The Freeborn Collective's headquarters was carved into the asteroid belt of Marnis IV—a fortress of jagged rock and humming energy fields. As The Eidolon docked, Titan felt the weight of unseen eyes watching.
Kaela led him through winding corridors where tech scavenged from fallen worlds blinked with flickering lights. Rebel faces peered cautiously from shadowed alcoves—hunters, outcasts, survivors.
"We've been fighting the Council's chokehold for years," Kaela explained, voice low. "But it's more than politics now. They're chasing ghosts—secrets buried in the Collapse. Secrets that could rewrite everything we know about humanity."
Titan's gaze hardened. "Like the Gates?"
Kaela nodded. "Exactly. The Gates are only the surface. Deep in the Collective's archives is something called Project Helix—a program that might explain the real purpose of the Nexus Gates. And what the Council is willing to kill for."
Lira's voice crackled in his ear, "I'm accessing the Collective's database now. There are encrypted files dating back centuries… but heavily guarded."
Suddenly, the alarms blared.
"Council ships inbound," Kaela warned. "They found us."
Titan drew his plasma pistol. "Get ready. This fight's just getting started."
Outside, war erupted among the asteroids—a deadly ballet of laser fire and shattered rock.
And in the shadows, the true battle for the galaxy's future began.