The away team entered the shadowy SMC office building, its broken windows and shattered doors framing an eerie tableau of abandonment. Inside, the air was thick with the smell of salt and rot, the faint sound of surf filtering through cracks in the walls. Overturned desks and scattered papers spoke of chaos, and the occasional creak of settling wood made every movement feel precarious.

  Kade gestured toward a door at the end of the hall, its frosted glass cracked but still bearing the faint outline of 'Administrator’s Office.'

  "That’s the place," she said. "If there’s any useful intel, it’ll be in there."

  The Marines moved forward to clear the room, Lt. Mark Lawson, raising a hand to signal his team. Two Marines breached the door in unison, their weapons sweeping the corners. Once the all-clear was given, Kade followed, with Briggs and Maleko close behind.

  The office was in better shape than most of the building. The desk, though scuffed and covered in dust, was still upright, and the filing cabinets had not been completely emptied. A cracked picture frame lay face-down on the desk, its photo obscured by glass fragments. Papers were strewn across the floor like fallen leaves.

  "Looks like someone left in a hurry," Maleko said.

  "Or didn’t leave at all," Briggs countered, pointing to a set of bloody footprints leading to a side door that hung ajar.

  "Let’s see what they left us," Kade said. She pulled out a stack of folders from the desk drawer, scanning them quickly before tossing them aside. Most were routine reports regarding shipping manifests, inventory logs, but one document caught her attention.

  "This looks promising." Kade said,

  She held up a typed sheet of orders stamped with the SMC insignia. The paper was brittle, its edges curling, but the message was clear. All units are to regroup at Block Island Station immediately. Effective upon Simulation Reboot.

  Kade frowned, "Ever heard of ‘Block Island Station?’"

  Lawson shook his head. "Not in my briefing."

  "Not in mine either," Briggs added. He spoke curtly, his expression dark. "Sounds like more of the Sovereign’s need-to-know nonsense."

  "Great," Kade said, folding the paper and slipping it into her jacket with a dry laugh. "More secret squirrel stuff. I love being kept in the dark while the world ends. Let's move out."

  The team pressed on, clearing room after room with quiet efficiency. Most of what they found was mundane. Broken furniture, scattered supplies, and the occasional splash of blood on the walls. But the hairs on the back of Kade’s neck stood up as they stepped into the storage room. Something had happened here, and it hadn’t ended well.

  "Hold up," Briggs said, his voice low and tense.

  Kade stepped into the room, her eyes narrowing as they adjusted to the dim light. In the center of the space lay a massive, crumpled shape of a giant spider, its legs curled inward in the unmistakable pose of death. The creature was enormous, easily the size of a pony, its hairy body glistening faintly in the gloom. Thick, dried ichor pooled beneath it, its smell sharp and metallic.

  "What the hell…" Lawson gasped.

  Kade moved closer, her hand on the hilt of her cutlass. Several piercings and deep gashes marred the creature's chitinous hide.

  [Analyze] Giant Spider | Level 3 | Status: Dead | Class: Beast

  "Looks like it didn’t go down without a fight," she said. "Swords and spears, by the look of it."

  "Whoever killed it knew what they were doing." Maleko added.

  "Yeah, but they’re not here now," Briggs pointed out, "And I don’t see the bodies."

  "Great. So either they got away, or the spider had friends." Lawson said.

  Kade glanced back at the Marines. "Keep your eyes open. I’m not in the mood for a sequel."

  The Marines nodded, their weapons sweeping the shadows as the team moved cautiously through the room, giving the spider’s body a wide berth. As they exited the storage room, the sense of unease only deepened. The signs of battle were everywhere now. Broken weapons, claw marks gouged into the wooden floor, and blood trails that led out toward the fort proper. Yet the absence of bodies left a lingering dread, as if the building itself held tight to a secret.

  "Whatever happened here, it wasn’t good," Briggs said.

  "Understatement of the year," Kade replied. "Though our introduction to the Simulation wasn't a walk in the part either. If anything, it looks like we may have gotten off easier than most."

  She scanned the corridor ahead, her sharp gaze catching a faint glint of something metallic embedded in the far wall. A broken combat knife, still lodged in the plaster.

  Lawson called out, "Alright, we’ve seen enough here. Marines take point. We move to the command center next, sub-level three. Offices aren’t giving us much except more questions."

  "Understood," Briggs said, signaling the team to form up.

  As they moved toward the exit, Kade couldn’t shake the feeling that the shadows were watching.

  The stairwell spiraled downward, its air growing colder and more oppressive with each step. The sound of their boots against stone echoed unnervingly, a rhythmic reminder of their vulnerability. Lt. Sarah Kade followed just behind the lead Marine, a lantern she'd picked up along the way in hand, its flickering light casting long, restless shadows against the crumbling walls. The stale air carried hints of mildew and decay, and somewhere in the distance, water dripped steadily, its sound faint but persistent.

  Behind her, Gunnery Sgt. Alan Briggs moved like a coiled spring, his rifle ready, his eyes scanning every corner with practiced precision. His voice rough, broke the tense silence.

  "This place isn’t right. Smells like a trap." Briggs said.

  Kade’s lips quirked into a dry smile. "Don’t tell me you’re superstitious, Briggs. Next, you’ll be saying it’s haunted."

  Briggs grunted, his tone grim. "With everything we've seen over the past few days, who's to say? My grandmother believed ghosts were real, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn she was right.

  Kade didn’t need to look back to know Lawson was still with them. His boots struck stone half a beat behind hers, steady but just shy of confident. She caught a glimpse of him in the flicker of lantern light. His jaw was tight, eyes darting from shadow to shadow. He looked like he’d been dipped in discipline, but the sweat on his brow told another story.

  "What exactly are we expecting down here?" he asked.

  "Hopefully, maps or charts, if we're lucky," Kade replied. Her voice carried a practiced calm, but her grip on the lantern betrayed her tension. "Brass wouldn't have issued a fallback order without including some way actually to find the fallback position. If there are maps, the war room is the most likely place as it would have been manned during the reboot."

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Or unlucky," Briggs muttered, eyeing the gouges and dents scarring the walls.

  At last, the stairwell opened into the cavernous war room. Kade stepped cautiously inside, her lantern revealing a space in disarray. Dust motes swirled in the stale air. Tactical maps lay scattered across the floor, some shredded, others soaked with dried blood that had long since turned to rust-colored stains. A central table lay on its side, its legs broken. Whatever had happened here, it hadn’t been peaceful.

  But it was the doors on the other side of the room that drew her attention.

  Massive double doors, chained shut with thick, rusting links, loomed at the far end of the room. More deep claw marks gouged the wood and metal, and dark smears of blood marred the floor beneath them. While some of the blood looked to be old and dry, there were several patches that were recent, as they were still wet. Kade’s stomach turned as her eyes lingered on the scene. She knew those doors. They led to the analyst command center, a labyrinth of rooms meant for coordinating fort defenses. Now they seemed more like a prison’s gates.

  "Those marks," Maleko said. "What could’ve…"

  "Doesn’t matter," Briggs interrupted sharply. "Keep your eyes on what’s in front of you, not the doors."

  Kade opened her mouth to reply, but an unfamiliar voice cut through the room like a blade. It was soft and commanding at the same time.

  "I’d listen to him if I were you."

  The team whirled toward the sound, weapons raised. A figure stepped from the shadows, her presence as sharp as her words. Her coat swayed with her movement, its edges frayed but still keeping a rakish elegance. A pistol rested holstered at her hip, her gloved hand toying with a folded map.

  The strange woman surveyed the Marines like a predator sizing up prey, her mocking smile a deliberate provocation. "Though if you’re ignoring claw marks that size, maybe you’re not as clever as I hoped."

  Briggs stepped forward, his axe ready. "Who are you, and what are you doing in this restricted area?"

  "Restricted? You imbeciles, it's the end of the world. Oh, there's certainly restricted areas, but those are places where you're not strong enough to survive," the mysterious stranger menaced.

  "Still, since it seems like you haven't figured out how to use analyze, the name is Naomi Darkmoor. The Pirate Queen and Captain of the Widow's Grin," Naomi said with a mock flushed bow.

  "Big talk, but you're under arrest. You are correct, though. The world is over as we knew it. I'm sure once we're back on the Talon, we can come to an arrangement. Do you surrender?" Kade said.

  Kade wasn't sure if there was even such a thing as law and order anymore and Naomi may very well be correct that the world was not governed by might makes right. Still, until she knew differently, she was still an officer of the SMC and would act accordingly.

  Naomi tilted her head, feigning thought. "Surrender? That’s awfully formal for a group of people about to die. But I suppose I should thank you for saving me the trouble of looking for you."

  Her eyes darted to the chained doors, then back to Kade. "Pity you brought so many. I prefer smaller gatherings."

  "Big talk for someone surrounded," Kade said, her voice steady. She lowered her lantern slightly, freeing her hand to hover near her cutlass. "Though if you’re planning to bore us to death, it’s working."

  Naomi laughed. It was a low, amused sound. "Oh, I don’t need to bore you, Lieutenant. There are things far more dangerous than me in this fort. Though not by much."

  Her eyes gleamed, and for a moment, Kade felt a cold certainty: whatever Naomi was planning, it was already in motion.

  "Last chance," Briggs growled. "Drop the map and your weapons."

  Naomi’s smile widened, her voice dropping to a whisper that carried through the still room. "I don’t think I will. But thank you for the suggestion."

  Her hand jerked in a subtle gesture, and her crew emerged from the shadows, weapons drawn, their faces a collective mask of menace.

  "Well, I was hoping for negotiations, with it being the end of the world and humanity on the endangered list," Kade said, drawing her cutlass. "Guess we’re going with the blade-based diplomacy strategy."

  The room tensed, the Marines and pirates poised on the edge of violence, but Kade’s focus wavered for just a moment, her eyes darting back to the doors. Something about the fresh blood... her gut told her that Naomi wasn’t bluffing. There was something far worse waiting behind those chains.

  "Cut them down!" Naomi cried.

  The clang of steel rang out in the tight confines of the war room, a cacophony of grunts, curses, and the desperate scrape of weapons against armor. Kade sidestepped a lunging pirate, her cutlass flashing in the dim light as it hummed faintly in a subtle warning of its power. The blade connected, and the pirate staggered backward, the force of Tempest’s Edge’s Gale Strike sending him crashing into an overturned table.

  "Stay close!" Briggs barked.

  His axe hacking through the haft of a pirate’s pike pole. The wood splintered, leaving his opponent defenseless for a heartbeat before Briggs stepped forward and slammed the flat of his weapon into the man’s ribs. The pirate crumpled, gasping for breath, but Briggs was already moving, his focus unbroken.

  Kade swept her gaze across the room, assessing the chaos. The Marines were holding their ground, disciplined even in the face of the pirates’ unpredictable, dirty fighting. Lawson was holding his own, the younger officer parrying a pirate’s dagger with a deft strike of his pike pole before driving the butt into the attacker’s knee. The pirate collapsed with a howl, and Lawson spared a brief glance toward Kade, his faced twisted into the angry visage of a Marine on the warpath.

  "Kick his ass, Lawson," Kade called, slicing upward to deflect another strike.

  "Ma’am, yes Ma'am," he replied in mock salute, his voice strained. "Try not to get stabbed while you’re complimenting me."

  Kade smirked despite herself. Her blade flashed again, this time driving through the gap in a pirate’s leather jerkin. The man yelped and fell back, clutching at his side. But the lull was brief as another pirate surged forward, swinging a jagged piece of metal that might have once been part of a ship’s railing.

  Her cutlass moved almost on its own, humming as Kade turned the swing aside and drove the blade into the attacker’s shoulder. The impact sent a ripple of force through his body, and he collapsed, the Gale Strike leaving him sprawled and disoriented.

  The battle wasn't one-sided, though. Naomi Darkmoor was in the thick of it, her coat whipping as she ducked and weaved through the fray. Her pistol flared briefly, the shot slamming into the haft of a Marine’s pike pole and splintering it into useless shards. The Marine stumbled, and one of Naomi’s crew took advantage, driving him to the ground with a brutal kick.

  "Pull back, you idiots!" Naomi snarled.

  A pirate stumbled toward her, clutching a deep wound in his arm, his face pale. She grabbed him by the collar and shoved him toward the nearest exit. "Move! You can bleed later!"

  Naomi moved like a predator, her gaze sweeping the chaos with unsettling focus. One of her crew dropped with a cry, an axe buried in his thigh. Naomi snapped her fingers, and another pirate dragged the wounded man out of the line of fire. Kade caught the faintest twitch of her mouth. Was it annoyance? Calculation? It was impossible to read, but she could tell that Naomi was up to something.

  "Safety made no one rich," Naomi said, leveling her pistol at Briggs.

  The sergeant saw the movement, twisting just in time to take the shot against the edge of his axe. Sparks flew, and Briggs grunted, shaking the impact off.

  "You’ll have to do better than that," he growled.

  Kade caught the exchange from the corner of her eye, her focus tightening as Naomi’s crew faltered. The Marines were gaining ground, pressing the pirates back inch by bloody inch. It wasn’t clean or easy, but it was working.

  Still, something gnawed at her. A sense that the pirates were giving up too easily. Their retreat felt deliberate, as though Naomi had planned this from the start. But there was no time to dwell on it, not with another pirate barreling toward her with a raised cutlass. She stepped into the attack, her blade meeting his with a satisfying clang before twisting free and slashing across his side. The force of the Gale Strike sent him spinning into a pile of debris.

  "Is it just me," one Marine shouted, his voice ragged, "or is this the new ninjas versus pirates?"

  Kade snorted, deflecting another strike. "If this is the best pirate's offer, I’d rather fight the ninjas."

  Another Marine shouted back, "Ninjas don’t smell this bad!"

  Kade allowed herself a half-smile, but her focus remained on Naomi. The pirate captain was retreating away from the chained doors, her pistol raised and her sharp eyes scanning the battlefield. Kade tightened her grip on Tempest’s Edge, her instincts screaming that something wasn’t right. But there was no time to analyze, as the fight demanded all of her attention.

  The pirates were pulling back, clustering near the main exit, their movements frantic but coordinated. Kade felt a flicker of unease as Naomi exchanged a glance with one of her crew, a quick, subtle signal that Kade couldn’t parse. The Marines positioned themselves in the center of the room, facing the main exit.

  "Press them!" Briggs shouted, his axe glinting as he felled another opponent. "We’ve got them on the run!"

  But Naomi wasn’t running. Her pistol came up again, aimed at something behind Kade. The shot rang out, and the sound of shattering metal filled the air.

  Kade turned, realization dawning on her too late as the massive doors groaned open. Darkness yawned behind them and then came the sound of skittering, clicking, the unmistakable scrape of claws on stone.

  The pirates scattered, their retreat suddenly frantic. Naomi’s grin was razor sharp as she stepped back into the shadows.

  "Your move, Lieutenant," she said, her voice a purr, before disappearing through the chaos.

  From the log book of Lt. Kade:

  Tides of Ruin and The Grand Crusade on .