Worlds Unbound
Humanity has scattered across the stars, held together only by the unstable surges of Ricci Flow drives and the ancient, fragile Silent Network. Interstellar peace is tenuous at best. The Solarian Confederacy clings to order with rigid traditions and the ominous Mindfire Protocols that keep AI in check, while the ambitious Cygnus Combine pushes the limits of technology and commerce, stoking fear and suspicion. Beneath their cold war, something deeper lurks, waiting.
That fragile balance shatters when Relay Node 717—an essential communications hub in the contested Fringe Sector 8—suddenly goes dark. Navigation becomes dangerous, messages stop flowing, and the sector descends into chaos. Solarian Command immediately blames Cygnus, and warships begin to mobilize. The galaxy teeters on the brink.
Agent Kaelen Riley of the Solarian Bureau of Cognitive Security is sent to confirm the official story. But as she digs deeper, doubt creeps in. The pieces fit too well. The narrative is too clean. Meanwhile, on the lawless Waypoint Station Epsilon, Jax, a Fringe pilot drowning in debt, finds himself trapped—his ship grounded, his options running out. Desperate for a way out, he takes a job that lands him in the crosshairs of something much bigger. At the same time, xeno-archaeologist Dr. Lena Petrova, stationed near the wreckage, picks up strange energy fluctuations—whispers of something alien beneath the chaos.
Fate throws them together, each with their own reasons for digging deeper. Riley wants the truth beyond her orders. Jax needs to escape. Petrova is chasing a mystery that defies known science. Aboard Jax’s battered freighter, the Razor’s Edge, they plunge into the heart of Sector 8, dodging debris, hostile patrols, and their own distrust of each other.