{Earth}

The console projected the strategy screen between Pablo and Silence like a game of battleship. Both of them communicated with different squadrons of the Shadow’s strikeforce. Their conversations overlapped as they maneuvered the pieces on the board with each update.

Pablo nearly fainted with relief as Lynn safely reported, “Lukemore complete. The charges on the eighteenth floor detonated as intended, and the silo collapsed cleanly. Over.”

The recon footage of Abresson with Imminent soldiers below all those exhausted people sickened the doctor. “Understood. Meet you at the base. Over and Out.” To Silence across from him, he asked, “Pil, confirmed?”

The Icarean warrior staved him with a finger as she listened intently to Smith on her device. “Go ahead.”

Imminent housed one of its headquarters on Pil in the same plaza as the quantum engineers who temporarily resided on Earth for the global communicator. Bastards.

“Copy that. Over and Out.” Silence gave Pablo the most awkward sideways thumbs-up with the most confidence he’d ever seen. “Leveled.”

Pablo laughed, nervously. Exhaustedly.

Silence and Twenty-One made for good company through the tests. But she interested him in regards to the studies of their species. Quick. So very smart. At times, Pablo wondered if Silence showed signs of telepathy. But suspected both Icari belonged with the Shadow. The ancient soldiers lived by a code of just determination he only saw in members of their family. He opened his mouth to say so, “Silence—”

“Doc, come in. It’s Fury. Over.”

“Go ahead, Fury.”

“That operation the Shadow is running tonight, I thought you canceled Reipon for lack of sufficient evidence?” The concern that wavered her voice chilled him to the marrow.

“You understood correctly.”

“Someone bombed a gala that the Eminents were attending. Doc, the blast killed Eminent Wiw.”

As the doctor’s eyes no doubt bugged out of their sockets, Silence cocked her head curiously to the side across the console. He swallowed hard before confessing through a tight voice, “I don’t understand. How could anyone know to coordinate with our strikes? We didn’t do it, Fury. I swear.”

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A dead Tritan. A dead important Tritan Pablo met on one occasion and liked instantly. It hurt to know the wizened alien—who lived beyond Pablo’s understanding of a lifespan—was the first casualty of this war.

“I believe you. But I’m worried about the ramifications. I’ll report to you any news I hear. Please let the others know for me. And doc, let them know we honor that man. He did nothing to us.”

That we know of hung in the air.

“Copy, Fury. Over and Out.”

Silence’s voice reached him through the gloom, almost innocent in her lack of awareness. “He was a good man?”

Pablo hung his head and muttered, “I think so.”

“They often die first.”

Xelan. Pehton expressed exactly the same sentiment about Wingmaster after his passing. The older warriors would know. Which brought up an interesting question. “How old do you think you are? How old do you feel?”

Dressed in a bikini and a labcoat, she pulled her knees to her chest and looked thoughtful. “Without memories, it’s hard to say. But… in my sleep, I sensed the state of things. The shift of Icarean life. I knew of Umbra. Sometimes I think I remember seeing his face in person. I understand that was very long ago. Yet, I think I’m much older than even that.”

Most of the Shadow, including Pablo, read Nox’s Verse. Nox being the son of Umbra, the first King of Cinder. At least six million years old. Any older and Silence might know Elden. Pablo shook his head, unable to fathom it. “Come on. Let’s tell the teams about Reipon. I can’t believe—I guess there’s nothing to do about it now.”

Kyle’s voice broke onto Silence’s comm. “Reipon complete. Over and Out.”

The female’s stony gray eyes crept over to meet Pablo’s. Her chest heaved as if her heart pounded. “Holy. Shit.”

Yea, the doctor couldn’t put it any better. He took the comm from her and called into the mic, “Story Taker, we canceled Reipon. Under your orders. Why target it? Over.”

T.a.o. came on then. It struck Pablo as odd that she hardly left Kyle’s side since joining the mission. “We suspected a spy and wanted to redirect attention away from the intended target. Do not take it personally. The mission was successful. That is all that matters. Radio silence. Over and Out.”

The doctor almost threw the comms device. Out of frustration. Out of rage. Out of the futility of their current shit storm. He gripped the curls of his black hair and pulled. Ready to scream—

Across from him, an unexpected sight interrupted his tantrum. A tear rolled down the Icarean warrior’s cheek. And another fell from her lashes. All the while, she stared up at the projection as if unaware of her expressiveness.

Silence met his eyes and repeated, softly, so very softly, “Yes. The good ones go first.”

“I’m getting the impression you’re no longer referring to Eminent Wiw. Silence, what do you think is wrong with Kyle?” Pablo stared intently until the hair rose on his arms and something tingled on the back of his neck.

Not three pitches. Silence’s voice split into six as she recited, “No man may own another nor impress his dominion over them. For only in forfeit of volition, can one assume control over the other.”

Holy. Shit.