Limbo was my least favorite state of being.

I drummed my fingers on the touchscreen surface of the conference table, not sure if I could sit idle in our lounge aboard the Evangiel for a moment longer.

The other members of my team seated around the table looked as anxious as I felt, their brows furrowed and lips drawn into scowls. In the week since we’d sealed the Master Archive, we’d hit dead end after dead end with our investigation into the Darkness’ origin. If we didn’t have a breakthrough soon, there wouldn’t be any worlds left to save.

“We can’t just sit around here doing nothing,” I insisted.

“We’ve been training and preparing,” Toran replied.

I shook my head. “But practicing isn’t action.”

Kaiden sighed in his seat next to me. “Elle, we’ve already been over this.”

I raised an eyebrow. “We agreed to give it a week, and it’s been a week.”

“As I recall, you set that timeframe, not the rest of us,” Toran countered. He crossed his muscular arms and fixed me in a level gaze.

“Yeah, it’s a terrible plan,” Maris agreed, flipping her dark hair behind her shoulder. “I say we keep waiting.”

“Look, if our visions in the Archive were even remotely accurate, then an alien invasion force could be coming any moment,” I continued. “Do we really want to sit around and wait for them to come to us, or are we going to do something?”

I turned to Kaiden for backup. I wasn’t sure if our budding romance was enough to buy me favor for my crazy idea, but if I could convince one of my three companions to go along with it, it’d be him.

He shifted in his seat. “I don’t like the ‘wait and see’ approach, either, but intentionally exposing ourselves to the Darkness is reckless.”

It wasn’t an outright ‘no’. I could work with that.

I smiled disarmingly. “We’ve already faced it once. This is what we were called to do.”

“No, we were brought together to seal the Master Archive—which we’ve done,” Maris said.

“You don’t need to come,” I told her. “But this is something I want to do, because I think it’s the right move. If there are any clues to be found about the Darkness and how to stop it, we’ll find them on the first world that was consumed.”

Kaiden sunk deeper into his seat. “It’s been more than three months since the Darkness appeared. There’s no telling what that world might be like by now, considering the transformations that have happened on other worlds in hours.”

“All the more reason for us to investigate,” I replied.

He examined me. “You won’t let this go, will you?”

I shook my head. “I’ll go alone, if that’s what it takes.”

Toran sighed. “I can’t endorse this plan, but I also dislike the idea of any one of us going off on our own.”

“So, you’ll come with me?” I asked.

The huge man nodded. “Very well.”

Kaiden threw up his arms. “All right.”

I looked to Maris. “What about you?”

She frowned. “This is a terrible idea.”

“So you’ve said.” I started to stand up. “All right, we’ll see you when we get back.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t go.” She folded her hands on the tabletop. “You’d all probably die without me.”

I smiled. “Let’s talk to the commander.”

The lines of reporting and leadership had been somewhat blurred since our arrival on the Hegemony’s ship, the Evangiel, two weeks prior. We were civilians, yet we’d been tasked to serve the government and military in an attempt to stop the Darkness slowly consuming our worlds. With the leadership having nowhere else to turn, we’d been given a degree of autonomy far outside standard operating procedures, and I knew it would ruin me for life.

We made our way to the top deck and proceeded to the nose of the vessel, where we were buzzed into Central Command through the main door.

Commander Alastair Colren rose from the lone seat at the center of the bridge when we entered. “Do you have news?” he asked.

The dynamic threw me off every time I talked with him. A hardened military commander in his fifties, and yet he was looking to me—a teenager from a backwater world—for a plan of action. My universe had been turned upside down in more ways than one when my consciousness was extracted and downloaded into my new, enhanced body bioprinted to my personal specifications.

“Not news, exactly, but a proposed plan,” I replied.

He motioned us toward the conference room adjacent to the bridge on the port side of the ship.

When we were seated around the table, I took a deep breath and spread my hands on the tabletop. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think we should go to the world that was first consumed by the Darkness.”

Colren’s eyes widened. “Why?”

“Well, we’ve only been to one world that was tainted, and that was when the Darkness was still in the process of spreading across the planet. With what we learned on Crystallis in the Archive, we now know the Darkness is some sort of alien invasion—transforming each planet to suit them. But we’ve never seen the finished product. If we go to one of the first worlds, we can see the result of the transformation, and maybe we can learn more about the enemy we’re facing.”

“While I don’t disagree with the reasoning, it’s a huge risk to go into that unknown environment,” the commander replied after a slight pause.

“You brought us here to help. Shouldn’t we be doing everything we can?” I pressed.

The commander shook his head. “Yes, but there are other factors.”

It didn’t take much to read between the lines. The Hegemony needed representatives from all three disciplines—Valor, Spirit, and Protection—to un-seal the Master Archive once the Darkness was defeated. Losing all of us would mean starting over. I hated to think of myself as replaceable, but the fact was that we were resources, not just people.

“What if two of us went to scout it?” Kaiden suggested, clearly thinking along the same lines as me.

“But the team—” Maris started to protest in a surprising turn from her earlier objections.

“I can’t in good conscience send all four of you into a dangerous, unknown environment on a whim,” Colren cut her off, firm.

I understood the commander’s reasoning, but I didn’t like it. We were stronger together, but I was desperate to have any forward progress, even if it meant only half of us got to go. “That might be a good compromise.”

“Magic casting would be a good complement to Elle’s skills,” Kaiden continued. “Plus, we already have two Spirit casters, so that minimizes the risks.”

Maris eyed the two of us. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s the only reason the two of you want to go alone together.”

My cheeks flushed in spite of myself. “This is about what’s best for the mission.”

“Sure,” she muttered.

I couldn’t tell if her reaction was coming from a place of envy about our relationship or just her incessant need to be contrary. Either way, I figured it was better to ignore her.

Colren steepled his fingers while he sat in thought. “Very well. That’s a reasonable course of action,” he agreed.

“Where is the first world, anyway?” Kaiden asked.

“The first planet touched by the Darkness was Windau,” the commander replied, seemingly unfazed by the other comments. “It’s one of the outer colony worlds—fewer than ten thousand residents.”

I straightened in my seat. “How long did it take before the Hegemony realized what had happened to the world?”

“That was before my involvement in the matter,” Colren stated. “As I understand it, several days passed. There was a report of a cloud in one of the crystals, and then it wasn’t until a supply freighter arrived three days later that anyone outside realized the seriousness of the issue. The world was already fully shrouded in the Darkness.”

“I guess it’s time we find out what’s happened on the surface in the three months since then,” I said.

He inclined his head. “I was hesitant to suggest it myself, given the dangers, but an investigation does seem like the best course of action at present.”

“And what about the alien ships?” Toran asked. “Can we help prepare?”

The commander folded his hands on the tabletop. “The accounts of your visions are everything we need at this time. The admiralty has already begun planning.”

“The aliens are close. I know it,” Toran murmured.

I shared his concerns about a potential invasion. However, as much as I wanted to prepare, we had no idea what timeline may have been attached to our visions. Beyond that, we didn’t have a way to fight the aliens unless we got more information related to the Darkness. Our new recon mission was the best bet for both countering the Darkness and fighting whoever was behind it.

“We’ll be ready,” I tried to assure Toran, despite my own doubts.

His eyes revealed that he didn’t believe the assertion, either, but he nodded.

“I’ll make the jump arrangements to Windau,” the commander said, rising from the table. “As always, thank you for the proactive attitude. I hate that all of our moves are now acts of last-resort, but I’m willing to try anything.”

“We’re committed to the cause,” I replied.

He nodded absently then departed the conference room.

Kaiden sighed. “I already regret this.”

Toran sat in silence for several moments. “It still unnerves me every time to see someone in Colren’s position unsure about what to do.”

“Can you imagine what it was like for him before we got here?” I asked. “He was in a command of a group who were sent down to planets and killed without warning. I don’t blame him for wanting people to volunteer rather than order anyone to go into a dangerous situation.”

“That’s the job of a commander—to make those tough calls,” Kaiden said.

“But we’re not soldiers; we’re private citizens. The most he can do is request we do something, unless it’s an order related to him captaining this ship. I think we’ll need to keep driving the investigation forward ourselves.”

“It’d be great if some of that involved worlds not already overtaken by the Darkness,” Maris interjected.

“Don’t count on it. If Kaiden’s and my upcoming field trip doesn’t kill us, that means we’ll have a lot more worlds we can explore,” I replied.

Toran paled. “That means we could visit our homeworlds.”

I nodded. “Not sure if I’m looking forward to that prospect or not.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Kaiden cut in.

“Yeah, we have to survive our visit to the first planet.” I rose from my seat.

Kaiden crossed his arms. “That’s not what I meant.”

“I know, I know. One planet at a time—systematic investigation and all that.”

“The scientific method has been drilled into me, what can I say?” He cracked a smile, but it didn’t touch his eyes.

“We’ll get to the bottom on this. Soon.” I took a deep breath. “Should we get out of here?”

Maris jumped to her feet. “Yes, please. The sooner you go do your thing, the better.”

We headed for the exit.

“I wish we’d done this a week ago,” I said.

“A week ago, I would have called you a crazy person,” Kaiden replied.

I frowned. “Actually, I think you did when I first mentioned it—in those exact words, no less.”

“That sounds about right.”

We walked through the bridge and out to the main corridor.

“There’s something I don’t get,” Maris said when we were in the empty hallway.

I looked over my shoulder at her. “What’s that?”

“We got that shard of the Master Crystal… so, why haven’t we done a universal reset?” she asked.

Kaiden and I exchanged glances.

“It would be pointless right now,” Kaiden stated.

Maris placed her hands on her curvy hips. “But why?”

“Yes, the crystal gives us a control point,” I replied. “That does no good, though, when we don’t know where the Darkness is coming from. It would just spread again as soon as the reset is complete.”

“But we know where it’s going and what it will do,” she insisted. “We can reset, evacuate the affected worlds, and then deal with the problem without everyone’s bodies getting turned to black soot while their consciousness is who-knows-where.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think a universal-scale reset would be nearly that straightforward.”

“Agreed,” Toran broke his long silence. “Having worked on the interface stations for local crystals, I have a decent understanding of what it takes to get to an exact reset point. We have a crystal, but we don’t have an interface console for it. If we attempt a reset, we won’t have much control over where it resets to. Unless Colren knows something he hasn’t shared with us.”

“Can you make an interface?” I asked.

He released a long breath. “I could try. Unfortunately, the only way to test out if it works would be to use it.”

I frowned. “And if it’s wrong…”

“People could find themselves a decade too young, or it might be after the Darkness has already arrived,” he continued. “That kind of reset would place enormous demand on the crystalline network—I’m not sure how it would respond. I also have no clear idea of what will happen to us at the epicenter. We could be unchanged, or we might end up back in our old bodies, too. This wouldn’t be the kind of reset we’re used to.”

“Maris does have a point, though,” Kaiden countered. “Wouldn’t it be better to save people now if we can?”

“I’d think Colren would have jumped all over that idea if it was reasonable,” I said.

“Agreed, and it’s not just about the risks,” Toran added. “There’s also a large logistical component. If we were to reset with the intent of evacuating the affected worlds, where would all of those people go to?”

“And which worlds will the Darkness spread to next?” Kaiden added.

“Wasn’t there information about that in the Archive?” Maris asked.

I nodded, thinking back on what we had been told regarding the information the Hegemony had been able to extract using their mysterious ‘viewing’ device. As far as I knew, they had been able to use the remote hyper-dimensional link with the Archive to anticipate which worlds would be infected by the Darkness, but the information was too vague to draw conclusions about specific timing. “Not enough details,” I replied. “We don’t know how long it will take to stop this invasion, so if we were to start evacuating people, how long would we be able to keep moving them around to avoid the spreading Darkness?”

“Not to mention, is the crystal shard a one-time use thing, or do we get multiple shots to get it right?” asked Kaiden.

“Good question.” I pursed my lips.

Toran took a deep breath. “Given that, I’d say we should wait to use the crystal shard as a last resort. If we do only get one shot, we would need to make it count.”

“Yeah.” I looked to him. “Maybe you should start working on a potential reset interface for the shard, just in case.”

He inclined his head. “I suppose that would give me something to do while you and Kaiden go exploring.”

“What about me?” Maris asked.

“I guess you get to go back to lounging around and doing whatever you do when we’re not planetside,” I replied flippantly.

Maris bristled. “I could use the time to test out my healing magic in the infirmary.”

I wanted to ask her why she hadn’t been doing that for the last week rather than repeatedly going over the same skills with us in an empty cargo hold, but I kept the comment and eye-roll to myself. “Sounds good,” I replied instead.

“Jump in T-minus ten minutes,” a female voice stated over the central intercom.

“The commander moved fast,” Kaiden said.

“We should get to the jump pods.” I picked up my pace down the corridor.

Toran took a deep a breath and shook his head. “No turning back now.”

I smiled. “Hey, you’ll have it easy.”

“Being the one left behind isn’t always easier—too much time to think and worry,” the large man replied.

Despite his tough exterior, it warmed my heart that Toran was such a caring guy on the inside. I really couldn’t imagine having a better companion to watch my back. “We’ll be in comm contact,” I assured him.

“So we can learn in real-time if something goes horribly wrong. Great.” Maris quipped.

I smirked. “Guess we’ll just have to avoid it getting to that point, won’t we?”

We descended the lift two decks to the level with our living quarters, lounge room, and jump pods. Several crew members were jogging down the hall toward their own pod rooms in preparation for the upcoming jump.

When we reached the pod room, we stripped off our outer clothes and weapons, storing the items in cubbies behind each pod. Hyperspace jumps were by far the most disorienting experience I’d had since leaving home. The first several jumps, I’d loathed getting into the pod. This time, however, I was excited—though nervous—to finally be taking proactive steps to stop the Darkness. Everything up to this point had been efforts to safeguard worlds so they could be restored after the menace was defeated, but I felt like we hadn’t done anything to fight back. As risky as it was to visit an infected world, I hoped it would take us one step closer to defeating our faceless foe.

“See you on the other side.” I reclined on the ergonomic couch in my pod.

“Can’t wait.” Kaiden smiled at me from the next pod over while he got settled in.

I secured my harness, then placed my arms at my sides and breathed steadily in preparation for the jump. Hyperspace was uncomfortable and disconcerting no matter how much I mentally prepared myself, but I’d found that being calm and centered did help minimize the bizarre synesthesia side effects.

The announcer gave a final countdown through the speaker in my pod as the translucent hatch extended to seal me inside. Moments later, I was pressed against the floor of the pod as we transitioned into hyperspace. My heart felt like it dropped into my feet and my vision blurred. I kept my breathing as slow and steady as I could throughout the jump, entering an almost dream-like state as we traveled without a clear sense of time passing.

When we finally arrived, the pod hatch retracted and I unbuckled my harness. Shaking slightly, I propped myself up on my elbows until my head stopped spinning, and then I sat up the rest of the way.

Kaiden had also roused. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey yourself,” I replied, climbing out of my pod.

“Ugh, I hate jumps,” Maris groaned while sitting up in her pod across from me.

I steadied myself on my feet. “They really need a better jump system.”

“The fact that FTL travel is possible at all is amazing,” Toran interjected. He shimmed his broad shoulders through his pod’s open top.

“Yeah, yeah.” I stepped behind my pod to retrieve my clothing and weapons. I slipped the black pants over my white base layer and then donned the black, belted overcoat. Knee-high boots with purple accents and my Valor artifact—a sword—completed my ensemble.

I pulled my long, fuchsia hair outside the coat’s collar when I’d finished dressing. “I hope Tami doesn’t freak out when she learns we’re taking another shuttle down to an infected world.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be having a fit on the inside while never letting it show.” Kaiden grinned.

“I don’t envy her maintenance crew having to deal with the mess,” Toran murmured.

“Hey, we’re the ones who’ve been down on the frontlines,” I pointed out.

He shook his head. “Elle, everything we’ve done up to this point is just a prelude. The real engagement is about to begin.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.”

Kaiden finished fastening his cloak. “You ready to do this?” he asked.

I placed my hand on my sword hilt. “I was literally made for this mission.”

Kaiden raised an eyebrow. “Really, you went there?”

I shrugged. “Hey, who said you can’t try to have some fun while saving the universe?”

AMY DUBOFF

SPACE OPERA AUTHOR

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