You’re still here.
Yes.
So are you.
It lasts a second at most. Then Mirov says something to her and she turns back, one hand already moving across her display.
Pellorin sees enough to mutter, “Disaster.”
“You keep using that word.”
“Because I am a lawyer, and this is how I flirt with prophecy.”
One of the side screens flashes with a diplomatic alert.
COALITION DEFENSIVE POSTURE HELD — NO ESCALATION ORDER ISSUED
LEAGUE SENATE EMERGENCY SESSION DEFERRED
JOINT CHANNELS REMAIN OPEN
Pellorin exhales. “There. Stabilization.”
The word pulls a bitter almost-smile from me. “Dangerous choice of terminology.”
He grimaces. “Fair.”
Drax’s negotiation cluster breaks apart. Tarev inclines his head once—respectful, reserved, done. Merrow gathers his slate and steps back to the Coalition side. Drax returns toward the bench, not triumphant, not relaxed. Just intent.
The chamber begins to change again.
Clerks retake positions. Guards move from conversational stances into formal lines. Broadcast drones descend slightly, recalibrating their view angles for central bench focus. A low signaling tone sounds overhead, and the ambient noise drops in response.
Pellorin rises at once. “This is it.”
“Imminent.”
He glances at the update feed arriving on his tablet. “Yes. Formal reconvening. Verdict announcement imminent.”
The phrase moves through the room in murmurs before it reaches the public caption feeds.
TRIBUNAL TO RECONVENE
VERDICT ANNOUNCEMENT IMMINENT
My pulse does not accelerate the way it did the first day I entered this chamber. It deepens instead. Heavy. Deliberate.
A guard steps closer to the partition. “All parties remain in assigned positions for reconvening.”
Pellorin gives him a bland nod. “You say that as if our options were broad.”
The guard wisely chooses not to answer.
I straighten in the chair.
The binders hum.
The chamber lights lower by a fraction over the outer rows and intensify at the bench. The polished floor gleams. The air seems cooler now that movement has stopped. Somewhere high above, one drone’s stabilizer emits a faint whine before correcting itself. The scent of hot circuitry sharpens as the broadcast systems shift into full live mode again.
