Elias still had the flashlight in his hand when he started toward Elara.
He made it three steps before a soldier moved into his path.
The man was tall, lean, and calm in a way that made the warning land harder than a shout. Dark green hair was pulled tight behind his head, and one gloved hand settled on Elias's shoulder before Elias could angle around him.
"No one approaches the platoon commander after contact with a hostile target. Return to the other recruits and wait for instructions."
Elias looked past him.
Elara was speaking with two soldiers near the collapsed section of road. She did not look shaken. She looked busy.
That made sense. He still hated it.
"Right, because walking up after getting attacked is apparently bad manners," Elias said, lowering the flashlight.
The soldier's hand stayed where it was.
Elias stepped back first. He had learned enough today to stop treating uniforms like background decoration.
The recruits were gathering near the damaged bus. Some sat on the curb. Some leaned against the vehicle with that strange blank face people wore after danger, when their bodies had not caught up to the fact that they were alive.
Marcus Devlin was sitting with his back against one of the wheels while a pink-haired medic worked over the slash across his chest. The wound was ugly, but the medic had already packed it with a clear gel that sealed the worst of the bleeding while she wrapped him tight.
Elias crouched nearby, keeping out of her hands.
"Can you breathe without trying to prove a point?" he asked.
Marcus gave him a tired look. "I can breathe, and I can complain, so the important systems are working."
"Good, because I was worried the flashlight rescue went to waste."
Marcus tried to laugh and regretted it. The medic pressed two fingers against his shoulder until he stopped moving.
"If you tear that open because you want to be charming," she said, "I will let the second wrap hurt more."
Marcus went still.
Elias decided he liked her.
He glanced toward the road where the hostile bearer had vanished. "Was that really because of the shard?"
The medic looked at him before Marcus could answer.
"No shard discussion in an unsecured area. Everyone who heard the fugitive speak will be debriefed before the next transport leaves."
Her tone was not cruel. It was worse than cruel. It was procedural.
Elias lifted both hands. "I am learning there are a lot of rules nobody mentioned this morning."
"You joined a military program after touching alien technology," she said, tightening the wrap. "Assume the list is long and inconvenient."
She moved on to the next recruit before he could answer.
Marcus watched her go. "That is Sergeant Rylen, and she has patched up half the candidates before breakfast at least once, according to the rumor chain."
"You have been here less than an hour and already found a rumor chain?"
"Information wants to be free, and scared recruits talk too much."
Elias sat back on his heels. His hands were starting to shake now that nobody was trying to kill him.
Marcus noticed and shifted the topic without making a show of it.
"You know, you did ruin the best part of the day. Elara was about to cut him open properly, and then some restaurant owner blinded everyone with a flashlight."
"Chef, because restaurant owner sounds like I make enough money to have opinions about taxes," Elias said.
"Chef, then, but still rude timing from my seat."
Elias looked at the soldiers collecting shell casings and scanning the black streaks left in the road. "I was trying to keep her from getting hit."
"Her armor would have taken most of it. The command suits can convert body output into movement support, impact buffering, and blade generation. Her model is probably one of the better ones."
Elias turned back to him.
Marcus looked younger when he was interested. Less like a wounded recruit and more like someone watching a machine open itself for inspection.
"You study military suits in your free time?"
"I study anything with a power source and bad documentation. The public version says bioelectric assist, which means the suit borrows what the body already gives off and turns it into useful force. The classified version is probably where all the fun is."
"That sounds like the part you should not say near military staff."
"Then I will call it admiration and pretend I have discipline."
A transport horn cut across the road before Elias could ask more.
The replacement bus rolled in behind two escort vehicles. Its front plate bore Base Alpha markings, and its side windows were thick enough to distort the people inside.
Elara walked toward the recruits. Conversation died before she reached them.
She carried no folder, no tablet, and no visible nerves. That alone made Elias pay attention.
"Elias Kael, Officer Dain, Marcus Devlin, Kari Vexin, and Hollis Drehn," she said. "Move front and center for debrief."
Marcus accepted Elias's hand and got to his feet with a grunt.
"Can you stand without opening that again?" Elias asked.
"I can stand long enough for a woman with a sword to scare me."
They joined the small line in front of Elara. Hollis looked like he wanted to whistle and thought better of it after one glance at her face.
Elara waited until all five were still.
"This is an official field debrief. What you saw does not leave this group unless an authorized officer asks you directly. The attacker is a fugitive wanted for arson, assault on government facilities, and theft of a restricted alien artifact. That is the report you will repeat."
Elias kept his mouth shut.
Alien artifact was a wide enough bucket to hide almost anything.
Elara's gaze moved across them. "The artifact has changed him, and we do not know the full effect on his body or judgment. He targeted this transport to interfere with military intake, and any mention of shards will be treated as unstable speech under artifact exposure."
Kari swallowed. Hollis stared at the road.
Marcus's face had gone careful.
Elara let them sit with it for a breath, then continued.
"You are not being punished for hearing it. You are being warned because panic kills faster than most weapons. The world is changing in ways command has not finished naming. If you believe today proved you are ready, correct that thought now. I have trained for years, and I am still not ready enough."
That landed harder than the cover story.
Elias believed her.
Elara stepped aside and pointed toward the new transport. "Board when called, continue to Base Alpha, and report for intake."
The others moved. Elias did too, until her voice stopped him.
"Elias Kael, you stay behind after the others board," she said.