The air in the comms hub was thick with the scent of ozone and tension. The departure of the Starlight Sower had left not a void, but a cacophony of questions. Captain Voss’s trade offer lay on the table, a sleek data-slate containing the full terms of the Alliance’s integration package. But it was Lin’s whispered warning about the Hum that echoed loudest in the silence.
Lira had convened a gathering. It wasn’t a formal council, Verdant Promise had no such structure, but a coming together of its heart and mind. Jax stood with his arms crossed, his gaze fixed on the star chart Lin had left behind. Elara, the botanist, fidgeted with a vibrant leaf she’d brought in, her eyes alight with a mixture of fear and fascination. A handful of other key colonists, the chief medic, the head of hydropon
