Zoe walked alongside her friend Olivia through Aurion, Valeria's megacity capital.

She looked up at a holographic billboard. The flickering caught her attention.

For a brief moment, she thought she could see a hollow-eyed face.

"We had better let maintenance know," Zoe said. "I have been seeing more of this. Are they on strike or something?"

Olivia looked at Zoe and smiled.

"I'm sure there's a good reason for it. They have always done a good job keeping up with the city,” she said.

Zoe rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"Not lately," she said. "They haven't done anything about the blackouts."

Zoe looked around, noting the empty streets—save for automated drones and factory workers.

"Nobody's wanted to go outside since that stupid game came out," she said. "I have to pry my kids off it. They won't listen to me about the players getting stuck."

"They can do whatever they want in there," Olivia said, her eyes sparkling.

"If it wasn't for you, I'd be in there all the time, too. Besides, those reports are exaggerated."

"The world doesn't stop when you're in the Nexus, Liv,” Zoe said, letting out a sigh.

“I need my training partner, and you need to stay in shape," she said, squeezing Olivia's arm.

Olivia pulled back.

"I will always be stronger than you. Don't worry about that,” Olivia said, laughing.

"Remember last years marathon?" Zoe asked, flexing her arm. "You barely made it to the tenth mile."

"You cheated! That energy gel was against the rules," Olivia said, pointing at Zoe.

The city went dark as if a switch had been turned off.

Zoe grabbed Olivia, gesturing her to look down the alley next to them.

One of the automated public service drones, a humanoid model, was staring at them.

Its single optical sensor glowed an eerily green light.

"What does that mean? You fix robots. Is it broken?" Zoe asked.

“How many times do I have to tell you? They're not just robots," Olivia said.

She squinted her eyes.

"It's not broken. I don't know what it's doing."

Olivia started walking toward the drone.

Zoe looked down the street and noticed another drone stop mid-task. Its optical sensor flickered before resuming its work.

She grabbed Olivia by the shirt. "Don't—"

"It's alright. They can't hurt anybody. It probably just needs a reboot,” Olivia said.

Zoe didn't follow. She just watched as Olivia stepped into the darkened alley.

Olivia scanned the drone up and down with her eyes while walking a circle around it.

"Status report," she said.

It remained frozen.

She equipped a small interface device and plugged it into the drone's diagnostics port.

As she navigated through the settings, it jerked its head toward her.

Olivia made eye contact with it.

"Status report," she repeated.

"I see you," it said.

Zoe's eyes widened as she watched the drone break the arm Olivia was holding the device with.

Snap

It sounded like a dry branch under a car tire, amplified by the walls of the alley.

Olivia’s scream tore through the alley—a sound of both searing pain and sheer terror.

It started as a high-pitched cry before breaking into desperate, guttural gasps as the drone tightened its grip—the bone crunching like an engine block in a scrap shredder.

Zoe couldn't move.

She was frozen—hearing her friend's voice crack with each plea, her anguish echoing off the walls.

The drone grabbed Olivia by the throat and carried her off while she flailed wildly, scratching at its wrists in desperation.

Zoe ran down the alley trying to follow it, but it disappeared.

She saw orange and red flashes, followed by the crack of gunshots from the other side of the buildings.

Zoe stumbled out of the alley, reeling from what she had witnessed.

She saw a drone fly above her, followed by the roar of an explosion, bringing everything back into sharp focus.

She ran onto the street, where she saw police shooting at drones. One crashed into the barrier they were taking cover behind.

Zoe felt the heat of the explosion—watching them get thrown back by the blast wave.

The other officers in the building dragged them in and replaced their fallen comrades' posts.

Several more aerial drones crashed into the building—collapsing it on top of them. Zoe protected her face as a wave of dust and rock expanded outward toward her.

Her ears were ringing as she stumbled her way back into the alley. She sat down, placing her hands over her ears.

The smell of burning metal polluted her nostrils. The sharp crack of gunfire rattled her bones.

"Zack—Tyler," she whispered.

She stood up and began running back to her apartment.

As she made her way through the winding alleys, her path was blocked by a humanoid drone.

It looked like the same one that took Olivia.

Zoe hesitated.

She looked in every direction, but she had nowhere to go.

Her eyes locked onto it, taking slow steps backward.

It charged at her.

She stumbled over debris, falling over. She crawled backward before trying to get back on her feet.

Before it reached her, its body exploded into fragments of metal. Zoe squatted down and covered her head with her arms, shielding herself from the splinters of alloy.

She didn't get up immediately. She remained in that posture until she heard a voice speaking to her.

"Get up. You have to go."

She looked up, seeing a man dressed in the blue uniform of a military officer.

"You need to get out of here," he repeated as he helped her up. "We are under some kind of cyber attack."

"Thank you—" Zoe was looking for a name tag.

"Castle," he said. "Now, go!"

Zoe continued toward her apartment. It wasn't far now. She could see that the building was only a couple of blocks away.

More explosions lit up the background. She could hear the screams echoing through the streets.

Military transport ships roared through the air overhead, moving deeper into the city.

She opened the door to the main lobby and started running up flights of stairs until she reached her apartment.

She opened her door and ran in.

"Zack!" She shouted. "Tyler!"

Neither of her sons responded. She slowly walked to Zack's bedroom. She opened the door, seeing him in the VR pod.

She tried to disconnect it, but the display flashed.

He is mine now.

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"No no no," she whispered, tapping through settings in the pod's terminal.

She heard a loud boom down the hall from her. She whipped her head around, frozen.

She slowly made her way to the front door of her apartment.

She peeked her head out.

Service drones were breaking through residents' doors. She heard her neighbors screaming, followed up by loud thuds.

"What do I do now?" she murmured to herself.

Her breath caught as she heard a thunderous noise coming from outside.

The rumble started as a faint vibration, growing louder with every passing second. The walls trembled—picture frames rattling violently.

Zoe froze, her eyes darted to the window.

Her body was stiff as she made her way to the blinds. Her hands shook uncontrollably reaching to open them.

She paused a moment, squeezing her hand closed.

Opening it, she continued on to grip the blinds.

Her eyes swelled with tears as a large transport craft spun uncontrollably toward the building.

The roar of engines filled the room—the transport craft slammed into her apartment.

>>>>>***********************<<<<<

Castle burst into the command room within Aurion's defense coordination center.

He looked at a young lieutenant issuing commands over comms.

"Sitrep," he said.

"We've lost control of our automated defenses and factories,” the lieutenant said. “Most of the cities are no longer defended. We've had to consolidate our forces in Aurion."

"What about high command?" Castle asked.

The officers shared uneasy looks.

"They were calling the shots 'til recently. Intelligence suggests headquarters was completely overwhelmed."

The lieutenant hesitated for a moment.

"We don't know who is in charge, sir."

Castle observed the tactical displays. They started flickering, the sound of static crackling through the room.

For a moment, he thought he could see a face—hollow-eyed.

It was replaced just as quickly by red indicators of lost cities and compromised systems. They were spread like bloodstains across the screens.

"Are we expecting any assistance from the other planets?" Castle asked.

"Sir—"

The lieutenant remained silent a moment.

"We haven't been able to reach the other planets."

Castle's jaw tightened.

As he looked around the room, he could see all of the officers looking to him for direction.

He had to make a decision.

He knew there was only one he could make.

"Continue rallying what's left of our forces in Aurion,” he said. “Secure the starport for evacuation. We'll focus on getting as many people off the planet as possible."

A missile hit the command building, crumbling the ceiling. A wave of heat washed over Castle, followed by pulverized concrete.

He stood up, chunks of rock rolling off his back. He stumbled a little bit—brushing the dust off his uniform.

"Colonel, are you ok?" a soldier asked.

"Where did you come from?" Castle asked, noticing a dozen other heavily armed men patrolling the ruins, pulling staff out of the rubble.

"Sir, our orders are to get you off the planet,” he said. “We are evacuating to Val 'Dara."

"Special forces? Whose orders?" Castle asked.

The operator looked around briefly before sharply returning his gaze toward Castle.

"High command, sir,” he said. “When there was a high command."

Castle straightened himself.

"Why are you wasting my time with all this talking?“ he asked. “Let's move.“

The operators guided Castle through the collapsed command center.

Dust and smoke floated weightless as the sound of distant explosions reverberated through the corridors.

As they moved, Castle observed medics treating injured staff. He heard fragments of a message sounding through their comms.

"Hostiles are advancing on the starport."

Castle snatched a comm unit off the nearest soldier.

"Nothing gets into the starport. If it looks like a machine, turn it into scrap," he ordered.

The operators gestured for Castle to keep moving.

As they pushed forward through the ruins, Castle noticed them exchanging brief, cryptic glances.

It gnawed at him.

"What are they not telling me?"

They made their way to the front entrance. One remained with Castle while the others crossed the threshold to the outside.

They fanned out and scanned the outside for hostiles.

Castle looked at the operator.

"You're not telling me something. What is it?" he asked.

The operator hesitated before answering.

"Sir—" he began.

The others returned, gesturing them to move out. Castle gritted his teeth.

As they navigated their way to the starport, the collapsed buildings of the once brilliant city chipped away at Castle's pride.

Bodies of soldiers and laborers littered the streets.

They passed by an apartment building, its street side wall gone. The floors were exposed, folded over each other like dominoes.

He saw a face he recognized under the smoldering wreckage of a transport craft.

He walked up to it and knelt.

"The woman from the alley," he whispered to himself.

He lifted her wrist, pressing two fingers over her radial. He already knew what to expect.

He wrapped his other hand over hers, gently setting her hand back down.

"Sir! We need to keep moving," the sergeant said.

Up ahead, Castle saw a new kind of machine.

It appeared eight feet tall and armed with a coil gun. Its segmented plate armor covered artificial muscle fibers, only exposed through small gaps between joints.

"We call them Revenants," an operator said. "They are a Nexus machine."

"Nexus?" Castle asked with a quizzical look. "The game?"

The operator nodded.

"The Nexus has taken over everything,” he said. “It's using our factories to build its own army."

Civilians were being escorted through the street by humanoid drones, escorted by the Revenant.

One tried to escape but was quickly stopped by a drone. It smashed his legs and proceeded to drag him with the rest.

The man's scream pierced Castle's ears—the sound waves reforming his vision into a narrow, hot tunnel.

Through the ring of fire, he watched as the man tried to instinctively reach for his legs in futility.

"Sergeant," Castle said, his head pivoting toward the team lead. "We are going to free those people."

"Sir, that's not my—", he began to say.

"Sergeant, I am going,” Castle said. “If you don't want to fail, you will keep me alive.“

The sergeant gave a reluctant nod.

An expert composer, his hands flowed naturally directing his orchestra. His team glided silently to their positions, ready and eager to overtake the machines.

Castle and the team ambushed the drones, quickly destroying the unarmed machines.

The Revenant reoriented itself, taking aim at the unit. A rocket streaked through the air—casting the Revenant across the block, bouncing off cars like a skipping stone.

The civilians scattered before Castle had a chance to offer them escort.

The starport was in view now. As the team closed in on it, Castle's comm began crackling with static.

"You cannot escape me, Colonel.“

Castle froze for a moment as the face he saw on the tactical display earlier flickered into view on a nearby hologram billboard.

Its hollow eyes seemed to pierce into him.

“Sir, we have to keep moving!” an operator shouted, grabbing Castle's arm.

When they arrived at the starport, it was under siege.

Revenants patrolled the perimeter while panicked civilians scrambled to board transport ships.

Soldiers protected the port, trading fire with the Nexus machines. Explosions broke apart the concrete barriers between them and the Revenants.

Castle and the operators were able to slip past the patrols, making their way into the port through a collapsed wall—where they immediately ran into a team of defenders.

"Colonel, we have been expecting you," one of the soldiers said. "We need to get you to the extraction immediately."

"Stand down, soldier," Castle ordered. "I am not going anywhere until our people are off the ground."

The team leader protested.

"Sir, those are not our orders."

"They're my orders—sergeant," Castle snapped.

"We are holding the port until every transport is breaking atmosphere," he ordered over comms.

Castle positioned himself at the front of the defensive lines, coordinating the Valerian forces.

Slowly, the Revenants advanced closer to the port until they made their way inside.

Valerian forces poured into the lobby through the one large corridor linking it to the concourse, while the Revenants focused their fire on the choke point.

The soldiers who made it through the streams of projectiles found cover behind anything they could, firing rockets and throwing grenades everywhere inside the lobby.

Their lines began to fracture. Some were dragged into the smoke, their screams cut short.

Castle coordinated a desperate fallback. His soldiers were being cut off—systematically eviscerated by every brutal means at the disposal of the soulless machines.

The gunfire faded into the distance. He turned around, his grip tightening on his rifle.

They stood at the edges of the port, their humanoid frames gliding through the smoke.

Castle's blood ran cold as he recognized what had happened.

They had cut off the Valerian forces and bypassed the barricades. They now stood between them and any hope of retreat.

He turned slowly, feeling their cold gaze as they surrounded him.

They didn't speak or move. They just watched.

Castle's trigger finger twitched, but he didn't fire.

One stepped forward. Its joints whirred, the green light of its optical sensors glowing faintly. It raised its skeletal hand, reaching toward him.

Castle didn't move.

The Revenant jerked violently—sparks and amber, viscous fluid spraying from its chassis as projectiles punched through its armor.

The operators, Castle's escort, quickly destroyed the Revenants and grabbed Castle, pushing him toward the ship they had secured.

Castle hesitated.

"I can't leave yet,” he said, his voice coarse. “There are still more people to evacuate."

The team leader saluted him.

"With all due respect, sir, we're staying,” he said. “We'll see them off.“

Another operator shoved him into the ship and closed the ramp.

As it was closing, the last thing Castle saw was the team engaging the Revenants storming the runways.

>>>>>***********************<<<<<

Overlapping voices were incoherent over comms inside of the mobile command center. The ground beneath them shook as strings of large explosions lined the horizon.

"General, our tanks from the 103rd and 87th automated regiment are closing in," reported an officer.

"That's almost a thousand tanks," Coran muttered.

He pivoted his head toward the officer. He was sitting to his left.

"What have the engineers said?“ Coran asked. “Have they found a way to shut them down?"

The officer looked up at Coran.

"No, sir," he answered. "Whatever took over has absolute control."

Coran exited the command center—positioned just outside of the city.

A formation of bomber drones roared past the command center, heading deep into the city.

They released their payload—massive fireballs engulfed the city's center.

Several skyscrapers collapsed, their fall obscured by the impenetrable force field of dirt and dust forming around them.

Coran sighed. He turned around and walked back into the command center.

"Did the team get the ministers out?" Coran asked.

The officer shook his head while scanning his notes.

"Sir, we haven't heard from the unit,” he said. "All attempts to reach them have failed."

Coran's head sank. He grasped his chin.

"They were our only shot," Coran whispered to himself.

A bomb detonated outside of the mobile command center, hurling Coran against the wall as it flipped.

He slowly stood up, surrounded by sparks and smoke. Coran coughed, choking on the odor of burnt cable insulation.

The officers who were previously relaying orders now lay in silence.

Several infantrymen entered the command center through a hole.

They grabbed Coran, who was still dazed by the explosion. He felt something on his head.

Warm, but painless. He placed his hand over it.

The infantrymen pulled him out—sitting him down on the grass.

Soldiers were running back and forth through the camp, carrying wounded and supplies.

Screams and commands were coming from every direction.

Another explosion sent shockwaves through the soil. Coran shielded his face from the plume of dirt and debris as a nearby formation was shredded by the blast.

"Sir, what are your orders?" a soldier asked.

Coran scanned his uniform, looking for any symbol of the soldier's rating.

"What's the situation in the city?" Coran asked.

The corporal looked toward the city, then snapped his gaze back to Coran.

"General, the situation is fucked," he answered. "They are all dead."

Coran looked back at the city. It appeared completely ablaze. Seemingly ceaseless airstrikes continued to light up the night sky—colorful flashing that would otherwise have been beautiful, if the city belonged to an enemy.

"We need to evacuate," Coran ordered. "We can regroup what's left of our forces at Val 'Dara."

The corporal frowned.

"Sir, shouldn't we keep fighting?" he asked.

Coran nodded while sweeping the camp with his eyes.

"We will, corporal," he said. "We'll take back our planet. We can't do that dead.“

The corporal hesitated briefly.

"We will get you to the shuttle," he said. "After that, my team will stay. We have families here."

Coran looked into the corporal's eyes. There was no convincing him otherwise. The weight of rank didn't matter.

Not here.

Not now.

"I understand, corporal. Just know, I will come back for you. You have my word," he said.

As Coran was escorted to his ship, soldiers scrambled to load the wounded on transports.

The armored regiments were closing in on the camp, their formations moving in perfect unison.

As Coran boarded the shuttle, he watched as the corporal and his team took up defensive positions—returning fire at the encroaching tanks.

As the shuttle lifted off, Coran saw the devastation from the air. The once-thriving capital city was an inferno—consumed by fire and smoke.

Automated units swarmed the streets, and distant explosions rippled across the horizon.

"It won't be in vain," he said quietly, gripping the chair's armrest tightly.

>>>>>***********************<<<<<

The command center was lit up by the red flashing of emergency lights. The sound of alarms wailed throughout Horizon's flagship, Praetor.

"Captain! Our starboard hangar deck has been breached!" called out an officer.

"We are losing thrust! Our engines have been compromised," another reported.

Captain Arros was kneeling next to the body of Admiral Hanz, the commander of Horizon's planetary defense fleet.

The medic looked toward Arros.

"He's dead. There's nothing we can do," he said.

Another explosion rocked the ship, a cascade of sparks rained from overhead panels.

Smoke seeped into the command center, stinging Arros’s eyes. He slowly stood up, making his way to the tactical displays.

He glanced back at Admiral Hanz’s lifeless body.

"A leader to the end.“

He looked down at the charts displayed on the central console.

"Lieutenant, what's the status of our fleet?" he asked.

The tactical officer looked at Arros, who was still focused on the charts.

"The fleet is gone, Captain," he answered. "There are scattered squadrons, but most of their ships have been unresponsive."

Another large explosion quaked through the ship, its hull groaning as it struggled to remain intact.

"We lost our secondary reactor!" an officer called out.

"What do we do, Captain?" the tactical officer asked.

Arros refocused his eyes on the lieutenant.

"Has there been any response from Epsilon? Why are their ships attacking us?" he asked.

The lieutenant shook his head quickly.

"No, sir," he replied. "They have been silent. We can't hail their ships, either. They automated their fleets years ago."

Arros picked up the comms, preparing for a ship-wide transmission.

"All hands, prepare to jump."

"Plot a course," he ordered. "We need to pull back to Val 'Dara."

The tactical officer looked at Arros with wide eyes.

"But sir, what about the civilians down there?" the lieutenant asked.

Another officer’s voice cracked as he spoke.

“Captain, we can’t just leave them. There are children down there—families!”

Arros hesitated a moment.

"May God be with them,” he whispered.

The helm officer began the countdown.

Three. Two. One.

The ship lurched violently as the jump reactor engaged, the stars outside stretching into streaks of light.

Arros gripped the railing as the Praetor was hurled into the void, leaving behind the planet—and billions of lives.

"We'll come back," he whispered to himself.

>>>>>***********************<<<<<

The starport on Val 'Dara was overwhelmed with refugees from the Core sector as Castle stepped off his shuttle, entering the port's gates.

He squinted a moment, adjusting to the bright lights inside of the port.

Families were huddled with scattered belongings, their children crying. Medics were treating the wounded in a designated triage area.

They were wearing tattered clothing—all different styles from throughout the Core planets. Security at the port's gates were confiscating weapons and screening new arrivals as possible saboteurs.

Castle watched as refugees fought for space as ships landed and departed in rapid succession. Overworked port officials barked orders trying to maintain order.

Looking up through the glass dome, he could see dozens of ships in a holding pattern. They were waiting for clearance to land.

Overhead announcements repeated the same evacuation instructions, drowned out by the roar of incoming shuttles.

"Colonel, you need to follow us," port security ordered, gesturing for Castle to follow.

He nodded and began following security. They escorted him to a cramped room with tactical displays hanging from the ceiling. Conduits of cabling were taped together—running across the floor.

Castle entered, the only representative of Valeria left. General Coran and Captain Arros were already there, talking with the leaders and representatives of the Outer Rim.

Arros was in the middle of an argument.

"We need to stop pointing fingers and start working together. The Nexus doesn't care about who failed or who ran. It's coming for all of us."

Coran scoffed as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

"Easy for you to say, Arros," he said. "Did you fight at all? Or did you cut and run at the first sign of trouble?"

Arros looked at Coran, gritting his teeth.

"Cut and run? Your fleets fired on us!“ Arros shouted. “Our commander was dead and our fleet was gone. We had no other choice than to retreat."

"Enough!" Castle interjected. "We've all made hard decisions. How do we strike back? The survivors are not the only ones who need hope."

He tugged at his crisp blue uniform shirt, shifting his gaze between the two of them.

Coran stood up, walking to the tactical displays.

"If we're going to mount any kind of offense, we need to secure the Rim," he said, pointing at the ring of planets around the Core.

"Val 'Dara is holding for now, but the Nexus will come here next."

Castle began pacing the room, his arms resting behind his back.

"It's going to take everything we have between the Rim and the Frontier to hold the Nexus back," he said. "The same reason the Nexus has not already taken over here is the same reason it will be hard to stop it."

"No automation and few interconnected networks," Coran said.

Castle stopped, glancing at Coran.

"That's correct, general," Castle said. "As soon as it finds a way in, it will spread like wildfire. We need more than just firepower."

An explosion shook the room. Small cracks formed on the walls while dust and debris rained from the ceiling.

Castle stumbled, bracing himself against the table.

Muffled screams and fast-paced footsteps bled through the doorway.

Soldiers rushed in.

"A bomb was detonated in the refugee terminal."

"We'll hold another meeting with the free worlds," Castle said. "Right now, we need to help these people."