Not many people got to see their planet end before them.

Delos was a small outlying world that, as far as he was concerned, was the world. He spent his childhood under its blue skies on the grassy slopes of the Settlement region. A boy who went to church on Sunday, did his homework, and nudged the Halfbreed servants around on the manor.

That was before Warlock. Before the riots and the civil war. In the last few months, things had gone to hell fast. His neat, secure life had dissolved into soldiers around the estate, protecting it from looters, both Human and Halfbreed. Then news came that explosions had destroyed most of Delos’ extensive train system, paralyzing passenger and freight transit.

Then the stranger creatures started showing up. Small knots of black-armored soldiers arrived in small warships. People began to get out. Father wanted to stay and take care of the accounts. Mother wanted to stay with him. He had to go, to take care of the younger, self-proclaimed princess.

“I don’t want to go on a ship!” Bella protested.

“We don’t have a choice. If we stay, we’ll die.” He was losing his temper. Bella failed to see the intensity of the situation. This was no dramatic production. If they stayed, either Warlock would rot their bodies from underneath them, or the chaos caused by Warlock would kill them.

“I want to stay here!”

He hauled on her hand. “We can’t, Bella. We have to go.”

“But I wanna-“

He was inches from slapping her. But her protests were silenced soon as she gave a frightened mewl and he turned his head.

Standing next to them was a mountain of black metal, control hoses, and locomotion machinery. It seemed to be looking at him from between hunched armor shoulders. Belladonna was struck speechless, and for once, he was happy.

He towed her away from the alien visitor and they got closer to the hissing, hot transport.

“What was that thing, Clarence?” she whispered from his side.

“I don’t know. Some sort of mechanized infantry.”

“I’m scared.”

“Stay with me. We’ll be fine.”

They found their way onto the ramp and climbed into a crowded hold. There were no seats, really. A few boxes had been pushed off to the side. People were lingering against the walls and sitting on the floor. At the top of the ramp were a few other armored creatures, but these ones were thinner and nicer-looking, even though their entire forms were covered in black and no expressions were visible. As the hold got tighter and hotter, finally one of them raised her voice.

“That’s it! We’re full up! Get the last up the ramp and seal it!”

There were howls and yells from outside. He placed his palms around Bella’s ears so she couldn’t hear it. He knew that, if he were down there, he’d be upset too. They were cut off from their escape.

“Don’t worry!” the lieutenant was yelling. “Another transport will be by in ten minutes! Stay calm and clear of the blast range. Do not attempt to stow away in the undercarriage. You’ll be killed when we reach vacuum.”

A minute later, the ramp was closing. His heart was starting to race. He had only flown a few times. The roar of engines and the harsh pressure of the liftoff forces were still fresh in his mind. He sat down and cradled the wispy blonde girl in his lap.

“It’ll be over in a minute. Just hold onto me.”

Engines started. They sounded louder and bigger than anything else. He again covered Bella’s ears. Suddenly, the ground was shifting. A few people gave startled yelps and someone else yelled in excitement. The engines rose in pitch and then became a bigger, louder, bone-rattling roar. The floor shifted and wobbled him onto his side. He bit his lip and looked around, trying to understand which way was down as the world warped a little.

He realized through the din that Bella was crying. He couldn’t help himself anymore. Even if she was a brat, he was as scared as she was. He pulled her closer and cradled her head as the world wiggled and seemed to turn on its side, yet he was still seated on the deck. What on earth was happening?

It only took a few moments for this loud, rumbling hell to complete. Then the vibrations were gone and the roar turned to a gaspy jet. The sideways disorientation was gone.

A few more minutes passed. He found that he was holding Bella very close to his chest and let go. She held herself there for a moment, then withdrew a little. He looked down at her. She’d stopped crying and now wiped her eyes. Quickly, confidence began to build and she looked tougher and more on her game. He looked curiously at her, wondering what had come over her. Had Bella decided that a princess wasn’t scared of this?

The other refugees started to get more daring. Some got up and walked around. He got up and loosened his tie a little, then began to wander too. Belladonna followed him, looking serious if a bit red-eyed.

After a few more minutes, the ship reached some sort of destination. He felt it shift and looked around. Bella grabbed his arm and whimpered. He put a hand on her shoulder and listened. What was going on outside?

With a final thump, the maneuvering stopped. Nothing happened for a little while and then someone stepped through one of the hatches. It was one of the black-clad soldiers. With a whistle, he grabbed the attention of the hold.

“Everyone this way,” he called. “You’re being moved to a long-range transport. Please obey all instructions from the staff during registration. The transport will go to several other worlds, where you will have the opportunity to disembark and start new lives. Come along, now.”

They did. Bella was a bit bolder now and led him, bringing them through the crowds across some sort of docking tube. The air was cold in here and he noticed there was frost clinging to some of the metal surfaces.

They entered a line and there they waited. Ahead of them, apparently, the refugees were being processed.

Finally, he got a look at the strangers outside of their armor. They were drifting around near the edges of this corridor. Immediately, he snapped his attention to them. No one seemed to notice.

The first obvious detail was that they were no odd alien or robotic life form, as some of the rumors on Delos dictated. No, they were all Halfbreeds, pure and simple. Half-feline and half-lupine both, wearing dark outfits that appeared to be some sort of military uniform. The peons had nearly no markings on their outfits other than a blue, serpentine dragon on their right shoulders and a white name badge. None of them had normal names. He saw a big wolf with the badge “Inferno” and a feline girl with the name “Winter.” Another was “Rigger.” They were like some sort of gang.

The ones with more distinction wore berets with a pip pinned to them. He didn’t recognize the symbols, but the obvious rules of silver versus gold still applied. There was one gray Wolfine that was roaming the area with two vertical gold bars on his charcoal beret, and all the peons and even a few that actually carried extra badges on their left shoulders answered to him.

The only thing that seemed of particular note was that very few of them were normal looking. On Delos, the servants’ had strict regulations for their appearances. Here, some women had nearly no hair, others had long manes tied into braids. The males had about as much variation, some wearing back-length ponytails, others with clean-shaven skulls. Many of them wore studs and rings in their ears or faces, and more than a few had bizarre hair color like green, purple, or blue. One of the Felisan women, who by her beret was some sort of officer, dangled many thick, tangled worms from her head, not braids, but something else.

“What are those?” Bella asked.

Later, he’d learn they were called dreadlocks. Right now, the sixteen year-old noble couldn’t say.

The line moved past a window, and bent so that those who were able to could see through it. Below was his planet. He’d seen photographs in school before, but never before with his own eyes. It was huge, but so small at the same time. Below the swirl of white were splotches of blue and green-brown. He put his hand to the cold glass. Bella looked for a little while, then walked away.

Was this real? Was he actually looking at his planet? He tried to envision standing in a field and looking up. Were those the same universe? Could he look up at the blue sky then and now look down at this blue and white ball half-visible through the starship window?

He noticed that not all of the ones watching were refugees. One of the soldiers was here too. He was quickly startled by herbecause she kept toying with a silver bar in her tongue, and she had another glimmering stud in her eyebrow.

Once, their eyes met. She froze, the bar still caught between her teeth, and comically, she let it go and sucked it back out of sight. After that, she offered an amused smile and turned, her ringed tail sweeping as she went off to do something.

The line moved and he could no longer see Delos. He was a little unnerved as they moved. What if something happened to it? He was drawn back to the window that was just beyond his reach.

Soon he could see the place where the registration was happening. He tried to hear what was up, and then thought to check on Bella.

She was gone. His heart stopped for a fraction of a second as he whirled around. Where had she gone? She was right there just a moment ago.

His heart began to settle when he saw the blonde braid moving around ahead in the line. She’d wandered up. He sighed and put his hands into his trouser pockets, poking at a hole that had needed mending. The line shifted forward again. Bella came back.

“Can you hear what’s going on?” he asked.

“People are asking about names and hometowns,” she answered. “I guess they’re trying to match people with relatives.”

They were almost at the head of the line. He kept listening to the soldiers as they slipped back and forth. At last, he heard something with meaning, and as he soaked up the information between the gray-furred captain and one of his soldiers, his blood started to freeze in his veins.

“They say that they’re just waiting on a green code from command,” the girl said. It took him a second to realize that this was the tongue-bar girl that had looked out the window with him.

“Had to happen sooner or later.”

“Are we really gonna do this, Ironman? There’s still millions of people on that planet.”

“Projections say that more than half of them are already infected. If we don’t act soon, someone’s gonna sneak Warlock onto a tramp freighter and then it’ll be on another, bigger planet.”

He could tell by the way her tail was making agitated, curling sweeps near her knees that she wasn’t settled by this. “If you say so.”

“We’ve saved a lot already, and it wasn’t even in the contract. If the Union had their way, we’d have just blazed the planet and left.”

She nodded. “At least we’ve made an attempt.” Pause. “How many have we saved?”

“Over six hundred thousand, last registry count.”

“A lot of thankful people.” She glanced at the room with her purple-blue eyes and sighed. “But they won’t like it.”

“No. Only a Peregrine would rest easy with having their…” he lowered his tone and Clarence could no longer hear them.

A few seconds later, every soldier seemed to pause, as if hearing an imaginary sound from somewhere. The wolf and the tongue-bar Felisan looked at each other, and then she hustled herself toward the nearest window.

Clarence couldn’t stay. He patted Bella on the shoulder. “Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

He rushed out of line and went to follow the girl. She met with another youthful Felisan soldier and they only glanced out of the window. As he caught up, their conversation dawned on him.

“We’ve rolled so the refs won’t see,” the boy was saying. “Come on. There’s another port on deck sixty-six.”

He chased them as they left. He was nearly sure that in another ten steps, someone would step out and stop him, send him back to where the other refugees were. But no one so much as gave him a second glance.

They ran down the stairs and kept moving at a furious sprint. He struggled to keep up, but by the time they arrived at one of the windows, he was out of breath and his legs were trembling and aching. There were only five of the soldiers here. As he came up and leaned against the windowframe, tongue-bar girl gave him a look and held out her arm, steadying him as he sagged.

He could see Delos again. It filled him with awe and hope as he saw his planet once more. It was so beautiful, glistening there in space. Yet, it seemed smaller. Had they moved?

“Oh no.”

One of the shapes near the planet had begun to sparkle. Soon after, it was consumed by the flickers and became one bright, piercing light, like a super-hot star there in orbit. The light made him and the others squint and he heard murmurs among them.

It stunned him that one of them was praying. He hadn’t known mercenaries to be terribly religious.

“Lord, forgive us for the catastrophic deed. We only did it for the best, to save more life by destroying the evil that has consumed this.”

The star moved. It got closer and closer to Delos, and then began to change color, turning orange instead of white.

“Please accept the souls of departed, who are all sent before their time, and reseat them in new forms to live brilliant lives elsewhere. Amen.”

Two others echoed it. Tongue-bar girl said nothing.

The orange glow suddenly spread, like a rock dropped in a pond. He soon realized that it was a hot ripple, and the center went an evil black color. It spread quickly, and in fifteen seconds or so had already reached the halfway, like a bright, burning equator. The planet behind the fiery ring was black as soot.

It struck him only then, as the ring began to converge on the other side, what was happening.

“Oh my god,” he inhaled. “You’ve killed it. You’ve…”

“Incinerated,” said his new friend. She wrapped a strong arm around his shoulder. “The Union couldn’t allow any chance that the disease would get out. The fact that we rescued you was a big risk.” She gave him a serious look. Her eyes were now more purple than blue. “No one can leave this ship for three weeks. If Warlock doesn’t break out by then, then we’ve succeeded.”

He gave her a frightened look. “What if it does?”

Her eyes turned sad. “Code eighty-eight.”

The others shivered.

“Self-destruct?” he ventured with a cold rush descending his spine.

With that, she gave a solemn nod.

He looked out. A few pockets here and there were still burning, but the entire planet had turned mostly black now. The firestorm was gone. In the back of his mind, he realized that mother and father, that Miss Sherman, his favorite English teacher, had been down there when the firestorm came. “Does it hurt?”

She shook her head, then noticed where he was looking and shook it again. “No. The firestorm moves at four hundred kilometers a second. One moment there’d be a strong breeze and in the next second, everything would be incinerated.” She pressed her lips together. “If you had anyone down there… they didn’t feel it when it hit. I’m sorry.”

He leaned against the bulkhead, finding a strange itch behind his eyes where tears were threatening, but for some reason he didn’t cry. Slowly, he looked over. None of the soldiers but the tongue girl was paying attention to him. As they stared at each other, he started to realize something.

“Code… so if you guys brought Warlock with us, then you die too.”

“Yes.”

Their fates were connected. If any one of the refugees had brought the rotting disease with them, then the entire ship was history, including each and every one of the Peregrine soldiers aboard. He tipped his head as he stared at her. After a second, his eyes moved and noticed for the first time her name badge.

Tongue girl was named Mesa.

“You could have just torched the planet,” he murmured, and looked back out at the black rock.

“Is that what you might have done?”

He didn’t know what he would have done, but that sounded right. Why risk himself, or his family, with a killer disease that had no cure, no treatment? If you had a planet-killer gun, just use it and walk away.

But they hadn’t.

“If anyone asks,” Mesa said quietly. Her eyes were marvelously bright in the dim corridor light. “You didn’t see it. I’m sure rumors will already be flying. We don’t want to start a panic. People will be angry. Remember, we’re stuck together for three weeks. The uppers don’t want the refugees to start fighting us.” She patted her hip and he glanced down.

She was carrying a handgun.

“Remember what happens when people without guns stand up to people with guns.” Her tail swept dangerously. “We saved your lives, but we’re going to protect ourselves.”

He nodded. “I’ll tell people I saw the planet, intact, before we left. Counter-intelligence. Try to reverse the rumors.”

She tipped her head a little, her ears choosing odd angles that he knew meant she was perplexed. “Why?”

He gave her a quiet grin and loosened his tie. “Because you saved our lives. I’m not going to let a few flighty nobles start a riot against the people that could have left us down there.”

Her tail rose. “What’s your name kid?”

“Clarence,” he answered automatically before remembering how much he hated that name.

“How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

She nodded and gestured. “You can get back if you go up the stairs, take a left, and follow the skinny corridor all the way down. If you ever want to come onto our side, go to one of the crewman hatches and say you know me.”

“That’ll work?”

She showed her shoulder, the one with the gold badge on it. “I’m a sergeant, kid. Those grunts have to listen to me.”