[SERA — POV]
The seventy-second hour came with a complication.
The complication was Captain Brennan, who arrived at her office at eight in the morning and closed the door behind him with the deliberate care of someone who wanted to have a conversation that didn't carry.
"The Commander is asking questions," he said.
Sera looked up from her desk with the neutral expression she'd spent years perfecting. "Questions about what."
"About the Carnelian Club debrief." He sat without being invited—Brennan did that, used spatial presumption as a dominance signal. She'd noted it and found it faintly tiresome. "You said you couldn't confirm Noctis operational involvement. The Commander found that qualifier interesting."
"It was an accurate qualifier."
"It's inconsistent with the scene evidence,
