Page 310 of Commander’s Mate

“We need a transport,” Harper said.

Every officer looked at her.

She shrugged. “You can win the battle and still lose the rescue if you have nowhere to put the people.”

Degatu gave me a sideways look.

“I know,” I said. “She is right.”

Harper smiled faintly.

The original plan had been to return immediately toward Farseek, unload survivors, and rebuild while searching for our other dreadnoughts.

But the people we had just freed knew where more of their families might be.

They did not want to stop.

Neither did we.

A conventional military transport was beyond our funds. A Sargus freighter under-crewed at a repair yard was another matter.

“Piracy,” Pyrr said.

“Requisition,” Degatu corrected.

“Without permission.”

“Enemy permission is not a requirement.”

For the first time in days, laughter moved around the table.

We would need a ship capable of carrying a thousand or more people. We would need more Farseek dreadnoughts to answer our encrypted calls. We would need crews drawn from survivors with navigation, engineering, medical, and security skills.

Harper’s registry already contained those skills.

That was the moment I understood what she had actually built.

Not a list of victims.

A people becoming a force.

Chapter Forty-Four

Harper

Tivid gave me an office.

I objected.

Not because I didn’t want one.

Because it had a door.

“I don’t need an office.”

“You currently occupy three tables, two storage lockers, part of medical intake, and one wall of tactical.”

“That sounds efficient.”