“No, never for that,” she said with a conviction that commanded respect. “I’m sorry for the insensitive way I handled the whole thing. I was a stupid kid and a spoiled brat, too self-centered to realize or care about the harm I was causing. I’ve wanted to apologize for a long time, but I didn’t think you’d welcome it.”
“I wouldn’t have. Not then,” I conceded. “But I do now.”
She gave me a smile laced with guilt and relief and opened her mouth to say something else. But the doors opening plus the sound of animated voices silenced her. Those conversations died seconds later when they noticed Violet standing in front of my workstation, and me sitting with my back resting against the backrest of my chair. Eyes flicking between Violet and me, the Intelligence and Communications team stiffened, their tension thick enough to cut with a knife as they wondered what they’d just barged in on.
“Thanks for everything,” Violet said with a friendly smile. “I’ll wait to hear back from you about the key.”
“You got it. Have a nice day,” I said, being extra cordial just to fuck with their heads.
Suppressing a smile, I plugged the key into my computer and began analyzing the data while they continued to gape at Violet’s receding back.
Yep, it was good to let go of the past.
Frantically pacing the large meeting room, I waited for the last of the Warriors to arrive. With its dark walls and dark furniture accented with gold, you’d expect it to feel oppressive. However, the Xian Warriors had mastered the art of decorating rooms with the black and gold of the Vanguard while still making it breathe. The large windows letting daylight flood in didn’t hurt either.
I felt guilty about my excitement at discovering yet another pattern that had eluded everyone else. And this one was juicy. If my analysis was right—and it usually was—this could give the General a devastating blow. Chaos and Wrath looked at me with amused yet intrigued smiles. They knew me well enough by now to know I wouldn’t spill the beans until everyone was here. Moments later, Legion, Rage, and Raven entered.
I nodded at the three men in greeting, giving an especially warm smile to Raven. He and I had always gotten along well before, but becoming best friends with his mate Liena had also brought us closer. Rage looked at me warily as he settled into the chair on the opposite side of the long conference table from me that occupied the right side of the rectangular room.
“Now that you’re all here,” I said, not wasting time with pointless preambles. “I’d like to bring up some interesting anomalies I’ve picked up while analyzing the data Violet gave me two days ago regarding Rage’s upcoming mission. Initially, everything looked good; same old boring scouting round with the greatest excitement being cruising by some random asteroid. But then, I noticed that a few of our scouts had mentioned a strange whisper in their coms. They all dismissed it as a random glitch, and as was I, until one thing struck me.”
Using the remote, I turned on the giant screen on the wall onto which I displayed a previously uploaded simulation map. It covered a large region of the Kryptid space and bordering Coalition space of Surnog. The Warriors all stared at it before giving me an inquisitive look.
“All the whispers were received at the exact same time by each ship or nearby base, even though they were all light-years away from each other. While that had piqued my curiosity, it’s this next bit that convinced me this was no coincidence,” I said, gesturing at the screen. I pressed on the remote control and white dots appeared in a straight line with large gaps between them in the Kryptid space. “According to the data, this is where the electromagnetic pulse that created those whispers originated.”
Legion straightened in his chair, a frown on his face. “That is indeed odd, but I’m not sure what conclusion can be derived from it.”
“I couldn’t derive one either, so I requested additional data from that specific time from all of our other allies who hadn’t reported a whisper. And I found a bunch more instances, which updates the map to this.”
Twenty-two more dots appeared for a total of thirty. They formed a clear path, slightly curved in places, which led from the heart of Kryptid space towards its western edge.
“This looked too much like a path to be ignored. So, I asked our scouts to send out some stealth drones alongside it to get some eyes on whatever the heck is out there. That’s why my report took so long,” I added with an apologetic glance at Rage.
“Well, someone’s been busy,” Raven said, sounding impressed.
“More than you know, scaly head,” I said teasingly.
He frowned, which made me chuckle. Rage gaped at us. He hadn’t been around me enough lately to have witnessed my whole mischievous personality slowly coming back to the surface. The other Warriors smiled in that amused, brotherly—if not fatherly—way they often did whenever Raven was concerned.
“You’re no longer allowed to hang out with my Soulcatcher. Sonia is ruining you,” Raven mumbled.
“Pfft, I was ruined long before she came into the picture. Now, stop distracting me and focus,” I added, unable to resist the urge to rile him up a bit more.
Chaos snorted, and I winked at him. I loved that big teddy bear of a Warrior who had helped me keep it together when my life had all but been shattered by Rage’s departure. He’d taken me under his wing, given me the tremendous honor of becoming his Soulcatcher, and weathered my emotional crises and bitchy outbursts with the patience and understanding of a loving big brother.
“Did the drones reveal anything?” Rage asked.
“They sure did,” I said, being deliberately dramatic.
Flicking my thumb over the remote, I switched the image on the screen to a low-res video recorded by the drones. The Warriors gasped, tension rising in the room as they straightened in their chairs.
“Is this what I think it is?” Wrath asked.
“If what you’re thinking is ‘three massive breeding ships’ then you’re bang on,” I retorted. “The scans picked up thousands of Soldier larvae and Drone eggs on the two flanking ships. They couldn’t get through the disruptors of largest one in the middle vessel. So, whatever that one contains, your guess is as good as mine.”
“Where the fuck are they going?” Legion asked.
“Excellent question,” I replied, then pointed at the first dot at the bottom. “They are at the very beginning of the path, smack in the center of Kryptid space. Based on their general trajectory and speed, it will take them nearly a week to reach the final dot on the path. But I doubt that it’s their final destination.”
“Why not?” Rage asked.
“There’s nothing there,” I explained. “Well, that’s not quite true. There is an asteroid belt, which I suspect contains a lot of Taridium because of the high levels of electromagnetic discharges that mess up any probes or drones we’ve ever tried to send in the area. But the images of the belt show pretty closely-knit rock formations. So, whether there is an inhabitable planet or rock in that region, the breeding ships are way too massive and would never make it through the asteroids.”
“What does that mean?” Wrath asked.
I chewed my bottom lip, hating cases like these where I didn’t have a definitive answer on a situation.