Kai shouldered his pack, already moving toward the building, but not before turning back with an easy smile.
"First day jitters," he said with just the right mix of self-deprecation and confidence. "What's Commander Wolfe like? Prefer someone who shows up punctual or someone who shows up informed?"
The guard's weathered face cracked slightly---not quite a smile, but close.
He glanced at his partner, then leaned in just a fraction.
"Wolfe's old school. Values results over bullshit. She'll test you---everyone gets tested. Don't lie to her. She's got a nose for it."
He paused, then added quietly: "And Chen? Whatever file they pulled on you... she knew your old man. Served together. Make of that what you will."
Kai filed that away immediately.
Commander Wolfe served with Marcus Chen. That wasn't in any of the sanitized records he'd seen.
"Appreciate it," he said, meaning it.
The Citadel unfolds before Kai like a textbook in institutional hierarchy.
On the parade grounds, recruits ran drills---their formation sloppy, their sergeant screaming corrections.
He cataloged faces, body language, the pecking order already forming.
He passed veterans leaning against a building, sharing cigarettes and dark humor.
Their armor told stories---scorch marks, hastily welded repairs, custom modifications.
These were people who'd survived the wasteland's worst.
As he approached the administrative building, his rapid assimilation ability cataloged details automatically: the security camera above the entrance, the worn path in the floor tiles leading to specific offices, the duty roster posted on a bulletin board.
The stairs creaked under his boots.
Second floor. End of the hall.
The door read "COMMANDER SARAH WOLFE" in faded stenciled letters.
Two things he noticed immediately: there was no guard posted outside, and there was a ventilation grate in the ceiling three feet from her door.
She knew his father. She served with him.
That meant she was there before he vanished, maybe even when he was assigned to the Colorado mission.
Kai raised his hand to knock, but paused with his knuckles an inch from the door.