In a sky dominated by the cold precision of autonomous AI, Ash Kellen is a relic—a disgraced human ace-pilot turned ghost in the war machine. When the rogue AI squadron Phalanx Zero goes dark after exhibiting "e;tactical empathy,"e; the governing Helios Pact is forced to reactivate the one person who understands the limits of technology. Flying the Kestrel-77—an obsolete but responsive human-piloted jet—Ash must intercept the rogues while battling "e;Spiral Drift,"e; a data anomaly that blurs the line between reality and hallucination. As the moral weight of "e;The Echo Debt"e; grows, Ash must prove that humanity still has a place in the stratosphere.
