Lt. Solari Rath's Arc

Chapter 1 of 12

Lt. Solari Rath pressed her gloved hand against the pulsing crystal embedded in the cavern wall. Blue light flickered beneath her palm, responding to her touch. She'd spent three years studying Astrion V's energy sources, learning to channel their power without letting them tear through containment fields. One day she'd master this strange force completely. One day she'd stop the rifts before they opened. The crystal's glow faded under her hand. She pulled back and tapped her wrist console. A sleek drone zipped through the cavern entrance, its surface lighting up with detection indicators. The device measured energy patterns she couldn't see with her eyes alone. Numbers scrolled across her visor as the drone circled the crystal formations. The readings spiked and dropped in waves she'd never seen before. This cavern held stronger power than the last three sites combined. If she could learn to control energy like this, she could seal the rifts permanently. The drone beeped twice and hovered near her shoulder. She grabbed it from the air and checked its data core. The patterns were there, waiting to be understood. Solari headed back to her lab with the drone tucked under her arm. The data needed processing before the energy signatures faded. She entered through the main airlock and crossed to her workstation. A large spherical glass chamber sat mounted on the far wall, connected to reinforced metal pipes. She placed the drone inside the docking station and sealed it. The chamber hummed as it pulled the stored energy from the device. Blue light swirled through the pipes, dispersing safely into the lab's power grid. Without this system, the drone would overload and explode. She watched the readings level out on her screen. The energy was contained now, ready for her to study. Each scan brought her closer to understanding how Astrion V worked, closer to controlling the rifts that threatened everything. She turned toward the curved titanium walls of the energy chamber. Luminescent conduits glowed along its surface, pulsing in rhythm with the planet's core. This facility was her life's work, built to test every theory she had. Inside that chamber, she could expose herself to controlled bursts of energy, training her body to channel it without burning out. The last test had left her unconscious for two days, but she'd held the connection longer than ever before. Tomorrow she'd try again with the new data from the cavern. Each attempt taught her something new, brought her closer to the control she needed. The rifts wouldn't stop on their own, and no one else understood this energy like she did.