Imperius Exile Wastelands, Uncharted System
Year 9783 C.C. – Three Days After the Trial
*****
The signal pulsed in the air, faint but insistent.
Kael's breath was shallow, his body still aching from the fight. He wiped blood-streaked dust from his cheek, his fingers brushing over the rough stubble that had grown in the days since his exile. His once-pristine noble attire was in tatters, reduced to scorched fabric and torn leather straps.
The system prompt flickered before him, waiting.
[Celestial Archive – Incoming Transmission]
► Source: [Unknown]
► Signal Origin: [Outer Reaches – Unregistered]
► Status: [Attempting Connection…]
Kael exhaled sharply. Who would be looking for him?
The Outer Reaches—the lawless, fractured fringes of Dominion space. If a transmission was coming from there, it wasn't from a noble or a Dominion fleet.
It was a rogue.
A smuggler.
Or worse.
'If they wanted me dead, they wouldn't be calling.'
Jaw tight, he pressed ACCEPT.
A moment of static, then—
"Well, well. You're alive. That's interesting."
*****
The voice was smooth, laced with amusement, but held the sharpness of someone used to being in control. A woman, her accent carrying the clipped cadence of the Outer Reaches—a stark contrast to the polished elegance of noble speech.
Then, a holographic interface flickered to life before him, revealing the woman on the other end of the call.
She lounged in a starship cockpit, dark brown eyes analyzing him with amused curiosity. Her auburn hair was messy yet calculated, tied back loosely, with a few strands falling over a scar that ran along her jaw. Her jacket—a reinforced pilot's coat—had patches from various outlaw factions, marking her as someone who dealt in the dangerous and the illegal.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
Juno Reyes.
A name he had heard before. Smuggler. Information broker. Risk-taker. Someone who had no allegiance to the Dominion or the noble houses.
"You're late," Juno said, inspecting her nails. "I expected you to answer hours ago. Figured you were already dead."
Kael straightened, ignoring the exhaustion weighing on him. "You were expecting me?"
"Expecting? No. But when a priority kill order for a so-called 'dead noble' comes across the Dominion's encrypted channels? I get curious."
Kael's stomach clenched.
His kill order was circulating?
'That means bounty hunters. Mercenaries. Anyone desperate for Dominion credits will come looking.'
Juno tilted her head, eyes narrowing slightly. "Question is—why are you still breathing? Nobles who fail the Ascendancy don't usually get second chances."
*****
Kael considered his options. He didn't trust her. But trust wasn't necessary—leverage was.
"You reached out to me," he said. "Which means you think I'm worth something. So let's skip the game. What do you want?"
Juno smirked. "Straight to business. Good. I like that."
She leaned back, kicking her boots up onto her control panel. "Thing is, Dominion news travels fast. Your little trial—rigged as it was—has made you famous in the right circles. An exiled noble, still alive, marked for execution? That's got a certain… appeal."
Kael's expression darkened. "To who?"
"To buyers."
His grip on the Obsidian Shard tightened. "I'm not a product."
Juno shrugged. "No offense, princeling, but out here? Everyone's a product. The only difference is whether you get sold dead or alive."
Kael forced himself to stay calm. "And what about you? Are you here to claim the bounty?"
She laughed. "Me? No. I prefer my profits long-term."
Her gaze sharpened. "I have a ship. You need a way off that rock. So here's the deal—you give me something valuable, and I consider saving your ass."
Kael hesitated.
He had nothing. No credits. No weapons. No allies.
But he did have—
'The Shard.'
*****
Kael looked down at the cold black fragment in his palm.
It had reacted to him in ways he didn't understand. It had glitched the Celestial System itself.
And yet, it felt… incomplete.
'Is this thing worth my only ticket out of this world?'
Juno sighed. "I don't have all day, Veyrin. If you've got nothing, I've got other jobs."
Kael clenched his jaw. "I have something. But I need information in return."
Juno raised an eyebrow. "I'm listening."
He exhaled. "What does the Dominion really say about me? Not just the public execution report. The Echelon. The nobles. What are they hiding?"
Juno studied him for a long moment, then leaned forward. "Interesting question. You might not like the answer."
Kael kept his expression unreadable. "Try me."
Juno smirked, then tapped a sequence into her console. A second holographic feed appeared in front of him—classified Dominion records.
He scanned the data.
And his blood ran cold.
*****
It wasn't just a kill order.
It wasn't just a noble execution.
His status had been classified under "Non-Existent."
'No name. No birth records. No history of House Veyrin ever existing'*
To the Dominion, to the entire noble world—he had been erased.
Kael swallowed hard, gripping the edge of a rusted metal pillar to steady himself.
Juno watched him carefully. "You seeing it now?"
"Seeing what?"
She tapped her screen, magnifying the encryption details. "Your kill order? It wasn't signed by the Sovereign."
Kael's chest tightened. "Then who?"
Juno's voice lowered. "It came from The Echelon."
The words felt like a blow.
'The Echelon overrode the Dominion's own ruling?'
That wasn't possible.
Unless—
Juno leaned back again, crossing her arms. "So. You still want a ride, princeling?"
Kael's mind spun. Nothing about his exile had been ordinary. The trial, the execution, the system errors—everything had been orchestrated from the start.
And now, The Echelon has erased his very existence.
But they had failed.
'I'm still here.'
Kael exhaled slowly. He met Juno's gaze, his expression hardening.
"Get me off this rock," he said.
Juno grinned. "Now we're talking."
*****