<What? WHAT? Leave the ship?!> I screeched. <What do you mean, leave the ship?!>

Arbron did not look any happier than I was. <They just told me, okay? They didn’t ask my opinion. The captain called me from debriefing, had me run to the bridge, said, “You and Aristh Elfangor be at Docking Bay Seven in ten minutes,” and I said, “Yes, sir.”>

I had taken the humans to a holding room. And then, while waiting for my own debriefing I’d gone back to the dome to eat. I was very hungry. I was on my way to check back on Loren when Arbron intercepted me.

<This can’t be right,> I moaned. <The StarSword is my home. We’re going to find that Yeerk task force and destroy them.>

<Yeah, yeah, I know. And you’ll be a big hero and they’ll make you a prince without even slowing down to make you a warrior.>

<That’s not what I was thinking,> I lied.

<Well, forget it. Come on. We move out immediately. We’re supposed to meet up with our commander for this mission.>

Something about the tone of Arbron’s thought-speak made me wary. <Our commander? Who’s our commander?>

<None other than War-prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass,> Arbron said.

Both my hearts sank into my hooves. Alloran. Alloran, the disgraced. So this mission was definitely not a reward from the captain. Alloran had once been a great warrior and prince. But he had been disgraced. I didn’t know why. No one talked about it. Everyone just knew that Alloran had broken some law or custom.

Being sent off on some stupid side mission with a disgraced war-prince was not a good thing.

I couldn’t believe it. This ship was my home. I didn’t want to leave her, not even for a while. It could take a long time before we could rejoin the StarSword, and by then, who knew? Maybe by some miracle the entire war would be over.

Which would be good, I supposed.

<What’s in Docking Bay Seven, anyway?> I grumbled as we reached the right door.

Arbron swung his stalks back and forth in a “who knows?” gesture.

We opened the door to Docking Bay Seven. And there, standing awkwardly on their two legs, were Loren and Chapman. Behind them stood Alloran.

I had seen War-prince Alloran around the Dome ship at times. He’d always seemed to be deep in thought. Like he was off somewhere in his imagination or memory. He was not especially large. But he seemed to be carved from solid steel. Even his fur was a metallic blue. And the bare flesh of his upper body showed faint traces of burn scars.

Beyond Alloran was a ship I had never seen before. It hovered just inches above the polished floor. It was three times the size of any fighter I’d ever encountered. The main section was a fantastically elongated oval that stretched way out in front of three oversized, swept-back engines. Three engines, not the usual two! And coming up overhead was the long, gracefully arced spike of the main shredder.

Oh, she was a thing of beauty. I had never fallen in love with a machine before, but, oh, that ship was sweet.

<I see you like my little toy, aristh,> Alloran said.

<It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,> I said. <Like … like a work of art.>

<I designed her myself. I call her the Jahar. It’s my wife’s name.>

<Prince Alloran, what is our mission?> Arbron asked.

The prince sighed a little, but when he spoke he was firm and correct. <We are to take these two aliens back to their planet, erase their recent memories, and rejoin the StarSword whenever we can.>

<Transport work,> I said. I didn’t exactly sneer, but I felt like sneering. We were just running a silly errand.

“Excuse me? Erase my memory?” Loren said. “No one is erasing my memory.”

<It’s necessary,> I said as kindly as I could. <Your civilization is not ready for what you’ve encountered. If you go back to your Earth, you’ll have to have all memory of this erased.>

The two humans looked at each other. The one called Chapman made a snorting sound from his nose. Loren made a facial expression that looked troubled. At least that’s how it looked to me.

<Let’s move, arisths,> Alloran ordered. <Load the aliens. The captain wants to go to Z-space five minutes from now, and by then we have to be well clear of the Dome ship. Your personal belongings have already been brought from your quarters.>

No one was in a good mood as we walked up the ramp into the Jahar. The humans were stone-faced, angry, perhaps afraid. Arbron and I were both grim, feeling we’d been shoved off on some stupid side trip. And Alloran could not have been exactly thrilled, either. He was a great war-prince. And here he was running errands with only a pair of arisths under his command.

The one good thing was the Jahar. It was as beautiful inside as out. There were small but luxurious quarters. And there was good green and blue grass under our feet, not hard steel. By some trick of gravity manipulation Alloran had even created a small waterfall in one corner that went down, splashed into a pool, then fell back upward to fall all over again.

Alloran took the helm, which left Arbron and me with nothing to do. He executed a smooth launch out of the docking bay, and then, suddenly, we were out in black space, looking up through the real windows at the Dome ship.

The StarSword was silhouetted against the bright rings of the sixth planet.

“Oh, my God,” Loren gasped. “That’s Saturn!”

As I watched, the StarSword’s engines glowed brilliant blue and the Dome ship picked up speed. Faster and faster, till suddenly, with a flash, she translated into Zero-space and disappeared.

“Faster-than-light travel?” Chapman marveled. “It’s physically impossible!”

<True. But Z-space travel doesn’t involve going fast. It involves tunneling through anti-space, what we call Zero-space, and then back into the normal universe at another point,> Arbron said.

“But I suppose you Andalites keep the secret to yourselves, eh?” Chapman said.

<Not always,> Alloran said darkly. <Once we shared it. The result was the Yeerk Empire that threatens all decent species. Be glad you are safe on your simple planet, alien. The galaxy is not a happy place to be anymore.>

Alloran entered the destination into the computer. We would make one brief Zero-space jump to approach Earth. But Z-drive travel is not very precise. Even if we were lucky, we’d probably emerge a million miles from Earth itself. It would be a trip of many days to get there.

<Make the aliens comfortable, arisths,> Alloran ordered.

<Prince, afterward may I use your ship’s computers?> Arbron asked. <I have a copy of the Skrit Na download and I thought I spotted something strange.>

<An exo-datologist, eh?> Alloran said with a slight sneer. <The new ideal: warrior, scientist, artist. It’s not enough to be a fighter anymore, eh? They want a gentler, more balanced, more intellectual sort of warrior nowadays.>

Arbron looked helplessly at me. <I guess so, War-prince Alloran. I mean, that’s what they teach us, anyway.>

For a while Alloran said nothing. He just stared blankly, not at anyone. Or at least not at anyone in that room. <The Electorate wants war without slaughter. They want a clean, neat, honorable war. Fools.>

I was shocked. You didn’t call the Electorate fools. You just didn’t.

<Sir … ,> Arbron asked timidly. <The computer … ?>

<What? Oh, yes. The computer. Why not? Use it all you like,> the prince said. <We’re in for a long, boring ride.>