Page 227 of Commander’s Mate
Deyan nodded.
I understood something then.
The registry was not a rescue machine.
It could not guarantee reunion.
It could not reverse death.
It could not make Earth appear.
It could not make Meya alive.
It could only fight disappearance.
Sometimes that meant bringing someone home.
Sometimes it meant bringing truth.
On the way out, Zared was silent.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s usually my line.”
He looked at me.
“Deyan asked for truth.”
“Yes.”
“My mother would have.”
I took his hand.
He let me.
“Then that’s what we get.”
For the first time, Breskaa stopped being a dot on a tactical map.
Nera had a scar.
A mother.
A job fixing irrigation systems.
A brother still missing.
A name.
That was enough to make war personal.
The scar was not the only useful thing in Nera’s file.
Once I stopped staring at the name, I saw the route code.
