Chapter Four: First Battle at Starsea

"You are strong," he said. Rafe clenched his teeth. "Is that supposed to humiliate me?" "No," Leon said. "If you were not strong, I would not have needed to wait for the loop." That sentence stopped Rafe cold. He could hear it. Leon was not boasting. It was a post-battle assessment, cold and exact. At the instructor station, Harren's artificial eye flickered rapidly. Several senior instructors beside him were silent. Admiral Ardent stood at the rear observation gallery, not smiling, but something in her gaze had settled into certainty. At the far end of the same gallery, a middle-aged man in a silver-gray suit began to clap. His applause was slow, and the academy's shock made it sound especially clear.