While SoulDrifter was being prepped for launch at Nomad Hangar Bay…
The lights hummed above. The walls pulsed with quiet plasma conduits. Nobody was sitting where they were supposed to.
Eve walked in exactly one second before the briefing started. She didn't have to look at the squad — she could already hear the chaos.
Jax was balancing a field cannon on one knee, cracking sunflower seeds with his teeth.
"Blowin' things up before breakfast builds character," he said.
"You don't have character. You have calories," Anya replied, arms crossed.
"I have layers," Jax said. "Like an onion."
"You smell like one," Zara added without looking up, still floating midair in her meditation pose, skin shimmering like a nebula.
Axel stood in the corner like a decorative, deadly appliance.
"Confirmed. Subject Jax emits olfactory particles consistent with organic sulfur decay."
"I love this team," Kai whispered from under the table.
"I don't," Mira said.
"I tolerate it," Eve finally said, letting her voice cut through the static. "Mostly."
The squad snapped into various forms of fake attention.
"Good," Eve said, pausing at the center of the table. "Now that you've had your warm-up routine, shall we look into the mission briefing?"
Jax grinned. "You mean we're not therapy?"
"Jax, you are not therapy," Anya said.
"I think Jax's cool," Vayne interrupted.
"No one likes Jax," Anya said.
"I like Jax," Jax said.
"You are Jax," Mira snapped.
"Exactly," he beamed.
Eve raised one finger, and the room went silent.
"Mission starts in twenty minutes," she said flatly. "I'm starting to suspect at least half of you failed space kindergarten."
"Graduated early," Kai said.
"Expelled," Jax said.
"Was already building bombs by then," Anya muttered.
"I was speaking in nine languages before I was three," Zara added.
"Was programmed for orbital infiltration at birth," Axel noted.
Eve exhaled, slid into the command chair, and crossed her legs.
"Fine. Icebreaker. Spill it out, whatever you got. Mira, start."
Mira blinked. "Why me?"
"Because you've had coffee. And no one else here is emotionally stable."
Mira gave Eve a long look, sighed, then turned toward the squad.
"I think the dumbest thing I did was agree to Eve's suggestion to stay on Nomad while the rest of you go joyriding SoulDrifter. But I'm still here."
Now Mira looked at Axel.
Axel's eyes blinked twice. "I volunteered for this squad."
The room broke into scattered groans and laughter.
The android rotated precisely.
"Zara. Why do you stare at Jax when he's unaware?"
Zara didn't blink. "I'm studying lower-level aggression patterns in primitive meat constructs."
Jax squinted. "I'm not primitive."
"You're eating protein paste with your fingers," Anya pointed out.
"It tastes better this way," he said.
"Move on!" Eve screamed.
Zara looked straight at Kai. "What would you delete from your memory forever?"
Kai sat up. "There was a video I downloaded once. Vayne dancing. In shorts. Neon shorts."
"I regret nothing," Vayne announced.
Mira rested her chin on her hand, watching. "Somebody else!?"
Jax raised his hand. "My turn. Eve. What's the real reason you picked us?"
Everyone stopped and started staring at Eve. She looked around the room. They were chaos. They were broken. But they were hers.
"Because every other squad was scared of me," she said. "You weren't."
For once, no one joked.
She continued, "The hell you make the briefing room look like a pajama party."
"I'll take those odds," Eve said, standing. "Peeps, gear up. Let's see if all this nonsense translates in the battlefield."
Minutes later, SoulDrifter vanished into the silent sky.