"It's already isolated."
Ethan shook his head.
"Doesn't matter."
Meridian did not need ordinary internet access.
It needed identities.
Fresh officer credentials.
Biometric certificates.
A graduating class was perfect.
Hundreds of newly commissioned officers.
New authentication keys.
New identities entering the system simultaneously.
Noah whispered:
"They're harvesting us."
Ethan nodded.
Sloane turned toward Whitmore.
"Evacuate the plaza."
Whitmore shook his head.
"Not until I understand the threat."
"You don't have time."
Ethan answered:
"She's right."
That surprised Whitmore.
Ethan pointed toward the administration building.
"The temporary antenna is collecting credential handshakes."
"If it gets enough, Meridian can simulate a command network."
"For how long?"
Whitmore asked.
"Minutes."
"Maybe less."
"Enough for what?"
Ethan looked at him.
"Enough to issue an order nobody expects."
Then Noah's tablet changed.
One name appeared.
ENSIGN NOAH J. BLACKWOOD.
AUTHORITY CANDIDATE: VERIFIED.
Ethan's face went white.
"No."
Noah looked at him.
"What?"
Ethan grabbed the tablet.
Sloane stepped closer.
"Why him?"
Ethan stared at the screen.
Then understood.
Twenty-two years of hiding.
Seven years of watching.
The ceremony.
The surveillance.
It had never been random.
"Noah's not just my son."
Whitmore frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Ethan looked at Sloane.
She knew.
He saw it.
"You knew."
Sloane said nothing.
"Margaret."
Whitmore turned toward her.
"What does he mean?"
Sloane closed her eyes briefly.
Then answered.
"The Meridian seed wasn't coded only to Ethan."
Noah stared.
"What?"
"It used hereditary biometric validation."
Whitmore looked horrified.
"Genetic?"
"Partial."
"Why?"
"To prevent impersonation after catastrophic command loss."
A continuity identity could be validated through a designated family line if the primary officer was incapacitated.
Ethan had been one of the test identities.
Noah inherited the authentication pathway.
Ethan stared at Sloane.
"You knew my son could activate it."
"I knew it was possible."
"And you let him join the Navy."
"No."
Sloane's voice sharpened.
"I tried to stop it."
Noah's face changed.
"What?"
Suddenly pieces of his own life rearranged.
The inexplicable delay in his scholarship.
The medical waiver that disappeared.
The academy admission review that lasted six months longer than expected.
The anonymous recommendation that nearly redirected him toward civilian engineering.
Noah had spent years believing bureaucracy was simply bureaucracy.
It was not.
Someone had been trying to keep him out.
Sloane said:
"I blocked your first application."
Noah stared.
"You?"
"Yes."
"My mother thought I wasn't good enough."
"No."
"You let her think that."
"Yes."
Noah's jaw tightened.
"So how did I get in?"
Sloane looked at Ethan.
Ethan understood before anyone said it.
"Someone overrode her."
Whitmore whispered:
"The other faction."
Sloane nodded.
They had wanted Noah inside.
They had guided him toward Harbor Point.
Toward commissioning.
Toward the moment his credentials became active.
The graduation was not a celebration to them.
It was an activation window.
Ethan grabbed Noah's arm.
"We need to get you off the network."
Noah looked at him.
"How?"
"Destroy the tablet."
He did.
Without hesitation.
Dropped it.
Stomped.
The screen shattered.
Ethan shook his head.
"Not enough."
Noah stared.
"The biometric certificate is already issued."
Sloane looked toward the administration building.
"We need the enrollment server."
Whitmore began giving orders.
"Security team with me."
Sloane said: