"This is a potential security breach."
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"And I am responsible for determining whether it is one."
The two men stared at each other.
Maya remained beside the terminal.
She could feel the atmosphere changing.
The secretary had stopped treating her as an accused officer.
He was now treating the glove as evidence in a much larger investigation.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Run the sequence again, but do not transmit anything beyond the isolated verification channel."
The security officer nodded.
He entered the additional characters manually.
The terminal began processing.
A series of blue symbols appeared.
Then the display changed.
AUTHENTICATION SOURCE CONFIRMED.
A new line appeared beneath it.
OPERATION: SILENT HORIZON.
The secretary leaned closer.
The next line contained a date.
It was the date the operation had supposedly been terminated.
Brooks looked toward General Whitaker.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Why is this system showing activity on the termination date?"
GENERAL WHITAKER:
"I cannot explain that."
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Then perhaps you can explain why the system believes the operation was never officially closed."
Nobody answered.
The terminal continued processing.
A small progress indicator moved across the screen.
Twenty percent.
Forty percent.
Sixty percent.
The security officer watched the display with growing concern.
Then the terminal produced another warning.
ARCHIVED PERSONNEL RECORD ACCESS REQUIRED.
Brooks turned toward Maya.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Captain, how did you obtain this verification key?"
Maya took a breath.
For a moment, her eyes seemed to focus on something far beyond the courtroom.
MAYA CARTER:
"It was given to me by someone who knew the operation had been compromised."
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Who?"
Maya looked down at the glove.
MAYA CARTER:
"His name was Noah Reeves."
The secretary became completely still.
The name seemed to have struck something deep in his memory.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Repeat that."
MAYA CARTER:
"Sergeant Noah Reeves."
Brooks slowly turned toward the terminal.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"That personnel record was closed."
MAYA CARTER:
"I know."
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"He was declared dead."
MAYA CARTER:
"I know that too."
The secretary looked back at her.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Then explain how a dead soldier gave you an active authentication key."
Maya did not answer immediately.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the glove.
MAYA CARTER:
"Because he wasn't dead when I met him."
General Sterling suddenly struck the table with his palm.
GENERAL STERLING:
"This is absurd."
Maya turned toward him.
GENERAL STERLING:
"Sergeant Reeves died during a classified assignment. His death was confirmed, his records were closed, and his family was officially notified."
MAYA CARTER:
"Then someone should explain why he knew what happened at the northern station."
GENERAL STERLING:
"You are inventing stories to avoid responsibility."
MAYA CARTER:
"No, General. I'm telling you what he told me."
Brooks raised his hand again.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"General Sterling, sit down."
Sterling remained standing for a moment.
Then he slowly returned to his chair.
The secretary looked toward Maya.
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Start from the beginning. Tell me where you saw him."
Maya glanced toward the closed courtroom doors.
Then she looked back at the terminal.
MAYA CARTER:
"It was three days before the tribunal."
Her voice was quieter now.
MAYA CARTER:
"We had lost contact with the northern team. Our communications station had been damaged, and the evacuation route was no longer secure."
She paused briefly.
MAYA CARTER:
"I was moving between the eastern perimeter and the command shelter when I heard someone calling my unit identification."
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Who was it?"
MAYA CARTER:
"I couldn't see him clearly at first. The area was covered in smoke, and the emergency lights were failing."
Brooks listened carefully.
MAYA CARTER:
"Then someone stepped out from behind the damaged equipment."
She looked down at the glove.
MAYA CARTER:
"He was wearing an old field uniform. His shoulder insignia had been removed, and he had a deep injury near his left arm."
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"Did you recognize him?"
MAYA CARTER:
"Not immediately."
She swallowed.
MAYA CARTER:
"Then he said something that only one person from our original unit would have known."
DEFENSE SECRETARY BROOKS:
"What did he say?"
Maya looked directly at the secretary.
MAYA CARTER:
"He asked me whether I still remembered the promise we made before Silent Horizon was activated."
Brooks remained silent.
MAYA CARTER:
"He said that if the command channel ever became compromised, I was never supposed to trust an authorization simply because it carried a general's signature."
General Whitaker shifted in his chair.
Admiral Reynolds looked toward the terminal.
Maya continued.
MAYA CARTER: