Chapter 6 - What Rachel Did Not Know About Aaron
Rachel read Aaron’s message until dawn.
The next paragraph hurt more.
I broke protocol. I used Pike’s code once. Not tonight. Two weeks ago. I needed Hale out of a secure review so I could copy the access mirror.
There it was.
Aaron had committed misconduct.
Not because he was traitor.
Because he believed official channels were compromised.
Still misconduct.
The perfect dead brother became human again.
Rachel almost felt relieved.
She loved him more as a complicated person than as the marble hero everyone had built after his death.
The message named one file:
ORPHEUS.
No explanation.
Hale reacted when she mentioned it.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Aaron.”
Hale stared.
Then finally opened the secret he had been protecting.
ORPHEUS was not a weapon.
It was a counterintelligence test.
After signs of credential theft emerged, investigators seeded different false pieces of information into different accounts.
If one false detail appeared outside the system, they could identify which credential had been compromised.
Hale knew.
Aaron did not.
Mercer did not officially.
General Pike supervised it.
That was what Hale had been hiding.
“Which account leaked?”
Hale answered:
“Mine.”
Rachel froze.
So Hale’s credentials were compromised.
That explained why evidence repeatedly pointed at him.
The test proved someone was using his identity.
“Then why wasn't he cleared?”
Because ORPHEUS itself was classified separately.
After Kestrel, the project was buried during the larger security investigation.
Hale could not publicly explain.
But someone else learned the test existed.
Mercer.
“How?”
Hale didn't know.
Rachel did.
Aaron.
Her brother may have discovered ORPHEUS and told Mercer.
She returned to Mercer.
“Did Aaron tell you about ORPHEUS?”
Mercer paused.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before Kestrel.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because ORPHEUS was designed to protect Hale.”
“No. It was designed to identify stolen credentials.”
“That's Hale’s version.”
Rachel put Aaron’s message on the table.
Mercer read it.
His expression changed at:
Mercer knows more than he says.
For several seconds he looked older.
“What did you know?”
Mercer stood by the window.
“Whoever compromised Hale also compromised me.”
“ORPHEUS proved that?”
“No.”
“How?”
“Because I received orders I never requested.”
Before Kestrel, someone used Mercer’s credentials to requisition a satellite phone.
That phone was later found at the burned facility.
Mercer had hidden this because admitting credential compromise would remove him from command.
“I thought I could catch them first.”
Rachel stared.
Aaron broke protocol because he wanted to catch the intruder.
Mercer concealed evidence because he wanted to catch the intruder.
Hale concealed ORPHEUS because he was ordered to.
Everyone’s secret investigation interfered with everyone else's.
No wonder the official story collapsed.
Then Mercer revealed what happened after 02:31.
The fire began.
Smoke filled the lower equipment room.
Mercer was injured.
Aaron pulled him outside.
They separated.
Mercer reached an extraction vehicle.
Aaron went back.
“For what?”
“The ORPHEUS drive.”
“Why?”
“He said it proved who was using Hale’s identity.”
Rachel stopped.
“Did he have it?”
“Yes.”
“Who did it identify?”
Mercer looked directly at her.
“General Pike.”
May you like
The retired general who claimed never to have contacted Hale.
The man overseeing ORPHEUS itself.
