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Like Revik, Jorag trained under Menlim and Salinse for over a hundred years.

Raddi was there for the same reason.

So was Neela.

Varlan was invited for his sight-rank, but also because he’d worked for the Rooks under Galaith.

Dalejem was there (as Balidor explained) partly because he’d known Revik’s light not long after Revik left the Rooks. He’d also known my light as a child.

I wasn’t too thrilled about that one, but yeah, I got the logic.

Then there were Kali and Uye, my “parents,” who also knew my light before it got mixed up with Revik’s. And of course Jon himself, who’d been exposed to my light longer than any of them, although he’d been a human for most of that time.

Jon also knew Revik’s light. And Terian’s.

The others in the room were a mixture of ex-Rebels, Adhipan, and Seven, with a heavier weighting towards Adhipan, probably so those Shadow resonances wouldn’t overwhelm the construct. They included: Loki, Declan, Garend, Kalgi, Anale, Chandre, Yumi, Rig, Hondo, Chinja, Poresh, and Vikram. Dante was there, too, to run the computer end of things, meaning the capture ofaleimicimprints.

Jaden came along to help her.

Neither Revik nor I was thrilled about Jaden being there, but Vik told us Jaden had become Dante’s right hand for electronic conversions of Barrier scans. I knew they wanted humans on the comps anyway, so they could free up Anale, Vik, and Poresh.

I found myself thinking I would have a little chat with Dante about training up more humans on the comp-squad besides my ex-boyfriend. While I was at it, I might have a talk with her on the relative merits of Jaden as a boyfriend, since I’d seen her looking at him a little too long and hard over the past twenty or so minutes.

Of course, Dante was too busy glaring at Loki right then for me to be able to even make eye-contact with her.

I might have found that amusing under different circumstances.

I’d heard the whole Loki-Gina-Dante story by then, so I knew exactly what that glare was about. The Loki-Gina interspecies light connection had been a source of gossip for weeks after Loki and his team first got back to the carrier from D.C.

At the moment, however, I had other things on my mind.

It didn’t help that Revik and Jaden already engaged in at least one extremely hostile staring contest from across the room. Luckily, they’d seated Jaden as far from Revik as they could, at a small table covered in computer equipment in the corner.

Jaden was the only one who didn’t sit at the conference table. Even Dante squeezed in, sandwiched between Vikram and Yumi. Her eyes were locked to her hand-held now, at least when she wasn’t giving the stink eye to her mother’s new boyfriend.

I wished I knew what Jaden’s trip was.

If he was going to glare at anyone, I wondered why he didn’t glare at me.

After all, heknewme.

Then again, I’d long gotten the impression there was more behind Revik’s hatred of Jaden than I’d ever gotten the full story on, either.

Balidor cleared his throat, delicately that time.

“Esteemed Bridge?” he prompted. “Whenever you’re ready…?”

I gave Revik a last glance. He smiled at me reassuringly, but I noticed that sharper, more wary look never left his eyes.

Still, I’d stalled as long as I could.

I could feel the part of me that knew something was off, but didn’t want to know. I could feel how I didn’t want anyone telling us what we were doing was wrong, or somehow part of Shadow’s plan. Truthfully, I kind of wanted them all to piss off and leave us alone, that we deserved this.

Moreover, we needed it.

I couldn’t do any of those things, though.

Realizing only then that I’d been holding my breath, I let it out in a slow exhale.