"What about you?" Pallas asked, his eyes on Kira.
"No," Graydon said emphatically, his voice overriding Kira's. He glared at her, looking angrier than she'd ever seen him. "You can't."
Kira’s expression was reluctant. "Let's leave that as a last resort."
"Sure thing," Pallas agreed sarcastically. "It's only all of our funerals."
"I don't think it will come to that, seon'yer." Lathan hit a few buttons and then nodded at the screen. "Look."
A fleet of ships came into focus.
"I don't believe it. They belong to Centcom," Brie said.
As they watched, several ships broke off to engage the Tsavitee fleet.
Pallas frowned as the last of the ships headed in their direction. "What is Centcom doing here? They're supposed to be setting up a defensive posture on one of their more populated planets."
"How do you know that?" Kira asked.
"I have my ways."
Sure, he did. Just like Odin. And Graydon. It seemed only Kira was consistently out of the loop. She might need to fix that sooner rather than later.
Centcom’s ships began firing on the Tsavitee. The barrage was quick and furious, resulting in one demolished Tsavitee ship before too long.
"We're being hailed," Lathan announced.
Pallas looked at Kira. "Did you know they were coming?"
"No."
There was distrust in Pallas's gaze before he turned back around. "Answer it."
Lathan hit a button. Raider appeared on screen.
Surprise rendered Kira nearly speechless.
"Raider?"
"The one and only."
Jace moved into view. "Just so you know, he's not alone."
Kira shot Raider a hard look. "I thought you were avoiding him."
"Let's just say we ran into some trouble ourselves."
Jace moved out of the range of the camera, but Kira could hear him calling commands to his subordinates.
She lowered her voice. "What about the package? Is it safe?"
"As safe as we could make it," Raider responded. "How about you? Did you get what you were looking for?"
Odin moved into view and waved.
He nodded, his features loosening with relief. "That's good. That's very good."
"What about Wren and the others?" Graydon asked.
