“That’s where the Overlords came from isn’t it?”

Gardenia was pointing straight to the plain wall of her cabin. Amon stifled a chuckle. New bioaddon users often confused the optic’s HUD with real projections. The immersive feeling was close to perfect since no one could feel the optics set up below their eyelids. If they did, they weren’t placed right.

“The swarm migrated over from Derkal but it wouldn’t be strange if they came all the way over from Hatt before that. Since we don’t have any human settlements around those parts, it isn’t easy to spot, even a large migration swarm of that size.” Amon said, zooming in and out of the galactic supercluster to highlight the parts he was talking about.

His actions were mirrored on Gardenia’s HUD. She gazed intently in front of her face, concentrating hard on his words. She sat hunched on the lower bunk of her cabin with her elbows on her knees.

It was some time before when Amon was with Tommy and Ella in his cabin. After they finished overanalyzing the new information he dug out of the SFC mainframe, he decided to pay a visit to the fourth member of their group. He had a rough idea of what he wanted to talk to her about.

Something that would be better said if they were alone, and as such he left his two friends to their musings and came by knocking, only to find Gardenia still scrubbing with a worn rag the corners around the cabin. The tiny room looked like someone had done a small renovation. It might as well be called that since Gardenia was eagerly cleaning the place to perfection.

“Hey, may I take some of your time?” Amon asked as he stood outside the opened door. When Gardenia’s eyes flattered rapidly, blinking with surprise at the interruption to her work, he was suddenly unsure what her reply would be.

“Of course,” she said finally, hesitating all the more. She turned around and after considering for a moment pointed at the lone chair, “There, you may sit there. It's clean enough.”

“Thanks.”

Amon turned sideways to fit inside the room as there wasn’t enough space for them both and sat carefully, easing his weight on the small furniture. Without beating around the bush he went straight to the point.

“We have some new information, and I’d like to keep you in the know,” Amon said and after similarly scanning the room for spyware, revealed their recent efforts to Gardenia.

She took the news well enough, sitting on her bed with two fingers twisting the bangs of her hair.

Amon waited in silence, letting her digest his words.

“Is that all?” She asked after a while looking straight at him for once.

“No, there is more. We have been talking, with the others I mean, it's easier to show you first. Here, have a look.”

With the map open in his HUD and mirrored to Gardenia’s, Amon revealed the updated situation at Derkal. Red markers indicated lost planets and destroyed starbases. Curved white lines displayed fleets of House Orion fleeing to Tilgar, the closest galaxy where the presence of the Helion Syndicate would offer some form of protection.

The numbers were incomprehensible and even burdened his sharp mind, so he didn’t mention the quadrillion displaced or dead in Derkal. A shiver ran down his spine at the glance of the seed planets, doomed, without enough space-faring vessels to evacuate even one percent of their total population.

“But we are going the other way?” Gardenia asked when she spotted the blue marker of Concordia GG following a projected line that crossed the width of Cerebrus Galaxy.

“Yes, well. It's complicated. The SFC is much reduced right now, right? We won't be able to hold off any potential threats for House Arthas as we are now. And see here, a Dominion armada is making its way to the borders of Cerebrus facing Derkal. They are there to take over our post.”

“So why are we going to the Milky Way then?”

“Mmm, it's plausible we are going to create a foothold for House Arthas in case they need to flee too,” Amon said flatly and Gardenia inhaled sharply, bulging her eyes.

“Noo, it can’t be. You are lying,” She said, shaking her head vigorously.

It was a normal reaction. In their small part of the universe, their galactic supercluster has had peace for at least a thousand years. On a galactic scale that is. Seed planet uprisings or space scuffles between the factions were of little concern to the main planets in their tranquil worlds. But now the balance of power has shifted violently and it seemed that it was just the beginning.

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Derkal abandoned. An idea that sounded crazy yet was true.

“Afraid it is so. If the need arises, neither the Helion Syndicate nor the Fieldrich Senate will lend a caring hand to House Arthas. We are needed to secure a back door exit for them.”

“But, it won’t come to this, right? Amon, it won’t… my family is on C2XA1,” she said, trembling, panic lacing her every move.

Gardenia was from a moon colony, huh. That was almost as tough as a seed planet. “Hopefully it won’t come to this. But if it does, the Milky Way is a long way away, we won’t be able to help.”

“Noooo…Amon, what can I do? I can't abandon them.”

He smiled. Inwardly. It would be tasteless if he did so in front of her. He brought his hand up to her shoulder, a shudder went over her body at his touch, and tears threatened to stream down her eyes.

“Listen, as I said, we’ve been talking–”

—-

Amon walked through the corridors, noticing the lack of activity. Most Marines must be already inside their cabins, resting. It was the combat troop section, plain corridors of metal, seeded with doors to the left and right.

The overhead lights spaced generously along the corridor ceiling erased his shadow and only his footsteps clanging on the flooring accompanied him on his way back. It was when he arrived he saw a person standing to block his way.

Actually, he wasn’t exactly blocking his way, facing the other way as he stood, but he was standing in front of Amon’s cabin door.

“Commander, are you looking for me?” Amon asked Commander Jin who with a jolt of surprise span to face him.

“Sergeant, there you are, follow me,” Commander Jin said with a nudge of the head and without waiting for a reply moved past the door in swift strides.

Amon followed and they walked in silence, the Commander leading him towards the officer's living quarters, and when they made it there quickly inside his personal cabin.

If Amon felt nervous he didn’t show it. But he obviously thought about it. Had they been found out? He checked the connection to the mainframe but it was still going through without issue. Then there was only one other reason Amon could think of why the Commander would seek him out.

Jin Karf’s cabin was bare but had one important distinction. It was spacious. This was a military vessel after all and comfort was not the focus here but space in a battleship was a luxury one in itself.

As the Commander led him to a little sitting arrangement, two metallic chairs hugging a rounded table, Amon’s gaze was captured by a bright screen set upon the wall. It was displaying pictures of the Commander together with what probably was his family. In most of them, a purple sky dominated the background, sometimes switching to red or blue. This must be C3XA. Or as the locals would call it, Andromedus.

A planet Amon had never had the chance to visit.

Jin Karf cleared his throat. “Sergeant, sit, would you like something to drink before we start? We have lots to discuss.”

“Is that your family?”

Commander Jin followed Amon’s gaze to the screen and gave a silent nod. “They are. Haven’t seen them in a while, my two sons enrolled in school this year.” He said with some regret.

“I see.”

Amon sat and noticed pleasantly how comfortable the chair felt. It was made to accommodate a Genome’s size.

“Yes, well, it is what it is. Now tell me, how do you feel about taking command of some of the Marines in the company,” the Commander said, pouring hot water in two cups and offering one to Amon.

“Commander, I would be eager to assist in any way I can, but will I be able to choose who will be under me?”

Amon sipped from the cup and his eyes widened when he tasted the liquid. It was real tea, a flower-based concoction with a strong aroma, not just simple flavoring. Jin Karf must have seen his reaction because he smiled wide.

“Naturally, I expect that you will select the most trustworthy and tight-lipped. I don’t wish to disclose our little agreement to the other officers.”

“I can’t help but ask why, Commander?”

Jin Karf was quiet for a moment, bringing the cup to his lips and slurping a sip or two from the hot tea.

“It is complicated, rather, it has become rather complicated since they switched the commissioned Captain for our units. Our new Captain is…unstable.” Commander Jin said looking at the pictures switching on the screen. An image of a younger Commander holding a fishing rod and grinning stupidly at the camera was on the display.

He continued. “Captain Gilmorian Rhen now leads the companies in Concordia GG. A post he has not earned. More so, because he was placed here as a punishment for crimes committed against his previous personnel.”

Amon listened attentively. He had never heard of this Captain Gilmorian before. If he had been in the SFC, he would have come across the name somewhere. So this was possibly another case of sending someone to the SFC to disappear, but this time for an officer and not a Marine. Peculiar.

“That does sound like a problem, Commander. Yet I’m curious as to why you chose me. Isn’t it better to discuss the issue among the other Company Commander’s to oust him?”

“It’s not that simple. The new Captain has replaced a lot of the Commanding officers with his men. As to why I chose you, Sergeant, there is an easy explanation. Tell me, why is your last name left blank in the SFC registry?”

The two men stared at each other until one looked away. It was Amon who evaded the Commander's knowing gaze.

“My last name was…erased when I joined.”

“Yes, it was a curious thing. It’s not that uncommon, but you are a Genome, with quite the bioaddons if I must add. I did a little bit of research–Sergeant Amon EL’Arthas.”

Amon hid behind the teacup to avoid voicing a reply immediately. He awkwardly fidgeted with his thumb at the cup’s lip, feeling the hot ceramic under his fingertip.

What was the saying? Ah, yes, the AI’s out of the firewall. Gathering his reply, Amon met the Commander’s eyes once more.

“You know a lot Commander, but I can’t help you more than any other Marine in the company. My name’s worth is the same as everyone else’s.”

“I know that. It’s not why I chose you, Sergeant. I chose you for your merits rather than your bloodline. You are smart, don't you have a reason to survive out of this place, or am I wrong about you?”

“What do you suggest we do then? Why are you so afraid of the new Captain?”

This time it was Jin Karf who broke eye contact, losing himself on the screen. He laid back on the chair and took a deep breath.

“Because I want to survive. I must survive,” he spoke solemnly to a picture of his two sons hugged by their mother. The boys were twins, identical, and a copy of the woman holding them.

“I don’t understand,”

Was it the new Captain? Or the Milky Way that had spooked the Commander so?

Without voicing the questions, Amon got a reply nonetheless.

“The bastard enjoys watching men die.”