The flight to the Frostveil Expanse lasts five hours.
Since the Intergalactic Railways never extended this far up, the ship to pick us up in the morning is a single LWSS (Lightweight Space Ship) Voyager, piloted by two support agents.
I lean back against the cool metal of the cabin. Unlike the Pale Vein, a drifter, the LWSS Voyager was built entirely to support Salients on missions—no flair, just efficiency.
Beside me, Akika tinkers with the sensors along her arm, completely absorbed and unaware of the curious glances of the other Liaisons in the hangar.
The first three hours of the flight pass in silence, broken only by the soft, clipped comms of the pilots. I assume it will stay that way—the quiet of a joint mission. In the Heliara System, knowing the names of more Salients often meant learning of more deaths.
Real names were rarely shared and never spoken aloud, except by a Captain or someone of higher rank. Since Captain Vynn wasn't a field Salient, usually focused on experimental work and mission assignments, her name was given freely.
Just as I settle in the silence, the blue-haired Salient from the meeting, the one who had gasped earlier, speaks.
Her gaze lingers on me, a soft, tentative smile brushing her lips. For a few seconds, her blue irises hold my red before she shifts to the rest of the group.
"We should all introduce ourselves," she says. Her eyes pause on Blade Psalm. "You never know how long this mission might take! I'm Tide Shaper." My eyes scan her up and down. A fresh academy graduate for sure.
As expected, the veterans—Blade Psalm and Petal Bloom—remain silent.
The blonde Salient to the left of me finally speaks, his voice rough. "Lingering Touch."
Tide Shaper's shoulders relax slightly at the reply, her smile growing easier.
"Muse Omen," comes the nervous voice of the Salient beside Petal Bloom, her fingers twisting a strand of long purple hair.
Tide Shaper nods brightly, then turns to Petal Bloom and Blade Psalm. Their silence holds, and she bites her lip in uncertainty before shifting her gaze to me.
"And you?" she asks, eyes searching mine.
I blink.
"Bloody Marinette."
At my words, Blade Psalm finally looks up, his eyes locking onto mine. They linger for a heartbeat, sharp and unreadable, before dropping back down.
Tide Shaper's mouth falls open in a wide "O," while Lingering Fingers and Muse Omen's eyes widen in unison.
"I-I thought you were still deployed in Cynara Veil?" Tide Shaper stammers, her voice barely steady.
I tilt my head, a faint smile tugging at my lips, Akira shaking her head beside me. "I finished that mission a while ago," I reply, my head resting in my palm.
"Isn't your mission supposed to last another three cycles?" Tide Shaper finishes, her voice trembling slightly, betraying both disbelief and curiosity. "On the mission log it said..."
I shrug, letting the faint smile linger. "Plans change. Some missions wrap up faster than expected," I say, tilting my head to meet her gaze.
Akira snorts softly beside me, shaking her head again, a hint of amusement in her cybernetic eyes. "She always finishes faster," she mutters, as if that explains everything.
Muse Omen blinks rapidly, processing. "B-Bloody… Marinette… you're—" Before she can continue, a faint, high-pitched chirp sounds from each Liaison's comm unit simultaneously. Akira's eyes flick to me, expression unreadable, and she presses a small button on her arm. A crisp voice fills the cabin—not through the ship's speakers, but through the Liaisons themselves.
"This is Captain Vynn, speaking." Each of the Liaison's voices overlaps briefly with the Captain's, giving it a slight edge, a ghostly echo.
Every head turns toward the Liaisons instinctively. Silence hangs, heavy and tense.
"The mission you are about to undertake has been designated Operation Shattered Ice."
The words hang in the air, cold and sharp as the Frostveil Expanse itself. Tide Shaper's eyes widen; Muse Omen lets out a small, nervous breath. Lingering Fingers straightens in their seat, posture suddenly rigid. Even Blade Psalm shifts slightly, the faintest frown crossing his face.
Vynn continues, her voice measured and unyielding.
"You will be deployed in the lower left quadrant of the Expanse. Your objectives are to locate, track, and identify the unidentified Echoed. All standard protocols for field operations apply. Liaisons will relay any detected anomalies directly to the System. Understood?"
I dip my head, knowing that the Captain could see me through Akira's visual sensors. The others chime a few "yes ma'am's" before the comm goes dead and everyone is back on edge.
Another chime ripples through the Voyager; this time, it isn't the Liaison's. The intercom crackles, and the pilots' voices cut in.
"We may have trouble landing. Radar indicates an ice storm approaching our coordinates."
I narrow my eyes at Akira. She nods, the scanners in her lenses flicking to life as she begins running calculations at lightning speed. I rise, hand gripping the hatch rail, and stride to the open door. Long white strands of my hair whip wildly in the wind.
The storm is real. A swirling mass of snow approaches, faster than anything the ship can outpace.
"This ship doesn't have the capabilities to escape the storm," Akira warns, her hand tightening on my exosuit. My gaze flicks to her small, metallic frame before down through the hatch to the snow-covered ground miles below.
"Survival probability if we abandon ship?" I ask, exosuit pulsing faint red along my forearm.
"85%. Most at-risk Salients are Muse Omen and Lingering Touch."
The two named Salients glance at me, eyes wide, fear threading their expressions. My tongue clicks as my mind races. The storm bears down.
"I'll take them." The calm voice is familiar, Petal Bloom, and she shifts in her exosuit beside me, poised.
"Probability updated: 99%," Akira murmurs.
"Good." I scan the terrain below, the exosuit analyzing each centimeter, then tap the controls on my forearm. Helmet slides down with a snap.
"Best landing spot?"
Akira points to a massive tree off to the left. "Storm won't reach there."
I give a curt nod. Expecting the others to follow, I grab Akira, holding her small frame under my arm, and leap.