Page 189 of Commander’s Mate

That was exactly what the Consortium had always wanted.

Useful Farseek.

Obedient Farseek.

Dead Farseek, if necessary.

But useful first.

I thought of my mother’s kitchen.

Of the hearth names.

Of children loaded into Sargus shuttles while we defended a Consortium stronghold.

I thought of Meya.

Alive forty-seven days ago.

Maybe.

I thought of people on Farseek freezing while I stood on a fueled warship deciding whether moral purity was easier than hunger.

There was no clean choice.

Harper moved beside me.

“Can I ask something?”

“Yes.”

“If the Consortium gets the Ursaga data, can they use it to find people?”

“Yes.”

“Could they rescue some?”

“Possibly.”

“Could they also identify politically valuable captives and ignore the rest?”

Tivid answered.

“Yes.”

“Could they send rescued people back to governments that don’t want them?”

“Yes.”

“Could they expose Earth?”

The room changed.

Tivid looked at the manifest requirements.

“If Earth-related broker data is included, potentially.”

Harper went pale.