Ahcehera sat in silence beside Eros, her gaze resting on his face as he lay in the medical pod, the faint rhythmic hum of the machines a steady reminder that he was still breathing. Every few minutes, the monitors blinked softly with readings of his vitals, stable but weakened.
The bandages around his midsection were slowly beginning to darken again with fresh blood, but the regenerative serum was working, even if not as fast as she wanted. Outside, the city was still recovering.
Emergency alerts had been silenced, but the atmosphere remained tense, an aftershock hanging in the air after the violent rupture of peace. She leaned back in her chair, not to rest, but to focus.
With a blink, her optical brain interface activated, casting a barely visible sheen across her irises. Text and data flowed past her line of sight in augmented layers, allowing her to access the central military network and encrypted defense logs without moving a muscle.
