The Fracture of GOER
The warning came too late.
By the time the GOER High Council convened to address the unfolding crisis, the damage had already been done. Vesper Thorne and Varian Holt's brazen theft of Stellar Ether had set off a chain reaction of chaos. With black-market smugglers flooding the colonies with illicit Ether, and megacorporations secretly conducting their own experiments, the delicate balance GOER had maintained was collapsing.
Selene Marrow: The Whistleblower
Selene Marrow stood in the intelligence chamber deep within Luna Prime, her expression unreadable as she played the intercepted transmissions for the Council. The air in the room grew heavier with every word spoken in the recording.
Holt's voice crackled through the speakers: "We control the flow of Ether now. GOER won't stop us - not when the colonies are already hooked. The first taste was free. The next will cost them everything."
A silence followed, then Thorne's hushed reply: "You're playing with fire, Varian. The Aetherians don't care about trade. They don't care about wealth. If they decide we're parasites, they'll wipe us out."
Holt had scoffed. "Then we make ourselves indispensable. If we harness Ether properly, we won't need to fear them - we'll become them."
Selene cut the recording, her sharp gaze sweeping across the chamber. "This is treason. Holt and Thorne have forced humanity's hand. The Aetherians will retaliate."
Commander Cassian Voss leaned forward, his hands clasped tightly. "Where is Holt now?"
"Vanished. Likely on Erebus Station, where his company's research facilities are housed. Thorne, however, has been spotted on the fringe of the Orion Expanse, using smuggling routes to move Ether off-world."
Councilor Nyx Calderon's lips curled into a faint smirk. "Then it's time we send a message."
The Fall of Erebus Station
Varian Holt had underestimated how far GOER would go to protect its control. The strike on Erebus Station was surgical, brutal - GOER's Black Veil operatives stormed the facility under the guise of an 'accident investigation.' In reality, it was a sanctioned purge.
Holt barely had time to react before his labs were overrun. Guards fell in swift, silent takedowns. Scientists fled, abandoning research terminals filled with years of data on Ether experimentation. When Holt realized he was trapped, he made a desperate transmission to his closest allies.
"Code Black. Activate contingency - "
His words never finished. A sharp crack echoed as a single shot rang out. Holt collapsed, lifeless, as Selene Marrow lowered her pistol.
She stepped over his body and activated a controlled purge protocol, setting the station's research archives ablaze. If GOER couldn't control the knowledge, no one would.
Minutes later, Erebus Station's emergency sirens wailed as explosions tore through its structure. The station fell into Europa's depths, taking Holt's ambitions with it.
The Aetherians' Judgment
But GOER's swift response did not erase the damage. The theft of Ether had not gone unnoticed.
Far beyond the Sol system, at the edges of known space, the Aetherians stirred. What had been a distant, indifferent presence now loomed closer. Their emissary - a being known only as Vael'Zir - appeared before GOER's fleets in the Epsilon Eridani sector, their voice echoing in the minds of all who dared look upon them.
"You have taken what was not given. You twist the currents of existence with mortal greed. You do not comprehend the forces you seek to wield."
Cassian Voss and Orion Vale stood on the bridge of GOER's flagship, the ISS Dominion, watching as the Aetherians' monolithic ships materialized like living voids in the blackness of space.
Orion clenched his jaw. "They're not here to negotiate."
Vael'Zir's gaze turned to them, their glowing, shifting form an unfathomable blend of light and shadow. "You will return the Ether. Or you will be unmade."
GOER had thought itself the master of human destiny. But now, they stood on the precipice of annihilation.
And for the first time, Cassian Voss felt the cold grip of fear.