Page 106 of Stripped By the Alien

Lucius projects the orbital map above the command chamber. "It’s correct," the drone replies. "Four inhabited planets. Extensive infrastructure. Multiple orbital stations. Thousands of cargo ships. Population estimates are still being calculated."

The Inquisitor walks closer to the display. "We expected a homeworld at most."

"We found four," Krix'vorr responds in a dreamy tone.

The two males stand side by side, looking up at the glowing planets. For once there is no rivalry between them. They're both too astonished.

Then I see something change in their expressions. The shock fades and calculation takes its place.

The Inquisitor is the first to recover. "This would be the greatest Harvest in recorded history."

"Four Harvests,” Krix’vorr marvels. “Or one to break all records. All up to us.”

Watching his face, I feel something cold settle in my stomach, because for the first time since the minefield, he's looking at something and not seeing me at all.

The crew in the command chamber go up to the ‘eyes’ and start taking notes on tablets.

I discreetly wave Lucius closer. “Where do you think Sophia is?” I whisper so that the translation flower can’t hear me.

“I keep looking at that space station,” he replies softly and uses his laser to point at a lens for a split second. “It has a lot of traffic coming and going. And it would be the logical place for their main business. I think that’s the slave trader hub. It’s not on a planet, to make it harder for the captives to escape. From what I can see, most of the activity in this solar system concerns that space station. It would fit with the information in the computers in the Gzet ship.”

“How long until the auction starts?”

“About ten hours, Captain.”

Shit. That may not be enough.

“So,” I say loudly, “now we rescue Sophia.”

“What we do now is return to the Nest and report this stunning discovery,” Krix’vorr says over his shoulder.

For a moment I’m sure I heard him wrong. “After we rescue her, you mean.”

“I’m now assessing a target for a future Harvest for the Swarm,” he says. “While it’s rich, it’s not undefended. The Nest needs information to plan the Harvest. We shall go no closer than this. And when we have records of the target, we go to report.”

“Sophia has ten hours until she’ll be auctioned off,” I tell him, and I can hear how strained my voice sounds. “There’s no time to go to the Nest and then come back.”

“We will not come back,” Krix’vorr says. “Not until the Harvest.”

My jaw goes stiff. “So… you’ll leave Sophia to her fate? Despite what you said? I thought you understood. They’re going to sell her!”

He gives me a quick glance. "And if we rush into a rescue attempt without understanding the defenses of this system, they may kill her. And us."

The answer makes sense. I hate that it makes sense.

"The military traffic is substantial," he says. "I estimate dozens of armed vessels within the system. A direct attack would be unwise."

I point at the system’s star. "We don't need to attack the whole system. We need to rescue one person."

Krix'vorr looks out the ‘eyes’ for several seconds before answering. "We don't even know where she is."

"Yes, we do. She’s in that space station.”

“It’s of no concern where she is. We can’t be seen, much less attack anything. To attack that space station, we'd need a hundred Harvesters and several Harrowers. We don't have that.”

For a few seconds neither of us speaks. Then I force myself to take a breath and try a different angle. "We came here for Sophia."

Krix'vorr's eyes move from the planets to me. "We came here for the Gzet."