novelraw Chapter 250 250: The Selection
Chapter 250 250: The Selection
Tatehan was listening to music from his favorite artist back on Earth, a musician whose work had been popular in the years before the Space Dragon Wars, and it felt surreal and immensely fulfilling that he was vibing along to it now, on Mars, in a workshop, centuries…
The song was smooth, rhythmic, with a baseline that vibrated through his headphones and made his head nod almost unconsciously. It was one of those tracks that hit differently depending on your mood, and right now, in this moment of quiet waiting, it felt perfect. Nostalgic, even.
A small piece of Earth, carried forward into a future that the artist would never have imagined.
Tatehan was sure the musician didn't survive the war on Earth. He was certain he died just like Gavin had done.
By the way, Tatehan had told the commander about the plan earlier that day, laying out the details of the infiltration, the role of the battle commander, the super speed runner and the extraction point.
She had listened carefully, asked a few clarifying questions, and then given her approval. She had even said something about being impressed with the creativity of it, though Tatehan suspected she was also aware of just how risky the whole thing was.
But she had not stopped him. And that was what mattered.
The door to the workshop opened, and Riven and Lyra walked in, their expressions a mix of exhaustion and relief. They looked like they had been through a long, draining day, and Tatehan could not really blame them.
Interviewing nine people, running the same field tests over and over, trying to stay sharp and evaluative when you were tired and your feet hurt: it was not easy work.
They all exchanged greetings, the kind of casual, tired acknowledgments that came at the end of a long day. Lyra dropped into one of the chairs near the workbench with a heavy sigh, and Riven leaned against the edge of the table, crossing her arms.
"Today was hectic," Lyra complained, her voice carrying the emotion of someone who had been on their feet for too long. "Like, really hectic. I didn't think interviewing people would be that exhausting."
Riven nodded in agreement, her expression weary. "Yeah. And running the same test nine times in a row? My legs are killing me. I'm going to feel this tomorrow."
Tatehan just smiled at their complaints, his headphones still resting around his neck, the music paused.
He had not done much today. Just gone out, read for a while in the library, walked around the base and maybe talked to a few people. Nothing strenuous. Nothing that compared to what Riven and Lyra had been doing.
He decided not to mention that.
"So," Tatehan said, leaning forward slightly. "So how many people. How'd it go?"
Lyra nodded, pulling her phone out and scrolling through her notes. "Yeah. Nine total. Three women, six men. Most of them were pretty good, actually. Better than I expected."
"Better than the first guy, at least," Riven added with a faint grin. "That one was rough."
Torvan, who had been working quietly at his bench, set down his tools and turned toward them. "Alright. Let me pull up the data and we'll see what we're working with."
He walked over to his main computer terminal, a large, multi-screen setup that displayed lines of code, graphs, and diagnostic readouts. He connected the glasses device to the system, and the screens immediately lit up with streams of data. Speed measurements, balance metrics, recovery times, movement efficiency, all of it captured during the field tests.
Torvan pulled up the first profile, and the name appeared at the top of the screen: Veylan Kross.
"Alright," Torvan said, his tone analytical. "Let's start with this one."
He cycled through the data, his eyes scanning the numbers and graphs with practiced efficiency. Tatehan watched as the information scrolled by, not entirely sure what all of it meant but trusting that Torvan knew what he was looking at.
"Decent speed," Torvan muttered. "But his balance is inconsistent. Too many stumbles. Recovery time is slower than it should be. Not terrible, but not great."
He moved on to the next profile, then the next, working his way through each candidate one by one. Some were clearly better than others. Some had impressive speed but poor control. Others had excellent balance but lacked the raw acceleration needed for the mission.
Riven and Lyra had already agreed between themselves, based on what they had seen during the tests, that Jace should be the one. He had stood out from the moment he stepped onto the field, and his performance had been flawless. But they were curious to see if Torvan's analysis would confirm what they had observed.
Meanwhile, Tatehan's mind had started to wander.
Nine people had shown up for the interviews. That was a lot, if he was being honest. It meant there were a lot of people with super speed abilities in Waython Hollow alone. And that was just the ones who had heard about the job and decided to come. There were probably others who had heard and chosen not to apply, or others who had not heard at all.
And they had only advertised lightly. A few public terminals, some word of mouth, nothing extensive. If they had done a more aggressive recruitment campaign, if they had spread the word more widely, Tatehan could bet the number would have been significantly higher. Maybe dozens of applicants instead of just nine.
But then a thought occurred to him…
What if this reached the Obscuron?
The man had ears everywhere. That much was clear. He had spies, informants… people embedded in cities who fed him information. And while Tatehan had been careful not to reveal the specifics of the mission in the advertisements, the fact that the Red Crest Clan was looking for someone with super speed abilities was not exactly subtle.
What could the Obscuron hear from this that would be beneficial to him? Maybe nothing. Maybe he would just file it away as background noise, another piece of irrelevant data about the cities preparing for something.
But what if he connected the dots? What if he realized that a super speed runner, combined with the recent raids on his bases, meant that someone was planning to get close to the West? What if he started preparing countermeasures, setting up additional defenses, increasing patrols and making the entire operation exponentially more dangerous?
That … that wouldn't be good at all. That would be terrible infact.
Tatehan's mind tightened and then Expanded as the thought spiraled. If the Obscuron figured out what they were planning before they even executed it, the whole thing could fall apart before it started.
The battle commander could be killed the moment he approached. The runner could be ambushed. The device could be destroyed.
And they would lose their chance.
But then again, maybe he was overthinking it. Maybe the Obscuron had too much on his plate to worry about recruitment notices from a single city. Maybe—
"After analyzing," Torvan said suddenly, snapping Tatehan out of his spiraling thoughts, "Jace is the guy for the job!"