The moment stretches, time seeming to slow as Elara and I stare at each other. I'm vaguely aware of the others in the room watching us with expressions ranging from curiosity to alarm, but they seem distant, peripheral. All I can focus on is the woman standing before me and the impossible resonance between our minds.

  It's like looking into a mirror that doesn't quite reflect properly—familiar yet different. Her consciousness has the same texture as mine, the same intricate patterns of connection, but with variations I can't quite define. And the pressure that's been building in my mind since the Nexari ship finally settles, finding its counterpoint in her presence.

  "This is... unexpected," Commander Wells says carefully, breaking the silence. "Elara, I thought you were on assignment in the Arcturus sector."

  Elara's gaze doesn't waver from mine, though she responds to Wells. "I was. I requested emergency transfer when I felt him come online three days ago."

  "Three days?" I manage to find my voice. "You felt me from another star system?"

  Now she does look away, glancing at the others with a hint of wariness. "Perhaps we should discuss this privately."

  "No," Lieutenant Voss—her mother, I remind myself with a jolt of surprise—interjects firmly. "Anything you have to say can be shared with the group. We don't keep secrets from each other."

  Something flickers across Elara's face—irritation, perhaps, or resignation. "Very well. Yes, I sensed your awakening from Arcturus. At first, I thought I was imagining things. None of us has ever detected another resistant from that distance before. But the connection kept strengthening, becoming more distinct."

  "That shouldn't be possible," Dr. Chen says, more to himself than to us. "Even the strongest telepathic abilities we've documented have a range limited to a few kilometers at most."

  "And yet, here we are," Elara responds with a slight edge to her voice. She returns her attention to me. "Your mind called to mine across twelve light-years of space. I think that deserves an explanation, don't you?"

  The implicit accusation in her tone catches me off guard. "I didn't exactly do it on purpose," I protest. "I didn't even know I had these abilities until three days ago."

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  "A convenient claim," she says, taking a step closer.

  Lieutenant Voss moves slightly, positioning herself more deliberately between us. "Elara, that's enough. Andrew is still adjusting to his situation. Whatever connection you've detected, he's not responsible for initiating it consciously."

  Elara studies her mother's face for a moment, then nods once. "Perhaps not. But the connection exists nonetheless." She turns to the group at large. "Have you told him about the Protocol yet?"

  A palpable tension fills the room. Several of the resistants shift uncomfortably in their seats. Dr. Okafor and Commander Wells exchange a meaningful glance.

  "We were getting to that," says Lopez evasively.

  "I see," Elara says, a touch of bitterness in her voice. "Still playing by Thorn's rulebook, then."

  "What protocol?" I ask, looking from face to face. "What aren't you telling me?"

  Lieutenant Voss sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose in a gesture of frustration. "It's not that simple, Andrew. There are security classifications, protocols for information disclosure—"

  "The Nexus Protocol," Elara interrupts bluntly. "The real reason Border Command is so interested in people like us. The reason they rescued you specifically when they normally write off Nexari captives as lost causes."

  "Elara!" her mother snaps. "That's classified beyond this room and you know it."

  "And it directly affects him," Elara counters, pointing at me. "He deserves to know what they'll expect from him. What they'll demand."

  The two women stare at each other, a clash of wills made all the more intense by the family resemblance between them. Despite the difference in age, they have the same determined set to their jaw, the same intensity in their eyes.

  "I agree with Elara," Commander Wells says finally, surprising me. "If Andrew is developing abilities at the accelerated rate the scans suggest, he'll be briefed on the Protocol within days anyway. Better he hear it from us than from Thorn's perspective."

  The others murmur their agreement, some more reluctantly than others. Lieutenant Voss looks like she wants to object further, but eventually nods her acceptance.

  "Very well," she says. "But the basics only. Details remain classified until the Admiral authorizes full disclosure."

  "Fair enough," Wells concedes. She turns to me. "Andrew, what do you know about the origin of the cold war with the Nexari?"

  The abrupt shift in topic throws me momentarily. "Not much beyond the general history. Humans expanded into their adjacent territory with FTL ships about seventy years ago. Relations were initially neutral but deteriorated when they started assimilating humans into their hive mind."

  Wells nods. "That's the official version. The public record. But there's more to the story." She glances at Lieutenant Voss, who gives a reluctant nod of permission to continue.