Council Leader Vorik stood at the window in his office and gazed down at the glowing blue planet before him, taking in its beauty. He was deep in thought. Now that Medic Kaul knew Mia was safe in a confidential room on his ship and her father was a Kreq, he didn't have to keep her on the mother-ship.

He had asked her if she would rather stay on the mother-ship or go back to the planet, giving her the choice to go where she wished. Mia had said that she wanted to go back to Earth. She didn't feel comfortable in space. It was a reasonable answer. Most humans didn't like to stay in space. the artificial gravity made them feel 'off' as Alice would say.

Renn had stayed as her caregiver and even offered to let her live in his home until she felt comfortable staying alone or when she found a fated mate. She liked the idea and had moved into his home on Earth inside the main dome. It made her feel safe, since he had already proven he could be trusted; he wouldn't harm her. She hoped that she wouldn't find one for a while. After everything that happened to her, the very act of intimacy scared her. She wasn't ready for any of that.

A large population from the large fleet of ships moved into one of the other two domes. Vorik knew he needed to build more to accommodate the rest of his population. There weren't enough homes for everyone. He wanted everyone to have the choice to live on the surface if they wanted to. At the moment, that wasn't possible. He even gave the humans the option to live in space. he wasn't surprised that none of them wanted to. Several mated pairs did, but most chose to stay on the planet's surface.

Only minimal staff were needed to run the ships in the fleet, making it possible to let the majority of the population move to the planet's surface when there were enough accommodations. There weren't currently, so he just needed to build more so that they could. He wanted to give as many people as possible the option of moving to the planet, but not enough homes were built.

He had set up large replicators in the hangar bays of each of the battleships to begin making pieces of the new domes, the personal dwellings, and other buildings. It was all in preparation for constructing the fourth dome. Once the needed new domes were completed, he hoped that all who wanted it would have a place to go.

As for the prisoners, only a few remained in the cells. All prisoners who continued to cause problems were forced to stay in their cells. After his realization that his people had done to them what the Kreq had done to his own people, he couldn't blame them for how they were fighting against him and his people. In their place, he would have done the same.

For the prisoners who remained, rather than leave them in the empty cells of the prison, he gave them items of comfort: beds with layers of blankets were given to them, as well as items to keep themselves and their clothes clean. They were given three meals a day instead of one. The prisoners who were released had been interviewed, deemed relatively safe, meaning not hostile, and were incorporated into the growing society. He did his best to make them feel comfortable. It was a slow process.

It was business as usual for the teams searching the planet for humans that needed help and zombies to capture so that they could drain the toxin from them, making them human again. That was a long process as well. During their search, they found pockets of humans as well as mated pairs who were unaware that things had changed. His soul hurt with those, seeing the hiding couples, malnourished, and trying to keep the wombs of the females safe. All the mated pairs had a pregnant female. Not having enough food or nutrition meant it was dangerous; it could harm the child inside them.

With the three domes that had been built already, he had to find a way to make everyone happy. There were a lot of complaints on both sides about not wanting to mix. Vorik had to come up with a compromise. In the end, he had to use the domes to separate the people. One dome was filled with all humans, another with all Ramesians, and the last was a mix of the two races. It was the main dome. He wanted those individuals who were not ready to mix, considering one was the invader, and the other was invaded, to have a place where they felt safe. If it had to be away from his people, then so be it. If it took a long time for everyone to feel comfortable with each other, then so be it. He wouldn't force it.

There was a time when he thought that Hope was what her name suggested. The hope of saving the remaining lives, both human and zombie. It turned out there was nothing that her blood could do to help the situation.

Then Jada came along, a half-zombie who had refused to go near Medic Kaul. She didn't want to be drained. Not only that, she didn't like Kaul. When she first arrived, he had called her an 'it' when he saw that she was more than human. Then, later, she was afraid he wanted to use her as a lab rat. At least, that's what she called it. Kaul did, in fact, want to study her, but not in the way she was insinuating.

Jada turned out to be a better fighter than either of the Walker sisters. Even the two sisters combined, which was saying a lot since the sisters were both world champion weapons masters who fought better than most of his own people. Jada's speed was supernatural, and she had better senses than the Ramesians, who could easily detect the toxin in the zombies. She had rolled her eyes once, saying that the toxin gave her 'superpowers' and that she didn't want to lose them.

A high-pitched whistle sounded, breaking Council Leader Vorik out of his inner thoughts. It was immediately silenced. It was someone requesting entry to his office.

"Come in," Council Leader Vorik called.

The door slid open, and Pilot Merrick entered. "Sir," he stated, making the gesture of respect. "We are ready to start the construction of a fourth dome, sir."

Council Leader Vorik nodded, then followed his personal pilot, Merrick, to the hangar bay. He was going to the surface to oversee the construction of the fourth dome.

"Have they swept the area for hidden bunkers similar to Zack and Carrie's?" Vorik questioned his pilot. He didn't want to trap or harm those trying to hide, if there were.

Merrick nodded. "Several small groups were hiding in the area. We made sure to mark the spots they were in to avoid inadvertently trapping them. We had Julian and Zack come with us when we swept the area for hidden groups. We knew that Zack and Julian, being human, could speak with them to avoid a confrontation. Once Julian and Zack explained the situation to them, they calmed down a bit. I appreciated their willingness to speak to survivors."

Vorik smiled. "Zack and his group have been paramount in stopping violence. I am grateful for their assistance. Now, with Julian willing to help, that makes it easier to avoid more violence."

Merrick nodded in agreement as they continued toward the Hangar Bay.

When the wide double doors slid open, Vorik and Merrick stepped inside the hangar. There were crews busily loading large shuttles that were designed as cargo vessels. They were loaded with large parts to construct domes, special replicators, and other items that would help with the construction. It was a fast and efficient process.

Once all of the ships were loaded, the cargo shuttles exited the battleship one by one, heading to the surface. They were all going to the same location. After the last one left, Merrick, Rask, who was waiting in the shuttle, and Vorik followed in Vorik's personal shuttle.

Council Leader Vorik scanned his fleet as his small shuttle soared through space and toward Earth. The stars were silent; the fleet of large battleships floated above the blue planet. Flickering lights from lit windows sparkled all along the surface of the ships.

Vorik, looking at the ships, wanted to find a way to let the large battle cruisers dock so that a crew was not needed to keep them functioning. Everyone should be able to live on the surface once enough domes are constructed, if they want to. He wanted everyone to have a choice. There was a lot of work in his future to make that happen. He was going to be busy.

Council Leader Vorik sat in his seat in deep thought about his plans to combine the two races. The gentle sway of the ship was felt as they flew into the Earth's atmosphere and landed on the landing platform.

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