EPILOGUE

In the aftermath of the crisis, Mai Ste Etienne is confined after striking Mikhail Jerennian, and the workbay is sealed beyond her reach. Ducas FenJuan is recovered with serious injuries; zero gravity eases the immediate strain, but extensive medication will be needed for healing.

The depleted crew rigs heaters, maintains air flow, and rations the ship’s last reserves while waiting by the comms. Advent collapses into guilt, abandoning command. Terwhin Umbar assumes control, restoring discipline, distributing meds, and releasing Ste Etienne on a pledge of good behavior.

Ste Etienne confesses she believes she should have gone down instead. Umbar responds bluntly about the burden of leadership, then acknowledges Juna Ceelander as the necessary hero in a calculus of losses the ship has long accepted.

When a long-awaited channel opens, the first sounds are the now-terrifying triple hiss, suggesting something inhuman. Then a woman’s staticky voice reaches them from the planet via the elevator cable. Ste Etienne calls out to Juna, and the voice answers—hesitant but recognizably Juna—before beginning, “Let me put this into words you can understand,” signaling contact and a fragile thread of hope.