“Amaxine?” Affie wrinkled her nose. “Who are they?”

Reath loved nothing more than a chance to explain. “They were ancient warriors—from really long ago, even before the Republic. Their fierceness in battle was supposedly unmatched. There are all these legends of how their scouts would appear almost out of thin air, signaling the troops to sweep in for attack.”

“What happened to them?” Affie asked.

“Apparently, when the Republic unified so much of the galaxy, the Amaxines weren’t willing to accept the peace. So they left the galaxy and flew into empty space, in search of another great war to fight.” Which didn’t make much sense, in Reath’s opinion, but he didn’t waste time judging a people who’d died out thousands of years before. Besides, the sheer thrill of this moment—seeing something that had once been only myth and legend suddenly come vividly alive—eclipsed everything else.

Leox drawled, “Now that you mention it, I believe I’ve heard some stories about the Amaxines, how they took off so long ago. But people have been here way more recently than that.”

Frowning, Affie asked, “How do you know?” Reath was glad she had, because that meant he didn’t have to.

“Preprogrammed coordinates.” Leox thumped the dash. “This system was in our navicomputer. I don’t know why, and neither does Geode, and neither do you—which is why I want you to ask your momma about this as soon as we get back to her. You’re the only one who might get a straight answer as to why Byne Guild ships all come programmed with a map that leads us out of hyperspace, straight to here.”

Reath turned his head, as though studying the readouts more thoroughly, so he couldn’t see Affie’s face. The explanation was obvious: some kind of illegal trade, maybe something the Guild did on the side. It wouldn’t be easy for Affie to hear that, surely.

But there were other possibilities. The Guild might monitor illegal trade rather than engage in it—or even work against it, in an effort to eliminate corrupt competition. They didn’t have enough information to know.

For Reath, information had always been as vital as air, something he felt he could never accumulate enough of. However, he was realizing that not knowing everything created a certain…exhilaration.

Which was probably going to be brief. And wasn’t as good as actually being informed and prepared. Still, he’d take what enjoyment he could get.

A red light appeared on the Vessel’s console. Then another. Then all of them almost at once, glaring scarlet. Every single alert on the ship was sounding.

“Uh-oh,” Leox said. His usual calm was finally shaken. “We’ve got a solar flare incoming.”

Reath stared in the rough direction of the star, but it wasn’t visible at that angle. “When?”

Affie’s face had gone pale. “Four minutes.”

Chapter Five