During Torven's second tour, he served as strategic intelligence observer in the 523rd Fleet which had been assigned to the frontier region of the Five Sisters Sector. The new territory which the Empire wished to expand had been suffering from the depredation of the berserking raiders -- pirates from
The Sword World Confederation. Torven worked closely with a naval reconnaissance officer in Imperial Galactic Operations.
Lt. Commander Tella Rovast proved in valuable in sharing her deep knowledge of the Sword Worlds naval tactic, speaking of them with an admiration that Torven found unusual. Long voyages alone while jumping between observation points left many days for intimacy; it was on one such jump that Lt. Commander Rovast halted the jump amidst the Sword World Confederation's infamous Narsil Fleet. A struggle ensued, and Torven barely won the upper hand. He bound his former lover in bonds before escaping in an escape corvette -- the fleet firing after him with fighters in pursuit before he short-jumped to an Imperial outpost near Elixbeth. Upon debriefing, it was determined that Lt. Comm. Rovast had been a Sword World Conf. agent planted to sabotage Imperial naval efforts in the region. Torven had loved her, as much as he could a woman -- making him jaded about all romantic "entanglement".