The Oath network lit up with alerts that made every technician freeze. A massive mobile structure, roughly the size of a small planet, kept blinking in and out of realspace along routes no one had mapped. Analysts called it the Wandering Nexus.
It moved like it had purpose, harvesting raw cosmic strings and leaving stable hyperlanes behind it. Control that thing and the empire could cut travel times across half the galaxy.
Elizabeth didn't hesitate. She stood on the Devourer's command deck and gave the order. "That thing doesn't belong to the void anymore. It belongs to us. Full pursuit. All ships."
The chase turned brutal fast. The Nexus jumped without pattern. One moment it sat near the edge of Sector 7, the next it vanished and reappeared three systems away. The fleet burned fuel and Symbiont reserves keeping up.
Sabrina took charge of the forward scout wings in her upgraded hybrid fighters. The new Symbiont engines screamed under the strain, but she pushed them harder.
