That day a meteor shower rained through Ravine's skies north of Karpa Luna. Thin tendrils of fire snarled their way across the bruised atmosphere like great flaming birds before fizzling to nothingness. The whole thing lasted perhaps five minutes. To many it was just a natural phenomenon, a small cluster of rocks striking the planet and burning up into dust. Some wished on those lights. Others took them as a bad omen of even darker times to come.

To those on the Karpa Luna military base those lights told an altogether more chilling story.

In low orbit above Ravine, the light cruiser Roshven had been carrying out a routine pass of the planet, bombarding the surface with a rolling series of sensor sweeps, hunting for any trace of rebel activity in their assigned sector. It was a task performed a dozen times a day by an ever-changing rota of ships in the occupying flotilla. Mundane. Supporting.

Safe.

But at 0646 Ravine time, the Roshven and everyone aboard her had been blasted out of existence.

A crisis meeting in Merlynn's headquarters hadn't been long in coming. Darien headed Blink squad leaders as they marched through the station's hallways, summoned with the speed of urgency. He had no idea what had happened to the stricken ship, but the base buzzed with wild rumours and speculation. It was all Merlynn's officers could do to keep the stories contained on the base.

The closer they got to the main briefing room the more people seemed to be flooding in. He saw command insignias from the Beltock Dragoons, local militia regiments, military police cadres and even navy officers who'd been summoned planetside. Whatever had happened to the Roshven had kicked up a hive of activity across every single part of the colonial command structure.

A hum of noise filled the air as they entered the packed briefing room, jostling for space with the rest of the officers. Eventually they found themselves space, settling into a middle row of seats in amongst a contingent of Beltock officers. Darien lowered himself into place, eyes roving across the currently empty lectern at the front of the room. Taggs flopped down beside him, his normally cheery demeanour replaced by a look taut with anger.

"You alright?" Darien murmured.

"What the hell d'ye think?" Taggs replied. "One of mine's strung up in the med centre full of bullet-holes and now we find out we didn't even snag the right guy? And on top o' that there's a brand new emergency to wrap our heads 'round? Feels like we're pissin' against the wind, mate."

He wanted to reply, but the right words wouldn't come. His jaw tightened and he folded his arms, easing back into the seat. A twinge of guilt plucked at the back of his mind – he'd made the call to take Parker in, and it had clearly been a mistake. He didn't doubt that were it not for the incident with the Roshven Adaya Merlynn would have him up in front of her for more than a few choice words.

But the cruiser's destruction had taken precedence. Slowly the hubbub subsided as the last of the military personnel found their seats, eyes now turning expectantly to the podium. A moment passed and no-one appeared; worried looks flashed around the room with a palpable tension fizzling in the air.

Eventually a side door hissed open, and from within the dark aperture emerged Adaya Merlynn, together with a trio of officers Darien dimly recognised from the station hierarchy. A storm-faced admiral followed close behind, together with a colonel from the local militia and a local police chief.

Silence and all eyes turned to the podium.

"Good afternoon," Merlynn began crisply, clasping both sides of the lectern with weathered fingers as she spoke. "As you're all no doubt aware, we have a situation developing. It's time you got the details."

Darien couldn't miss the undercurrent of barely suppressed anger in the woman's tone, not unlike when the voice over the airwaves had taunted them. She was furious. The screen behind her rippled for an instant before revealing an unfamiliar vista. The black, volcanic rock of Ravine was clearly in evidence, but rising out of the crags and cliffs was an enormous domed structure, like some kind of gigantic tortoise had parked itself on the surface of the planet. Out of the north face of the structure a long, thin spin protruded, pointing at the sky.

"This is Ravine's asteroid-cracker," Merlynn said grimly. "You all know what these are and what they can do."

A lump of lead settled in Darien stomach as he joined the dots in an instant. The weapon itself wasn't uncommon on colonies on the outer rims. Closer to the centres of colonial power there were enough ships of the navy that any stray asteroids large enough to do any damage could be atomised billions of miles form the planet, or even just steered off course with a few well-positioned warheads.

Out in the fringes no such protection existed. Ravine had no standing navy of its own, but it needed some way to fend off rogue planetoids, however rare the occurrence might have been. Hence, the asteroid cracker, an immense cannon embedded into the tectonics of the planet that could accelerate titanium-alloy slugs the size of trucks to a fifth the speed of light. The impact force of one of those slugs would smash all but the biggest asteroids into rubble with a single shot.

And if he read the situation correctly, someone had used it to shoot the Roshven out of the sky.

"This morning an unscheduled shot was fired from the cracker. It struck the CSV Roshven and she was lost with all hands."

A low rumble of discontent passed through the navy officers present. Things had moved so quickly that even they hadn't been aware of exactly what had befallen their comrades aboard the cruiser.

"I know you all have a lot of questions," Merlynn snapped quickly, silencing the murmurs. "And rest assured you are not the only ones. This is the most dangerous piece of hardware on the planet, and it was guarded as such. A full regiment of Ravine's Government Guards were stationed at the cracker. It seems our faith in local authority was misplaced."

Darien winced at her words, not missing the look of anger that flashed across the face of the Ravine officer on the podium with her. Evidently decorum was the last thing on Merlynn's mind after the loss of an entire cruiser.

"At 0630 the command officers of the regiment seized control of the cracker's main operating system and a full third of the troops under their command followed suite. Loyalists within the regiment with driven out or killed. As soon as they had full control of the firing systems, they turned it on the first target they could find."

"Bloody hell," Taggs muttered through the concerted hum of surprise from the onlookers. They all knew that the resistance movement had its fingers hooked into elements of Ravine's government, but this was different. This was more than any of them had expected.

"Investigations into just how this happened are ongoing," Merylnn continued icily, anger sizzling in her words. "But as of now all navy patrols over Ravine's northern hemisphere are suspended. Intelligence units are setting up observation posts on the cracker to get us a full assessment of what we're facing here. I want full mobilisation from all mechanised units ready to move out from Karpa Luna in twenty-four hours. We will be launching an independent inquiry into the command structures of the Ravine police cadres and militia units to determine how the rebels managed to infiltrate to such a level." Her hands tightened around the lectern as she stared out at the assembled officers. "Make no mistake, this signals an escalation that we will match in kind. They've shown their willingness to kill indiscriminately – that is something I will not tolerate. We are going to take that cannon back and root out these murderers, whatever it takes."

"Why now?" came a sudden shout from a young man in the crisp blue uniform of a naval lieutenant. Heads turned; Darien could see the twist of confusion and anger on the officer's face. For the navy this had become personal. "We've been running patrols in orbit for months. Something must've changed for them to start taking shots at us."

"That information will be circulated to your direct command chain in due course," Merlynn replied sharply. "I understand you want answers, particularly our comrades in the colonial navy. And you'll get them, I assure you. See your section chiefs for your assignments – action orders are in circulation. Dismissed."

For a moment nobody moved. There was a simmer of disquiet in the assembled commanders and unconvinced glances flickered around the room. Darien kept his eyes fixed on Merlynn as her expression darkened swiftly like a storm-cloud on the horizon.

"I said dismissed," she hissed coldly, daring anyone to stay in the room for an instant longer. With a reluctant shuffling and rustling of uniforms the officers rose and began to file out of the room. Darien made to follow them.

"A moment, Flint," Merlynn said, her voice stopping him in his tracks. "I'd like a word with you and your officers in private."

"Ma'am." Darien threw a salute and beckoned the others to join him as they made their way back against the flow of people to linger awkwardly around the lectern. They had to stand there for a full two minutes as the rest of the officers made themselves scarce, until eventually only Merlynn and the Blink officers remained.

They loitered around her, the unspoken accusation filling the gulf between them. They'd brought Parker in, and he'd turned out not to be their true target. But he was evidently important enough to the rebel cause that they'd provoked a reaction that tipped everything that much closer to all out war.

"Well, Flint," she said heavily. "This is one hell of a mess."

"Yes, ma'am."

"You told me Parker was the one we wanted."

Darien stiffened, not meeting her gaze. "He fit the profile."

"You jumped the gun, operative, and it cost us."

"I know what happened," he snapped back sharply, eyes flashing up to meet Merlynn's. "But I'll be damned if you're going to be nailing my people to the mast for this."

Her stare darkened. "I gave you an assignment, operative, and this is where it's led us. We're all under pressure here, but that's why I was sent the best Blink had to offer. You bit too early and now we're gearing up for a full-scale war – you own that."

Darien clamped his teeth together for a second, biting back the rage that wanted to leap off of his tongue. But he wasn't the only one in the room.

"Space that," Vass snorted, shaking his head in disbelief.

Merlynn's glare shifted to him. "Something to say to me, operative?"

"You're damn right I do," Tundra's leader spat, turning to face her with disgust painted across his face. "You want to talk about owning mistakes? How about the fact you somehow managed to let a group who can barely organise a schoolyard brawl get control of a gun that can literally smash asteroids? Darien screwed up, but that cracker was your damned responsibility, not ours. Own that, you jacked-up meat-dragger!"

"Vass!" Darien hissed.

"No, I'm sick of dancing for these idiots. They're just swinging about like a hammer, breaking everything around them and blaming us for the fallout. Not on your pissing life!"

"One more word and I'll have you thrown into holding," Merlynn growled.

Vass stared her down. "See – brains in her boots. You're actually threatening to throw a Blink operative in a holding cell?"

"Shut up!" the sudden yell hacked through the air, silencing him. Everyone turned to see Vanna Proctor standing with hands raised, eyes wide and blazing with disbelief. "What the hell is wrong with all of you?! The rebels have a cannon that could blast any ship out of the sky with the push of a button, and you're standing around pointing fingers? This is insane! We can argue about who's fault this is after we fix the problem."

"She's right," Bandle cut in sharply, casting a disapproving glare over them with narrow eyes. "This solves nothing. What are we going to do about the cracker?"

Merlynn's furious stare seared over them before settling back on Vass. "I'll deal with you another time," she said, her voice shimmering with anger. "Luckily, your friends have a point. We need to get the cannon back under colonial control, and do it quickly."

"Aye, no shit," Taggs muttered. "But this isn't a sneak and steal op any more. And those aren't security guards or city thugs. That's an army out there holding that cannon. You want a pitched battle, that's what the dragoons are here for, not us."

"I'm aware of that."

"You don't need us then, do you?" Vass snorted, throwing up his hands in exasperation.

It was all Darien could do not to drag the other operative from the room. If looks could kill the gaze Merlynn placed on Vass Juntaar would have reduced him to cinders.

"You really don't think more than thirty-seconds in front of your face do you," she snapped. "I have more than enough firepower on this base to launch a full frontal assault on that cannon and kill every last rebel defending it. Space, I could turn this entire planet into a warzone overnight. I could impose martial law – I could have rebel sympathisers dragged from their homes and shot if I deem it necessary. If I have reasonable cause I can use any means I see fit to extract information from captured assets. I can capture, torture and kill anyone who gets in my way in the name of law and order.

"But I won't, because unlike you I've retained a grasp of the big picture. Ravine must be brought back under control, but we're not going to rip the guts out of the planet to do it. So you're going to help. I don't need more soldiers – I have plenty of those, but you can go places my men can't. You can bypass securities and defences and sabotage key points that will crack the resistance at that cannon before we even have to fire a shot. And you're going to do it, because if you don't you guarantee a lot of good people are going to die."

For once, it seemed like Vass had nothing to say. He smouldered for a moment before stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket, rolling his eyes as though she wasn't worth his time.

"You've made your point," Darien said, keeping his voice level.

She looked at them grimly and let out a heavy sigh. "We are at a stage of this conflict where one of two things happens. The first and best option is that our ground forces, with your help, retake that cannon. Given the current situation, it's going to be messy no matter how we do this, but it is still much better than the alternative."

"What is the alternative?" Vanna asked, folding her arms and looking pointedly at the older woman.

"The alternative-" Merlynn glanced skywards. "-is that the navy start shooting back."