I wave and smile at Admiral Anagov and the others stupid Federation officers, my jaw set firm with a grimace of a smile as we board the female Badligon’s ship, now fixed and ready for take-off.

I have no intention of seeking out the Federation council and informing them of the stranded officers, but my new mate, Riffka seems to have found a soft spot for them so for now, I need to keep up the pretence.

The last few doons, living a lie has been far more painful than the seven yanas my males and I have been trapped on this damned planet for.

Ever since the Brizzock overpowered me and trapped me in a cave, I’ve dreamed of torturing him by slowly pulling off his body plates and then stripping him of his skin and feasting on it while keeping him alive to watch his own demise. So when the boulder trapping me inside the cave was pulled back revealing the Huwandi Admiral he had stopped me from killing and the Brizzock himself, my ire was so explosive, it had taken both of them an age to restrain me before I’d finally weakened enough to listen and comprehend what the Admiral was saying about female Badligons being alive.

As soon as he told me there were surviving female Badligons here on the planet, I had to swallow my pride and put on a false expression as I made a plan for revenge..

I needed to get back to my males and let them know I was alive. From there on we would overpower the Federation officers, their bodies providing us with more than enough meat to keep us fed for cycs whilst we searched for more of our surviving species before heading to the unoccupied planet the Admiral had told me about.

However, I wasn’t expecting my plans to be ruined by one of the officers who had mutated from a vine sting. When we'd first arrived on this planet and were hunting for a habitat, I had lost two of my males to the poison from those vines. They’d landed in a tree and been caught out by the vines—but who’d have thought survivors of the sting would be able to mutate and yield such power.

When the Admiral and the Brizzock led me to the secret encampment and I saw my males already there, I thought luck was finally on my side. It was the perfect opportunity to overthrow the Federation officers, as most of them were still injured because we had their balm. But I’d immediately put the dormant plans to attack on hold when I first clapped eyes on the leading Badligon female protecting the three strange females.

Riffka was the first strong and fearless Badligon female I’d seen in yanas and I didn’t want to jeopardise any possible merger between the females under her control with my males, and especially a possible union between her and me. So when the mutated Hortu showed his powers to me, killing my second in command and restraining many more of my males, I had to swallow down my pride and formulate another plan. The new plan leads me to where I am now.

I kiss Riffka on the top of her head. “I just need to check on something.”

She smiles up at me. “Don’t be long; I want to be next to my new mate when we finally leave this damned planet.”

I quickly head down into the cargo bay and over to a box I had one of my males secretly carry onto the ship. I prise off the lid and look inside.

A black vine is curled up with its stinger in the centre, protected by its looped body, the end of which sits in moist soil. I can’t help the grin of malice from spreading across my face. I have three yanas to try and learn how the poison works. Three yanas until the Federation officer’s ship is up and running again and able to leave… Three yanas to wreak my revenge on the unsuspecting officers and their mates.