After another ten-plus minutes of walking, they finally reached a building near the compound's center.
Miles was already waiting out front.
"Captain—welcome back!" he said, clearly fired up.
Ethan nodded. "Yeah. Come on, let's go in first."
"Right."
They filed straight into the briefing room.
Miles had barely sat down before Ethan pinned him with a look. "Miles. You knew we were coming back today?"
"No," Miles said quickly. "But our people saw those red birds. So, yeah—they knew you guys were back."
Ethan frowned. "How'd they know the red birds were ours?"
Miles blinked at him. "Because… Captain, everything you did in the Yamato Empire was public."
"…Since when?" Ethan looked genuinely lost.
Miles stared at him like he'd just asked whether the sky was blue. "You had cameras on. It was livestreamed across the entire Atlas Federation. If that's not public, what is?"
"Livestreamed across the whole Federation!?" Ethan and the others froze, eyes going wide.
