The black Jeep pulled away from the area where the fight had taken place, moving through streets that grew narrower as they headed east.East Dreskhar was different from the city center. No tall buildings, no wide main roads. What it had were winding alleys too narrow for two vehicles to pass each other, open drains along the roadside with water that was never clear, laundry hanging between houses pressed so close together it was as if there had never been enough room for everyone living here. Rusted tin roofs, unplastered brick walls peeling in patches, small warung stalls with plastic tarpaulins faded from long use.Children ran barefoot through the alleys. An old woman sold fried cassava over a kerosene stove in front of her house. The smell of drains and wood smoke mixed into something that only existed in places like this.Eiran gave directions from the passenger seat, occasionally saying left or straight at intersections that had no signs.Until finally he said, "Stop here, sir.

A few moments earlier, inside the cockpit of the first fighter jet.The instruments in front of the pilot showed precise numbers. Altitude, speed, distance to target. All within perfect parameters.The black Jeep below was locked. The red box on his targeting display wasn't moving."Jet Two, target locked on your end?""Confirmed. Ready to fire.""Fire!"Two missiles broke free almost simultaneously, thin trails of smoke splitting the air beneath both jets toward the same point.The pilot counted in his head. Three seconds. Two. One.But his eyes caught something that shouldn't have happened.The passenger door of the Jeep swung open. Two bodies came out of the still-moving vehicle, launching sideways off the road.Half a second later, the explosion swallowed the Jeep completely.The pilot blinked once, twice, making sure what he had just seen wasn't a shadow or an artifact on his visor.His hand pressed the communication button."Base, this is Eagle One. Emergency report. Both target

Arcturus Continental Government Headquarters, Dreskhar City.The building stood on a quiet street corner, five stories tall with a concrete facade that was old enough to look ordinary and well-maintained enough not to look abandoned. No large sign on the outer wall. No military vehicles parked out front. Nothing to suggest this was anything other than an administrative office no one needed to visit.Eiran looked at the building with an expression that made no effort to hide his confusion."Is this really the place, sir?""Yes. This is it."Lein walked toward the iron gate on the right side of the building. On the gate post was an unobtrusive panel, its surface a dark matte that blended into the color of the post and was invisible unless you were standing close to it. No screen, no button. Just a surface that waited.Lein placed his thumb on it.Three seconds. No light came on, no sound was heard.Then the gate swung inward, slow and silent, like something that had been waiting."Let's

"There's important news, General." Orlan didn't waste any time. "Rael Caldwell, one of our best researchers, has fallen in the line of duty. Before he went down, his son managed to escape carrying the documents his father had gathered over months. Those documents reveal something we can't handle at the division level." Orlan paused briefly. "And you should know that Eiran Caldwell, Rael's son, arrived in Dreskhar accompanied by Omega-1. I've already sent the documents to you, General. Please read them."Silence on the other side of the screen.Omega-1? Lein Ashford?If this situation involved him, it wasn't simple.Thaddeus Voss, the highest-ranking General of the Arcturus Continent, looked down at another screen outside the camera's view. His eyes moved quickly across the text.Orlan waited.The expression on Thaddeus's face changed slowly. From curious, to stunned, then finally to something far deeper than simple anger.SLAM.A loud sound filled the speaker. The surface of the desk

Two days later, above the Velthar Ocean.From above, the Arcturus Continent's fleet looked like a shadow moving across the surface of the sea, a shadow too large to ignore and too organized to be called anything but deliberate.On the water, twenty warships moved in a perfect V formation, their bows cutting through the waves at a speed that didn't match their size. Between those ships, submarines moved beneath the surface, periscopes rising occasionally then disappearing again. On land, convoys of armored vehicles moved from three different directions toward the Varek border, the newest tanks trailing engine exhaust into the morning air.And in the sky, more than two hundred fighter jets flew in neat rows, their engines roaring in unison and creating a sound that could be felt in the chest even from a considerable distance.More than ten thousand people. Elite among the elite. The most trained, most experienced, most prepared forces the Arcturus Continent had ever sent in a single ope