Depositing the Serefim prisoners at the site of their humiliating defeat during the Port Authority battle may have been every bit as “delicious” as Althea had anticipated, but it might not have been a strategic masterstroke. Grandmaster Elyon was a river of molten lava when he learned where the captive troops had been recovered.
He stormed around the Presidium offices demanding information and explanations the Serefim Intelligence Service spymasters were nowhere near ready to roll out. They had finished the analysis of the footprint photos taken at the caves where the security squadron had been captured, but the only thing they could report with certainty was that Beag-Liath had been present. They could not piece together what had transpired. The intelligence analysts had no idea what hap
