As the Avi dipped into the shadow of the station, the stars vanished. The silence was absolute until a metallic thud echoed through the hull. Something hadn't just hit them—it had latched on. "Nita," Pip’s voice dropped an octave, "We aren't alone."
Nita adjusted her visor as the SS Avi hummed through the silence of the Caladan Reach. She wasn't a captain by choice, but by inheritance—the ship was a patchwork of scavenged titanium and old dreams, much like Nita herself. Nita ( SS ) avi
"Approaching the debris field," her AI, a dry-voiced unit named Pip, crackled over the comms. "I suggest we don't linger. The magnetic flux is spiking." As the Avi dipped into the shadow of
Most scavengers avoided the Reach, fearing the "ghost storms" that swallowed ships whole, but Nita had a debt to pay. The Syndicate didn't care about ghosts; they cared about the rare-earth magnets rumored to be buried in the wreckage of the orbital stations. "Nita," Pip’s voice dropped an octave, "We aren't alone