"The little bastard actually did it," Jok leaned back in the Captain's seat and pressed his hand against his forehead. He couldn't believe it! Lucian had actually managed to get the D- Grade he needed in two categories!

"Captain Jok!" The giant heard a call from across the room and looked up to see one of his subordinates rushing toward him. "Captain, we've got bad news."

Jok sighed heavily and waved for the six-eyed man to continue, "Go on."

"Captain, we just received a transmission that a descendant of one of the major families died in the Second Wave!" The man spoke urgently.

Jok looked at the man like he'd just spoken another language. He cleaned both of his ears out with his pinky and raised an eyebrow at what he'd just heard.

"Do you care to repeat that, Skeehan?" Jok asked. "How is it possible that anyone who came from one of the major families died on the Second Wave?"

Skeehan sighed and pulled up a file on his armband, "It seems that the young woman didn't deem it necessary to upgrade her Microlinks before moving to the Second Tier Tiles. Miss Gorshan encountered a Zasol and was left incapacitated before the Second Wave began."

A video began to play between the two men, and Jok couldn't help but groan at the idiocy of the woman at its center. She wasn't a weakling, and all of her First Tier Microlinks had been unlocked except for Mental Fortitude. The young woman headed west, obviously looking to pick a fight with the contestant in that direction. Once she opened the second Tile, the wall fell, and a large, ghost-like creature escaped into her Domain.

On the subsequent nights, the creature would cry out, not allowing the woman to sleep and constantly feeding terrifying images into the woman's mind. Without having Mental Fortitude, or a firm will, no contestant would have stood a chance. Before the Second Wave began, the Zasol performed an all-out assault on the woman's weakened mind, leaving her unconscious body for the rats to devour.

"Shit!" Jok cursed after having finished the time-lapsed video, "This doesn't bode well. She may not have been one of the top five, but she was among those that we expected to at least survive until the late phases. Her family is going to throw a fit."

Skeehan nodded in agreement and whispered, "Sir, the one who compiled this data was one of Dorkan's men."

Jok ran his hand slowly over his face before patting Skeehan on the shoulder, "Thank you for informing me so quickly, Skeehan. You're a good man. Get this file to Pochan as swiftly as possible."

"Yes, Captain!" The six-eyed man saluted and promptly left the Bridge, a slim woman walking through the door as he was exiting.

Jok smiled at the slim figure walking hastily toward him. Her curly blonde hair bounced lightly as she rushed to the center of the Bridge.

"Amelia," Jok beamed down at the slender woman as she approached him. He watched her hips sway with each step and-

"Jok! If you don't quit ogling me, you can forget having dinner next week," Amelia griped as she looked up at the giant. Their conversation a few days prior had ended with them agreeing to act as if they were dating so that they would have an excuse to meet privately more often. Even so, she wouldn't let the giant forget who she was.

Jok opened his mouth a few times, unsure how to respond, much to the amusement of his surrounding subordinates. They called out to him, making jokes about who wore the pants between the couple. Jok grinned and shook his head. He had to admit that he struggled to maintain his composure around the woman. He was helpless.

"Are you here to talk about your little pet project?" Jok asked when Amelia finally stood next to him.

"Of course I am!" She grinned cheerily, "Didn't you see how well he performed? Even if there are some complaints, we have a way to combat them now, right?"

She spoke somewhat hushedly. Though everyone knew what was going on, Dorkan's faction wasn't aware of all of the details. All of the techies close to them were Jok's direct subordinates, but she didn't want her voice to carry to the outer wall. In reality, she had no reason to worry. The room was filled with the sound of discussions about the Second Wave.

"Yes and no," Jok sighed. "I suppose you haven't heard, but the Gorshan girl got herself killed by a Zasol. Dorkan will likely send word to her family stating that we gave away a Microlink that could have saved her life."

Amelia blanched, "You have got to be kidding me! How did a Zasol kill her? Even if those with Tier Two Microlinks aren't allowed to participate, the major families always make sure that their planet's representative has a full sheet of Tier 1's!"

"I agree. That should have been the case," Jok nodded. "However, they've fallen on tough times lately. Their representative only had five of the six, and she was missing Mental Fortitude."

"Fuck," Amelia shook her head. "At least Lucian did well. The girl dying will give us some trouble, but at least we have results. The Vice-Chancellor might not feel the same, but at least the Head of the Council prefers results over relations."

"That's true," Jok sighed. "So, when do you want to meet up again?"

Amelia placed a hand on his knee, causing his entire body to stiffen. He could feel the ice-cold touch of her fingers seeping through the fabric of his pants. The heat from his own laws naturally fought against it, and a wisp of steam rose between them, causing Amelia to giggle.

"You're welcome to come by tonight!" Amelia winked before lowering her voice, "I'd like to discuss what we can do to help Lucian after the first Milestone."

The woman pulled her hand from his knee and walked away, purposefully swaying her hips as she did so. Jok sighed as he watched her leave, ignoring the hushed chuckles and giggles from the men and women around him.

"You lot get back to work!" He shouted playfully, causing his crew to burst into laughter. Jok flipped the screen back over to Lucian and watched as he cleaned up the mess from his last battle.