STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

She stood, stretching before moving to the corner of the room, where her boots sat in a neat line beside the worn chair. Lucien watched her, the effortless grace in her movements, the quiet confidence that radiated from her even in the smallest actions. She makes it look easy. Like none of this gets her down.

Lyra glanced back at him as she pulled on her boots, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. “Come on,” she said, her voice softer now. “We’ve got a lot to do.”

Lucien nodded, pushing himself to his feet as she left the room. His muscles ached, but there was something else underneath it—something quieter, steadier. Maybe... maybe I can do this, too.

***

By the time Lucien and Lyra joined the others in the main room, Harun was already hunched over the terminal, his fingers flying over the keys as Corin ’s voice crackled through the comm device.

“The city’s quieter this morning, but don’t let that fool you. They’ve increased security around the Spire and the central relay. Drones are patrolling the outer districts now too—not just the upper levels.”

Harun cursed under his breath. “Great. Because this wasn’t already hard enough.”

Corin ignored him, continuing, “There’s one vulnerability I’ve found. The maintenance crews that service the relay —they use an old access route that’s not on the main security grid. It ’s narrow and on the patrol schedule, but if you time it right, you can get in without triggering alarms.”

Lyra stepped forward as she studied the map Corin had pulled up on the terminal. “How ‘monitored’ are we talking?”

A static hiss crackled through the comm before Corin responded, his voice edged with warning. “Enough that if you slip up, you’re not getting out. But it’s your best shot. The main entrances are locked down tighter than the Spire.”

Lucien leaned closer, his eyes scanning the map. The access route was a narrow, twisting passage that snaked through the relay’s infrastructure. “How do we bypass the monitors?”

Corin hesitated. “There’s no remote option—they’re old tech, completely isolated from the main network.”

Lucien sighed but nodded. Manual access. Of course it is.

The group gathered around the terminal as they began outlining the mission.

“Harun and I will take point on disabling the monitors. Lucien, you’ll

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