Captain Davidson found the note on his ready room desk just before departing the station. A physical note, written on actual paper. That was one way to avoid detection. Davidson thought to himself.
Captain Davidson,
I've followed coordinates provided by the grandmother. I couldn't ask permission as we both know you'd refuse. Cameron and Janet are with me. We'll be back at Eden-Five before you finish the deliveries. I'm sorry for the deception, but some questions demand answers even when asking permission would prevent them.
—Tanya
Davidson read it twice, then set it down with the kind of sigh that came from managing brilliant people who treated "careful" as a flexible concept.
"Investigative trip," he muttered. "Because the trade show wasn't enough excitement."
He'd known Tanya Furrow for over a year now, and it was long enough to recognise her pattern. She dove headfirst into problems, without a single thought of the consequences and emerged with miracles and left everyone else scrambling to understand what had happened and how we were all going to adapt. It was simultaneously her greatest strength and her biggest flaw.
But Amara was with them, or so his latest report said. That meant whatever Tanya was doing would be controlled by someone with actual sense. The business manager wouldn't let her star client vanish into danger without oversight.
Davidson pulled up the tracking systems and located Amara's reports.
Active, transmitting normally, Amara was reporting steady progress through mapped space. Nothing alarming.
"Lieutenant Chu," he called through the comm. "Tag communication Alpha-Seven-Three for passive monitoring. Alert me if it goes dark or deviates from standard reports."
"Yes, sir. Any particular concern?"
"Standard precaution. Valuable civilian assets traveling through open space." Davidson closed the comm before Chu could ask follow-up questions.
He returned to the mundane work of fleet coordination of supply manifests, personnel reports, and maintenance schedules. The reliable rhythm of military logistics that kept ships flying and crews functional.
He still had faith that everything would work out. Tanya was brilliant, Amara was careful, and Lady Flower had seemed to take a shine to Tanya. Davidson was one of the few who had been briefed on the true history of humanity. He knew who the grandmother was, and his read of her was that she was grateful to Tanya, so it shouldn't be a risk.
That faith would last exactly two days.
The updates came regularly at first. Explaining where they were, and how they were going off-grid.
Two days after departure, a cheerful message from Amara: Found something interesting. You will love it.
Then nothing.
Not a distress call. Not an error code. Amara had stopped communicating.
Just silence. Except for the infrequent ping response that showed the device was still active.
Davidson noticed when the scheduled update didn't arrive. Gave it an hour for transmission delays or navigation adjustments. Then another hour because comm equipment sometimes needed recalibration.
By hour three, he was in the communication station personally reviewing the data.
Davidson pulled up the system data. He had no way of tracking them, They were way off any known navigation charts.
"Send coded ping through priority channels. Military encryption, civilian ID tags. If they're having comm difficulties, that should punch through."
The pings returned nothing but a standard reply.
"Try unofficial channels," Davidson ordered, dropping his voice. "Gardener artifact systems, if we have access."
The sensor officer's eyes widened slightly but he didn't question the order. Everyone knew the captain had connections to classified programs, even if nobody discussed them openly.
Those attempts failed too.
"No contact, sir."
Davidson stared at the holographic display showing empty space where Amara's last transmission had showed them to be. He didn't know what to do. Amara shouldn't have known about the artifact he had attached to track her. Maybe Sage had blocked the attempt, or maybe the simplest answer is correct. They had disappeared.
But this wasn't a battlefield. This was known space during peacetime travel. Ships didn't just disappear.
Unless someone wanted them to. That was a problem that would have to wait.
The summons came three days later, transmitted through channels that brooked no delay.
Captain Davidson: Report to Joint Task Force Command. Priority Alpha. Effective immediately.
He transferred command to his XO and took a fast courier to the rendezvous point. He was greeted by the Talbu a massive dreadnought that served as mobile headquarters for combined fleet operations.
The briefing room was full of officers he recognised: tactical specialists, intelligence analysts, senior captains from all five great powers. The kind of gathering that meant something significant had happened or was about to.
Admiral Chen stood at the center of the holographic display.
"Gentlemen, we have a situation. Three weeks ago, long-range surveys detected unusual gravitation patterns in a previously unremarkable part of vortex space. Follow-up investigation has confirmed something we thought was lost to history."
The display shifted, showing a location filled with vortex storms of swirling distortions that bent light and warped vortex space in patterns that made Davidson's eyes hurt.
"Our probes have determined it is the planet Utopia. Former seat of the Holy Order, lost during the Expansion Wars. We've found it."
Silence settled over the room. Davidson kept his expression neutral, but internally he was recalculating everything he thought he knew.
"The system is protected by dimensional storms of unprecedented severity," Admiral Chen continued. "Standard vortex drives cannot penetrate them."
The display zoomed to show multiple fleet positions around the storm perimeter.
"The Fall Kingdom has a battlegroup on station. The Collective has deployed autonomous survey craft. Republic intelligence is almost certainly observing through covert means. Everyone wants access to whatever the Holy Order left behind."
"What's our mission, sir?" someone asked.
"Observation and interdiction. We establish presence, gather intelligence, and prevent anyone else from accessing Utopia until we understand what we're dealing with." Admiral Chen's expression hardened. "And we find a way through those storms before our competitors do."
Davidson recognised the name immediately. Utopia. The Holy Order. The classified history that only a handful of officers like him had clearance to know.
The same Holy Order whose genetic experiments and military crusades had nearly torn humanity apart during the Expansion Wars. The same order that had possessed technology decades or centuries ahead of contemporary development. The same order that had been betrayed by the others.
And Tanya's research focused on dimensional navigation. Breakthrough methods for travelling through impossible space.
The exact kind of research that could pierce those storms. But she was off following some treasure map. Davidson saw the move too late to be useful, but Lady Flower had removed a key piece from the board.
It was brilliant. Elegant. Ruthless.
Lady Flowers had eliminated the one person who could have helped them reach Utopia first, and done it in a way that looked like Tanya's own impulsive curiosity. No coercion necessary, just point a brilliant young engineer toward a mystery and let her remove herself from the equation.
Davidson's jaw clenched. He needed to tell Admiral Chen that this wasn't random chance, this was strategic manipulation by someone operating at levels they didn't understand. But not here. Not in front of officers without the clearance, any of whom might be compromised or simply report back to their own intelligence networks. Information this sensitive required proper channels, secured rooms, and people he actually trusted.
He would brief the Admiral privately. Soon.
"Captain Davidson," Admiral Chen said, pulling him from his thoughts. "Your task force will take position in sector seven. Establish monitoring stations and be prepared for extended deployment. This operation will not be measured in days."
"Understood, sir."
As the other officers dispersed to their assignments, Davidson lingered. Admiral Chen noticed, dismissing his aides with a subtle gesture.
"Walk with me, Captain," Chen said, leading him to an observation deck away from the main briefing area. The privacy shields activated silently.
"Sir, about the timing of Tanya Furrow's disappearance—"
"You think Lady Flowers orchestrated it." Chen's statement, not a question.
Davidson felt his certainty waver. "You already know."
"We suspect." The Admiral pulled up a secure display, showing a web of connections that made Davidson's simple observation look like child's play. "Lady Flowers appears at Trexlor. Assists Furrow publicly. Shortly after, Furrow vanishes on a 'trip' following coordinates to somewhere. Meanwhile, Utopia's storms begin to show signs of order."
"She removed the one person who could help us penetrate those storms," Davidson said.
"Or positioned her exactly where she's needed for something else." Chen zoomed in on the web, highlighting Lady Flowers's known associations. "We believe Lady Flowers has access to dimensional navigation technology through Furrow's prototypes. She may already have a way through those storms."
"Then why haven't they moved?"
"Because they're not ready. Or they're waiting for something. Or—" Chen's expression hardened, "—they want us all in position first. Every major fleet gathered in one place, focused on a prize we can't reach."
Davidson's stomach felt like ice. "It's a trap."
"A possibility we're considering. Which is why I need you on that monitoring station, Captain. Not to find a way in, although you'll appear to be doing exactly that. I need eyes I can trust watching what Lady Flowers does next. If she moves, if ships start penetrating those storms, if anything changes—"
"You'll know immediately." Davidson understood. "What about Furrow? If she's following Lady Flowers's breadcrumbs—"
"Then she's either bait, an unwitting agent, or—" Chen paused, "—she's collaborating willingly. Your job is to observe and report. Let me worry about the larger strategic picture."
"And if she contacts me?"
Admiral Chen's silence stretched for three heartbeats. "Use your judgment, Captain. But remember—if Lady Flowers is playing the game we think she is, everyone is a piece on her board. Including Furrow. Including you."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now go do your job. And Davidson?" Chen's voice softened slightly. "I hope you're wrong about the timing being deliberate. Because if you're right, we're already three moves behind someone who's been planning this for decades."
Davidson saluted and left. He was watching for the moment when Lady Flowers decided the board was set exactly as she wanted it.
And praying he'd recognise that moment before it was too late to matter.