Chapter 1

I swear it's Zil messing with me, even after he is gone for good.

I take a breath, trying to calm myself. I pull the pillow on my bed, slamming my fist at it.

That stupid one. I already let him have his fucking mate, but he is still haunting me to no end.

He is the reason I'm here, stuck in the base camp, inside my own room, with nothing to do.

I could have been flying with my crew, without a dumbass like him standing in my way.

That stupid human female who insulted me in front of everyone back in the space station should be punished. Zil should be punished too. He is the reason...

I'm the fucking captain of the ship. How dare he talk back to me and fight me in front of the rest of the crew?

Maybe Zil was assigned to act as my advisor, but it didn't mean he was above me. He got that into his head and—

The doorbell rings. I let out a breath. "Yes, I'm coming."

The door opens right when I get off the bed. Two officials watch me with cold eyes. These are from the investigation team. That's a team set up to look into cases of issues raised during flights and missions, and they discipline uzains accordingly.

I told them Zil left the ship with that human, which is the truth, yet they locked me here until they have results from their investigation.

Is this the day?

After I've been locked up for a few years? Prime years for uzains are important. Those are the times for us to build a name for ourselves and show everyone that we are capable and strong uzain warriors, yet... I'm just here wasting time, even when they let me train a few newer warriors left and right. That's not enough. I'm capable of more.

I swallow when those two stare at me without saying anything. "Am I supposed to go with you?"

One of them says, "Yes. We have the result of your case, and the elders will tell you about the decision."

It... doesn't seem to be good news. I squeeze a smile. "It means I can be back with a battleship, right?"

They turn around without giving me an answer. I hurry to follow with my heavy heart. My horns are tired, too. I hate this. After they've wasted so much time, they are still cold as steel. I worked hard to become a captain of a battleship. At least they should show me some respect.

The corridor seems colder than I remember. Who knows where these two are leading me?

I suck in a deep breath when I'm in front of the heavy door that leads to the meeting room of the investigation team. The decision is waiting for me inside.

The two who lead me here give me a nod. They part way to the two sides of the door. One of them presses the button and the door opens.

Five uzains are inside the meeting room. Every elder is there. All of them... Their cold faces send my blood freezing. This ruling can't be favorable to me from the look. How can that be?

I go inside, standing in the center of the room, which is also the center of the U-shaped table the elders sit at.

The one in the center, right in front of me, clears his throat. "Melzul, do you know why you're here?"

"It's for the decision."

"Yes. You should have known better than to lie to us."

"What? I—" I swallow my words when he glares at me. I bow my head. This is surely not going well.

He says, "Probably to your surprise, we have gotten in touch with Zil once again, and the woman you accused him with."

No way...

How is that possible? The universe is that vast... Even if they send uzains to that space station, the chances of them running into each other are so low.

He continues. "You're the one who kidnapped that human female, even though Zil advised against it."

I swallow again, my throat so tightly locked that I can barely breathe. "I..."

"Look up at me."

I do as he said. My heart hammers in my chest. I... "Even then, there are no rules against that. We are uzains and we take what we want."

The elder sneers at me. I resist the urge to lower my gaze when he told me to look at him. These elders are the ones ruling over all the uzains, so... maybe I should beg for mercy.

He says, "It's one thing that you took the woman. What about lying to us and abandoning Zil on a space station, then lying about that some more? You surely wished they'd be dead and we'd never find out what actually happened. You may be able to fool your crew and silence their questions, but that's not what we expect from captains."

"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I was just—"

He smacks his fist against the table. The files on the table shiver. I flinch and know better than to keep talking. He is about to say something when another elder clears his throat.

"Let's get to the decision."

The one talking to me nods and pulls a file from the side. "This is our decision. For what you've done to the innocent coach on the battleship and for all your lies, you're going to the ice castle until the designated age for warriors to retire."

What?

I stare at him with my blood freezing. The ice castle is a new and ongoing project on the planet. Uzains are developing that area in hopes of finding rare metals. That's the coldest place on the planet, and uzains that are sent there are criminals and are bound to work there until they die.

There's no way the investigation team will send me there. Maybe I did lie about what happened, but it can't be that serious.

The elder who read the decision says, "You are only staying there until it is time to retire. We consider that fair. But if your performance is under expectation, you may stay there for even longer."

"But... that's a place for uzains that—"

He glares at me again. I lower my gaze. Fuck... My life is pretty much over by now... If I go there... they may never remember my existence and I'd end up dying there.

The elder says, "This will be your chance to prove yourself as someone who can work as a team and be honest and fair to everyone. You'll still be working for the good of uzains and be a good contributing uzain."

He isn't wrong, but...

He continues, "This is it for your hearing. The guard will bring you to the ice castle."

I'm about to ask when will I be expected there when the door opens and one of the guards gestures for me to go with him. "So... I'm heading there now?"

"Yes," says the elder with his cold voice.

"So... I won't get to say farewell to anyone?"

"Your family isn't even on the planet."

Yeah... All of them are off fighting on battleships, and the older ones are with development teams off the planet. So... no one is close by.

The elder says, "You'll report to the ice castle when you arrive there and you are departing now."

I say nothing and follow the guard out of the meeting room. Isn't that a bit too cruel of them?

The guard says nothing as we head down the corridor. My horns are heavier than I remember, even though they have been there with me for my whole life.

And soon... my whole life will be spent in the ice-cold place where uzains are left to die. There won't be enemies to fight and won't even be food that will fill the stomach. The elder seems to hint at how I may be able to return earlier than the decision stated, but I doubt they will remember me the moment I'm out of the city. More importantly, what if they mix up my file and I'd stay there until I'm dead?

I shiver at the thought. I don't want to die alone there. It's already a shame to my family for me to be taken off the roster. I can't be... I can't let anyone know about the decision. And... How can I look others in the eye again, even if I manage to be back before I'm dead?

It is hot outside the building as we head to the parking lot of spaceships. The guard walks in front of me, and doesn't seem to care. He must be laughing at me in his head. I'm a fucking captain of a battleship!

Was...

Fuck...

We arrive at a spaceship and he presses the button for the door to open and for us to get on. He says, "It won't take long before we arrive."

It won't... It...

I clench a fist and I ram into the guard. He grunts and grabs his laser gun. I kick him in the stomach and snatch the gun from his hand. So much for going to such a stupid place. I'm not going to be led there like livestock, waiting to die.

"What are you doing?" He hisses at me and pulls out his phone to call for reinforcements.

I lift my gun at him. I'm not about killing innocent ones when he is just here for his job. I lower my aim and shoot his hand. He screeches and drops the phone. I hop onto the spaceship and take off at once.

My heart races as I fly it up to the sky and speed up. At least all spaceships from base camp are capable of space travel. I tap the screen for the radar, only to find two spaceships already chasing me.

There is a beep. The light that requests communication blinks. Except I'm not going to communicate with anyone.

I tap for the map and dash into the clouds. They can try to catch me, or if they are that confident, blow me off the sky.

I pull the head of the ship, lifting me, and make a turn, firing at those two. I don't plan to hit them, but if that's what it takes to get out of here, I'm going to do just that.

The two ships dodge my shot. I pull to the side to dodge their bolts.

These fuckers... Can't they just leave me alone?

I tap the map, searching for a nearby portal. If I get far away, maybe they will give up chasing.

I yank the controller to dodge another bolt, speeding up into space. They are still chasing...

The blinking light for communication is still going, but I'm still going to ignore it. I can already expect what they are going to say and I don't care. I'm not stopping. There's no going back. Either I'm dying in the run, or I'd die working years in the ice castle, if my punishment will even remain the same after my attempt to flee.

I stomp on the gas, speeding up even more. There's a portal opening a few minutes away. No idea where that will lead, but I don't have time—

The spaceship shudders. I clench onto the seat, barely staying on it. I didn't have time to put on my seatbelt and I don't have time for that right now either.

The siren in the spaceship lights. I'm hit, but I don't have the hand and focus to check the damage. One can hope...

At least I'm still alive and not exploding.

I press the buttons to launch another wave of beams at the ones chasing me. They left me no options, it's not my fault.

They hurry to dodge while I zoom my way into the portal.

The spaceship shudders some more as the forces inside the portal pull at it. My palms sweat as I pray that the damage isn't bad enough that the spaceship will be torn apart by the portal.

I'd die ugly from it, and not even a shred of me will remain.

I suck in a breath and tap for the map again. Looks like the ones chasing me are gone. Portals are often one-way and lead too far away. There's no telling when there will be a return portal since those portals come and go as they like, so...

Those probably won't come along. Their fuel may not last them for a return flight.

I'm not returning to base camp in my lifetime. I don't care. I just have to find a safe planet to land on before I run out of fuel.

The siren in the ship sounds. The structure may not hold up if I stay till the official end of the portal.

Time to get out of here, and who knows where I would end up...?

I step on the gas, steering the ship to break out of the portal.

Here goes nothing.