The room formed a line faster than Elias expected.
Kikaru took the front without being asked. Paul stood beside Colby with his hands clasped behind his back. Faye moved from the wall and settled into place with the mild irritation of someone who understood ceremony too well.
Elias made it to the end of the line and kept his knees unlocked. If he stood too stiff, the penalty pulled him backward. If he relaxed too much, his legs forgot the order of command.
Oliver stepped to the side. "Before badges are issued, we need a head count. Where are Bui Brunsik, Wes Oakley, and Tidwell Reiver?"
Kikaru answered before the silence became awkward. "They are awake in their rooms, sir, but the Doctor's penalty restricted their movement after they missed the physical requirements. Elias is the only one from that group moving under his own control so far."
Oliver's attention snapped toward Elias, then back to Kikaru. "Tell me whether the restriction is permanent, and do not soften the answer."
"We do not know whether it is permanent yet," Kikaru said. "It acts like inverted body control, and the movement improves when the user relearns each command under pressure."
The older woman raised one hand, and Oliver stopped asking questions.
She stepped forward. Her uniform carried fewer decorations than Elias expected and somehow made that worse. She looked at each recruit as if reading a file already written behind their faces.
"I am Chairwoman Merek of the division responsible for shard deployment approval," she said. "Some of you have been here for weeks. Some of you have been here long enough to become a paperwork problem. Today, three of you will leave this facility for a field test."
Elias felt Dot's drift closer to his ear.
Merek pointed without looking at the list in Oliver's hand. "Kikaru Rakamaki, Paul Renner, and Colby Harrow will step forward."
The three moved at once. Colby looked surprised but held his posture. Paul tried to hide his grin and failed by a few degrees. Kikaru's face stayed calm, though her fingers flexed once at her side.
Merek continued. "You will attach to Platoons Romeo, Juliet, and Gunter during a hostage extraction in southern Veyrion. This is not a rescue fantasy. You will answer to the assigned squad leaders, obey withdrawal orders, and engage only if a shard user enters the field or if the platoon loses operational capacity."
That last line made the room shift. Not much. Enough.
Elias knew what she had really said. They were being sent as controlled variables, not heroes.
Merek let them hear it. "The public cannot know what you are yet. The military cannot keep pretending you do not exist. This test decides how much trust your kind receives before the next incident forces the question open."
Paul raised his hand. "What do the selected recruits receive if the field test goes clean, beyond the fresh air and the chance to be shot at under supervision?"
Oliver shot him a warning look.
Merek answered anyway. "You receive combat evaluation credit, priority equipment review, and the right to request a personal training adjustment when you return. More important, you receive a reason for command to treat shard users as soldiers instead of contained hazards."
Paul's grin thinned. He stepped back with more care than before.
Kikaru bowed her head. "Why these three profiles instead of the highest raw numbers, Chairwoman?"
"Because raw numbers do not protect a platoon from panic," Merek said. "You three have the strongest stability markers, the fewest recorded control breaks, and enough discipline to follow a bad order until you can prove it should be changed."
Colby swallowed. He did not look proud. That made Elias respect him a little more.
Merek turned toward Oliver. "They leave after equipment issue, so give them ten minutes to pack and five to report."
Elias stepped forward before he talked himself out of it. His right foot dragged behind the left, but he stayed upright.
"Chairwoman Merek, I want the reason I was excluded stated clearly, because I do not want to guess wrong and train toward the wrong failure."
The line went still.
Merek turned toward him. For the first time, her expression changed. Irritation arrived first. Recognition followed it.
"Elias Kael, now I remember the file," she said. "Your father made a career out of inconvenient questions, and apparently that survived the family line."
Elias heard Dot's inhale even though she did not breathe.
Merek folded her hands behind her back. "You were excluded because your physical scores are low, your perception score is unacceptable, and your Ikona produces unknown support effects that could complicate a hostage field test. At present, you are a risk to the mission and to anyone forced to protect you."
Dot's flashed brighter. "That is not fair when he received the shard later than the others, and she knows it."
Only the shard users reacted. Merek did not hear her, or pretended well enough that Elias could not tell.
Elias made himself bow. The movement pulled his balance sideways, but he held it. "Then my target is clear, physical control, perception, and proof that my Ikona helps instead of hindering."
Merek watched his legs shake.
"Why are you trembling like a child waiting outside a disciplinary office?" she asked. "You are not bleeding, and your bones look intact."
Elias straightened slowly. "The Doctor's penalty reversed my body control down to the small movements. Standing still is taking more concentration than I expected, and falling over in front of your division would be a poor first impression."
A faint sound moved through the line. It might have been Paul trying not to laugh.
Merek did not laugh. Her eyes narrowed, not with anger this time, but with memory.
"Reversed control under shard penalty again," she said.
Elias waited.
Merek looked past him for half a breath, toward something that was not in the room.