Page 133 of Defiant

“We’re trapped,” Valizode whispered, taking it in, realizing it fully. “No communications off planet. No way to hyperjump. It wouldtakedecadesto reach the next star system without a hyperdrive. We’re…alone.”

The others quieted, then began whispering in terror. Until a star fell from the sky. Then another. And more. Starfighters?

Were they saved?

Valizode hurried to where the fighters landed, but this was no salvation. They found a group of people, mostly humans, led by a tall female with short hair. She held ataynixin a special sling at her side, matching her uniform.

Out in the open? It made Valizode’s skin crawl. Those things were supposed to be kept hidden.

“Ah,” she said as Valizode climbed from the hovercar. “Minister Valizode, at last?”

“Yes?” Valizode said, forcing those teeth to remain unbared.

The human bared hers, brazenly. “I’m Provisional Ambassador Freyja Marten. Commander in the Defiant military, callsign: FM, if it matters.”

“Does it?”

She gave a human shrug of the shoulders. “Just here to impart a little explanation. Food deliveries will be incoming, as I understand your planet is too populated to feed itself. You’ll want to arrange for the distribution, and you can send requests for other supplies. If we determine they legitimately can’t be produced locally, we’ll accommodate the requests. The rest of the terms are here.” She set a datapad on a table nearby.

One of the guards moved to take a shot at her. Aterriblyaggressive act, and it would have horrified Valizode under other circumstances. But, well, thiswasa human.

The human seemed to have been ready for it. Before the guard pulled the trigger, the human vanished. The shot zipped through empty air.

The human appeared next to the dione with the gun and pointedly took the weapon from their stunned hands. That taynix…it knew how to hyperjump on command. Without needing any equipment to corral it?

So dangerous! So aggressive!

“That was annoying of you,” the human said. “If you keep acting like this, you’ll never get offworld. And I was assured by your kind it was safe to visit you in person.” She stalked back toward her ship.

“Human?” Valizode called. “Wait! Wait. I apologize for thiscravenact ofaggressionbut…Please. When…whendowe get to…to leave our planet again?”

“It’s not up to me, so I can’t say,” the human said, pausing by her ship. The others were already climbing into theirs.

“Who is it up to?” Valizode said. “Can I speak to your government, plead our case? We…didn’t know what Winzik was doing. We didn’t condone his war. We arevictims.”

“This isn’t about his war,” she said. “It’s about what you’ve done as a society. And it’s not our government who gets to decide when you’re allowed off planet again.”

“Then who?” Valizode demanded.

The human gestured to her sling. And the taynix inside, who fluted out, “Who!”

Valizode’s horror grew more overpowering. “The…thehyperdrivesdecide?”

“Yup,” she said, climbing up to her cockpit. “Good luck.”

Oh.

Ohno.

—

One week after the victory at Evensong, I stood overseeing yet another delivery of slugs. And I tried to pretend that nothing was wrong with me.

After all, things were great. The delvers had taken their duty to heart, and their first act of compassion involved saving the taynix, rescuing every “hyperdrive” that wanted to be rescued. And the other types—every single one of them. In the galaxy.

“It’s a good thing we have a whole planet full of places like this,” I said, standing at an outcropping overlooking a cavern on Detritus. One of the many I’d explored as a kid. It was now packed with happily fluting slugs feasting on bins of mushrooms and algae.

Jorgen stepped up beside me, holding a datapad, which was full of statistics about caverns that could be turned into taynix housing. Based on our estimates, we’d have to find room for several hundred thousand taynix. Not impossible, but it would be difficult to ramp up the wholesale agricultural operations necessary to provide food for them all.

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