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I looked between the two massive leopard men—one confident and commanding, the other scarred and skittish but no less deadly—and felt a strange sense of belonging I’d never experienced before. Whatever mysteries this facility held, whatever answers it might provide about my own heritage andthe connection between humans and Kridrin, I knew one thing for certain: I wasn’t facing it alone.

“Let’s find out what else this place can tell us,” I said, turning back to the console with renewed determination. The screens glowed with ancient knowledge, waiting to be unlocked.

16 /KHAAZ

I keptto the shadows of the doorway, every muscle in my scarred body still humming with battle-readiness despite the sentinel drones’ deactivation. The scent of ozone and hot metal hung in the air, mingling with Everly’s sweet human fragrance that somehow cut through everything else. My eyes never left her as she stood before the ancient console, her small fingers dancing across technology that should have been incomprehensible to her. Yet she commanded it like she’d been born to it. Perhaps, in some strange way across dimensions and time, she had been.

“We need to secure the perimeter,” Zehn said, his golden eyes scanning the hallway behind us. “There might be more sentinel units the system hasn’t deactivated.”

I nodded, reluctant to leave Everly but knowing he was right. The protective instinct that had driven me to tear through metal with my bare hands still pulsed beneath my skin. “I’ll take the east wing,” I offered, my voice rough from disuse and battle roars.

Everly turned from the console, her dark eyes finding mine with an intensity that made my heart stutter in my chest. “Be careful,” she said. “I’ve disabled the main systems, but theremight be autonomous units operating on independent power sources.”

The concern in her voice for me—scarred, damaged, hybridized me—sent an unfamiliar warmth spreading through my chest. I dipped my head in acknowledgment, not trusting myself to speak again.

“We’ll regroup here in thirty minutes,” Zehn directed, already moving toward the west corridor with the fluid grace of a natural predator. Despite our differences, I respected his tactical mind. He’d survived countless battles as a Legion Reaper—it showed in every calculated movement.

I moved through the eastern corridors with careful precision, my heightened senses alert for any mechanical sounds or movement. The facility was vast, its architecture both alien and strangely familiar. Smooth metallic surfaces gave way to organic curves, as if the building itself had grown rather than been constructed. Overhead lighting flickered intermittently, casting long shadows that danced across the walls.

Each room I checked revealed more mysteries. Laboratories filled with equipment I couldn’t name. Chambers with suspended animation pods, long emptied of whatever had once occupied them. Storage units containing materials that seemed to shift and change when viewed from different angles.

In one chamber, I discovered three sentinel drones, their mechanical limbs frozen mid-movement like morbid sculptures. They hadn’t been deactivated with the others. Their optical sensors still glowed with a faint red light, tracking my movement as I entered the room. Trapped in place by whatever command Everly had given, but still aware. Still watching.

I approached cautiously, claws extended. These machines had tried to kill us—tried to kill Everly. My lips pulled back in a silent snarl at the thought. With precise movements, I located the power source on the first drone and disabled it permanently,plunging my claws into the core mechanism. The red light in its sensors faded to black. I repeated the process with the other two, satisfaction rumbling in my chest as each one powered down.

“Khaaz,” Zehn’s voice came through the communicator Everly had found for us in the facility’s supplies. “Status report.”

“Three sentinels neutralized,” I replied, my voice low. “Otherwise clear so far.”

“Same here. Two non-functional units found but no active threats. Meet back at central command.”

I made my way back through the corridors, my steps lighter knowing that Everly would be safer now. The scent of her grew stronger as I approached the central room, pulling me forward like an invisible tether. When I entered, she was leaning over the console, her dark hair falling forward to frame her face as she studied the screen with intense concentration.

Zehn stood nearby, his massive form positioned protectively between her and the door. His ears twitched as I entered, acknowledging my presence without taking his eyes off Everly. It was a dance we’d fallen into—both of us orbiting her like twin moons around a planet, pulled by forces we couldn’t resist.

“Find anything interesting?” I asked, keeping my distance despite wanting to move closer.

Everly looked up, her face lighting with excitement. “So much. This facility wasn’t just a research station—it was a dimensional waypoint. A place where the Kridrin could monitor and interact with multiple realities.”

I moved closer, curiosity overcoming my habitual caution. “How is that possible?”

“According to these records, the Kridrin mastered dimensional travel years ago. They discovered that certain points in space-time were naturally thin—places where the barriers between dimensions could be crossed more easily.” Her fingers traced patterns on the screen, pulling up images and textthat shifted and changed as she touched them. “This facility sits on one of those points.”

“There’s more,” Everly continued, her excitement making her words tumble out faster. “The archives mention that the Kridrin gave Legion Command problems about five years ago. Something about infiltrating a Legion colony vessel?”

Zehn’s ears perked up. “I remember that. I was patrolling the outer reaches near void space when there was a distress beacon and all Reaper units were called in briefly. The action ended before I got there.” He scrolled through his interface to pull up data. “Yes, here it is. A previously unknown species appeared with technology that outmatched anything in the Legion’s arsenal. They nearly overtook Legion command.”

“You fought them?” Everly asked.

“No,” Zehn shook his head. “But it seemed like a hell of a battle. A few Legion Reapers collapsed their wormhole, keeping them in void space for good.”

“Five years ago,” I wondered. “That could have been when the engineers retreated as well. Do they still have working comms? Surely there’s a way for them to communicate?”

“Possibly,” Everly said, turning back to the console. “If this facility was a waypoint, it might have communication capabilities. Let me see...”

As she worked, I moved around the room, checking the remaining sentinel drones we’d dragged inside. They lay in broken heaps, their mechanical limbs twisted at unnatural angles. I began methodically stripping them for parts that might be useful—power cells, weapons components, metal plating that could be repurposed.

“You’re thinking of staying here,” Zehn observed, coming to stand beside me.

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