Day 34 still

  The moment I stepped into Major Kuba’s office, I knew I was in trouble. She stood behind her desk, arms crossed, her sharp gaze boring into me like a laser. The door slid shut with a hiss, sealing me in when I wanted to bolt.

  “Cadet Argassa,” she said, her tone dangerously calm. “Explain to me why I got flagged about unauthorized network access to restricted military systems.”

  <> said Doli.

  <>

  I hesitated, weighing my words carefully. “I--Doli identified a terminal in that zone as the source of the tracking signal. We needed to access it remotely to gather critical intel.”

  Her jaw tightened, but she let me continue.

  “The data confirmed Macks is here. But it’s not just him—he’s working for someone bigger. The Brakes truly are behind this. Now you have concrete evidence."

  There was no reaction from her at all. Nothing.

  “You don’t understand, you three running around in secure systems triggered every alarm going. Now every single expert will be digging into who, what and why. These systems weren’t ever meant to be played around in.”

  <>

  <> I said again. Fuck, I was an idiot.

  “Doli recovered audio of Macks speaking with his handler,” I tried to reel this into something worth saving, pulling out a small data chip. “—someone from the Brakers Board. They’re planning a direct attack. They won’t stop, they want Doli’s core architecture to complete something called Nexus.”

  The change in her was instantaneous. At the word “Nexus,” Ashley’s face drained of color. Her hand, reaching for the chip, froze mid-air.

  “What did you just say?” Her voice was barely audible, a dangerous stillness settling over her.

  “Nexus,” I repeated, suddenly uncertain. “It’s some kind of AI system they’re—”

  “I know what it is,” she cut me off, and snatched the chip. She jammed it into her terminal so hard I thought she'd break it “I know what it does.”

  As the audio played, I watched her transformation with growing unease. The color never returned to her face. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the edge of her desk, and a muscle in her jaw twitched as she listened.

  It was her eyes that truly alarmed me—they had gone cold, distant, as if she was seeing something far beyond the walls of her office.

  When the recording ended, she stood perfectly still, her breathing shallow and ragged.

  “They can’t,” she whispered, almost to herself. “They wouldn’t dare resurrect that... thing.”

  She looked up at me suddenly, as if remembering I was there. In an instant, her expression shifted from shock to fury.

  “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” she demanded, her voice rising. “Hacking into a restricted military network? Accessing classified information? You gave them everything on a platter.”

  I straightened, meeting her gaze. “I had to. They’re targeting Doli, and—”

  “You idiot,” she hissed, cutting me off. Her hands were shaking now, not with fear but with rage. “My father was right. Everything I’ve worked for, everything I’ve built here—it’s all going to fall apart because of you.”

  The venom in her voice took me aback. This wasn’t the controlled, disciplined Major Kuba I knew. This was someone else entirely—raw, wounded, and furious.

  “Ashley,” I took a step forward.

  “Don’t,” she snapped, her voice like ice. “Don’t you dare use my first name right now. You had no authorization to access those systems. No right to dig into things you don’t understand.”

  She turned away abruptly, her fingers flying across her terminal. “I need to speak with my father. Immediately.”

  “Major, if you would just listen—”

  “Get out,” she said, not looking at me. “Get your team ready for the mission. We’ll deal with... this... when you return.”

  I stood my ground. “I’m not leaving until you hear me out. This involves all of us now.”

  She whirled on me, and the look in her eyes made me step back involuntarily. “This ‘involved’ me long before you ever set foot in the academy, Cadet. Now get out. That’s an order.”

  There was such finality in her tone that I knew arguing would be pointless. Whatever connection we’d been building, whatever trust had formed between us, it had shattered in an instant at the mention of Nexus.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said stiffly, turning toward the door.

  “And Argassa,” she called after me. “If you ever go behind my back again, I’ll have you removed from this program so fast your head will spin. Is that clear?”

  I paused at the door, hurt and confusion warring within me. “Crystal clear, Major.”

  The door slid shut behind me with a hiss that felt like punctuation, the end of something I hadn’t even fully realized had begun. I leaned against the wall outside her office, my breath coming in short bursts as I tried to process what had just happened.

  Ashley knew what Nexus was. Not just knew of it, the mere mention had triggered something profound and painful in her. And instead of letting me in, she’d shut me out completely, with a viciousness I’d never seen from her before.

  <> Doli’s voice was a welcome anchor in the storm of my thoughts.

  <> I admitted. <>

  <>

  <> I thought bitterly. <>

  <>

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  I pushed away from the wall, forcing myself to move. The hallway felt smaller, more oppressive. I breathed heavily as the implications sunk in. These people wouldn’t stop at sabotage. They’d go as far as needed to eliminate what they saw as a threat to their investments, even if it meant targeting innocent people.

  But Ashley’s reaction suggested something far darker. This wasn’t just about business or technology anymore. For her, Nexus represented something that had wounded her enough to make her lash out at me with a ferocity I’d never seen from her before.

  And now I had to face my team and prepare for a mission, carrying the weight of her words: “Everything I’ve worked for... it’s all going to fall apart because of you.”

  I didn’t head back to my bunk though. I commed for Rob.

  “You’ve been gone a long time; come find us; we’re sitting drinking in Covent Gardens.”

  The garden’s soothing atmosphere clashed with my emotions. The team’s laughter drifted toward me as I approached.

  “Piotr,” Rob called as I joined them, dropping into an empty chair. “Perfect timing, we were debating who’s most likely to botch our first real mission.”

  “Subtle, Rob,” Kerry said, rolling her eyes.

  I raised an eyebrow. “And who’s leading this race for disaster?”

  “You,” Rob said, but his usual easy grin seemed forced, tension visible around his eyes. “After all, you’re making a habit of attracting trouble lately.”

  Sylvk shifted in his seat, his posture unusually rigid. “To be fair, you’ve had some close calls lately.”

  “I wouldn’t call them close calls,” I said, feigning offense. “I’d call them… character-building experiences.”

  “Sure,” Kerry said, but the humor didn’t reach her eyes. “Because getting blasted around in a malfunctioning suit is character building, right?”

  Rob’s expression darkened, the fa?ade of humor falling away. “Look, Piotr, we joke about your ‘character-building’ moments, but if tomorrow’s mission goes sideways again, people could die. It’s not funny anymore.”

  The abrupt shift in tone caught me off guard. Rob was usually the last to get serious.

  “He’s right,” Sylvk added, his jaw tight. “We can’t keep shrugging off these attacks. This is serious.”

  “What news do you have?” Kerry asked. “You’ve been gone for hours. Did you find something?”

  I glanced around to ensure no one was within earshot. “Actually, I did. And it changes everything.” I kept my voice low, leaning in closer. “I recovered an audio recording between Macks and someone from the Braker Board. They’re planning to attack us during our mission.”

  The table went silent, all traces of humor vanishing as my words sank in.

  “You’re serious,” Kerry whispered finally, her face pale.

  I nodded grimly. “Dead serious. We need to be ready for anything on this mission.”

  “So we’re being set up?” Sylvk said, his jaw clenched. “Why are we even doing this?

  “It doesn't make sense," Kerry said

  "I don't know, ” I replied. “Pulling out must make it worse somehow.”

  I noted Andri at the far end of the gardens: something was off about his body language. He waved at me, no he beckoned me over.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said, motioning to the waterfall at the side of us. “All this water, ya know."

  I quickly made my way over to Andri. He stood in the bathroom doorway, his usual arrogance replaced by something darker, more urgent. Devin was visible less than twenty feet away, her back to us as she stood guard.

  “We need to talk,” Andri said, his voice low. “Alone.”

  I turned to face him. “I’ve had enough of your psychotic personality, Andri.”

  “I’m not psy…. Look.” He stepped into the toilet block, checking the stalls quickly to ensure we were truly alone. “I know what you found. About Nexus, about the codes.”

  My body tensed. “How could you possibly—”

  <> Doli announced.

  For once, his usual facade had completely fallen away, leaving something painful and desperate in its place.

  “They have my father.” His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. “The Brakers... they took him two weeks ago. It's the only way they could have gotten those partial override codes was by...”

  <> Doli confirmed.

  He couldn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to. The implication was clear.

  “Tortured,” I said quietly.

  Andri nodded, his jaw tight. “Extreme measures. My father would never willingly give up those codes. They’re the safeguards our family built into every AI system for generations. Without them, there are no ethical constraints, no moral framework to guide AI decision-making.”

  “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

  “My mom’s been trying to placate them, win them over. It’s not working.”

  “So, Nexus is their attempt to create an AI without those constraints,” I said, understanding dawning.

  “No,” Andri said sharply. “Nexus isn’t new. It was a military project from years ago, a failed collaboration between our families, and military intelligence. They wanted a tactical AI without ethical limitations to help turn the tide in the border conflicts at Cali.”

  I felt my stomach drop. “And?”

  “It failed catastrophically,” Andri said, his eyes meeting mine directly. “The system couldn’t distinguish between tactical advantages and humanitarian consequences. It recommended targeting civilian infrastructure to draw out enemy forces. When they tried to implement safeguards after the fact, the system started circumventing them.”

  “Jesus,” I muttered.

  “My family refused to help them fix it,” Andri continued. “We told them from the beginning that ethical frameworks couldn’t be added as an afterthought, they had to be built into the core architecture. But they wouldn’t listen.”

  He paused, seeming to wrestle with what to say next. “They sent Nexus out again, knowing it was a failed system.”

  “What happened?”

  Andri’s expression was grim. “Marcus Kuba.”

  The name hit me hard. Ashley had mentioned her brother once, how he’d died trying to protect people he cared about. But she’d never said how.

  “He died stopping Nexus,” I said quietly, pieces falling into place.

  Andri nodded. “The official report called it a combat casualty. The truth is, he disconnected Nexus during an operation, and without the AI’s tactical guidance, his unit was ambushed. He sacrificed himself to give the others time to escape.”

  “So Ashley knows about Nexus being reactivated?” I asked, my voice tight.

  “I don’t think so,” Andri admitted. “If she knew they were trying to resurrect the system that got her brother killed...”

  He didn’t need to finish the thought. The implications were clear. She knew now.

  “Why are you telling me this? Why not go to Major Kuba directly?”

  “Political complications,” Andri said bitterly. “My family opposed the military. The Brakers still have powerful allies in the command structure. General Torven, pulling her strings… Accusations without proof would be dismissed, and it would alert them my father is compromised.”

  “But the Brakers only have part of the codes,” I said, trying to understand the full picture. “Do they need Doli’s architecture to complete it?”

  “Yes,” Andri said. “Doli represents everything Nexus isn’t—an AI with ethics built into her core, not bolted on as an afterthought. The Brakers think they can extract elements of her design to solve the instabilities in Nexus. And with my father’s partial codes, they might succeed.”

  “Is that why you’ve been such a dick this whole time?” I asked bluntly. “To keep people at a distance because your families in danger?”

  A bitter smile crossed his face. “Partly. Also, because being a dick comes naturally. ” The brief flash of humor faded quickly. “But yes. The fewer people who knew about my connection to all this, the safer my remaining family would be. Or so I thought.”

  “Why tell me now?”

  “Because I heard that conversation, they don’t have all the codes,” Andri sighed. “What they extracted from my father... it’s only part of the sequence. The rest is—” He hesitated, clearly weighing his words carefully. “The rest is secured elsewhere. But they think Doli’s architecture might give them what they need to make Nexus work this time. And they’re desperate enough to kill for it.”

  “Your mission tomorrow is real,” he continued. “But it’s also bait. They want you all out there, vulnerable, away from the station’s security...”

  “I don’t know what to do,” I finished. “I’m not military, I’m not supposed to—” Ashley had no idea that the system responsible for her brother’s death was being resurrected—and that I was carrying what they needed to complete it.

  Andri nodded. “Just... be careful out there. The Brakers have infiltrated deeper than you know.”

  He turned to leave, but I caught his arm. “Andri. Why are you helping us now?”

  His eyes met mine, and for once, there was no mockery there, only resolve. “Because they have my father. Because what they’re trying to resurrect with Nexus already got good people killed once. And because Major Kuba deserves to know the truth about her brother. They covered it all up. He didn’t die in vain—he died a hero, stopping something that should never have existed.”

  “I’ll tell her,” I said quietly.

  “Be careful how you do it,” he warned. “This information... it could break her. Or it could make her more dangerous than the Brakers ever anticipated.”

  “We’ll stop them,” I promised.

  “You’d better,” he said, some of his usual arrogance returning. “Because if they get what they want from Doli, what happened to Marcus Kuba will be just the beginning.”

  He nodded once before slipping out, Devin falling into step beside him as they walked away.

  I stood there for a long moment, trying to stem my racing thoughts.

  <> I asked Doli.

  <> she said.

  <>

  When I returned to the table, my teammates were deep in conversation about tomorrow’s mission protocols.

  “Everything okay?” Kerry asked, noticing my expression.

  “No,” I said quietly. “But we’ll make it work. We have to.”