Chapter 8 · The Name in the File

The access panel peels back with a sound like tearing skin. Keira's fingers are already inside the junction box, pulling fiber lines, killing the secondary feed before the alert can route to anywhere that matters. The archive room hums around her. Cold. Dark except for the stripe of emergency lighting running the length of the server stacks.

She's got maybe two minutes before someone notices the gap in the logs.

Maybe less if Vex is still tracking her.

The main terminal sits in the center of the room like an altar. She crosses to it, boots silent on the rubberized floor, and jacks in the cracked admin card she lifted from the quartermaster's office three days ago. The screen blinks to life. Blue interface. Valkan script scrolling too fast to read. She doesn't need to read it. She knows what she's looking for.

Ghost Seven.

The file name sits there in the search index like a landmine. She taps it open. And there it is. Mission logs. Casualty reports. Her own death certificate, stamped and authenticated five years ago by someone who wanted her gone. The photo in the corner is younger. Sharper.