“Sit,” Alec said without looking up, his pen scratching against the debriefing file on his desk. The overhead lights of his office gave the room a sterile feel, though the reinforced windows offered a clear view of the shimmering distortion beyond the perimeter: the vanguard base’s space crack.

  Nilo sat, his back straight despite the fatigue still lingering in his limbs.

  “The mission failed. But you already know that,” Nilo began, voice even. “We lost seventeen cadets. Eight still in medical. Aria…”

  “Is dead,” Alec finished, still writing. “But not before opening a dimensional wound across national borders.”

  Silence settled between them. Nilo clenched his jaw.

  “I tried to stabilize her. I tried—”

  “I’m not blaming you,” Alec said, finally meeting his eyes. “She was unstable long before the mission began. The S-Factor doesn’t elevate the mind—it unmasks it. And I guess our eastern friends have figured it out too that’s why she was injected with an ampoule of liquefied S-Factor.”

  Nilo sat quietly for a moment before speaking. “After extraction… I felt it. My mind accelerated further, like time slowed down. The flames…they burned cleaner, faster. I think I’m at the brink of my Third Star.”

  Alec leaned back. “Pushing against your limit already, huh? Maybe this mission wasn’t a total failure after all. I won’t say congratulations. It only gets harder from here.”

  “I know.” Nilo frowned from his sit.

  “No, you don’t.” Alec narrowed his eyes. “But you will.”

  He handed Nilo a sealed datapad. “This has the breakdown of the cadet evaluations. Yours included. Read it later. Dismissed.”

  Nilo stood, nodded, and turned to leave.

  Just outside Alec’s office, leaning casually against the steel wall like he’d been waiting forever, was Arden Vale, codename Ghostframe.

  “Captain Goldenboy,” Arden drawled, slow claps echoing through the hallway. “The hero returns. A little singed, a little broody, but still breathing.”

  Nilo gave him a sideways glance and kept walking.

  “Seventeen dead,” Arden continued, matching pace. “And you still got promoted. Not bad, not bad. Maybe next time, let two dozen die and they’ll fast-track you to Commander.”

  Nilo stopped.

  “What do you want, Arden?”

  Arden’s smirk curled wider. “Nothing. Just curious how it feels to survive your first real mission. Still dreaming about their screams?” His smile was nothing but a smile.

  Nilo’s fingers twitched, flames itching at his nerves.

  “Don’t waste your anger,” Arden said, stepping in closer. “Get stronger. Or more of us will die next time. Maybe even you.”

  Then he was gone, his boots echoing down the corridor.

  Nilo exhaled slowly, letting the ember behind his eyes dim. Arden wasn’t wrong—but he wasn’t right either.

  ---

  The chamber was oval, its obsidian table large enough to seat all members of the around. Holograms of absent parties flickered in at their reserved seats. Behind them, banners of the global blocs loomed. The Avalon Union sported blue and silver, Xiyuan Dominion - crimson and black. Representatives from the Zarahan Empire, Yarvik Confederacy, Indora Coalition, and The Crowned Accord were present too—each with their own agendas.

  General Alec Griffin sat on the Avalon side, flanked by advisors and two masked Councilors.

  At the center of the table hovered a projection of the space crack, shifting and pulsing like a living wound in reality.

  “Let’s not pretend it was an accident,” growled General Li Haoran of Xiyuan Dominion, slamming a hand on the table. “The anomaly formed after your cadets entered restricted space!”

  Alec’s tone was diplomatic, but dry. “If I recall, General, the coordinates of the anomaly were in contested territory. Unless you’ve annexed the sky now?”

  A few chuckles—forced, but then a Zarahan Empire diplomat, old and robed in desert linens, cut in. “The point is moot. The anomaly exists. The question is: who enters it? And who controls the data that emerges?”

  “And who regulates the use of S-Factor within it,” added a Yarvik scientist, her eyes gleaming behind cold spectacles.

  “Which brings us to quotas,” said Councilor Wren of Avalon, tapping her stylus. “Avalon proposes a proportional system based on prior contributions to Stellar research.”

  “Avalon always wants proportional,” muttered Li. “Because you’ve monopolized the early studies.”

  “We earned them,” Alec said, voice like ice. “While the rest of you debated ethics, we gathered brave souls to volunteer as sacrifices, pioneering our way through.”

  Tension spiked. And everyone were visibly uncomfortable after General Alec’s direct statement.

  ---

  After two more hours of veiled threats and fake smiles, the meeting adjourned. Alec remained behind, cleaning his datapad as the others filed out—except for High Consul Margrave, one of the two masked councilors present on the meeting, a man draped in Avalonian sigils.

  “You gave them too much,” Margrave said softly.

  “On the surface, yes,” Alec replied, not looking up. “But we retain operational control of the breach. No team enters without going through Vanguard. Our scientists will be embedded in every expedition. And we’ve already tagged the S-Factor currents inside the anomaly—we’ll receive real-time telemetry from all teams, even foreign ones.”

  Margrave’s expression remained unreadable. “And the cadets?”

  “They’ll benefit so much from this exploration. The Genesis Batch has already gone through multiple missions, they already faced death, although we may lose some of them what remains would be the best of the best. People above us want invincible heroes. We’ll give them a few—while we dig through the unknown.”

  “Good,” said Margrave. “Just don’t get attached to the boy.”

  Alec’s fingers paused on the screen.

  “Which one?”

  Margrave smiled. “You know who it is exactly.”

  High Consul Margrave’s image flickered as his hologram was cut off. Leaving General Alec, he pulled out some cigarettes from his inner pocket and smoking alone in the meeting room.

  ---

  The barracks at Vanguard Base felt different now.

  Gone was the constant energy of loud cadets sparring, laughing, shouting. Only nineteen had remained. Conversations had quieted, the halls darker than usual—not because the lights had dimmed, but because too many lights had gone out.

  Inside the common room, a group sat around a long table. Mugs of synthetic coffee steamed quietly, untouched.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Niko Velasquez, ever the optimist, was the first to break the silence.

  “I dreamt of Aria last night,” he said. “She was smiling. Like nothing happened.”

  “That wasn’t Aria,” Emre muttered, arms folded tightly. “That was the S-Factor tearing her apart from the inside.”

  “Still,” Niko said, “I’d rather remember the smile.”

  Mei Shen, the team’s blunt tank, grunted. “Can we talk about literally anything else?”

  The door slid open with a hiss.

  Nilo entered, followed by Riku Sato, the quiet analyst who somehow always knew where people were. A beat later, the screen on the far wall activated.

  A crisp, composed voice flowed out.

  “Genesis Batch: stand by for briefing. Report to Command Deck Alpha-3 in fifteen.”

  The screen flashed the seal of Avalon and a name beneath it.

  ---

  Fifteen minutes later, the cadets stood at silent attention inside Alpha-3. The air felt colder somehow, and not just because of the room’s controlled environment.

  The woman who stepped into the command pit looked far too young for her file: late 20s, sharp black suit, hair tied in a clean bun. A datapad in one hand, comms piece in her ear, her gaze swept across them like a surgical scan.

  A projection floated beside her which showed: Lynn Harper. Codename: Overwatch.

  “You are Stellar Soldiers,” she began speaking without warning. “That means you are expected to operate beyond standard limitations. In the field, I will be your eyes, ears, and override.”

  She walked down the steps slowly, her voice clipped and cool. “Unlike your previous missions, this next one will be under real-time oversight. My oversight.”

  She tapped her datapad.

  “Objectives will update mid-mission. Enemy movements will be tracked. You will obey my instructions without delay or deviation. This will save your life.”

  “Now…” She paused, lifting her eyes. “Any questions?”

  No one spoke. Lynn gave a small, satisfied nod.

  “Good. Let’s see how many of you survive.” She turned sharply, standing at their forefront as the General made his way where she previously stood.

  From the side, Arden whispered to Niko, “Charming.”

  “She terrifies me,” Niko replied, wide-eyed.

  General Alec stood behind a translucent map table as the Stellar Soldiers filed in behind Lynn.

  “The crack hasn’t closed,” Alec said. “In fact, it’s growing. Our researchers have confirmed fluctuating spatial harmonics—it’s not just a tear in reality. It’s a bridge.”

  “Pardon but a bridge to where?” Nilo asked.

  “We’re calling it the Hollow Beyond for now. Unknown properties. Possible alternate dimension. Radiation is negligible, but S-Factor readings inside are unstable… and valuable.”

  He looked up.

  “You’ve been selected to lead first-wave exploration. Deployment is in twelve hours. Your mission is simple: secure a stable outpost perimeter and recover any material or biological samples.”

  General Alec added, “You will not be alone. A squad from the Xiyuan Dominion has been granted parallel entry.”

  Groans followed. While Nilo shuddered unnoticeably.

  “I know,” Alec said, expression unreadable. “Keep tensions in check. Your job isn’t to make friends. It’s to survive. And bring back results.”

  ---

  The Vanguard transports cut across the wasteland like blades through mist. Inside the armored transport, the Genesis cadets sat in silence—until Rohan leaned over to Nilo.

  “You ever fought Xiyuan soldiers before?”

  “Only in simulations,” Nilo replied. “But there’s one talkative guy I fought before. According to him, their training’s brutal, much worse than ours. They don’t promote based on Star Ranks. They promote based on… results.”

  “Speaking of results,” Niko said, “I heard Zhu Honghui is leading the other squad.”

  The name landed like a grenade.

  “The Zhu Honghui?” Emre muttered. “Wasn’t he a 1-Star who knocked out a 2-Star Commander in live trials?”

  “Yeah,” Niko said. “He’s a walking weapon. Fought unarmed. Broke the guy’s ribcage.”

  Nilo didn’t speak. But he remembered Honghui. The man had eyes like a predator and moved like the wind. He was the only cadet Nilo had never beaten in a direct clash during the initial war games.

  They said Zhu Honghui could feel where you’d move before you even knew.

  ---

  The forward base was hastily built—modular containers and sensor towers stacked around the glowing wound in the sky. The crack pulsed with an eerie shimmer, distorting the clouds above it.

  As the Avalon squad exited their transport, they saw the Xiyuan camp already positioned across the clearing. Soldiers in red-gray armor stood in rows, faces unreadable.

  And at their center stood Zhu Honghui.

  He was taller than Nilo remembered, but his presence still cut through the wind. His gaze locked onto Nilo’s immediately.

  No smile. No greeting. Just a nod. Cold. Measured.

  Emre leaned toward Nilo. “Yup. That’s him. Mr. Murder Meditation.”

  “Don’t engage,” Lynn said through comms, appearing from nowhere. “Until the operation begins, we are allies albeit temporary ones.”

  Zhu Honghui walked forward a few paces, arms behind his back.

  “Nilo Finnegan,” he said. “The Flaming Stellar Soldier.”

  “Zhu Honghui, the eastern sun.” Nilo replied, stepping forward.

  They stopped a meter apart.

  “We’ll see whose stars burn brighter in the Hollow,” Honghui said in broken English after which he turned around and left, with his squad following him.

  “Tch, this guy knows how to act cool. I know how to do it too!” Mei Shen spat on the ground after the guys from Xiyuan were gone.

  “Aren’t you related to him somehow Shen?” Byron asked in confusion to Shen’s actions.

  “Just because we look similar doesn’t mean we’re related you idiot!” Laughs followed as the other squad members realized Mei Shen was indeed, similar looking to Zhu Honghui.

  ---

  The makeshift forward base buzzed with subdued urgency. The crack in space loomed overhead like a wound in the world, its edges pulsing with ethereal light. Engineers double-checked tether systems. Mobile medbays prepped for triage. Recon drones zipped through the air, mapping the terrain beyond the rift.

  Inside Command Tent Echo-1, the Genesis Batch gathered for their final pre-mission briefing.

  The room was dim, only illuminated by the large curved tactical screen at the front. Lynn Harper—Overwatch—stood beside it, swiping through diagrams and intel readouts with surgical precision.

  “Your operational name: Vanguard Unit—Genesis,” she began. “Your mission parameters remain unchanged: scout the Hollow Beyond, establish a forward anchor, collect samples of anomalous matter, and return intact.”

  She looked up.

  “Emphasis on intact.”

  The first slide showed a warped, jagged terrain of crystalline flora and floating fragments of matter.

  “Preliminary scans show inconsistent gravitational zones, unstable terrain, and ambient S-Factor radiation. Expect mutation effects. Stick to team formations.” Lynn explained.

  On the next slide, five colored quadrants are mapped on a grid.

  “You’ll be split into four scouting groups and one anchor-hold team. I will be monitoring and adjusting your assignments in real time to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

  And the last slide showed the faces of the Xiyuan Dominion’s Squad.

  “Do not engage the Dominion squad unless provoked. I will handle diplomatic clearance. But understand this: they are not your allies. Assume they’re collecting as much as you are, if not more. So stay ahead. These people are trained differently than you, they are better at killing people than you are.”

  Lynn paused, her eyes cold.

  “Losses are expected. But not forgiven.”

  The cadets filtered out, splitting into small groups as they began prepping armor, calibrating weapons, syncing biosensors.

  Nilo sat by a locker, fastening the gauntlet to his right arm. The arclocks glowed faint green—his power was nearing another threshold. He could feel it under his skin, flickering.

  “Your energy’s unstable,” Solace said, her body leaning against the doorframe. “Like you’re about to spark.”

  “I know,” Nilo said. “I felt something shift after Aria… after the rampage. When we were hit by the shockwaves I think I absorbed some of it. And now it’s like I’m constantly humming inside.”

  “You think you’ll hit 3 Stars?”

  “Not yet. But it’s close.”

  Solace gave a small, thoughtful nod. “Be careful. You don’t want to rush it. We saw what happens when S-Factor pushes back.”

  Across the room, Shen and Byron were checking their drone companions.

  “I named mine Delilah,” Byron grinned, patting the small surveillance drone hovering at his side.

  Shen rolled his eyes. “You named it? That’s... unnecessary.”

  “She keeps me sane,” Rei said. “Unlike you.”

  “Fair enough,” Lira muttered.

  Arden walked by, strapping his plated fists on, muttering under his breath. “Hope we get to punch something that isn’t friendly this time.”

  ---

  Later that night, Nilo was summoned to Overwatch’s Command Tent. The room was lined with data feeds, holograms of terrain structures, and real-time telemetry from pre-insertion probes.

  Lynn didn’t look up from her screen.

  “You’re team lead for Squad Echo,” she said. “Expect your first encounter within the 2nd quadrant. A Xiyuan Squad will be within that same range.”

  “You think they’ll try to interfere?”

  “No,” Lynn said, flatly. “They’ll wait. Watch. Let you take risks first, then move in and claim whatever you found. You need to be faster.”

  She finally looked at him.

  “I’ve studied Zhu Honghui’s combat records. He’s unpredictable. You’ll only beat him with a pattern he’s never seen before. But at least he fights honorably unlike other Dominion dogs.”

  “Any suggestions?”

  Her lips twitched—a near smile, but colder.

  “Yes. Lose. Just enough to bait him.”

  ---

  The sky was still dark, and the crack above shimmered with light that didn’t belong to this world.

  As the Stellar Soldiers stood in formation at the perimeter gate, waiting for the rift stabilizers to lock in, Nilo scanned his team: Elias, Lira, Rei, Bran, and five others pulled from the remaining cadets.

  They were quiet. Not fearful—just focused.

  A familiar voice clicked in over their comms.

  “This is Overwatch. Vanguard Unit Genesis, you are greenlit. Clock starts on entry. Objective A will be transmitted in forty seconds.”

  From the side, a Dominion officer snapped something in Mandarin. Zhu Honghui stepped forward again, nodding once at Nilo.

  No words were said. Just a message sent.

  The crack rippled, and the stabilizers pulsed with blue rings. The air trembled.

  A voice counted down: “Initiating insertion in five… four… three…”