Page 309 of Commander’s Mate

“For once, I do not know.”

Harper smiled against me.

“Good.”

I frowned.

“Why is ignorance good?”

“Because it means neither of us has decided the other person’s life yet.”

Annoying.

Correct.

I kissed the top of her head.

Sleep came eventually.

Not because fear ended.

Because the future had become larger than it.

Sahvin Kazza did not give us Earth.

He gave us something better than nothing.

Tivid and navigation projected star fields across the briefing room while Sahvin identified the region of the galactic rim where Narovian ships had once maintained covert stations. He knew Earth by local reference, not by Consortium coordinates. The slavers who had taken him had stripped navigational data before sale.

Still, for the first time, Earth occupied a smaller piece of the universe than millions of yellow stars.

Harper stood beside the display with her hands clenched around a slate.

“Could we contact it?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Tivid said. “But if Sahvin can identify Narova precisely, we can build outward. We may also find slaver route records that intersect his references.”

Harper nodded once.

She did not look at me for permission to hope.

Good.

Nora remained with Sahvin in medical. Apparently Narovian meomee recognition made Uatu solmatu restraint look leisurely. Scarlet had already informed Pyrr that if he ever behaved that dramatically, she would sedate him herself.

Pyrr had asked whether that meant she planned to remain close enough to try.

He was learning badly but enthusiastically.

Our Breskaa totals were better than I had expected and worse than I wanted. More than two hundred Farseek survivors. Nearly four hundred others from a dozen worlds. Several children. Too many injuries. Too many names added to the dead.

The ships were full.

That forced the question we had postponed since Farseek.

What next?

Tivid brought up the Julconi records recovered from the mine systems. Thousands of prisoners might be there, including Farseekians. The system was guarded by multiple battle carriers. Even if we could break the defense, our dreadnoughts could not transport that many people.