Roone jumped down from the table with a soft thump and moved toward the door, his steps quick and purposeful. "I'll keep watch outside. If anyone comes—if I hear anything suspicious—"
"I know."
He nodded once, sharp and decisive, and slipped outside, leaving me alone with the comm unit and the terrible weight fear crushing my chest.
I pressed the symbol with a shaking finger.
The holographic display shifted, cycling through what looked like connection protocols—streams of alien text and pulsing indicators that meant nothing to me. Then a voice crackled through the small speaker, startling me with its clarity.
"This is Nansar. Identify yourself."
The hologram flickered once, twice, then solidified into the image of an Aljani male. He was younger than Duke Ako—maybe in his early thirties if I had to guess by human standards, though who knew how alien aging worked—with the same elegant, almost ethereal features and luminous pale skin that seemed to glow faintly even through the projection. His eyes were a striking blue-green color, like tropical waters, and his platinum hair was pulled back in a style similar to the Duke's, though less formal, with a few strands falling loose around his face.
Those unusual eyes widened when they landed on me, his expression shifting rapidly from professional alertness to something like shock, his lips parting slightly.
"You're—" He stopped himself, his gaze sweeping over me with an intensity that made me want to step back from the hologram. "You're human."
"My name is Merrilee." My voice came out steadier than I'd expected, stronger than I felt. "Merrilee Sanchez. Ahrick gave me this unit. He said if I needed help, I should contact you."
A pause stretched between us, filled only by the faint static of the connection.
Then: "Merrilee. Are you safe right now? Where are you?"
"For now, I'm safe. I'm in a shack outside Fange City. But Ahrick isn't safe. Ahrick is—" My voice cracked and I had to stop, had to swallow hard against the lump in my throat. "Hewes took over Fange City. He's got Persico locked up and he's going to execute Ahrick publicly. At dawn. Day after tomorrow. I need help."
Another pause, longer this time. I watched Nansar's expression shift, watched him process what I'd just told him, watched something like pain flash across his features.
"Merrilee, listen to me carefully. The Alliance has ships in that sector, but the closest one is two days out at maximum speed. Even if I scrambled them right this second and they burned their engines to the breaking point—"
"They won't make it in time." My throat tightened, cutting off the rest of whatever I was going to say.
"I'm sorry." And he sounded it. Genuinely, deeply sorry, his voice heavy with regret. "If there was any way, any possible way I could get them there faster—any other way I could help."
"There is." I cut him off, my hand tightening around the comm unit until my knuckles went white. "Ahrick gave me something before he sent me away."
I pulled the Welati stone from my pocket and held it up to the holographic display, angling it so the light from the projection caught the surface. The stone shimmered with thatstrange inner glow, colors shifting and flowing beneath the surface like oil on water.
"A stone," I said, my voice barely above a whisper now. "He called it a Welati stone. He said it was important. That it could help."
The silence stretched even longer this time, heavy with meaning I didn't understand.
When Nansar spoke again, his voice had changed completely. Become something more serious. More careful. Almost reverent.
"He gave you the Welati stone."
"Yes. He said that the Welati would help me if I showed them this." My voice cracked again, breaking on the last word. "But I don't understand what that means."
Nansar took a visible breath, his chest rising and falling, and I saw him choose his words carefully.
"The Welati are the natives of Palaydium. They were here long before any of us arrived, long before Fange City existed. They're warriors, fierce and proud and utterly uncompromising, but they have a code of honor that runs deep. When my mate Chloe crash landed on Palaydium, she was hunted by those who wanted to kill her. The Welati found us. They gave us shelter, and eventually—friendship. The Welati elder gave us that stone."
He paused, and I heard the emotion in his voice, raw and unguarded.
"Before my mate and I left Palaydium, Chloe gave Ahrick that stone. It's a token of friendship from the Welati and not given lightly, Merrilee. They're sacred. And the Welati honor them absolutely. No exceptions."
"What do you mean, honor them?"
"It means that anyone who carries a Welati stone is under their protection. If you show them that stone, they will helpyou. The Welati don't break those obligations. Ever. It would be unthinkable to them."
