“This should be interesting,” Eric said. “Inform me when the courier wants to deliver their message.”

“Aye sir.”

►►►

► The Forge was one of the best-defended and, until very recently, most-secret facilities in the Priminae colonies. Few ships, few threats of any kind, could penetrate the corona of a star, and almost no one would think to look for a planet deep inside the stellar mass. Even the Priminae hadn’t intended to build any such facility. The Forge’s construction was a happy accident of sorts.

Only less than happy.

Just a few centuries after the Priminae arrived and settled in the Ranquil system, the local star began showing signs of instability. Such signs are easy to dismiss, however, and in the interests of complacency, the council of that era discounted them entirely.

By the time council members admitted that there was indeed a threat, the Colony Prime of Ranquil was doomed.

Or it would have been. Should have been, even.

As the star began to increase in size, its corona steadily closing on the colony world, engineers stepped in where politicians and frightened, complacent fools had failed. The energy screen hadn’t begun as anything special, just a method to reflect heat away from a warming world. But as the heat intensity increased, so did the power of the screen. When the corona of the star crossed the orbit of the colony, almost three millennia later, the screen was a masterpiece of technical innovation. Necessity breeds invention.

The Forge was born in the fires of a star and would live there until the end of its time.

For those who lived in the Forge, fire was life—and death.

For those who were not born in fire, the Forge was amazing, terrifying, impossible.

►►►

Forge Facility Approach, Ranquil System

► “I’ve never seen anything like this, Admiral.”

“I know,” Gracen said, smiling very slightly at the wonder in her companion’s tone. “I remember the feeling.”

They were passing through the corona of the Ranquil star and about to tunnel through the stellar mass. The view was, as one might expect, spectacular.

The captain of the fast courier was staring out at the roiling mass of flame and plasma just meters beyond his ship, both awed and terrified.

“How long will passage take?” he asked nervously.

“A few more minutes,” Gracen responded. “If you think this is something, just wait . . .”

He glanced at her, confused. “More impressive than . . .”

He was cut off, his voice dying in his throat as they suddenly broke through the plasma field and into open space. Ahead of them, there was a blue-green world floating in the midst of hell itself.

“Oh my lord.”

“Make for slip nineteen,” she pointed. “I see my ship, and I want a word with her captain about how he’s treating her.”

“Aye ma’am.”

►►►

AEV Odysseus, Forge Slip Nineteen

► “Admiral on deck!”