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“They
are fine,” it told her, “and we are going home.”

Too
tired to fight that thought, she relaxed into it. And as she did,
sleep reached up to take her.

Carson
Blake

He
awoke to the computer going ballistic.

Practically falling from his seat, he shook himself awake,
then commanded the computer to tell him what the hell was going
on.

“Priority one message from the Academy,” the computer noted in
an electronic tone, “there has been a Level Four
incident.”

Carson
blinked back his surprise. Level Four? What was
that . . . ? Alien incursion?

It
took awhile to remember what it was, because, in all his years at
the Academy, it had never come up.

The
Academy was part of the United Galactic Coalition, and the United
Galactic Coalition was by far the most powerful force in all of the
galaxy. It commanded almost 60 percent of the solar systems of the
Milky Way, and there were very few entities that dared disturb it.
Made up of over 90 different races, the United Galactic Coalition
had been peaceful for over 100 years. Yes, there were the
occasional wars with various alien races and empires, and yes,
there was always a persistent problem with terrorists and pirates,
but for an alien race to attack Earth? To attack the
Academy?

He
couldn't believe the computer. So he jumped to his feet and rushed
over to the nearest computer panel. Typing in several codes, in a
flash the enormous view screen before him lit up with the face of
Admiral Forest.

“Priority one message received,” the computer told him in a
bored voice.

“Admiral,” he shouted, “what's going on down there? My
computer just told me you're suffering an alien incursion. What the
hell?” He wasn't exactly being eloquent, but how could he be in a
situation like this?

The
Admiral's expression was drawn, and her eyes were even more hooded
with fatigue, but she didn't look as if she were currently engaged
in an epic battle with an alien empire. She just
looked . . . shocked.

Yes,
that's it, shocked.

Carson
rocked back on his feet, waiting for her to reply.

“I
don't know how to . . . begin,” she brought a
hand up and scratched at her throat, the move distracted and
completely unlike her.

“Admiral?” His eyes drew wide in reaction to her clear and
unmistakable confusion.

She
shook her head. “We have had an incident. Cadet Nida Harper has
escaped.”

“Escaped?” he repeated the word as if he couldn't understand
it.

“That . . . thing . . . the
entity—whatever is infesting her implant—it was far, far more
powerful than we accounted for. It infested our computer systems.
It locked us out. Somehow it controlled her body. We don't know
how. It broke out of the hospital and played havoc with our
systems. It somehow initiated an Endgame Manoeuvre,” the Admiral
shook her head as she spoke, as if she couldn't even believe her
own words.

And if
Admiral Forest couldn't believe what she was saying, what hope did
Carson have?

Because what she was saying, was impossible. “Endgame
Manoeuvre?” He repeated, completely dumbstruck.

He
expected her to shake her head, and explain she'd just been joking.
But she didn't. “The entity managed to have every single person in
the Academy compound transported out of it. No matter where they
were and no matter who they were.”

Carson
jerked back as if he'd been struck.

He had
never, ever actually seen an Endgame Manoeuvre. Because he had
never had cause to.

The
Academy had multiple strategies to deal with various scenarios.
Ranging from the likely, right down to the apocalyptic. And an
Endgame Manoeuvre was what you did when all else was lost. If the
Academy compound itself were ever compromised, the computer system
would eke out every scrap of power from every single generator and
use it to transport all Academy members off the
premises.

It was
what you would do if an alien army were assaulting the compound. It
was what you would do if a powerful weapon was about to destroy the
city.

And
yet, according to Admiral Forest, Cadet Nida had just performed
one. Or, if not Nida, then whatever infested her implant, as the
Admiral had put it.

Carson
stood there for god knows how long, staring up at the picture of
Admiral Forest, waiting for her to tell him how this all made
sense.

She
didn't though. She simply stared back at him, his own fear
reflected in her contorted, sorrowful, deeply confused
expression.

“Admiral,” he said through a croaky voice,
“how . . . ?” he trailed off.

“The
entity, as we are now calling it, is far more powerful than we
guessed. It can travel through material. From concrete to metal to
reinforced nano fibbers, it doesn't matter. And it can infest
systems. It can imbue them with power. That's what it did. It
managed to infect our computer cores, and triggered the Endgame
Manoeuvre, transporting every single soul off the premises. Then,
as far as we can tell, it took Nida to the space docks, and stole a
ship. According to the Earth's security satellites, it left almost
half an hour ago. We had no hope of stopping it; we only made it
back to the compound five minutes ago.”

Carson
didn't know what to do, so he found himself turning around, heading
over to the captain's seat, and sitting slowly. It was that or
falling down.

When
he faced the Admiral again, she finally appeared to have controlled
her expression. She stared at him with thin-lipped anger. “I can't
believe we underestimated it.”

It.

The
entity, as they were now calling the blue energy that had infected
Nida’s implant.

“This
is . . . ,” the Admiral said, but she didn't
finish her sentence; instead, she squeezed her eyes shut. Carson
could see from the skin stretching tight around her eyelids just
how pronounced and pressured the move was.

“Have
you sent ships after her?”

The
Admiral finally opened her eyes, and it was to shoot him an
extremely terse look. “Of course we have. But you, quite possibly,
are closest. Your vessel is equipped with a specialised relativity
drive that will enable it to get there faster than anything we
already have on her tail. I am ordering you around.”

“What
are her last known coordinates?” Carson asked through a choked
breath.

“We do
not know. The Earth security satellites tracked her out of the
atmosphere, but that's it. Beyond that, we have lost all record of
her. It is reasonable to assume that the entity has somehow
shielded her vessel from detection.”

That
was a very hard statement to swallow.

Not
only was this entity a terribly amorphous and ill defined force,
but how exactly could it snap its immaterial fingers and hide an
entire cruiser from sight?

The
Admiral appeared to realise just how strange her statement had
been, and she shook her head. “We know nothing about what is going
on here, nothing. It doesn't make sense. I know that,” she said
through gritted teeth, making each one of her words akin to a
snake's hiss. “But we may never find out if we let that vessel
escape. Our priority is to capture it.”

“And
Cadet Harper?” He found himself asking, his voice little more than
a light whisper.

“Our
priority is the entity. We need to capture it, study it, and find
out just how much of a threat it is,” the Admiral snapped,
answering his question without answering it.

Carson
wanted to say something in Nida's defence, but it was
useless.

She
was no longer anyone's priority, as harsh as that sounded. If the
Admiral was telling the truth, and she had no reason not to be,
then this situation had just become perilously
dangerous.

He sat
back hard in his chair, forcing his shoulders as far into the
yielding leather as they would go.

The
Admiral considered him with a tightly closed mouth and a brow
smoothed with worry. “Fix this,” she suddenly commanded. “You have
my permission to do what you need to, to fix this.”

He
straightened. “Admiral?”

“You
are the head of the Force, Lieutenant Carson Blake, and right now,
I'm giving you a blank check to get this sorted. Alright, not a
blank check,” she clarified, “but I am extending your powers and
upgrading your authority. I have a feeling that there will be no
easy solution to this, and I doubt throwing torpedoes and plasma
blasts its way can solve anything. This is going to take tact,
diplomacy, and investigation. So, Lieutenant, I repeat my order:
fix this.”

It was
unlike any order he had ever received. There were no clear
operational parameters. There was simply the amorphous fact that
the Admiral was asking him to fix what was wrong. Which was
particularly hard considering the sheer number of things that had
stuffed up here.

But he
understood the gist of her request.

“Though we are sending the entire Fifth and Twelfth fleets to
intercept that stolen cruiser, I doubt their efforts will come to
much. We have not yet tapped the abilities of this entity, and to
be honest, I don't want to provoke it any further. If it could
infiltrate our computer system and initiate an Endgame Manoeuvre
without any authority from the Council, then I shudder to think of
what else it is capable of. It can clearly manipulate technology at
a distance, and it can also protect itself. When the Cadet broke
out of the hospital, a security team tried to force her back.
According to their reports, though they shot at her, no bullet
landed. Some kind of force sent every object that neared her
spinning around as if trapped in a vortex,” the Admiral's
explanation was choppy and she paused for breath after almost every
word, but once she was done, she turned her pleading, but still
commanding gaze, back onto Carson. “Do what you have to,
Lieutenant. Try to intercept that ship, but if it doesn't work,
head back to Remus 12. If that's what you think is best. You're
closer to this situation than I am. I'm relying on you, so is the
rest of the Academy.”

Wow,
so no pressure, then? A rebellious part of Carson's mind
thought.

Then
he shook his head and really pondered what the Admiral had just
told him.

He was
on his own here.

“We
don't have time to send you reinforcements, and you certainly can't
return to Earth. You need to use the Farsight to its utmost
potential. Figure out what's going on,” she repeated.

Figure
out what's going on?

Him?

He
didn't deserve this task.

He'd
failed already, after all.

He'd
suspected there was something wrong with Cadet Nida for the past
several days, and yet he hadn't had the intelligence to do anything
about it. Though he realised he was being slightly unfair to
himself, considering how often he had tried to look in on her, it
didn't matter.

He
should have tried harder.

He
could have prevented this.

“We
will be in contact. You will have the full resources of the Academy
and the United Galactic Coalition Army. This must be contained,”
the Admiral said one last time.

He
nodded his head. As he stood up to salute, the Admiral ended the
call without a goodbye.

That
left him in silence. There was nothing to distract him save for the
constant, dull hum of the ship's engines.

Without hesitation, he strode over to the navigational panel
and checked his course.

Though
he could have sought out the locations of the Fifth and Twelfth
fleets, and navigated his ship to rendezvous with them, he
didn't.

As the
Admiral had already said, nobody knew where Nida's ship was.
Somehow, it had dropped out of sensor range. Which meant it had
already left the solar system, or that, indeed, the entity had some
way of hiding an entire vessel from the very sophisticated sensor
net of Earth.

Clutching a hand onto his chin as he tried to think this
problem through, it took a long time for Carson to decide what to
do next.

He
would head to Remus 12.

That
was the only strategy that made any sense. Yes, the Admiral had
ordered him to try to track down Nida’s ship, but she had also
extended his authority and essentially given him the power to
choose what he would do next.

And
this was what he would do.

He
would return to that planet, he would find his scanner, and he
would finally ascertain exactly what had happened to Cadet Nida
Harper all those days ago.

Though
it was good to have a plan, this time it offered him no resolve.
Because this time he truly understood there was no room for
failure, and worse than that, he could not afford to waste even a
nanosecond of his time.

With
Nida in a stolen ship infected by god knows what, the United
Galactic Coalition was relying on him.