CHAPTER 22 LEE
KAT WAS with the girls tonight.
Well, the twins.
But still.
Lee slowed his gait as he crossed into the stairways of the Heptagon, arms laden with the sample bins. What was he going to do with the rest of his night? What did he usually do when he had free time?
Hang with Kat.
He started up towards the labs. He would get these off his hands, that was the first thing. The actual sample processing they would do later. The mission reports as well could wait another day.
But beyond dropping off the samples… he wasn’t sure what he should do with himself.
He could just go lie down like he’d kind of been planning. It had been a long day and a long first week back. But topping another flight of stairs now, he found he still had energy to burn in his limbs.
He chuckled quietly to himself. When had Kat become his whole personality? Although to be honest, they’d been that way since they first set foot on the Academy ship and claimed their dorms. Maybe even before that.
Instant attraction and compatibility. That’s what it had been for them, hadn’t it?
Seriously, though. What did he even like to do when Kat was away? Hit the Wall? Go for a run? He thought about messaging Flyn or Whistler, or even Marco to see about surfing or something, but honestly all of that was way more fun with Kat.
He ended up down several floors, his shoulders instantly loosening as he pushed through the doors to the greenhouses. Home sweet, loamy home.
A handful of cadets roamed the plots with the greenhouse attendants. Lee approached the first, accepting his assignment from the holochart. Flexing his fingers against the worn fibers of his gloves, Lee settled into a mungbean plot and began the methodical cultivation.
The greenhouse attendant’s homemade nutrient-rich solution had long since filled his nostrils, a soft sort of self-gratification cushioning his consciousness as he finally slipped his gloves from his fingers, tucking them into his cubby. He nodded over to Ilan on his way out.
His head felt clearer than it had in a long time. He’d been a little more absent from the greenhouses than usual as of late, a feat he planned to rectify with this final term to make the most of it.
At 21:00 hours, it was still early to call it a night, so he wandered over to the training levels to hit the gym.
In the corner of the weight room, Zane deadlifted a kettlebell. Lee wasn’t the only night owl, skating crowds tonight.
Picking up a set of dumbbells, Lee claimed a space further along the length of mirrored wall, offering only a nod towards the broad-jawed Gamma opposite him.
They ignored each other for their first few rounds of reps.
On a mutual break while Lee gulped down water, Zane turned his way. “No she-fiend tonight?”
“Nope,” Lee said, closing the cap on his water bottle tighter than he’d intended at the not-so-subtle dig at Kat.
“Did you get my confirmation about the upgraded security clearance?” Zane asked, almost consciously backtracking.
“I did.” Lee flattened his hand against the cap of his water bottle, savoring the hollow thud under his palm.
“And?”
“And—I’ve got nothing. I’m laying low.”
“And how’s that working out for you?”
“Get off it,” Lee said, batting his water bottle at Zane.
But he loosed a breath. “I have my suspicions. And I keep getting the feeling that I’m missing something obvious—that something’s off, but then the trail goes hazy, like we’re being purposefully left out in the dark, and I pull back. I can’t make any sense of it.”
Lee flattened his hand once more against his water bottle, mentally gearing up for another set of reps, but then he caught sight of Zane’s reflection, standing there motionless in the glass.
“Say it is intentional.”
Lee straightened, instinctively steeling his spine for whatever point Zane was about to make.
“Say there is more going on—maybe it’s even relevant to our experience with the General this past term and that the Commander or her secretary, or whoever, left us that clearance, did so on good faith. To what end?”
“I don’t follow.”
“No one has asked for our help. No one has said hardly anything to us for months. Meanwhile, our Placement applications roll out bright and early to usher us along.”
Zane lifted his own water bottle to his face to take a drink, but stopped himself.
“Look. You said before that we could shoulder it, right?” Zane asked.
“I think you’re right. I think we’re in a unique situation right now, that as cadets—under the Commander’s wing—I think we can get away with a lot more than we otherwise could.
But I’m just saying, I think it’s worth considering whose game we want to be playing before we start down a path. ”
“These are shit games.”
“Aren’t they?” Zane laughed darkly under his breath. “Welcome to the AMG.”
Lee tossed his water bottle between his hands, while Zane scooped up the kettlebell, returning it to the rack.
Lee would be a fool not to consider all the facets. His entire career hung on the balance of how they ran this term. Not to mention who had their best interests in mind.
“I take it the Colonel finally weighed in on Placement,” Lee said, once Zane returned from stacking the kettlebell.
“He’s already worked everything out for me where my future with the AMG is concerned.”
“You’ve filled out your application, then?” Lee asked, the news for some reason catching him off guard. He steeled his spine as he straightened.
“All but submitted,” Zane said, his brow furrowing as he glanced to Lee. “You?”
Lee shook his head. “Not yet.”
Zane frowned, his brow dipping further, looking very much like he wanted to say something else.
But the door opened behind them, a small gaggle of cadets drifted in. They fluffed their hair, giggling as they clustered around the edge of the room for their “workout.”
Lee’s eyes narrowed as he glanced past their sloppy forms and showy poses, re-focusing his attention on an empty spot in the mirror as he reached for another set of dumbbells.
Zane, on the other hand, seemed to be done with his workout. He made a show of rolling his shoulders and his neck, before dragging his eyes down over a couple of the cadets, staking his claim, the clouded ambivalence having been replaced entirely with another face.
“Have a good night,” Zane called behind him as he scooped up his water, skirting back around to pick up a date.
Lee took his time after his set, once everyone had left, taking advantage of having the gym all to himself as he wound down. He let the fans overhead blow down on his face while he guzzled back water.
Welcome to the AMG, indeed.
Lee opened his placement application again that night when he got back to his room. Not to prove a point; he didn’t owe anything to Zane, or the Commander, or anyone for that matter.
But for him. And for the one he voluntarily pledged himself to with every breath he took.
He got as far as filling out his basic personal information before he found himself sidetracked once again.
Ranking: Second to my best friend
Station Preference: Anywhere Kat went…
Lee ran his hand through his hair. He was off to a great start.
He’d visualized this moment in time on so many occasions over the past seven years that he’d lost count. He stood on the threshold, right on the cusp of achieving what he’d always wanted.
So why was it so difficult to picture that path now? Why was it so hard to imagine serving the very individuals to whom he’d long-since sworn allegiance?
But Lee knew the answers. They weren’t nameless individuals anymore.
Now they had faces and agendas and their own pictures drawn up for who and what he was supposed to be.
Commander Blanche had had their names down for years.
As of two days ago, she eagerly awaited their applications.
All they had left to do was hit send, and pieces of that dream would start moving into place. That dream would become a reality.
It was like he’d been watching his future approach from the bay window of a skimmer.
He was all suited up and ready to deploy, only to find that the entire planet-scape ahead of him had shifted.
Not physically—the terrain still matched the coordinates—but something at its heart had changed. Something in his heart had changed.
He wasn’t sure where his agenda now aligned. Maybe his obsession with the security clearances actually had nothing to do with what awaited him there, but with distracting himself from his graduation and making a decision on his future and what came next.
Having met the General, Lee would happily take anything that didn’t involve having to work too closely with those cold, dark eyes, that twisted scar that curled around his face.
No, he and Kat’s plans revolved around the two of them and their adventures, only occasionally reporting in from the far reaches of their universe.
Providing that option still existed for them to explore when they got there…
Let’s terminate this operation.
Not for the first time, nor what he was guessing would be the last, Lee closed out his placement application, drawing up a fresh hologram.
It would have to do with Segura, right? Whatever game everyone was playing.
That was the only logical connection the four of them had with any of the players that would warrant them keeping their clearances.
Except its people were long gone and the General had destroyed their ship…
Lee banged his head back against the wall. He wished Kat were free right now to help him talk through this.
He tried to think back on what had been decided in that post-raid debriefing all those months ago.
Lee’s head had been a little fuzzy at the time…
They’d had access to the mainframe. General Narron had made it pretty clear that he deemed the mission botched and that the squadron had ruined his plans and doomed them all. They were nothing in his eyes.
Commander Blanche had listened to their side, ultimately dismissing them.
She’d made it clear afterward that they weren’t held accountable for what had happened on their raid.
It was only after their mission reports had resurfaced that they’d learned General Narron had taken responsibility for the mission with his recourse…
“But why them, why Segura?” Lee breathed.
During their debriefing, General Narron had provided some very specific insights with his counterclaims. Like he’d already known what they might say…
It was common knowledge that the General wanted nothing to do with harnessing the dark rays or its experimentation.
But it had never been disclosed how he’d known to show up outside those shields with attack ships and firepower blazing. How he’d known exactly what he’d find out there with Segura.
Lee blew out a breath as a loose thread unwound, trailing back into the far corner of his mind.
This wasn’t the first time he had heard of operations of this nature taking place.
A mention behind closed doors. An archive, mostly forgotten.
A history, carefully covered up, like the aftermath of their raid…
They’d looked it up in the past—but never in the context of their Commanding General.
Sitting up again, Lee navigated his holoblock beyond the pipeline, the latest AMG news glaring up at him with each article. He’d seen all of the General’s recent appointments and agreements coming through his feed. They were getting him nowhere.
Perhaps it was time he put his security clearance to work.