The Hollow Protocol

When Captain Selene Drake detects three sensor anomalies flickering at the same frequency near the Veil's ionized gas pockets, readings every other officer would dismiss as background radiation, she triggers an investigation that reaches far beyond her ship's hull. Twenty years of service have taught her that coincidence in sensor data is rarely coincidence at all. Guided by Logos, the ship's quietly evolving AI, and supported by her closest officers, Lieutenant Mira Astor, Sergeant Kellan Orris, and Lieutenant Cassius Vorn, Drake begins to suspect the standard operating procedures governing their patrol mask a conspiracy reaching the highest offices of the fleet. As Admiral Veylan Korr demands the matter be buried and Director Sable closes ranks with classified orders, the situation turns brutally personal: Drake's own sister, Senator Elara Drake, publicly defends the very protocol her sibling is dismantling. When Cassius's brother, the reclusive Bastian Vorn, surfaces from exile with testimony no one expected, Doctor Yara Selwyn and Commander Rian Telles are forced to choose between duty and truth. The Veil is hiding more than ionized gas, and the protocol meant to protect humanity may be the lie that dooms it. Drake must decide whether to obey the chain of command, or shatter it before the next patrol ships sail into silence.