Earth Star. Janet Edwards

lethally savage.’

      ‘That’s what happened on K19448?’

      ‘Yes,’ said Drago. ‘We can’t instantly abandon every planet that goes into a behaviour event, or we wouldn’t have any colony worlds. By the time you know exactly what’s happening, things can be serious. On K19448, a widespread winged herbivore suddenly turned into a carnivore soldier species and …’

      ‘I see,’ I said.

      Drago hesitated. ‘I don’t know if it helps, but K19448 is on the salvage list. Planet First teams will be going back there.’

      ‘What will they do?’

      ‘Globally exterminate the problem species, after which there’s every chance K19448 will become a new colony world for Kappa sector. The ecologists complain about global exterminations, but they’re sometimes necessary to make the inhabited continent safe. We have to remember civilizations can run into trouble. After Exodus century, we nearly lost portal technology entirely, protective measures failed on some planets and dangerous species reached their inhabited continents. It took over a hundred years to clear up the mess, and we don’t want it happening again.’

      I pictured my parents trying to retreat to the portals, and being mobbed by winged creatures with teeth and claws capable of ripping through protective impact suits. ‘I like animals, but …’

      Drago nodded. ‘Tellon Blaze said it during the Thetis disaster. Any ecologist who wants to cry over the chimera being exterminated should be locked up in a room with one.’

      ‘I’d like K19448 to become a colony world,’ I said. ‘I know my parents served on other Planet First assignments, and some of those worlds are being colonized, but they died on this one so …’

      I broke off, having a nardle emotional moment. Every world in the sectors had its memorial to the Military who made it safe for colonization. One day, people might live on K19448, hold solemn ceremonies at the memorial every Founders Day, and name their settlements after my parents.

      Drago gave an understanding nod, and abruptly switched his attention to Fian. ‘You’re wearing the Earth Star, Captain Eklund, so you helped with the Solar 5 rescue as well.’

      Fian nodded. ‘Jarra and I were students working on the New York Dig Site. We signed up for our Twoing contract during the solar super storm.’

      ‘I didn’t realize you were Twoing,’ said Drago. ‘You don’t wear rings.’

      I saw the irritation on Fian’s face, and urgently forced my emotions back under control. ‘We haven’t got around to getting them yet.’

      I glanced at Drago’s multitude of medals, looking for an excuse to change the subject. The first of them looked a bit like the Thetis, but it was an odd rectangular shape that was entirely wrong for any medal I knew. I skipped on to the next, which was the traditional disc shape and showed a comet image. ‘Isn’t that the Hera? You were in the comet blockade?’

      Drago groaned. ‘Extremely briefly. I was fresh from training, the idiot raw recruit on your brother Jaxon’s team, and I crashed my fighter in the first wave. Incredibly embarrassing. Asteroid one, Drago nil. I knocked myself about a bit in the crash, so of course they gave me a medal. Now I can never live it down.’

      ‘You’re in the Attack team now, flying a fighter?’ I asked, eagerly.

      He nodded. ‘I’m leading second shift. We launch at nine, and it takes us half an hour to crawl at an unthreatening pace into our positions and relieve the first shift. We’re main attack for four hours, then third shift relieve us and we dawdle back out to the portals again.’

      ‘Where do you launch from? Earth Africa solar array?’

      ‘No. We launch from here.’

      I heard Fian mutter something, but I ignored him. ‘Zan! Fighters can fly in atmosphere?’

      Drago laughed. ‘We’re flying ones designed for space. I wouldn’t want to do anything fancy with them in a gravity pit, but all we have to do is take them off the ground on hovers and dive straight through a portal into orbit.’