Chapter Fifty Nine: Getting closer

Chapter Fifty Nine: Getting closer
As the heavy doors to the banquet hall opened, every voice silenced.

The clinking of glasses ceased. Forks halted mid-air. You could hear a pin drop.

Axir, Rexan, and Greon turned in unison toward the entrance. Their eyes locked on the woman standing beside Kehan—small in frame, wide-eyed, and utterly out of place.

Freya.

Greon’s fingers twitched toward the inside of his coat. Rexan’s body tilted slightly, subtle but ready. Axir’s brows pulled together in a flash of confusion, then alertness.

Kehan didn’t miss the silent exchange. He chuckled as though breaking a spell. “I apologize for the interruption,” he said smoothly. “But it appears the sheer beauty of my guest has rendered everyone into statues.”

Polite chuckles rippled from a few guests. But the tension remained.

Freya swallowed hard as Kehan ushered her further into the hall. Her heart was slamming against her ribcage. She could feel Axir’s gaze burning into her skin, equal parts confusion and restrained emotion.

They approached the long table, where the Zytherion party was seated next to Nimoa’s high-ranking officials, including a particularly towering alien who radiated power from every inch of his mammoth-like form.

General Rhorvak narrowed his glowing copper eyes. “Steward Kehan,” he said evenly, “who is this woman?”

“She is apparently part of the Zytherion party,” Kehan replied, turning his head to Axir with a raised brow.

Without missing a beat, Axir rose. “This is Freya,” he said, voice calm but firm. “She is a human from Earth. A companion of ours. She’s under our protection.”

Freya met his eyes briefly. There was no reprimand there—yet. Only fierce protectiveness.

Kehan folded his arms. “I found her walking by herself in the estate’s outer halls. She seemed… lost.”

Axir gave a short nod. “Yes. I asked her to meet me discreetly. We had important matters to prepare before our departure.”

Before Kehan could respond, chaos shattered the room.

The main hall doors burst open and a squad of armored Nimoan guards stormed in, blasters at the ready.

“General Rhorvak! Steward Kehan!” one of them barked, panting. “There’s been a breach. The discard vault has been infiltrated.”

Gasps filled the room.

Rhorvak stood immediately, jaw tight. “Guards, secure the guests! Move them to the north conference hall!”

Guards, Maids and aides moved quickly, guiding guests away from the dining tables.

Axir turned sharply to Freya. “Go with them. Now.”

She clutched his sleeve. “No. I can help—”

“This is not up for debate, Kai'thera.” In a hushed but steady voice.

But her grip held tight. “If I don’t help, I’ll just worry myself sick. I can stay out of the way.”

Axir met her eyes for a long moment. He knew that stubborn look. He exhaled slowly, then nodded once. “Stay close. And do not speak unless I say.”

Greon had already drawn a compact scanner, and Rexan’s sleeves retracted to reveal dual-phase blades at his wrists.

Rhorvak barked orders at his remaining guards. Kehan stepped forward, already on the move. “We move. Axir, your men—”

“Greon, Rexan. With me,” Axir commanded.

The group stormed out, down the grand staircase toward the restricted sector of the estate.

Freya followed behind, adrenaline flooding her veins. This was no longer a game. This was real.

The estate’s underground corridors smelled of ionized metal and ancient dust.

As they neared the discard vault—a massive chamber holding Nimoa’s rejected technologies—they saw it.

Smoke hissed from the steel-wrapped walls. The side of the vault’s reinforced door had been split open, its edges curling like burnt parchment.

Sparks still danced from the exposed wiring.

Greon’s eyes widened. “Someone breached this manually. No explosives. Just tech.”

Kehan barked at his men. “Secure the west and east exits. Now!”

Rhorvak arrived moments later. “This vault is only accessible to me, Kehan, and two senior engineers.”

“Clearly,” Kehan growled, “someone found a way around that.”

“Split up. Sweep the vault.” Axir turned to Freya. “Stay behind me. Not a step away.”

The vault interior looked like a graveyard of brilliance—half-built hovercrafts, prototype energy weapons, floating data cubes, magnetic levitation armor, and devices even Freya couldn’t begin to name. But now, everything was in disarray. Some units were smashed, others scattered across the floor. A trail of disrupted dust hinted at someone running through in a hurry.

“There!” Rexan pointed down the aisle to a rapidly moving silhouette of a woman—small, cloaked, fast.

Kehan’s eyes narrowed. “After her!”

Greon didn’t wait. He was already in motion.

The figure darted through one of the shadowed maintenance tunnels to the right.

Guards flanked from both sides, trying to intercept. Axir gave chase without hesitation.

Freya’s breath caught. That silhouette—it had Nerissa’s build. The same swift movements. But she couldn’t believe it.

“Nerissa?” she whispered.

In the tunnel…

Greon turned a corner hard. His boots skidded across the smooth surface. He caught his balance, scanning. There—one of the ceiling lights flickered from recent movement.

He picked up speed, heart thudding in sync with his quickening steps.

“She’s heading for the upper ventilation chute!” one of the guards called from the comm.

But Greon had a different thought. If she’s smart, she’ll double back—take the forgotten corridor left of the backup generator. He’d studied the layout earlier.

He peeled off from the group.

Back in the vault…

Rexan returned from a side passage, breathing hard. “Lost visual. She’s fast.”

“She knows this place better than we do,” Axir muttered.

Kehan swore under his breath. “I need to check something. Rhorvak, secure the external perimeter. No one leaves the estate.”

Freya stayed close behind Axir, her eyes darting over the chaos. Her stomach churned. Nerissa couldn’t have betrayed them. She couldn’t.

Unless…

Unless everything had been a mask.

In the distant corridor…

Greon emerged from the tunnel just in time to see a glimmer of dark cloth vanish behind the heavy mechanical curtain at the far end.

He tapped his comm. “I have eyes on her. Northeast corridor. She’s trying to escape through the old propulsion duct.”

“Intercept if you can,” Axir’s voice replied.

“I’ll try. But she’s fast.”

Back in the vault,

Kehan paced furiously, muttering under his breath. “This doesn’t make sense.”

Freya slowly approached him. “You recognize her, don’t you?”

He didn’t answer.

But his silence was enough.

Greon’s voice came again, more urgent this time. “She has something with her. A rectangular case.”

Axir’s eyes were sharp, sharing a look with Greon.

Rhorvak cursed.

Freya felt the world tilt.

Nerissa. She might have the core.

And she was going to disappear with it—if they didn’t stop her tonight.