<p><strong>In a fractured future where silence is enforced as peace, a soldier walks away from obedience.</strong><br><em>When the Silence Breaks</em> is a <strong>15,700-word speculative fiction novelette</strong> set in a world ruled by the <strong>Unified Force of Enlightenment</strong> and its spiritual arm, the <strong>Ember Veil</strong>.</p><p><strong>Elijah</strong>, a former Peacekeeper, deserts his post after a string of morally questionable missions.<br><em>On the run-and guided by an unusually intuitive AI-he meets</em> <strong>Marya</strong>, a priestess who dares to speak forbidden truths. Together, they begin to unravel:</p><ul><li><em>Buried memories</em></li><li><em>Lost voices</em></li><li><em>The hidden cost of enforced silence</em></li></ul><p><strong>Above them</strong>, aboard the orbital command ship <em>Dusken Mercy</em>, <strong>Commander Sumina</strong> listens.<br>Tasked with tracking both anomalies, she watches patterns forming beneath the official silence.<br>She doesn't act. <em>Not yet.</em> But she doesn't report everything either.</p>