I'm thinking the commander might well live, even alive he's likely to only complicate things further for the magical kids in one way or another.

He can't voice public support for the project even if this operation works, because it is still a state secret and the narrative about how Chernyl's power got unleashed is going to be tightly controlled. Of course he might wind up branded as the hero of the city because he's the only person directly involved who's existence is public knowledge, which just means what he says will be even more tightly controlled.

If he voices private support then some of his peers, or those in other branches of authority might worry that the mages are trying to subvert parts of the Empire's armed forces and gain sympathisers. Considering the general impression is that a lot of the people in power want to shut down the project for various reasons this could be bad even if it raises Veda and the project's political sway at the same time.

If he keeps his mouth shut that leaves the only advocates without the Veda Project with field experience with the mages as the JSP, and they don't seem particularly inclined to share their opinions be they good or bad.


I do hope he lives, which might be colouring my thoughts, he seems to be a genuinely decent person compared to his superiors. He at least seems to view the magic kids as people rather than dangerous assets to be monitored.