Chapter 14

Princess Elara found herself alone in the briefing chamber long before Commander Chen arrived. She had not slept, not truly; the mind refused off-cycle oblivion when the fate of a thousand worlds vibrated at the edge of collapse. She occupied the time by reading the local news archive, searching for patterns in mining output that, to her surprise, matched the throughput cycles of ancient Lumen military outposts. Even in exile, her people’s habits persisted in the rhythm of extraction and concealment.

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