The Triumph of Darron looked tiny as it sat docked at the same exterior airlock, its umbilical connected and sealed. Ready for a quick escape if everything went sideways.

  Luca gathered his crew in the ship's cargo bay. They stood in a loose semicircle around him, suited up and armed.

  Danny was the only one not in combat gear. He sat in his wheelchair at the edge of the group, tablet in his lap, IV line running to the portable med unit Joey had rigged. His curly red hair stuck out from under his comm headset, and his jaw was tight with frustration.

  "I should be going with you," he said.

  "You're barely two weeks out from regrowing your legs," Joey said. "You're staying on the ship."

  "I can—"

  "No. I'm not carrying you; no one is. These portals are the highest level we've encountered so far." Joey's voice was gentle but final. "You'll monitor from here. Coordinate. That's how you help."

  Danny's hand gripped the arm of his wheelchair. Zoe moved to his side and put her hand over his.

  "We'll be back before you know it," she said quietly.

  His expression softened, but only a little.

  Luca looked around the cargo bay at his team. Emily with her dual blasters holstered at her hips and that plasma blade of hers. Zoe in her scout suit, dark and sleek. Ryan with his plasma shotgun slung across his back. Chris was strapped to that large assault plasma rifle, and Joey, with his new shield and blaster, medical kit mag-locked to his thigh.

  They'd been through Alpha Centauri together and survived. This was just another challenge.

  "Alright," Luca said. "Three portals, three teams. We hit them all at once."

  "First team: Zoe and Ryan. You're taking the Shipyard Gambit." He highlighted the portal in the drydock. "Infiltration mission. Recover a device from a fortified shipyard. Your skillsets complement each other. Stealth and engineering."

  Zoe nodded, her dark eyes focused. Ryan cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders.

  "We've got it," Ryan said. "Piece of cake."

  "Second team: Emily and Joey. You're running the Junkyard of Jitters." The portal in the generator room lit up on the display. "This one allows up to five participants, but it's the highest level. You'll be protecting Varnathi engineers while searching for a Ship Upgrade Mod."

  "Only two of us for a five-person portal?" Emily's brow furrowed.

  "The System scales to match participants," Luca said. "Always has. Two people means two-person difficulty."

  Joey stepped forward, checking the charge on his blaster. "Varnathi engineers. So we're defending while we search for the mod."

  "Exactly. Close quarters, lots of obstacles, enemies coming from all directions." Luca met Emily's eyes. "Your dual blasters and plasma blade are perfect for that. High damage, fast target switching. Joey keeps the engineers alive, you keep everything else dead."

  "Got it," Joey said.

  Emily didn't say anything. Her jaw was tight.

  "Third team." Luca met Chris's eyes. "You and me. High Society. We're infiltrating an exclusive fundraiser to steal an artifact."

  Chris grinned. "We're crashing a party." He patted his heavy assault rifle. "Guess I won't be needing this baby."

  "Don't jinx us," Ryan said. "Watch, you'll end up in a firefight with a champagne flute."

  "Wouldn't be the first time," Chris said.

  Emily's jaw tightened. She looked at the portal assignments, then back at Luca.

  "I should be with you," she said.

  Luca turned to her. Her green eyes were hard, and the set of her shoulders told him exactly what was coming.

  "Em." He kept his voice even. "Chris knows how to blend into a crowd. And Joey needs your firepower to keep those engineers breathing while he patches them up."

  "I know it makes sense." She stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

  "I know." He caught her hand, squeezed once. "But this is how we win."

  Emily held his eyes for a long moment. Then she exhaled, the tension leaving her shoulders.

  "Fine. But if you get yourself killed in some fancy ballroom, I'm never forgiving you."

  "Noted."

  She punched his arm, hard enough to hurt, then stepped back to rejoin Joey. Her expression was still tight, but she was focused now. Mission mode.

  Zoe hadn't moved from Danny's side. Her hand was still on his, her body angled toward him like she was reluctant to leave.

  "Zoe," Luca said.

  She looked up.

  "You good?"

  Her dark eyes flickered to Danny, then back to Luca. "I should stay with the ship. Someone needs to be here in case—"

  "Danny's got comms and monitoring," Luca said. "We need you in the shipyard. Your infiltration skills are critical."

  "Ryan can handle it alone."

  Ryan snorted. "The hell I can. It's a two-person scenario for a reason."

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  Zoe's grip tightened on Danny's hand. He looked up at her, his expression soft.

  "Go," Danny said. "I'll be fine."

  "If something happens—"

  "I'll seal the ship and wait for you." He smiled, the big dimples showing despite the worry in his eyes. His hand dropped to Pixel, curled in his lap. She'd grown since they'd found her, now the size of a household cat, her bioluminescent markings pulsing softly as he stroked her midnight-blue fur. "Just come back to me."

  Zoe hesitated. Then she leaned down and kissed him, quick but fierce. When she straightened, her expression had hardened into something cold and focused.

  "Let's do this," she said.

  Luca looked around at his crew. Emily and Joey, ready but tense. Zoe and Ryan, locked in and waiting. Chris beside him, calm as always.

  This was it.

  "Once we activate the portals, they'll all go live simultaneously. Monsters shouldn't spawn in the facility, we just have to run them and complete the delves."

  "Copy that," Danny said through the comm.

  "Stay sharp. Stay together. Complete the objectives and get out." Luca's gaze swept across them one more time. "We clear these portals, we claim this facility. Then we have a home. A real one."

  "Everyone to your portals," Luca said. "On my signal."

  They moved.

  Helmets sealed with soft clicks around the bay. One by one, they cycled through the airlock into the facility's dark corridors, gravity vanishing the moment they crossed the threshold.

  Emily and Joey pushed off toward the generator room, floating through the blackness with their helmet lights cutting pale beams ahead. Emily's ponytail drifted weightless behind her visor. Her hand brushed Joey's arm once in silent support before they disappeared around a corner.

  Zoe and Ryan made for the drydock, Zoe pulling herself along the walls with that quiet grace that made her almost impossible to track even in zero-G.

  Chris fell in beside Luca as they headed toward the storage bay, their boots finding no purchase on the smooth metal floors.

  "You ready for this?" Chris asked.

  "Always."

  "Liar."

  Luca grinned despite himself. "Yeah. Always."

  They reached their positions. Luca stood before the shimmer of the High Society portal, Chris at his shoulder. Through the comms, he could hear Emily and Joey's breathing, the soft rustle of Zoe adjusting her gear.

  "Everyone in position?" Luca asked.

  Three confirmations came back.

  He raised his hand toward the portal. The System interface flickered to life, awaiting activation.

  "On my mark." He took a breath. "Three. Two. One."

  "Go."

  The portal swallowed him whole.

  Luca blinked, and the cargo bay was gone.

  He stood in a luxurious bedroom. Soft lighting, polished surfaces, the kind of understated wealth that screamed old money. Chris materialized beside him a moment later, already scanning the space.

  Two formal suits lay on the bed, perfectly tailored, one for each of them. Not Earth tuxedos—the cut was sharper, the fabric shimmering with that subtle iridescence of TL9 materials.

  The System interface flickered in Luca's vision:

  [Mission Objective:]

  Infiltrate an exclusive fundraiser in an asteroid resort, bypass four levels of advanced security, and steal the prized artifact.

  Four levels of security. Which means we need to find someone with access. The host, probably. Or someone close to them.

  Chris looked at the suits, then down at his bulky medium armor, still scorched from Midnight Veil, and snorted. "Guess we can't exactly crash a high-class gala looking like spec ops rejects."

  "Definitely not." Luca started working the straps of his scout suit. "The System has a sense of humor."

  They stripped down and changed. The TL9 fabric was light and comfortable, nothing like the stiff suits from Earth, and Luca felt the smooth material conform to his body the moment he slipped it on, adjusting automatically to his frame.

  He fiddled with the bow tie. Twisted it. Tried again. The damn thing wouldn't sit right.

  "Need some help, Mr. Bond?" Chris asked, already dressed, his tie perfect.

  "Shut up." But Luca turned to face him anyway.

  Chris stepped closer and straightened the tie with a few quick movements. "There. Now you look like a proper socialite instead of a guy who got dressed in the dark."

  "Thanks, asshole."

  "Anytime."

  Luca turned toward the wall-mounted display that served as a mirror, its surface shifting from opaque to reflective at his approach. A faint holographic overlay highlighted the suit's fit, suggesting minor adjustments that the fabric had already made. He looked the part. They both did. Two young men in expensive suits, ready to charm their way through a room full of strangers.

  Find the host. Get close to them. Figure out where the artifact is.

  He slipped the slim hacking pad into his inner pocket. His plasma blaster was too big and obvious. This required finesse.

  Then his fingers brushed the other object he had carried forward with him through every portal.

  The [Encrypted Datapad].

  Ryan called it a quest item. Luca just knew he hadn’t been able to let it go.

  He slid it into the tuxedo’s hidden inner pocket and exhaled.

  They exited the bedroom and made their way through the resort's opulent halls. Crystal fixtures refracted light in impossible patterns. Polished floors reflected their steps, and through panoramic windows, the void of space stretched endlessly and darkly, dotted with the running lights of starships docked at nearby berths.

  Floor-to-ceiling windows dominated the far wall, and beyond them hung a planet that stole his breath. The entire surface blazed with light, city grids stretching from pole to pole, no dark patches, just endless civilization glittering under the glow of two suns. Luca had seen Earth's nightside from orbit. This was something else entirely.

  This is what they were. Before the collapse.

  The ballroom itself was filled with elegant Varnathi, and these weren't the desperate survivors or haunted ghosts Luca had encountered in other portals. These were the elite of a civilization that spanned however many star systems. Their clothing shimmered with gemstones that shone brighter than he'd ever seen and fabrics that shifted color with every movement. Wealth beyond anything he'd ever imagined.

  The Varnathi looked almost human. The proportions were slightly off, eyes a little too large, skin tones ranging from pale lavender to deep bronze and some with faint patterns of gray fur along their jawlines and forearms. But they moved like people. Everything about their posture and gestures felt unmistakably real.

  A memory. The System's pulling this from somewhere in their history. Before they started losing planets. Before everything fell apart.

  These aren't real. Just constructs.

  Luca exchanged a glance with Chris, and they descended the staircase together, and the crowd didn't react. No stares. No suspicion. They were just two more socialites blending into the glamorous crowd.

  Good. We're in.

  Luca scanned the room. Security was subtle but present, only two guards by the main entrance in formal attire that didn't quite hide the bulk of concealed weapons. One by the service corridor, trying to look like staff. Another pair flanking a door at the far end of the ballroom, their posture too rigid, too watchful. That door led somewhere important.

  Four levels of security. Start at the top.

  His gaze swept the crowd, looking for the center of gravity. He found it near the middle of the room: an older Varnathi male, silver-haired, carrying himself with the easy confidence of someone used to being the most important person in any space. Guests orbited him like planets around a sun, stealing glances when they thought he wasn't looking, angling their conversations to catch his attention. The host.

  He was leading a stunning woman around the ballroom, introducing her to guests. She had dark hair swept up in an elaborate style, gray fur soft along her cheekbones and the curve of her pointed ears, and golden eyes that caught the light like coins.

  Daughter, maybe. Or a partner.

  "The host," Luca said quietly, leaning toward Chris. "The woman with him might be our way in."

  Something about her face nagged at him. The sharp cheekbones, the set of her jaw. He'd seen that face before. Somewhere.

  Where do I know you from?

  Chris followed his gaze. "I can work the crowd. Get close to the old man through the guests; people love talking about their hosts. You see what you can learn about her."

  "I need a name first. Background. Can't charm someone if I don't know who they are."

  "Then get mingling." Chris clapped him on the shoulder. "Try not to get slapped."

  Chris moved into the crowd, posture relaxed, with the easy charm that made people trust him before they knew why.

  Luca considered activating [Heightened Awareness], letting the ability sharpen his senses and pick out details he might otherwise miss. But the cooldown was long, and he didn't know what was coming next.

  Save it. Stay sharp the old-fashioned way.

  He took a breath and started his approach toward the woman. His heart kicked up beneath the suit, adrenaline mixing with focus.

  Find out who she is. Get her talking. Figure out where they're keeping the artifact.

  The mission had begun.