When a burning vessel appears through the North Atlantic fog, Oberlin and Abby board the sinking Spanish freighter, the Veloscora, to find bullet holes, mysterious equipment, and signs of violence that suggest something far more sinister than a maritime accident. Among the wreckage, they discover a single survivor—Samantha Kell—barely conscious and fiercely guarding a bloody knife .

As the rescued stranger awakens aboard the Invenios, her erratic behavior and cryptic warnings raise more questions than answers. She refuses to explain the radioactive readings, avoids details about her mission, and displays both military precision and paranoid suspicion. Captain Tulley’s interrogation reveals glimpses of a covert operation gone catastrophically wrong, with references to submersibles, secret organizations, and someone still trapped at impossible depths.