After working with Kyla in secret for all those years, Ariadne knew Nova’s quadrant in the Iona Galaxy, but not the exact location. Her original plan after commandeering Zelus had been risky: set the navigation course and, once they were far enough from the heart of the Empire, hope Kyla would take a call from a Tholosian ship. Any contact and exchange of information back at the Temple would have been too dangerous. Ariadne hadn’t wanted to chance the Oracle finding the resistance.

Eris reached past Ariadne and keyed in some numbers. “There.”

Ariadne gave a low whistle. “Wow, that’s really far.” Nowhere near Ismara. On the outer reaches of the Iona Galaxy, just barely in the habitable zone of a G-type main-sequence star.

“No kidding.” Eris gave a small smile. “It had to be as awful as Avern; otherwise, the Empire would be tracking it. I doubt they’re aware anything that far out in Iona is livable.”

“It barely is,” Clo called out from the pilot’s chair. “The dust storms are miserable and you don’t know what hot is until you’ve been in that desert.”

Ariadne frowned, ignoring Clo. Eris was right, the signal was bouncing off something. Really bad dust storm was an understatement. She tried again.

“I hope you’re encrypting that,” Clo added.

“What do I look like? An amateur?” Ariadne waved a dismissive hand and keyed in some code, her fingers moving rapidly across the keys. “Got it! Someone should be picking up any—”

“Yes?” Commander Sher answered, sounding distracted. His face appeared on the screen. He looked dusty and tired, his jumpsuit needed a good wash and press, but his eyes were still bright and sharp.

“Finally,” Eris breathed, nudging Ariadne aside. “I’ve been trying to get through for ages. You having a dust storm?”

“Good guess,” Sher said dryly. “Where’s Alesca?”

Clo came over to wave at him on the screen.

“Look at you!” Sher grinned at her. “You haven’t killed Eris and you’re still alive. Well done.”

“I deserve a fluming medal,” Clo said. “Is Kyla there?”

“Yeah. She’s dealing with damage to the eastern sector of headquarters. We’re getting battered in this storm.”

“Everyone all right?”

“Nothing we can’t handle.” Sher flicked a glance at Eris. “Report?”

Eris passed over the intel Ariadne had gathered from hacking the Oracle. See? Ariadne wanted to tell the commander. You need me. You need me. I’m useful.

“Ichor is obviously a weapon component, like we suspected,” Eris said. “If Damocles used it in a blaster, it would go clear through Evoli armor. The records at Macella indicated the ichor was originally stored on Ismara, so we’re following the trail to see if the outpost there has any logs that can give us an idea of what Damocles is up to.”