I looked at her, and as her eyes fluttered in a futile attempt to stay open, I smiled. 

"I'm glad I didn't." I said honestly, and turned the lights off, closing the door behind me. I did as I promised, bringing her shoes and placing them before her door. As I walked away, I cursed myself as I found my mind drifting back to the woman. Damn Lazarus and his advice. 

[hr] 

The Caledonia reached Moldar at noon the next day, ahead of schedule. The warp could be made into a relatively accurate prediction, but it was never a sure thing. Caiphon had reported to me in haste, and we both reached Urien to discuss matters as Maldor was displayed on the screen. 

The planet was gorgeous, I had to admit. Technically it was a Hive World, but it did not have the blasted landscape of many, instead taking after worlds like Armageddon or Badab before the wars that ravaged both. However, Moldar was strange even when considering Hive Worlds. The planet was 87% water, salt and fresh, with island continents and one larger landmass, the land cordoned off into cities, farmland, and well-tended forests. The cities, however, move out rather than up in an unusual fashion, making what Moldarian's dubbed "ring cities" whose walls could be seen in space. I could grant testament to such a view, watching the blue panet's green masses look like great targets from orbit. It seemed to invite attack, but it had hundreds of kilometers of land between various curtain walls filled with naught but very powerful anti-orbital cannons. 

The intel we had received, along with Lazarus's computations through the thousands upon thousands of air codes the planet had received over the last two days, suggested that our target was likely on the Island Nation of Kaldorae, more than likely at its capital of Gralinmakke. The capital being the innermost ring of the greater city. I had personally thumbed through the names of the great houses, and could not find any mention of Balal, but I did find a wealthy merchant lord house of Ignatius, who sat on the council of princes within the capital. 

An hour passed, and Emmaline and I, along with one of the servitors on the ship that had been stripped of all party skins and paraphernalia took the shuttle, Urien and Lazarus joining us as support. They would not make landfall with the three of us, but would remain in the shuttle and await further instructions. As we descended, the great city grew larger in view. Many of the buildings were made of whitestone near the center of the landmass, with darker colored construction closer to the coasts. What economic or stylistic reasoning there was for that, I could not be sure. 

We exited the shuttle at the second ring of the wall, where the high end shopping would be performed. I had a good amount of funds, and I decided to trust Emmaline on her judgement as she led me through the cityscape.