The brute, Futu, had done his job well. It hadn’t taken him long at all to locate the holding area below TrCasinaar where both Kamran Donaliel and Ketta Mayasan were being held. He had easily taken the four men guarding them unawares, breaking their necks as easily as he would a twig.

Sneaking into the palace had been somewhat difficult, but once off the landing strip, he had easily boarded a large land tram bringing provisional supplies to TrCasinaar, confiscating the weapons and the identity of one of the three men he had permanently ousted from their positions there. Once shoving their bodies into a nearby holding tank just off...