After they had locked Gromov down, he stared a few minutes at the shut door, still in doubt if the surroundings were real.

The details of the last development felt hazy, almost like a spectacle someone else went through; a mere illusion of intensive experience, toned down by the unrealistic touch of a movie, made in fever and hastiness.

Akane Anbi, Andrey Jerzinski, Major Milano, and most other pilots and gunners had perished just a couple of hours before, while he had survived, despite all odds, having been cast as a despicable villain into the prison cell.

Constrained by four walls, with all electronic devices taken away, including his communication wristband, he ended up in distressing silence, which forced him to replay the last dramatic bouts.

Colonel Steiner, probably driven by the horror of being blamed personally for the ongoing debacle, as if his career was the most substantial matter to consider there, did not want to take the chances and ordered to engage enemies immediately after the first wave had launched from the Space Station.

Ignoring protests of pilots, conveyed in half-hushed voices, as well as Major Milano’s telling demand for the colonel to repeat the order, Steiner did not waver and sent the first wave of fighters to delay the attackers, instead of having them wait for the regroup with following squadrons.

“And here we go again,” murmured Gromov for himself, watching the monitor in the preparatory room. At the same time, Captain Chi and the Chief of maintenance crew organized the deployment of the second wave.

“Is that unscrupulous bastard even for real?” he kept pondering while listening to futile and vastly ignored objections. To Gromov, it felt like an awful déjà vu.

After the third Andrey's death, about five years ago, when the deteriorating mental capacity of a friend became more and more apparent, Gromov extensively scrutinized all Steiner's missions.

Although no blatant errors had surfaced, the analysis showed that Steiner encouraged aggressive, almost reckless tactics with very little consideration for the crews' lives, putting them regularly on the survival edge to score more points in aftermath statistics.

In absolute numbers, the calculation rewarded destruction of all targets over anything else, so essentially, Steiner only followed the prescribed battle protocol, perhaps in good faith that pilots with backups would return with brand new fighters.

After Gromov reported the results, the only response he had received, in a way, was the establishment of a committee established to evaluate whether Gromov (with no red number on his sleeve) did not undermine orders since (perceived from a purely statistical point of view) his achievement stroke the higher-ups as extremely exceptional and suspicious.

The committee concluded that his flying style happened to be rather cautious, but not to the extent of open neglecting Steiner's orders. Still, they officially recommended Gromov adjust to the official policy.

Flabbergasted and far from convinced, Gromov strictly refused and offered resignation instead, which raised commotion among his peers who united under the rebellious flag to support his case, not only because of the captain himself but because of sheer Steiner's unpopularity.

Even though Steiner eagerly accepted the letter of resignation, or at least was about to do it, the increased activity of Plantarians forced the headquarters to reevaluate the plans since the lack of skilled pilots became threatening, so Gromov had been reactivated and all the cause silenced.

The unspoken yet not overlooked uprising brought three results with Major Steiner transferred, Andrey Jerzinski and a few others with similar syndromes gotten more medical attention, none of them coming back to the front line, and Captain Gromov’s career lost any vistas of further promotion.

But now, under the crises, Colonel Steiner reached beyond recklessness and evidently let loose the last frayed ends of sanity when he, with a resolution of a madman, omitted to regroup after the start and threw such insufficient forces to their certain annihilation.

“Let's show’em the courage of immortality!”

“He is clearly insane,” realized Gromov with the sensation of absolute hopelessness. He could only speculate what triggered the detachment from reality, whether five red deaths, inscribed on the colonel's sleeve, medicaments received in the hospital, or perhaps some creepy influence from the enemy.

No matter how hard Gromov sought for a solution, he could not see any.