It was just under a three-hour trip back 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 little whimpers.

  He walked to the cockpit first and weakly said. “Hey. How far out are we?” His voice sounded foreign to his own ears.

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

  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 and softly said, “Tell me.”

  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, she 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, okay?”

  “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, he 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, then hung up his helmet. 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, locking her rifle on the rack without a word. They locked eyes, and he motioned to Aurania. She walked over and relieved Aura of her handgun.

  Soren had lost his weapon, no surprise there. The only ones left to secure were Riza’s.

  He motioned Veolo up to the cockpit, then asked, “How you holding up?”

  She shrugged and didn’t immediately answer. Then she shook her head and looked away. “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?”

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

  He nodded in agreement.

  Aurania walked up to join them.

  “Hey,” Inelius said.

  “How far out are we?”

  “Just under two hours,” Raine answered.

  Aurania nodded. She looked lost.

  Inelius studied her, then Veolo. Aurania had been training Veolo in leadership. Today would be a strong lesson.

  “Aura,” he said firmly.

  She looked up.

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

  She almost protested him taking charge, but then she nodded.

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

  “I know.”

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

  “Copy.”

  “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.”

  “Okay,” 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 went wide, and they shook their heads.

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

  They both shifted their weight, adjusting to the thought of this new adversary.

  “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. “It can wait. Veolo, you stay with the body. 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 and strode down the ramp as it was still extending. 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.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Inelius offered a quick salute but cut it without even waiting for Garrin to salute back. “We have a casualty. You’ve got maybe a minute before Riza walks down that ramp with his body. I advise you to make sure the route to the morgue is a ghost town.”

  “Shit,” Garrin breathed, eyes wide. “Understood. I’ll meet you in debrief.” He hurried away.

  Brana was waiting nearby, face tight with concern. 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 him, then she looked back down. Agonizingly slowly, she stood up, cradling his body in her arms.

  Everyone else stood too.

  Riza stepped out carefully, every move gentle and delicate. Amalia followed behind her, tears silently falling.

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

  Raine crossed the room in a flash to hold her.

  Aurania and Soren left down the ramp next. Then Raine picked Tamiyo up and carried her out. Violet threw the dead Conservatory soldier over one shoulder and carried him out while Veolo followed.

  Alone for a moment, he let out a shuddering sigh. Then he inhaled deep, forced his composure back into place, and walked back down the ramp.

  When he got back to Brana, she looked 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 only nodded in response, mouth half-open. He placed a hand on her shoulder to help steady her, then headed for debrief.

  Garrin was waiting patiently. He looked like he wondered what the hell had happened to Soren’s fractured armor, but he didn’t ask. Aurania and Soren sat quietly near each other. 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 relax.”

  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 um… We moved to intercept, made contact, fight broke out, but we got the data core.”

  He 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,” she said, her voice exhausted. “We brought one of their bodies back to study.”

  Garrin looked back at them, nodding slowly.

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

  Commander Garrin’s eyes went wide. “You met Sable?”

  “More than met,” Inelius spat.

  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 flash of white light blinked out from Soren. Inelius could physically feel it. Soren kept himself in check, but Garrin’s words had obviously made him angry.

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

  They had held off giving Garrin all of the details about Soren, even after the Gitaxan debacle since he’d been unconscious. But there was no way around it now. Inelius filled him in on the events on all the missing details, and Aurania added what she had just witnessed on Philos. Those surprised Inelius too.

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

  Then Garrin finally spoke, staring at Soren. “So the Conservatory knows of your existence now.”

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

  Garrin nodded. “You guys just made yourselves a target.”

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

  Soren stayed silent the entire time. Inelius brought him up to the observation spire where he knew Tamiyo would help him 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, Soren let out a sigh, like he had finally quieted his mind.

  “So what happened?” Inelius said.

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

  “No,” Inelius shook his head. 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. “Many 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 hung his head in silence.

  “Are you a threat to us?” Inelius asked, tone as kind as he could manage.

  “I don’t want to be.”

  “Then don’t be.”

  Soren let out a small, sad laugh. “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 intended. “You’re a good man, Soren. A lot worse people could’ve ended up with your abilities and I’m glad they didn’t. You can master this shit, but you don’t get good at anything overnight.”

  Soren sat quietly, but his posture relaxed a little. Inelius stood and walked around to look him in the eyes. 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 Inelius to smile.

  “Alright, come on you ten-ton goofball,” Inelius held out an arm to help him up, bracing 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.

  “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.