Chapter 265 --265
Orrin was awake, sitting by the window, doing something with a small notebook that he closed when she entered. He nodded at her once. She nodded back. This was the full extent of what either of them required from the exchange.
Petra was at the far end of the room, also awake, reviewing something by lamplight with the focused efficiency that she brought to everything. She looked up briefly when Elara entered, assessed that nothing required immediate action, and returned to her work.
Callum was asleep. Roen was awake but horizontal, which was a compromise between exhaustion and the inability to fully commit to sleep under current circumstances.
Nadia was at a secondary table running what appeared to be a relay check on the communication network — small movements, careful attention, the particular quality of someone maintaining a system that needed to stay clean.
She looked up when Elara entered. "All relay points confirmed active as of two hours ago," she said. "The eastern base signal is strong. No interference detected on any channel."
"Good," Elara said. "When did Voss arrive."
"An hour before you," Nadia said. "He’s downstairs checking the secondary cipher lock on the document storage." A pause. "He said it was set incorrectly and he couldn’t sleep until he fixed it."
"That’s accurate Voss behavior," Elara said.
"Yes," Nadia agreed, with the faint expression of someone who had spent two months building a communication network alongside a cipher specialist and had strong opinions about his particular qualities.
Elara looked around the room.
Eleven of fourteen accounted for.
"Sura and Benn," she said.