Page 249 of Commander’s Mate

“You are worried,” she said.

“I am always worried before an operation.”

“That is not what I meant.”

I looked at the names.

“What if we are too late?”

Her answer did not come quickly.

“Then you will hate it,” she said. “And you will go after the next people anyway.”

“That is not comfort.”

“No.” She moved beside me. “I don’t think comfort is always true.”

I turned toward her.

“You’ll get some of them,” she said. “Maybe not everyone you want. But for the people you do get, some is everything.”

The words hurt.

They also held me upright.

I reached for her hand.

“Come with me.”

“To your quarters?”

“To the registry.”

Surprise crossed her face.

“I want to see the names again,” I said. “Not the batch numbers.”

Her fingers tightened around mine.

“Okay.”

We walked there together.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Zared

Dreadnought Eight brought three things we did not have.

A better map.

Survivors who knew Breskaa.

And fear with names attached.

The briefing room filled beyond capacity.

Harper stood at the secondary display with Tivid.