Dahlia: A Novel of Dark Desire

Chapter Two

She entered the captain's meeting hall to find it already full. A dozen of the twenty-one captains were already present, some in similar states of casual dress. A number of them must have been pulled out of bed. She saw Traedon's captain standing off to the side and gave him a nod. As she approached him he returned her greeting.

"Captain Borreal," she said, "I see you received a request as well."

The shorter man nodded, "It seems we all did and are merely waiting for the captains who took longer to rouse themselves."

"Any idea what this is about?"

"None."

One by one the rest of the captains trickled in. The late comers looking like they'd taken the time to put themselves together. She couldn't fault them for it. After all, she'd taken time to finish her affair and walk her barrack member back to his post.

Once they were all present an older-looking man with short, steel grey hair stepped to a raised platform at the back of the room: Captain Mazaran. The captains fell silent as he began to speak.

"We have an urgent and potentially dangerous matter on our hands. I sent a summons as quietly as possible and downplayed the urgency because I did not want to arouse undue interest. We have found two guards slain at their post by the research library. They were not guarding the development center and the guards in that area report hearing nothing. While there is nothing but research information the intruder could have stolen the implication is not good."

"The area is so low risk the fact that we placed two guards there was not well known, even internally. This was a coincidence, one of the guards was being trained. Since no other guards encountered an intruder nor any sign of one we have to fear the worst: that the killer came from within our own ranks, mapped out a path to avoid the areas well-known to be guarded, and was surprised to find these two."

"Select members of research have been alerted and are conducting an inventory to see what has been disturbed or taken. This event is to remain quiet. We do not need a panic looking for infiltrators. Please inform your lieutenants and no one else. Does anyone have information that may relate to this?"

The captains looked grim. An infiltration could mean traitors in the midst of their barracks. An unpleasant prospect all around.

A woman with short hair and a scarred face stepped forward, "Captain Mazaran, may I ask how these men were killed? And did no one hear them raise an alarm?"

"Both good questions, Captain Lenoi. One had his throat slashed from behind, the other was run through from the side. Given that he did not have time to turn and face his attacker we can assume the attacker was exceptionally fast. I do not think this rules anyone out however, a member of our barracks could be concealing their abilities."

Lenoi stepped back and another captain stepped forward, a dark young man with vibrant blue eyes. "Captain Mazaran, may I ask when the bodies were found and if we know when they were killed?"

Captain Mazaran nodded and addressed the young captain, "Captain Jenue. They were found roughly forty minutes ago at twelve fifteen this morning. Dr. Allan is examining them now. I will inform you all as soon as we know the results of his investigation."

Captain Horan stepped forward. Dahlia masked her impulse to twist her face in disgust. "Captain Mazaran," he asked, "may I ask what our next actions will be?"

"Captain Horan, I will inform you all when the investigation of the bodies and the investigation of the research library are complete and what we've found. I will call on you as needed to assist the efforts to find the infiltrator. Captain Borreal will command the investigation." Beside her, Borreal shifted slightly. Likely a surprise to him then, though not unexpected. Borreal was well respected among the force and recognized as being extremely intelligent and thorough with anything he did. She'd actually been assigned to his barrack as a new soldier, in part because she had been such a wild card.