Page 8 of Pursued By the Dragon Alien

Cozax let out a short laugh. “Oh, Ireallylike her.”

Vedd grinned. Krask said nothing.

Razion, who had been watching the exchange with that unreadable smirk of his, tilted his head toward one of the consoles. “Vedd, were you able to pull anything from Gribna’s databanks?”

Vedd swiveled to the display, fingers moving rapidly over the screen. The blue light from the console reflected off his iridescent skin as lines of text and encrypted transmissions scrolled before him. Lilas, who’d never been taught to read or write in any language—reading was forbidden by the Axis—stared helplessly at the mess of symbols. “I’ve pulled a lot, but it will take time to sort through all the layers of encryption,” hesaid. “Gribna was a greedy bastard, but he wasn’t sloppy. Many of his files are locked up.”

Razion folded his arms across his chest. “Have you seen anything useful so far?”

Vedd shrugged. “Aside from his staggeringly bad taste in furniture, I found records of multiple transactions with Axis-controlled outposts, but they need to be decrypted to get the details from them. That includes their supply chains, payout logs, and—get this—direct communications with an Axis warlord.” He flicked his fingers over the controls, pulling up a grainy transmission. A hooded figure loomed on the screen, words distorted by static.

Razion’s expression sharpened. “Can you clean up the audio?”

“Already working on it,” Vedd said. “But from what I’ve deciphered, Gribna was smuggling more than just power cells. There are mentions of bio-assets.”

Lilas frowned. “Bio-assets?”

Krask, however, hissed through his teeth. “Captain, this is sensitive information. We can’t have unvetted prisoners—”

Razion cut him off with a sharp look. “She’s no longer a prisoner. She was taken from an Axis-controlled colony, which means she knows more than you do about what life under them looks like.”

Lilas frowned. “Wait.Prisoner?” The word sat wrong in her mouth. “Why did you call me that?”

Razion gestured to her neck, to the blue markings she’d never thought twice about because everyone at the settlements had them. “That’s a penal colony identifier. You…didn’t know that?”

“No…” The air in Lilas’ lungs turned to stone.Penal colony. The words rattled through her, locking into place with a sickening finality. If Razion was correct, and he soundedvery sure that he was, Settlement 112-1 hadn’t been a farming settlement. It had been a prison. That was why no one could ever leave. Why they were forced to work until they collapsed, why the Axis controlled them so completely.

She thought of her father, of the overseer with his ever-watchful eyes, of the generations of people who had lived and died working the fields without ever knowing they were captives.

Her whole life had been in a cell. She had just never seen the bars.

Lilas swallowed hard, forcing the revelation into some corner of her mind where it wouldn’t unravel her. Not now. She straightened her spine, lifted her chin, and met Razion’s gaze, testing. He wasn’t patronizing her, wasn’t dismissing her input outright. That was…different. Terian males would’ve either ignored her or assumed she was useless.

Alright then.

Krask’s mouth tightened. “See? This is a bad idea.”

Her stomach twisted, but she ignored the first mate. She’d already known Gribna was a monster, but hearing it confirmed, hearing just how deep his dealings ran, made her skin crawl. She glanced at Razion and his crew, the weight of the revelation sinking in. “So he wasn’t just trading illegal goods,” she said. “He was trafficking people.”

Vedd nodded, his expression grim. “Yeah. And not just a few. His logs show regular shipments. Entire groups being moved like cargo.”

Lilas swallowed hard. “And my settlement—” She cut herself off, the truth hitting her like a blow to the gut.

Cozax watched her, her arms crossed. “You’re realizing it now, aren’t you?” she asked, softer than before. “How many more places like yours exist?”

Lilas exhaled slowly, steadying herself. “I always thought we were just…poor. That the Axis controlled us because they’dmanipulated many of our people into worshipping them as deities. But we were prisoners from birth, and we didn’t even know it.” Lilas clenched her fists. The weight of everything pressed down on her. Gribna had helped keep that system running. And ifhehad been involved, there had to be more like him—more traders, more supply chains, more lives stolen and sold in secret.

It hit her suddenly that she had beenlucky,in a sick way, to be abducted by those raiders. It had given her a way out. To learn the truth. But the rest of her people? They were still there. Still waiting for a savior that would never come.

Unless someone burned the whole damn system to the ground.

She glanced at the crew, at the way they moved together, the understanding that passed between them without words. There was something solid here. A trust, a purpose. Something she didn’t have.

Not yet.

Vedd continued working, his focus intent on the screen, while Krask remained stiff, clearly displeased with her presence. Cozax just grinned like she was waiting for something entertaining to happen.

Lilas sighed. “Well. If we’re digging into this mess, might as well do it right,” she said.

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