The Voss workshop was a testament to post-war engineering. Three stories of reinforced construction, with walls that could withstand acid rain and windows that could filter any known toxin. The building had been expanded over the years, each addition seamlessly integrated into the whole. It was part fortress, part laboratory, part home.
The main entrance opened to Xander's biometric signature, the lock recognizing him despite the dirt and exhaustion of their journey.
"Xander!" Mira's voice rang out from somewhere just inside. "You're back! And you look terrible!"
She appeared a moment later, her work clothes covered in grease and dust. At sixteen, she had already inherited the family genius for engineering, though her interests ran more toward theoretical applications than Xander's practical approach.
"Thanks for the warm welcome," Xander said, but he was smiling as he hugged his sister.
"You smell like wasteland and sadness," she observed, pulling back. "What happened out there?"
"It's a Long story lil sis. Are our parents home?"
"Dads in the medical lab. Moms at another Council meeting." She looked at Jyn, noting the way he was favoring his left side. "You're hurt."
"Just scratches," Jyn protested.
Mira came over and gave Jyn a hug. He was just as much a brother as Xander, just not by blood.
"He's got old Hollowborn scratches he didn't want to keep mended properly," Elesa corrected. She rolled her eyes and huffed "He needs proper treatment."
Alex Voss emerged from the medical lab as if summoned, his compact frame radiating the kind of controlled energy that came from years of precision work. His eyes immediately cataloged their condition— the exhaustion in their postures, the way they were all trying to look full of energy.
"Medical bay Jyn, come on, let's get you patched up properly now," he said without preamble.
"It's not that bad—" Jyn started.
"When has that protest ever worked?" Greg interrupted. "Medical bay. All of you."
The workshop's medical facility was small but better equipped than most clinics in Aegis. Alex had insisted on it, arguing that experimental engineering inevitably led to injuries that needed immediate treatment. The fact that it also allowed them to avoid the Confederacy's medical system, with its mandatory reporting and surveillance, was an unmentioned benefit.
Jyn sat on the examination table while Greg carefully removed the temporary patches Elesa had applied. The wounds beneath were angry red, already showing signs of infection despite their precautions.
"These need proper cleaning and sutures," Greg said, his tone clinical but concerned. "The claw marks are deeper than they look. You're lucky they didn't penetrate the muscle wall."
He worked with practiced efficiency, irrigating the wounds with a solution that burned like liquid fire. Jyn gritted his teeth, focusing on the familiar surroundings of the workshop to distract himself from the pain.
The medical bay was organized yet still in somehow hectic, like everything the Voss family touched. Shelves lined with labeled containers of medicines, both synthetic and natural. Equipment salvaged from pre-war hospitals and modified for current needs. And in one corner, a small shrine to Alex's latest project—what appeared to be an attempt to create artificial blood using Crystalist moss extracts.
"Hold still," Greg commanded, beginning the sutures. "The scarring will be minimal if you don't move."
"Scarring's not a concern," Jyn said.
"It should be. Scar tissue doesn't have the flexibility of normal skin. In combat, that can mean the difference between a glancing blow and a fatal one."
It was such an Greg response—practical, focused on survival rather than aesthetics. It was one of the things Jyn appreciated about the Voss family. They didn't pretend the world was anything other than what it was.
"So," Greg said as he worked, "want to tell me what really happened out there?"
"What makes you think something happened?"
"You mean besides the Hollowborn wounds, the way Xander keeps checking his sample containers, and the fact that Elesa's hand hasn't left her sword since you walked in?" Greg tied off another suture. "I've known you three for all your lives. You're rattled. All of you."
"We encountered strange things today, The Hollowborn are changing," Elesa said. "Evolving. They showed coordination, tactics. And they could sense us..." She trailed off, glancing at Jyn.
"They could sense my family's shard," Jyn finished. "From distances that should be impossible."
Greg's hands paused for just a moment before continuing. "Your parents mentioned that possibility. The shard acts as a kind of beacon for anything touched by dimensional energy."
"You knew?" Jyn couldn't keep the accusation out of his voice.
"We suspected. Your parents shared some of their research, their concerns. But knowing and seeing are different things." He applied a bandage over the sutures. "What else?"
They told him about the lab, the proto-Hollowborn, the fire. Greg listened without interrupting, his expression neutral.
"Show me the samples," he said when they finished.
Xander pulled out the containers, and Alex examined them under a microscope connected to the medical bay's diagnostic system. The screen filled with images of the fungal tissue, magnified to show the unusual crystalline structures within.
"This is... unprecedented," Alex said quietly. "The fungus is incorporating non-organic materials into its structure. Not just using them, but actually integrating them at a molecular level."
"That should be impossible," Xander said.
"Impossible by our understanding of biology," Alex corrected. "But if the fungus isn't entirely from our reality..."
"You think it's from somewhere else?" Elesa asked. "Like the shard?"
"I think the boundaries between 'here' and 'elsewhere' became very thin when the bombs fell. Things leaked through. The fungus, moss, the shard, who knows what else."
The door to the medical bay opened and Alex Voss entered, filling the doorframe with her considerable presence. Where Greg was precise and controlled, Alex was enthusiastic, though the Council meeting had clearly dampened her usual energy.
"The prodigal explorers return!" she said, though her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "And from Greg's expression, with quite a story."
"How was the Council meeting?" Greg asked.
"The usual. Trade disputes, resource allocation, and a growing concern about the settlements going dark." Alex's expression darkened. "They're planning an expedition to investigate. Military scouts with Confederate backing."
"That's a bad idea," Jyn said immediately.
"Why?" Alex asked, though her tone suggested she already suspected exactly why