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“I guess not,” Scala chuckled as he filled his plate until it was heaping.

They grabbed some water and went to one of the tables. She felt like a kid at the adults’ table when they sat down and the surface was a little high, but she ignored the awkwardness and focused on the company. She smiled as everyone dug in. The scene reminded her of big meals back home.

“We can see what Payim discovered after he crashed. What about you?” Faktil said flippantly to Scala after they’d eaten a bit.

She laughed at the comment and nearly lost her mouthful of food, which would’ve been a damn shame.

“It took me longer than expected, but I managed to circle the southern and western perimeter of the Jurou Biljana outpost. They don’t appear to be building a fleet, but they are manufacturing something.”

“Aye. Rift drives.” Thorac filled in the blank.

Her hand fluttered as she quickly finished what was in her mouth. “Oh, did you see any of my people?”

“I wasn’t able to get that close.” Scala shook his head.

“What makes you think they’re not producing a fleet?” Thorac asked.

“The outpost isn’t big enough to produce a fleet, but they’ve got more chilling towers than a simple settlement.”

“The reptiles are morons but no one would choose to live here,” she commented.

Scala finished sticking a bite into his mouth then waved his utensil at her in agreement.

“That would make sense if they are just producing the rift drives here,” Payim said thoughtfully.

“That has to be it. This planet offers the perfect cover. It wouldn’t make sense to haul in all the materials to make a full fleet, but to make the rift drive it’s worth the risk,” Faktil added.

“Did you ever see any large ships that you can think of?” Payim asked her.

“No.” She shook her head while racking her brain. “Now that you mention it, no. Several of their small cruisers crashed when they first arrived, and I’d see other small ships go down occasionally, but I never saw anything big land. And there would have to be, to make a base like that,” she reasoned.

“They’re landing with controlled crashes in the ocean, like what we did, and I bet they're taking off from the same place,” Thorac groused.

“I think I need to contact the Premier Servant and the Conclave. We have to assume the Jurou Biljana already reproduced a shipment of drives and got them off world,” Scala huffed in frustration.

She surveyed their serious expressions with mounting fear.

“Are you saying that my planet is at risk?” she asked hesitantly.

“Not specifically your planet. We don’t have intel that the Jurou Biljana plan to go to Earth.” Payim rubbed her back, trying to console her.

“Up to this point the Osivoire have worked hard to keep the Jurou Biljana contained to this quadrant. The rift drive gives them access to galaxies beyond the wormholes,” Thorac explained.

Thunder smacked the table and made a series of terse gestures.

“We won’t let them enslave another race,” Scala promised the furry man.

She frowned despite the promise. From the sound of it, the scaly bastards had been making the fancy engines for a while and might already be out there pillaging poor unsuspecting people like hers. She’d been anxious to discuss how to rescue everyone hibernating in the tunnel but this was more pressing.

“We have to stop them.” She pushed her plate away, no longer hungry.

“We will.” Payim nodded.

“The destroyers need to speed it up,” Faktil added.

He was talking about other ships, but the name said it all, and she was suddenly worried.

“But, what about the survivors trapped in the reptile base?” she asked, biting her lip.