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I place the female’s strange pink clothes before her, hoping to draw her out of her frantic wailing, but it has no effect.

Memories of the disappointing extractions return to me.

The human males were no challenge at all—truly pathetic.

All small with rotund, squishy bodies, they seemed malformed, as if nature itself had made a terrible mistake.

Their warriors fared little better, wearing silly armor and helmets, carrying their feeble ballistic weapons.

In the first female’s land—the one with the endless tears—I’d even engaged them in melee combat, allowing them to swarm me. I laughed at their pathetic attempts to stop me, brushing them aside like znats —worse— znats can avoid attacks.

“I killed no one,” I state simply. The words may be a lie, however. I switched my arc blaster to non-lethal, but some males I struck failed to move afterwards, limp as their resolve.

Can no one provide me with a worthy challenge?

My words have no effect on the wailing female as she continues to sob uncontrollably. I scowl, turning to Ignixis, glad he can see what I’ve been dealing with.

“You truly have an interesting effect on the females, young Dracoth,” he mocks with mirth, studying Sandra for a moment.

“If you did as I instructed and used stealth, you could have avoided this!” His mirth evaporates like rain on lava, his face twisting into a sneer.

“No, you had to prove yourself like an obstinate child. Crippling our warriors in the training halls and now against pathetic humans who are beneath you! Do you think your noble father would have dishonored himself with such rabble? Do you think he’d be so fragile to boost his ego thusly? ”

My blood boils, and I glare at Ignixis as he pushes dangerously close to my limit, molten fury pouring through my veins. Only a flicker of shame at his words stems the tide—saving his life.

“No,” I sneer through clenched teeth.

“Good,” Ignixis says with a calmness that wasn’t there a moment ago.

“Maybe there’s hope for us yet.” He waves a dismissive hand towards the inconsolable Sandra.

“Take this one back. Let her stew in her new reality. Bring the other...” He pauses, tapping a finger on his black lips.

“The darker-skinned one, the one with fire in her belly.”

“Did the troublesome female come meekly?” Ignixis asks, scrutinizing her scanned projection on the medical terminal.

“Yes,” I reply, finding it strange how the brown-haired female didn’t offer any form of resistance after her previous foolish attempt to attack me.

A flicker of a smile creases my lips recalling the event—was it bravery or a kind of madness that drove her?

Either way, it’s a welcome reprieve from the endless tears displayed by the others.

“The female has bruising around the neck,” Ignixis notes with a mocking frown. “Wonder how she obtained those.”

Sarcasm is such a low form of humor, but I shouldn’t expect any better from the old gas-cloud . I remain neutral, choosing to ignore his obvious bait. Ignixis sighs in frustration, giving me a spark of joy.

“Interesting,” he says, leaning closer to the blue projection. “See here,” he points uselessly at a magnified area, which means nothing to me. “Healed fracture lines and scarring throughout the bones. She possesses many of them.”

I glance at the female suspended in the healing pod, expecting to see a look of bliss in her dark-brown eyes, only to find an intense glare staring back at me. She has much spirit, this one.

“She’s a warrior,” I mutter, meeting her challenge, unmovable as the Peaks of Scarn.

“Yes,” Ignixis says absently, manipulating the medical terminal controls.

“Yes, I’d say that is likely. You often see these types of scarring from projectile weapons like these humans use.

” He turns to me with a smirk, “Does this news excite you? Will it take a female warrior to endure your... hot blood?” he adds with a cackle, sounding half-mad.

Perhaps we’re both mad. On the wrong side of the galaxies, chasing legends and powers that probably don’t exist.

I wave a dismissive hand at Ignixis as the healing pod pings denoting the healing is completed. “We shall see,” I state, approaching to release the female.

As I open the pod door, plumes of green vapor are released, brushing my senses with faint bliss and obscuring my vision.

“ Hijo de puta !” The strange words promise trouble, emphasized by the tiny female bursting out of the healing pod, scrambling between my legs like a wild varmint.

I turn slowly, content to watch the feisty female’s vain efforts with amusement.

Her naked, lean physique is pleasing to observe as she grasps a sharp surgical instrument from a nearby bench.

I cross my arms with a grin as she glances between Ignixis and me with frantic breaths.

The smart move would be to take Ignixis hostage—I hope she tries.

I chuckle, the sound as foreign as rainfall in Nardune, watching the female approach Ignixis with the blade raised.

“Ah, young Dracoth, some assistance would be most welcome,” Ignixis says, backing away from the tiny female, his voice becoming more frantic with each word.

He’s such a coward. It was cowardice like this that disgraced him.

I charge the alluring female in a blur of movement. She only has time to turn her head before I’m already on her, like an avalanche bearing down. I flick a single finger against her temple, hoping to stun her, but to my annoyance, she collapses to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Humans are as soft as snarlbrocs!

“You didn’t kill her, did you?” Ignixis pushes past me to examine the feisty female, placing tattooed fingers along her neck.

“She lives,” I mutter, noticing her perky breasts rising and falling. My eyes snap to the healing pod with a grimace, some of the green vapors still escaping. “We can put her back in,” I suggest with a gesture.

“No, it’s too soon,” Ignixis answers, reaching into his long robes, black as the void.

He places a translation device behind the female’s ear.

It hisses, sealing against her skin. “The last thing we need is for your bonded female to be a rabid healing pod addict,” he adds, interrupting her charming little snores.

Frustrated at how poorly our endeavor is progressing, I exhale deeply, moving to retrieve this female’s clothes from the nearby bench. They consist of trousers and a shirt, in earth tones mottled together in seemingly random patterns. Humans are strange. The thought is not new to me.

I scoop up the unconscious female, cradling her in my arms along with her clothes.

“One more,” I declare, praying it goes better, but expecting it won’t.

Ignixis’s face shifts to a sly grin. “I saved the best till last.”