Driok
Iset my warriors to work checking over the ship for any signs of Ulep interference.
I expect they kept it because of the ability it had, in theory, to get past the defenses on Vorostor.
Not because of any sort of vengeance but because of the star fuel Daxx mines.
I have no doubt the Ulep would find it the biggest draw.
The Sarkarnii they could enslave would be less than secondary.
My mate stands to one side of the bridge, leaning against a bulkhead, looking out at the planetoid, her gaze on the remainder of the other species in stasis with my warriors finally being loaded onto our old craft.
Not the spaceworms. They have been put in a temporary stasis, and I will return to remove them to a quiet nebula somewhere they can’t cause any trouble.
Maggie looks up at me as I join her, watching as the final Paralnyi is loaded and the ship takes off.
“Where are they going?” she asks me.
“I have asked the warrior pilot to take them to the nearest space hub where they can return to wherever they want.”
She nods and chews at the soft pale claw on her thumb.
“Lord Driok.” A warrior bows to me. “There is a…Paralnyi at the airlock.”
“Let him in,” I order. “He has the xoh-antenna. Take him to the array.”
“What now?” Maggie turns away from the viewing window. “How do we deal with the Ulep now?”
“Once the array is complete, we have to deploy it, which should be simple enough,” I explain. “But once it is deployed, we have to be sure the Ulep are outside of the galaxy before it is activated.”
“What stops them coming back?”
“It is specifically tuned into their neural DNA, the one thing they are unable to change. Despite their desire to change whatever else they are.”
I activate a screen on a console and watch as the little Paralnyi hands over the xoh-antenna to my warriors, who seem somewhat surprised to be given the thing, but to their credit, quickly get to work fitting it.
“Driok,” Maggie says quietly. “How are you planning to get the Ulep outside of the galaxy?”
I don’t want to tell her. I don’t want her to know, but my brain isn’t prepared to let me keep any more secrets.
“I have to draw them out.”
“Why you?”
“It’s me they want.”
Maggie studies me for a while, her hand across her stomach.
“I took out one of their spacecraft in the early days we were in this galaxy. I thought they were pirates given they were threatening a small, low-tech planet. I put back their ambitions by many nova-years. They want revenge, they always have, and the starnet is my way of dealing with them.”
Maggie’s eyes don’t leave me for a moment.
“There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye, isn’t there, Driok?” she says with the hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. “And if you think you’re in this alone, you’re wrong,” she adds.
“What do you mean?”
“Did you really think I’d let you offer yourself as bait for the Ulep?” Maggie says. “I’m going with you.”
“My mate…”
“If it’s all fine, why can’t I come? Surely you have a plan to get back to me? To us?” She taps her rounded belly.
I feel the growl in my chest rather than hear it. She is correct, of course. If my plan is solid, there’s no reason for her not to be by my side.
“You are the most obtuse…creature, let alone female I have ever met. You are always right, you are always with me, and you make me want to move the universe to please you.” I take her in my arms. “You conquered this Sarkarnii warlord when no other could, not even the Ulep.”
“I’ll take that, if it means you don’t do anything stupid.”
“Me? Do something stupid? I’ll leave that to Dalox.” I trace my thumb over her lips, wanting to take her here and now. “Report on Dalox?” I bark over my shoulder.
“Lord Dalox has not engaged the Ulep ship and is accompanying the other craft out of this sector of space,” my warrior at the comm informs me.
“And the Ulep ship?”
“It’s heading to…Xracak City.” The warrior looks over at me.
“Once we get out of this sector, deploy the starnet,” I inform them, turning back to Maggie. “That should be enough to get their attention.”
“So the chase is on.” Maggie grins at me. “Because you did promise never to leave me behind again.” She puts her head on one side and her gaze rakes over me. “And I promised never to leave you.”
My heart soars. I have my mate, my warriors, my ship. The Ulep are on the cusp of being routed.
And once my mate has birthed our sarkarnling. Something I cannot wait for, only I have to.
I give the nod to the warrior at the pilot controls. “Xracak City,” I growl.