It was just under a three-hour trip to return to The Resolute Wind. Inelius wasn't sure how long it took him to finally move from the console, but when he finally did, Riza had resigned to whimpers instead of screams of agony.

  He walked to the cockpit first. “Hey,” he said weakly. “How far out are we?”

  Raine looked at him. She was shaken, but didn’t know what all had happened yet. “Just over two hours,” she said.

  Inelius was technically 2nd in command for their team, he needed to step up and take some of the load off of Aurania. But there was time to breathe for a moment. He sat down with Raine and put his head in his upper hands.

  She grabbed one of his lower ones. “Tell me,” she said softly.

  So he did. Everything he knew, from what he had seen. He was sure he didn’t have the whole picture, but he had enough.

  When he was done, Raine had tears in her eyes, but she held them back. The entire team couldn’t fall apart at once.

  “Once we dock,” Inelius said, “Tamiyo will need you. She’s your only priority.”

  Raine nodded quietly.

  “I’ll be busy for a while but I’ll see you later, ok?”

  “Promise?”

  He forced a weak smile. “I promise.”

  He stood to walk back, but she held his hand a moment longer.

  “I love you,” Raine said.

  “I love you too.”

  Returning to the central room, Inelius looked at them all for a moment, then began to stow his gear in the lockers. He unloaded his rifle, locked it on the rack, hung up his helmet. Then he moved to Amalia and Violet, taking their rifles from them. They didn’t stop him.

  As he was finishing with those two, Veolo stepped up next to him silently, locking her rifle on the rack. They looked at each other, he motioned to Aurania, she understood. She relieved Aura of her handgun, who didn’t protest.

  Inelius looked around the room, Soren had lost his weapon, no surprise there, the only ones left to secure were Riza’s.

  Once Veolo was done securing Aurania’s weapon, he motioned her up to the cockpit.

  “How you holding up?” he asked.

  She shrugged, and didn’t immediately answer. Then she shook her head and looked away from him. “I’m here. Orders?”

  He didn’t want to frame them like orders, but maybe she needed the structure to stay grounded. “Who else do you think can function once we land?”

  Veolo took a breath and wiped away a tear. “Violet, probably. Amalia… I’m not sure.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  Aurania walked up to join them, looking like she was trying to ground herself.

  “Hey,” Inelius said.

  “How far out are we?”

  “Just under two hours,” Raine said.

  Aurania nodded. She looked lost.

  Inelius looked at her, then at Veolo. Aurania had been training Veolo in leadership, today would be a strong lesson.

  “Aura,” he said with resolve.

  She looked up.

  “You’re escorting Soren when we land. He doesn’t leave your sight.”

  She looked back at him and almost protested him taking charge. But then she nodded silently.

  “He’s still one of us,” Inelius added.

  “I know.”

  “Raine,” he said, turning. “Make sure we radio ahead. I want Commander Garrin waiting for us at the bottom of the ramp.”

  “Copy,” she answered.

  “Aura, you’ll go to the debrief room with Soren when we land. It shouldn’t take long for me to catch up. Go rest until then, we’ve got this.”

  She nodded and walked back.

  He followed her and motioned for Violet to come up to the cockpit.

  Veolo hugged her when she got up there.

  “Can I count on you?” Inelius asked as they released each other.

  Violet sniffed and nodded, forcing herself into composure.

  “Can you secure Riza’s weapons for me? I think she’ll fight you less.”

  “Yeah, I can do that.” Violet said. Her voice was hoarse.

  “Thank you. Once we land, I need you two to carry that dead SERC to the tech lab.”

  “Ok,” Violet answered.

  “Do you know why Aura had me grab him?” Veolo asked.

  “Probably to study his armor,” Inelius said. “Did you guys see that fucker stand back up after Riza hit him?”

  Their eyes both went wide, and they shook their heads slowly.

  “He obviously had something more advanced than the rest, personal shielding or something, I don’t know. But hopefully that corpse holds some answers.”

  Violet and Veolo shifted their weight, adjusting to the thought of this new adversary in their minds.

  “Take this too,” He handed the data core to Veolo. “Have them get to work on it, the translation database should still be saved so they can get a head start on it. Anything they need Tamiyo’s help on…” He looked back toward the central room. “We can at least wait until tomorrow.”

  “Veolo, you stay with the body,” Inelius continued. “Once I finish debrief, I’ll come join you.”

  “And me?” Violet asked.

  “I need you to fill Brolgar in on the big details and prep the common room. Whatever you think is best, you know the team.”

  That was enough orders.

  He offered Violet a hug and she accepted. He did the same for Veolo.

  “You both did great today,” he told them. “I’m proud of you.”

  Inelius opened the starboard hatch before the landing gear had even fully settled. He strode down the ramp as it was still extending outward. Commander Garrin was waiting for him, his expression a mix of irritation at being ordered to meet them, and concern for whatever had warranted it.

  Inelius offered him a quick salute but cut it and started talking before even waiting for Garrin to salute back. “We have a casualty,” Inelius said. “You’ve got maybe a minute before Riza walks down that ramp with his body. I advise you to clear the route to the morgue of anyone who’s going to try gawking.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Shit,” he said quietly. “Understood. I’ll meet you in debrief.” He turned and left.

  Brana was waiting nearby, a concerned look on her face. He just nodded to her and walked back up the ramp.

  The team was quiet in the central room. No one had gotten up from their seats. Raine stood in the hallway leading to the cockpit, waiting to go to Tamiyo.

  “The way is clear,” Inelius said. “Whenever you’re ready, take your time.”

  Riza’s head turned halfway towards Inelius, then she looked back down. After several moments, she slowly stood up, picking Elias up with her.

  Everyone else stood too.

  Riza walked out slowly, every move delicate and deliberate. Amalia followed behind her, tears falling, but no noise.

  As soon as they left the ship, Tamiyo sank back down to the floor.

  Raine crossed the room quickly and held her.

  Aurania and Soren left down the ramp next. Then Raine picked Tamiyo up and carried her out of the ship.

  He looked at Veolo and nodded towards the door. Violet threw the dead Conservatory soldier over one shoulder and carried him out while Veolo walked behind.

  Momentarily alone in the ship, Inelius let out a shuddering sigh. Then he inhaled and forced his composure back into place, and walked back down the ramp.

  When he got back down to Brana, she looked at him stunned.

  “Just get the ship locked up where the weapons and everything are secure. Don’t worry about anything else right now. No maintenance.”

  She nodded in response, mouth half-open.

  He placed a hand on her shoulder for a moment to help steady her, then left to go debrief.

  Garrin was waiting patiently. He had a look like he wondered what the hell had happened to Soren’s fractured armor, but he didn’t ask. Aurania and Soren sat quietly. They were near each other, but one seat was left open between them in the central row of chairs.

  Inelius dropped into a seat at the front. He didn’t realize how much he needed to sit down. Everything felt numb.

  “Just give me the broad strokes,” Garrin said. “We can do a full debrief when you’ve all had time to breathe.”

  Inelius took a breath, thinking where to begin. “Conservatory shuttle dropped in on top of us, cut our feed as we were downloading the data we needed. We um… We moved to intercept, made contact, fight broke out, but we got the data core.”

  Inelius looked around the floor, processing everything he was saying. “There were eleven hostile, we killed…” he realized he didn’t see what happened to the last one, and turned to Aurania for confirmation.

  “Ten of the eleven confirmed dead,” Aurania said, her voice exhausted. “We brought one of their bodies back to study.”

  Garrin looked back at them, nodding slowly as he processed it all.

  “Does the name Sable mean anything to you?” Aurania asked. The fire had returned to her voice.

  Commander Garrin’s eyes got wider. “You met Sable?”

  “More than met,” Inelius answered.

  Garrin took his meaning, nodding again.

  “What do you know about him?” Aurania asked coldly.

  Garrin looked around, composing his thoughts. “Um, Sable is one of the Conservatory’s top field agents, if not the best. His real name is uh, Hargrave, Cyrus Hargrave. He’s a real solid-gold-plated asshole. He’s skilled, ruthless, and a complete zealot for the Conservatory’s beliefs.”

  “Yeah,” Inelius said, mouth tight. “Got that feeling when he referred to us as disgusting creatures.”

  Garrin exhaled a long breath. “I don’t want to dismiss what you all just went through, but if this is any consolation,” he paused, looking between each of them. “From what I know about Sable, you may have gotten off lucky only losing one member of your team.”

  A quick, visible pulse of light flashed out from Soren. Inelius looked quickly. Soren kept himself in check, but Garrin’s words had obviously made him angry.

  Soren and Garrin stared at each other.

  The Commander’s eyes were wide. “What the fuck was that?”

  They had held off giving Garrin all of the details about Soren, but there was no way around it now. After Inelius filled him in on the events on Nox, Aurania added in what she had just witnessed on Philos. Those new details surprised Inelius too.

  They sat quietly for a few moments after Aurania finished speaking.

  Then Garrin spoke up. “So the Conservatory knows of your existence now.” He was looking at Soren.

  “Shit,” Inelius said. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”

  Garrin nodded slowly, looking at Inelius. “You guys just made yourselves a target.”

  They weren’t able to get a ton of answers from the data core, not without Tamiyo’s help. Inelius had taken over watching Soren from the debrief, sending Aurania to check on her people. Inelius went to the tech lab, Soren following quietly. Veolo helped strip the armor from the SERC body, the LU techs said they would take care of getting the corpse to the morgue. Inelius dismissed Veolo, they could study the armor later.

  Soren stayed quiet the entire time. Inelius brought him up to the observation spire where he knew Tamiyo would help Soren meditate. The giant man sat down when they got up there, in a certain spot like it was muscle memory. They sat quietly for a long time.

  Eventually, Inelius heard Soren let out a sigh, like he had finally quieted his mind.

  “So what happened?” Inelius said.

  He didn’t answer for a while. When he finally did, he said, “Do you know how many people I’ve let die?”

  “No,” Inelius answered simply, shaking his head slightly. They were both staring off into the expanse.

  “Millions,” Soren answered. “Literally millions.”

  “How?”

  “Back… in 2090. I couldn’t stop Lulu. She was so controlled by her rage, she turned the entire planet Mandachor into a black hole.” He turned and looked at Inelius. “There were millions of people on the planet. And fighting in orbit as well.”

  Inelius wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “Why did she do it?”

  “A lot of reasons…” he said quietly, turning back to the stars. “But a lot of the lives were adversaries, the military from Earth’s governments. She had grown to hate them, with… good reason I suppose. But her rage caused her to lose control.”

  “And now you feel like you have all this power and you're acting the same way. Like you should be able to do better, should have been able to save him. Does that about sum it up?”

  Soren just slowly hung his head in silence.

  “Are you a threat to us?” Inelius said. But his tone was as kind as he could be.

  “I don’t want to be,” Soren answered.

  “Then don’t be.”

  Soren laughed a little. “That simple, huh?”

  “No, it’s not simple,” Inelius said. “But you don’t have any other choice. And that’s not fair, but nothing in life is. It sure as hell wasn't fair to Elias and Riza.” His tone was turning harsher than he meant to.

  “You’re a good man, Soren,” Inelius continued. “You’ve got the ability to master this shit. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You don’t get good at anything overnight.”

  Soren sat quietly, but his posture relaxed slightly.

  Inelius stood and walked around to look at Soren. The giant man looked up at him from the floor.

  “You didn’t let Elias die,” Inelius said, pushing through the pain. “That mother fucker murdered him. Elias died protecting Tamiyo. He was a lot better at picking people up than I am, but what do you think he would say if he were here?”

  Soren’s expression lightened a little. “That you’re better at it than you give yourself credit for.”

  That actually got a smile out of Inelius.

  “Alright, come on you 10-ton goofball,” Inelius held out an arm to help Soren up. He braced hard for the impending weight.

  Once Soren was standing, Inelius said, “Aurania picked you up from that crater, in the middle of your anguish.”

  Soren nodded quietly.

  “Go return the favor.”

  Soren looked conflicted. “What if they’re all afraid of me now?”

  Inelius just shrugged. “Show them they don’t have to be.”

  It was a long day. As Inelius stood in the shower, the water forced the grief out of him. Raine came up behind him and held him while he sobbed. She had cared for Tamiyo and felt safe enough leaving her with the lacravida while they all comforted each other.

  After the shower, Raine held him in bed and they both let themselves feel the pain. At one point, Inelius screamed. After an hour, maybe two, the iron grip on his chest slowly began to recede. It would take a long time to fade, but he knew it would eventually.

  It was just raw right now.