Echoes of Time

Traq reports scouting findings to Vanguard Wade. Rescue mission organized despite Traq warnings of ambush. Impulsive Instructor Eppard overrides caution. Discovered prisoners are Union soldiers in disguise. Eppard killed in ambush. Yeol and Traq barely escape.

Miranda, the Envoy aboard Denigen Fist, is summoned by Captain Kristi Grove. Kristi informs her they are excluded from Parwen battle by High General Nicolai due to Consular Gavriel political pressure. Miranda devastated by this slight. Kristi suggests negotiating for Sector 2 reserves position.

Yeol, freshly promoted to Vanguard, joins a scouting mission with his friend Traq. Their group discovers a Union force of approximately 600 soldiers. Yeol wrestles with his new responsibilities and Traq receives a custom foldable weapon from Vivian, deepening their bond.

Three weeks after Arcadia, Union General Darius Gray hosts Imperial Captain Andrew Jarvis for elaborate dinner, intending psychological torture and extraction. Darius reveals past: expelled from Ministry after castrating nobleman abusing toddler on Barlen.

Two weeks after Arcadia, Traq awakens on war-torn Bateria with nightmares. Vivian directs brutal battle between Imperial and Union forces. Traq leads unauthorized mission to destroy Union communications outpost with soldiers Morty, Cecil, and Dina.

Log entry from Chief Medical Officer Elena Voss dated 623 years before present. The Arcadia crew of 700,000 entered a nebula and experienced vivid nightmares. An alien entity systematically consumed human consciousness, leaving 700,000 empty minds in bodies.

Traq Lain arrives at the ancient Arcadia space station seeking answers about the Vanguard program and his mental implants. He discovers the six-hundred-thousand meter station is dead yet inhabited by converted humans with emptied minds.