Milo Kekoa stumbled off a Veilwatch jet onto the Nevada base's tarmac. The desert sun scorched. His Star Trek tie was askew. His Darth Vader mug swung from a carabiner on his backpack. He squinted at the concrete bunker ahead. It loomed like a knockoff Death Star. He adjusted his chipped glasses. A grin cracked his face. He was here. He always wondered how Bob Lazar felt when recruited at S4. He was ready to geek out.
Lena Voss stood at the tarmac's edge. Her dark hair was pulled tight. Her eyes were shadowed from sleepless nights. She saw Milo. A rare smile broke through. She strode forward. He dropped his bag and flung his arms wide.
"Boss Voss, live and in 3D!" Milo crowed. "Thought I'd never see you again. Nevada's got serious X-Files energy. I'm digging it."
Lena rolled her eyes. She hugged him briefly. "Still insufferable, Milo. Did you pack your brain or just that mug?"
"Brain's overclocked." He tapped his temple. "Mug's my emotional support Sith. So where do we start, Boss Voss? Decoding rifts? Saving the multiverse? Or, like, tacos?"
Lena's smile faded. "Rifts first. Tacos if you behave. Come on. You're meeting the big guns."
Milo snatched his bag. He trailed her into the bunker. The air was cool and metallic. His sneakers squeaked on the concrete. He rambled. "This place screams secret government lab. Got any rogue AIs? Or just rift gremlins? I'm stoked for those frequencies. Universe's secret SoundCloud drop's got my name on it."
Lena shot him a look. "Focus, Milo. You're about to meet the real boss."
Milo's grin wobbled. "Real boss? Thought you were the head nerd."
Lena didn't reply. She led him to a steel-walled command room. Monitors glowed with rift data. Mara Solis stood at the center. Her dark eyes pinned them. Her presence was a knife cloaked in velvet. Her healer's hands rested on a tablet. They could mend flesh or launch a battalion strike. Milo's throat bobbed. His sarcasm stalled.
"Lena," Mara said. Her voice was smooth and sharp. "This is your string theory savant?"
Lena nodded. "Milo Kekoa. Minored in string theory. He's modeled my data before. If these rifts have any link to strings, he'll find them."
Milo mustered a smirk. He extended a hand. "Pleasure, Mara?" His obnoxiousness is absent as he feels the seriousness of Mara's aura. "I worked under Lena in Hawaii and appreciate this opportunity to crack the code on these rifts."
Mara ignored his hand. Her gaze carved him open. "You're here to deliver, not perform. The anomaly's power is critical. Your models better not waste my time."
Milo's hand fell. He glanced at Lena. It clicked. Mara was the boss. Lena was just a player in her game. He nodded, uncharacteristically subdued. "Right. Frequencies. Wormholes. I'm your guy."
Mara's eyes lingered. She turned to a monitor. It displayed a rift's frequency graph. Lena's data. The pulsing bands seemed to stir something in her. Her expression shifted. A shadow crossed her face. Her fingers tightened on the tablet. The vibrations weren't just data. They were a trigger. A memory clawed its way up.
Mara was twenty-four. The year was 2016. She was a medic in a Syrian valley. Dust choked the air. Her squad was eight strong. They were her family. She patched their wounds with steady hands. Bandages. Morphine. Grit. She didn't know about threads. She didn't know her touch held power.
Amir was her heart. A sniper with a soft laugh and eyes that saw her soul. He'd tease her over stale rations. He'd sketch her in the margins of his maps. She'd swat his arm and hide her smile. They stole moments in the war's shadow. A graze of fingers. A vow to survive. They'd build a life when the fighting stopped.
The ambush hit at dawn. They patrolled a rocky ridge. Insurgents struck from the cliffs. Bullets ripped through the squad. A grenade's blast shook the earth. Mara dove behind a boulder. Her ears screamed. Her squad scattered. She saw Amir take cover. His rifle cracked. His shots were true. Then another grenade landed. The explosion threw him. Blood soaked his chest.
Mara crawled to him. Her hands trembled. She tore open his shirt. Shrapnel had torn his abdomen. His breath was a wet rasp. She pressed gauze to the wounds. They were too deep. Gunfire raged. Her squad fought. Two were down. She didn't look. Amir was all that mattered.
A warmth bloomed in her palms. It wasn't fear. It was alive. She pressed harder. A faint purple mist pulsed from her hands. She froze. The mist sank into Amir's skin. Cuts on his arms sealed. A gash on his thigh knitted. Mild injuries vanished. Medium ones mended. Her hands were doing this. She didn't question it. She could save him.
Amir's eyes found hers. "Mara," he gasped. "Stop. Hide!" words muffled by his coughs.
She tried. She poured her will into her touch. The mist wavered. His chest wounds were catastrophic. Shrapnel had shredded organs. Blood flowed faster than she could heal. The warmth in her hands flickered. It faded. She screamed his name. His eyes closed. His hand slackened in hers.
The squad drove off the attackers. Reinforcements came. Mara knelt by Amir's body. Her hands were slick with his blood. Her power was a cruel jest. No time to mourn, to grieve. Frantic calls for help pulled her from Amir as she gently covered him. She healed the others. Sprains. Bullet grazes. Broken bones needed to be set before she could close the wounds, so she stopped the bleeding. She was able to save everyone and found her gift but it had betrayed her love.
Veilwatch tracked her months later. They'd heard of a medic with impossible healing capabilities. They offered her purpose. Power. She joined. She sharpened her gift. She turned it into a weapon. Amir's death stayed. A wound no thread could touch.
Mara blinked. The command room returned. Lena and Milo were watching the monitor. They hadn't noticed her lapse. She straightened. Her voice was steel. "Milo, your models start now. The anomaly's threads are the key. I want them. Lena, keep him focused."
Lena nodded. Her mind churned. Mara's brief pause hadn't gone unnoticed. Something had stirred her. Lena thought of Kai. His healed arm. His silent burner phone. He was running. Mara's hunger for his power was a tightening noose.
Milo broke the silence. "So, Boss Voss, where's the coffee? I'm not unraveling the universe on zero caffeine."
Lena sighed. "Lab. Move it, dork."
Milo grinned. He followed her out. His voice bounced off the walls. "This bunker needs a glow-up."
Mara watched them leave. Her hand brushed her chest. Amir's blood was a ghost under her skin. Kai's power was her salvation. She'd claim it. No matter the cost.
Milo and Lena entered the data lab. Monitors hummed. Rift graphs pulsed. Milo dropped his bag. He cracked his knuckles. "Alright, Boss Voss, let's dive into this cosmic mess. I poked at your data on the jet. Those frequencies? They're not necessarily caused by Kai."
Lena frowned. "What do you mean?"
Milo pulled up a graph. His voice was half-sarcasm, half-awe. "Rifts aren't glued to your boy Kai. They're chasing strong concentrations of dark energy. Think of it like cosmic catnip. Dark energy's making the universe expand. It's everywhere, but some spots get extra spicy. Rifts pop where it's thickest. Kai is like a dark energy super-sponge. He's sucking it up, storing it like a galactic battery. That's why rifts follow him. He's not the source. He's the magnet."
Lena's eyes widened. "Dark energy? How'd you get there?"
Milo grinned. "String theory, baby. Those rift frequencies vibe with extra-dimensional modes. Dark energy's tied to the cosmos's stretchy bits. It's probably leaking through those curled-up dimensions we talked about. Kai's multi-spectral threads are tuned to it. He's harnessing it better than anyone. Guy's a walking dark energy reactor."
Lena's mind raced. Kai wasn't the cause. He was a conduit. This changed everything. She glanced at her burner phone. Still no reply. "Can you prove it?"
Milo scoffed. "Prove it? I'm Milo Freaking Kekoa. I'll model these frequencies faster than you can say 'quantum foam.' Gimme a laptop and some Red Bull. We're rewriting the rift playbook."
Lena nodded. Her voice was firm. "Do it. If Kai's not the source, we need to know why the rifts open."
Milo saluted. "Aye, aye, Captain Voss. This lab needs a vibe lift, though. I'm thinking a Baby Yoda poster. Maybe a sonic screwdriver replica."
Lena sighed. "Work, Milo. Then we'll talk decor."
Milo cackled. He dove into the data. Lena watched him. Mara's shadow loomed. Kai was running. The rifts were drawn to him. Dark energy was the key. Her mind buzzed with excitement on the cusp of new discoveries. She gripped her tablet. The universe was humming. She had to find its tune.