Sweep The Forge

Nivpul Exavent knows his return to the Consortium fleet won't go unnoticed, but still he hopes to slip in without fanfare.

The presence of an honour guard consisting of rows of ships lined up to create a passage through to the flagship sent the clear signal nothing about his return would be smooth. Not with the fleet as a whole, or with those in command or their divided opinion of his importance to their effort.

When an attack on June leaves her hanging on the edge of life and the source of the brush with death is linked to a part of her past she has been working to expose, the decision is made to carry the fight back to the the rogue organisation from which she had escaped to be with him.

This means letting June confront the horrors of that past, with the danger she will get dragged so deep into parts of herself she has yet to come to terms with Niv could lose the ability to reach her, or guide her back out to him.