"That was very nearly a disaster."

Central could have debriefed us on the jet, but she's waited this long to chew us out. Never a good sign when she's looking for the personal touch. The three of us instinctively shrink together a tiny bit closer around the bland meeting room table and brace ourselves for a tongue-lashing.

She's pacing in front of the screen and studying various telemetry and mission recap details on it.

"Decker, while this is a minor infraction, your predicament in the freezer room was a direct result of neglecting orders. 'Get out' means now, and not 'once you've cleared the rest of the room you're in'. Knowing what we do now, that the Padlock subroutine is on a timer, you would have beaten it to the door had you left when ordered, and Xu wouldn't have needed to put himself at risk to give you a way out."

"Uh-huh," I cringe.

"And in addition to that..." Oh great, she's not done. "...You could have avoided the Seeker guard with better scouting. You ran right into him." So glad we have enough intel on the corp now to call orca-man by his proper job title. Truly, brings tears of joy to my eyes.

"Dr. Xu, were you aware you were in direct enemy sights a total of four times this mission?"

Xu seemingly opens his mouth to answer and reconsiders it with a chastised look.

"Of course, I am being lenient with regards to the tactical value of letting the enemy see you, and the fact that most of those incidents were deliberate. That said, the emphasis still is and always has been on stealth. I suppose I should have expected this level of chaos when I hired you. What I do expect now is for you to put effort into avoiding this kind of spectacle in the future. Find ways to manipulate hostiles without being seen, even if you don't find it quite so personally engaging."

Xu looks about as shamefaced as he can possibly manage, but I know him too well by now. That bastard had fun and has no plans of changing his ways anytime soon.

"Internationale..." Central pauses, does a double take at Valdes, and hums softly, "Well done."

I smirk to myself as I watch Valdes's expression, the urge to glow at the praise clearly fighting her anti-authoritarian streak. She finally musters a poker face and gives a curt nod.

"Teacher's pet," I tease her when we're finally free from Central's clutches some ten minutes later.

Valdes rolls her eyes at me. "Please, Brian. Everyone knows that's him."

She lightly punches Xu on the arm, and he winces, though not from pain. "I wouldn't be so sure. That debriefing stung more than actually getting shot."

"You've never been shot, poindexter." Because I do my damn job. Even when it comes to high-tech paintgun pellets.

"But I can imagine it keenly. Highly unpleasant."

"Whatever. I'm not dragging your sorry ass to the elevator the next time one of your high-risk gambits doesn't pan out."

"Abandoning a teammate? Now what would Central think of that?" he smirks.

I look at Valdes. "You were right about him. Teacher's pet."

It gets her to laugh, so there's that.

Mission accomplished.