“Wait,” she called. The guards stilled, holding off for additional orders from Jennix, who outranked Sponder. “Continue, MCS Becker.”
I nodded. “On the screen, you can clearly see the trail of data that proves they’ve been working on multiple projects together for well over a year. I found encrypted files with structural drawings and maps of a massive base of some kind as well as a large building on the surface of Velerion. It looks like a giant meeting place of some kind. The Hall of Records?”
“Oh shit,” the other general said. “Queen Raya is going to take out the Hall of Records?”
“What is that?” I asked.
Kass blinked hard, and I saw him brighten as he thought of a way to explain it to me. “It’s like a country’s capitol building on Earth. All the lawmakers are there, like a Velerion senate.”
Jennix began to rub her forehead in a subtle sign of distress. “There are many secret passageways, underground tunnels, and decentralized power stations to protect it from a direct assault. We knew she’d received her information about the Starfighter base from Delegate Rainhart. But if Queen Raya has the structural details for the Hall of Records as well?”
“General, this is—”
Jennix looked to Sponder. “Silence.”
Sponder was fighting for his life now and forged ahead despite the general’s warning. “If he falsified his records for the training program, what makes you think his pair bond isn’t doing the same now? To protect him?”
“Because MCS Becker didn’t know Velerion was real until two days ago. The time stamp on the data collection indicates the time when MCS Remeas was in the brig.”
“And in the Phantom, General,” I added. “I discovered the link to Rainhart on the way to the moon base.”
She glanced at the second time stamp and nodded. Then continued with Sponder. “You put Remeas in the brig yourself. Becker wouldn’t have had time to learn the history of Delegate Rainhart and fake reports. And since she was expecting Lieutenant Markus to be her mission partner, they certainly couldn’t plan this en route.”
Sponder’s face was turning a dark shade of red.
“I have sorted multiple threads of conversations between Rainhart and Sponder as well as detailed instances of report tampering. The ghost trail Sponder left behind while inserting Starfighter Training Academy mission modifications is included as well. As for today’s mission, my mech team and I both saw Captain Sponder exiting the Phantom a few minutes before takeoff. And our ship wasn’t hit by the enemy; it was blown up from within.”
Jennix clenched her jaw. “Comms,” she called again. “Analyze data in the Phantom’s docking bay, previous three hours. Can you confirm reports of Captain Sponder’s presence near the Phantom.”
“No data found,” the AI voice responded.
The corner of Sponder’s mouth tipped up.
“May I, General?” Kass asked.
Jennix nodded.
“Comms,” Kass called. “Analyze data in docking bay, previous three hours. Report and display the last person to approach the Phantom prior to Starfighter MCS Becker’s arrival.”
“Processing. Data visible on screen six.”
The image showed Mech Vintis, one of the mechanics, placing something beneath the weapons panel. But his uniform looked odd and the image was a bit blurry.
“Comms, locate Mech Vintis at the time this recording was taken.”
“Processing. Data visible on screen six.”
A view of the docking bay popped up on the screen. Mech Vintis and Mech Arria were sitting at a small work station, laughing and enjoying a meal together while taking a break from their duties.
“Vintis could not be in two places at once,” Kass said.
“And I personally saw Captain Sponder walk off my ship.” I couldn’t help myself; I wanted to jump on Sponder’s back and strangle him. “You bastard.”
Kass interrupted before I could say more, which was probably a good thing as I was really close to acting on my instincts.
“Comms, track Captain’s Sponder’s location five minutes prior to that time.”
“Processing. Data visible on screen six.”