The fracture protocol trilogy

On the artificial world of Baridinus-12, governed by the Galactic Protectorate and sustained by a forbidden Dark Matter construct at its Southern Pole, sole Sentinel Marcus Vale—known as Aether—holds absolute authority. Nora Ventra of the Matriarchal Collective petitions him after the brutal interloper Jax Harlan seizes their Baridium mining operation in the Redlands. Harlan hacks and enslaves the labor droids, disables communications, defeats the sisters through sheer invulnerability, and forces them into submission. Aether confronts Harlan, defeats him in combat, and terminates the Collective’s extraction contract for security failures. During interrogation, Harlan reveals he was once a fringe Protectorate operative. Baridium is no mere ore; it stabilizes the Dark Matter core. Over-extraction risks planetary fracture. Harlan himself has been permanently enhanced by the substance. Harlan’s ship explodes. He escapes custody with the aid of Kael Thorn (Proteus), Sentinel of Baridinus-15, aboard the unregistered vessel *The Liberator*. Proteus recruits the hesitant Aether, exposing the Protectorate’s system of artificial worlds as a lie. The Dark Matter cores are ancient gateways constructed by a long-vanished alien race preparing to re-emerge and harvest the populations. A clandestine fourth ally holds further evidence. High Protectorate overseers, alarmed by the rogue Sentinels and the incomplete “Fracture Protocol,” dispatch an ancient enforcer called the Purifier. The trio travels to a ruined, uncharted world—the original Baridinus Prime—where the Purifier ambushes them. A fourth Sentinel, Ardan McGregor (Stronthius of Baridinus-10), intervenes and destroys the assassin.