Her statement was as enigmatic as Zapharos's, but we decided to give her some room for now.
XYREK
The decisionon what to do with the still sleeping Darlams was put on hold with the arrival of the supreme commander of the Imperial Forces the very next day.
We all assembled by the airfield as several Imperial spaceships landed. One of them, a large transporter, hovered over the others because there wasn't enough space for it to sit down. Long ramps extended, and drones began unpacking boxes upon boxes.
"What is all that?" Alice asked.
I shrugged and was about to come up with a guess when the imperial ship's hatch opened and a ramp extended. The first out was none other than the emperor himself, with a beautiful human female at his side.
"Oh shit," Sloane exclaimed and looked, for the first time since I had known her, worried. "I haven't told him yet," she whispered to Vraax.
The next to exit was an impressive male in the uniform of the Imperial Forces, calling him out as their supreme commander. Right next to his side was a human female wearing the same type of uniform, who looked every bit as commanding.
"Ash!" Sloane exclaimed and ran forward to embrace the other female.
"Sloane!" The two hugged tightly while the males watched with amused patience. "I brought Silla too."
Lady Silla and Lord Protector Garth emerged from the royal ship. Several of our females ran forward to meet Lady Silla. Then, another human female appeared, and Alice squealed, “Daisy!”
Surprised, I watched her rush forward and embrace the woman. “What are you doing here?”
The female smiled endearingly. “I’m to be the empress’ personal holostreamer. Emperor Daryus wants his subjects to feel like the imperial couple is accessible to all of them.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Alice hugged her again.
None of us Space Guardians were Emperor Daryus’ subjects, so none of us bowed, but the male did exude a large amount of power. I noticed I wasn't the only one who respectfully inclined their head toward him.
Zaarek, who had been our primarch so many years ago, was the first to find his tongue. "It is an honor to meet you, Emperor Daryus. Please let me extend our deepest apologies for not fulfilling our sworn duties by you."
Teal eyes regarded my brother thoughtfully. "I understand the kind of predicament you and your brothers were in. This is a fight I will take up with the Ohrurs, not you. You may not have fully achieved what I paid for, but your accomplishments more than made up for it. Without you, we would never have discovered what evil the Ohrurs were up to. You have my thanks for that."
"You have more females who have been hurt?" Lord Protector Garth interrupted.
"They are inside the compound, ready to leave with you," I said, pointing toward the building that had held so many nasty surprises for us.
Lord Protector Garth raised his hand and waved a group of males and females forward, carrying medical supplies, equipment, and hover stretchers to take the females aboard another ship.
"What did you find out about the females we brought you?" Vraax wanted to know.
"They were not only in bad shape, but we learned that most of thechildrenborn through this act of cruelty either don't survive long or turn into something that would be better off never to have been born." Superior Commander Xandros explained.
"I fought a few of them; they didn't… " Vraax shook his head. “They weren't Space Guardians; they seemed to enjoy cruelty."
Xandros nodded darkly, "Vra—yes—we are working with each merrily—female—individually to determine her wishes and will accommodate whatever she requests."
"There has been enough suffering. Those females will receive the full support of my empire, no matter if they're Pandraxian or not," the emperor vowed.
Our females finally seemed to have gotten their hugs out of the way and joined us.
"Emperor," Sloane nodded at Daryus.
"Ah, my elusive new spymaster, tell me, Lady Sloane, how are things going?" Daryus asked.
"Quit intimidating her," Empress Heather elbowed the emperor, amusing me. "You and I both know that she won't be your new… spy mistress. You're lucky if she sends you intel now and then. So quit."
"Is that true?" He quirked an eyebrow at Sloane.
