Page 234 of Commander’s Mate

“Does this change anything?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“We make contact with workers before disabling mine systems if possible.”

“And if not?”

“We preserve local control nodes until we know who operates them.”

That was enough.

Not victory or heroism. Just a better question before someone fired.

The registry had started because I did not want names to disappear.

Now it was changing where soldiers aimed.

That frightened me.

It should.

Useful things were dangerous too.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Harper

Training hurt in places I had not known could hurt.

Scarlet enjoyed this far too much.

“You’re planting your feet wrong,” she said as I tried to break a practice hold for the sixth time.

“I’m planting them on the floor. That seems like the important part.”

“Not if you want to stay upright.”

She demonstrated again, turning the much larger Farseek instructor’s leverage against him. Sergeant Alaric Namotu looked delighted by the challenge and only slightly offended that a human woman could put him on the mat if he gave her enough momentum.

I was never going to be Scarlet.

That was fine.

I learned enough to fall without breaking something, enough to use a compact stun weapon, enough to know where to move during an emergency instead of becoming part of the emergency.

The rest of my training happened at a console.

That surprised me.

Tivid gave me a route-planning exercise involving supply crates, shuttle capacity, medical priorities, and evacuee destinations. I finished it by organizing the people first and the cargo second.

He stared at my solution.

“Wrong?” I asked.

“Different.”