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Cylex nodded. “Not by choice, but yes. If she had not been taught to fear the Citadel, she could have been extraordinary.”
“Who taught her to fear us?” Draven asked, though the answer was obvious.
“My grandmother.”
“Why do you want to be part of something your relatives mistrust?” Noratu still wasn’t sure what to make of Cylex, but he sensed power in him, a lot of untapped power.
“I am tired of war,” he admitted, and the weariness in his gaze made the statement believable. “I have seen too many bleed and die. If I possess abilities that could bring about peace, I am very interested in developing them.”
Not surprisingly, that piqued Draven’s interest. “Where did you serve? When and why were you discharged?”
“I started with the Two-Five-Two Militia, but transferred to air support for the Pelax Three Offensive. My contract expired eleven months ago. I was thinking about reenlisting, but decided to try this first.”
Draven nodded.What do you think?
I’ll be less concerned once we’ve verified what he just told us.
Draven glanced at him.Should I dismiss him?
It was obvious that he didn’t want to. Clearly, this unusual applicant had just found a common ground with the meanest controller at the Citadel.
Noratu activated a holo-display with a flick of his wrist and brought up Cylex’s assessment. Not only did he qualify as a source, he was also a borderline controller.His aptitude scores are exceptional.Let’s see how he does with the other challenges.
“Anyone with Torretian blood is supposed to be dismissed,” Draven warned Cylex. “Your story intrigues us but if anything you’ve said is inaccurate or exaggerated, it will not matter how much we like you.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Return to the main training room,” Draven instructed.
Noratu waited until Cylex departed to ask, “Can you use your contacts to verify his service? The background teams are supposed to check out all the information listed on their applications, but sometimes they don’t dig deep enough.”
“I will make sure his service record is legitimate,” Draven assured him.
“Good. I’ll see if I can locate the grandfather. You can often learn more from a person’s enemy than their ally.”
A shout was followed by a crash, and then muffled voices drew their attention toward the hallway.
“…fucking way I will… not going to… Why isn’t everyone…”
Noratu looked at Draven and they both tensed. “Did that sound like Flora to you?”
“She’s been so good for the past few days.” Draven sighed.
They jogged across the room together, but the corridor appeared to be empty.
“I said get your filthy hands off her!”
That was definitely Flora.
They ran in the direction of the irate voice. Two turns brought them to the scene.
Flora faced off with two guards who were escorting a woman in ankle and wrist restraints. The other woman was crying, and Flora had an impressive fireball in each hand. “Let her go or I’ll incinerate you both!”
The guards looked at each other in confusion but said nothing.
“What’s the problem, mate?” Draven asked, his voice firm and authoritative.
Flora tensed, but didn’t shift her focus from the guards. Her hands continued to manifest Altorian fire. “These idiots are under the mistaken idea that they are going to auction off my sister. Tell them to turn her loose right now.”
