Page 55 of The Edge of Dawn

How did Tarak and Ashrael know him so well? Did they have a skilled psychic amongst them, one who could peer into his thoughts without being detected?

It didn’t matter anyway because there was a kill-switch inside his body. One wrong move, and they could eliminate him on the spot.

Ultimate freedom, ultimate prison.

The ship landed seamlessly, barely making a disturbance in the atmosphere. The general’s fleet was better equipped and better operated than the old Imperial transports he was used to traveling on.

The pilots were better trained.

The guards were less edgy; more disciplined.

Everything here was a mirror image of the Old Empire, only better.

And they had humans.

They didn’t treat them badly, either.

That was another thing that had shocked him. His kind had always viewed other alien species as inferior, and they had treated them as such, often cruelly.

For the most part, Dragek had been indifferent toward aliens—including humans—until he’d encountered her. And even then, he had to ask himself whether he would have cared a whit about her if she didn’t have the Talent.

But Tarak and his people were gentle toward their humans, almost reverent. The ability to cast ka’qui allowed Dragek to observe many things. During his imprisonment, he’d been shocked to learn that the Kordolians of the Darkstar Mercenaries considered humans their equals.

Mere humans.

The feared First Division could be… gentle.

He still didn’t understand how such a thing had come to pass.

How different they were now. It was as if the old imperial way of thinking had never existed.

He shook his head as he rose to his feet. There were still outliers: factions from the Noble Houses that wanted to wrest power back from the Darkstar Group and revive the Kordolian Empire.

Did they honestly think they could win against Tarak al Akkadian and his elite warriors?

To have any chance against the might of this fleet, they would have to do something extreme.

Disquiet rippled through him.

Doing something heinous—something that had the potential to kill thousands, even millions—he wouldn’t put it past them.

The ones who had once given him his orders… he knew their nature well enough. In the past, if they’d willed the destruction of a world or a civilization, it wouldn’t have bothered him.

But now…

What was he, exactly? Whose side was he on?

As he watched her sleep, he turned life, the Universe, and the depths of hell over in his mind. He cast outwards with his ka’qui whilst holding her essence in a silent, invisible cocoon.

He felt the vast stillness of the Fleet Station.

The sheer absence of chaos.

Everything was orderly and peaceful.

As it should be.

And even though the ship had landed and the guards outside had discreetly moved into place, he didn’t stir.

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