Alexander stared in abject horror as he watched the slaughter unfold in the belt from his workshop. The attack had been so sudden and unexpected that he didn't even have time to head to the control room. As soon as he had taken in the position of the Shican ships, he knew that none of the miners would be able to reach a safe jump point. Despite that, he still held onto hope that Mingyu and the rest of the captains would somehow escape.

Watching his friend die in an act of unparalleled heroism did not make the hurt of watching Mingyu's death any less painful.

To make matters worse, the Shican loitered in the area, taunting them even when the fleet managed to gather and jump toward them. The gravity that far in the system prevented them from jumping directly to the belt. When they arrived, they were well shy of combat range, and the remaining Shican vessels jumped away, completely ignoring the fact that forming a warp bubble that close to a star should have been impossible.

A cold numbness radiated through Alexander's body. The Shican had finally made their first big play of the war, and it was aimed at civilians. If he hadn't already known they were cold and callous, that attack told him everything he needed to know about the aliens. If the Shican wanted to go that route, then so be it. He would reciprocate.

Hours later, Alexander found himself in a meeting with Krieger, who had remained on the planet, and the captains, who were joining via holo.

Krieger asked Ramirez something, but Alexander wasn't paying attention.

The cold numbness that had crept through him had turned into a smoldering pit of rage. Alexander forced his attention back to the matter at hand and locked those feelings away. He needed to stay focused. To not do so was to spit on the victims of this tragedy.

Captain Ramirez shook his head at Krieger's question. "No survivors."

The response stoked the rage Alexander was feeling, but only for a moment before he wrestled it back under control.

"Anything left of the Shican vessel?" Alexander asked.

"Only cooling blobs of plasma, Alex. No sign of how they managed to jump in or out without their warp fields collapsing."

"Alex," Krieger spoke quietly. "I think we should go to full readiness."

Alexander nodded his avatar in agreement. Even though patrol strength had been doubled, the rest of the fleet had been on partial standdown to allow for the overworked crews to get some time for rest. The enemy had chosen that moment to strike, which he didn't believe was a coincidence.

"I'll alert Lagertha Char and the Jarls that the enemy has finally made their move."

Krieger nodded, then turned back to the holo display. "Switch to eight-hour rotations, but be prepared for action at any moment. I have a feeling the enemy isn't done."

"Yes, Admiral," came the chorus of replies.

Krieger nodded. "I'll send updated orders shortly. Until then, dismissed."

Alexander began to stand as soon as the meeting ended, but Krieger motioned for him to wait.

"A moment of your time, Alex."

Alexander sat back down.

"Are you doing okay?" the Admiral asked. "And please don't say you're fine. I can see that you're not."

"Have you been taking pointers on reading my mood from Lucas?" Alexander snapped, but there was little heat in his tone.

"Actually, I have," Krieger admitted.

The shock must have been clear on Alexander's face, because Krieger gave a half-hearted smile. It was a testament to the seriousness of the situation that the man didn't even snort in amusement.

Alexander huffed. "I can't even begin to explain the depths of rage I feel toward the Shican. If I had the means right now, I would eradicate every last one of them from the universe. Does that make me a monster?"

Instead of answering the question directly, Krieger nodded in understanding. "Losing people is never easy. Losing people you know is even worse. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you need to take a step back and get your emotions under control. Alex, we need you to be the voice of reason, the bedrock from which our victory will come. Your inventions are the only reason we have a fighting chance against the Shican. Focus on that, and leave the ugly side of war to those like me."

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"You expect me just to sit back and do nothing after what they did?" Alexander snapped, swiping his hand through the holo projector and smashing it against the far wall.

Krieger didn't so much as blink during the tantrum, leaving Alexander feeling ashamed for his childish action.

"I never said sit back and do nothing. Do what you do best. Focus on giving us an advantage against those bastards."

Each of Krieger's words hit Alexander like a sledgehammer, and he deflated, crashing back into his custom seat. "I'm not the only one responsible for those advantages," he muttered.

"True," Krieger replied. "But where would they be if you had not shown up in Unokane and given them access to the learning modules and the ability to experiment? Don't answer that. Just think about it. Take some time to center yourself."

"Is that an order?" Alexander asked in exhaustion.

"If you were under my command, it would be. I know we aren't exactly friends, Alex, but I am worried about you."

"What? Of course we are," Alexander replied.

Krieger shook his head. "Alex, we're acquaintances at best. And that's fine. I understand you never truly forgave me for spying on you when I first came out to Unokane. You may see me as a friend, but a part of you still thinks of me as that STO agent. One day that might change, until then, please take my advice. Take some time off."

Alexander wanted to refute the man's statement, but when he looked back on it, he realized Krieger was completely correct. He wasn't the only one Alexander was keeping at arm's length.

"I'll take that under advisement," Alexander finally replied.

"I suppose that's better than no." Krieger made to get up, then paused. "This is a rather insensitive time to bring this up, but I must know. Will the loss of the mining ships hamper the completion of the battleship?"

It was more than insensitive, but Alexander knew the man was asking because that ship might very well be the only way to fight on even terms against the enemy fleet. "No. We received the last of the materials a few days ago, and I already have replacement mining ships in production."

Krieger nodded. "I'll make sure the fleet keeps those ships safe. Thank you, Alex."

With that, Krieger walked out of the room, leaving Alexander alone with his thoughts and rage.

"How the hell did they do it?"

The question of how the Shican had bypassed the gravity had been bothering him since he first watched the attack unfold.

He had a pretty good idea of how he might go about doing something like that, but gravity plating couldn't reverse gravity as far as he knew. It didn't even fluctuate from what he had seen.

You could only expand the gravitational field by applying more power to the plates. The pirates' method, where they piled a bunch of plates together, was crude and completely unnecessary. It also showed that the criminals had only a vague understanding of how the plates functioned. To be fair, nobody else understood them much better, other than Gravitational Solutions.

Through studying them, Alexander had a good idea of what they were capable of. He knew more plates didn't increase the gravity; it just made it so they didn't overload as easily as a single plate. Spreading the additional power load over an entire ship did the same thing and was less likely to damage the plating.

That didn't change the gravity, however, just the area the field covered. So how the hell had the Shican done the impossible?

Alexander shook those thoughts away. He had gone down that rabbit hole too many times with the gravity plating, and he still didn't know how they functioned or how they were able to project a field of gravity, other than the fact that they required power to do so.

He stood up. Considering the seriousness of their situation, it was time to find out.

The Gravitational Solutions' new production facility was a little over a mile from the main complex. While GS had built its own facility, Yi Na had worked with them to connect it underground via a tram.

Alexander stopped short of entering the new tram tunnel. He was going to need to speak with Huang Na, Mingyu's father, before the news spread of the attack. He considered turning around and doing that now, but he couldn't quite bring himself to face Mingyu's family in his current state. He still needed time to process his friend's death.

Maybe by the time he was done speaking with Rush, he would be more level-headed.

With his mind made up, he continued down the quiet ramp and boarded the empty tram. Maybe one day the new line would be filled with people traveling back and forth, but that depended entirely on how GS handled the conversation he was about to have.

As soon as he was aboard, he tapped a command on his tablet. The doors shut, and the car started to accelerate.

Alexander could have walked through the side passage or even above ground, but this was quicker.

Soon, the tram decelerated and the doors opened with a happy ding.

He had toured the GS facility after it was first constructed, but it was rather barebones at the time. Gravity plates had been shipping from the facility for a few weeks, so he assumed it was fully operational now.

As Alexander was passing down a hallway, a side door opened and a giggling girl stepped out.

"Alex!" Yulia exclaimed.

A silver blonde-haired girl joined her a moment later and froze.

"Yulia, Serina, how are you two doing?"

"Good," Yulia said. "Why are you here? Are you checking up on me?" She crossed her arms and glared at him.

If Alexander hadn't been in such a foul mood, he might have chuckled. "No, I'm here to speak with Chairman Rush. Are you heading back home?"

Now that Yulia knew Alexander wasn't there to stop or lecture her, she relaxed. "Yeah. Serina has to attend a family gathering."

"Oh," Alexander said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"It should be fine," Serina squeaked out. "I have to go, Yulia."

Without waiting for a response, the girl hurried off.

Alexander watched her go for a moment before turning back to his daughter. "If you want, you can wait, and I can ride back with you."

"I'll be fine," she said, before turning toward the arrival terminal.

Alexander could have told her to wait for him, but starting an argument with his teenage daughter wouldn't be very productive right now.

With an internal sigh, he continued until he reached the Chairman's office.

The door flicked open just as Alexander was going to knock.

Rush was standing on the other side, looking a bit upset. "Mr. Kane. Just the person I was hoping to see. Would you mind walking with me while we talk?"