WOLINM

The nebula held many secrets, but none as haunting as the ghost ship—a phantom vessel that appeared and disappeared without warning. Admiral Elara Vance had seen it on her sensors, a faint blip that vanished before she could lock on.

"Command, this is Vance. I'm tracking a ghost ship."

"Copy, Vance. Proceed with caution."

She followed the faint energy trail, her sensors straining. The ghost ship was fast, but she was patient.

"There," she said, firing.

Her beams struck the ship, and its cloak flickered, revealing its hull.

"Contact," she said. "I'm engaging."

The ghost sh

The apartment was quiet when Elena woke. Not the silence of an empty house—Marcus was in the kitchen, she could hear the coffee maker—but the quiet of a life that had finally found its rhythm. No more deployments. No more letters. No more phone calls that cut out at the worst moments.

She stretched, looked at the sunlight filtering through the curtains, listened to the sounds of home.

Marcus appeared in the doorway, two mugs in his hands. “You’re up.”

“I’m up.”

He sat on the edge of the bed, handed her a mug. “How did you sleep?”

“No dreams. For the first time in months.”

He