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Xander paced at her side, while thehermanostook their places around the table, their eyes focused and alert.

Miral shimmered near the holo panel, radiant and opalescent, fingers moving fast across a stream of code pouring through the air in threads of light.

‘I’m inside theEterna’sservers now,’ Miral announced. ‘Santeto the node permissions you granted, Savvine. I’m pinging every relay. Scanning servers. Sifting command subroutines.’

The boardroom lights dimmed as data flickered over the air.

Miral’s expression darkened.

‘I’ve found something.’

Xander stopped pacing.

Savvine gripped the table. ‘What?’

Miral turned slowly. ‘Remember the intel about Eugene accepting alien weapons? It seems that when he integrated the systems, all ofEterna’ssecurity got compromised. Everything, navigation, AI, even core command, rerouted, to a non-Bianchi signature I can’t get a read on.’

Just then, the holo panel buzzed, sending more feed data straight from Abby.

An override signal controlled the Signet display, broadcasting a wide-band transmission from theVenantia Eterna.

Eugene Bianchi’s face appeared as his voice crackled through the Livestream channel. It was unnervingly cold, and his eyes were gleaming and unblinking.

‘Bianchi clan,’ he said, inflection stilted. ‘This is your Leader speaking. I bring you guidance. Clarity. Purpose. Do not panic. The blackout is for your safety. Communications off-ship have been suspended to prevent further sabotage, like the cowardly Lombardi assault onThe Odalon. This is not a time for weakness. This is when we hunker down, close our ranks, and prepare. The enemy is not at the gates; they are among us. Traitors, interlopers, scavengers. But we are the flame that will not flicker. The Bianchi name will endure. This is our call to arms. Rise, sons and daughters ofEterna, and be ready to defend your blood, your house, and your legacy.’

His face vanished, and the message dropped into the black.

Savvine shot to her feet.

‘That voice. That isn’t Eugene.’

It was not the man she was familiar with.

His words were strange, his cadence off, his utterance out of sync with the movement of his lips, delayed. He also wasn’t blinking, not once.

‘When I last met him,’ she whispered, ‘he didn’t blink either.’

‘Running facial kinetics,’ Miral said, fingers blazing. Her eyes flared as code raced across the boardroom.

‘Fokk,’ she breathed. ‘It’s not him.’

Xander’s utterance was a growl. ‘What is it?’

Miral stepped forward, the light from her palms casting eerie shadows on the table. ‘It’s a synth facsimile bot. Bio-polymer skin. Vocal modulator. High-end mimic tech, alien design.’

Savvine’s heart dropped. ‘So where’s the real Eugene?’

‘Unknown,’ Miral replied. ‘He may be imprisoned. Or worse. But that,’ she said, nodding toward the flickering display, ‘isn’t human. It’s a puppet.’

Eugene’s holo repeated, his tone robotic, his eyes empty.

Xander rotated to Savvine. ‘This changes everything.’

Savvine’s gaze didn’t leave the projection. ‘You think? I now see why he sent me to theSombrato buy a ship. He wanted me out of the way so he could take over my security protocols.Fokkhim!’

She faced her companions. ‘Whatever or whoever that is, we need it out of theEterna, and we need to get to my people inside.’

Xander nodded, jaw set.