Chapter 10 - THE OTHER CAPTAIN
Her name was Claire Walker.
Not genetically related.
Selected for resemblance and trained on my history.
HONOR LINE used her during remote command exercises and social events to test whether people noticed substitution.
Most did not.
Claire joined the Army under another name and reached captain.
She surrendered after the archive raid.
She said Nathan promised her my future if I died in Ghazni.
Promotion.
Family identity.
Marriage prospects.
Sophie as daughter.
A complete life built from mine.
Claire had spent years hating me without meeting me.
I told her I had never known she existed.
The system depended on each subject imagining the other stole something.
She provided logs showing Nathan planned a second Medal of Honor ceremony if the first failed.
Claire would receive the medal under my name.
The public would see continuity.
No one would know the decorated captain had changed.
Then the Army database briefly listed me as deceased.
Claire's fingerprints replaced mine.
My identity began transferring while I stood alive inside Fort Liberty.
Command froze my credentials.
I accepted it.
Better no authority than authority controlled by a face.
Then Sophie vanished from protected care.
A woman wearing my uniform signed her out.
May you like
Claire stood beside us.
Another Emma existed.
