Chapter 5: The Oath

Nobody applauded. Thirty-four people sat very still while a five-foot-five eighteen-year-old walked to the front of a room to be handed command of them. "They'll hate you by lunch," Instructor Bram said, pressing a tablet into my hands. "Files. Scores, psych profiles, bloodlines. Build your teams by morning." "They can hate me," I said. "They just have to survive me." He almost smiled. Our quarters are the east wing of a stone building we share with a unit that's been operational ten years...