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Wowwas the only thought that came to mind.

They’d landed at what was clearly a military base. It was alive with activity. Vehicles zipped silently around the docked vessel, carrying soldiers and equipment. Other battle cruisers and smaller space fighters were being tended to by engineers and mechanics, instantly recognizable by the universal dress code of overalls and grease stains.

But that wasn’t what had provoked her reaction.

Around the edge of the base was a transparent barrier, a force-field of some kind. And through it she could see the start of a vast city. Taa’riz, she assumed. The capital of the Vraxian Empire. She gazed in awe.

Glittering towers and spires stretched into the distance as far as the eye could see. A vista of glass and steel, chrome and silver, all glinting under the sun. Thesinglesun. It seemed strange to see only one orange ball in the sky after the months she’d spent in a twin-sol system.

She noticed the heat shimmer through the barrier and realized it wasn’t just there for military security. It was there to protect against the temperature.

In the distance, little black dots darted above the skyscrapers. She squinted at them, trying to make them out. Flying vehicles, she assumed, though they could equally be giant birds.

She was too far away to see any people but she knew Taa’riz was an old, old city even though it looked brand new. It had a population roughly the size of New York. It was built around a small inland sea which presumably was somewhere in the centre of the urban sprawl. In fact, she thought she could see the glint of water though the heat haze made it hard to tell.

She was surprised to discover how much she knew about Vraxos. And it wasn’t just from her SDF lectures. A lot of it had come from Vahn during those long days on Minerva-6 when they’d done nothing but talk.

Automatically, she looked to the east. Even though it wasn’t visible from here, that was where the Imperial Palace was. Wherehewas. She bit her lip.

“Alekt.”

A guard barked at her and gave her a push. She was taken to a driverless, windowless black pod and unceremoniously bundled in.

“Hey, watch it,” she protested as she fell to her knees on the hard metal floor. The guard leaned in and snarled in Vraxian.

“You are lucky. The last vermin I saw, I tore him to pieces. He screamed and begged like the cowards you are.”

Kara’s knuckles went white with the strain of not lashing out.He doesn’t know you can understand him.The need to keep up the ruse was the only thing that stopped her kicking the smug bastard in the face.

She pushed herself into the farthest corner, an awkward maneuver with her hands secured behind her back. As a parting shot, the Vraxian soldier casually spat in her direction. The phlegm landed on the toe of her boot and he grinned.

“Goodbye, human.”

The door of the pod slid shut, entombing her in darkness.

What did he mean, goodbye?

Panicked, Kara struggled onto her knees and kicked at the walls.

“Hey, let me out of here! I demand to see your Emperor! I have rights, I’m a prisoner-of-war! Hey!”

The pod rose into the air so fast that gravity pinned her to the deck.

“Fuck,” she groaned, struggling to breathe.

It seemed an eternity before the pod halted its ascent. It hung for a moment, as if pondering. Then without warning it hurtled off in a new direction. It was impossible to know where it was going but if she had to guess, it would be towards Taa’riz.

As prison transports went, it was supremely uncomfortable. There was nowhere to sit and nothing to hang onto. Every time the pod altered its route, she went flying. She couldn’t even use her hands to protect herself.

She tried to lessen the umpact by curling into a ball but it didn’t stop her careening off the smooth, featureless walls.

Mercifully it didn’t last long. But it was long enough. By the time the pod landed, she was dazed and bruised.

She barely registered the door opening, rousing only when a new set of guards dragged her from the vehicle. These ones wore different uniforms, she saw. Not the military black and grey, but a more elaborate blue and gold.

Blinking, she tried to clear her head and focus. The pod had landed in a large courtyard surrounded by gleaming walls. They looked like marble but ripples of color undulated through them, changing from one moment to the next.

Enormous statues stood in each corner, depicting people or gods, she wasn’t sure which. And in front of her, soaring hundreds of feet into the sky, was a huge domed building. It was constructed from a dark material she’d never seen before which appeared dense and black as night.