Once they were struck, the Velibar fought like hell. They’d come to destroy the Darlor, Stin, and Hidan, and they’d succeeded in barraging the city. It was thrilling to retaliate, despite the initial odds.
The closest Squid cast a massive shadow over the fields, and I flew into the darkness, aiming for the central pulse localizer. I’d seen the white beams in action a half hour earlier and didn’t want to be on the tail end of those blasts.
Five Stin raced between the thrashing tentacles, and two were hit. I ducked Pilgrim under one of the crashing robot vessels, and tilted to the side right before it had a chance to clip my wing. Luther sent another volley of pulses against the hull, and it began erupting.
“Captain, the ship is decompressing,” R11 told me. The outer shell began to disintegrate, huge chunks of metal sloughing off like dead skin.
“Everyone back!” I shouted into the communicator.
“What is it doing?” Trid’s face appeared on my dash. His eyes were narrow slits as he stared at the Squid through his viewscreen.
“This matches the central core on the abandoned Barge,” I told him.
“If they’re removing the outer hull, I’d guess someone is trying to escape,” Jade suggested.
I checked the radar, seeing that Varn and their squadron had almost destroyed their opponent.
We dispersed, circling our target while the rest of the Squid fell to the ground. The tentacles flopped over the golden crops, and soon there was just a round craft, hovering directly in the middle of our fleet. We waited for it to attempt an escape, but nothing happened for a few tense breaths.
“Captain, it’s sending a message.” R11 relayed it.
I stared at the live communication feed, unable to break my gaze. The man facing me appeared almost as shocked as I was.
He was older, maybe late fifties, with a full head of hair, white at the temples. His eyes were dark, his face set in a permanent scowl. “What the hell is going on here? Are you human?” The guy’s voice grated like rocks in a compactor.
“I’m human. What are you?” I asked him, trying to comprehend how someone from Earth had ended up on the bridge of a Velibar Squid.
“If you’re teaming up with these scum, know this. There is no defeating the Velibar. They’ve destroyed this city, and they will execute every single person on Earth if you don’t concede to them. I’ve seen it firsthand,” the man said.
“What’s your name?” I needed more information, and this guy would have it.
“I’m Second Regal of Tarre.”
I rolled my eyes. “That doesn’t help me much, does it?”
His face broke into a smile. “You may know me as Commander Garret Breaker of Obelisk.”
“Another traitor,” Luther said.
“I assume you’ve met Preston Lewis, then? His failure was predicable. Quite frankly, the Velibar should have chosen me to send in his stead,” Breaker told us. “I was always the stronger of the two.”
His ship remained in stasis, blue thrusters holding him in position. I glanced at Trid on my dash, who was watching our interaction with close interest. I needed them to stand down so I could keep Breaker talking.
“How did an honored commander end up working for the enemy?” I kept my tone neutral, trying not to sound accusing.
“That’s your first mistake, young man. The Velibar are not our enemy. They offer us protection from the unknown. May their enlightened glory burn everlasting.” Breaker’s smile faltered.
I’d seen brainwashed people before. Corporations had it down to a science. You hear a slogan enough times, you start to believe it’s true. That they have your best interests at heart, but in reality, you’re nothing more than a sequence of data.
“How about we land our ships? Talk in person,” I said, taking a chance.
“We’ve done our job. You can stay,” Breaker told us. The last Squid had already crashed, leaving Breaker’s interior orb ship the sole Velibar craft in the system.
“You’ll have to forgive us for—” I was about to set our fleet against him, when the thrusters blasted Breaker’s section of the Squid higher, his ship a blur against the sky.
“The Velibar will never compromise. You’re wasting your time.” The feed went dark, and I slammed a fist onto my console.
“Damn it!” I watched as Breaker’s ship vanished from our radar.
“What’s the big deal? We saved some people. Made new friends, blew up some scum. It was a good day,” Luther said.
“He’s right, Arlo. We did something important,” Jade added.
“Captain, the Stin are speaking to me. They want us to reconvene at Refuge,” R11 advised.
“Refuge? I thought we were on Refuge?” I asked.
“No, sir. According to them, Refuge is the next planet over.” R11 sent a map to my dash.
I stared at it silently. If that was Refuge, what had we just fought to protect?
TEN
Fourteen Years Ago
Preston watched the children playing through his window on the third story of their residence. Almost a year on Biks, and it was odd to see the tentacled Velibar in their natural habitat. The kids shouted and splashed about in the water, swimming and diving low into the pools.
Most of the city was covered in lakes, ponds, and canals. It reminded Preston of Venice, an ancient city in the heart of Espace back on Earth. He’d visited with Trevors once and had been enchanted by the canals and historical features the Corporation had retained after centuries of changes.
Finding out the Velibar were not so different than humans had been eye-opening. They married, or performed a binding ceremony with their mate. The males typically joined their military fleet, many never experiencing combat. They were expected to perform their ten years of service as an outpost guard. The females went into the hatching pools a few kilometers from their village and would lay eggs in a sac connected to the sand at the bottom of the water. The fathers would often return after their allotted service to find they had three or four children, already a decade old.
“Missing home?” Catarina’s voice
