The interior of the ship elicited the same feeling that the exterior had, Gray found herself thinking; that a ship like this was meant for someone with a much higher pay grade.

The Horizon might have had more than enough room to spare for a platoon, let alone the five of them- being a corvette, she wouldn't be surprised if they could fit a few Titan chassises in the cargo bay.

"Very homey," Husher commented sarcastically under his breath, looking around the ship in suspicion. He had a hard time believing that anything ever went his way, so she could understand why he was so apprehensive about the sudden acquisition of both a new Ancillary AI unit and this beautiful ship- Gray would have been lying if she didn't share those same feelings, to a degree.

"Can't you take ten seconds to just appreciate how great this is?" Danvers chided him, going for the complete opposite reaction that Gray was having. "We actually have a ship of our own- and a damn good one!"

"While I can understand being enthusiastic about this," Vogel murmured to Danvers, a conflicted expression on his face, "I think that Husher may not be wrong to have reservations."

The younger operative just rolled his eyes and leaned against a wall. "Alright, alright. I will concede that all of this does feel a bit … fast. Maybe even convenient.But let me just bask in this single moment where we're not crawling a mile through some backwater world's swamp or something- we don't ever get enough time to relax."

"Comes with the job, Danvers," Gray replied with a smirk, "but I think you're right in saying that we should enjoy the moment." Turning towards Husher, she tilted her head. "I think it's time we discussed that plan of ours."

Answering with a quick nod, he faced Ava. "Hey, tin-can- retract the ramp and seal us in."

If she felt any personal offense for being called 'tin-can', the AI didn't show it. "Of course, sir."

Walking through a door towards the loading bay of the ship, it was a minute before they heard the whirr of machinery as the ramp lifted up from the hangar floor, and rose to seal the ship's interior. There was a momentary bout of silence before she returned, stepping through the doorway and into view once more.

"The ship is now sealed, sir."

Gray looked at Husher. "Anything out of the ordinary so far?"

"I haven't picked up any hidden microphones or cameras yet, if that's what you're asking," he begrudgingly admitted. "Doesn't mean they aren't here, necessarily, could just mean they're well hidden."

"I trust your judgement," she answered, stepping into the center of the room. "So now, let's go over the plan."

"Still can't believe that they actually took the bait," Husher chuckled, shaking his head slightly. Danvers glanced at him in slight confusion.

"Bait? What bait?"

"Sorry, it was on a need-to-know basis," she began apologetically, "Husher and I were the only ones Blisk told."

Now Vogel's interest had been piqued as well. "What was it he told you?"

"The Prodigal was just a decoy," the simulacrum snickered gleefully. "We wanted to test our automated distress response system against the infiltrator without giving them anything useful- hence why we filled up the cargo bay with stuff they've never taken before, and made sure the data manifest was pretty much empty."

Danvers raised an eyebrow. "So there was never any secret haul-away?"

"No, there was; we just needed to buy time for the frigate to actually make it to its destination this time, so we sent them on a little goose chase while the real cleanup was carried out in secret, and is now on its merry way to Harmony- without the fear of being boarded by some unknown assailant."

"Which frigate?"

Gray crossed her arms with a grin. "You're on it."

Vogel's eyes widened. "The Cascade of Spirits?"

"The very same."

"Once we were done investigating the Prodigal, we were sent here for our 'debriefing' with Blisk- it's pretty much just a cover so that we can watch over the ship away from prying eyes," Husher explained.

"So, now that we've gotten that cleared up," Gray continued, "back to the plan; taking down this bastard."

Danvers whistled. "So one moment, we're avoiding them at all costs- the next, we're actively trying to trap them? I can't wait to hear this."

"The plan has always been to get them," she said contradictorily. "We just haven't had much of an opportunity to. Next time a ship goes silent, we'll already be hiding on it and waiting to strike. The ADR system will alert all observing teams, and we'll be onboard trying to capture the infiltrator."

"Capture?" Vogel asked curiously. "Not kill?"

"If you have to, eliminate them- but capturing them will give us a chance to interrogate them, maybe better understand their motivations and capabilities. Whoever's behind this can't just be a one-man team."

Danvers nodded. "Makes sense- but how are we going to go about accomplishing it?"

Gray pointed a finger at Ava. "Her."

The Ancillary unit bowed slightly. "I am happy to assist, Lieutenant- but I must admit, I am not sure how useful I would be for an operation such as this."

Husher scoffed. "Not even the start of her first assignment, and the thing's already telling you it can't do it. Typical."

Gray ignored him. "I'm not asking you to fight them- we'll take care of that. But you're specifically designed for special tactics and recon- you're inherently better at certain tasks than we are, most notably in the real-time strategy and systemic manipulation departments."

Danvers' eyes widened. "Do you want to repeat that- but maybe in english, this time?"

"C'mon, Danvers."

"What? I'm a marksman, not a computer scientist."

"It means," Gray stressed through gritted teeth, "that she will be better at tracking the infiltrator's position than we would be and assisting us in the heat of the moment- she'd have access to our suit systems and the ship's security measures, she can corral them somewhere that we can overwhelm them."

"Overwhelm them?"

"Three of the fatalities attributed to this infiltrator were former Pilots that had extensive hand-to-hand combat training, one of which managed to make it through the assault on Regis- only to die at our target's hands," she said with a hardened expression. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not take my chances in a one-on-one with them."

"Oh, I understand that," Danvers assured her, holding his hands up submissively. "I didn't mean to question that we approach this whole thing as a team- I meant, are we sure we're going to be enough? Like, what if they're carrying some serious weaponry? I don't know about you, but I don't want to go up against some kind of black-hole gun, or a miniature Titan, or-"

"I'm sorry- black-hole gun?"

"You get my point," he said hastily, waving his arm in a dismissive gesture. "The fact of the matter is that whoever's been doing this has been at it for four years now, and not once has someone gotten the upper hand on them. They've got to be expertly trained and well-funded, and usually 'well-funded' equates to 'well-armed'. I mean, just look at our equipment."

"They may have better equipment than we do," Vogel began, stepping away from the wall and clasping a hand onto Danvers' shoulder. "They may even have better training than we do- but they don't have a better team than we do."

Danvers chuckled. "I don't think you could have been sappier if you tried."

"Regardless, he has a point," Gray said, "We've been working together for just as long as our enemy's been targeting ships- I know I can count on all of you to watch my back, just as I'll be watching yours."

"Well said, ma'am-"

Husher was interrupted mid-sentence by silence.

That is to say, there was a very obvious and sudden cessation of noise emanating from the hangar outside the Horizon. After a moment, the interior lighting dimmed as well, leaving them in total darkness and quiet.

The hum of the ship's engines, the ambient noise one could hear in the hangar from the shield doors … all of it was gone.

"… What the hell just happened?"

After a moment, two luminous orbs of LED light appeared in the shadows. "It would appear that the ship has experienced a shutdown of most major systems, notably the engines and communications- seemingly the result of a destabilizing electromagnetic pulse."

Nobody said a word for several seconds. Finally, Danvers gave a sigh.

"What was that about them taking the bait, Husher?"

Husher paid the younger operative no mind, inspecting himself for damage. "She's right, equipment is offline- I'm not getting a reading from any of your suits … hang on, how am I still functioning?"

"Both simulacrums and Ancillary units are equipped with moderate EMP precautions similar to Faraday cages," Ava provided, casting beams of light wherever she looked and acting as their primary light source. "As such, we continue to function- but it should be noted that your blackbox memory will not be online at this time, and any death you experience may be permanent until it is operational again."

"Hmmph. Thanks for the good news, bot."

She tilted her head. "That's unusual- while the effect on the frigate and your suit systems is congruent with an electromagnetic discharge, it would appear the underlying cause may differ."

"What do you mean?"

She walked over to Gray. "Normally, such a pulse would create magnetic fields that would damage your equipment's systems- but they appear to simply be suppressed. Same overall function, but varying results mean quite the differential circumstances as to what triggered it. If I may …"

Placing her hand on the lieutenant's shoulder, Gray watched as Ava paused for a moment before feeling some kind of fuzzy sting where her hand made contact. After a moment, Ava released her hand.

"I've jumpstarted your suit using an electrical surge in conjunction with a balanced magnetic charge- that should bring your local ions in line," she explained warmly, stepping back and allowing Gray to admire her handiwork.

She had to admit, she was impressed with the AI's solution- testing out its effectiveness, she activated her cloak and watched as the rest of her body disappeared from view, becoming no more than a slight mirage in the air.

Walking over to Danvers and Vogel, Ava repeated the action and rebooted their systems. The two of them examined themselves, making sure she'd done a thorough job.

"If she keeps performing like this, I propose we add her to the official team roster," Vogel joked, checking out his now functional suit in awe.

"Over my dead body," Husher grumbled.

Ava simply seemed content with the older man's praise. "I am pleased to hear that my assistance has been satisfactory."

"It's gonna have to be more than satisfactory if we're going to make it through this," Gray muttered. "The ADR was only installed on the Prodigal for the sake of testing- the Cascade hasn't had that same precaution made available yet."

The room seemed to become a bit colder to the other occupants. "You mean …?"

Gray grimaced. "We're on our own."

Husher became all-business, and turned to Ava. "Are you able to access the ship's security from here?"

"One moment, please." She paused as she began to assess the viability of various networks. "Internal radar, nonfunctional. Security cameras, nonfunctional. Shield doors … operating at four percent capacity. Automated defenses, nonfunctional. Thermal sensors …"

She perked up. "Thermal sensors are online, and reporting temperature every fifteen seconds."

"How does that help us?"

"I can access all sections of the ship and monitor temperature fluctuations," she explained. "Most of the ship is holding at a constant twenty-two degrees celsius, with exceptions for the engine rooms, hangar, and minimal margins of change due to the heat output of occupants in each compartment. However, approximately one minute and twenty seconds into the blackout, there was a fluctuation of nearly a full degree that was recorded near maintenance tunnel 34-D."

"A full degree?"

Ava nodded. "It's likely that the equipment they're using may be similar to your own; when your cloaks are active, they generate a substantial amount of heat- more than enough to risk detection from thermal imaging or sensors."

"The airlocks," Vogel breathed. "They're getting in through the shafts that the engineers use for space-walks."

"That fluctuation has since moved on from 34-D, and is steadily approaching the 'restricted access' compartment of the ship."

Gray's eyes widened. "All of our physical salvage is in the cargo bay, this proves that they're after the data we recorded on it!"

She reflected on everything that had led to this point- fourteen ships over the course of four years, fourteen cases that had gone cold. The only thing they ever had in common was that damn engraving, always waiting for them …

VI.

Whether 'six' was an identifier, a coordinate, some religious obsession, she didn't know. But they were about to find out.

Facing Ava again, she asked, "Are you able to connect with our suit systems if we leave the Horizon?"

Ava cocked her head again, an expression that was becoming familiar to the operative. "Yes, though I must warn you that there will be a zero point two second delay from the information I receive to when I can relay it back to you-"

"That's more than acceptable for me," Gray cut her off, looking back towards the rest of the team and flashing a wolf's grin.

"Let's go. It's time to show our guest that they're not the only ghosts on this ship."

A/N: Things are about to get REAL interesting in the next chapter ...

MarineRaider77 says ...

Yes, you updated mate, I was wondering is there gonna be scene somewhere in the Ghost's trilogy where both Tobias and Six give a fuck you type gesture to the Advocate for messing with their lives so much or even Six himself giving that type of gesture then killing the Advocate all spectacular Matteoarts action style.

I don't really want to give away spoilers, but I'll tell you that there will definitely be a plethora of that classic action in this story alone. Thanks for reading!

GenesisRazor says ...

Oooooh, I nearly cried when the original trilogy ended, and now that there's a chance that that beautiful couple could be alive!? I'm so happy!

Again, no spoilers- but what happened to them WILL be answered in this story. You guys are just going to have to wait to see what it is ...

Until the next time,

- Matteoarts