The training ground went quiet at exactly the wrong moment.
Drax had that quality of stillness that made sound stop around him without him asking for it. He stood at the centre of the ground and looked at Nova and Rhen with the expression of someone who had already decided the outcome and was waiting for them to catch up.
"You two." Flat. Carrying across the whole ground. "Who said you could talk during a drill sequence?"
Rhen opened his mouth.
"It was my fault," Nova said. She stepped forward before Rhen could get a word out. "I couldn't identify my partner. I broke formation to regroup. Rhen was responding to me. The fault is mine."
Drax looked at her for a moment.
Then at Rhen.
"Penalty training," Drax said. "Both of you. Extra conditioning sequence."
"Tonight's freshman night,"
