"This is it…" She grabbed the core. Her muscles trembled. It resisted her. She pushed harder. Harder— CRACK. Silence~ Space inside the station shifted and untangled as the distortions dissolved. She exhaled sharply. "E.E… it's all up to you now." --- Back in Space, E.E felt the change instantly. The distortions vanished. Space stabilized. His vortex abilities… worked properly again. He forced himself upright and opened a vortex directly in front of him. A stabilized one. The destination was the vortex he forced the commander into. Apparently, what E.E had done earlier was force the commander into a vortex that had no exit point. Since the distortions would ruin things, he just decided to let the commander kept getting pulled through the vortex until Angy deactivated the distortions. Now he could go in to get him. Falco and Aildris happened to just arrive on scene at thr last moment after desperately searching him. "You guys are late..." E.E muttered before opening another vortex. Falco squinted at the vortex. "Bro… is that...?" E.E face turned greener. "Get in before I pass out." Falco didn't need to be told twice. Aildris grabbed his arm and they jumped through. They both materialized within the 42nd commander's chamber on the last floor. Meanwhile, E.E proceeded to jump into the other vortex he conjured before Aildris and Falco's arrival. He appeared directly behind the flailing 42nd commander, who was still disoriented inside the chaotic vortex-space E.E had created earlier. E.E didn't waste even half a second. He grabbed the alien's throat. And opened another vortex. A big stabilized one. The familiar glow engulfed both of them— FWOOOOSH They slammed into the 42nd commander's chamber floor. E.E landed on his back, groaning. The 42nd commander thrashed violently. E.E forced himself onto his knees, then onto his feet. He grabbed the alien's second head by the mandibles and smashed him against the floor. Once. Twice. THIRD TIME. The floor cracked. Energy sputtered from the alien's veins. E.E tightened his hand. "Stay… DOWN!" WHAM!! Silence. The 42nd commander stopped moving. E.E staggered while panting heavily. Now all four stood together again, in the dimly lit chamber of the 42nd commander. Angy who had been waiting was leaning against the far wall with arms crossed. A relieved sigh escaped her as she stared at all three of them. "About damn time," she muttered while pushing forward. "Dude where were you? I thought you died..." Falco voiced from the side while closing in on the unconscious 42nd commander. E.E dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. "To be fair, I thought I died too. Twice." But they were here. And their target lay unconscious at the center of the room, sprawled like a collapsed mountain. Aildris raised a hand. Seven colors burst from his fingertips; red, blue, violet, amber, emerald, silver, and white, all twining around one another like sentient ribbons. They lengthened, hardened, and twisted into a prism-shaped construct that glowed with shifting light. It descended over the unconscious commander like a cage forged by the aurora itself. "This should hold him," Aildris said calmly. Falco whistled. "Man… every time you do that, I'm reminded how unnecessarily cool your abilities look." The prism solidified just in time. Because a few seconds later, the 42nd commander jerked awake. Both heads snapped upward as its twin sets of slit-pupiled eyes glared outward. His four arms rose instantly, punching at the walls of the prism. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. The colors didn't even ripple. The commander let out a roar. "Let me out this instant!" Aildris stepped forward with a calm expression. "No." The 42nd commander's breathing grew ragged as he realized he wasn't leaving that prism anytime soon. The colors stirred with a subtle pressure that crushed the energy whenever he tried gathering his strength. Aildris stood closest to the cage. Falco leaned on a table that Angy had reassembled earlier with his arms crossed. E.E wiped blood from his chin, planting himself beside Aildris. Angy stayed near the door, senses tracking movement outside the chamber to ensure no one approached unexpectedly. "Let's not waste time," Aildris stated with a low tone. "We want to know where the two main leaders are located." The commander laughed bitterly. "You will gain nothing. The leaders… cannot be found." Aildris gave him a calm, almost pitying look. "We know. Believe me—we've interrogated enough of you commanders to see the pattern." Falco sighed. "Yeah. You guys are like employees whose boss refuses to give out his home address. Low-key tragic." E.E snapped his fingers. "But Aildris checked your memories the moment he trapped you in that prism. So you can spare us the dramatic denial." The commander stiffened. Aildris nodded slowly. "You don't know where the leaders are. You never knew. The moment you attend a meeting, your memory is wiped. You're given coordinates, but the location cleans itself out of your minds afterward." The commander didn't answer. His silence was confirmation enough. Angy approached with focused eyes. "We need the leaders. We don't have months to wait for the next meeting to happen." "We need a shortcut—preferably one that doesn't involve us beating down 41 more commanders," Falco muttered. Aildris finally stepped back as his eyes emitted a multicolored glow. "That's why I dug deeper." The commander reacted first. "You… probed further?" Aildris said nothing. "That is wrong—" Falco rolled his eyes. "Bro, you were trying to kill E.E five minutes ago. Let's not act like you're suddenly concerned with morals." Aildris extended a hand. A holographic strand of prismatic memory hovered above his palm, extracted earlier. "I didn't find the leaders' location," he admitted. "But I did find a person." E.E straightened slightly. "A name?" Aildris nodded. "The 16th Commander." The 42nd commander growled and turned his heads away. Angy frowned. "What about her?" Aildris continued: "She is much closer to the Gustavo Alliance leaders than any of the other commanders." Falco's interest peaked. "Closer how?" Aildris's expression darkened slightly. "Blood." E.E blinked. "Blood?" Aildris: "She's related to one of the leaders. A close blood relative." A cold silence fell. Falco let out a slow whistle. "Well damn. That complicates a lot." Angy's brows furrowed with concern. "Or… simplifies it?" Aildris nodded. "She is the only commander with a direct family tie to the leadership. So if anyone has access to anything—if anyone can point us in the right direction—it's her." The 42nd commander hissed. "She will not betray her blood." E.E leaned forward with a smirk. "Who said anything about betrayal?" Falco raised two fingers. "We just need information. Not her loyalty." Aildris flicked his wrist. The prism around the 42nd commander constricted by a few centimeters. The alien gasped as the light pressed into him. "And you will not be leaving this prison. Not until our mission is complete," Aildris voiced authoritatively. The commander snarled helplessly. They gathered around the floating projection Aildris had conjured. The hologram shifted from abstract colors into concrete images: a three-dimensional rotating bust of a woman. She had alien feminine features mixed with a humanoid form. Long silvery hair reaching her waist. Light-blue scales running down the left side of her face and neck. Two pupil-less eyes that glowed faintly. She was tall with a slender build and commanding posture. Falco nodded slowly. "Well, damn. She looks like she doesn't smile. Ever." Angy studied the image carefully. "She looks dangerous." Aildris expanded the hologram to a full body. Her armor was unique with luminescent patterns that spiraled across her form in symmetrical lines. A badge on her chest glowed differently from other commanders', marked with a symbol resembling a coiled helix. Then came the station layout. It was a metallic structure floating above a red-brown planet. Its exterior was entirely mechanical with no windows, no organic growth, no breathable areas. Aildris zoomed into the inside. Corridors filled with security droids. Automated turrets. Sensor webs. Surveillance eyes in every corner. Rooms with integrated AI networks. Not a single Gustavo Alliance member. Not one. Angy took a step back as she folded her arms thoughtfully. "She runs her station entirely with machines… Why?" E.E shook his head. "To avoid being stabbed in the back. If she's related to the leaders, the Alliance probably protects her—but she probably knows too many would want her position." Falco snapped his fingers. "Or she just hates company. Honestly, same." Aildris highlighted a time-distance readout. "If we move quickly, we can reach her location in four days." E.E rubbed his palms together. "Four days is nothing. We've traveled further for less." But Aildris zoomed the map out further. A swirling red zone blinked around the station. "Unfortunately… infiltration will be significantly harder." Falco groaned. "Why is every station we visit always more difficult than the last?" "Because they're higher in the chain of command?" Angy voiced from the side. Aildris gave a faint smile. "It would have been less difficult than this station but the issue is, without organic life on the station, any intruder becomes impossible to hide. There are no people—only droids. And those droids don't get tired, don't blink, don't look away. Every corner is monitored and as soon as organic life is noticed, it is bound to raise an alarm."