The Terran Representative by Angus Monarch Page B

destroy the Sol System though?” I said. “Why not take them in?”
    “We did,” said the man. He spoke in halting tones, stopping mid-sentence at times to wipe his nose or clear his eyes. “Those who didn’t join us were destroyed. Kaur laid waste to the system in order to quash any hopes of returning. There would be nothing to return to.”
    “Good thing no one found you,” I said, sneering to the other four. Their faces didn’t hide the hostility they harbored. “Are all the potential colony sites possible prisons?”
    The man nodded and said, “Kaur knew about them ahead of time. The entity labeled them for her. It was never about humanity colonizing other star systems.”
    I looked at the five of them. If I wasn’t afraid that Kaur could somehow find them I would have recommended pulling the plug. Put the confessing man out of his misery and punish the other four. It wouldn’t be fair if they got out of the chambers alive.
    “I want to leave,” I said. The Hive hadn’t told me how to get out of here. Most likely they didn’t know, but the world started to fade. The last thing I saw was the four colonists’ glares.
    The Hive’s facility faded back into view. Wards and Chare stood at my feet. A member of The Hive removed the skull cap. My jaw felt tight, and I had a headache.
    “They’re going to the colonial sites,” I said. “Kaur’s looking from some imprisoned entity.”
    “We know,” said Wards. She nodded to a speaker hanging above my head. “We heard everything you heard.”
    I tried to push myself out of the chair, but my arms felt weak and jelly-like. Chare grabbed my hand and hefted me into a standing position. My legs wobbled, but I held myself upright.
    “Be careful,” said The Hive. “You expended a lot of energy.”
    My stomach grumbled. A big meal didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world right now.
    “So,” I said, “looks like we need to decide where to head next.”

Chapter Eleven
    We sat in small debriefing room. It surprised me that the Omanix had enough space dedicated to having a table, chairs, projection system and nothing else. Baron told me it was meant for officers to convene away from the enlisted, but she almost never used it. I could understand why as her large frame took up almost half of the table space and three chairs.
    Wards dimmed the lights and brought up a 3D representation of a moon. It floated in the middle of the table and spun slightly. Twilight-strength light from it glowed and lit everyone’s face. It reminded me of the light and shadow cast from a campfire.
    “Using Terran records we have narrowed down the number of colonial spots,” said Wards. “Based off of data gathered from a cooperative effort between the Confederacy and The Hive we were able to determine that seven potential sites do not have detectable levels of the heavy particles associated with a ship traveling through a trans-dimensional rift.”
    Baron motioned to the moon floating in front of us. “Why are we heading towards this moon?”
    “Because,” said Wards, “this moon is in disputed territory between the Vantagax and the Confederacy.” She glanced towards Baron who had leaned back in her chairs, arms crossed over her chest, seams on her uniform straining. “Three of the sites are within Confederacy space, two within The Hive’s sphere of influence, one within Vantagax territory and,” said Wards, gesturing at the moon floating in front of us, “this one in disputed territory.”
    “At least you aren’t planning on having us head into an enemy system,” rumbled Baron. “Even though I’ve been ordered to assist in any way possible it’s still my ship.” She leaned forward. Her chairs groaned with the effort. She put one forearm on the conference table. It too protested. “Why are we headed to a moon in a zone where we might get into a firefight?”
    Wards nodded towards Chare who cleared his throat. He opened his mouth then closed it when Baron