In a week Clarissa found herself in her company's cargo spacecraft “Sonora”. It was a cheap and old one. Clarissa' mercenary company “Brave guys” couldn't buy a better spaceship. Truth be told, her small company earned a profit barely enough to run itself.

So far, “Brave guys” had twenty five seasoned vets - they were a core of Clarissa's company – and over four hundred green recruits. The woman knew that a half of greenhorns would die in the first battle. They were expendable, therefore the recruits had pretty cheap battlesuits. Only the mouchi units had a little better battlesuits and equipment, that was Clarissa's personal order. She had a hope that they would perform well on the battlefield.

Currently Sonora moved in the rear of blurbok's armada alongside other mercenary companies: “Wild bees”, “Quick looters”, “Smart men”, and etc. They all were a bunch of greedy scums as the cheap mercenaries should be.

The sly blurboks wanted to place all mercenaries to the front line at first but failed. The mercenaries were greedy but not stupid. The front line was the most dangerous place in every battle.

It turned out that the rumors didn't lie, the blurboks had gathered many spaceships - a true armada - but only few were warships. Many spacecraft looked old, a few even had traces of rust.

Right now the armada moved to the nearest space-gate.

“Prepare, Rissa. Our turn to jump will be in five minutes,” Teador – who also performed a captain's role on their spaceship – informed his niece.

Clarissa nodded and clicked on the virtual monitor to see a cargo bay. All the recruits looked tense. Clarissa saw that clearly. Only the mouchi looked carefree. They continued to chat lively and eat cheap food happily; a part of the hamsters slept soundly. They looked as if nothing would endanger their lives in the nearest future.

It's not a show off, the woman realized. They are indeed calm and happy.

In five minutes Sonora – and some other mercenary spaceships - jumped.

+++

Sonora spent fifteen hours in hyperspace. All that time the mercenaries entertained themselves as they could. A few fights had even happened among the recruits, but no one dared to offend the mouchi. All hamsters – without an exception - attacked the aggressor like a bunch of angry dogs. It was a clear message. Don't mess with the mouchi. All recruits learned it quickly.

Sometimes Clarissa watched a live broadcast of her employer. One official changed another. They told – if not bragged – about their future victory. The blurboks were sure of it, and they all stated the same. Greedy Proteus Directorate fooled them, and only the Proteus Directorate was the sole reason for their race's numerous problems. Each official demanded to punish that evil organization.

Soon the time of leaving hyperspace had come. Now even the vets looked tense. Each mercenary was afraid of one thing: to be attacked in a moment when the spacecraft is leaving hyperspace. In such moments a spacecraft is vulnerable to attacks, because no shield is activated.

+++

Sonora and a few mercenary spaceships left hyperspace. The monitors showed debris outside the spacecraft. A part of the armada was already annihilated. It was obvious that the enemy was waiting for them and had prepared an ambush.

Currently the blueboks' spaceships were engaged in a fierce battle with Directorate's forces. Lasers, rockets, and plasma balls hit spacecraft of both sides.

Clarissa saw as some of Blurbok's spaceships detonated. The end of the battle was obvious.

Teodor glanced at his niece and saw her nod. Instantly Sonora began to turn around, charging with energy its hyperspace driver. The rest of the mercenaries were doing the same. Now it wasn't their battle.

“Rissa, we have an incoming call from Admiral Bakbak's flagman,” Teodor said.

“Connect us.”

An angry blurbok appeared on the monitor.

“Where are you going, traitors?! We've already paid you! You must help us now!” It was one of the admiral's aids.

“Sorry but you have lost a battle. We are not going to die for you. Besides, you've paid just 20% from the sum,” Clarissa said calmly.

The blurbok was going to say something else, but Teodor canceled a call.

Clarissa was sure that the admirals' aids were calling to all mercenaries now. They hoped to find some fool who would agree to put their spaceship between the armada and Directorate's forces. “Brave guys” weren't fools. It turned out that other mercenaries weren't as well. No mercenary company turned its spacecraft back.

A little later the blurboks began to turn their spaceships. Sonora detected that all of them were charging their hyperspace driver.

Soon the armada had left the system.

Clarissa knew that the future of Bluebok's race was miserable. A chance was high that Proteus Directorate would attack them in return, or someone else would finish off this civilization in the future.

But for “Brave guys” the outcome wasn't bad. They had earned some money without any losses. Of course, no one was going to return that 20% to the employer.

+++

Another month had passed. Planet “Katak”

The archaeologists left the planet, because all ruins had been studied. There was no reason to stay on the planet for them. Seed was happy to get that news. A presence of abrai on the planter was a threat to his well-being. Besides, Seed was forced to hide all his activity. It was a big inconvenience.

So far, Seed had greatly expanded his underground base under the mountain range. Three large underground hangars were excavated.

The first hangar. Here the first living spaceship was growing. It was still a small spacecraft, but with every passing day it was getting bigger in size. This being was a test model.

The second hangar. Here Seed planned to create his future insect army. Now only a small part of this hangar was occupied by artificial wombs and living stomachs.

The third hangar. It was empty. Here Seed was going to create alive weapons and armors for his mercenaries; perhaps, even some armored vehicles in the future. Yes, the ball was adamant to establish his own mercenary company.

As well, Seed had increased a number of insects inside the base.

All of those creatures and projects consumed a lot of biomass. As a result, the vicinity of the mountain range became scarce of life forms. Seed had even worried that the abrai could pay attention to this. Fortunately, it didn't happen. The ruins had occupied all their attention.

The mouchi had cleared a new large field. The abrai's crop gave a plentiful harvest, and gave it quickly.

This crop is a real blessing, Seed thought while looking at his eating hamsters. They are real gluttons.

The population of mouchi settlement continued to grow. It was over seven thousand. As always, a majority were children.

A number of predators – around the settlement – had lowered a little. Berkers – Seed's creatures with wings and long trunks – helped the hamsters to avoid many ambushes of the local predators as well as find much food. Besides, berkers gave the first but numerous offspring. Hence, currently Seed could watch as little mouchi played with tiny berkers on the settlement's streets.

+++

Somewhere deep in the jungle

Dancing with wind led a group of her tribesmen through the wild jungle towards Great water, where the gods should live.

Dancing with the wind looked back. A group of fifteen moved behind her. They all looked exhausted, but the woman could see a hope in their eyes. They all wanted to reach Great water to meet with the gods.

At home the gods were taboo. The elders described them as mighty but evil beings who a long time ago began a great war in which almost all ka'shog had died. Just a small number of ka'shog ran from them and hid in the jungle.

All her life Dancing with wind believed the elders until one night she had a dream. In that dream the gods spoke with her. In the morning, Dancing with the wind couldn't remember what they spoke about, but from that moment she was sure that in reality the gods were kind.

They want to help us, the woman started to believe.

From that day Dancing with wind began to talk with her tribesmen. No one dared to harm the woman whose sons died saving the tribe.

Dancing with wind's adamant belief and passionate speeches attracted the ka'shog to her – even from neighboring tribes the ka'shog began to come to listen to her - until one day the elders came to the woman and said that she must leave. Dancing with the wind obeyed. She didn't want to stir up trouble for her people. The woman's goal was to reach Great water.