They were casting off.

I picked up my pace, moving past the officer’s wardroom. From down a narrow corridor, voices.

“…the uplink is established, Admiral. We just need the physical key to bypass the NSA encryption blocks.” Adrian’s voice, echoing in the steel.

“Make it quick, Commander,” an older, gravelly voice replied — Admiral Blake. “Once we pass the depth threshold, we have a five-minute window to burst-transmit to the contact sub before we go fully dark.”

I peeked around the bulkhead. They were in the auxiliary secure comms room. Blake stood by the door, arms crossed, nervous. Adrian stood over a hardened military terminal.

And in Adrian’s hand was my father’s golden coin.