Pavel nods grimly. “We said the same.”
“Did you fix it?”
“We debated it.”
“That’s a no.”
Talis leans in, silver eyes bright in the lamplight. “What wording would you use?”
I hear the impatience in my own exhale. “Strip the exception. Replace with ‘temporary compartmentalization permitted only under immediate civilian observer assignment and auto-release timer.’ If there’s no timer, they’ll bury it. If there’s no civilian observer, they’ll call secrecy procedural necessity.”
Pavel actually scribbles it down by hand. Strange man. I like him on sight.
Nera opens the casualty disclosure proposal next. “This one requires publication of projected civilian-loss models after major actions.”
“After?” I say.
She pauses. “Yes.”
“No.”
Talis tilts her head. “No?”
“Not after. Concurrent protected logging.” I push the proposal back toward them. “If they only disclose after, then after turns into whenever politically convenient. You need live sealed logging with immutable time stamps and civilian access release triggers if review thresholds are met.”
Pavel rubs at his jaw. “That’s expensive.”
I look at him. “So are memorial walls.”
That shuts the room up for a second.
Good.
Nera clears her throat. “You see why we wanted you.”
“Mm.” I flip to the next section. “Don’t get sentimental about it.”
Talis watches me over steepled fingers. “Would you consider chairing the cross-coalition draft council?”
I laugh. Actually laugh. It comes out tired and a little mean.
“No.”
Nera blinks. “You didn’t even?—”
“I don’t need the details. No.”
Pavel says, “You’d have full advisory independence.”
“No.”
Talis says, “Protected civilian status.”
“No.”
Nera, who is either very brave or very committed, says, “Visibility enough to make retaliation harder.”
I look up at that.
