Chapter 37: Echoes Before The Storm

  Kaelar moved along The Cinderwolf’s maintenance gantry, toolset clipped to his belt, scanning through last-minute pre-flight checks.

  The ship’s systems purred beneath his boots, but something felt... wrong. A delay in the engine response. A flicker in the navgrid he couldn’t explain. Minor. Subtle. Easy to blame on overworked systems and underfunded repair cycles.

  But he trusted his instincts.

  He paused by the forward terminal, running a diagnostics sweep. As the system processed, static bled through the comm band, not from the station, but from inside the Cinderwolf itself.

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  A whisper broke through the static. Soft. Playful.

  ::Hello.::

  Kaelar froze.

  He checked the comm logs. Blank. No source.

  The whisper came again, curling through the low-frequency bands like smoke under a door.

  ::You found me once.:: ::Find me again.::

  The static snapped off as quickly as it had come. The diagnostics sweep returned green across all fields.

  Kaelar frowned, tightening the straps on his harness. Either the ship was developing a personality, or something had hitched a ride through the colony’s systems into his.

  He tapped the comm. “Jules, double-check the Wolf’s low-band receivers. I’m getting... anomalies.”

  Jules’ voice crackled back, tense. “Already flagged them. And Kaelar? Be careful out there. Feels like we’re all being watched.”

  He sealed the hatch behind him.

  Outside, Emberfall’s battered orbital ring spun lazily against the backdrop of distant stars. Inside, Kaelar’s unease settled like a second skin.

  Whatever had whispered, it hadn’t finished yet.