Page 222 of Commander’s Mate
The registry found Nera Tovan because of a scar.
Not a face scan.
Not a government identifier.
A scar.
Sela was helping us clean up Mavrin names when she stopped beside my station.
“Again.”
I looked up.
“What?”
“The record.”
She pointed.
A damaged Ursaga transfer entry showed:
NER— TOV—
UATU FEMALE
AGE 31
LEFT SHOULDER DEFORMITY / VALUE REDUCED
TRANSFER: BRESKAA SECTOR SIX
I hated every part of it.
“Do you know her?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“The shoulder.”
Sela touched her own left shoulder.
“One woman in holding before Ursaga. Farseek. She said a mine machine burned her when she was young. Shoulder healed wrong.”
“You remember her name?”
“Nera.”
My fingers moved.
Search.
The Farseek missing-person network returned six Neras.
Three wrong ages.
Two wrong districts.
