Kaden’s HUD timer had never felt louder.
[HIS VALIANT//NAVIGATION]
Slip Transit: ACTIVE
ETA to target corridor: 00:15:07
Fifteen minutes until Valiant dropped out of the lane.
He shifted his weight from foot to foot, boots planted on the bay deck, armor sealed and snug. Theta-3 stood in their little wedge near their assigned breach pods. Helmets on. Weapons locked to their harnesses. Med harness tugging at his shoulders like it was trying to remind him it was there.
The bay was quieter than he’d expected.
Not silent—never silent—but the noise had compressed. Earlier in transit there’d been more laughter, more chatter between squads, more casual swearing. Now most of the voices he heard were low and clipped. People checking gear. Checking each other. Repeating small rituals under their breath.
Tanaka stood at the front of their little cluster, shield grounded beside his boot, shotgun mag-locked across his back. Navarro was to Kaden’s left, rifle hanging on its sling, fingers drumming once against the magwell before she caught herself and stopped. Vos was on his other side, helmet tilted slightly as he watched something in his HUD.
Jax paced a slow path in front of them, not enough to draw attention, just enough to bleed energy off. Every dozen steps she rolled her shoulders, like someone who’d been in armor long enough that it felt wrong not to move.
“Final fifteen,” Navarro murmured on squad net. “Feels different than the last four hours.”
“You don’t say,” Vos said.
Her breathing sounded a hair faster than usual over comms. It wasn’t much, but Kaden heard it. He suspected she’d hear the difference in his too, if she was listening.
Another tone ran through his implant. Different from the earlier slip alerts. Higher, sharper.
[TASK FORCE HARROW//FLEET NET]
Shenzhou battlegroup: prepare for staggered slip exit.
Elements: SHENZHOU, PIKE, TENZING, YARI, KHEPRI.
Estimate to group exit: 00:02:00
“Shenzhou’s going out first,” Vos said quietly. “She’s taking some of the frigate screen with her.”
“Recon?” Navarro asked.
“Recon with teeth,” Jax said. She stopped pacing for a second, head tilted like she was listening to something upstream on the command net, then relayed, “Light cruiser and frigates exit ahead, get the first look, eat the first hits if Opp has a welcome party set up.”
“Better them than us,” Navarro said, then winced. “That sounds awful.”
“Better them than all of us blind,” Jax said. “We don’t want to board anything if the rest of the task force is about to be flanked by something we missed. This is how you avoid that.”
Kaden imagined Shenzhou—sleek, knife-shaped, flanked by her escort—peeling out of slip into whatever waited at the edge of the corridor. He’d never been on a ship exiting ahead of a task force before. He wondered what it felt like to be the point instead of one of the blades further back.
“Can we see anything?” he asked Vos.
Vos flicked a hand, calling something up on his HUD. A moment later, Kaden’s display pinged.
[AURORA//TACTICAL – RELAY FEED]
Source: HIS SHENZHOU (DELAYED)
Status: VISUAL / CONTACT DATA ONLY
A small window opened in the corner of Kaden’s vision. It was mostly static at first, slip-distortion and noise. Then the feed steadied just enough to show the ghost of a tactical display: Shenzhou’s tag in the center, frigates in a loose arc around her, a hazy representation of the slip boundary ahead.
[HIS VALIANT//NAVIGATION]
Adjacent battlegroup slip exit in: 00:00:29
His stomach did a little twist, even though it wasn’t his ship about to step through.
“Jitters?” Navarro asked softly.
“Little bit,” he admitted.
“Good,” Jax said. “Means your head understands where we’re headed. Keep it under control.”
He focused on the feed.
The timer for Shenzhou’s exit hit zero.
For a moment, the feed went white-noise bright. Kaden’s HUD fuzzed, then sharpened again as Aurora smoothed the data.
New text tagged itself along the edge of the window.
[AURORA//TACTICAL – SHENZHOU FEED]
Slip Transit: TERMINATED
REALSPACE – CONTESTED CORRIDOR
Initial condition: WRECKAGE FIELD
The tactical plot cleaned up. Now Kaden could see more: chunks of debris as ghostly gray shapes, Shenzhou and her frigates as blue, the emptiness ahead shading toward a deeper black.
Then red began to appear.
Small contacts first, like pinpricks. Opp pickets lighting up as Shenzhou’s sensors painted them.
CONTACTS – OPP (x4)
Range: LONG
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Classification: LIGHT ESCORT / PICKET
“There they are,” Vos said. “Neighbors.”
“Any bigger hulls?” Navarro asked quickly.
“Not yet,” Vos said. “If Shenzhou sees something heavier, we’ll see it.”
Kaden watched the icons shift. The red blips reacted, moving to intercept or flank. Shenzhou adjusted in turn, vectors changing, frigates spreading slightly to cover.
His palms felt damp inside his gloves.
“Mercer,” Jax said quietly. “Where’s your brain right now?”
“Thinking about the freighter we rode in on,” he said. “Feels like that, just with more things that can kill us.”
“Stick with what you can actually affect,” she said. “You’re not on Shenzhou. You’re here. Watch, learn, but don’t spiral over a fight you can’t touch yet.”
He dragged his attention back to the feed.
Opp pickets closed. Shenzhou’s forward batteries lit up on the schematic as streaks of blue, returning fire indicated in red. No one had taken a hit yet; the little health bars by each tag were green, steady.
The main timer continued to burn down.
[HIS VALIANT//NAVIGATION]
Slip Transit: ACTIVE
ETA to Valiant Group Exit: 00:10:32
“Why are we still in?” Navarro asked.
“Big hulls don’t want to pop out blind into an unknown formation,” Jax said. “You let smaller elements feel for the edges first. They’ve got more room to dodge.”
“They’re not going to get flattened without us, are they?” Navarro asked.
“If they do, we’ll know what not to do,” Vos said.
“Eden,” Jax said, a warning under the word.
“I’m just managing expectations,” he said.
Kaden watched as the first shots landed.
Icons flashed. One of the red picket markers stuttered, its health bar dropping in a sharp chunk as Shenzhou’s opening salvo hit home. A moment later, a blue frigate tag flickered, losing a smaller slice.
[AURORA//TACTICAL – SHENZHOU FEED]
Damage: MODERATE (OPP ESCORT 1)
Damage: LIGHT (HIS FRIGATE – YARI)
He swallowed.
He couldn’t hear any of it. No roar of guns, no impact clangs, not from this far back. Just numbers and shifting lines, and the low, steady hum of Valiant’s own drives pushing the bigger ship along the lane.
A subtle vibration ran under his boots, different from earlier. Aurora pinged his HUD.
[HIS VALIANT//NAVIGATION]
Slip trajectory adjustment – MINOR
Cause: FORWARD BATTLESPACE UPDATE
“Ship’s angling,” Vos said. “Probably tweaking where we fall out so we’re not on top of anyone’s wake.”
Another pair of red tags winked into existence on Shenzhou’s plot.
CONTACTS – OPP (x2)
Range: EXTREME
Classification: UNKNOWN HULLS (EST. FRIGATE / DESTROYER)
“More friends,” Navarro muttered.
Shenzhou’s group adjusted again, vector changing, formation tightening.
Gaunt’s voice cut through on marine net, riding over the watch chatter.
[HIS VALIANT//MARINE NET] – GAUNT
“All marine elements, this is Gaunt. Forward screen is in contact. Valiant will maintain slip for another ten. You do not launch blind into a gun line. You hold position and you stay ready. Okafor will have boarding assignments when we earn them.”
“Earn them,” Vos repeated. “Feels like we’re waiting in line at a butcher’s.”
“Shut up, Eden,” Navarro said.
“Yes, please do,” Jax added. There was no real heat in it, but the edge was there.
Kaden dragged his focus back to the feed.
One of the Opp pickets went dark—its tag snapped to gray, health bar hitting zero. A human frigate’s bar dipped into yellow, warning text flickering beside it.
HULL BREACH – LOCALIZED
Status: COMBAT CAPABLE
“See?” Jax said. “Light units first. If that was us, we’d be riding a slip exit straight into someone else’s kill box.”
“And instead we get to watch,” Navarro said, voice tight.
“Instead you get to watch and understand why Command does it this way,” Jax said. “You’re not going to like every part of this war. At least respect the parts that are trying to keep you from dying stupid.”
The main timer rolled past nine minutes.
Shenzhou’s plot updated again. Another Opp contact flared, then dimmed. The two newer red tags shifted, no longer closing so aggressively. Waiting. Testing.
[AURORA//TACTICAL – SHENZHOU FEED]
Opp disposition: PROBING ACTION
Heavier elements: NO DIRECT CONTACT (YET)
“Testing us,” Jax said. “Seeing how we respond.”
“Don’t we need to respond harder?” Navarro asked.
“We just did,” Jax said. “We let our screen tell them we’re not asleep. We keep our bigger hulls in reserve. If they want a real fight, they’re going to have to show more of their hand.”
Kaden realized he was clenching his jaw. He forced it to loosen.
The minutes kept falling away.
The jokes, what few there were, shrank even more. Navarro went quiet. Vos stopped running commentary and just watched, head tilted in that way he had when he was trying to drink in every line of a display. Tanaka’s grip on his shield tightened fractionally.
Jax’s pacing started again, slower now, a steady circuit that took her between them and the edge of the bay, as if she were checking the distance to everything without needing to look directly.
[HIS VALIANT//NAVIGATION]
Slip Transit: ACTIVE
ETA to Valiant Group Exit: 00:03:21
Three minutes.
Shenzhou’s feed shifted one last time. The Opp pickets were pulling back, not routed, but giving ground—light hulls angling away, maintaining distance.
[AURORA//TACTICAL – SHENZHOU FEED]
Opp disposition: PROBING ACTION
Heavier elements: NO DIRECT CONTACT (YET)
“Looks like they’re not committing their heavier stuff yet,” Vos said. “Either they’re cautious, or they’re not sure what we’ve got behind Shenzhou.”
“Let them wonder,” Jax said. “Worry’s good for them.”
Kaden’s heart thudded in his chest. Not out of control, but high. Ready.
[HIS VALIANT//SHIPWIDE]
Slip Transit: TERMINATION INBOUND
All hands: Secure for realspace entry.
Estimated time to group exit: 00:01:00
“Here we go,” Vos said softly.
Jax stopped pacing.
“Last checks,” she said. “Armor, seals, ammo, med kit. Make sure nothing’s going to fall off when gravity decides to have an opinion.”
Kaden ran through it by feel. Chest plate locked. Gauntlets sealed. SMG mag seated. Sidearm secure. Med harness tight, injectors in their ports, foam canisters clinking faintly when he shifted his hip.
His HUD showed all green. No warnings. No loose connections.
Navarro rolled her shoulders, rifle snug against her chest. “Good here,” she said.
“Vos?” Jax asked.
“Wasp’s behaving,” Vos said. “Everything’s green.”
“Tanaka?”
“Standing,” Tanaka said. “That’s most of my job.”
“Mercer,” Jax said.
Kaden swallowed once. “Ready, Sergeant.”
She studied them all for a second.
“Right,” she said. “Then enjoy the last minute where nobody’s shooting at us.”
The hum underfoot climbed.
Kaden felt it again: that wrong sensation, like the world was about to turn inside out. His stomach tightened. The gray smear of the slip boundary wasn’t visible from here, but he could feel it in the way Aurora’s notifications stacked up in the corner of his vision, in the subtle drag at his balance.
Slip Transit: TERMINATING
All hands: SECURE
He focused on his breathing. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. Anchor wasn’t up—Jax wasn’t burning AP on keeping their nerves steady for something as simple as a slip exit—but RES 6 did its work anyway, smoothing the worst edges off the rising fear.
The timer rolled down.
00:00:10
00:00:05
00:00:03
“Eyes open,” Jax said. “Next part’s where it starts to count.”
Then the number hit zero, and Valiant stepped out of the lane.
