“Seen enough of that,” Bojak muttered. “I’m hoping we get a little peace before everything blows up again.”

“Again?” Qalu repeated.

Aevi leapt back to Bojak, digging her claws in with excitement. “Did something explode? What was it? And why? Tell us!”

“I meant it metaphorically because I’m tired of constant problems. Got me?”

“He wishes for some tranquility,” Helix said, pleased to be the first to decipher what appeared to be a rather oblique idiom. The translator did its best, but humans could be…perplexing, and they enjoyed encasing their words in layers of contextual confusion.

“That I do,” Bojak agreed.

“Can we help in any other regard?” Qalu asked.

Bojak shook his head, and Helix recalled that was a negative gesture. He’d seen Beryl Bowman do that, and it took Zylar a while to understand that it was a wordless reply. The human stroked Aevi between the eyes.

“Are you coming with me or staying with them, pretty one?”

The Pherzul rumbled in pleasure over the words of praise. “With you!”

Soon, only Helix and Qalu remained in engineering, silent, apart from the hum of various ship parts. “I wonder what Altarion is like,” he said, opting not to press for more personal topics.

From her soft posture, she appreciated his restraint. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

The remainder of the journey passed without incident. Qalu studied the holo display of Altarion with great interest. From space, it was a blue-green world with small land masses dotted throughout with the largest continent near the southern pole. The composition of the planet was largely iron, some pockets of silicon and magnesium. There were no large settlements here because the planet was irradiated from an ancient war. The ruins of antediluvian cities were visible even from orbit, bumps and divots that must have been incredible spires in their prime.

“We’ll be flying directly into the resistance bunker,” Praxys said.

“There’s no life on the surface?” Qalu asked.

“Only prokaryotic microbes,” Carow answered.

Aevi bounded into the hub in time to hear that unfamiliar word. “What’s prokaryotic?”

“They’re one-celled organisms without a nucleus. Very simple life forms.”

“And they were the only life that survived the wars on Altarion?” Helix asked.

Maglan answered as the ship started the slow burn through the atmosphere. “There’s nothing of interest left on Altarion. Not even the scavvers bother with this planet anymore, and that makes it the perfect location for our base.”

From the viewport, Altarion was beautiful, azure and misty from above with a sky full of lightning, but even Qalu could tell that the green clouds weren’t right, probably bursting with rads. The ship shook as it came in, and she stepped closer to Helix instinctively, even as Aevi jumped into her arms, seeking comfort. Bojak might be the Pherzul’s new favorite, but when she wanted to feel safe, she still came to Qalu.