“Are you going to eat that?” Breaker asked him.
Preston stared at his plate, finding it half full. He slid it to Breaker, who seemed to eat more than he slept these days. The Velibar diet was quite compatible with theirs, and his former commander was taken with their food. He’d gained over twenty pounds since they’d been boarded. Preston, on the other hand, was down a belt loop.
Catarina gazed out the window. “Looks like we’re getting to Biks soon.”
“Anything new on your lessons?” Preston asked her.
“I wanted to learn about the universe, but not like this,” she admitted. Cat wore a bland brown uniform, and her hair was cut short since they’d allowed her to use a pair of scissors. She’d shorn it all off in protest. Maybe a form of mourning for her capture. Preston’s children were grown up, capable of caring for themselves, and Arlo, his one grandson, would already be a man. Cat’s son, Holland, wouldn’t even be school-aged yet.
“It’ll get better,” Preston assured her.
She glanced over. “Will it? Because I can’t become friends with our enemies.” She shoved her plate into the middle of the table. Breaker grabbed it, scooping the remains onto his dish.
“I am not friends with them!” Preston was tired of constantly being berated by this woman.
“I’ve watched you. Oleth Con isn’t on our side. He attacked us. He killed Hunt and stole our lives.” Cat’s tears were long gone, evaporated with her boiling fury.
Preston crossed the room, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry, Catarina. I failed you. I’ve failed everyone.”
“It’s not your fault.” Now she cried, a mournful song escaping her lips.
“I’m the captain, and it was my responsibility to protect the crew,” Preston told her.
“You’re too hard on yourself.” Garret Breaker finally set his fork down and came over to them.
“Thanks, Garret.” Preston had been struggling with a lot over the last two years, but he needed these people’s support. And they needed his strength.
The door opened, and in walked Engineer Rufus Eloff. “Oleth requested you,” Eloff said. He was paler than normal, and Preston peered past him to see if there were any Velibar escorts nearby.
When Preston confirmed he was alone, he shut the door. “What did they do?”
“I overheard them talking about an invasion,” Rufus said.
“Is that so?” Preston stood between them and the exit. “Are you able to interpret their language a bit better?”
They’d secretly been learning Berio, the Velibar tongue. Rufus nodded. “I swear they mentioned Earth. And checking the capsules.”
“The capsules?” Garret wiped his mouth with a napkin. “What do you think that means?”
“What else?” Preston asked Rufus.
“That was it. The guards were joking about it. It sounded like they were planning on using Obelisk, and something about the capsules forming a transporter. Or maybe a tunnel. I didn’t know the word for sure.” Rufus ran his hands through his blond hair. “What do we do?”
“The same as always.” Preston had scoured the rooms they resided in, searching for any listening or video devices. He didn’t think there were any. The Velibar were a cocky bunch, and one day, Preston would make them pay for that.
“You’d better leave, Preston,” Catarina whispered. “If Oleth wants to speak, he won’t be kept waiting.”
They’d all had different versions of themselves before this had begun. But now, vulnerability had been cast away, leaving room for the resilience they needed to survive. “I won’t let everyone down again. We will figure this out.”
He left them watching his back as he departed, and went in search of Oleth Con, the First Regal of Biks. Soon they’d be visiting a colony world, and Preston Lewis was determined to find a lead despite the dire circumstances. If they were discussing an invasion of Earth, he couldn’t sit by idly forever.
____________
Now
Refuge. The location had initially been hidden from the message, but once we made contact with someone on the other side, they’d passed us the coordinates. Fifty-nine light years from home. The number was still baffling, and traveling through numerous solar systems at such intense speeds was miraculous.
I expected to be more impressed by it, but once we’d journeyed past two stars, the excitement wore off. Especially after running into a Squid in the middle of nowhere. How could Earth ever succeed against an enemy of twenty billion? One that had been fighting and expanding in space for hundreds of years longer than us?
We neared Refuge after our third week. The name was a translation from R11’s program, and it suggested a sanctuary, a shelter from people like the Velibar. I wasn’t fully trusting of these beings, and we decided to fly cautiously into the system.
Varn and I cut the FTL mods off at the same moment, and I peered toward the system’s bright yellow star. There were eight planets visible, one orbiting far enough from the hot sun to avoid being burned from the flares. Refuge was listed as the fourth world, a planet roughly 0.9 times the size of Earth, with a little over 1.1 times the mass.
“Have they responded yet?” Luther asked, breaking the silence.
“Nope.” Jade sighed. “I don’t understand. We’ve been in contact with them for the last three months, and now they’ve chosen to back off?”
She was right. These people hadn’t relayed a message in six days, and that worried me. Particularly when we’d advised them we were nearing the eighth world only a day ago.
“Maybe there’s an issue,” Luther said.
“An issue?” I asked. “I have a few of my own. Starting with coming all the way out here to find we’ve been ghosted.”
“Would you like me to send another one?” Jade began to type.
“No. Let’s quickly investigate. Luther, send the probes. I’d like to gather some intel near Refuge before we dive in.” I zoomed
