I took a deep breath, the Arctic chill stinging my lungs even through the filters of my damaged tactical suit. The Kratos jet had landed on a snow-covered ice runway, a few hundred meters from a single satellite dish looming in the distance. Cypher's backup server. The final decryption key.
"Juri, report status," I said, forcing myself to stand upright in the middle of the raging storm.
Silence. Only harsh static answered from my emergency earpiece. I knew Juri was still there, stored within the kernel of the submarine now struggling to surface, but the direct connection had been severed by Kael's EMP.
I walked toward the antenna, every step feeling like I was crashing into a heavy wall. The mental exhaustion from the confrontation at Arkea—the living Cypher, Marcos's betrayal, and Krat
