With the briefing over and the dismissal order given, the lights came back on.  Ren – with her blues on - set a hand on the arm-rests of her seat and pushed up – albeit slowly.  Seth realized quickly that she was struggling on the one side, but just as he was about to step in and help, Ren shooed him away.


    “I can do it…I just need a second…” She insisted, even as her left shoulder and elbow trembled with every inch.


    Being in the front row, the only person ahead of her who was watching was her Captain.  When she finally made it up to her feet though, and she heard the cheering and applause from behind her, too, her face went red and she spun around.


    Ravan lunged at her from over the row, and threw her arms over her shoulders, dragging her back into a hug, “That was amazing!  How’d you manage to get so strong in such a short amount of time!?”


    Ren just smiled behind her pink cheeks, “Th-thanks…”


    One by one, more Knights from her team started to make their way out from the second and third rows.  Michelle, Alexander, Gareth, and Xandra, all came around to formally reunite with their Wing Commander, each one insisting on their own hugs, having to pry Ravan off of the woman, even as she hissed like a cat to keep Ren to herself.


    Ren laughed and pet her friend’s arm, “It’s okay, I’m not going anywhere.”


    Ravan finally withdrew her arms, and clambered her way over the back of the seats to get in front.  Once everyone else had gotten their hugs though, she slithered around Ren’s thin frame again and pet her head affectionately, “You were gone for two weeks without a word.  I’m of a mind to not believe you.  But it’s okay.  I forgive you.  You’re here now.  Shhh…you’re here now.”


    “You’re being so weird,” Ren shook her head and smiled.  As the room emptied though, she caught a fleeting glimpse of Gabriel leaving, and saw the red of the uniform-jacket sway out of sight beyond the doorframe.  That just made her heart sink, and she looked away with a guilty conscience, I really need to talk to him at some point…  I just…don’t know how to start that conversation.


    “It’s so good to see everyone back together again.” Rylen’s voice cut through the fog like high-beams, “Wing Team One was looking rather depleted there for a bit.”


    The six split apart with haste and all saluted, “Sir!”


    “At ease, no more of that for now.” He waved his hand at them, and they all took a more casual stance, “Still…it’s one man shy of a full team.”


    That made everyone go a little quiet.


    Rylen turned slightly as he sensed Furion coming down from the stage, “Captain, we should talk later about filling-out the last spot.”


    “Yessir…”


    “Until then.” The Eidolon started walking off, his mantle dissolving into its own footsteps until he was completely gone.


    Ren looked disappointed, “I know the Eidolon think Ianori’s dead, but…are we really going to base that on what Kitez told us at that border exchange?”  She looked up at her Captain, “You and the others said you locked him in a cell.”


    “…What we locked-up wasn’t him.” Furion shook his head.


    “But he could still be in there somewhere.”


    Seth deflated where he stood, eyes on the floor as he wrapped his arms around himself.


    “I wish we knew one way or another.” He answered, and reached to find her right hand.  He kissed her knuckles through her glove, “Maybe one day we’ll know.  I have to get to the bridge now though.  Once we’re on cruise control, I’ll come find you.”


    “Okay...”


    All five of the remaining Fafnir stood behind Ren with incredulous looks on their breathless faces, watching their Captain leave – with his brother hot on his heels.  Ravan and Xandra clung to one another, each one caught in a gasp.  All eyes went to their Commander, and she just took a single step forward before she spun around on a heel to face them.


    “What?” She asked sweetly.


    The amount of excited yelling that suddenly poured out of that room was enough to get everyone in the hall to look at it in surprise…including Gabriel and Xanarken, who had been waiting for Seth.  Once the Captain had said his farewells to his brother, the teen came quietly shuffling towards the two Fourth Wingers, who’d been loitering like lost birds.


    “What was that all about?” The mediator wondered.


    Seth looked back at the door, then back at the questioner, and shrugged, “They’re like that.”


    “…What about you?” Gabriel asked skeptically, “Why are you like that?”


    “Huh?”


    “You look like you just got bad news.  I was in the room as long as you were though.  It was just a brief.”


    “Oh…  I…was reminded about Mr. Ianori just now.” He answered, and lifted a hand to hold the opposite arm, “Lord Rylen just told my brother that they should talk later about filling that empty slot.  If that’s the case, then…he must’ve concluded that Mr. Ianori wasn’t going to be coming home, and there wasn’t any hope of recovering him, regardless of the state he was in when we last saw him.”


    “Ah…”


    “I was asking Furion if that meant he’d have to send out the death notices.  …I feel a lot of guilt for how that mission went.”


    “What happened wasn’t your fault.” Gabriel reassured.


    Xanarken bent down slightly to look at the teen, “Surviving a terrible situation when someone else didn’t can be as bad as any other feeling of guilt.”


    Those green eyes lifted, “…So you think he’s really gone, too?  Sir…”


    “I think what we saw what pretty telling.  What arose in his place was…something else entirely.  A cosmic parasite?  Some kind of…para-dimensional, mind-altering corruption?  We can’t know…”


    “Scyrexian…”


    None of them were allowed to linger on the thought though, as the last gaggle of Fafnir Knights finally made their way out of the briefing room.  The epicenter of all the noise and laughter though was, not unexpectedly, their reinstated Wing Commander, whom they ferried out and towards a nearby elevator-bay.


    Gabriel lifted his head as they passed, and for the briefest of moments – before the door opened and the celebratory pack pushed Ren through – their eyes met.  He lifted his head, but then she was gone, and all he was left with was a feeling like he’d just been dunked in ice-cold water.  He pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against and started to leave down the other way.


    “Gabe?  Where are you going all of a sudden?” Xanarken wondered, “I thought you wanted to ask me something.”


    “It can wait.” He answered with a dismissive wave, “It’s waited two weeks already.  What’s a little while longer.  It’s not like we’re going anywhere.”


    .


    He couldn’t stand to go back to Seth’s room.  He had no where else on the Aegis to go to, though, except that walk-in-closet-sized room he’d been assigned.  And so, there he languished, staring at the ceiling on a mattress barely worthy of the description, with a thousand things going through his head…and yet, nothing at all.


    Frustrations were starting to get unbearable though, and he threw his arms forward to hoist himself up to sit normally.  He turned and put his feet on the cold floor, fingers gripped to the scratchy blanket under him.  Eyes narrowed…and he made up his mind.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The elevator beeped and opened on the bridge level, and Gabriel stepped out.  There were only two directions to go; left, towards the bridge itself, and right, towards the Captain’s office, his quarters, and the private meeting room that Rylen had set aside for himself on all of his SkyFortresses.  He went to the right, heart pounding in his chest.  His feet took him to the entrance of that office, but his hands stayed at his sides.


    Seth’s earlier words echoed in his head, and he had every reason to believe that the good Captain wasn’t alone.  He drew in a long breath, and pulled up his HUD, Unethical and highly discouraged, but…  He found an app called [Listen In] and loaded it, Desperate men don’t make smart choices.


    A ring of light briefly circled around his right ear, and he set his back against the inner wall of the deep door-frame.  True to his suspicion, there were voices speaking on the other side of the closed panel, and he recognized the second immediately.


    “…I’m aware of that,” Rylen countered, conversation already underway, “But she had every tool at her disposal, and the Magistrate still got away without a scratch.”


    “She could’ve killed Lord Xanarken’s second in command if she cut loose.” Furion defended, “That has to count for something.”


    “Oh, it does, but I saw the footage of her POV.  She ditched Gabriel halfway through the exhaust system.  She had plenty of time and opportunity to take out that Magistrate before Gabriel got close enough to be a hinderance.” Rylen countered, pacing back and forth across the head of the room.  He looked out onto the passing countryside, “She hesitated.  Whether to get a word in, or to be recognized first…doesn’t matter.”


    “If you saw the same footage I did while debriefing her, then you know half the encounter was scrambled.” Furion replied with a sigh, “We don’t know what happened after Gabriel made himself known to them.  Ren said he had his Limitless engaged at that point.  Maybe it impacted her sensors when she got too close.  It would explain why everything worked normally again once he shut it off.”


    Gabriel’s brow crinkled, The POV footage was corrupted…?  But my affliction hasn’t bothered anyone’s data so far…  Seth’s practically catalogued me at this point; not one peep about my Limitless frying his processes.


    “I think we can both take her reporting afterwards for what it was; she admitted she went on defense after she backed-up to his location.” Rylen shook his head, “I had such high hopes…”


    “Please, sir…don’t take her out of consideration over this one mission.”


    “This mission could cost us in Kitez, Captain, and she gave both Xanarken and I assurances that she would win.  If that Magistrate opens his mouth about the attempt…” Rylen had his left hand on his hip and the right over his mouth, “…The upheaval it could cause in the Accord…”


    “It’s been two weeks though, and not a word.  I think they have reasons of their own to keep it under wraps.  I-”  Furion paused; the light on his door came on, implying someone was within knocking-distance of the metal.  He lifted his hand up in a ‘hold on’ gesture at his Eidolon, and nudged his head at the passageway.  Rylen took his meaning and buttoned-up, and Furion turned that same hand over to gesture at his visual overlay; it showed none-other than the mediator outside, waiting.  Furion’s expression changed dramatically, “I thank you for considering my words on Dame Ren’s behalf.”


    The Eidolon nodded, “We’ll talk again tomorrow, after Xanarken and I swap over to the Cloud you’re bringing across the equator.”


    “Yessir.”


    Rylen’s mantle dissolved to dust, and Furion was left alone in the room.  He looked up briefly, then took a stance with his hands clasped loosely behind his back, “Open door.”


    The panel hissed across, startling the mediator and making the app send a jarring screech directly into his ear.  The feedback was enough to make him wince loudly, and he waved his hand across it to close it.  He shook his head and realized Furion was staring straight at him.


    “You were listening.” The Captain said flatly, “That was rude, and probably a crime.  Sir.”


    “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Gabriel answered dubiously, and slowly stepped into that large office, “I was just waiting.  Figuring out how I wanted to set things straight with you.”


    Even without his Captain’s regalia, Furion was already an intimidating figure.  At 6’4” he was 4” taller than the mediator who’d just stepped in front of him, and every bit the image of the elite warrior that the Fafnir Knights had cultivated for over two centuries.  Still, he was technically in a subordinate position compared to the Negotiator of the Fourth, and he kept his stance, “Set things straight.” He echoed carefully.


    “You’ve been uniquely disrespectful,” Gabriel answered, staring back just as intensely, his bicolored red and blue eyes the complete opposite of Furion’s teal green, “Reporting my work to my Eidolon as though I was out of line with a simple request to Seth, then condemning me to a lodging space far below what my rank in the Council is entitled to.  I could accept the black-eye you’d given me for asking a favor from your brother, but…to swing at the other when Xanarken had already addressed the matter – personally – is a slight I can’t turn the other cheek to.”


    “Don’t know what you’re talking about.  Sir.” The Captain answered, “I don’t personally assign living spaces to anyone aboard this vessel.  It’s…a task far below my rank.” He lowered his face slightly, giving his expression a bit of a sinister undertone.


    “You and I both know full and bloody well that no one on this ship other than you would even conceive to put an Eidolon’s lieutenant into a room intended for the foremen of the lower decks.  I imagine you would’ve thrown me directly into the communal bunks if you could have.  And, who knows?  Maybe you tried.” Gabriel accused, and took a judging step forward, finger pointed at the taller man, “Why not just come clean about it?  Quit standing on ceremony.  You’ve punished me plenty already.  At least be a man and tell it to my face.  I don’t need any more misunderstandings if I’m going to be asked to put my life on the line for Seth’s experiments.”


    “You want honesty?” The Captain asked daringly, and lifted his head back up.  It was him taking the step forward then, followed by another, until he was clearly closing the distance, “The honest truth is I didn’t have anything to do with your bunk options.  That was either Lord Rylen or Lord Xanarken…and after you so royally fucked up the first solo-mission Ren got after her return to the Fafnir…it’s better than you supposedly deserved.”


    It was more than he expected, too; Gabriel was a bit surprised to hear the idea.


    Furion was close enough to make Gabriel take a step back, and his gaze was full of anger, “Four…months.  Four months I had to endure knowing she was stuck with you.  After two, she should have come home, but Lord Xanarken thought she was having a good influence on you, and resisted Lord Rylen’ attempts to transfer her back.” He was uncomfortably close then, and bent down to look into those bicolored eyes directly, “And now she thinks she’s having a good influence on you; views you like a broken toy that she can put back together.  I acquiesced to the will of the Eidolon, and kept my silence…I bent to the wishes of my Lieutenant, despite my reluctance to split her time.  But then…you had the audacity to put her at risk by insisting you go along with her on that mission into the Connington Fragment.  Your actions, your choices…have torn such an incredible rip through Ren’s reputation that Lord Rylen is reconsidering whether she deserves to be considered for Captainship one day.  It’ll take years for her to recover what you pissed into the wind.”


    Gabriel sneered, “You don’t know what the stakes of that mission were.” He growled quietly, knowing he was one step away from feeling the wall against his back, “You don’t have a damn clue what happened, either.”


    “Enlighten me then, Gabriel Lugios.  Being ignorant doesn’t make me a fool.”


    Something about the way Furion had spoken those last few words triggered a visceral reaction in Gabriel that he didn’t know was possible.  He felt the stinging pain in the knuckles of his right hand before he realized he’d even struck the man, followed by the subsequent jarring ricochet of pain through a wrist that hadn’t hit anything in a decade.  He shook his forearm and hissed a breath, but then finally realized Furion’s eyes were practically white from the surprise and anger.  Fists clenched and Gabriel lifted both hands up defensively, “…I take enough shit from a population that treats my authority like a joke Xanarken keeps telling.  Saluting me to my face and then shitting in my footprints when I turn my back.  I’m not taking shit from you too over a decision Xanarken made for me.”


    Furion had managed to right himself by then, but didn’t dignify the strike with a soothing rub.  His jaw was going to hurt either way; weak throw or not, he’d still gotten sucker-punched by a grown man.


    The mediator continued, not noticing the subtle golden glint flickering in his eyes, “There’s more to that mission than you know.  Stuff that – I now realize - has been scrubbed from your archives…events I had to order Ren to never repeat or acknowledge, even to you…”


    “Shut it down, Lugios.” Furion warned, seeing the sparks grow into those full tails of afflicted light.


    “No.”


    The reaction was immediate and forceful.  In a blink, the horizontal plane was suddenly vertical.  The wall had rushed up behind and knocked the breath straight out of him.  So had the floor.  Having a knee on his neck hadn’t helped, and that voice boomed again.


    “SHUT IT DOWN.  NOW.”


    He could see the subtle warbling light reflecting off the Captain’s eyes – like a flickering candle-flame - and Gabriel realized.  His expression sunk – he could feel his whole body go limp – and that glow quickly faded.


    Furion pulled his knee off and crouched slightly, “You are, quite frankly, the single-most self-destructive person I’ve ever met.  Whatever misguided affection Ren has for you, I can’t understand, but as long as you hold even the tiniest modicum of authority over her…you had better never hurt her.  Neither of the Eidolon will be able to save you from me if she’s ever harmed while under your care.  Now get out.”


    Gabriel coughed to catch his breath, and pushed up onto an elbow as the Captain backed up to give him space.  Furion hadn’t gone far though, and watched him very carefully.  With effort, the mediator clambered up to his feet and hobbled towards the door, clearing his throat as it slid open.  Not one more word was said, and the High Negotiator of the Fourth Wing could only limp back to the closet his own Eidolon – he was convinced - had arranged for him to stay in.


    With his heart in his throat, Furion took a deep breath.  The door shifted closed again, and the office-space was quiet.  He looked at his gloved hands, eyes narrowed, “…Idiot…  What were you thinking…”