Chapter 21: Quiet Acquisition

  The orbital lounge was quiet, but Nyssa Allaire preferred it that way.

  She stood alone near the viewport, arms folded, watching Emberfall spin beneath her. From this height, the scars were harder to see—the cratered heat sinks, the fractured docking ring, the ghost lights of the slums veined into its southern arc. Distance softened the truth. Just as planned.

  Behind her, a pair of security drones hovered near the bar. Unobtrusive. Armed.

  “Report,” she said without turning.

  Her assistant’s voice crackled through her earpiece. “Dominion patrol rerouted. They suspect a smuggler cover, but haven’t traced the leak to us.”

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  Nyssa nodded. “They won’t. What about the Valtor variable?”

  A pause. “He took the artifact off-site. CAPRA is still integrated.”

  “And he doesn’t know we let him.”

  “We assume so.”

  Nyssa exhaled slowly, a sliver of satisfaction curling at the edge of her lips. She tapped the glass with one fingernail—once, twice, sharp and deliberate.

  Kaelar Valtor was inconvenient. Competent. Frustratingly ethical. But also predictable. She didn’t need to control him. She just needed to frame the options in such a way that he would think it was his idea all along.

  “Maintain the drift. Continue silent observation. And leak the next fragment.”

  “That’ll escalate Dominion interference.”

  “Good,” she said. “Let them panic. We need a distraction while we finish the Locus cipher.”

  Emberfall turned slowly below. Nyssa Allaire smiled, cold and flawless.

  “It’s not about who holds the key,” she murmured. “It’s about who makes the lock.”