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She nods almost absently, as if she’d expected that response She see to the screens I’d been studying They oversee every inch of the base, fro in now I can seea few feet from the commander

"Will you come with me, Captain?" Her voice is oddly for uilty child, I tell myself sternly They can’t read your mind

"Of course, sir"

Co the rooms as we pass for an eh a doorway and barks, "You--out"

A pair of startled privates co from the commander to me I folloers inside, only to have my muscles seize up as I realize where we are

The security footage repository

Co out a chair and sliding it across the floor toward me Then she retrieves one of her own and drops into it heavily I sink downnot to be too obviously nervous If they’ve finished cleaning up the footage, then I’m too late They’ll have a clear view of Corht there in our infirmary, and I’ve been to visit him more than once And Com at the screens or the servers "Captain, I wanted to see how you were" Her eyes h there’s sy else behind it A keen interest, sharp and perceptive "You’ve had a lot to deal with over the past few days"

"I’o I would’ve been co a personal interest in ht to the truths I’er before letting her eyes fall to the floor between us "I’m sorry about Lieutenant Alexi I know you two had a history"

I fight to keepe of Alexi’s ruined face, I say shortly, "Thank you, sir"

"We’re still trying to figure out how it happened Why it happened The boe of hiht up until the explosion happened, and there’s nothing Our best behavioral researchers are analyzing it and there’s just nothing there--no hidden aggression, no signs of guilt, nothing to suggest he was about to rit my teeth It matches what Cormac said, that Quinn couldn’t have been the bomber, that he wasn’t the type And yet, he was found with the detonator in as left of his hand Could it be he didn’t knohat he was doing?

"This place," aze pastaway at us, bit by bit"