Chapter 66: The Third Pod

Apex floodlights swept across the canal basin while salvage crews cut into the final drop pod before its shell cooled.

Kessler watched from an armored transport, directing cutters toward the beacon conduit and weapons locked beneath the outer plates.

"Executive order," he told his crews. "Everything inside belongs to Apex."

Tempest crossed the basin, carrying Leo and Bekka through corporate aircraft refusing their liaison clearance.

"They rejected my authority again."

"Ask more firmly."

Bekka transmitted Kingsley’s seal across every channel, then fired wind through the aircraft formation and opened their descent path.

"That felt official."

"Extremely."

Tempest dropped between two salvage cranes and struck the canal floor, scattering workers away from the pod entrance.

Corporate drones turned toward the raptor and projected trespass warnings across the crater while cutters continued beneath them.

Bekka transmitted her tribunal appointment into drones, replacing warnings with evidence-preservation orders carrying Kingsley’s seal.

The drones rejected orders together, returning control to Kessler’s transport through an encrypted council route.

Sierra copied that rejection offshore, adding another violation to the case already moving toward Kingsley.

Leo dismounted with the Null Razor lowered, letting Kage spread beneath the equipment while armed guards surrounded them.

Kessler left his transport, keeping four guards between himself and Bekka’s waiting raised gauntlets now.

"This recovery site carries Apex clearance. Leave before your tribunal costume creates another embarrassing jurisdiction dispute."

Bekka displayed her tribunal credential beside his face, letting every recording drone verify it now.

"Read it slowly."

"A temporary appointment cannot override executive salvage rights."

"Watch me."

The nearest guard raised his weapon, and Leo cut its barrel away before the man’s finger completed the trigger pull.

Kage swallowed the remaining weapons through floor shadows, leaving every guard empty-handed beneath the floodlights.

Kessler stepped toward his transport while cutters continued opening the pod under automated corporate control.

"Shut them down," Leo said.

"Those machines require executive authorization."

"You have ten seconds."

Bekka punched one crane and folded its lifting arm across the cutters, ending their work through falling equipment.

"Nine seconds left."

Kessler opened his control pad, stopping every machine before she selected another expensive target nearby.

The pod’s split shell revealed Vorn soldiers surrounding a beacon still transmitting toward the flagship.

Salvage workers moved between the bodies without quarantine gear, placing alien organs inside cases beside active Ether weapons.

Richter warned them through the liaison channel, but corporate supervisors muted his transmission and kept their crews working.

One weapon discharged inside a collection case, cutting a crane cable and dropping its suspended load across the crater.

Leo caught the falling equipment inside a gravity well while Bekka guided workers safely beyond its descending shadow.

Corporate collection cases waited beside the bodies, already labeled for weapons, organs, armor, neural tissue, and blood samples.

"You prepared labels before impact," Leo said.

Kessler glanced toward the flagship and wiped rain from his mouth, carefully avoiding both fighters’ waiting eyes nearby.

"Apex received advance coordinates through a council channel. My crews followed recovery protocol."

"Whose channel?"

"I want immunity."

Bekka caught his collar and pulled him beyond the guards while her credential recorded every word around them.

"You don’t have leverage."

"Gruber keeps a private channel into the Hero Association council," Kessler said. "They’re coordinating around every orbital drop."

Kessler unlocked the route under Bekka’s stare, revealing council messages transmitted before each pod departed the flagship above.

The messages assigned Apex ownership, restricted Association response, and marked civilian casualties as acceptable interference during corporate recovery operations.

Bekka copied every sender identity into her credential before Kessler tried closing the channel from his control pad.

Kage removed the pad through his shadow and delivered it into Leo’s pouch beside the Smith neural drive.

Sierra entered the transport network and copied its route history, finding coordinates delivered before the flagship appeared above Earth.

"He’s telling the truth," she said. "The council channel marked all three pods before planetary detection."

Leo approached the open shell while the beacon pulse climbed through the All-Spark and struck deep inside his chest.

The signal carried District Nine’s Ether map, civilian movement, Association deployments, and a route toward the Central Defense Complex.

"This isn’t calling salvage crews," Leo said. "It’s updating the fleet."

"Can you stop it?" Bekka asked.

"Keep everyone back."

He entered the pod as Vorn systems awakened around him, recognizing the reactor frequency assimilated from the corvette.

Three dormant soldiers opened their eyes beneath the beacon, reaching for weapons while poison mist filled the chamber.

The mist crossed Leo’s face and vanished inside the All-Spark’s pulse, leaving only bitter taste across his tongue.

Outside, workers collapsed near the entrance until Luna’s lotus barriers reached them through the open liaison channel from shelter.

Bekka pulled two supervisors beyond the mist while Kessler crawled behind her and abandoned his own injured crews.

She caught his ankle with wind and dragged him back toward the workers he ordered into the pod.

[ Bio-Toxin Detected ]

[ Enhanced Immunity Active ]

Leo held his breath from habit, then felt the toxin break apart before reaching his blood or Ether channels.

The first soldier lunged, and he answered with a short Iaido draw that opened its throat beneath the jaw.

Kage caught the second through a floor seam while Bekka dragged the third outside with a wind tether.

She struck its head against the pod shell and released it beside Kessler’s abandoned collection cases near Leo.

"Label that."

Kessler stared at the body and lowered himself beside the transport without offering another argument.

Inside, Leo followed the beacon pulse toward a conduit rooted beneath the command cradle and wrapped around the pod’s core.

The Null Razor’s gravity rings pulled against it, exposing smaller threads feeding data through every system around him.

He activated Phase-Edge and cut the conduit at its root, stopping the transmission before another update reached orbit.

[ Objective Completed: Intercept Vanguard Drop Pods (3/3 Cleared) ]

[ Combat EXP Integrated: +50,000 ]

[ LEVEL UP: Level 32 -> Level 33 ]

[ LEVEL UP: Level 33 -> Level 34 ]

[ Bounty Auto-Wired: +300,000 Credits ]

[ New Balance: 1,603,500 Credits ]

[ Shard 4 Compass Calibration Improved ]

[ Cosmic Pathways Remain: 60% ]

The improved compass turned inside Leo’s vision, tightening Shard Four’s direction toward the northern polar wastes without increasing integration.

He left the pod as its lights failed, carrying the severed beacon core inside his spatial pouch for Sierra.

Association aircraft entered the basin after Apex clearance vanished from every corporate transponder surrounding the secured crater below.

Field commanders accepted Bekka’s evidence seal and secured every collection case without touching the alien contents stored inside.

Kessler’s guards surrendered after watching council access disappear from their weapons, transports, private routes, and evacuation accounts together.

Sierra forwarded the beacon data toward Kingsley, tracing its District One destination through Gruber’s supposedly abandoned defense credentials.

The route remained active after his dismissal, drawing fresh Vorn packets toward an unguarded command system beneath District One.

"Kingsley dismissed Gruber from the defense council," Sierra reported. "Apex clearance is revoked across all orbital recovery sites."

Kessler closed his eyes when officers approached, while Bekka transferred his confession and the advance coordinates into their custody.

"How long until the main armada?" Leo asked.

"Less than one day."

The flagship remained above District Nine, holding position while smaller Vorn craft gathered beneath its expanding anti-matter field overhead.

Leo opened the beacon core’s final route and found every transmission flowing toward an empty command chair inside District One.

"Gruber left one weapon behind," he said. "Now I know where the Vorn data was flowing."