Kasha leaned forward, slamming both palms onto the table. "We've hidden for all these years, lost so many people, and failed to take back even one base station. Now someone has wiped out twenty-two for us, and you're scared?"
"What scares me is the Blood-Eclipse Clan coming to kill us after he's done!" Heren raised his head and faced her.
"Kasha, think about it. He's caused such a huge stir in the Sixth District. The Blood-Eclipse Clan will definitely step up patrols and searches across the entire star system."
"We're hiding on the border between the Sixth and Seventh Districts, not far from the planets he liberated. Once they intensify their searches, they'll find us sooner or later."
"So what if they do?" Kasha stood straight up.
As she rose, she blocked nearly half the light around the low table.
She pointed behind her, toward their people beyond the walls, her voice growing louder.
"What's the difference between hiding here and being dead?"
"He's accomplished more by himself in a few months than we have in a thousand years. If we have a chance, why wouldn't we seize it?"
Heren slammed his palm onto the table. "He's just someone we know nothing about!"
A deep, dull thud rang from the metal tabletop. The blow wasn't powerful, but it was enough to shake the entire little room.
"You don't even know who he is, and you already want to follow him?"
"What if he's part of a trap set by the Blood-Eclipse Clan? What if he's deliberately using our name to lure us out?"
"That's still better than waiting here to die!"
Kasha's roar startled their people outside, followed by a faint stir.
Someone poked their head out from behind a partition, then quickly pulled it back.
The two glared at