The ship's engines hummed to life, vibrating beneath Dominic's feet as he adjusted the ship's course. His mind was laser-focused, but beneath the surface, anger bubbled like a simmering pot ready to boil over. He had always known the CMC played dirty, but this... this was something else entirely.
Project Dread wasn't just a military experiment. It was an abomination. A way to control entire armies of soldiers, enslaving their minds and turning them into mindless tools of destruction. And Sera? She had been part of it. She had used him, manipulated him, and now she would pay.
Dominic's fingers hovered over the controls. He had one shot at this. He couldn't go back to the stations. Not after everything that had happened. The only way to expose the CMC and the scale of their operations was to go straight to the heart of the beast. The central data vault—the one hidden deep within CMC-controlled space.
The coordinates were locked in. The CMC would track him eventually, but by then, it wouldn't matter. The damage would be done.
"Dominic," Sera's voice crackled over the comms, colder than ever. "You really think you can just run away with that information and live to tell the tale?"
Dominic's hands tightened on the controls. The ship's engines flared as it accelerated toward the void, leaving the CMC station in its wake. He ignored her, refusing to engage.
"You're out of your league," Sera continued, her voice growing increasingly insistent. "If you think you can destroy everything we've worked for, you're dead wrong. We have resources you can't even begin to imagine. There's nowhere you can hide."
Dominic's lips curled into a wry smile, his gaze fixed on the stars outside. The vastness of space stretched before him—endless, silent, and full of possibility. He had no illusions about the danger he was in. The CMC had more power than any one person could stand against. But for the first time in a long while, Dominic felt a surge of purpose.
"Good," he muttered, "Then it's time to show them what I'm capable of."
The ship's sensors flickered as they entered the fringe of uncharted space. The coordinates he had entered weren't part of any known star system, far from any major trade routes or military installations. It was the perfect hiding spot. The place where the most dangerous secrets were buried—out of sight and out of reach.
Dominic checked his readings again, ensuring everything was in order. His destination was a derelict, abandoned station: Orion Nexus, an ancient research facility from the early days of humanity's expansion. Over the years, it had become little more than a junkyard. But rumors had persisted—rumors that deep within its crumbling halls was a vault, containing the last remnants of forbidden projects. It was the perfect place to upload the data, out of reach of the CMC's surveillance.
As the ship slipped into the outskirts of the station's gravity well, a sense of unease settled over Dominic. There was no going back now. If the CMC found him, he would be hunted until the end of his days. But if he succeeded in getting the data out into the galactic network, the truth would be unstoppable.
Dominic's ship shuddered as it docked with the station. The exterior of Orion Nexus was a graveyard of rust and decay. What had once been a beacon of scientific progress was now little more than a shell of its former self. The station's communications array was down, and no sign of life could be detected.
Perfect.
He suited up in his custom pilot suit, the one he'd made from scavenged materials—an amalgamation of salvaged armor and tactical gear. It was the perfect disguise. If anyone found him, they'd assume he was just another scavenger, rummaging through the wreckage.
The airlock hissed open, and Dominic stepped into the station. A cold, metallic smell greeted him. The silence was deafening. The corridors stretched out before him, their walls crumbling, patches of rust and debris scattered across the floor. He moved quickly, keeping his senses sharp, as the data he carried weighed heavily on his mind.
The heart of the station, the vault, was located deep within the facility, past a series of security checkpoints. Fortunately, the old security systems were still functional. It would take some time to bypass them, but Dominic had become adept at hacking such outdated technology.
As he approached the control room, he paused, his instincts flaring. There was movement ahead.
He crouched low, pressing himself against the wall, listening. There was a faint shuffle of footsteps, echoing through the metal corridors.
Dominic's breath slowed, his eyes narrowing. There was someone else here.
He was on high alert now. Whoever it was, they were no friend. Dominic readied his weapon, a plasma rifle he had acquired from the CMC raid, and crept toward the source of the noise.
Turning a corner, he froze. A figure stood in the hallway, wearing a similar pilot suit. They hadn't noticed him yet. Dominic's grip on the rifle tightened, but he didn't fire immediately. He had no way of knowing whether this was a friendly scavenger or someone working for the CMC.
The figure turned, and their face came into view.
It was Sera.
For a split second, neither of them moved. Then, a small smirk tugged at the corner of Sera's lips.
"You didn't think you could escape that easily, did you?" she said, her voice dripping with venom. "You're not the only one who knows how to survive, Dominic."
The tension between them crackled like electricity, and in that moment, Dominic realized just how deep her betrayal ran. She hadn't followed him to stop him. She'd come to finish what she'd started.
"You're too late," Dominic said, his voice steady, even though his pulse was racing. "This ends now, Sera."
But as Sera's hand moved to her sidearm, Dominic knew that the game had just changed.