EPISODE 6: THE SECRET ## CHAPTER 1: THE CONFESSION It started with Kovax. The massive Breen had been coming to the Waypoint for months, always sitting in the same spot, always ordering the same coffee, always providing that calm, emotionally impervious anchor that made so many beings feel safe. But tonight, after the café had closed and only Mei remained cleaning up, Kovax lingered. "I need to tell you something," they said. Mei set down her cleaning cloth and gave Kovax her full attention—something she had learned from the tea ceremony, something she practiced with everyone now. "I'm listening." "I am not what I appear to be." Kovax's stone face, usually unreadable, seemed to shift slightly. "The Breen you see—the massive, armored engineer—this is not my original form." "I don't understand." "My species has a technology. A modification. We can alter our bodies, adapt them to different environments, different needs. The form I wear was designed for a specific purpose." "What purpose?" "Hiding." The word came out heavy. "I was... someone else, once. Someone smaller, softer, more vulnerable. Someone who was hurt repeatedly because I could not protect myself. So I chose this form. Became something that could not be hurt. Could not be reached. Could not be known." Mei sat down across from Kovax, ignoring the cleaning that...