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For a asps "Please forgive me"

Five

Delalieu follows me to my door

"Gather the troops in the Quadrant toood-bye "I’ll have to make an announcement about these recent events as well as what’s to come"

"Yes, sir," Delalieu says He doesn’t look up He hasn’t looked at me since we left the warehouse

I have otherDelalieu’s stupidity, there are an infinite nuht now I can’t afford any more difficulties, and I cannot be distracted Not by her Not by Delalieu Not by anyone I have to focus

This is a terrible time to be wounded

News of our situation has already hit a national level Civilians and neighboring sectors are noare of our , and we have to tamp down the rumors as much as possible I have to somehow defuse the alerts Delalieu has already sent out, and si the citizens They’re already too eager to resist, and any spark of controversy will reignite their fervor Too many have died already, and they still don’t seeainst The Reestablish for more destruction The civilians must be pacified

I do not ar in my sector

Now more than ever, I need to be in control of myself and ued and wounded All day I’ve been inches fro, and I don’t knohat to do I have no idea how to fix it This weakness is foreign to ed to cripplepills, but I feel weaker than I did this nore the pain and inconvenience of a wounded shoulder, but the complication refuses to diminish I ah these next weeks of frustration Medicine, medics, hours in bed

All this for a kiss

It’s almost unbearable

"I’ll be in my office for the rest of the day," I tell Delalieu "Have my meals sent to my room, and do not disturb me unless there are any new developments"

"Yes, sir"

"That’ll be all, Lieutenant"

"Yes, sir"

I don’t even realize how ill I feel until I close the bedroorip the fraain and decide to strip the extra coat I wore on our outside excursion I yank off the blazer I’d carelessly tossed overand fall backward onto ood hand shakes as I reach for theonsubstantial Andelse, I desperately need to take a real shohich see over eneral outline of their figure A face keeps coive up My eyes fall closed My head is pounding Pain is searing through ether behind my eyelids I catch only clips of the conversation around me

--seems to have developed a fever--

--probably sedate hi to kill me, I realize This is the perfect opportunity I’ht back, and someone has finally come to kill me This is it My moment It has arrived And somehow I can’t seem to accept it

I take a swipe at the voices; an inhu hard hits ht arhtened around ainst these new restraints and kicking desperately at the air The blackness seeainst my eyes, my ears, my throat I can’t breathe, can’t hear or see clearly, and the suffocation of thethat I’ cold and sharp pinches my arulfshere?"

I’ ready for my day, and it’s too early for visitors These hours just before the sun rises are my only moments of peace, and no one should be in here It seeained access to my private quarters

So inat me I’ve seen her some physical pain to look at her But so to be near her