Page 2 of Commander’s Mate

Not mercy. Inventory.

The Sargus Empire built its wealth on slavery. They did not waste bodies they could sell, breed, break, or work to death. We had known that when we fought them for the Consortium. We had seen liberated mines, auction manifests, breeding stations hidden behind legal trade houses. We had intercepted enough transports to know the smell of a slave ship before the hatch opened.

And while we defended the wealthy core worlds of the Sovereign Transtellar Consortium, the Sargans had come to Farseek.

Our families had been undefended.

Our children had been harvested.

Our world had been sold.

“Bring the survivors to the southern landing zone,” I said. “No one stays behind.”

“Yes, Commander.” Pyrr paused. “Sir… I am sorry.”

I looked again at my sister’s name under my thumb.

“Do your work, Lieutenant.”

I ended the transmission because there was no answer to sorrow. There was only motion. Orders. Breath. The next task.

A ship came down beyond the shattered market square. Even before the ramp opened, I knew it was Admiral Garvan Degatu. He had commanded Dreadnought One through the final push against the Sargus fleet. He had been the calm voice above my ground forces when we held the Consortium stronghold long enough for their politicians to claim victory. He had buried one mate and raised three children before the war took his eldest son.

I wondered if he had found his family yet.

I did not ask when he reached me.

He wore no helmet. Snow collected in his dark hair and melted against reddish-brown skin that looked carved from grief. His gaze moved over the broken hearth, the standing wall, and the burned field beyond it.

“They knew,” I said.

He did not pretend to misunderstand.

“Yes.”

The word struck harder than denial would have.

I turned toward him slowly. “Say that again.”

“The Consortium communications office blocked civilian distress signals from Farseek twelve hours before the attack reached the main settlements.” Degatu’s voice remained steady, but his eyes were not. “They categorized the interference as wartime jamming and routed all military alerts through central command. None reached us until after the Sargus fleet had withdrawn.”

“They kept us at the stronghold.”

“They kept us where we were useful to them.”

“Our contract gives Farseek first right of defense.”

“It does.”

“They voided it.”

“They will argue wartime necessity.”

I laughed then. A short, ugly sound. “Wartime necessity.”

“They will argue that if our fleet had abandoned the stronghold, the Consortium would have fallen.”

“Let it fall.”