It took longer than Tassie would have like for everybody to gather. As the minutes ticked by, her worry grew. It was time for her to reveal some of the classified information she’d been keeping from them, and she prayed to the gods in hopes that Adrian’s reaction wouldn’t be too bad.

  Beor entered the house, the last to arrive. She waited patiently for him to find a spot before starting. “I’ve been ordered to share some news with all of you concerning the facility. Most of it was classified, even to me, until earlier today. We’re only learning about it because it’s going to affect all of us.”

  “That doesn’t sound like good news,” Beor commented. Worry spread through the room as the others braced themselves for something bad.

  “It’s not bad news,” Tassie quickly reassured them, waving her hands to dispel others of the notion that it was. “It’s just shocking news.”

  “That still doesn’t sound like good news,” Beor reiterated.

  Tassie sighed and began explaining about the hidden rooms they’d discovered several months ago. She omitted telling them how they’d confirmed their theories about them. Reya and Adrian didn’t need to know about their prisoner. They weren’t allowed to. “I only learned what was in this room from Irric earlier today.” She looked at Adrian apologetically. “I truly didn’t know before then.”

  “You’re really not selling this good news narrative,” Adrian said, growing nervous at the way Tassie was acting. “Does it have anything to do with my experiments? Because if so, I really don’t want to hear it.”

  “Yes, but not really. It has nothing to do with you personally, but it’s still something you need to know.” Adrian’s shoulders relaxed a smidge, and she took it as a sign to continue. “Inside the one of the rooms are rows of pods, each one containing mutated human and a’vaare bodies. Sometimes only pieces of them. Ava confirmed that the only fully intact body was Adrian’s cellmate back at the experimental facility he was held captive at on his home world. Apparently, the man was frozen in his pod at the same time Adrian was.”

  Stunned silence dominated the room. Tassie paused, letting the revelation sink in. Adrian froze. All eyes turned to him, but he didn’t notice. He didn’t react at all. The seconds stretched by as they waited for him to speak until it became clear that something was wrong. Reya reached out and placed her hand on his lap. “Are you alright?” she asked. He blinked, coming back to himself. Reya turned towards Tassie. “Please tell us that’s everything.”

  Tassie took in Adrian’s state and swallowed hard. “It’s not. According to Ava, the man’s in the same position she last saw him in. His pod was never opened after being sent to the gru’ul. She thinks he wasn’t experimented on by them at all.” She paused before continuing once more, bracing herself for what was to come. “They found a way to unthaw him and he’s going to come live here. He’s set to arrive in three weeks.”

  “What?” was all Adrian could manage.

  Tassie hesitated before asking, “Adrian, what happened to you? Everything we discover is somehow related to you. Ava said you and this other guy might not be on good terms when you meet but didn’t explain why. We need to know if there’s any chance he’ll be violent.”

  This time it was Reya’s turn to freeze. Her eyes turned hard as she glared at Tassie. “Is this an ambush to get information out of Adrian? Was the idea to shock him hard enough and make him speak about things he doesn’t want to?”

  Tassie’s eyes widened. “No!” she denied. “I swear it isn’t.”

  “Then why must you keep asking?”

  Adrian let out a feeble chuckle, distracting both women. “That son of a bitch is coming here? And you’re telling me nothing happened to him?” His hand instinctively grabbed for Reya’s as he processed the news. She gave him a worried squeeze. “How the hell is that fair?” He brought his free hand across his face and blinked.

  “We don’t know what you’re talking about. Will he be violent?” Tassie asked again.

  “No,” Adrian spat. “He has things to answer for, but he won’t do anything.” Tassie looked like she had more to ask but Reya silenced her with a sharp look. She took the hint and didn’t question him further.

  “All of this was decided without our input?” Jyn asked, speaking up. “Wouldn’t it be pertinent for us to know ahead of time that this was a possibility so that we could prepare for his arrival?”

  “This is the Tribunal letting you know,” Tassie replied. “I don’t know why they chose to wait so long before telling us. We have three weeks to prepare for our newest addition, not that there’s much preparing left to do. Apart from getting additional supplies, we have everything we need ready to go.” She turned towards Rann. “He’ll be taking your assigned room, which shouldn’t be a problem since you sleep with Beor.”

  Rann shrugged. “That’s fine. Not like I’ve really slept in it at all since arriving anyway.”

  “The rest of us need to have a more private meeting,” Tassie said, glancing at Jyn as she spoke, “to discuss our response to our new orders.”

  “We have new orders?” Beor asked.

  “Yes, which I’ll go into detail once we’re all gathered on the ship. I’m sorry,” Tassie said to Reya, “but you and Adrian aren’t allowed to be a part of this discussion. This is military business. I’m can’t discuss the specifics around you anymore.”

  “It’s frustrating,” Reya said, “especially after you dropped such a huge bomb on us, but I get it. How long will it take?”

  “Hopefully no more than an hour. Most of everything that needed to be said has been done so already. I’m honestly surprised you all don’t have any questions.”

  “We have plenty of questions,” Rann said, “but we’ll save those for when we’re on the ship, since we don’t know how much you’re allowed to answer with these two around.” She jerked her head towards Adrian and Reya.

  “I’m going to need a minute to come to terms with this,” Adrian said. “It suits me just fine that you all want to go somewhere else for a little while.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Maybe you should all go have your meeting,” Reya said, eyeing Adrian as he struggled to process the news. “Now.” The others took one look at Adrian and got the hint. One at a time, they shuffled out of the house until only Tassie was left behind. “What, is there more news you haven’t told us about yet?”

  Tassie shook her head. “That’s all of it. I hope the news wasn’t too shocking.” She knew it was, though.

  “Like everything that’s happened to me, I’ll get over it,” Adrian said in a dead voice. “Is getting away from it all so much to ask? Everyday, I feel like there’s some new discovery looming over me. All I want is to put this behind me and move on with my life. Will I ever be free?”

  A sharp pang ran through both women when they heard the longing in his voice, albeit for different reasons. Reya couldn’t stand knowing that more hardship would soon befall her beloved while Tassie felt bad about putting Adrian in such a state with her news. Reya jerked her head towards the door, signaling for Tassie to join the others on the ship. She got up from her chair and exited the house, but not before casting one final glance towards Adrian.

  The last thing she saw as she shut the door was Reya collecting Adrian into a much-needed hug.

  “What’s so important that it couldn’t be discussed back in the house?” Jyn asked once everybody was seated in the ship’s meeting room. The same one Adrian had used to meet with the Elders earlier that day.

  “The Tribunal wants us to get information out of the man that’s going to come live with us,” Tassie said.

  Jyn frowned. “I figured as much. How is that any different than our current orders to get information out of Adrian?”

  “There’s a real chance that this man might talk, unlike Adrian,” Tassie said succinctly. “While he won’t be able to tell us anything about the gru’ul facility, he can shed some light on the events that happened before that. The very same events that made Adrian so interesting to the gru’ul.”

  “So the Tribunal is hoping to figure out why the facility was created in the first place?” Beor asked. He looked towards the ceiling while drumming his fingers on the table while he thought. “There are two sections to the facility. Could the non-restricted section be a front for what the gru’ul were really trying to accomplish with Adrian?”

  “We don’t know. There’s so little to go on. The corruption is really hampering our efforts to learn more, which is why any information the Tribunal can get their hands on is useful information as far as they’re concerned.”

  “Are they planning on turning the man into a test subject to learn what they want to know? Last I checked, the protections granted to Adrian don’t extend to him.”

  Tassie hesitated. “From what I can gather, they’re hoping that he’ll willingly give up blood samples to be studied. I can’t imagine they’d resort to live experimentation to get what they want. If Adrian’s story is true, then first contact protocols apply to this man as well. The Tribunal can ask, but not force, a newly contacted species to be studied.”

  “If they don’t recognize Adrian’s claims, there’s nothing holding them back,” Beor pointed out. “I’m not so sure I trust the Tribunal not to experiment on the new guy. What do we do if they decide to? Do we accept it, or do we protect him like we’re supposed to, even if it’s from ourselves?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Jyn said firmly. “There’s no point in worrying about that right now.”

  “I disagree. We should talk about it now in case we do find ourselves in such a situation since there’s a real chance it might occur.” Discussion broke out amongst the team members, but no concrete plan of action materialized, and the team reluctantly agreed to table the topic until a later date.

  “Is there anything else we need to know, Tassie?” Jyn asked. Now that the conversation had died down, he tried to steer it back to the original reason they were gathered. While he didn’t like receiving orders from Tassie, he understood that she was only acting as proxy for Irric and swallowed his frustration.

  “Yes,” Tassie said gravely. “There are to be no threats – and I mean absolutely no threats – of any kind towards this man. We’re to be so nice that he willingly gives up his information. You can’t treat him the same way you’ve treated Adrian, Jyn.”

  “Why am I the one being singled out here?” Jyn asked with narrowed eyes. When he received flat looks from around the room, he knew that the others were on Tassie’s side. “How am I supposed to act, then? We still have to be on guard against anything this new man might do.”

  “With common decency, for starters,” Tassie spat. “Treat the man like you would have Reya before this whole thing started.” Rann winced from where she sat and shared a worried look with Beor. Jyn had yet to apologize for the way he’d treated Tassie during and after the mission all those months ago and she’d long since run out of patience with him.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jyn fumed.

  “Exactly what it sounds like. You have manners, somewhere in there. Go dredge them up from whatever deep corner you buried them in and put them to use. You were explicitly singled out by Irric because of your behaviour towards Adrian when he gave me our new orders. The Tribunal is going to be paying close attention to how this man is treated.”

  A slight flush of embarrassment crept up on Jyn when nobody jumped to his defense. Beor refused to meet his eyes when he glanced at him. “Noted,” he said through gritted teeth. “I didn’t realize I’d been so out of line while doing my job. Something you all seem to keep forgetting.”

  “And you have done a good job,” Rann interjected placatingly. “But sometimes you lose sight of the more basic things. Our relationship with Adrian might be better if you hadn’t threatened him or starved him. What Tassie’s trying to say is that you need to act friendly towards the new guy.”

  “I’m not here to be his friend. I’m here to keep us safe from threats and protect military assets.”

  “You can do that while maintaining a friendly fa?ade. You don’t have to be his friend or trust him, simply act like you do. Besides, if you get closer to the man, you’ll be able to better predict how he’s going to act, which would make your job easier.

  Jyn paused his response, thinking on what Rann said. “I suppose you’re right, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “That’s fine. While you’re at it, try patching things up with Adrian. It might make him lower his guard and talk.”

  “Not happening,” Jyn said flatly. The look he gave Rann made her sigh. It was a longshot, but at least she’d tried. It looked like it would take more than that to help Jyn patch up his relationships with the others. There was only so much she could do when he wasn’t willing to put in the effort. She counted his tenuous decision to be more friendly a win. For now.

  Tassie took back control of the discussion and finished assigning their new orders, hoping that requirement for them to be armed at all times against threats didn’t spook their newcomer into remaining silent. While they were to be friendly, under no circumstances was he allowed to go near their weapons. Leaving them unattended was a fantastic way for someone to accidentally get shot.

  The remaining orders were rather simple. They were to report everything they learned directly to her or the General depending on how important it was.

  Once the rest of the team finished asking their questions they returned to the house, where Adrian and Reya were surely having a discussion of their own on the matter. Tassie would have to ask her for any details she might be willing to share privately. What she wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall during their private discussions about the facility.

  Out of respect for Adrian, she normally refrained from asking questions about the facility, even though she desperately wanted to. The video of him undergoing an experiment had been enough to deter her from wanting to learn more. This time, however, she hadn’t been able to contain herself. With each new discovery, the mystery surrounding him only grew.

  The importance of getting information out of their new arrival only grew as she knew Adrian would be far more on-guard against revealing any information. Mentally, she kicked herself for the slip-up. One wrong move and she could undo months of trust building.

  Sighing, she opened the door and entered the house first and immediately felt something was off. Adrian and Reya were waiting for her at the kitchen table where she’d last seen them, staring at her as she made her way towards them.

  “We need to talk,” Adrian said.