The Speaker left Freyr alone in the conference room with a mildly surprised expression. She sat down in one of the chairs to catch her breath and regain composure. While thinking back through what they’d discussed, she idly nibbled on the nail of her little finger. After a dozen controlled breaths, Freyr got up and exited the room as well.

Agent 595 was waiting down the hall. She called out “There you are! I was wondering if you’d been absorbed into the hive mind.” Freyr didn’t return her jovial grin. “Oh no, someone’s grumpy. Come on, a shuttle to the Barb is waiting. We’ll have a good old debrief and get some rest. You must be [b]exhausted[/b].” Just mentioning the word made Freyr yawn, so she nodded pliantly.

595 patted her back encouragingly and led her quickly toward one of the docking pans, where an empty Human military shuttle purred on the deck, raring to go. Freyr stopped and looked back one last time to see if anyone was overtly watching. There was no one. 595 clanked up the ramp beside her. “Wakey wakey, let's not keep the DG waiting.” Freyr gulped and trudged to her seat.

595 strapped in next to her, the ramp close up and the transport shot back toward orbit.