Hauk paced his comm room as he listened to the report from the senior officer in charge of the Bromese Sentella base. All of them in the room – Nykyrian, Nero, Bastien, Safir, Chayden, Fain, Madai, Darling, Jayne, Ryn, Caillen, and Drake – were silent.

“We lost over a hundred members in the attack. The central bay is down and we have almost a thousand wounded. For now, I’ve closed the base and have evaced everything we could move to the base on Altira.”

“Is the Porturnum giving air support?” Ryn asked.

The commander nodded. “The Tavali have been a godsend to us, Ambassador. We’d have lost everyone had they not mobilized to our aid.”

Ryn glanced to Fain and Chayden. “Do either of you know Venik personally?” Venik was the Porturnum leader, and a vicious pirate bastard.

But if you wore a Tavali uniform, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for you.

Fain nodded. “I’ve known him for years. You?”

Chayden shook his head.

“Fain,” Nykyrian said. “Can you contact him and convey our gratitude? Tell him we’re in his debt. Send him a crate of the best Tondarion Fire you can find.”

“Will do.”

Madai met Saf’s gaze before he spoke. “We will need to lead a retaliatory strike for this.”

“No.” Nero folded his arms over his chest. “Kyr did this to get back at us for taking Kalea from his custody. Another strike will only cost more innocent lives.”

Madai scoffed. “I’m good with that. They’re our enemies. The fewer of them who live, the better.”

Fain nodded. “You don the uniform, you know the hazards.”

“But they don’t all wear them by choice,” Saf reminded them. “And I was one of those.”

Madai said something to him that caused Saf to cup his hand and gesture at him.

While Hauk had no idea what that meant, the murderous expression on Madai’s face said it wasn’t a gesture for health or well-being. He passed a quirked brow at Saf. “Should I ask?”

“No. It’s not fit to be repeated. Even among you degenerates.”

Nykyrian glanced to Hauk. By the look on his face, he knew Nyk was thinking the same thing he was. “We’re going to have to destroy The League.”

Hauk nodded. “Tear that motherfucker down.”

“And Kyr will have to die.” Darling spoke up for the first time.

Madai curled his lip. “You don’t get to make that call, arito.”

Darling responded in Phrixian, which caused Saf to have to catch his brother before Madai attacked.

Safir spoke to Madai in Phrixian before he turned his attention back to the rest of them. “Darling’s right. We all know it. This won’t end until we bury our brother.”

Sadness darkened Madai’s face. “We are Phrixian and we will do what we must. But I would rather we take Kyr alive.”

“We will try,” Nykyrian said in true diplomatic mode.