The control bay had turned into a storm of light and static.

Gray’s console screamed warnings in a dozen overlapping tones, the holographic displays flickering between coordinates and raw pulse patterns. The neural sync stabilizer was losing its baseline — the Echo’s internal harmonics were shifting faster than his systems could adapt.

He swore under his breath, fingers darting across the control deck.

“Come on, Hale, hold it together…”

The feedback loop surged, the entry rig’s ...