Chapter 438: No going back.

The Supreme Leader closed his eyes briefly and exhaled slowly through his nose, looking like a man who was desperately counting to ten in his head. When he opened them, his gaze was sharp enough to slice glass. "Erik, I do not like the tone of your voice, and I am sure our hosts don’t like it either." Almeida gestured toward the human delegation sitting across the long table.

"These people allowed us to come here in good faith," Almeida said, his voice tight. "And you continue to treat them like they are our enemies. You are not just being rude to them, Erik. You are embarrassing our entire group!"

Erik didn’t look even a little bit ashamed. In fact, he smirked. "Oh, come on, almighty supreme leader," Erik said, leaning back in his chair and resting his hands behind his head. "Don’t act like you’re the only one who wants that ship back. Ever since we landed on this planet, every single one of us here has been looking for it."

Almeida let out a weary sigh. "I know that, Erik. I really do. But it wouldn’t kill you to ask for it back nicely."

"Asking the humans nicely has literally never worked for us," Erik snorted. "Not even once."

Before the two aliens could exchange more words, the Grand Elder raised a hand, cutting in with a calm, heavy voice. "The humans have no desire to keep your ship. We just need to be completely sure that the Somnivores aren’t going to take it and use it to blow us off the map."

Erik scoffed out loud. He started spinning the thick metal ring on his index finger, a dangerous little spark dancing in his eyes. He looked like a guy who was just getting warmed up for a really good fight.

Almeida turned toward the Grand Elder. His hard expression softened into something almost gentle. "Elder, I give you my word. We don’t want the ship to hurt anyone, simply to enrich our lives and those of the people on this world."

"That’s great," Zyra chimed in, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. "Except for one minor detail: we have no idea where the ship actually is. Trinity was the only one who knew, and she took that secret to her grave."

"Lies!" Tonio muttered under his breath.

Behind Erik, a few of the other Somnivores started whispering among themselves, crossing their arms and looking deeply frustrated.

[Host, the Somnivores are sure that you have the spaceship. I heard some of them whispering about it in their language.] Beauty chimed in Zyra’s head.

"And I do not care if they are certain or not." Zyra replied. "I don’t trust them 100%."

Ivar, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up in a casual tone. "Truly, no one is planning to use that ship for anything bad. The supreme leader wants the Somnivores to return to Orakk. We can’t do that without our ship. Our return home would end all of humanity’s problems, wouldn’t it?"

"WHAT?!" Tonio exploded out of his seat so fast his chair screeched against the ground. He wasn’t the only one_ half the Somnivores on Erik’s side practically jumped out of their skins. They stared at Ivar like he had revealed a very dark secret. And he had, because none of them had heard anything about going back home.

Across the table, the human diplomats started whispering frantically to one another, wide-eyed as they watched the aliens suddenly turn on each other like a chaotic family reunion gone wrong.

Almeida held up his hands, trying to calm the room down. "I was going to tell everyone about it soon enough. I just wanted to wait until after we actually found the ship."

Solazo, sitting a few seats down, let out a dreamy sigh. "That is not a bad plan. Honestly, I kind of miss home. Those nice big fruit trees..."

Tonio picked up a bread roll off his plate and tossed it straight at Solazo’s head. It bounced off his cheek with a soft thwack. "You selfish idiot!" He yelled. "Are you out of your mind?!"

Erik burst out laughing, enjoying every second of the drama. "Do you all get it now? I have been telling you all along that Almeida has grown weak." Erik screamed, pointing a dramatic finger at Almeida. "He wants to go home because his sentence is finished. If he goes back to Orakk, he gets to walk around as a free prince. But the rest of us? We’ll be thrown right back into prison cages on another ship!"

Anukins leaned over the table, staring down Almeida’s supporters. "Think about it! We didn’t report to the home planet when our ship went of course. They consider us fugitives! If we go back now, they won’t just lock us up. They’ll probably give us the death sentence. Is that what you guys want? To spend another a hundred years in a cold steel box waiting to get executed?"

The aliens standing behind Almeida started nervously shuffling their feet. They looked at each other, the doubt spreading like wildfire.

Almeida was a prince who offended the king, his cousin. He still had loyal supporters back home. He was a noble. Nobody was going to execute Almeida if they returned. And his followers here on earth? They were just regular Somnivores with no royal safety net. Who knew what fate awaited them on their return?

Belchris, one of Almeida’s most loyal guys, cleared his throat nervously. "Uh... Almeida, supreme leader? Maybe... maybe Erik has a point. Maybe we should think about this a little more?"

"I am NOT going back!" Anukin shouted from the back, smashing his fist onto the table. "No way! We have a good life here why ruin it for uncertainty?"

Almeida bit his lip, looking at his split crew. He gave a heavy, tired shrug. "Anyone who wants to stay here on Earth can stay. I’m not forcing you to go home. But I am leaving."

Erik narrowed his eyes, a sharp smile touching his lips. "And if you leave... what stops you from telling the Orakk authorities where we’re hiding? They will invade this world within a week. How many humans will die then?" ℴℴ𝘮

Everyone went dead silent.

The human delegation that been watching the bitter argument with sweat dripping down their necks suddenly sat up. They didn’t understand all the alien politics, but they understood one thing very clearly: Nobody wanted Almeida to hop in a spaceship and abandon a bunch of unsupervised, angry, super-powered aliens on Earth. They also didn’t want him bringing back more aliens who might be tempted to take over earth. That was a recipe for global disaster.

Zyra sighed, rubbing her temples. She turned her head to look at Hunter, who was sitting next to her. He was totally staring off into space, looking completely lost. It made sense_ he had just reunited with his long-lost father, and now the guy was already talking about flying off into outer space forever. Another parent that was not choosing him.

Zyra gently patted Hunter’s hand under the table. "Hey. You, okay?"

Hunter blinked, forcing a small smile. "Yeah. I’m fine."