The Echo Protocol

In a dying galaxy, humanity's last remnants are hunted by a relentless machine intelligence bent on erasing all existence. For one prisoner of war, survival comes with a terrifying gift: the power to absorb memories, skills, and secrets from the battlefield's fallen. This grim ability becomes his path to power, propelling him from a disposable grunt to a legendary fleet commander. Yet a phantom armada, wielding impossible technology and anticipating his every move, haunts his victories. To protect the flickering flame of civilization, he must unravel a war that is a temporal paradox, confront a future he himself created, and ultimately wield the power not just to destroy his enemy, but to rewrite the fundamental laws of the cosmos itself.