Han’s front squad reached the bridge and found Registry loyalists already holding its near end. Their officer stood behind a waist-high stone marker with a sealed order in his hand.
“Captain Han Yue,” he called. “The station is ordered to retake control of the furnace before the storm.”
Han halted her soldiers before they entered the bridge. Pell moved to the far edge of the approach, where the riverbank narrowed. His unit could protect a retreat, but only if he did not cross into the loyalists’ line of fire.
“Do your soldiers know the town is still evacuating?” Han asked.
“The order concerns the barrier, not the residents.”
“Then they should know that taking the furnace would leave the residents exposed.”
The officer did not answer. He held the paper up so its seal was visible. Han saw that the order carried the same Registry mark as the courier’s copy. It did not make the bridge safer or bring the wagons closer to White Orchard. It only put another armed group between her unit and the road.
Han sent Pell to guard the far bank. “Keep the return route open. No one fires unless they are fired on.”
