Chapter Thirty-Seven – Aegis – Part Three

Sometimes, getting ahead of something is the only way to deal with it.

- WSA Public Relations Chairman Yogel -

"So, who wants to start?" Tenny asks.

Silence for a few moments.

"I think that Bregan may have killed Trent."

Everyone turns to face the one who said it, I blink twice… Verantha?

"Judging by the wounds on his face, they look like they were made by the mace I saw Bregan wielding to slay the Emperor Dragonfly," Verantha explains.

Dorliac and Mwangi both give me a side eye expression that says to not speak. So I don't. I just kind of slink back and let it play out.

"You saw Bregan kill the Emperor?" Tenny asks her.

"I did, with a blue flame aspect mace of some kind."

"Mace of the Ardent Flame," Dorliac says, musing her chin in hand, "Specialist Novak, did you and Trent find it on top of the dandelion?"

All eyes fall on me.

"Uh, yes, ma'am," I say, gulping. Not adding the part where I smashed his face in with it after he tried to kill me.

"What happened up there?" Tenny asks me, staring through her glasses. A few strands of her hair are out of her bun, she wipes them back.

"He… I, the dragonflies came, and we…" shit, I'm fumbling.

"His memories might be a little impaired, he fell from a great height," Verantha adds.

I stare at her. Is she helping me? Why would she help me? Or does she think I have lingering brain damage?

"Yes," Dorliac adds with a nod, "He was barely healed, even with Divine magic."

"I see," Tenny says, giving me a pitiful glance, "Make sure you get a psych eval when we get back."

"Roger, ma'am."

"Okay, so Trent had the Mace of the Ardent Flame," Mwangi says, crossing his arms, "I did see some scorch marks on the side of the plant's stalk, so that tracks. He must have stolen it and fled."

"That's a serious allegation," Tenny's Platoon Sergeant says.

Sergeant First Class Beaumont. Mwangi's rival. They came up together. But had a falling out at their last duty station. Somehow they both got sent to the same place again. In the same company no less. They used to have shouting matches until Beaumont got promoted. Now he outranks Mwangi and doesn't let him forget it.

"Trent's been investigated four times for loot slaying," Verantha says, breaking the silence.

Beaumont backs off the dagger stare at Mwangi.

"They warned me about him when we were grouped up," she explains, then looking down at Bregan, "He was never indicated to have that problem though, so I find it strange that he would do that."

"Do what?" Dorliac asks.

"Kill Trent for a rare class weapon."

Silence again as everyone mulls it over.

"That still doesn't answer who shot Bregan," Tenny says, rubbing her temples.

"I did," Sergeant Gilroy says, stepping forward, "It was me, ma'am, in defense of my soldiers and my own life."

Verantha tilts her head at him.

"You shot him?" Beaumont asks, folding his arms.

"I did, Sergeant."

"You three witnessed it?" Tenny asks, looking at Tran, Barlow, and me.

We nod and say, "Yes, ma'am."

Gilroy spends the next two minutes giving a play-by-play, except he somehow manages to not mention Abyss. Is he covering for me? Tran and Barlow give a similar retelling, so similar it feels like they rehearsed it.

"Do you concur with their story, Novak?" Dorliac asks.

"Yes, ma'am," I lie.

"So, Trent stole the mace, Bregan killed him for it, and then Sergeant Gilroy shot Bregan in self-defense," Mwangi says, scratching his chin now, "Not the craziest story I have heard."

"There's an issue with the timeline," Verantha says shaking her head, "Bregan took Novak out into the boglands after I healed him. You say he was shot directly after that. Then how did I see him take down the Emperor Dragonfly?"

Tenny shifts, writing down everything that's said. Diligent as always. This isn't the formal investigation that's going to happen, but she's treating it like such. I think they're just trying to get the story straight for their report. There's no way this doesn't warrant a formal investigation. On top of that, we were next on the list for being interviewed about the divine item drop.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I saw Trent's vines encasing Bregan's armor as well, so up until that point, they were working together, presumably."

"Right," Tenny says, tapping her pencil on the notepad, "Interesting indeed, especially considering the gate finished moments after it was slain, I presume?"

Verantha nods.

Everyone is silent again. I was there for all of it, and even I'm getting confused with all the moving parts of the various theories. All the bullshit isn't going to work. It just doesn't line up no matter how you cut it. At this rate, everyone is going to get into trouble trying to cover for me. I don't want that.

"I did it, I killed Trent in self-defense, then took the mace. Gilroy shot Bregan to save us. And I used his armor and the mace to help me kill the Emperor Dragonfly."

Silence for a whole five seconds until… Verantha bursts out laughing, and it follows next with Beaumont, then Mwangi and Dorliac who fake laugh, giving me a shut the fuck up look now.

"What level are you?" Tenny asks, she hasn't laughed yet.

"Fourteen, probably higher now."

She raises an eyebrow.

"He's level eight ma'am," Barlow says.

"He leveled up after our last gate," Tran adds.

The laughter increases. Tenny is still quiet, writing down what I said. She pushes up her glasses.

"I strongly recommend that he gets a formal psych evaluation," Tenny says.

She doesn't believe me either.

"Imagine a healer killing a boss monster at level eight," Beaumont cackles.

"At any level," Dorliac quips, giving the business laugh and smile.

It's so easy for them, bullshitting. Verantha gives me a look, the same smile as Dorliac. Fake and full of shit.

"Well, thank you for the entertainment, Specialist Novak," Dorliac says, snickering, "We will take your theory under advisement."

"Ma'am, I…"

"Dismissed, Specialists," she says, giving Barlow, Tran, and me a nod.

"Roger, ma'am."

When we get outside, Cortez is sitting on a water jug, trying to avoid the mud. She stands and meets us halfway.

"How'd it go?" she asks.

The laughter grows louder, I hear them making remarks about my statement. Mwangi and Dorliac especially. Did Mwangi even believe me when I said I killed Trent? Dorliac knows I have the Divine item drop. Her covering isn't a surprise to me.

"It went great," Tran says, slapping my shoulder, "He told some crazy story about him killing the Emperor Dragonfly and they let us leave."

"Brilliant, playing the crazy card," Barlow says, giving me a reassuring nod.

For fucks sake.

"Mind if I borrow him?" Cortez asks them, but it's not really a request, she's dragging me away.

"Yo, be quick though, we still have questions," Tran gripes.

"Relax, let them do their thing," Barlow says, but I can tell he feels the same way as Tran.

Both of them look a little dejected I didn't tell them about Abyss.

She pulls me behind some crates out of sight. When we are beyond earshot, Cortez turns on me, grabbing my face and kissing me. I'm so caught off guard that I barely kiss her back. She pulls me into a hug now, squeezing me tightly.

"Are you okay?" she asks me.

"Yeah, I'm…" I don't want to lie to her, so I shake my head no.

"Dorliac told me that you… that you."

"Yeah."

She nods, pulling me in for another hug.

"You did what you had to do, don't let that eat at you."

I know she's right. It was kill or be killed, but his blood is still staining my clothes. Still under my fingernails. Probably matted in my hair.

"Is there more?" she asks.

"I just… I don't know how to carry everyone's death. It's my fault that Abyss ate the quest item. I should have protested when Dorliac asked me to go. I knew it was stupid. And then… and then, I just kept hitting him, again and again, and…"

Her face scrunches. She tries to pull me in for a hug, but I feel suffocated. I press her away. My breath becomes erratic as I remember his face splitting under the mace, and as I feel his memories from his perspective. The fear… the pain… all of it.

"I just… I just…"

She hugs me tightly. Time passes, I don't know how long, but she doesn't let me go. Solace, until I hear shouting.

"Novak!" a voice yells, not once, but twice. It's Mwangi.

Deep breaths. Push it down. Restore the cork.

"Over here, sergeant," I say, stepping out from behind the crates.

"Lt wants to see you," he says, looking at Cortez, "Get Barlow and Tran."

When we get there, I see that Tenny, Beaumont, Verantha, and the bodies of Trent and Bregan are gone now. It's just Dorliac, Mwangi, Gilroy and me.

"You wanted to see me, ma'am?" I ask.

"Let's wait for everyone," she says.

"Roger, ma'am."

A few minutes later, Cortez brings in Tran and Barlow.

"Okay, I'm going to say this one time," Mwangi says, folding his arms, "Anything said inside this tent, remains inside. Anyone that violates that, will find my boot up their ass."

What's going to be said?

"Specialist Novak, it's time to widen the circle of trust," Dorliac says.

Cortez flinches, looking at all the people in the tent, then me.

"Don't spare any details," she says, sighing, "It's better to get in front of it."

Shit. We're really doing this.

"Um, like everything?" I ask.

She pauses, looking bashful for a second, "Our prior relationship doesn't need to be discussed."

Mwangi gives a strange eyebrow raise, but it falls back in line.

"Roger, um, well to begin, I…" my throat swallows. Am I going to tell them everything? Can I actually tell them everything? I don't think it's wise to speak of Respec on Death. But the rest, I can give them the gist.

"Well, I'm not a healer anymore."

***

After a painful two hours of retelling what's happened later, the room is abuzz with chatter.

"I can't believe you're actually a higher level than me," Gilroy grumbles, shaking his head, "We're going to need to fudge his quarterly evaluation paperwork."

"Already did that," Dorliac says, stretching her neck.

"He's due for the annual one with Brigade soon as well," Gilroy adds.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Mwangi says.

"What about replacing him on the roster and getting a new medic?" Gilroy asks, damn, he's actually kind of squared away.

"Lt is a healer, besides we have the Cleric on permanent assignment for the next year," Mwangi says.

"How'd we swing that?" Gilroy asks.

"We didn't, she requested the transfer," Dorliac says.

"She requested it, ma'am?" I ask.

"That and for her uncle to be moved to our off-worlder roster, along with the others from his group."

"Her uncle?" Barlow asks.

"You should know him," Mwangi says, shaking his head, "The three of you knuckleheads did extra duty for helping him."

"Oh, shit," I murmur, "She's Trevanius's niece?"

Mwangi nods.

Thinking back on it now, Trevanius did say something about his niece coming to see him, and his circumstances changing. Honestly, though, I just thought that he picked the wrong herb for his tea and dismissed it.

So, that's why she was trying to be nice and acted like she knew me. Well, I fucked that one up. I'll have to smooth that over eventually. Especially if she's going to be here for a year.

"What about the investigation?" Cortez asks.

"Well, my dad doesn't have the rank to help us on that," Dorliac says, leaning against the field desk, the legs are wobbly, she tilts her head at Cortez, "But I think you know someone who might have the rank."

"I highly advise against that, ma'am," Cortez says, she's not even being snippy.

Who's she talking about, who does Cortez know that's high up? Wait, when we were in Ulana's temple, before they all... died. She said her mom was high up, like really high up. I wonder if that's who she means.

"What's the official report for this incident going to look like?" Gilroy asks.

Mwangi sighs and shrugs.

Great. Work in progress then.

"I still can't believe you have a fox pet in the barracks," Tran says.

Dorliac gives me and Cortez a glance, she wasn't happy about hearing there was more we didn't tell her about.

"You're going to need to find a different place for it," Mwangi says, folding his arms again.

"I'll take it," Dorliac offers.

"Like hell," Cortez says, then with an eyebrow raised, "Ma'am."

It's always something.

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