The twin suns of Vyrath burned high in the sky, casting long shadows over the jagged ruins of an ancient starship. Kera Solis adjusted her scarf, shielding her face from the relentless wind and swirling sand. The shipwreck was a hulking relic of a bygone war, its massive frame half-buried in the endless desert.
She scanned her surroundings, her boots crunching against the scorched metal beneath her feet. These ruins were a scavenger's dream—if they didn't kill you first.
"Pathmaker, give me something," Kera muttered, activating her wrist-mounted device.
The Pathmaker hummed to life, projecting a faint green hologram in front of her. The sleek device had been fused to her arm for years, the result of a near-fatal accident on a salvage mission. It was both her tool and her tether, equipped with advanced scanning capabilities, mapping systems, and, annoyingly, an AI that never stopped talking.
"Energy signature detected," the Pathmaker's monotone voice announced.
Kera's pulse quickened. "Where?"
A blinking icon appeared on the holographic map, just a few meters ahead. She tightened her grip on her vibro-blade and carefully maneuvered through the debris, her free hand brushing away layers of rust and dust.
Beneath the wreckage, something glimmered faintly. Kera crouched, reaching out to touch the object. Her fingers brushed against smooth, polished obsidian—a shard of crystal, cold to the touch and glowing faintly from within.
"What are you?" she whispered, holding it up to the faint sunlight streaming through the jagged hull.
The shard was unlike anything she had ever seen. It pulsed faintly, its surface etched with intricate, shifting patterns. Carefully, she slipped it into her satchel.
"Kera, you find anything yet?"
The voice crackling through her commlink belonged to Talen Varek, her sometimes-partner, sometimes-pain-in-the-ass pilot. He was orbiting overhead in his patched-together freighter, probably impatiently tapping the controls.
"Yeah," Kera replied, a flicker of excitement in her voice. "Not sure what it is yet, but it's...different."
"Different doesn't pay bills," Talen quipped. "Hurry up. This place gives me the creeps."
Kera ignored him, her focus on the Pathmaker as it flickered. The display shifted to an eerie shade of blue, alien symbols scrolling across its interface.
"Artifact identified," the Pathmaker intoned. "Designation: Eclipse Shard. Class: Dimensional Key. Catalyst detected—User Kera Solis."
"What the hell does that mean?" Kera muttered, but the device offered no explanation.
Suddenly, the ground trembled. She staggered, catching herself on a jagged beam. The distant roar of engines grew louder, and moments later, shadows passed overhead.
"No," Kera whispered, running to a broken viewport.
Descending from the sky were sleek black dropships, their hulls gleaming under the twin suns. Engines screamed as they deployed strike teams—armored enforcers of the Dominion, the iron-fisted rulers of half the galaxy.
Kera's heart sank. The Dominion didn't patrol backwater planets like Vyrath unless they were after something important—or dangerous.
"Kera, what's going on down there?" Talen's voice crackled through the commlink, sharper now.
"Dominion troops," she replied, her voice tight.
"You've got to move. They don't leave survivors."
Kera didn't need the reminder. She bolted toward her sandrunner, but the strike teams had already landed. Soldiers in obsidian armor fanned out from their ships, their rifles trained on the ruins.
"There!" one of them shouted, pointing directly at her.
Blaster fire erupted, searing bolts of energy tearing through the air. Kera dove behind a chunk of wreckage, her heart pounding. She drew her blaster, returning fire to keep them at bay.
"Kera, where are you?" Talen barked over the commlink.
"Pinned down!" she shouted, ducking as a bolt exploded against the metal beside her.
The shard in her satchel pulsed again, brighter this time. The Pathmaker's voice chimed in her ear: "Hostile forces detected. Activating shard resonance."
"What does that even mean?" Kera snapped.
Before she could process it, the shard in her satchel unleashed a wave of energy. The blast surged outward, knocking the Dominion soldiers off their feet. Kera shielded her face as the shockwave rattled the ruins.
When the dust settled, the soldiers were scrambling to regroup. Kera didn't wait. She bolted for her sandrunner, the shard still pulsing faintly in her bag.
---
The horizon shimmered as Talen's freighter, The Starborn, descended from the sky. Its engines roared, kicking up clouds of sand as it hovered just above the ground.
"Jump!" Talen yelled from the open hatch, his arm extended.
Kera glanced over her shoulder. Dominion riders on hoverbikes were closing in fast, their engines screaming. She swerved to avoid the incoming shots, her sandrunner's engine whining under the strain.
Timing her move perfectly, Kera vaulted off the sandrunner, grabbing Talen's outstretched hand. They tumbled inside just as the freighter banked sharply, narrowly avoiding a missile.
"Nice landing," Talen said, panting as he pulled the hatch closed.
"Fly!" Kera barked, already scrambling to her feet.
As the Starborn climbed higher, one of the Dominion soldiers managed to latch onto the hull. He hauled himself onto the ship, raising his rifle.
"Kera!" Talen shouted.
She spun around, instinctively reaching for the shard. It pulsed brighter than ever, and a wave of energy erupted from it. The soldier was thrown backward, his weapon clattering to the floor before he was hurled out of the open hatch.
For a moment, the cabin was silent except for the hum of the engines. Kera stared at the shard in her hand, its glow fading.
"What the hell is that thing?" Talen asked, his voice low with a mix of awe and fear.
"It's called the Eclipse Shard," Kera said, her voice steady despite the chaos. "And apparently, I'm its Catalyst."
Talen ran a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath. "Great. Just what we needed—another reason for the Dominion to hunt us down."
Kera smirked, slipping the shard back into her satchel. "Trouble's my specialty."
But as she looked out the viewport at the Dominion forces regrouping below, she couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just opened a door she wasn't ready to walk through.