According to reports, all the Imperial ships above Qevahr had been destroyed. Ferris had tried to establish a connection with their vessel, then with any other in the fleet, but all his attempts had failed.

Bregg wondered how this would impact his career—if you could still call it that. Losing a ship was no small thing. It mattered little that he had not been on board... if anything, it might even be held against him.

But how much lower could you fall when you’d already reached the bottom of the barrel?

There had been some good people on his crew, though, and it irked him knowing they all were dead now.

Still, it was war. And with war came casualties.

That night, they rented rooms in a small hotel at the heart of the city and sent the address to Orvos and Dawan who were still out.

While he sat alone in his room, Bregg pondered what he would do next.

He’d received a message from Juden a couple of hours ago, informing him they had found Starrider. They were about to board it and would update him as soon as they were in space. It was odd he hadn’t heard from the man since, but he didn’t worry too much, as many things could explain his silence.

But even assuming the ship was now under Juden’s control, it would not hurt to have other options. And powerful allies were always good to have.

With this in mind, he wrote a message that he addressed to the High Noort.

His original idea had been to reach out to the man from the tavern. But going through him would have been long and tedious, with no guarantee he could reach anyone powerful enough to help him. And why waste so much time when, as an officer of the Imperium, he could use official channels to send his message to the top?

He had not wanted to do this at first, as it would leave a trace... but now that the entire fleet was gone—and his career further compromised—he felt like he had not much left to lose.

Once he was done writing the message, he signed it, making sure to highlight his rank within the Imperial Navy. It would be the first thing the Noort would see, which was likely to make her curious enough to read the content.

His message sent, he walked to the window and looked up at the sky. It would still light up every once in a while, as explosions continued to spread through the wrecks of the Imperial fleet. He wondered if there were any survivors.

But what baffled him most was that the Qevahri had not even launched any ships. Unlike at Rimzana, there had been no battle here. They had destroyed their enemies with the press of a button. At least, that’s how it had felt. In reality, he had no idea how it had been done. But these people obviously had access to technology far beyond what the Imperium possessed—which was a terrifying thought.

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It was true there had been no more progress in the past century, as the Emperor believed science was a heresy. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that himself, but clearly the Qevahri felt otherwise. And now this left the Imperium at a disadvantage.

If only he had the Corvair...

He frowned as he looked down at his wristpad. Still nothing from Juden. He tapped on the mini-screen and sent a message, asking the Gnorlian to contact him as soon as possible.

Someone knocked on his door.

Without rising, he unlocked it with the pass the hotel had uploaded to his wristpad.

“Come in,” he called out.

The door opened and Dawan walked in.

“Colonel, I’m here to report.” He nodded and she continued. “I followed the men to a rundown building at the periphery of the city. They went in and remained there for about an hour—”

Bregg quirked a brow. “We just needed to know where to find them. Why wait?”

The woman shifted. “With all due respect, sir, it did not feel right. I mean, it felt more like a rendezvous point than the sort of place where one would live. And if it’s a rendezvous point, chances are they don’t use the same spot every time. So I didn’t think it was enough for our purposes.”

“I see. Go on.”

“At first, I thought I’d wait outside, but I worried they might leave through a different door in the back. I also figured I might learn something useful if I snuck in and spied on them.”

The woman was bold, perhaps reckless, but not rash.

“The building was abandoned,” she went on. “There was nothing inside but broken walls, dust, and dirt. So it was easy to spot them. I just followed the sound of their voices. They had holed up on the second floor and were discussing plans to take over the Colonium. Apologies, sir, but I could not figure out what that was from what they said, but it sounded like it was important.”

Bregg brought up his wristpad and tapped on it, bringing up information on the Colonium. “Local seat of power, it looks like. The High Noort picks ten priests, one per region, who form what they call the Royne. Each of these priests then picks local representatives from each district, who in turn choose those who will govern the cities in their name. The governors rule from the Colonium. There is one in every settlement, regardless of its size.” He looked up, a thoughtful expression on his face. “And they plan to attack the one here?”

She shook her head. “Not so much attack it as make a stand. I don’t think these people believe in using violence—”

The colonel grimaced as he pointed to the ceiling. “Say that to our friends up there.”

“That’s the thing, sir. They all seemed outraged by what happened tonight. Like it was unacceptable to use such means, no matter how important the affront was.”

“I see.”

“When the meeting was over—”

“How many were there?”

“The four from the tavern plus a dozen others, if not more. The room was dark and I did not want to risk being spotted, so I could not say for sure.”

He nodded and motioned for her to continue.

“When the meeting was over,” she repeated, “I followed the one who seemed like the leader—this one had not been at the tavern. I overheard the others calling him Arthum. After a five-minute walk, he entered a residential area and disappeared into a building.”

“You have the address?”

“I do, sir.” She lifted her wristpad and tapped on it, then brought her arm down. “I just sent it to you.”

“Perfect. Good work, Ensign. Go get some rest, you’ve earned it.”

The woman smiled, nodded, and walked out.

Bregg pondered for a long moment.

He was drawn out of his reverie when his wristpad beeped.

Looking down, he saw the Noort had answered.