Epilogue

The war raged on with renewed intensity. The full extent of the plan executed by Max and human command remained a mystery for years to come, but its key elements became evident now. It revolved around the truce, which presented humans in positive light as the side taking the first steps for peace; and the sleeper agent - Chloe - whose task was to convince the other side to attack and violate the truce.

This plan not just assumed, but counted on the fact that former agents were fighting on the side of syncons. And it was correctly calculated that these former agents have something - or someone - to avenge.

But no plan survives contact with reality. Chloe’s change of heart wasn’t factored in. Neither was the liberation of Leliana: she was most likely to be a bargaining chip in secret negotiations, and this explained why human narrative after all these events completely ignored the raid to free her. The media simply focused on assassination of a prominent command official as the ultimate proof that syncons could not be trusted. It was a stronger message anyway, and it even largely offset the damage Kate inflicted when she appeared during negotiations. This appearance was now presented as a unique case rather than common occurrence, and she became famous - or rather infamous, branded a traitor to humanity and the public enemy number one.

As for Kate herself, this new infamy did not interest her. Nothing did in the days after Vera’s death, not even Wolf could get through to her.

She wandered the new base like a ghost, looking into every room again and again, as if trying to find Vera hiding in there.

To an outside observer her state was comparable to what Linda was like after showdown with Constantin, though perhaps not as severe.

Linda, meanwhile, started to return to her former self, finding new strength in caring for Leliana. The loss of Vera, her other friend, brought more pain, but she’s been living in harrowing reflections for so long that she became numb to them, whereas even simple glimpse of happiness of yore made a difference in her mind.

Leliana was recovering gradually. She, too, had to cope with pain - an indescribable amount of physical pain in her case - and her mind built a wall around that time in captivity. This helped her go on, but brought its own problems: she had trouble discerning past from present and couldn’t understand where these new people came from and why she didn’t remember them. Soon she would want to know of Tomoko’s fate and of the reasons she herself was captured. But she was not ready yet, and details of that ill-fated day were kept hidden from her.

Chloe has been unanimously accepted into the ranks of ex-agents as an equal. Even Kate, now blaming Vera’s death on herself rather than on Chloe, did not object.

She brought some inside knowledge importance of which she herself could not yet fathom. As much as Max tried to not let Chloe in on his plans (she even knew him under another name), she observed a fair share, and learned of things well beyond the reach of other agents. And she was more than willing to use all that against her former masters.

Max’s death caused major turmoil in human command. It left a power vacuum and triggered behind-the-scenes infighting, stalling other programs he was responsible for. Moreover, without his involvement the media campaign covering the broken truce went out of hand. Increased pressure on dissent and tightened control of public opinion worked on the general population, but their effect on field agents was the opposite.

The war raged on, but the tide has turned, and Vera’s sacrifice would go down in history as the turning point.

2024 — 2025