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Orun laughed once. “Interesting.”

“It is not.”

“You said a woman’s name voluntarily.”

“Human woman.”

“That explanation made it worse.”

I closed my eyes briefly. “Check the designation.”

“Yes, commander.”

The old title landed somewhere I had not expected.

I said nothing. He had used it intentionally. We both knew that.

Several seconds passed before his tone shifted and the humor disappeared.

“Where did you get this?”

“It was assigned.”

“Assigned.” He repeated the word like he was tasting it. “By whom?”

“I cannot say.”

“You cannot, or you will not?”

“Both.”

He exhaled into the receiver. “Recently?”

“Yes.”

“How recently?”

“Within the last cycle.”

A pause. I heard him set something down on his end, a hard click against a table.

“You accepted it?”

“Yes.”

“Voluntarily? You read the full brief and accepted.”

“I read it. I accepted.”

Another pause, longer.

“Completed?”

“No.”

I heard him curse in Zunatorian, low, half under his breath. Then louder, “You took a termination order and did not complete it.”

Talia’s head lifted again. She understood that one. I could tell from the way her mouth twitched.