She nudged him with her shoulder. “I can keep track of some things.” She climbed up on her knees to the window bay to give her gorgeous star flower a little orchestrated quarter turn, as she’d seen Lee do a few times to show off the second fiery little flower, who’d finally decided to show her petals this morning.
Lee was still toying with the radiation band when she settled in once more with her back to her flower and her holoblock on her lap. “So QIII?” she asked, drawing up a starmap of their galaxy, and pulling in a breath. This was going to take some serious eliminations. The galaxy was incredibly vast, its star systems far too numerous to count. But it was a start.
And so they set in charting the nearest star systems to the former people of Argos.
CHAPTER 36: LEE
LEE HAD to pause his investigations into the Segura base while he ground through his training sessions the following morning. But that didn’t stop his mind from keeping up a running discourse as the hours slugged by.
They had a window of opportunity here. A window between when Placement applications were due, and when the Commander would realize something was off and start asking questions. If they were going to do anything about finding Segura and evading the General, they would have to move soon. Which meant time was not in their favor.
There had to be something they could find. Something within the Commander’s mainframe notes or from the other known dark radiation operations that could help them narrow their search parameters. He knew this should discourage him, to have it all stacked up against them. That was likely the intention. But on the contrary, it only fed his need to find something more.
After grabbing a quick lunch, he slipped up to the Hideaway, slinging his bag over one of the tables while he waited for Kat to get out of a one-on-one she’d been harangued into after her trainings.
The Greatest Romp You’ll Ever Find: if I’m not out in 30 send help!
He slipped his holoblock out, casually opening up to the flagged folder in De Zolar’s files that contained the Commander’s mainframe notes. If he could just find some sort of clue in here…
Processing the Commander’s notes was slow work and dry as moon dust. A lot of what he was finding were technical formulas and data streams of which he could only handle bits and pieces at a time. It was imminently clear Commander Blanche had been working down a theory. But at this point, it was unclear where the trail ran cold…
He paused when he came across the radioactive signature again. The proof of which, according to the word of the General, had been the nail in the coffin.
Gaia’s team had claimed on multiple occasions that they were aware of the risks—which always brought him back around to the conclusion that there must be more to the story. More that his squadron hadn’t had a chance to understand and explore that day. But how far would those ripples carry? And would they be enough to alter their fates?
Because the magnitude here mattered. It was the difference between extending life and taking it. Dreams and chaos. Between throwing away past notions to fight for what mattered more.
He was digesting the formula of yet another coded experiment when a set of boots came up behind him. The owner’s gait was much too heavy, too steady to be Kat…
Zane cleared his throat. “You’ve got your head down. Working on anything interesting?”
Before Lee could even think to hide the hologram’s content, Zane had slid into the opposite chair, scooting it around until he also faced the pages Lee was working through.
“Those are delta-grays,” he accused.
“They are,” Lee confirmed. There was the General’s condemning evidence, right in the open. But instead of trying to hide the file, he sat back. Let Zane make what he would of their latest extra-curriculars. Zane already knew he was way past applying for Placement, anyway.
“These are from their mainframe,” Zaid said evenly—and cool enough it was obvious this facade was about to snap. Lee didn’t tease it by confirming or denying. Instead he waited. “How do you have these?”
“Special favor from our favorite Commander’s secretary.”
With barely concealed irritation, Zane leaned down to pull his holoblock from his bag. And in the work of but a few seconds, he had it open to the hub. “Copy those over.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Lee said.
“There are pages and pages to get through. It will take you ages.”
With a brief nod, Lee started the transfer.
Zane had opened the first of the mainframe notes before he spoke to Lee again. “You should have asked for help. I told you I’d come.”
“I didn’t want to drag you in with us,” Lee said, running his hand through his hair. “You’re even more high-profile than us these days with your dad and all.”
“I’m already in it,” Zane shook his head. “I never left. I don’t know if I can.”
And that Lee understood. He’d been battling it for months. And rather than debate or tell his fellow Gamma,void, his friend, what he was or wasn’t capable of, Lee let him in.
He explained everything they’d uncovered of the Commander’s involvement and the General’s plans to go after Segura. He explained about the base they’d heard mentioned, and what they expected to find there. But he kept his and Kat’s personal plans a secret. One—because they were still beingformulated. And two—they really didn’t need that getting out ahead of them. Rumors of their plans would only complicate things. And thankfully, Zane didn’t ask what they planned to do with the base location. Yet. Not as he set about trudging through the next page of the Commander’s mainframe notes.
