The debrief room was on the fourth floor of the admin block. Ten chairs, White walls. Ceiling lights washing everything out and making the room look medical. A single projection pane on the front wall. A dim RMA seal pulsing on it once every few seconds.
Caelum sat third row from the back, against the wall. Right arm in the sling they'd given him at medical. The strap pulled against his neck every time he leaned forward. His fingers weren't working properly. The medic had said nerve recovery was likely. *Likely.* The word had done nothing for him.
Kifah was two rows ahead of him and three seats over. Alone. She hadn't changed out of her rift gear. Her nose was still dark with dried blood. She hadn't bothered to wash it off. Or hadn't thought of it. Or hadn't cared. Her shoulders were bowed forward. She was staring at a point on the floor about a metre in front of her boots.
Dawson had taken a seat on the opposite side of the room, near the door. Arms crossed. Chin up. Performing. His uniform was cleaner than the rest of them and his hair was damp from a rushed wash. Like it mattered.
Éloise was in the row behind him. Closer to the front. She'd cleaned up but her rapier was still on her hip. Caelum noticed she hadn't taken it off since they'd come back through the gate.
Yara and the two able Unit 4 cadets were down at the front. Yara had her hands flat on her thighs. Staring straight ahead. The other two were slumped.
Malik and the half-conscious Unit 4 cadet weren't there. Still in medical. The empty seats weren't called out or filled.
Blanchard's empty seat wasn't called out either.
*Nobody's going to say his name.*
The door opened.
The examiner walked in without looking at any of them. Mid-thirties, maybe. Hard to tell. His face had that sanded-down administrative look that made everyone in the RMA's middle ranks look the same age. Short hair. Clean uniform. Datapad already up in his hand before he reached the front of the room. No introduction.
"Unit 7, Unit 4. Certification trial reference code ES-TRIAL-4419. Debrief protocol standard."
Caelum's sling strap bit into his neck. He didn't adjust it.
"I'll move through the points. Interject only for correction."
Nobody interjected.
The examiner tapped the datapad. The projection flickered from the RMA seal to a schematic of the rift environment, overlaid with data.
"Insertion time: oh eight forty-two local. Both units entered through primary gate ES-4419-A."
Two rows up, Kifah hadn't blinked.
"Objective parameters as briefed. Unit 7 assigned node recovery. Unit 4 assigned secondary environmental sampling."
The projection shifted. A wider grid appeared — twelve unit markers spread across the rift schematic. Eight of them glowed yellow. Two green. Two red.
"Of the twelve units deployed to ES-TRIAL-4419, your teams are among the first four to complete extraction."
*First four.* The words didn't land right. Caelum had known there were other units in there — they'd all been in the assignment hall together, sixty cadets shuffling past each other to find their squads — but seeing the grid now, with most of the markers still yellow, the word *first* felt wrong in his mouth. Like it was supposed to be a compliment.
Two of the markers were red.
Caelum didn't ask what that meant. Nobody did.
"Primary objective completed by Unit 7 at mission hour nine."
*Mission hour nine.* Some of those yellow markers were still on hour one of their own private disasters.
The projection shifted again. A thermal trace of the cyclops fight.
"Unit 7 engaged a rift-native category three predator during node approach."
*Predator.* Caelum almost laughed. The word was too small for it.
"Engagement successful. Casualty count zero at this point in the operation."
Caelum's right hand twitched inside the sling. He couldn't feel it but he saw it move.
"Efficiency rating pending full review. Initial assessment is within expected parameters."
The word *expected* hit the back of Caelum's skull and stayed there.
"Unit 4 encountered structural failure in the primary access corridor at mission hour two. Ceiling collapse, non-anomalous."
Yara's posture didn't change but Caelum saw her fingers press harder against her thighs.
"Unit was cut off from the primary extraction route and unable to complete secondary objective. Casualty at this stage: one cadet, partial consciousness, survivable."
The projection shifted again. The shaft.
"Both units converged at mission hour nine point four."
Éloise shifted her weight very slightly. Caelum registered it.
"Vertical shaft ascent initiated. Local resonance anomaly prevented standard RS stone function."
Kifah made a small sound. Nobody turned.
"Units attempted alternate extraction route through the shaft environment. Encountering a category four apex predator."
The examiner paused for half a second. Scrolled something.
"Colony matriarch. Cirrus noctifer variant. Rift-adapted."
Caelum's good hand closed on the edge of his chair. He didn't remember telling it to.
"Casualty count at this stage of the operation: one cadet confirmed deceased."
The room went still in a way it hadn't been still before.
"Cadet Designation six three four. Blanchard. Unit 7."
The name hit and Caelum felt his jaw work on its own.
"Cause of death: fatal laceration during engagement with apex predator. Body not recovered."
Kifah's breathing changed. Short. Shallow. Caelum could hear it across the rows.
"Acceptable losses within expected parameters for a category four encounter in an uncategorised environment."
The phrase sat in the room. Caelum's vision went narrow at the edges for a second, then returned. He forced himself to breathe.
The examiner tapped the pad again. The projection cycled to a summary screen.
"Extraction was achieved at mission hour ten point two."
"Through an unscheduled RS stone activation by Cadet Designation six one two. Dawson."
Dawson didn't move. His chin stayed up.
"Method non-standard. Flagged for technical review."
Dawson's jaw flickered. One twitch. Caelum noticed it.
"No disciplinary implications."
Still nothing from Dawson's face.
"All surviving cadets from both units returned through the emergency gate. Medical triage completed on return."
Caelum's arm ached inside the sling. A dull throb behind the numbness.
"Unit 4 cadets Malik and Designation seven zero one are currently in medical observation. Condition: stable."
The projection faded.
The examiner set the datapad down on the small lectern. For the first time he looked up at them. His eyes moved from face to face at roughly the same pace. Not lingering. Not skipping anyone. When he got to Kifah he paused for half a second longer before moving on. Caelum couldn't tell if it was deliberate.
"The trial is considered complete."
Nobody reacted.
"Both units met primary objective thresholds."
Still nothing.
"Unit 7 recovered the target asset. Priority outcome."
*Asset.* Caelum's vision narrowed again.
"Unit 4's secondary objective will be reassigned to a subsequent cohort."
The examiner paused. Something almost human crossed his face. Not quite — just the shadow of it. The muscles around his eyes moving in a way that suggested he'd been trained to acknowledge these moments but not to actually feel them.
"Cadet Blanchard's loss is noted."
Kifah made the small sound again.
"His family of record will be contacted through standard protocol."
*His family of record.* Caelum felt something cold move in his chest. Not because he knew anything about Blanchard's family — because he realised he didn't. He'd known the guy for years, through the district school, and yet they'd rarely truly interacted. They'd been classmates. That was all.
Two rows up, Kifah's head lifted for the first time since the debrief started. Just a fraction. Her eyes moved toward the examiner, then away, then down to her hands where they were pressed flat against her thighs. She didn't say anything. But her jaw worked once, hard, like she'd bitten down on something she hadn't meant to.
"The RMA extends condolences."
The examiner picked the datapad back up.
"Provisional First Marked status will be conferred on all surviving cadets effective immediately. Your ARC interfaces are being updated as I speak."
Caelum felt his ARC flicker at the edge of his vision. It came up on its own. Post-debrief auto-display. He watched the text populate.
**ARC // Assessment, Registration & Certification Interface**
**STATUS UPDATE: CADET → FIRST MARKED (PROVISIONAL)**
**NAME:** CAELUM WARD
**DESIGNATION:** 845
**LICENSE:** PROVISIONAL FIELD, SUPERVISED ROTATION
**ACCESS:** C-CLASS RIFTS (SUPERVISED)
**NOTE: CONGRATULATIONS ON CERTIFICATION**
*Congratulations.* Caelum read the word three times. It meant nothing right now. It didn't even feel hollow, and he understood in that second why Dawson's chin was still up and why Kifah was staring at the floor.
He looked over at Kifah. If her ARC had auto-displayed she wasn't reacting to it. Her eyes were still on the same point on the floor.
Dawson's face moved slightly. A twitch of his eyes tracking something Caelum couldn't see — text only Dawson could read. Whatever it said, Dawson flicked it away with the same expression he'd held through the rest of the debrief. Nothing.
Éloise hadn't moved.
"—charter affiliation within fourteen days or default assignment," the examiner was saying. Caelum had missed part of it. "Recalibration cycles run every forty-eight hours. You are cleared for recuperation leave within the facility grounds for seven days. Independent rift entry remains suspended. Your ARC interfaces will notify you of mandatory appointments. Dismissed."
Nobody moved.
The examiner looked at them for another half second. Then he picked up his pad and walked out the same door he'd come in through. It shut behind him with a soft pneumatic hiss.
The room was very quiet.
Caelum looked down at his sling. His right hand. The useless fingers. The First Marked license sitting in his ARC like a coin he hadn't asked to be paid. The empty chair where Blanchard should have been. The back of Kifah's head where she was still staring at the floor.
He stood up slowly. His legs were tired in a way that had nothing to do with the climb anymore.
The others stood up too, one at a time. Not talking. Yara said something quiet to her Unit 4 cadets and they nodded and followed her to the door. Éloise stood, adjusted her rapier, and walked out without looking at anyone. Dawson was the first one out — didn't even pause, just pushed past through the door with his jaw set and his chin still up.
Kifah hadn't moved.
Caelum stood at the edge of his row and looked at her. Her shoulders were shaking slightly. Not crying. Just shaking. Her whole body doing something wrong.
He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what would help.
Caelum walked out of the debrief room. The door hissed shut behind him.
And Kifah was still in there alone.