“Commander, a ship has docked at… B18-A.”

“B18…A? Is that right? Have you confirmed with Astral Ring? That dock hasn’t been using since, well it’s been a long time.”

“Yes, confirmed, sir. And you’re right, but it gets stranger. It’s the Shadow Ship, sir. The Zarili Gurja.”

“The Zar? That relic was destroyed years ago. Is there an HL signal?”

“Yes. Hololock confirms it’s the Shadow… the Zar, sir. On screen.”

The holoscreen flickered to life, casting a cold blue light across the dim command deck. Commander Jetzon leaned forward, his breath catching in his throat. He wasn’t prepared for what he saw. There it was: the Zarili Gurja, or at least what looked like it. This ship was sleeker, and deadlier, bristling with weapons that evaded his understanding. Jetzon, one of a handful of commanders intimately familiar with the most cutting-edge Red Delta prototypes, was at a complete loss.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

Emerging from the ship’s ramp was a figure, dressed in a stark black suit, his face hidden under a visor. Jetzon could feel the air being sucked out of the room, his stomach tightening into a knot.

Jetzon knew who it was before the visor lifted. The face was older with a hardened jawline. But the features were unmistakable.

“It’s Virgo… Sir?” Lieutenant Kallas said looking up, confusion in her eyes.

Jetzon couldn’t respond. His mind was spinning, tumbling back to that last conversation with his father years ago—before the battle of End Wave, before the betrayal, before everything went dark. Virgo Jetzon, leader of Blue Tide, had gone rogue with stolen imperial plans, plans Jetzon himself had been ordered to retrieve.

“Commander, what are your orders?” Kallas pressed. She glanced nervously at the holoscreen. “Should we intercept? Call in support?”

Support? There was no support for something like this. A ghost ship from the past, his father’s ship, floating in front of him like an accusation.

“They lied…” Jetzon muttered, the realization slowly bleeding into his consciousness. The empire had lied about End Wave. They’d lied about his father’s death. But why? What had really happened out there?

The hololock feed zoomed in, focusing on the Zar, his father’s ship. But this thing was no anicient relic of the past. Beyond the aft portion new thrusters glowed ominously with sleek fins extending, glinting with unfamiliar alloys. Weapons arrays that Jetzon had never seen before, not even in classified Red Delta files, bristled along its hull. He could tell—these weren’t just standard upgrades. The technology was imperial in nature, but twisted, altered. And there was something… something almost alien.

“We’ve detected strange energy readings from the ship, sir,” Kallas interrupted. “Frequencies we can’t decode. It’s like... they’re hiding something, jamming our scans.”

Of course they were. The Zar, Virgo, Blue Tide—they had always been two steps ahead of the empire, but this? This was beyond anything Jetzon could comprehend.

His father’s voice echoed in his head. *You can’t trust them, Jetz. They will feed you their lies, make you believe you’re fighting for order, for peace. But all they want is control. Come with me, Jetz. Help me free the colonies.*

Back then, Jetzon had refused. He had believed in Red Delta, in the empire’s promise of stability, of protection for the colonies. And now, staring at the holoscreen, at the ship that shouldn’t exist, at the father who should be dead, he couldn’t help but feel the weight of those decisions crushing him.

Kallas was waiting for orders, her brow furrowed, tension crackling through the command deck. “Commander, should we prepare to board?”

Jetzon snapped back to the present. “No. Seal off the bay. Lock it down tight. Prepare for immediate launch and alert Astral Ring of our situation.”

“But sir, I think Virgo is on our side. I believe...”

“He’s on his own side, Kallas, and has lost touch with reality. Do it now, Lieutenant!” Jetzon barked, cutting her off more forcefully than he intended.

Kallas hesitated a moment then nodded. She then typed furiously on her console. Jetzon paced the deck, his mind racing. His father—Virgo—had returned, but not as the man he remembered. And that ship... it was a weapon, something far beyond Blue Tide’s capabilities.

Could his father still be fighting for freedom? Or had something else taken hold of him, something darker, more dangerous?

“Commander,” Kallas said quietly, her voice tight with fear. “We’re getting a signal. From the ship.”

Jetzon stopped dead in his tracks. His heart thudded against his chest. “Patch it through.”

The comms crackled with static for a moment, then a voice came through, cold and unmistakable.

“Jetz. I know you’re there.”

Virgo’s voice.

Jetzon clenched his fists, stepping closer to the comms panel. “Father… How… How are you alive?”

A low chuckle resonated through the speakers. “Alive? Jetz, you never did understand. I told you, the empire would bury the truth. I tried to warn you.”

“I thought you were dead,” Jetzon said, his voice shaking. “They told me you were killed at End Wave.”

“Yet here I am,” Virgo replied, his voice colder now. “They always lie. But now you see the truth, don’t you? I’m here to finish what I started.”

“What have you done to the Zar? This—this isn’t Red Delta tech. Not even close.”

“Ah, you’ve noticed.” There was a pause, and when Virgo spoke again, his voice was almost... proud. “We’ve had help, Jetz. From beyond the colonies, beyond the empire. There are forces out there you can’t even begin to understand. And now, the real fight begins.”

Jetzon felt a chill run down his spine. Alien tech. His father had partnered with something—or someone—outside the empire. It was too much, too fast.

“You’ve gone too far, Father,” Jetzon said, voice cracking. “This isn’t about freedom anymore.”

“Freedom?” Virgo’s laugh was bitter, hollow. “It never was. It’s about survival. You’ll see soon enough. We have a few surprises for your… friends.”

Jetzon found himself about to say these imperials are not his friends when the comms went silent. Then his blood froze. Something was coming, something bigger than anything he had ever been trained for.

The lieutenant's voice broke through his thoughts, urgent. “Commander! We’ve got incoming signatures. Multiple ships. One is… one is planet sized commander.”, the lieutenant’s voice trembling just slightly.

“Launch, now!” he ordered, Jetzon’s mind a jumble.

As alarms blared and the outpost’s lights dimmed to emergency red, Jetzon stood frozen, staring at the image of his father on the holoscreen.

The past was no longer behind him. It was coming straight for him—with the full force of the unknown.