"You think so? The threat that they might be strong enough to defeat the Solusgors could be enough, could it not?"
Involuntarily, I couldn't help my head shaking in the negative, revealing a truth I didn't want to burden her with.
"It will have to be. For now, we will celebrate the news that our queen succeeded, while we were away, to recruit a fierce warrior planet to protect this universe and all the planets within it."
The necia warriors were living weapons, and somehow our queen was able to use their own laws to convince them to join us. But having a show of force wouldn't be enough to stop the Solusgors. It was a show of false security. Only recently was I given access to the records of what the threat truly was. They didn't care about who was out here, how strong they were, or who they killed. And their technology was world destroying.
"I'm not sure how much celebrating we'll be doing on an outlaw planet that doesn't have any loyalties to Trillume..."
She had a point. I would hardly call Delta Fal a planet, and the outlaws here required us to stay alert.
"This is our last stop before we return to Trillume, unless our orders change. It will still take many rotations before we see home again. Enjoy the change of scenery while you can, Belder."
"It is what is not seen that we must embrace in multitudes," she agreed with a bow of her head, seeking my forgiveness for not seeing the gift of having this small luxury before a long journey home. We had little in the way of supplies, and what we gathered on this outlaw planet would be what we had to return with.
If we returned at all, I did not dare say it out loud. The queen knew what she was asking of my crew and myself when she sent us. Our technology was great, but traveling this distance was still a gamble. If there weren't enough supplies on this barren rock, there would be no return for us. No future once our activities were discovered.
"Enjoy the time we have," I reiterated for both of our sakes. Belder swallowed deeply, the scales on her neck flexed with discomfort. Her green skin darkened at the small slice visible from the top of her robes, where she had undoubtedly pulled at her neckline in search of relief that wouldn't come from shedding the weight of our clothes.
I adjusted my own robes tighter around myself and grunted as the confirmation of our ship docking at the planet's orbit station appeared on the display panel.
It was time...
I flipped the switch for cargo bays seven and eight, releasing the bioweapon on an already barren planet filled with outlaws and unfortunate souls that were but a casualty of protecting the universe from the Solusgors.
They would live: the scientists assured me that its purpose was to stop the replication of the virus.
The Solusgors weren't a species as we pictured it, though that was what had been said about them. Giving them a form gave our warriors and our clan something to stand against. A "them" to stand before and unite against.
The warriors from Necias Prime were but a facade to make the planets under our care feel safe.
They would be safer, I thought, with zero amusement at what this would cost us all.
"Is it done?" Belder tore me from my dark thoughts.
I nodded, and my crew prepared to launch the shuttle towards the surface. Cargo bay seven was connected with our shuttle transports. Cargo bay eight connected with the docking station orbiting the planet... Every ship would carry the nanobots with them. From bandits across the stars, it will spread to planets we couldn't reach on our own.
This would be the origin of what would be the most devastating attack on the entire universe, and I was its harbinger.
Belder didn't know the full extent of our mission. She knew enough to know that what I just unleashed on this planet and on our crew might mean we never made it home again.
Chapter three
Hazel
TheradiationpackIhuddled next to for warmth was growing colder by the rotation. It cost my dignity to get it, but it was better than where I was headed to. If that unGor spawn on the slave ship hadn't looked the other way when loading the rest of the marked ones... I wouldn't have a life to complain about. The Zorn would surely punish him if he found out he had been soft in his duties. Genbi. I'll never forget the name or his kindness.
"Find a way back to your planet," he told me before he shuddered. He grimaced down his nose—like what he saw in my future were the nightmares of things I would not wish on my enemies, let alone someone as young as him. He barely reached the height of my shoulders, and though I was tall for many species, I knew from seeing others of his kind on the trader's ship that his species grew quite large. It was common for estreld females like myself to be of similar height to the males. I was no different in that regard.
Genbi's hair was short and braided at the top, with only two bones for adornment. If his height hadn't told me of his age, the length of his hair and minimal bones would have confirmed it. When I later asked about unGors from other outlaws, before they saw my mark, they said an unGor's hair was a roadmap of their life. Genbi's was only beginning. I hoped he too would find a way to escape being under the Zorn's rule. He was the largest outlaw in this sector, and many of the pirates here avoided me I asked about him. Word spread of my mark. Even the hint that I might have escaped from the Zorn's trading route made many of them fearful. If they were seen with me, rumors were that the Lord Zorn would think that they stole me themselves. None of them even wanted to return me to him because they didn't want the Lord Zorn to mistake their involvement, or even be associated with an unclaimed slave.
It was both a blessing and a curse. The outlaws left me alone, but I struggled to find a way back to my home planet, Estreldez, and I was running out of hope.
My bones cracked as I forced myself to seek out food. Turning off my radiation pack, that I buried under the crusty dirt of a dark alley, I weakly made my way to the heap of trash near the landing strip, where shuttles didn't care about keeping the streets clean. The clucking sound of krelins had me cowering behind a dirty moat of water that was likely toxic to consume, not that I had much choice when this planet didn't have any rivers or much life besides a quick detour for outlaws to hideout or trade goods.
There were regular ships that all they did was transport supplies the outlaws would need to restock their ships with. But many species didn't have the same kind of digestion that I did, and as soon as I heard the krelins disembark from their shuttle, I cried.
Part fear and part relief flooded through me. Krelins were the reason I was here, but the last time they visited was the reason I was still alive. They tossed a bucket of rocks on the ground, and a strange animal slithered behind them. It had no legs, and yet it moved. It had fins below its mouth but had no eyes and it made the most calming sound, like a whistle of wind through a glade as the moon's glow warmed your skin.
