Paran Dul stirred, groggy and disoriented. She found herself slumped against the jagged wall of a dark cave, wings and limbs bound, her Nth metal weapons and armor stripped away except for her chestpiece. The desert's dry air clung to her throat as she blinked through the gloom, her vision settling on a solitary figure standing before her.
He was humanoid—tall, silent, and entirely covered in a nondescript sand-colored bodysuit that blended into the cavern shadows. On top of his suit, he wore her white and gold Nth metal helmet, spaulders, gauntlets, belt, and boots.
"Thief! Who? Why?" she croaked in rough English—the dominant language of this planet. Her voice betrayed her confusion, but her mind was already racing. Had the humans discovered the hyperspace bypass? Was their cover blown? If so, she had to alert General Talak—even if it meant death.
To her surprise, the figure answered—in fluent, precise Thanagarian.
"Master Byth Rok sends his regards."
The name struck her like a punch.
Byth Rok. The former commander who'd betrayed Thanagar in its hour of desperation. The one who'd escaped with the Krotan serum—experimental, potent, and possibly war-changing. He'd vanished after that disgrace, leaving only rumors and outrage in his wake.
Paran Dul narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. "Where is he?"
"My master doesn't concern himself with trivial details," the man said smoothly. "He sent me to assess your progress. How goes the mission?"
Her breath caught for half a second.
So the traitor had spies. Informants. Maybe sympathizers still buried in the ranks. That would explain how he'd learned about the hyperspace generator. Filthy Thanagarian turncoats, selling secrets to other traitors.
Perhaps Byth feared the generator was nearly ready—and that he wouldn't be able to flee Earth before its detonation. Smart, but still too late.
"I have nothing to say to the likes of you," she spat in Thanagarian, sending a gob of spit to the stranger's feet.
The shift in his demeanor was instant. Cold. Calculating.
He struck her—one swift backhand across the face. Her head hit the stone behind her, a sharp flash of pain blooming in her jaw.
"When will the generator be completed?" he asked.
Blood pooled in her mouth. She let it settle, tasted iron, then swallowed some of it before smirking.
She wouldn't tell him. Not that it mattered—the core generator was already finished. The human engineers still working were a distraction, a façade to buy time while Thanagarian command finalized the hyperspace calculations. Soon, the bypass would open—straight through to the Gordanian homeworld. The fleet would pour through unchallenged. The war would end.
Earth? Just a stepping stone. A necessary casualty.
And with any luck, this man and the traitor he served would die with it.
She spat again. This time the blood hit his foot.
His voice was low, almost weary. "You would sacrifice billions of lives… for a slim chance at ending a losing war?"
Her lips curled into a sneer.
"I would sacrifice the entire universe if that's what it took for the Thanagarian Empire to thrive," she said. "Unlike you cowards, I don't hesitate."
She turned her head, glancing toward the dark mouth of the cave. From the color of the sky, about 20 minutes had passed. Where were her soldiers? Why hadn't they tracked her location?
He answered her thought before she could even ask.
"Don't bother hoping for reinforcements. I destroyed your tracker."
"So," she said coldly, "you and Byth Rok have chosen this backwater planet. You think you can stop us?"
The man didn't respond at first. Instead, he reached down and picked up her Nth metal blaster, turning it over in his hand. Then he raised it slowly, aiming it directly at her head.
"I guess you're right," he murmured, "I've been hesitating. But no more." Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝙣𝙚𝙩
She stared up at him, defiant to the end.
"Any last words?" he asked.
Paran Dul held his gaze.
"Glory to the Empire."
The bolt struck the cave wall right beside her head.
She slumped forward—not dead, but unconscious, having fainted.
Joseph let the silence settle.
Her thoughts had told him everything: the generator's true function, its near-completion, and Thanagar's willingness to sacrifice Earth to gain a shortcut to victory. The initial plan had been to interrogate a senior officer under the guise of serving Byth Rok, so the Thanagarians couldn't blame Earth's governments for the incident.
But things had changed.
Now, this was a race against time.
"We've secured the schematics and other proof," Dizzy reported.
"Good. You guys pull out and notify the Justice League. Tell them if that generator isn't destroyed, Earth will be. I'll handle the Thanagarians and provide a distraction," Joseph replied, cutting the line.
He then shot from the cave in a blaze of golden light. The sky lit up in his wake, a comet streaking toward war.