The air in Dominion Contract Arbitration Chamber 9-Sigma vibrated with ionized particles. Kyle stared at the holographic document hovering above the steel table—three paragraphs of Standard Galactic, and a fourth encrypted in pulsating Vyr'ath runes the neurochip refused to translate.
"State your full designation for biometric binding," droned the arbitration drone, its faceted lens casting prismatic shards over Kyle's gaunt face.
"K-RAYN-0927."
A laser grid scorched past his retinas. His left palm ignited with searing heat as the Silver Core imprint activated, tendrils of nanotech burrowing deeper into bone marrow. The drone's monotone continued: "Contract C-77B stipulates mandatory Phase 2 Enhancement via cranial injection of XV-class voidspawn neural tissue. Decline now to initiate immediate neural purge."
Kyle's thumb hovered over the flickering acceptance rune. Commodore Veyra's parting sneer echoed—"Eighty-three percent of test subjects implode their amygdala within six hours." But the memory of molten tungsten dripping from his mother's mech cockpit overrode hesitation. He slammed his palm down.
[Neural Sync Interrupted]
[Foreign Genetic Material Detected: Origin - Stellaris Cluster K-9H]
The drone's lens cracked crimson. "Subject lineage contaminated by Deepspire Mutagen. Recommend sterilization sequence—"
Kyle vaulted backward as particle beams lacerated the table. His stolen M-49 rifle barked ceramite-piercing rounds into the drone's core. Sparks erupted, and somewhere in the chamber's depths, a klaxon began its basso roar.
"Didn't sign up to be lab chow," he growled, scooping the now-glowing injector pen from the table debris. The wallscreen behind him flickered—live feed from the Vorghal Front showed Dominion dreadnoughts collapsing into fractal geometries under the Void Worms' psychic scream.
As hybrid-security mechs breached the chamber doors, Kyle plunged the pen into his carotid.
The universe inverted.