Every choice from here would echo in blood and fire.
The extraction team worked fast, securing Gideon for transport while helping our wounded. Professional. Practiced. But through the bond, I felt Darius's unease matching mine. We'd won the fight while losing something bigger we hadn't been protecting.
"Celeste, detailed report," I said through the comm as we climbed into the transport. "What exactly got breached while we were fighting?"
Her response had that careful tone of someone delivering really bad news. "Multiple secure areas. Archives. Communications hub. Student records database. They knew exactly where to hit and had access codes that shouldn't exist outside leadership."
Through the bond, cold understanding hit. This wasn't some random theft during our absence. This was coordinated infiltration using information that proved Gideon's network went way deeper into academy systems than we'd thought.
