Aegis began with the word concealed.
Its representative placed the qualification notice beside an image of Eli at the recovery shutter. The still showed his hand near the panel and Renn reaching for the slipping container. It could not show duration, force or what happened outside the frame. Presented alone, it looked like the beginning of an explanation someone had refused to give.
“The candidate has used abilities not evident from his public classification,” the representative said. “The scoring panel should reconsider whether the team qualified on a fair basis.”
Eli sat with his hands folded beneath the table. The clinical restriction remained in effect. No demonstration had been requested, and he would not turn the hearing into one to prove he could still act.
Tessa had the joint log in front of her. Kellan kept the earlier rescue ruling beside it. Sera’s route board lay flat in a protective cover, its pencil marks retained exactly as they had been at return.
Renn sat on the other side of the room with his own copy of the log. They had not rehearsed identical statements. Eli knew the temptation to be relieved by that independence and the equal temptation to fear what Renn might emphasize.
