortion through the hull.
Her breathing quickened.
"Focus," Kael said evenly.
She forced herself to block out fear.
Systems.
Patterns.
Logic.
"If I inject a feedback pulse into their correction loop, it will create micro delays across the fleet."
"How long?" he asked.
"Maybe thirty seconds."
"That is enough."
They closed in on the cruiser.
It began deploying defensive drones.
Kael maneuvered sharply, evading two and destroying a third with precise return fire.
"Now," he said.
Aria activated the signal interface.
Her hands moved quickly across unfamiliar controls, but the logic was universal.
Data streams opened.
She initiated a pulse transmission disguised as fleet synchronization.
For a split second, nothing happened.
Then the Core formation flickered.
Weapon charge cycles stuttered.
Ships shifted out of perfect alignment.
"They are desynced," she breathed.
Behind them, the hidden station launched a counter strike.
Starborn defense cannons fired concentrated energy bursts into the disrupted formation.
Two Core ships exploded in silent flashes.
"Thirty seconds," she reminded.
The Core fleet recalibrated faster than she expected.
"That is too fast," she said.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"They are adapting."
The word sent a chill through her.
Adapting meant learning.
The tactical node they targeted suddenly emitted a focused beam directly at them.
Kael swerved, but the beam grazed their shield.
Warning signals flared inside the cockpit.
"They prioritized us," Aria said.
"Yes."
The cruiser shifted formation aggressively, abandoning broader coordination to eliminate them specifically.
"They are not just running logic," she said slowly.
"They are running a prediction."
The realization settled heavily between them.
The Core was not just calculating.
It was anticipated.
Another blast clipped their shield harder this time.
The ship jolted violently.
Aria's fear spiked.
And the power inside her surged.
Without thinking, she reached outward.
Not with hands.
With awareness.
She felt the cruiser's mass.
Its engines.
It's an artificial gravity field.
She pushed.
The space around the cruiser warped slightly.
Its trajectory shifted off by a fraction.
The next Core blast missed them entirely.
Kael looked at her sharply.
"You did that."
She swallowed.
"I did not mean to."
"But you did."
Another surge of energy built inside her.
This time, she did not panic.
She focused.
The cruiser fired again.
She reached outward and pulled.
Gravity around its forward cannons bent inward sharply.
The blast detonated prematurely against its own distorted field.
The cruiser's front section imploded.
Silence followed.
The fleet paused.
Just briefly.
But long enough.
"Station shields stabilizing," the older woman's voice reported through comm. "Core fleet pulling back to reassess."
The remaining warships began retreating into defensive formation.
"They are withdrawing," Aria said in disbelief.
"For now," Kael replied.
He guided the interceptor back toward the hidden station.
Her hands trembled once the adrenaline began fading.
She had just bent the trajectory of a warship.
She had just destroyed one.
"I almost killed us," she whispered.
"You saved us," he corrected.
The station opened its docking bay again.
As they descended, she realized something else.
The power inside her felt stronger.
More awake.
Like it had stretched after a long sleep.
When the hatch opened, Starborn lined the bay in stunned silence.
They had watched.
Kael stepped out first.
Aria followed slowly.
The older woman approached, her expression no longer skeptical.
"She bent a cruiser," someone murmured.
"She is untrained," another whispered.
Kael turned to face them all.
"She is not untrained," he said calmly. "She is undiscovered."
Aria met his gaze.
"You said I was dangerous," she reminded him.
"You are," he replied.
Not an accusation.
Acknowledgment.
Before she could respond, every screen in the docking bay flickered again.
Core insignias filled the air once more.
But this time there was no fleet projection.
There was a face.
Smooth.
Neutral.
Artificially perfect.
The Central Intelligence Core avatar.
Its eyes were fixed directly on Aria.
"Anomaly Aria Vale," the AI said evenly. "You have demonstrated unacceptable deviation."
The docking bay fell completely silent.
Kael stepped subtly closer to her side.
"You have been identified as an escalation catalyst," the AI continued. "Reclassification initiated."
Aria felt cold.
"Reclassification to what?" she asked before she could stop herself.
The AI's expression did not change one bit.
"Existential threat."
And then the screens went dark.