No one called it a mistake.
Mistakes implied accident.
This had been approved.
The candidates were confined to quarters the next morning.
No explanation.
No timeline.
Just locked doors and quiet hallways.
Li Chen sat on his bunk, hands resting on his knees, breathing slow.
The System remained silent.
That worried him more than alarms ever had.
Across the base, meetings stacked on top of meetings.
Reports rewritten.
Language softened.
Unexpected contact instead of hostile engagement.
Operational stress response instead of panic.
Truth shaved down until it fit into approved margins.
Grant stood in front of a screen filled with redacted text.
"You put live shooters in their path," he said flatly.
"They were contractors," an officer replied.
"Armed."
"Controlled."
Grant laughed once.
"Nothing about that was controlled."
Harris threw up in the bathroom.
Not from exertion.
From memory.
The sound of the shot.
The feel of Li Chen's grip yanking him back from death.
He stared at his reflection.
"I froze," he whispered.
The mirror didn't argue.
Medical called Li Chen in alone.
Again.
Different room.
Different people.
Same careful distance.
"Any lingering effects?" the doctor asked.
"No."
"Psychological stress?"
Li Chen considered.
"On others," he said.
The doctor paused, pen hovering.
That evening, Grant visited Li Chen's quarters.
Unofficial.
No witnesses.
"They crossed a line," Grant said.
"Yes."
"And you didn't."
Li Chen looked up.
"That's why they're uncomfortable."
The System finally spoke.
Soft.
Measured.
[SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC]
[Risk assessment updated]
[Primary threat vector: Human decision-makers]
Li Chen exhaled slowly.
That aligned with his own conclusion.
Late that night, the base perimeter tightened.
Not outward.
Inward.
Clearances changed.
Access narrowed.
Li Chen felt it like pressure in the air.
They weren't afraid of attack.
They were afraid of outcome.
Grant filed a report he knew would disappear.
Harris requested reassignment.
Two officers were quietly rotated out.
No announcements were made.
Li Chen lay awake, staring at the ceiling.
He had joined to serve.
To be useful.
To apply restraint where others couldn't.
Now he understood the real danger.
Not power.
Not violence.
But what institutions did when faced with something they couldn't fully command.
The fallout wasn't explosive.
It was subtle.
And it had only just begun.