Thankfully, my rotation out in the field on Vujan hunts was up, and I was on duty in the garrison. With my head and heart all over the place, I knew I couldn't be trusted out in the field. I could only hold together my mental and emotional compartmentalization so long before I became a danger to somebody out there.

More than that though, it presented me with the opportunity I was looking for.

I was in the mechanic's bay working on a hover-truck, cleaning all of the dirt and grit out of the essential parts. Real glamorous duty. But, it'd put me in the position I needed to be in, so whatever. It had been a week since I'd last seen Elix and I was going to get some goddamn answers.

“Hey, Kianna.”

I slid out from beneath the truck to find Andyr looking at me. The brass would probably have a meltdown over the fact that in the garages, we were so informal – Andyr was technically, my subordinate and should be addressing me as Captain, but we never enforced the rules. It seemed unnecessary to me in informal settings like that.

“What's up?” I asked, standing up as I wiped my hands on a rag.

“I need to finish up those two trucks over there and the goddamn newbies they sent me don't know their asses from a hole in the ground,” he said. “Any chance I can talk you into taking those datapads over to General Murgh? They're bustin' my ass about the progress down here.”

There it was. My opportunity. The pretext I needed to get into that building.

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “No problem.”

“You're a lifesaver,” he said. “They've called me three times already this morning.”

“You'd think they'd just walk down here and pick it up themselves,” I laughed.

“You know officers, they never like to do more work than is necessary,” he said and then blanched. “No offense, of course. You ain't like them.”

I shrugged. “None taken.”

He gave me an awkward smile. “Appreciate it, Kianna.”

I smiled and walked over to the bench, grabbing up the datapads he needed me to run over. Stepping out of the mechanic's bays and into the sunlight of the afternoon, I winced and squinted my eyes. The light was harsh, the heat damn near unbearable. I quickened my pace and made my way to the admin building as quickly as I could, just to get out of the heat and into the cool air of the admin building – the garrison commanders certainly never let themselves be uncomfortable.

I took the lift up to the fourth floor and marched down to General Murgh's office. Opening the door, his assistant looked up at me with something akin to contempt. She was a Burdillian woman, with pale green scaled skin, eyes that were red with a cat-like slit in the center, and a wild shock of white hair. She also looked like a woman who didn't smile very much.

“Yes?” she asked. “What can I do for you, Captain?”

I snapped her a quick salute. “Major Tunkin,” I said. “I'm delivering these datapads to General Murgh.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Set them on the table over there,” she said. “Dismissed.”

I did as I was told and hustled out of the office, glad to be away from her. There was something about her that was intimidating – and it had nothing to do with the fact that she looked like a giant lizard. It was in her bearing. In the way she looked at – or rather, looked through you. It was like she could divine all of your secret thoughts just by staring at you.

And, considering what I was actually there for, the last thing I needed was Tunkin seeing through me.

I took the lift back down but stopped on the second floor. Walking out into the corridor, I did my best to project an air of confidence. Tried to act like I was supposed to be there. It wasn't easy to keep the butterflies in my stomach at bay, because if I got caught doing what I was there to do, they'd probably brand me a terrorist and shoot me on the spot. Which was something I obviously wanted to avoid.

I passed a few others in the halls, nodding a greeting and hurrying on like I was on official business, finally making it to the dataroom. Stepping inside, I was greeted by Qort, a short, prim, prissy little Ryvythian man who looked like he should be a bookkeeper, rather than a soldier. His skin was a darker shade of blue than Dryth's, his hair was green, shot through with white, and his eyes were more yellow than gold. He could come off as a little haughty, but he was a nice enough guy – just not somebody I'd choose to hang out with in my spare time.

“Captain Reeves,” he said, looking up from his datapad. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

I gave him my sweetest smile. I knew he had a little bit of a crush on me and I wasn't going to hesitate to exploit it if it could help me get some answers about Elix.

“Lieutenant Qort,” I replied. “Nice to see you again. I'm actually on an errand for Colonel Darqa and need to access some of the personnel files.”

Qort frowned and looked down at his datapad. “I don't see the request from Colonel Darqa logged in.”

I shrugged. “He probably forgot to send it,” I said. “He's got a lot on his plate lately.”

“Yes, but all requests need to go through proper channels, and – ”

“Qort,” I said, giving him my biggest, warmest smile, “I don't want to go back to him empty-handed. He's on a bit of a warpath lately and in a bad mood. I really don't want to get on his bad side, if you know what I mean. If you could just help me out and bend the rules just a little bit, I'd really, really appreciate it.”

He sighed and looked around, his yellow eyes taking in the room around him. I could see the internal debate going on his mind – breaking protocol versus the chance to score a few points with me. When he returned his gaze to mine, I saw the chance for points apparently won out.

“I – I need to go to the restroom,” he said. “I'll be gone about five minutes or so. When I get back, we should probably get the proper request submitted by Colonel Darqa.”

I nodded. “Okay,” I said brightly. “No problem at all.”

“Great,” he said and looked at me with an awkward smile on his face.

Getting up from his seat, he left the room – leaving me alone. But, I only had five minutes. It should be enough time to dig up what I needed. It would have to be. Once Qort was gone, I slipped behind his desk and through the door to the back room where all of the computers housing personnel files were kept. Dropping down in front of the first terminal, I called up the files for my squad and scanned the roster. I cocked my head though when I didn't see Elix's name listed.

But then, he'd been transferred, which meant he was probably listed on a different squad's roster. That had to be it. I keyed in a search for his name and waited for a moment while the computer processed it. The search came back negative for his name. Anywhere.

“What the hell?” I whispered.

I ran the search again, making sure I didn't miskey anything. Same result. Officially, there was no record of Elix being a USF soldier. Of him ever being a USF soldier. He was gone from the databases like he'd never even existed.

A knot in my stomach constricted painfully and a cold chill swept through my body. Something wasn't making sense in all of this. And for the first time, I started to think that Masie had been right. That she'd been around about everything. That people within the USF command structure were working with the Syndicate, supplying bodies for their fighting pits.

The thought of it – of Elix being forced to fight and kill for his very survival – both turned my stomach and broke my heart. The cold feeling of dread and fear for him made my body tremble. For all I knew, he was already dead – killed in one of those vile fighting pits.

I was still having trouble trying to make sense of it all. Something I'd thought was an urban legend was turning out to be all too real.

Numb with shock, I got up from the chair and walked out to the front room just as Qort was walking back in. He looked at me curiously.

“Everything okay, Captain Reeves?” he asked.

Not knowing who was involved in the conspiracy, I didn't want to tip my hand. To anybody. For all I knew, Qort, who kept all the personnel records, was in on it. It would make sense – he knew how to make files vanish into thin air. And while I didn't fear him personally, I feared those higher up the Syndicate food chain than him.

“Yeah, sorry,” I said, clearing my throat. “Something I ate last night must not be agreeing with me all of the sudden.”

He nodded as if he understood. “Yeah, that food in the mess hall will really do it to you sometimes,” he said. “But hey, if you want a really good meal, would you be interested in accompanying me to town for dinner one night?”

Qort was obviously feeling a little emboldened after doing me a solid by letting me get into the files. I had no intention of ever following through, of course, but I still wanted to stay on his good side. If I flat out turned him down and he turned out to be part of the conspiracy, I was half-afraid he'd mention to his bosses that I'd been poking around in the files.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” I said. “I'm going to be pulling some long shifts, but we can probably carve out a little time.”

His smile was as wide as his face. “That sounds excellent, Captain Reeves,” he said. “Just check your schedule and let me know.”

“I'll do that.”

“I'll look forward to it,” he said, a hint of suggestiveness in his voice.

I left his office feeling like I need a hot shower or three to wash away the grease and grime I suddenly felt all over my body.

Walking back to the mechanic's bays to finish my work, my mind was spinning in a million different directions. I couldn't believe this was happening. Masie had been right. The Syndicate was real and the USF – or at least, certain people within the command structure – were selling our soldiers into the bondage of the fighting pits.

Elix, when he was young, had been held in a camp and had experiments performed on him. He'd ended up with enhanced – almost superhuman strength. It made sense why somebody would want him as a gladiator. With his skills and enhanced ability, he could no doubt, be a lethal fighter and make somebody a lot of money.

But, he wasn't the only one in all the universes with enhanced abilities. And if he were to tangle with somebody like him – a perhaps, an even more powerful version of him – he could very well wind up dead.

I needed to find out where Elix was. Needed to find out if he was still even alive – and if he was, figure out a way to rescue him. Nobody and nothing was going to stop me.