“I’ve seen many issues arise over the years,” Kat said quickly, recovering. “Another reason it’s so essential that the entire squadron be well-versed in diagnostics. Let’s move on—”
A second cadet in the back raised their hand, this one wearing the most vibrant purple contacts she had ever seen. “Is that what happened on your last raid—the one you and all those Gammas were out on? You guys were out a long time. So was it engine failure? Or did something worse happen?”
This time Kat straightened. It seemed word was finally making the rounds. She cleared her throat, palms warming even as she tried to brush it aside. “Our case was a little more complicated than that. If you like, I can draw up a case study sometime. We were dealing with certain external factors. Like I said, thankfully, the squadron as a whole was prepared—”
“But that girl still got kicked out,” the dark-haired cadet said. “So what happened?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss—” Kat began.
“She was our year, she must have done something.”
“I bet she’s not the only one at fault—”
“That’s enough.” Kat cut them off, ponytail whipping behind her as she sliced her hand through the air.
Fourteen nervous faces peered back at her.
“When you arefortunateenough that you get invited out on a raid, you can talk to me about fault and squadron roles. And as to thecadetyou are all wondering about”—this time Kat did intentionally show her fangs, despite the frostiness settling in where the heat had been—“she had other plans for herself. But you ought to hope that someday you are as good of a raider as she was.”
Lee was waiting for her at the base of the skywalk when Kat finally got out of her last training.
His face fell as she approached. “They got to you, too.”
“They did.” She forced a joyless smile as some straggling cadets went around them. “It doesn’t matter that we’re keepingquiet under Command regulation, or that most of our squadron had no idea what they were signing up for when we went out on that mission. Rumor’s probably been circulating for a while. You should have heard my Ultras. Power-mongering gremlins,” she grumbled, recalling some of the specific comments they’d made. “They were even less strategic about their gawking than my VLs were.”
“I’ll raise you my Xs.”
“Showoff,” Kat muttered. But at their mention, she perked up. “Did you get a chance to talk to Nikola?”
“Yeah, yeah I did. He’s putting up a much better front than I expected—he has it better than you and I, that’s for sure. Part of being a squadron lead, I guess. But the rest of his year seems to be leaving him pretty much to himself, which is great for Nikola.”
“It’s the molecular compound protection glasses.” Kat tapped the skin under her eye. “I need to get me some of those. Speaking of, did he say anything about Hanna? She’s still seeing him, right?” She adjusted her pack, preparing to head back into the Canteen, and into the flames.
“He didn’t mention anything,” Lee said, glancing back around the training levels. She noticed he made no move to cross back over into the main Heptagon.
“There’s more,” she guessed when he continued to avoid meeting her gaze. “Waters,” she scolded.
Lee paused. “Your cadets didn’t sound overlyinventivewith their presumptions about what happened on that raid, did they?”
“I mean, one of my Ultras asked me why we even felt qualified in accepting a mission that big. Rather petty if you ask me. As if the mission parameters weren’t dictated to us directly by the Commander.” She shrugged. “So the usual.”
But Lee didn’t share in her merriment at the ridiculousness of it all, his face carefully neutral.
“Why, what did they say to you?” she demanded.
“It’s not what they said, it’s what they’re implying.” Lee scuffed his boot against the grated floor, dragging his heel along it before kicking down once more. “With all the secrecy surrounding the raid and with Levy—and now the reports… We look like we screwed up, Kat.”
“We…” She could barely blink past the ire forming under her eyelids. She was all for playing dirty. But this?
“Wescrewed up?” she snapped, finally finding her words again. “How dare they. As if we didn’t know what we were bartering when we crossed those magnetic fields. As if we chose to go out there in the first place. And to drag Levy into this too, as if her quitting is—what—a product of our mistake?”
“I know.”
She dragged a hand through her hair, the strands feeling dirty and sticky under these new rumors. There were so many bigger things at stake. So manyrealfears without dragging ego and shame into it.
“Any chance we get another space alligator attack?” she chirped in shaky tones. The heat had cooled so abruptly in her blood that it left her off-kilter.
“I’m not sure any sort of creature would be enough,” Lee admitted. She met his grimace. “We’ll probably take a few hits here before this all blows over. I haven’t spoken with any of the other Gammas yet personally, but I don’t think the younger cadets come to these deeper assumptions all on their own.”
