Location: Valkyr Perimeter Observation Ridge
14.7 km northeast of Fort Arclight
Sector: 4-Greyson, Columbia
★ ★ ★
The wind on the ridge was cold and carried dust. Below, the noise of human machinery drifted up—generators, the grind of tank treads, the rumble of trucks, the faint shout of a drill sergeant. A steady, busy hum against the quiet of the ridge.
Rizok stood motionless. His armor was the color of a deep-sea trench. His four eyes tracked the ADA vehicles crawling around Fort Arclight. A nuisance, he thought.
"They are loud," he said. The words came out layered, like two voices speaking at once.
The younger soldier beside him, Vorkin, flexed his clawed hands. "Should we wipe them out? It would be quick."
"Quiet is not the goal," Rizok said, still not looking at him. "They built their fort on top of something that does not belong to them. It slept for cycles. Now it is awake. Their noise is interference."
The older warrior on his left made a low click in his throat. "We retrieve it then."
"We clear the ground first," Rizok corrected. "Burn the structure. Then we take what is underneath. Have the Burrowers and Stingers ready. We move when the light is highest."
It was not a debate. It was an adjustment. Removing an obstacle.
The two XN-∆ soldiers bowed and turned to go.
Rizok stayed, watching. In his mind, the humans in the fort were already dead. They just didn't know they were breathing their last hour.
★ —. —. —. ★
Location: Atlantic Defense Corridor, ACI HQ
Pilot Dormitories
★ ★ ★
The shower water was hot. I couldn't feel it, not the way you're supposed to, but the steam filled the stall.
For a second, it was normal. Then the HUD lit up in the steam.
[Water Vapor Density: High]
[Ambient Temperature: 38.2°C]
[Estimated Clearance: 47 seconds]
I stared at the numbers hovering in the fog. Just to mess with it, I slowed my movements, letting my hands drift instead of scrub.
The timer adjusted instantly.
[Updated Clearance: 1 minute, 12 seconds]
"Okay," I muttered to myself. "That's creepy."
I killed the water. The second I toweled off, the HUD flickered, switching modes. A wireframe schematic of the hallway outside my room glowed in the top-right of my vision.
A tagged silhouette moved toward my door.
[Identity: Marcus, Ezekiel]
[Callsign: Burner]
[Rank: Flight Captain]
[Vitals: Normal]
[Distance: 8.2m… 5.1m…]
I froze mid-step.
It tracks through walls?
Knock. Knock.
"Paige. Mess hall's open."
I yanked the door open, trying to look bored. "Yeah. Coming."
Eze frowned. "You okay? You seem off."
"I'm fine. Just... thinking."
He shrugged. "Think on a full stomach."
As he led the way, the HUD dimmed to a faint, ghostly outline in the corner of my vision, but it didn't leave.
It was a smudge on the world I couldn't wipe clean.
★ —. —. —. ★
The Blackbird-9 mess was its own kind of quiet. The quiet of people who've used up all their words on fear.
Enzo was shoveling down greyish protein mash. Hana and Jae-Seong were arguing in hushed tones about thrust vectoring. Sophia sat apart, cutting her food into identical squares.
We sat. Eze didn't wait.
"So," he said around a mouthful. "How'd you do it?"
The table went still. Everyone looked at me. Even Sophia's fork paused for a half-second.
"I don't know," I said. It was the truth.
"Bull," Hana said, but she was smiling. "You moved like the sim was in slow motion."
"Maybe it was." I tried for a joke.
Jae-Seong pointed at me with his fork. "Confirmed. Frost is an XN alpha sleeper agent. His face always looked a little… mandiblish."
Eze snorted. I forced a laugh too. It sounded hollow in my own ears.
Because I didn't know. I remembered the surge, the Talon moving like it had its own mind. The HUD's cold, climbing percentages. That wasn't skill, that was something else living in my cockpit.
Sophia's eyes lifted and met mine, just for a flash, like she was trying to take me apart in her head and see how I worked. Then she looked back down.
Before anyone could ask more, the door hissed open. A Wingman stood at attention in the doorway, snapped a sharp salute, and held it.
"Sir," he said, voice crisp. "Colonel Holt's compliments. He requests your presence in his office immediately."
Hana raised an eyebrow. Eze gave me a look. Sophia didn't react.
I stood up. The HUD was already there, a faint glowing line superimposed on the floor ahead of me.
[Route to CO's Office – 172m – No Threats Detected]
It already knew where I was going. It always knew.
I followed the Wingman out.
I could feel their eyes on my back the whole way—not envious, just wondering what the Colonel wanted with the new guy that couldn't wait.
★ —. —. —. ★
The office was colder than the hallway. Clean too, like nothing ever dared stay out of place for more than a second.
The Wingman marched me in, saluted, and waited.
Holt didn't look up. "Dismissed."
The Wingman left. The door sealed shut, closing off the noise from the hallway.
I saluted. "Sir."
His face changed the second we were alone. The commander's mask slipped, leaving the man I knew. He looked up, and for a second, he wasn't the Colonel and Division Commander of Blackbird Division. He was just a tired man in a uniform.
"Sit, Lucas."
I sat.
My hands rested on my knees. We sat in silence for a moment too long, the kind that makes you notice the hum of the lights.
He watched me for a second before finally speaking. "How's the squad treating you?"
My voice came out flat."They're fine."
"Are you?"
It wasn't a squadron question. It was an after the crash question. A 'you almost died and now you seem different' question. He could always tell when something was off. He'd raised me after all.
"I'm fine, sir."
"You sure, Lucas?." His voice got quieter. "You don't have to handle it alone."
"You don't have to check on me all the time." I said. It came out sharp. Like an accusation.
He let out a slow breath. His shoulders sank a little. "Lucas. I've been checking on you since you were a kid."
I didn't look away. "I'm not a kid anymore, Colonel."
It hit him. I saw it. A flicker in his eyes, then nothing.
"Colonel," he repeated quietly. "Hard to believe you stopped calling me 'Dad' the moment you found that log."
I didn't say anything, because there was nothing to say.
"I'm here," he said, his voice soft. "Even when you don't want me to be."
I stood up before the words could make me feel anything else. "Thank you for the jet, sir."
He didn't say anything else. He just gave a single, slow nod. It wasn't a Colonel's nod. It was a dad's nod. Full of things there were no orders for.
I saluted, turned, and walked out.
The door slid shut behind me, sealing him and his quiet, painful offer back inside.
In the bright, empty hallway, the HUD pulsed to life.
[Emotional State: Agitated]
[Stress Markers: Elevated]
[Recommendation: Regulate Breathing]
I took a slow breath then let it out.
Of course it noticed. The thing in my head saw everything. Even the things I tried to leave in that room.
It was always watching.
★★.—. ★★