The data chip bled corrupted holograms into the Dawn's Edge's bridge:
Vast, crystalline entities sculpting gas giants into prisons.
Obsidian Tombs being forged around screaming things of pure hunger.
A war across galaxies, ending in pyrrhic victory… and abandonment.
"The Elder Things imprisoned the Consumers," Silas narrated, his voice tight. "The Tombs were their cages. The Void Seeds… are keys. Fragments of the Consumers themselves, scattered to prevent reassembly."
[KEEPER MISSION UPDATE: DESTROY FRAGMENTS (PRIMARY)]
[SECONDARY: PREVENT TOMB REACTIVATION (SEEKERS ARE AUTOMATED WARDENS GONE ROGUE)]
Wu Gen slammed his fist. "Fools! They left loaded guns pointed at the universe!"
The star map updated. Phobos pulsed urgently. Tomb-01 had sent a Seeker there.
"Phobos isn't just a moon," Li Na whispered, cross-referencing Keeper data. "It's a… battery. A planetary-scale energy siphon the Elder Things used to power the Martian Tomb network. If the Seeker reactivates it…"
[PROJECTION: SOLAR SYSTEM-WIDE ENERGY DRAIN. STELLAR CORE IGNITION POSSIBLE]
"We stop it," Lin Mo said, the new Void Seed energy thrumming under his skin. "And claim the fragment."
Baylor set course. "Brace for Mars orbit. It's gonna be hot."
The Dawn's Edge dropped out of FTL into chaos. Phobos glowed with stolen energy, lancing beams towards Mars. Tomb-01 hung above it, directing the flow. And between them, dueling the Seeder, was a battered, familiar vessel:
A Black Pagoda gunship. Handler's mask filled their comms, cracked but functional. "Lin Mo. Fancy meeting you in hell. Care to even the odds?"