Kikaru's eyes moved from Elias to the closed pods where the others were still fighting their own bodies.
"You are making this sentimental already," she said.
"I am making it practical, because disposable teammates become dead teammates, dead teammates become panic, and panic becomes command using harsher rules."
"You have been here one day."
"Long enough to know people hate cages more when the people beside them start sounding like guards."
Kikaru did not like that. He could see it in her jaw.
Good. Maybe his perception had climbed by one angry point.
Paul came back from Tid's pod with a towel over one shoulder.
"Tid says he refuses to be inspired by anyone before breakfast. He also asked if the task reward is real."
"Tell him I am not testing it for his benefit," Elias said.
"Already did, and he called you worse things than old."
Colby helped Elias toward the nearest chair before he fell over. "You should sleep before you become a speech with legs."
Dot floated beside his face.
"He is right, because your body is shaking in several directions, and only half of them are intentional."
Elias wanted to argue.
His legs chose that moment to fold.
Paul caught him under one arm and started steering him toward A-08.
Kikaru watched from the center of the room.
"Training starts at 5:30 tomorrow morning," she said. "If you can stand, be there. If you cannot stand, crawl toward the mats and I will decide whether that counts."
Elias almost smiled. "Your compassion needs maintenance soon enough."
"Your coordination needs more work first."
That was the last thing he heard before his pod door closed.
Far from Cube X, another world burned under a purple ship.
The city beneath it had already lost the shape of a city. Streets split into black channels. Towers sagged into each other. Emergency signals blinked through smoke until orbital fire cut them off one by one.
Captain Vokar stood in the ruin with his staff planted against the chest of the last local commander.
The man under the staff wore broken armor and had one hand wrapped around Vokar's wrist. He had no leverage left, only refusal.
"Kill me if you want to," the man said. "My people will not stay buried."
Vokar looked down at him with flat black eyes.
"Your people are already selected, because the useful ones will be processed and the rest will feed the ground."
He raised his communicator.
"Command, the receiver is active and location confirmed. Request clearance for planetary cleansing and extraction sweep."
The reply came through distortion, deep and controlled.
"Proceed with surface cleansing and secure fifty to one hundred compatible humanoids for processing. Prime Planet remains a priority after resource loss, but not under your current assignment."
"Understood and proceeding now under command."
The commander beneath the staff laughed through blood.
"There is always someone stronger than you. You just have not met them yet."
Vokar drove the staff down, and the laugh ended.
"Then they are hiding well from me."
Back aboard the ship, Vokar entered the control room while his crew worked around a star map. Blue-skinned officers moved between stations with quiet precision. The receiver rested inside a containment ring near the central console, pulsing faintly toward a region of space marked in red.
A transmission opened before he sat.
The figure on screen remained in shadow, voice filtered into calm layers.
"Captain Vokar, your next route is prepared. Quadrant Three has revealed a world with energy-bearing gems. The inhabitants use the stones for weaponized output. Collect core fragments and deliver them to Central for analysis and reserve deployment."
Vokar folded both hands over the top of his staff.
"Prime Planet resisted two extraction attempts. Should my ship not return there before their defenses mature?"
"Prime Planet will be handled by a specialized squadron. Their defenses were sufficient against preliminary incursions, not against the next stage."
"And what about the infected world nearby?"
The shadow leaned closer.
"Avoid it, because the contamination risk has been calculated. You are too valuable to waste there while the gem world remains open."
Vokar accepted the correction with a slow nod.
"What are the reward terms exactly?"
"Standard vault payout, and you may select one gem from the batch before the rest are drained. Keep the receiver until return, then Central will integrate it and trace the next signal."
"As ordered, and I will avoid Galactic Patrol waypoints."
"That is expected, Captain, so report when the gems are secured."
The transmission died.
Vokar looked at the star map. Prime Planet glowed blue and green in the corner, officially outside his route.
He touched the receiver's containment ring.
The pulse leaned toward that world anyway.