Page 52 of My Big Scaly Alien Naga
Safe.
The IA had worked fast.With the help of two more battle cruisers, they’d dismantled the command structure, locked down the game makers and their lackeys, freed the contestants from their cells, and started cataloguing the monsters and contestants still on the planet’s surface.Most of the perpetrators were in custody.A few had tried to flee or fight.They hadn’t succeeded.
Justice, at last.Or the beginning of it.
Clare moved to the next pod while Pria and Penny supported a trembling woman behind her.Fay and Qong were comforting a small group by the wall, helping them sip water, making quiet conversation.Silus had disappeared into the tech wing with a gleam in his eyes – likely trying to hijack the station’s entertainment system to broadcast his favourite satyr music.
I exhaled.
The Bloodstar crew didn’t just survive.Theyhealed.And now, they were helping others do the same.
“You look like a commander,” a low voice said behind me.
I turned.Vruhag stood with his arms crossed, his stance easy but his gaze watchful.
“I’ve never commanded anyone,” I replied.“Only codes.”
“Same thing, sometimes,” he said.“But you helped win a revolution, Venom.Maybe not with weapons.But with truth.”
I dipped my head in acknowledgement.“It’s not over yet.Not everyone is safe yet.And the game makers need to face justice.They need to pay for what they did.”
“Yes,” he agreed.“But we’ve taken their power.And we’re not giving it back.”
He handed me a datapad.“Commander Lhu wants us to stay.”
I raised an eyebrow.“Stay?”
“Take over management of the station.Convert it into a sanctuary.Somewhere survivors can stay until they’re ready to decide what’s next.Somewhere we can monitor the region.They’re offering back pay, resources, autonomy.The game makers’ assets have been liquidated.The IA is giving us some of those credits to turn this place from one of fear into one of hope.”
“And the Bloodstar crew?”
“They already voted.Unanimously.They want to stay.Help.Build something better.Now only you and your mate have to decide.”
I looked at Clare across the room, gently holding a newly awakened woman’s hand.Empathy and confidence streamed from her, as bright as a star.She lit up this place.And my hearts.
“I will talk to Clare.It is up to her, but I am willing to stay.At some point, I want to show her my planet, my home, but for now, there is much to do here.I know this station better than any of you.I want to help.”
Vruhag clapped my shoulder, hard enough to nearly stagger me.“Good.Talk to her.And Venom… Get some rest.You deserve it.”
It took me a while to persuade Clare that she deserved a break.Only the promise of showing her my old cabin got her to leave the Peritan females and accompany me away from this part of the station.
We took a lift down three levels.It smelled just as sterile as everything else.
The corridors were quieter here.Most of the rescued women were being kept in the medical wing or the recovery lounge.This wing – the old staff quarters – still smelled of menace and secrets.
“I used to live here,” I said as we passed the locked doors.“During the early rotations of my infiltration.”
Clare followed close, her hand brushing mine.“This is where you worked?”
I nodded.“And where I pretended to be someone I wasn’t.I played my role so well that I got promoted pretty quickly.”
We stopped in front of a black panelled door.I entered the code, surprised that it still worked.They had blocked my access codes for most of the systems, but nobody had expected me to return to my old room.
The lights flickered on.
My quarters were exactly as I’d left them: minimalist, cold, sleek.The bed was a firm cot against one wall, the desk a sprawl of cables and encrypted terminals.Data chips were scattered like shrapnel.The walls were bare, save for a single screen showing security feeds from the station’s lower decks – a relic of paranoia I’d never disabled.A few weights lay discarded on the floor.There were no personal effects.No pictures of my family, nothing soft or gentle.
Clare stepped inside and let out a low breath.“It’s… efficient.”
