“SpaceTech guys keep saying war’s coming, so we’re stocking up. We gotta be prepared for it or those Aunare will kick our butts. Their tech is more advanced, but we’ll make up for it in firepower. So, even if it is a bit difficult, this work we do here, it’s important. Could be all that stands between survival of the human race and its total annihilation.”

Stocking up? This wasn’t just stocking up. This was hoarding weapons for a massive assault. You only needed a lump the size of my palm to power a ship the size of a small city for a month of solid use. Including weeks of cryo travel. I didn’t even think SpaceTech had enough ships and cities and planets to use this much fuel in several lifetimes. Especially if there were three other cargo bays with at least as much stored in them. Which meant that most of the lucole had to be for weapons.

Firepower. A whole fuckload of firepower. Enough to decimate the Aunare and their allies.

Suddenly, the containers towering overhead felt a lot more ominous.

I’d been wrong. I’d been worried about the coming war. That the Aunare would come and slaughter all the Earthers. That the shape of the galaxy would change. But with this much lucole, SpaceTech could own the universe.

It wasn’t the humans that were in danger of annihilation. It was the Aunare.

Did the Aunare know that SpaceTech was preparing for this kind of assault? Because if not, someone should probably tell them. Someone should stop them. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they’d stopped processing and started shipping out lucole after I was captured.

I didn’t have access to the outside, but Ahiga did. If he could get in touch with Declan—

Ice it all to hell. Declan was in cryo sleep.

I had to do something, but I didn’t know what. Aside from blowing up the whole base, myself included.

Chapter Nineteen

“Avert your eyes if you like,” Tyler said.

I blinked my eyes as I tried to focus on what was in front of me. Tyler was shoving his tight shorts down his hips.

I slapped a hand over my eyes.

I’d been so preoccupied with the door and the containers that filled the cargo bay that I didn’t even notice the lockers standing to the side of the doors. I hadn’t even noticed Tyler grabbing his suit.

“Sorry.” Tyler’s bare ass was definitely not something I expected to see on the job.

“Don’t need to worry. I ain’t shy.”

“That’s okay,” I said, my voice a little too high. “Should I put on my suit, too?”

“Only if you want to live more than thirty seconds out there. Locker five. Go ahead and grab it.”