For three days, Lieutenant Commander Sarah Chen had been chasing a radar blip that moved too fast for an island but too slow for a ship. The South China Sea was calm, the sky clear. Then she saw it—a lush, green island, gliding through the water like a ship.
“All hands, battle stations,” she ordered.
The island stopped. A figure emerged from the jungle—a woman in a silver uniform, her face calm.
“I am Captain Elara of the Temporal Navy,” she said. “This is not an island. It is a time vessel, disguised to avoid detection.”
Sarah stared. “Why are you here?”
“There is a rift benea