THE STUDENTS WHO STARTED A GALACTIC WAR

The Mutiny

RIO’S POV

The door locked behind the guards. The bolt slid home with a sound like a coffin closing.

Lumi sat on her cot, knees pulled to her chest. Tavian stood at the door, one hand pressed flat against the metal. Zali paced—three steps, turn, three steps back. Kael stood in the corner, motionless.

"Seventy-two hours," Lumi whispered. "That's not—that's three days."

"Less," Kael said. "They started counting the moment Sterling gave the order."

Zali punched the wall. The concrete didn't crack. Her knuckles split. Blood dripped onto the floor. She didn't wipe it away.

I sat on the edge of my cot, hands clasped between my knees. My throat felt tight. I forced a grin. "So. Anyone know a good lawyer?"

No one laughed.

"Come on. This is fixable. We just—we tell them we'll cooperate. We run their stupid drills. We play along until—"

"Until what?" Zali turned on me. "Until they decide we're useful enough to keep alive?"

"Better than the alternative."

"The alternative is fighting."

"Fighting what? The doors? The guards? The entire military base we're locked inside?"

Zali's jaw clenched. She looked at the door. Took three steps toward it. Her shoulders tensed.

"Don't," Kael said.

She ran anyway. Her body blurred. The air snapped. She hit the door at full speed.

The impact was thunder. Her shoulder collapsed inward with a wet crunch. She screamed and dropped to the floor, clutching her arm. Bone jutted against the skin.

Lumi scrambled off her cot. "I can—"

"Don't touch me." Zali's voice came out strangled. She pushed herself up with her good arm, leaning against the wall. Her face was white. Sweat beaded on her forehead.

I stared at the door. Not even a dent.

Tavian hadn't moved. He stood where he'd been, hand still pressed to the metal. His eyes were open but he wasn't seeing anything.

"Tavian," I said. "Hey. Captain. We need..."

"They lied." His voice was flat. "They told me I was serving. Protecting. They said..." He stopped. His hand curled into a fist against the door. "I believed them."

"Yeah, well. Welcome to the club."

He turned. His eyes focused on me. "What?"

"The people-who-got-screwed club. Membership's growing."

"This isn't a joke."

"Everything's a joke if you tell it right."

Kael stepped forward. "We have approximately sixty hours remaining. Panic serves no function."

I stood up. "Panic? You think I'm panicking? I'm *coping*, Kael. Some of us don't shut down and calculate probability matrices when we're about to get executed."

"Calculating improves survival odds."

"By how much?"

Kael didn't answer.

"That's what I thought." I walked to the center of the cell. My heart hammered against my ribs. My hands were shaking. I shoved them in my pockets. "We're going to die, and you're doing math."

"I'm looking for an exit."

"There isn't one."

"There's always an exit."

I looked at the door. Blast-resistant. Magnetically sealed. Keycard access only. I'd watched the guards come and go for three days. Same routine. Same cards. Same swipe.

The card.

I'd seen it. This morning. The guard with the shaved head and the scar on his jaw. He'd pulled the card from his chest pocket, swiped it, tucked it back. White plastic. Black stripe. Security chip embedded top-right. Logo bottom-left.

I closed my eyes. Pictured it. The exact dimensions. The placement of the stripe. The logo—angular, red and gray.

"I have a plan," I said.

Zali lifted her head. "What?"

"I can get us out."

Kael turned. "How?"

"The keycard. I saw one. This morning. I know what it looks like."

"You can't make a keycard," Kael said.

"Why not? I made a gun."

"You made plastic shaped like a gun."

"This is plastic shaped like a card. Same principle."

"The encryption..."

"I'll figure it out."

I sat down on the floor. Crossed my legs. Held my hands out in front of me, palms up.

Lumi watched from her cot. "Rio, I don't think..."

"Quiet. I need to focus."

I closed my eyes. Pictured the card. White plastic. Smooth edges. Rounded corners. The black magnetic stripe—slightly raised, matte finish. The chip—gold, embedded, tiny grid pattern across the surface. The logo.

Heat built in my chest. My hands tingled. I felt the shape forming between my palms—flat, rectangular, solid.

Sweat dripped down my temples. My breathing came faster. The heat spread up my arms, into my shoulders. My hands shook.

I opened my eyes.

A keycard sat in my palms. White. Black stripe. Gold chip. Logo bottom-left.

Perfect.

I stood up. Walked to the door. My legs felt unsteady. I pressed the card against the reader and swiped.

The light stayed red.

**ACCESS DENIED.**

I swiped again.

**ACCESS DENIED.**

"What..." I turned the card over. Identical. Every detail. I held it up to the light. The chip gleamed. The stripe ran smooth and straight.

"It looks exactly like the key," I said. "Why won't it work?"

Kael stepped beside me. He took the card. Examined it. Held it up. "Because you made a picture, Rio. You didn't make the code."

"The code's inside. I copied..."

"You copied the outside. The magnetic strip is blank. The chip has no data. You don't know the encryption key. You don't know the access sequence." He handed the card back. "You made a prop."

My chest went cold. "No. I..."

A siren blared. Red lights flooded the corridor outside. The klaxon was different from the morning alarm—higher, sharper, urgent.

Zali pushed off the wall. "What is that?"

Kael's face went blank. "Silent alarm."

I stared at the card reader. A small red light blinked beneath the screen. **UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS ATTEMPT. SECURITY ALERT.**

"Oh no."

Footsteps. Heavy. Multiple. Boots on concrete. Metal clanking. Voices—clipped, professional.

"—breach attempt, cell block seven—"

"—full suppression authorized—"

I backed away from the door. "The fake card tripped the silent alarm."

Tavian turned. "What?"

"They're coming in now."

The lock mechanism on the door began to spin.