“It’s a matter of days?” Cirrus asked, bewildered. “Why did her condition deteriorate so quickly all of a sudden? She was fine before.” Kell had just finished reporting his findings to the Tribunal and was now under their intense scrutiny. Cirrus was none too happy that absolutely no real progress had been made to help Reya.

  “The nanites are reproducing far more quickly than before,” Kell explained. He used his data slate to display microscopic images of Reya’s blood samples over time. “In the first image, the nanites are present in a decent quantity and had already been present for a while,” he explained. He pointed towards the last image. “But now they’ve utterly infested her.”

  Maraz frowned at Kell’s explanation. “I still don’t understand how any of this is even possible to begin with,” Maraz said. “I get that the gru’ul extensively modified Adrian over the course of years. Even then, the final result is something that’s hard to believe. How did Reya even get those things in her system to begin with? Was it from contact with Adrian?”

  “Not that we know of,” Kell confirmed. “I’ve inspected blood samples from the rest of the team to be certain, and there’s nothing out of the ordinary.” He knew that whatever was happening to Reya was connected to her time at the facility, as it was the only point she shared in common with Adrian. Without knowing what they’d done to Reya during her captivity, Kell could only theorize. “Do we know any information about what the gru’ul did to her during the month they had her?”

  Kaius drummed his fingers as an uncomfortable silence loomed over the other Elders when nobody spoke up. He came to a quick decision. “You are to assist the surgery she needs to undergo,” he said. “What does knowing what was done to Reya help you with that?”

  Kell frowned. “Wouldn’t it make sense to know as much as possible before the surgery in case something goes wrong?” he asked.

  “Reya has changed far too much since her time in captivity for that information to be relevant,” Kaius replied smoothly. “We will investigate what was done to her while she is being transported back to the facility. Should we find anything of note, we will consider informing you once you drop out of hyperspace.”

  “I understand,” Kell said evenly, carefully masking his bitterness. He knew that the Tribunal was hiding something from him, but not what. It would do him no good to push the limits of their generosity. Already, he’d gotten away with far more than most. “Is there anything else you want to know?”

  “Yes,” Maraz interjected. “If Reya presumably had those nanites in her system when she was rescued, how come our doctors on the main base didn’t detect them when they screened her?” he asked. “It makes no sense to me that you were able to find out about the nanites while an entire team dedicated to her recovery couldn’t.”

  “I’m not sure,” Kell said honestly. “Given how they’ve been replicating over time, it could be that they were too sparse in her system for those doctors to pay them any mind. It might even be that the part of the sample they studied simply had no nanites. Without knowing what to look for, why would they think to investigate further?”

  “We still ran diagnostics on her blood through specialized machines,” Maraz stressed. “Why couldn’t they detect them either?”

  “We don’t even know what they’re made of,” Kell replied. “Even after studying them all this time, that remains a mystery to me. I know what some of the nanites do, but no more than that. It’s highly likely that the machines simply couldn’t identify the foreign material because of how alien it is.”

  “Would you be able to determine any properties the nanites might have?” Maraz asked.

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  “That’s not my area of expertise,” Kell admitted. “I suggest having a team of specialists undertake that research. I’ll have my hands full taking care of Reya and preparing for her surgery while we travel to the facility.”

  “Fine,” Maraz grunted, unhappy with the answer but unable to fault Kell. Very few people were well-versed in gru’ul technology, and he knew Kell wasn’t one of them.

  “Was there anything else you’d like to add to your report, doctor?” Kaius asked.

  “Yes,” Kell said hesitantly. “Adrian has expressed the desire to accompany us during the trip. Given his relationship with Reya, I don’t see the harm. He’s agreed to remain on the ship, but he still wants to be there.”

  Kaius looked around the room and saw the contemplation on the other Elders’ faces. He took it upon himself to answer in their stead. “Given that nobody’s objected yet, I’ll allow it. So long as he remains on the ship,” he said sternly.

  “Understood,” Kell said.

  Kaius dismissed the poor doctor and turned his attention back to the others. “I find myself unsatisfied with this turn of events,” he said. He opted to leave the floor open for another Elder to give their opinion.

  “Our figurehead is probably going to die an unexplained death,” Cirrus scoffed. “And we’ll be stuck explaining that one to the public, who adore her. Is it just me, or is the team we put so much trust in utterly incompetent?”

  “At this point, I have no choice but to think so,” Darros chimed in. “Their leader has no control over his team and has undue aggression towards his charge. The rest of the team treats their mission as a vacation and don’t even properly supervise Adrian. That’s literally their only job. I find myself underwhelmed by their performance. We were sold a competent, highly trained team. Were we lied to?”

  “I don’t think so,” Orryn said. “Things went wrong on a mission we didn’t properly prepare them for. Nobody was expecting the gru’ul to have such a vested interest and defense of that planet in the Arvis sector. We suspected there was activity there, but no more than one ship at most.”

  “They still managed to have one of their own get captured on a scouting mission,” Cirrus harrumphed. “I grant, it’s a good thing they did given what it’s allowed us to learn. But they still failed their mission.”

  “I disagree,” Orryn replied. “We sent them there to scout, and they came back with valuable information and left behind a teammate their systems confirmed was dead.”

  “Their debatable performance aside,” Darros said, “they’ve hardly acted like proper soldiers since they returned to Verilia. It’s an embarrassment.”

  “They’ve been guarding against empty threats for months,” Orryn sighed. “I suppose some laxity is to be expected. Although maybe we’ll have to remind them to get their acts together.”

  Darros nodded. “I think it’s about time we do. Especially their leader. From what I understand, he’s been a significant source of tension. Is he still fit to lead?” Several reports from Tassie throughout their time at the safehouse only served to reinforce the image of Jyn that Darros had built up in his mind. “The second in command seems to have things under control better. Maybe we should put her in charge?”

  “I say we give them one more mission to see how they handle it,” Orryn proposed. While she neither cared for nor had anything against Jyn, she worried that changing the command structure before a vital mission might jeopardize the result. Infighting was the last thing she wanted now that Reya’s life was at stake.

  “Fine,” Darros said after a moment’s thought. “He gets one last chance. We’ll have their researcher play the role of observer. We need someone we can trust to give an unbiased report.”

  “I thought she and the Captain haven’t gotten along well since the original mission,” Orryn said. “Isn’t that stacking the cards against the Captain?”

  “That’s exactly the point,” Darros affirmed. “It might not be complete neutrality, but if even she can provide positive feedback then we’ll know he’s fit to lead. The Captain needs to be able to reign in his entire team. He needs to be in control and able to quell dissent. Otherwise, every mission they have will risk soldiers disobeying the Captain’s orders. That’s not how things work.”

  “I think that’s more than fair after how he’s acted,” Cirrus interjected, leveling a strong look at Orryn. “We’ve given him many chances. If he wanted favorable odds, he should’ve led his team properly.”

  Orryn knew when to pick her battles and butting heads with Cirrus and Darros over a mere Captain when they had more important things to worry about wasn’t one she was willing to have. “Fine,” she said. “We’ll send the orders to the team’s researcher and see what the results are. We’ll decide what to do with him after that.”

  Jyn was blissfully unaware of the fine line he was treading with High Command. One mistake and his career was over.