Confinement lasted two days. No tests. No visitors. Just the four of them and the oppressive silence.
They used the time. They trained their bond in secret, refining their silent communication, their energy sharing. They made love with a desperate intensity, each union forging another fraction of the Vitalis Core. They reached 15% completion.
Echo could now feel the life-force of everyone on the Forge station as a soft, background hum. He could sense the guards outside their door—their boredom, their low-grade anxiety. He could feel the distant, cold pulse of Director Kael, and the fading, troubled light of Scholar Varia.
On the morning of the third day, the door opened. Commander Selene entered, alone. She looked tired.
"The Council is divided," she said without preamble. "The Paragon faction wants you benched, deemed 'unreliable.' The Military faction, which I represent, wants you back in the field, where you're needed. The Scholars are caught in the middle. A compromise has been reached."
She handed Echo a data-slate. "You are being deployed. But not to the front lines. You are being sent to The Gloom, a disputed sector on the border of Ordered and Corrupted space. It's a graveyard of dead ships and lost colonies, infested with Corrupted scavengers and… other things. Your mission is reconnaissance and cleanup. It's a punishment detail disguised as a mission. If you succeed, you prove your utility. If you die, you solve a political problem."
Echo scanned the briefing. The Gloom was a hellscape. But it was also far from prying eyes.
"Who's in command?"
"You are. It's a solo squad assignment. Just you and your team. No oversight. No support. Just results." Selene leaned closer, her voice dropping. "This is a leash, but a long one. Use it. Grow stronger. And for stars' sake, stay alive. The war needs you, even if the politicians are too scared to admit it."
She left, leaving them with the briefing.
Ryn called up star charts. "The Gloom… it's where the last major battle between the original Order and Corruption fleets took place. The wreckage is ancient, unstable. Legends say reality is thin there. Things… slip through."
"A perfect place for secrets," Mira said, a glint in her eye.
"And a perfect place to be forgotten," Leyla added, smiling sharply.
Echo looked at his team, his bonded, his kingdom. They were being cast into the shadows.
Maybe that's exactly where they needed to be.