Not one Godstars-damned bit.

“In that case, you would have to go in and shut it all down. Destroy it from the inside. There is a self-destruct mode for all the planetary weapons, but it must be triggered manually and in person.”

“Of course it must,” Dex said with a sigh. He glared at Klaren. “There’s no other way?”

“I didn’t create the system,” Klaren said apologetically. “I can’t change how it operates.”

“Then we’ll leave now,” Andi said decisively. “We can’t afford to let this go on. We’ll shut it down, and stop Nor from being able to open the Void.”

Klaren shook her head. “If you wish to help me, if you wish to free your old crew and save Mirabel...then you must be patient. You must remain here, until we’re able to turn the tide of this war. Until we have more intel, and more of an idea of how to—”

Her words trailed off as footsteps pounded down the hallway.

Dex turned in time to see Soyina burst through the door, a male soldier at her side. Soleran, by the look of him, as if his very skin were made of diamonds.

“You need to see this,” Soyina said, marching toward Klaren, all her usual bravado gone, replaced by a soldier’s hard expression. The Soleran man followed behind, a holoscreen in his hands. “Show them. Quickly!”

He set it down beside the fire, tapping it with a crystalline fingertip so that a holo of the feeds appeared before them, blocking out some of the flames.

Andi sucked in a breath, and Dex’s eyes widened, shock coursing through him as he took in the scene.

Nor stood in General Cortas’s old office. Dex had been there once before, when Cyprian broke the news that he would be withholding Dex’s payment for intercepting Andi and her crew, until they all attended the Ucatoria Ball as guards.

He’d never gotten those damned Krevs.

With Nor were three figures that Dex had come to know very well.

“This message is for Androma Racella,” Nor said.

She looked so very real, that hideously wicked smile on her lips as Lira, Breck and Gilly knelt before her. They looked right into the camera, staring straight into Andi’s eyes.

“They’re alive,” Andi whispered beside Dex. She fell to her knees, kneeling before the girls, as if they were truly here with her in Klaren’s office. She reached out a hand, as if she could reach through the holo and touch them.

“It has come to my attention that you believe you are the true General of Arcardius,” Nor announced, glaring into the camera as she stood with her chin high and spoke her demands. “That you believe I am not the rightful ruler of Mirabel. My patience now grows thin, since you did not respond to my initial message.”