But she caught his meaning. It wasn’t a surface trauma any of them now faced.
“We did the same for Nikola—and Levy,” Lee added, quietly. Commander Blanche had addressed Levy’s resignation with the four of them directly during one of those initial meetings and instructed them to keep it confidential. But that hadn’t made the news any less discombobulated in Kat’s mess of a head.
She could still try to talk Levy out of it, but was that what the girl even needed? Was that what she would have needed?
“I think everyone’s in a bit of shock,” Lee said. Their subsequent doe-eyed looks were testament to that.
“The twins say hello and send their love.” Whistler smiled, just a hint of mirth there. They had gone from the ultimate powerhouse squadron to—whatever this fractured thing was between them now. But just picturing Kiara and Kamata had some of those cracks seaming in the corners.
She was grateful when Whistler broke the ice for them. “I’ll probably eat these words later. But you have to admit, whateverelse it was, that was one affadelic adventure we shared. It was good while it lasted.”
And after days of feeling nothing, it felt nice to laugh. To breath. To relate. The warmth flooding her face a beautiful stranger. Even Zane’s lips turned up a bit in the corners. If there was anyone at the Academy she’d have wanted to get discombobulated with, it was the people in this room.
But Zane’s expression had evened out once more. “This isn’t going to be pretty. There’s no protocol for this.”
“I’m sort of counting on that.” Lee sighed. “For us—and for them.” For Segura. The pretty dream that had launched all of this to begin with. One more ride.
“So how much do we give her today?” Kat asked. “How much of our souls do we bare to our Commander?”
“We can trust Commander Blanche,” Whistler said. “We were out there on her orders. There’s got to be some sort of raider–cadet code or something to protect us. We can speak freely.”
“I’d agree,” Lee said. “She’s kept a close eye on all of our dealings with this raid. I think we’ve got to give her everything, go all in, show the Commander our cards and let her decide how to frame it. That was the point with Segura, right? It was never supposed to be our decision in the end.”
“And if she decides we overstepped?” Zane countered.
Kat crossed her arms over her chest. “She recommended us for that raid, she sent us out there. She’ll listen to us.” Kat didn’t need to bring up the warning their Commander had repeatedly thrust at them throughout the raid:Do not engage. That seemingly vital truth was stamped permanently into her brain. Commander Blanche would hear them out, wouldn’t she?
Whistler shifted his weight between his feet, his red-brown French braid swaying with the motion. “We did everything by the letter that day. We followed orders and obeyed our specificinstruction. We were well within our jurisdiction to check out what was inside those shields.”
“And after that?” Zane asked coolly. He wasn’t being disparaging; this was about as real as she’d ever seen him. This wasn’t just her own horror story; this was a massive question of loyalty, it was each of their lives. Their futures as raiders on the line.
In the wake of his question, the silence in the room seemed to pulse around them, or maybe that was just the blood once more pooling inside her head. It all came down to this. Would she believe them, would she take their word seriously? Kat wasn’t ready to leave here just yet, not right after she’d gotten home.
“We made a judgement call,” Lee said, softly. “We saw our options, we learned what we could, and we made a decision.” And he shrugged a shoulder. It was the best they had. The most they could hope for.
Zane sighed. “Let’s hope she can convincethemto see it that way.” Because again, Kat had forgotten about another key variable from their mission. A General-shaped variable.
“And what of Gaia?” Zane asked.
“We leave them out of it as long as we are able,” Lee said, catching Zane’s eyes.
“Agreed,” Zane nodded.
For once it seemed like they were all in agreement. They would give their accounts of what happened on that ship, and frame the story their way. It would be enough. It had to be enough.
They were going over the logistics of who would cover which piece when their hyperbands buzzed, one after the other.
“Shit,” Whistler announced, the first to open the message. “Meeting’s been bumped up.”
“That can’t be good,” Kat murmured, also reading through the brief message.
Lee expanded it to scroll through the full send details. “It doesn’t say why it was moved.”
“I imagine we’ll find out soon enough,” Zane said. He crossed his arms over his chest, pacing over towards the opposite wall.
She stood with Lee and Whistler, trying to steady her shaky hands around the green juice in her hand, but the plastic cup wasn’t having it. At the first groaning dent, she tabled it by Lee.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Whistler said offhandedly, although his tenor voice had gone up a couple of keys.
