“And you, Lieutenant Yeni”—here the commander pointed a crooked finger at Surit—“are wasting space. Move into your assigned quarters. You’re on babysitting duty until you have a sync.”

“What?” Surit said blankly. “We can’t—” Then he realized the commander hadn’t ordered either of them to sync. He’d just put Tennalhin under what amounted to brig confinement. Brig confinement with Surit. But he had grounds for that, as Tennalhin had just admitted to using his reader powers, in however minor a way. He’d dealt neatly with the obstruction and would clearly drive Tennalhin mad if that was what it took to get a sync. It was all legal. And all Surit had to do was wait until Tennalhin couldn’t take the four walls of the cabin anymore and then bribe him with time outside.

Surit was not an angry person. But that was purposeful: when he felt anger rise in him, he stopped it or redirected it. So it was a surprise to take a step back from his conscious thoughts and realize he’d been letting his anger build around him, breathing it—swimming in it.

“Any questions?” the commander said.

Tennalhin moved his shoulders in a silent shrug. It was all legal.

Surit saluted stiffly. “No, sir,” he said. “I’ll get my things.”

They were thorough, Tennal gave them credit for that. The commander assigned two of the crew’s security personnel overseen by the warrant officer, who seemed to find it immensely satisfying to strip Tennal’s cabin of the unauthorized decorations. At least this was making someone happy.

Tennal’s civilian clothes were on the list of unauthorized items. Tennal took the outfit of ranker casuals one of them handed him and changed in the middle of the furniture moving, because he wasn’t too concerned about anyone’s comfort levels.

“Where are your division marks?” the warrant officer said when he was done, looking over Tennal’s ranker outfit critically.

Every soldier wore a set of metal marks pinned to their collar to show their current ship or station. The Fractal Note’s showed a pair of crossed lances. “Lights know. Lost them.”

“You’re a fucking idiot, then, aren’t you?” the warrant officer said. They were looking slightly to the side, as if it made them uncomfortable to see a soldier without any kind of affiliation. Tennal watched their discomfiture. “I’ll have another set found.”

Tennal shrugged and flopped back on his bed, now stripped of the garish fabrics he’d covered it with. “List.”

“What?”