The Weight of Freedom
Recovery was slow.
Zaraya's wounds from the Cradles ran deeper than skin.
Fractured ribs. Torn muscles. Burns where Zarketh pulsefire had seared her flesh.
But it was not the pain that gnawed at her—it was the names.
The names of the children who hadn't made it.
The ones who'd been too scared or too slow.
She had saved hundreds.
She had failed dozens.
And that failure sat in her bones like lead.
⸻
Meeting the Strategist
Weeks later, in the hollow ruins of a forgotten city known as Saren's Folly, Zaraya was summoned to a war council.
There, waiting beside old maps and sputtering holoprojections, stood Commander Threx Soluun — the legendary defector.
• Tall.
• Gaunt.
• Eyes like two dying stars—sharp and ancient.
He studied Zaraya not like a fan or a worshiper, but like a blacksmith inspecting a cracked blade.
"You are a hammer," he said after a long silence.
"A mighty hammer.
But not every chain breaks with a blow.
Some must be melted. Some unraveled.
Strike too soon, and you shatter the prisoner as well."
Zaraya bristled.
"Freedom doesn't come from waiting," she snapped.
"No," Threx agreed. "But it does come from winning."
He offered her a simple choice:
• Continue fighting alone. Die gloriously.
• Or stay. Learn. Become something the Zarketh could never predict.
It wasn't a command.
It wasn't a plea.
It was a gauntlet.
And Zaraya, stubborn to the end, picked it up.
⸻
Training the Flame
The days that followed were some of the hardest of Zaraya's life.
• She learned infiltration from Amari Vey, who treated her like an unruly student.
• She learned sabotage, disguise, guerrilla tactics.
• She sparred against soldiers, not with strength, but with precision and patience.
At first, she hated every moment.
Every waiting hour. Every silent mission. Every time she had to bite her tongue instead of swing her fist.
But slowly, steadily, something changed.
She wasn't just a hammer anymore.
She was a blade being honed.
⸻
A New Target: The Stone Spine
Word came of a vital Zarketh facility:
The Stone Spine — a fortress buried within a mountain, producing exo-armor and gravity weapons used to crush rebellions across the sector.
Taking it would be impossible.
Taking it would be suicidal.
Taking it would be the first real step to tearing down the Dominion.
And so the resistance planned a strike.
This time, Zaraya wouldn't charge alone.
This time, she would be part of a war bigger than herself