The descent onto Virel was rough.
Not from turbulence—the atmosphere was dead-calm—but from the tension inside the ship.
No one spoke much during re-entry. The only sound was Alvin softly chewing the end of a data stylus and muttering things like "entropy decay ratio is an insult to math," and "I swear to every god in the frequency spectrum, if this cache is booby-trapped, I'm suing someone's ancestors."
The planet was dry. Cracked. Long since abandoned.
"Deserted since the Cathex Collapse," Cassian had explained as they approached orbit. "Before the Network, there were scattered node stations out here—run by fractured collectives. One of them left behind a long-range resonance tower. We think it was Veil-adjacent."
"I thought they didn't exist yet," Kim had said.
Cassian had only replied, "You'll see."
They landed just after dusk, which meant the planet's three suns had dropped below the canyon walls, casting everything in long, bruised shadows.
