Debriefing went for quite a while. There was just so much to talk about, having been basically cut off from the Imperials for nearly twenty-four hours in a hostile environment with a rarely studied species. The room consisted of a huge, jet-black table, which seated about thirty. The entire room, including the table and the walls around the table, were filled with people.

Military officers, of course, got the table first. Then came the military scientists, followed by Navy personnel, there to ensure their input on one of their ‘controlled’ planets, and then a swarm of xenobiologists, all hoping to glean some minute, never before discovered piece of knowledge about the cleoggi. They stood, shoulder to shoulder, making the lines of people on the wall almost three deep.

It was crowded, hot, and loud. Arnaut couldn’t stand it. It felt nice to be out of his armor, although, after spending so much time in it, he felt rather exposed. The lights in the ceiling were too bright; their glare reflected off the table and made Arnaut squint. People talked over each other, running in on people’s conversations and questions, and just generally being all-around aggravating. Most of the people asking the questions had little or no regard for how the Aureks had actually made it through the mission. They wouldn’t have cared if one of them had died, or been maimed.

Most of the men were fat, greasy political climbers. They saw success in Aurek Squad’s success. They could benefit from the work and progress that the Aurek’s made, especially the live Cleoggi they had brought back. It was...sickening. If Arnaut had had fewer morals and a bit more guts, he might’ve gunned down half the people in the room. Might have.

He deflected questions as best he could, trying to cover up the fact that he really either had no idea what they were asking or couldn’t remember the specific even they referred to. Soon, they stopped asking him questions all together, moving onto his other squad mates who, for the most part, gave more detailed answers. Even though Arnaut pitied their position, he envied how they could give such answers. It was salt in the wound.

Soon, however, some of the military officials, who sat back and let the xenobiologists take the questions for the first part, started to get rather annoyed as well. They shoved everybody back, forcing them to the wall, and dimmed the lights. A projector came down, and the feeds from the Aurek helmets came up on screen.

“We would ask you all not to talk and to just take notes. Save your questions for the end,” one of the officials said. He shot a disgusted look at the closest knot of scientists, who stared back just as acidly. Arnaut smiled faintly. Good to know he wasn’t the only one who hated those guys.

The feeds came on, all of them displayed on one screen. It was a bit disorienting at first, looking through everyone’s helmet at once, but soon Arnaut learned to focus on just one, and ignore the others. The screen was large enough to accommodate all the vids well enough to know what was going on.  Arnaut found his relatively quickly, as the camera lurched and knives appeared from the wearer’s bracers. Arnaut vaguely remembered that. Beginning of the mission, they ran into a cleoggi ambush. It seemed like years ago to Arnaut.

The rest of the vid was like watching from someone else’s eyes. There would be sudden moments of intuition where Arnaut would recognize a scene, or, for a brief moment, remember actually doing what the vid showed. But at other times, Arnaut couldn’t remember at all.

The oddest time was directly after the explosion, when Arnaut had been dazed for quite a while. Arnaut scarcely thought he’d remember that even with all his other memories. Looking at it, from his cam, without the deafening noise or feel of the blast, Arnaut wondered how he’d survived.

It was worse, from the other angles. More than one other member saw Arnaut drop to the ground only to be caught in the explosion and hurtled through the air to the other side of the chamber. It was...unreal. He hit the wall with a force that should’ve crippled him. He was lucky to have escaped with only his memories damaged.

If only he had been just a bit luckier.

OOC:

PAGE 3!!! Wooo! Rejoice!