The raid on the unregistered world in the Corvane Expanse had, by every outward measure, already succeeded, and task force soldiers held the facility's upper levels against the last scattered resistance while smoke curled thick off three collapsed structures and EDF and Eclipse fighters worked side by side through the wreckage, securing ground that had cost more blood than anyone had budgeted for going in.
Inside the ruined command chamber, Mr. Rowe pushed himself upright against a shattered console, blood still wet along his jaw, and smiled at his daughter like a man settling into a favorite chair rather than a man who'd just lost a fight.
"Before you say anything else," he said, voice unhurried and cultured, the kind that had never once needed to raise itself to be heard, "I'd like a moment to correct a misunderstanding."
"You don't get a moment," Lila said.
