"Meus, stay here with the Grokkies," I said, ignoring her immediate frown. "Lyra, you're with her."
"Separating your strongest assets?" Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Tactically questionable."
"Or brilliant," I countered. "I need a fallback position if this goes sideways."
Lyra approached, wrapping her arms around me in what looked like a farewell embrace. Her lips brushed my ear, voice dropping to a whisper only I could hear.
"I might kill her while you're gone, you know." Her fingers traced patterns on my back. "But do be careful.
I pulled back, studying her face. "Try not to start a war before I get back."
"No promises." Her smile was sharp enough to cut.
"I'll take Zek, Rodriguez, and three others," I announced, watching Rodriguez's reaction carefully. Nothing visible, but something in his eyes shifted momentarily.
"Commander," I turned to Zyx'ara, whose scales had shifted to a nervous amber. "Zek and Rodriguez will need their own ships. They'll escort me."
"Three ships?" Her upper arms gestured confusion.
"Three targets are harder to hit than one." I smiled. "And I want to see how my officers handle themselves in solo flight."
Rodriguez's expression remained neutral, but I caught the slight tension in his shoulders. Interesting. He hadn't expected independent command.
"As you wish, Lord Raven." Zyx'ara's scales flickered briefly to rose before settling back to diplomatic gold. "Though may I suggest our newest stealth variants? The sand storms on HD207 are... challenging."
"The Nightshade handles challenges just fine. But give them whatever they need."
I turned back to Meus. "Keep track of my movements, but don't come after me. No matter what."
"Sir—"
"That's an order, Commander." I kept my voice firm. "I need someone I trust watching my back from a distance."
Her eyes said more than her words. "Understood, Captain."
The way she emphasized my rank told me exactly how she felt about this plan.
---
The Hyperspace Exit
Three ships in tight formation, the Nightshade flanked by Zek and Rodriguez in their borrowed Grokkies vessels. HD207 hung before us, a golden-brown sphere against the void.
"Perimeter scan complete," Zek reported through the comms. "No immediate threats, but I'm getting some weird energy readings from the surface."
"Define 'weird,'" I replied, checking my own sensors.
"Like nothing I've seen before, sir. Almost like—"
The sensors screamed warnings before he could finish. Imperial signatures, materializing from behind HD207's moon.
"Incoming!" Rodriguez's voice was calm despite the situation. "Five ships, military configuration."
I watched as they approached, waiting for the inevitable attack. But something was off. Their formation was strange—almost like...
"They're ignoring the Nightshade," Zek realized aloud. "They're targeting us!"
He was right. The Imperial vessels split into two groups, three heading for Zek's ship, two for Rodriguez's. None for mine.
"Evasive maneuvers," I ordered, already banking the Nightshade toward the nearest attacker. "I'll draw their fire."
"Negative, sir!" Rodriguez's ship took a direct hit to its port stabilizer. "They're actively avoiding you. Use that!"
Another hit, this time to Zek's ship. "Captain, we're losing maneuverability!"
"Make for the surface," I commanded. "Emergency landing protocols. I'll cover you."
I pushed the Nightshade between the Imperial ships and my officers, weapons hot. But the attackers immediately broke off, refusing to fire on my position.
They knew who I was. And they had orders not to engage me directly.
"Sir," Rodriguez's strained voice came through, "we're going down. Coordinates transmitting now."
"I'll find you," I promised, watching as both ships began their desperate descent toward the planet's surface. "Stay alive."
As I followed them down, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was exactly what someone wanted—me, alone, on a desert planet, separated from my team but unharmed.
The question was: who?
---
HD207's surface was exactly as Vault had described—Endless dunes under three merciless suns. The Nightshade's sensors struggled to penetrate the mineral-rich sand, but I could track the emergency beacons from both downed ships.
I followed them, skimming low over dunes that seemed to shift and move like living things. The technology connection thrummed in my veins, the ship's systems extending my senses beyond normal parameters.
There—two plumes of smoke rising from behind a massive dune formation. The ships, damaged but largely intact. And surrounding them, figures with weapons drawn.
Locals. And they didn't look friendly.
I brought the Nightshade in fast, weapons systems targeting the largest concentration of hostiles. No need to fire—the ship's approach alone scattered most of them.
Most, but not all.
As I landed, I saw Zek and Rodriguez pinned down behind their crashed vessels, exchanging fire with what looked like desert nomads in scavenged tech gear. The three other squad members were nowhere to be seen—either dead or separated in the crash.
Time to make an entrance.
I opened the Nightshade's hatch and stepped out into heat.
The locals turned, weapons trained on the new threat.
Then they saw me.
Or more specifically, they saw my eyes—glowing red in the harsh sunlight, a side effect of the technology connection that was growing stronger by the day.
The effect was immediate. Weapons lowered. Whispers spread through their ranks.
"Lord Raven," someone said, voice hushed with what sounded like... reverence?
I strode forward. This was Raven's world, and here, his reputation preceded him.
"Stand down," I commanded, voice carrying across the sand.
They did. Immediately. Like I'd flipped a switch.
I continued walking, passing between their ranks without a second glance. In this moment, I wasn't just playing the villain—I was the villain, and these people knew exactly what that meant.
"Sir," Zek whispered as I reached them, eyes wide with disbelief, "they just... stopped."
"Of course they did." I surveyed the damage to their ships. "They know better than to cross me."
Rodriguez studied me with an unreadable expression. "How did they know who you are? We're in the middle of nowhere."
I didn't know. But I wasn't about to admit that.
"When you're me," I said instead, "your reputation tends to precede you."
The truth was more disturbing. These people shouldn't know me. Shouldn't fear me. Unless someone had prepared them for my arrival.
---
"Sir, we're being hailed," Zek said, checking a portable comm unit he'd salvaged from his ship. "Imperial frequency."
"Put it through."
Admiral Korrath's face materialized in the holographic display, his expression a careful mask of military professionalism.
"Lord Raven," he said, the title carrying just enough emphasis to remind me of my current rank. "I'm afraid I must inform you that you've entered a restricted zone."
"Restricted by whom, Admiral?"
"By direct order of the Emperor." His eyes narrowed slightly. "We have orders to neutralize this planet immediately."
"Neutralize?" I raised an eyebrow. "That's a creative word for genocide."
"This is not a negotiation, Captain." The emphasis on my rank was deliberate. "The Emperor has declared this world contaminated. Our ships are in position to begin orbital bombardment."
"I'm on this world, Admiral. Along with Imperial personnel."
"You have one hour to evacuate." His expression didn't change. "Then we sterilize the surface."
"On whose authority?"
"The highest." Something flickered in his eyes—satisfaction? "I'm sorry, Lord Raven, but you are a captain right now. This is beyond your jurisdiction."
I smiled. "Then tell your men to go against me, Admiral. See how that works out for them."
The hologram flickered as Korrath turned to speak to someone off-screen. I could hear the murmured conversation—officers discussing the implications of crossing the Crown Prince, regardless of his temporary rank.
"Lord Raven," Korrath returned, his tone slightly less confident, "I must insist—"
"No, Admiral, I must insist." I let my voice reminding him why I am Raven. "You will stand down your forces. You will cease all hostile actions. And you will wait for my orders."
"The Emperor—"
"Is not here." I stepped closer to the hologram. "I am. And I will decide the fate of this world and everyone on it."
The silence stretched. Finally, Rodriguez stepped forward.
"Admiral," he said, his voice carrying unexpected authority, "I suggest you should withdraw to a safe distance and await Lord Raven's assessment. For now."
Korrath's eyes narrowed at Rodriguez, something passing between them that I couldn't quite read.
"Very well," the Admiral said finally. "You have twelve hours, Lord Raven. Then I follow my original orders, regardless of the consequences."
The transmission ended, leaving us in silence broken only by the howling desert wind.
"Sir," Zek said quietly, "did you just counter the Emperor's orders?"
"Apparently." I turned to Rodriguez.
"Interesting intervention, Rodriguez. Almost like you have experience with Imperial command structures."
"Former mercenary, sir." His explanation was smooth. "You learn to read the room."
"Indeed." I studied him for a moment longer. "Well, we have twelve hours to figure out what's so important about this planet that my father wants it destroyed."
"And if we can't?" Zek asked.
"Then we make sure we're not on it when Korrath starts bombing." I gestured toward a massive rock formation in the distance. "Let's start there. Those energy readings you detected earlier seemed to be coming from that direction."
As we began our trek across the dunes, I couldn't shake the feeling that everyone—Korrath, Rodriguez, even the locals—was playing a part in a script I hadn't read.
The question was: who wrote it?
---
The rock formation loomed larger as we approached, casting long shadows across the sand. But something was wrong—the shadows moved against the suns, shifting like living things.
"Sir," Zek's voice was tight with tension, "those energy readings... they're coming from us."
"What?"
"From you, specifically." He held up his scanner. "You're... resonating with something."
Before I could respond, the sand beneath our feet began to glow with circuit-like patterns—the same patterns I'd seen on my skin during moments of intense connection. They spread outward from where I stood, forming a massive symbol that pulsed with energy.
"What the hell—" Rodriguez started.
The ground opened beneath us, not violently but with deliberate precision, like a door recognizing its owner. We descended on a platform of light into a vast chamber that hummed with ancient power.
At its center stood a pillar of energy that responded to my presence, brightening as I approached. The technology connection surged, stronger than I'd ever felt it, almost painful in its intensity.
"The facility recognizes you," a voice said from the shadows.
A woman stepped into the light—tall, lean, with the hard-muscled look of someone who survived by will as much as skill.
"Who are you?" I demanded.
"Kira Valor." She studied me with eyes that had seen too much. "And you're not what I expected, Lord Raven."
"You're Valor's daughter."
"Yes." Her smile was sharp. "And you're the son of the man who wants this planet destroyed. The question is: why?"
The pillar pulsed brighter, responding to my proximity. Symbols appeared in the air around us—a language I'd never seen but somehow understood.
"What is this place?" I asked, though part of me already knew.
"Gateway One," she replied. "The first consciousness transfer facility. The template for all others."
"Including the one Victor used," Rodriguez added, his knowledge too specific, too certain.
I turned to him slowly. "How do you know about Victor?"
His hand moved to his weapon, but didn't draw it. "Some secrets aren't mine to share, Captain."
"But they're mine," Kira said. "And you deserve to know why everyone wants you here."
She touched the pillar, and it responded with a surge of energy that formed images in the air—a woman with my eyes, standing before this same pillar. My mother.
"The facility doesn't just recognize you," Kira said quietly. "It knows you. Because you carry the genetic key."
"To what?"
"To the Five Gateways." Her expression was grim. "To the power that could rewrite consciousness itself."
The facility's alarms suddenly blared—proximity warnings.
"Your Admiral wasn't lying," Kira said. "They're coming to destroy this place. And everyone in it."
"Why?"
"Because your father is afraid of what you might become." She gestured to the pillar. "Of what you already are."
The technology connection surged again, and this time I couldn't suppress it. Circuit patterns appeared on my skin, glowing with the same energy as the pillar.
"Captain," Zek whispered, backing away slightly, "what's happening to you?"
I wish I knew.