Everybody gets naked, part 1

It is a beautiful thing when you get to bring in all the elements from a story and integrate them into the climax. You may recall earlier in The Ark Lords that on Helome, Virga tried to kidnap Rei and get him to mate with her. This was a seemingly random scene that had no bearing on anything else. There was nothing random about it. That scene was critical and here you will see why:

     “No,” Rei answered. “You don’t understand. I mean that you are done on Deucado. You are no longer welcome on this planet. You are all leaving.”
     “Leaving? Where are you going to send us?” Keller scoffed. “Back to Earth? That’s where we want to go.”
     “No,” Rei said. “Not Earth. Somewhere else.” Rei looked over the crowd then directed his stare back at Keller. “Let me put it to you this way. All you’ve ever wanted to do since you got here is screw the Vuduri. Well now you’re going to get your chance. For the rest of your life.”
     Rei turned back to MINIMCOM. “Do you mind taking them?” he asked.
     “Probably not but where am I taking them?” MINIMCOM countered.
     “To Helome, of course,” Rei answered.
     “In that case, I would be delighted,” replied the livetar.
     “Can you see to it that they are naked?” Rei asked. “I want to make sure the rest of them aren’t carrying any hidden weapons. And I want Virga to see that I gift-wrapped them for her.”
     “Of course,” MINIMCOM replied. “How many am I transporting?”
     “All of them,” Rei said, pointing to the crowd. “Anyone who is on this base is with Project Darwin. I want every one of them gone.”
     The livetar nodded. Starting near the front, with a whoosh and a pop, one by one, the people standing on the tarmac winked out, the only thing left behind were their clothes. A woman shouted from the back of the crowd. Rei looked over at the commotion and saw Edgar Mullen trying to restrain a pregnant female. She broke free and ran through the ranks, toward Rei, calling out “Rei, Rei!”
     “Bonnie?” Rei asked, surprised. “What do you want?”
     “I don’t know where you are sending us but I don’t want to go,” she said, cradling her belly. “I don’t want to go with Edgar. I want to stay here.”
     “The very fact that you are on this base means you knew about Darwin and yet you did nothing to stop it.”
     “Rei, please,” Bonnie said, taking another step forward. “I’m sorry but I had no choice. You know that.”
     “Everyone has a choice. You made the wrong one,” Rei said harshly.

Poor Bonnie. She was appealing to someone who just had their child threatened. Actually, their entire species if Keller had his way. I would not expect Rei to be very sympathetic.