Not a projection. Not a schematic. A recording.
A woman with dark hair pulled back in a tight knot, her face lined with exhaustion and fury in equal measure. She wears reinforced, functional clothing—off-world, unmistakable, wrong for Tajss in a way that makes my skin prickle.
Her eyes lift.
She looks straight into the camera.
Straight at me.
“No,” I whisper.
The ship holds perfectly still. No hum. No vibration. Tomas makes a strangled sound behind me. Travnyk is utterly silent. Rakkh doesn’t move.
The image jerks, then plays.
The woman exhales slowly, one hand braced on a console just out of frame.
“If you’re seeing this,” she says, voice rough with exhaustion, “then I didn’t make it back.”
Tomas sucks in air. “She’s—she’s human.”
“Yes,” I breathe. “She is.”
“My name is Commander Madeleine Ortiz,” the woman continues. “Maddy, if you knew me before titles stopped mattering.”
The name lands like a dropped weapon. Maddy. Rakkh stiffens behind me, claws scraping faintly against the floor.
“I was a test pilot for the Phoenix engine program,” Maddy says. “I was never supposed to be on Tajss. And I don’t have time to explain why I am.”
A Zmaj ducks briefly into frame, speaking in urgent bursts.
“They are coming,” he says. “Now.”
Maddy nods once, jaw tightening.
“I’m coding this vessel to my DNA,” she says. “Not all of it—just enough. Some of the Order can’t be trusted. This matters too much.”
“The Order,” Rakkh growls.
Maddy turns back to the camera, eyes burning with something unbreakable.
“This ship will survive what’s coming. It has records—DNA archives, environmental data, everything I could save. An ark. If you’re hearing this, then it’s chosen someone new to anchor its decisions.”
The recording freezes.
Silence crashes down so hard it feels physical.
Rakkh’s hand closes around mine—solid, real—and I lean into him because suddenly gravity makes sense again.
“She lived,” he says quietly. “Here.”
“Yes,” I whisper.
The lights converge—not forming a path, not guiding.
Waiting.
And with terrifying clarity, I understand: This ship was never meant to die on Tajss.
