Noah looked at her for a moment. Then he gestured to an open post.

He walked her through it the same way he walked everyone through it. The concept first. What the technique was actually doing and why. Then the mechanics. Then he demonstrated once, the sound of it distinct and clean, and watched her process it.

She tried it.

First attempt, nothing special. She hit it the way someone hit something they were unfamiliar with, too much surface, force spreading out instead of going through.

"Again," Noah said. "Think about a point inside the post. That’s what you’re hitting."

She tried again.

Closer.

Seraleth had drifted over from her group. She watched Le’anna’s third attempt, then her fourth, then on the fifth when the sound changed slightly Seraleth tilted her head.

"There," Seraleth said. "You felt that."

Le’anna looked at the post. Then at her hand. "Yes."

"Again," Seraleth said.

Le’anna hit it again and this time the mark it left was noticeably cleaner than the first attempts.

"Your tail," Seraleth said. "Does it have strength in it."

Le’anna looked at her. "Yes."

"Once you have full mastery," Seraleth said, "you could use it the same way. Another point of contact. Another strike."

Le’anna looked at her tail. Then at Seraleth. Then something happened in her expression that was the closest thing to a genuine smile she had produced since coming aboard.

Seraleth smiled back.

Noah backed away and left them because he had another appointment with Lucas.

---

The planning room on the Eternal Pyre was not large but it had a holographic display table that Mira’s team had loaded with everything the fleet’s scouts had gathered on the Valdris Expanse, the blue planet, and now the updated sector data based on Le’anna’s coordinates.

Noah stood on one side of the table with his arms folded. Lucas stood beside him. Calder was across from them, and he had been in planning rooms his whole career because the way he moved through this one said so, the way he looked at the display and immediately started identifying reference points.

The hologram showed the blue planet rotating slowly. Landmasses, ocean coverage, atmospheric data from the scout drones. Around it, orbital markers where the scout ships had detected energy signatures consistent with Harbinger activity.

’It looks peaceful from here,’ Noah thought. ’Four hundred million people going about whatever their version of normal is. No idea.’

"Drop pod entry points," Lucas said, pulling up an overlay. "Based on standard Harbinger invasion doctrine, they’d want maximum dispersal across population centers. Simultaneous impacts to split the defensive response before it can form."

"That matches what Le’anna described," Calder said. "On her planet they came in across multiple sites. By the time her people understood what was happening they were already fighting on six fronts."

"Simultaneous multipoint entry," Lucas said. "Classic. Creates immediate chaos, prevents coordinated response, establishes multiple beachheads before any organized defense can push back."

’Six fronts,’ Noah thought. ’Her people had twelve soldiers to a one horn and lost four every time. Six simultaneous engagements. The math on that is ugly.’

"The energy source," Noah said, looking at Calder. "You mentioned EDF identified something on Le’anna’s planet."

Calder nodded. "First contact team flagged it in their initial report. Something in the planet’s geology. Not beast crystal, not any energy type in our existing database. Something different. The EDF wanted to study it, which was part of why the aide contract got approved so fast." He looked at the display. "The working theory was that it was a naturally occurring void adjacent energy source. Deep in the planet’s crust."

"And you think the blue planet has the same thing," Lucas said.

"The sector data matches," Calder said. "The energy readings that Harbinger scouts have been drawn to in this region. The pattern of which planets they’ve hit versus which ones they’ve ignored." He pointed at the display. "They’re not randomly attacking civilizations out here. They’re moving toward specific geological signatures. Whatever this energy source is, Harbingers want it."

’Which means Kruel isn’t on that planet by accident,’ Noah thought. ’He didn’t drift there. He went there. Two years. Whatever’s in that planet’s crust, he’s been sitting on top of it for two years.’

"So the planet itself is the objective," Noah said. "Not just the population."

"The population is collateral," Calder said. "Or a resource. Harbingers have subjugated civilizations before, used them for labor or as shields or simply left them alive because killing them wasn’t worth the energy expenditure." He looked at the display. "Whatever is in that planet, Kruel wants it intact. Which is actually useful information."

"Why," Lucas said.

"Because it means he won’t destroy the planet," Calder said. "He wants what’s inside it. That limits what he’s willing to do to the surface."

Noah looked at the hologram. At the orbital markers. At the population distribution data from the scout drones.

"If we map the population centers," he said, "and cross reference with the likely drop pod entry points from standard invasion doctrine, and then factor in what Calder said about the energy source location."

Lucas pulled up the overlay.

The population centers showed as clusters of light across the landmasses. The energy source, based on Calder’s data from Le’anna’s planet extrapolated to the blue world’s geological profile, showed as a deep marker near the planet’s largest continent.

"He’s there," Lucas said, pointing at the marker. "Or close to it."

"Which means the heaviest Harbinger concentration is here," Calder said, drawing a perimeter around the marker on the display. "And the population centers here and here are inside that perimeter."

’Four hundred million people living inside a Harbinger stronghold perimeter,’ Noah thought. ’And they don’t know it.’

"Diana’s plan," Noah said.

Lucas pulled it up. The evacuation and displacement framework Diana had outlined in the briefing room some days ago. Get the population moving before the fight starts. Create distance between the civilians and the engagement zone.

"The problem," Lucas said, "is the window."

"Yeah," Noah said.

"What window," Calder said.

"Between when we arrive and when Kruel knows we’re there," Lucas said. "The moment we enter that system he’ll know. Harbingers don’t miss that kind of energy displacement." He looked at the display. "We have maybe minutes between arrival and engagement. Whatever we do for those four hundred million people has to happen in that window or it doesn’t happen at all."

Calder looked at the display for a long moment. "You need people on the ground before the fleet arrives," he said.

"Yes," Noah said.

"A forward team," Calder said. "Insertion before the main force. Ground level. Starts the displacement operation before Kruel even knows the fleet is in the system."

"Small enough to go undetected," Lucas said. "Which means small enough that if Kruel finds them before the fleet arrives—"

"They die," Calder said simply.

The room was quiet.

"This plan works," Calder said, looking at the display, "but it requires that certain people are willing to die."

Noah looked at him.

"Yes," he said. "War. That’s the point of it." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"That’s the point," Calder said.

Noah looked at the hologram. At the population clusters inside the Harbinger perimeter. At the energy source marker sitting underneath all of it.

’Is this something the rest can bear?’ he thought. ’Asking someone to go down there knowing the fleet hasn’t arrived yet. Knowing Kruel is on that planet. Knowing that if anything goes wrong before we get there—’

He didn’t finish the thought.

The door opened and Kelvin came in, all four hands occupied, auxiliary arms pulling data while his main hands worked his tablet. He looked at the display, at the perimeter overlay, at the forward team insertion point Lucas had marked.

"Good plan," Kelvin said. "The window is the problem. You’ve got what, four minutes between insertion and fleet arrival if everything goes perfectly? The margin for error on that coordination is almost nonexistent." He looked at Noah. "We need to workshop it. Thankfully we have transit time." He paused. "Also I need to borrow you."

"We’re in the middle of—" Noah started.

"I know," Kelvin said. "Lucas, Calder, keep going. This will take twenty minutes." He looked at Noah. "Probably."

Noah looked at Lucas. Lucas nodded and turned back to the display with Calder.

In the corridor Kelvin walked fast, which meant something was actually on his mind rather than just the engineering version of something being on his mind.

"The scans," Noah said. "On our guests."

"Clean," Kelvin said. "No viral agents, no biological compromise, no tech implants, nothing that would give me any reason to flag them." He paused. "Which is good because their story checks out and I genuinely feel bad for them."

"But," Noah said.

"I wasn’t finished," Kelvin said. "My auxiliary arms have been picking up a signal since we docked Le’anna’s ship. Faint. Layered underneath a lot of other things, which is why it took this long to isolate. I thought it was interference from the fleet’s own systems at first." He looked at Noah. "It’s not interference."

They were at the docking bay now. Le’anna’s ship sat in its berth, the hull still showing the damage from the scout attack, the patched sections and the compromised plating and the general state of something that had been through something serious.

They boarded.

Noah moved through the corridors of the ship with his senses open, feeling the spaces around him, the way the air moved, the temperature differential between the sections that still had power and the ones that didn’t.

’Something is off,’ he thought. ’Can’t place it. Just off.’

"Kelvin," he said. "What exactly are we doing on Le’anna’s ship."

Kelvin glanced back at him. "Oh nothing dramatic. I just thought that if something jumps out at us I’d have an SSS ranked person on hand to erase it on command." He said it completely casually. "Efficient use of resources."

"That’s your reasoning."

"I’m getting married soon," Kelvin said. "I have seen enough horror films to know that you don’t go investigating strange things alone. I refuse to be that character. Absolutely not."

"Nice plan," Noah said.

"Thank you," Kelvin said. "I thought so."

They went deeper into the ship. Past the compartment where they had found Calder and Le’anna, past the hanging wires and the damaged panels, through the section where the hull breach had been patched with material that didn’t quite match the surrounding surface.

Kelvin’s auxiliary arms were moving independently of his main hands, reaching toward the walls at intervals, the teal light in the palms pulsing as they read whatever they were reading.

Then they stopped.

Both auxiliary arms extended toward a section of wall that looked exactly like every other section of wall in the corridor. Plain. Undamaged. No panels, no seams beyond the standard construction joints, nothing distinguishing it from the meters of wall on either side.

Kelvin looked at it for a moment.

"Noah," he said.

"Yeah."

"Punch through that wall please."

Noah looked at the wall. Then at Kelvin. "Why."

"Because my arms are telling me something is behind it and I want to see what it is and I don’t have the right tools to cut through this material quickly and you can do it in one hit." Kelvin looked at him. "Please."

Noah looked at the wall.

He hit it.

The material cracked, the fracture spreading from the impact point in a ring, and a section of it collapsed inward. And through the gap, spilling out into the corridor, washing across both their faces in the dim emergency lighting.

Green.

Noah stared at it.

It pulsed.

On. Off. On. Off.

Kelvin leaned in close. His auxiliary arms extended into the cavity, the teal light from their palms washing over the device, reading it.

He was quiet for a moment.

Then he straightened up.

"It’s not a ship component," he said. "Nothing about it belongs to this vessel. The placement, the casing, the power source it’s running on." He looked at Noah. "Someone put this here. At some point before we found them, someone physically installed this device inside this ship without Le’anna or Calder knowing."

It was small. Maybe the size of two fists together, fixed to the interior of the wall cavity in a way that suggested it had been put there deliberately rather than installed as part of the ship’s construction. The casing around it was nothing Le’anna’s people had made. The material was different, the geometry was different, the way it sat against the ship’s internal framing was wrong in the way that something was wrong when it had been placed inside something it wasn’t designed for.

"What does it do," Noah said.

Kelvin looked at it for another second.

"It’s broadcasting," he said. "A signal. Continuous. Wide range." He looked at Noah with an expression that had gone somewhere past his usual range. "You know how sonar works? You send out a pulse and it bounces off things and tells you where everything is?"

"Yeah," Noah said.

"This isn’t bouncing off anything," Kelvin said. "It’s not looking for things. It’s telling something where we are." He paused. "Continuously. Since before we found that ship. Since before we brought it aboard." He looked at Noah. "Someone has known exactly where this fleet is this entire time."

Noah stared at the green light pulsing in the wall cavity.

On. Off. On. Off.