Chapter 26: What Kael Chooses Not to Do

The morning queue loaded at 0601. Three cases. Two Class Twos and a Class Three, the Class Three flagged as priority by the automated routing system on the basis of source document volume. Kael opened the Class Three first, as protocol indicated, and read the source documentation with the attention he gave every case, which was complete.

The case was a colonial education broadcast from Sector 11-Besh. Official figures cited a 94% completion rate for primary civic instruction across enrolled youth populations. The civilian field testimony — four submissions, two from colony educators, one from a district health administrator, one from a parent roster coordinator — described schools operating at 40% capacity or below, two facilities decommissioned in the prior cycle, and an enrollment registry that had been revised downward twice without announcement. The figures did not align. He classified the divergence, noted the methodology of construction — the 94% figure was accurate against the revised enrollment count, not the prior one, and the prior count had been replaced without notation in the official registry — and completed the case log.

He submitted it at 0713. The automated confirmation appeared at 0714. The case left his queue.