With a sigh, he wrapped a hand around the rope to support his weight and took the assault rifle by the strap from round his neck. He dropped it into the darkness, watching it disappear from sight. Rach and Beta both stared at him, the former in silent relief and the latter fuming with rage.

“Siatians, stand down,” he ordered.

The four soldiers that remained, as well as Rach, followed his example and dropped their weapons down the shaft. Beta, however, did not, and, instead, her hand itched closer to the grip of the pistol at her waist, getting ready to pull it out. The look of malice radiating from her eyes told Xaleyp she had no intention of going quietly.

“Beta…” Xaleyp kept his voice soft but warning, enunciating another order to stand down.

she said in the CAM channel that had remained open, her voice resembling more of a snake than that of her usual self. The look she gave him, both in the real world and the virtual environment, said she was willing to do anything.

“Get ready to fire on the dissident,” the officer yelled out. Above and below, the Arcadians changed their aim to train the rifles on Beta alone. “If she continues to refuse to stand down, she will be eliminated.”

Xaleyp’s voice was nearly silent in the empty virtual environment.

“Now, stand down.” He raised his voice, talking aloud for the Arcadians to hear the words. It echoed around the shaft, seeming to bounce off the walls and filling the air.

With an over dramatic sigh—and a shaking of her head in the virtual world—she grabbed the pistol somewhat awkwardly and tossed it to the officer. He scrambled for a moment as it neared before catching it and looking it over. As he held it, the runes turned to blue and began violently dancing over the barrel, almost causing him to drop the weapon in surprise.

From beneath Xaleyp, he heard Rach release a sigh of relief, though Beta continued to glare at him.

Xaleyp couldn’t help but chuckle aloud, more out of relief than humor, though he quickly stifled it.

He turned his attention back to the officer a few stories beneath him.

“Officer,” Xaleyp called out, raising his empty hand in surrender, “we are ready for whatever you have in store for us.”

“Very well,” the officer replied, his voice crisp and relieved. He dropped his hand to his side, and the Arcadians soldiers turned their rifles away from the Siatians. “Restrain the invaders and bring them to Lord Castellian. We’ll leave it up to him to determine what to do with them.”

Several small explosions rang out as the Arcadians shot their own grappling hooks into the walls of the shaft. They crisscrossed around, each taking one of the Siatians and hauling them into the open doorway below. Inside was not the same office layout as before. Instead, they were in a hallway that circled around the shaft with a row of closed doors around the outside.

Once they were all taken, each Siatian soldier was bound with a pair of cuffs with holes bored on the outside of the inner part. As Xaleyp looked his over, a pair of blue lasers arced from the holes, affixing the cuffs to one another and preventing him from moving them apart. The Arcadians soldiers, their duty done at the moment, stood at ease around the exterior, though their hands still rested on their assault rifles.

After verifying they were secure, the officer paced up and down the line of them in the hallway, his eyes looking over each soldier before finally stopping in front of Xaleyp. His face was chiseled and rugged, with two parallel scars running up the right side of his face and going across his eye. The short hair neatly trimmed on his head was gray with a small bald spot on top.

“Xaleyp Vah’Aris,” the man whispered, their eyes locked on one another. “I’ve heard quite a few tales about you, many from Tober Delargivic himself. None of them good, I promise.”

He sneered with the words, and Xaleyp felt an almost irresistible urge to slap the smile off the man’s face. But if he did, who knew what would happen to the rest of the Siatians with the dozen Arcadians surrounding them?

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, as I hear you were looking for me a few months ago. My name is General Korvak Grimaldus, and I’ve got to say, leading the attack on Vertyn is one of my crowning achievements.”

Xaleyp’s heart raced at the man’s revelation, and his breath caught in his throat. This man was the one responsible for Hyperia’s fall from power and, more importantly, Lina’s death. What was worse, he was fucking smiling about it.

“I knew you would remember me,” Grimaldus said, his smile widening. His eyes narrowed, and he turned his head to one side as looked Xaleyp up and down once more. “You will don’t look like anything special. You’re just a child, barely able to lead a squadron without failure, let alone an empire. I’m really not sure what it was that Tober had seen in you, but, that’s neither here nor there.”

Grimaldus folded his hands behind his back once more and walked back down the line of prisoners, stopping in front of Rach. His eyes ran up and down her, sizing her up for a moment, before he spoke.

“Rach’El Torlin.”

The words were rough and somehow gentle at the same time. He reached up and gently stroked the side of Rach’s head, forcing her to cringe and shrink away at the touch as he brushed a hair out of her face. His other hand came up from behind and held her head in place, forcing her to look him in the eye. A spark of rage manifested in Xaleyp’s stomach, but he knew that he could do nothing about it. He was fucking powerless, just as he was all those damn years ago back in the safe room of the basement. Making it worse, it was his fault that she was even in this mess to begin with.

“Treason, desertion, and murder are just a few of the crimes you committed today.” He was whispering directly into her ear, speaking so quietly that Xaleyp could barely hear him. Her face remained impassive even as his hot breath ran across her cheek. “You could have been great, one of the best soldiers the Praes Dominion ever saw, and at such a young age too. It really is too bad that you ended up on the losing side today. Perhaps Castellian will be merciful in your punishment, but, then again, treason deserves to be punished to the furthest extend of the law.”

And so it went, with Grimaldus walking to each of the soldiers and pointing out their flaws in turn until he reached the last: Beta. He didn’t try to hide the confusion on his face as he stopped in front of her, his eye frantically dancing in circles as he searched his CAM.

“You,” he said, the word coming out as a snarl. She focused her gaze on the wall behind him, being very careful to not reveal any emotion. “You are the only one I don’t know. Our records on you are too… pristine, for lack of a better word. That is to say, you are the perfect soldier with the disciplinary record to match. Too perfect, with not so much as even a medical bay visit. So tell me, Corporal Beta, who are you really, and where did you get this fancy weapon of yours?”

He held up the pistol, turning it over and over in his hands as he spoke, waiting for her to let through the slightest bit of information in her stance. But she continued standing there, silent and impassive, no matter how much she stared back. After several tense, silent seconds, she turned her gaze on him.

“My name is Beta, and I represent an organization that has place a special interest in a particular party of the galaxy,” she said as if she had rehearsed and repeated the statement countless times. “Any further questions will be ignored.”

“Our records appear to be incomplete, as they do not show anyone by your name or description as having existed up until a few months ago. Perhaps you can tell us more about this organization you say you represent so that we may shed some light on your identity?” True to her word, Beta remained silent, returning her gaze to the wall and acting as if Grimaldus weren’t speaking. He scoffed and waved his hand as he began to walk away, heading towards one of the doors around the corner. “No matter. You will all be brought before Castellian, and we will let him decide what to do with you.”