Page 82 of Galactic Sentinels: Vol. 1
He spins, fast and fluid, the dagger slicing through the air with a whistle. The twin blades shimmer under the bluish spotlights, catching the light with every motion. He moves like he’s dancing—graceful, precise, dangerous. Dodging, parrying, striking at invisible enemies with effortless control.
I’m on the edge of my seat, completely mesmerized. It’s like watching a storm contained in a single body.
Then, suddenly, he stops. He raises the dagger upright, holding it steady, and locks eyes with Noviosk.
My heart skips a beat. He’s not going to—
In one swift motion, he hurls the dagger—not at Noviosk, but behind him. It slams into the doorframe with a solidthunk, the only spot in the room where it could land without ricocheting off stone or shattering.
With a playful grin, Pherebos nods to Noviosk and calmly returns to his seat.
“Hmmm,” Noviosk says, unimpressed. “A fine demonstration. But as beautiful and rare as these weapons are, they’re not enough. We discussed something else, didn’t we?”
I’m not surprised. Ten daggers, no matter how exquisite, probably don’t compare to what Prax offered—his ship. That’s a much bigger deal. Still, I notice the men in the room seem far more intrigued by the blades than I expected.
‘’You mean the coordinates to Asgarne, right?” Pherebos replies, sounding almost bored.
The moment he says it, the room erupts. Everyone jumps to their feet. Noviosk’s eyes gleam with hunger, and the others aren’t far behind—each one radiating a kind of greedy anticipation that makes my skin crawl.
That’s when it hits me. He’s offering up his home planet. If he gives them the coordinates, these smugglers will strip it bare—every resource, every secret, every life.
“No!” I cry out, my voice cracking with emotion.
“You’re mine,” Pherebos says, locking eyes with me. “If I have to give up the coordinates of some random world to get you back, I’ll do it.”
“You’re despicable,” I whisper. “You know exactly what they’ll do with that information.”
“I do,” he says. “And I don’t care.”
“That’s the spirit!” Noviosk laughs.
Manly cuts in, trying to bring some order. “Just to be clear: the Asgarne weapons go to the sellers, and the coordinates go to Noviosk. Bully, as the seller, do you accept the terms?”
“Not at all!” Bully snaps. “This deal’s completely unbalanced. The split is fifty-fifty between Vagantu and the buyers. That means five daggers for Noviosk, five for us. And fifty percent of the profits from Asgarne—minerals, women, anything we can get our hands on.”
Prax stays silent, visibly uncomfortable. He looks sickened by the whole conversation, while Bully andNoviosk argue over how to divide the spoils of a planet that isn’t even theirs.
Pherebos seems disinterested, like he's not really concerned about the fate of his people.
I keep thinking how I could have been so wrong about him. Selling out an entire planet?
‘’Four daggers and 80% of the profits for Vagantu!’’ Manly finally pipes up. ‘’The other daggers and the remaining twenty percent to the vendors. Is everyone cool with that?’’
‘’Well, what about us?’’ a human asks Pherebos. ‘’My brother and I brought you the Asgarnian. We thought...’’
‘’You thought wrong!’’ Manly jumps in. ‘’You're neither buying nor selling. You have no rights in this transaction.’’
‘’Just leave it,’’ Noviosk says with a wave of his hand. ‘’I'm feeling pretty generous today. I'm giving them each a dagger to thank them for bringing Pherebos here. That is, if the deal goes through. I still have a few questions, though, before we finalize this sale. Pherebos, what's your deal here?’’
‘’What do you mean?’’
‘’Why are you offering me this deal?’’
‘’I have no living family left on Asgarne. There's no one I care about or who cares about me’’.
‘’Truth,’’ says Noviosk, to whom the answer seems to fit. ‘’Continue... the coordinates of Asgarnes...’’
‘’I've never given anyone the location of my home planet. Here's a digital medium. On it... umm... sorry, give me a moment to collect myself. I was saying thaton this digital medium, there are the coordinates of an unknown world. I remember the last time I was in this spot with my best friend, right next to his birthplace. That was right before he almost lost his life. Anyway, let me continue. On this disk, there's a world that the Confederation and the Coalition both ignore. ‘’
