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Doaq and him, almost burned Palentar to the waterline.”
    Nashara folded her arms. “The League has been hyper-focused on building a new navy for the last ten years. The bulk of it stationed just upstream of the Trumball wormhole. Satellite photos caught signs of what might be a carrier slipping out and heading for the Polar Regions.”
    Kay snorted. “I believe the League has submarines sneaking around here, just like you probably do. But an entire carrier is too aggressive. And hard to hide. Why violate Placa del Fuego’s neutrality?”
    “Because this planet Octavia is important. Placa del Fuego might be the only actual piece of land on it, but Octavia is the last stop before the wormhole network branches out toward the worlds of Harpin and Fairfax.” Nashara stepped over and looked down at the photos. “Both of which are critical junction points in the branches of the wormhole network. The League doesn’t want to lose ten world’s worth of citizenry and trade and resources just because one of the junctures in the wormhole network decided to go over to the Xenowealth. A carrier is actually a smart move from their point of view. Still, it’s the sort of thing that gets wars started.”
    “So there might be a war over a carrier?” Tiago asked. “On our planet? The League hasn’t even done anything really!”
    “Maybe,” Nashara said. “Someone certainly used an electromagnetic pulse to disable all our satellites in orbit around Octavia. We have no eyes and ears here anymore. That’s why Pepper came …”
    “And fought the Doaq,” Tiago interrupted. A stupid move, because both Nashara and Kay looked closely at him. He stumbled on. “Because it’s the Doaq you really want. Your satellites were dead zoned. You and Kay both want to fight the Doaq.” And he was going to get caught between it all.
    “Maybe.” Nashara shrugged. As she did so, Tiago saw the insides of her leather coat. It was an arsenal. A rifle on either side. Pistols. Grenades. Other things he didn’t recognize. “Or maybe it was convenient for the League to use the dead zone as a cover.”
    She also had a short sword on a scabbard at her hip, Tiago realized. “But what does all this have to do with some guy from Palentar?” he asked.
    “When Pepper realized he was about to lose to the Doaq,” Nashara tapped the table of pictures, “he ran. And he passed through each of these people’s homes.”
    “And?” Tiago wasn’t getting it.
    “He didn’t leave anything behind, I’ve searched the houses,” Nashara said. “He didn’t have time to talk to the survivors I’ve already interviewed. But these survivors are from closer to the docks, where he had more of a lead and some time to possibly talk to them.”
    Now Kay interrupted. She was curious, and wasn’t bothering to hide it, which Tiago found surprising. “And what would Pepper have had time to say in the two or so seconds of a lead he had on the Doaq?”
    “Well, that’s what I’d like to find out,” Nashara said. “And you’re going to help me. Kay framed and got many of these survivors arrested in order to keep them here in Placa del Fuego, as assets. The one who lived in a home that was closest to the docks should be in that wagon tonight, a boy named June. He’s our best bet. He’s the one I’m interested in.”
    “Why don’t the two of you just bust into the wagon and drag him out,” Tiago asked. “You have enough guns and things.”
    Nashara smiled. “If he’s not on that wagon, we let everyone know we might be interested in him. Maybe the Doaq gets wind; maybe some of Kay’s enemies figure it out. There are League agents here in Placa del Fuego.”
    “Give him the tracker,” Kay suggested.
    Nashara pressed a small sliver of metal into Tiago’s palm. “Click it once to turn it on. It glows. Then jam that under the target’s skin, it’ll tag him for me. Turning it on lets me know you identified the target, but I can still track it when off. Try