“Commander Blaine?”
“You have my full confidence, Captain.”
“Chief Mullen?”
“I’ve served under you for three years, ma’am. I’ll follow your orders.”
“Lieutenant Williams?”
The young officer grins. “With respect, Councilor Cooper, the Captain’s the best commanding officer in the fleet. Alien artifact or not.”
Cooper’s face flushes red. “This is mutiny.”
“This is loyalty,” I correct. “Something you might not recognize.”
I turn to Zylthar, who’s watched the exchange with growing amazement. “Envoy, I need to know: is there an alternative to neural purging? A way to control the artifact without severing our connection?”
He exchanges a long look with Jorem, some unspoken communication passing between them. Finally, he speaks.
“There is a way. But it would require...” He pauses, searching for words. “Complete integration. Instead of fighting the bond, we would need to embrace it fully.”
“Meaning?”
“The ritual of Starlight Joining. A sacred ceremony that permanently links our consciousness, making us essentially one mind in two bodies.” His voice drops to barely above a whisper. “It would give us the combined psychic strength to control the Matrix, but the process itself is...intimate.”
“How intimate?”
Jorem answers before Zylthar can speak. “Complete physical and mental union. Bodies joined, minds merged, souls intertwined for eternity. It’s a perversion of sacred tradition, Captain MacGray. I will not permit?—”
“It’s not your choice,” I interrupt. “Zylthar?”
He meets my eyes, and I see fear there, along with hope and something that might be love. “The joining would save the station. But once begun, it cannot be undone. We would be bonded for life, linked across any distance, sharing thoughts and emotions and dreams.”
“And if we don’t?”
“The spatial distortion will continue growing until it destabilizes this entire sector of space. Millions of people will die.”
Cooper slams her hand on the table. “This is insane. You’re talking about permanently altering your brain chemistry based on alien superstition?—”
“I’m talking about saving lives,” I snap. “Which is what I swore to do when I took command of this station.”
“Captain,” Blaine says quietly. “What are your orders?”
I look around the table one more time, seeing the trust in my people’s faces, the fury in Cooper’s expression, the desperatehope in Zylthar’s lavendar eyes. Through the viewport, the spatial distortion pulses like a malignant heartbeat, growing larger with each passing moment.
Two thousand people on this station. Millions more in the surrounding systems. All of them depending on my decision.
“Dr. Yakamura, clear your surgical schedule. Commander Blaine, you have the bridge. Seal all decks and prepare for potential spatial anomalies.” I turn to Zylthar. “Envoy, I need you to explain this ritual in detail. Everything I need to know.”
“Captain,” Cooper says, her voice deadly quiet. “If you go through with this insanity, I’ll see you court-martialed and stripped of rank.”
“If I don’t go through with it, there won’t be anyone left to court-martial.” I stand, feeling a strange calm settle over me. “The decision is made.”
“Selena,” Zylthar says, and the sound of my first name in his voice sends electricity down my spine. “Are you certain? The joining cannot be undone.”
I think about the dreams of crystal cities, the homesickness for places I’ve never seen, the way my pulse quickens whenever he’s near. Real or artificial, it feels right in a way that transcends logic.
“I’m certain.”
