Serah Korrin

Log Entry 3162.10.30 Situation Summary: Serah Korrin — Lower Decks, ISS Vigilant Dawn Status: Active Hive operative; restrained only by chains temporarily; using psionic and verbal manipulation to dismantle remaining human defenses. Anomalies: Hive numbers overwhelming; psychological warfare ongoing. Objective: Convert or eliminate remaining survivors; weaken Orlen Vance’s resistance. --- Chapter XXX — Serah Korrin The chains rattled against the bulkhead as she stretched her wrists, faintly amused by their rigidity. Every clang, every metallic scrape echoed across the corridor like a rhythm she could synchronize with. They were playing into her hands — the humans always did. Her gaze drifted over Orlen Vance’s team, shivering with exhaustion behind barricades, rifles trembling, faces pale. The sound of plasma rounds cut through the dimly lit corridor, but the Hive never faltered. Every fallen comrade rose again, eyes blank yet purposeful, closing the distance with deliberate inevitability. Serah smiled. “Commander…” she whispered, letting the title roll off her tongue like a secret only he understood. Commander. The old joke. The old bond. She let the syllables linger, letting them stir something primal in him. “They’re stronger than you think,” she said softly, her voice weaving around his thoughts like smoke. “You keep trying to fight, but they keep coming. And you… you keep protecting them. You always were the stubborn one. Always trying to save everyone, even when it’s impossible.” Orlen’s hands shook on the rifle. Her laughter was quiet, warm, familiar — but layered beneath it, cold, precise, alien. Every word chipped at the walls of his mind, every glance reminding him of memories he couldn’t erase. “You don’t have to fight anymore,” she continued. “It’s easier this way. Free. We don’t die. We don’t hurt. We become… whole.”