Truth.
Partial truth. While they were back on Segura, Lee had heard her mention a base—an outpost, really.
“But as to their motives,” Kat continued, seeming to draw strength from each word out of her mouth, “As stated before, we were given no reason to suspect foul play and have every reason to believe that the energy reserves, and the dark radiation itself, were being used as adefenseagainst that which plagues the galaxy.”
Commander Blanche scanned each of them in turn. Lee couldn’t say at this point whether or not she believed them, or what she made of their accounts of Segura. Nor how much of this—if any—she had pieced together before this debriefing. And as to whatever conclusion she was coming to, Lee could only guess as they waited for further questions.
Her eyes came to linger once more on him. “Is there anything else you wish to add at this time?”
“No ma’am,” Lee said, his fellow squadron leads echoing the sentiment.
“Very well.” She took up her place once more at the forefront of the room, addressing the council behind them. “In light of recent events, I would like to move that we table this conversation at this time and submit their findings as evidence in favor of further investigation on the claims of the success of this dark radiation defense and all of its prospects.”
Lee hardly dared believe his ears as he studied their Commander once more. The relief rushing towards him at her proposition. It was still a long shot if anything good would comeof it. There were obvious limitations to the AMG’s reach. But it seemed as if the four of them were in the clear.
“With this, I move we dismiss this squadron, and call this debriefing…”
From the front corner of the room, General Narron shifted, coughing pointedly as the Commander’s words trailed off. And when he pushed away from the wall, the scar on his cheek caught the light. It was a shining, mangled thing, almost like a burn mark. He was taller than Lee had initially realized, too. They could have stood face to face on the same eye level. Except the Commanding General wasn’t looking at him. General Narron had his eyes set on no one in particular, like he couldn’t be bothered to share eye contact as he strode forward several paces.
“A success?” the General murmured. “Let’s discuss this. Shall we start with the ‘defense,’ as we are calling it? We are all aware, I presume, of the technical advancements required to make that level of conversion possible. Especially given the current landscape of neutrino energy.” His voice was cooler than his eyes. Lee could practically see the condensation riding off of it.
“Let’s forget for a minute that such advancements do not currently exist,” General Narron continued. “Not in the known scientific world, the research and trials of which were conductedlegally. Even if they had managed tosuccessfullyconvert the energy and reach such a level of control… we are also working with a known catalyst. The very catalyst currently putting our entire galaxy at risk. A catalyst which, mere decades ago, took out an entire research division with significant casualties. There is a reason we have explicitly prohibited the harnessing of dark radiation.” His gaze settled like a chisel for perhaps the first time on the cadets standing before him. “But here we are touting the raid’s success, commending their findings, despite being left with no means for detainment or further questioning.”
A dense silence had slithered into the room trailing the General’s words, a prickling sensation creeping up Lee’s spine as he waited for the General’s other foot to drop. This debriefing had never been an opportunity, a chance to give a fresh account or set the record straight. This was the subtle rebuke and challenge from a General who knew his battlefield.
And he had been waiting days, if not weeks, to level the field.
Commander Blanche seemed to realize this as well. Her nose flared, but like Lee, like the rest of the council, she held her tongue. She waited.
And after a moment of feigned pondering, the General clicked his tongue. “What are claims, but mere hearsay without evidence to back them up? Fortunately for us, while we weren’t able to detain the offenders at this time, we were able to access their mainframe.”
As the general paced slowly across the floor, Lee could feel the prickling settling, replaced by a cooling in his gut as if the General’s iciness had invaded Lee’s body as well, freezing everything into a hardened chunk of dry ice.
“Dark radiation has long shrouded itself in mystery due to its more lethal properties. We’ve seen its invasive effects across too many star systems of these quadrants to count. But it alsoalwaysleaves behind traces. Its radioactive signature,” he said.
The crumbs of dread layered themselves over that pit in his stomach as the Commanding General motioned for Commander Blanche and Secretary Nolan to draw up a hologram from the mounted holoblock at the front of the room. Lee could do no more than watch, dragging his eyes slowly up the wall, forcing them to focus in on the single line of text displayed on the hologram.
“This is the photon-copy of a signature we extricated from our own archives over three years ago when rumors began circulating once more about attempts to harness the darkradiation. A signature unique to the operations run all those years ago. And yet…” The General paused, smiling at something only he found amusing. “You will find it is the identical sister to that which the raider cadets uncovered on missions AX13-AR and AX27-AR. And on the mainframe we extrapolated from a rogue ship, sixty-two hours ago.” He snorted, the proud sound halfway between a grunt and amusement.
“As confirmed by their very own mainframe,” he continued, “the conversion and energy fields were no more stable than they were last time. We are lucky we are not commencing a morbid sort of lawsuit this week. And as to their motives…” Lee sucked in a breath as the Commanding General’s eyes skittered over him, over the other cadets, over Kat—to land once more on Commander Blanche. “It is a fool’s dream to believe they were only using the energy for that one defense. Evidence of their other ‘experiments,’ as they are calling them, distort the mainframe. It is a risk every single day radicals like this are left to experiment on our galaxy unattended.” General Narron cast his eyes back over the council. “Had the arbitrary conduct on this raid been carried out by one of my squadrons, they would be facing very severe consequences.”
His implications were not subtle as his dark eyes hardened, resting once more on them. Marking them. “I would advise our Commander to take this into account with all future assignments.”
Fresh ashes lay in his wake, unseen, and imperishable. But they were there. The echo of another battlefield, abandoned out in the starry toroidal belt.
Was he right?
Had they allowed themselves to be lied to and manipulated? Dissuaded from their actual mission by some pretty colored lights and the promise of a better future? Had they allowed themselves to barter loyalty for a fool’s dream?
And yet still Lee stood there at attention, with his shoulders taut and hands behind his back, his form as brittle and unyielding as ever. He would not show weakness. Not before the General. Not here.
“If there is nothing else, I believe we are done here.” General Narron turned away, glancing right over them once again, as if they were nothing. Theywerenothing to him but errant cadets who had fallen for radical ideals.
The Commander’s lips had pressed into a thin line; the reprimand had landed. Lee would have sworn the Commander was battling for control of her voice in the extra second she took to address them. “As a reminder, the full mission report is expected by 19:00 hours, tomorrow evening. You are dismissed.”
She didn’t give them a chance to catch her eye as she turned away, but Lee finally caught a glimpse of the esteemed Commanding Council as the squadron leads followed Nolan back out from their debriefing. Seeing them through the doors of the Command wing, Nolan retreated to oversee the council’s departure.
“So that’s it?” Whistler asked, kicking the wall with one of his boots. “We solve their little riddle, risking our lives, and fightingto the voidto give them a viable solution to the dark radiation, and then nothing? We’re just dismissed? Then what?”
