“Dragselian warships—they’re in an attack formation,” Karun muttered as the brothers took stock of the situation.

Everyone had gathered on the bridge. We arrived shortly before Jennifer and Andie. Tasha, Nurin, and Laniope were frantically taking stock of flight systems, preparing for a fast escape.

I looked around, feeling cold but not because of the light layers that I wore. The brothers had huddled around the strategy table, and Andie and Jennifer, both looking like they had just risen from a deep sleep, stood to the side in the initial moments of shock. They were facing the strategy table behind the bridge, but behind their backs, a massive ship came into sight through the large windows of the viewing deck.

It felt like we were in the presence of some lurking predatory animal, with turquoise- and sepia-colored spiking beacons blinking along its exterior and massive viewing bays that reflected and intensified, flooding the bridge with the bright, cold light of the cosmos around us.

I sucked in my breath as Tasha muttered, “What is that?”

Karun replied, “It’s the Buyuk, the crown jewel of the Dragselian fleet.”

Andie looked to him. “Why are they surrounding us?”

He shook his head, unsure. “It’s not the standard protocol, but we are blocked from their comm channels, so it will be up to the captain’s discretion. Still, this seems like an overreaction.”

Andie leaned over. “Karun was a colonel in the Dragselian Military. He has many comrades and friends in the upper echelons. Maybe that will help. He also developed many of their strategies himself, in fact,” she whispered to me as we watched the ship loom larger and larger before us.

A long, shrill beeping sound filled the space, followed by a metallic static that rang through every audio receptor on the ship.

“They’re hacking our computer system,” Tasha said, working furiously at a computational panel on the bridge.

“Let them in,” Zaruv said. Tasha looked back, surprised, but she let her hands fall away from the program.

Suddenly, a distorted voice sounded overhead. “Attention, space voyagers. This is the Starship Buyuk-1. You have entered controlled airspace under the governance of the Dragselian Imperial Colonies. Identify yourselves and state your purpose in this sector. You have one minute to respond before we take defensive action.”

Zaruv looked to Karun and nodded. Karun then walked forward toward the viewing deck, his platinum hair shimmering in the intense light of the starship before us.

Karun’s voice came out loud and even. “Greetings, Captain and Crew of Buyuk-1. This is Karun vin Patabu, Prince in Exile. Aboard this ship are my brothers, Zaruv, Ragal, and Pavar, as well as a crew of humans. Our business is peaceful. There are no weapons on board, only food and medical supplies. We have an urgent message to relay to our brother, Mulkaro, King of Dragselia.”

Silence fell over the room as we waited for a response. There was tension written in the strained expressions around me, and I kicked myself for leaving my room without my slim metal scribe pad. Of course, the one time I am without it, we get confronted by a fleet of alien spaceships.

I knew this was my defensive reflex. When things got scary or overwhelming or just too real, I compartmentalized, packaging my reality into boxes that could be handled. It was far safer to be an observer, to watch what was happening before me and to put the vulnerable part of me away for a time.

It was something I had learned to do from a young age, a skill mastered through a childhood plagued by violence and instability. As I grew older and my self-awareness expanded, I realized that it became harder and harder to access that part of me that I had worked to protect. It had served me well in life so far, particularly, in my line of work.

But when Pavar kissed me, it was like we were just two fragile creatures surrounded by the infinite beauty of space, the immeasurable vastness of the universe. For a moment, I allowed myself to truly feel, to let the fractured aspects of my psyche coalesce and experience that one glorious moment before it was shattered by the ugliness of reality.

The distorted voice returned. “Greetings to you, Princes Karun, Zaruv, Ragal, and Pavar. I am Captain Yerav, a faithful servant of your father, King Patabu and your brother, King Mulkaro. Unfortunately, the conditions of your exile are explicit and I cannot relax those standards at my own discretion. You are not permitted to reenter Dragselian airspace under any condition. If you have a message to communicate to the king, we will relay it for you.”

Karun looked back at the brothers and in a low voice said, “Do you think it is safe?”

“What choice do we have?” asked Zaruv. He sat then, deep in concentration.

“Do any of you know this Captain Yerav? I do not recall the name, personally,” Pavar asked, suspicion clouding his eyes.

Ragal nodded. “I do not know Captain Yerav personally, but I know of him. His sister is an accomplished scholar working in macromolecular chemistry. At one point, I studied under her. Theirs is a noble house, faithful, as he says, to the crown.”

“Keep the message vague, then. We don’t know who might be listening,” Pavar responded, looking back to Karun.

Karun turned once more to the fore of the ship and announced, “Captain Yerav, we respect your adherence to the rule and decree of our kind and rightful king. The message we wish to relay is one of warning. My brothers and I were en route to the colony of Fyrelord Ishtun when we were attacked by enemies of Dragselia. We learned of a plot that threatens all of the Royal Household, extending all the way to the king. I cannot divulge any further details through an unsecured medium such as this. We have returned to warn our brother of the threats against him and to help prepare a line of defense.”

“We are relaying this now to the Royal Household and requesting permission to escort you home for debriefing, in light of these circumstances. Please stand by while we communicate with Command.”

As we waited, I looked at the face of Andie, standing beside me. The affection and respect in her gaze were focused on her mate. Impulsively, I looked to where Pavar was leaning over the metal frame of the rail separating the walkway from the computational panels of the bridge.

His body was tensed with stress, and even though I knew this was not the time to notice it, I couldn’t help but admire the delicious round curve of his backside and the hard cut of his muscles visible through his clothes.

He looked up and over at me and my skin suddenly felt hot. His eyes were hard and serious, but when they turned on me, there was something else there too, and I felt the fluttering response to it low in my stomach.

The voice came again, hurried this time, the barest note of panic rising in it. “Our communication channels with Command are experiencing issues. Prince Karun, I need to know quickly—what is the source of this threat you speak of?”

Karun replied, “Our Infernian enemies are plotting to murder and destroy the entirety of the Dragselian Royal House, removing any claims of succession to the throne. We do not know the details of their plan but that they have some form of coordinated attack strategy that will enable their takeover of Dragselia.”

A series of weird metallic clicking sounds rang through, followed by muffled shouts and a general sense of chaos from the warship before us.

Worry etched through the walls I erected around my emotional self, and I felt the cold grasp of fear taking hold.

Jennifer went to Zaruv, grabbing his hand, offering her support. I watched as Ragal went to Tasha and whispered something, the two of them returning to the panel before them and working quickly at the screen at some task only they knew.

Andie had a hand on a pulsor I didn’t even realize she was carrying. She looked a little primal in her undone state, holding her small weapon in the face of such daunting forces.

I looked to where Laniope and Nurin were at the back of the room. They looked shell-shocked and nervous. It was clearly not the introduction to alien society they had anticipated.

Pavar’s fingers on the rail, pale blue against the black-coated metal, had turned white at the joints. When the clicking sounds came back, he stood straight at attention, frustrated when nothing came through.

Then, to the everyone’s relief, the voice returned, but the relief was short-lived.

In a voice that rang with disbelief, Captain Yerav came back. “Prince Karun, I . . . I don’t know if there was some kind of miscommunication. I surely do not feel that this can be the true order of King Mulkaro, but my forces have been instructed to shoot you down. I fear this must be a mistake, and I am trying to clarify with command, but the order is being repeated and I will soon have no choice but to obey or I am told my own crew will be shot down for insubordination. You must flee. Flee now!”

The feed cut out and static echoed in the bridge. For a nanosecond, it felt like everyone was still, silenced by the reality of the command.

And then the silence erupted. It was a flurry of activity, all of the brothers leaping into action.

Zaruv shouted, “Ragal, evasive maneuvers! Karun, activate our internal defenses, and Pavar, override the automated navigation chart and find us a way out of here!”

For his part, Ragal moved so quickly I barely registered the motion as he all but flew to the small cockpit situated below the bridge.

The frame of the ship hummed with an increase of energy as Tasha worked, issuing commands to Laniope and Nurin, the latter of whom ran out of sight to the maintenance chamber.

Jennifer grabbed my arm. “We need to strap in. This isn’t going to be an easy ride.”

I looked around to see that everyone had secured themselves to either a seat or a station, so I followed Jennifer to the strategy table, finding thin gel-like straps beneath the seat and fastening them around myself.

The ship shook as we reared up and Ragal skillfully dodged between the much larger ships of the fleet, weaving in and out and circling toward the direction we had come.

Just as it seemed we had outrun them, all the panels began flashing red and emitting a loud chirping sound in unison.

Zaruv shouted, “Everyone, brace yourselves!”

Everything shook upon impact as we were struck by their munitions. The ship spun and flipped, missing more, but the chirping sound came three more times as the vibrations of the hits shook us like limp ragdolls at our posts. For not the first time aboard this ship, I faced my own mortality.

The sound of the explosions on the exterior of the ship were deafening, and I could see mouths moving and large items being tossed around, but all I could hear was a high-pitched ringing over a faint layer of static.

Suddenly, Pavar was running toward me. I realized Jennifer was unfastening herself, despite the now constant barrage of explosions. I mimicked her and undid my own straps, getting thrown against the table in the process, my head slamming hard against the metal.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I tasted metal in my mouth and my jaw and ear throbbed in pain.

I opened my eyes to see Pavar hovering over me as I felt his big, warm arms scoop me up and cradle me against him. We were moving and moving fast, but I didn’t know where we were going.

I saw the others running ahead of us, all of them, and I briefly wondered who was flying the ship.

Ragal slammed his palm to a panel on a wall that I had passed dozens of times but somehow never noticed.

The wall shook and dissipated, revealing a series of large golden orbs. I could barely see what was happening, but I saw everyone grouping and dashing toward them.

The chamber was flooded with pulsing red, angry light. Pavar ran full-speed at one of the orbs, and I clung to him, bracing myself for the collision. But, right at the point of impact, I had the oddest sensation. It was almost like the dissolving feeling of teleportation but somehow warmer and more pleasant.

I was aware of Pavar’s body as we were crushed tightly to one another. We were surrounded by a strangely transparent, yet solid, golden cloud, and I realized we were actually inside one of the orbs.

They had looked so solid before, but somehow, I could see out into the room. It was incredible, and I wanted to ask what was happening, but I couldn’t hear still, and I had a feeling the answer wasn’t going to be pleasant.