Jim pushed open the door to the conference room office and stepped inside. A large table dominated the center of the room, with Colonel Maddock seated in the middle. To his left sat Captain Slater, and to his right, Major Chang—both observing him with unreadable expressions.

  Jim snapped to attention. "Lieutenant Barnett reporting as ordered, sir."

  "At ease, Lieutenant," Maddock replied.

  Jim allowed himself to relax slightly.

  "Go ahead and have a seat."

  "Yes, sir." Jim settled into one of the two chairs facing the colonel. He'd been through enough of these debriefings to know what to expect—every detail would be scrutinized, the successes and the failures laid out in full. As long as the good outweighed the bad, he had nothing to worry about.

  "Let's get started," Maddock said, thumbing through a thick stack of papers. He finished reviewing them and set the papers down. "I've read your complete report. Looks like you accomplished a great deal these past couple of days. Recruited Medusa. Defended Argos and Princess Andromeda and rescued Dana?. Anything I'm missing, Captain?"

  "We recovered Talos. Or parts of him," Slater replied.

  "Oh yes, you did successfully get us pieces of him. Hopefully, we can reconstruct him. But anyway, you're doing one hell of a job out there. Unbelievable. Frankly, you're the best we got by far. That's why we're promoting you early to First Lieutenant."

  "Thank you, sir." Jim replied.

  Plus, you'll be receiving the Army Achievement Medal.

  "Thank you, sir." Jim repeated.

  Maddock's expression turned serious. "However, there are some concerning elements in this report," he said, turning the page.

  Jim thought about the things that went wrong in Argos and Seriphos. "Sir?"

  "Mind giving me the details how Cetus got stoned only halfway? You wrote it down as trust issues."

  Jim let out a small sigh. "Yes sir, that's the most accurate way I can put it."

  "Trust issues left two of our men injured and cost us a sixty-million-dollar helicopter, Lieutenant," the colonel said, drumming his fingers on the table.

  "I apologize and take full responsibility," Jim said quickly.

  Colonel Maddock stopped tapping. "Oh, I know you do and I'm not getting into the details. Instead, tell me how those trust issues are progressing."

  "Much better now, sir. Maddie—er, Medusa—has opened up considerably since then. We shouldn't encounter similar problems moving forward. Our working relationship has improved significantly."

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  "Good to hear. Just remember: any further issues, and we'll need to discuss her continued participation in the program." Maddock turned another page. "Speaking of which, I have another question about Seriphos."

  "Sir?"

  "According to this report, Maddie turned King Polydectes to stone... in Poseidon's temple. Care to explain what happened there?"

  "Yes sir," Jim replied. "Polydectes refused to release Dana? and attacked us. We fought off his guards and pursued him into Poseidon's temple. When he still wouldn't release her and attempted to invoke divine assistance, Maddie petrified him."

  "I see," the colonel said, folding his arms. "So here's my question—why didn't Maddie stone Polydectes the moment you confronted him?"

  "Sir? I'm not following the course of action you're implying," Jim responded, his brow furrowed.

  "Let me walk through this—you could've entered his throne room, demanded Dana?'s release, and when he refused, stoned him along with his goons right then and there, and gotten the hell out. Would've saved us from having to burn through our resources fighting his entire army, and now we have Poseidon potentially hostile toward our operations. You see what I'm getting at?"

  Jim sat quietly for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Understood, Colonel. I was attempting to resolve the situation through negotiation first. In hindsight, immediate action would have been more efficient."

  "And because of that hesitation, we now face a potential threat—possibly dealing with Poseidon's fury." He exhaled sharply and fixed Jim with a hard stare. "I need you to maintain sharper situational awareness and exercise better judgment from this point on. I expected more from someone with a background in hostage negotiation."

  Disappointment settled heavily in his chest. Lives had been lost, even if they weren't his own men, and that was something he always strove to prevent. Jim kept his voice steady. "Understood, sir."

  Chang added dryly, "Mutilated his pet, killed his servant, massacred his followers and defiled his temple. Poseidon's not going to take this lightly,"

  The room fell into a moment of silence before everyone gave subtle nods of agreement.

  "All right," the colonel continued. "I'm placing both you and Sergeant Torres on fourteen days of restriction along with fourteen days of extra duty for your infractions. The only places you can go are the mess hall, exchange, and commissary. Under ordinary circumstances, the penalties would have been considerably harsher, but we're taking your heroic actions into account. Captain Slater advocated for reduced sentencing, and I've decided to accept his recommendation."

  "Torres too, sir?" Jim asked, furrowing his brow.

  "Ah, yes, Sergeant Torres." Colonel Maddock said, as he opened another file and pulled a photo of Perseus sporting a black eye. "This picture was taken in Argos by our medical team."

  Jim blinked. "Oh. Right. Yes, sir."

  Maddock put the photo down and glanced at his notes before continuing. "Additionally, following the completion of her restriction, Torres will be promoted to staff sergeant—another recommendation from Slater. Which I also accept."

  "Yes, sir. Thank you sir."

  Maddock put his hands together and straightened his back. "All right then, Lieutenant. Do you have any questions?"

  "Just one, sir. Is the mini-mall off-limits too?"

  "Completely off-limits until the end of your sentence," the colonel confirmed. "No mini-mall, no family restaurant, no pub, no park, and no off-base unless it's on a mission. That means no Bogart River, Bogart Woods, Bogart Lake, or whatever else you all insist on naming after this place." He shot a glance at Slater and Chang. "And while we're at it, you two need to come up with more original names. Got it?"

  Slater and Chang exchanged looks before nodding in unison.

  Maddock straightened himself. "Any other questions?"

  "No sir, that's all," Jim replied.

  "Very well. You may go."

  "Yes, sir." Jim stood sharply, nodded to the three officers at the table, and received their acknowledgment in return.

  "Keep up the good work, Lieutenant," Maddock said.

  As Jim turned to leave, Major Chang spoke up. "Lieutenant—before you go."

  Jim paused. "Major?"

  "Can you stop by the lab later today? There are some things I'd like to show you."

  "Of course, Major."

  "Excellent. I'll see you then."

  Jim nodded and left the office.

  Fourteen days isn't too bad. Gives me time to spend with Maddie, he thought.