General Kyrie Jordan flicked away the last of the documents that required his attention and put the tablet aside. He stretched, feeling what must have been every bone in his upper body crack as he finally finished his deskwork for the day.
Finally it was time. He'd go down to see Dr. Luna and figure out what the autopsy results for Olivia Hahn were. Normally, Elian would send him the results directly, but instead he'd gotten a brief email.
I'll discuss the autopsy results in person. Come when you're free.
That had to mean something bad. It was unheard of for a military doctor to summon a general. It was always the other way around. But Kyrie trusted Elian, so he went.
It was quite a walk to the morgue. There was probably some general before him with an irrational fear of the dead who insisted the general's office be as far away from the corpses as possible. Most of the time Kyrie didn't mind, but a more central location would have probably been more convenient for everyone.
"Elian." When Kyrie opened the door, a chemical smell assaulted his nostrils. The morgue always smelled bad. Dr. Luna was nowhere to be seen, but there was noise coming from his office.
"One minute, I'll be right with you." Elian took another minute before poking his head out. "Kyrie! You shoulda said it was you."
"I figured I should let you finish whatever you're doing," Kyrie replied with a chuckle. Elian was always so disorganized. Even his tablet file organization was a complete mess.
"And if anyone realizes I kept a general waiting, I'd be on the chopping block. Announce yourself man!"
"I did."
"I can't recognize voices. You shoulda said it was you." Elian shook his hair out as he came over. "So you're here about the Phantasma autopsy, right?"
"I take it it's not good?"
"It sure freaked me out. You sure you didn't send an assassin after her?"
"So she was killed..." Kyrie heaved a sigh and looked for a chair. There were a couple lined up against a wall, opposite the body storage. He pulled one out for himself and pointed to another for Elian.
"I found a wound that indicated she had something injected into her. And looking through, I found an...unfortunate cocktail of chemicals. The same kind they used back when there was a death penalty. A fast-acting sedative to keep them from feeling any pain, and others that target and take out vital bodily functions - nervous system, heart, lungs, so on."
"Damn."
"I assumed you wouldn't want that on record, considering the current circumstances. You gonna tell the media?"
"Can't. That would completely undermine their faith in us. This isn't known by anyone except a few of the upper brass, but we were hacked that day too."
"Wait, hacked?" Elian's eyes widened.
"Yeah. The day we found her body, we realized someone had hacked into our systems and messed with the security footage. We've been frantically trying to figure out who and how, but I guess now we know the why for sure."
"Do you know the why?" Elian frowned. "Sure, their intention was to kill Ms. Hahn, but why were they so intent on it?"
Kyrie clenched his fist as the uncertainty threatened to swallow him.
"I wish they'd at least waited until I'd retired."
"In twenty years?" Elian laughed. "If you wanna retire, I guess you'd have good reason to resign if you released this stuff."
"No way. That would completely undermine faith in the military and we're in a tough enough position as is."
"Gotta love those weirdos. Speaking of, I looked thoroughly at her, did tests I wouldn't have normally done, and there was no difference between her and a normal person as far as I can tell. Whatever this power business is, it's not genetic or biological. At least in this case."
"That's reassuring," Kyrie said sarcastically. "You're saying there's something supernatural at work here."
"Did you think there wasn't? This is just confirmation. Of course, I'd need to look at others to get a better idea. But I suppose we aren't going to lock up these Miracle bearers just so we can satisfy our scientific curiousity."
"Your thoughts terrify me sometimes."
"Don't worry, I wouldn't act on them. Looking at dead bodies is one thing, but experiments on living humans are nasty. And don't go killing one just so I have a corpse to examine. I'm not sure which would be worse."
"Relax, I have no intention of fueling any kind of freak experimentation."
"Good." Elian leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. "This is worse than I realized, huh? If we catch another villain or whatever, do you think that hacker will come back?"
"No idea. If we catch another one, I'm beefing the security on them. A string of deaths in prison would be just as bad as admitting what happened this time. And it would give Evans good reason to take over the Second Division too."
"Wait, the Third General?"
"The same."
"Can he do that?"
"Not as long as I manage to keep things under control. But this will be seen as the Second's failure and if I'm forced to resign, I'm pretty sure Evans will sneak in one of his lackeys. Which would give him control of two-thirds of the military. The First won't be able to stop him."
"Yikes." Elian looked at Kyrie, more nervous than Kyrie had ever seen him. "I knew you complained about him a lot, but I thought it was more...professional rivals. He'd try to take that much power?"
"He's corrupt. Jenkins and I are able to keep him in check since there's two of us, but realistically the Third Division has the most power. I noticed evidence of embezzling in the Third, but can't do anything about it. I tried, and Evans blocked me. I don't even want to know what that asshole's hiding."
"So we have to keep this quiet at all costs. Got it. I'll leave cause of death as sudden cardiac arrest, but we'll know the truth. And with that, you'll be able to do something about it."
Kyrie nodded, losing himself in thought. Finally he spoke up again.
"Elian, do you think I'm corrupt?"
"What makes you ask?"
"This cover-up. I'd get mad at Evans for doing the same, yet here I am shamelessly lying to everyone."
Elian didn't answer. He fell into thought for several minutes, and Kyrie was stuck with his own swirling thoughts.
"If you look at it that way," Elian finally said, "I suppose you could be considered corrupt. But is there such thing as a clean politician?"
"I'm not a politician. I'm a military officer."
"Military general. General Jordan. Your position isn't too different from a politician, whether you like it or not. Your world is filthy with lies and corruption. But I don't think that's the important question here. What are your motives, General Jordan? Why are you covering this up?"
Kyrie thought for a while before responding.
"It's for the military's image. Well, I guess my own image too. I can't stand having failed like this. And I'm terrified that if this gets out, people will lose faith in us. That we'll be blamed when we have more important things to deal with. And we should be blamed. But blame can come after we find the hacker and get Paris and Achilles under control. Once things are at peace again, I guess I'll come clean and resign, and hope my successor does their best in my place."
"There. Your motives are keeping peace and order, which is what you are charged with as a general. So, yes, corrupt perhaps, but your heart's in the right place. What are Evans' motives? If you had to hazard a guess, since we can't know for sure. Base it on the available evidence."
Kyrie let out a long sigh. "The only way I can see it is he's doing it for his own personal gain. Or he's completely wrapped around his spoiled daughter's finger. I doubt his motives are pure. Course, can't necessarily say the same of mine..."
"Quit being self-deprecating. I think your motives are as pure as they come, Kyrie. Assuming you were telling me the truth."
"I wouldn't lie to you. You've been my friend for years. Frankly, the only person I trust more is my wife."
"Thank you for the vote of confidence. I enjoy talking to you as well. When's your next day off?"
"I barely get days off, especially in this mess."
"Fine. Take an afternoon and go for coffee with me. We can talk about the most mundane things. Like how our kids are doing, or what the latest movies are, or something."
Kyrie smiled. Elian really was the best.
"I'll take you up on that."
