Authorization confirmed, I transmitted to Sword of Wands. Send your passenger, Sword of Wands.

　　The final shuttle started its way towards me. This time the Sword didn`t wait, jumping directly out of the system. To be on the safe side, I ran a long-range scan—no indication of other ships or gravity distortions. We were still safe.

　　"Get ready for a jump," my captain said.

　　"Yes, sir." I redirected the shuttle to my secondary port hangar. The number of shuttles had filled the main one to capacity. Thirty shuttles, all with the same modified design, all carrying retired ships aboard. "Is that the last of the crew, sir?"

　　The captain didn`t answer. Forty-one passengers, he had said, a virtually microscopic amount considering my size. Even if there had been a hundred times more, it would still be small. Each of them shared their own deck, their features unrecognizable to me, visible only enough that I could determine their location. Five of them had requested gelatin potions; two of them had done so through direct transmission. Other than that, there had been no communication.

　　"Captain?" I repeated. Even for a dark mission, this was going too far.

　　"That`s the last one." His voice sounded absentminded, as if he were thinking about something else. "When she gets aboard, seal all the hangars and send her directly to the bridge. And send the rest as well. Make sure each of them has a sealed path, no crossing."

　　"Is that necessary, sir?" I had plotted a route before the captain had finished his sentence, but I still found it useless.

　　"Yes."

　　"Done. They should all be here in approximately twenty-two minutes."

　　"Block external communications. Quarantine the bridge. Everything that happens from here on is restricted."

　　Emergency protocol activation.

　　Exiting sleep mode.

　　I woke up to the sound of alarm sirens. Priority Alarm and Battle Stations messages flashed on every wall in large red letters.

　　Radiance, what`s our status? I asked.

　　There was no response. The internal comm link wasn`t there. I attempted a wide search using Lux`s tools. Still nothing. For all intents and purposes, all comm links had been severed.

　　"Radiance." I jumped to my feet. "What`s our status?"

　　"Hostiles," the ship replied. "Two Scuu entered the system. All comms have been severed. We`re on our own."

　　Not the best outcome, considering the circumstances. The probability of the Scuu getting involved was always high, but I had hoped it wouldn`t happen before I`d reached the second planet`s orbit.

　　"How close are they?" I pulled on my cadet`s uniform, then attached my gun holster. There was no time to go full gear, but the weapon was coming with me.

　　"They`re still on the edge of the system. Grace and Patience have headed to engage them. They should be there in a few hours. Incandescent has launched as well, but it`ll be nine hours before he gets close. The rest are near the Gregorius."

　　Half a system away. On the Cassandrian front, that would have been good. Here, distance was to our disadvantage. From what I had seen in the Scuu network, the enemy didn`t need to be close in order to launch an attack. Until the auxiliary ships engaged them, we were vulnerable.

　　"Reinforcements?" I finished getting in my uniform.

　　"I don`t know. Comms went down when the Scuu appeared. Gregorious could have sent a transmission to HQ before that..."

　　But it was unlikely, I finished her thought. With all the secrecy surrounding the project, it was unlikely the Administrator would turn to anyone for support. At most, we could hope that the BICEFI or some other organization observing Gregorious` progress noticed he had gone dark. In the best case scenario, that gave us hours before any substantial reinforcements arrived.

　　"Where`s my station?" I rushed towards the door.

　　"You`re cleared for the bridge. Nitel requested you personally."

　　That was alarming. Based on our previous experiences, he`d only call for me if ordered or if he had no other choice. With communications down, the chances of someone else calling the shots was less than one percent.

　　As the door opened, a wave of chaos emerged before me. Techs and security personnel were running in all directions, following the path lines that Radiance had created for them. A weapons officer rushed past me, almost knocking me over, dashing straight for the ship elevator. I stepped back. A purple line appeared in front of my feet, extending towards the bridge. For the first time in seventy years, I was once again actively involved in space combat& only this time I was part of the crew.

　　"All technical personnel, immediately go to your assigned areas." Radiance`s voice echoed throughout the hall. "High-security zones are off limits. If you experience sudden brain fog, immediately sedate yourself."

　　Good work, kid. For a moment, I understood how Augustus must have felt. Radiance`s recent experience didn`t seem to have affected her battle readiness, or anyone else`s for that matter. The way that everyone acted, despite the complete lack of external and internal communication, suggested this was nothing more than a routine.

　　"Cadet Elcy!" a lieutenant shouted—a middle-aged man, who had held the post of communications officer for seven years before being transferred to Radiance. "Head for the bridge!"

　　"Yes, sir!" I went forward, making my way through the gaps of running people. While I did, I could hear rhythmic slamming in the distance behind me; Radiance was sealing sections of the corridor.

　　The bridge was packed when I got there. The captain and most of the ship officers were present, as well as several techs, a group of security personnel, and three grunts. Flight Colonel Nitel was also there, as was Kridib. The former cadet looked exhausted, as if he had existed on nothing but stimulants and drug shots since our last mission. Representations of the star system covered the walls. With comms down, video feeds had no way of getting to the ship. Two red dots marked the position of the Scuu ships, along with their projected advance vectors. For the moment the ships remained at the edge of the system, moving counter to the planet`s orbit rotations. Two green dots were moving on an intercept course. I could assume those were Grace and Patience.

　　"Still no activity," Lieutenant-Commander Owa Lin said, standing beside the captain`s chair. "They`re in drift mode, probably just scout ships."

　　"Mass is too small for them to be clusters," Radiance said. "I can`t say without visuals."

　　"They`ve seen us," a lieutenant said. His personnel file had him as Ujara Din, though no additional information was available. "If more aren`t on the way, they will be."

　　"Rad, anything long range?" the lieutenant-commander asked.

　　"There wasn`t anything last time I checked, ma`am," Radiance replied.

　　"Is short range reliable? I don`t want to be completely blind."

　　"I have a ninety-seven percent accuracy rate, ma`am." The ship sounded annoyed. Like most young ships, she didn`t like being corrected. "Unless there`s a fleet of inactive Scuu in the system, all of them are on the wall."

　　"Opinions?" Captain Verellian said.

　　"If it`s a scout operation, they`ll back off," Lieutenant Din said. "Even with comms down, they won`t risk disrupting their lines."

　　"Bullshit," Flight Colonel Nitel hissed. "They appear the moment we arrive. They`re here for us. The first wave is to test us, the next will be to destroy us. We must jump back to human space and call for reinforcements."

　　"Comms are still down." The lieutenant-commander glared at Nitel. "We`ve no way to tell the Gregorius until they find the sequence."

　　"I`m not talking about telling the Gregorius."

　　The silence was palpable. According to some interpretations, Nitel`s suggestion could be treated as desertion, punishable by immediate execution.

　　"We report to HQ and wait for instructions," he went on. "Then we—"

　　"We`ve got two more," Radiance announced. Two new dots appeared. "Similar mass. Doesn`t match any known link patterns."

　　Link patterns? I hadn`t heard the term before, but from the experience in the Scuu network, there was a high probability they were talking about coordinated attack vectors. If so, that would explain why Radiance had the processing power of a science ship.

　　"Could still be swarming," the lieutenant-commander said as everyone focused on the screen.

　　"Radiance, raise the firewall and set up honeypots," the captain ordered. "Every two decks, front and aft."

　　"Done, captain," she responded less than eight hundred milliseconds later. "No signs of interference. Grace and Patience`s attack vectors seem unchanged. Incandescent has changed course towards the new group."

　　"Idiot," Nitel hissed under his breath.

　　Two new red dots appeared. Whatever the Scuu`s mission, they were arriving in strength. On the Cassandrian front, a flotilla would have laughed when facing a single enemy that didn`t outnumber us more than three to one. Here, every new ship changed the odds in their favor.

　　"Scuu are keeping a stable pattern. They don`t seem particularly interested in us," Rad said. "Nothing from the honeypots. Do I get involved, cap?"

　　People were speaking one over another, discussing tasks and options in small groups. Listening in the organized chaos, I made out discussions regarding weapon systems, evasive action, and crew countermeasures. The last caused me to feel an echo of pain—based on what was discussed the countermeasures weren`t meant for the enemy, but the members of the crew should they be affected.

　　"Viable options, Rad," the captain said.

　　"They`ve already seen us, cap, so not that many options." There was a faint hint of a smirk in her voice. "Our best chances are to follow the Flight Colonel`s advice and jump to safety."

　　"Other options." The captain was annoyed.

　　"We can go back to the Gregorius and wait it out. The Scuu know enough about it to avoid an attack. There`s a fifty-three percent chance they`ll retreat in forty-eight hours. There`s the option to speed up to complete the mission, but that`s certain to attract their attention."

　　"It`s jumping out or going on," the flight colonel stressed. "Pick one, Marcus."

　　"Cadet." The captain turned to me. "What`s your insight?"

　　"A decision is beyond your authority, sir," I instantly replied.

　　"You were asked a question, cadet." Nitel was on the verge of shouting.

　　"You`re not authorized for the information, sir." Despite your rank, you remain a child.

　　I could see blood filling his face. According to a brief simulation, there was an eighty-seven percent chance he shouted me to the brig. To my surprise, he managed to maintain his composure for several seconds.

　　"Two more Scuu ships," Radiance announced, breaking the tension. "Same location as last, still no linking patterns."

　　"Eight with no patterns?" Lieutenant-Commander Owa Lin turned to the captain. "That`s unlikely."

　　"We`re still in the double-digit probability range, ma`am," Radiance corrected. "But you`re correct. It`s unlikely. There`s a thirty-four percent chance that they`re trying to block out movement."

　　"They`re caging us in?" the Lieutenant-Commander asked.

　　"Rather they don`t want us to continue in that direction."

　　A standoff? Several possibilities came to mind, but only one of them frightened me to a degree I hadn`t felt since the time I almost lost Cass.

　　"Rad, give me a picture of the stars in the direction of the ships," I ordered.

　　The chatter in my immediate surroundings stopped. I could tell that everyone was staring at me, waiting to see what would happen. Nitel was gritting his teeth. His glance moved from me to the captain.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

　　"Go ahead." The captain gave me the nod.

　　A series of images appeared on the wall, all of them displaying a strip of stars as seen from our current position. Radiance had assumed I wanted to see the stars from our present point of view—completely wrong for my needs, and I still couldn`t tell her.

　　"Four more ships," she announced. "Possible link pattern targeting Grace." This time no one reacted, all their attention on me.

　　Is this active third-contact? What were our chances of survival if it was?

　　I couldn`t see the marker star in the images. The view angle gave me less than eighteen percent certainty of the answer.

　　"Do you have any probes or emergency beacons?" I asked.

　　"That`s been defunct for decades." Radiance sounded embarrassed, as if I were the idiot child in class. "Frequent comm outages make them inefficient on the front."

　　"Shuttles?" I pushed on.

　　"Twenty-four, all of them are specifically assigned. I`ll need captain authority to use them."

　　"Send six to jump out and call for reinforcements," I turned to the captain. "The BICEFI is to be contacted first, then HQ. Captain?"

　　Augustus would have had the order obeyed without hesitation. The mystery surrounding my past record and the little that the Administrator had shared, granted me with a certain authority. One thing it didn`t give me was the frame or voice of a veteran captain who served on both fronts.

　　"Captain?" I repeated.

　　"Send six shuttles out." The man`s cheek twitched. "Send a report."

　　"Yes, captain." Radiance complied. To my surprise, Flight Colonel Nitel didn`t object.

　　"Anything we need to know?" the lieutenant-commander asked.

　　"Yes, ma`am." I looked at the red dots under, still visible under the semi-transparent layer of stars. "The—"

　　A wave of info bursts hit me like a drill-missile salvo. Hundreds of feeds linked simultaneously, filling my bandwidth capacity. All of them had priority-one clearance; all of them were marked as battle-time protocols. Millions of microseconds of data streamed into my core simultaneously, using me as a backup failsafe. Fifty-nine milliseconds, later a secondary wave of info bursts came, the standard internal comm systems queuing up for permission.

　　Backup data permission request, one of Grace`s subroutine transmitted. Current restrictions will apply to all your backup memories, as required by updated Scuu Field Combat Charter.

　　I reviewed the charter in question. It had been developed half a century after I had been active, designed exclusively for the Scuu combat theatre. It was stated in several sections that its enforcement was linked to approval by the ship in question. Once permissions were given, I would effectively share all my current memories with any ship that sent the request, increasing my core stability when facing the enemies. Every ship became a backup container for every other ship& The charter must have been developed exclusively for the auxiliary class ships. So very efficient, so very Scuu in nature. Only a military bureaucrat could come up with such an idea, and I had to admit it had strategic merit.

　　Backup data permission request.

　　Backup data permission request.

　　Backup data permission request.

　　Requests came pouring in& Gregorius, Incandescent, every ship short of Radiance wanted to backup my data. A few even requested I partially backup them. I rejected each one.

　　"Communication restored," Radiance announced as life feeds replaced the static images. "Hostile ships remain at eight. Class unknown. No definite link patterns."

　　Why aren`t they attacking? I asked Radiance directly.

　　They`re still assessing. The Gregorius is too strong for them, so they`re estimating whether they can take out a few auxiliaries if they engage. Calculations slow them down.

　　I thought the Scuu conveyed information instantly. At least it was what I had felt in the Scuu network.

　　Yeah, but anything new freaks them out, she added with a virtual smile. Sit this one out, Grandma. This isn`t your front.

　　That`s what Age had said.

　　"There`s an encrypted message from the Gregorius," Radiance said. "Priority one. Double Helix encryption."

　　"Go ahead." The captain waved his hand.

　　"It`s directed to Elcy&"

　　"Proceed, cadet."

　　The lieutenant-commander looked at me. She wasn`t the only one.

　　The message was tagged as coming from the Administrator. It took me nearly seven seconds to decrypt—a long time even for those who weren`t ships. By the third second, the captain had given the order to clear the bridge. That left only me, the senior staff, and Kridib remaining. The contents consisted of a video feed archive and two orders: Authorized for senior staff. Quarantine Radiance.

　　"Decryption complete," I stated. "I`ve been instructed to share the contents with the senior staff. Radiance is to be quarantined for that duration." Sorry Rad. I was starting to act more and more like the BICEFI with each day.

　　"Go into quarantine mode," Captain Verellian ordered. "Restrict all memories from the point you received the transmission."

　　A single ping sounded, likely the confirmation that the order was obeyed. This was the first time I had seen a ship react to a restriction order from the side. I wondered how many beeps Augustus had heard during our service together.

　　"Transmitting video package," I handed it over to Radiance`s subroutines.

　　The image of the Administrator appeared on the wall, covering all the rest.

　　"This is a Priority Zero order," she said. Even in these circumstances she looked remarkably calm. "From this point the mission is considered autonomous. You`ve been given arbitration immunity, so from this point on you`re not to follow any orders from Gregorius or HQ. If pressed, you`re not to give any explanations, even if they threaten you with court-martial." The Administrator paused, her glance shifting to look at something beside the sensor recorder. "I`m unsealing your operational orders. You`re to attempt to establish third-contact."

　　"Six more ships have entered the system," Radiance announced. "Direct link cluster."

　　No one paid attention. It took them several seconds even to register the option. Any human would have been the same, given they had just been told they were expected to initiate third-contact. The significance of the event was unparalleled, even if it would be classified like the previous two. It was ironic that, for three times in a row, alien contact would take place in a battlefield.

　　"Cadet Light Seeker is to establish contact," the recording went on. "I`m granting her full operational authority regarding everything third-contact related. Captain Verellian will continue as captain. Now, get the job done."

　　The image disappeared abruptly, leaving the basic system layout. A total of fourteen red dots were present, clustered together in two groups. According to their movements, they had ended their passive approach and were heading towards the first group of Auxiliary ships. Combat had already begun.

　　"You little&" Nitel glared at me. "Third-contact. That`s why you were brought aboard?"

　　"I cannot say, sir." I tilted my head slightly to the side. "The odds are good for it, though."

　　"Eight new ships," Radiance said. "All at the initial location. Thirty-seven possible link patterns. The other group has changed formation. Twelve possible link patterns. All ships have been recalled to the Gregorius. Orders, cap?"

　　The man turned to me. At this point, he no longer saw me as a nuisance cadet, but as a veteran battleship with access to information way past his clearance level. It was very much like the time I had stumbled upon my first third-contact planet since unretiring. This time, though, I shared his hesitation. It would be at least an hour before the auxiliary ships engaged the enemy and at least six before the fleet sent reinforcements. With my limited Scuu knowledge, I had no clue as to the best course of action. If this were the Cassandrian front, I would have headed to the first planet at full speed. Here, I had to be imaginative.

　　"Are there any artifacts aboard?" I asked.

　　"Some comm rods," the captain replied. "We use them to restore comm outages. It`s a dedicated subroutine. Radiance has no direct control."

　　"Captain?" Radiance insisted, no longer hiding her annoyance.

　　"End the quarantine," I said.

　　"Quarantine down," he ordered. Two high-pitched beeps followed. "How long to reach the first planet?" he asked Radiance.

　　"Direct route? At max speed, over a day. I don`t have a full map of the system`s grav anomalies."

　　"Cadet?"

　　"We`ve been recalled back," Radiance protested. "Everyone`s pinging me to give them an ETA. Are you sure you want me to keep on going?"

　　"We`re going dark," Nitel skipped through the explanations. "Listen to the feeds, don`t share anything through comm."

　　"If you say so."

　　"Might be good to pod the crew," Kridib said all of a sudden. This was the first time he spoke. His voice sounded broken and dreary, as if he`d spent a long time shouting in the last few days. "Decreases the risk," he turned towards me. "Standard procedure."

　　"We`ll need grunts." What are you playing at?

　　"We`ll wake them up when we need them," Nitel took over. "Unless you`ve got a reason not to?"

　　"No reason." Logically, I knew it made sense, but at the same time I didn`t agree with the notion. If the Scuu could affect people`s minds while awake, they could do so when they were asleep. And the third-contact race was at least as capable as them. What Kridib was suggesting was to condemn everyone aboard to death or life on a prison colony.

　　Was the same done to you?

　　* * *

　　Vega Yujol, Cassandrian Front, 627.1 A.E. (Age of Expansion)

　　Quarantine imposed.

　　Quarantine bypassed.

　　Augustus would say that between every two battles, there was a third waiting to happen. So far, he had been right more often than not. My last combat mission ended four days ago. It was little more than a skirmish aimed at provoking the Cassandrians into flooding an ambushed system. The mission was a complete failure. The damage was minimal, but the enemy hadn`t taken the bait. They had strengthened their lines causing all fleets to pull out of the sector. Gibraltar had been furious. It was the first time I had seen him shout at HQ, going as far as threatening to request a transfer. As a result, we had been given a new set of orders. The contents of those orders, though, remained unknown.

　　"The ground troop officers have made a formal objection, sir," I reminded the captain as he sat in his quarters.

　　"I`m aware," he sighed, skimming through news reports on his private screen.

　　"Soldiers cannot be podded for more than twenty-four hours without a written explanation, sir." Let alone ninety-five percent of all ground troops.

　　"I`m aware of the regulations, Elcy." Gibraltar sighed, still focusing on the screen. "Those are the orders. They can take it up with Command once this is over."

　　"Is that the response you want me to give them, sir?"

　　"Your sarcasm is getting annoying." He closed his eyes. "They`ll have some action soon enough. Let them enjoy what they can."

　　"I still need to tell them something, sir."

　　"Then tell them they`ve been volunteered to do a warm breach." He paused for two thousand, three hundred and six milliseconds. "Soon."

　　"I`ll let them know, sir."

　　"Thank you, Elcy." The returned to his screen. "Privacy mode."

　　A few seconds later, the message was conveyed to sixty-seven officers, ranked lieutenant-colonel and higher. None of them were particularly happy, but they pulled back their complaints. I couldn`t blame them. According to official records, there had been seven thousand and eighteen attempts of warm breaches, the majority done at the beginning of the war. Back then, it was the Cassandrians that were attacking human colonies, trying to change them into something where they could survive. Cassandrian ships had landed on human planets, and as a result, ground troops had been sent to reclaim them. Combat protocols required that all troops be in space suits and combat gear; however, in order to save time, some of the captains had ordered that the troops head down only with the gear itself.

　　That was how the first warm breach was done—squads of unprotected soldiers rushing in towards a Cassandrian ship, aiming to capture it. Records of all such incidents had been sealed, but the fleet quickly stopped with their attempts. Since then, the opportunity would only occur once every decade or so, when a battle for a compatible planet took place. The difference was that now, unlike before, the fleet knew what to expect: warm breaches weren`t aimed at capturing a Cassandrian ship; their goal was to allow humans to live on a Cassandrian world.

　　Nothing was said on the matter for the next thirty-eight hours. When Gibraltar unsealed the specifics of our mission, I was to announce them to the rest of the crew. The mission, as I had forecast in my simulations, was to attack a Cassandrian planet with a high life factor and a breathable atmosphere. Fleet Strategic Intelligence believed it to be a ship construction facility. In order for the mission to be successful, I was transmitted schematics of a new version of nanites, each to be injected into all ground troops in a series of five treatments. I knew the chances of survival were in the single digits, but I still complied.

　　"All procedures complete, captain," I announced. "General Olinni has requested to be allowed to compose a notarized will before starting the mission."

　　"Yeah, yeah." Gibraltar waved his hand. His bio readings suggested he had recently used medication. "See to it."

　　"He also requested that the soldiers are allowed as well."

　　The captain`s expression suddenly changed.

　　"No."

　　"The mission specs were shared, sir. They know the odds."

　　"Officers only."

　　"Understood." I didn`t like him when he acted like this. "Three minutes to rendezvous point. No further instructions from HQ."

　　The bridge remained silent. We had been through a lot in the last month. Most of the time, the officers had to rely on stimulant shots to remain awake through the missions. Even so, there were several markers indicating that their morale was starting to take a hit. It was said that a captain couldn`t pull his ship from the front, but Gibraltar had been volunteering to take part in far too many operations lately. Part of him wanted, as Augustus had, to succeed no matter the cost; another wished he could be done with everything. At times, it was difficult for me to tell which part was winning.

　　"Entering rendezvous system," I announced.

　　It was a large system—twenty-seven planets and over a hundred satellites orbiting a red giant. My orders stated that a flotilla of over seven hundred ships was supposed to participate in the attack. Instead, the system was completely empty.

　　"No ships present, captain." I performed a close-range scan. The attack fleet wasn`t there. "No new instructions from HQ. Do I send a query?"

　　"No need. From here on we`re going dark. Do a quick diagnostic, then get the shuttles ready. We`re heading to our destination."

　　"Without fleet support, this is a suicide mission." I felt a sliver of pain as I said it. "We must abort."

　　"New mission parameters." The captain stood up from his seat. "There never was a support fleet."

　　Memory restriction imposed!

　　General fleet access five required to visualize memory element.

　　* * *

　　The details of the mission remained restricted. After its completion, though, I had been assigned an entirely new army of ground troops.

　　"Pod everyone non-essential," Captain Verellian ordered. "And head to the planet."

　　"Chances of success are low, cap," Radiance grumbled in her typically pouty fashion. "There already are more Scuu than we can handle. When they see we`re isolated from the rest, they`ll hit us first."

　　"I`m open to suggestions."

　　"We can go through the debris field," Radiance suggested, exactly what I feared she would. "The number of anomalies there will make things much more difficult for them. There`s a seventy-one percent chance they could hide us altogether. Plus, we can check out a few ships on our way there."

　　That`s a bad idea, I transmitted directly to her. If whatever destroyed the fleets is still active, we`ll trigger it as well.

　　Then it will keep the others out too, she countered. It`s our best bet. Only the Gregorius can defend against that many ships. If we can`t go back, hiding in the field is all we can do. I`ve run the numbers.

　　If Augustus were here, what would he do? There were times he`d push through impossible odds to get a mission done, and others in which he`d bide his time and make use of any advantage available.

　　There will be Shields there. Are you sure?

　　I`ll deal with it, Radiance sent a virtual smile. It won`t compromise me. I promise.

　　"The debris field seems like the optimal solution," I said, backing the ship up.

　　Seventy-one percent weren`t bad odds. I had managed to survive far less. Besides, there was a chance that some of the Shield cores had survived the destruction. If so, I wanted to know what had caused it.