Winter takes a deep drag, expertly exhales smoke rings.

“I’m a spy. Lurking in shadows is what I do best,” she answers indifferently.

“Now I know where they get the term SPOOKS,” Kora shoots back. “How long have you been there?”

“I was here before you,” Winter answers, an uncharacteristic hint of tiredness betrayed in her voice. Kora looks her over—charcoal suit, long black hair, dark glasses. “I come out here to watch the ocean and think. Sometimes you can see whales.”

Kora shakes her head.

“You’re wearing your sunglasses… at night. How are you going to see anything?”

“Oh, I don’t wear these glasses for my benefit. I wear them for everyone else’s. I wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable...”

Winter drops her cigarette and stamps it out with the heel of her classy boot. She lifts her hand and pulls off her glasses. Kora’s breath catches as she sees Winter’s eyes. They appear robotic—faintly glowing red in the dim light.

“Cybernetic implants,” Winter says with a smile, tipping her glasses back up. “A gift from my father.”

Kora has only seen cybernetics used in medical demonstrations, not in actual people walking around in the world. She knows they are exorbitantly expensive.

“I… I…” Kora stutters, uncomfortable and fascinated at the same time.

“Don’t know what to say? I understand. The man on the news we all watched earlier today. Solomon Park. That is my father.”

Kora’s mouth drops open.

“Adoptive father if you want to get technical about it. But more family to me than any blood relative.”

“That’s remarkable…”

The sound of the waves lapping against the massive vessel is heard. Kora can’t help but stare at the dark glasses and imagine the glowing orbs concealed beneath.

“So who… how did… when…?” Kora stammers.

“My ‘real’ parents were poor farmers in a village in the Joseon countryside. I was born with congenitally defective eyes, likely to become permanently blind. My parents could barely support themselves, let alone a handicapped girl. What they needed was a healthy son who could help them work the farm.

“That first winter they abandoned me in the forest, left me to die from exposure. This wasn’t entirely unheard of in those days. Well, someone heard my cries… found me out there in the snow. Long story short, Solomon Park restored my sight through these implants his company invented, and later he adopted me. Since the only thing anybody knew about me was that I was rescued from the forest in the middle of winter, the orphanage had called me Gyeoul—Winter—and the name stuck.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Kora exhales deeply. With the ocean breeze against her neck, she can almost imagine the chill of a snowy forest.

“That is a remarkable story.” Kora lapses into thoughtful silence for a minute and Winter lights up another cigarette. “Let me ask you, your dad is famed for his activism. I mean, in my country we admire him, of course. How does he feel about you working with the military? That seems like it would be anathema to him!”

Winter shakes her head, cracks a sly smile.

“My father and I are not exactly on speaking terms right now. When he stepped away from the industries he helped create and founded his little commune in the mountains, I knew that life wasn’t for me. I’m not a spiritual person. But he is almost viewed as a guru now. Being anti-war is like a religion to him and all those who flocked to join him.

“But the truth is, I love my father. We have the same dream—we both dream of world peace. We just have very different methods right now for how to achieve that.”

Wow, I feel like a bit of an egg now. Have I totally misjudged this woman? Kora wonders. Am I letting my own biases and paranoia get the better of me? Come on, Kora. You’re supposed to be better than that.

Winter suddenly tenses, standing completely motionless. For an instant Kora wonders if she is having an aneurism, but then Winter announces,

“They want all the pilots back in the briefing room.”

---

The pilots shuffle in one by one as Commander Carver presides over another display showing multiple satellite images of various locations the pilots don’t recognize. Reo walks in last, balancing several plates of food in one massive hand. Chase’s mouth waters.

“Reo! You’re a genius. Thanks for grabbing grub for us!” he says. “I was just on my way to the mess when the 1MC went off.”

Reo pauses, smiles sheepishly.

“Uh... these are all for me...”

The Commander clears his throat impatiently and waves for Reo to take a seat. Chase’s stomach growls in protest.

“Pilots, we finally have some leads. You will depart tonight. Doctor?”

Doctor Yi pipes up.

“The ‘keywords’ that Hanami heard—we think we know what Mr. Cook was looking into. Black Box is most likely Blackbox Dynamics, a leading AI company and robotics manufacturer. They have a factory in Khmer.

“We believe White Stone is Whitestone Security. They are a private security firm that was based in the United States until the US Congress began investigating them over alleged war crimes and war profiteering. They relocated overseas and now mainly operate in Eastern Europe and Asia.”

“Third, Osiris or ‘O-Sci-RIs' is the popular acronym for the Oceania Science and Research Institutes, where the world’s largest particle collider is housed. Many countries, including Red Star Empire, are members and support the work there.”

The Commander takes over again.

“All are within flight distance of our present position, and it seems that Cook was investigating these three organizations. We were in the dark about his activities or his reasoning. Maybe he wanted to be certain about something before looping us in. At least, that’s the leading theory.”

Hanami asks a question.

“Are there any known connections between these three entities?”

Winter taps the palm of her gloved hand with her middle and ring finger and changes the display to focus on closer-up views of two locations.

“A few minutes ago, I confirmed that Whitestone Security and Blackbox Dynamics share some of the same board members. Also of note, the Blackbox factory in Khmer has not been responding to any of my attempts to establish contact,” Winter explains.

Kora turns to the Head of Intelligence in surprise.

“Confirmed... contacting? You were just outside telling me your life story and having a smoke,” Kora prompts.

Winter taps the side of her head with a slender gloved finger and smirks.

“I’m very good at multitasking.”

Wow. What exactly can she do with those cybernetics? Kora wonders.

Commander Carver directly addresses Hanami who stares past him at the display.

“Three possible leads. Maybe they won’t take us directly to our missing pilot, but they are all we have to go on right now. The Mechs are prepped, and we have flight plans ready for all three destinations. Goto, as interim Squadron Leader, I will let you make the call.”