Protocol at Helix Gate

A star that should not exist. A sister the fleet buried. A door that grades civilizations.Commander Sera Vale of the survey ship Arden Drift is sent to investigate a wrong light on the charts—Starfall, a stellar anomaly wrapped in alien architecture. Inside the corona waits the Helix Protocol: an ancient evaluation system that measures emerging species for passage through the Helix Gate.Sera's sister Tess, lost four years ago under Admiral Corvin Voss's command, is alive as the Protocol's human bridge. To pass, Sera must face humanity's Record without flinching, refuse a weapon that could crack a fleet, and open the Gate for everyone—not for any single navy.When Voss arrives to seize the keys and something hungry wakes in the transit dark, stewardship becomes survival. First contact is not a flag ceremony. It is traffic court, hard choices, and a hallway that must not become a throat.A sweeping space-opera novella opener with first-contact wonder, fleet intrigue, and a series hook aimed straight into the void.Content note: military deaths, implied historical atrocity/cover-up, peril, captivity themes (non-sexual), mild language. No sexual violence; no graphic gore.