Chapter 377: Origin story

The training room felt suffocating in the silence that followed Lucas’s admission. His teammates stared at him with expressions ranging from confusion to outright shock. The holographic training systems had powered down, leaving them in the sterile white light of the room’s basic illumination.

“Your family owns a star system,” Sophie repeated slowly, as if saying the words again might make them make sense. “Like… actually owns it?”

Lucas nodded, his grip tightening on the envelope. “Three planets, two asteroid mining operations, and yes, a private military force that’s been fighting Harbingers for over two centuries.”

“Two centuries?” Diana’s voice was sharp with disbelief. “That’s impossible. Harbingers only arrived on Earth nearly a century ago when the seed crashed into our core.”

“No,” Lucas said quietly. “That’s when they arrived on Earth. But you know they’ve been moving through the galaxy much longer than that.”

He moved to the center of the training room, his expression growing distant as he prepared to explain something he’d clearly never intended to share.

“Every planet has a core,” he began, his voice taking on the cadence of someone reciting a story told many times. “That core contains residual energy that keeps the planet alive. What Earth discovered ninety-three years ago with the seed crash, my ancestors discovered fragments of void energy thousands of years ago.”

Noah leaned forward, his interest clearly piqued. “Your ancestors?”

“Seven original humans, back in the cave dwelling days. During a meteor shower that unearthed energy from Earth’s core—void energy, though they didn’t call it that then. My family was one of those seven bloodlines.” Lucas’s jaw tightened. “They gained tremendous power from exposure to that energy. Power that changed them fundamentally.”

“Changed them how?” Lyra asked, her analytical mind already working through the implications.

“Enhanced abilities, extended lifespans, deeper connections to the energy that flows through every planet. But this was during humanity’s early civilization. And back then the original families believed their powers came from the stars,”

Lucas activated the room’s holographic display, showing a rough star map with several systems highlighted. “They knew they couldn’t stay on Earth—people would have seen them as gods, or worse, as witches, so they fled. One of them was a scientist. Together, the seven bloodlines set out to discover what lay beyond Earth’s star system. They lost their way in the endless darkness for a very long time, but eventually they found other worlds. Worlds with cores of their own.”

“And they made those worlds their home,” Diana said, understanding beginning to dawn in her voice.

“The Grey family claimed what is now known as the Raiju system. We thought we’d found paradise.” His expression darkened. “Then the Harbingers arrived.”

The room fell silent again. Sophie reached out unconsciously, as if to comfort him, but stopped when she saw the tension in his posture.

“Two hundred years ago,” Lucas continued, “they came to our system just like they came to Earth. But we were ready. We’d been preparing for threats we didn’t even know existed yet. The Grey family had turned our entire system into a fortress.”

“So you’ve been fighting them this whole time?” Kelvin asked, his cybernetic arms whirring softly as he processed the information.

“My family has been at war with the Harbingers for over two centuries. We’ve held them off, pushed them back, even killed some of their higher-level threats. But it’s been costly.” Lucas’s voice carried a weight that spoke of losses he’d never mentioned. “When Earth was finally attacked, amongst the seven original families, representatives were sent to help establish the EDF,”

“Wait,” Noah said, his mind racing. “You’re not… you weren’t born on Earth?”

Lucas looked at him for a long moment. “That’s a question that can be answered later. Right now, what matters is that if I’m being summoned home, it means something has happened. Something serious enough that they need a Grey family member back in the system.”

“What kind of something?” Sophie asked, though her voice suggested she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.

“Two possibilities,” Lucas replied, his expression grim. “Either someone important has died, or they expect me to die for the family.”

The blunt statement hit the room like a physical blow. Lyra’s tablet slipped from her fingers, clattering to the floor. Diana’s carefully maintained composure cracked, her face showing real fear for the first time since Noah had known her.

“Lucas,” Noah said carefully, “you can’t be serious.”

“The Grey family doesn’t summon members home for social visits,” Lucas replied. “If they want me back, it’s because the situation has become desperate enough that they need every available asset. Even inexperienced ones.”

“Inexperienced?” Kelvin’s voice rose in disbelief. “You’ve been leading us through impossible missions for weeks! You held your own against a four-horn Harbinger!”

“That makes me a skilled soldier,” Lucas said. “It doesn’t make me ready for what the Grey family might ask of me.”

Sophie stood up suddenly, her decision clear in her posture. “Then we’re coming with you.”

“No.”

The word came out with such force that it seemed to physically push her back. Lucas’s expression had hardened, and for the first time since they’d known him, he looked truly dangerous.

“Sophie, no. None of you are coming with me.”

“But you said you might die,” Diana protested, rising to stand beside Sophie. “You can’t expect us to just let you—”

“I expect you to follow orders,” Lucas interrupted, his voice carrying an authority they’d never heard before. “You’re EDF soldiers. You belong here, on the vanguard station, following EDF command structure.”

“Screw the command structure!” Noah was on his feet now, his emotions raw. “You’re our team leader. You’re our friend. If you’re walking into a situation that could get you killed—”

“Then you stay here where you’re safe!” Lucas’s voice echoed off the training room walls. “You have no idea what you’d be walking into. The Grey family’s war isn’t like fighting random Harbinger incursions. It’s systematic, brutal, and it’s been going on for generations. People die, Noah. Good people. People with families and futures and everything to live for.”

The tension in the room was electric. Lucas’s teammates had never seen him like this—not just angry, but terrified. And not for himself, but for them.

“You think we can’t handle it?” Kelvin asked quietly, his cybernetic arms moving with subtle mechanical precision. “We’ve been handling impossible odds since we’ve known each other”

“This is different,” Lucas said, his voice barely above a whisper. “The things my family has done to survive… the choices they’ve made… I won’t let you become part of that.”

“Let us?” Diana’s voice was cold. “You don’t get to make that choice for us.”

“I’m making it anyway,” Lucas replied. “I leave tomorrow. Alone. That’s final.”

He turned toward the door, the envelope still clutched in his hand. “Resume training. Work on your combinations. Commander Cassandra will assign a new team leader while I’m gone.”

“Lucas, wait—” Sophie started, but he was already walking away.

“I said that’s final,” he called back without turning around. “Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

The door slid shut behind him, leaving the five remaining members of Pathfinder Team 7 standing in stunned silence. The training room’s basic lighting seemed harsh and unwelcoming, casting sharp shadows that made everything feel wrong.

Nobody moved for a long moment. Then Kelvin let out a long, slow breath and looked around at his teammates.

“Guys,” he said, his voice carrying a mix of determination and disbelief, “we are following him, right?”

The question hung in the air like a challenge. Noah looked at Sophie, who looked at Diana, who looked at Lyra. The same thought was written across all their faces.

“He just said he could die,” Kelvin continued, his cybernetic fingers flexing unconsciously. “And we’re supposed to just… let him go alone?”

“He was pretty clear about not wanting us there,” Lyra said quietly, though her voice lacked conviction.

“Since when do we let Lucas face impossible odds alone?” Sophie asked, her voice hitching as her emotions spiked.

“Since never,” Diana replied firmly. “We’re a team. That’s what teams do.”

Noah nodded slowly, his decision crystalizing. “Then we’re going. All of us.”

“How?” Lyra asked practically. “We don’t even know where he’s going, and I doubt he’s going to tell us.”

Kelvin’s grin was sharp and determined. “Leave that to me. My pretty face isn’t just for show. Inside resides a big, beautiful brain filled with tons of ideas!!! I can track his travel requisitions, find his transport schedules, maybe even access his personal communications if I have to.”

“That’s illegal,” Lyra pointed out.

“So is letting your team leader walk into a death trap alone,” Kelvin replied. “Sometimes you have to choose which rules to break.”

They stood there in the training room, five young soldiers about to make a decision that would change everything. Outside, the station continued its normal operations, unaware that Pathfinder Team 7 was about to go rogue.

The war with the Harbingers had just become personal.