https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExYm1td3o3amlvcXNxNnM2NjIzYmUxeXR5ODBjeXJ4eXA2Z2l6a21mZyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/LB1H1jBgvqoAFAfOSh/giphy.gif *Animation created by Grok-Imagine.* --- --- *Disclaimer: This story is a work of fan fiction based on the concepts and settings inspired by SpaceX and its Mars mission endeavors. All characters, events, and scenarios depicted are entirely fictional and created for entertainment purposes only. The use of real-world entities, such as SpaceX, Elon Musk, or Starbase, is purely for creative inspiration and does not reflect any real events, individuals, or operations associated with these entities. No affiliation with or endorsement by SpaceX, Elon Musk, or any related organizations is implied or intended. The term "Citadel" and other original elements are products of the author's imagination and are not associated with any existing organizations or intellectual properties. This work is not for profit and is shared solely for the enjoyment of fans and readers.* --- ## 8 ## My clock was running out. I sat on the edge of my cot, the secure drive in my pocket feeling like the heaviest of burdens. The image of Lena’s tattoo, a coiled serpent enclosed in a perfect circle, burned in my mind like a kind of psychic-branding. The tattoo wasn’t just a clue; it was like a tether to Citadel. A shadowy network unknown to most people that seemed to have its claws sunk deeper into our world than I’d ever imagined. My conversation with Elon last night had opened up an entirely new reality, one where the stakes weren’t just Mars but, possibly, the very future of humanity’s freedom. It answered so many of my previous unanswered questions but also raised an infinite amount of new ones. Now, with Amina and Ji-hoon on the verge of going completely rogue and ruining everything, I was running out of time to keep this entire mission from unraveling. I couldn’t remember the last time I slept. My eyes stung as I stared at my tablet, the grainy frame of Lena’s wrist frozen on the screen. I’d cross-checked every personnel file I could access without raising any red flags. Lena Voss, 32, cybersecurity specialist from Hawthorne. Her record was spotless, perhaps a bit too spotless. Not a whisper of a footprint on any socials, no X posts, just a LinkedIn profile with a single line: “Senior Systems Analyst—Hawthorne.” She was the kind of digital ghost, the exact profile you’d expect from someone trying to disappear. Or perhaps it was a fabricated identity of someone who’d never really existed. I needed to see Elon again, but showing up in the command center twice in a 24 hour period felt like pushing my luck. He looked twice as exhausted as I felt during our last meeting. Plus security was a lot tighter now. Drones patrolled the halls with an increasing frequency. Their red sensor beams sliced through the open spaces of the corridors. I couldn’t shake the feeling I was being watched all the time, and not just by Citadel, but by Starbase itself. The walls themselves seemed to have eyes and ears. Elon’s warning about hacked people echoed: *They don’t just hack systems—they hack people.* My imagination was spinning out of control, in fact, and I was beginning to fear paranoia was getting the better of me. I was starting to question if Lena was a mole, or was she just a pawn in a larger game? And how many others were out there, hiding in plain sight? A soft ping invaded my thoughts and nearly made me jump out of my skin. A new message from Amina, sent through an encrypted channel we’d set up for off-the-books messages. It read, “Meet me at the east quad, 0600 hours. We need to talk. Now.” The tone of her text concerned me. I could tell she wasn’t buying my act, and Ji-hoon’s skepticism probably only fueled her urgency further. I glanced at the clock: 5:46. Shit. There wasn’t a second to waste. I slipped the secure drive into a hidden seam in my jacket. This was a handy trick I’d picked up from backpacking through sketchy ex-Soviet border towns in Europe. My boots occasionally squeaked against the polished floor as I moved. The east quad was an open-air courtyard near the rocket assembly yard, a rare spot at Starbase where you could breathe real air instead of the filtered and recycled variety. It was also dangerously exposed, there were cameras everywhere and drones occasionally buzzing overhead. A risky place for a covert meet-up, but Amina wasn’t stupid. She’d chosen it for a reason. The quad was still blanketed in the still of the predawn shadow when I arrived. The air burned my nostrils with the heavy scent of metal, rocket fuel, and salt from the nearby Gulf. Amina stood, visibly agitated, near a bench. Her silhouette was sharp against the faint glow of a Starship’s shiny, floodlit hull in the distance. Ji-hoon stood beside her, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, his usual smirk replaced by a more serious scowl. “You’re late,” Amina said, her voice edged with frustration. “And you’re still holding out. What’s the deal, Evan? You said you had a lead and now your twenty-four hours are up.” I took a quick assessment in all directions, scanning for anyone or anything within earshot. The quad was empty, but I couldn’t shake the itch between my shoulder blades. “I’m working on it,” I said, keeping my tone even and deliberate. “But you both need to just trust me right now. I can tell you this, the server room is a trap. If we break in, we’ll light up every alarm in this place, and we’ll all be either headed home or to jail. And I, for one, don’t love either of those two options.” Ji-hoon stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. “Trust me! Trust me! You keep saying trust me. You have the drive but you give us nothing. Do you think we’re idiots? You’ve got something, and you’re not sharing. What are you up to, Evan?” My pulse spiked. He knew about the drive. I was beginning to suspect that Amina had told him more than I thought. Or was he just fishing? “It’s just footage,” I said, shrugging. “Same stuff I showed you. I’m cross-checking it with logs, but it’s slow going. You want to help, fine, but storming the server room out of the question, it’s suicide.” Amina’s gaze locked onto me. “Evan, I’m tired of being in the dark. I saw you slip out last night. Where’d you go? No more f*cking lies.” I froze. How in the world did she see me? The dorm’s cameras were supposed to be blind spots for the crew. Maybe Amina had her own ways of keeping tabs? My mind fumbled for an explanation but every lie felt like it would unravel. “This is very tedious work. I was double-checking some footage in the editing bay,” I said, hoping it sounded plausible. “I haven’t slept in days.” Ji-hoon snorted. “Bullshit. You’re sneaking around, same as us. The difference is, we’re upfront about it. This is where it ends. If you’re not with us, Evan, you’re against us.” The words hit like a slap. Against them? After everything we’d been through in the sim, the trust we’d built? But then I remembered Elon’s words: *Citadel has eyes everywhere.* What if Amina or Ji-hoon really weren’t what they seemed? What if they were somehow the hacked people Elon had mentioned? My back was against the wall, but I couldn’t dismiss it. Not now. “Look,” I said, softening, more diplomatic tone. “I get it. You’re pissed, you’re confused, you’re scared, I am too! But I’m telling you, I’ve got a lead, and I’m this close to cracking it.” holding up my fingers. Give me one more day—just twenty-four more hours. If I don’t have answers by tomorrow night, you can storm the damn server room. Hell, I’ll be right there with you.” Amina studied me deeply and finally nodded, but it was a reluctant one. “Dammit Evan! One more day. Then we’re done waiting. And if you’re playing us, we’ll turn you in.” Ji-hoon didn’t say anything, just gave me a hard look of disgust before turning to walk away. As they left, the first rays of dawn began to break over the quad, glinting off the Starships in the distance. I stood there, alone. I’d bought another day, but the clock was ticking louder than ever. Back in my pod, I locked the door behind me and pulled out my tablet. My hands were shaking as I loaded the footage again. The frame of Lena’s tattoo staring back, that coiled serpent now was always in the forefront of my mind, mocking me. I needed to find her, but confronting her directly was too risky. Instead, I dug into the camera feeds again, cross-referencing her movements with the timestamp of the breach. If I could place her near the auxiliary server at the right moment, I’d have enough to take to Elon. Hours blurred as I scanned footage, my eyes burning from the strain. Most of the feeds were locked behind higher clearance levels, but I found a backdoor through the maintenance logs—sloppy security for a place like Starbase, but I wasn’t complaining. There she was, Lena, moving through Sublevel 3 just minutes before the breach. Her hood was up but the tattoo flashed again as she swiped a keycard at a restricted door. The footage cut off abruptly, redacted by some automated system. My heart sank. I was close, but not close enough. A knock at my door made me my heart race. I slammed the tablet shut and quickly stashed the drive under my pillow. “Who is it?” I called, my voice sharper and higher than I had intended. “Torres,” came the gruff reply. “Open the door, Walsh. We need to talk. Now!” My stomach dropped, the room spun. Our debrief wasn’t until tomorrow. Why would Torres be here now? I opened the door, trying to seem nonchalant and keep my face neutral. He stood there inches from my face, his usual scowl deepened by fatigue. Behind him was Lena, her expression totally unreadable, her sleeves obscuring half of her hands. “We have a big problem,” Torres said, stepping inside without waiting for an invitation. Lena followed, her eyes taking inventory of my quarters. “We’ve got a lead on the breach, but we need your raw footage. All of it. Right now.” I forced a smile, my mind racing. “Sure thing, Commander. It’s all on the server. I can pull it up.” “No,” Lena cut in, her voice measured but heartless. “We need the raw files. Everything you shot in the sim. Hand over your drive.” The room felt like it was closing in on me. They knew about the drive or at least suspected it. Was Lena testing me or was this Citadel tightening the noose? I glanced at Torres, hoping for a read, but his face was unreadible. Elon’s warning screamed in my head: *Be careful who you trust.* “I don’t have it on me,” I lied as I patted my pockets. “It’s in the editing bay, locked up. I can grab it for you in ten minutes.” Torres’ eyes narrowed. “You’ve got five. Move it, Walsh.” Lena’s gaze lingered on me a little too long for my liking. Her lips twisted into a faint smile that didn’t come close to thawing the coldness of her eyes . As the two of them turned to leave, I caught a glimpse of her wrist as her sleeve shifted. The flash of ink was unmistakable. The serpent in the circle. I closed the door behind them, my heart pounding. Cinco minutos. I only had five minutes to figure out my next move. The drive was my only leverage, my only proof. If I handed it over, Citadel might bury it and would probably bury me along with it. If I didn’t, I’d have a target on my back. I grabbed my tablet and sent a single encrypted message to Elon: “Found Lena Voss. Sublevel 3, timestamp matches. Need to meet at your office. Torres and Lena just visited me. Urgent.” I hit send, slipped the drive into my boot, and headed for the editing bay, my mind a storm of fear and resolve. Citadel was closer than ever, and I was running out of places to hide. But if I was going to Mars, if I was going to document this story, I had to try my best to outsmart them. For the mission, for humanity, and myself. Our future was waiting, and I wasn’t about to let a shadow, even one as far-reaching as Citadel, stop me. I opened the door, peering around the edge of the door frame. As soon Torres and Lena rounded the corner at the end of the corridor I bolted. Right now there was only one thing on my mind, getting to Elon’s office. As I built up speed around the facility’s maze of hallways my lungs began to burn, the secure drive pinching the side of my foot. Just then, the facility’s alarms began blaring a piercing screech that froze everyone in place. I ran, as fast as I could for what seemed like an eternity, finally arriving at the central hub of the entire Starbase complex just a hundred feet from my destination. Elon emerged, disheveled, from his office door. His face was a mask of stone cold fury. He was flanked by two hulking security officers in sleek black uniforms. He hadn’t seen me but his voice boomed over the comms as he spoke into his phone, “Be on the lookout for Evan Walsh, secure him until the authorities arrive.” Confused, I ducked behind a support beam, peaking around its edge. Before I knew it Elon was surrounded by six black-suited guards. I watched from the shadows as the nefarious pair arrived, Commander Torres and Lena. The guards immediately rushed to encircle them. Torres’ scowl deepened with confusion. Lena’s calm facade started cracking as her eyes darted toward the exits. Elon and his security team wasted no time. Torres and Lena were pinned to the ground and cuffed before my brain could even process what was happening. Elon motioned hastily for me to come closer and smiled. Now it all made sense, this was a ruse. The security team marched Lena and Torres into the office as I stood against a far wall, trying my best to disappear. Elon presented the timestamped footage I’d sent, freezing the footage on the serpent tattoo. “You’ve compromised this mission,” he said to Lena, his voice low but cutting. “And you betrayed my trust to help her.” his eyes landing on Commander Torres. Torres was visibly shaken but Lena was the polar opposite. When her cold, ferocious eyes landed on me I was thankful there was three hundred pounds of heavily armed muscle between us. This was the Elon I’d read about and millions had grown to admire. While I was scrambling around trying to come up with a myriad of lies Musk was on another level altogether, playing 4-D chess. The day’s events sent shockwaves through Starbase. Torres, red-faced and shouting about his loyalty, was dragged toward a holding area, his protests fading into the hum of the facility. Lena, eerily silent, walked with her head high, but her hands trembled as the cuffs tightened. Elon turned to the crew assembled before him in the open quad. His eyes scanned each of us. “Take this as a lesson of what happens when you betray humanity’s future,” he said, his words rang heavy with warning, “these two will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” He didn’t mention Citadel directly, but the implication hung in the air. I stood frozen, the drive now rubbing a proper blister against my foot, knowing I’d handed Elon the key to unraveling this plot but also painting myself as a target in the process. As the local authorities carted off Torres and Lena, Amina caught my eye from across the quad. Her expression was a mix of relief and admiration. The truth was out and the vermin eradicated from Starbase. But the threat of Citadel still loomed large outside the razor-wired fences of this compound. It was beginning to dawn on me that the fight to reach Mars and the battle for true freedom had only just begun. ~ *To be continued…* All for now. Thank you for reading. --- [www.ericvancewalton.net](http://www.ericvancewalton.net) ![](https://i.imgur.com/aieouS5.png)