Jiece answered after two seconds that felt longer through the feed.
"What is your read on this, Kikaru?"
She kept her voice controlled. "You are dealing with a shard user, and the body Romeo shot was not the source. I did not see a shard on him, and the orb behavior looks remote or staged. If you rush Anders, you may trigger the next layer."
Jiece walked as he listened. "You are probably right, but Anders is alive now and may not remain that way. We train for shard contact, even if command keeps pretending you people are impossible to plan around."
"Then plan around this before he triggers something," Kikaru said. "Let my Ikona listen when you reach him."
"You are not needed in the room."
"I hope that stays true for everyone."
The feed crossed into a white chamber with no furniture, no blood, and no visible equipment except a spiral staircase rising into the ceiling. The brightness made distance difficult to judge. Walls, floor, and ceiling met too cleanly.
