He glances over the plants and very carefully picks himself a flat of twelve seedlings, placing them in a special case that lights up when he closes the lid.
“Hey!” I shout, not quite thinking things through. He’s not Denarso or Novark. And when he faces me with the pale blue-white glowing eyes, I feel my heart slam into my ribs.
Nebulous… He’s a Neb!I’ve never seen an adult in person before. Zariah is raising a young refugee, but he can’t be more than seven years old by now.
This Neb wears different armor than I’ve seen in the holovids of empire battles. It looks hand-crafted, same with the gun he points at me.
I barely have time to flinch, igniting my shield on instinct after years in space. My shield lifts as the white-hot bullet slams into me.
The force knocks me backward and into the wall of my engine bay with pounding force. I cough and slump to the floor. When my vision returns, he’s gone.
Crawling onto my hands and knees, I put myself upright and stagger down the row to where he took the seedlings. The empty slots are heartbreaking.
Seconds later, my ship returns to full power like something he did caused the drain. But he didn’t shut my ship down completely. He didn’t kill me. And he only took medicinal plants.
I’m starting to think he’s like Caddok, Zariah’s adopted son, a refugee from the empire.
The frantic beep of an incoming call jerks my attention to the com. My tablet shows a call from someone I don’t expect.
“Prince Aurelius, what can I do for you?”
“Brynna! Still farming stardust?”
“And everything in between.”
He sighs with a heaviness that says he has another big favor to ask, and it makes me wonder if Amphiran seedlings have not performed well on his homeworld.
“Did the Lilivine not make it? You know it needs a lot of water. How is your…”
“We’re fine.” Children laugh in the background, and Aura whispers to someone, “Not right now, Brazin. Go help your mother. I must help someone else. But I will join you soon.”
The com rustles. “I apologize, Brynna. Talhuskins just annihilated the Drathious’ colony. They haven’t been free for more than a decade. We are helping the Drathious leave their world behind, again. Crops were destroyed during battle…”
“Say no more, my friend. I’ve got one final drop, but I’ll head your way the second I’m done. Give me a few hours?”
“I thought you were going to race soon.”
I draw in a deep breath and remember my entrance fees and documentation, which still sit in my office.
“I was, but I keep getting pulled out to do more deliveries. There isn’t really anyone else with my selection or repository size. But I just had the Novark attack at my last drop. They always try to steal my defense systems and any tech that’s a quick removal. And when I arrived at my second stop, a Neb boarded.”
“A Nebulous soldier?” Aura’s tone darkens, and I know I have his full attention. “Are you okay?”
“He hit me with a pretty hard blast, but it didn’t damage anything. Just knocked the wind out of me.”
“You need security.”
“I can’t afford security.”
“Well, he was definitely monitoring your communications enough to know you’d be there. We’ll get your security systems upgraded when you arrive. For now, I’m sending Fieri and Blaize to come escort you so there’s no more trouble.”
“I’m alright, really.”
A swooping primordial ship bursts into my space with a flash of green light. “Arrived, sir. Black Sun in view.”
“Thank you, Fieri,” Aura replies. “Please give Eos my thanks.”
“Thank you, sir,” a feminine voice replies. “It is my honor.”
