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“You can only do that because my people supply the zurilium,” Senator Bila said. The lizard alien’s smile showed an impressive amount of teeth, looking a lot more like a threat than an offer of good will.
“Which you only know about because we found out what the metal alloy could do.” Cara leaned forward, her finger jabbing into the table in front of her. “The humans and the Zaarn.”
“The Zaarn of theDaredevil,” Gravin added, shooting Devalia a dark look.
“I’m sorry Zaar is late in joining the cause,” Wrin’s mother said. “But we’re here now, and we’ve got some of the best trained warriors in the seven sectors to lend to this fight.”
Several warships followed our ship, called in by her after the others on Breyva finished briefing us on just how dangerous the Grug were. It turned out the pyramidal aliens weren’t only telepathic, they’d also bred a bipedal soldier form to better fight all of us.
“I have a theory,” Wrin said. “I don’t think the Grug would go to all the trouble of creating the Abyss just to hide the kreecat home world.”
Max and Space Kitty yowled in protest.
“Yes, your world is very important,” Cara soothed her pet, and I echoed her, leaning over to pat Max’s head.
Wrin’s lips twitched. Then he looked around the table, catching everyone’s eye, both here and on-screen. “I think they placed the protective field around the Abyss because they’re hiding something even more valuable.”
“What?” the lizard alien barked.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But if it’s that important to them, it’s got to be something we can use against them.”
“Then we go in and find out what it is!” I said.
The bird alien tilted her head, spearing me with one large eye. “We took out a third emitter station yesterday, which means we’ve disabled all three of the ones bordering this area of the Abyss. A test flight made it hours in before the crew felt any kind of pressure on their minds.”
“Helmets are good for working along the edges of the Abyss, but it’s impossible to keep them on for days,” Wrin said. “Where are we on preparing zurilium-protected ships?”
“We’ve got a couple ready to go,” Gravin said. “But it takes a lot of material to coat a ship’s hull.”
“Sofie’s making as much of it as possible,” Cara said, tipping her head toward the lizard. “With Senator Bila’s help, of course.”
“If we took out all the emitters, there wouldn’t be a telepathic field, and we wouldn’t needanyzurilium,” the bird alien said.
The lizard shot her a dirty glance. “The Grug could do something new with their telepathy at any time. Every ship in the seven sectors should at least keep a few of the protective helmets at their pilot stations.”
“Which would make you a lot of creds.”
“My people are providing a needed product.” The lizard’s smile showed off even more teeth. “TheDaredevilwould get a cut, too.”
“Let’s focus on our immediate problems,” Devalia said. “We can speed things up if we convince the Grug to turn off all of the emitters. Where are we on that? Have they responded to any of the Senate’s official requests about the Abyss?”
“No. Nothing,” the lizard alien said. “Any time we mention it, they counter by saying that Pranch will stop shipping replacement parts, personal comps, and medical supplies.”
Ouch. I winced. “None of you have any production facilities of any kind on your own worlds?”
“We farm all the food,” the bird alien said.
The lizard added, “We do the mining.”
“And the Zaarn sent to roam provide mercenary and bodyguard protection,” Wrin added.
Everyone turned to look at Devalia. She lifted her chin. “As you well know, Zaar has held itself… apart from galactic matters as much as possible. We have a base of manufacture, yes. But it’s only large enough to support our limited population. It certainly can’t support all the worlds of the seven sectors.”
“You could provide emergency supplies, though.” The bird alien trained one large dark eye on Devalia. “If we need them?”
Devalia gave a single nod. “That could be arranged.”
“Us humans have equipment onARK 1that could help,” I said.
