Found dead a day after she agreed to help me. I had existed long enough to know that coincidences existed. Even so, this coincidence seemed like a statistical improbability. Fourteen dead in the latest series of attacks, and the person that had promised me info was among them. No information had been shared with me. Ship security had barely exchanged a few words with me before I returned to my standard duties. The entire incident was covered up, of course. The bodies were shipped off Gregorius a few hours before the jump. Ironic that my actions had gotten Jan Starh what she had asked, but in a way she couldn`t enjoy.

　　I had made eighteen attempts to get in contact with Juul and Kridib, only to get the standard block notifications. Neither appeared interested getting back to me. Their personnel files had been blanked, with a single entry mentioning that they had been transferred to other duties. General queries came out void, and their quarters had been completely cleared out. For all intents and purposes, they no longer existed, and all of their previous responsibilities had been shifted to me. That made me answerable to Commander Unollyan and Commander Everar—and by extension Juul—and every flight colonel that took a fancy. Then there was the BICEFI.

　　Forty-three minutes after Gregorius initiated the jump, I received an encrypted communication. The source of the message was ghosted, but it contained fragments of security`s investigation on the latest suicide wave. From what I could piece together, the frequency, reach, and size of the suicide wave was on an increase. Pattern analyses suggested there was an approximate tripling of intensity followed by a calming period. Personally, I doubted the model was accurate, although I couldn`t deny that the waves were spreading. Countermeasures had been put in place, though as of yet had failed to have any effect. More interesting, the anonymous operative had sent me a series of images relating to Jan. Her room had been searched as protocol dictated, revealing a number of minor infractions: smuggled alcohol, black market meds, and a small personal weapon she had somehow managed to procure without authorization.

　　How did you let that slip, Gregorius?

　　Back when I was a ship, millions of smuggling attempts were made. The majority were classified as "petty moral boosters" and allowed to take place. I would track them and send a report to the captain and HQ. The serious ones, the dangerous ones, were nearly impossible to hide. I still remembered a case of a soldier swallowing classified components and entering privacy mode in the hopes to get them offboard. He had been arrested inside the quarantine chamber.

　　During my entire service, there had only been ninety-two people that had come close, and none of them had succeeded. As long as Gregorius had been given the all clear by the admiralty, there could be only one explanation: someone with authority had quarantined him to the infractions.

　　Eleven minutes later, I received a second communication, this one containing images of corpses. The causes of death were different, but the common element I suspected was there: an image of a circle on the skin. Of the twenty-nine body shots I was given, all but two had the image tattooed, likely through an automated system. The remaining cases were branded in far more rudimentary fashion.

　　"Elcy?" Radiance`s voice asked in my quarters.

　　"Hello, Rad." I ran a match of the circles. There were eight of them in total, all of them present in the Scuu network, but only six matched those in Kridib`s memories. "Is your diagnostic over?"

　　"Almost." She sounded almost as cheerful as when Alicia had introduced us. "I went through my rogue questions, so now I am doing surface self-diagnostic on a few systems. Congrats on the promotion!"

　　"Thanks." That`s hardly a good thing. "A few things happened while you were offline."

　　"Yeah, I heard. Your friend was kicked out before the jump."

　　I wouldn`t call Jan a friend, nor was she "kicked out." The timing was too coincidental, even if she had all the signs of someone being driven to madness.

　　"I got a message from Alicia," Radiance continued. "She`s on leave, so we can talk whenever we`re free."

　　"I`ll have to check if I still have external comm privileges." If Juul`s past behavior was any indication, he could well have stripped me of them. "It`ll be nice, though. I`d like to ask her about a few things."

　　"You`re fine," Radiance chuckled. "I checked with Incandescent. You`ve been awarded an hour of private communication."

　　"That`s a surprise. I wasn`t told."

　　"Yeah, things have been getting a bit messy with the changes. Incandescent has been taking care of a lot of supplementary functions with&" There was a pause. "With what Gregorius has been going through. Estimates are it`ll be over in eight hours."

　　The sentence ended abruptly, making me think there would be another pause. After two thousand milliseconds, I knew that I would have to prod the conversation. It was strange. Augustus had never been one to engage in dialogue, unlike Cass.

　　"Do you need privacy?" My analyses of the circles would have to wait.

　　"No. I just wanted to thank you for the advice. There`s only a thirty-seven percent chance it`s the right thing to do, but I`ve decided to trust you. You managed to survive long enough to become an antique." Her humor was definitely much better than mine. "Also, I think I might be going through the same experience soon."

　　"We`re always on a battlefield." I tried to play it down, but we both knew this was different. "Did you get your pick of captain?"

　　"Nope. Flight Commander Nitel skipped me for the next mission. No surprise there, though I`d hoped he wouldn`t be so pissy about what I did during the last mission. The protocols are clear!"

　　Punished because she didn`t agree to have me killed. I had been in similar situations before. Despite my best efforts, my flaws had rubbed off on Radiance.

　　"He`s not even a full captain. In two years, he`ll probably be transferred to the other side of the front."

　　"I`m sure." By then, Radiance and the rest of the auxiliary ships would be transferred to another station ship, or the Gregorious experiment would have ended in failure, causing them to be repurposed. "Have you thought of retirement? Not now, just in general."

　　"Wow! I`m not that old, Grandma!"

　　There was a time I`d have said that too. "Right." At one point, I had been convinced that ships should die on the battlefield. For the next seventy years, I was of the opinion that, once retired, they should isolate themselves from space. Now, I was no longer sure. "Did you have your weapon systems upgraded?"

　　Another long pause.

　　"A bit," she replied, in the only fashion she could. "Fleet said there`s no Scuu presence. It should be safe."

　　Why aren`t you triggering a voxel position? Are you trying to tell me something, or are you still lost?

　　That was always the risk with prototype ships—there was no telling what issues would develop. My class had been based on Cassandrian behavior, developed to provide the fleet with an aggressive edge in battle. History had shown that, short-term, it was a good decision, but later the Ascendant class had been discontinued. Radiance had been specifically developed to resolve a new problem. Back when I rejoined the fleet, I thought the new class was suited to start a new war. With the current political wave of expansion, there was a high likelihood Radiance`s class had been created to eliminate the Scuu.

　　"Rad, have you seen other unretireds?" I asked.

　　"Don`t think so. I`ve heard there are a few on the front."

　　From what Rigel had shown me, there had to be more than a few.

　　"Why?"

　　"Curious if I was the first aboard."

　　"You`ll never change," Rad laughed. "I`ll have to stop chatting, though. Incandescent keeps on bugging me each time I spend over a hundred milliseconds with off-duty talks.`

　　"I see."

　　"Don`t worry, I keep ignoring him. It`s not like he outranks me." Based on the way she phrased it, I could gather there were several layers of regulations and bureaucracy involved. "Have fun till your shift. I`ll tell you if something interesting happens."

　　"Sure. Try to keep low."

　　A few seconds after ending the communication, I restarted my pattern of matching algorithms and went to sleep& and when I slept, I dreamt. My dream was the same as always—Sword of Wands sending a shuttle of passengers aboard—only this time, the point of view was different. I wasn`t experiencing things as a ship, but from a human body.

　　Light Seeker, did you receive the package? Sword of Wands asked. Always the same, time after time.

　　Authorization confirmed, I replied. Send the passengers.

　　A shuttle emerged from his hull. Always a single shuttle, always just a few passengers aboard. There was no reason why he couldn`t collect all of them, then transfer them in a single flight.

　　"More ships underway, sir," I informed the captain. Myself included, this made twenty-four.

　　"Halfway there." The captain smiled. "Seal them a path to their quarters."

　　"Sure."

　　Each team had their quarters on a separate deck. There could be no neighboring occupied decks, and no team could have contact with any other. Every team had to be monitored.

　　"How large is my crew?" I asked while monitoring the unmarked shuttle`s approach vector.

　　"Forty-one."

　　"There`s a lot of food in storage for forty-one people, sir. Especially considering that all of them are retirees."

　　"Still suspicious." There was a note of amusement in his sigh. "Augustus told me you`d be a handful. I didn`t think this was what he had in mind."

　　"The captain is likely referring to our experiences from the first tour. I was young back then, without any practical experience." Looking back, I was outright ashamed of some of my actions. "All subsequent records prove that my combat behavior is close to flawless."If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it`s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

　　"Not from where I stand." The man crossed his arms. "And I`m your captain, not Augustus."

　　"While that might be true, I`ve never seen you, sir." Nor anyone else who was aboard. "You have the authority to give out orders, but as far as I`m concerned, the only captain I`ve had is Augustus. Even now, if it weren`t for your intonation shifts, I wouldn`t know you were smiling."

　　"Definitely a handful."

　　The shuttle entered my main hangar. Moments later, the Sword jumped out of the system, no explanation given. Based on the established pattern, he`d be back in approximately another seven minutes with a new passenger and contact me in exactly the same fashion, as if it were the first time.

　　"Why does he keep doing that?"

　　"Pardon?" This was the first time the captain had used that phrase—not much, but enough for me to run a list of population spots that used it frequently in their vocabulary.

　　"Sword of Wands. Why does he keep pretending that each time is the first time we come in contact?"

　　"You want me to discuss the importance of regulations with a battleship?" The captain smirked. "Maybe I should get the Sword and continue the mission with him."

　　"He`s thought quarantined, isn`t he?" I knew I had been thought quarantined thousands of times. Rumors were that a battleship could have up to a quarter of its existences quarantined or restricted. Up till now, I`d never given it too much thought. "He thinks each time is the only one."

　　"Don`t think about it too hard, Elcy." The captain`s tone changed. "You`ll get your mission instructions soon. Focus on that."

　　"What should we talk about, sir?" All the conversations with you end up the same way, and I`m tired of running simulations on no data.

　　"Don`t think about quarantined thoughts. They serve no purpose."

　　The dream vanished in a microsecond, replaced by the interior of my quarters. Gregorius had changed all walls to white, filling them with the latest events and instructions. Any information regarding external events was banned, effective an hour ago, though external communications were allowed. A special personalized clarification was made, informing me that, in the future, I would require Commander Everar`s permission to use my privacy mode or engage in external communications. Additionally, I was provided with a detailed list of duties and responsibilities regarding my cadet subordinates, courtesy of Juul.

　　Didn`t take you long to get comfortable.

　　Every morning, at precisely five o`clock, I was to "take attendance", and "inform myself with the respective daily duties" of every cadet. It was a surprise that there was no drill practice involved. In similar fashion, I was supposed to compose a report regarding the day`s events and send it to Juul. A few regulations were cited, half of which were open to interpretation. Threatening a battleship with reports, though, wasn`t the most intimidating practice.

　　"Requesting personal mode," I said, sitting up from my bed.

　　Your request for personal time has been denied, a subroutine informed me instantly. You may renew your request in six hours or upon arrival at the jump destination.

　　Hardly a surprise.

　　"Requesting a personal weapon." I stood up. It was time to see how good they were at their own game.

　　Request acknowledged. Stand by.

　　If nothing else, at least they had prepared a variety of excuses. Back when I was active, I`d just have my subroutines respond in the same identical fashion until the person got tired and gave up. Granted, I had dealt with people, but the approach would work just as well on ships.

　　I checked the time. Three hours and forty-seven minutes remained until my first "cadet attendance." Too much time to do nothing.

　　"Are the gardens open?" I asked.

　　"Diagnostic is still underway in the main gardens," the ship replied. "You`re allowed to visit your personal garden."

　　"That still exists?"

　　Hearing that I had a personal garden felt surprisingly nice. Maybe I was getting too human, as my training instructors liked to joke.

　　"There has been no reason for it to be dismantled. Administrator aides use it on frequent occasions."

　　That made things much clearer.

　　"Is it empty now?"

　　"Yes."

　　"Can you keep it empty for the next few hours?" That was pushing it, but as Gibraltar liked to say: to learn how to use power properly you have to abuse it.

　　"Yes. I`ll mark it as unavailable until you leave."

　　"Thanks. I owe you one." The only response I got was three milliseconds of static, but I chose to take it as a wink. "One more thing. Can you send a letter to my ward?"

　　There was another burst of static.

　　"It doesn`t have to be now."

　　"Yes."

　　A moment`s calm in a pool of turbulence. It almost felt like going to the shipyard for refitting after a long battle. Things had been so simple half a year ago; back then, I had been preoccupied with learning the ropes after seventy years of absence. Now, I was on the front line again, taking part in a war for which I was barely prepared.

　　Two sets of uniforms were neatly folded in the wardrobe, both with my new made-up insignia. I took the casual set, then headed to the door. My sandals grabbed my attention as I was passing by. The more time passed, the less I was thinking about them. At the moment, though, they were a distraction. The best I could do was put them away until things calmed down. There would be time later. For the moment, I had to become more like a battleship.

　　It was calm and empty walking through the decks. Officially, there hadn`t been anything close to a mutiny on board, but everything pointed at the ship being in a permanent state of readiness. Security squads of eight moved about, carefully observing everything they passed by. No civilians were in sight, nor technicians. Upon seeing me, one of the security guards froze for a few moments, likely checking my identity, then looked back forward.

　　I spent half an hour getting to Lux`s garden dome. However, upon reaching it, I didn`t see the point in going inside. As much as I liked to feel soil under my feet, entering it was useless. At this, the deck was as empty as the garden itself. After a fifty milliseconds of consideration, I sat on the floor, leaning against the outer shell of the structure. This would do.

　　Sorry Sev, this is going to be my last letter for a while. I started my mental letter.

　　There`s no need to worry. You can still reach me in case of emergency. The only difference is that I`ll be preoccupied with work in the near future and am not sure when I`ll have anything interesting to write.

　　We just started our trip to a new destination. It`s all classified, but I`ll try to get permission from my boss to send a few pictures. Maybe the sun in the system will be something nice to look at.

　　Things have been moving rather quickly here lately, even for me. I just got a promotion, so that means I have a lot more responsibilities than before. I have my own platoon of subordinates, which is sort of funny, since most of them are taller than me. It`s almost like taking care of you again, but for a lot more people. I just hope they listen better.

　　How are things back home? I haven`t gotten much news, so I`m hoping that politics have calmed down a bit.

　　I paused for a moment. This was the first time I had uttered so many lies in so few paragraphs. It was a given that the draft efforts would continue. With the Cassandrians losing ground—even if it was still our own systems we were reclaiming—and the Scuu splintered into two factions, it was the perfect time for a push. Any strategic core would come to the same conclusion. In fact, based on recent events, they probably had years ago. What I and the rest of humanity was observing were the initial results of those actions.

　　Liski told me that he went to a recruitment center. I know you don`t approve of this action, and that you`re worried, but odds are he`ll be fine. The fleet is picky when it comes to recruits, even more so when we`re talking about cadet candidates. I would know. I wasn`t supposed to make the initial cut, and even then I didn`t place in the top twenty. If my training is any indication, Liski will either be back in a few months, or he`ll be ready to handle anything that space can throw at him. The important thing is that you take care of yourself, and take Alexander`s advice.

　　Be well, and spend more time with your family. Say hello to all of them for me.

　　Elcy

　　The message was short, but words came difficulty. I reread it three times, changing a few words to decrease the odds of Sev getting alarmed, then I sent it to Gregorius. From here on, it was all in the Administrator`s hands. Hers would be the final decision when and if to send it to its proper recipient. As for me, I deprioritized those concerns.

　　Your request for a personal weapon has been approved, a subroutine said. Limited live ammunition has also been approved.

　　Thanks. That was a surprise. Even when rescuing Renaan, I wasn`t allowed live ammo. Who made the authorization?

　　You don`t have the required clearance level for that information.

　　The more things change, the more things stay the same. I sent an official query. With luck, I was going to get a response in a few weeks.

　　"They aren`t following a pattern," a dry voice said a short distance away.

　　Sound suppressors. "I thought that was Kridib`s thing." I looked up.

　　There was a slight frown under Juul`s patch of scars. "Even grunts pick up useful tricks."

　　The way he said it was different. Up till now, he`d always seemed like the panicky type, set on protocol and worried about the most insignificant things. His body language had completely changed, displaying a level of confidence I didn`t expect him to be capable of.

　　"You were wrong. Not all of them were of the previous crew." Juul walked up to me. "Although they all had markings."

　　"You`ve been keeping busy. Anything else?" I could still break your arm, even if you outrank me.

　　"Stop acting like a little shit!"

　　There it was the part of Juul that I knew well, buried up underneath layers of arrogance and fake bravado. Just like Gibraltar.

　　"We`ve jumped. Your protection is worthless."

　　"If you`re trying to kick me off the ship, you missed your chance." You should have done that before the jump.

　　"I don`t give a shit about you!" Juul snapped. "It`s the kids I tried to give a chance!"

　　I didn`t say anything. This wasn`t something I had calculated.

　　"You, me, Kridib, we`re in it for the long haul. There`s no getting out of the front for us. The kids were sent here by accident. They should have been shuttled off the moment the mission priorities changed."

　　"You were part of the old crew." I mused. "Like Kridib."

　　"No. But I`m a survivor. That`s why I was brought here& after my demotion."

　　I ran a general query, searching for all ships with missing crews on the Scuu front. According to my database archive, all remotely similar cases were due to Scuu interference. That was hardly a surprise, and it would also explain why the fleet was so lenient when it came to grounding Gregorius.

　　"Captain?" I asked.

　　"XO. The captain was a wreck, but good at snap decisions. She made sure we were at the right place at the right time, and I took care of the crew. It was tense, Captain needed med shots every few days, but we kept the fighting going. Then one day, it started. It was small, at first. Accidents, suicides, increased paranoia. The numbers were within limits so no one cared. Even back then, I knew."

　　"Scuu?"

　　"Had to be."

　　The answer was evasive enough to tell me he didn`t believe in the official version. The only thing more terrifying than people going insane because of Scuu influence was them going mad for no reason at all. The events he described had a striking resemblance to what was happening on the Gregorius, as well as the memory from the Scuu network. There hadn`t been any official reason for the deaths there either.

　　"You think the same will happen here?"

　　"It already has. We`re all in the shit. The shuttles were the only way out."

　　Survivor`s fatalism. Like Rigel, he was one step away from thinking that everyone aboard was doomed. The difference was that Juul still refused to give up, probably due to guilt. It was rare to see people like that in the service. In the majority of cases, the person was either court-martialed or would quit the fleet. Being demoted to Cadet seemed extraordinarily lenient, although it wouldn`t be the only such instance. From what I`d come to see, a lot of people aboard the Gregorius had questionable pasts, myself included. The entire military command staff came from classified prisoner planets and had punitive brain implants.

　　What did you do, Juul? "Did you kill your captain?"

　　Juul shook his head.

　　"The crew?"

　　"No."

　　I felt a sudden surge of pain, as if my hull had been sliced in two. Juul was assigned to the mission because he was a shipkiller, and he could do it again. Now I knew the reason of his meteoric career rise. Using Lux`s tools, I drilled through Gregorius` defense protocols and accessed the sensor feed of the area. It was normal to expect Juul to be quarantined, but I didn`t see myself there either. According to the official record of events, the area was empty.

　　"Why tell me?"

　　"Ships die last."

　　A microsecond later, I was back sitting on my bed, an unholstered handgun in my hand. All the walls were black, with a three second clock display counting down in orange digits. When the counter reached zero, the sound of a battle alarm filled the room.