Location:Vesper Halo, Secure Data Core Lab
"You sure about this?" Rin asked.
"We need to know," Aika replied.
The MIRA file sat suspended in the stasis chamber: a capsule of quantum-encoded DNA, wrapped in biotech encryption layers that pulsed with a faint violet-blue hue.
Selene hovered over it, neural cables trailing from her fingertips into the lab's central interface.
"It's keyed to your genome, Aika," she said without turning. "Only you can open it."
Aika stepped forward.
She exhaled—and placed her palm on the surface.
The capsule flared white.
The Decryption
The room dimmed as the interface flooded with holographic overlays.
A spinning helix. Memories encoded as light and code. Layers unraveling.
SUBJECT DESIGNATION:
OMEGA-CLASS 002-F
GENETIC ANCHOR: EARTH-21 SOULFRAGMENT (YAMASAKI.MIA)
STATUS: SUSPENDED ANIMA CORE
CURRENT LOCATION: HEARTFORGE COMPLEX – CORE SUBLAYER
VITAL SIGNS: STABLE
RESONANCE LINK: AIKA SOLARIS (PRIOR-BOND MATCH DETECTED)
The words slammed into Aika like gravity reasserting itself.
Mia.
Her Mia.
Alive. Or something like it.
Her hands shook as she scrolled deeper. Selene caught her, steadying her wrist.
"She was pulled through the same transfer matrix," Selene murmured. "Different time, different form. Her soul was fragmented… but she's whole enough to survive."
Aika's lips moved, but no words came.
Veyla's voice was low behind them. "The Heartforge is a fortress. Half-forgotten war relic orbiting a dead star. No one gets in."
"Then we break that rule," Rin said. "Together."
Mission Parameters: Heartforge Retrieval
OBJECTIVE: Recover Omega-Class 002-F (MIRA)
DANGER: High. Sentient defense systems. Fractured AI fragments rumored to infest the complex.
KNOWN INTEL: The Heartforge is a zero-point vault from the Orion Collapse era. Off-grid. Haunted by lost tech. Rumored to house a "Living Mindcore."
ETA: 36 hours at warp pulse speed
Selene stood back as the file re-encrypted itself, locking back into stasis.
"No one has accessed the Heartforge in over seventy years," she said. "This won't be an extraction. It'll be resurrection."
Aika's gaze didn't waver.
"Then we go resurrect her."
Aika and Veyla
Later, in the quiet of Aika's quarters, Veyla slipped in through the hatch and sat beside her.
"You're not sleeping," she said softly.
Aika stared at the hologram still hovering above her desk. MIRA's genome spiral. Mia's smile, faint in the background code.
"She died for me," Aika said. "Back then. And now she's… waiting again. Trapped again."
Veyla didn't speak right away.
Then: "You love her."
Aika nodded.
"But I'm still here," Veyla said, not a challenge—just truth. "So when we find her, just tell me one thing."
Aika turned. "What?"
Veyla met her eyes.
"Is there still room for the fire we're building?"
Aika leaned in, resting her forehead to Veyla's.
"Yes," she whispered. "If we survive, there will be fire. There will be all of us."