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T he dead planet spins darkly, its surface a blasted mess. The molten core has long since been plundered, no life left on the surface or beneath it.

It’s what the Veseli did to their own planet. It’s what they sought to do to many others, until they came up against the Sarkarnii.

Their mandibles bit off more than they could handle when they angered us. Except our hoped for extermination of the creatures, detested within this galaxy and beyond, does not seem to have worked. My shipboard sensors are detecting something in a low orbit.

But it’s not Veseli. This thing is larger than their usual vessels, and it’s made from a material which makes it hard to detect. It’s only the mass of lifeforms which give it away, not the structure itself.

I activate the stealth plating on the hull of this ship, another reason we wanted it, as it makes sneaking up on pirates menacing the planets under our protection significantly easier, whilst the rest of the fleet remains out of sensor range.

The activation makes the light within the ship dim and gives everything a slightly translucent quality which is disconcerting if you are unused to it.

And something slams into my port engine. It grinds through the damage, and the nanos get to work on repairs as I spin the ship using the single engine to get to my attacker. The damage has also knocked out most of my sensor array, meaning I’m flying on instinct, not external sight.

Another pulsar cannon bolt comes out of nowhere and hits the underside of the ship. It goes through far enough I’m venting atmosphere, something I can only survive if I shift.

Shifting isn’t an option.

With the second engine only working at half power, I release a volley of pulsar torpedoes in the hope whatever is attacking me is in the firing line. One hits, and I redouble my efforts in the area where there was an impact.

It doesn’t stop the ship from firing another bolt which barely grazes my starboard engine but sets something on fire.

Alone on the ship, which should have more crew, I’m struggling.

I use the internal flame dampeners to deal with the fire, but it’s bigger than they can handle.

And I still haven’t been able to locate my assailant or gain any knowledge of who is attacking me—attacking a Sarkarnii ship—which is usually considered to be suicide among the pirates who were plundering this galaxy.

“Nev you, Darax, will you move your piece of space junk out of the way!” Driok’s voice comes down my comm, distorted by the damage. “ We’re trying to hit the other ship.”

“Did you just hit mine?” I bellow back.

There is silence, which means he shot first with the intention of asking questions later, something Driok has always done, our time after the wormhole notwithstanding.

Dangerous and now feral. It’s what made us warlords in the first place. I’d just prefer he wasn’t shooting at me…or near me.

“I’ve got engine trouble, you never. Shoot around me.”

“ Got it ,” Dante shouts down the comm, his voice distorted with the volume of his cry.

Nev! If there are two of them, these two in particular, I have been doomed to die in the crossfire.

“Nev the lot of you to the ancestors,” a third voice growls through the system, followed by an almighty implosion which sends me spinning towards the surface of the dead planet. “If you want something done, do it yourself.”

Yep, I’m dead, Kerra is dead, the humans and my brother are dead. I have three warlords occupying one area of space, and they’re the worst of the lot.

“ We heard you might need some help, Darax, ” Driok says.

“ No, ” Dante interrupts. “ I told you he was going after his female, and you wanted to see if he’d find the rest. ”

“I am only here for the females Darax has been keeping from us. The rest of you can nev off to the ancestors.” Dexx’s dark voice slides down the comm. Make that four warlords.

I manage to get my spin under control and find my port engine has been sufficiently repaired I can execute a burn to escape the limited gravitational pull the empty husk has.

“Did any of you nevvers get a good view of the ship which attacked me?” I growl down the comm.

The Amber Gem is, if not yet a piece of spacejunk, going to need some serious time in dock.

It seems she is unlucky wherever she goes.

“ You’re venting atmosphere,” Driok says.

“It doesn’t matter. We have to follow the life signs. It’s where the Veseli are keeping my female,” I respond, plotting a course which will take me as close as I can whilst hoping to remain out of scanner range.

Dante’s ship roars over me, turning and turning as he heads in the direction I have plotted in.

“Nev! Dante!” I fire Amber Gem ’s engines into life and follow him, despite my damaged state, overtaking the nevver before he can do any harm.

Which is when I see it.

The vast construction, not yet finished, it has to be twice the size of Vorostor Central.

“ Nev it to the ancestors. ” Dexx comes over the comm. “ If you wanted to find a fight, Darax, you certainly found one. ”

“ I wasn’t sure whether to believe Dante about the Veseli. ” Dalox’s dark, deep voice rasps from the comm. “ But it seems our work wasn’t finished. ”

“ This can’t all be the Veseli, ” Driok says. “ They weren’t capable of this at full strength, never mind the fact we thought we’d dispatched them all.”

“Someone else is using them, like they were using the Madar,” Dalox growls.

I hesitate. If he knows about the Madar, he knows about the trap in my sector. He also knows more than Dante could have told him.

“ Does it matter?” Dexx growls . “ I want a female. ”

“ She might not want you, you filthy nevver ,” Driok responds with a chuckle. “ Even if there are females .”

“I want my mate, and I’m going in. If any of you nevvers decide to join me, I might not shoot first and ask questions later. But don’t take too long deciding.”

Amber Gem’ s engines rasp as I push them to their limits, closing the gap between me and the structure.

If Kerra is on there, anything else should be prepared to die.