The Unstoppable Shadow

ara's datapad pinged with a message from Coalition Command: Rendezvous

oom where Commander Lena Korsakov, a grizzled veteran, briefed them. Holograms displayed Juggernaut's rampage: he'd left the Nexus Institut

"The Whisper is an alien AI. It's using him to spread i

fast. We've got a prototype weapon-a quantum disru

rowned. "He's unstoppable. You s

Korsakov said. "J

deployed. Elara volunteered to act as bait, knowing the Whisper's fixation on her. Jiro pro

it was learning, evolving. It wanted her because she'd deciphered its signal, making her a threat

ra stood in a pressure suit, her helmet's HUD displaying the disruptor's coordinates. The Coali

k the ground.

ke a blood-red supernova. "You cannot hide," he said, his

ood her ground. "You're not a g

le. "And you are a spark, d

unscathed. Elara dove behind a boulder as Coalition drones opened fire, their plasma rounds absorbed by

rough rock and metal. She felt the Whisper probing her mind, a pressure like fing

irus again. Juggernaut faltered, clutching his helmet

energy that warped the air. It struck Juggernaut, and his fiel

, his core glowing brighter. "You think you can sev

s exploded, and the disruptor overloaded. Korsakov's comms