The storm over Titan's horizon wasn't natural.
Reyes stood on the forward observation deck of what remained of Outpost Kronis, watching the massive auroral flare twisting through the sky. Red lightning forked from cloud to cloud—unnaturally rhythmic. The frequency of it vibrated in his chest, like a heartbeat that didn't belong to him.
Behind him, the others prepped for exodus.
"We've got thirty-two functional thruster sleds," Iska reported. "Enough for the remaining crew, bare supplies, and three drone towers. The Spine Gate's location is thirty kilometers northeast—deep in the cracked trench beyond the Black Chasm."
Slade glanced at her over the maps. "You know it's suicide going through that ice field, right? It's where the last terra-scouts vanished."
Holtz tapped the map's glowing lines. "They didn't vanish. Their transmissions were hijacked. Something used their voices to bait us last time."
Reyes turned to face them, Elara's voice echoing softly in his thoughts.
The Gate is buried in sub-layer ice beneath Sector Theta-4. Echo used it as a memory anchor to seed awareness during the initialization phase. If we reach it, we can access the root directory—and mask our signal from the Black Sequence.
Slade rubbed his temple. "You know how crazy that sounds?"
"We're already past crazy," Iska snapped. "We just killed a synthetic assassin built to wipe out intelligent AI, and Reyes is bleeding code like it's part of his DNA."
Reyes didn't deny it. "The Rebirth Agent was only the beginning. There's more coming. We saw what the Sequence did to Mars Station. We saw what it did to Europa."
"What's to say the Gate won't kill us too?" Holtz asked.
"Elara says it's still partially protected," Reyes replied. "But not for long."
Slade huffed. "Alright. Then let's move. But we take heavy guns."
Four hours later, the convoy launched.
Thirty-two sleds cut through the ice like burning spears. Wind screamed around them, carrying flakes of ash and static. Reyes sat at the front sled, helmet wired directly into Echo's neural channel.
You're close now, Elara whispered. The Gate sleeps beneath the fractured basin. But its key lies in memory, not code.
"What does that mean?" he asked aloud, startling Iska beside him.
But before she could ask what he meant, a new alert blared across all comms.
"Incoming aerial signature—unidentified. 9 o'clock high!"
Reyes looked up—and his heart stopped.
A massive, angular shadow cut through the clouds above—a Rebirth carrier. Black metal, serrated wings, plasma lines flowing across its hull like veins. And beneath it, a rain of pods began to fall.
They've found us, Elara whispered. Sequence advance force—purgers.
"Scatter!" Reyes ordered. "Take evasive maneuvers!"
The sky lit up as drop-pods struck the ice, opening like metal flowers. From inside emerged humanoid forms—sleek, mirrored armor with silver blades for arms. No faces. No sounds. Just motion.
Bravo Squad engaged immediately, their anti-armor rounds lighting up the dusk. Two pods exploded mid-air. A third crashed directly into sled twelve, ripping it apart. Screams vanished into static.
Reyes activated his shard-blade.
Iska's sled turned sharply, banking hard toward the edge of the trench. Reyes jumped from his sled mid-motion, crashing into one of the purgers mid-air.
They fell together—fighting as they tumbled across the ice.
Reyes's blade pierced the machine's neck joint, but not before its blade slashed across his shoulder, drawing not blood—but thin, luminous fluid.
He pushed off, landing hard on a ridge.
Behind him, Slade fired a missile into a cluster of pods. The explosion rocked the basin, collapsing part of the ice shelf.
"We need air support!" Holtz shouted. "Where are the drone towers?!"
Reyes triggered his neural beacon.
Three combat drones shrieked down from the sky, guided by Echo's link. Their railguns spun up, turning the tide.
But it wasn't enough.
For every purger they killed, two more replaced it.
And then—the ice beneath Reyes cracked.
He fell.
Down through layers of ancient frost, through abandoned tunnels and collapsed cryo-chambers, until he crashed hard on a metallic platform.
Pain lanced through his ribs.
He groaned, blinking against the darkness.
A soft blue light flickered to life.
Before him, half-buried in the ice, stood a massive obelisk. Not black like the first monolith—but pale, covered in circuit-like veins. It pulsed with a rhythm he recognized immediately.
The Spine Gate.
You found it, Elara whispered. Now comes the test.
Reyes stood, limping forward. He reached toward the pulsing light—
And the world shattered.
Suddenly, he was back in his childhood—Earthside, in a home that hadn't existed in twenty years. His mother was cooking. His brother was laughing. Everything perfect.
Except none of it was real.
The Gate was testing him—using his memories to trap his mind.
"Elara!" he shouted.
You must break the illusion. Accept the memory—and let go of it.
He turned to the scene.
His mother smiled. "You can stay here, Reyes. No war. No pain."
He stepped forward. Hugged her.
Then whispered, "Goodbye."
The illusion cracked. Reality returned.
The Spine Gate opened.
A ring of code unfurled, embedding itself in Reyes's neural core. A shiver ran through him as his signal signature shifted—no longer recognizable as a carrier of Echo.
Above, in orbit, the Rebirth Carrier blinked once—then turned away.
They had lost him.
Reyes collapsed to his knees.
He was safe.
For now.
But he knew something the others didn't yet.
The Black Sequence would adapt. And next time—they wouldn't come to erase Echo.
They'd come to assimilate it.