The Meridian Fetch is a seven-person long-haul freighter running a standard route between colony systems. Chief Engineer Paz Reyes walks the engine room every morning at 0412, listening to the ship speak in the language of pressure differentials and thermal variance. She knows every tick, every vibration, every subtle departure from normal.

On day eighty-seven of the transit, a coolant fault in the secondary manifold leads Paz to a sealed door she has never opened. Hold 4. The manifest says consolidated machine components, Class 7, bonded cargo. What she finds when she opens the door is not machine parts.