The crew made their way to the engineering bay, where Laz had been working tirelessly to isolate the signal from the ship's core systems. His face was pale, and his hands shook as he typed rapidly on his terminal.
"We don't have much time," Laz said, glancing over his shoulder. "The signal is getting stronger. If we don't cut it off soon, we're going to lose control of the entire ship."
"We need to find its source," Kaelen said. "We need to understand what we're dealing with."
Laz nodded, but his eyes were haunted. "It's already too late. It's everywhere. It's in the walls, the systems... in us."
Kaelen stepped forward, determination hardening in his chest. "We can't give up. Not yet."
As Laz continued to work, Kaelen's eyes drifted toward the viewport. The vast emptiness of the Vega Expanse loomed outside. But something was different. Something was moving in the distance, a flickering shape—a shadow in the stars.
And then the signal came again. It didn't just pulse—it roared. A deafening screech that seemed to shake the ship to its core.
In that moment, Kaelen knew: Whatever they were facing, it was far worse than any of them had imagined.