Roden sat on the ship, letting the merr surge through his veins. It was an unnatural adrenaline, burning and raw, but if it wasn’t for the merr, he’d be on his back right now and Otas would have no one to prevent him from escaping to a core ship. Nalea had been right. A large percentage of merr users died with the first injection. Their hearts simply couldn’t handle the extreme rush. Hells, he’d thought he was going to die the first time he took it. But he knew how much merr his body could take, had always been careful, and the drug had saved him in more than one impossible situation.

He could handle all the hostile glares coming from the Sephians, except Nalea, who watched him with suspicion. However, he was disappointed at how many of the humans glared at him. The Sephians had clearly been busy badmouthing the Draeken—and especially Roden—and it would take some time to change those initial impressions.

Fortunately, with his ship, the flight was much quicker than last time. It took only a few minutes before Roden’s fleet of eight ships touched down outside Hillas’ earthside base. There’d also been no need to hide their presence. This time Roden wanted Otas to know that his time was coming to an end. He looked outside to see the human and Sephian garrison around the base in full motion. Several trucks were already driving up to his ships.

As everyone departed the ship, he went to Gix in the cockpit. She was still at the controls, already scanning for the frequency the force barrier ran on. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she turned around. “Yes, my lord?”

“You are doing well,” he said. “I have complete trust in you.”

She beamed. “Thank you, my lord. You have given me chances that most wouldn’t.”

He patted her shoulder and turned to leave.

“My lord…”

He turned back to Gix.

She swallowed. “I know you have our people’s best interests at heart, and that’s all that matters. If you needed another identity to do that, it’s not my place to judge. I just want you to know that I still believe in you.”

He smiled. “You’re a good guardsman and an honorable Draeken, Gix. Any man would be honored to earn your attentions.”

Her cheeks turned a rosy blush before she returned focus to the ship’s controls.

There’d never been a Draeken civil war before, likely because his people had no religion to cause hate, or perhaps because they’d enough technology and wealth to bring comfort to all citizens. Regardless, because of Draeken contentedness, no countermeasures had ever been built into their technology. Roden had access to the same technology and systems that Hillas had. A risk Roden had noticed long ago and had counted on to protect his people. But he was also certain that Otas was feverishly working on less universal technology.

In this case, the force barrier surrounding a small section of the base ran at a specific range of frequencies. If a large blaster could be calibrated to just the right frequency, its sound could penetrate the wall of energy that cocooned the comm-center from the rest of the world. With that sound, dismantling codes could ride in and shut down the barrier, and even the best comm-tech couldn’t prevent it.

With Roden’s ships running at full power, they had the strength necessary to take down the force barrier. “Gix, keep running through the energy frequencies, but don’t take down the force field until my signal.”

She nodded without looking up. “Yes, my lord.”

With that, he double-checked his weapons and left the ship. Already, the hum of the force barrier vibrated within his teeth. The afternoon sun was bright and hot. All the Sephians wore blackened wraparound glasses that were so dark, neither Draeken nor human could see anything through them.

Apolo walked out of the base to meet him. Roden’s jaw tightened and he kept walking forward. Apolo met him halfway, turned, and stayed in step by his side. Apolo grabbed Roden’s arm and pulled him to a stop. “Tell me you’re still Kreed and not Roden.”

“I am,” he replied simply before pulling away. It was the truth… mostly. While he was first and foremost Kreed, sometimes he had a hard time remembering who Kreed Sylk was.

He could hear the Sephian still at his back, the sounds of gravel crunching under heavy boots. “We’ll talk more later.”

“I’m sure we will,” Roden muttered under his breath before continuing toward the large, broken-down door to the base. A few dozen teams were all set, checking their weapons. Nalea stood just outside the door, keeping her distance.

“Sommers apprised me of the plan on your way over,” Apolo said, spoiling Roden’s view.

Roden paused. “Make sure everyone has their weapons on ‘stun’ this time. I’ll personally break the neck of anyone who intentionally kills a Draeken.”

Apolo’s eyes narrowed. After a moment, he gave a tight nod. “I’m not used to taking orders from a Draeken.”

“And I’m not used to giving orders to a Sephian.”

Apolo smirked. “Suvaste. You’ve always been bossy.”

With that, Roden grinned and grabbed Apolo’s forearm, then patting him on his back.

His friend repeated the gesture.

Feeling a bit more at peace with the world, Roden turned to find Nalea giving him a frown, or perhaps more correctly, her usual expression. He strolled up to her. He placed a hand on the wall, nearly pulled it away from the pulsating hum of the barrier emanating from within.

“What?” she asked.

“As soon as Otas sees you, we’ll need to move quickly. I’m counting on the fact that he’s smart enough to not hit the detonator. Still, I don’t want him to get twitchy fingers.”

She nodded tightly. “Just in case, this vest should protect everyone around me, as long as they keep a distance.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about.” He brushed past her to walk into the middle of the team. “Apolo says that you’re all ready for this. Any questions?”

Not a one. These were professionals.

“Good,” Roden said. “Some gentle reminders then. This is a grab-and-go, not a mission to kill anyone with wings. Be sure to have your blasters set to ‘stun’.” He turned and saw Nalea watching him from her place at the wall. “To give you an idea of the unsavory type of fellow we’re up against, our dear Nalea is wearing a neck-charge, courtesy of Otas Olnek, that’s primed to detonate if anything happens to him. If the imposter dies, Nalea dies, so I highly recommend you subdue rather than kill Otas.”

Roden looked over the crowd. “Since Otas has disjunctors on this base, he also has the means to nullify the detonator. I’ve programmed an image of a nullifier into all of your wrist-comms. Be sure to memorize it. Should you come across one, get it to me as soon as possible.”

All heads tilted down, looking at their wrist-comms.

Roden continued. “Any nullifier is probably in the comm-center, which is on the other side of the force barrier. When we find Otas, if you see him go for a black band on his wrist, disable him immediately. I’d like to incapacitate Otas without a single loss of life.”

Roden turned once more to Nalea, who was shooting him a glare. “They need to focus on Otas,” she hissed. “I’m not the primary here.”

He nudged closer to whisper his next words in her ear. “You’re far more important than either Otas or Hillas.”

She huffed and started to curse and mumble under her breath.

He held a hand over his heart. “You wound me, Lea.” He walked away with feigned nonchalance, while inside he feared that if they failed today, they would spend the rest of their lives at war.