The DGC temporary command center felt like a tomb.
Captain Helena Valerius stood in the sterile, humming silence, a cup of lukewarm, bitter coffee in her hand.
The air was thick with the ghosts of her own failures.
The Chimera leak had shattered the public's trust in the DGC.
General Gideon, protected by a wall of high-priced lawyers and political maneuvering, had been placed on "administrative leave," a polite term for a paid vacation.
Commander Kael was now the de facto head of Special Operations, his power growing daily, his arrogance a palpable, suffocating presence in every briefing.
And Thanatos, the ghost that had started it all, had vanished without a trace.
Valerius felt like she was the only sane person left in an asylum that was burning down around her.
"Anything?" she asked, her voice a flat, weary sound.
The young analyst at the main console, a kid named Ensign Miller, shook his head, his face pale under the harsh fluorescent lights.
