In a mundane room situated in a mundane environment,
Shani Corvayne sat in a secure communications block deep within the Senate building, reviewing an intercepted intelligence that made her stomach tighten with professional concern.
She was a younger member of House Corvayne—one of Republic's most militarily distinguished families, headed by Duke Veridan Corvayne who sat at one of the twelve seats on Republic High Command. Her house was synonymous with warfare, with combat brilliance, with generations of warriors who'd defended the Republic borders against external and Shroud threats alike.
But in her case, there was no such gift. Not even the baseline talent most Corvayne members seemed born with. No exceptional combat core. No instinctive brilliance for tactics. Nothing that marked her as a future battlefield commander.
Shani acknowledged it with the same familiar resignation she always carried.
