Chapter 13: Echoes of Truth
The Vanguard resumed its course, but something had changed.
Not in the ocean.
In the crew.
“They’re shaken,” Sarah said quietly as they stood alone in the briefing room.
“They should be,” Evelyn replied. “They just encountered something they can’t explain.”
“And you?” Sarah asked. “Are you shaken?”
Evelyn paused.
Then shook her head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because uncertainty doesn’t scare me anymore,” Evelyn said. “Lies do.”
Sarah studied her. “You think that… thing… is connected to something?”
Evelyn didn’t answer right away.
Instead, she pulled up an old classified file.
Harrington Naval Systems.
Her father’s legacy.
“What if,” Evelyn said slowly, “we weren’t the first to encounter it?”
Sarah leaned closer. “You think your father knew?”
“I think,” Evelyn said, her voice tightening, “he built something around it.”
The implications hit hard.
Corporate greed.
Military contracts.
Secrets buried beneath layers of power.
“Then this isn’t over,” Sarah said.
Evelyn closed the file.
“No,” she agreed. “It’s just deeper than we thought.”
An alarm suddenly cut through the room.
“Captain to control—urgent!”
They rushed back.
“What is it?” Evelyn demanded.
“Same contact,” sonar said. “But… multiple this time.”
Evelyn froze.
“How many?”
A pause.
“Three.”
The room went silent again.
May you like
Evelyn stepped forward, her voice calm, unshaken.
“Alright,” she said. “Now we learn the truth.”
