He flinched. The thought of someone falling into a sync because their brain chemistry had been forcibly rearranged was vile.

Surit had expected his career to be difficult. He’d known the Orshan army didn’t live up to its ideals. He’d thought he was clear-eyed: it was often inefficient, occasionally corrupt, frequently prejudiced. But it wasn’t as if non-military organizations were all that much better, and it was the only way to restore Marit’s pension—and besides, divisions like Cavalry had their tendrils in so many parts of society that it was difficult to get anywhere without one of them.

He hadn’t considered he was signing up to the same body that ordered readers to sync. He hadn’t considered he might be asked to do anything like this.

He wanted to sit down and methodically think it through, but he didn’t have time. All officers were under orders to assemble on the bridge and welcome the fleet’s commander. Surit had to put a lid on his inner agitation and follow orders.

Surit had caught a glimpse of the fast courier that had brought Commander Vinys to the ship—a service expensive enough that it was only extended to senior officers—but he hadn’t seen him disembark. So the first glimpse he got was when a solid figure with gray hair and a short beard came into the bridge. Like other effective senior officers Surit had seen, Commander Vinys had a personal presence like a dense mass in a star field, and everyone else in the room angled themselves around him as they came to attention.

“At ease,” the commander said, with a crack of a smile. “We’ll run the briefing once the rest of the fleet is here. I’m expecting this to be a nice, clean trip into chaotic space and back. Almost a holiday, if we do it right. I expect you all have your sunscreen and beach loungers packed.” He snapped his fingers to break the silence. “Carry on.”

He picked out the senior officers. At his elbow was the chief of staff, who seemed relieved he’d arrived. Surit took a step forward to ask if he could have an audience later.

But as he did, Commander Vinys was already turning to him. “Our regulator-assigned rookie,” he said, clapping him on the shoulder. He let go and measured Surit with a glance. “Where’s your reader?”

Surit came to attention and said, “I don’t know at this moment, sir. He might be in his cabin.”

“Why don’t you know?” Commander Vinys said.

“I wanted to raise the matter with you, sir,” Surit said, staring straight ahead. “There have been some issues with my briefing.”

“What issues?”

“Sir, the classification—”