The Ghostline drifted quietly above Xenith’s lower commercial orbit.
Outside the viewport, endless traffic lanes glowed against the darkness:
cargo freighters,
luxury transports,
industrial haulers,
tourist liners.
The Xenon system never truly slept.
Inside the ship’s common area, tension hung thick.
A holographic projection rotated above the central table.
One planet dominated the display.
Xenara.
The restricted world.
Protected airspace.
Military patrols.
Automated defense grids.
No civilian access.
Exactly the kind of place Malak Voss immediately wanted to rob.
“So,” Malak said casually, leaning back in his chair, “we break in, steal the schematics, leave quietly, get paid.”
Brakk stared at him.
“That’s your whole plan?”
“That’s the simplified version.”
“There’s a more concerning version?”
Rhea crossed her arms while studying the projection.
“The buyer specifically requested stealth,” she said. “No open fighting. No casualties. Minimal exposure.”
Malak nodded confidently.
“Good thing subtle infiltration is one of my specialties.”
The room went silent.
Then everyone spoke at once.
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Terrible idea.”
Aya actually looked confused by the suggestion.
Malak blinked.
“…Wow.”
Brakk pointed directly at him.
“You wear a red coat.”
“It’s iconic.”
“It’s visible from orbit.”
Malak immediately pointed around the room accusingly.
“I wanted us wearing the Voidjackals jackets but apparently SOME people burned them.”
Rhea looked horrified.
“Because they glowed.”
Elias nearly fell out of his chair laughing.
“You added reflective silver flames.”
“They looked amazing.”
Aya quietly added:
“You wanted matching belts too.”
Malak pointed dramatically at her.
“Thank you for supporting my vision.”
“I was not supporting it.”
“Nobody supports your vision,” Brakk said.
Malak ignored him.
“I can absolutely be subtle.”
Elias wiped tears from his eyes.
“You introduced yourself dramatically during a fake identity inspection.”
“That guard was suspicious already.”
“You bowed.”
“It established confidence.”
Aya spoke calmly from the corner.
“You flirt when nervous.”
The entire room slowly turned toward her.
Aya immediately looked mildly concerned.
“…Was I not supposed to say that?”
Malak pointed accusingly.
“Whose side are you on?”
“The correct one.”
Brakk folded his massive arms.
“The assassin does the stealth mission.”
Elias nodded aggressively.
“The horrifying ninja assassin specifically trained for infiltration.”
Rhea gestured toward Aya.
“The literal obvious choice.”
Malak looked betrayed.
“I hate all of you.”
“No you don’t,” Rhea said.
“…fair.”
Aya finally spoke again.
“I can do it.”
Nobody argued.
Which somehow offended Malak even more.
The meeting ended shortly afterward.
Brakk returned to the armory.
Rhea went to prep medical supplies.
Elias immediately vanished toward engineering while muttering excitedly about stealth modifications.
Malak eventually found Aya alone near the dropship bay.
She sat on a cargo crate inspecting one of her knives beneath the dim overhead lights.
Silent.
Focused.
Comfortable in quiet.
Malak leaned against the wall nearby.
“You know you don’t actually gotta do this, right?”
Aya looked up slightly.
“The mission?”
“You being the one going inside.”
“It makes the most sense.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Aya held his gaze for a moment.
The ship hummed softly around them.
Finally she looked back down at the blade.
“I should help.”
“You already help.”
“This earns credits.”
Malak shook his head.
“Aya… you’re already part of this crew. You don’t gotta earn that.”
Silence.
Tiny.
Barely noticeable.
But Aya’s expression shifted.
The legendary Shadow Step suddenly seemed deeply interested in carefully adjusting equipment that absolutely did not need adjusting.
“…I know,” she said quietly.
But the slight color rising into her cheeks betrayed her immediately.
Malak smiled faintly.
He pretended not to notice.
Mostly because he enjoyed watching her panic internally.
“Well,” he said lightly, pushing off the wall, “try not to die.”
Aya looked up again.
“…that is your serious advice?”
“I’m very wise.”
“You crashed through a barricade three days ago.”
“It worked.”
“You were unconscious afterward.”
“Temporarily.”
Aya stared at him.
Then—
very faintly—
she smiled.
The dropship slipped silently through Xenara’s upper atmosphere.
No engine flare.
No visible emissions.
Barely detectable heat output.
Inside the cockpit, Elias looked insufferably proud of himself.
“I need everyone to appreciate,” he said, “that this stealth system is revolutionary.”
Malak sat beside him.
“You said that six times already.”
“Because nobody here understands greatness.”
Aya remained seated behind them in full tactical gear, calmly checking weapons.
Elias continued anyway.
“The thermal suppression alone should be impossible with this power distribution. Do you realize how difficult it was to redesign the—”
A proximity warning suddenly flashed.
Everyone froze.
A Xenara warship emerged from the clouds ahead.
Massive.
Dark gray hull plating.
Angular weapon batteries.
Dense shield emitters glowing faintly beneath armor layers.
The patrol ship passed slowly across their vector.
Too close.
Far too close.
Even Malak straightened slightly.
The warship’s sensor array swept outward.
Once.
Twice.
Then lingered.
Elias stopped breathing entirely.
The dropship drifted silently through the clouds.
No alarms.
No targeting lock.
Nothing.
The warship finally continued onward into the darkness.
Silence filled the cockpit for several long seconds.
Then Elias exploded backward into his seat triumphantly.
“YES.”
Malak laughed.
“You’re enjoying this way too much.”
“I am genuinely the greatest engineer alive.”
Brakk’s voice crackled over comms from the Ghostline.
“You say that every mission.”
“And yet I continue being correct.”
Aya quietly adjusted her gloves.
“You are loud for someone hiding from military patrols.”
“That’s fair.”
The facility hidden beneath Xenara’s northern mountain range barely appeared on sensors.
Minimal external infrastructure.
Buried power signatures.
Camouflaged entrances.
Military black-site energy.
The dropship settled silently inside a canyon several kilometers away.
Aya exited first.
Black tactical gear blended seamlessly into the darkness.
Elias deployed one of the newly purchased drones beside her.
Small.
Compact.
Spider-like.
The drone immediately skittered across the rocks and disappeared toward the facility.
Malak watched it go.
“That thing is unsettling.”
Elias looked offended.
“She’s beautiful.”
“You gendered the nightmare machine?”
“She earned it.”
Aya simply started moving.
Fast.
Silent.
Controlled.
Within seconds she vanished into the darkness completely.
Malak exhaled slowly.
“…still terrifying.”
The infiltration went almost too smoothly.
Aya bypassed patrols effortlessly.
Elias guided her through security rotations from the dropship while remotely piloting the drone through maintenance shafts deep inside the facility.
The drone eventually attached itself directly to an internal access panel.
Elias grinned.
“Got you.”
Suddenly the entire facility unfolded before him.
Camera feeds.
Security systems.
Door controls.
Elevators.
Internal maps.
Complete access.
“Oh this security architecture is awful,” Elias muttered. “Who designed this?”
Malak leaned over.
“Can you focus?”
“I am focused.”
Aya moved silently through a restricted research corridor.
Two guards approached.
Elias dimmed the hallway lights instantly.
One guard frowned upward.
Aya appeared behind them like a ghost.
Two precise strikes.
Both collapsed silently.
No wasted motion.
No hesitation.
Elias barely looked up.
“Nice.”
Malak stared at the monitor.
“You say that like she just parallel parked.”
“She’s doing great.”
Aya reached the central archive chamber.
A sealed containment vault sat behind reinforced shielding.
Elias whistled softly.
“Well that’s dramatic.”
The drone interfaced directly with the vault controls.
Locks disengaged.
Inside rested the prototype schematics.
Aya inserted the data core into her retrieval device.
Mission complete.
Easy.
Too easy.
Elias frowned slightly.
“…that’s concerning.”
“What?”
“This facility security is weirdly passive.”
Malak narrowed his eyes.
“You saying trap?”
“Maybe?”
Instead of disconnecting immediately, Elias opened additional research files.
Curiosity overtook common sense.
Again.
“What are you doing?” Malak asked.
“Looking.”
“At classified military research?”
“Yes.”
“That feels irresponsible.”
“I’m a scientist.”
“You’re a criminal.”
“Both can be true.”
Elias scanned through weapon data rapidly.
Then suddenly stopped.
His expression changed instantly.
“…what?”
Malak leaned closer.
Elias stared at the screen.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
“The weapon.”
Schematics rotated across the display.
Long rifle platform.
Massive capacitor arrays.
Experimental focusing chamber.
Elias zoomed deeper.
His voice lowered.
“Shields work by dispersing energy harmonics across layered frequency bands…”
Malak blinked.
“You said words.”
“This rifle bypasses the interaction entirely.”
Aya’s calm voice came through comms.
“Status.”
Elias barely heard her.
“The charge partially exits conventional interaction space before rematerializing on impact…”
He zoomed further.
“…that’s impossible.”
He pulled up energy output data.
Then froze again.
“Seventy-two second recharge minimum…”
Brakk’s voice crackled over comms.
“That’s useless in a firefight.”
“Exactly,” Elias muttered. “Which means it wasn’t built for firefights.”
Aya immediately understood.
“Assassination weapon.”
Elias nodded slowly.
“Or anti-command targets.”
Then while distracted and ranting scientifically—
he accidentally opened a quarantined subsystem.
Every screen flashed red.
ALARM.
The facility erupted instantly.
Sirens screamed.
Security doors slammed shut.
Malak slowly turned toward Elias.
Silence.
Elias swallowed.
“…that may be my fault.”
Aya sighed once over comms.
Then moved.
Fast.
Very fast.
Security teams flooded corridors.
Aya became a blur through camera feeds.
One guard rounded a corner—
—and dropped instantly before understanding she was there.
Lights cut out across entire sections.
Elias rerouted systems desperately.
“I’m helping! I’m helping!”
“You caused this!” Malak yelled.
“Yes but now I’m helping afterward!”
Aya vaulted through a closing blast door seconds before it sealed.
Another squad intercepted her.
The camera feed flickered violently.
Then stabilized.
All four guards were unconscious on the floor.
One had somehow been handcuffed to another.
Malak blinked.
“…how?”
Aya calmly reloaded while sprinting.
“Focus.”
Elias opened maintenance routes ahead of her.
The drone suddenly skittered into automated turret fire.
The feed exploded into static.
“NO—ELENOR!”
Malak stared at him.
“…you named the drone Elenor?”
Elias looked genuinely devastated.
“She had personality.”
Aya sprinted through another corridor.
“It crawled through vents silently.”
“Exactly.”
Brakk’s voice came over comms.
“Kid I am begging you to meet normal people.”
Aya finally burst from the facility perimeter into the canyon darkness as alarms echoed behind her.
The dropship engines ignited instantly.
She leapt aboard just as Xenara patrol craft launched overhead.
Malak immediately grabbed controls.
“Oh NOW I get to do something.”
The dropship shot through the canyon at impossible angles while patrol scans swept overhead.
Elias frantically masked emissions.
Aya sat against the rear bulkhead breathing steadily.
Completely calm.
Not even visibly shaken.
Malak looked back briefly.
“You good?”
Aya nodded once.
“…yes.”
Then after a pause:
“Elias is not allowed to improvise anymore.”
“That feels targeted,” Elias muttered.
The Ghostline exited the Xenon system less than two hours later.
No lights.
Minimal emissions.
Silent drift patterns until they safely reached deep-space jump range.
Only then did Malak finally relax in the pilot chair.
“See?” he said proudly. “Professional operation.”
“You triggered a military alarm on a restricted planet,” Rhea replied.
“Minor complication.”
“We are probably wanted now.”
“Temporarily.”
Brakk sighed heavily.
“I hate this ship.”
“You love this ship.”
“…that’s not the point.”
Their rendezvous point waited three systems away:
an abandoned refinery station hidden within an asteroid field controlled loosely by Ashfall Syndicate smugglers.
Neutral territory.
Or close enough.
Inside engineering, Elias projected the stolen schematics across multiple displays.
The rifle rotated slowly in holographic form.
Long-range platform.
Experimental focusing chamber.
Single-shot architecture.
Brakk frowned.
“That thing looks expensive.”
“It is,” Elias said quietly.
He highlighted sections rapidly.
“The weapon phases the energy charge partially outside conventional interaction space before rematerializing on impact.”
Nobody responded.
Elias sighed.
“In simple terms…”
He pointed.
“It shoots through shields and armor.”
That got everyone’s attention.
Rhea stared.
“That should be impossible.”
“Correct.”
Elias enlarged another section.
“The recharge time is absurd though. Seventy-two seconds minimum between shots.”
Brakk snorted.
“In a firefight that gets you killed.”
“Exactly. Which means it wasn’t built for normal combat.”
Aya studied the rifle silently.
“Designed to kill specific targets.”
Elias nodded slowly.
Then his expression darkened.
“And the energy math…”
He hesitated.
“…parts of this resemble fragmented Gamma Drive principles.”
Silence filled engineering.
Even Malak stopped joking.
“That bad?”
Elias looked genuinely unsettled.
“The Gamma Drive already barely makes sense. This thing shouldn’t function at all.”
Rhea crossed her arms slowly.
“So now two different governments are suddenly developing technology that breaks the laws of physics?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Brakk frowned.
“You think that’s coincidence?”
Elias stared at the equations rotating across the screen.
“…either this is the biggest coincidence in modern history…”
Silence.
Then quietly:
“…or someone found something.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
Because everyone immediately understood what he meant.
The First.
Ancient ruins.
Evacuated worlds.
Hidden research.
Government mobilizations.
Pieces that suddenly no longer felt disconnected.
Finally Brakk pointed directly at the schematics.
“We should delete that.”
Elias was already copying files.
“Too late.”
“I hate when he says that,” Brakk muttered.
Rhea rubbed her forehead.
“We are absolutely going to regret keeping a copy.”
Malak grinned.
“Future investment.”
“That phrase has literally never helped us.”
Aya quietly watched the chaos around her.
Brakk arguing.
Rhea exhausted.
Elias obsessively ranting.
Malak smiling like this entire disaster had been fun.
For the first time in a very long time…
Aya felt something dangerous.
Comfort.
And somehow that terrified her more than the mission ever had.