Tanya found herself pulled into an intelligence briefing in Davidson's secure conference room, with Boss present as the cruiser held position near the storm front. The crew was making final preparations aboard the Vanguard before beginning their mission. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was still playing catch-up in a game where everyone else knew the rules.
"The situation on Eden-Three is more complex than initial reports suggested," Davidson began, sliding a sealed package across the table to Tanya. "Take a look at this intelligence assessment."
At least he was keeping his word about transparency, though Tanya suspected there were still layers of information being withheld. Trust seemed to be rationed carefully in this world of military operations and classified projects. She couldn't help but think this might be some type of test. To see how open she would be to helping them.
The report painted a disturbing picture. A massive tower had appeared in Eden-Three's capital district, it was not constructed, but manifested as if it belonged there. Tsu Williams had emerged calling himself "The Archmage" and declaring himself the planetary ruler. After initial resistance was crushed, he had withdrawn to his tower, but the artificial storm preventing food exports was slowly causing economic and social collapse. He used it as leverage to coerce the local population into accepting his rule.
Tanya studied the details, analysing the information for clues about her own situation. The description felt uncomfortably familiar. She saw it as a mirror of her own experiences with dimensional technology. Was this what she might become if she wasn't careful? Someone drunk on power, manipulating others through abilities they couldn't understand?
She was starting to see why Sage had limited her access to knowledge and power. Maybe Sage had seen this happen before.
"Sage," she whispered mentally, "I thought you said Tsu probably took the political leadership path."
//Correction: analysis suggests technomage development trajectory. This combines technological advancement with deliberate mystification by using advanced science while presenting it as supernatural abilities.//
"There's no actual magic involved?"
//Magic is inadequate terminology for phenomena beyond current understanding. The technomage path utilises dimensional science, matter manipulation, and energy projection in ways that appear supernatural to observers lacking appropriate knowledge.//
"And his tower is like our workshop?"
//Affirmative. A dimensional workshop. Uncertain how he advanced so rapidly. Approaching the tower will be extremely dangerous. Suspect his support AI may be unstable .//
Boss's voice drew her out of her internal conversation. "Anything useful in that intelligence, Compass?"
Tanya weighed her words carefully, acutely aware of the delicate balance she needed to maintain. How much could she reveal without exposing her own secrets? Also, how much was Boss allowed to know? Captain Davidson hadn't given her any guidance. The irony wasn't lost on her that she was becoming the kind of person who dealt in half-truths and classified information. She would have to adjust to her new reality.
"The tower is going to be impenetrable. Don't treat it like a normal building. The area around it will be a no-go zone, and any direct approach would be suicide. He can teleport people without their permission."
"Alternative strategies?"
//Tactical assessment: technomage capabilities significantly reduced when separated from primary focus items, typically a staff. Recommend they use my name to lure him away from the tower.//
"Your best option is to lure him away from the tower and overwhelm him quickly. Separate him from his staff—think of it as his primary tool. Take it away, and his capabilities drop dramatically."
Boss made notes on his tablet. "That covers the confrontation itself, but how do we get him to leave the tower in the first place? Guy's been holed up there for months."
Tanya hesitated, then decided to trust Sage's judgment. "Leak information that a special agent called Sage has arrived on the planet. Make it sound credible, like intelligence picked up chatter about a specialist being deployed to deal with dimensional threats."
Boss's stylus paused mid-note. "Sage? What kind of name is that for an operative?"
"The kind that will get his attention," Tanya said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. She was gambling that an AI's assessment of human psychology was correct, since when had her life become so surreal?
Davidson leaned forward. "You're certain this will work?"
"As certain as I can be about anything involving someone who calls himself The Archmage."
Boss looked between them, clearly wanting more explanation, but Davidson cut him off. "Trust her on this one, Boss. If Compass says it'll work, then that's the play."
"Understood," Boss said, though his expression suggested he'd have questions later. "We'll seed the information through local contacts and see if he takes the bait."
The Vanguard's journey through the artificial storm proved more challenging than expected. Tanya, safely aboard the cruiser but fully connected through the quantum link, could follow everything happening and found it fascinating. There was something almost meditative about viewing everything from a distance. It did miss the tactile feel of being there, and data could only do so much.
"The storm's changing patterns," Eyes reported during their second day of transit. "These aren't natural phenomena."
Through her remote interface, Tanya watched the energy readings spike. The patterns were too precise, too purposeful. Tsu had built this barrier, and he had made it smart. "Artificial storms incorporate randomised defensive algorithms. The barriers are designed to prevent predictable navigation routes." She was repeating information given to her by Sage. They made it sound like it was a perfectly normal defensive ploy.
"Well, that's just fantastic," Red's voice came through with bitter humor.
Each time the storm reconfigured, Tanya had to rapidly recalculate safe passages while the Vanguard tried to avoid the wild energies. The ship performed beautifully, but the stress of remote navigation through constantly shifting dimensional barriers was exhausting. She found herself grateful for the quantum entangler, as being physically present for this level of chaos would have been brutal but also educational.
"Exit vector locked," Tanya responded, her consciousness fully focused on the ship's navigation systems. "Jump now."
With that successful transit, Tanya could rest for a while between critical navigation moments.
Between the moments that required her input and while the team rested during calmer passages, Tanya found herself in the cruiser's observation lounge with Amara, discussing the future over coffee that tasted artificial and nothing like what she had access to at home. The contrast struck her as symbolic as everything about this military world felt synthetic compared to the genuine simplicity of Eden-Five.
"I've been thinking about what comes next," Tanya said, watching the stars through the viewport. "After this mission and once we're back on Eden-Five." Part of her wondered if she'd ever truly go back to that simple life, or if she was already too far down this path to return.
Amara leaned back in her chair, tablet balanced on her knee. "Let's start with the fundamentals. When you have revolutionary technology, you face a critical choice about intellectual property rights."
"Meaning?"
"You can sell the full IP rights to a larger corporation for a significant upfront payment, but you lose control entirely. Or you retain ownership and license the technology, maintaining control while receiving ongoing royalties."
Tanya frowned, considering the two options. The idea of losing control over her work felt wrong, but she was beginning to understand that maintaining control meant taking on responsibilities she had never imagined. "What's the downside of keeping control?" That was the way she was leaning. She liked helping the little guy, but still wanted to maintain some control over how her inventions would be used.
"You have to handle all the business aspects yourself or hire a team to do it. That means supply chain management, production oversight, and marketing. All of which takes money and time. There are also other considerations you need to make."
The scope of it was daunting. Tanya wanted to just focus on the engineering challenges, letting someone else handle the mundane details of business. Now she was realising that those "mundane" details might have a large effect on her progress as a shipwright.
"Such as?"
"Do you build your own supply chain or partner with existing manufacturers? Your own chain gives you quality control and cost management but requires massive investment. Partnering gets you to market faster but creates dependencies and potentially higher per-unit costs," Amara explained, her tone all business.
Tanya leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table. "That's the question, isn't it? What would you recommend?"
Amara didn't answer right away. Instead, she fixed Tanya with a level stare. "Before I make a recommendation, I need to know your end goal. Is it money? Power? Or do you want to be... useful?"
The question was aimed at the core of Tanya's personality and required her to be truly reflective on what she wanted. She'd been so focused on the technical challenges that she hadn't really examined her motivations. What did she want? The girl who'd built toy rockets in her father's barn had dreamed of exploration and discovery. But that girl hadn't understood the responsibility that came with revolutionary technology.
"Helpful," Tanya admitted after a beat. "I don't care about space yachts and mansions. I want to build ships that solve problems, such as rescue, exploration, and connecting colonies. Things that matter." The words felt right as she said them, even if the path to achieving them was becoming more complex than she had imagined.
Amara nodded. "In that case, you need mature partners, at least for now. People who already know how to run factories and move products. You can't help anyone if you're crushed under logistics before you even get to market, and we're currently only a two-person company."
Tanya mulled it over, wrestling with her instinctive desire for independence. "The next ship I want to design is an autonomous beacon vessel. Something that will open up vortex navigation. But I'd like to keep the navigation beacons under my control."
The idea excited her more than the business discussions. She could see it clearly, fleets of automated ships spreading navigation infrastructure throughout human space, opening up regions of systems that had been unreachable for generations.
"Then make it modular," Amara suggested. "Design the beacon system as a separate unit. Let your partners handle hulls, power plants, life support. You keep the critical section in-house. That way, you protect your intellectual property while still scaling production. We can start small that way."
Tanya's eyes open wide. "So I can license the beacon module as a literal black box and let other builders integrate it into whatever platform they like? Such as cargo ships, exploration craft, even military scouts or my own platform."
"Exactly," Amara said. "Flexibility is your greatest asset. You don't have to compete with the shipbuilding giants on their terms. You just give them something they can't replicate and make them come to you."
Tanya smiled, already sketching ideas on her tablet. But it was interrupted.
"What the hell—" Eye's voice cut through the quantum link with sharp urgency. "Compass! We've got a problem!"
Tanya's attention snapped from her conversation with Amara to the remote interface, her mind suddenly flooding with data showing the storm around the Vanguard convulsing like a living thing. The safe corridor she had calculated was collapsing, energy patterns swirling inward with mechanical precision.
"The storm's reprogramming itself," Ears reported, her voice pitched higher with stress. "The whole pattern just shifted in thirty seconds. It is acting faster than before."
Through the link, Tanya could read the data that suggested the storm surge was building like physical pressure against the ship. She braced herself for the Vanguard to be thrown into Realspace. Instead, the crushing forces that would tear apart any normal vessel simply crashed against the ship's hull.
Tanya was preparing for the worst, but the quantum-enhanced hull didn't just resist the chaotic energies; it absorbed them. Her mental interface showed the plating channelling the storm's fury, converting destructive force into manageable heat. The ship shuddered but held together, buying precious seconds.
"Well, I'll be damned," Red's voice came through the link, amazement clear. "The hull's actually absorbing this stuff."
"Hull temperature climbing fast though," Boss noted with professional calm. "We've got maybe ninety seconds before things get uncomfortable."
Tanya's consciousness fully merged with the navigation systems, using Sage's abilities to steer through this newer, more intense storm. The new navigation points were already mapped, she just needed to thread the needle to reach another safe zone.
"Exit found," she announced through the comm. "Displacing data now."
Through the remote connection, she could see all sensor data as the Vanguard burst back into realspace with trailing wisps of dissipating energy, hull plates glowing like forge-heated metal.
"Your hull modifications are officially terrifying," Eyes said, his voice carrying relief and awe. "I've never seen anything absorb vortex storm energy like that."
Tanya smiled despite the tension, her hand resting on her multitool. "She's tougher than she looks. Held together beautifully, didn't you?" she said, addressing the ship across the impossible distance as if it were still in her workshop.
Amara watched this exchange with interest, making notes on her tablet. "Remote ship operations," she murmured. "That's another potential service offering."