---
Chapter 51: Glass Vein.
The name sounded like a euphemism for some black-market corridor, but Aria explained otherwise as they sat in the safehouse’s dim back room.
“It’s not a corridor. It’s an artery,” she said. “A data transport line made of quantum-threaded glass—runs between the Dominion’s Core Servers and their field AI arrays.”
Lira looked unimpressed. “So it’s a wire.”
“It’s a nerve,” Aria corrected. “Everything the Dominion thinks, remembers, and plans runs through the Vein. Tap it, and you can see what they see. Cut it, and you make them blind.”
---
Dante leaned forward. “And Kael’s along it?”
“He’s not along it,” Aria said. “He’s inside it.”
That made Lira pause mid-step as she crossed the room. “Inside? How the hell do you—”
Aria tossed a thin display across the t
