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.