The Astra Revelation
The storm outside the Bell-Everhart command post cracked against the sky like a warning shot. Every screen in front of us flickered—half a second, maybe less—but just enough to make the air feel wrong. Charged.
I stood frozen between two thoughts: one logical, one primal.
Astra. Alive.
It shouldn't have been possible. Her voice crackled from the intercepted comms Dominic had decrypted, distorted but unmistakable. Not just a ghost. Not a mimic. Her exact cadence. Her breath was between syllables. The lilt she used when she lied.
“She’s part of it,” Jules whispered beside me. Her fingers hovered over the playback device like she was afraid touching it again would summon Astra into the room. “This isn’t old data. That message is live.”
Cassian had gone eerily still
