Mars Time: 21:47, March 2, 2295

  Associate's Suite 1, ISV Polaris, In Transit

  The deck lurched again as Sigrun threw open her equipment locker.

  She moved without thinking. Eleven years of killing Radi-Mons by day and fucking paying men by night had burned the sequence into her muscles. Járn first, the Thermal Axe sliding onto her belt. Skuld next, expanded from its brick configuration, the white shotgun's mechanical clicks sounding amid the groaning of stressed hull plating. She checked the chamber, confirmed the load, collapsed it back down and secured it at the small of her back.

  Extra ammunition into her trench coat's pockets. Medi-Vap vial into the inner lining. Programmable Hair Clip Hamr already in place, set to combat configuration: half-up ponytail.

  The ship shuddered. Metal screamed somewhere below.

  She paused at the last item.

  Baldr sat in its dormant state, a silver cylindrical hilt of metal traced with pulsing blue. Cold to the touch. Heavy in ways that had nothing to do with mass.

  H?kon's words from the observation deck drifted back to her. "Glowing sword make Sky Lady heart go cold-cold."

  The little Diabolisk had been right. Every time she held it, she felt the glacier forming in her chest. Everything she'd lost. Everything she'd run from.

  Another impact. Closer this time. The lights flickered amber.

  "Eleven years I've avoided you," she muttered, sliding the hilt into her trench coat's chest pocket, nestling it against her sternum. Close to her heart, where it had always belonged. Where Ivar had meant it to rest. "Don't make me regret bringing you now."

  She was out the door before the lights steadied.

  Lounge Chippewa, ISV Polaris, In Transit

  The lounge had changed.

  Where minutes ago people had argued over dinner, now they stood armed and ready. The factional clustering from the meal had collapsed entirely. Constables in black composite armor stood shoulder to shoulder with Vanguards in white-blue plating.

  Sigrun swept her gaze across the room, cataloging.

  Marcus Thorne had returned armed to the teeth. His Titanium Shield Bulwark hung on his left arm, minor pitting and claw gouges visible even from across the room. Justice, his Zephyrium Longsword, rested at his hip. An ivory white Gauss Rifle was slung across his back. The Stalwart looked like a fortress.

  "Nothing unites people like something trying to kill them all, hey?" Jabari Adomako had his Kinetic Crossbow Oya in hand, the teal-bronze frame gleaming with Yoruba storm patterns. His Moonstone Cutlass Sankofa hung at his left hip, pearl-bronze finish flashing.

  Xin stood near the viewport with H?kon on his shoulder, his beige-colored ballistic puffer jacket put on, Dilinur standing next to them. His 10mm Magnum Jade was in his grip, held with careful nervousness. The little Diabolisk's scales flickered between anxious brown and determined navy, cycling fast. They appeared locked in a hasty conversation.

  Haylen and her Constables had their Shock Katanas drawn, gold circuitry tracing along the electrified blades. Kowloon-7 rifles hung ready on slings.

  Thomas and his Vanguards had sealed their space marine armor, Pulse Lasers humming and charged.

  Iron Roach stood apart from the rest. His weapon was a double-barreled shotgun with red-silver plating, old and scarred and clearly beloved. A combat knife hung at his belt. His crimson sunglasses reflected the lounge's lights.

  "Everyone accounted for?" Dilinur Altai held her Psi Fan folded in one hand, an ornate silver thing with its red jewel on top. Her black silk robe looked out of place among the armed soldiers. "That Elder Kraken won't wait much longer."

  Sigrun looked to the viewport. "You know it?"

  "Our scans confirmed it while you were grabbing your gear. Seven years old, that Kraken." Thomas added from where he stood, pointing outside with his bionic finger.

  It had been a squid once, maybe. Something from Earth's deep oceans, she guessed. The basic shape was there: a massive mantle, tentacles, eyes.

  But the scale and proportions were nightmarish. Easily the size of a small station, its dark brown flesh stretched across a body that dwarfed the Polaris entirely, mottled with patches of bioluminescent cinder colors. Eight tentacles, each thick as cables, wrapped around the Polaris's hull with a grip that was somehow…gentle? Restraining without crushing somehow.

  Three massive amber glowing eyes stared in Sigrun's direction, each as large as an autocab.

  "Big Grabby-Eyes," H?kon whispered from Xin's shoulder. His scales had settled into confused beige, tilting his head at the massive creature. "Big-big. Sad-sad eyes."

  Xin's voice was tight. "Buddy, that thing could swallow this ship whole."

  "Still sad eyes, Pappa."

  Sigrun glanced at the little Diabolisk. Even now, facing something that could crush them all, H?kon wasn't screaming or looking afraid. Just confused. Did the monster outside not match what he felt from it?

  Movement on the creature's hide caught her attention. Humanoid figures moved across its surface, looking comfortable on the thing's back like sailors on a deck. Draugs. She could tell by the jerking gait, the way they moved in coordinated bursts. A boarding party, waiting for their moment.

  And one figure that didn't move like the others.

  Someone floating.

  Not walking, not crawling. Drifting parallel to the hull with a grace that had no business existing in vacuum. Sigrun couldn't make out details through the viewport's distortion, just a silhouette. Just pale skin and something trailing behind the figure like a gown.

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  "Some drunk at the Mantis once talked about converted deep-sea creatures for Fenris boarding assaults." Iron Roach breathed. "Thought the bastard was insane."

  "An Elder Kraken," Xin said quietly. His glasses flickered as data scrolled across the lenses. "I've read about them. Juveniles are bad enough. Elders can sustain Void Vaults for hours. Create localized atmosphere bubbles in vacuum. Must be how they're keeping the boarding party alive out there."

  As if in response to Xin, the Kraken's three massive eyes flared brighter. Its tentacles shifted, adjusting their grip on the Polaris. From somewhere deep in its mantle came a sound that vibrated through the hull, through the deck plating, through Sigrun's bones.

  "Tómhvelfing, halda!"

  J?turmál. The tongue of her homeland, her ancestors, friends and families.

  And after the Fenris Horde invasion, the language of monsters, as the rest of Seven Realms called it.

  The words hit her like a fist to the chest. "Void Vault, hold." Sigrun found herself whispering the translation.

  Outside, the stars vanished.

  A shimmering membrane spread from the Kraken's body, expanding outward in a sphere that swallowed the Polaris entirely. The absolute black of space was replaced by something else. A contained bubble of atmosphere, held in place by psionic force and the creature's will.

  Sigrun felt the pressure change in her ears. The temperature shifted, growing warmer. The emergency lighting seemed brighter now, reflecting off the membrane that surrounded them.

  Diego's voice came through the comms. "Dios mío, I'm reading oxygen outside the hull. Breathable air, in open space. That thing is doing this?"

  And then THE VOICE came.

  Not through comms or speakers. Through the membrane itself, vibrating the air that the Kraken had created, booming through the hull like thunder drowning in deep water.

  "Vessel of the pretender-city."

  The voice was alto, deepened and distorted by distance and psionic projection. Female. Cold. Familiar in ways Sigrun couldn't place.

  "You carry something that belongs to House Fjeld. Surrender the Third Princess to our care, and perhaps... perhaps...I shall permit the rest of you to continue your insignificant lives."

  Sigrun's right hand curled into a fist at the voice.

  Arrogant dismissal. The formal Nordling sentence structure, the particular rhythm of contempt.

  Diego's voice chimed in through the comms, replying to the Kraken in mock humor. "This is Captain Rodriguez of the ISV Polaris. I don't think I understand the request. Maybe you have the wrong ship, sí?"

  The voice outside continued, bitter undertone in the psionic distortion:

  "She fled her duty once. Abandoned her blood. Left those who could not run to face what came. Surely you understand. Broken things must be returned to their makers."

  Broken things. Said with venom. Like the speaker also included herself in that category.

  Next to Sigrun, Jabari responded. "We're all a little broken, aren't we?"

  "I CAN HEAR YOU IN THERE, Maridian! Mock the Fenris Horde's mercy at your own peril."

  Jabari turned to Sigrun with a sarcastic grin. "And here I thought we were bonding over shared trauma."

  Sigrun's mind raced. That cadence outside. That way of turning self-hatred in speech. There were only two people in the Seven Realms who spoke like that.

  Her mother was one of them.

  But the voice was too young. Too familiar in a different way.

  She couldn't place it. Yet.

  Dilinur stepped forward, her voice carrying clearly: "This is Prefect Dilinur Altai of Xing Hong. We do not negotiate with terrorists."

  Sigrun found her own voice, loud enough to carry through the hull: "And I don't answer to House Fjeld anymore."

  Silence from outside. The Kraken's bioluminescence pulsed faster. Agitation rippling across its massive hide.

  Then the voice again, colder now:

  "Then you have chosen your deaths, lesser ones. I'd hoped for..."

  A pause. Something cracking beneath the ice of whoever the speaker was.

  "No. It matters not what I hoped."

  The grinding sound came from everywhere at once. Claws and cutting tools finding seams in the Polaris's armor.

  Alarms blared.

  Sigrun's Nucleus Watch flickered. Diego's face materialized in holographic blue above her wrist, his easy manner replaced by tight-jawed focus.

  "Multiple breach points—Decks 2, 3, and 5. Mierda, whatever's out there, it's finding ways in fast. Seeing Draugs at Deck 2!"

  Dilinur's commands cut through the chaos: "Constables with Sergeant Shih, hold Deck 3. Vanguards with Mister Mendoza, secure Deck 5. Associates, push toward Deck 2 and deal with the Draug infestation. Roach will accompany you. Zhi-Xin Wu, if you will?"

  "Yes." Xin stepped forward, his glasses flickering. "We'll need to sync our Nucleus Watches first. Diego can coordinate better if we're all on the same channel."

  Jabari looked already synced, his yellow watch dial glowing aureate. "Used this feature when I was a Griot trainee. Beats shouting over gunfire. Pricey, though. ZenFusion bills you for every second of service."

  "Xing Hong admin has already covered your cost. You won't be billed." Dilinur assured from the side.

  "How I wish this Prefect's Associate was permanent." Jabari nodded his approval, grinning.

  Sigrun looked at her wrist. The watch face glowed its usual blue, but beyond checking stats and verifying bounty kills, she'd never dug into its features. "How?"

  "Here." Xin moved beside her, tapping his own watch. A holographic interface bloomed above his wrist. "See this icon? Looks like a radio wave. Tap it."

  She did. Her watch projected a similar display, but the symbols made little sense.

  {

  ? PERSONAL STATS

  ?? EXTRANET ACCESS

  ?? ATOMIC WALLET

  ?? XING HONG BOUNTY LEDGER

  ?? KILL VERIFIER PRO

  ?? MarsStream? (subscription expired)

  ?? NoodleNow Delivery

  ?? AutoCab Call

  ?? Medi-Vap Dosage Tracker [23 ALERTS]

  ?? LilyLink Professional (incognito mode)

  ?? Seven Realms News

  ?? NUCLEUS WAVE CHANNELS

  ?? Angry Skuggrs 2

  ? Multi-Planet Weather

  ?? Quantumfy (trial ended)

  ?? Aether Fitness Coach

  ?? Calendar

  ?? Avalon Prime

  ?? ZenFusion Direct Deposit [OVERDUE]

  ?? HoloGram Studio

  ?? Chatter (47 unread)

  ?? SYSTEM CONFIG

  ?? Firmware Update Available (ignored x69)

  }

  Each icon pulsed faintly, waiting for input. Text scrolled beneath in tiny characters she couldn't focus on fast enough. Something about "signal encryption" and "quantum handshake protocols" and other nonsense.

  Too many options, too much text scrolling past.

  Xin reached over, his finger hovering. "May I?"

  "Go ahead."

  He tapped the 'NUCLEUS WAVE CHANNELS' string then after that, three different points on her watch dial in quick succession. "There. Now select 'Polaris_Associates_02' from the list."

  A list of channel names appeared. She found the one he mentioned and pressed it. Her watch chimed softly.

  [JOINED: Polaris_Associates_02]

  [MEMBERS: 6]

  {

  Host: Zhi-Xin Wu, Contract Rigger (previously), Xing Hong (Earth Immigrant)

  Backup Host: Diego Rodriguez, Orca shuttle pilot, Terra Alliance

  Sigrun Fjeld, Psi Lynx, Nordic Commonwealth (Refugee, Wanted)

  Marcus Thorne, Stalwart, Zorian Covenant

  Jabari Adomako, Griot, Emerald Directorate

  Iron Roach (Warning: Legal Name pending for this individual. Recommend reporting to Xing Hong Administration!!)

  }

  "That's it," Xin said. "Diego's voice will come through directly now."

  Marcus tapped his watch without looking.

  Iron Roach took longer, squinting at his interface before Xin helped him through the sequence. "Them eggheads never make things simple, do they?"

  "Not very pleasant, I know." Xin backed away, standing next to Sigrun now. "Used these a lot when I was a Rigger. Feels weird at first, but you'll get used to it."

  "Associates, report. Are you connected?" Dilinur's voice came through, not from her mouth but from inside Sigrun's head. Sigrun flinched.

  It felt like someone had reached into her skull and spoken directly into her thoughts. Not painful, but invasive. Wrong.

  "We are." Jabari placed a hand on his temple.

  Dilinur noticed Sigrun's reaction. "You'll adapt. It's just your watch projecting sound through bone conduction."

  Sigrun forced herself to nod. "Just another tool, I guess."

  Marcus was already walking. "Aye. I'll take point."

  Haylen caught Marcus's eye from across the lounge. A nod passed between them, something unspoken but understood. "Good luck, all."