Hal and Greyla had been escorted back to the council room to meet privately with the admiral. Their dreams of finding a new planet were gone. The best they could hope for was to be accepted on the Moz Lidule as contributing members of the crew.

Bethon pointed Hal and Greyla toward some chairs.

"Lieutenant Cratus has given you the information you requested. Now I want what you promised. The fuel?"

"On the Sora every bit of space was utilized," Greyla replied. "Since there was no longer a use the explorer pods while in deep space, they were used to store extra Helium-3. It was full when we escaped and so we brought the fuel with us."

"By our calculations, Admiral, we have enough to get your ship to next fueling base and take out a few pirates along the way," Hal added.

Bethon laughed. "Of course, your pod, where else could it come from?"

"There's more," Hal said. "Whereas your vessel is primarily made of ceramics, only our pod's shell is made of heat shielding material. There's a layer of insulation. The rest is aluminum. You can reduce the pod to powder and use it for fuel as well."

"Excellent," Bethon said. "I am pleased with you so far, Hal. I'm going to ask you to pilot the craft with the leopard."

"Fine."

"You should know that your friend, Tajlon will be coming with you as well," Bethon added.

"I don't see why it's necessary to put him at risk," Hal objected with a frown.

"I perfectly agree. It wasn't my idea."

"Whose then?" Greyla asked.

"It seems Tajlon and Lord Anakron decided it was necessary. Tajlon is now bound in the same physical signature with Nova," Bethon explained. "They're inseparable."

"That's a really bad idea," Hal said. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. It was his lie about the demon hating Nova which was now putting both the leopard and Tajlon in danger.

"It is. I know you will do your best to take care of them," Bethon replied.

"What's the next step?" Hal asked.

"Next we warp to the Riscella Base and refuel. Cratus, Munaci and yourself can work on building the energy traps for rounding up skulkers." Bethon said. "You're the engineer. Tell me Hal, how many space skulkers will it take to consume a cloud of demon dust spread out over almost half a Dezba orbit."

"We may be able to calculate a rough estimate from what you've learned. Give me all the data you have on these skulkers, and I’ll make an educated guess."

"You're tenacious. I like that," Bethon said.

"I don't give up until I'm dead, Admiral," Hal said.

"If you don’t disappoint me, I could use a promising young mind such as yours. With a little more training and a lot of discipline you might even be officer material This little endeavor is the perfect test.”

Hal snorted with amusement. “A little test, my ass."

Bethon ignored him, punched some orders into his communicator. He then turned his attention to Greyla.

"Greyla dear, though I am impressed with your ingenuity, you simply had to point a dainty finger at the pod. Behold, the fuel you promised," Bethon said. "That wasn't very hard for you to do. In fact, it seems a small price to pay for the rather large infraction earlier. Breaking into the vaults is a serious offense. I might want a little more."

"We're keeping our end of the bargain. The pod is all we have left," Greyla said. "Our entire life plans and all our possessions have been wiped out. You still have my empath services."

"I'm touched. You're giving me everything you have," Bethon said with a lingering glance. "Well almost everything."

* * *

They headed back to their quarters with some measure of relief. At least their necks were off the block with Bethon.

"What a lech!" Greyla tossed herself into a recliner.

"He is at that." Hal said.

Etaine jumped from her sofa and danced across the room, twirling in a new uniform jacket. “There’s one for you too Greyla.”

“Presents for you and Etaine. I’m jealous.” Hal tossed a crisp new uniform jacket to Greyla. It was in the black and gold colors of Lord Bethon. The right front was embroidered with her name, under that ‘Beldora’. On the left were the words “Empath Corps’ above ‘Moz Lidule’.

Greyla took it with some trepidation. “This doesn’t change anything, Bethon,” she said looking at a corner monitor. “Damn! Now I’m as paranoid as Widhbo.”

Hal laughed. “Wait. What’s this. I spoke too soon.” The old desk had been replaced with a new console. A jacket lay on the chair. It was similarly done but with the title of ‘Battle Corps’ emblazoned on it. He put it on and smiled with satisfaction. “I’m official now.”

“Careful partner. He’ll have you eating out his hand," Greyla said.

Hal sat down and checked out his new working console. "Lieutenant Cratus was kind enough to give me the past several hundred years of information on the skulkers and this new desk unit."

"I like him. He's human in origin, right?" Greyla asked.

"I believe so. Be careful or you'll make Bethon jealous of your affections."

"Like I care." Greyla said.

"Or me. I could be jealous."

"For what it's worth, you're at the top of the heap," Greyla replied.

"Sweet!" He grinned and gave her a wink.

"You're never going to give up, are you?" Greyla gave Hal a warm glance in spite of her objections.

"Not until I'm dead."

"I wish you'd quit saying that."

"You heard what he said, Bethon has plans for me." Hal said. "I'll take that as a positive."

"Since you threatened to take over his ship, you're still on a special list of those who may be killed. You can’t afford to screw up.”

"Bethon wants me to pilot the pod and if I live, keep me forever as his minion. I'm more worried about the devourer for now," Hal said.

"This is insane. We don't even know if it will work," Greyla said. "What's to keep the skulkers from just being eaten like everything else in the demon's path?"

"These energy leeches are simple creatures, but very efficient at what they do,” Hal explained. “They have been known to absorb the energy of entire star ship in a few seconds."

Greyla shuddered at the thought and tried on her jacket. “Perfect fit. Of course, he’d know my measurements.”

“Etaine sat on her sofa and hugged a pillow. “I despise leeches. And admirals,”

“That’s lech, Etaine,” Greyla said. “Never mind. Close enough.”

"The energy attractors used in the ship defense systems have to engage automatically and are triggered instantly by any fluctuation of energy on the hull. We're betting that the demon won't fully appreciate the threat in time to react," Hal explained.

"But the cloud spreads out over a huge area," Greyla said.

"If we can lure him in a single direction, that may help to consolidate the cloud a little," Hal said. "I think we should release the skulkers from multiple points at the same time around the periphery. They will munch their way towards the middle of the cloud, then we can catch all the skulkers in the center. Widhbo triggers the master trap and catches them, demon and all."

"How can we sneak up on him when he vaporizes everything?" Grelya asked. "I can still feel him growing out there. He's either getting larger or a lot closer."

"I'm working on an idea to power the energy traps and pilot them by remote control. The trick will be to teleport them from our end.”

"That sounds expensive, Hal," Greyla said. "Bethon will need to provide the necessary resources."

"Bethon has plenty of resources. Don't let him talk you out of your panties for them."