▽　▽　▽

“We appreciate your patience, allowing us to confirm all of that basic background information,” the man seated next to her spoke in a calm manner, jotting things down in his tablet as he casually rocked in the office chair he pulled up from the nearby desk.

Weren’t they supposed to be asking me about Ms. Sur? I’m a bit confused, now.

“Okay,” he went on as he looked up for the moment, “the next two questions pertain as to your survival methods. We need to utilize this information for training purposes, never knowing when they will surface again.”

“They,” Sam nervously spoke, never able to make eye contact with them. “You mean the Cloaks?” I can’t DARE speak of my brother… not yet… not to these people.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s who we are most concerned with,” the man continued as he sat up to look her in the eye, noticing she was still too apprehensive to look back up at him. “If you could, and take your time if you have to, go through the mental process you took in damaging those two… ‘Cloaks’ as you call them, during your two bouts.”

I forget they had updated the pilot screen upstream hardware since Colombia. They already know exactly what I saw when I was piloting. Let me at least give them the best I can feed them without spilling too much. “I, well, I don’t want to take credit, sir.”

He returned a chuckle towards the bashfulness he had perceived. “Not meaning to insinuate that. Just tell us what happened, then.”

“No, to be honest, Sebastian Navarre helped me see the first Cloak,” she continued in earnest. “And, Antares modifications came mid-skirmish with the second. Neither were of my strengths or strategies alone.”

“Thank you for that note, Ms. Knight,” he answered with a smile, once more jotting on his tablet. “The next question is based on the events after you were damaged to the point you had to bail out. How did you survive your physical encounter with… whoever it is you encountered?”

“The guy that put this in me?” she spoke with a finger pointed to her covered wound on her shoulder. “He sounded like he was…” Shit… come on, Sam, think!

“Take your time,” he once more warmly insisted in response to her pause.

…~AH!

“He sounded like he was from the NAU!” she blurted out with strong hints of trembling in her voice. “That accent, I heard it before. I think he is some NAU recruit because this is like… SEA, right? That kind of guy shouldn’t be out here! That was one thing I had been thinking about this whole time, because everyone else being local or whatnot-”

“-It’s OK, you can settle down!” he chuckled again with a hand up. “Let’s not get your heart rate up. I know you went through a lot, so let me rephrase. I apologize for rushing into that one.”

“Let me try this one,” the woman standing next to him spoke up as she leaned over with a smile matching her partners’. “Was it any kind of physical technique you used to fight your way out of that?”

“Oh, right.” They were talking about the fight itself, not who it was. “Sebastian Navarre saved me. He shot at him, missing unfortunately, but saved me nonetheless. That was twice I should’ve been dead…” she somberly tapered off with her focus falling to the wayside again.

“We actually have other staff interviewing him as we speak. We must be getting such valuable knowledge from you all. And of course, we are so grateful for your cooperation,” the man from earlier chimed back in. “That would explain how you managed to get away. I can’t imagine how terrifying that was.”

“We read that a large portion of the wound was cauterized internally, do you know what kind of weapon that was?” the woman once more interjected as she drew a look of ire from her partner.

Damn it, I had forgotten about that as well. “I wasn’t looking,” Sam quickly and uncomfortably responded. “I couldn’t look, if you can understand.”

“Please,” he huffed at his partner before turning back to her with an apologetic smile. “We will process what we can for tonight, so please, get your rest. Staff will have you cleaned up and ready to relocate to Singapore later tomorrow morning,” he spoke as he stood up. Another man entering the room got his attention as he turned to see who it was. “Ah, I assume it’s her father?”

“The mother,” he corrected as he passed him the smaller tablet. “When she’s done, she can leave it here for us to pick up in the morning.”

“Thank you,” he responded as he looked once more to Sam. “We will be leaving you to speak with your family and get your rest. Good night.”

Mom? She actually called first? She held the small tablet just out of camera’s view of her face as she waited for the staff to leave, pulling it around to in front of her face as soon as the doors closed. “Mom?”

“Sam,” Amelie’s exasperated voice came up in a manner far different than from the time she spoke with her in Bogota. “What is with you and losing your mobile? I’ve been worried to death!”

Mom? Worried?

“How bad is it really? Who did this to you!?” she continued in her flustered fit.

“Mom… I…” she bit her tongue just before uttering his name, feeling a rush of nausea kick in. What will this change if they find out? How much more will Zay break our family? I think I need to think this over before just… telling them… what do I do?!

“I’m glad it’s nothing life threatening, but listen, never-mind, you can wait on that. I wanted to explain to you what I have lined up for you here. You know I had to call Dr. Simone for your reconstructive surgery as soon as you arrive tomorrow-”

“-Wh-, Arrive? Where?!” her eyes widened as she sputtered.

“Home, Sam! You have no more business staying down there! That’s twice you almost got killed!”

“No!” she blurted out without a chance to even think of the repercussions. But then the second she saw Amelie’s aghast expression, she threw those cares to the wind. “Mom, I am NOT going home! I have unfinished business, and big business at that! You have no idea what I would be leaving behind if I did!” Because I KNOW now I can’t say anything! This is MY business and MINE ALONE to take care of as far as I-ZAY-UH is concerned! I don’t EVEN want to hear his name from her mouth!

“I will have that arranged whether you like it or not. You think I wasn’t responsible for your safe being?!”

“What? My safe being? Mom, what are you even going on about?”

“You think those two helped you out of the good of their heart? Sam, that was my doing by my network! And it seems one wasn’t afraid to take the fall for you! How does it feel having someone die for you, Sam?”

Somewhere deep down, Sam knew Danielle was holding back heavy emotions earlier when she mentioned Gabriel’s fate, but this venom-laced move stung. She forgot to think of her mother’s former field of work, realizing now that normally no one in their right mind would risk what they did to fly along their operation this far, watching over her group. “You put them up to it? What, you paid them?”

“You now owe me the seeing through of their end-goal, Sam,” she bluntly replied. “You are getting washed up and on that airplane for Singapore’s Spaceport in the morning. Do you hear me?”

…

Time passed before Amelie huffed impatiently. “You are in no shape to keep up this rebellious act young lady. Don’t forget who has proven themselves wrong twice in a month now. Do you see you are in over your head, now?”

Isaiah’s cold stare and his similar words flashed across her memory, gripping her stomach even more tightly as she winced. Taking in a breath to calm herself down just enough to make a response, she straightened up and moved her right finger, placing it over the end call button and tapped it gingerly without making eye contact.

No… if I leave, it would be the ultimate lying down in shame to the will of that rat bastard… I already have my mind made up, and you are no different than your son. She sat there in silence for a minute, not moving a muscle, locked in repeating memories of the things said over the past conversation just now, with Danielle, and the words exchanged with Isaiah over and over before being overwhelmed. Tears of humiliation, heartbreak, and a reborn sense of helplessness began to roll down her cheek.

The only break in the silence came as another pair of feet softly walked through. The nurse looked up from her digital chart with a smile as she spoke: “Alright, Ms. Knight, we are going to help you get cleaned up and ready for some rest, okay?”

Sam sniffled and cleared her throat, gathering a moment’s worth of strength to answer: “Can I speak to my team, first?”

“Sorry, no visitors to this hallway until after administration clears it in the morning. Let’s not worry about anything else until then, okay?”

She let the tablet she had been holding this whole time fall to the mattress near her feet, closing her eyes in lonely defeat. Sebastian…

.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

▽　▽　▽

Sam was still fast asleep when Sebastian entered her room. As he stepped into the dark room, his fresh, standard-dress uniform quickly faded into near-indiscernibility, illuminated only by the glow of the instruments and night-light panels near the floor behind him. He approached her bedside, noting a wheeled office chair not far from it. He gently pulled it towards where her head lay and took a seat, leaning forward and placing a hand over hers.

[I have so many questions, so many doubts, so many things I am confused and frustrated about…] he pondered as he looked over her still-closed, sunken, weary eyes and patched-up forehead, having been cleaned from the blood that he remembered staining it the evening before. [But now still isn’t the time.] He gripped her hand a bit more firmly, taking in a slow, deep breath as his focus wandered. [I have to remember that I might be a bit more used to this level of chaos, but she isn’t. I have to just… pray that everything is a result of that and nothing more. I wonder how bad the CP team berated her last night.] He then noticed her eyes twitch a few times before she suddenly breathed in deeply as if to yawn; her hand pulled free from his as she stretched, reminding him of a cat waking from its slumber. He moved his hand to her forehead above the patch, gently brushing back her hair as her eyes finally opened.

“Sebastian?” she muttered as her eyes met his. “Are we still in the medical bay?”

“Yes, we are. Are you doing alright? How bad are things?”

“I think I will be okay,” she spoke back as she continued letting her eyes adjust. “Are you coming to check me out?”

“Ahn, I wish I could, but I can’t… and, I have to leave soon,” he returned with a weak smile, withdrawing his hand. “They wouldn’t let me come here last night, so I had to wait until now to speak with you one more time.”

Her eyes squinted as she rubbed them with her only free hand, trying to finish waking up. “Why so soon? Where are they taking you?”

“I have to go to Space for a week.”

“Space?!” she sputtered, leading into a short coughing fit. “Sebastian, for what?”

He leaned over to rub her back as she sat up and leaned forward in that same motion. “Calm down, it’s something I have to do, they said.” [I only have a few minutes left, might as well be frank.] “It’s my brain-net thing. Do you remember my problem I had in Singapore?”

“Oh,” she mumbled as she calmed down, looking back to him. “The neural mesh network? Someone suggested you do something about it?”

“Right. Orders came to me from administration. I am to see this, perhaps popular?... brain surgeon in Sumeria. And after that, I need intense training to adjust, and Ms. Norris will be with me for that.”

“Sumeria? You are going to where I was going to law school… heh, once upon a time.” The irony of her ability to utter those words somehow felt liberating. But the feeling was a fleeting one as her active consciousness recovered by the second. “Sebastian, I have to ask.”

Noting her sudden seriousness, he straightened up and leaned forward a bit more. “Yes?”

“You didn’t mention… you know…” her eyes lowered, looking down at the floor off to the right of him. “Anything about that guy, did you?”

Ever since that past afternoon, the mere mentioning or hinting of her brother seemed to pierce his chest each time, causing a slow burn not intense enough to draw an overt reaction but nagging enough he couldn’t hide it completely. “I won’t speak about that until you tell me to.”

“Good,” she spoke through a sigh of relief, leaning back against her bed’s headboard. “It’s for the best, for now I mean, and I have to figure out what I am going to do about it, first… you know what I mean?”

“No, I don’t,” he responded but through a sigh of frustration and the continued sense of isolation. “But I trust you will speak about many things when you are ready. I know you have endured many things, so I won’t rush you.”

“Hey, what was that? What are you hinting at?” she griped after pausing for a moment, picking up on his tone. “I was just saying it’s a sensitive subject.”

“I have to go soon. Please call me when you are released and you have a mobile to use,” he deflected with a forced smile, standing up and allowing the chair to roll back. “Maybe we can… figure things out when everything is calm again.” He leaned over one last time to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

Was it something I said? What is he talking about?! “Sebastian, hold on, wait-”

“-I really do have to go, Ms. Norris is waiting on me,” he continued as he pushed the chair back to the desk where it was found earlier, then turned to her one last time with a wave. “I can’t miss the shuttle. Call soon, okay? And don’t forget to call Andre and Kerry- they are worried about you, too!”

Her head was still wrapped completely around the unexpected turn in emotions she witnessed so much that she was only half aware of him rushing out the door. Was it because of my brother? He didn’t act that way until I mentioned that whole ordeal. “Ugh!” She rolled back over on her right shoulder, placing her hand over her eyes, taking in a deep breath in frustration. My life has only gotten more fucked up by the day ever since you left! It did mom in, then dad in, now you are doing me in! This is going to end! I swear I am going to kill you next time I see you! She was unaware of the tears beading up around her fingers. A few long minutes passed as she remained there, sniffling occasionally, keeping her composure as if she were around company, and the absence of the hand that calmed her down so much just minutes ago was now kicking her down by loneliness. All she could do was wait until her scheduled surgery later that morning, and not only did she feel more alone than she could remember, she couldn’t recall feeling this abandoned.

Silence. And more silence.

♪“H~mm… hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hm~m hm hm~m…”♪ her weak, raspy hum played the melancholy tune she memorized from that time, and unlike before, she weakly continued along unaccompanied.

.

▽　▽　▽

.

.

●　● Outer Boston, New England Province, NAU

The briny, early afternoon’s summer breeze blowing by gently complemented the view of the Broad Sound and Revere Beach from the hill at which Isaiah stood overlooking with pensive eyes. Several days had passed before the funeral procession for Elias and the David family would take place, leaving him chance enough to make it in time. It was the first time in over a decade he had attended a funeral, and it took that much time in recovery to convince himself to attend one once again, having survived and attended the cremation of dozens of close companions during the final course of that dreaded war. But for Elias, he was no soldier nor was he part of any official armed service. The family in attendance along with the decorum were that of any typical local family, grieving the loss of a loved one.

The pastor began to make his final remarks, catching his attention as he looked back down to the casket surrounded by five other men like himself, standing with their hands clasped behind their backs. His eyes continued to hover over to the man standing next to him in between his glances back out over the sound.

.

After the casket was lowered, the pallbearers returned to the small crowd gathered behind them as Marian watched Isaiah and Tamaz walking together once more. She was too far to catch their conversation, but it soothed her mourning soul to see the two still on terms enough to carry themselves as they did. The two continued past the intermingling families and on towards a clearing past the rows of graves and up to a fence at the edge of the cemetery. I know, I realize it’s best I leave their talks to them and stay out of things this time.

The two were once more looking over the sound with heavy expressions, still feeling the tensions that had come up between them ever since that fateful afternoon.

“Thank you,” Tamaz broke the silence, taking in another long, tense breath as he began loosening the cuffs to his shirt’s sleeves. “I will admit, I almost thought you wouldn’t come.”

“I will admit myself,” Isaiah murmured as he continued to stare out blankly to the sea, “I almost thought I wouldn’t be welcome here, rest his soul.” He then leaned over on the fence, putting both arms up on the top railing as he let out a sigh. “I won’t ever pretend to know the long history between you two, and I surely won’t pretend I understand your pain. But I do know this, everything that happened that afternoon... I promise it won’t ever repeat itself.”

Tamaz finished rolling his sleeves up before loosening his collar and necktie. “I don’t know what you intend on doing with that promise, but you do know I am with Tyrus, now. You don’t have to apologize anymore, either, I know it wasn’t all your fault. Sometimes we… just need to learn to move on. This kind of loss is…”

“…this kind of loss has long been our reality. I know.”

“But we just keep moving on. I know.”

“We were being listened in on,” Isaiah suddenly broke direction as he looked over to him finally, speaking with projected conviction. “I can explain everything when the time comes, but I have grave concerns for how you are about to be used.”

“Reap’, just let it go,” he replied with a weary smile, putting his hands in his pockets as he continued looking to the beyond. “I told you I won’t hold it against you, but I need this for myself. We had put so much faith in you for those years… it will take some time, man.”

“But you know me. I can’t leave things broken.” He knew he wasn’t going to get a response by now, so he continued regardless of the silence. “I will find you in a few weeks once I get everything one-hundred percent lined up. You can go ahead and continue as you planned, but let me just say this one thing: Each victory we brought up ahead of schedule saw us heftier obstacles from our own pipelines. They are separating us for a reason, so keep your eyes open for what Tyrus does. You do remember how much Rex and he don’t get along, but I don’t see this as a poach for your talent. Rex might be punishing you, too, for having too much success.”

Tamaz only closed his eyes, calmly shrugging his shoulders.

“Our quicker successes were perhaps too much of an obstacle for certain people. We saw Venezuela with no violence lead to unnecessary violence. We saw violence in Colombia lead to full scale LTAC drops. We saw full scale LTAC ops in Bangladesh lead to the involving of old war Harbingers. What will Manila bring you, Revenant? I know what Tyrus has planned, and I will be there before he makes his big move. Look for me.”

He then waved, stiffly yet cordially as he turned to leave.

“Reap’,” Tamaz broke his silence as he dropped the tension in his shoulders and let out a defeated chuckle. “You work too hard. I’ll expect to see you when you rest up for once, or I won’t trust a damn thing you say.”

.

▽　▽　▽

.

.

●　● Akkadia One, Eden Space Territories

Amelie walked up to the ringing door service app inside her residence, somewhere deep down hoping it was Sam that would show up on screen. Danielle’s face came up instead, but it wasn’t to her disappointment. “Thank you for coming. You can come in,” she spoke through the transmitter and then walked to the larger of the sectional sofas lined up in the open-air living room and kitchen area.

The main hallway was in view as she watched Danielle turn to close the door. Amelie was at some point expecting her to stop by, but seeing Danielle’s current body language now had her apprehensive. “Please, come have a seat. I know you must be exhausted.”

“Sorry, I… I need you to see something, first,” she replied with an unusual sense of awkward distress. She began to unshoulder her large purse she had slung over her right shoulder in a manner that would avoid bumping her tender, post-surgery recovering left shoulder. “If you don’t mind,” she continued as she approached Amelie.

“What is it?” Amelie asked with her attention and concern fully bought as she looked to the bag.

“Ms. Knight, you asked me and the late Mr. Silva to do that favor for something much bigger than fear for your daughter, I believe. Am I correct?”

“I’m, sorry, I don’t know what you are even hinting at.”

“You…” she paused to read through the poker face she was confident Amelie was putting on as she gripped an object inside her purse. “Your whole family never spills the beans on anything upfront. We always find out afterwards,” she finished as she slowly removed a bloodied knife handle-like contraption. She saw the sudden affixing of Amelie’s focus on it, hinting to the correctness of her assumptions. “I had the biggest feeling you would know what this is.”

“How did you get that? Whose blood is that?” Amelie quickly interrogated, dropping the front of hospitality she had on.

“I smuggled this from evidence processing. This blood?” She twirled the handle around to the side with the most dried blood on it to show her. “It was your daughter’s. Her boyfriend found it impaled in her shoulder, leaving her trapped against the wall.”

“Give it to me,” she coldly snapped as she reached out for it.

Danielle didn’t put up a fight as she let her have it, taking a step back to read her body language further. She saw her eyes weren’t even looking at the object but rather it was her hands that did the viewing, the recollecting, the recognizing.

“I had lost this set… this set was one of several in my personal collection. I lost it years back.” She continued shaking her head for a few moments before looking back to Danielle.

But by now, Danielle had already calculated exactly what Amelie was going to say. Suspicions confirmed. “I remember what you did last war, and the war before that. I can also read people very well, Ms. Knight, and it’s pretty clear you know now who we found… working for the Underground. So, yeah, you might want to talk this over with your husband as soon as humanly possible.” She let out a heavy sigh as she watched Amelie wasting no time in reaching for her watch. “And there isn’t too much time, now. Sam will be active for training by next week, and they have her scheduled for the Philippines alongside my two; Navarre, the boyfriend, will rejoin them after I finish training him post-surgery as well. September hits, and a lot of shit will start hitting the fan… it will be up to you two to figure something out before then.” She then started back for the door. “I have to go disappear into the corporate cubicle nothingness, so I will trust you two figure this one out and do the right thing,” she spoke with a wave goodbye without looking back in her departure.

“Wait!”

The shout carried a rare sincerity that shocked her into pause without turning around.

“In return, I want you to know Gabriel Silva didn’t die with confirmation.” Amelie waited a moment for her to turn around. “No one of his status would die leaving no trace behind, even the Underground couldn’t recover him and not leave something. But you probably already knew that, right?”

Sly…

She hid her own shock and tears. She had been thinking so all along, but to hear it from her was something else. Of course, she’s right. That sly son of a bitch…

She closed the door behind her without reply in order to keep herself composed. She paused as she took a long breath, spending if just that one second to reflect on the blessings everyone still had to count, then looked up to see her automated taxi still waiting for her. Lord, let there be better days ahead… and I mean that for their sake. She then looked down at her Jazira Station Staff pass with markings that restricted her with access to that one and only station as tears of uneasiness, incertitude, and the thought of her newfound helplessness started to well up.

Better days indeed.

Please, Lord.

.

.

---End Dhaka Arc---