The Seven Revels

The First Report

Collin Ardent sat on the edge of his seat, his helmet in one hand, the other rubbing the knot at the back of his head. His hands were shaking so much though that it wasn't helping at all. Commander Lyndon had summoned him hours ago, and Ardent had been waiting outside the office since then. He'd quickly pulled his uniform on, despite the nurse's warning to go slow, and had raced there as quickly as he could, not wanting to disappoint the Commander any more than he already had.

Lieutenant Ardent was terrified, truly, for the first time in his thirty-one years of life. He'd been an ISA agent since he was eighteen, and had done everything right ever since. Until he was stationed at Checkpoint 6B for the WWEvac. There, his fellow agents had suddenly stopped listening to him, started belittling him, and his control started slipping from between his fingers.

Then there had been the whole crisis with the stolen military airship, where Ardent had been hit across the back of the head with a... lead pipe or something...?

Ardent put his head in his hand, trying to ignore the pounding ache. If he made it out of this meeting alive, his fellow agents would never respect him again. His career was finished.

The click of the Commander's door snapped him out of his reverie and he shot to his feet, assuming the best salute his shaking hands could manage. Lyndon stepped into the doorway and nodded at Ardent. He let his arms down at his side, but didn't dare move another muscle.

"Come on, Ardent," Lyndon said, his deep voice resonating through Ardent's bones. "Let's get this over with."

Oh god. That's not good. Ardent tried to control his nerves, despite the fact that he felt he was going to throw up all over the Commander's nice uniform. Lyndon disappeared back into his office, and Ardent hastily followed him, pulling the door shut behind him. Lyndon sat down in his chair, and Ardent remained standing, stiffly, afraid to so much as twitch.

"Christ, Ardent, relax a little. Take a seat."

Ardent quickly followed the commander's orders and sat, straight backed, on the edge of his seat.

Lyndon didn't waste any time. "Let's get to the point, Ardent. You want to tell me what happened at Checkpoint 6B this week?"

"Yes, sir. We were just doing our routine checks, making sure everything was in order on each evacuating airship. We boarded a particular airship and the pilot was just a kid. He-"

"And what was the kid's name?"

"Milo Burgess, sir."

"Milo Burgess..." Lyndon mused as he wrote something down. "What'd he look like?"

"He looked maybe seventeen years old. Brown hair, blue eyes. Maybe five foot five?"

"Alright, go on."

"His pilot's license checked out but when I asked him for the vehicle's registration, he looked a little nervous. We followed him to the cockpit and he found the papers no problem. Upon looking through the papers, I saw that the airship was of military origin and registered to someone named Abel Marcs. When I asked Burgess about it, he was unable to explain himself. He told us his friend's grandmother was MRO, then immediately swore he was the only one on board. We arrested him, and I send my other two agents to find everyone else on board.

"I was watching the door when the boy attacked me and knocked me into the hallway. He was able to-"

"He knocked you into the hallway? Were you not facing him?"

Ardent felt his blood freeze. "I had my back to him at the moment."

"Isn't one of the first things you learn when training to be an ISA agent to never turn your back on an adversary?"