**[Location: Vanguard Station]**
**[Time: 24 hours after hell]**
The command briefing room aboard the Vanguard Station felt smaller than usual, its polished steel walls reflecting the harsh fluorescent lighting that cast sharp shadows across the four figures seated around the holographic tactical display. Commander Cassandra sat with her back straight despite the regenerative cast on her left arm, her expression carefully neutral as she reviewed the mission files one final time.
Across from her, Commander Alexei Volkov—a bear of a man whose weathered face told stories of three decades fighting humanity's enemies—leaned back in his chair with the casual confidence of someone who had seen everything the universe could throw at him. His gray eyes held the calculating intelligence that had made him legendary among the officer corps.
