AN: There was some issues with the last two chapters I posted, so I've pulled them down and they're being reuploaded. Also, I'm going to be trying to catch up to what I have on AO3, so I'll be posting a lot of chapters. Thanks so much for your patience!

For the second morning in a row, Jim's bed was too big and too cold. Morph's little body was tucked in against Jim's neck, but otherwise he was alone.
For a moment his heart stopped and his body tensed with fear. What if they hadn't really found Sy? What if it had been a dream?
Logic prevailed. Jim drew in a deep breath, reassuring himself that he hadn't made it up. Sy was safe in the medical center. As was Zephyr, and Matt. Everyone else had been released to return to program.
Or, more accurately, released to the head of student affairs. They had been questioned, individually and as a group, for hours. They'd missed lunch, and they would have missed dinner, but Braxton had walked out and took the rest of them with him.
Jim understood their concern. The Admiral's grandson had disappeared overnight, and no one had been aware of it. Two cadets were trapped on a roof for more than twelve hours, and had Braxton not been on parole, they could possibly have been up there for another twelve. Or possibly longer. Saturday they would have been written off as sick, or skipping, or possibly excused by the teacher under the false assumption they were needed by a higher ranking officer. Sunday no one would have noticed their absence but their friends. Could they have been up there until Monday? Assuming they had survived that long.
Still, though, the interrogation had been exhausting. No, they did not know how the boys got up there. Yes, they had considered going to an officer, but they were afraid their concerns would be dismissed. No, they were not the ones that had destroyed the door lock. Yes, they had considered going for help once they found the boys, but had decided it was safer and faster to stay with them.
Somehow, though silent agreement, or due to not believing the theory, all of the boys had refrained from bringing up their theory about Gray's involvement. Somehow it hadn't seemed like it would be especially beneficial to their situation. What mattered right now was only that their friends were safe. If their theory was correct, any official investigations would support their accusations without any of the young men needing to be on the record making them. If for any reason Gray was able to do this without leaving any evidence, he'd have no reason to come after them for revenge.
At least, for right now, Zephyr should be safe for a while. After one close call, the Admiral was certainly not about to let his grandson end up in any other compromising situations.
Jim drug himself out of bed and shook his morning musings away. Normally, on a Sunday like this, he and Sy would just lounge around sleeping in and otherwise doing nothing before dragging themselves off to the mess hall to snag breakfast shortly before it ended. This morning, however, Jim didn't have any reason to dally about in bed.
He dressed quickly and dashed down the hall to wash his face and brush his teeth. A quick stop by his room to drop off his things and grab his tablet, and then he was off and down the hall.
Jim 07:43
You guys awake?
I'm heading for breakfast.
Matt 07:43
Allready at the table. Hogarth is here, two.
Sorry, too.
Braxton 07:43
B thr soon
Thankfully the halls were nearly empty. Sundays were lazy days. Most of the youth started their free day by sleeping in. It would be another two or three hours yet before things started to get busy.
Jim entered the mess hall to the sounds of quiet conversation and people eating. The scrape of a fork against a tray, a glass clinking, coffee being refilled. Sounds that were usually so innocuous, easy to ignore. Today, though, he discovered that each sound set him on edge. It was surprisingly hard to relax when you weren't positive if the man who's plans you foiled yesterday was looking for an opportunity at revenge.
Jim joined Braxton in the meal line, relaxing slightly now that he had someone with him. "Hey."
"Hey." Braxton shoved his tray down the line, collecting his meal like usual. "I got Matt's eggs this morning."
"Thanks. You want to share mine?"
"Nah."
Gergie scanned their badges and sent them off without fanfare. Jim crossed to their usual table, scanning their surroundings for threats on the way.
"Relax. Gray won't do anything out in the open." Braxton knocked his shoulder against Jim's and gave him a grin. "Come on. Come sit. I've had my ear tuned to the channel we heard them talking on since yesterday. So far nothing, but I'll let you know if that changes."
Hogarth and Matt were seated at the table as promised. Braxton slid into his spot beside Matt, and Jim took a place across from them. Hogarth was to his right, but surprisingly still. Most likely his coffee hadn't kicked in yet.
"Wait, hold up. Matt, I thought the doctors were holding you still. When'd you get released?"
"This morning," Matt smiled. "I woke up around seven, they checked me out, and I got permission to return to program. I told you guys I was just tired. Hogarth and I left there around seven thirty and came straight here for breakfast."
"What was Hogarth doing in the medical center at seven thirty in the morning?" Braxton asked. He paused, then turned to look at the boy in question. "What were you doing in the medical center at seven thirty in the morning?"
Hogarth shrugged. He stabbed a potato with his fork and lifted it off his tray before answering. "I was actually there at seven in the morning, I just waited to leave until Matt was ready to go. I stopped by to see if Varian was there. He wasn't."
Jim relaxed. Nothing else was wrong with any of his friends, that was good. "Varian was released with the rest of us yesterday, remember? He's fine."
"He wasn't in his room this morning, and he didn't meet me at six thirty for breakfast like usual." Hogarth shook his head. "I was worried that maybe he had some residual issues and went to medbay last night as a result."
Braxton and Jim both sat up straighter, exchanging worried glances between the two of them.
"Relax you two." Matt set a hand on Braxton's shoulder, "He's fine. We already messaged him, he just went to go see Max."
Jim let out a small, relieved chuckle. "Alright, cool. That's good. So, uh, while he's not here, are we all still pretending Max is a normal horse, or…"
"I don't know what you're talking about. Max is absolutely a normal horse." Somehow Hogarth said that sentence with the straightest face Jim had ever seen someone maintain while lying. And he was friends with Braxton. Braxton could lie in his sleep.
"Right, cool then. Max is a normal horse and we all accept that as fact." Jim picked up one of his pancakes, folded it in half, and dunked it into his container of syrup. "And it is not weird at all that he was on the roof with us yesterday. How did you all fit up on that thing? It was tiny!"
Braxton laughed. "Yeah, honestly, I have no idea. Actually, it was-" He froze, piece of toast halfway between plate and mouth, his gaze shifting into something that made it clear he wasn't seeing anything at all.
"Braxton?"
"Shhh." Braxton shook his head, still focused on the voices in his head. Literally. He tapped his earpiece and returned to focusing on whatever conversation must have just started.
Jim and Matt exchanged a quick glance. Hogarth leaned in, concern written across his face.
Finally, Braxton spoke. "Gray started the contact. His partner didn't pick up for the first few attempts. Now Gray's getting chewed out for being rash. I'm going to paraphrase a little where needed, but…
'You are an absolute imbecile. I told you not to do anything about the captain's grandson. Do you have any idea how much you could have cost our mission? Locking those boys out on the roof was the stupidest decision you have ever made, second only to the decision to be born.'"
"Ouch, harsh." Jim didn't think it was unfair, though.
Braxton grinned, but continued his transcript without interruption. "'You are lucky I was able to loop old footage to cover what I had to delete last night. No one will be able to tie you to the incident. But now there's going to be more eyes than ever. Lay low for a while. I'll tell you the next time you are allowed to do anything beyond your written job description. Don't contact me. I'll be in touch if I decide you're useful again. I have actual, important work to do. Like getting our men on these student missions.'" After a long pause, Braxton nodded. "Alright, yeah. That's all."
"So Gray was definitely involved!" Jim was grinning, despite the fact that this was technically bad news. "He was trying to murder Zephyr! I knew it! Yes!"
"Way to be excited over the death of your boyfriend's best friend." Braxton drawled. "I'm sure Sy will be just pumped to celebrate with you."
"Oh shush. This means we were on the right track. Okay, so we know that Zephyr is still in danger. He has his student mission coming up, right? His off world mission? We need to figure out what that is, and how we can protect him."
"That's not going to be easy," Matt pointed out. "He's leaving the planet, and we'll have to stay here."
"You're right, it won't." Jim agreed. "But Braxton, you said Zephyr is assigned to you for a month, right? So we've got three more weeks to figure out which mission he's being assigned to, and how to get someone onboard that can keep him safe. We have time to plan. All we need is more information."