The Valrick are a sapient ooze, alien to the sector, that can latch onto technology and ride it. On Vari they took over the town of Praka, infecting its drones and machines and restraining the townspeople, and the planet went into lockdown, which Kos news put down to either political trouble or a technical issue. Infected drones kept getting back up however much damage they took. Freezing was what killed the ooze riding them, and the team had to modify their weapons for cold before they were any use at all.

Their leader, Belsar, spoke for them from a large building in the town. He said they had only restrained the humans after being attacked, asked to share a mental link to show the fleet his homeworld, and demanded six drones and the right to stay. Rowan's deductive routines judged the link an attempt at subversion, Rowan privately advised that the Valrick were an unacceptable risk to both the locals and the fleet, and after Anka's ultimatum a cryo explosion killed Belsar and the other ooze beings, uncovering a supercomputer with a lidded hole. Most of the team came away feeling a bit sorry for it, though it was really bad at negotiating considering it had no way to defend itself. That ooze sure was an asshole, Anka said afterwards.