Night cloaked the settlement in a blanket of quiet tension. The hum of generators echoed softly while sentries moved along their patrol routes, flashlights slicing through the dark like nervous fingers. Inside the command dome, Emory stood at the center of the map table, tracing outlines with his eyes, lost in the mental math of war.
"You're too quiet," Rae said from the doorway. "That means either you're thinking too hard… or about to do something stupid."
Emory smirked without looking up. "What if I'm doing both?"
She walked in, arms crossed. "The team's on edge. Ever since Eden's visit, people have been whispering. Some of them think we should've let them help."
"I know," he replied. "But I also know Eden doesn't do 'help' without control. And we didn't build this place just to become another extension of their rulebook."
Rae sat down. "What if they're right, though? What if this dream of yours—our dream—needs more than defiance to survive?"
Before Emory could answer, the door slid open again, revealing Isabelle, holding a datapad.
"We've got a problem," she said. "Two problems, actually."
Emory's expression turned grim. "Go on."
"First—Carter and his unit didn't report in. They were supposed to check the southern perimeter four hours ago."
"Radio silence?" Rae asked.
"Complete. And the drone we sent to track them got knocked offline. Fried circuitry. No trace of damage. Just... dead."
Emory clenched his jaw. "That's not a malfunction. That's a message."
"There's more," Isabelle said. "Eden didn't just leave us alone. They've set up a temporary camp ten kilometers east. Underground. Cloaked. We caught the signal by accident—someone left a relay line open on a decrypted frequency."
"So they're still watching," Rae muttered. "Waiting."
"No," Emory said. "They're planning."
Just then, Damian barged in, his face pale with fury. "We've been betrayed."
Everyone turned.
"I caught Julian copying internal comm logs," he spat. "Encrypted packages sent to an unknown network. I traced one transmission to Eden's operating grid."
"Julian?" Rae's eyes widened. "He's been here since the beginning."
"Exactly," Damian growled. "That's why it hurts."
Emory took a breath, slow and heavy. "Where is he?"
"In holding," Damian replied. "But if Eden has eyes inside... we can't trust anything anymore."
A silence fell over the room.
Then Emory spoke, voice low but steady. "We clean house. Tonight. Quietly. Anyone who's even touched an unauthorized channel goes under review. Rae, I want you on internal security with Isabelle. Damian, prepare a ghost code—we're taking the beacon offline for twelve hours and rerouting its signal through a decoy. Let's see if Eden bites."
"And if they do?" Rae asked.
Emory looked up, fire in his eyes.
"Then we show them that this time, we're not afraid to fight back."
---
Far beyond the settlement, in Eden's underground chamber, Dr. Sera Lin stood before a screen filled with static and flickering code.
"They've changed the signal pattern," her assistant whispered.
Sera's expression didn't change. "That's fine. Let them run."
Commander Harrow entered behind her.
"Phase One is complete," he said. "What now?"
Sera turned slowly, her voice calm.
"Now we remind them why control was invented in the first place."