Page 6 of Command

“You can’t just kill seven thousand fucking people,” Orion snarled. “You can’t have come here just to murder a bunch of humans, can you? What do you really want? What’s the endgame here?”

The alien seemed to consider whether to answer. That or look for words. But finally he found them. “I was born for this, human. I will claim my birthright and find a planet for what remains of my people.”

“A New Earth,” Alina whispered under her breath and winced reflexively, expecting another kick in the back.

She flinched as a shadow passed over her. A monster stepped over her curled form. She glimpsed his back now, red spikes running in a single row down his scalp, disappearing into the neckline of his bulky exosuit.

The cyan one, the one in the commander’s seat, turned to him. “With a suitable planet, we will need not Haevn, brother.”

It took Alina a few seconds to denote that he was sayingHeaventhrough a thick accent.

“But our father—” the red alien began, taking obvious effort to contort his words into Universal.

“Yourfather. Not mine.”

The red one recoiled. “And me, then? Are we not brothers?”

The cyan uhyre lowered his chin, chest rising with a sigh as he replied in rapid-fire Uhyreish before switching back to accented Universal. “Koruth wanted Haevn and control, brother. He killed my parents for the power of their blood once we learned their stories were true. But this is my ship and my cohort now. And I want to live.”

“What kind of planet are you looking for?” Orion Halen cut in.

“Orion…” Kaia’s voice held a warning, but her husband didn’t look at her.

“No need,” the blue one said. “I will use your people’s records after your disposal. Our ideal habitation environment is as your Earth was.”

Kaia’s knuckles blanched with how hard she must have been squeezing the back of Orion’s seat.

“You won’t find what you’re looking for in our records. You won’t find what I know.” Orion slung his ankle over his knee, elbow propped on the arm and his temple on his fist. He looked so confident… so certain.

The uhyre cocked his head. “What you know?”

“I know where your planet is. And I’ll take you there, but only if you let the humans onColossallive.”

CHAPTER 4

THREXIN

Threxin had considered torturing the information out of Orion Halen. Humans broke easily. The panicked, slobbering group cowering against the wall was a testament to their fragility. But he was not human.

His eyes were human, to be sure, though not entirely. The relative dullness of them, in contrast with his own, reminded Threxin of an immature uhyre. But compared to the eyes of the red-haired female seething behind him, they may as well have been glowing blue.

Exorin practically reeked from her pores. Threxin’s stomach turned at the thought of this creature’s dependence. It was disgusting—and Orion Halen had clearly been promoting it. How many others were there?

Threxin forced himself to get back to business. No—this male would not break readily. Besides, Threxin had time. He had given his kind four ship hours to transport themselves toClossalif they wished to join him. Now that their leader was dead, they had to choose. They could attempt to survive on the barely habitable triple system of Apth without the support of theElssian’s technology or facilities orbiting between them. Or they could accept Threxin’s command andfollow him to hisClossal.So Threxin would wait. Four hours, and no longer.

“Take the others,” Threxin instructed his cohort in Apthian.

“Dispose of them?” Renza checked.

“Not yet. Just keep them… somewhere.”

His brother did not require management. He would find a place for the creatures. Renza dragged the female he had dispatched before, hauling her off the floor by her collar. She looked differently distraught from the others, her stare traversing time and again to the female at Orion Halen’s side. Threxin briefly wondered if they were related. But as Renza approached him and he got a better look, he saw that was unlikely. The human dangling in his outstretched arm had rock brown hair, deeper coloring, and black eyes that were less round. Her bone structure was different too, more angular than the red one’s mushier facial features.

The red female slapped away Renza’s free hand with a sound that was almost a hiss. Oh, she was frightened. He smelled it.

But not as much as she should be. Something was off about this one. Perhaps she was not sound of mind.

“She stays.” Orion had inserted himself between his female and Renza, who regarded them with indifference. He turned instead to Threxin.

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