A truth came out a few weeks later.
It arrived at the hub in the form of an urgent briefing, called without warning in the middle of a training day. Every pilot on the station was ordered to the large briefing hall near the central spire, and Ning, now formally a pilot candidate, was ordered to attend with them.
The hall was crowded when he arrived. Pilots from every squadron on the hub had gathered, along with officers from the station's command staff, and the atmosphere was tense. Nobody seemed to know exactly what the briefing was about, but everyone had their suspicions.
Ning found a seat near the back beside the broad-shouldered pilot, whose name he had since learned was Harlan. Dorn sat a few rows ahead, his arms folded and his scarred face unreadable.
An intelligence officer stepped up to the front of the hall a few minutes later.
