It's nowhere near as secret as Jim thinks, or hopes, that it is. Most people here have been understandably hesitant to discuss the events in detail, and after his own recent encounter with Khan and Section 31, Jim has not remotely wanted to pry. His imagination can fill in most of the gaps just fine.

He's not sorry that Marcus is dead either, only sorry that the man's daughter had to watch. The rogue admiral had every intention of destroying the Enterprise and killing her entire crew to keep the secret from getting out. Had succeeded in killing over twenty percent of them, nearly one hundred souls. Without knowing who else might be a part of Section 31, who else might be willing to go to those lengths to keep the shadowy branch of Starfleet out of the public eye, Jim is adamantly keeping his mouth shut about those details until it's clear to him that they're already out there. The last thing he wants is for that to be traced back to him, and put his people - and everyone else who knows - back in the crosshairs. He might be jumping at shadows, but he'll take that over being blindsided any day.

"You're welcome," he says, looking back up at her, and at Ghost. "I kinda know how it feels to be stuck outta the loop when bad shit happens."