"You want to do what?" Clara’s voice cracked, echoing loudly in the cramped confines of the Shadow Legion's tactical room. She slammed her hands down on the holographic war table, disrupting the glowing blue projection of the globe. "Ares, tell me I misheard you."
Ares leaned over the opposite side of the table, his heavily scarred hands resting flat against the metal edge. He didn't blink. "You heard me perfectly, Clara. We are opening encrypted channels to the Eastern Republic. Specifically, to the Crimson Dunes Special Forces."
"They are our enemies!" Clara shouted, her eyes darting between Ares and Saphira, who was quietly calibrating a communications relay in the corner. "Ares, General Samir’s faction fought a bloody, five-year border war against the Vanguard. And you were the Vangu
