The words spoken by Captain Gupta vibrated such sour and flat notes that they wrangled away any remnant of internal peace Matt may have hoped to retain. Words that not only rustled up mind-numbing mixed and confused emotions but, like a dagger, stabbed into the very heart that defined who he had become. For the first time, he did not feel in command and, for a moment, a sense of the unfamiliar—helplessness—washed through him. He knew what he had seen and heard. Any words he might have said to...