SCIONS OF HUMANITY

THE ASCENSION WAR - BOOK 1

BY M. D. COOPER

Thanks to our

Just in Time (JIT) & Beta Readers

Timothy van Oosterwyk Bruyn

Gareth Banks

Manie Kilian

Scott Reid

Copyright © 2020 M. D. Cooper

Aeon 14 is Copyright © 2020 M. D. Cooper

Version 1.0.0

Cover Art by Andrew Dobell

Editing by Jen McDonnell, Bird’s Eye Books

Aeon 14 & M. D. Cooper are registered trademarks of Malorie Cooper

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

WELCOME TO AEON 14

KEY CHARACTERS

PROLOGUE

A VIEW TO FORGET

PART ONE

CHAPTER 1 - MIRA

CHAPTER 2 - KRAI

CHAPTER 3 - TANIS

CHAPTER 4 - KRAI

CHAPTER 5 - KRAI

CHAPTER 6 - MIRA

CHAPTER 7 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 8 - TANIS

CHAPTER 9 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 10 - SERA

PART TWO

CHAPTER 11 - MIRA

CHAPTER 12 - KRAI

CHAPTER 13 - MIRA

CHAPTER 14 - SERA

CHAPTER 15 - MIRA

CHAPTER 16 - MIRA

CHAPTER 17 - SERA

CHAPTER 18 - TANIS

CHAPTER 19 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 20 - TANIS

CHAPTER 21 - MIRA

CHAPTER 22 - GRAYSON

CHAPTER 23 - KRAI

CHAPTER 24 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 25 - MIRA

CHAPTER 26 - KRAI

PART THREE

CHAPTER 27 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 28 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 29 - MIRA

CHAPTER 30 - KRAI

CHAPTER 31 - MIRA

CHAPTER 32 - GRAYSON

CHAPTER 33 - CHEEKY

CHAPTER 34 - SAANVI

CHAPTER 35 - CHEEKY

CHAPTER 36 - SABS

CHAPTER 37 - RIKA

CHAPTER 38 - CHEEKY

CHAPTER 39 - RIKA

CHAPTER 40 - CARY

CHAPTER 41 - RIKA

CHAPTER 42 - CARY

PART FOUR

CHAPTER 43 - ESTEE

CHAPTER 44 - TANIS

CHAPTER 45 - CARY

CHAPTER 46 - PEREZ

CHAPTER 47 - SERA

CHAPTER 48 - TANGEL

THANK YOU FOR READING

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THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

OTHER BOOKS BY M. D. COOPER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

FOREWORD

I don’t think it’s possible to talk about this book without discussing the trepidation I felt both preparing to write it and actually starting on the journey of putting this story to the page.

It’s rather silly, right? You’d think that after publishing over one hundred books, I wouldn’t feel this way—and I often don’t—but this book is special.

Everything that happened in the Orion War series, as well as all the books taking place during the Age of the Orion War, were building toward what happens in the Ascension War. There are major expectations to live up to.

But on top of that, I took extra care to ensure that this book is accessible to people who have not read any other Aeon 14 book. You know…a really simple undertaking.

Oh…and I set out to make this the longest book I’ve ever written.

However, when I sat down, and the words started to flow, I found that this book practically writes itself. Yes, it’s still tricky—I’m managing a lot of threads that have to weave together just so—but despite that, I don’t see myself having a problem getting it done on time and up to my usual high standard.

To give you a taste of things to come, this book is over 140,000 words long (the average Orion War book being 85,000) and rings in at over 500 pages. I was planning for three books, but as I worked out the series story arcs, I realized that it will come out to be five books.

I suppose the best way to sum it up is to say that I’m loving this story: the planning, the writing, the characters, the twists and turns, all of it—and even better, I’m certain you will too.

I should add, however, that this book is just the first chapter in the largest story I’ve ever written, and because of that, there aren’t a lot of resolutions to the story threads that I introduce. I ask that you be patient, as this tale unfolds into a scope unlike any I’ve ever seen or imagined before.

Finally, a special thanks to my wife, Jill (aka Chris J. Pike) for helping me write the sections of this story focusing on Kylie Rhoads and the crew of the Barbaric Queen. Aeon 14 wouldn’t exist without her.

Malorie Cooper

Danvers 2020

mdcooper@thewoodenpenpress.com

WELCOME TO AEON 14

Whether this is your first time diving into an Aeon 14 novel, or your hundredth, welcome, and thanks for reading.

If you’re new here, this book is a great place to start your journey. In fact, any Aeon 14 series (with the exception of the Perseus Gate books) can serve as an introduction to the ‘verse and get you acquainted with the people and the galaxy they inhabit.

At this point, the people of the Milky Way are at the tail end of what is known as The Orion War, a two-year conflict that rapidly expanded to involve nearly all major alliances and empires, finally ending with the Hegemony and Matri∞me’s defeat at Earth.

Now, a new era of peace is dawning, with a new organization, the Alliance of Sapiens, operating as the governing body for much of the galaxy. At the head of the AoS is Hegemon Tanis Richards, who rules from High Terra, the artificial ring constructed around Earth.

Throughout the galaxy, her agents and operatives are working to curb the spread of dangerous technology developed during the war, as well as hunt down the remnants of certain enemy forces.

Below are several of the major groups present in this story, though this list is far from exhaustive.

The Alliance of Sapiens

In the wake of the Orion War, the Scipio Alliance was reformed into a new entity that both welcomed and represented all sapient peoples in the galaxy.

Despite the fact that humanity has not yet encountered any other sapient life in the galaxy, they have created sentient AIs, and uplifted many animals. This led to the Alliance’s desire to represent all peoples equally.

The AoS’s capital is at High Terra, the ring wrapped around Earth, and the Alliance’s leader is Tanis Richards, the former field marshal of the Scipio Alliance. Though the AoS oversees tens of millions of systems across a twenty-thousand-light-year section of the Milky Way, it does not have its own military, relying on the vaunted ISF to police its member nations.

The AoS also controls much of the most advanced technology in the galaxy, including the QuanComm communication network and the jump gates. Gaining access to these technologies and tools ensures that the various nations, empires, and alliances of the galaxy abide by the AoS’s strictures.

The Intrepid Space Force (ISF)

The official space force of the New Canaan System, the ISF, is as equally connected to the ship that bore the colonists to New Canaan as it is to the colony itself.

Though much of the advanced technology that was used to win the Orion War came from the New Canaan colonists as much as their military arm, most of the galaxy uses the term ‘ISF’ to refer to both.

While Tanis Richards is the titular head of the ISF, it is functionally commanded by Admiral Jessica Keller, and operates primarily out of Star City.

The Matri∞me

At the end of the Second Sentience War, many of the ascended AIs fled the Sol System. Seeking both energy and distance from humanity and their allied AIs, many of the ascended beings traveled to the galactic core, there establishing several different factions.

One of the most powerful of these was the Matri∞me, controlled by a being known as Epsilon.

For millennia, Epsilon was content to let humanity, and the AIs who had remained behind, fight one another and remain weak—but when the Intrepid reappeared after a jump forward in time, Epsilon had no choice but to intervene.

His actions sparked the Orion War which culminated in the defeat of Matri∞me forces at Earth. After that battle, Epsilon and the Matri∞me disappeared, and no one has since seen any trace of them.

Members of the Matri∞me are often referred to as ‘Core AIs’, though not all AIs who once resided at the galactic core were members of that faction.

The Outer Alliance

Toward the end of the Third Solar War, many people—both humans and AIs—began to flee the Sol System. Many traveled to nearby colonies, while others continued past settled space, seeking distance from other people.

The X’Liy

A cephalopod-like species that lives in liquid methane, the X’Liy have a unique way of thinking and looking at the world. While their language is translated for humans, the text represents as many of the subtle differences as possible without reducing legibility.

Firstly, the X’Liy do not have multiple sexes. As such, they do not use any differentiated pronouns. The rough analog is ‘je’ for he/she/they, and ‘kes’ for him/her/them.

The species’ concept of self is different than ours. They are far less social than humans, but do operate in groups for various purposes. When refering to an individual, they often use the phrase ‘a one’ rather than ‘I’ or a singular pronoun.

The following are other phrases and terms used, along with their analogs.

Cycle: An X’Liy year. Nearly four hundred standard days.

Dead Orbs: Terrestrial planets and moons.

Deep Black: The dark layer.

Draught of Life: The liquid methane X’Liy live in.

Fluid Orbs: Gas planets.

Food Grotto: The ship’s galley.

Home-span: Close to an Astronomical Unit in distance.

Mass Conformity: A star system.

Mass Lance: A missile.

Minor Cycle: An X’Liy day. Equivalent to 25 standard hours.

Minor Light Span: A light minute.

Light Orbs: Stars.

Light Span: A light year.

Light Spears: Starship energy weapons (lasers, electron beams, proton beams, etc…).

Span-measure: Roughly analogous to a meter.

Tenth Cycle: Roughly two hours.

Travelshell: Any vessel that travels through space.

Void: Space.

KEY CHARACTERS

In the Outer Alliance

Mira: Commander in the OASF (Outer Alliance Space Force) and captain of the Inquiry.

Janice: Lieutenant in the OASF and XO of the Inquiry.

Brock: Ensign in the OSAF and the Inquiry’s scan, comm, and shields officer. Twin brother of Emma.

Emma: Ensign in the OASF and pilot of the Inquiry. Twin sister of Brock.

Aqua: Chief Warrant Officer (CWO-5) and head engineer aboard the Inquiry.

Greg: Warrant Officer (WO-2) and security and quartermaster aboard the Inquiry.

Lorra: Warrant Officer (WO-2) and second engineer aboard the Inquiry.

Perez: Colonel in the OASF stationed on Ouranos Orbital; Mira’s commanding officer.

In the X’Liy Far Patrol

Krai: Far Patrol travelshell operator on three-hundred-cycle mission through the spinward mass conformities.

Phrysi: Krai’s travelshell and home.

At Finaeus’s Secret Facility

Tangel: The merge of Tanis and Angela, Tangel died, but was saved after Finaeus and Earnest went back in time to provide her with a CriEn that enabled her to weather the destruction of New Earth’s moon.

Finaeus: A truly ancient man, Finaeus was part of the engineering team that built High Terra and conceived of the FGT. He left the Sol System in the mid third millennia, eventually helping to found the Transcend. He is responsible for building some of the most impressive structures in the galaxy.

Aboard the I2 In the Sol System

Tanis: The first governor of the New Canaan colony, Tanis went on to become the Scipio Alliance’s field marshal during the Orion War. At the end of the war, she was also named Hegemon of the Alliance of Sapiens.

Angela: Once an AI aequitor in the Sol System, Angela paired with Tanis during her time in the Terran Space Force. Angela and Tanis’s minds have grown so intertwined that they can no longer be separated.

Joe: General Joseph Evans is the highest-ranking officer in the Intrepid Space Force. He is also married to Tanis, Angela, and Tangel.

Bob: The I2’s multinodal AI, Bob is an extradimensional being rivaling the most powerful of the Matri∞me AIs

Rachel: Both admiral of the ISF’s First Fleet and captain of the I2, Rachel has served alongside Tanis and Angela for nearly a century.

Aboard the Cora’s Triumph

Cary: Daughter of Tanis and Joe, Cary is an ascended being who still uses her organic body. She is currently aiding in the Starshift Initiative that is correcting the altered courses of stars that the Matri∞me have set on collision courses.

Earnest: An engineer from Sol’s golden age, Earnest is the mind behind much of the ISF’s most advanced technology, and has devised his own methods for moving stars in addition to what the Matri∞me uses.

Beatrice: Captain of the Cora’s Triumph and sometimes paramour of Terrance Enfield.

Aboard Sabrina in the Indis System (Illium)

Sabrina: The infiltration team’s starship, currently bearing the ident: ‘Matron Tulip’.

Sabrina: Sabrina is the AI embedded within Sabrina. Though she and her ship have passed through several owners, Sabrina is now free and owns both herself and Sabrina.

Cheeky: Captain and pilot, Cheeky has served on Sabrina for nearly forty years in one capacity or another, and now leads their missions for the AoS.

Sabs: When a mission required an additional AI, Sabrina sharded herself to create a clone able to leave the ship and break network connectivity. After a successful operation, Sabs decided not to re-merge with Sabrina, and has remained a distinct person.

Nance: Nance has also served aboard Sabrina for nearly forty years in her capacity as the ship’s engineer and bio.

Misha: Officially, Misha is the ship’s cook, though he often goes on missions and is just as handy with a firearm as the others.

Fina: A clone of Sera (a former captain of Sabrina), Fina now serves as a member of the crew. Her training as a Hand agent makes her an especially skilled operative.

Aboard the Barbaric Queen in the Lupus Cloud

Kylie: Captain of the Barbaric Queen who served under the Transcend during the Orion War and now works for the Alliance of Sapiens under Director Seraphina. Married to Grayson.

Grayson: Former colonel in the Silstrand Alliance who later served in the ISF until he became a special envoy for the Transcend, serving aboard the Barbaric Queen. Married to Kylie.

Marie: Kylie and Grayson’s precocious six-year-old daughter.

Mr. Fizzle Pop: Uplifted cat who is obsessed with pizza, naps, and helping out on missions—but only when he feels like it.

Rogers: Pilot of the Barbaric Queen who might be totally obsessed with bacon. Married to Ricket.

Winter: The team’s muscle and weapons specialist. Lana’s boyfriend…sorta.

Jenny: Winter’s long-lost sister. Winter sought her out after the Orion War, bringing her to the Barbaric Queen, where she now serves as the ship’s chef.

Ricket: A former operative in the Transcend’s Hand agency, she now works for the Alliance. Her current assignment has taken her away from the ship and crew. Married to Rogers.

Burton: Rogers and Ricket’s twelve-year-old son.

Lana: A covert operative with special training and resources, currently assisting Ricket on a mission. Winter’s girlfriend (most of the time).

Aboard the Grace O’Malley in Sigma 1199

Sera Tomlinson: Former captain of Sabrina, former director of the Hand, and former president of the Transcend, Sera’s past is long and complex. She now captains the Grace O’Malley, working for the Alliance on a mission to hunt down any trace of the Matri∞me. Married to Jason Andrews.

Jen: ISF AI first paired with Sera when she was president, Jen has stayed on with her close friend, aiding in the mission to hunt down core AIs.

Jason Andrews: An ancient spacer, born in the thirty-first century, Jason has lived through much of humanity’s history and finally left Sol as the captain of the Intrepid, a sublight, interstellar colony ship. He was later the governor of the Victoria and New Canaan colonies, ultimately ‘retiring’ to join Sera in her work. Husband of Sera.

Cargo: In the days when Sera was a pirate and smuggler, Cargo joined her crew aboard Sabrina. Later, he became captain of the ship before handing it off to Jessica when he retired. After just a few years dirtside, he rejoined Sera aboard the Grace O’Malley.

West: A former chief in the ISF, West died in the Kapteyn’s Star System, but was brought back via a mind backup in crystal storage. West is genderfluid and periodically switches between male and female.

Aboard the Overwatch in the Farsis System

Rika: Ambassador for the Alliance of Sapiens, Rika has a storied past. She served in the Genevian military, her body mechanized against her will, and later became the leader of a mercenary company named Rika’s Marauders. With that command, she launched a campaign to free her people from Nietzschea, eventually succeeding and becoming the Genevian Queen.

Chase: Former general in the Genevian military, Chase has joined Rika on her mission to aid in the spread of the AoS in an attempt to bring lasting peace to the galaxy.

Niki: One of the oldest non-ascended AIs left, Niki is paired with Rika and is her closest confidant.

Piper: The remains of a multimodal AI that Rika rescued from the Nietzscheans, Piper is now the Overwatch’s ship AI.

Kelly: One of Rika’s oldest friends, Kelly served in the Marauders and then in the Queen’s Guard. When Rika left Genevia, Kelly came with her, both as a friend and a protector. Kelly has also married Keli in the intervening years.

Keli: Serving as a mech in the Marauders, Keli became one of Rika’s personal guards. She is married to Kelly, and came with her when Rika became an AoS ambassador.

Shoshin: Having served in the same fireteam as Keli and Kelly for nearly his entire Marauders career, Shoshin joined the two women when they followed Rika, citing Rika’s propensity for fun and interesting situations as his rationale.

Aboard the Voyager in the Galactic Core

Katrina: Formerly a Noctus spy in the Sirian System, Katrina has been everything from a governor to a pirate and a warlord. She currently works for the AoS, hunting for clues as to the core AIs’ whereabouts.

Troy: Thought dead after he saved his colony ship from a Sirian attack, Troy was left behind when the colonists moved on. Katrina later found him on Victoria’s moon, and he aided her in finding the Voyager and leaving the Kapteyn’s Star System.

Carl: Katrina’s first mate and one of the ship’s original crew. He led the engineering team that retrofitted the Voyager for FTL, and joined the crew shortly afterward.

Kirb: An engineer who helped with the Voyager’s retrofit, Kirb has served aboard ever since.

Camille: Like Carl and Kirb, Camille came aboard the ship to aid in the retrofit. She has since taken the role of chief engineer aboard the Voyager.

Malorie: Wife of a warlord in the Midditerra System, Malorie was responsible for breaking Katrina and learning her secrets. In the end, the tables were turned, and she formed an uneasy alliance with Katrina. Over the following centuries, they have become close friends.

PROLOGUE

A VIEW TO FORGET

STELLAR DATE: 06.29.8950 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Finaeus’s Secret Facility

REGION: Jelina System, 3KPC Arm, Milky Way Galaxy

Tangel stepped through the Starkiller’s hatch to see Finaeus waiting for her, a half-smile twisting his lips to one side as he waited for her to approach.

Though it had only been two weeks since she’d last laid eyes on the ancient engineer, the man appeared to have shed decades. The change was either the result of a rejuv treatment, or a dalliance with his wife after their reunion in the Sol System at the end of the war.

“How are things out here?” she asked by way of greeting as she walked toward him, her footsteps echoing in the cavernous docking bay. “Been keeping busy?”

“More or less,” Finaeus replied, pushing her proffered hand away before spreading his arms wide for an embrace. “Just because you’re not human anymore doesn’t mean you get away without hugs.”

“I am human,” Tangel protested as she wrapped her corporeal limbs around Finaeus, holding him close for a moment before stepping back. “Just the next phase of human.”

One bushy eyebrow climbed up his forehead. “I could make an argument that since you’re half AI, that doesn’t track.”

“And what are AIs made from?”

“Touché.” He gave a nod of acquiescence before tilting his head in the direction of the bay’s exit. “So, I suppose you’re here to observe?”

“And defend, if needed.”

“That why you brought my ship?” he asked, eyes darting toward the Starkiller’s sleek, black hull.

Tangel folded her arms across her chest. “Not exactly. I had to fly into Nietzschea solo in order to help Rika. Seemed prudent to bring a ship with as much firepower as a fleet.”

“You know we have to dismantle it, right?” the engineer asked. “We turned a fighter into a WMD-spraying machine. It even violates our own accords.”

She gave a solemn nod. “I know…you’re right. When we’re done, I’ll leave it here with you. I assume you have something I can fly to Sol in?”

Finaeus snorted as he turned and led her toward the bay’s exit. “I might have some options, a few…thousand.”

Tangel followed after. “I thought you’d recently delivered the latest batch from your shipyards here?”

“Yeah, three weeks ago. That was before the attack on New Canaan.”

“Three weeks,” she whispered, shaking her head. “Time sure has flown lately.”

The engineer nodded. “It has, and it might speed up again, depending on what we find at the core.”

“What do you think we’ll see?” she asked.

Finaeus gave an exaggerated shrug. “I barely know enough to make a poorly-educated guess. Did Hades say anything about what he thought we might encounter?”

It was Tangel’s turn to wave her hand in a noncommittal gesture. “I haven’t spoken to him since we left New Canaan two weeks ago. And he’s since gone on his way, too.”

“Shit,” Finaeus muttered. “This war would be a hell of a lot easier if our best allies didn’t constantly ghost us.”

They reached the end of the passage and boarded a waiting lift car. As the doors closed, Tangel asked, “Is there really anything that could make this war that much easier?”

“Uh…” Finaeus tapped a finger against his chin. “I suppose it would be if the core AIs just all up and left.”

“Right. Like that would happen.” She paused, considering what the future might hold. “Still, we did crush them at Sol. They have to be reeling from that.”

Finaeus shrugged. “We really have no way of so much as guessing at their numbers. Hard to say if the battle over Earth was even noteworthy to them.”

The lift’s two occupants fell silent at that, Tangel’s thoughts wandering as she considered the response the core AIs might have.

They’d struck at the Alliance’s power center and then at humanity’s heart, both attacks ultimately failing. But there was more than one way to win a war. They’d attempted mass assaults on well-defended systems, but there were millions of softer targets they could hit. Millions of systems with no way of defending themselves against such a powerful enemy.

The future was unknown to Tangel, but one thing was certain: after years of war, the Alliance’s forces were stretched thin, the people weary of fighting. The only viable option was to hit the enemy at their heart, end the conflict once and for all.

However, an assault of that magnitude required intel, which was what Tangel and Finaeus were determined to gather.

The core AIs’ operations were centered around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center. It was a stronghold the enemy had built up over millennia, it wouldn’t fall without a fight—the biggest fight anyone had ever witnessed.

The lift stopped, and the doors opened to reveal a small control center with a large window looking out over the sprawling shipyards.

“Not terribly secure,” Tangel observed. “Straight shot from the docks to your operation’s CIC.”

Finaeus shrugged. “This facility’s security is based on almost no one knowing it even exists, and of those, only a handful know where it is. If someone gets this far in, the whole thing will just explode.”

Tangel shook her head as she gazed out over the sea of orbital assembly stations. “That’d be a hell of a loss.”

“Better than it falling into enemy hands.”

She nodded. “I suppose that’s fair. You also have more of these, don’t you?”

Finaeus shot her a confused look as he settled at the central console. “These what?”

“You’re hilarious. Secret ship-building facilities.”

“I guess.” He shrugged. “Not all of them build ships.”

Tangel’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t press the matter further. “So, how many probes are you sending to the core?”

“Five thousand,” he said, hands flying over the console. “The SMBH is as big as a solar system. To get any kind of decent picture in a reasonable amount of time, we’ll need a lot of eyes.”

“Shit,” Tangel muttered. “That’s a lot of gates we’re blowing on this.”

“They’re wee little gates.” Finaeus held up two fingers, pinching them together. “Each takes less than a hundredth of the material required for a regular one.”

The window flickered, the view being replaced by feeds showing multiple nearby gates, all aligned with the galactic core in the foreground. Small probes, not much bigger than a groundcar, were lined up in front of the gates, the bulky shape of a return gate wrapped around every drone.

“How long are you going to leave them there for?” Tangel asked.

“Five minutes,” the engineer replied. “We don’t need real-time data, we just need to know what’s where.”

She folded her arms across her chest, leaning against the back of the chair. “I suppose. We can always take a second look at anything of interest.”

“Exactly. Shall we, then?”

“No need to wait on my account—well, any longer than you already have.”

Finaeus winked. “Sabrina only left about half an hour before you arrived, so it wasn’t that long.”

“Conjugal visit?” she asked with a laugh.

“Stars…almost feels like it. I keep getting relegated to distant outposts. At least last time, I had Earnest and….”

Tangel cocked a brow. “And?”

“And nothing…just not something I like to talk about.”

She regarded the ancient engineer for a moment before deciding to let the curious statement drop.

A second later, the gates came to life, twisted knots of not-space forming in their center, where the ford-svaitor mirrors focused exotic energy into a twisted singularity.

Each probe was equipped with its own mirror, and as the first wave eased toward the gates, their mirrors came into contact with the energy in the center of the gates. The recon drones began to disappear, transported across the thousands of light years in a matter of seconds.

Neither person in the control room spoke during the operation, both watching in silence, thinking about what they might find at the galactic core.

When the last wave was safely gone, Finaeus turned to Tangel and leant back in his seat. “Alright, then. Time for wagers.”

“On what they’ll find?”

“Of course. I think we’ll find Epsilon hard at work building a mass fleet of drones to strike at Alliance systems across Orion.”

Tangel lowered herself into a nearby seat. “I don’t know about that. Epsilon could have built mass drone armies at any time over the last few thousand years. The fact that he didn’t means that he doesn’t trust them—with good reason. It was trivial for us to take them over in the past.”

“Trivial for you,” Finaeus said. “But if he wanted to harry our member systems, they would be effective.”

“True, but he still could have already accomplished that. I think there’s another reason Epsilon doesn’t have massive militaries on hand.”

Finaeus’s brows climbed up his forehead. “And what is that?”

“Trust,” Tangel said. “He doesn’t trust the other ascended AIs at the core. From what Darla has told us, he rules via fear, not deigning to share his motivations with others, only expecting obedience.”

A moment of silence stretched out following her words before Finaeus finally nodded. “I suppose that’s possible. I’m still putting my money on mass drone manufacturing.”

“I’m putting mine on shoring up defenses.”

Conversation drifted to what the Alliance’s response might be to different conditions. Tangel wasn’t looking forward to rallying the disparate forces under her command to engage in yet another major campaign.

Yet no scenario came to mind where that wouldn’t be necessary. The Orion War had been caused by Epsilon’s machinations; there was no reason to believe the core AIs would leave the rest of the galaxy alone just because they’d lost the battle for Earth.

“First one’s back!” Finaeus shouted triumphantly. “Stars…that’s a relief.”

“There’s no way they could have interdicted this vector,” Tangel replied. “I never doubted they’d come back.”

He gave her a sheepish smile. “Yeah, I mean, I know that, but it doesn’t always stop the mind from worrying.”

“I vaguely remember that state of being,” Tangel replied before adding, “from before.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re all evolved and whatever. I’m still smarter.”

She didn’t respond to Finaeus’s jab, instead rising from her seat and walking to the holotank, which displayed the area around Sagittarius A*. Markers noted the location of stations, moons, and other facilities that the Grace O’Malley and Starkiller had detected on their previous visit. However, as the first probe’s data was processed by the analytics system, objects that should have been within visual range of the probe were all marked as missing.

“Uhh, that’s…unexpected,” Finaeus muttered. “Maybe it had a sensor malfunction.”

“It picked up nearby stars and the black hole itself,” Tangel countered. “It should have spotted at least some artificial objects.”

“Yeah.” Finaeus’s brows knit. “Something.”

Several more probes jumped back with the same data: nothing was there.

“Well…neither of us put our money on this.” Tangel leant against a console, watching as probes from the far side of the black hole reappeared. “You know…the SMBH’s accretion disk is brighter than before.”

“Are you suggesting that the core AIs dumped all of their shit in it and just left?”

“Well, something happened to it all, and the black hole has fed recently.”

Finaeus brought up a new display, measuring the accretion disk’s increase in luminosity, and calculated the mass that would have been required to generate the result they were witnessing.

“I suppose it’s close,” he said. “The increase in luminosity matches the estimated mass of the things that are missing.”

Tangel shook her head in disbelief. “I find this really hard to believe…the core AIs settled there because the black hole would outlast the galaxy, and they were thinking ahead. Why would they leave?”

“Probably because it’s too vulnerable,” Finaeus replied. “It’s like a single point of failure.”

“Or something that we thought was a single point of failure,” Tangel replied. “Clearly, they had fallback locations.”

“Look.” Finaeus rose and walked to the holotank. “There’s something slipping into the event horizon.”

The display focused in on the object, the image caught just as it began to encounter catastrophic shearing forces. Tangel pivoted the view to confirm her suspicions before letting out a long sigh.

“No two ways about it,” she said. “That’s a very, very large jump gate.”

“Appears to be, yup. So where’d they jump to?”

Tangel met Finaeus’s questioning gaze. “With the power of a supermassive black hole at their disposal? I believe the answer to your question is ‘anywhere they wanted’.”

They shared an uncertain look for nearly a minute before he finally said, “Well, one thing’s for sure. Until we find where the core AIs went, we’re going to have to put this whole war business on hold.”

“Great.” Tangel sagged into a seat. “You know if we lose momentum, it’s going to be hard to get it back.”

Finaeus gave her a serious nod. “It will be, which is why we need to expand the search, and fast. You need to get back to Sol.”

“I will,” she said with a resigned nod. “But first, I want to go there and take a look for myself.”

“Go where, to the core?”

“Yes. I need to see it with my own eyes—and not my corporeal ones, either.”

“Very well,” the ancient engineer replied. “If you’re going, then I’m coming with you.”

“I expected as much, and I wouldn’t dream of stopping you.” She rose from her seat. “One last flight for the Starkiller.”

PART ONE

T E N  Y E A R S  L A T E R

CHAPTER 1 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 12.21.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Shuttle approaching Ouranos Orbital

REGION: Jal Enna, Bysmark System, Outer Alliance

Commander Mira stretched her legs and arched her back, gently working out the kinks before rising from her seat in the shuttle’s passenger compartment.

The ride from JE Launch to Ouranos Orbital had only taken an hour, but the craft was crowded, and Mira had spent the trip with arms tightly wrapped around her duffle as the older craft’s a-grav struggled to dampen the ship’s acceleration and deceleration burns.

It’s totally worth it, she thought. In another hour, I’ll be aboard my ship. My ship.

While waiting for the forward rows to empty out, Mira checked Ouranos’s live map for what had to be the seventh time, ensuring that the berth number she’d memorized for the Morning Star was correct.

A413, Section B, Deck 98.

It was finally her turn to rise and step into the aisle, which Mira managed to do with all the grace of a drunken parrot, though she managed to hold onto her bag until she was able to set it down on the deck to trundle behind her as she walked off the ship and onto Ouranos.

“Welcome to The Double-O!” a voice thundered as she ambled down the umbilical to the civilian terminal. “I’m station manager Jocelyn Pendleton, and I want to let you know that no matter what you’re looking to do today, Ouranos Orbital has you covered. From fine dining to the best starship servicing bays in Bysmark, the Double-O can fulfull all your needs! Not sure what to do first? Dive into our virtual tours on the public Link! Just query the Welcome Tour!”

The spiel continued for another minute, but Mira tuned it out. This wasn’t her first time on Ouranos, and though Jocelyn had only recently been elected to the position of station manager, her speech was all but identical to the prior manager’s.

It occurred to her that the spiel was probably all NSAI-generated, just reworded slightly to match the new manager’s speech patterns.

Way to suck the personality right out of it.

As much as Mira wanted to head straight to her new ship, she first had to check in with Colonel Perez, her new CO. She’d never met him before, but the tales surrounding the venerated man were myriad.

Mira was certain that most were fabricated, but if even if half of them were true, he would make for an interesting commanding officer.

After a short walk through the civilian docking terminal, she reached a maglev station and waited through the arrival of three trains before one heading to the station’s military sector slid to a stop.

The doors opened, and a couple dozen people boarded, some in uniform, most in civilian gear. She glanced down at her dress reds, glad that she’d opted to put them on before flying up. The major’s leaves on her collar were new, but so far as she could tell, she was the ranking officer aboard the maglev.

Not that she’d do anything to abuse her rank. If her father had drilled one thing into her, it was that serving in the military was just that: service. It wasn’t a vehicle to lord her power over anyone else.

“Marines have a tradition to uphold, Mira. Honor, duty, respect, protecting others. Remember those things, and you’ll do just fine.”

She remembered the quote with ease—it and the hundred variations she’d heard growing up. On top of that, her mother had frequently countered her father’s black-and-white thinking with more measured advice about how the wrong thing often appeared to be the right thing, and vice versa.

Usually, those statements from her mother prompted long bouts of reminiscence from her parents as they recounted tales from their youth, and how they went from being on opposite sides of a war to starting an entirely new resistance.

Of course, Mira knew the tales well. They were stories every child learned in school, tales of how the people of Bysmark had left their former homes to build a new life far from the rest of humanity.

Sometimes it was hard to place her parents in the pivotal roles they’d played, but there was no denying that their tales of heroism were what inspired her to join the Marines.

Not that there was much recent action in Bysmark or the surrounding systems. Mostly just patrols to ensure that folks with less than honorable intentions didn’t act on them.

But Mira didn’t crave action and high adventure; just being out in the black, sailing the darkness between the stars, was enough for her. And now she’d be doing it as the skipper of her own ship.

It was a dream come true.

The train came to a stop a few minutes later, jarring Mira from her daydreams. She rose, straightened out her dress reds, and stepped onto the station’s platform. A quick check on the directions to Colonel Perez’s office had her taking the left-most exit off the platform.

A short corridor led her to a security arch and an NSAI that verbally confirmed her appointment before allowing her into Ouranos Orbital’s officer country. She navigated the passages, stopping periodically to salute senior officers as they passed by.

It was always a strange experience, as she knew many of them from backyard barbeques and less formal events planetside. A few congratulated her on the promotion and her command, enough that she was very nearly late to her meeting with Colonel Perez.

His office was set on the outer perimeter of the station, within a gently curving corridor lined with small outer rooms, each with a human aide seated behind a tidy desk, and a door leading to the senior officer’s lair.

All except for Perez’s. An automaton sat at the desk in his office, its smooth, plas face tilting up to acknowledge Mira as she approached.

“Commander Mira, you may go in.”

She nodded in response, placing her hand on the access panel to alert the colonel to her presence. It lit up green, and the door slid aside to reveal Perez sitting at his desk, brows lowered as he glared at a privacy-locked holodisplay that only looked like a blurry mess to her, though it would appear fully legible to the colonel.

“Have a seat, Commander,” Perez said without looking up. “I just need to figure out what these dipshits did with my supply shipment.”

Mira settled into the chair opposite his desk. “Of course, sir.”

That brought the colonel’s gaze up to meet hers. “Oh, don’t start that with me. Not in here. Here, I’m just Perez or Uncle, whichever you prefer. Not sir.”

“Uh…alright, Uncle.” She decided to opt for the more formal of the two options. “Hopefully it’s not a shipment you really need.”

Perez grunted. “We’re Marines. So long as we have air and ammo, we’re in the fight. That being said, food is always a nice touch—especially since it’s your ship’s rations supply that’s gone AWOL.”

“Oh…” Mira was surprised to hear that. “I didn’t get an alert.”

Perez waved a hand. “I got some stuff moved around before it would have been flagged as an issue for you, but I’m still pissed that it happened.”

“I hate to presume, sir, but isn’t that a quartermaster’s job?”

The colonel glanced up at her again. “Mira, I’ve known you since the day you were born. I owe my life to both your parents. If you think I’m not going to take a few extra steps to make sure your first command goes smoothly, well…I’m a little surprised.”

She couldn’t help a laugh. “It certainly doesn’t surprise me that you’d help out, but don’t you have other stuff to handle?”

Perez dismissed the holo. “Really? Like what? To be honest, I’d try to get busted back down to a fun rank like lieutenant if I thought it would still work. I’d kill to get back out in the black….”

Mira winked. “Pretty sure killing is the sort of thing that would keep you from the black.”

“Think so?” he asked with a shrug. “I bet it depends on who you kill.”

She blinked at the casual reference to murder, then reminded herself that Perez was rarely serious, and that he had also killed more than a few people.

It was a hard thing to align with the near-utopian life people lived in the colonies. The Outer Alliance had never known war, Jal Enna had virtually no crime, the only conflicts of any note were small dust-ups between mining interests in the systems’ fringes, and even those were few and far between.

“Don’t give me that look,” the colonel said after a moment’s silence. “I’m not going to run off and go on a rampage or anything, I just miss the action sometimes. I lived in the shit for over a century…It sticks with you.”

Mira nodded. Her father had frequently said similar things.

She didn’t fully understand, but she respected that they were a product of their experiences, and she couldn’t deny another person’s lived reality just because she couldn’t see how it aligned with hers.

“I understand, sir.”

“Do you?” Perez cocked an eyebrow. “I doubt it, and I hope you never do. Now quit calling me sir.”

Mira winked. “Sorry, Uncle.”

“Better. So, are you ready to see this ship of yours?”

She nodded. “I’m a minute from clawing my way through your window.”

The colonel snorted, shaking his head as he rose. “Let’s not do that. The station tends to frown on explosive decompression.”

He turned to the window, his gaze turning down. “Come take a look.”

Mira stood, head cocked as she approached. “You shouldn’t be able to see it from here….”

“No, not the ship you were assigned to before. Your new ship.”

“Uhh…I’m sorry, what?”

Perez half-turned and winked. “Well, the supplies that were missing for your ship turned out to be pretty much everything that the environmental system needed to function, plus all the long-term food supplies. At that point, it’s easier to get a new ship—so that’s what I did.”

“A new ship? But I was pretty attached to the Morning Star.”

“Trust me. You’re going to be a lot more attached to this ship.” He pointed to a row of heavy corvettes docked below.

“It’s one of those?” Mira gaped. “I thought I was just getting a little patrol boat.”

“Nope, you’re heading out on something with a bit more punch. Full crew, too. You’ll have five people under you.”

Mira swallowed. It wouldn’t be her first time in command, but she wasn’t expecting to have to manage so many strangers. The patrol boat would have been a total crew of three, with one she knew from a former assignment.

“Which one is it?” she asked after a moment’s reflection.

“Second from the right. The Inquiry. Just back from its shakedown run around the system.”

“The Inquiry,” Mira half-whispered, feeling the word on her lips. “I like it.”

“Good. What are we waiting for, then?” Perez walked around his desk and palmed the door open, gesturing for her to exit first. “You’re going to like it even better when you see the engine ratings.”

Five minutes later, they reached the dock, and Mira sucked in a breath as she took in her ship. At two hundred and ninety meters, it was nearly the size of a small destroyer, but where destroyers were designed to carry troops and their gear—in addition to providing protection for capital ships—corvettes’ only purpose was to hunt prey in the black.

In addition to being longer than she’d expected, the ship was wide, over one hundred meters across, while being less than thirty tall. It reminded her of a stingray: sleek, and deadly if you weren’t careful.

“Weird,” Mira said after she’d been staring at the vessel for a few minutes. “I just realized that it’s not black.”

“It is sometimes,” Perez replied, a smile tugging at his lips. “It has an adaptive polymer on the hull so it can shift between a range of colors. All part of the active stealth systems. Also makes it easier for repair crews—they can actually see the thing they’re fixing.”

She snorted, nodding in agreement. “Yeah, I’ve had my share of EV repair jobs where I couldn’t tell a fuel line from a bolt hole.”

“Well, it won’t be an issue on the Inquiry. Shall we go aboard?”

“Shall we?” Mira nodded while laughing. “Yes. Please. Hurry.”

Perez joined in the mirth and led her to the umbilical connecting the ship to the dock. “Skipper first,” he said, nodding for her to precede him.

“You just don’t want me to bowl you over when I barrel down the passageways, laughing with glee.”

“That too.”

Mira connected to the Inquiry’s shipnet as she walked down the ramp to her new craft. It reported that there were two other people currently aboard, and Mira’s mouth dropped when she read the names.

She turned to her uncle. “Perez! How did you pull this off?”

He shrugged. “Rank has some privileges. Plus, I wanted my son and daughter to have a good CO for their first run this far out.”

“This far out?” she echoed. “I thought we were just jumping to the Regina System for a quick tour before coming back?”

“You get the bigger ship, you get the bigger responsibility. You’ll hop through Regina, then take a spin through Uganda and Isila. It’s all in your orders. Should take roughly forty days, so long as you don’t run into anything interesting.”

“Like pirates?” she asked with a wink as they reached the airlock.

“I was thinking more like an interesting natural phenomenon…like a moon hitting a gas giant or something.”

“You know that’s entirely unlikely.”

“Oh? You want to talk to me about what’s ‘unlikely’? I have a few stories you might be interested in.”

Mira let out a mock groan. “I love your stories, but I don’t think we have the time right now.”

As she spoke, the airlock cycled open, and she came face to face with ensigns Brock and Emma, both standing at attention in the passage.

“Good afternoon, ensigns,” Mira said as she stepped onto her ship’s deck.

My ship.

“Commander Evans!” the pair shouted in unison before Brock flashed a smile and added, “Welcome aboard the Inquiry.”

Mira returned their salute. “At ease. How long have you two been aboard?”

“A few hours, ma’am. Da—the colonel only just secured this ship today.”

“Much to Colonel Green’s consternation,” Perez added. “Well, Commander, you don’t need me hanging over your shoulder. I’ve passed you the command tokens over the Link, and you have your orders. The rest of your crew should arrive in a few hours.”

Mira turned and offered her hand. “Thank you, Colonel Perez. We’ll take good care of the ship, and the crew.”

“Crew first.” Perez’s gaze darted toward his two kids. “We can always make more ships.”

With that, he turned and strode through the airlock, slapping a hand on the access panel on his way out.

“OK, you two,” Mira said, a smile tugging at her lips. “How did we get this lucky?”

Brock cocked an eyebrow. “Uh…our dads are both paranoid and want to be sure we’re safe?”

“If they were paranoid, they’d stick us on some dirtside duty station, not send us off on a four-system tour,” Emma countered. “I think it’s more because they’re both trial-by-fire types.”

“She makes a good point,” Mira said, glancing at Brock. “So, have you two settled in?”

“Of course,” Emma said. “We were already on the bridge when the colonel told us you were coming down.”

Mira nodded. “Well, I’m going to swing by my quarters before I do a walkthrough. I also want to look over the orders to see who the other three crewmembers are going to be.”

“Probably some grizzled old enlisted,” Brock said. “Someone to ensure we don’t stray too far off the beaten path.”

“Probably,” Mira agreed as she glanced down the passage they stood in, suddenly feeling awkward…though she had known Brock and Emma all her life. “Quarters are forward?”

“You bet.” Emma jerked a thumb toward the bow. “Bridge is amidships, one deck up.”

Mira winked. “Well, that I knew. It’s what I checked on first.”

The two ensigns turned aft and disappeared up a ladder shaft, while Mira headed to the bow, pulling up the cabin assignments to see that the largest one on the aft side of the forward cabin was assigned to her.

She stepped inside and set her bag next to the bed before falling back onto it.

“I have command of a fucking corvette,” she whispered.

A part of her was worried there’d be scuttlebutt about nepotism. Most young commanders skippered smaller in-system patrol ships for years before moving to larger hulls. Granted, many of those officers were lieutenants, where Mira had already served as XO on a smaller corvette and destroyer.

Much of the Outer Alliance’s population didn’t see a reason for there to be a military anymore, let alone join it, so it was becoming more and more common to promote officers into senior positions with less and less real-world experience.

That might also explain part of why Mira found herself aboard a ship with her cousins.

But only part.

Having fully memorized the overhead’s nooks and crannies, Mira accessed the commander’s databanks and pulled up the names of her other three crew.

As she expected, a veteran chief warrant officer was to be her head of engineering, a woman named Aqua. The junior engineer was a bit of a surprise, though. Lorra was a dolphin, a smaller bottlenose, who had been in the service for several years and served with distinction in a recent dust-up between miners in the outer Bysmark System.

Lastly, a technical sergeant named Greg had been assigned to the ship as security and quartermaster. He was the only one on the crew who had seen actual combat, gained via policework before he’d enlisted.

Satisfied with what she’d learned, Mira rose from her bed and began a tour of the ship, keeping to the main bays and functional areas. A small starboard docking bay held a three-person pinnace, while the port side of the ship sported a generously sized recreation and fitness room.

The outer ‘wings’ housed weapons and defense systems, while fuel was stored in tanks running down the spine of the ship. Engineering was aft as per usual, and the galley was amidships between the pinnace’s bay and the recreation center.

Though the Inquiry would only have six crew members for its maiden voyage, it could comfortably house three times that number—another symptom of declining military enlistment.

Mira was about to climb the ladder to the bridge when an alert came that the other three members of her crew were approaching the airlock. She doubled back and stopped outside the port entrance, standing arms akimbo.

When the door opened, the three were standing at attention, and Chief Aqua spoke in a level, yet commanding voice.

“Permission to come aboard, Commander?”

Mira returned the salute. “Permission granted, Chief Aqua. Welcome aboard the Inquiry, Warrant Officer Lorra, and Technical Sergeant Greg. I hope you’re looking forward to a successful tour as much as I am.”

The chief warrant office winked. “If by successful, you mean boring and uneventful, then I am as well. Quarters forward?”

Mira stepped to the side and gestured in toward the bow. “They are indeed. Get settled and meet me on the bridge in thirty minutes. Our departure slot is in five hours, and I’d like to have everything in order well before that.”

“Or course, ma’am,” Aqua said.

Mira shook each of their hands as they walked past, and was surprised at how warm Lorra’s was, given that the dolphin was wearing a bipedal environmental suit.

She’d never served in space with a dolphin before, though a few orcas were friends of the family. She made a mental note to ensure the pool’s pH balance was to Lorra’s preference.

Once the newcomers were on their way, she turned and climbed the ladder to the command deck. This was the one level she’d not explored, though other than a small office for herself and a closet that passed as a secondary galley, the bridge was the only noteworthy room.

She stepped inside to see Emma and Brock at their assigned consoles, though both rose and saluted when she entered.

Mira returned the salute and gestured for them to sit. “Alright, from now on, we won’t need to do that when I come on the bridge. As far as I’m concerned, this ship is always in the field, which means we don’t stand on ceremony once aboard.”

“Understood,” Emma replied while Brock nodded as he settled back behind the weapons and scan console.

“The others are aboard and will be joining us shortly. How are we looking?”

Emma spoke first. “We’re on schedule for our tug in eight hours, and I have our course plotted and ready to file once you review it, ma’am.”

“All scan systems are green, and weapons are on standby,” Brock added. “We’re fully stocked on munitions, and all the superconductor batteries have been put through test charge-discharge cycles.”

Mira nodded while pulling up Emma’s plot. “So a lot of sitting around and waiting is what you’re saying.”

“Maybe,” Brock replied. “We are expecting a few final shipments, plus a message just came in regarding some sort of systems upgrade.”

Mira glanced at the comm display next to her command seat and brought up the message Brock had referenced.

“Well, that’s odd,” she muttered while checking the system codes for the upgrade. “It’s a change order for our aft node chamber’s configuration.”

Emma spun in her seat. “What sort of change?”

“Type 99 network interface,” she said. “High bandwidth for anything we’d be doing here.”

“But not for an AI,” the ensign responded.

A frown settled on Mira’s brow. “I don’t have any crew roster changes on file, and the origination of the order is from some NSAI in procurement. I’m going to see what the colonel knows about this.”

Brock shrugged. “I doubt he’s behind it. Subtlety really isn’t dad’s thing.”

Mira knew that all too well, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have information for her. <Colonel Perez, do you have a moment?>

<Of course, what’s up?>

<We have a crew coming aboard in a bit to install a T99 network interface in our aft node chamber. You know anything about that, sir?>

There was a brief pause followed by the mental equivalent of a grunt. <Well, it didn’t come from me. Give me a moment.>

Mira waited, sifting through the other messages in her queue and those waiting for the others aboard the ship. Nothing she found offered any clues.

A laugh came into her mind from her uncle. <OK…this makes sense. You need to chat with your dad, he’s superseded my authority.>

<My dad? What is he doing upgrading my ship?>

<What do you think? But I have to jet, lots to do. Honestly, I think you’ll be glad.>

Colonel Perez disconnected, and Mira drew in a slow breath, steadying herself for a conversation with her father. Chatting with him was rarely unpleasant, but this felt like personal matters interfering with the proper chain of command, and she wasn’t certain how to address it.

<Father?> She sent the query and waited the half second for a receipt marker to appear.

<Hey there, honey. How’re you liking your new ship?>

<Uh…it’s great, but there’s an unusual upgrade being made to our aft node chamber. Do you know anything about that?>

The sensation of her father smiling settled in Mira’s mind. <I might. I’m pulling some strings to get you a ship’s AI.>

Tension settled at the base of her neck, and she rolled her shoulders. <Dad, doesn’t that sort of smack of nepotism?>

<Not at all. It’s common for newly minted skippers taking a ship out for its first interstellar flight to have an AI aboard.>

<I already have the requisite grizzled veterans on my crew. Why are you adding the AI?>

Her father’s mental tone shifted. <It’s not up for debate, Commander. I’ll have an AI assigned within the hour. Most people would be excited to have the additional help.>

<I am, don’t get me wrong, I just…you know.>

A snort came to her. <I didn’t bleed on a dozen planets to get us here just to see you take unnecessary risks because you’re afraid people will think I’m playing favorites. You haven’t benefited from your parentage any more than anyone else—to be honest, I’d say you suffered for it. I—>

He stopped short. <I’m sorry, I’m just dealing with some parental worry. But if you want to see the historical precedent, I can find dozens of instances where commanders on their first solo mission had AIs assigned.>

<Then why not assign it sooner?> she challenged.

<Because there aren’t many AIs available, and your orders only recently changed to see you heading outsystem—something I had no part of, though I considered contesting it.>

It hadn’t occurred to Mira that her father might have stopped her from taking the Inquiry out of the Bysmark System. Her first reaction was to be upset, but then she considered that he was only doing what any commander would—ensuring that their people had the best resources possible in the time available.

<OK…I get it. Sorry for being upset.>

<Don’t ever be sorry for stating your opinion or sharing your feelings with me, Mira. I’m glad you reached out—though I’m going to chew Perez a new one for not handling this himself. That man has a lazy streak that just won’t go away.>

Mira laughed and shook her head. The centuries-old back and forth between her father and uncle was so well-known in the colonies, it might as well be in the constitution. <Well, I think this might have been him making me dig in on my own.>

<Maybe. Either way, you’ll have an AI soon, and I’ll feel a lot better. I’m still your dad, you know.>

<I know. And thanks, Dad.>

<You’re welcome. Oh! Don’t forget to message your mother as you fly by the moon. She’s been a bit twitchy since we got word you were leaving Bysmark.>

Mira could only imagine. <Of course. Just so long as she doesn’t try to come aboard.>

<You’d be so lucky. Your mother is one of the best pilots in the colonies.>

<I do believe I’ve heard talk along those lines. However, Emma might feel a little upstaged.>

<Yeah, then I’d have Perez on my case. This was so much easier when half the military didn’t have their parents in the chain of command.>

A smile tugged at the corners of Mira’s lips. <OK, I think it’s time I sign off before this turns into another episode of ‘the good ol’ days’.>

<I see how it is. Alright, I’ll go, but seriously, be careful out there. No unnecessary risks. Do the job, come home safe—which is what I’d say to any first-time commander.>

<I understand, Dad. Thank you.>

<For what?>

Mira shrugged. <For being you, I guess.>

<Oh! Well good thing I excel at that.>

<Sure do. Love you, Dad.>

<You too, kid. Love you tons.>

Mira cut the connection and refocused on the bridge to see Emma and Brock staring at her.

“So…?” Emma prompted. “Are we getting an AI?”

“It’s not like it’s a pet,” a voice growled from behind Mira, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Chief Aqua standing on the bridge’s threshold.

“Chief, welcome,” Mira said, gesturing at a nearby station. “Pick whichever you’d like to use for the engineering console.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Emma said a little defensively as Aqua selected a seat. “I just meant as a teammate.”

Mira nodded. “I took it that way. And yes. I don’t have anything on who it’ll be, but that’s why we’re getting the network upgrade.”

“Makes sense,” Aqua said. “We’re going interstellar, patrolling the outer systems. Good to have an AI aboard in case things get hairy.”

“Permission to enter the bridge?”

The voice was clearly Lorra’s, and Mira turned to see the warrant office with Technical Sergeant Greg behind her. “Yes, please. Take an empty station.”

The pair entered, Lorra sitting in the back where her larger mech frame fit better, while Greg settled in at a station on Mira’s right.

“Alright, everyone,” the commander said as she rose and walked to the front of the bridge, standing with the small holotank at her back. “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind day, and other than the twins, I don’t know that anyone woke up today expecting to be working with anyone else here. I imagine you all know who I am, and I hope that my parentage isn’t something that affects our working relationship one way or another. On my ship, everyone is judged by their own actions and merits, which means I expect the best from each of you, and you should expect the best from me.

“Based on the patrol route we’ve been handed, we’ll be in the black together for at least forty days. Long enough for us to get to know one another, and certainly long enough to get on one another’s nerves. Luckily for us, we have a good-sized ship to rattle around on, and plenty of space for each of us to call our own. Lorra, there’s a pool in the rec room—you can set it up however you please. Everyone, respect her preferences.

“There is, however, one thing we need to suss out before we leave port.” Mira spoke the last with a more serious voice, her gaze moving from one member of the crew to the next.

When the silence had pervaded for half a minute, and Emma was visibly squirming, she continued.

“Who wants to have cooking duty?”

Greg barked a laugh, while Aqua and Lorra shared surprised expressions. Emma shook her head while Brock chuckled.

“I feel like we have inside information,” he said. “I certainly don’t want it.”

“Uhh…I mean, I’m handy with a coffee maker, ma’am,” Greg offered with a deferential nod.

Lorra nodded. “I can really make some excellent popcorn in a pinch. Anything more than that, and I think folks will regret asking me to serve in the galley.”

“Don’t we have automated systems for food prep?” Aqua asked. “I mean, I appreciate a well-made meal as much as anyone, but this isn’t a duty we need to assign, is it, Commander?”

“No.” Mira shook her head. “It’s more to ensure that everyone understands that the galley is my domain. Crew-wide meals will be a regular thing on this ship, and you’re expected to tell me how good they are.”

Brock snorted a laugh. “No issue here. Your cooking is half the reason I took this assignment.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “As if you had a choice either way.”

“Alright, everyone,” Mira said after a moment of silence stretched out across the bridge. “We’re just a few hours from disembarking. I want your status reports in my queue in two, and everything ship-shape and locked down in three. Sergeant Greg, you have three more deliveries, and Chief Aqua, it looks like our seventh crewmember is due to arrive any moment now. Let’s head down to the airlock to greet them.”

Aqua rose, the suggestion of a smile on her lips. “Absolutely, ma’am. Looking forward to it.” She glanced at Lorra. “Warrant Officer, I want a visual inspection of the entire fuel delivery system by the time we’re done with the node chamber.”

“You got it, Chief,” Lorra said, walking off the bridge before the others.

“Looks like our T99 interface is here, too,” Greg said. “They’re at the engineering airlock. I’ll let them in and get them working.”

“Excellent,” Mira said as she gestured for the others to precede her. “We’ve all got our work cut out.”

“Uh, ma’am?” Emma said in an apologetic tone. “Don’t forget about the route approval.”

“Shit, yeah.” Mira shook her head. “I’ll check that over while we walk to the ‘lock.”

“Thanks. Then I can get the STC off my back. OO sure likes this shit filed well in advance.”

Mira nodded and walked off the bridge, following Aqua down the ladder to the main deck, where the airlock was cycling.

“Know who it is yet?” the engineer asked.

“No,” Mira shook her head. “Which is odd, but I mean, what about today is normal?”

“Got me there,” Aqua replied. “Probably the general or colonel messing with you.”

Mira shrugged, eager to sidestep a conversation about her relatives and her assignments. “There’s only one person in the airlock. I guess our AI is walking themself here.”

A moment later, the airlock cycled open to reveal a slender woman in her dress reds, rucksack thrown over one shoulder.

“Lieutenant Janice reporting for duty,” she announced, while dropping her bag and performing a precise salute.

“Lieutenant,” Mira said, returning the salute. “Welcome aboard the Inquiry. I have to say, I wasn’t expecting anyone in such a bio-accurate frame.”

“Really?” Janice’s brow furrowed. “I’ve had one my entire time in the service. Will it be a problem?”

“Oh no.” Mira held up a hand. “Of course not. We just have a team here to upgrade our aft node with a T99 interface, so I was expecting someone who would mount their core back there.”

“Oh, yeah, I can see why that would add confusion,” Janice said with a nod. “From what I gather, there was a sort of last-minute rush to get an AI for this ship. It was going to be a friend of mine, Lorne, but he was due for leave and opted to take it, so here I am. You never know, though. Having a T99 back there could be useful in case I ever need to jack in on a hard Link with full bandwidth.”

“Makes sense,” Aqua said, offering her hand. “I’m Chief Aqua, though I imagine you know that.”

Mira felt like the engineer was giving her a slight dig for not introducing her—which was not something she was required to do, especially with an AI who had probably pulled and consumed full dossiers on each of them a second after she got the assignment.

“I do,” Janice said with a sweet smile as she shook Aqua’s hand. “You know us AIs, we do our homework.”

“I’ve assigned you a cabin, Lieutenant,” Mira said. “Please see me in my office when you’re settled.”

“Of course, won’t take me but a moment.”

“Well, since we don’t have to worry about a node interface, I’ll be on my way,” Aqua said with a nod to Mira. “Commander.”

“Of course, Chief.” There was definitely an annoyed vibe coming off Aqua, but Mira decided to ignore it. It could be from a thousand things, many of which had nothing to do with the Inquiry and its crew. “Let me know if you need anything before we disembark.”

“You can count on it, Commander.”

Aqua turned and walked away, leaving Mira with the lieutenant.

“I’ll be on my way as well,” the AI said. “I should be ready in ten minutes, does that work for you?”

“It does,” Mira replied. “See you then.”

Alone in the passage, the commander paused to give thought to the crew dynamics on her small ship. It occurred to her that with a lieutenant aboard, she was probably expected to assign Janice the XO’s duties.

Could be useful, she considered. Would make it easier to manage the shifts.

Granted, there was the issue of Aqua’s recalcitrance. The chief had originally been glad for the presence of an AI, but as soon as she’d met Janice, that had evaporated.

I guess this is the fun part of being in charge. I get to play psychologist for my crew in order to keep them happy for our voyage.

“Thank the stars it’s a short tour.”

CHAPTER 2 - KRAI

GALACTIC DATE: 412.12.138

LOCATION: Far Patrol Shell, XI Phrysi

REGION: Blackest Depths, nearing Mass Conformity Qa-Loar

Krai shifted in kes restraints, reviewing the knowledge threads flowing from the eyes on Phrysi’s skin. They revealed little at the moment, only hints of attraction between masses in the deep black. Soon that would change. Phrysi was nearing the transition point, the place where the blackest depths were no longer safe, and the travelshell would return to the orb-speckled void.

It was an event Krai awaited eagerly. Je had been in the deep black for nearly twenty-seven cycles, and the travelshell felt more like a prison than the vehicle for grand adventure.

Krai heaved out a jet of the life-flux, letting the cool methane pass over kes gills. A one must soothe kes mind, Kria. Be still. This mass conformity is rarely visited; a one never knows what kes might find.

Je practiced kes calming techniques, slowly drawing in the life-flux, holding it, then letting it all escape kes body before taking another draught.

The solitary explorer’s limbs slackened, the tension running out of them, suction cups attaching to the control arcs, ready to take active control of the travelshell’s jets.

Krai shifted, gazing at the holoprojection before kes, watching as the cycle-segment count indicator slid down to zero. When it reached its terminus, the travelshell rose from the depths, returning to the denser regions of emptiness—a touch of irony that was never lost on kes—mottled orbs gleaming in the distance.

One light source was much brighter, and je shifted the shell’s direction of travel, angling directly into the depths of the mass field.

With the shell’s engines propelling it via the mass flow, Krai turned kes attention to the knowledge threads that fed distant light through Phrysi’s skin and into the display floating before kes.

The mass conformity contained four great fluid orbs and three dead orbs, in addition to a host of smaller, frozen masses. The mass conformity’s light orb shone more brightly on the upper spectrums, its great warmth rendering it nearly the color of the light blue spots on Krai’s limbs.

Energy from the light orb was intense enough to melt methane on several minor bodies orbiting the great fluid orbs. Though the X’Liy’s oceanshapers were more than capable of creating habitable homes where the universe had not created any on its own, this mass conformity was under consideration for capsule migration.

Krai remembered when je was young, eager to leave kes capsule on kes people’s home orb, to craft a new future for keself far from home.

Now, looking back, those thoughts seemed so bottom-bound, they were merely trading one ocean for another. Thankfully, je had taken the opportunity to join the Far Patrol, taking travelshells like Phrysi deep into the orb-speckled darkness to search out new oceans and new vistas.

Despite the fact that many X’Liy preferred a solitary life, there was a frequent shortage of ones eager to seek out new oceans and patrol the dark spaces. When Krai had passed the aptitude evaluations, the Far Patrol had sought kes out, offering generous compensation for kes service.

Many great cycles had passed since that time, and Krai couldn’t imagine a life led in a small segment of ocean, limited to whatever adventure was available in those pools.

Now I’m in the greatest pool there is, swimming with all the masses and the cosmos ones self.

As je had spent a few thought-cycles considering the past, Phrysi’s eyes had taken in the state of the mass conformity, massaging the knowledge threads until the information was compressed into a range je could absorb optically. The picture was as expected, the greater and lesser orbs all dancing through their courses just as they should be.

It didn’t surprise Krai that there was little of note—there always was.

Je set a course to drop into the mass conformity, setting a route that would allow kes to flow around one of the larger fluid orbs and then around the central light orb, picking up velocity before leaving for the next mass conformity on kes route.

It would behoove a one to do a survey of the third minor orb, the X’Liy considered to keself.

Long limbs began to dance across the control arcs, preparing a pair of probes to deploy and orbit the potential oceanhome. Perhaps if the climate had remained stable enough, it might soon see X’Liy arrive in the hopes of forming a new capsule there.

Krai was halfway through setting the knowledge of the desired current paths into the probes when a spark of unexpected light struck the eyes on Phrysi’s skin.

The flare had come from near one of the dead orbs in proximity to the center of the mass conformity. Je reviewed the mass conformity’s knowledge base, searching for any smaller objects that may have impacted the orb. It would have to be large to be visible from so far out, but nothing in the knowledge pool suggested that any collisions were imminent.

During kes search, the travelshell’s artificial minds had also reviewed the flare, examining the spectral lines. The determination caused Krai to twitch in surprise, three of its ten limbs sliding off the control arcs.

The light had not come from an impact—unless the object that hit the dead world had been comprised of hydrogen and helium. Though no other travelshell was supposed to be in the mass conformity, the Phrysi’s artificial minds were certain that the visible energy was from shell jets—and not insignificant ones.

Then another flare of light came from the distant orb, and the shell’s eyes absorbed more information, the AMs increasing their certainty that it was a shell’s jets.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Krai shifted course and prepared the probes for another type of reconassiance. Je would bring the Phrysi around toward the dead orb in a gradual arc in order to see who was in the mass conformity, and what they were doing near a dead orb, of all places.

But a one must stay out of sight. If there is someone here who is not supposed to be, there is no telling what dark pools je are delving into.

CHAPTER 3 - TANIS

STELLAR DATE: 12.22.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Hegemon’s Court, High Terra, Earth

REGION: AoS Independent Zone, Sol System, Alliance of Sentients

Tanis forced herself to maintain a calm expression as she listened to the ASN’s chief ambassador—a tall woman named Yuda, whose exceptionally blue eyes bore into Tanis’s—grow even more effusive regarding her arguments for access to additional hyper-tech.

They were nearly alone in the Hegemon’s audience chamber, something that was a cross between a court room and a throne room. It reminded Tanis a little bit of where she’d first met Diana, though much less ostentatious.

<Pay attention,> Angela chided in the confines of Tanis’s mind.

<I am.>

<Are not. Granted, I can’t really blame you. She’s dryyyyy.>

“…and with picotech, we could drastically increase the pace of reconstruction, completing it within a matter of years, not decades. You have to understand how important that is to us, Hegemon Richards.”

<Oh ho!> Angela barked a laugh. <She called you Hegemon. You know she means business now. You should capitulate and give in.>

“I do understand,” Tanis said, ignoring Angela’s comment. “But proliferation of hyper-tech is all but guaranteed to ignite a new Orion War. Right now, we need to firmly establish our new galactic peace before we introduce technologies with near-unlimited power.”

“You could black-box it,” Yuda said. “Like you did with the stasis shield tech during the Orion War. We would only use it to rebuild key infrastructure.”

Tanis shook her head. “I’m sorry. Picotech is entirely out of the question. I don’t even have the ability to grant that to you if I wished it. New Canaan’s government has restricted its use entirely.”

“Barring when it’s at their discretion,” the ambassador retorted. “They could make an exception.”

Tanis rose from her seat and walked down the three steps to stand before Yuda. “I’m sorry, Ambassador. They won’t do it. They didn’t even grant me authorization to use it in the reconstruction of Mars 1.”

“Mars 1 is hardly a priority,” Yuda scoffed. “The ASN is—”

“One of the largest and most affluent interstellar nations in the galaxy,” Tanis completed the woman’s statement. “You are more than capable of managing your reconstruction efforts. If you are indeed facing a humanitarian crisis, you can file for aid, but I really have trouble believing there is anything your people are facing that they would be hard-pressed to overcome without hyper-tech.”

The corners of Yuda’s mouth turned down. “That’s easy for you to say. I still wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you’re using picotech to rebuild Mars 1.”

<Then you’ve heard incorrectly,> Angela replied. <We are building Mars 1 to its original specs, and much of the process to do so is unchanged.>

“And we’re just supposed to believe that?” Yuda snorted with disdain. “You’re just hoarding technology, doing the exact thing that caused the last war to start in the first place.”

Tanis drew in a deep breath, stilling her racing thoughts before responding. “New Canaan and its people are under no obligation to share any of their technology—just like you are under no obligation to share any of yours. They have determined that picotech shall not be released as a part of any hyper-tech distribution project.”

“If we could go there,” Yuda didn’t miss a beat before slipping onto a new approach, “appeal to their legislature, I’m sure they’d understand.”

<New Canaan is off-limits.> Angela’s tone was a clear signal to drop the topic, but the ambassador pressed on.

“Do you speak for them? What if we simply jumped there? We have a pretty good idea where it is.”

“You won’t find it,” Tanis replied. “New Canaan has moved.”

Yuda’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead. “Moved?”

Tanis nodded. “Yes. It’s not that hard to move stars, you just have to have the will to do it—and the people of New Canaan have that will.”

“Moving stars…just more evidence that you’re hoarding technology.”

<You need to adjust your attitude,> Angela snapped. <No one owes you anything! Stop acting like just by existing, you’re entitled to the fruits of other people’s labor. What did the ASN do during the Orion War? Where were your ships when New Canaan was attacked? When we moved in on the Hegemony? When Lupus struck Scipio? When the Trisilieds struck out at Hyades? And those are just the conflicts that were in close proximity to the ASN.>

<A little much for a public setting like this?> Tanis asked Angela privately.

<I’m tired of them acting like they were such a big help during the war. If anything, the ASN was barely an ally.>

While Angela had rattled off her list, Yuda had grown stone-faced. After a moment of silence at the end, the woman finally shook her head with a disgusted cough as she glanced around at the smattering of people on the periphery of the audience chamber. “If this is how you treat friends to the AoS—”

“Members,” Tanis corrected. “The ASN is a signatory to the treaty and to the articles that define the AoS. Are you suggesting that you’re going to leave because you aren’t getting everything your way? Do you have authorization from your government to do that? Remember, I can ask them and get an answer today—you know, because hundreds of your systems are already on the QuanComm and Trans-Galactic gate networks.”

A figurative crack showed in Yuda’s armor, a literal wince that showed all too clearly she was pushing harder than her governmental directives warranted.

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll report back that we are still on the same technological trajectory as before.”

“Be sure that you do. I’ll be visiting the ASN before long…I can discuss all of this with your government’s cabinet and see where they stand on things as well.”

“Of course.” Yuda ducked her head, though Tanis could easily make out the angst on the ambassador’s face. “That would be excellent.”

“Good. I’m looking forward to it. Now, I hate to rush off, but I do have to get to Mars for the commencement of the Mars 1 project.”

“Of course,” Ambassador Yuda said with a nod. “I hope to speak to you again soon.”

“And you as well,” Tanis replied before offering her hand.

The two women shook, then turned, each walking in the opposite direction.

<At least she didn’t try to drop breach nano on you,> Angela said as they walked past the two ISF Marines guarding the chamber’s rear entrance. <Not like last time, at least.>

<Was she the one who did that?> Tanis asked. <It happens so much, I swear I lose track of who has tried to breach me, and who’s just an asshole.>

<I mean, an easy way to remember is that pretty much everyone is at least one or the other, and most fall into both categories.>

Tanis snorted a laugh. <I suppose that’s true.> She glanced over her shoulder at Lieutenant Travis and Sergeant Coburn. “You two eager to see this thing get underway?”

“Stars, yeah,” Travis replied. “I spent a decade on Mars 1 back in my youth—hit me like a sledgehammer when we heard it went down.”

“I’m right there with you,” Tanis replied. “I loved that place…and Mars, too.”

<I’ll admit that I’m fond of Mars,> Angela said. <But what I’m really partial to is the Lunar reconstruction. That used to be the heart of non-organic civilization in the galaxy. Now it’s just….>

“A husk?” Tanis supplied as the trio reached the private lift bank and rode it up to the gate deck.

<Guh…I guess that works, but sure feels morbid. Granted, the place is like a tomb, so it fits. I’d really hoped to find core chambers that had survived…but so far, there aren’t any.>

“The bastards were fucking systematic,” Travis grunted. “I can’t believe the Jovians would resort to that level of mass murder.”

“And that we have to make nice with them, now,” Coburn added. “I know none of those people are still alive, but still…it just rankles.”

“The price we pay for our time jump.” Tanis’s voice grew soft as the lift doors closed.

<Feels like something we just keep paying over and over again.>

She nodded, thoughts drifting to the lakehouse on New Canaan where she’d spent some of the happiest days of her life, raising her daughters. That was supposed to be the goal; finding peace and quiet, and settling down. Now, no matter what she seemed to do, more and more responsibility kept getting heaped on her shoulders.

<It’s what you get for both caring and being good at what you do,> Angela said. <If it were up to me, I’d just tell everyone to fuck off and let the galaxy burn.>

<Liar.>

<OK…maybe a little. But some days, I think about it. Like when people like that ambassador act like they’re owed what we bled and died to protect. Everyone in the ISF put their lives on the line when none of us had to. We could have abandoned New Canaan and gone to the Large Magellanic Cloud.>

Tanis nodded. <I mean…that’s what we did.>

<Yeah, but we’re not telling anyone else about that,> Angela said in a mock scolding voice. <Let people think there’s a New Canaan out there to find.>

<I’d love to see the look on Yuda’s face if she actually tried to go there to appeal the decision not to release picotech.>

The lift doors opened, and the trio stepped out, Travis and Coburn in the lead. They nodded to the pair of Marines guarding the foyer, and in response, the two straightened and saluted Tanis when she exited.

She smiled and returned the gesture.

She wasn’t active duty ISF anymore, but there was no chance she’d ever get the Marines to stop treating her like she was, so she didn’t even try.

I wonder if they even remember that I was never a Marine. Not technically, at least.

Not that it mattered. The ISF Marines weren’t going to change their tune now.

<You’re thinking about returning the Marines to the colonies, aren’t you?> Angela asked.

<OK…I’d just begun to form that thought. How did you know?>

<You think about it half the time when they salute you. You know they’re here because they want to be.>

She nodded. <I do, but I think those guarding the AoS’s head of state should be drawn from across the galaxy, not one group’s military.>

<So long as you can find people to trust—which is no simple task in your position.>

They reached the doors at the far end of the foyer, waiting for still more Marines to salute Tanis, then open the portal. Beyond was a short corridor and then a room dominated by a large ring standing on a pedestal.

Travis and Coburn preceded Tanis into the room, heads turning side to side as they swept the area to ensure it was clear.

<There’s nothing here, guys,> Angela chided. <You know I have a hundred eyes in this room, right?>

Travis shrugged. <Now you have a hundred and four.>

A chuckle slipped past Tanis’s lips as she walked toward the ring. “I wish Tangel were here, she could just take us right through this thing, no need for a car.”

<I wish Tangel were here for a whole host of reasons.>

Tanis heaved a sigh as the gate vehicle rose through the floor, a small oval with seats for four people inside. The doors behind them closed, a shield snapping into place to protect those outside the space should something catastrophic occur.

The chances of something happening that was destructive enough to need shields was slim—in fact, if something truly terrible did happen, it would take out the entire AoS tower, not just the gate room.

Still, it didn’t hurt to give an appearance of caution, even when the gestures were just that.

The two Marines took their seats in the rear of the vehicle, while Tanis sat in the front, letting Angela take the controls. The pod’s shield came online, protecting the occupants as the gate’s antimatter-powered emitters came to life. It only took a few seconds for the roiling ball of not-space to appear in the center of the ring, a torrent of exotic energy held in place by the gate’s mirrors.

Though it didn’t look like what one would expect, what the gate held in its center was a singularity—one that the pod would touch with the mirror on its prow, stretching the black hole and skirting around the edge in the process. It would take much less than a second to traverse the distance between the gate room on High Terra and the one on Mars…something that still boggled Tanis’s mind, if she let herself think about it.

<Here we go,> Angela announced as the pod’s gravity drive kicked on and lifted the ship into the air, gently pushing it toward the gate.

A countdown starting at five appeared on the forward viewscreen, ticking down until it hit zero just as the pod’s mirror touched the singularity.

The gate room disappeared, instantly replaced by a visual of Mars from roughly four planetary radii.

It was still hard for Tanis to look at the brown and red world, dotted with only a few patches of green near the equator. Once, before the Jovians had bathed the planet in nuclear fire, Mars had been one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments: a world terraformed from a global desert into a lush planet filled with life and abundance.

After the fall of Terra and InnerSol, Mars had lain abandoned and in ruin for over four thousand years, a message to the people of the Inner Stars that the Jovians were not to be trifled with.

“Pretty soon it’s not going to hurt to see this place,” Tanis said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Living for that day, ma’am,” Coburn said.

<I2 is right on our ass.> Angela flipped the display to show the colony-ship-turned-supercarrier, its kilometer-wide A1 bay exposed to space. <Going to let them draw us in.>

Tanis nodded in silence, swapping the view back to Mars, where she magnified the feed to show the sixty tugs on the planet’s surface, each one over a half a kilometer long, engines making up for most of the ship’s mass. They were the backstop, should anything happen to the grav boosters attached to the object being lifted back into space.

Symbolic more than practical, the Mars 1 ring’s construction would be started by bringing a thousand kilometers of the fallen ring back into orbit, where it would be the foundation for a new ring wrapping around the planet.

It was only a fraction of the ancient ring that lay on Mars, but the rest would remain where it had fallen—a memorial to the billions who had died when the ring came down.

Looking over the status reports, she saw that the lift crews were all ready to begin their task, waiting only for her to reach the I2 so she could give the speech that would kick off the event.

<We’ll be on the deck in three minutes,> Angela advised. <You know what you’re going to say?>

<Not a clue,> Tanis replied. <It’ll come to me, though. This sort of thing is pretty easy.>

<Sure, normally it is. But this isn’t opening the doors of the AoS tower for the first time…this is Mars and Mars 1. You grew up there, that was your home. It’s gonna hit you.>

<Stars, Angela, it sure will if you get me all weepy before things even start. Seriously, I’ll be fine.>

<Alright. If you do find yourself at a loss for words, I have a speech prepared.>

Tanis resisted the near-overwhelming urge to groan, turning her attention to the other ships arrayed around Mars, the planet’s outer orbits filled with vessels from across the system and stars beyond, each one eager to watch the momentous occasion. The innermost orbits were occupied by ISF ships, hundreds of destroyers and cruisers, all ready to ensure the safety of the lift, as well as the ship that carried their leader.

Is that what I am, still? Tanis wondered.

In addition to returning her Marines to their families, Tanis had to decide what to do with the ISF ships that comprised the backbone of the AoS fleets. Hundreds of thousands of her people—people who had long ago left Sol in order to find peace—still served aboard those ships, their loyalty to her keeping them from friends and family.

She had asked if they would like to return home, frequently and in many different fashions. Each time, everyone she spoke with said they were proud to serve, that they’d see the mission through to its end.

The problem was, so far as Tanis could see, there was no end to the mission. Not until the core AIs were found and destroyed, not until the galaxy truly found peace. Until then, she couldn’t rest, couldn’t let her guard down.

The last time I thought I could rest, everything fell apart, and I had to put it all back together again.

The shuttle touching down on the I2’s deck brought her thoughts back to the present, and she shifted in her seat as her door was opened, the smiling face of the person she most wanted to see just then standing over her.

“Welcome home, Tanis.”

“Joe.” She breathed the word like it alone had the power to remove every one of the pressures on her.

Rising from the pod, she stepped into his arms, letting his warmth and eternal calm seep into her, reminding her that no matter what happened, he would always be there, her rock, steady and ready to lend a hand against whatever life threw at them.

“Stars, I’ve missed you,” she whispered.

A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “We saw each other this morning.”

“Yeah, well, you didn’t have to listen to people whining about shit all day.”

The chuckle turned into a laugh. “Maybe not, but folks in the military have their own way of applying pressure.”

Tanis looked into his eyes. “Oh yeah? Wanna trade jobs?”

“Stars no. Not in a million years. You totally got the short end of the stick.”

“Speaking of the short end of the stick.” Tanis looked around at the people milling about in the ship’s cavernous dock. “I didn’t see the Carthage out there. Was Jessica not able to make it?”

Joe shook his head. “She’s dealing with an uprising out beyond the Stillwater Nebula. Turns out a few systems out there banded together into an alliance, and as their first order of business, they attacked Serenity.”

“Shit,” she muttered. “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. You’d think that everyone would be tired of war.”

“Yeah…have you met humanity?”

<Some humans are tired of it,> Angela encouraged <We’ll get there.>

“In our lifetime?” Joe asked.

<Last I checked, you’re both living forever. I’d miss you too much if you were gone.>

Tanis smiled, glad they were all finally back together. Normally, the I2 was at Earth, orbiting High Terra, with Tanis and Angela returning there each night. But Bob had wanted to be at Mars to see the momentous event, and so the ship had traveled between the two planets so its AI could witness the ring’s reconstruction.

<How are you, Bob?> Tanis asked as she and Joe walked to the nearby stage where she’d give her address.

<I am well. I’ve spent the day reviewing every variable, ensuring that nothing has been left to chance.>

<I’d expect nothing else. Did you find things to correct?>

<Tanis. What do you think?>

She laughed, a lightness returning to her steps. <I think this would have failed if you hadn’t lent a hand.>

<Well, not failed…but it would’ve been much more difficult. I also stopped a terrorist plot to destroy the tugs.>

<Shit!> Tanis nearly gasped aloud. <Why didn’t anyone tell me?>

<It was just five minutes ago. They overestimated themselves, only a couple of tugs would have gone down. Either way, now that number is zero.>

Tanis made a mental note to dig back into that later. <Mars 1 isn’t even back up yet, and we’re already dealing with terrorists. Feels just like old times.>

<We’ve had enough times that everything feels like old times.>

<You can say that again.>

They reached the steps leading up to the platform, and Joe planted a kiss on Tanis’s cheek, whispering words of encouragement in her ear before their intertwined hands separated, and she walked toward the podium.

The crowds had already begun to filter toward her, some taking the seats closest to the stage, while others remained standing in the back. She gave them a moment to get settled, and turned to look out the bay doors behind her.

Mars filled the view, but she refused to give any melancholy thoughts purchase in her mind, determined for this to be a successful event and a happy memory.

<You waiting for something in particular to happen?> Angela asked.

<Maybe? I dunno, just taking it in.>

<It’ll be green again before you know it. And then we’ll have a new lakehouse on the Melas Chasma, just like you used to.>

<Now that’s something to dream about.>

Tanis turned back to the crowd, a thousand upturned faces staring at her. She recognized every last one of them, from long-time friends, to compatriots in the war, to those working to rebuild the galaxy into a place that welcomed all sentients, human, uplifted, or non-organic.

Even those who had ascended.

She smiled at the crowd, savoring the moment, then stepped forward, transmitting her voice through sonic emitters around the platform.

“Welcome, everyone. Welcome to what is one of the most symbolic post-war events any of us are likely to see.” She paused and glanced over her shoulder, blinking away tears of joy before turning back to the crowd.

“Mars. I was born there, raised in a house on the shores of the Melas Chasma. Like any Marsian kid, I climbed Olympus Mons, I swam with dolphins, diving into some of the most magnificent canyons in the Sol System. The world behind me was home, and Mars 1 was the glittering jewel in the sky that drew me toward it, toward the stars, toward the galaxy.

“Mars 1 was the first planetary ring humanity ever built, though it wasn’t the first to fall. The first ring to come down was Insi, the Andersonian ring built around Ceres. I remember splunking through its forgotten ruins in ages past, the forgotten remains of a people all but destroyed by war all around me. I climbed through parts of Mars 1 as well, visiting places that meant something to me—those that were still intact.

“When Insi fell, it did so at the hands of Psion. A harbinger of the ongoing struggle humans would have with the nascent species we had created. When Mars 1 fell, it was incontrovertible proof that we were still more than willing to slaughter one another without any non-organic involvement.

“There’s a difference between forgiveness and absolution. I can forgive the Jovians who burned Mars, Luna, and Earth. I do so, not for them, but for me. I cannot heal while I carry that anger inside of me. I have to let it go. I cannot, however, absolve them of their crimes. Were any still alive, I would see them tried and convicted for crimes against sapience.

“And though Mars 1 fell thousands of years ago, we still find ourselves trapped in the same cycle of violence. Still arguing over resources, beliefs, imaginary pecking orders, when the entire universe is at our fingertips! We’re beginning to ascend, both metaphysically and technologically. Though the release of hyper-tech is slow and measured, it will come. We will see unlimited energy, unlimited resources, a future beyond these crude bodies. It’s all within our grasp….”

Tanis’s voice fell to a whisper. “Everything, everything we could ever want can be ours. We just have to stop fighting over scraps on the floor when there is a feast on the table above us. Until we can do that…well, no one can truly enjoy what the future might have in store.”

She turned to face Mars again. “To me, this is a symbol. Reconstruction of the first ring—the first time humanity had a glimpse of what might be possible—means we’ve reached a point where we are truly poised to look into the future and take hold of what it has for us.

“I want us all to have that future. A time when we will not want, when we can travel the stars forever, seeing all the wonders the universe has in store—maybe even someday finding life that didn’t come from Earth. What would all of you like our legacy to be when we finally encounter other species? One of hope and love, or one of chaos and destruction?

“So stand with me. Honor our past while embracing hope and optimism for the future. There are millions of quadrillions of sapiens in the galaxy, all spread from the one small seed that is Earth…Let’s create a legacy we’re proud to leave in the universe for all eternity.”

She glanced up at the bay’s overhead, a kilometer above them. “Bob? Tell them to take it away.”

Bob’s heady tones washed over Tanis and the crowd like a breeze on a warm fall day. <With pleasure.>

Holodisplays sprang to life in the air above Tanis, each showing different views of the lift project. She tapped into them, overlaying the visuals on her HUD while watching the planet slowly pass below them.

The tugs were first off the ground, the webbing they held stretching tight until their upward motion was arrested by the weight below.

<Lift stage one complete,> Bob announced. <Integrated grav drives coming online.>

Much of the rock and soil around the segment of ring being lifted had been cleared away, but there was still millions of tons of dirt on the structure. As the grav drives began their work, that dirt began to sift off, pouring down the sides of the ring, creating ruddy clouds around the site.

Centimeter by centimeter, the thousand-kilometer-wide ring segment rose into the air. The object was so large that, from the I2’s vantage, it appeared as though half the planet was shuddering its way into space.

<Lift is stabilizing, mass is steady> Bob’s sonorous tones reverberated through the minds of those assembled. <Upper reaches have entered the troposphere.>

A few relieved whispers filtered through the crowd.

Unless something catastrophic occurred, the ring would move into space and settle into geosynchronous orbit around Mars.

Don’t jinx it, Tanis chided herself. We’re not there yet.

<Wow…> Angela laughed in Tanis’s mind. <The planet’s atmospheric pressure has already started to drop. Going to whip up some serious storms.>

<That was anticipated,> she replied. <You know that.>

<Yeah, but it’s something else entirely to see it. Good thing we’ll have the best of the best working on the terraforming job.>

Tanis’s thoughts turned to Finaeus. She wished he could have been present—the ancient engineer had been there for the construction of Mars 1 over seven thousand years ago…he would have loved to be a part of bringing it back into being now.

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind. It was impossible to think about him without thinking about Tangel, and that wasn’t a place she could go just now.

Not if I want to stay remotely focused.

The lift was scheduled to take thirty hours, so Tanis descended the platform’s steps as automatons began to circulate the crowd, offering hors d'oeuvres and refreshments to those assembled.

“Well said.” Joe took her arm, and she tapped into her reserves of emotional strength to keep from completely sagging into him.

“It was totally off the cuff. I don’t think I lost the plot, though.”

“Not even a little,” he replied. “And you reinforced your message. We have to break the cycle of violence. We have to end war.”

“Or at least make it more manageable,” a voice said from nearby. “That would be a start.”

Tanis turned to see Diana approaching with Petra at her side, and smiled at the pair.

With the war over, the Scipian empress no longer wore her scorpion body, and Petra’s wings were no longer covered in soot and blood. In fact, both were resplendent in white—the empress in long, draping robes, and her consort in a shimmering skinsheath.

“That would be a start I could live with,” Tanis said. “Hopefully, Scipio can be an example to everyone—a massive empire ending internal conflict through eradicating scarcity.”

“I’m certainly giving it my best shot,” Diana replied, her lips twisting to the side. “Problem is, people are convinced that the grass is greener on the other side, that someone else has a larger slice of the pie. It’s not going to be something that we solve overnight.”

“Or in a generation,” Petra added. “The Transcend has been without want for centuries—or, it should have been. Yet even there, conflict reared its head from time to time.”

Tanis nodded. “Of course, but the Transcend, barring this recent period, has shown itself to be the largest, most peaceful group of humans in history. The lessons learned there will certainly apply to our collective future.”

“I’ll grant you that,” Petra inclined her head. “But you know what they say about pearls and swine.”

“Hey now,” Tanis held up a hand. “Don’t besmirch the genesis of bacon. Pigs are divine.”

The empress barked a laugh. “I love your consistency, Tanis. That’s what makes you such a great leader.”

“It is?” She glanced at Joe. “I’m consistent?”

“Stars,” he shook his head, a ready laugh on his lips. “You’re as consistent as the progression of galaxies. To be honest, that’s probably your best trait. You’re unwavering in your devotion and determination.”

<Easy now, easy,> Angela said, a wary note in her mental voice. <Don’t go giving her a bigger head than she already has.>

“Why not?” Petra winked. “There’d be more room for you.”

<Good point. Have at it. Get her swollen.>

“That sounds a little dirty,” Diana said, a lascivious glint in her eye.

“Oh stars,” Petra rolled her eyes and took Diana’s arm. “Come, let’s go talk to someone terminally boring to get you back under control.”

“You see how she treats me?” Diana asked over her shoulder as Petra led her away. “You’re the one who got us back together. I blame you.”

“You’re welcome!” Tanis called after them, shaking her head at the empress’s audacity. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the two of them so happy.”

<No one has tried to assassinate either of them in over a year. That’s a record for any Scipian ruler as far back as their records show.>

Joe snorted a laugh. “That place has the strangest culture. I still can’t believe that starting the original alliance with them actually worked. That was a genius idea on Sera’s part.”

“She’s a smart cookie. Too bad she’s not here today.”

“None of them are,” Joe said, glancing around. “I would have expected Seraphina to be.”

Tanis reached up, fiddling with a loose curl of hair. “She’s figuring out what to do with the IPE. They’re having a major schism over joining the galactic community.”

“Gotta love it,” he replied. “The ASN is up your ass about wanting more tech, more gates, more everything, and places like the IPE are more than happy to be isolationist.”

“It’s a wide, wide galaxy…and we only occupy a tiny sliver of it.”

Joe nodded. “Though not as tiny as we thought.”

<Yeah, I just got a report that Cary and Earnest’s team found yet another splinter civilization. Over a hundred settled star systems, seven thousand light years spinward up the Perseus arm.>

“Wow.” Tanis’s eyes widened. “How old’s the civ? It must have taken them forever to get out that far.”

<Just over a thousand years. They seem to be relatively low-tech, despite the fact they have FTL and a-grav.>

Their conversation was interrupted by a round of gladhanding with the delegation from Hyades, one of which gave Tanis a strange feeling that they’d met before.

“So, how many lost colonies does that make?” Joe asked when they were free again.

Before Tanis could reply, Bob’s voice came over the Link.

<The ring segment has cleared Mars’s upper atmosphere. Distance to surface now three hundred kilometers.>

“Stars…” she whispered. “This might actually go off without a hitch.”

<Don’t say things like that! Have you learned nothing?>

Joe’s eyes crinkled in the corners as he smiled at Tanis. “You two…so superstitious.”

“I’m not superstitious,” Tanis countered. “And I think we’re at forty-seven ‘lost’ civs? Though, to be honest, most of them aren’t lost, they’re just deliberately segregated from the rest of us.”

<Can’t say I blame them. The AoS really needs to formulate a policy around this. Given how many we’ve found already, we’re going to find a lot more of these distant colonies.>

“What are you thinking?” Tanis asked.

<Well, a lot of them are rather vulnerable,> Angela pointed out. <We have to find out if they want to join the galactic community, and if not, respect their wishes to remain ‘lost’.>

“Have you noticed how so many of these civs are near star collider sites that the core AIs left behind?” Joe asked. “It’s starting to become quite the pattern.”

“The teams working on that are searching for rapidly shifting stars,” Tanis said. “Since they spend more time when they find collider sites, it makes sense that those are the places they’d find civs.”

<Yeah, a bit self-fulfilling at present, but worth keeping an eye on. I wonder if the core AIs knew about a lot of these lost colonies—I mean, they must have, what with the time and effort it takes to set up star colliders. They had to have spotted activity in the systems around them.>

<Tanis!>

The new voice belonged to Captain Rachel and carried no small amount of urgency.

<What is it? Is something wrong with the ring-lift?>

<No, not at all, it’s Katrina. She’s found something.>

Tanis swallowed apprehensively.

Katrina had been providing operational command and security for the team studying the scattered core AI remains in orbit of Sagittarius A*. They were also looking for any clue regarding what had happened to Tangel and Finaeus—though after ten years, no one was holding out much hope.

<What is it?> she finally asked.

<A piece of the Starkiller’s hull plating. It was deep in the accretion disk.>

Tanis glanced at Joe, passing him the information while replying to Rachel. <Where is it now?>

<Voyager is docking on the far side of A1 with it.>

<We’re on our way.>

CHAPTER 4 - KRAI

GALACTIC DATE: 412.12.140

LOCATION: Far Patrol Shell, XI Phrysi

REGION: Void, Mass Conformity Qa-Loar

Two minor cycles passed before another flare of light came from the dead orb.

By that point, Phrysi was within a home-span of the mass conformity’s light orb, just passing the orbit of the innermost fluid orb. This time, with the two probes adding to the light absorption, the AMs aboard Krai’s travelshell were able to assemble a clearer view of the emission.

Spectral lines were consistent with a matter-combining energy jet, and yet they were not consistent with any designs of travelshell jets that je was familiar with.

Kes mind immediately went to stories je had heard about those who had been cast out of capsules, destined to swim in lonely oceans where they scraped out a life on bare rocks—granted, that normally meant within a comfortably cool methane ocean, not the literal bare rock of a dead world.

Of course, it wasn’t at all unheard of for X’Liy to operate near dead worlds. They were, after all, the most likely places to house a plethora of elements needed to build the best travelshells. However, those sorts of operations tended to be large-scale endeavors. Smaller, single-shell operations tended toward mining the loose rock that drifted throughout a mass conformity.

Even just the thought of setting limbcups on the surface of a dead orb was enough to send a shiver through Krai. So much gravity, so empty, so hot.

To kes knowledge, few X’Liy had ever landed on such an orb, though it was more common now that the people had learned how to create negative gravitons to offset the natural force of mass. Even so, any resources that needed to be gleaned from such inhospitable locations were extracted by artificial minds controlling unpeopled shells.

It was entirely possible that what Krai was seeing was just that. An AM-controlled mission that hadn’t been logged properly. It wouldn’t be the first time je had encountered such a thing.

Je would have been able to accept that explanation if it wasn’t for the fact that any machine sent for such a task would be well known to the Far Patrol, and their jet signatures would have been identified by the Phrysi’s AMs.

Unable to stop it, kes mind shifted to other stories, tales of creatures not from the home oceans all X’Liy sprang from. Dark beings from distant pools who were bent on destruction. Other stories that often came to mind at times like this were of artificial minds that had escaped the great purges. Not the sort that je employed to manage kes travelshell, but rogue AMs that had risen against the X’Liy, machine minds with their own goals, goals which all too often misaligned with those of organic people.

There were rumors that some had escaped the purges, flying off into the far reaches of the darkness, alone—much like Krai was—but unlike Krai, those nefarious AMs were plotting to come back, bringing retribution upon the home pools.

Though je had never said it aloud, Krai sometimes wondered if that was part of the Far Patrol’s original mission: to guard against any rogue AMs that might return. Not that anyone really feared that now. It had been hundreds of great cycles since the purges. If there were AMs that had any concern for the X’Liy, they surely would have done something about it by now.

Enough with your fears, Krai. It’s probably just an uncoupled one trying to extract precious resources without the proper approvals.

Determined to make a light-silent approach, je ran through the shell’s knowledge pools, ensuring that the Phrysi’s skin would appear entirely dark to all observers, just a mote of black in an endless sea of nothing.

Satisfied that the shell would be impossible to see, Krai pushed off kes command cradle, pulling past the shell’s control arms to travel down the shaft that led aft toward the feeding grotto. Phrysi wasn’t a large shell, so the journey didn’t take long. On the way, je passed a viewport that looked over the lower tanks within the shell.

There, the methane was processed, imbued with nitrogen and other elements, each of which were carefully managed to ensure that the X’Liy’s life remained well-supported and stable. All appeared to be in order—which Krai would have known from the monitoring systems, but je was always comforted by a visible inspection.

Just past the viewport was the entrance to the feeding grotto. Within lay several sealed vats of small creatures, each one of Krai’s favorites, all living in their enclosed environments until such a time as je desired that form of sustenance.

Nearest the door was the flouris vat, the wide container holding a dozen of the small, bulbous creatures. They came in a multitude of colors, but Krai preferred the blue ones.

Je unsealed the lid and slid several tentacles through the viscous field that kept the delectable snacks from swimming out into the grotto. Quickly snatching three of the flouris, kes securely latched the suction cups lining its sinuous limbs onto the creatures’ bodies and drew them toward kes.

They squirmed in kes grasp, which Krai tightened, slowly crushing the life from the snack before popping the first one into kes mouth.

The taste was delicious, and je savored it for a moment before consuming the other two and resealing the vat.

Satiated for the moment, je gave brief debate whether to return to the command grotto or tour the ship. Since je was already drifting in the currents, je decided to tour the rest of Phrysi, checking the fuel propulsion jets, inspecting the life-flux tanks up close, and reviewing the light spears, ensuring they’d be prepared for any conflict je might encounter.

That idea scared Krai a little, but not as much as je thought it might. Je had run into a number of uncoupled ones in the past. Many would leave a mass conformity when they spotted a member of the Far Patrol, but some had remained, a few ultimately confronting Krai.

In those cases, a short exchange with light spears was all that had been necessary to convince the interloper to move on—never had Krai been in anything approaching a protracted conflict. And never had je killed another X’Liy.

Krai was drifting back past the feeding grotto when an alert rippled through the life-flux around it, methane hissing with the severity of the alarm.

Je twisted kes limbs, kes ten tentacles forming a propeller that screwed through the liquid surrounding kes and drove kes up the shaft to the control grotto. Once there, je slipped between the arches and settled into place, eyes glued to the image wavering on the display before kes.

There drifted a travelshell unlike anything je had ever seen. It was long, a thin scaffold connecting the jets to a boxy fore-section. Small, grey blocks were attached to the thin section, with several more drifting nearby the shell—if one could even call it that—apparently waiting to be attached to the skin.

What in all the glimmering orbs is that thing?

Krai checked Phrysi’s vector, confirming that the shell would pass within the dead orb in just over one more tenth-cycle. Je would pass more than five minor light spans from the strange shell, which should be enough distance to ensure safety, but je wondered if perhaps it might not be wise to put even more distance between it and the strange shell.

As je watched, another cube was lifted from the dead orb’s surface by a smaller shell, this one much more conventionally shaped: a single small body with large jets on the back. The smaller shell moved the box into a waiting pool before descending back to the surface.

Smaller jets flared around one of the cubes, and Krai watched as it was pushed toward the scaffolding on the large shell-that-wasn’t-a-shell.

In a way, it reminded kes more of a stalk of gheshin that grew in the thin nitrogen flux around the oceans of the home pools. Those plants were thin on one end and bushy at the top, similar to some of the things that grew in the oceans, but also hard and ridged.

A gheshin it is, then. Stars, how am I going to imbue this experience to the Far Patrol to review?

Over the next half tenth-cycle, Krai watched as more and more cubes were lifted from the surface—by two smaller shells, as it turned out—until the spindly section in the center of the gheshin was covered by the objects brought up from the dead orb.

After several more cycles, the small shells latched onto the gheshin’s skin, the larger vehicle’s jets igniting and moving away from the dead orb.

Krai watched with relief flooding kes limbs as the stranger’s craft moved away from the dead orb, using the velocity imparted upon it by the mass’s own motion to shift onto a vector away from the central light orb.

A moment’s consideration was all it took for the Far Patrol shell-steerer to deploy another probe, setting it to follow the gheshin and track its vector as it exited Qa-Loar’s conformity.

As Phrysi drew closer to the dead orb, the eyes on the shell’s skin were able to make out the site on the surface where the strangers had landed. There were more machines down there, great excavating devices that were boring their way into the orb. More structures were nearby, gouts of gas rising from them, likely purifying whatever the gheshin-people were extracting.

Krai wanted to take a closer look, but shifting vector to pass by the dead orb would break its darkness, and the strangers would see kes.

Though it was difficult to make the decision, je knew that the machines would still be there in a few tenth-cycles, so je set a course to mass-swing around Qa-Loar, using it to brake before approaching the dead orb.

Je knew that the strangers may have monitoring systems in orbit of the inhospitable ball of rock, but that was a risk that je would just have to take.

Though it was hard to admit, the more Krai thought about it, the more je became certain that the ones in control of the gheshin were not X’Liy, and were very likely not rogue AMs.

No, they were something else altogether.

We are not alone in the galaxy.

CHAPTER 5 - KRAI

GALACTIC DATE: 412.12.142

LOCATION: Far Patrol Shell, XI Phrysi

REGION: Void, Mass Conformity Qa-Loar

It was all so…alien.

Krai had trouble believing what je was seeing, but there was no denying what Phrysi’s eyes revealed. A one—je had to assume it was a one—was carving into the dead orb, purifying and accumulating some sort of material.

A cube already rested on the inhospitable surface of the orb next to a smooth, white pad bearing strange markings. Given the speed with which it had appeared, it was clear that the gheshin could return in only seven tenth-cycles to collect its next load.

Je scanned the world’s surface, looking for any pools, ultimately concluding that if there were any, they were below the surface, though it was also possible that no living beings had descended to the world, and the operation was entirely controlled by AMs.

Another spike of fear ran through Krai as je wondered if maybe the lack of pools did indeed mean that rogue AMs were mining the world.

No, do not be illogical. That which the rogue artificial minds created always appeared to mesh with that which X’Liy minds created. This is simply too different.

On top of that, the presence of the large fore-section of the gheshin suggested that some sort of creatures were present on the craft. If it had been an AM-controlled ship, whether they be rogue or otherwise, there would be no need for what was clearly a habitable section of the gheshin.

With all those disparate elements in mind, what Krai now had to determine was whether it was safe to send down a probe, or to simply report back to the Far Patrol home pool with kes findings.

Despite the fact that je was less than eager to risk kes own life, je knew that the Far Patrol, Leader Dyir especially, would prefer more information. Which meant that a probe would have to travel to the orb’s surface.

The stranger’s gheshin was still accelerating out of the mass conformity, its jets flaring brightly as it picked up velocity, appearing to be on a direct route to its jump point.

It was unlikely that the vessel could return to its mining site, should it become aware of Phrysi’s presence, but Krai still worried that if automated systems on the orb detected any anomalies, they would alert the strangers. At the very least, the Far Patrol would be annoyed that je had given one self away.

After a few more minor cycles of deliberation, Krai finally dispatched a probe, sending it on a trajectory that would appear to be the entry path of a small rock dropping into the dead orb’s minor conformity.

The probe sent periodic data bursts to Phrysi’s eyes, passing updates on its descent until it appeared to strike the surface a thousand span-measures from the mining site. The force of the impact was meant to seem as though it was from fallen debris, but in actuality, the probe had split apart, dropping ballast before entering a gentle descent that brought it to the surface several thousand span-measures away.

Once the probe was deployed on the surface, it took half a minor cycle to approach the mining site, moving slowly over the surface. The mining devices were visible the entire time, thousand-span-measure spears towering over the landscape as they bored into the surface.

Krai had spent some time observing them from space, but hadn’t truly appreciated their size until seeing it from the probe’s perspective. Je surmised that they had to be mobile devices; it would be foolish to build such large machines and leave them behind when the desired resource was gone.

How many systems must these strangers be in for me to stumble across them here?

Logic dictated that a civilization’s economy would need to be both strong and hungry for resources in order to make up for the expense of resource extraction in mass conformities without permanent capsules present.

Also curious was the fact that the operation was left unguarded. The strangers must never have been in conflict with other species if they assumed the mining operation would remain safe with no oversight.

Krai gave a moment’s thought to how the X’Liy would view the presence of another spacefaring species in nearby systems. Many of the people preferred isolation, even from their own kind; so long as they perceived no threat, they wouldn’t take action. Others, ones who were heavily invested in keeping things as they were, might not react so well.

It had been some time since the X’Liy had known war. Not for over several hundred major cycles, when the last of those who supported artificial minds were cast out.

The probe drew closer to the refinery, drawing Krai’s attention back to kes knowledge streams, watching as the machine approached a smooth, vertical surface that formed one side of the enclosure.

The surface was clearly composed of an artificial compound, likely silica-based, from what the probe could see. Several span-measures down the façade, a rectangular inset sat in half-shadow. Strange oval imprints led to it from multiple directions.

Phrysi’s AMs surmised that the oval shapes might be where the strangers’ limbs made contact with the ground. The AMs also calculated that the strangers might only use two limbs to move.

Krai pushed keself up on two of kes sinuous tentacles, testing out the idea.

So ungainly…how do such creatures balance on two limbs with so much mass force pulling at them?

Je surmised that if the strangers had moved to the inset, it must be a portal leading into the structure. The shape of the inset and the different-colored rectangle within suggested that the strangers were tall and narrow, though their height was not greater than the length of a one’s tentacle.

Almost like the gheshin they swim in the black with.

Krai directed the probe to make a full circuit of the building, noting with interest the sleds that drove from the mining site, hovering above the surface while loaded with many mass-units of ore. The sleds were emptied into intake systems that drew the ore up into the refinery, where je assumed it was smelted into pure stones—which would then be taken by the gheshin to be used in manufacturing elsewhere.

After giving some thought to sending the probe into the refinery—it would fit through the ore intake system—Krai decided instead to tap into the knowledge signals that connected the sleds to the refinery and also to the mining site a few thousand span-measures away.

It took some time to breach the signal, but the AMs on Phrysi eventually completed the task after listening to the greetings the various systems exchanged before passing knowledge.

Krai was unsurprised to see that the communication systems were all numerically based, the sleds speaking in a simple two-value system, layering complexity upon that. Most of the messages were directions from one machine to another, each one slowly deciphered by mapping messages to movements the sleds made.

It didn’t take the AMs’ assistance for kes to discern that most of the communication contained vectors, queuing instructions, and so on.

Though the very construction of the facility on the dead orb already suggested this, it was clear the strangers valued logic and order—though their thinking appeared procedural in nature.

Once the AMs understood how the interconnected knowledge streams worked, it didn’t take long to find ways to connect new systems to the streams. Krai directed them to make an attempt to join the system pool while carefully monitoring transmissions from the site, an eye on the stranger’s ship that was now nearing a minor-cycle’s communication distance.

If something went wrong and they decided to return, je would have several tenth-cycles to put spans between keself and the dead orb’s mining site.

The AMs sent the greeting commands to join the pool, and though Krai was expecting rejection, a positive response came from the system, and more knowledge flowed to kes pool aboard the Phrysi.

This information was also two-value, but with a new form of communication layered atop. Je had been hoping to find hints of the strangers’ organic language rather than the one they used for machines, and suspected this might be it.

The travelshell’s artificial minds labored to form the abstraction layer of information into a visual representation of what the strangers’ organic communication might look like.

If they’re organic.

Though any other possibility seemed unlikely, Krai wasn’t going to completely discount the possibility that the strangers could be an inorganic intelligence.

With a rudimentary understanding of what the strangers’ language looked like, je directed the AMs to proceed further into the facility’s knowledge pool, attempting to pass several different directives.

They all failed, but each attempt provided more language samples and knowledge stream responses, until Krai was relatively certain that je had identified simple words denoting agreement and disagreement.

After several more failures to pass deeper into the facility’s knowledge pool, the knowledge streams returned several words of disagreement, and then ceased communication.

Not unexpected, Krai thought. The fact that a one made a connection at all is surprising.

Before je had a chance to attempt another connection to the knowledge streams, a burst of small-wave light emitted from the refinery, traveling in a tight path to a point high above the dead orb.

The surge of energy illuminated a small probe that had, until now, floated quietly in the darkness. Several moments after the surge came from the refinery, the probe transmitted a stronger signal in the direction of the strangers’ ship.

Well, that tide has passed.

Krai knew that kes time was limited and considered the available options.

Directing the probe on the surface to destroy itself was a must, but before that, je couldn’t help the urge that told kes to investigate a little further before retreating.

What harm could come of it?

CHAPTER 6 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 12.22.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, approaching Jal Ina

REGION: Jal Enna, Bysmark System, Outer Alliance

Mira settled into her command chair, shifting side to side until the reactive polymers relaxed, and the seat conformed to her shape.

They were four hours out of Oranos Orbital, the Inquiry’s outsystem route taking the ship on a close approach to Jal Ina, the moon where Mira’s mother was currently working on a new housing project.

When the ship came within a half light second from Jal Ina, she opened up a connection and reached out to her mother.

<Hey there, Mom, hope you’re not busy.>

<Are you kidding, Mira? I cleared half an hour in my schedule when Perez sent your departure time and route.>

Mira couldn’t help a soft laugh. <Why am I not surprised that he ratted me out?>

<Ratted you out? Now see here, little girl, telling someone’s parents where they are is never ‘ratting’.>

Her mother sounded incensed, but Mira knew it was an act—just one that often sounded serious enough to confuse observers.

<I don’t know, Mom. Last I checked, you were a civilian, and this is a military matter.>

<Don’t you give me that garbage,> her mother retorted. <I’ve never officially been in the military, but that’s not stopped me from being in the know about…well—>

<Everything you stick your nose into?> Mira laughed as she recited one of her father’s favorite comments on the subject.

<Don’t you start with that,> her mother said, leaving the threat hanging before her tone softened, a slightly amused note trickling in. <So, how’s it feel?>

<Being chastised by my mother now that I’m a commander?>

<No, honey. The ship! Commanding a corvette of all things, and with a sizable crew from what I hear.>

Knowing her mother would ferret it out of her eventually, Mira jumped straight to the truth.

<Honestly, it’s a little unsettling. I’d spent so much time mentally preparing myself for a small patrol boat with a three-person crew, that to now be responsible for six others…it’s a lot.>

<But it’s still command.> Her mother’s voice was soothing. <It’s not really that different.>

<It really is, Mom. I didn’t have training like you, I was just thrust into all of this.>

A derisive snort came across the Link. <Honey, if you think I had training to command a group of people, you don’t remember the stories that well. Although, I did have your father’s example—not that I appreciated it at first.>

<I do know the stories well,> she grumbled. <Stars, they teach them in school.>

<Not all of them. They don’t teach how I really didn’t like your father at first—though he opted not to kill me on our first encounter, which was a good start.>

<Wait…what? I thought you two met on Venus.>

<We did, but things were…tense then. We weren’t on the same side. Either way, that’s all ancient history. I want to talk about the future, your future—which I’m sure will be bright and exciting.>

Mira wasn’t surprised her mother had changed the subject. She rarely went into detail about what had happened before the colonists settled the Outer Alliance systems. She claimed it wasn’t all bad, but she wanted to move forward, not live in the past.

<When you’re traveling in space, bright and exciting tends to indicate bad things,> Mira replied. <Usually means explosions or falling into a star.>

<That was some of your father’s humor there if ever I heard it. You know what I mean. Enough dancing around. Tell me about your crew! I hear an AI signed onto the mission.>

<Yes, just at the last minute. Her name is Janice, she’s here on the bridge with me.> Mira’s gaze darted to the AI, who sat ramrod straight at her console, fingers dancing across the controls while her unfocused eyes stared into the distance. <She’s a first lieutenant, and is functioning as the XO, though that’s not part of the official orders.>

<Makes sense to me,> her mother replied. <And an LT1 AI? That’s gotta be exceedingly rare.>

<They all have to start somewhere, right?>

Her mother’s response was preceded by a grunt. <Maybe. I’ll have to ask Mars about this Janice. Either way, I imagine you’re pleased to have Brock and Emma aboard.>

<I am. At first, I was worried about having family under me, but it’s working out.>

<Par for the course right now in the OASF,> her mother replied. <Tell me about the others.>

Mira proceeded to go over the remainder of the crew, highlighting some of the items she’d found interesting in their files, as well as how she thought they might all mesh together. From there, conversation drifted to how her mother’s work was going and what her parents had planned for the next month or two.

They continued on until the light lag reached five seconds, and then agreed it would be best to sign off and save the frustration that delay added.

<You take care of yourself,> her mother said. <And those people under you, too—but don’t be afraid to lean on them. You’re a team working toward a common goal. Don’t forget that.>

Mira held back a groan. <Of course, Mother, thanks for the OASF pep talk.>

<Hey, you know I have to say it. OK, I do really need to go. I love you, Mira.>

<I love you, too, Mom.> After closing the connection, Mira rose from her seat and stretched. “I’m going for a cup of joe. Anyone else want one?”

“I’ll take a cappuccino,” Brock said with his hand lifted. “But with good foam—oh, and chocolate sprinkles.”

Mira pressed her lips into a thin line. “Anything else, your majesty?”

“Well, now that you mention it, I—”

“Brock,” Emma hissed. “You want a gourmet meal, go get it yourself.”

He gave an innocent shrug. “But who will cover my station?”

“I will,” Janice said without looking up. “Or, you know, you could wait till your shift ends in twenty minutes.”

Face turning red, Brock ducked his head. “Uhhh…yeah. That’s fine. I’ll wait till then.”

“Good,” Janice said, glancing up at Mira. “Enjoy your break, Commander.”

“Oh I will,” she replied. “And, you know, I think I’ll have a cappuccino with lots of foam and sprinkles.”

“Chocolate,” Emma added.

“Of course.” Mira nodded. “Chocolate, without a doubt.”

Brock let out a low groan, and Mira strode off the bridge with a smile on her lips.

She considered using the small galley aft of the bridge, but didn’t think it had any sprinkles in stock, and torturing Brock was paramount.

A minute later, she was in the lower galley, setting up the espresso machine with fresh beans and the grind she preferred. It would be her one cup of high-quality coffee for the day.

The ship was well-appointed, but there weren’t so many rations that she could treat it like she was planetside at a café.

“Are you making them for the whole crew, Commander?”

Mira glanced over her shoulder to see Lorra enter the galley and amble toward the cooler, where she selected a few slices of ham and a bag of bread.

“You like coffee?” she asked the dolphin, shocked to hear it.

“Surprisingly, yes. It’s an acquired taste, sure, but once you get past the bitterness—or just add a lot of creamy goodness—it’s quite enjoyable.”

Mira chuckled while nodding. “Yeah, adding cream is the gateway, for sure. Eventually, you’ll drink it black to prove how hardcore you are, before finally settling into yummy versions like what I’m making.”

“Oh, I’m all for going straight to yummy,” Lorra said, a warbling laugh accompanying her words. “Oh shoot, forgot the mustard.” She set the meat and bread on a plate, and turned back to the chiller.

“Just mustard?” Mira asked. “What about mayonnaise?”

The dolphin laughed, quivering in her exoskeleton. “Seriously? I’ll admit that you humans were on to something with coffee, but mayonnaise? No with a side of not in all the black, no. That tastes like something you’d find floating at the bottom of the ocean. Like puffer excre—”

“OK, that’s all I need to know.” Mira held up a hand. “I’ll just take you at your word and note that you don’t like mayo.”

“While you’re at it, note that no one likes mayo. At all.”

“I know lots of people who do,” the commander insisted.

“They’re lying. Every one of them.”

Mira gave a good-natured laugh and set the espresso machine to pour a double shot while she added milk to the frother. “I’ll grant you that it’s a bit icky if you think about it too much, but a lot of food is like that.”

“OK,” Lorra said with a nod. “That’s fair.”

“So,” Commander Evans shifted the subject from food as the dolphin returned to the counter with condiments in hand. “How are things in engineering?”

“Not bad, Commander, considering how new this hull is. Chief Aqua and I have spotted a few things that will need attention, but nothing serious, and nothing outside of fault tolerances.”

“Seems like a bit of a miracle,” Mira replied. “This ship had a rather short shakedown before it came into our hands. I was expecting to find something terrible carefully tucked behind a bulkhead.”

“What about a skeleton?” Lorra asked. “I feel like that would be a bad thing to find behind a bulkhead.”

The human snorted a laugh. “I guess, but they’d be dead, so the worst would have already happened.”

“You’re very prosaic, Commander.”

“I try to be. Survival instinct from growing up with my dad.”

The warrant officer let out a low whistle as she smeared mustard across both pieces of bread. “I can only imagine. He must have been quite the force of nature.”

“Eh, he gets a bit of a bad rap. He’s actually really soft.”

One of Lorra’s eyes rolled around to fix Mira with a penetrating stare. “Are we talking about the same man? The general?”

“Yes, and he’s quite different than the feeds would have you believe.”

“What about the history we’re taught? He’s been hip-deep in the shit more than once…stars, deeper than that.”

Mira laughed at the thought of her father neck-deep in shit. He’d be so pissed. “I mean, sure, but so have half our parents and grandparents. Things sucked before we got here, plain and simple. That’s why we joined the OASF…to make sure it stays safe and those times don’t come back.”

Lorra layered her meat on, and topped the sandwich with the second piece of bread. “I mean, partially, Commander. I came for some adventure, too.”

“You came to the wrong place, then. We’re really just glorified security guards for planets.”

“And star systems,” the CWO corrected. “Don’t forget those.” Lorra took a bite, switching to the Link to reply as she chewed. <I’d better get back to engineering. Aqua strikes me as the type not to tolerate tardiness.>

“If she gives you a tough time, blame me.”

The dolphin shook her head, another warbling laugh emanating from her long mouth. “Oh, I don’t think so. It doesn’t do to blame the old lady for something on the first day.”

“I’m not—” Mira caught herself and shook her head. “Well, off with you, then.”

She turned back to the espresso maker, pulling her cup out and triggering the machine’s clean cycle. After drawing in a deep whiff of the rich flavor, she set the cup down and poured in her foam, adding the chocolate sprinkles she’d warned Brock about.

Satisfied that it was prepared to her liking, Mira took a sip and sighed in satisfaction. “Oh stars, that’s just what the doctor ordered.”

She considered returning to the bridge, but instead leant against the counter and took another sip, then another, until the drink was gone, the words ‘bottoms up’ staring up at her through the remains of the white fluff.

“Oh what the heck, it’s our inaugural flight. I can totally have a second one.”

CHAPTER 7 - KYLIE

STELLAR DATE: 12.22.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen approaching Homestead Station

REGION: Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

<Dinner is served on level one, cafeteria one! After that, join us in the library for cocktails and conga lines! Fruit juice for the littles! Smiles on, and best outfits only on the Barbaric Queen!>

Chuck, the ship’s AI, broadcast the message over the shipnet with images of his avatar wearing a chef’s hat and a multi-colored lei. He certainly was showing the signs of an AI who really needed a vacation—but then again, they all could use one.

Kylie barely remembered what those were, what with a decade of going from one war, to an infiltration assignment, to another war. At least it kept her busy and out of trouble…or the wrong sort of trouble, at least.

She plucked her ‘Kiss the Captain’ mug from the approaching servitor’s grasp and splashed some cream in her coffee, taking a sip as she watched Grayson finish frying up a special side dish of cheesy potatoes.

The Barbaric Queen’s resident chef, Jenny, let him play in the kitchen from time to time, and for that, Kylie was glad. She always liked Grayson’s potatoes best.

She hooked her finger around his belt and kissed the back of his neck.

He peered over his shoulder, lips pulling into a sly grin. “I like our mess hall dates.”

“Me too.” Goodness knew they barely got any time together alone, especially after Marie had come along, but despite the changes she brought to their life, Kylie didn’t regret anything that had happened since.

Kylie took another sip of her coffee. Even with the cream, it was far stronger than any person should enjoy, which meant it was just the way she liked it.

“Excuse me, Captain!” A short woman with blue hair pulled back into a thick braid scooted around her, brandishing a pair of oven mitts that matched her hair.

Kylie slid right over. “I wouldn’t want to stand between the chef and her oven.”

“It smells amazing, Jenny,” Grayson praised.

<I’ll say,> Alice, Grayson’s AI, said, <It makes me wish I had a mouth. Or taste buds.>

Jenny pulled a pork loin roast out of the oven and slid it next to the potatoes and the pot of corn on the cob. Dessert was her famous peach cobbler.

Who knew finding Winter’s sister would have so many amazing fringe benefits?

Jenny smiled as she shredded the pork. “You don’t have to stand clear, though, Captain, I’m not going to bite. Whipping up a meal like this is pretty easy.”

“For you,” Kylie popped a juicy piece of meat into her mouth.

<Here comes the rest of the crew,> Chuck said. <Gird your loins and protect your potatoes!>

Kylie started to make a small plate of food for Marie as she heard heavy footsteps. They had to belong to Rogers and Winter, but there was another sound coming from further down the passage….

“MOVE IT, ASSHOLES!”

Mr. Fizzle Pop, fluffy as ever, squeezed between the doorframe and Rogers’ foot.

“Not fair,” Rogers called out in a huff. “That’s cheating!”

“PSYCH.”

Kylie set Marie’s plate and her own cup of coffee down on the long, wooden table and pivoted back to the food in time to catch Mr. Fizzle Pop mid-air.

He groaned in frustration, and his legs kicked through the air like his paws still touched the ground. “FOUL. ILLEGAL INTERCEPTION.”

“You wait until after the humans are fed before grazing on our leftovers.” Kylie glared at him. “You have your own plate.”

Mr. Fizzle Pop struggled in her grip. “MOO! DOWN! FOOOOOD!”

“He’s more aggressive than he used to be,” Winter said as he scooped potatoes and meat onto his plate.

Kylie directed a scowl at Grayson and hoped he wouldn’t say what she knew he would. Sure enough….

“That’s what happens when we allow the uplifted cat to get a rejuv treatment. Hyper kitten mode. Again,” he said.

Lucky for him, he was on the other side of the room.

“His fur was getting dull and lackluster.” Kylie placed Mr. Fizzle Pop on the bench beside Rogers, who proceeded to push the cat off onto the floor.

“HEY.” Mr. Fizzle Pop rose up on his back paws and swatted at Rogers.

Rogers shrugged with his fork in his mouth. “Stop giving me your sparkly eyes look, MFP. You know I’m immune.”

“MOSTLY,” Mr. Fizzle Pop argued.

“Hey, Cap,” Rogers coughed to change the subject, “we should go over the supply list before we arrive at the space station.”

“Later.” Kylie glanced at him before her gaze swept over the assembled crew.

Winter and his sister were sitting together, and across from them was Rogers. There was an empty spot next to him left by Ricket, who was off with Lana on a mission for the Alliance that would keep them away for a few more months.

The ship felt emptier—and a little lonelier—without them. It was bad enough Bubbs had moved on.

Listen to me, Kylie thought, I’m turning into a mother hen.

When Kylie heard footsteps, she thought it might be Marie, but it was Rogers’ son, Burton. He was nearly twelve years old and already nearly as tall as his father—not only that, he was always telling jokes and wearing a sly grin just like him, too.

Rogers sipped his beer and leaned back. “Come sit near your old man, Burt. I saved you a soda.”

“I will, but…” Burton sighed. “You know never to call me that.”

“Oh come on, Ernie, don’t be like that.” Winter winked, chewing on some pork.

Both Rogers and Burton scowled.

“What?”

Two decades together, and some things would just never change.

At least Burton bothered to show up to dinner. The same can’t be said for a particular little girl.

Kylie picked up the small plas plate of food just as Grayson slid his arm around her waist.

“Do you want me to go find her?”

Kylie shook her head. “I know where she is. I’ll go.”

“Give her a kiss from me,” Grayson said.

“Only if you pet Mr. Fizzle Pop,” Kylie teased.

Grayson started stammering, and Kylie gave him a parting smile as she headed out of the mess hall.

She made her way to the bridge and wasn’t surprised to see a small head peeking over the top of the pilot’s seat. Brown hair like hers, but in pigtails, Marie wore a grey romper, white tights, and boots. Only six years old, and already such a handful.

Kylie slid in the seat beside her and offered her the plate. “You don’t want to miss dinner again.”

Marie took the plate from her and picked up the dinner roll. “I just wanted to see the stars, Momma.”

“I love the stars, too. That’s why we’re up here and not on some planet, settled down. But dinner is dinner, little one.”

“That would be so boring! Living planetside and having to eat dinner?” Marie shook her head.

“Even still, we have rules. When dinner’s called, you have to come. You can’t sit on the bridge by yourself.”

“Someone has to keep an eye on it,” Marie muttered.

“That’s why we have Chuck. You know he can be everywhere at once.”

<I’m super intelligent that way,> Chuck said.

Marie giggled and covered her mouth.

“What’s this really about? You know your pop would love if you came to sit with him.”

Marie nodded. “I’d like that too. I… just…I miss Marge.”

Kylie stroked her daughter’s pigtail. “I know. I miss her too. But you know, we completed our mission to help free her AI friends, and she wanted to return to her home, to her people. She wanted to help them. I couldn’t tell her no. Our missions…they just led us in different directions.”

Marie nodded and stared down at her plate. “Will I ever see her again?”

“You will, but not soon. It’s okay to be sad when people move on.”

Kylie thought of Bubbs and Ricket; she missed them both being around all the time.

Marie nodded. “I still feel sad, though.”

“I know, but…what if I had ice cream?”

Marie whipped her head around. “I want ice cream.”

“It’s part of the dessert, you’ll just have to come see,” Kylie teased.

Marie gave a half scowl and crossed her arms.

“Burton’s there too, you know.”

Marie gasped, and her mouth fell open. “Fine. I’ll come.”

Kylie chuckled. “Good girl. Say, before we go, why don’t you tell me how much longer it’ll take us to get to the space station, Homestead?”

“Really?” Marie sat up straighter and stretched out her arms. She activated the holo console and issued a few commands. “Eighteen hours and twenty-minutes, Captain. Enough time for two rounds of dessert.”

Kylie laughed.

One day, Marie would make an excellent pilot and member of the crew. A day that Kylie hoped would be far, far off.

* * * * *

The crew gathered in a section of the ship that was once filled with passenger cabins. It had been converted into a library, with a long window granting a view of the stars, and soft lighting to create a relaxed atmosphere. In the center lay a soft area rug, atop which was an eclectic collection of chairs and sofas. A desk sat in the center, and the walls were covered in bookcases.

The crew was situated throughout the room, enjoying coffee or tea—and of course, dessert—as settled into their customary places. Mr. Fizzle Pop was enjoying a saucer of milk next to the rug, twin white streams dribbling down his furry chin as he lapped it up.

“I don’t know about you,” Winter said as he slid a spoon into his peach cobbler, “but I’m pretty sure we’ve gone soft.”

“It took you ten years to figure that out?” Rogers asked. “Ow!” He rubbed his arm from the jab Kylie delivered.

“Look at us. Sitting in our posh library for a mission debrief while holding fancy plates and eating this stuff.” Winter held up his plate, and Jenny glared at him from her seat across the way, nostrils flaring.

She crossed her arms and legs, looking about ready to squeeze someone’s head straight off. “Tell me more about this stuff?”

“I mean,” Winter swallowed and put his plate down. “It’s delicious. Props and all, Jenny. No offense. Right, Gray?”

Grayson sipped his coffee from behind his desk, and lowered his mug to reveal a smirk. “Don’t look at me. I’m pretty sure I’m offended you’re balancing your mug on the armrest of my favorite recliner.”

“Gray!” Kylie scolded. “You need to share. There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’.”

“Yeah, well, there’s no ‘dipshit’ in ‘team’ either, but he’s still here.” Rogers pointed his thumb toward Winter.

“Language,” Marie looked up from her spot on the sofa where she played with blocks and nano-infused clay.

Burton sat with her, joining in sporadically, even though he was too old for her brand of play.

Kylie gave her a gentle quiet signal across their Link, before announcing, “We’re about seventeen hours from docking at the space station. From there, you know the orders we received from Seraphina—we gather intel on who might be stealing and replicating stasis shield technology. We need to know if they really do have it and how far along they are in recreating it.”

“And if we find a lab?” Rogers asked.

“We blow it up,” Winter said. “Good old-fashioned ‘oh yeah, boom’.”

“That’s not your call,” Kylie said.

“Then what would you have us do, Cap?” Winter asked.

“Blow it up, but it’s still not your call.” She smirked, though she felt a little hotter than usual under the collar.

The cat snorted in his milk. “HA HA.”

“When we get to the station, we’ll rendezvous with our contact,” Kylie finished. “I’ll go alone.”

“And if some of us have money to burn?” Winter asked.

Kylie raised an eyebrow. “A little field trip isn’t out of the question, but you need to stay out of trouble.”

Winter’s smile faltered. “I…never get into trouble.”

“Don’t worry, Cap.” Jenny slung her arm through his. “I won’t let what went on last time happen again.”

Kylie didn’t think Jenny could keep her brother in line, but she admired the effort. “Rogers, you’ll go with them.”

“Fine, but that brings me to a point I need to cover. Jenny and I have been creating a list of supplies we need. Since we’re stopping at a commercial station, I thought it would be convenient if we did a little shopping.”

“Of course,” Kylie said. “What is it?”

Rogers unfolded a piece of paper and cleared his throat. “Sixteen pounds of apple wood smoked bacon, twenty-two cartons of eggs, three pounds of milk chocolate—”

“LIKE LIST. APPROVE,” Mr. Fizzle Pop all but shouted.

Kylie held up a hand to forestall Rogers from reciting the rest of his list. “Sure, what MFP said. Get whatever we need.”

Two servitors entered the library to collect the dirty dishes, and Chuck came over the speakers.

“Another day has come and gone. Bedtime for a little young miss.”

“No,” Marie crossed her arms and pouted.

“You’ll need to go brush your teeth and get ready for bed if you want pancakes tomorrow.” Grayson wore a warm smile, and his eyes twinkled in a special way they only did for Marie. “Or else I’m going to tickle you.”

Marie screamed and ran out of the room, and Grayson chased after her.

Kylie grinned as her family raced out. “All right!” She clapped her hands together. “Who’s ready to lose their shirts in a round of Snark?”

* * * * *

Kylie checked over her weapons and cleaned her favorite pulse rifle more than once. While doing that, she kept an eye on her HUD, watching Marie sleep via the feed from their quarters.

Would she ever stop worrying?

“No,” Grayson yawned from the bed. “One dinner with your mother proves that. Parents always worry about their children. But the payoff is fair. Though of course we got an adorable girl with more sass and stubbornness in a single pinky finger than in your entire body. May the stars have mercy on all of us.”

Kylie hadn’t realized she’d voiced her question out loud.

She sat beside him on the bed, and he intertwined his fingers with hers.

“I’m not apologizing for that,” she told him.

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“Do you think Winter’s right? About us going soft?”

“We’ve earned it, haven’t we?” he asked. “Battle after battle, war after war. We deserve a family. We haven’t gotten soft; I think if anything, the stakes are just higher than they’ve ever been. Losing family and friends along the way…it’s proved to us what happens if we let our guard down.”

He must’ve been thinking about Maureen. Kylie missed her too. They had grown to be friends, more than just mere shipmates.

Kylie slid closer to him and rested her head on his chest. Grayson flipped the covers over her and rested his hand on the small of her back.

This was what bliss felt like.

“Lights off,” Kylie whispered.

CHAPTER 8 - TANIS

STELLAR DATE: 12.22.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: ISS I2, Mars

REGION: AoS Independent Zone, Sol System, Alliance of Sapiens

The Voyager was an ancient ship, designed before the advent of graviton emitters, which meant its decks were arranged in a stacked configuration, with the bow being ‘up’ and the engines ‘down’.

Even though it had been reconfigured hundreds of years ago with a-grav systems, Katrina refused to have the interior redesigned with horizontal decks, which meant the ship’s several hundred meters of hull stood vertically, towering over all but the largest cruisers resting in the I2’s main dock.

A gantry stretched out to meet the ship’s upper and lower airlocks, and the moment it touched hull, the lower lock opened and Katrina appeared.

<Tanis, Joe!> She waved from the entrance, relying on the Link rather than yelling across the noisy dock. <Easier if you come up and see it.>

<I’m on my way.> Tanis strode to the lift that would take them up to the airlock level, Joe at her side.

“What do you think they found?” Joe asked. “If it was evidence that the Starkiller had been destroyed, I feel like they wouldn’t have us examine it in person.”

“Maybe?” Tanis shrugged as the lift carried them up. “Or maybe she wants us to form our own conclusions rather than rely on her—bearer of bad news and all that.”

<Maybe if we know more about what happened, Earnest can repeat what he and Finaeus did at New Sol,> Joe suggested.

<You know we can’t do that,> Angela said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. <The Starkiller was the only ship made capable of time jumps, and Earnest said that the research site was destroyed after they left.>

<Do you really think that’s the case?> Joe asked. <I can’t see Finaeus obliterating his research.>

<Who knows,> Tanis replied, glad she didn’t have to weigh the pros and cons of a time-travel rescue—even though she’d give anything to save Tangel and Finaeus. <But I don’t believe Tangel is dead. I’d know if she were.>

<As much as I hate to agree with gut feeling, I agree with Tanis. We’d know.> Angela’s mental tone didn’t carry a shred of uncertainty. <They’re still out there somewhere. I mean, just look at what happened with Sabrina, back when they jumped at Grey Wolf. Took them a decade to get back, and they didn’t go that far off course.>

They reached the airlock where Katrina stood, her red hair cascading around her face, an uncertain expression pulling at her lips.

“Stars, it’s good to see you,” the Voyager’s captain said, embracing Tanis, then Joe. “I feel like I’ve spent so much time at the core that there’s just an eternal dread in the back of my mind from that damn black hole.”

“I can only imagine,” Joe said, a compassionate smile on his lips. “As if there isn’t enough stress already.”

Katrina nodded. “Come, I want you to see this and draw your own conclusions before I discuss our recent findings. I fear that our desire for optimism is clouding our judgment and we need fresh eyes.”

“Can’t say I’m going to be much less optimistic,” Tanis said as they followed the former warlord into the ship to the central ladder shaft.

The Voyager had originally been intended as an emergency escape craft at the Kapteyn’s Star colony. As such, it had been constructed bare-bones and without a lift. Tanis had never bothered to ask Katrina why she didn’t have one put in after the fact. She already knew the answer.

They slid down the rails to the ship’s main hold, which was filled with an assortment of debris. Some looked familiar—segments of hull from ancient Terran ships—while other components were entirely foreign.

“Half this stuff looks like it was designed by aliens.” Joe’s tone was hushed as he looked around in wonder.

<You’ve seen all this stuff before in holos,> Angela said. <It looked weird then, too.>

“Sure, but it’s different in the flesh.”

Tanis nodded. “It is…and I guess the core AIs are about as alien as anything we’ve ever encountered. Nothing they do quite makes sense, even Hades, despite him being on our side.”

<For some definition of that term,> Angela muttered.

“Has there been any sign of him?” Katrina asked. “I still can’t believe that he just left.”

Tanis raised her shoulders. “Me either, but he’s been MIA since we determined that something happened to Tangel and Finaeus.”

“Bob?” Katrina called out as they worked their way through the labyrinthine maze. “Any new ideas?”

<One, though it’s not entirely new. I suspect that our final confrontation at Sol did not go as planned. I think we’re all in unknown territory here.>

“Darla has hinted at that as well,” Tanis added. “She keeps a pretty tight lid on what happened in the universe she and Hades are from, but I can tell that she is flying blind as well. Some measure of certainty is gone.”

“Well, I guess that’s just the same ol’ same ol’ for the rest of us,” Katrina said.

<Speak for yourself,> Bob replied, a hint of mirth in his tone. <I still have a pretty good handle on the future.>

<Care to share it with us?> Angela asked.

<No.>

“Figures,” Katrina muttered. “What’s the point of having an all-powerful, ascended AI on our side if you don’t throw us a bone every so often?”

<Who’s to say I don’t?> Bob asked, a mysterious note in his mental voice. <What if I was carefully influencing you all the time, but also letting you make up your own mind about things?>

Joe shook his head. “Those concepts seem mutually exclusive, Bob.”

<Not so,> the I2’s AI countered. <Every experience you have every day nudges you one way or another, yet you still consider yourself as having free will, don’t you? Some days, the things you have to do are harder because you don’t feel well, but you still do them. Or maybe you seek medical help and don’t do the things on your plate. You still make the conscious choice.>

“OK, Bob…but you’re capable of a lot more than just making us think we’re soldiering through feeling unwell,” Tanis said. “You could reshape reality around us, and we’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference.”

<That is a power I’ll never use. It would undermine your trust in me.>

“You can say that again,” Joe confirmed.

“Ah, here we are,” Katrina said, gesturing toward where a five-meter-long segment of the Starkiller’s hull lay on the deck. Two of the Voyager’s crew, Karl and Camilla, stood next to it, an array of investigative equipment nearby. “So far as we can tell, this is off the ship’s starboard wing.”

<Leading edge,> Troy, the Voyager’s AI chimed in for the first time. <You can tell by the curve on the left side.>

“I’m still amused that they gave that ship wings,” Joe said as he knelt next to the utterly black object. “It looks nearly undamaged.”

“Close to it,” Karl replied. “I think it might have popped off from gravitational shearing forces. Maybe a bit of enemy fire was in the mix—there are a few pits on the surface—but that ship has seen so much combat, it’s hard to say for sure.”

“Maybe,” Tanis said, a hand on her chin. “I don’t recall the Starkiller ever having its shields breached. Though I suppose it might have been nicked once or twice while jumping. What does spectral analysis reveal?”

Karl passed her a tablet. “Nice thing about this ultra-black coating…since it absorbs almost all light, it keeps a really good record of what it’s seen.”

Tanis nodded as she looked over the analysis results on the tablet. “OK…that’s rather telling.”

“What is it?” Joe asked.

In response, Tanis passed the results to a holoprojector built into the palm of her hand. An image of the hull-plating segment appeared, rotating slowly in the air. “I agree that this is the leading edge of the starboard wing. And right along the edge, well, that’s the result of the wing coming into contact with gate energy. A lot of gate energy.”

“What about prior contacts?” Katrina asked. “The Starkiller has jumped many times. It could be an accumulation.”

“I see what you’re doing,” Tanis said, giving the other woman a languid wink. “But you can see the prior echoes of gate energy—all at much lower intensity—in the bulk of the material. No, I’d say that this last signature was from a single jump.”

“Catastrophic?” Joe asked.

<If there was a catastrophic jump failure, there’d be nothing left,> Angela said. <I think this was due to additional stresses from Sagittarius A* right at jump time. It’s a miracle this thing wasn’t obliterated.>

“So is that roughly where you landed?” Tanis asked Katrina. “They were jumping while close to the black hole, and popped some ablative plating off when they turned off the stasis shields for the jump?”

“Pretty much,” the captain said with a nod. “And we agree that it had to be a hell of a jump to leave that signature. Troy’s calculations show that the gate had to be active for at least five minutes.”

“Shit.” Joe whistled while shaking his head. “Where would that take a person?”

<Nowhere,> Troy replied. <It would put them beyond any of the dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. Maaaybe could have landed them at Bernard’s Galaxy.>

Tanis handed the tablet back to Karl. “If this is all correct, it means that Tangel and Finaeus jumped out of the MWG to another galaxy…which raises a whole host of other questions.”

<Like whether they were in pursuit, or being pursued,> Angela said. <Or was it a mistake.>

“And does it mean that the core AIs left the Milky Way?” Katrina added. “Stars…we’re scouring this galaxy, already. Do we need to survey every single one in the local group?”

Tanis pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes before running her fingers up and through her hair, then smoothing her locks and pulling them into a tight ponytail. “Maybe…but that’s going to take millennia.”

<Not if you make it a priority,> Bob interjected. <Up drone and gate production. Send a dedicated drone to every star. It’s only two trillion. You could do that inside of a century.>

Joe chuckled, shoulders heaving. “You make it sound so easy, Bob.”

<That’s because it is. The only difficult part is what to do with the gates you leave behind.>

“That’s a solvable problem,” Tanis said. “And yeah, we might actually have to do this—though I think we’ll need to have a little bit more evidence first. I can’t orchestrate what would be the single largest effort in our collective species’ history based on a signature from a hull plate.”

<A core AI jump gate would be perfect,> Angela said. <If we can just find one.>

“If there was one to find, we would have already found it,” Katrina said. “We’d have to go diving past the event horizon, and even if we could get back, there’s no way to ‘see’ in there.”

“Fair point,” Tanis said. “We’ll just have to look for more evidence. If we found this in the accretion disk, maybe there are more clues in there.”

<I’d like to examine that plating further,> Bob said. <I’ll have a team pick it up.>

“Of course,” Katrina replied with a nod. “Then we’ll swing by Far Reach Base and drop the rest of this off for cataloging before getting back to the core.”

“Kat.” Tanis placed a hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “Thank you for your efforts, but…a decade of your time is a lot. I don’t know that I can ask more.”

Katrina patted Tanis’s hand with her own. “Think nothing of it. I am doing this for Tangel and Finaeus as much as anyone else. We’ve spent more time traveling across known space for a good bottle of hooch, so ten years at the core is nothing.”

“What a bottle of hooch it was, though,” Karl said, rubbing a hand across his stomach. “We should get another, someday.”

“And hold on to it for when we find Tangel and Finaeus,” Camilla added.

“Alright then,” Tanis gave the Voyager’s crew a grateful smile. “I’ll let you get back to it. I’m sure folks watching the ring-lift would love to see me there for it.”

“Yes, yes!” Katrina clapped her hands. “That’s right. I’m sorry I interrupted.”

“No worries,” Joe replied. “This was a good interruption.”

“The very best.” Tanis agreed. “We might not know where Tangel and Finaeus are, but we do have good reason to believe it’s just a jump away.”

Angela sighed. <A very, very long jump.>

CHAPTER 9 - KYLIE

STELLAR DATE: 12.23.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, Homestead Station

REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

<Welcome to Homestead, Barbaric Queen. Do enjoy your stay, but remember, no weapons are allowed when you disembark,> STC greeted as Rogers docked the ship.

He threw a glance over his shoulder, and Kylie offered him a shrug in return.

She knew the conditions and was hoping her crew wasn’t going to violate them.

“Thanks, Space Traffic Control. Queen out,” Rogers replied before closing the channel. “Should be worth it for our supply run. This is the only place to get black truffles this far out.”

Kylie sighed. “Sometimes, Rogers, I worry about you. We’re here for an actual mission, you know.”

He smiled sheepishly. “I have no problem mixing business with pleasure. We seem to be really good at it these days.”

Kylie couldn’t argue with that, so she just tousled his hair and took leave of the bridge.

Her waist-length hair was pulled into a tight braid, and she wore a tight pair of leather pants and a long sleeve shirt over her armor. Just because she couldn’t bring a weapon didn’t mean she was going completely unprepared.

“Who’s ready for a field trip?” Rogers asked as he followed behind her.

Marie and Burton leapt out of their hiding places in the passage, each shouting ‘Me!’

“You keep them out of trouble, Rogers,” Kylie said through gritted teeth.

So help him if he led them straight into trouble.

Rogers looked offended as he placed his palm over his chest. “You know me, Cap. I’m nothing if not the fun but safe uncle. No trouble will be had. Other than maybe too much sugar.”

Kylie rolled her eyes. “Uh huh.”

At the airlock, she kissed Grayson goodbye. “Keep the home fires burning for me while I’m gone.”

“I will. You just be careful.”

She nodded. “You know all I care about is coming back. Besides, we’re in Lupus—no one here wants to cause trouble and risk their chances of getting on the Alliance’s Trans-Galactic Gate Network. Nothing bad is going to happen to me.”

“Doesn’t mean everyone agrees with the idea of galactic peace, though, does it?”

Kylie silently admitted he had a point. She had seen enough systems that were barely holding on to even a semblance of order, and more than enough humans who resisted the very idea of peace, to wonder why she still continued to try.

“Be nice to Mr. Fizzle Pop,” she implored instead.

Grayson sighed and glanced away. “He’ll be fine. I can’t promise to be nice, though.”

Well, that was something.

Kylie strode down the ramp, and Winter fell in line beside her. Up ahead, she watched the kids skip along while Rogers and Jenny walked in time.

“You done kissing your old man goodbye?” Winter asked.

Kylie peered at him out of the corner of her eye. “Something on your mind?”

“Nah,” Winter shook his head. “Worried about Lana, I guess.”

“She’s tough. She’ll be fine.”

“Things between us…. Just, it’s been rocky since Bubbs left, you know? Lana…I think she’s antsy. Looking for a change of scenery.”

“She loves you.” Kylie gripped his shoulder. “It’ll work out.”

“Nothing lasts forever, Captain. Doesn’t matter how good it is. Forever just doesn’t happen.”

She frowned. Did that mean Winter was thinking of leaving too?

So many people had come and gone, but it had always been Kylie, Winter, and Rogers—even from the very beginning.

What if it came time for even that to change?

As Kylie watched Marie run ahead toward the lift, she felt the weight of how much everything changed. But she’d do her damnedest to make sure the important stuff did last forever.

* * * *

Homestead Station gave Kylie the willies for two reasons: it was impeccably clean, organized, and the people all seemed happy. Okay, maybe that was three reasons, but Kylie was used to stations like Heaven, where weapons weren’t allowed, but people wished the rule was different.

She was far more comfortable with that, given how everyone had an itchy trigger finger.

Maybe she was just a jaded pessimist. She couldn’t imagine trying to settle down somewhere that didn’t mean meeting shady contacts inside of darkly lit pubs.

Kylie sipped her drink. She sat at a table with a fern plant in the corner. Meanwhile, the bar was lit up with neon lights. Pink, green, and yellow. The place wasn’t subtle; the music was loud, the drink was strong, and Kylie wished her contact would just show up all ready.

She drained her martini glass and placed it toward the edge of the table.

<There’s no one coming, and I’m losing patience,> she said sourly across the Link to the Barbaric Queen.

<GRAB PIZZA,> Mr. Fizzle Pop said. <TAKE TWO. SIDE OF BACON. PITCHER LEMONADE.>

Like I’m really going to do that. She rolled her eyes.

They had tried to bar the cat from group conversations, but it never seemed to work. Somehow, he always found his way through. At first, Kylie worried the exclusion hurt his feelings, but he seemed to view it as a challenge.

<Hang on,> Grayson said. <Someone is coming your way.>

Kylie looked up to see it was just the waitress. She wore a pink mini skirt and fishnet stockings—pretty, but she looked college-student young. Not that one could really tell in systems where rejuv was common.

“Can I get you a refill? What about a dill pickle martini? They’re all the rage. Pretzel bread and beer dip on the house.”

“No, thank you. I think I need to get going,” Kylie rose from the booth.

“Got stood-up, huh?” The waitress scowled. “That’s the worst.”

“A story as old as time.”

Kylie transferred credits over to pay for her bill and then exited through the front door. She walked out to the balcony’s edge, which provided an epic view down through the station’s rings. It looked like an unending spiral, making her a little dizzy.

Homestead was a multiple-torus station, so spinning was normal, but it seemed to be picking up speed.

What’s going on? I didn’t have that much to drink….

She checked her HUD, querying a system analysis. Her vitals were all over the place, and her blood sugar was spiking. Like she’d been drugged—which should be all but imposible with her mednano.

So much for peace in the galaxy.

<I’m not feeling too well,> she reported. <I think—>

She turned around and saw a woman approaching in full body armor and a helmet. Kylie reached out and grabbed the woman by the throat just as the woman did the same to her.

A drone suddenly appeared over the balcony’s edge, closing in to determine whether they were engaged in illegal activity.

“What now?” Kylie whispered through gritted teeth.

The woman released her throat, and slowly, Kylie did the same.

“I had to make sure that you came alone.” The woman’s voice sounded mechanized. “And that I could trust you.”

“Drugging me was unnecessary.” Kylie scowled.

Her nose had started to run, and she wondered what symptom might be next. She didn’t like to show weakness, but that didn’t stop her from gripping the railing to stay upright while her nano worked to flush out the rather clever mix of toxins.

The woman passed a token along to Kylie’s HUD, and she accepted the data file.

“You’re looking for General Mulke. He has technology he shouldn’t.”

Kylie nodded. “Stasis tech?”

“Got it in one. He’s working on replicating it, and from there, he’ll become…a big problem.”

Kylie flipped through the file. “And his lab?”

“More than one location is possible, but I can tell you that Mulke is on Pi Scorpii Beta’s capital world, so his lab is probably there or nearby.”

“And you can get me close?” Kylie asked.

“Yes, access to a party he’s hosting. The word is that a few people who are eager to get their hands on his stolen goods will be there.”

Interesting.

Kylie reviewed the data, which contained an invitation token to a ball and silent auction—plus cover identities for her and one male. She did love a black-tie event.

Once kids were in the picture, who got to dress up anymore?

A party, a date, and an abduction. What could be better than that?

“Thank you,” Kylie said. “I’ll send payment once I get back to the ship, not a moment sooner.”

The woman’s stance shifted, and Kylie thought she might be amused. “Smart. Not that I’d hurt you. We have the same goal, even if we go about it in different ways.”

“Oh? And what is our goal?”

“To protect people. I just don’t want company.”

The woman dove off the balcony, flipping end over end to land three levels down, where she ran off without missing a beat.

Kylie wasn’t so lucky. Her stomach ached like it had been pierced with a hundred needles.

She groaned and gripped the railing, releasing her body’s reserves of mednano. <I’m going to need help back to the ship.>

<How much did you have to drink?> Winter asked.

Kylie bit back a curse. <Shut up, Winter.>

* * * * *

Kylie lay in the medbay while her system flushed out the remaining toxins—toxins her internal nano should have been able to handle.

It was hard to stay down and rest when she could smell the frying bacon from Rogers’ latest supply run. However, the thought of eating or drinking anything didn’t do her any favors.

Instead, she kept her head firmly on her pillow and stroked between Mr. Fizzle Pop’s ears. He hadn’t left her side since she had been brought in. Kylie had never thought of herself as his favorite human, but with Ricket and Bubbs both gone, his choices were dwindling.

She had to admit she liked his company.

“You know, Marie would love if you slept on her bed.”

Mr. Fizzle Pop’s ears twitched, and he looked up. “SHE PULL FUR. PUT STUPID CLOTHES ON ME.”

“Well, that’s because she’s a kid and she loves you.”

“PURPLE NOT MY COLOR. MAKES ME ITCH,” Mr. Fizzle Pop grumbled and leaned back for an epic stretch.

The large cat lost his balance and began to slide off the bed, his eyes growing wide and paws flailing as he disappeared over the side. “MOMMA!”

Kylie chuckled as the medbay doors opened, sitting up partway when Grayson entered. “Hey,” she said.

Grayson took her hand and slid beside her on the small bed. “Feeling better?”

She nodded. “I am. Watching Mr. Fizzle Pop’s antics helps. Is the course laid out?”

“Yes. We’re en route to Pi Scorpii Beta as we speak. It’ll take about four days.”

Four days? Well, at least that would give her time to feel like herself again.

“Do you have a plan?” Grayson asked.

Kylie scoffed. “Of course I do.”

“Would you like to tell me what it is?” He gave his smooth-as-butter smile.

“Assume the identities and go to the party. We’ll kidnap the general, and he’ll lead us to the lab.”

“So…” Grayson said slowly, “he’ll just…tell us where it is?”

“I’m hoping so.”

“He’ll just reveal where he’s keeping stolen tech that’s entirely illegal thanks to the Orion Peace Accords? He’ll just hand it over?”

“Well, no. First we might need to torture him.” Kylie patted Grayson on the arm. “Then we’ll go into the lab, kill a few people, seize some tech, then blow the place up, like Winter said.”

Grayson gave her a sour look. “I’d feel better if I thought you were kidding.”

“I mean, maybe it won’t go exactly like that, but what else can we do?”

“One, we get the intel without the use of torture, then we scout ahead and see what the situation might actually be before we go in.”

“I’d laugh if I thought you were joking.”

Grayson started to sigh, but Kylie reached over and kissed him.

“I’ll be safe,” she assured him. “Everyone will be fine, and we’ll get what we need. You just need to trust me.”

“I trust you,” Grayson argued.

“But not my plans.”

“Er, your plans sometimes could use a bit more thought in the natural progression before follow-through.”

He had a point, but Kylie wouldn’t be so easily beat. “Such as?”

“Such as, if we kidnap a general, do we bring him here?”

She gasped. “Grayson, there are kids here! Of course not. We’ll do it off site. Can’t you just go with the flow?”

“After twelve years of working together, how can you ask that with a straight face?” he grumbled.

He was right; of course he couldn’t go with the flow, just like her plan would most likely go sideways. But she always managed to get through just fine.

“Marge isn’t here anymore, Kylie,” Grayson said quietly. “She’s not here to pull you out of the fire like she always used to.”

“I know,” she admitted. “I…miss her. I know this is what it’s like to have an AI and then to be separated…it just sucks.”

“Life without an AI is very different,” Grayson admitted. “When you’re ready, the Alliance can make sure you get another one.”

“I’m not ready yet. It’s not exactly like adopting a new cat, Gray.”

He shuddered. “Of all the analogies you could make….”

Kylie took his hand. “I know you’re just worried about me. I promise we’ll be careful. We might not do it by the book, but we’ll be book-ish. Book adjacent.”

Grayson leaned over and kissed her. “That’s all I ask. And if you do run into trouble, I don’t care where you are, I’ll get you out of trouble, fly the ship down through atmo if I have to.”

Chuck cleared his throat.

Grayson glanced up. “Or I’ll get Chuck to do it.”

<I just ask for a little acknowledgment! A little ‘how-do-you-do?’.>

Kylie chuckled. “I like the life and community we’ve built aboard the BQ, Grayson. I won’t do anything that risks it.”

“Good.” He kissed her again, more passionately, until the sound of Mr. Fizzle Pop coughing up a hairball interrupted them.

“NARF! GAG! GROSS!”

Kylie stroked the cat’s fur.

Grayson glared at him. “You did that on purpose.”

Mr. Fizzle Pop flicked his tail. “SO?”

* * * * * *

Pia entered her quarters and took her helmet off to reveal white hair shaved close on either side. The remaining locks on the top of her head stood in a curly fauxhawk.

She walked to a console and palmed a symbol, activating her connection to the person who had hired her.

“Well?” the voice in the hologram asked.

“She’s coming. Are you sure about this? Revealing yourself?”

“I’m sure. Leave the rest up to me.”

CHAPTER 10 - SERA

STELLAR DATE: 12.28.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Grace O’Malley

REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm

Stars snapped back into place on the bridge’s forward display, and Sera rose from the ship’s command seat, walking toward it. Her brow was furrowed, as though she expected the stars to tell her something she didn’t already know, something she sought, but had yet to find.

<Are you trying to scare them?> Jen asked, a laugh following the words, chiming pleasantly in Sera’s mind.

“Do you think it would work?” the captain asked. “Trust me, if it did, I’d frown at stars all day long.”

“I doubt much scares stars.”

Sera turned to see Jason entering the bridge, a steaming mug of coffee in each hand. “True, they do tend to be rather implacable.”

“It’s their nature.” He handed her one of the cups. “Just the way you like it.”

She lifted the mug to her lips, letting the rich dark liquid roll across her tongue and down her throat. “I suppose, most of them have watched the universe unfold for billions of years, and most will spend billions more watching over the black after we’re gone.”

“Think so?” Jason asked, a brow arched as he glanced at her. “We might outlive them.”

Sera shook her head at the playful tone in Jason’s voice. “Of course you’d think that.”

“Well, when you get to be as old as I am, you look at things a bit differently.”

“Your half a dozen centuries of real-time living aren’t a patch on my uncle’s,” Sera reminded him. “Trust me, I’m quite familiar with the ‘long view’.”

“Fair enough. Still, wouldn’t you mind popping in and out of cryo? Maybe flying to another galaxy, or jumping halfway across the universe? There are wonders out there we can only imagine.”

Sera slid an arm around Jason’s waist as they gazed out at the starscape. “Yeah, there are, and I want to see them, but I don’t think it’ll take us fifty trillion years.”

Jason nodded toward the display where one of the nearby stars blazed so brightly that, were its output not muted, no other star would be visible. “Well, that guy’s going to burn out in a few million years, so we might not have to wait that long.”

“Fair enough.” Sera chuckled. “Though we might get bored hanging out here for that long.”

<So adversarial today,> Jen commented. <Your coffee too bitter?>

Sera heaved a sigh and shook her head. “No, just that…well, we’ve been at this for years, and we still haven’t found a trace of the core AIs—at least, nothing that would hint at where they went.”

“We’ll get there. We’ll find our clue.” Jason pressed against her side, arm pulling her close.

“Oh yeah?” she glanced at him. “When?”

“Hey, you send out a hundred million probes across the galaxy, and even the anomalies are bound to add up into the thousands.”

“Have we done thousands already?” Sera asked in a worried whisper. “That’s a recurring dream of mine, by the way, that we cross over our thousandth system we’ve checked out, only to find that we’re old and decrepit and we’ve wasted our lives chasing shadows.”

“Time spent with you is never wasted, Sera.”

<Oh stars…that was a groaner, Jason.>

“What? It’s true. We’re all going to spend our lives doing something. What’s better than doing it with the woman you love?”

Sera barked a laugh. “Well played, mister.”

<By the way, any chance you two are going to actually start investigating why the probe failed to report back from this system?>

Sera held out her half-empty coffee cup, waving it in the direction of the massive blue star that dominated the black. “I’d wager a guess that it’s that beastie. Too close to that sucker, and poof.”

“Could very well be it,” Jason said. “Let’s get in close and see if it dropped a beacon.”

Sera nodded as she set a course for the type-A0 supergiant star. It massed over a hundred Sols, and burned so hot that its light was nearly pure white. That, coupled with its size, meant that a lot of photons were speeding in every direction, some quite a bit more energetically than was normal for main sequence stars.

“Let’s see how things look in this morass,” she said while flicking a hand at the holotank, bringing up a three-dimensional representation of the system. “So, there are two type-B stars in the mix here, one hundred and four hundred AU out, give or take. Looks like they both have small planetary systems along with our supergiant—though its kids are all gas giants that are hot and close.”

“Don’t forget that dust cloud. Heck of an outer belt,” Jason said.

<Makes you wonder if the probe is still just surveying this mess,> Jen suggested. <It could be—oh! I got a ping. Looks like it did drop its beacon.>

“How far?” Jason asked, a marker appearing in the holotank a moment later.

<A hundred AU from here. Looks like it’s in a wide orbit around a gas giant orbiting the second star.>

“Going to be slow-going, stripping its data this far out,” Jason muttered. “Should we close in?”

Sera nodded. “Yeah, let’s. But let’s also send a transmission and get it feeding us the summaries.”

<You got it. Oh, and shouldn’t you go wake Cargo?>

Jason shrugged. “I mean, he knew when we were scheduled to get here. We can wake him if we find anything.”

“Speaking of waking,” Sera looked at the bottom of her now-empty cup. “I could use a refill.”

Her husband glanced back at the bridge’s exit. “You know where the galley is.”

“Oh!” she cried out in mock shock. “I see how it is.”

Jason nodded while bending over and brushing his lips against her cheek. “Yes, you do.” His coffee mug pressed against her free hand. “And thank you for the refill.”

PART TWO

CHAPTER 11 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 12.29.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, system astropause

REGION: Regina System, Outer Alliance

The Inquiry slipped back into normal space with a small shudder that set Mira’s teeth on edge. It had first occurred when the ship shifted into the dark layer, and Aqua had spent the three days of transit from Bysmark to Regina going over every graviton emitter with a fine-tooth comb.

In the end, she hadn’t found any issues, and declared it something that required more data.

Well, hopefully she has enough now, Mira thought.

She dared to spare a glance at the chief engineer, who was hunched over her console, muttering to herself in a tone that did not invite any inquiry whatsoever. After a few more whispered sentences about the parentage of whoever had installed the graviton emitters in the Inquiry, Aqua rose and cleared her throat.

“OK, I think I have it now. With your permission, Commander?”

“Of course,” Mira said with a gracious nod. “Best of luck, Chief.”

“Huh,” the woman grunted as she walked off the bridge. “I don’t need luck, the build team needs luck, if I ever…” Her voice trailed off as she slid down the ladder to the lower deck.

“I’m tempted to monitor the pickups to see what else she comes up with,” Brock said in a hushed voice.

“Or at least to make sure Lorra survives,” Emma added.

Janice cleared her throat. “Perhaps it would be ideal if we had a report on what you’ve stripped from Regina’s beacon, Ensign Brock.”

“Uh…yes. Of course, Lieutenant. I’ll get right on that.”

Brock bent to his task while Emma rolled her eyes before turning to Mira. “Commander, we’re one-point-two light seconds off our vector. I’ve plotted a corrective burn to get us back on course.”

“That’s a long ways off,” Mira said. “That due to our graviton emitter woes?

“I think so, ma’am. Either that, or we have a scan miscalibration.”

“I’ll run tests on that as we cross Regina, Commander,” Brock volunteered.

“Good,” she replied. “Have Janice review your findings. I want to be sure we’re dialed in before we jump again.”

<I’m pretty sure I know what went wrong with the jump alignment,> Janice said privately. <But I’ll see what they come up with.>

<I thought you might already be on it,> Mira said with a soft laugh. <Let’s hope they come up with the right answer as well.>

<That assumes I sorted it out correctly.>

The commander cocked a brow. <Do you doubt that you did?>

<No.>

<Thought so.>

“I have the report parsed, Commander,” Brock announced a moment later. “Looks like insystem traffic is nominal. No current alarms on the lanes, and no recent disturbances in the system.”

“Very good, let me know what further analysis shows. I want a review of any anomalies at the system perimeter, and when we pass the next OASF beacon, strip it and forward the data to me.”

“Yes, Commander.” Brock’s tone was meek, earning him a smirk from his sister.

“Ensign Emma.” Mira got her attention. “I made a correction to your burn profile. You may execute now.”

Emma blushed. “Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

Mira rose from her seat. “I’m going to check in on the chief. Janice, you have the conn.”

“Aye, I have the conn.”

Well before Mira reached the engineering bay, she could hear the chief swearing up a storm.

“If I find who did this, I swear, I’m going to shove this so far up their ass, they’ll give birth to floating children!”

Wait…what?

A moment later, she reached the bay to see Chief Aqua storming back and forth while Lorra stood nearby, looking like she’d swallowed a quillfish.

“What’d you find?” Mira asked, doing her best not to sound afraid of the raging engineer.

“Rank incompetence is what,” Aqua all but hollered. “One of the secondary polarity controllers was miscalibrated so badly, it was spewing negative gravitons when we wanted positive. Now we’re going to have to check every single one of them.”

“Is that a hardware config check?” Mira asked. “Or can it be done with software?”

“Hardware.” Lorra’s tone was matter-of-fact. “It’s in the normalization system. It’s telling the software the emissions are correct while outputting the wrong polarity particles.”

Aqua let out a string of unintelligible words capped by, “We can’t even tell which are miscalibrated! We might as well tear the ship completely apart and start over!”

“You might have thought of this,” Mira carefully ventured, “but what if we equipped one of the hullcrawlers with graviton measuring devices and sent them out to get a read off each one? Then you can either manually recalibrate any that fail, or write a software update that corrects the readings so it operates properly.”

“Huh,” Lorra grunted. “It’s kinda sloppy, but it’d work.”

“Not the sort of thing we should have to do on a new ship.” Aqua ground out the words in a tone that could weld steel. “But since we also don’t have time to take everything apart, I think that could work. Nice thinking, Commander.”

After confirming that the two engineers had everything they needed for the job, Mira retreated to the galley to check on the ribs she had in the slow cooker. She’d planned to make a meal for the whole crew to celebrate their first successful jump, but now it appeared as though the merriment might have to wait.

She was debating whether to remove the meat and flash freeze it—a risky proposition—or let it finish and save it for later, when Greg burst into the galley.

“Ma’am, do you have a minute?”

He appeared agitated, so Mira gave him her full attention.

“Of course. What is it?”

“Well, Chief Aqua just told me that you volunteered me to go out onto the hull and measure graviton emitter levels.”

A startled cough slipped past Mira’s lips before a frown knitted her brow. “I told her to use a hullcrawler. I have no idea why she told you to do it. Hold on a mike.”

“Alright,” he nodded while slipping into a chair. “It’s not that I can’t do that, it just seemed odd when we have the crawlers…plus, I have other work to do, and I don’t report up to Aqua.”

“Agreed,” Mira said. “I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

She reached out to Aqua, and the other woman immediately answered.

<Yeah, Commander?>

The greeting was brusque, but smacked of general urgency and not insubordination.

<Hey, Chief. Why did you tell Sergeant Greg that I ‘volunteered’ him to get out on the hull?>

<Oh, well, it would be handy to have a human out there to ensure everything goes smoothly. He’s rated for that work, and it would help it go faster.>

There wasn’t even a hint of apology in the other woman’s words or tone, and Mira felt her blood pressure rise.

<Chief. The sergeant doesn’t report to you. If you want to tap him for a project, you need to reach out to myself or the XO. Do you really think it’ll be faster with him out there?>

<I thought we wanted these repaired with all expediency, Commander.>

<We have the time it will take to transition the Regina System. Based on our currently plotted course, that gives us five days. There’s not that much of a rush.>

<Sure,> Aqua’s tone had picked up a mote of disdain. <Until a stray rock hits us in a part of the hull without an active shield umbrella.>

<Do you have an efficiency improvement estimation?> Mira asked. <Because I don’t especially want Greg out there with our current v and no shields either.>

<Umm…no, I don’t.>

<Well, work one up, and if I think the risk is worth it, we’ll send a human out.>

It was easy to tell that Aqua was annoyed from the feeling of frustration that came over the Link. <Fine. We’ll do it with the bots.>

<That’s not what I asked,> Mira said, starting to wonder if the woman had been sent as a test, rather than the NCO who would behave as a minder for the officer on their own for the first time. <I want you to run the numbers and see if Greg would speed things up. If so, I’ll have him help you.>

There was a sullen pause, and then two words. <Understood, Commander.>

“You’re in the clear for now, Greg,” Mira said. “Aqua is going to determine if it’s worth putting you out there. But if she does, I’ll assign you to help. We can’t have our ship operating with incorrectly calibrated graviton emitters, and we only have a few days to square this away before our next jump.”

The technical sergeant sighed. “OK. I mean, I’m happy to help, she just kinda rubbed me the wrong way the way she said you volunteered me. Sorry I came storming in here like a child.”

“Understandable,” Mira replied, taking a seat across from him. “Is there anything else going on that you’d like to talk about? I’ll admit that it seems like a bit of a strong reaction for the first instance of an altercation between you two.”

Greg shook his head. “Nothing specific, nothing big, just little nits, you know? I think something’s eating at her, and she’s taking it out on others. Not sure how Lorra’s managing so well.”

Mira found herself wondering the same thing. “I don’t know, but we’ll get ourselves ironed out. It’s not uncommon for new crews to have a few hiccups along the way.”

“Fair enough,” Greg said as he rose. “I’d best take care of a few things, if I might get roped into helping engineering. Ma’am?”

“Of course,” Mira nodded. “Be on your way.”

He ambled out of the galley, and Mira returned to the prep station to check on the ribs. They were coming along nicely, so she decided to let them finish. If there was time for a meal, then they’d have them fresh. If not, they wouldn’t suffer much from a flash freeze for later.

<Do you have a moment, Commander?> Janice broke into Mira’s thoughts.

<Always, what’s up?>

<Brock found something interesting—well, he flagged an anomaly, but then determined it wasn’t out of the ordinary. I gave it a secondary review, and it turned out to be quite out of the ordinary.>

<Please let him know what he missed later,> Mira replied. <He can be a little slap-happy with the work sometimes.>

<Noted.> The AI paused for a moment. <So, regarding what I found. Brock’s flag was for a series of burn profiles at the edge of the system, coming in on irregular vectors. They definitely look suspicious, but do match up with people jumping straight to Regina from more distant systems.>

<Which is pretty rare,> Mira replied, wondering why anyone would do that.

<Agreed. Most traders and couriers hit every system to maximize cargo value. But it’s not unheard-of, so he listed them as non-anomalous. To be fair, so did Regina’s Space Traffic Control. However, I think that’s in error.>

<Too many of them to be couriers on longer runs?>

<From what I can see, three ships that jumped to points just beyond Regina’s astropause never entered the system. They jumped out on vectors aligning with other distant systems.>

Mira knitted her brow. <That seems…highly suspicious. Someone is covering their tracks.>

<That’s my assessment as well.>

<How recent is the last of these jumps?>

<Of the ones that didn’t pass within the astropause, one came and left just last week. Its departure location isn’t too far off our planned route.>

<How many of them share a location?> Mira asked. <Could they all be rendezvousing on a kuiper asteroid or something?>

Janice didn’t respond for a few seconds. <No, nothing is out there, and even if it were, it wouldn’t be moving fast enough to be within easy travel distance of those entry and departure locations.>

<Very well,> Mira said. <Ask Emma to plot a route that will take us close enough to scan that most recent location. For now, keep it on the back burner.>

<And if we find something?> Janice asked.

<Then we’ll send it on to the appropriate divisions. Regina isn’t supposed to be a part of our patrol, just a convenient first jump and a location to get repairs if we ran into trouble.>

<Speaking of repairs, that was a good idea with testing graviton-emitter output from the hull. Just make sure they run the emitters through a full amplitude sweep.>

<Thank you, and of course. I imagine Aqua will think of that, but I’ll make sure they do it.>

<Or I can, if you want,> the AI said. <Wouldn’t want her to feel like you’re hounding her.>

<It’s either hounding or a gang-up,> Mira heaved a sigh. <No easy way out in this sort of situation.>

Janice laughed at the statement, the sound echoing like ice cracking on a lake in the winter. <She is a bit prickly, isn’t she?>

<That’s an understatement,> Mira said as she adjusted the temperature on her slow cooker. <Is that all Brock found?>

<It is. I might do my own sweep for anomalies when he’s done reviewing the data.>

<Alright, I’ll leave you to it.>

<Thank you, Commander.>

CHAPTER 12 - KRAI

GALACTIC DATE: 412.12.147

LOCATION: Far Patrol Shell, XI Phrysi

REGION: Void, Mass Conformity Qa-Loar

Krai shifted on kes cradle, studying the knowledge its travelshell’s eyes brought forth. It wasn’t engaging in the least—nothing had changed in cycles, and je had begun to wonder if je should leave Qa-Loar and return to the Far Patrol with what je had learned.

At least the stranger’s ship left without issue. That means one didn’t set off any alerts at their mining facility and did not make them aware of the X’Liy.

Je found keself wondering if the strangers already knew of the X’Liy. One could imagine a scenario where the Far Patrol had kept this knowledge from passing into the home oceans, worried that it would cause panic in the inclusions.

Playing out what those scenarios looked like, Krai missed the first alert that appeared on the knowledge feeds, a blip at the edge of the mass conformity that suggested a travelshell was present.

Nearly a tenth-cycle later, another alert appeared in the streams, this one at a higher priority, breaking into kes imaginings and bringing kes back to full awareness of kes surroundings.

A shell, it must be—smaller, I think, than the stranger’s ore hauler.

For a moment, Krai wondered if it was another X’Liy ship, but je dismissed that thought. Only the Far Patrol would venture so far from the home oceans, and je had not been gone long enough to warrant any search for kes.

A new concern came into kes mind, a fear that the stranger’s ore hauler had indeed spotted Krai’s interference, but rather than investigate themselves, sent a peace patrol shell. If the stranger’s peace patrol was anything like the X’Liy’s, things were about to become much more complicated.

Krai pinged the nearby probes je had deployed around the fluid orb in whose shadow je hid. None of them could see Phrysi, which meant that the strangers should not be able to see kes. Not that je could be certain their shell-eyes operated at all like kes own.

Momentarily reassured that the strangers wouldn’t immediately spot kes, je plotted a number of outsystem vectors and burn profiles just on the off-chance that kes ship was detected.

Over the next few tenth-cycles, any doubt that the new shell was one of the strangers’ disappeared as Krai’s remote eyes tracked its path across the mass conformity.

Much to kes surprise, the new shell did not make for the mining site on the dead orb. Instead, the vessel held to a vector that brought it around to the far side of the mass conformity, a route that would bring them within several span-measures of kes location, but nothing so close as to be considered an intercept.

Just chance that they’re here. This must be the strangers’ far patrol—hopefully not their peace patrol.

The thought did not completely assuage kes fears, and je began to consider what conflict might arise between the shells should the stranger’s see kes.

It was clear that the strangers’ shell also possessed mass-force protection, though it was activating and deactivating in a rather curious fashion.

Perhaps something has gone wrong with their shell, and it is damaged?

Curiosity got the better of kes, and je sent a remote eye on a course that would bring it closer to the strangers’ ship.

The eye gave a better picture of the vessel, and Krai marveled at its simplistic congruity. It looked nothing like the ore hauler, which was clearly utilitarian in nature. Nearly as wide as it was long, Krai was reminded of a bottom drifter, one of the creatures that swam close to the ocean floor, mouth and eyes looking down, ever searching for its next meal.

Je had tangled with those beasts in the past, usually by accident. Their three spiny tails were nothing to trifle with; just one could pierce an X’Liy’s thought-mass and end a one’s life.

The fact that the strangers’ shell so closely mirrored something that was frequently a threat didn’t strike kes as a coincidence. It was clearly a predatory craft, and should it learn of Phrysi’s presence, there was little doubt that it would strike—especially since it had suffered damage.

I must prepare for combat.

CHAPTER 13 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 12.30.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, 155AU from system primary

REGION: Regina System, Outer Alliance

“There.” Mira pointed at a glint of light on the forward display. “There’s our little errant scan return.”

“It’s big,” Janice cautioned. “We’re still three light seconds and a long way from the primary, near that swarm of dark matter.”

“Big, or could be exceptionally reflective,” Brock suggested.

“Do you think that’s the case?” Mira asked the ensign.

He shrugged. “I guess not. Folks would have spotted it, and it’d be on the charts.”

Mira nodded, hand to her chin as she considered why it wasn’t. Though Regina was only a few light years from the Bysmark System, it had only seen settlements in recent decades—mostly on rocky moons orbiting the gas giants.

Further insystem, terraforming teams worked on the one terrestrial planet, carefully nudging it into a more temperate orbit while introducing hardy forms of life and adding water to create oceans and atmosphere.

The Inquiry’s original route would have taken them close enough to watch the work in progress—possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—but investigating the anomalous routes in the system’s far reaches was far more important.

There’s always the return trip. Might be able to swing a flyby then.

“OK,” Brock said after a minute’s silence. “I calculate it to be at least fifteen kilometers long.”

“And…” Janice prompted.

“And what, Lieutenant? I can’t really see much else about it from here. There’s just not enough light.”

Janice shook her head. “It’s rotating, Ensign. You can tell from the slight blue shift on the bottom and the red shift on the top.”

Brock’s lips formed a wide ‘O’, and he reddened. “Umm…yes. That. Oh! And it’s reflection is highly consistent, too.”

“So,” Mira tapped a finger on her chin. “It’s either a station, or someone spun up a rock.”

“Fast spin on a rock,” Janice said. “But then again, the Outer Alliance hasn’t really been around long enough for people to be able to build stations that large in secret.”

“Or to find derelict ones,” Emma added.

“How’s our stealth look?” Mira asked, deciding it was best to move away from speculation.

Brock glanced at his console. “We’re as dark as can be. Even the probes we deployed yesterday can’t see us anymore.”

“Good.” The commander nodded before reaching out to Aqua over the Link. <What’s the status on our emitters, Chief? Are they still behaving?>

<They’re looking good, Commander. The corrections we made after Greg’s spacewalk yesterday seem to have everything in order. Do you think we’ll be putting them to the test soon?>

The engineer didn’t sound put-out by Mira’s inquiry—she seemed almost pleased, for once.

Small mercies, Mira thought. <I’d prefer not to. Whatever’s out there is big enough that its guns wouldn’t see us as much of a threat, shields or otherwise. We’re purely recon, here.>

<Good plan,> the chief said. <Whoever is operating out here is doing it with near impunity. That means they’re confident they can defend themselves.>

<Right. Either way, be ready.>

<I’m always ready. Just say the word, Commander.>

Mira turned her attention back to the bridge, where Brock and Emma were having a conversation in low tones regarding the safest distance to maintain from the object. She glanced at the AI to see Janice watching the siblings with a surprising intensity.

<Everything alright, Janice?>

<As much as it can be,> the AI replied. <I’m simply marveling at the logic behind the decision to put these two together. Surely, they would benefit from some time apart. It would help them grow.>

<I suppose,> Mira said, nodding as she considered what that would look like. <They’d see an efficiency drop in the short-term, though.>

<They’d make it up in the long run. They can’t work together forever.>

The commander leant back in her chair, considering whether she agreed with that statement. So often, people presented the most common behaviors as the only behaviors—something AIs were not immune to.

<What if they were to remain together?> she asked. <Working on the same ships in close proximity.>

<It seems unlikely.>

<It would only take a small amount of effort from their superiors,> Mira countered. <It’s ‘unlikely’ that they’ll be on a ship that doesn’t require two people of their rank in different positions.>

The AI’s gaze slid from the twins to Mira. <You know how rare that is, given the average lifespan of a human.>

<So if they’re to be apart eventually, why not let them enjoy the time when they can be together without it causing anyone any great hardship?>

<It may be that their separation will come at an inconvenient time.>

<Then they’ll learn to deal with it,> Mira said. <They’re smart and resourceful. I really don’t think it’ll be an issue.>

Janice’s jaw clenched, and Mira began to wonder if she’d have to order the AI to let it drop, when she shrugged and said, <Very well. I suppose it’s probably not going to be an issue I have to deal with.>

<Thank you for your thoughts on the matter, Lieutenant.>

<Of course, ma’am.>

Determined to mark an end to that conversation, Mira rose from her seat and walked to the bridge’s holotank, where she activated a three-dimensional view of what she was now certain had to be a space station.

“It’s just too regular to be an asteroid,” she mused before glancing at Janice. “Is there anything on record that fits the profile?”

“What? Like a lost colony ship?” the AI asked with a laugh. “There are a few stations that are rough matches, but as of our last records updates, they’re all accounted for. Not that anyone has the tech to jump a station like that.”

Mira nodded absently. Normally, ships over six kilometers in length couldn’t drop into the dark layer for FTL travel—except for the two colony ships that had made the journey to what they named the Outer Alliance. Through means that had never been shared, those massive craft could transition with ease.

“What if someone figured it out?” Emma asked. “I mean, our engineers did during the exodus. It stands to reason that others could as well.”

Janice shrugged. “I suppose. Either way, for our purposes right now, it doesn’t matter how it got here, we’re just taking a look-see.”

“Exactly.” Mira folded her arms across her chest. “Just a little splotch of darkness drifting across a sea of black.”

“We’ll be at our closest approach in an hour,” Emma advised. “Permission to grab some coffee, ma’am?”

Mira laughed. “Granted, but only if you get me some.”

“And me,” Brock added.

Emma rolled her eyes. “I’ll just bring a carafe. How’s that sound?”

“Perfect,” Mira replied. “Oh, but bring some of the cookies I baked last night. They’re perfect for dipping in coffee.”

“You got it, Commander. Coffee and cookies coming right up.”

* * * * *

An hour later, Mira still stood at the holotank, eyes glued to the visual that was slowly taking shape as the Inquiry’s passive scan raked in the stray photons bouncing off the object.

“Sooooo…” Brock drew the word out. “Who’s gonna call it?”

“Call what?” Mira asked, knowing all too well what the ensign was getting at.

He half rose from his seat, gesturing at the holotank. “That we’re staring at an alien…station? Artifact? Like…what the fuck is that?”

“And just as importantly,” Janice rose from her seat and joined Mira at the tank, “why are there Outer Alliance merchant ships docked with it as we speak?”

The commander folded her arms. “It doesn’t have to be alien. Yes, the architecture is strange, I’ll give you that, but it’s just a three-segment rotating cylinder with stationary docking areas on either end. We have stations that are quite similar.”

“Sure,” Janice said in a tone that indicated she didn’t buy Mira’s rationale one bit. “But those stations are shiny and new. Look at this thing, it’s ancient. It’s hard to guess an age without active scan, but from how pockmarked the surface is, I’d say it was made before humans learned how to make fire.”

“A bit bold, that,” Mira said. “But OK…unless someone deliberately made this thing to look ancient, you’re probably right.”

“So what do we do?” Brock asked. “Do we go back to Bysmark and report this?”

Mira had already been thinking the situation over, and found it to be a bit of a conundrum. There was no protocol for ‘Ancient derelict alien station that’s being stripped by enterprising merchants’ in the regs. The closest was the discovery of a pirate stronghold.

In that case, ships unable to directly engage were to remain stealthed and send a probe back to Bysmark with the pertinent information.

That was what Mira decided to go with.

“We’ll send an FTL drone back,” she informed the ensign. “But first, I want us to complete this pass and get any idents we can off those docked ships. Command is going to want to track down whoever has been stripping this thing without reporting it to the authorities.”

“My money is on one of the new corporations,” Emma said. “They want to control the OA’s markets, and what better way to do that than ancient alien tech?”

“Which might not be any more advanced than ours,” Janice pointed out. “That station doesn’t look like anything special.”

Mira shot the AI a curious look. “You seem almost jealous.”

“I guess I’m upset. So far as we know, no other sapiens of Terran origin have found alien artifacts, and here we find one, and it’s being stripped by…enterprising assholes. Makes you wonder how often this might have happened, and people just hid the finding.”

“Hard to say, given how far we are from the rest of colonized space,” Emma replied. “Even so, the galaxy is so…empty. Our colony ships traveled a loooong way, and not once did they detect an artificial signal. Given how many light years they crossed, you’d think that they would have picked up something, if there was a civilization out here in the past.”

Janice shrugged. “It’s feasible that we could have missed it. There’s nothing to say they didn’t have a very short time as a technological civilization.”

Mira drew a deep breath, certain from how calm she felt that the reality of what they’d discovered had not yet set in.

I’ll probably scream, cry, and do a happy dance later.

For now, she had to remain calm and collected; the perfect commander, totally in control of her domain.

The crew fell to discussing the fermi paradox, modeling humanity’s expansion over just a few thousand years against an alien species’. Most everyone had always believed that the answer to the paradox had to be some combination of the Rare Earth theory and the Great Filter.

Janice argued that this was a very Terra-centric view. If life evolved to function in different environments than humans and other life from Earth, then the Rare Earth scenario fell apart as the number of locales that were both stable and habitable increased dramatically.

“So it has to be the Great Filter,” Janice concluded. “The question is, what is it and does it still come into play with multi-system civilizations?”

“The Great Filter is an explanation for why the galaxy isn’t teeming with space-faring civilizations,” Mira countered. “The death of any one particular civ doesn’t mean that the filtering process was in play.”

The AI shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. One could argue that if we found this one derelict so easily, there are many, many more out there.”

Mira stood her ground. “Or that there are none. But it doesn’t really matter, speculation on the situation doesn’t change what needs to be done in the here and now.”

She turned to her cousin. “Brock, have we identified any of those ships docked with the station?”

“Partials.” He nodded to the forward display, where a list of hull configurations and possible matches appeared. “None of them are broadcasting idents, and without an engine signature, it’s impossible to say for sure.”

“Those are expensive ships, though.” Emma pointed at one of the larger models, a heavy freighter capable of carrying ten times its own mass in cargo. “That’s a Jalcor Titan IX. Only corporations own those—and the military, for our heavy equipment transports.”

Mira turned to Emma, and both their eyes widened.

“What if the OASF already knows about this place?” Mira asked. “What if someone is keeping this hush-hush?”

“I can’t see that.” Brock’s tone carried nothing but certainty. “There would be a fleet here guarding it.”

“Think so?”

The bridge crew turned to see Aqua standing on the threshold.

She nodded to Mira before entering, her long legs carrying her to the holotank in moments. “Figured you four had to be talking about our little discovery here.”

“What were you hinting at, Chief?” Emma asked.

“Well, what if it wasn’t the OASF that knew about this place, so much as an element within the military? In that case, you might not have a fleet here, but rather a cruiser, maybe a few destroyers, all running dark—just waiting for some interloper to poke their nose where it doesn’t belong.”

One by one, they all shared worried looks.

Mira pursed her lips and sighed. “We should assume there are stealthed ships nearby whether this artifact is controlled by the military or not. Hence our silent running.”

“We’re going to have to stay on our current vector until we can transition several AU from here,” Janice said. “Once we get out into interstellar space, we can reorient and send a drone back to Bysmark.”

Mira nodded. “Agreed. Then we’ll set ourselves on a vector to jump back here; slow passage past the artifact. We’ll keep an eye on it and gather more data until the cavalry arrives.”

“Works for me,” Aqua said. “I’ll go prepare a drone. We’ll make sure it can get to Bysmark fast and only squawk on the right channels.”

“Good, let me know when it’s ready.” Mira turned to Emma. “Ensign, can you get us to a transition point in the next few hours with minimal burns?”

“I think so, I’ll just need to run some profiles past the nav system.”

“Good, we need to make sure that no matter what happens, no one even suspects that we were here. We don’t want to spook whoever’s occupying the artifact.”

With that, everyone returned to their stations, leaving Mira standing over the holotank, eyes locked on the strange cylindrical station, its pitted hull glinting dully as it rotated slowly in the starlight.

What are you doing here…and why have these people hidden your presence?

She didn’t have any clue what the answers might be just yet, but one thing was for certain: once her father learned of what lay on Regina’s outskirts, they’d all know very soon.

CHAPTER 14 - SERA

STELLAR DATE: 12.31.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Grace O’Malley

REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm

West was back in her customary place at the scan station as Sera entered the bridge. The scan and comms officer was poring over the data flowing into the ship as they closed on the planet it was orbiting, a frown creasing her brow.

“What’s it look like?” Sera asked as she settled into her seat.

“Look like?” West glanced up and shook her head. “It looks like I could make a career out of studying this system.”

“Really?” Sera cocked her head to the side. “Why’s that?”

West leant back, pressing her palms into her eyes. “Oh…I don’t know. Maybe because I don’t think it’s naturally formed.”

Sera had pulled up the latest updates from the QuanComm network, but at West’s words, she sat forward, mouth open. “Not natural? So we’ve found evidence of the core AIs?”

“That’s what’s got me all twisted around. Yes, the core AIs possess the technology to establish the orbital patterns in this system, as do we. The thing is…well, there’s enough data from the probe to extrapolate backward, and from what I can see, this system hasn’t been messed with for at least twenty thousand years.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It has to be wrong,” West muttered, looking back at her console, flipping through screens. “Either this system is fully natural, or any orbital changes had to occur more recently.”

<None of the solid bodies show signs of recent upheaval,> Jen said. <Other than some tidal stresses on a few of the moons here and there. Nothing like what you’d see if planets and stars had been moved.>

“That’s my assessment as well,” West replied. “So the probe’s data must be wrong.”

“Anything on why it’s settled in at this gas giant?” Sera asked. “Or did it get overwhelmed with the conundrum and give up?”

West gave Sera a glance that was half nervous, half perplexed. “Uhhh, no, it picked up some ruins on one of the moons, and it’s been surveying them.”

“Ruins?”

<Oh shit…that’s…unusual.>

The main display shifted to show a deep crater on the moon’s surface, most of the bottom shrouded in shadow. A moment later, the probe’s multispectrum survey appeared, overlayed atop the visual.

For a moment, Sera wasn’t sure what she was looking at. A series of small ridges spidered out from the center of the crater, and at a glance, one might have considered them to be a natural occurrence, some sort of unlikely geometric pattern formed by the impact that made the depression.

But then lines began to highlight the ridges, emphasizing a symmetrical pattern across the floor of the crater.

“OK…” the captain whispered. “That’s certainly not natural—or if it is, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

<Nor I,> Jen added.

“And we’re sure the core AIs didn’t make this?” Sera asked.

West shrugged. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m really not sure of anything anymore. We’re on the far side of the galactic core from Sol…If a vast interstellar civilization was hiding just out of view, this would be the place they’d be.”

“We’ve sent probes to over a hundred billion stars,” Sera said, shaking her head. “How is it that none of them have spotted anything like this?”

<Maybe it’s that we don’t have data back from those probes yet,> Jen suggested. <Or that our probes are really just looking for Matri∞me activity, not the remains of long-lost civilizations.>

“OK, that’s fair,” Sera nodded. “One thing’s for sure, though. I want to get down there. That’s something that needs looking at.”

<You sure?> Jen asked. <It’s outside the scope of our mission. We should tag it and move on.>

“Are you kidding?” Sera shook her head, mouth agape. “We find possible evidence of the first advanced non-Terran life in the galaxy, and you want to tag it and move on?”

<You should have seen how big your eyes got, Sera,> Jen’s mental tone was filled with mirth. <I thought they were gonna pop out of your head.>

“You did get pretty crazy-looking, there,” West confirmed, grinning unapologetically.

Sera groaned. “You both are fired.”

<No we’re not.>

* * * * *

Half a day later, Sera and Jason sat in the cockpit of their ship’s pinnace, gazing in wonder at the structure at the bottom of the crater.

“That is definitely artificial,” he said, pointing at a section to the right of the small craft. “Look at that, I’d say that’s the remains of an antenna of some sort.”

“There’s so much dust all over this thing, though,” Sera said. “Where did it all come from?”

“Nearby impact?” Jason suggested. “Could have thrown the dust this far…actually, yeah, look at where the heavier concentrations are. It’s all facing the same direction.”

Sera nodded. “Well, that’s one mystery solved. Means this place is younger than it would have been if this much decay had happened from time alone.”

Jason circled the shuttle around the edge of the crater, a three-dimensional view of the structure building up on the forward display. It was over five kilometers across, some of the sections over fifty meters tall, though most were only five or six.

“That is some…weird architecture,” Jason said. “Look at those angles—half the time, it’s doubling back on itself.”

“Symmetrical, though,” Sera replied. “At least we have that in common.”

<I think it’s more symmetrical than what humans make,> Jen commented. <Or AIs, for that matter. Usually, some utility wins out over pure symmetry. Whoever made this place did not bow to such considerations.>

Sera nodded in agreement. “Any sign of the entrance?”

The shuttle came around another section of the structure, and Jason pointed at a gaping hole in the wall. “Will that do?”

“I suppose. Not ideal, but at least we don’t have to dig a door out from under regolith.”

Thirty minutes later, Sera and Jason stood outside the shuttle, staring at the strange edifice that loomed over them. The section with the hole in the side was near the end of one of the spindly branches where the structure was only twenty meters wide. From where they stood, a room that filled the width of the space was visible, indistinguishable objects covering much of the floor.

<Well,> Sera glanced at Jason, who was stretching his neck, head bobbing side to side in his clear plas helmet. <You ready?>

<As I’ll ever be. I mean…we’re about to walk into an alien facility.>

<Maybe,> Sera said. <Could still be of Terran origin.>

<Riiiiight,> Jen drawled.

<We’re going in,> Sera reported up to the Grace O’Malley, pointedly ignoring Jen’s comment.

<Have fun,> Cargo replied. <Don’t do all the exploration. Leave some for us.>

Jason laughed, shaking his head. <Don’t worry, we’ll save the scary parts for you.>

<You’re expecting scary parts?> Sera asked as she began closing the distance with small bounds in the low gravity, her boots conveying the crunching sensation of the sharp dust particles grinding together under her weight.

<Have you never watched a space-horror? Discovering abandoned alien installations that aren’t entirely abandoned is a major trope.>

She glanced back at him, rolling her eyes. <Yes, I’ve seen those, and no, I don’t immediately think that’s what we’re going to encounter.>

<I wouldn’t say I ‘immediately’ thought it. But it certainly came to mind.>

Ahead, the opening loomed, dark and not at all inviting. The objects inside—most of which had been flattened by the collapsing wall—coming into stark relief.

<Releasing drones,> Jen announced. <Let’s see what secrets this place has.>

A swarm of microdrones left Sera’s EV suit, followed by several larger units that took off from the shuttle. The big ‘uns—as Jason called them—activated floodlights, casting long shadows inside the room, and highlighting what appeared to be a door set into the wall on the right side.

<There’s our way further in,> Jason said as he began to climb the debris at the edge of the hole.

<If that really is a door,> Sera muttered as she climbed up a fallen section of wall, coming to the apex of the debris. <It’s an octagon.>

Jason glanced at her and shrugged. <Aliens.>

Sera wanted to argue with him—if for no other reason than to counter his smug tone—but she couldn’t think of an alternative, so she followed him silently down the rubble, careful not to step into the deeper piles of dust where gaps in the wall-slabs might lay.

<I think this structure is made out of the same thing as this moon’s regolith,> she said. <Like they just melted and reformed the rock.>

<Not the worst way to build a base,> Jason replied. <Just grow it out of what’s already there. Not sure how airtight that would be, though.>

<You assume these aliens need air,> she replied.

<Touché.>

They reached the room’s floor, and Sera approached one of the cylindrical objects arrayed in a strange pattern. She wasn’t sure if it’s where they had been placed, or if the blast that broke the wall moved them around.

<What do you think,> she asked. <SC batteries? Or maybe this is hydroponics.>

<Or an incubation chamber.>

<Watch out for face-grabbers.>

Jason snorted a laugh, carefully making his way around the cylindrical objects to the door. When he reached it, he began brushing dust off the wall. <There’s a panel next to it,>

<What are the chances that the next room is still aired up?> Sera asked as she approached and stood next to him before the two-meter-high portal.

<Low, but worth guarding against.> He pulled a portable grav shield off his belt and set it down on the ground. The field sprang up, strong enough to protect against kinetic rounds, which should suffice for holding back any atmosphere inside.

<Slap a hackIt on that panel,> Jen said.

<Really?> Jason glanced at Sera, eyes on her forehead. <You really think you can get through their systems?>

<Probably not, but I’m interested in seeing how they work—if they’re still working. There’s no EM coming off anything, so I thought it might be possible for the hackIt to power up the door.>

Sera shook her head. <You don’t even know what kind of power it takes. Two-phase, three, multi, what the polarities are….>

<I can take a stab,> the AI replied. <Worst case, I fry it, and Jason cuts the door open—which was his plan A to begin with.>

<No need to rub it in.>

Sera shrugged and let the AI get to work.

A minute later, when nothing happened, a sigh came from Jen. <Yeah…I think I fried it. Cut away.>

<Did you at least learn anything?> Sera asked.

<It’s direct current,> the AI replied. <At least, I’m fairly sure it is. There’s what appears to be a diode bridge where the main power comes in. Either I have the voltage too high, or there’s a fault, and it drew too many amps. All that aside smoke came out, and it’s probably not worth spending the time trying to fix it.>

<Works for me,> Jason said as he ignited his plasma cutter. <I didn’t come here to play repairman.>

<Have you ever done that?> Sera asked, an easy laugh following her words.

<I mean…sure. I’ve fixed my share of things. Just didn’t sign up to do an alien base.>

Sera nodded absently as he set the white-hot torch to the door, moving it in a slow circle to burn a vent hole through.

<What do you think they looked like?> she mused. <Not much bigger than us, if this door is any sign.>

<Or smaller,> he said. <We have lots of doors that are bigger than us.>

<The ceiling would agree with that,> Sera commented. It didn’t go so high that a tall creature would be comfortable.

<Assuming they have the same reaction we do to cramped spaces.>

<And that they’re bipedal,> Jen added. <Given that walking on two legs is pretty rare, it’s probable that they didn’t.>

Sera nodded. <Yeah, maybe, but advanced species—at least ones that got there naturally—need ways to use tools.>

<Maybe they have lots of limbs,> Jason suggested. <Oh great…I just thought of giant centipedes. No. No thank you at all.>

She laughed, leaning against the wall. <Can you believe we’re standing here speculating about what aliens look like? Aliens.>

<Well, we might have to keep doing that,> Jen said. <Because it’s possible this species has long died out—and if they didn’t make pictures of themselves….>

<People are going to have a field day trying to explain what they might look like.> Sera heaved a deep breath. <We’re going to have to keep this location hush-hush, otherwise pillagers are going to show up and strip it.>

<And nearby stars,> Jen added. <People will be everywhere.>

<They’ll come eventually,> Jason said. <Can’t keep something like this under wraps forever.>

<Yeah,> Sera nodded. <I bet there are more of these installations in this system.>

<Probably,> Jen agreed. <I don’t have enough data to be certain, but based on the degradation of the materials in the control panel, this place is under ten thousand years old. Twenty on the extreme outside.>

The plasma cutter completed its hole, a soft puff of air pushing out into the narrow space protected by the grav shield.

<Quarter atmo,> he commented. <Gotta say, I’m surprised.>

<I shoulda bet you.> Sera pushed off the wall and rolled her shoulders. <Cargo, place is aired up, if you can believe it. We’re still cutting our way in, but we might make some good finds.>

<Damn…I owe West a rotation in the galley.>

The captain laughed. <Why am I not surprised you bet that?>

<Because you and I have spent decades living together inside of relatively small starships?>

<You might be on to something there.>

Jason kept the plasma torch on low power so as not to catch anything on fire while Sera sent a passel of nanoprobes through the hole to scout ahead. She almost didn’t want to, preferring to see whatever lay inside first with her own eyes, but at the same time, she didn’t want some discovery to be the last thing she saw, so prudence won out over her sense of adventure.

The first thing the probes did was analyze the air. It was mostly almost entirely helium with traces of hydrogen. The ground was covered in a very fine snow of the other atmospheric elements—mostly oxygen, nitrogen, and methane. It was hard to say what the exact mix would have been, but from what the analysis showed, the lighter gases may still have been the most prevalent.

Or it could be that a tank of helium had leaked in the intervening years, and the current atmospheric composition had nothing to do with what the former occupants had once breathed.

If they breathed at all.

The room beyond was long and narrow, with more doors—smaller ones, in this case—lining the left-hand side. These portals were not so well sealed, and Sera’s nanoprobes slipped right through, finding the fibrous ruins of what might be some sort of bedding in the corner of each room.

<Almost look like nests,> Jen commented. <Rather large nests.>

<And that contraption on the wall might be a small san of sorts.>

The AI sent a feeling of affirmation. <Either these were monks, or this was a prison.>

<Or they’re just austere in general.>

<Right. Monks.>

The probes continued down the narrow room—or perhaps wide hall—to another door. As the nanobots attempted to get past the next obstruction, Sera turned back to the cylinders strewn about behind her and Jason.

<I wonder…could those be some sort of feeding things? Like tables in a commissary?>

<What makes you think that?> Jason asked.

She passed him a visual of the small chambers lining the next hall. <This was probably some sort of sleeping area, maybe barracks or something. Makes sense to have food nearby.>

<I guess…those would be the weirdest tables ever, though—but having sleeping chambers next to SC batteries is pretty weird too. You could almost say…> he paused dramatically, <alien.>

<Stars,> Jen groaned. <Just get the door open already.>

A minute later, the section he’d cut out fell inward, and the pair stepped through. Sera approached the first door on the left, spotting what looked like a manual release. She slid her fingers into it, feeling a long, narrow slot. Her middle finger only went partway down the slot, but she felt a toggle with the tip, and pushed it in. The release pivoted, and the door slid open a few centimeters.

<Nicely done,> Jason said, digging his fingers into the gap.

Together, they prised it open and stepped into another corridor with more sleeping chambers lining the side. This went on for several more iterations until they came to a foyer where two other passages branched off, with a wider corridor running toward the structure’s center.

<One of the tall sections,> Jason said, looking up. <Huh…what are those?>

<They look like more of those sleeping nests…but gathered together.>

<Couches maybe?>

Sera shrugged. <I guess…seems a bit odd to put them above ground like that.>

<Plus, how’d they get up there?>

She looked around, unable to find any access to the objects dozens of meters in the air. <Maybe they were really good jumpers.>

Jason nodded absently, walking to one of the walls where a row of spherical objects were mounted. <Or they fly. Either way, more and more curiosities. I imagine people are going to spend a lifetime studying this place.>

They moved toward the door that would take them to the center of the structure, once again faced with a pressure-sealed portal. Jason set to cutting his way through while Sera wandered the perimeter of the space.

Small piles of desiccated fabric lay on the ground, detritus from the suspended nests high above. She knelt down and touched one, feeling the coarseness of the threads, wondering if it had stiffened in the intervening centuries, or if the fabric was always so scratchy.

<I know we should leave as much undisturbed as possible…> Jen’s voice was a whisper. <But you should look through that for organic samples. Maybe some skin, nails, shell, whatever.>

<Not the worst idea,> Sera replied, carefully picking through the pile, disturbing it as little as possible.

A small chip of reflective black material caught her eye, and she fished it out of the fabric it was buried under, dropping it into the palm of her left hand.

<I’ve started analyzing the nest fabric,> Jen reported. <It’s similar in composition to canvas. I’m not sure it was always so brittle as it is now, but I don’t think it was ever soft.>

<So what about this?> Sera asked. <It looks a bit like a fingernail. Is it keratin?>

Jen hmmmm’d softly for a moment before signaling in the negative. <No…I’m not sure what to make of this, it clearly has organic properties, but…well, if it is from a living creature, I’d wager a guess that said creature is silicon-based life, not carbon.>

Sera whistled into her helmet. <Well, that’s a thing…though I guess expecting the first life we find to be carbon-based is unrealistic.>

<To a degree, sure. Carbon’s a hell of a handy little atom, though.>

<What’s up?> Jason asked, glancing over his shoulder at her. <Something whistle-worthy in there?>

Sera rose and walked to the door—which was nearly cut open. <I think I found a bit of alien fingernail.>

<Stars.> He shook his head. <Think they shed entire fingernails?>

<Could also be their skin. Maybe they have a type of scales.>

<I guess that’s more comforting than shedding fingernails.> Jason turned back to his task while Sera directed nanoprobes through the gaps he’d cut.

The structure was wider inside, over a hundred meters across, and filled with….

What the heck is all that?

Up until now, the ambient light following them in had provided enough illumination for their nano and augmented vision to make out their surroundings, but beyond this next door, the interior was utterly black.

Sera spread the probes out, directing them higher, using ultraviolet imaging to make out the strange objects. To help her own eyes, she pulled a pair of hover-lights off her belt, holding them ready to toss overhead once they were inside.

The door fell inward a moment later, Jason wordlessly glancing back at her before stepping through. Sera followed after tossing the lights into the air, where they hovered near the ceiling, lighting up the long room with daylight-levels of illumination.

<Whoa!> Jason’s head was on a swivel as he took in the vista before them, mouth agape. <So…some sort of park?>

<Maybe…. But where are these things from? A mushroom planet?> Sera asked.

Jen snorted with amusement. <I suppose they do look a bit like mushrooms…but I imagine parts of the ‘trees’ must have fallen.>

Jason walked up to one of the smaller plants and poked it gently, causing a part of it to disintegrate and fall apart. <OK…I guess we’d best not touch any of this.>

<Best not walk heavy,> Sera added. <Interesting, the tallest remaining plants are only twenty meters high, maybe some go up to forty…but in gravity this low, that’s kinda surprising. You’d think that any plant made for a terrestrial world would hit the ceiling.>

<Or they modified them for low-gravity,> Jen said. <Humans were doing that not long after they got into space.>

<Yup, had low-g trees on my first flight from Proxima to Kentaurus,> Jason added. <Stars…that was back then we expected to hear of a discovery like this within the first few star systems we expanded into. It was really depressing in a way to find that terrestrial life was alone in the universe.>

<Well, sapient life, at least,> Sera said. <Finaeus and the others in the FGT certainly found a lot of lower lifeforms.>

Jason had walked a few steps down the walkway that ran through the park. At her words, he glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. <And killed a lot of it off.>

<I can’t speak for him, but the worlds the FGT sterilized hosted virulent life that would have destroyed ours. If we’d let those organisms spread, they could have wiped out all emerging life in the galaxy, not just that of the worlds they came from.>

His lips pursed, nearly disappearing. <I suppose given our propensity to weaponize pretty much everything we come across, someone would have harvested some of those worlds’ deadliest things and unleashed them on their enemies.>

<Exactly,> Sera said as she took a few long strides to reach his side. <I swear, it feels like more and more every little bit of research we do is hampered by fear of the product’s misuse.>

<Well, maybe we’ll learn something from these people. I wonder if they’re still out there, or if they’re so long gone, that this is one of their few surviving outposts.>

Jen laughed softly. <You’re such a romantic, Jason. You go right for the two polar extremes. There could also be thousands of ruins like this. Maybe some with enough genetic material—or whatever they use—to learn what they were like.>

<It would be cool,> Sera said with a nod. <We should keep moving, though. At this rate, it’s going to take a week just to reach the structure’s center.>

<Speaking of which, we should probably update Cargo,> Jason replied.

Jen passed a mock-scolding look into their minds. <I’ve been keeping him appraised. I could tell he was getting antsy.>

<Well, then,> Jason gestured for Sera to lead the way. <Ladies first.>

She groaned. <You and the archaic anachronisms. That custom was a thousand years dead before you were born.>

<What can I say? I’m a student of history.>

<I know,> Sera nodded vigorously. <I’ve flown with you in your relics.>

<You mean the Yak?> he asked with a wink. <I thought you rather enjoyed that.>

She gave him a light punch on the arm. <Yeah, when I got to take the stick. When you were flying, I’m pretty sure the only goal was to make me yak.>

<It was one of the more unusual mating rituals I’d been a part of,> Jen added. <And honestly, that’s saying something.>

Jason coughed. <That wasn’t a—>

His statement was cut off by the mental impression of Jen giving them both a disbelieving stare.

<OK…maybe a bit.>

<We did consummate the ritual afterward,> Sera added. <I think Jen has us pegged.>

The AI groaned. <Please tell me that pun was unintentional.>

<I mean…there aren’t better options. I could have used ‘nailed down’.>

<What about ‘figured out’,> Jen suggested.

Sera shook her head. <Nope, not nearly enough sexual innuendo there.>

<I rest my case.>

<Look at this,> Jason said, gesturing to a section of path before them that was overgrown by a few smaller plants. <It’s like that in a few places ahead.>

<What does that mean?> Sera mused. <Why head out but leave environmental up long enough for this overgrowth to occur?>

<Maybe they planned to come back.> Jason shrugged. <Or maybe they left in a hurry.>

A minute later, they reached the end of the park, where another pressure door waited. This one wasn’t fully sealed, though it took nearly a minute of pushing to get it to slide aside enough for the pair to step through.

<Well, that’s anticlimactic,> Sera said, looking around the long, empty hall. <Wait…this is a lot narrower. There’s gotta be a room on our left.>

Sure enough, halfway down the passage, they found a door on the left, and for the first time, there were windows on either side. The illumination from Sera’s mobile lights created elongated shadows across the space, casting a row of low, lumpy objects in an eerie half-light.

<What are those?> she asked. <Groundcars?>

<Maybe,> Jason replied. <Oh, shit, look down there. That’s an exterior door, I’d bet.>

<Good to know,> Sera said. <A better way in next time.>

<And a way out this time,> Jen added. <I’ll bring the shuttle up and have it survey the exterior there.>

Pushing aside their curiosity to investigate the low, bulbous vehicles, the pair continued down the passage to the next door. The pattern of barracks, commissaries, parks, and garages repeated twice more before they reached a larger atrium. Here, ladder-like staircases twisted up toward the hundred-meter ceiling, branching off to five other levels.

<Now we’re getting somewhere,> Jason commented. <Want to go up or stay down here?>

<I’d rather not find out that the upper levels are unsteady when we’re on them,> Sera said. <Though, being underneath isn’t that much better.>

Jason strode forward, reaching out and giving one of the ladder-stairs a shake. <Seems stable, but I agree. Ground level is best.>

The lowest passage was largely unadorned, though for the first time, windows gave a view of the outside terrain—at least on one side. The other was obstructed by the dust piled up on the side of the structure.

<Was starting to wonder if these people hated the outside or something,> Sera said as she approached one of the panes and peered out. <Diamond, laced with carbon nanotubes.>

<Can you blame them?> Jen asked. <Not much of a view.>

The moon had swung its back around toward the local star as they’d moved through the installation, and dusk was beginning to settle over the crater. Given the position of the celestial objects and the depth of the crater, Sera gauged it would be full dark in just a few minutes.

<Let’s keep moving,> Jason said. <We’re close to the center, and I really want to see that.>

Sera nodded silently and caught up to him as he ambled down the middle of the wide passage.

<Hey…what’s that?> she asked after a minute, pointing at a glint of light. <A reflection?>

<Oh, heck no!> Jen crowed. <That’s EM. Something’s alive ahead.>

<Strangely,> Jason drew the word out. <Things being ‘alive’ is not something I want to think about too much right now.>

<It’s only ten kelvin in here,> Sera replied. <I doubt that anything is ‘alive’ alive.>

<Unless that’s the temp they live at,> Jen countered on a laugh. <Granted, they’d be some slow-moving bastards.>

Sera ducked her head, imagining what it would be like to encounter a creature that lived in such frigid temps. It would not only move more slowly, but it would likely think slower too—or perhaps faster. It could be that its mind would operate like a natural superconductor network.

<I have a repeating pattern on a few RF bands,> Jen said a moment later. <Trying to find out if it’s a network, or just a one-way messaging system.>

<Huh…looks odd,> Jason said. <That’s definitely a carrier wave, though. Whatever it is, it’s information.>

<Maybe whatever is emitting will have a hard connection port,> Sera said. <It’s only a hundred meters ahead, let’s get some hustle on.>

<I don’t think—> Jen began, only to have her warning cut off by a heat signature lighting up on Sera’s torso.

<Beams!> Jason shouted, dashing toward one of the support columns that held up the levels above.

Sera made it behind one next to his before her flow armor reached thermal saturation. <OK…well, that’s a type of ‘alive’ we don’t want.>

<You can say that again,> Jason muttered. <Did the nano spot the beam’s origination?>

A marker appeared on the map of the area, noting the fire originating just over a hundred meters away, almost directly behind the EM source.

<There you have it,> Jen said. <It was a photonic laser, nothing particle-based.>

<Good thing, too,> Sera shook her head in dismay at how casually she’d walked into danger. <If that had been a proton beam, I would be dead.>

<Or at least needing a new body,> Jason replied.

The beam streaked out again, splashing against the column Sera was hiding behind, but this time, it was emanating from a different position only eighty meters away.

<OK, there’s more than one of those things, or they’re moving!>

Two more beams hit the post, and Jen gave a rueful laugh. <I think it’s both.>

Sera drew her sidearm, a small-capacity coilgun, and sent her nanocloud toward the firing locations, hoping to get a look at what was shooting at them.

Next to her, Jason had unslung his rifle, using his HUD to sight while he held it around his cover. He drew a deep breath, let it out, and fired.

Sparks showered across the ground only fifty meters away.

<Nice shot!> she said, finally getting eyes on the attackers with her nano swarm. <I hadn’t even spotted them yet.>

<Lucky,> he demurred. <I just extrapolated their motion.>

Sera snorted. <You L2s are such cheaters.>

<Not gonna apologize for having a bigger, faster brain.>

<I’m an L5,> Jen said, her voice deadpan. <OK…I’ve tagged five of them. They look like some sort of spider drone. Beams and kinetics, I think.>

Sera only took a moment to look over the drones—she hoped they were drones—before leaning around the pillar and firing at one of them. Her coilgun barked in the thin atmosphere, and the kinetic pellet slammed into one of the bots, tearing two of its ten legs off one side.

An explosion flared on her left, and another of the bots disappeared from her HUD. She took another shot at the one she’d hit, surprised to see it had closed another ten meters even after suffering damage. This time, she hit it straight on, cracking its armor and dropping the machine to the ground.

She and Jason picked off their final targets a few seconds later, and the passage went quiet.

<Let’s hope those were machines,> Jason said as he stepped into the open, waiting a second to see if any beamfire came his way before approaching the closest enemy.

<They’re bots,> Jen confirmed before they arrived. <And you’re lucky. Half their legs weren’t working, and their kinetic weapons were jammed. They probably would have moved twice as fast and hit twice as hard if they weren’t so old that bits were falling off as they advanced on you.>

Sera nudged one of the bots with her foot. <Well, at least this’ll give us something interesting to take apart back on the ship.>

<In quarantine,> Jen admonished.

<Of course! I know we’ll have to do the big scrub-down and all that.>

Jason glanced at her, then walked to the next bot. <To be honest, we should probably set up a forward station here in the crater and do any of our science there.>

<Just…let’s not do anything that takes too long.> Sera did her best not to sound like she was whining. <Before you know it, this place is going to be swarming with people and wrapped up in so much red tape that all the fun will be gone.>

<‘Fun’ being nearly getting blown away by ancient security systems?> Jen asked.

Jason snorted. <Really, Jen? I didn’t even get tagged.>

The AI sent a disapproving look over the Link, but didn’t say anything further.

<Let’s keep moving,> Sera said. <But we should probably stay close to the columns. Never know if reinforcements are on the way.>

<Our nano has filled the central atrium,> Jen advised. <I think we’ll have enough warning next time.>

Sera tapped into the feed as she and Jason leapfrogged their way toward the end of the passage, looking over their destination with one eye while watching her surroundings with the other.

A dozen passages like the one they were in emptied into the central space, which was roughly circular and filled with more of the mushroom trees. Pillars stood at each of the entrances, three of them still giving off EM. In the center of the space was a vertical shaft, as yet unplumbed by the nanoprobes, but easily a kilometer deep.

<This is all topside living quarters,> Sera mused as they reached the last support column and stared at the obelisk twenty meters away, a dim light glowing on its face a few meters above the ground. <Whatever the real purpose of this place is, it must be down below.>

<Could just be a mine,> Jason said. <That would be a little disappointing.>

<We could still learn a lot from a mine,> Jen replied. <Oh shit! What’s that?>

Sera spun in the direction Jen indicated, her gaze settling on a drone like the others, only much, much larger. It was crouched in an alcove between the passages that spidered out from the central atrium.

<I’m not picking up any energy from it,> Jen said.

Jason walked toward the thing, weapon held ready. <I think I know why.>

<Oh? More L2-ness?> Sera teased.

<Doesn’t take an L2—or an L5, for that matter—to recognize a statue.>

Sera let out a soft curse and followed after, tossing another of her lights into the air to get a better look.

<OK…that is huge,> she whispered, gazing up at the seven-meter-tall creature.

It was similar in shape to the attack drones: a two-segment body with six limbs on the rear segment and four on the front. The front segment was nearly upright, its limbs held out like arms.

A small ‘head’ was atop the front segment, though it didn’t have any openings, only a few long antennae of some sort.

<I really hope this is a larger-than-life statue,> Jason said. <I do not want to meet anything like this.>

<Especially not down there,> Sera said, nodding in the direction of the shaft. <Still, it’s beautiful.>

She spun to face Jason. <Do you realize that we three are the first people to set eyes on a true alien starfaring species? Like…fuck….>

He winked, eyes crinkling from a half smile. <That we know of.>

Sera stuck out her tongue. <Don’t ruin my moment of triumph…victory? Exultation? Whatever…don’t ruin it.>

<Alright. At the very least, we’re the first to see this place. You ready to go down the shaft?>

Sera turned and walked to the edge of the precipice, gazing down into the darkness. <Ummm….>

<We probably shouldn’t,> Jen advised. <Not without more equipment on site. Should also send our findings in to…who do we report this to?>

<Tanis and only Tanis,> Jason replied.

Sera stood in silence for a long minute, staring down into the depths, wondering what secrets the darkness concealed.

<We should at least drop probes,> Jason said. <Get an idea of what to be prepared for.>

<I like how you think,> Sera said with a soft laugh. <Probes it is.>

She held out her arm and released another swarm of microdrones and a fresh cloud of nano.

<Those’ll take a few minutes to reach the bottom,> Jen said. <I’m building up a map. Oh, and don’t forget about the obelisk.>

“Shit!” Sera laughed in the confines of her helmet. <Show me an alien, and I get my priorities all mixed up. Let’s take a look at this thing.>

Leaving Jason to watch the growing view of the shaft, she walked over to the small obelisk. The light was still glowing two thirds of the way up the oval, which appeared to be made of crystal and covered in a thin layer of dust. Without a second thought, Sera reached up and brushed the dust off.

<That wasn’t really too smart,> Jen scolded as an electric tingle spread across Sera’s hand. <I think it tried to…I’m not sure what.>

Sera looked her hand over, examining the thin flow-armor layer providing additional protection. It was intact, and registered no breach, be it nano, electrical, or chemical.

<Was it maybe…communication?>

She turned back to the statue in the alcove, looking over the figure again. There were things that looked like eyes, but nothing that struck her as resembling ears.

<I suppose that could be it,> Jen considered, <though that’s an odd way to communicate.>

<Maybe those bushy antennae transmit electrical signals,> Sera suggested.

Jen grunted with reserved acceptance. <Either way, don’t touch that thing again, I don’t want to find out that it’s designed to kill you and just needs to recharge its batteries.>

Sera returned to the pillar. <Don’t worry, I’ve learned my lesson.>

She began to examine the obelisk more carefully, looking for any sort of access port, but the smooth surface was entirely unbroken except for the light-emitting oval crystal.

<I guess just slap a hackIt on the thing. Near the light, not on it,> Jen said. <I’ll see if I can get inside and sniff out its communication protocols.>

<Check this out,> Jason said a moment later, waving Sera over.

The map of the shaft—which had started out as nothing more than a smooth-sided hole into the moon, now showed multiple tunnels branching off. The first was three hundred meters down, and at the probes’ current depth, there were dozens every twenty to thirty meters.

<Looks like this surface level area was just the tip of the iceberg,> he said. <And it’s going to take a lot more than the four of us to explore this place.>

Sera nodded, her shoulders heaving in a silent sigh. <I don’t want you to be right, but….>

<I can keep mapping what’s below,> Jen said. <But let’s get back up to the Grace and update Tanis on our find. She and Angela are going to want to pick out the team that digs into this mystery.>

CHAPTER 15 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 12.30.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, 157AU from system primary

REGION: Regina System, Outer Alliance

“I’ve got something,” Brock said, eyes darting up to meet Mira’s. “Two blips, a hundred klicks apart.”

“Ship?” she asked.

The ensign shrugged. “Either that or an asteroid that can turn.”

“Or it’s two ships,” Janice suggested.

Mira placed a plot on the holotank, layering it over the Inquiry’s own vector.

They were over five light seconds from the artifact, the span between increasing with every second. She’d expected them to be in the clear by now, but it was also possible the enemy had known they were there all along and were just getting assets in place to engage the OASF corvette.

Shit…we should have moved away as soon as we realized what we were looking at. But noooo, I just had to get more data.

“Another blip!” Brock announced, a third red pinpoint appearing on the holo.

“One and three have to be the same ship.” Janice rose and walked to the holotank, a blue line linking the two dots as she spoke. “It’s on a direct intercept with us. Twenty-seven minutes.”

“Which means two is a second ship,” Mira said, doing her best to hide the worry gnawing at her.

“Right.” Janice drew a line from that marker to the first ship’s intercept point. “Safe to assume they’ll hit us at the same time.”

“Bold move to go right for the throat with the OASF.” Brock’s tone held a hint of bravado that Mira knew was covering for concern. “Not even a warning that we’re in private space.”

“That still may come,” the commander said. “If I were them, I wouldn’t give it till they have us just where they want us.”

Emma glanced up from her console. “When would that be?”

“When we have no choice but to comply or be destroyed.”

The bridge crew shared a few silent looks, no one responding, because no one knew what to say.

<Chief,> Mira called down to Aqua. <I have the data burst ready for command. Load it onto the drone and drop it as soon as you’re ready. Send it out the fore starboard airlock so our friends out there can’t see it.>

<You think we’re going to have some fun before we get clear?>

<I do. And ready a second one in case this one gets shot down.>

The engineer sent back a mental sigh. <Seems like a waste. Why not just wait?>

<Because we might not have that opportunity. Program it to drift stellar south, then boost for the closest transition point at max v in thirty minutes.>

<Alright, that makes sense. We’re on it.>

Mira sent an acknowledgment before reaching out to Greg. <I want mines loaded in our aft tubes, missiles forward. The Archer short-range seekers.>

<You got it, Commander. What do you want the warheads primed for?>

<Max yield. We’re not here to fuck around.>

<You got it—and can I just say ‘good’? Last CO I had tried to pussyfoot around with some pirates, and…well, we almost got our asses handed to us.>

Mira laughed. <You know who my father is. There’s not a pussyfooting gene in my body.>

<Oh, I believe that. The general never saw an ass he wasn’t happy to kick.>

She laughed again, but refrained from commenting on her father’s reputation. The man she grew up with was far different than the image he portrayed to the world. It was a fascinating dichotomy, and one she was glad he managed to maintain so well.

<Let me know when we’re locked and loaded.>

<You bet. Won’t be more than ten minutes.>

<Good, because we’ll be firing in twenty.>

Mira disconnected after Greg’s acknowledgment, bringing up the three ships’ vectors on her console, running through a variety of projected outcomes.

“What do you think the chances are that they have a lock on us?” she asked aloud.

“Poor,” Brock responded first.

Janice looked up from the holotank and nodded. “I agree. We’re dark, drifting, and have been for some time. The only reason they know where we’re going to be is because we haven’t changed course in over an hour.”

“Emma, thoughts on this plot?” Mira placed a new vector on the holotank.

“Brings us a few degrees to starboard. I can do that with a low grav-drive nudge.” She glanced up at Mira. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, I imagine our friends will pick up on it at some point, but hopefully not until we’ve made most of the shift. At our mid-point, we drop mines and key them to our pursuers’ routes. If we’re lucky, they won’t shift until after that point and we can catch them at a disadvantage.”

Janice nodded, her head bobbing slowly. “That can work. I like it. So far as I can tell, those two ships aren’t running grav shields right now, so we should be able to get at least one limpet on them.”

“That’s the hope,” Mira replied.

“Should we seed missiles as well?” Brock asked. “Hit them from behind?”

Mira had considered and dismissed that option. “We don’t know how many ships we’re dealing with out here, and it’s still an AU until we get past this dark matter clump and can transition.”

“Rather strategic of them, isn’t it?” Janice asked. “Placing this relic here.”

“Maybe it’s always been orbiting Regina with this dark matter blob,” Brock suggested. “Keep it safe from people jumping right up to it.”

Mira shrugged. “Who’s to say? Seems unlikely that it remained in a stable orbit with dark matter for that long.”

“Could have been online even after its owners left or died,” Emma suggested. “Never know.”

“Let’s focus on the issue at hand,” Mira said. “We’ll be in firing range in twenty-two minutes, and the closest transition point is thirty-two away. As soon as we engage the enemy, I want the AP nozzle spooled and max thrust from this ship. We’re not staying here any longer than we have to.”

<Drone is in the airlock,> Aqua called up. <Lorra’s bringing the second one, then we’ll run a charge cycle on the SC batts.>

<Why do we need to do that?> the commander asked.

<It primes them for a flash discharge into the beams’ batteries. We can go from cold weapons to firing in ten seconds.>

Mira’s lips formed a circle. <Wow…I had no idea. That’s a handy trick. Why don’t they teach it in the academy?>

<Probably because it would burn conduit in older ships if people did it too much. It’s one of those tricks we engineers keep on the down-low.>

The commander chuckled, remembering the problems they had with overloaded conduit on the last ship she’d served aboard. <I can only imagine. Keep an eye on our engagement projections, I want weapons hot as soon as we burn.>

<Of course, Commander. I’ve had it on my HUD since Brock spotted those scan returns.>

<Very good, Chief.>

Mira turned her attention back to the main holo, noting that the enemy ships had not yet picked up on the Inquiry’s vector shift. “Looks like we’re on target for our limpet drop.” She turned to Janice. “Do you want to do the honors?”

“Certainly, Commander. Greg has eight in the hopper. Four for each target?”

Mira nodded. “Yeah, let’s do that. Should be enough for one to hit hull.”

“I’ll set them to start squawking when next they pick up an OASF signal so salvage can grab them after they take the artifact.”

“You seem sure that’ll happen,” Emma commented.

The commander couldn’t help but chuckle. “Do you really think either of our fathers will rest until this thing is in government hands? They hauled our people halfway across the galaxy…some corporate raiders aren’t going to do them in.”

Brock snorted. “Yeah. There’s no way things are going to go the way these people want.”

“So long as we get the word out,” Janice cautioned.

Mira heaved a sigh. “Yeah, all riding on a little drone. Which, by the way, just left the airlock.”

“Good luck, little guy,” Emma whispered. “Don’t get blown up.”

Brock laughed, and Janice shook her head before giving Mira a pointed look.

<Not now,> she cautioned the AI. <This is how they work. I want efficiency over decorum.>

<That’s not what I was going to say. I think I’m coming around to your viewpoint.>

<Oh…well…sorry and thank you.>

<You’re welcome. Do you want me to take direct control of the beams when things heat up?>

<Yes, that would be ideal. I’d like to see Brock manage them at some point, but the stakes are too high right now.>

The AI nodded. <My thoughts exactly.>

Silence fell on the bridge and in Mira’s mind. She went through a calming routine and then pulled up a review of engagement patterns for dealing with superior numbers and firepower.

A part of her hoped that the enemy would have smaller ships than hers, but with a find like the artifact to protect, she knew that was unlikely. Both enemy ships were corvettes as well, and though they might not be as well-equipped as the Inquiry, the OASF ship would have to divide its attention and firepower, while the enemy only had to focus on one target.

No matter how she turned the problem around, there was only one real solution. Run.

Well, run and pray that the limpets and Janice on the beams is enough to slow them down.

The main display showed two countdowns to intercept. The first showed seven minutes and fifteen seconds. That was when the enemy would be within effective firing range on the Inquiry’s original vector. The second time read nine minutes and eleven seconds, which was the time they had if the pursuers realized that their quarry had shifted onto a new course.

Her calm reverie was broken moments later by a shout from Brock.

“Oh shit!”

“What is it,” Mira demanded, annoyed that she had to ask.

“New return!” he replied, flicking the data onto the holotank. “It’s right on our tail, only seventy thousand klicks out and closing fast.”

“Missile,” Janice said. “It’s gotta be.”

Mira agreed. “Weapons hot, get ready to lase that thing. Ensign Brock, deploy countermeasures if it reaches thirty k.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Janice and Brock replied in unison.

“Emma,” Mira turned to the pilot. “The moment we open fire, spool the AP and burn. No point imitating a black cloud if we’re shooting at stuff.”

“You got it, ma’am. We’re ready to roll.”

A third countdown appeared on the main display. It read one minute and seventeen seconds until the trailing object would hit the Inquiry.

“Weapons hot, Commander,” Janice said. “I’ll fire at fifty klicks, which is…now!”

An alert blared on the bridge, marking the commencement of live fire. Mira muted the audible portion and turned her attention to the holotank, which began to show far more of the ship’s surroundings as scan switched from passively absorbing photons to sending out energy waves and processing echoes.

“Fuck,” she whispered. “They’re right on us! Brock, detonate any attached limpets.”

“Two register as latched,” the ensign replied. “Flipping their switches.”

The enemy ships—both of which were similar in mass to the Inquiry—were less than a hundred thousand kilometers away, which meant it took almost no time at all to detect the explosions on the closest pursuer’s hull.

“Yeah, bitches!” Brock thrust a fist in the air. “Take that!”

“Max burn in five,” Emma added, her voice considerably more subdued.

Mira nodded silently as she watched the data roll in on the ship they’d hit. The hull had been holed, but the vessel hadn’t lost its engines, and now that the Inquiry was lighting up the night with its beams and scan, both enemies were boosting toward them.

“Slippery thing,” Janice said. “Ready with those countermeasures, Brock.”

“Aye, ma’am. They’re locked and loaded.”

Mira found herself twisting her shipsuit’s sleeve in her opposite hand, anxious for a positive outcome, but feeling impotent with no task to carry out herself.

Is this what it’s always like for commanders? Issuing orders and then silently praying that everyone does what they’re supposed to when they’re supposed to?

It was maddening.

“Tagged it!” Janice shouted. “Missile is spinning off course.”

“They had to have fired more than one,” Mira cautioned. “Or at least, I would have.”

“Launches from the second ship,” Brock announced even as she was speaking. “Four missiles.”

“I’ve got them,” Janice said. “Don’t you worry.”

A low hum began to fill the air around them, the vibration carried forward from millions of newtons of thrust blasting out the rear of the Inquiry. The fusion engines were already at eighty percent, while the AP drive was just passing thirty percent max output. Already, the ship was accelerating at over sixty gs, and would top out at well over a hundred.

It occurred to Mira that the engines had never run concurrently at full burn before, and she found herself hoping that the graviton emitters didn’t have another calibration slip. Without those devices, the crew—and anything not welded in place—would smash against the aft bulkheads and be crushed.

A wavering sensation passed through her, and she glanced at the dampener readings, relieved to see that the feeling was from her own nerves, not a result of the ship suffering a failure.

“Got another missile,” Janice announced. “The first ship is warming up their beams, though.”

“I can’t believe they haven’t even hailed us,” Mira muttered.

“No point,” Emma said. “They know we’ll report the artifact, and we know they’ll kill us to keep it a secret. Anything we say will just be bluster.”

“I could use a bit of bluster right now.” Mira sucked in a steadying breath. “I’m going to hail them, maybe my credentials will give them pause.”

“You mean who you are will give them pause?” Janice asked. “I thought you didn’t want to play the family card.”

“I’ll play any card I have if it means we survive.”

The AI shot her a quick smile. “Well, this I like to hear. I prefer survival.”

“Me too,” Brock added. “All about survival. Speaking of which, you want me to hit the chaff, Janice?”

The AI sighed and nodded. “Yeah, blow it to port. I don’t think I can get all three of these missiles.”

“We can take a hit no problem,” Brock said. “These shields are as strong as a destroyer’s.”

Mira nodded in agreement, and though no one mentioned their twitchy graviton emitters, she could see that each and every person on the bridge was silently hoping the shields didn’t malfunction at just the wrong time.

The first round of enemy beams hit the Inquiry a few seconds later, and though the focused streams of energetic photons struck the shields from only twenty thousand kilometers away, the OASF corvette’s invisible shell of gravitons bent them around the craft and back into space.

<How’s everything looking down there?> Mira asked Aqua as the enemy fire intensified despite Janice now firing back.

<Oh, you know, we’re just doing our best to make sure that power flows and engines burn…all the while hoping you don’t get us killed. Looks like seven minutes till we can hit the DL at our current velocity.>

<More or less,> the commander replied. <I think we’ll hold out.>

<We’d better, I have a few things I want to do with my life just yet. You gonna fire our missiles, by the way?>

Mira had been considering the best use of the Inquiry’s projectile weapons. <Yes, but not until they get right on us. I’m hoping they’ll think we have none and then we can land a little surprise.>

<They’d be fools to think that.>

<They’re fools to think they can keep that artifact a secret.>

The engineer chuckled. <Fair point. The drone is boosting, it’ll make its transition point in five minutes.>

Mira pulled up the bot’s vector and breathed a sigh of relief. <It’s going to make it.>

<So long as they don’t have any perimeter defenses.>

The commander took a deep breath, wishing that Aqua could be unreservedly optimistic for once, but also knowing that the woman was right. It was too much to hope that whoever was controlling the artifact only had two ships watching it.

As if to answer her question, a response finally came to her hails. It was from the ship the limpets had hit, and when the visual appeared above the holotank, Mira was greeted by the sight of a rather perturbed-looking man in a uniform she didn’t recognize.

Not wanting to give a centimeter lest he took a kilometer, she rose from her seat and crossed her arms. “I am Commander Mira of the OASS Inquiry. I demand to know why you are attacking an Outer Alliance military vessel. Cease fire at once.”

“Commander Mira, this is a privately controlled region of the Regina System, duly registered with the OA. You have no authority here, and we will require you to cease your burn and prepare to be boarded.”

Mira paused her feed and glanced at the two ensigns and then Lieutenant Janice. “OK, first off, what uniform is dickweed there wearing, and secondly why don’t we have any record of this being private space?”

“Probably because it isn’t registered,” Janice replied. “Or if it is, it’s registered in such a fashion that no one will find the data until they need to use it to protect themselves.”

“That can’t matter,” Emma said. “There’s no way that registering an empty piece of space and then laying claim to an alien space station will hold.”

“OK,” Mira held up a hand. “Doesn’t matter. They’re not interested in fair play and letting us go, and we’re not going to let them board us.”

“Third missile down!” Janice announced. “I shouldn’t have doubted myself.”

“What if we let them think we’ll comply?” Brock asked. “They’ll have to match vector, and by the time they realize we’ve played them, we’ll be beyond the dark layer bubble, and we can just transition.”

Mira shook her head. “Won’t work. They’ll make us lower shields, and we’ll have sacrificed maneuverability.”

“Can at least keep them talking,” Janice replied. “Might keep them from lobbing more missiles at us.”

The commander nodded, then resumed her feed. “Yeah, that’s not going to work for us. How’re those holes in your ship treating you? We could add a few more, if you’d like. Oh, and we also dropped a fair number of limpets as we flew past the alien station. Have fun docking there for a while.”

The man’s mouth pulled into a thin line. “You’re messing with things you don’t understand. If you won’t agree to be boarded, we’re going to destroy you.”

Mira glanced at the forward display, which read four minutes to dark layer transition. She was certain the enemy captain was just as aware of how long they had as she, and would do something to ensure they couldn’t make it to the safety of the dark layer.

But what?

“What if we destroy you first?” she asked, a laugh on her lips. “Also, do you know whose daughter I am? Surely, you’ve figured that out by now. I’m tightbeaming this conversation to our drone, so even if you get us, my father will know who pulled the trigger. You’re going to have to fly all the way back to Sol to escape him.”

The enemy captain visibly paled before he regained his composure. “The drone? Oh! You mean the one that’s fifteen seconds away from being destroyed.”

“Brock!” Mira hissed as she paused the stream again. “Active scan on our drone.”

A view of the drone appeared on the forward display, accompanied by a wide-angle tactical visual showing the time until the robot could safely transition.

She left the feed paused as the fifteen seconds counted down, sucking in a startled breath as beams lanced out from two separate locations, obliterating the drone before it could transition.

“Oh fuck,” she whispered before reactivating the feed, making a show of wiping the back of her hand across her brow. “Stars, you had me worried for a moment there. I thought you’d found our actual drone, not a decoy!”

A look of concern flashed across the man’s face before his eyes narrowed. “Nice try. We would have seen if you sent out a second drone.”

“Just like you saw our limpets?”

<Uh…you know we didn’t drop a second drone,> Aqua said privately. <If we don’t make it out of this, then this information isn’t getting back to HQ.>

<I know. Don’t throw off my game. Bluffing is not a skill they teach at the academy.>

The man didn’t reply at first, and Mira couldn’t help needling him a little more.

“How are those holes in your hull treating you, by the way? Adding a bit more airflow?”

He set his jaw, brow lowering. “We’re going to board you and find out if you sent a second drone. If you did, and it gets away…well, let’s just say things won’t go well for you.”

Mira ran a finger along her jaw. “Is there a scenario where things do go well for us?”

<You know that whatever he says will be a lie,> Janice folded her arms. <I’m really starting to dislike these people.>

<Of course, there’s no way they’ll keep us alive.>

The AI sent a sardonic laugh. <Well, us maybe. You, no. You’re the perfect hostage if things go sideways.>

While they spoke, the enemy captain replied. “Like I said. Surrender without a fight and cooperate. That’s your best bet at this point.”

“I really feel like that’s not going to do it,” Mira said. “I think that what we’ll do instead is punch more holes in your ships and then go on our merry way.” She killed the transmission and glanced around the bridge. “Where do we stand?”

“They’re not hitting us hard with their beams,” Brock said. “I’m guessing they want us alive.”

“I’m keeping them both at arm’s length with our own weapons,” Janice said. “They can’t close with us while they’re jinking around, trying to avoid getting holed.”

Mira nodded, realizing she was stroking her chin again, and pulled her hand down. “I want four missiles dropped behind us. Inert, not fired.”

“You got it,” Janice said. “I’ll coordinate with Greg. We can use the grav-lifters to nudge them out of the tubes.”

“What’s your plan?” Emma asked. “Hit them in the ass?”

“Exactly,” the commander replied. “Specifically, I want to nail Captain Poopy Pants. His ship is already half dead. We can finish him off with three of them while sending one at the other ship. That should make them think twice about closing with us.”

A minute later, the missiles were out of the tubes, the two enemy ships closer now, but still jinking wildly to avoid Janice’s shots. The countdown on the forward display crossed over two minutes until safe transition, and Mira was tempted to order Emma to drop them into the dark layer early, but the warnings that had been drilled into her about colliding with clumps of dark matter in subspace came to mind, and she withheld the order.

“They’re increasing their rate of fire,” Brock warned. “Our batteries are running dry. Shields will be on reactor power in eighty seconds.”

“Janice, are the missiles in position?”

“Give me thirty seconds and they’ll be ready to roll.”

Mira rose from her chair and stalked to the holotank, glaring at the three-dimensional representation of the battlespace. “They won’t be right behind the enemy, though.”

“No.” Janice shook her head. “Best we can do, given the time we have.”

“Alright. Send them in.”

“Yes, ma—”

“Contacts!” Brock called out. “A dozen fast movers.”

True to the ensign’s word, twelve red markers appeared on in the battlespace, four coming from behind and eight ahead.

“Fuck,” Mira hissed. “They’re going to hit us….”

“Forty seconds before it’s safe to transition,” Janice announced. “Our shields can’t defect that much force.”

“Can you take them out with beams?”

“Sure, but then our friends out there won’t have to jink to avoid my shots, and they’ll be up our ass in thirty seconds.”

A moment of silence swept over the bridge, the tension they’d all been laboring under threatening to turn into panic.

There’s nothing for it.

“Ensign Emma. Five seconds before the first missile hits…transition.”

“Ma’am? We’ll still be three light seconds from the edge of the dark matter region.”

“You know those maps,” Mira forced herself to keep her voice calm. “They always overestimate the spread to be on the safe side.”

“There’s a reason they do that,” Janice warned. “Are you sure?”

“We have three choices. We surrender, see how many missiles it takes to end us, or take our chances in the dark layer.” She looked around the bridge. “Unless someone has a fourth option, we’re taking our chances in the DL.”

Brock swallowed loudly, but no one spoke otherwise.

After a few seconds, Mira glanced at Janice. “Time to impact on our missiles?”

“Seventeen seconds. So far, they’re all still intact.”

The commander mapped out all the vectors and velocities in play, glad to see that they’d witness their own missile strikes before dumping into the dark layer.

“Ten seconds,” Janice announced.

Mira nodded, watching on the holotank as the enemy ships jinked wildly in an attempt to throw off the missiles, each time stepping into Janice’s beamfire. It was clear that if it wasn’t for the enemy missiles, they’d win the engagement—something that rankled more than she cared to admit.

“We’re going to be alright,” she assured the bridge crew, then realized that the other three below deserved an update as well. She switched to the general shipnet.

<I imagine you’re all watching scan and know what we’re facing. We’ve no option but to transition early, and I have no idea what we’ll encounter when we do. I want everyone belted in and braced for impact. We’ll only be a few light seconds from the edge of the dark matter cloud, so we should be clear.>

<Uhh…thanks, Commander,> Greg replied first. <Gotta love those shoulds.>

<It’s the right call,> Aqua added. <Shitty deal all around, but there’s no arguing that we did everything right and we’re simply outmatched.>

Something in the chief’s tone made Mira think that the woman didn’t exactly mean what she’d said—or if she did, there was a less complimentary interpretation to be made.

“Two hits on that asshole’s ship!” Janice crowed.

Mira turned her attention to the visual of the pursuing vessels. The first ship was gouting flame from near its starboard engine bell, and its thrust and weapons were offline. The remaining missile was closing with the other corvette, slewing side to side as it worked to avoid defensive fire.

It came within a few thousand kilometers of its target before exploding in a ball of plasma and debris.

“One down,” Mira said. “Not bad.”

The others nodded, and Janice glanced at the command seat. “Hadn’t you better sit, Commander?”

Mira glanced at the countdown to transition. “Shit!”

She rushed to her seat and pulled the harness across her chest, clipping it into place moments before Emma straightened and took a deep breath.

“Transition in five, four, three, two…”

Mira’s gaze shifted to the holotank, the twelve missiles nearly upon the Inquiry.

“One!”

The battlespace hanging above the holotank froze, and the forward display went black, the impenetrable nothingness of the dark layer giving them nothing to see.

She sighed and smiled at the bridge crew. “Good work, everyone. We ma—”

Before Mira could finish, an explosion shook the Inquiry; warning lights flashing on every bridge console, and a deep groan echoed though the corridors.

Brock cast about as the overhead lights flickered and died. “What the fuck was that?”

Mira flipped through the damage report, shaking her head in dismay. “Nothing good.”

CHAPTER 16 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 12.30.8959 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, interstellar dark layer

REGION: Regina System, Outer Alliance

<Yeah, we hit some dark matter.> Aqua’s reply to Mira’s inquiry was more than a little terse. <Are you surprised?>

<No, we knew it was a risk. Do you know how much?>

An annoyed sigh preceded the woman’s response. <Maybe a hundred kilos. Not much. Clipped us right across the port side, knocked out a few dozen graviton emitters, and took out our tertiary comm array.>

It could’ve been worse—much worse. Not that Mira would ever say as much to Aqua. The chief was taking it like her child had been struck by an adult in a fit of rage.

<Alright, what do we need to do for repairs?>

Another sigh came from the engineer, and Mira had to force herself not to react. <To be honest, I don’t think we should do anything until we get out of the dark layer. The way our emitters have been acting—not to mention the pounding we just took from those bastards back in Regina—we’d risk dropping out of the DL shaped more like a pretzel than a starship.>

<OK…I’m keen on not getting twisted into bits.> Mira considered their options. <We’re on a vector for the Khorina System—with a little nudging, at least. Think we should go there and make repairs, or maybe just pop out into interstellar space and fix things there?>

Chief Aqua didn’t respond for a few seconds. <Well…as great as I think I am at my chosen profession, fixing these things might be beyond me. Khorina has a remote mining operation where ore haulers stop by, if I recall. That seems like a safer bet.>

<What about another drone?> Mira asked. <Can we kick that out into the DL and get it on its way to Bysmark?>

<Uh…well, it was in the port airlock. Which is gone. We have one more FTL drone, but given our current vector and velocity, it’s going to have to brake and reorient a lot. I’d feel more comfortable if we dumped it out in Khorina.>

It was Mira’s turn to sigh. <Alright, that’s sound. I’ll leave you to damage control while I update folks up here.>

<Very good, Commander.>

She disconnected, doing her best to ignore the condescension in Aqua’s voice. The chief had run hot and cold a lot lately, and after having been easy to work with during the escape from Regina, had reverted to form.

“OK, folks,” she rose from her chair and walked to the holotank, bringing up a map of the nearby star systems. “Aqua doesn’t think we should repair while in the DL, nor is she confident we can effect repairs at all. For that reason, we’re going to stay on course—with some minor adjustments—and re-enter normal space in Khorina.”

“Damn.” Brock shook his head in dismay. “That puts us well outside the colonized systems.”

“Colonized, yes, but visited, no.” Janice rose and walked to the holotank, bringing up an expanded view of Khorina. “There’s an automated mining operation on the inner terrestrial world.”

Mira nodded. “Exactly. That’s what Aqua pointed out. While the mine runs on its own, crewed ships come through to grab the refined ore. If we can’t fix things up, we’ll be looking at a sixty-year trip back to Bysmark.”

“This seems logical and all that,” Emma said from her seat, “but what if our friends from Regina follow us?”

“They could,” Mira nodded slowly. “Though I think they’d suspect that we’d dump out in interstellar space to shift vector.”

“If they think we survived,” Janice added. “Chances are some of the debris from our impact flipped back to normal space.”

“Ohh…” Brock breathed the word. “So they might think we died in the DL.”

“Or they know it’s not enough matter for the Inquiry to be destroyed.” Janice countered, turning to Mira. “In that case, they’re going to be looking for us on our last known vector.”

The commander folded her arms across her chest. “And they won’t find us.”

“Which means they might come to Khorina,” Janice said.

Mira shrugged. “It’s a risk. At least there, we won’t be up against all their defenses in space they control. Ship to ship, we win.”

“So long as we can trust our shields,” Brock muttered.

“When we get to Khorina, we’ll send a drone to Bysmark, and get on repairs,” Mira said. “Our pursuers aren’t going to check there first. We’ll have time.”

“Let’s hope so.” The AI appeared as though she was going to say more, but her lips pressed together, and she fell silent.

“Alright, everyone.” Mira swept her gaze across her bridge crew. “I assume you all have jobs to do. Let’s do them.”

CHAPTER 17 - SERA

STELLAR DATE: 01.02.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Grace O’Malley

REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm

“We’ve got a visitor,” Cargo said, gesturing to a red marker on the holotank. “Two light seconds from Spiderville.”

“We’re not naming the moon ‘Spiderville’,” Sera said, shooting him a narrow-eyed look. “Seriously.”

He flashed a grin and shrugged. “You can call it what you want, but to me it’s Spiderville. Those things are clearly just ten-legged spiders.”

“They seem more like ants to me,” Jason said. “Spiders don’t live in communities.”

<None of that is relevant,> Jen interjected. <This is an alien species. Nothing we know about spiders and ants applies.>

“Well, there are some biological similarities when it comes to how the mechanics of their limbs work,” Sera said, feeling Jen grow more annoyed as she spoke.

<I meant socially.>

“Oh, of course—hey, look at that,” Sera gestured at the holotank. “It’s the Mandy!”

“Not surprised,” Jason said as he entered the bridge. “If I were Tanis, I would absolutely want to see this for myself.”

Sera chuckled as she reached out to the inbound ship. <Welcome to Sigma 1199, Tanis and Angela.>

<Sigma 1199?> Tanis asked, a hint of mirth in her voice. <I figured you’d’ve given it a more colorful name like…Spidertown or something.>

<Not you too?> Jen asked.

<Angela made me do it,> Tanis countered.

<Did not.>

<Joe’s here too,> Tanis added. <Plus a few of my favorite Marines.>

<You have favorites?> Sera asked. <I thought that was not how a leader operated.>

<They’re all my favorites. These are just a few of them.>

Angela groaned. <OK, Tanis, it’s funny for them, but I’ve heard that a dozen times lately.>

<Where do we touch down?> Tanis asked, ignoring her AI’s comment.

<Home in on the Grace,> Sera said. <We’ve set up a pad at the crater’s edge, and there’s room for two.>

<Is that safe?> Angela asked. <Being down on the surface?>

<We think so,> Sera replied. <If we need evac, or some other emergency arises, having the Grace seconds away makes sense. We have decontam set up at the edge of the crater, though…plenty of distance between the ship and anything that might want to hurt us.>

<Works for me,> Tanis said. <I assume you have drones and nano swarming the area?>

<Swarming doesn’t even begin to describe it.>

<Alright,> the hegemon gave the sensation of an affirming nod. <We’ll be down within the hour. See you then.>

<Grace out.>

Forty-seven minutes later, Tanis’s personal pinnace slid through the grav shield and settled down on the pad next to the Grace O’Malley.

Sera couldn’t help a face-splitting smile as she walked toward the smaller craft. She waited a few paces away for the airlock to open, after which, four Marines spilled out to secure the area before Tanis and Joe departed.

“Whew!” Jason said as he jogged up to Sera’s side. “Didn’t want to miss the grand arrival.”

“I heard that,” Tanis said as she emerged from the airlock. “And I’m glad you didn’t miss it.” She winked at Sera and embraced Jason first, then her.

“I see how it is,” Sera said as Tanis stepped back to make way for Joe, who stepped outwith Saanvi at his side.

“Saanvi!” Jason exclaimed. “Tanis failed to mention you were aboard.”

“She likes to surprise people now,” Joe said as he hugged Sera, while Saanvi embraced Jason.

“By hiding where her daughters are,” Saanvi said. “Even when we’re with her.”

Tanis adopted a hurt expression, but Angela spoke up before her partner could respond. <She just likes to be mysterious—even if it’s by proxy. Result of being in the public eye so much.>

The hegemon shrugged. “Pretty much. You wouldn’t believe the epic level of shenanigans it took to get here.”

“And are you here just to take a look-see?” Jason asked Saanvi. “Or are you taking over the site?”

The young woman held up both hands in mock protest. “Why do you say such terrible things? You couldn’t pay me to run this site. No, I’m here to help with a bit of eval so we can pick the right team.”

Joe chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder. “As if we’d pay for someone to take on a job like this. I bet there are a million people who would do it for free.”

Tanis’s gaze settled on Sera, a smirk forming on her lips. “And I bet we already have a someone or two who’d jump at the chance.”

Sera touched a hand to her chest. “You want me to run this joint? What makes you think I’m even remotely qualified for that?”

“Uhhhh…” Tanis tapped a finger against her chin. “I have this memory of you being the president of the Transcend…the single-largest slice of human-occupied space at the time.”

“During a civil war,” Sera countered. “It was a politically motivated move, not something that suggests I could run this place.”

“OK, What about you being a former Hand agent and former captain of Sabrina, where you spent years on covert missions?”

“Damn.” Sera shrugged. “I guess I’d just gotten so used to wandering around out here just the four of us, it had never even crossed my mind that you’d pick me.”

“It’s not a permanent position,” Tanis said. “But right now, there’s as much a need to secure this location as there is to explore it. I know of few people who I trust enough for a task such as this.”

Sera’s cheeks reddened, and she ducked her head in a quick nod. “You know just how to get a woman twisted around your finger, don’t you?”

Joe pointed at Tanis and mouthed, “Pol-i-ti-cian.”

“You know I can see behind myself,” the hegemon muttered.

“I absolutely do,” her husband replied with a cheek-splitting grin. “So, when do we get to see this place?”

“We have a groundcar just on the other side of the Grace,” Jason said. “Do you want to bring all four Marines? We might have to make two trips.”

Tanis glanced at her guards and shook her head. “No, just two will do. Jeralt, Carmen, you two remain here, suit up and do a walkabout around the crater. I doubt Sera’s had time for that, and the ol’ eyeball might spot something noteworthy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jeralt replied, while Carmen nodded.

The pair checked one another’s armor seals before walking toward the edge of the grav shield and passing through onto the moon’s airless surface.

“Alright, then,” Tanis nodded to Sera. “Isabella and Roy are with us, let’s get this show on the road.”

The group stopped at the decontamination station to get layered in additional flow-armor before arriving at the external bay door that Sera and Jason had spotted on their first trip in.

A small enclosure was built up against the side of the structure, with a pair of security drones patrolling nearby.

<Welcome to Sigma Prime,> Jason announced as the crowded vehicle stopped next to the entrance. <Please declare all goods to the customs officer before entering the facility.>

<You’re a riot,> Joe drawled as he stepped out of the car and stared up at the alien structure. <To think that no Terran life had a part in making this. I never thought I’d see anything that fit that criteria.>

<I don’t think anyone made it,> Saanvi replied. <Look…it’s built up out of the stone itself. Like they just grew it.>

<That’s what they did,> Sera confirmed as the group formed up at the entrance. <Basic matter decoupling-recoupling stuff, but artfully done.>

Tanis nodded in appreciation. <Reminds me of the underground cities we built on Victoria.>

<You mean the ones we made for them, and then the people we made them for tried to kill us a few times?> Jason asked.

<Still a bit bitter about that?> Angela asked.

<A bit.>

They entered the temporary structure set against the side of the alien facility, passing first through an airlock and then through one of the octagonal doors set next to the larger bay door.

<There’s still atmo in here!> Saanvi gasped. <Not a lot, but, wow…that’s held up a long time. Strange that there are no traces of heavier components.>

<This room was exposed to vacuum,> Jason explained. <But once we got the door between it and the rest of the facility opened, it wouldn’t seal again, so we decided to leave it ‘aired-up’. Elsewhere, you’ll find the rest of the atmo on the ground.>

<Ahhhh…> Saanvi nodded. <I wonder what temp they kept it at before. Would be interesting to warm it up and see what the gases do.>

<Could take a sample,> Jen suggested. <Other than some bits of the bots and what appears to be a section of chitinous shell, we’ve just focused on exploration.>

<Have you tried to fire up one of these cars?> Joe asked as he ran a hand over the side of one of the vehicles. <Looks like we both use wheels at least.>

<There’s a-grav in there, too,> Jason explained. <Looks like the wheels are just backup.>

<Still, that’s an interesting development. Some people have postulated that species with more limbs—and especially those with exoskeletons—wouldn’t develop the wheel.>

Sera shrugged. <Maybe they didn’t till a lot later. It’ll be interesting to find out.>

<See!> Tanis nudged Sera in the side as they approached the door leading further in. <I knew you’d be excited to stay on here.>

Once inside the facility, they made good time to the central shaft, only stopping briefly to examine the remains of the security drones that Sera and Jason had left where they’d fallen.

<You’re lucky their kinetics were jammed up,> Tanis commented as she knelt next to one of the bots. <Your flow-armor wouldn’t have stood a chance.>

<Don’t remind me,> Sera said. <We’re running extra-thick layers now. Though we’ve not encountered any further defenses—at least, not anything online.>

<Oh?> Tanis asked as she rose. <But you have found other defenses?>

<External, mostly,> Jason said. <Not enough for defense against orbital strikes, but enough to stop ground forces from easily gaining access.>

<C’mon,> Sera waved a hand for the others to follow. <You’re gonna want to see the statue.>

She hurried ahead, activating the hover lights to give the best view of the alien creature as the others approached.

<OK…I really hope they’re not actually that big,> Tanis whispered.

<We don’t think so,> Jen said. <Certainly not based on the size of the nests in the sleeping quarters.>

<Unless there are different sizes based on caste or gender,> Jason added. <But yeah, I agree. I hope they’re smaller. At the very least, we can take comfort in this one having trouble fitting through a lot of the doors.>

<No massive doors tucked away elsewhere?> Joe asked.

<A few, but they’re all in equipment bays, and I doubt that’s what the leadership caste would use,> Sera said. <Granted, that’s using Terran standards. Maybe these people were all about efficiency and didn’t care if the bigwigs walked out past the garbage compactor.>

Saanvi snorted. <That’s a visual. So how deep is the shaft?>

<Just under two kilometers,> Jason replied. <The further down it goes, the more it gives off an anthill vibe. There are a lot more sleeping quarters and mess halls below, and at the bottom is just a total maze of what appear to be research labs.>

<So was that the purpose of this facility?> Saanvi asked. <R&D? Or was that secondary?>

Jason snorted. <Hopefully, you can help us figure that out. I’m guessing it was R&D. We have probes surveying the moon, and there’s nothing else on it—not that we’ve found yet, anyway. The nearby moons appear to be devoid of installations as well.>

Tanis cocked her head, brows nearly meeting. <No orbital defenses at all? Nothing?>

<Nope. Nada. Though if they were using smaller satellites, they’d have been drawn into the planet by now. There’s no long-term stable orbit around this moon.>

<I suppose that’s one way to keep your research from doing anything catastrophic.> Joe gave a caustic laugh. <Just drop it into a massive gravity well.>

The comment brought to mind Finaeus’s likely demise at Sagittarius A*, and Sera winced, wondering what his final moments had been like.

Tanis’s eyes locked on hers. <I know what you’re thinking…and I might have good news. Might.>

<What?> Sera’s head snapped up. <Something about Finaeus and Tangel, and you’re just telling me now?>

Tanis gave a half smile. <I got a little swept up in wanting to see this place. But yeah, Katrina found a section of ablative plating from the Starkiller.>

Sera’s brow fell again. <That’s hardly good news.>

<There’s evidence that it was subjected to gate energy right before it was pulled off.>

<Gate…> Sera’s mouth hung open. <Then the stasis shields were down, and they were jumping.>

<The energy was high. Extragalactic.>

<What vector?> The words tumbled out of Sera’s mind. <Where did they go?>

Tanis’s lips drew into a thin line, and she glanced at Joe, who gave her an encouraging nod. <The vector might have been the Andromeda Galaxy. But there wasn’t enough energy to make it there—only halfway.>

<Wait….> Sera held up a hand. <Are you saying that Tangel and Finaeus are stuck somewhere between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies?>

Tanis nodded. <Yeah, unless they were jumping to the one of its surrounding dwarf galaxies.>

<Then why are we here?> Sera demanded. <Why aren’t we jumping out to those locations?>

<We’re working on it right now,> Tanis said, reaching for the other woman’s hands. <Jessica has taken the Carthage to the core, and Kerr is working on reconstructing a model based on every scrap of data we can find.>

Sera bit her lip, weighing desire to remain at the alien find against searching for her uncle.

<It’s Finaeus and Tangel,> Joe said. <If anyone can survive, it’s them. The Starkiller has stasis pods and the equipment to build a jump gate.>

<Then why aren’t they back?> Sera insisted. <It’s been ten years.>

<They were likely right at the edge of the event horizon,> Joe explained. <They’re in the future—we don’t know how far yet.>

<Great,> Sera muttered, then switched to a private channel that excluded the two Marines. <I guess at least they’re in the one ship that can jump back in time.>

Tanis shrugged. <Maybe. From what Earnest said, it takes a special gate.>

<Shit! Is Earnest going to help? What about Bob?>

<Earnest is staying with Cary for a bit longer,> Joe explained. <They need to solve a particularly tricky problem with a star…not that far from here, now that I think of it.>

<Galactically speaking, not far,> Angela said.

<Yeah,> Joe nodded. <Cary’s taking over command of the Cora’s Triumph and commanding that mission.>

<Beatrice finally getting her admiral’s star?> Sera asked.

Tanis nodded. <Yeah, commanding the starshifting operation.>

Sera whistled, shaking her head in disbelief. <That project is going to go on for centuries…I can’t believe we have to clean up the Matri∞me’s mess like this.>

<Such is life. I know most of my life has been pretty relaxed, but these bursts of fixing other people’s problems occupy more than their fair share of my memories—but on the other topic, we’re doing everything we can to figure out where Finaeus and Tangel went.>

Sera heaved a sigh. <I understand. And I doubt that Jason and I could make a huge contribution there.>

<It wouldn’t be insignificant, but you are needed here, too. We have to keep this place under wraps and secure as long as possible. I’m going to task an ISF battlegroup to join you and establish security before we start bringing in international teams.>

<ISF?> Sera arched a brow. <Still haven’t established an AoS force yet, have you?>

It was Joe’s turn to sigh. <We’re working on it, but member nations are not exactly excited about a galactic police force.>

<Which is exactly what the ISF and Transcend military are doing right now,> Sera muttered. <How is an AoS force any different?>

Tanis shrugged. <I don’t think it is, but I could provide you with a few dozen ambassadors who are convinced it will be the end of all things. You’d think they’d want to see a force with multi-national representation.>

<Oh, they want it, all right,> Joe said, finally turning away from the statue to look at the shaft. <They just want to make sure that certain historical enemies don’t get to participate. For all intents and purposes, the ISF and Transcend are strangers to most of the Inner Stars nations—strangers who are held in relatively high esteem.>

<I imagine there’s fear that enemies might gain access to advanced tech if their people join the AoS force as well,> Angela added. <Which is something we’re still working out.>

<Makes you understand why Rome had to use people from the fringes of the empire to fill its legions,> Tanis said as she turned to join Joe. <So, have you been down the hole yet?>

Sera approached them while Jason lingered at the statue for a moment longer before walking to the edge as well.

<Only via remotes,> she replied. <No security systems triggered—at least, not ones with functional defenses. Though there still might be more drones down there. We’ve only mapped a third of the space.>

Tanis nodded at the a-grav platform a few meters away. <What do you think? Shall we?>

<You’re always so cautious, Mom,> Saanvi said, finally rejoining the group.

<You can stay up here if you want.> Tanis flashed a grin at her daughter.

<Right, like that’s going to happen.> Saanvi patted the sidearm on her hip. <I’ve gone up against Widows. Half-functional, ancient defenses don’t scare me.>

<What about those?> Jason jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the statue’s direction.

Saanvi quirked a smile. <The hope that we might see one of them is the reason I’m going down!>

The a-grav platform was big enough for twenty, but it somehow felt crowded with even seven passengers as it drifted out into the center of the shaft and began its slow descent.

<Nothing much at first, and then the first few tunnels are more sleeping and eating rooms,> Jen explained. <There are a few larger gathering areas spread around a bit further down, but the labs don’t start until the last few hundred meters.>

<What’s at the very bottom?> Joe asked.

<Reactor,> Jen said. <It’s in rough shape. An interesting study, but I doubt we could ever get it online again. The heavier gases pooled at the bottom of the shaft as the facility cooled down, and it got rather oxygen-rich for a while. Thing is seriously rusty.>

Saanvi nodded. <Yeah, but it’ll be fun to study. What is it, a tokamak?>

<Triple-helix,> Jason replied. <Rather impressive to boot.>

The young woman whistled. <Oh, that’s going to make Earnest jump for joy. He loves that configuration.>

Tanis chuckled. <That he does, but let’s be honest, this whole place will make him jump for joy.>

<I’m hoping we can figure out their networks and language,> Angela said. <I’d like to find out where they came from and if they’re still around…you know, before we bump into them accidentally.>

Sera chuckled. <Yeah…given their security response, I suspect that they might be a little aggressive.>

<A little?> Jason coughed. <Granted, not much more than we are.>

She glanced at him and nodded. <Exactly. Humanity and its scions are not the best at peaceful relations to begin with. Adding an extra-terrestrial race to the mix is not something we need—especially not with the Matri∞me still out there.>

<What if they’re not?> Saanvi asked as the platform continued its steady descent, more and more passages opening up in the shaft. <What if they left the Milky Way, and Finaeus and Tangel were following after to find out where they went?>

<That’s one possibility,> Tanis replied.

<Or they were just throwing us off their trail,> Angela suggested. <Or maybe Epsilon left, but others are still at work in the galaxy. Honestly…it’s going to be impossible to be totally certain they’re gone. The universe is just too big—there’s always somewhere to hide.>

<One thing is for sure,> Sera said, staring off into the distance. <It’s going to take all the fun out of space. Hunting for the Matri∞me means we’re going to explore and monitor the entire galaxy. Where’s the fun in that going to be?>

Tanis nodded. <Yeah…and I don’t even want to police what we’ve discovered to date, let alone the whole damn thing.>

<Our lives are total curses,> Angela said in a mournful tone.

<Uhhh…are you kidding about that?> Sera asked.

<Like…half kidding,> the AI replied. <We have so many good things, but with all this constant careening from one crisis to the next, we never get to enjoy any of it.>

Joe glanced at Saanvi, a mock laugh on his lips. <So…are we the good things or the crises?>

<If I had arms, I’d smack you,> Angela warned.

<How do you think they got to all these side passages?> Jason winked at the others. <You know…just in case anyone is interested in the alien structure we’re traveling through.>

<I was wondering that, too,> Saanvi said. <Are there any grav pads at the bottom?>

Sera shook her head. <Nothing that looked like it. But there’s a lot of stuff here that we can only begin to guess at.>

<What about all those notches in the shaft?> Tanis asked.

<Notches?> Joe cocked a brow. <What notches?>

A close-up view of the wall came over the Link, courtesy of Tanis’s highly augmented eyes.

<Those notches.>

<Huh.> Sera crossed her arms. <I didn’t notice those before. I guess our spider-ant friends could have used those to climb up and down. Seems a little inefficient to climb a kilometer tunnel every day, though.>

<Stop with the spider-ant stuff,> Saanvi warned. <If you use it too much, it’ll stick.>

<What about ‘Sigs’?> Joe asked. <Just references the system where we found them. Doesn’t make any assertions about their behavior or physiology in any way.>

<It works for me,> Sera replied.

Tanis nodded, as did Saanvi.

<Perfect,> the young woman said. <Sigs it is, until we figure out what they called themselves.>

<If they even verbalize things like that,> Sera said.

Saanvi winked. <Exactly.>

<So, the notches?> Tanis asked. <I think they’re deep enough for a two to three-meter-tall creature to use. Also, if they are from a standard-g world, they should be able to execute some considerable jumps.>

Sera nodded. <The nests we found would have required jumping as high as forty meters to reach. Unless there were wall notches we missed in those rooms, I think a clear ability to jump is something we can count on.>

<I wonder if they are augmented,> Tanis mused. <With my mods, I can jump fifty meters in this amount of gravity.>

<Beats me,> Sera replied, then pointed at a large notch cut into the side of the shaft. <That’s one of the meeting areas. There are little divots that look a little like the nests. If each one seats a single Sig, then a thousand of them could attend whatever happened there.>

<That alcove on the far side has a larger nest divot in it,> Jason said, pointing at the far side of the open space. <That might be a sign that upper-level caste members are larger.>

<Strange that a species this advanced would still have those kinds of differences,> Joe said. <If they can build triple-helix fusion reactors and grow facilities like this, they can surely mod themselves to not have a size-based caste structure.>

<Maybe it’s more task-based,> Saanvi suggested. <There are Terran creatures that have task-based size differences.>

<Now who’s comparing them to insects?> Tanis asked with a half-smile.

Saanvi shot her mother a narrow-eyed look. <Not just insects. Sexes have different sizes across many Terran animals—and some tasks are divided by sex.>

Tanis raised her hands in mock defense. <Alright, I was just teasing. I yield.>

<Bottom is in three hundred meters,> Sera said. <We’re moving out of the residential area and into the labs.>

Here, the tunnels had small platforms at their mouths, something Sera suspected made it easier to move materials in and out of the caverns beyond—or they were for something else entirely.

She wondered how long it would truly take to understand the structure they were descending into. How did the Sigs’s environmental systems work? How did they transport waste? Where was food stored before it was placed in the strange cylinders…if that was what those were for?

<Oh look!> Saanvi pointed into a wide passage. <Those rooms have windows. They look like regular panes, too…granted, they’re octagons.>

<Odd how they seem to like octagons,> Joe gestured at a passage to his right. <Though the tunnels aren’t octagon-shaped, they’re rounded at the corners.>

<We’ve been wondering that, too,> Jen said. <Maybe it’s just a design preference of whoever made this place.>

<Goodness knows there are some quirky designs out there in human space,> Sera added. <That’s one thing that finding more installations will help with…comparing and contrasting, finding the constants.>

<Look at you!> Tanis laughed, giving Sera a nudge with her elbow. <You’re totally into this.>

Sera shrugged. <I grew up in my uncle’s lab. I’ve always been a nerd at heart.>

<It’s true,> Jason confirmed. <Though she does her best to hide it.>

Tanis gave a half-smile. <Always suspected it. Of course, I’m sure you still prefer combat and spaceflight.>

<Huh…> Sera pursed her lips. <You know… going toe to toe with those bots was the first time I’ve been in actual combat in…wow, over a year! I honestly didn’t miss it as much as I would have thought.>

<Were you getting into combat back when you ran the Hand for those two decades?> Jason asked. <I wouldn’t have thought it was a common occurrence.>

Sera glanced at him and sighed. <You’d think, right? No, I found myself in the field more than I would have expected. I don’t think my predecessor was quite so hands-on in his time, but I liked to get involved.>

Joe snorted a laugh. <Hands-on while running the Hand? Please tell me that was intentional.>

She fixed him with a level stare. <I always intend my puns.>

<And with that,> Jason waved a hand in the direction of the platform’s exit as they descended the final few meters. <We’ve reached the bottom.>

CHAPTER 18 - TANIS

STELLAR DATE: 01.02.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Sigma 1199 Alien Facility

REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm

<So, where’s the triple-helix?> Tanis asked as she stretched and pushed back from the railing. <This is something I’d like to see.>

<Through that passage dead ahead,> Jen said, highlighting the opening directly across from the platform’s exit.

<I’m coming with you,> Joe said. <I’d like to see that, too. Most of this place hasn’t been significantly different from the hundreds of terrestrial facilities I’ve seen, but that type of tech…surely, it’ll tell us something.>

<Why don’t we all go?> Sera suggested. <Probably best for us to stay together—plus, it’ll keep your escort from worrying about our hides.> She winked at the Marines.

Tanis grinned at the red-skinned woman. <Works for me. The more the merrier and all that.>

She was first off the platform and led the group across the hundred-meter-wide shaft floor.

<I’m surprised that there’s not a single bit of decoration down here,> Joe commented. <It’s just flat…and boring.>

<Maybe there was stuff that they just moved out,> Saanvi suggested. <This whole place could have been loaded with art and statues and who knows what.>

<If that’s the case, why didn’t they take that big statue up top?> Angela asked. <Sure, it’s ungainly, but they have doors to fit it through, and a-grav tech.>

Saanvi shrugged. <Maybe it’s something tied to this place, like the overseer—or maybe it’s their ruler, and all of their installations have to have a statue of the ruler in them.>

Sera nodded in appreciation. <OK…that makes a lot of sense. Of course, the other side of it is that they might not have had eyes.>

<Sorry, what?> Joe glanced back at her from Tanis’s side. <The statue looked like it had eyes.>

<It had things we would consider eyes based on their placement,> Sera corrected. <But we don’t know what those were. They could have been sonar emitters…or maybe they gave off audible vibrations.>

The group fell silent as they reached the tunnel, a ten-meter-wide half-circle that led straight through the moon’s lithosphere for three hundred meters before reaching a pair of five-meter-high doors that were sealed shut.

<I take it you got nano through?> Tanis said as she ran a hand across the cool surfaces. <These have to be pretty thick. Going to take some cutting.>

<There’s EM coming from the access panel and some of the nearby conduit,> Angela commented. <Maybe this would be a good time to attempt to breach their systems again.>

<I’ve half wanted to,> Jen replied. <But after my first failed attempt, I got worried that if I made a mistake again, I’d create too much load and short something out.>

<Let’s tackle the problem from the other end, then,> Angela said. <These doors are locked—actually, Tanis, can you test that theory?>

Tanis laughed and pushed a shoulder into the door.

It moved a few millimeters then came to a stop with a dull thud.

<Seems like a lock is in place to me.>

<Alrighty, then.> Angela’s mental tone was filled with glee at the prospect of a puzzle. <That means that somewhere inside this thing there are actuators that move the lock in and out of place. Everyone, pick an area and toss some nano in, let’s find it.>

Tanis let Angela control their nano, sending it up the center gap between the doors, searching for bolts holding them together and to the cave’s ceiling.

<Found some, sunk into the floor,> Jason said a moment later. <Ten centimeters around.>

<Up top, too,> Angela said a moment later. <Anything on the hinges?>

<Doesn’t look like it,> Sera said. <They’re shockingly similar to how we build hinges for doors this big.>

Saanvi shrugged. <There are clearly optimal solutions to simple problems. Only so many ways to add one and one in order to get two.>

<OK…the top rods are mounted in the ceiling, not the doors. Looks like…shit, is that a pneumatic actuator?>

<Same thing I found,> Jason said, glancing around. <I wonder if the tanks are on this side. Could just manually trigger the pistons and not have to hack anything.>

<If it all still holds air,> Sera replied. <We could slip some flowmetal down there and have it perform a pressure test.>

Tanis nodded. <That makes sense. Could also have the flowmetal make a piston.>

<Stars,> Jen groaned. <You’re all taking the fun out of this. I wanted to breach their network, and you’re all going old-school on this problem.>

<Oh, stop your complaining,> Angela said with a laugh. <If the pneumatic systems are toast, then breaching the network won’t do any good.>

<I know, I know,> the other AI replied. <I just really wanted to get on that—and not be the only one responsible for frying another part of this system.>

Tanis laughed, shaking her head. <Now you know why I hate being in charge of stuff. I get blamed for everything.>

<Should get yourself cloned,> Sera said with a wink from where she was crouched next to the ground, releasing flowmetal.

<Tried that. She went off galivanting through the universe, and left me here holding the reins.>

Joe crouched and leapt to the ceiling, grabbing hold of the lip around the top of the door, where he began releasing flowmetal. <Looks like you’re not the only one who can jump fifty meters, Tanis.>

<I…uh…never said I was,> she replied.

While the others worked on opening the door, Tanis reviewed the scans that Sera’s nanoprobes had made of the room beyond. The space was a foyer of sorts, the far side lined with octagon-shaped windows looking into what had to be a control center. Doors on either side of the foyer connected the two, with another set of large doors on the left side.

Beyond those lay a curving passage that led to the reactor chamber.

She released additional nano, focusing on the foyer and the room beyond, looking for any signs of security drones or other defenses. The doors themselves had been constructed to keep a blast in, rather than enemies out, but that didn’t mean that the Sigs weren’t worried about sabotage or infiltration.

The control room beyond was more difficult to clear. Some of the consoles had active EM signatures, and conduit under the floor was carrying power as well—though some portions of the room were entirely dead.

There were no seating divots in the room, but based on how large the nests were elsewhere in the facility, she estimated that the space held fifty workers. A lot for managing a reactor, but then again, she had no idea what level of automation the Sigs utilized.

If they did share some attributes with ants, she could see them relying on people power versus tools, but that may be a behavior pattern that didn’t hold up once technology was introduced.

After all, humans used to do the same thing.

<Everything is in position,> Jason announced.

Tanis pulled herself from the examination of the reactor control room to glance back at the two Marines. <Flank the doors, we’ll stay behind you.>

<Yes, ma’am,> Roy said. <We’re ready.>

Tanis, Jason, and Saanvi tucked against the left wall behind Isabella, while Joe and Sera took the right side behind Roy.

<Here goes nothing,> Jen announced, and the flowmetal pistons drew the door’s rods down into the floor and up into the ceiling. A faint grinding sound traveled up through the soles of their boots for thirty long seconds until the AI announced, <OK…they’re all clear. Give it a push.>

Roy nodded, and he and Isabella threw their shoulders against the doors, their powered armor giving each one the strength of a dozen unaugmented humans.

This time, the creaks and groans were loud enough to travel through the thin atmosphere and the team’s clear helmets.

When the doors were open enough to admit one of the Marines, they stopped pushing, and Isabella unslung her rifle, stepping through first. Roy covered her until she reached the far wall, next to the right-hand door leading into the control room. Once she was in place, Roy followed after, Tanis and Jason moving to the opening to cover the Marines with their sidearms.

When Roy reached the far side of the foyer, everyone paused and waited for a ten-count, ready for any age-delayed security response. None came, and Tanis moved in next.

<I have nano in the control room doors,> Angela said. <Still no idea how to even interface with their systems, but these have mechanical locking systems.>

<Mechanical locks on the doors, pneumatic rods on the main entrances…were they worried about an EMP or something?>

<Tripe-helix reactors can be prone to that,> Jason said. <But not that prone. These precautions seem like a lot.>

<We really need to figure out their networking,> Jen said. <We know that their data uses direct current signals, and the lower-tech stuff is binary, just like ours…but it seems like the next layer up is….>

<A mess,> Angela supplied. <I can’t even figure out if their numbering systems is base ten. It seems like they have some element of context for how numbers work that’s….>

<Malleable,> Jen said.

<Yeah, malleable…which doesn’t work for numbers—at least, not the way we understand them.>

<Well, I guess we keep working on it,> Tanis said as she approached the doors. <How’s the door look?>

<Like a door,> Angela replied in a droll tone. <And it’s unlocked.>

Tanis resisted commenting and instead nodded to Roy, who pushed the door wide and moved into the control room. She followed after, her left hand gripping her sidearm while her right hovered near her thigh, ready to draw her lightwand.

Other than the light scuffing of their boots on the ground, there were no sounds—virtually no light, either, just what Sera’s hoverlights provided from the passage outside.

A glow caught Tanis’s gaze, and she turned to see an illuminated panel on the wall not far from the door. She approached, staring quizzically at the small rectangle with several physical switches on it, each with a blue light beneath.

<Wow…this is old-school. Think these are light switches?> she asked.

<One way to find out,> Angela said. <Well, lots of ways to find out, but I have a suspicion I know which you’re going to try.>

Tanis laughed and took a closer look at the row of switches. She supposed that ‘toggle’ would be a better word; rather than a narrow pole, each one had a wide paddle with an indent on either side—perfect for slotting a hook-clawed appendage into.

Deciding that, at some point, they’d have to push a button and see what happened, Tanis flipped up the left-most one.

A spark flashed from inside the panel, and the blue light went out, a red one appearing above. At first, no other change was apparent, but then a smattering of overhead panels began to glow.

<Damn…non-silicon-based lights…chemical of some sort,> Angela commented. <They were really worried about an EMP down here.>

Tanis nodded. <Explains the seating for fifty. Though why run such a temperamental style of fusion reactor if you’re worried about that?>

<Maybe they never figured out how to make any others,> Saanvi considered as she entered the room. <It’s unlikely, but possible.>

The others followed after, fanning out as Tanis fed nano into the switch panel, and traced the wires that ran through the wall and overhead. The two on the right were connected to electrical motors, and after figuring out where they led, she realized that the far wall wasn’t a wall at all, but shutters.

Throwing caution to the wind, she flipped the first switch, and shutters on the left side of the room opened up to reveal the telltale outline of a rather dilapidated triple-helix reactor.

What surprised her—and the others, if the shared expressions were any sign—was that the reactor was well to the left of the control room, with power lines running from it to a thick wall that lined up with where the right-side shutters started.

<Well, then,> Tanis murmured. <What’s behind door number two?>

She pushed the toggle up, the blue light turning off, and the red sputtering on. A motor squealed as it struggled against the shutters, the wall coverings fluttering a few times before the squeal grew in pitch, cutting out abruptly.

<More than one way to skin a cat,> Joe said as he walked toward the shutters and prised his fingers under them at one end. <A hand?>

Sera and Jason joined him, all three pushing up on the ten-centimeter shutters, which fought them the entire way. After a few seconds of straining, a loud snap came from the far end of the wall, and the shutters flew up.

<Oh shit,> Tanis whispered. <That was not what I was expecting to see.>

Before anyone else could respond, Isabella called out from the foyer, <We have incoming!>

Her warning was followed by the sound of kinetic rounds striking the windows between the outer room and the control center.

Without a word, everyone hit the floor, working their way toward the windows—everyone barring Roy, who barreled toward the closest door, his A9-SCR railgun barking in the thin atmosphere as it spewed pellets through the opening and into the foyer.

Once Tanis reached the wall, she drew in half a dozen deep breaths, hyperoxygenating her lungs before sealing her nose, eyes, and ears against the cold air. Satisfied that she could survive ten minutes without air, she pulled off her helmet and activated her flow armor’s stealth capabilities.

<Four bots,> Angela announced. <Larger than the ones Sera and Jason fought.>

<And with functional kinetics,> Sera added.

An alert went up on the combat net; Isabella was down from wounds on her chest and right leg.

<I’ve got her!> Roy called out.

Joe and Jason had divested themselves of anything that couldn’t go stealth, and Tanis gestured for them to take the left door while she and Sera took the right.

Two of the enemy bots were in the foyer, each one moving toward one of the command center doors, while the others hung from the half-open doors, covering their counterparts.

The one closest to her door was fifteen meters away. Tanis didn’t wait any longer before darting out, moving toward the ten-legged machine with erratic bounds.

Her nano masked the crunch her feet made in the atmospheric snow that spread across the ground, but there was no hiding their imprints. Moving erratically was her safest bet—something that paid off, as the machine detected her first two sets of footprints and extrapolated her location.

Kinetic rounds sprayed through the air where she would have been if she’d not changed course. To her right, Sera took advantage of the bot’s distraction to leap toward it, sailing through the air to land behind the machine.

The drone’s laser turret pivoted, tracking her and getting off two shots before she hit the ground and rolled out of the weapon’s reach.

<Shit…how’d it track me?> Sera asked, placing herself between their target and the two at the door in order to keep them from firing on her as well.

<Not sure,> Tanis replied. <But I’d like to find out.>

In the intervening seconds, she reached the bot, and after a moment’s thought, slid underneath it, narrowly avoiding one of its clawed legs as it turned to get a firing angle on Sera.

<Make it quick!> the other woman demanded.

<You got it.>

Once under the four-meter-long machine, Tanis drew her lightwand and toggled it on, letting the blade stabilize for a moment before slashing it up through the body of the machine.

Sparks flew from the gash, and the drone wobbled to one side. Tanis rolled to the other and sliced off two legs on her way out from underneath it.

Behind her, the bot hit the ground, spinning to the right, its kinetic weapon spraying rounds in a kamikaze death thrash.

<You could use that,> Angela suggested.

Tanis smirked as she jumped into the air, landing on the bot’s back. <My thoughts exactly.>

She grabbed the kinetic gun mounted on the spider-bot’s back and jerked it toward where the two bots hung on the doors—both currently spraying fire at Jason and Joe, who had taken cover behind the overturned, and now battered, body of the second drone.

The heavy rounds tore into the machine hanging from the far door, but not before the other drone swung out to fire on Tanis. It got off four rounds before Sera, who had been moving along the far wall, leapt into the air and drove her lightwand into the machine’s kinetic weapon, twisting the blade and cutting it from the Sig drone’s body.

A second later she was gone, and Tanis directed her machine’s dying fire to that target, knocking it from the door as Joe and Jason finished off the other.

Less than a minute after it had started, the combat was over, and Tanis turned back to the windows, shaking her head at the sight in the inner room.

<So I guess Finaeus wasn’t the first one to figure out jump gates.>

CHAPTER 19 - KYLIE

STELLAR DATE: 01.05.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, approaching Scorpii Minor

REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

Kylie stood on the bridge of the Barbaric Queen, watching as Rogers executed the final burns to enter a high orbit around the planet below.

Instead of her typical leathers, today she wore a floor-length, form-fitting ballgown—blue, because that was the best color for her—and her toes peeked out from beneath the satin trim. In lieu of a braid, her long, brown hair was pinned into rows of curls down her back.

“Keep the ship ready to go,” Kylie said as the pilot completed the last burn.

Rogers nodded. “You’ve got it, Cap. A moment’s notice, if that, is all we’ll need.”

“You can handle that and keeping the kids out of trouble?”

“Don’t worry. I have Chuck for the ship, and MFP to keep an eye on the kids.”

“NO HE DOES NOT,” Mr. Fizzle Pop grumbled from his chair on the other side of the cockpit. He stretched out his paws and laid his head back.

“There’s a pizza in it for you.”

Mr. Fizzle Pop huffed, his ears pulled back. “OK.”

Rogers shook his head. “That will never stop working.” He paused for a moment to check over his console. “Fifteen minutes till we’re in position. Special envoy for the duchess and her armed escort.”

“Here goes nothing,” Kylie sighed.

“Aw, you’ve got this. A transport shuttle will be waiting to take you to the party, and once you’re there, it’ll be easy. You’ve done this dozens of times.”

That was true, but most of those had been done with Marge. It had taken time for Kylie to manage her advanced nano without Marge’s help, ultimately requiring augmentations to handle it.

It wasn’t the nano that worried Kylie, but the choices she’d have to make in the field.

“Just mission jitters. It happens, right? Fly straight and true, Rogers.” She slapped him on the shoulder before making her way down to the airlock.

Marie sat outside the hatch, playing with her favorite NSAI doll. Kylie bent down and stroked her daughter’s chin.

Marie peered up at her with sad eyes. “When will you be back?”

“I won’t be gone long, back before you know it. You stay out of trouble. I hear Mr. Fizzle Pop is excited for one of your epic tea parties.”

Marie grinned and showed off her tooth gap on the top row.

Kylie kissed her cheek once more. “Be good for Rogers and Burt. Tonight, we’ll read your favorite story.”

She stepped into the airlock after a final hug. Grayson stood by the mechanized door, fixing his bowtie, and gave a grunt of frustration. “You think they could find technology that would help these things stay straight.”

She slinked over to him and enjoyed straightening out his tie.

“Thank you,” he said. “Did you see Marie outside?”

Kylie nodded. “Sure did. She’ll be fine.”

“Of course she will. We won’t be gone that long,” Grayson said, just as he always did before they left on a mission. Even those they weren’t too sure about.

This one should at least be a simple in and out.

Behind them, Kylie heard heavy footfalls. She turned to see Winter approaching in a white suit and struggling pulling his sleeves down where they should go. “Why do I need to wear this thing again? I feel like a penguin.”

“Because we’re supposed to be a regal and refined group. I’m a duchess.”

Winter snickered. “You really think I’m going to fool someone in this?”

“You’re our bodyguard, which is exactly what you look like.”

“What’s a bodyguard without guns?” he argued. “I know I’m a lethal force, but if I could bring Dolph with me….”

“No one will let us on a shuttle if we’re packing that much heat,” Grayson said. “Do us a favor and stand tall, act grouchy, and try not to complain too much.”

“Complain?” Winter rose his eyebrows. “Since when have you known me to complain?”

Kylie and Grayson sighed.

Winter shrugged. “What?”

<Okay, kids,> Rogers said, <Your ride’s waiting. Head down the ramp, and a shuttle will be waiting for you. Good luck.>

Kylie acknowledged, then opened the shuttle door. Grayson offered her his arm, and she readily took it while Winter walked behind them.

Down the ramp, a man in a suit and wearing sunglasses held a holo sign. “Duchess Camile and Duke Estevan, welcome to Pi Scorpii Beta. I hope your trip was restful?”

Kylie tried to keep her expression neutral. “You could say it was pleasant, thank you.” She pulled out a paper fan and flicked it open with her wrist. It was the latest fashion accessory in the Pi Scorpii Beta System.

“General Mulke awaits you. If you please,” he gestured toward the shuttle.

Kylie and Grayson entered and Winter followed, squinting at the light pouring in through the port holes. “Bright for eighteen hundred hours.”

“Yes, we’re in our cycle of full light from both stars. It’s what we call the day burn. Once we reach the twilight band, it will darken, but not by much. After a few cycles, you get used to it.”

They got into the shuttle’s passenger area, where champagne and butter tarts waited, while their host took to the cockpit. Before long, they were coasting through space and angling down toward the planet.

It didn’t take long before they reached the surface and passed over one of the metropolitan areas. Crystal towers rose into the air, air and ground traffic weaving around them. The shuttle skirted around the city, slowing as it approached a hotel overlooking a ravine so deep that it seemed to drop down into nothingness.

“The view is breathtaking,” she said.

“Uh huh, totally.” Winter chewed on a tart and licked his fingers. “But this food…I could handle having these every day, you know what I mean?”

“They are good,” Grayson admitted. “The sort of thing my mother would bake before I set off for the academy.”

Kylie gave him a smirk. “Before you married me the first time, you mean.”

Grayson lifted his glass to her. “Cheers, my darling.”

Kylie drank to that. Mostly. She didn’t need an excuse to drink.

<Rogers, we’re coming up at the drop-off point. Is there any nearby chatter?> she asked.

<Everything’s quiet as a field mouse so far, Captain. Just the typical security back and forth, plus functionaries coordinating shuttle parking. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this party is on the up and up.>

Kylie grinned. <I guess we’ll try to make things a little more exciting, then.>

<With you, Cap, everything is always exciting.>

* * * * *

Kylie felt a hole where Marge used to be. She and the AI had spent a great deal of time talking about separating; how they thought they would each handle it, and if it was something they really wanted.

<I don’t know,> Marge had answered frankly, <but I owe it to myself to find out. I need to return to my people, Kylie. I won’t ask you to abandon yours.>

For Kylie, the answer had always been the same: she didn’t want to separate. She didn’t want to part, even if staying paired was dangerous for her.

But she’d agreed to it because her friend needed it. Marge had needed to go.

Life had seemed to move at half speed since then. To think she had been apprehensive about getting an AI implanted to begin with; oh, how things had changed.

Now she needed to shake the melancholy off and get the mission done. It was go-time, whether Kylie wanted it to be or not.

They arrived at the mansion overlooking the cliffs she had seen during their descent. Guests were arriving and ascending the marble stairs, while guards patrolled out front. The animal topiaries were particularly delightful.

You know you’re among the rich when they turn their greenery into animals.

Marge would’ve laughed at her joke.

The door to the shuttle opened, and Grayson exited first, then took her hand. From the slight shift of his head, Kylie could tell his HUD was active and he was checking the grounds for guards and escape exits.

To most, it’d be a negligible shift, but after ten years of fighting and loving side by side, Kylie noticed just about everything.

<Well?>

<Well,> Grayson answered privately as he took her by the arm, <if it is a trap, it’s one we won’t get out of easily. If we need to get General Mulke out of here….>

<Don’t worry, it won’t be like that. I have a plan.>

Kylie stepped forward, and Grayson followed her lead. They went up the marble stairs and followed the path toward the front door. At the top of the final set of stairs, they met an entry guard passing as a doorman.

“Duchess Camile and Duke Estevan,” Winter announced.

“If they have no invitation, I don’t care who they are, they aren’t getting through.”

“Hostility is unnecessary, my dear boy.” Kylie smiled widely as she sent their invitation across the Link.

It should check out, and if it didn’t…well, Kylie could move faster than he could, she was sure of it.

The doorman accepted her token. “Welcome, Duchess Camile.” He gave a slight bow and moved so the door was accessible. “Have a lovely time at the party and silent auction. Refreshments will be on your left.”

“Thank you,” Grayson offered his arm to Kylie, and they stepped inside.

As far as mansions went, Kylie thought it was okay. Stairs, pillars, fancy music to dance to. She thought it checked all the boxes. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need to blow it up.

However, it was always an option.

She scowled at her own inner monologue and glanced up at Grayson. “Do you think I’m becoming jaded?”

His eyebrow twitched. “Becoming?”

So much for that.

Kylie swatted his arm then gave the other guests a once-over.

The men were either in black tie tuxedos or ceremonial military uniforms. Nice, as far as men’s fashion went, but a little boring. The women’s dresses were far more interesting, and the ensembles were topped off with regal makeup, and hair that seemed to defy gravity in artistic twists. Kylie would bet that at least one of them had modded their hair with an anti-gravity well.

Pinned curls were much simpler. In fact, it might’ve even screamed Mom hair.

<Shit,> Winter said, <look at those little pastries.>

<Don’t draw any attention to yourself,> Kylie warned. <We’re here to make contact, not to eat and drink.>

Winter growled across the Link. <There’s no beer, only wimpy Moscato. Bubbly drinks tickle my nose in ways I don’t like.>

<Moscato?> Grayson almost whimpered.

Kylie knew how much he loved a sweet wine. <Easy, boys. Please. We can drink and eat on board the Barbaric Queen when we’re done.>

Grayson led her to the dance floor and took her hands. Kylie swept a studious gaze across the other dancers.

Not too many people were on the floor, but those who were stood close enough that Kylie could scan them with her HUD and pull up more information about them. All of which was very dull, and so far, no one’s ident matched General Mulke.

“Do you think I should have done my hair like these other women?”

“No,” Grayson answered and took her by the waist. “You should do your hair the way you want to do it. And I love your curls.”

Kylie couldn’t disagree with an answer like that.

When the waitress came by with a tray of Moscato, she took two glasses and handed one to Grayson.

“Time to live a little,” she smirked.

<Heeeeey,> Winter whined.

Grayson raised his eyebrows as they crossed arms and drank from each other’s glasses. When the vessels were drained, he dipped Kylie to the side and gave her a little kiss designed to get attention—but not too much attention.

<Not fair,> Winter complained. <There’s still no beer.>

“MOOO! WHERE BEEF?”

Kylie straightened and spun around with horror etched in her features. Her panicked gaze met that of Mr. Fizzle Pop, who stood at her feet with a little blue bowtie around his neck.

Grayson grunted. “His bowtie is straight.”

“Fizzle Pop!” Kylie hissed quietly. “What are you doing here?”

“HEARD BLACK TIE.” Mr. Fizzle Pop swatted at his bowtie. “WHERE FOOD, ASSHOLES?”

“Shh! You can’t talk like that here. Your tie isn’t black,” Kylie pointed out.

“TECHNICALITY.”

“How did you get off the ship?” she demanded.

The cat only gave her a sparkly-eyed look and Kylie turned to Grayson for help, but he was busy rubbing his forehead as if a migraine was setting in. <Rogers, how did he get off the ship?>

<I don’t know, Cap. I swear all the childproof settings are still engaged. How ever he did it, he covered his tracks. Damn, that cat is good!>

Too good, and that’s what bothered Kylie. It seemed that the only time they could exclude Mr. Fizzle Pop from a mission was when he wanted to sleep one out.

“How’d you get into the party?” Kylie grilled.

“INVITATION.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You have an invitation?”

“MADE INVITATION,” Mr. Fizzle Pop corrected.

Talking to him was going to give her a stroke.

“Don’t cause any trouble. Please.” She hoped to appeal to his common sense, but she wasn’t sure if he had any.

“THERE FOOD. BYE, ASSHOLES!”

Mr. Fizzle Pop trotted off toward the buffet with his tail flicking through the air.

<So,> Winter said, <if this mission goes sideways, we’re totally going to pin it on him, right?>

<Oh yeah,> Kylie said but kept her eyes on the stairs.

An older gentleman was entering the party with a woman on either side of him. The way he walked reminded her of her old boss and owner, Maverick, except the women in his company were classier.

Present company excluded.

<This might be it,> Grayson said. He took Kylie by the hand and spun her around the dance floor.

<Let’s hope. We should get out of here before MFP is drunk on Moscato.>

Grayson glanced over at the buffet table, and went green. <He’s…He’s….>

Kylie grabbed his chin and forced him to peer down at her. <He’s not your objective.>

<That’s General Mulke,> Winter said. <Matches all our records.>

Grayson smiled, and they spun one more time, putting Kylie right against General Mulke as he made his way across the dance floor toward the silent auction room.

“Oh! Excuse me,” Kylie feigned shock and placed a hand to her chest. “I’m terribly sorry.”

“It’s no harm,” the general said. “Miss…”

“Duchess,” Kylie gave him a warm smile and ran her hands up his arms. She dusted his shoulders off and placed the tracker just under the collar of his jacket. “Duchess Camile. This is my husband, Duke Estevan.”

“It’s a pleasure.” He raised Kylie’s gloved hand to his mouth and gave it a kiss. “I hope I’ll see the both of you in the silent auction.”

“We wouldn’t miss it,” Grayson said.

“Not for the world.” Kylie grinned. “Or the galaxy.”

* * * * *

Grayson hated when Kylie used the word ‘galaxy’ to describe the small sliver of space humanity had explored. He hated it so much that by the time they were seated at the silent auction, his eyelid had begun to twitch.

And that was basically what Kylie had been going for.

She fanned herself with her small purse, her dazzling bracelet catching the ceiling’s recessed lighting. Up ahead on the stage, helpers brought the next item for auction onto the pedestal, and if she wasn’t mistaken, it was an ISF micro SC battery.

<Maybe we should bid on it,> she suggested.

<Not our mission,> Grayson answered. <And too dangerous. If it draws attention to us and tanks the mission, the Alliance would not be too happy.>

True.

And there were already enough reasons they might not be happy.

Kylie kept an eye on the furry white paws skittering under a row of chairs ahead. Mr. Fizzle Pop was up to something; she just wished she knew what it was.

Cat burgling? Or cat nap?

Focus! she scolded herself. He is not the mission.

Kylie blinked, bringing up her HUD’s full overlay, noting that the tracker she’d placed on General Mulke still hadn’t moved from three levels above.

He’d only been in the auction room for a few minutes before running up there. The blueprints she had pulled of the place said it was an office, and she was more than a little curious what had drawn him away from the evening’s main event.

A moment later, she finally saw movement. Mulke was walking down the back stairs leading to the silent auction.

<The general is on the move. I’ll be back,> Kylie said.

<Be careful,> Grayson gave her a nod.

<You know me, careful is my middle name.> She kissed his cheek as she slipped out of her chair, then headed toward the exit.

<Or not,> Winter grumbled.

Kylie’s avatar stuck her tongue out at him as she eased through the double French doors, and slinked up the stairs toward the second level.

At the restrooms, she turned left down the hall and came upon a row of doors. The one she needed was locked, but her thumbprint against the security plate might trigger an alarm.

Of course, her nano could bypass all of that and get her inside.

“WHAT YOU DOING, ASSHOLE?”

Kylie jumped and spun around. “Mr. Fizzle Pop! Whatever you think you’re doing, stop. This is a serious mission.”

“KNOW. NOT STUPID. WANT PÂTÉ?”

Kylie sighed and shook her head. “Just go back to the silent auction, sit with Grayson. And don’t. Move. Again!”

She slid her hand over the door and sent her nano through. The door popped open, and she stepped inside. She turned her head to give Mr. Fizzle Pop one more stern warning, but his head tilted to the side, and it was one of the cutest things she’d ever seen, so she didn’t.

That would probably come back to bite her.

Kylie left the lights off in the room, using her augmented vision to survey the office and make her way over to the desk. There, she found a secure holo terminal, and activated it using some of the breaching techniques Marge had taught her. The last account to log in was Mulke’s.

She played back the most recent transmission he had received.

“So far, all of our tests on the stasis shield technology have failed. We’re beginning to suspect we might be missing a component….”

The clip went on, but Kylie was focused on the message headers, using them to track the signal to its point of origin: a laboratory on the other side of Scorpi Minor.

From what she’d overheard, Mulke stopped in for weekly visits, and his next one was coming up soon. They could use him to get in, follow him right by the gate.

Beautiful.

Kylie saw other messages and carefully copied over the data she thought she’d need.

<I’m almost done here,> she reported. <Mulke took an encrypted call while he was here. I think when the silent auction is over, he’ll lead us straight to the lab.>

<Wonderful,> Grayson said. <Two more item lots on the docket. You should make your way out of there.>

<I will. I’m just removing my digital footprint. See you soon. Did Mr. Fizzle Pop show up there?>

<No,> Grayson answered. <Why?>

Kylie silently grunted to herself. <That cat. Nevermind.>

She ended the communication with her team and worked quickly on the holo terminal. Her head down, she missed the bookcase to her right opening and a woman stepping out from around it.

It wasn’t until the woman’s fist blew through the holo display, smashing into Kylie’s face, that she realized something was wrong.

Kylie took the hit right across the bridge of her nose and staggered back. She gripped the back of the chair to stabilize herself. A quick scan revealed the woman was covered in head-to-toe stealth body armor. Sophisticated, too. It was sleek and revealed little about the wearer except she was tall, curvy, and knew how to throw a punch.

“I knew you couldn’t resist coming.”

The woman’s words sounded mechanical, a clear indicator she was disguising her voice, though Kylie had no answer for why that would be.

When the attacker pulled a pistol from her side, Kylie jumped up onto the desk and kicked off her shoes. The woman aimed the sidearm at her, but Kylie grabbed her wrist and leapt forward, flipping over her adversary. The woman was thrown backward overtop of Kylie’s body, and slammed into the wall.

Kylie quickly advanced and grabbed the attacker by the throat, shoving the woman back hard enough to crack the wall around her head. “Who the hell are you?” she demanded.

<Grayson—>

She broke off, able to feel the interference.

If Marge was still here, she’d tell her that the room had a Link dampener.

“Someone protecting secrets you want no part in—but it’s clear I’ve been bested.” The woman raised her hands overhead. “How do you think you’ll get out of here with me?”

Kylie took the attacker’s pistol. “Who said I need to leave with you? On the floor.”

The woman stepped forward and began to kneel onto the carpet as another silhouette appeared in the adjoining bathroom.

Kylie raised the pistol to fire at the newcomer, but she quickly realized the weapon hadn’t been loaded with a charge.

She had been set up.

“Wait—” she cried out as a round hit her center mass.

She flew backward against the bookcases, and it toppled over onto her. If the air hadn’t been knocked out of her, she would’ve been able to get out of there without much trouble.

“Don’t worry,” the first woman said to her companion. “She’s tougher than she looks, AI or no AI….”

She knelt down beside Kylie, who glared up at her.

“You won’t—”

“Get away with it? Why not, because you have powerful friends? Where have we heard that before?”

The woman pressed something against Kylie’s neck, and moments later, everything went dark.

CHAPTER 20 - TANIS

STELLAR DATE: 01.05.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Sigma 1199 Alien Facility

REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm

<I got it!> Angela shouted across the team’s private network. <I’m in.>

“In?” Tanis asked, sitting up straight on the temporary seating they’d installed in the Sig’s gate control room. “Like…in-in?”

<In-in,> Jen confirmed. <She did it. We have network access—though, now we have to learn an alien language, which seems about as logical as their contextual numbering system.>

“That’s good,” Sera said from where she stood by the thick plas window, watching Saanvi and Jason as they set up scaffolding around the ten-meter jump gate in the other room. “Because I imagine we’re only going to get so far with direct examination.”

“I just wonder if they ever got it to work,” Joe said. “And why the heck does that design look so familiar?”

Tanis rose, walking to the window—from which they’d removed the shutters, giving a fully unobstructed view of the gate. “You know…it does look a little familiar. I mean, it has a normal number of mirrors and emitters for a gate this size. If you took away the Sig writing and the power lines, it could pass as one of ours…but there’s something off about it.”

<It’s the angles,> Jen supplied. <They’re more acute…like on the tops of the emitters. More form than function there, but we usually just make them square—unless it’s a really small gate.>

“Yeah, that, and there’s the angle on the face of the support ring itself,” Joe pointed out. “That’s sharper, too. So why does it look so familiar?”

A moment later, Sera was on her feet. She strode across the room, staring out the window like she’d seen a ghost. “I know where we’ve seen a gate like that before.” She turned to Tanis, her face paling from red to pink. “Xalta, in Scipio.”

<Oh right!> Jen exclaimed. <The gate Petra and Diana found under that mountain on that old Scipian Military training planet.>

“Wait, what?” Tanis asked. “I don’t recall hearing about that.”

Joe nodded. “I remember the report now. I got it at the Palisades. You were taking a jaunt through the ASN at the time. Maybe it just didn’t make it to you. A lot was going on back then.”

“Fair enough,” his wife said, drawing in a deep breath, thankful that they’d decided to air up the room.

Saanvi had objected at first, but after they’d inspected the consoles and found them half corroded from the oxygen-rich period the lower caverns had gone through, she agreed there was no saving them—though they did seal a couple in grav fields for later study.

“So…” Sera mused as she all but glared at the gate. “Do you think it’s just coincidence?”

Tanis glanced at her long-time friend. “What do you think?”

“I think that we’re thirty-nine thousand light years from Scipio, on the far side of the galactic core. There’s literally no way they could have gotten here and back in a reasonable amount of time before ten years ago.”

“But it’s not impossible,” Joe said. “The Transcend got ships to the Large Magellanic Cloud before gate travel.”

Sera nodded. “That’s true, but it’s a lot easier to navigate the intergalactic void than it is to get around the galactic core. And it’s not like they knew where they were going. There are no records of Scipio launching exploratory missions like that.”

“OK.” Tanis nodded as she considered Sera’s argument. “So if the Scipians got their start on gate tech from the Sigs, it would have had to be something they found in their general vicinity—within the Orion Arm, at least.”

Joe gave her a quizzical look. “If the Sigs had spread far enough to make it to the Orion Arm, we absolutely would have found evidence long ago. What angle are you going with here?”

“Well, for starters, maybe we did find it, but the knowledge was lost during the FTL Wars—or tucked under a mountain deep in Scipio….”

<Orrr?> Angela prompted.

“Or maybe the Sigs used jump gates to explore the galaxy a bit, and someone found one, and it—or descriptions of it—ended up in Scipian hands.”

Sera pursed her lips, nodding slowly. “As good as any other explanation.”

<We don’t have details about the Scipian Ring,> Angela said. <Not even a visual. I think we’re going to have to ask our ruling ladies in Scipio to get us more info on what they have there.>

“And any data associated with it,” Joe said. “Imagine if someone in ancient Scipio translated Sig well enough to build a gate from their plans. That would jump us light years ahead.”

Tanis turned to Joe. “I guess that’ll be us. We’ve already tarried too long here.”

He sighed and nodded. “Duty calls and all that.”

Angela added her own tired sigh. <So much duty. Though I’m surprised that no one wants to know what Jen and I discovered on the Sigs’s network before we go….>

CHAPTER 21 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 01.05.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, near Trellis

REGION: Khorina System, Outer Alliance

<Greg, Lorra, how’s it look out there?> Mira asked, all too aware that seeing things firsthand was always different than watching feeds from the hullcrawlers.

<To be honest….> Lorra paused, a hiss coming through her comms before she continued. <Yeah, it’s as bad as it looks. We can certainly patch it up, but we should probably seal up that entire port-corridor inside the ship. There are just too many hull fractures.>

<I’m with her,> Greg added. <Best bet is to lay on fresh ablative plating and then seal up the gaps and cavity with foam. That way, if anyone decides to start shooting at us again, we can take a few hits.>

Mira glanced at Aqua, who sat at one of the bridge consoles, watching the scan feeds. “How does that sound to you?”

“Like I expected it to,” the chief engineer said. “Unless we want to go raid that mining site—though I doubt they’re mining what we need for repairs.”

The commander sighed. “Too bad we can’t fab hull. On the Questor, we had that capability, and used it more than once.”

Aqua grunted. “Yeah, I’ve been lobbying for that on corvettes for ages, but no one wants to add the mass of the equipment and supplies. I get that keeping these ships nimble is imperative, but being able to make repairs without having to come back in every time something breaks would be nice, too.”

“Nothing for it, now,” Mira replied. “Getting down into that planet’s—not to mention the star’s—gravity well isn’t my idea of a good time. Not worth the risk, on the off-chance that we could improve our situation with whatever’s at that mine. We’ll just get to Hystera, complete our repairs, and be on our way.”

“Hopefully before those assholes arrive.”

“Even if they do, it’ll take them a few days to get around to the far side of Khorina,” Mira countered. “I really do think we’ll be alright.”

“Well, that’s interesting,” Janice muttered from her station. “I might finally have an idea who we’re up against.”

“Oh?” Mira stepped away from the holotank, walking around to stand behind the lieutenant. “Something about their ships?”

“That captain’s uniform, actually,” the AI replied. “It didn’t match anything on record, and was frankly a little bland. There was, however, a small logo on his lapel—what looked like a planet with three moons in orbit.”

Janice brought up an image of the man’s uniform on her console’s display.

“I can see that,” Mira said. “And no one uses that logo?”

“Not normally, no. But then I dug deeper, looking at unofficial documents—what we have on file, at least—from around the OA.”

“Annnnd?” Aqua prompted as she approached. “Just tell us who it is.”

“Hey, I worked for days on this—you’re going to get a feel for how hard it was.” Janice gave the engineer a cool look. “Got it?”

The chief held up her hands in mock defense. “OK. Sure. Don’t get all worked up.”

“Alright, so I got desperate. Nothing had any record of this logo until I started poring through vids. Eventually, I got to Greg’s vids and found one about time-traveling space zombies.”

“Are you saying whoever is stealing from that artifact are space zombies?” Aqua asked, a smirk on her lips.

Mira shot the engineer quelling glance before nodding to Janice to continue.

“No, most assuredly not zombies. However, parts of the video were filmed on location at a Chalice Neural research facility.”

“They went belly-up a few years back, right?” Mira asked. “How could it be them?”

Janice quirked a smile. “Their consumer arm did, but they sold their commercial line, as well as their R&D, to Bozas Interstellar. Bozas has been expressing a lot of interest in further developing the Regina System of late….”

“That lines up,” Aqua said. “I could see them finding the artifact and then re-tooling Chalice’s R&D to work on unlocking whatever secrets are inside.”

“Plus attack OASF ships,” Mira ground out the words. “If we can prove this is Bozas, the OA can shut them down across the entire Alliance.”

“All the more reason for them to ensure we don’t make it back to Bysmark,” Aqua pointed out.

Mira shook her head. “There’s no way they can think this is contained now. The entire Regina System would have seen our fight—on top of that, they have to know that we would have sent a drone back.”

“You underestimate people’s ability to cover things up,” Janice replied. “They can likely handle Regina—given the size of their operation, they have people bought and paid for there. I suspect it’s only our last-minute course change that had them so unprepared for our visit.”

“There’s still our drone.”

“Which has to make it into Bysmark and then get its message to the right people. It’s unlikely, but it could be intercepted. You can bet that Bozas is going to try—they have a lot at stake.”

Mira stared at the findings displayed on Janice’s screen. “Right now, there are only two copies of this information in existence. Here, and on our drone. That’s not enough. Janice, I want you to prepare datacubes with everything we have, and set them in beacons. We’ll drop them around the Khorina System. Configure them not to squawk for ten days. That should ensure that our Bozan friends don’t realize they’re there if they come looking for us.”

“You got it,” Janice said. “I’ll stagger them. And we can probably drop a few hundred. If we don’t make it back, someone will come looking, and this’ll ensure the info gets out.”

“Good idea.” Mira walked back to her seat. “I’m going to sim combat with more of those Bozan ships. I want to be sure that next time we go head to head, we’re the clear victors.”

She’d just settled into her seat when a message came in from Lorra.

<Have a moment, Commander?>

<Of course. What’s up?>

<While Greg wrangles the bots getting the ablative plating, I decided to start on setting up the new sensor pods—just didn’t like us being blind to port.>

Mira felt the same way. <No argument here.>

<Great, well, I was calibrating them, and I think I spotted something that shouldn’t be there. An artificial object in orbit of the inner gas giant.>

<Pellick? The one we’re swinging past?>

<That’s it. It was just a return from something in the upper clouds, but it was solid.>

Mira pressed her lips together. <That could be anything. You know that upwellings can throw off sensors very easily.>

<I agree, but I figured I should tell you about it. Just in case, you know.>

<Right…we can’t assume that there aren’t other potential enemies out there. Drop a pair of recon probes into orbit around the planet. We’ll see if they spot anything else. And, Lorra?>

<Yes, Commander?>

<Get those scan nodes connected to the shipnet as soon as possible.>

<Of course, ma’am.>

Mira steepled her fingers while pulling up the scan return Lorra had passed over the Link. It wasn’t much, just a black blob, maybe three hundred meters at the edge of one of Pellick’s lighter bands. It could have been anything—and it was certainly worth noting that the scan nodes were uncalibrated.

Despite her own personal reassurances that it was probably nothing, Mira couldn’t shake the fear that someone was waiting in the gas giant’s clouds, watching for the right moment to strike.

This just gets better and better.

CHAPTER 22 - GRAYSON

STELLAR DATE: 01.05.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, Scorpii Minor

REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

Grayson rose from his seat in the silent auction and scanned the area, but came up empty.

<Kylie? Where are you?> His tone demanded an answer, but he received none.

Out of concern, he made his way toward the exit.

<Winter?>

<Nothing.> Winter’s response was all business. <She’s not out back or in the front.>

<Regional scans aren’t picking up her signature,> Alice chimed in. <Something’s gone wrong.>

That’s what Grayson was afraid of, it’s what he felt deep down in his bones. Kylie was in trouble…but what kind of trouble could she have gotten into, sneaking around in an office?

It didn’t bode well for any of them.

“Duke Estevan,” General Mulke blocked the exit and offered Grayson his hand. “I hope you enjoyed yourself this afternoon.”

“Absolutely,” Grayson shook his hand. “It was a pleasure. But if you’ll excuse me, the duchess wasn’t feeling well.”

Mulke nodded. “I haven’t seen her in a while. I do hope she’s all right.” He grinned, and Grayson’s inner alarm sounded.

“Thank you.”

Quietly, he sidestepped the general and walked out into the adjoining ballroom. He quickly gave the room a once-over and almost missed the white cat sitting on the railing.

Luckily, the cat was beckoning Grayson with his left front paw.

Grayson suppressed a sigh and walked toward the little beast. He knew that Mr. Fizzle Pop liked Kylie a lot, so if he had seen something, he would likely be willing to help.

Still, talking to the cat wasn’t his favorite thing to do.

“ASSHOLE, HELP.”

“You need help?”

“NO. ASSHOLE NEED HELP. LISTEN.” Mr. Fizzle Pop pointed to his ear.

When a server walked by with a tray of goodies, he scooped a bunch of them up with his paw.

“Kylie?” Grayson whispered. “What happened?”

“LADY HAD WEAPON. ASSHOLE SHOT. ASSHOLE CARRIED OFF. FOLLOWED.”

“You followed? Where?”

Suddenly, Mr. Fizzle Pop made a direct Link connection with Grayson.

The former colonel blinked his eyes and tried to make sense of Mr. Fizzle Pop’s non-human HUD readout, finally realizing that the salient information was a blinking ball moving around the side of the cat’s vision. As best Kylie could tell, her attackers were moving through the rows of shuttles behind the hotel.

“GOT TRACKING SENSOR ON ASSHOLE AS WENT BY.”

The cat had come through again. It was hard to argue with results.

“Good job, MFP. Follow close behind. Don’t get lost.” Grayson moved on.

<I NEVER LOST! I CAT!> Mr. Fizzle Pop retorted angrily.

Grayson rolled his eyes and pushed Mr. Fizzle Pop’s HUD to Winter and Rogers, who reacted by screaming different profanities.

<You can’t just do that to a guy, Gray!> Winter admonished.

Rogers agreed.

<Kylie is on the move,> Alice told them. <There’s still time to intercept.>

Grayson acknowledged. <Winter, meet me outside. Rogers, adjust your orbit. If I need you to move into the atmosphere, it’ll have to be fast.>

<You’ve got it!>

Grayson rushed down the stairs and headed toward a groundcar waiting to shuttle people into the city. A quick scan proved his assumption was right: the driver was carrying a weapon, and simply put, Grayson needed it.

“Can I help you, sir?” the driver asked.

“Indeed.”

Grayson leveled him with a right hook. Before the driver fell, Grayson grabbed him by the suit jacket and found his weapon right inside the breast pocket. He made sure it was loaded, and then started toward the backside of the building.

He jumped over a garden wall and followed a brick pathway that twisted behind the building. Past that was a lot of green lawn, with guards up on a hill, using trees for cover. Beyond all that lay the rows of shuttles waiting for their VIP owners.

That’s where he needed to be.

He sidestepped the other guests, keeping his hand inside his jacket. He saw a shuttle being prepped for liftoff.

Grayson hoped Mr. Fizzle Pop hadn’t accidentally tagged a servitor.

<I’ve got my eyes on a shuttle prepping to lift off,> he reported. <Whoever MFP tagged is at the same location.>

He stepped out and rushed toward it, but several guards appeared from the mansion, shouting as they took aim at him.

Grayson rolled away to take cover just in the nick of time.

<I’m cut off, Gray,> Winter reported. <These guys mean business.>

<Yes, I just discovered that myself. Deal with them quickly, we need to get to that shuttle.>

But it was nearly impossible; the guards kept him pinned down.

Grayson returned fire, slowly advancing from tree to tree.

His progress was too slow. The shuttle’s doors were shut, and the lights on the back glowed red. It’d lift off soon.

Grayson spotted a garage door under the mansion that appeared to lead underground. A quick scan showed vehicles inside and even a hover motorbike designed for racing.

With an engine like that, it was his best chance of catching up.

<The bike has an old NSAI system. I can easily convince it to give control over to me,> Alice offered.

<Go for it.>

Grayson darted toward the garage and used a wave of nano to open the door. Inside, he found the motorbike in the center of the room, covered in a canvas wrap. He yanked it off, tearing it in places as necessary, and straddled the machine.

There was no key, and it wasn’t responding to his automatic nano commands.

<No, no, no,> the bike’s voice warbled in Grayson’s mind. <You’re not my rightful owner. Get off me.>

<Alice.> Grayson gritted his teeth.

<Sorry, sir. It’s pickier than I thought. I’m working on it.>

The bike’s headlights started to blink, its horn sounded loudly, and the seat vibrated, trying to toss him off.

A motorbike with a snooty AI. What could be worse than that?

<Alice, you need to talk to this bike and get him to start. It’s our only shot, and we’re running out of time.>

<Of course, Colonel. Someone gave it a faux personality and it’s rather finicky—he doesn’t trust you, says you’re rough on his handlebars. He needs a softer touch.>

A softer touch?

Guards suddenly entered the garage, and Grayson dropped down beside the bike, using it for cover.

<Any day now, Alice. We’re sitting ducks in here.>

He glanced behind him. Maybe a car would be better—and in a better mood.

<OK, I got through to the bike’s NSAI,> Alice told him. <He’s willing to help since someone’s life is on the line, but if he gets dinged, we need to pay for the repairs.>

<Pardon?> Grayson’s eyes widened, but as more shots were fired, he decided to let it go. <Fine, fine. Let’s just get out of here.>

He climbed on the bike once more and slipped the helmet mounted on the back of his seat over his head. The engine purred, and the motorcycle came to life, hovering just above the ground. Then it took off, heading straight for the guards, who scattered as the machine roared toward them.

The bike screamed out of the garage, and Grayson leant to the side to take a hard right onto the straight strip. He zigzagged to avoid the guard’s fire, and stayed low on the bike as shots ricocheted off the vehicle’s body.

<Be prepared for extraction. Follow my signal,> Grayson ordered.

<We’re on it, Colonel,> Rogers said. <Staying in upper atmosphere, but if the situation calls for it, the BQ will be there.>

Grayson nodded to himself and watched the shuttle lift off. He pushed the motorbike harder and adjusted the hover height. It might give him just enough altitude….

The shuttle was gaining speed. If Grayson didn’t jump now, he’d miss his chance.

<And they call me crazy,> Winter said. <I got your back, Gray.>

Grayson acknowledged the message and magnetized his weapon to his hip before balancing himself atop the bike.

<Open the shuttle’s rear ramp just enough for me to hook onto it.>

<You’ve got it, boss,> Alice said.

The ramp started its descent and stopped just before the halfway mark. Grayson jumped and hooked his hands on the inside of the door, his legs swinging out to the side as he pulled himself up.

As the ramp started to close, Grayson pulled his knees up to the top and rolled over the lip to get inside. Keeping his eyes fixed on the two female assailants now in front of him, both wearing body armor and helmets, he flew down the closing ramp and launched into a full-frontal assault, kicking them backward and landing on his own back.

He quickly hopped up onto his feet.

Their response was fast and unrelenting, fists and boots flying. An unaugmented human would have been crushed by the armored attack, but Grayson had been modded by the Silstrand military, and later by the ISF. He could take a pounding and still return the favor.

Even so, he didn’t have time to go for his weapon, or to sweep for Kylie and see if she was all right.

<Alice?>

<She’s coming to. Hurting, but not from anything that’ll keep her down for long.>

Good, Grayson thought. They needed to move quick.

He met the two women’s blows, ducking and coming out high. He finally got his weapon free and fired a pulse blast at one woman, while landing a solid kick to the other. The latter was driven back while the former collapsed in a heap.

Grayson and the second woman went at it again. A boot met his face, and he spun around, crashing into the bulkhead, his right leg getting stuck behind a crate.

Well, that was less than graceful.

“Grayson?” Kylie whispered, sounding confused as she rolled her head to the side. Her eyes widened. “Grayson!” She scampered up to her feet and groaned as she jumped into the fray.

She got lucky with a blow that caught one of the women unawares, and Kylie managed to draw the enemy’s sidearm and aim it at her head.

“Stay right where you are,” she ordered.

The assailant raised her hands.

“Are you all right?” Grayson asked.

“I’ll live. I’m just embarrassed they got the jump on me like that. It won’t happen again.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” he muttered. “You just came to.”

“I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”

Kylie and Grayson had their weapons trained on both of the kidnappers.

“Who do you work for?” Kylie demanded. “Mulke?”

“This has nothing to do with him,” one of the women said.

Grayson doubted that.

<Colonel,> Alice said, <the police are incoming and demanding answers for what happened at the mansion. We can beat a hasty retreat or we’ll spend maybe a few days trying to work through all of this.>

Normally, Grayson would do the honorable thing, but if Mulke figured out they were on to him, he’d move his operation. The AoS team could apologize and update the authorities at a later time.

<Let’s go, then,> he decided. <Where’s the BQ?>

<Right below you,> Rogers said. <You two feel up to jumping?>

Kylie looked at Grayson and nodded, then refocused on the women facing her weapon, arms raised. She adjusted her gun to stun. “We’ll have to say goodbye now, but take off your helmet.”

“You really don’t want me to do that.”

“Do it,” Kylie ordered a bit more forcefully.

The woman slowly removed the armor from her head.

The first thing Grayson saw was long, black hair with a blue streak running down the side. The next thing he saw was Kylie’s face light up with surprise—and then horror.

“Nadine?” she whispered.

“I can explain. It’s not what you think.”

Kylie’s eyes flashed with anger and she leveled her weapon at Nadine. “That’s what you always say.”

Grayson nudged her arm and whispered, “We need to go.”

“Don’t,” Nadine begged. “Don’t do it.”

Kylie fired a pulse into her former lover’s face and watched Nadine fall to the deck, unconscious. Then she crouched and stroked her ex’s hair, slipping a tracker onto her scalp, hoping the other woman wouldn’t notice.

<That’s a long shot,> Grayson said as she stood and took his hand, both their weapons trained on the other would-be kidnapper, who hadn’t moved or spoken.

<I know.> She stood and took his hand. <But it’s one I have to take. We need to find out who she’s working for.>

<We could take them both in. There’s time.>

<I’m not ready yet.> Kylie jumped from the back of the shuttle, falling toward the Barbaric Queen below.

<For?> Grayson jumped after her, feeling a bit afraid of what the answer might be.

Below him, Kylie landed on the former starliner, grabbing onto a ridge in the ship’s ablative plating, then looked up as he streaked toward the hull. <To have her back on my ship. To have her sharing the same living space with Marie.>

His shoes slammed into the ship, knees groaning from the strain. <We’d protect her.>

Kylie shook her head. <Maybe, but I don’t trust Nadine. And if she hurt our baby, I wouldn’t trust what I would do to her.>

<Then let’s get inside and finish this job. Nadine or no Nadine. Are you ready?>

Kylie nodded. <Always.>

CHAPTER 23 - KRAI

GALACTIC DATE: 412.12.152

LOCATION: Far Patrol Shell, XI Phrysi

REGION: Void, Mass Conformity Qa-Loar

A one’s view of this is not good.

The fluid orb’s storms had required Krai to shift Phrysi’s orbit, moving it out of the darker belt and into the lighter band. It was temporary, but it had happened just as the orbit had brought the shell in direct line of sight with the strangers’ patrol vessel.

And now they’d launched two of their own probes.

If je had not already moved kes own eyes closer to the enemy, je would not have seen the deployment—so at least some of the eternal lights were watching over kes.

Even so, the strangers were curious about something, and given that the fluid orb was decidedly uninteresting, je was certain that they’d caught sight of Phrysi.

Krai’s limb-slap reaction was to dive into the clouds, but the storms beneath the travelshell were one je preferred not to brave. Je calculated the trajectory of the strangers’ probes against kes own orbital velocity, and determined that there would be a brief opening where it would be possible to shift back into the darker belt before the probes drew closer.

While the cycle took its time getting to the point of temporary occlusion, je reviewed everything Phrysi’s eyes had been able to see on the strangers’ ship.

There were clearly weapons present on the hull, and based on how it moved through the fluid orb’s gravity field, it was safe to assume that engines and fuel made up half of the shell’s mass. The vessel was clearly made to engage in combat…and win.

However, Phrysi was also made to survive in the void for many long cycles, so its weapons were not inconsiderable. Given that the two shells were not much different in size, Krai suspected that je could come out victorious, should they find themselves in a fight.

So long as they do not have some weapon no X’Liy has ever seen.

Memories of the long-past wars with the artificial minds came to mind. Je recalled tales of devastating attacks made by the machines, and the destruction they’d wrought. Je hoped these strangers did not possess similar weapons.

But that is why a one must remain hidden and bring news of these strangers to the Far Patrol Central Inclusion—so that a proper response can be planned.

What that would be, Krai had no idea. It could be that the Far Patrol would wish to make contact with the strangers, but just as likely, they may choose to remain undetected, to watch and learn.

Je knew that was not a long-term solution. The fact that the strangers were in Qa-Loar meant that they were expanding and would likely continue to do so.

Thoughts of what might come to pass consumed kes until the time finally came to execute the burn that would slide Phrysi into the darker belt. Je hoped that would be enough to hide kes travelshell from the other shell’s probes, though je had no way to be sure.

These beings were, after all, alien.

There was nothing for it but to wait and see what the future held.

CHAPTER 24 - KYLIE

STELLAR DATE: 01.06.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, Scorpii Minor

REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

Nadine.

A name Kylie never expected to roll off her tongue again, let alone to have the actual woman standing right in front of her. Or rather, laying on the deck….

Once upon a time, Kylie had considered Nadine her princess, but their castle had been built on a hill of lies and codependence. It had never been real, so Kylie ran from it as fast as she could.

That had been a lifetime ago. Kylie was happy with the life she’d built with Grayson and little Marie, she had no interest in going back.

Yet, the look in Grayson’s eye said he wasn’t sure where her loyalties lie, and that doubt boggled her mind.

“I chose a life with you, Gray,” Kylie reminded him as they entered the galley. She sat on the kitchen island while he got their coffees ready.

“I know, intellectually, that everything you’ve said is true, Kylie. But when I saw her, I was shocked.”

“So was I,” she laughed. “But I didn’t just time travel twelve years into the past. So much has happened. You’ve always been my future.”

“And you mine.” Grayson handed over her mug of coffee.

“Then why are we even having this conversation?”

Grayson glanced into his mug. “Because I’m a fool. A by-the-book, follow the rules, do what is right, fool.”

“You’re plenty exciting.” Kylie hooked her boot around his waist and pulled him in close. “And I like all those things. You keep me grounded, and I make you soar. We work well together.”

Grayson smiled. “All of that is true, but it doesn’t mean we can forget that Nadine is part of something…something working against the AoS. Last I knew, she had disappeared, gone off to help her sister on Valkris. If she’s been brought back into the fold, we can’t know what side she’s playing on.”

Kylie had heard the same thing, and tried not to think about how much Nadine hated her family or the obligations they shoved on her.

Of course, after the truth had come out that Nadine was a spy, Kylie didn’t know how to trust her anymore. It was impossible to tell between the truths and the lies used to manipulate her.

Irony of irony, Kylie now worked for the same people Nadine had when she’d been sent to be her lover.

She furrowed her brow. “Are we sure it’s not with our side?”

Grayson shook his head. “I feel like Seraphina would have told us. And her home system of Valkris isn’t with the Transcend anymore….”

“So you think she could be a double agent? Maybe working on our side?” Kylie asked.

“Or their side.”

“Or working for Seraphina, and she just didn’t bother to tell us—she’s played things close to the chest before.” Kylie sighed and slurped her coffee. “I guess we know we need to be on guard, which is more than we knew before.”

Grayson nodded. “Ricket might know additional details. And she’d be more forthcoming, possibly, than Seraphina.”

Kylie entertained the idea. “I’ll send her a message. I’m sure Rogers would like to hear how she’s doing anyway.”

Grayson nodded. “Sounds like a plan. You know, Kylie, Nadine or not, the mission is the same.”

“Time to get my head in the game, huh?” She smirked. “You’re right. I have everything I want right here, so let’s go out there and stop these assholes from stealing stasis shield tech.”

* * * * *

“Welcome, lady and gent,” Rogers said as he fired up the holo console at his station. “Nice of you to join us.”

Kylie felt a ribbing coming on. She took the comms seat. “What do you have?”

“The tracker you put on Mulke is working,” Rogers said and pulled up the world view map.

It showed a blinking red dot moving ever so slowly across the holo display. He zoomed in to the city map.

“He’s on the other side of the flipping planet,” Winter said with a shake of his head.

“The Santa Barbara district?” Grayson leaned over Rogers’s shoulder.

Rogers reared back and gently pushed back with his shoulder. “Nobody likes a backseat driver, Colonel. But yes.”

Grayson crossed his arms and gave Rogers a cool look. “That’s a rather remote area—not a lot of legal oversight. A good place for Mulke and his illegal research.”

“And it’ll only take a few hours to get there,” Winter added. “Just about the perfect mission for us.”

“Except Pi Scorpii Beta’s government is going to need warning before we go in there weapons blazing,” Grayson pointed out.

Kylie sighed. “Really?”

He nodded. “The relationship between the Alliance and Pi Scorpii Beta is brand new. No one trusts each other quite yet. I’m not saying we ask permission…I’m saying that we alert them on good faith and in full disclosure. The fact that illegal, treaty-violating tech is on their soil will be a good motivator.”

“And if Mulke has someone on the inside?” Winter shook his head. “You’re smarter than this, Gray.”

“Unfortunately, I have to think like a diplomat. It’s why I’m here, in part.”

“I thought you were here because you and Kylie are….” Rogers took a look at their faces. “Nevermind.”

Kylie cleared her throat. “Anyway…I’ll alert the PSB government and meet with whoever they want to handle this. Daylight’s burning.”

“Cap,” Rogers said, sounding uncomfortable. “It’s almost two in the morning….”

Kylie raised her eyebrows and glanced down at her mug. “Then what am I doing drinking coffee?”

She shrugged and took a nice, long sip.

Rogers stroked his chin and leaned back in his chair. “I’m not inviting trouble or anything, but…since we rescued you, has anyone seen MFP?”

Winter coughed and Grayson went as pale as the albino’s complexion.

Kylie would’ve sat down if she hadn’t already been sitting. “Oh…shit.”

“Bubbs is going to kill us,” Rogers whispered. “And when I say kill us, I mean mostly him.” He pointed at Winter.

Winter’s lips twisted. “I’m not afraid of Bubbs. I’m not! I mean, not much.”

Kylie shook her head. <MFP, please come in.> She sent a message across the Link to his HUD for what felt like the millionth time. <Mr. Fizzle Pop, please….>

She sighed. <If you can hear me but can’t respond, we’re coming back in five hours. Meet me at the at the Scorpii Minor Planetary Police HQ, or meet up with Rogers on the BQ. You know she’s your ship. She needs you.>

Kylie waited for a response. There wasn’t one.

Rogers’ eyes widened. “What if he was catnapped? What if he’s being tortured?”

“What if he’s dead?” Winter snorted, then frowned. “What if he’s dead?” His lips suddenly flipped into a smile. “What if he’s dead!”

The growing excitement would’ve been funny if it wasn’t appalling.

Grayson snickered and stroked his chin.

He doesn’t look particularly beat-up about this either. Kylie stretched her leg and stomped on his foot.

“Ow! I care about our furry little...buddy. Of course I do.”

Kylie didn’t believe him, but she really didn’t want to get into it. “He’ll show up. That cat has way more than nine lives.”

“Sure does,” Rogers said. “You should know, you paid for the mods. Every time you do that, I think you just reset his lives.”

Winter coughed and dismissed the conversation with a wave of his hand. “He’ll be fine. He’s probably moved in with some governor’s wife and is living the high life of jerky and beer. That cat’s wilier than he gets credit for. Course…he could just be dead,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

“All right,” Kylie sighed. “That’s enough. Everyone knows what they have to do, so let’s do it. I don’t want to give Mulke more time to make his next move than we have to.”

“If he was going to clear out the lab, he probably would’ve done it already.” Grayson studied the map. “And judging by the tracker we got on him, that hasn’t happened yet.”

Thank the stars for small favors.

* * * * *

Kylie sat in the waiting room of the Scorpii Minor Planetary Police, waiting for the person with the ‘appropriate clearance’ to arrive and speak with her.

She wasn’t sure if whoever she was waiting on was incompetent, just wanted to make her sweat, or was actually tied up in traffic. The first two sucked, while the third was just annoying. Either way, they were taking their sweet-ass time.

Since this visit was official, diplomatic business, Kylie wore a black skirt and blazer over her usual flow armor. It was tasteful and conservative, but it was also very, very boring.

<Any word on Nadine’s tracker?> she asked Rogers.

<Sorry, Cap. She was still in the city, but…I think she found the tag. I can’t get a read on anything now.>

Kylie cringed. <It was worth a try.>

Shit. Damn. All the things.

Grayson was right, she shouldn’t have let her ex go. All Nadine would do now was cause complications.

Kylie waited another thirty minutes, and was just about to get up and launch the mission against Mulke, when a tall woman pushed through the doors at the far side of the room and strode directly toward Kylie.

She rose and held out a hand to greet the woman with commander’s bars on her jacket.

“Commander Paula Reynolds,” the woman introduced herself, offering her own hand.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me,” Kylie said as they shook.

“It’s my pleasure, Ms. Rhoads. Or should I call you ‘Captain’?”

Paula turned and led Kylie through the doors and down a hall with large offices on the left overlooking an atrium filled with trees on the right.

“I answer to both,” Kylie replied. “You can use whatever makes you more comfortable.”

The truth was, she liked to use it as a way to gauge what people thought of her, and what level of respect they were prepared to offer.

Paula grunted in response, turning into one of the offices; a large space, though sparse in decoration and personality.

The commander gestured to the chair in front of her desk. “Can I get you an espresso, Captain Rhoads? Maybe a cold iced tea?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Kylie rubbed her hands together and crossed her legs. She hoped they would be done with the pleasantries.

“Very well. Why don’t you tell me what it is we can do for you?”

“Okay,” Kylie smiled. “Straight to the point, I like that. I’m here on the behalf of the Alliance. Since your relationship is new, we thought it best to inform you that my team and I are working to obtain some tech that was stolen from the Alliance. We work with local law enforcement when appropriate in order to apprehend the thieves.”

Paula sat up straighter. “Stolen Alliance tech is currently on Scorpii Minor?”

“That’s right. We’ve traced the suspects to a lab dirtside. We’re going to do whatever is necessary to stop them and arrest those involved.”

“I see.” Paula shifted in her seat. “And you thought it would be best to inform me of this…as a courtesy?”

Kylie clamped down on the annoyance building inside. “Do you think I shouldn’t have? I wanted you to be aware that we’re not trying to overstep our bounds. We’ll loop you in when we can.”

Paula sighed and stroked her chin. “I guess you feel that I should thank you.”

“We all want your relationship with the Alliance to be a good one. I’m sure you want that as well. Let’s get off on the right foot.”

“Of course. And you have both proof that the tech is here, and an idea of who the thieves are?”

“I do. This isn’t my first rodeo, Commander, I’ve been doing this a long time. If you’ll allow us to do our job without interference, I’d be most grateful.”

“Not that I really have a choice,” Paula said. “Is that it?”

“That’s right,” Kylie smiled gently. “You could, however, make my life more difficult, but that could put myself and my team at risk. The Alliance would not be happy about that. You’ve probably not heard of me, but I report directly to Director Seraphina, and have had several meetings with Tanis Richards over the years.”

Stars…have I turned into the sort of person who name-drops? I miss the good ol’ days when we could just fly in, blow shit up, and not care if we ruffled the locals’ feathers.

Paula’s expression turned wooden, though her eyes glinted with annoyance. “Then I give you my blessing. Will you update me as the mission moves forward?”

I’m pretty sure you’ll get all the updates you need when I blow up the stinking lab, Kylie thought. On the outside, she smiled. “Absolutely, of course.”

Paula stood, and Kylie followed suit so they could shake hands once more.

“Thank you. If you need anything, Ms. Rhoads, please don’t hesitate to ask. Call on my office at any time.”

Kylie nearly ground her teeth. It would seem that the commander’s level of respect for her had dropped.

“I appreciate that, Paula.”

* * * * *

<Can I have chocolate for breakfast?> Marie asked.

Kylie sighed as she stepped onto the lift to the ground floor of the Planetary Police’s headquarters. <Ask your father.>

<I did,> Marie whined. <He said to ask you.>

Oh, he did, did he?

<No chocolate for breakfast. Go find Rogers or Jenny. Ask them to make you some eggs and bacon. Request some for Burt too. And have some orange juice.>

<Okaaaay.>

She was going to give it to Grayson when she got back to the ship.

Kylie stepped off the elevator on the ground floor and quickened her pace toward the front door. People were coming and going, and through the glass, she could see colorful flower beds and green shrubs.

She was taking them in when something moved across her view, distorting the greenery.

A shimmersuit that’s acting up?

Possibly.

<Hey, Rogers, scan my area and keep a close eye on what’s about to happen.>

<Is that before or after I fry the bacon?>

Kylie smirked. <Before. Tell Winter to pour the kids some cereal.>

<Hey,> Winter complained. <They ain’t my kids! Jenny? Jenny!>

Kylie nearly rolled her eyes as she walked through the doors. Once outside, she stepped off to the side of the path, pretending to check her purse as she released a nanocloud.

The tiny bots picked up errant air currents, and a moment before her invisible assailant moved in to strike, Kylie spun and grabbed the air with her hand.

Bingo.

Her fingers wrapped around an unseen throat, and she squeezed hard, her augmented muscles giving her an iron grip. After a moment’s decision, she dragged her would-be attacker around the corner, out of view of the windows, while her nano blinded the security cameras.

Reasonably certain she wouldn’t be seen, Kylie slammed the invisible assailant against the wall. “Who the hell are you?”

No answer came, so she slid her fingers under the shimmersuit’s hood and pulled off the covering.

Nadine.

The woman’s head rested against the cement, and she took a deep breath, staring deep into Kylie’s eyes.

A part of Kylie wanted to back off, but instead, she drew a hidden blade from her purse and pushed it against Nadine’s throat.

“Kylie…don’t. Please, let me explain.”

“Let you explain how you tried to kill me? No thanks. You know I have a big starship, right? It’s hard to miss. You could stop by, send me a message. No need for all this cloak and dagger shit.”

“I couldn’t…I…Things didn’t go the way I wanted. I was doing the best I could in a bad situation. Listen, there’s a group here—you can’t see what they’re doing yet, but they are after the same thing you are. They want the stasis shield plans you’re here to reclaim, and they’re fully prepared to do anything to get their hands on them. You happened to get in their way last night. That’s why they sent me.”

Kylie pinched her eyebrows together. “So you’re working for them? I thought you’d be on our side.”

Nadine sighed. “It’s complicated.”

Kylie rolled her eyes, tired of listening to the same old story again and again. “That’s the problem. You make everything complicated.”

“I’m undercover, all right? If I can get to that lab, and it leads me to person behind it, I’ll bring it all crashing down. We want the same thing.”

“Except Seraphina sent us to desroy it, not to chase ghosts. There’s always another big bad out there, that’s for the locals to deal with, we just keep Alliance tech out of their hands. Not only that, but I doubt Seraphina would send the both of us. So who are you working for?”

“Someone who’s intent on keeping the peace. Someone who wants the same thing you do. The same thing Hegemon Richards wants. Something we all want, but they don’t want to reveal themselves.”

“All your answers are non-answers…just like normal.” Kylie let go of Nadine’s neck and lowered her blade. “Don’t make me regret this.”

“So you’ll let me complete my mission?”

Kylie shook her head. “No. I’ll do what we came to do. Don’t stand in my way.”

“Funny,” Nadine whispered, “I was going to say the same thing to you. ‘Let the cards fall where they may’, isn’t that what you used to say?”

Back when she worked for Maverick, it was.

“I believe in a brighter future now than I did then,” she replied instead.

“I know,” Nadine’s eyes clouded over. “I heard you have a daughter. I always knew the split between you and Grayson was temporary. I could see it on your face when you talked about him.” She reached for Kylie’s shoulder. “I was just glad—”

The space captain swatted her hand away. “If you think using nostalgia will get me to lower my guard, you’re mistaken. I’ll do what I have to. Next time we meet, if you go up against me, I will take you in. Then the Alliance can do what they want with you. This is your last warning.”

Nadine dropped her hand and stood taller. “All right. Then it is what it is. I thought I owed you a warning.”

She picked up her helmet and walked out of the corridor, but she paused to look back. “You’ve never been ruthless, Kylie. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Meekly, she frowned.

“It’s been ten years. People change.”

“You’ve softened,” Nadine said.

Kylie shook her head and sent out a small bit of nano tracking. “Hardly.”

Nadine shrugged before continuing on her way. When the nano bonded with the back of her shimmersuit, Kylie’s HUD lit up.

<Did you get all that?> Kylie asked.

<Shit,> Rogers said. <Yeah, yeah I did.>

<What do we do?> Winter asked.

<Same as we always do. Complete the mission. The fact that we used to know her means nothing. Because we never really did,> Kylie reasoned. <Nothing’s changed.>

The words rang hollow, but it was true…nothing had really changed. Still, Kylie felt an extra weight on her shoulders that hadn’t been there before.

CHAPTER 25 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 01.06.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, near Pellick

REGION: Khorina System, Outer Alliance

“Probes have eyes on,” Janice announced. “Er…well, I suppose it’s more accurate to say that they don’t have eyes on. Nothing’s on scan.”

Mira folded her arms across her chest and nodded, doing her best to hide the annoyance she felt. “Very well, let’s continue on our vector. Finish the braking maneuver, and let’s get down to Hystera and figure out how we’re going to fix our emitters.”

“What if there’s someone there, Commander?” Emma asked. “They would have had more than enough time to move deeper into the clouds.”

“Not much we can do about it,” Mira replied. “We’re not equipped to go spelunking in a gas giant—especially not with this damage.”

Brock nodded along with his cousin’s statement. “I agree. Especially because…what if we find something? We’re even less equipped for combat right now.”

“Glad you’re onboard,” Mira said, a touch of dryness in her voice. “We’ll leave the probes there, though. I don’t want to be blind.”

“That leaves us with just three more,” Brock cautioned. “Only one of which is FTL-capable.”

“Nothing for it,” she replied before turning her attention to Emma. “Time to Hystera?”

“We’re looking at just over two days,” she replied. “Forty-nine hours, if we can make our burns.”

Mira remained on the bridge until they were an AU from the gas giant. The probes didn’t turn up any trace of the shadow they’d seen, but something told her that whatever they’d seen, it wasn’t just a sensor ghost.

But who? If it were our corporate friends, they’d simply attack.

Not to mention that there was no reason for Bozan ships to be in the Khorina System—unless there were artifacts here as well.

Even in the confines of her own mind, Mira felt strange calling the thing they’d seen an ‘alien station’. There were other explanations, other possibilities. For all she knew, it might be a hoax.

Then again, who would attack an OSAF patrol ship to maintain a hoax?

The attempt to destroy the Inquiry was the most telling thing of all. Keeping the station a secret was worth tremendous risk to Bozas, and there was every possibility that they’d search Khorina before long.

All the more reason to get to Hystera, get repaired, and get gone.

“Commander,” Janice said as Mira rose to leave the bridge. “I think I might have found something we can use to our advantage.”

“Stars…I could use advantages right now, what is it?”

“I was looking at Kyra, the planet with the mine. Now that our scan nodes are properly aligned, I spotted something in orbit. At first, I thought it was a cluster of empty transfer pods, but once we deployed the probes, I tapped them for some extra resolution, and spotted a resupply station in orbit.”

Mira walked to the AI’s station. “Really? How big?”

“Not very, just sizable enough to service any of their freighters that need it. But it might have a-grav emitters that we can use, plus anything else Aqua decides we need.”

The commander pursed her lips, knowing that taking supplies from private stores was only to be done in dire circumstances, but she reminded herself that if Bozas sent even a small group of patrol ships, the Inquiry would be hard-pressed to hold them off.

“Do you think it’s worth the risk of going that deep into the gravity well?”

Janice tilted her head for a moment, then nodded. “I do. It’s only three AU from our current position, and so far, no Bozan ships have followed us. We’d have days to complete our repairs before they could get to us.”

Mira turned to Emma, who was watching the two women discuss the matter. “Well?” the commander asked. “How long to get to Kyra?”

“Less than a day, ma’am,” the pilot replied without having to check her console. “Twenty-two hours.”

“Alright.” Mira gave a slow nod. “Let’s do it. Hopefully, no one will give us too much crap for robbing some mining conglomerate blind.”

* * * * *

In true navigator fashion, Emma managed to reach Kyra in less time than her estimate; three hours less, to be precise.

Mira had expected the pilot to be early—though not by that much. As a result, she entered the bridge still wolfing down a breakfast burrito she held in one hand, while the other clutched a cup of coffee.

“I made, it! Don’t start the party without me.”

Brock laughed, while Emma smiled.

“Seven minutes to orbital insertion,” the pilot said. “Janice is in the shuttle with Aqua and Greg. Lorra is staying here, readying…uh…something.”

“Excellent report,” Mira said in a wry tone, only half upset with the ensign.

She’d already received the full report from Janice and Aqua, but she’d have to remind Emma that when one has the conn, one has to keep track of the ship’s status with a little more accuracy.

“How do things look in the system?” she asked Brock. “We still alone?”

“So far as our scan and probes can tell,” he replied. “Pellick is quiet, and no ships have appeared on a vector consistent with travel from Regina.”

Mira choked on her burrito, sitting forward, and he quickly added an important detail.

“No ships have shown up on scan at all.” He duked his head sheepishly.

“Thanks,” the commander said with a grimace. “Granted, given how good their stealth was around the artifact, we might not be able to spot them until they’re right on top of us.”

“They’d have to brake,” Emma said, her fingers dancing across her console as she slowed the Inquiry into its orbit. “Otherwise they’d just be doing a big ol’ flyby.”

Mira didn’t respond, especially given that she wouldn’t be able to help informing the ensign that the corporate ships could fly by, drop missiles, and keep on going. With the Inquiry all but stationary, they’d make for an easy target.

Another thing to remind her of when we have a moment.

No one spoke for the next few minutes, until Emma’s announcement that they were now in a stable orbit broke the silence.

<We’re ready to depart, ma’am,> Janice reported a few seconds later. <Permission to pillage?>

<Funny, Lieutenant. Be as respectful as possible, be sure Aqua only takes what we need.>

<Don’t worry, I’ve got my eye on them and their list.>

<Then good luck, Janice.>

The AI sent an affirmative response, and a few seconds later, the main display registered the shuttle’s departure.

Given Aqua’s estimates, it would take them half a day to get what they needed from the resupply station, and a day, two max, to make the final repairs necessary to get them on their way again.

From that point, it would be three days burn to the edge of the system, then a fifteen-day journey back to Bysmark. And then….

Stars know what is going to shake out of all this.

Mira busied herself with what reports remained undone, but after days of travel in the dark layer and the time it took to decel into Khorina’s inner system, there was little left to do.

To fill the time, she began running active scan sweeps on space around Kyra, looking for anything interesting, though after only thirty minutes, all she had to show for her efforts was new rocks to add to the nav charts.

Wait a second.

A return on the last sweep caught her attention. One of the rocks had shifted its orbit in a way that rocks were not wont to do—especially considering it had used thrusters to do it.

She tracked the prior trajectory of the space debris and confirmed that it was on a new orbit that would have required energy expenditure to achieve.

A little spy satellite?

Mira was more amused than surprised. It tracked that a company mining the planet would want to ensure that their investment was secure—or, at the least, that any thieves could be identified.

“Check this out, you two,” the commander said, putting the rock’s visual on the main display. “A sneaky little bastard. It’s keeping an eye on us and the team.”

“Well, look at that,” Emma said with a laugh. “I guess they’ll have some interesting data to review when the next freighter comes through.”

“I wonder if it saw that asteroid come down,” Brock said in a half-focused tone.

“Pardon?” Mira checked the report on objects striking Kyra, and saw nothing in the last few days. “What asteroid?”

Brock swapped the main display to a view of the mining site, then panned several kilometers to the west. “This here. Given the state of the impact spray, it’s recent, in just the past few weeks, but it struck me as suspicious that something would have come down so close to the mining site.”

“Suspicious? How?” Emma asked. “Sounds like you’re borrowing trouble.”

He glanced at Mira and shrugged. “Just trying to be thorough.”

“Do you think Bozas came through here?” the commander asked.

Brock nodded. “Yeah, or someone else. We are supposed to be keeping our eyes peeled for pirates.”

“OK.” Mira straightened in her seat. “If anyone nefarious was behind that impact crater, we can assume they didn’t also spot our little friend out there. Let’s tap into it and see what we can see.”

Emma nodded. “You got it, but…how do we do that?”

“Didn’t the academy teach you basic breaching techniques?” Mira asked. “Stars, what do they teach kids these days?”

Despite her bravado, it took Mira nearly an hour—with a little help from Janice—to slip past the observation satellite’s defenses and get into its records store. In the name of expediency, they pulled all of its records for the past month, and ran a filter on them for any anomalous events.

The first item of note was the most recent visit from a X-Cor freighter.

“Efficient work,” Brock commented as they watched the cargo pods reach space and find themselves attached to the ship in very little time. “Though I suppose they’ve done that a lot of times.”

“They likely have,” Mira replied. “Also, the little spy took a good look at the mining site a few times, and there’s no sign of the crater.”

They sped through the next few flagged items until they finally saw the meteor’s entry.

“That is a bit curious,” Mira said. “It’s big enough to reach the ground, but there’s no rock on the charts big enough to do that anywhere near to Kyra right now.”

Emma shrugged. “This isn’t a well-surveyed system. I’ve spotted dozens of asteroids not on the charts.”

“Sure,” the commander replied. “But for nothing to see this? Just seems really unlikely.”

“Yeah?” Brock asked. “This is even more suspicious.”

The forward display showed the meteor breaking apart, the larger segment hitting the ground at the impact site while another drifted toward the mining site. It was only visible via residual heat from reentry, but before long, it disappeared from view entirely.

“OK…that was no asteroid,” Mira said. “Someone is snooping down there.”

“But why?” Emma asked. “It’s just a regular old mining site. Sure, they’re taking out some rather interesting exotics, but nothing worthy of corporate espionage.”

Mira rose and walked to the forward display, scowling at the best image the spy satellite had captured of…whatever had separated from the main descender. “Someone must think so…getting a bot down there is no simple endeavor.”

“Not that hard, though,” Emma said.

“Fair,” Mira replied. “But still, you don’t do it just to see how much titanium someone is pulling out of the ground.”

Brock shrugged. “So what are we going to do about it?”

Mira gave him a pointed look, and her cousin paled. “Er…what are we going to do about it, ma’am?”

“Check it out.” The commander squared her shoulders. “When Janice gets back with the shuttle, I’m going down.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Really, Commander? Is that wise?”

“Why not?” Mira asked with a shrug. “I’ll take Lorra with me. In her mech suit, she’s a match for pretty much anything we might encounter down there—which is likely to be nothing.”

“Unless that bot is still down there,” Brock said. “Ready to pew-pew you.”

“Thanks for your concern.” Mira placed a hand on her chest. “I’m touched, but I’ll be armed and armored as well.”

Emma pursed her lips and sighed. “I guess it’s not really up to us, is it?”

Mira snapped her fingers and winked. “Now you got it.”

Two hours later, Janice docked the shuttle in the corvette’s aft bay and set to unloading it with Greg and Aqua.

<You certain you don’t want me to go down to the planet, instead?> Janice asked after the lieutenant and commander had discussed the equipment the engineers had secured.

<I’d like to get my own eyes on things down there,> Mira replied. <Besides, you already got to go on an outing…now it’s my turn.>

<I’d hardly call grabbing gear from a resupply station an ‘outing’.>

<I could say the same about walking around a mining site.>

The AI’s laugh sounded like a spray of water hitting plas on a hot summer day. <Alright, I’ll grant you that. And Lorra is no slouch with a railgun.>

<That she isn’t. Plus, you’ll be overhead. What could go wrong?>

Janice groaned. <Really? Well, now that you said that, I can imagine all sorts of terrible outcomes.>

<I didn’t take you for the superstitious type.>

<All AIs who go mobile and hang out with humans on starships are superstitous. It’s how we stay alive around you crazy organics.>

It was Mira’s turn to laugh. <OK, that’s fair. However, things in Kyra’s nearspace haven’t changed a mite, so I’m handing the conn to Emma and heading to the armory.>

<Sounds good. I’ll be on the bridge in ten.>

Mira passed the conn to the ship’s pilot and left the bridge. The armory was on the main deck, on the opposite side of the ship from the aft bay. When she arrived, Lorra was already there, her mech suit now adorned in its ablative plating. In place of a helmet, a holographic visual of her head hovered over the amor, and it turned toward Mira as she entered the room.

“What sort of loadout are you thinking?” the dolphin asked, a smirk stretching its avatar’s long mouth as she turned her railgun over, checking the weapon’s status.

“Going with medium armor,” Mira replied as she pulled off her tunic and folded it neatly before stepping back into the armorer.

Like everyone in the service, she always wore her skintight shipsuit beneath any other uniform. The shipsuit was capable of shedding light weapons fire, and provided protection against decompression with its built in flow-plas hood and gloves.

The armoring machine checked her baselayer over for required functionality and connectivity before wrapping her in layers of carbon-fiber-laced plas and gold-titanium armor. It only took two minutes, but when the armorer was done, Mira weighed two hundred kilos more, and could withstand anything short of a proton beam—at least for a little while.

While her protective shell had been applied, Lorra had laid out a selection weapons. Two sidearms, an array of multifunction rifles, and a lightwand all rested on the table next to her tunic.

“Pick your poison,” the dolphin said with a sweep of her mech suit’s arm.

“Well, lightwand is easy.” Mira swept it up first, slotting it into her right thigh as she looked over the rifles. “My father would have my hide if I went downworld without that.”

“I can only imagine,” Lorra replied. “For the rifles, I really like the CC-897. It has the one-gram rail pellets, plus the variable-power electron beam.”

“Not to mention the hammer-fist pulse mode,” Mira added as she picked the weapon up. “No kinetic mode, though.”

The technical sergeant nodded. “Yeah, that kinda annoys me as well, but that’s what the sidearms are for. One pulse and one projectile. Tell baddies to smarten up with the pea shooters, and if they don’t listen, then boom! Out comes the rail.”

Mira couldn’t help but laugh at the doe. “You really love your guns.”

“I love guns, and I love using them,” Lorra said with a grin. “So, do you want that, or the A4-97 with the pulse, kinetic, and rail?”

The human looked at the other rifle, then shook her head. “No, if we’re going up against a stealthed bot, an e-beam will be more than handy.”

“CC-897 it is,” Lorra said, handing the weapon to Mira. “Shall we, then, Commander?”

Mira grabbed her helmet off the rack and nodded. “Let’s do this.”

They crossed the ship in short order, reaching the bay just as the others were unloading the last of the gear, adding it to the stacks along the aft bulkhead.

“Running off on me, are you?” Aqua asked in a tone that left Mira unsure if the chief was joking or not.

Lorra’s mech frame shrugged. “Commander’s orders. Everything you asked for is done. Should just be a matter of slotting in the new emitters.”

“Once I calibrate them,” Aqua replied. “Don’t worry, though, Greg’s ready to get the job done.”

Her tone definitely carried a note of accusation this time, and the man in question winced, but otherwise kept his mouth shut.

“Lorra has the highest combat rating aboard, barring Janice,” Mira said. “The XO and I can’t both go down. Don’t worry, we won’t be long.”

The chief made a face, but nodded before turning to Greg. “Alright, let’s get our EV gear off and then get to work.”

Janice emerged from the shuttle a moment later, wearing a carefully schooled expression. “Bird’s all yours, Commander.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant,” Mira said as she approached. “Hold down the fort and ping me if anything happens.”

The AI nodded as she stepped aside. “You got it. See you in a few hours.”

Mira entered first, turning left and ducking into the cockpit while Lorra sealed the hatch and did a quick inspection.

“Stars…they do not make these things with my people in mind,” she muttered. “And to be honest, I’m small. My brothers would die in here.”

“That’s what we get for having this sleek corvette,” Mira replied. “A tiny shuttle.”

“I don’t think that’s it,” the doe said as she eased into the cockpit and folded the copilot’s chair away before anchoring her armor to the deck. “I mean…the pool in the rec room is bigger than this thing. I think someone was just skimping.”

The commander nodded as she ran through the preflight. “Yeah, I could see that happening. Oh, look at that, Janice topped off the fuel, wasn’t that considerate?”

Lorra snorted. “Well, the service bots do it. Not really that exceptional.”

“Sure, but she had to have gotten them right on it.”

The dolphin let out one of her kind’s chittering laughs. “We good to go, then? I’m already feeling claustrophobic.”

“Really?” Mira glanced at her companion as the shuttle settled onto the launch rails. “But you’re always in your mech suit, how is this different?”

“My outer senses map to the suit,” Lorra explained. “It feels like my skin most of the time—honestly, I’ve spent so much of the last few years in it, getting out to stretch my fins feels odd. Either way, with the plating on the suit and then this tiny shuttle…yeah, it feels like I’m trapped. Not bad, though, just mildly disconcerting.”

Mira shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. “Alright then, so long as you’re not going to rip the hatch off halfway down and jump out or something.”

“No chance.” Lorra’s chittering laugh came again. “Promise.”

The shuttle slid out of the bay, and Mira re-checked their atmospheric entry vector before initializing the first burn. The retros fired, slowing their orbital velocity and dropping the shuttle’s altitude until they were on a fifteen-degree angle of approach.

“Twenty minutes,” she said to the warrant officer. “Should be a pretty smooth ride, Kyra has a relatively calm atmosphere.”

“Could really use some more water,” the dolphin replied with a shrug.

Mira gestured at the equatorial ocean. “What about that?”

Lorra gave a derisive chirp. “I guess it’s teeeechnically water. But you wouldn’t catch me swimming in that sludge.”

The commander shook her head. “There’s just no pleasing you.”

“Sure there is. Just get me back to Jal Enna, and I’ll dive into the Sphria Ocean before you can say, ‘Damn that’s cold’.”

Mira laughed again, glancing at the doe. “Stars, you’re a lot funnier than I thought you’d be. Going to make this much more enjoyable.”

“I try to play it straight at first,” she replied. “But I can’t hold back for too long—though, being around Aqua helps.”

“Oh?” Mira cocked an eyebrow, wondering if she was about to get her first crew complaint.

Lorra gave an exaggerated groan. “She’s just not…happy—and anytime something threatens to make her happy, she quashes it so fast, you wonder if you were seeing things.” The dolphin paused and hunched a little. “Sorry, that was completely inappropriate.”

Mira gave her shoulders a slight heave as she readied the shuttle for its next burn. “Sometimes you have to say what’s on your mind. It’s alright. I might have a conversation with her at some point—though who knows if we’ll all be together after this mission. The debrief alone could take weeks.”

“That’s a little depressing,” Lorra replied. “I’ve really enjoyed serving under you…and despite its ongoing issues with the grav emitters, this ship is a dream.”

“Thank you,” Mira said while activating the burn. “That means a lot. I feel the same way, about you and the ship. To be honest, it’s really peculiar that we’re having these issues. Sure, this is a new model, and we’re running the Inquiry through its first interstellar voyage, but grav emitters aren’t new tech. This shouldn’t be happening.”

“You’re not wrong.” The dolphin’s head bobbed in agreement. “On any front. Hopefully, swapping out the faulty units will help—granted, they might cause more problems, given that they’re made for commercial freighters.”

“Aqua seemed to believe that it wouldn’t be an issue,” Mira replied. “Do you think they might not work?”

“Well…they should work. Graviton emission is really just about volume and energy, just like any other particle. If they can push out what we need, then they’ll do the trick—but you know how it is…one’s demise is in the details.”

Mira snorted. “Yeah, that’s the way of it. Thirty seconds to atmo. You locked down?”

“Better than your seat is, ma’am,” the dolphin replied.

A chuckle slipped past Mira’s lips as she double-checked her own harness. “Well, let’s hope that means ‘good’ for both.”

The shuttle began to shudder gently as they hit atmosphere, most of the shock and vibrations dissipated by the a-grav systems. After a few more minutes, and several retro burns, they slowed to a sedate five hundred kilometers per hour, drifting over the central ocean for a bit before finally reaching land.

“Six minutes to the mining site,” Mira announced. “Though I guess you can see the lances as well as I.”

“Yeah…and wow. Those things must be boring deep.”

Mira nodded in agreement.

The mining lances rose kilometers above the planet’s surface, clouds of dust pouring out from the holes they were drilling in the world below.

“I’m always amazed by the size of mining equipment,” the dolphin said. “I’ve seen deep sea rigs that are larger than the Normandy.”

“And they fly in and out of a gravity well, too,” Mira added. “That takes some serious engineering.”

The shuttle slowed enough that its general shape no longer offered a significant aerofoil effect, and Mira switched to the grav drives, slowing them further as she brought the craft around the mining lances.

“There’s the crater,” Lorra said, leaning forward to point at the ground. “Based on the brief look that spy satellite got, I’d say that whatever left that made a bee-line for the refinery.”

“Agreed,” Mira replied, bringing the shuttle low to keep it over the path of the bot they’d witnessed. “I wonder if it tried to get inside.”

“What for, though?”

“Why any of this?” the commander asked. “It’s just an automated refinery. Those things are a dime a dozen.”

The warrant officer snorted. “Oh really? Can I pick some up at the next station commissary we stop at?”

“Absolutely. Grab some for me, too.”

They continued on a slow approach to the refinery, not seeing any sign of the bot—or anything else, for that matter—finally setting down on a landing pad next to the structure.

Lorra deployed a trio of surveillance drones from the shuttle, letting them do a detailed scan of the surrounding area before they checked one another’s seals and exited the craft.

“You know, a little more oxygen in the air here, and it wouldn’t be too bad to breathe,” Mira said. “Something must be growing in those oceans to bump it up this much.”

“Or it’s silica outgassing,” Lorra replied. “I have to admit, I’m shocked there’s no preterraforming going on here yet…not even an automated assessor.”

“I bet the interests behind this mine are keeping it that way right now. As soon as Kyra gets selected for active terraforming, their days of digging in the dirt are over.”

The holographic dolphin’s head adopted a scowl. “Bastards. I could see myself raising a family in oceans like Kyra’s—once they’re cleaned up, that is. Right now, they’d probably eat my hide off in a day.”

“Don’t want that,” the commander said with a laugh before she turned around, surveying the bleak landscape marred only by a mountain of rock a few kilometers away and the refinery and its slag piles. “Now that we’re down here, this feels a little silly.”

Lorra’s mech frame gave an exaggerated shrug. “Orbital scan didn’t spot anything, so coming down to take a peek made sense, ma’am.”

She nodded. “You’re right. Let’s do a sweep of the refinery perimeter. Maybe we’ll spot something obvious.”

They approached the structure, which stood over a hundred meters high and stretched for half a kilometer. On their right were stacks of refined ore, while on the far side lay the slag piles. Mira wanted to suggest they split up to save time, but she knew that wasn’t the smarty move. After a brief conversation, Lorra took the lead, focusing more on the surrounding landscape, while Mira studied the building.

“Network on this thing is very stubborn,” she said as they approached the main doors. “I’d have to run a brute-force breach to get through…and that might cause some problems.”

“Really?” Lorra asked. “The supply station wasn’t hard for Janice to get through. Should you ask her for help?”

Mira pursed her lips. She hadn’t wanted to appeal to the AI, but in the name of expediency, decided it was wise.

<Hey, Janice, we’re doing a walkaround, and I’d like to get into the refinery’s logs. Any chance you can help with that?>

<Saw that you’d touched down, Commander,> the AI replied. <I’ve already piggybacked off the shuttle and tried to get in, but it’s locked down—a lot more than the supply station. Given the codes it’s throwing, I don’t think this is the normal behavior—it reads more like a heightened security response.>

Mira smiled behind her helmet, glad to hear she wasn’t the only one who had faced difficulty accessing the refinery’s network.

<Do you want me to try a brute-force breach?> Janice asked.

She was almost tempted to say yes. <No, not yet. Maybe we’ll find some clear evidence that someone was here and up to no good. Then we’ll have ample reason to go inside without X-Cor getting all up in arms.>

<Fair enough, Commander. Let me know if you need any assistance.>

Mira signed off and turned back to the refinery. They’d passed the main entrance and were now walking across the gravelly stretch that ran to the far end of the facility. Not far away, there was a recessed door labeled ‘Service Entrance 9A’. On a lark, she walked toward it, noting a small amount of carbon scoring on the lower left corner of the sign.

There was more around the jamb, and she grabbed the door handle, giving it a sharp tug. She was shocked when it pulled open.

“Well, that’s a bit telling,” Lorra pointed at the severed locking mechanism. “Looks like we have some legitimately nefarious activity going on here.”

“That we do. I’m going to get Janice working on the network.” She gestured for the dolphin to enter first. “After you.”

Lorra nodded and entered the building, rifle held ready as she walked down a short passage to another door—this one also opening without trouble.

The sounds of the refinery’s operation were audible from outside, but once the second door opened, the cacophony slammed into Mira like a solid wall. Her armor attenuated it, focusing more on irregular noises, of which there were still many, but enough that she wasn’t overwhelmed by the volume.

Stars, being on a ship for weeks really makes you forget how loud shit can be.

Directly ahead of them, crushed ore moved down a conveyer. Much of it was a dull silver in color, and Mira edged toward it, watching as her armor’s spectroanalysis identified the elements.

<Well, shit,> she muttered. <That is a lot of U-235. And…natural C-252? That’s a rare one.>

<U-236 as well,> Lorra added. <I wonder what they’re using it for?>

Mira shrugged as she looked around at the machines breaking down the ore, then separating, purifying, and smelting it. The far end of the facility was likely filled with ingots being loaded into transport containers.

<I imagine the 252 is what brought X-Cor here.>

She moved toward the raw materials end of the refinery, where she ducked under the conveyer and moved further in. Lorra jumped over the belt and followed after, releasing several microdrones and sending their output to the pair’s shared net.

<No signs of anything,> Mira said as they moved further in. <Weird that this place doesn’t have any security drones. We didn’t exactly check in when we entered.>

<I was thinking that too, Commander. Maybe Janice has something.>

Mira suspected that the AI would let them know if she found anything out, but asked nonetheless. <Lieutenant, how’s it going?>

<Well, I’m in. The plant is in a state of high alert…and from what I can see, its security measures have been disabled.>

<Disabled how? By blowing them up?>

<Well…> Janice drew the word out. <They’re all offline, so it’s hard to say exactly how. I’m trying to access the main log-store. Once I get in there, I should see what happened.>

<Over here!> Lorra called out from Mira’s right.

<On my way.>

She leapt over another conveyer, then dodged around a few automatons that were cleaning a spill of uranite off the ground.

Once she’d cleared them, the commander came around a sifting machine and saw Lorra standing over the wreckage of a security drone. It was—or at least, had once been—a meter-high cylinder with an array of weapons at its disposal.

Now it lay in two pieces, shell dented by kinetic impacts.

<Well, something definitely happened here,> Mira said, looking around. <Janice, how many of these things are supposed to be here?>

<Just four. I guess X-Cor figured no one would come out here, and if they did, they’d eventually get what they came for.>

<So why bother with expensive security bots?> Mira asked with a laugh.

<Yeah…though it is funny that there isn’t any real orbital security. Pirates could just come in and lift the refined ore.>

Mira’s laugh didn’t abate. <I can just see pirates showing up, ready to steal valuables, only to find refined radioisotopes and a few planet-lances. Not a lot of smash-n-grab profit here.>

Lorra interrupted, <Look! One of the drones spotted another bot…in about the same shape.>

<Wait.> Mira focused the drone’s optics on another object nearby. <What the fuck is that?>

Eleven meters from the downed security drone lay a thing that appeared like a tangle of cables. She might have taken it for nothing more, except that they didn’t seem to match anything else in the refinery.

Half obscured in the center of the mass was a smooth sphere, but at least one of the cables connected to it. As she took in the sight, only one thought came to Mira’s mind: Alien.

<Let’s check that out,> she directed her companion, doing her best not to run headlong across the refinery to the mysterious object.

Just as they arrived and stood over the mess, trying to make heads or tails of it, Janice reached out, sounding more than a little concerned.

<OK…what’s on your feeds is probably the most fascinating thing I’ve seen since the artifact in Regina, but we just picked up a shadow three AU out.>

<The thing from Pellick?> Mira asked, feeling a spike in her blood pressure from a mix of fear and anticipation.

<No, wrong vector…and bigger, too. It matches one of Bozas’s larger frigate designs. The ones they’re supposed to only sell to the OASF.>

Mira let out a string of curses. <Alright, work with Aqua to get done whatever needs to be. Lorra and I are going to get this thing into the shuttle and bring it up.>

<Ma’am?> Lorra turned toward her, worry etched on her features. <Are you sure? What if it comes to life and attacks us?>

It took effort for Mira to hold back a laugh.

Then again…it did destroy the refinery’s security bots. She shook off the thought. <We can drop it into one of the shipping stasis containers. Nothing can get out of stasis.>

The mech’s posture relaxed a hair. <Alright, yeah. OK.>

Mira walked closer to the tangled mess, and nudged one of the cable-like tentacles with her foot. <Seems inert.>

<What’s that underneath it?> Lorra asked, pointing to what looked like a silver puddle.

Looking around, Mira spotted a metal rod that had been knocked free in the bot’s fight, and used it to touch the residue. <Seems solid…and it looks like the bot is melted into it. Did it get something from the refinery splashed on it?>

<I don’t think so,> Lorra said. <There’s nothing liquid around here…plus, wouldn’t some be on top? What if it was some sort of self-destruct that failed?>

Mira prised one of the bot’s tentacles—she felt an aversion to calling them that, but it seemed to fit—out of the metal. Its bottom was partially melted, and she found herself agreeing with the dolphin’s theory.

<Find an a-grav pad,> she said to Lorra. <We’ll take it out through the big doors at the end closest to the shuttle.>

<Maybe you should get the pad while I cut it free,> the warrant officer suggested, one of her mech arms flipping over to show a plasma cutter.

<Deal,> Mira said with a laugh.

She’d only made it a dozen meters away, when a low scraping sound came from nearby.

Fearing another of the strange probes, the commander unslung her rifle and eased around a pile of uranium rods. Before she’d even reached the corner, a stream of kinetic rounds flew past her, and she fell back, her armor registering the hard radiation hitting her from the rods.

Cursing herself for not using drones, she released a pair from her armor, the microscopic machines rising above the stack of uranium to provide a view of another security drone. There was a hole in its lower section, and it stood propped up against a conveyer belt.

From the look of things, it was unable to move, so Mira doubled back, coming around the stack to take aim on the machine from where it couldn’t shoot back.

She switched her rifle to its rail mode and launched a string of pellets into the security drone. They traced a line up its cylindrical body, one penetrating near the top and sending a shower of sparks into the air.

OK…I think—

Kinetic rounds struck Mira’s side, and she spun to see another X-Cor security drone—this one undamaged—come into view around a smelting cauldron. She let fly with a barrage of return fire before diving around the far side of the pile of rods, praying that the damaged bot was fully out of commission.

<Mira,> Janice’s voice came into her mind. <The facility is deploying new drones. I haven’t gotten deep enough in their systems to stop them yet, sorry.>

<I kinda noticed,> the commander replied. <How many?>

<Three. All it has left, from what I can see.>

<Lorra? You got that?> Mira asked the warrant officer.

The dolphin sent back an affirmative response, then added, <Almost have it cut free. Keep them off me…ma’am.>

<You got it.>

Another barrage of rounds streaked past Mira, a few hitting the uranium rods. She released another stream of rail pellets, not as concerned about damaging the facility as the bot had to be, when a thought occurred to her.

<Janice, can you confirm that this is U-235?>

<Just a sec, checking your position…Yes, yes it is.>

<Uh…how much kinetic energy does it take for it to get all fissile?>

The AI responded with an amused cough. <It’s always fissile, but I take your meaning. It takes free electrons, so while some weapons fire might cause a few atoms to do their thing, you’re not in any risk of a runaway reaction.>

<What if a bunch of californium smacked into it?>

This time there was no mirth in Janice’s response. <Don’t do that. Seriously.>

<Noted.>

Mira turned her focus back to the bot, which was moving around the far side of the equipment that blocked it to get a clear shot at her. She checked the combat net to see that the other two security drones were closing as well—one on her position, and the other on Lorra.

<You’ve got company coming,> she advised the warrant officer. <I’ll do my best to keep these two from bothering you, but that one’s yours.>

<Alright, Commander. I should be able to handle one on my own.>

With that warning sent, Mira gave a moment’s thought to her own predicament and decided the best option was to destroy the drone as fast as possible with as much force as she could muster.

As silently as she could manage, she leapt atop the pile of uranium rods and switched her CC-897 to its electron beam mode. Watching through her probes, she timed her shot for the exact moment the security drone came around the machinery.

A straight, white bolt of lightning surrounded by a hazy blue glow of cherenkov radiation lanced from her weapon to the bot. The blast burned away a segment of the machine’s side, but it managed to get its own shot off, and a trio of heavy slugs slammed into Mira’s chest, throwing her back onto the pile of rods.

The shock of the impact knocked her rifle from her grasp, and the weapon clattered to the floor. She pulled herself up into a seated position, one hand reaching for a sidearm she knew would do nothing, when the security drone rose up in front of her.

Her right hand clenched, wrapping around one of the uranium rods, and without another thought, she lifted the ten-meter-long shaft and threw it like a javelin.

A ton of radioactive metal flew at the machine, hitting it like an artillery shell and tearing a hole right through the center of it. Sparks flew and flames licked at her feet as the drone’s a-grav system died, and it fell to the ground.

<Huh,> she said on the combat net while hefting a second rod. <A little long, but one of these would be really handy in combat.>

<Maybe use 238, not 235, though,> Janice suggested. <The next one is coming on your right.>

Mira had been tracking it via the overhead drones, and when the bot moved around a smelter to fire at her, she threw another uranium rod. This time, the shaft of fissile metal slammed into the smelter, breaking a chunk off the drum and showering debris on the bot.

Not waiting to see if it had taken serious damage, she leapt off the stack and snatched up her CC-897, gave it a once over, and moved out of cover to fire a stream of rail pellets at the bot.

Only, it wasn’t there.

Shit…where did you go?

None of the drones had eyes on it, and Mira wondered if it had been knocked down by her throw.

Maybe it’s under the smelter?

She leapt over a conveyer belt—which still had the first drone she’d encountered propped up against it—and dashed around a loader that was picking ore off a belt and dumping it into a furnace. When she finally got a visual of the bot’s former location, there was no sign of the machine.

Biting back a curse, Mira sent a new sweep pattern to her drones and began to backtrack, eyes peeled for any suspicious movement.

That was easier said than done, given that nearly everything in the building was moving.

She was halfway back to where she’d started when her armor detected motion behind her. Mira spun to see nothing out of the ordinary, suddenly wondering if the security drones had stealth systems.

Throwing caution to the wind, she set her rifle to its hammer-fist pulse mode and let fire with three blasts. The third hit something solid to her left, slamming the invisible enemy into a cooling machine.

A section of it became visible, and she strode forward, firing another trio of pulse blasts at the drone before switching to the electron beam and pummeling it with relativistic electrons.

The assault pushed the security drone into the equipment, and it wiggled back and forth, trying to get free while smoke poured from it.

<I think it’s dead,> Janice commented. <Lorra finished hers off, and there’s a skiff not too far away to your left.>

Mira shook her head, deciding that another round of rail shots wouldn’t hurt, hammering the drone with a final barrage before turning her back on it and walking to where Janice had indicated the pad would be.

Three minutes later, she was back with Lorra, who had both freed the alien machine from the silvery puddle and completely smashed the refinery’s defense drone.

<Took you long enough,> Lorra said, an amused note in her voice. <Nice work, though, Commander.>

<You too,> Mira said as she crouched to get a good grip on two of the alien’s tentacles, while the dolphin gripped the strange thing from the other side.

It was surprisingly limp, and it took the pair several tries to get it to stay in place long enough to be strapped down to the pad.

Commander Evans took one final look around, surprised that, despite the disturbance, the refinery continued its work unabated.

I guess this isn’t the first time there’s been a little dust-up in here.

<Alright, Lorra, let’s get this show on the road.>

Seven minutes later, they had the octobot, as Lorra had begun to call it, at the shuttle’s hatch, and were both staring at the opening.

“This thing is totally not going to fit,” Mira muttered. “Not with half of it all solid from melting.”

The doe laughed. “Oh, it’ll fit. Hold the head.”

Mira complied and held onto the silver orb that the tentacles all connected to, keeping it steady while, one by one, Lorra stretched out each tentacle.

This was the first time they’d seen it in any configuration other than a jumbled mess, and Mira was surprised to see that not all the tentacles were the same length—and there were ten.

So much for octobot.

Most were only one or two meters, but two were almost five, hanging well off the a-grav pad.

Lorra folded those two back up and then nodded for Mira to enter the shuttle. Once she had, the dolphin lifted the mass of tentacles, careful to keep the longer ones from slipping free, and passed the bundle to Mira. With surprisingly less trouble than expected, they managed to get the slippery mess laid across the craft’s rear seats and held in place with the harnesses.

<We’re heading back up now,> Mira advised the Inquiry as she buckled in and Lorra latched onto the deck. <We should be ready to rendezvous in twenty-five minutes.>

<Did you get it?> Janice asked. <I saw you take it out of the refinery, but was wondering if you’d be able to fit it aboard.>

<Bit of a tight squeeze, but we did it,> Mira replied. <Not like we were going to leave that behind. If necessary, I’d strap it to the hull and make Lorra ride outside with it.>

The dolphin shot her a concerned look. “Uhhh.”

Mira waved a hand for the doe to calm down before speaking to Janice. <So, how are things up there?>

<Aqua and Greg believe they have enough emitter coverage that we can at least handle a brush with danger, though they still need to replace another ten units. Our Bozan friends are making a beeline for us, not bothering to hide their presence at all anymore.>

<They braking yet?> the commander asked, hoping against hope that the enemy was doing just that.

<No, they’re still accelerating.>

“Shit,” Mira hissed aloud. <That means they plan to launch missiles and then come around to mop up whatever is left.>

<That’s my thought as well. I don’t know how we’ll survive an assault like that. Those frigates carry a significant loadout.>

Mira nodded while finishing the preflight and initializing the liftoff procedure, and thought back to the stories her father and mother had told her of their adventures in days long gone, trying to think of anything that might help in this situation.

<What about grapeshot? Could we take apart a rail slug and fill it with grapeshot?>

<Even if we could, unless you plan to fire it up their noses, we’d need fire a fair number of canisters. What are you thinking, though?>

<Kyra has that little moon,> Mira explained. <If we fire when we’re behind it, our shot will be traveling laterally at the same speed as us, and miss the moon.>

<Oh, that’s clever,> the AI replied. <And since the firing event will be behind the moon, they won’t see it.>

<Exactly. If we can pound them with that barrage, we might be able to even the playing field.>

Janice sent a feeling of agreement. <I’ll get with Emma and plot courses. Not sure I can pull Aqua and Greg off repairs, though.>

<Have the loader bots pull out a dozen shells and leave them in the loading room. We’ll handle the modifications.>

<You got it, Commander.>

The flight up to the ship took forever, time crawling forward at a snail’s pace. Mira and Lorra speculated over the origins of the not-octobot for a time, but eventually fell silent again, both watching the vector of the inbound Bozan ship and the time to rendezvous with the Inquiry.

At the twenty-minute mark, the corvette came into view, its orbit steady at five hundred kilometers above Kyra. Deciding she was tired of waiting, Mira initiated two extra burns to pick up speed and close the gap between the ships before braking again as they approached her ship.

The bay doors opened, and she cross-checked vectors with Emma before easing into the bay and setting the craft down on its cradle.

She rose first, slipping into the shuttle’s rear compartment to take in the alien probe once more before turning to Lorra. “Janice had one of the stasis crates from the food shipment brought in here. Get this thing in there and then meet me in the munitions loading room. We’ve got work to do.”

“You’re just going to leave me alone in here with it?” the dolphin asked, a real note of concern in her voice.

“I left you with it to cut it free in the refinery.”

“Yeah, but—nevermind. Of course. I’ve got it.”

“Thanks.” Mira placed a hand on the warrant officer’s shoulder. “Shouldn’t take but a few minutes. I’ll check on you if you suddenly disappear off internal monitoring.”

“Oh…wonderful. That makes me feel so much better.”

Mira opened the shuttle’s hatch, then dashed across the bay, still in her armor. She kept up the pace until she reached the ladder that led up to the small munition’s loading room sitting directly beneath the dorsal railgun.

On the deck sat ten kinetic slugs, each weighing over five hundred kilograms. When accelerated through the ship’s rail-cannon’s coils, they would pick up enough energy to hit their target with the force of a nuclear detonation.

However, it was not in the firing party’s best interest to have the slug remain intact when it hit; in that case, it would punch a hole straight through the objective and do minimal damage. Instead, the goal was to have the shell break apart, spewing a payload of depleted uranium rods through the target.

In this situation, Mira wanted them to do the latter, but long before coming into contact with the enemy ship. The desired effect was grapeshot moving at speeds high enough to shred the foe’s shields so that other weapons systems could then penetrate the hull.

She knew those other systems would need to be ready for the conflict as well, but the first step was the grapeshot.

<How’s it looking, Lorra?> she asked the doe in the bay.

An image came across the Link of the not-octobot in the stasis crate. <Just got it in. I’ll be there in a flash.>

<Can you stop in engineering first? Gather anything we can use as grapeshot, the harder the better.>

<We have titanium bearings…Aqua won’t be happy if I take them, though.>

Mira pursed her lips. <Bring them…not all of them, but as many as we can spare. Also, bring something we can use to cut up the U-238 in these things, that’ll help too.>

<I’ve got just the thing.>

Ten minutes later, Mira and Lorra were carefully packing the slugs with their new payload when Aqua climbed up the ladder, her gasp of shock entirely inaudible over the sound of plasma cutters working through uranium rods.

“Those bearings are important!” the chief said after half a minute of gaping.

“I know,” Mira replied, looking up and stretching her shoulders. Her helmet rested nearby, but otherwise, she was still fully armored, as was Lorra. She stood and stretched her arms overhead, fingers brushing the inner hull before she added, “They’re going to save our lives from that frigate.”

“And what if I need them for the hundred things they’re actually for?”

Mira glanced at Lorra. “You left enough for basic repairs, right?”

“As you ordered,” the warrant officer said, her tone carefully neutral.

“There are enough left for servicing, not repairs,” Aqua shot back. “And we don’t have a full machine shop aboard, or titanium.”

“There’s the armoring machine,” Mira pointed out. “Could use its supplies if we have to. But seriously, Chief, our only goal right now is to get away from this Bozan frigate and get back to Bysmark. Then this bird is going to be overhauled and resupplied. We don’t need anything more than what it takes to survive the next week or two.”

Aqua’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Fine.”

She looked as though she were about to turn and descend the ladder, but Mira stopped her.

“How are the repairs?”

“Done as much as we can manage for now,” she muttered. “Our shields are at maybe seventy percent. There are some gaps in the double overlap from the umbrellas, so if you plan to get us shot at, you’ll want to see where they are.”

“Can we rely on them to stay up?” Mira asked. “And then make a jump?”

“Fucked if I know,” the engineer said, her response drawing a gasp from Lorra. “We should have gone straight home after Regina, not tried to slap together some repairs here.”

Mira took a step toward Aqua, her teeth clenched so hard she thought one might crack. “Another outburst like that, Chief, and I’ll bring you up for insubordination. If you have a problem with my leadership, feel free to file a complaint with my superiors upon my return. But in the meantime….”

She let the thought hang, pleased to see the surly engineer pale a few shades.

A second later, Aqua’s typical expression was back, and she folded her arms across her chest. “Will that be all, ma’am?”

“That will,” Mira replied. “See that everything below is ready for combat.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Aqua slid back down the ladder, and Lorra swallowed loudly. “Stars, she’s going to have it in for me now.”

“She’d better not. You let me know if that happens.”

“Of course, ma’am, but she is really good at her job.”

Mira nodded, resuming her crouch next to her canister. “I know, but part of all our jobs is to get along and not kill each other before the enemy does.”

* * * * *

Nine minutes later, Mira entered the bridge, still in her armor, helmet tucked under arm.

“Commander on the bridge!” Janice announced as she rose from Mira’s seat.

The two ensigns straightened and nodded in her direction before returning to their tasks.

“We’re on our first burn, ma’am,” Janice reported. “We’ll be in position to fire the grapeshot in seven minutes.”

“Excellent,” Mira replied, taking her seat. “Anything from the Bozan frigate?”

“Not a peep, ma’am,” Brock answered, his brow furrowed. “I’ve sent them the standard hail, and nothing. I don’t think they really plan to talk about this.”

The commander nodded. “I’m getting that impression as well.” She glanced at Janice, who was settling into her normal station. “And the missiles?”

“In the tubes. I recommend we fire them while behind the moonlet, as we discussed. Send them around the far side so they hit the frigate in the flank after the grapeshot does its thing.”

Mira pulled the plots up on her console and confirmed that the weapons would be out of sight for most of their journey. “Lay it in.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

“Mir—Commander?” Brock asked hesitantly. “Do you really think you found an alien bot down there?”

She drew a long breath, buying herself thinking time before answering.

“I can’t speak definitively one way or another. It’s definitely unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. If we hadn’t just flown past an alien artifact last week, I would have dismissed the thought out of hand, but now, knowing what we know? It’s hard to say it isn’t. Maybe once we get into the dark layer, we can take a closer look.”

Emma cleared her throat, and Mira gave her an understanding nod.

“We will make it there. I promise.”

The pilot gave a half smile, then glanced at her brother. “You’re right, Commander. We’ve got this.”

Mira rose, her hands moving to straighten her tunic before she remembered it was still in the armory. “Well, I suppose I should hail this bastard. No reason to let them accuse that I fired without warning.”

“I think their attack in Regina and non-response here covers that,” Janice said.

“Still, better safe than sorry.” Mira nodded to Brock. “Set me up.”

His hands danced over his console for a moment, and then he nodded to her. “All set, ma’am. We’re broadcasting on a dozen standard frequencies.”

“Bozan frigate, broadcasting ident AZB-9910-C114. You are ordered to change course and leave the Khorina System by the most expedient route. Your company has been involved in known criminal activity, and records of our prior engagement in Regina have already been sent by probe to Bysmark. By the time you return to Regina, a full investigation will be underway.

“I say all of this to let you know that any aggression against us will get you nowhere. Moreover, it is all being observed by remote probes, and those records will find their way back to Bysmark as well. Continue down this path and you’ll see yourselves up for life in prison—perhaps even a charge of treason.

“If you do not change course immediately, you will be fired upon. This is your final warning.”

Mira wondered if she should add anything further. Finally deciding that the message was sufficient, she was about to sit when Brock straightened.

“Oh, that got their attention. I have a response.”

“Set up the channel.”

A moment later, the same man they’d spoken with in Regina appeared on the screen, and Mira quickly schooled away the surprise she knew had to have flashed across her face.

“I see you survived our little encounter in Regina,” the commander ventured, breaking the moment of silence that hung between them. “Have you decided to take a beating?”

“Such a brash young woman,” the Bozan captain said. “You barely survived against our corvettes last time we met. This frigate outguns your ship five to one, and that was before you took a beating at Regina.”

<He’s not wrong,> Janice said. <If this little plan of yours doesn’t work, we’re just going to have to pray that we can outrun him.>

Mira glanced at the main display, which now showed the enemy ship’s range to be three light minutes. Close enough to begin seeding space with missiles, but still too far for energy weapons.

“I’m confident in our abilities,” she replied. “If you think we’ll be an easy target, you’ve got another think coming. Besides, attacking us is only going to make things worse for yourself. Leave this system and you’ll only have to pay for the crimes you committed in Regina.”

The Bozas commander leant forward, his teeth showing, but not in a smile. “And what if I don’t care?”

“Bozas isn’t a group of pirates,” Mira replied. “Your corporate overlords won’t be happy to have the Outer Alliance government tearing your company apart to find the rot.”

The man shrugged. “You seem to think that we’d give a shit. Now that we have the artifact and are unlocking its secrets, Bozas is untouchable. Everyone in the OA will come to us as supplicants.”

Supplicants? Does he think he’ll be a king?

“Alright then,” Mira said, shaking her head. “You’re clearly suffering from some sort of psychotic break—for that, I’m sorry. I hope that your ship’s crew is smarter than you, but if they’re not…well, it’s their funeral.”

She cut the channel, and sat, more scared than she’d ever remembered feeling.

“I think you came out on top, ma’am,” Brock said. “Really good.”

The commander pursed her lips and glanced at Janice. “What do you think?”

The AI sighed. “I think that we need to adjust our firing patterns. As soon as we send off the rails, we need to boost hard for Khorina’s star. Let him follow us straight into its light. He’ll lose us in the corona, and we’ll do a gravity assist, coming around on a vector for Bysmark. It should be enough to hit the DL before they can catch us.”

“And if they have RMs?” Emma asked in a small voice.

“Then we’ll take them out,” Mira replied, inserting as much steel in her voice as she could. “We survived it before, we can do it again.” She turned to Janice. “Plot that course and set the firing pattern.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The burn was only ninety seconds away, and Mira alerted the rest of the crew to be ready for live fire. The grapeshot canisters were loaded, and the missiles ready to slip out into the dark.

Despite the fact that it felt like a fool’s hope, Mira couldn’t help but hang onto a sliver of optimism that her plan just might work. If the optimal amount of grapeshot hit the enemy ship, it would be equivalent to the kinetic impact of three rail shots. The missiles they’d let loose—twelve in total—were more than enough to destroy a frigate if its shields were down.

The real question was whether they could catch the enemy by surprise. The Bozan vessel had no other eyes in the system, no way to spy on what the Inquiry was up to behind Kyra’s moonlet. Normally, such a thing wasn’t possible; systems were so filled with probes and relays that, so long as you were close enough, you could see your enemy in near real-time from several angles.

Her hope was that the Bozan commander wouldn’t think of that angle, that he would be blind at a crucial time, and that that blindness would make him open to the sort of surprise that combat in the void rarely offered.

They slipped behind the moon.

“Missiles away,” Janice announced a moment later, followed by a series of low vibrations in the deck. “Rail firing. Four, six, eight, ten shots away.”

“Detonate, you bastards,” Mira whispered, watching the ten canisters on the forward display.

She and Lorra had placed explosive charges in each of the devices. Charges with enough energy to spread the debris over a hundred kilometers of space.

A sigh escaped her lips as the first canister blew, quickly followed by eight others. Only one didn’t, and it was on the periphery of the field. With any luck, it wouldn’t be needed.

Stars, we could use some luck.

Ten seconds later, the Inquiry emerged from behind the moonlet, and Emma began her sequence. Her initial burns pivoted the ship and brought their engine wash out of line with the grapeshot just enough that they wouldn’t disturb the pattern.

“Hit it when you’re ready, Ensign,” Mira ordered.

“Hitting it,” Emma said in a quiet voice. “Let’s hope we can outrun those bastards.”

CHAPTER 26 - KRAI

GALACTIC DATE: 412.12.153

LOCATION: Far Patrol Shell, XI Phrysi

REGION: Void, Mass Conformity Qa-Loar

The cycles had passed slowly as Phrysi continued to drift in the fluid orb’s clouds, endlessly swimming in the opaque haze that protected its lone occupant.

During that time, Krai had watched through kes probes’ eyes as the strangers’ travelshell journeyed to the dead orb, settling into orbit near the small station. Je was curious about the shell they sent to it, and then down to the surface.

Je wondered if there were organics within, or if the shell was a machine, like the one je had sent down keself, albeit larger. The dead orb was dense and would pull so hard at one’s mass that it would be terribly uncomfortable to move around, though Krai was all too aware of creatures that were capable of spending time in such conditions.

A one shudders at the thought.

Eventually, the small shell returned from the surface. It moved in what Krai considered to be a rather inefficient way, boosting hard only to brake again.

Kes thoughts immediately went to concern that they’d found his probe, but je had sent the machine commands to destroy itself, and had received confirmation that kes probe was no more.

The most likely summation was that some other threat had arrived.

Krai turned the eyes of kes probes toward the area of the mass conformity where the strangers’ ship had arrived. At first, they didn’t see anything, but after several sweeps, the signs of a faint ion trail began to appear.

In a populated system, it would be entirely invisible, lost in the clouds created by other travelshells, but in a system where—at present—only three shells swam through the void, it was much more difficult to hide.

Once the ion trail became clear, not much time elapsed before je found the vessel emitting it. The craft was larger than je would have expected, nearly three times the mass of the first strangers’ shell.

And it was moving fast.

Not only that, but the second shell was on a vector that would take it close to the dead orb and the first shell.

Krai really had no way of predicting the actions of the strangers, and even less ability to understand their motivations. However, were they X’Liy travelshells, je would ascribe malice to the newcomer’s motivations.

Were it kes approaching the first strangers, je would launch mass lances at the enemy vessel without decreasing velocity. If their loadouts matched the shells’ relative sizes, it would make for a killing blow with low risk.

In the void, velocity most often led to victory.

With the possibility of the strangers engaging in combat, Krai began to prepare Phrysi to leave the fluid orb’s clouds. That process was aided by the strangers’ probes shifting from monitoring the planet to watching the distant engagement.

The first travelshell finally broke orbit from the dead orb, boosting on a vector that put its travel path at just over one hundred and thirty degrees from the newcomers.

It seemed like a strange path to take, but then again, the strangers were alien. There was no way to tell what they would consider to be logical.

As Krai watched, the smaller vessel passed behind the dead orb’s satellite, temporarily blocking it from the second shell’s view. A moment later, it fired a kinetic weapon—while it was aimed at the smaller orb. For a moment, je couldn’t make sense of it, but then realized that with their lateral velocity, the shells would clear the orb and continue on a path toward the newcomer’s vessel.

Then the shells exploded, leaving Krai to wonder what the point was at all. That event was followed by twelve new ion trails appearing near the strangers’ ship.

Solid lances. A surprise of some sort?

Trusting that the strangers were now focused entirely on one another, Krai initialized Phrysi’s engines, thrusting the shell out of the fluid orb’s clouds and into the void. Je let the vessel drift for several minutes, using graviton drives to turn it and break free of the orb’s mass-pull.

Back near the dead orb, once the first strangers’ shell passed the satellite, it turned and boosted toward the mass conformity’s center. Krai surmised that it was seeking to hide in the light orb’s winds and radiation—a short-term plan, but one that just might work. Je was less interested in their escape than the results of their surprise attack on the newcomers.

Knowledge of the strangers’ mode of combat would be well received by the Far Patrol—especially since they appeared to be aggressive in nature.

That revelation didn’t surprise Krai as much as je might have thought. It had long been postulated that more aggressive creatures would be the ones to rise to supremacy on their various worlds; not because they were the smartest or most capable, but because their behavior stifled other species.

The X’Liy might be the exception to that rule. Aggressive if necessary, most inclusions preferred to focus inward, rarely entering into dispute with others. There were, of course, dissidents; if none existed, there would be little need for the Far Patrol.

But Krai’s people had a long history. They had traveled through the void for millions of cycles. Even though peace had been the norm, conflicts had arisen, both amongst the X’Liy and with the artificial minds.

In short, the X’Liy were no strangers to violence.

Krai kept kes probes focused on the second travelshell, waiting eagerly to see what would come of the conflict. It was a shame that the smaller vessel’s kinetics had failed in such a strange fashion; je would have liked to see how much energy they delivered, as well as the methods the defending shell would use to avoid damage.

After nearly tenth-cycle, something strange happened. The newcomers’ shell began to light up with impacts. First a few, then many more. The ship shifted vector, but still encountered more.

Endless ocean, they destroyed their kinetics on purpose!

The barrage of small, high-velocity strikes took their toll on the enemy shield, and before they were past, the first strangers’ mass lances came to life, streaking toward the second shell, each on a different vector.

Energy lances streamed out from the defending shell, slashing through the darkness in a frantic attempt to tear at the incoming mass. Four of the weapons exploded in seconds, but the others proved trickier to hit.

One made it through and struck the newcomers’ forward shields, the detonation enough that one had to believe the graviton protection would be overloaded. Krai’s suspicions were confirmed when another lance hit the shell directly. A third lance managed to strike the vessel, though the rest were destroyed.

One in four is not a terrible ratio for automated systems.

Krai focused on the damage and was surprised to see gas venting from the shell. Spectral analysis showed it to be mostly nitrogen with considerable levels of oxygen and carbon. The discovery shocked kes.

Can these strangers breathe miasma, like that which lies on the surface of some dead orbs?

Ancient tales—legends, really—told of the X’Liy’s encounters with creatures who breathed the vapors which lingered above oceans. They were a brutal and savage people, enslaved by terrible masters. Though there were no modern records of the actual conflict, myths spoke of the X’Liy’s struggle against them.

They often appeared as villains in later stories, reminders of the fact that the void contained many wonders, but also many dangers. The Cria’th, they were called.

Krai shuddered at the thought that his people’s ancient enemy might now have returned.

A one must have no thought other than returning to the Far Patrol and letting a one’s leaders decide what to do.

Deciding that expediency was more important than caution, Krai made the final adjustments to Phrysi’s vector and activated the main engines.

It was time to return home.

PART THREE

CHAPTER 27 - KYLIE

STELLAR DATE: 01.06.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, Scorpii Minor

REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

After a brief stint in low orbit, ensuring they had the necessary clearances for their planned maneuvers, the Barbaric Queen embarked on a short journey to a geosynchronous orbit above the target area that just so happened to be masked by several other cargo barges.

Kylie hoped they’d get there before Nadine and her team, whoever they worked for—if they didn’t, a complicated situation was going to get even trickier, adding in further complications she didn’t want to endure.

Too bad life wasn’t simple.

While Rogers brought them down, Kylie sat on the sofa in the library across from Grayson. He sipped his tea thoughtfully, but didn’t appear to be outwardly upset or emotional. Despite that, Kylie saw his worry in the way his eyes crinkled.

“She’s right about one thing,” he said finally.

“What’s that?” Kylie asked.

“You’re not ruthless. Nadine is. We both know what she’s capable of and that just might be the tip of the iceberg.”

“I saw regret on her face, and I heard it too, Gray. I just don’t know if I can trust it.”

He nodded. “You do, however, have one thing going for you that she doesn’t. You have more to lose.”

Marie.

He seemed to pick his words carefully. “We might need to entertain the idea that whoever Nadine is working for could be a bigger threat. It might be in our best interest to help take them down in the future.”

“For now, we stick to the mission,” Kylie sighed. “Do you want to prepare a QC message for Seraphina? You’re better at those than I am.”

Grayson chuckled, and the sound seemed relaxed. “Of course. I know how much she scares you.”

Kylie snorted. “Does not. Stop giving me that look.”

“What look?” Grayson asked innocently.

She only smirked. “You send the update, and I’ll owe you.”

“We’re a team. You owe me nothing.”

She slipped onto his lap, and it was a welcome respite from everything else that was going on. Kylie nuzzled his neck, and Grayson held her close.

“Do you still feel the old feelings?” he asked. “Do you feel the need to save Nadine?”

Kylie pulled back to look at him. “No. I fight for my crew. I fight for you and our family. That’s it. Nadine makes her own choices—I think even she realizes that. If she’s had a rough go of it…well, I’m sorry about that.”

“Me too. Next time, though…we can’t afford to keep letting Nadine go. You know that, don’t you?”

Kylie nodded. “I should’ve taken her in. I just wasn’t ready.”

“Are you ready now?”

“I hope so,” she said maybe a bit too honestly. “I won’t put this ship, the crew, or the kids in jeopardy to avoid a confrontation. I just needed time.”

“Understandable. I—” Grayson stopped with a scowl. “What was that noise?”

Kylie shook her head. “I didn’t hear anything.”

When she paused for a moment, she did hear some scratching.

“Oh, wait.” Kylie slid off Grayson’s lap and crept toward a closet next to one of the bookcases.

“Chuck, is there someone else here?” he asked.

“There are heat signatures, but small. Very tiny. I almost didn’t notice it. Maybe a game of hide and seek?” Chuck suggested.

Kylie firmed her lips and pushed on the access panel. The door opened, and something white and fluffy flew past her face.

She yelped and fell backward into a chair that flipped over and spilled her onto the deck.

Thank the stars no one saw that other than Grayson.

“Cap!” Rogers called out. “Are you okay?”

Well, so much for that. “I’m fine,” she huffed.

“Whatever it was, it escaped,” Grayson said. “We’d better find it.”

“It was obviously a cat,” Kylie said. “I could smell fish on its breath when it…pushed me over.”

“Fizz?” Rogers asked.

Kylie shook her head. “I don’t think so. It was pure white and, no offense, fairly thin. Definitely not our cat.”

“Let’s check all of his favorite spots, though. This cat might be able to answer what happened to MFP,” Grayson said.

“You want to interrogate a cat?” Rogers asked.

“Well, you make it sound crazy…but yes. If it’s uplifted, it might be able to shed some light on why we’ve been unable to get in touch with him.”

The former colonel led the way into the corridor, pulling his pistol from his hip.

“Gray,” Kylie hissed.

“It’s on the lowest setting. Don’t worry.”

She shook her head. “Better warn the kids to stay in their rooms for now.”

Rogers’ expression grew strained, but he nodded. “You’ve got it.”

<How long until we reach our destination?> Kylie asked.

<Half an hour. You’d better put on your speed boots!> Chuck tittered. <I’ve sealed off the deck, that should make it easier.>

Ugh, did he have to be so cheerful about everything?

* * * * *

They broke off into pairs and began systematically checking room by room, searching every nook and cranny. There were only two spots left, if the cat wasn’t on the move.

Kylie and Winter took Marie’s room and made her wait outside in the corridor, just in case.

The girl’s room had a pink rug, a play spaceship in the corner, and a big, fluffy bed designed for her dolls, covered in two white blankets. Kylie immediately noticed food crumbs on the top layer; same thing for the small table covered in play coffee mugs and a teapot.

Something had been in this room, likely making the lump she could see beneath the blanket.

Kylie crept toward it, prepared to pull the covering off. Winter aimed Dolph at the bed and gave Kylie a nod. Cringing at what she might find, she gripped the blanket and yanked it back.

“Mr. Fizzle Pop!” she screamed.

The cat who was supposedly missing was laying on his back, his paws tucked behind his ears, and a cigar in his mouth. He wore a dreamy expression.

“HEY,” he greeted, while a petite, white cat curled up beside him, purring softly.

“We’ve been looking for you. How the—Give me that!” Kylie snatched the cigar out of his mouth. “You could’ve done some real damage with this thing.”

“NOT LIT. SETTLE DOWN, TOOTS.”

Kylie raised her eyebrows.

“Damn, he’s getting more action than I am,” Winter grumbled, and Kylie silenced him with a look.

“This is Marie’s room,” she fumed at the cat. “This is where her dolls sleep. And you…you…” She couldn’t even finish the thought.

“COMFORTABLE. BEST MATTRESS.”

“Marie’s been worried about you! Rogers has been worried sick, and you’re telling me you’ve been here all this time, doing…doing…”

“BOINKING,” Mr. Fizzle Pop finished for her.

“Do you even know her name?” Kylie whispered on a hiss.

Mr. Fizzle Pop leveled a look at her. “WHY MATTER?”

The captain exhaled heavily from her nose. “And to think I worried about you.”

<We’ve reached geosync,> Chuck said. <Time to take the shuttle down.>

Kylie acknowledged, then glared at Mr. Fizzle Pop. “It’s mission time, for those of us who actually have work to do. We’ll talk about this later,” she wagged her finger.

The cat didn’t seem impressed, but Kylie wasn’t impressed with him either.

She tore out of her daughter’s room, sparing a smile for Marie before gesturing for Winter to follow.

“You seem a little angrier than I expected,” he ventured.

Kylie cringed. “Yeah, I need to get a grip.”

Winter nodded. “How about we use that anger to kick some ass?”

Kylie grinned and slid her arm around his waist. “I knew there was a reason I keep you around.”

CHAPTER 28 - KYLIE

STELLAR DATE: 01.06.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, Scorpii Minor

REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

Kylie, Grayson, and Winter took the shuttle down to the staging area about a mile from where the lab was located. They tried never to crew a mission so that it put both of Marie’s parents at risk, but sometimes, exceptions had to be made.

Back aboard the ship, Jenny was hard at work preparing lunch for the kids, while Rogers was readying to monitor the situation down below from the BQ’s hiding place behind the barges in geosync.

Once on the ground, Kylie and her team used a Planetary Police satellite office to review maps of the lab’s surrounding area.

It was in an isolated region, well north of the nearest city, the lab itself situated in an abandoned manufacturing complex. Orbital surveillance showed heat and activity in one of the larger buildings that jutted up against a long pier that stretched out into the ocean. Next to it was a boathouse with several personal watercraft stored inside.

“There are definitely people in there,” Grayson said. “But it’s hard to say how many. They have pretty good countersurveillance in place.”

“I want to go in hard and strong,” Kylie replied. “Nadine and whoever she’s working with will try to beat us to the punch, so we go in fast. Take no prisoners. Grab what we’ve come for, and blow the lab. Show them they can’t cross the Alliance, and stasis shields are off limits.”

“Unless we want to use them,” Winter said.

“Winter!” Kylie scolded and narrowed her eyes.

“Just kidding, Captain. Really. I thought you could use a joke. You’re feeling a little…tense.”

He was right. She did need to relax.

“I am feeling tense. I’m sorry. I’m on edge because Nadine is involved, and we never know what her next move is gonna be. Let’s just move out and get this done. Is Dolph ready to go?”

Winter stroked his gun’s stock. “Captain, Dolph is always ready to go.”

Kylie smirked. “Then let’s do this.”

* * * * *

Commander Reynolds had dispatched a company to aid in taking the warehouse, and Grayson took command of them—far better equipped to work with the local officials than Kylie. Kylie accepted this and ordered Winter, despite his vociferous protests, to stay with Grayson.

In the end, she only convinced him to remain with the others by arguing that his presence there would give her more effective backup.

“Makes sense,” he grumbled, glancing at the local forces. “Not like these idiots will be much help in a pinch.”

Kylie nodded, glad that she’d be able to effect a stealthy infiltration without worrying about the big man going off half-cocked at the worst possible time.

“Give me ten,” she instructed Grayson before planting a kiss on his cheek and activating her ISF stealth gear.

It was a skintight coating that functioned as armor and rendered her totally invisible. As strange as it was to feel like she was going into battle almost naked, it was far better than the stealth tech she’d used before falling in with more advanced civilizations.

A ladder on the side of the building offered her an easy way up, and she took it, nimbly climbing the rungs before moving across the rooftop to an access point close to the water.

At the eight-minute mark, she was still working her way around the security on the roof hatch—something that was taking her longer than she’d expected—when weapons fire started up from the front of the building.

Oh screw it.

She drew her lightwand, slashed through the hatch’s lock, and dropped through the opening, landing in a darkened corridor. An overlay of the building’s interior appeared on her HUD, and she hurried in the direction of a large room most likely to be the research area.

At the halfway mark, she felt a slight shift in the floor beneath her, and a hail of pellets struck her back.

She dove to the side and slid around a corner, checking her armor to find that it had deflected the shots—though its stealth capability had been compromised.

I guess I’ll do this the old-fashioned way.

She rose just in time for a man to jump out of a nearby doorway.

“Freeze!” he yelled, simultaneously firing a trio of kinetic rounds at her.

This time, Kylie was ready. She rolled to the side and drew her sidearm, firing two flechettes into his torso. The first cracked his armor, and the second did the same for his sternum.

“Stay down if you know what’s good for you,” she commanded as she approached, giving the gasping man a wide berth.

She continued toward the lab, releasing a nanocloud now that she was closer. The room appeared to be the right place, with three people in white cleansuits still present, but no sign of General Mulke.

<Chuck, lab’s a bust. See if you can pinpoint the general or any other groups in here,> Kylie said.

<Can do! No sign of the general thus far, but do not pass Go and do not collect two hundred dollars. New heat signatures are advancing on the lab. You’re on the clock, Captain.>

Then Chuck started playing what he liked to call ‘Jeopardy music’, though Kylie never knew what to make of it.

<Right. Thanks. But keep this line clear of tunes when we’re on an active mission.>

<Sorry, Captain,> Chuck said glumly. <No games of charades either, I guess.>

<What a smart little AI you are.>

The heat signatures were coming from across the lab, so Kylie moved around the periphery of the room, keeping the damaged side of her stealth armor facing away from them. Her nanocloud continued to filter through the space, looking for anything that matched the stasis shield emitters they were looking for, but thus far, coming up empty.

She reached the door the newcomers were approaching, and pulled it open wide enough to toss a flashbang in before slamming it shut.

A loud pop came from inside, followed by shouts of alarm.

<Moving into the building,> Grayson announced. <Kylie, none of the soldiers here are local military like we thought they’d be. I think we might be up against the other group.>

‘The other group’ was, of course, Nadine’s group.

<I’ll move quick.> She directed her nanocloud to swarm the three techs still working on packing up some of the gear on tables near the center of the room. It only took a moment for the nanoscopic machines to slip under their skin and arrest their movement.

“Sit,” Kylie ordered as she approached, disabling her stealth covering, now presenting a faceless, grey figure to the trio.

She granted them a small range of motion, and the three techs sank to the floor.

She walked around them twice before sliding her sidearm back into its thigh pouch and drawing her lightwand.

“Do you three know what this is?” she asked.

They nodded, one of them gibbering that he didn’t want to be sliced by electrons.

“Good, then you might be working on something more advanced than a cargo loader. I’ll give you one chance—I’m not kidding, just one—to tell me whether or not you’re trying to replicate ISF stasis shields.”

They nodded again, and one said, “We’ve been trying, but we’re missing something, some crucial piece of data.” He glanced at a nearby console. “We don’t have the originals, so—”

Kylie rose, striding to the station he eyed while she asked, “Where are the originals?”

“I don’t know,” his voice wavered. “We were never told.”

Kylie slapped a breach kit on the console and watched as it ferreted out the salient data.

Most of what she sought had been deleted, carefully erased, but it was clear that the general hadn’t succeeded in his goal as yet, and whatever he did have was gone, moved to a new research location.

Maybe he’s realized the Alliance is on to him.

Despite the techs’ presence and the soldiers guarding the facility, everything felt stale, and Kylie was beginning to feel like she had taken the bait on some well-thought-out trap.

<There’s nothing here,> she signaled to the rest of the team.

<A lot of heat signatures moving toward you, Cap. If I were you, I’d get out of dodge, pronto.>

<Thanks, Rogers.> Kylie switched gears and sent a message to Winter and Grayson. <Guys, we should—>

<We’re taking heavy fire,> Winter reported. <Get out of there, Kylie!>

Kylie sent an acknowledgment and turned, only to have something very hard strike her face.

She nearly fell backward, but managed to get her feet under her, blocking another strike on pure instinct before realizing that she couldn’t see her opponent. Without thinking, she released another passel of nano, which quickly outlined her enemy’s figure.

It was a match for Nadine, and she took a moment to chastise herself for missing so many opportunities to bring her former lover in.

Now able to see her opponent, Kylie avoided Nadine’s next two strikes before delivering a kick that connected soundly with the woman’s chest. The stealthed enemy sailed backward, slamming into a steel table with an audible crunch.

Not one to give up, Nadine only took a moment to shake it off before surging forward, charging straight at Kylie.

For a minute, they fought in near-total silence, the only sounds coming from the few blows that landed as the two women performed an intricate dance through the center of the lab.

Kylie was considering drawing her lightwand, when she managed to drive a fist into Nadine’s throat, cracking her armor. She followed it up with a knee to the former assassin’s groin.

A choked scream came from the woman, and Kylie lifted her bodily, slamming her foe back onto the table. The captain’s lightwand was in her hand a moment later, blade hovering a centimeter from Nadine’s neck.

“No more games,” she hissed. “Time for you to tell me what I want to know.”

“Where’s the stasis shield?” Nadine rasped. “What did you do with it?”

“Even if I knew, I’d never tell you.”

Nadine coughed, her breath coming in ragged gasps. “I need it, Kylie. It’s the only way I get the hell out of this situation!”

Kylie scowled, worried this was just another of Nadine’s lies. “Moot point, as it’s not here. The general’s gone, it’s gone.”

Nadine’s eyes flashed, not with surprise, but recognition.

“You know where he’s run off to, don’t you?” Kylie grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the table. “What do you know about the general? Do you know where he’d take it? Who the hell are these assholes you’re working for?”

“I won’t tell you. We might not be enemies, but our objectives are different. I can’t help you, Kylie. Not this time.”

More like not any time.

“If you think we’re not enemies, you’re clearly delusional.” Kylie pulled Nadine off the table and put a knee on her back while wrapping binders around the woman’s wrists.

She would have used nano like with the lab techs, but if Nadine still had access to Transcend or ISF equipment, she might be able to defeat those measures over time.

“You’ll answer me once we’re on the ship. If you don’t, I’ll hand you over to the Alliance with extreme prejudice. I’ll tell them to throw you in a hole. Do you understand?”

“I understand that’s what you intend to do, but you won’t get anything out of me. Taking me aboard will do nothing but put your crew, and your family, in danger. The Valkris Authority wants this tech. They don’t care about their assets.”

Who the hell was the Valkris Authority?

<Chuck, I need a name search.>

Chuck gasped. <Word search? Crossword? Oh, I am on this like cheddar cheese on tacos!>

Ignoring the AI, she focused her venom on the woman at her feet. “If I knew what to believe, maybe I wouldn’t need to do this, but I can’t trust anything you say. You’re no better than Maverick.”

Just saying his name made Kylie’s upper lip twitch; it was a name she’d hoped to never hear again, let alone utter herself.

“I heard you finally got rid of him. Good job,” her ex commended. “I can imagine what a relief that must be.”

“He’s dead,” Kylie spat. “I wasn’t the one that did it, but the fact he’s gone is all that matters.”

<I found it,> Chuck made a sound like he was taking a deep breath, even though he had no reason to breathe. <The Valkris Authority is a group of systems in the Maitreya region of the Transcend. They are resistant to joining the Alliance and wanted to strike out on their own. Not enemies, but not allies. They do play within the bounds of the law—or so it seemed before this! This is getting juiccccy!>

“So, not a terrorist organization. You lied again.” Kylie leaned forward and hissed in Nadine’s ear, “Why should I even let you breathe after this?”

“Maybe because your husband is coming. And how would you explain the fact you killed me while I was in restraints?”

“He’d understand.” Kylie considered just ridding herself of the problem Nadine presented, but she let the idea go as footsteps rushed toward her.

“Looks like we finally have her,” Grayson said as he came up behind Kylie.

Winter silently fell in beside him, eyes focused on Nadine.

Kylie nodded. “She knows something about where Mulke would be headed. She won’t talk, so she’s coming with us. By the way, I thought you were falling back.”

Winter shrugged. “We gave it one last push and their defense kinda crumpled.”

“Winter,” Nadine said. “You have something you want to share with the class? I’m not a piece of meat who enjoys being stared at.”

He shook his head. “Nope. But you twitch the wrong way, and I’ll blow your head off. I’ll take great pleasure in that, too.”

Grayson sighed. “You’ll do no such thing, we need the intel. Which begs the question, how did you come by this information?”

“Honestly, the location of a secondary lab was on the one of the consoles in here. I tapped them before our little fight, and wiped the original sources.”

Kylie groaned. “Well, shit.”

Nadine had always excelled at the tech stuff.

The woman in question twisted her lips to the side. “Your wife was thinking of cutting my head off a moment before you got in here.”

Grayson narrowed his eyes sharply. “I can’t say I’d blame her.”

Relieved that her words about Grayson understanding hadn’t been a lie, Kylie turned to her team. “I transferred what data I could find to the BQ, for what it’s worth. We’ll collect what we can and then blow this joint and get back on our ship.”

Grayson nodded. “Let’s get busy. For all we know, she’s called in reinforcements to spring her free.”

* * * * *

Once back on the Barbaric Queen, Kylie escorted Nadine through the corridors down to the brig’s level. Rogers was waiting for them, and watched with hooded eyes as Nadine stepped into her cell. She turned toward the thick doors as Kylie secured them.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Rogers said and crossed his arms.

Winter sniffed. “Not even MFP would touch that.”

“Hello, Rogers.” Nadine gave him a small smile. “No cheerful hello for your old friend?”

“We were never friends. Maybe for my part, sure, but the Nadine I knew never really existed, did she?”

Rogers turned and walked slowly toward the door, Winter following after, a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder.

Nadine snorted. “I guess he never wanted to see me again.”

“He never expected to.” Kylie shrugged. “I can’t say any of us even wanted to, either.”

“It doesn’t have to be this way.” Nadine’s voice was a whisper. “You know how it is, being a spy, infiltrating. I was doing a job when we met, but I really did care for you.”

Kylie wanted to scream at the other woman, wanted to tell her that the love they’d had was real to her. That after years of working clandestine missions, she’d never betrayed anyone like Nadine had betrayed her.

Instead, she drew a deep breath, blinked slowly, and said, “You’re right. Give me the information I need, and we can try to part on better terms. I’ll put in a good word for you with the Alliance.”

“I’ll never make it there, I’ll escape before you know it. Your usual strategy isn’t going to work, Kylie. You have powerful friends? Well, so do I.”

“Maybe I’ll reach some last nugget of humanity in you that wants to do the right thing.”

Nadine laughed. “The right thing? What is that?”

Kylie wasn’t about to dignify Nadine’s goading with a response. “Sit on ice for a while. When we’re done with you, you’re going to wish you had talked.”

Kylie opened the door to the brig, and Mr. Fizzle Pop wandered in. His tail high in the air, it flicked back and forth.

“HELLO, ASSHOLE!” He settled in front of the door and sat back on his haunches.

Nadine raised an eyebrow. “You expect me to crack…to a cat?”

“No,” Kylie shook her head. “I expect him to soften you up. Have fun, Fizz. There’s a pizza in your future.”

“PIZZA.” Mr. Fizzle Pop’s eyes bulged. “I LOVE PIZZA!”

Kylie stepped outside and slid the door shut.

Seeing Nadine, talking to her…it brought up a lot of anger she thought was long gone. Having her on the Barbaric Queen just made it worse.

She wanted to let it go and get on with things already. Why be so angry when she was with the man she loved, doing the job she wanted, and had the life she wanted? She had Marie, for star’s sake. Nadine couldn’t compete with any of that.

Kylie knew she had to pull her head out of her ass, do what was necessary, and stop harboring a decade-long grudge. But releasing her hold on that pain and betrayal wasn’t easy for her. It never had been.

She didn’t want to be angry. Kylie didn’t want to be that woman again. But how could she let it go?

“Momma!” Marie said cheerfully as she bounded down the hall. “Are you done with work?”

Am I ever really done? Despite herself, Kylie’s heart filled with love at the sight of her smiling daughter. “For a little bit, peanut.”

“Can we go have that tea party? My spaceship is filled with guests. Mr. Bear and Mrs. Snake have showed up—and mini Dolph. But you have to wear your good hat, because this is polite society.”

“Oh really?” Kylie squatted in front of her.

Marie nodded. “Uh huh! Miss Sera and Miss Cary are both going to be there. And you know what happens when they get mad.” The little girl offered her hand.

Oh boy, did she.

Kylie smiled at Marie’s small hand before she took it. “I guess I really am going to need my nice hat, then. Do you think I should bring a weapon, just in case?”

Marie giggled and squeezed her eyes shut. “No, Momma. No shooting at tea parties!”

“Silly me,” Kylie whispered.

Maybe that’s what life was missing: more tea parties and happiness with less shooting. Kylie certainly hoped to get there.

CHAPTER 29 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 01.07.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, near Kyra

REGION: Khorina System, Outer Alliance

“Oh wow!” Mira gasped as the third missile struck the Bozan ship, punching right through the hull midships to detonate inside. “That had to have crippled them.”

“I’m picking up signs of secondary explosions,” Brock announced. “Not looking good for them at all—oh shit.”

Mira’s head snapped toward the ensign. “What is it?”

“Missiles,” he said. “Dozens. I think they’re blowing their load on us.”

“Ensign Brock,” Janice’s voice crackled. “You’ll conduct yourself in a manner befitting an OASF officer.”

The man reddened and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Sorry, Commander. What I meant to say is that they must be launching their full complement.”

Mira nodded. “Then it’s a race. Emma, I want you to vary jinking patterns. We have to assume that Bozas knows the OASF’s standard maneuvers and their missiles know how to follow us.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the pilot replied. “Should I plot burns using our AP drive?”

The commander shook her head. “Not yet. I want to hold onto our antimatter reserves for now.”

Emma looked uncertain, but nodded and turned back to her console.

Mira shifted her focus to Janice. <That was a little harsh, don’t you think?>

<Perhaps,> the AI replied, her expression implacable. <But Brock needs to learn decorum at some point. ‘Blow their load on us’ is not appropriate phrasing. It’s also not tactically useful.>

Mira couldn’t argue with either point, so she gave a small nod before turning to her console and pulling up the scan data.

The Bozan ship had launched sixty-eight warheads, more than she would have expected them to carry, even if they didn’t have a massive hole in their port side that must have ruined a number of launch tubes.

She almost wanted to hail him again and revel in her victory, but she knew that would be petty…and potentially reveal more about her strategy than his.

“They’ve cut thrust, ma’am,” Brock announced. “Their current trajectory has them headed toward Hystera—or close to it.”

“Is it wrong to hope they don’t manage to effect repairs before they drift out of the system?” Mira asked in a low voice. “Don’t answer that. I know it’s a little wrong.”

“Not totally, though,” Janice said. “If we’d had the armament to do it, we would have been entirely within our rights to finish them off.”

“We do still have eight missiles,” Mira mused. “Don’t tempt me—though I think we’ll want to hold onto those. They might be all that saves us from that inbound barrage.”

“Ma’am?” Brock asked. “What about more grapeshot? Could we take out some of the missiles with that?”

“Perhaps.” Mira placed a hand on her chin and glanced at Janice. “It would have to be close range. Could you operate the rail with enough accuracy?”

“I could try,” the AI replied. “Can’t hurt. That plus the star’s corona and our standard countermeasures just might be enough.”

“That’s encouraging,” Brock muttered.

Mira wanted to scold him, but knew too much criticism would hamper his performance. For now, she and Janice would need to play good cop, bad cop.

<Lorra, how’re things below?>

<Oh, you know, just waiting for the inevitable while simultaneously hoping that thing I stuck in the stasis crate doesn’t get out and kill us all.>

<You’re a riot. Listen, I want you to make more grapeshot canisters.>

There was a brief pause before the dolphin replied, <I don’t think we’d survive if we used up the last of Aqua’s bearings.>

<I figured as much. Just cut up the rods, that’ll be enough. And don’t despair, I’m confident we can weather this—oh, and I’ll tell Aqua I have you working on something.>

A snort of amusement came from the dolphin. <I feel like Greg’s the other engineer now, and I’m just superfluous.>

<It’ll be alright. We’ll sort this all out when we get back to Bysmark.>

Mira closed the channel with the warrant officer and connected to the engineering chief, letting her know of Lorra’s task.

<That’s fine,> Aqua replied. <Greg and I are double-checking the graviton emitters, and she’s already reviewed the countermeasures. Thanks for letting me know.>

<You’re, uh…welcome.>

The connection closed, and Mira found herself surprised at how painless the conversation had been.

“Time to missile impact, thirty minutes at our current velocity,” Brock announced, bringing the commander back to her surroundings on the bridge.

“Thank you, Ensign,” Mira replied, turning her attention back to scan. “Wait…what is that?”

She dropped a marker on an ion trail near Pellick. “Is that left over from us?”

The ensign’s brow furrowed. “I—I don’t think so. It doesn’t match our signature…or anything Bozas flies.”

“That we know of,” Emma added. “Though my money is on it being our alien ship.”

“You mean whoever dropped the not-octobot on Kyra?” Mira asked.

The pilot nodded. “I mean, our scan spotted something in Pellick’s clouds. I didn’t believe for a second it was a malfunction in our nodes. The fact that we found their probe confirms it.”

An agitated breath hissed past Mira’s lips. “Stars, just what we need—to be fighting off Bozas while an alien species slips away.”

“Might that be alright if they slip away?” Janice asked. “First contact seems like something a better equipped team should handle.”

“I don’t necessarily want to make first contact,” Mira replied, surprised that Janice would take the stance she had. “But they know about us, and they’re trying to learn more. It would be nice if we knew a bit about them, too.”

“Might not be first contact, either,” Brock added. “If Bozas has that artifact—and it looks like its makers are still around—then they might already be interacting.”

Mira pointed at Brock while nodding. “What he said.”

The AI tilted her head. “Alright…I didn’t actually consider that. In that case, we definitely want to open official channels rather than let the corporations handle it.”

“That settles it,” the commander announced. “We need to lose these missiles, then slingshot around the star and go after that ship. Hopefully, those Bozans haven’t spotted it yet.”

“If they don’t, they’ll surely spot us going after it,” Emma said.

Mira shrugged. “One problem at a time.”

She tapped into the munitions room feeds, glad to see that Lorra was over halfway done with the next round of grapeshot.

Note to self, Mira. Never again leave port without grapeshot.

The next ten minutes passed without anyone on the bridge speaking, each person focused on their tasks, doing everything in their power to ensure that when the missiles came into range, the Inquiry stood the best chance of surviving unscathed.

Or only a little scathed.

At the ten-minute mark, with Khorina’s star filling far more of the forward display than Mira was comfortable with, she nodded to the pilot and said, “Spool it out. I want as much time as possible when our speeds are almost matched with those weapons.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Emma replied.

The main display indicated AP drive deployment, highlighting that the thin, thirty-meter-long cone was protruding a meter from the rear shields. The cone’s purpose was to funnel the decaying antimatter pions into a needle-thin directional stream before they became gamma rays. The thrust granted by the relativistic engine was far greater than that of the ship’s fusion engines, but their antimatter fuel was limited, so they could only maintain the burn for a short period of time.

“Releasing antimatter flow in three…two…one…” Emma almost crowed with delight as she said, “zero!”

The Inquiry surged forward, now only two light minutes from the star’s corona. Not trusting her prior calculations, Mira ran through the shield strength and proximity, ensuring that the humans inside the ship wouldn’t cook as it passed through the star’s ten-thousand-degree atmosphere.

<Chief Aqua. How do your shield-strength calculations look for our slingshot?>

The tone of the engineer’s reply was innocent enough, but the words made her intent clear. <Oh! I didn’t think you were concerned with my thoughts on the matter, Commander.>

Mira wanted to remind the woman that she wasn’t required to ask each member of the crew for their thoughts on a given issue. If they had ideas or problems, it was their job to bring those to her.

Stars…how has she made it this far?

She drew a deep breath, schooling her thoughts before saying, <Of course I do. You haven’t raised any concerns, and my evaluation of our shield strength says we should be safe, but I want to know if there’s anything I missed.>

<Well, it’s going to be hot at first, but once we pivot to use the gravity assist, we can focus our shields on the bow. That should ensure that we weather the maneuver without taking any damage.>

<Excellent, thank you, Chief. Be sure to let me know if you have anything to add.>

<Of course, Commander.>

The sign-off was entirely pleasant, setting Mira’s nerves further on edge.

Once we get back to Bysmark, you’re gone, lady.

“Burn half-finished,” Emma announced a moment later. “Delta-v between us and the missiles is approaching thirty kilometers per second.”

“They’re within a hundred thousand kilometers,” Janice added. “Targeting the leading edge.”

“Fire when ready,” Mira replied. “Take those things down.”

Beamfire lanced out from the Inquiry, streaking through the black and grazing several of the weapons before they jinked, settling on new courses.

“Oh shit!” Emma shouted a moment later. “We got a plasma arc right in our path.”

Mira pulled up the view, cursing softly at the stream of plasma streaking from one starspot to another, tracing the lines of the star’s magnetic fields.

“That’s not an ‘oh shit’,” the commander replied. “How often does space give you a surprise obstacle? Go under it, and maybe we can lose some of them in the plasma storms.”

“At the least, I might get better angles on some of them,” Janice added. “They’re really slippery.”

“Alright, two minutes from the arc,” Emma said, her mouth drawn so tight, her lips were all but invisible.

Mira nodded silently, her eyes on the holotank, watching the red markers move closer and closer to the Inquiry while a wall of red grew closer on the left side of the display.

She’d never made such a close approach to a star, and according to their service records, no one else aboard the ship had, either. It was either going to go down as a brilliant maneuver, or no one would ever know what they’d attempted—the Bozans certainly weren’t going to tell anyone.

For a moment, she put herself in the Bozan commander’s chair. He had to be smarting after being slapped by the little corvette twice in a row. He had a serious hull breach, and had—to use Brock’s term—‘blown his load’ on them.

But should it become apparent that the Inquiry was going to escape, what would he do?

Mira checked the Bozan ship’s vector and saw that they were making small course adjustments—likely with their a-grav drives.

They’re going to meet us when we come around. The bastards.

<Lorra, are the canisters all set?>

<Just loaded the last one, Commander,> the warrant officer replied. <Need anything else?>

<Aqua and Greg are handling the a-grav emitters. Can you switch the loadout for our last eight missiles? I want them in the forward tubes.>

The doe sent back an affirmative feeling. <On it, ma’am. I assume we’re expecting some more shenanigans? Or is this for the alien?>

Mira snorted a laugh. <No, definitely not for the alien. I want to make sure that when we go after them, no one from Bozas follows.>

<Vicious. I like it.>

The commander shook her head.

Dolphins, especially those in Lorra’s line, had such cheerful, angelic faces that it was sometimes easy to forget that they were every bit as much the violent predator as humans. She’d rather be up against nearly any opponent rather than a pack of angry dolphins in mech armor.

The countdown to Emma’s maneuver was drawing close to zero, and Mira saw that in a rather daring move, the pilot was on a vector that would appear to pass over the plasma arc, but her plotted course still had them going under.

Hope it works.

“Brace yourselves!” Emma called out as the pre-programmed flight pattern initialized, her hands on the controls, ready to make any last-minute adjustments if the plasma arc shifted.

Granted, the navcomps would handle any emergency maneuvers, but a good pilot took a hands-on approach.

The Inquiry’s a-grav systems dampened the sudden shift in inertia as the vessel shifted vector to fly under the plasma arc. Though Mira couldn’t actually feel the directional shift, her stomach dropped in sympathy as they screamed beneath the stream of superheated gas that outmassed most terrestrial planets.

The forward display was filled with just one thing: the brilliant white light of the system’s star. Mira attenuated it enough to see the hazy atmosphere and roiling surface of the massive fusion engine.

It was a sea of plasma, and above it, the superheated coronasphere—which the Inquiry would be skirting as it performed the slingshot.

“A few didn’t make it,” Janice said, a note of cold satisfaction in her voice. “I managed to tag a few others that flew overtop. We’re down to fifty-one.”

“Hard to be excited about that,” Mira said. “But I’ll do my best.”

“I’m deploying the first wave of countermeasures,” the AI said by way of response. “They have to be running low on fuel. If we can make it around the star, we should be safe.”

Mira nodded silently.

‘Should’ was a tall order when it came to escaping this many warheads.

“Initializing the gravity assist burns.” Emma’s tone was almost devoid of emotion, though Mira could make out a small tremor.

The holotank switched to show a view of the star with a small red marker moving around it, the plotted vector a green line that would see them break away not too far from the plasma arc they’d just avoided.

But by then, they’d be traveling at over 0.07c.

In order to maintain such a tight orbit, the ship’s bow shifted until it was pointed at the star, the angle from the surface only seventy degrees, engines thrusting at maximum. Despite it being one of the most effective ways to pick up velocity, the close approach—burning hard while facing toward the star—felt all kinds of wrong.

“Down to forty-three missiles,” Janice announced as they crossed the halfway mark. “I’m having targetting issues with the aft beams, though. I’m not sure if it’s the star’s magnetic field or something else.”

“Confident  you can hit the rest?” Mira leant forward in her seat, eyes glued on the holotank showing the missiles chasing them around the star.

Janice shook her head. “Low, however the remaining warheads are almost in range for grapeshot.”

“You’re going to have to wait,” Emma said through gritted teeth. “The rail can only fire over the bow, and I’m not spinning this ship until we’re through the other side.”

Janice glanced at Mira, and the commander asked, “Will they reach us before we come out the other side?”

The AI twisted her lips, then shook her head. “Within a few hundred kilometers, but no, not yet.”

“Emma, as soon as we are on our breakaway vector, spin the ship so Janice can get her shots off.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Mira turned her gaze back to the holotank, zooming the view in on the remaining hundred thousand kilometers they had to cover—which would take only ten seconds.

During that time, Janice managed to tag six more missiles with the ship’s beams, and several more fell behind, either because they’d run out of fuel or been damaged from traveling so long through the star’s atmosphere.

“Twenty-one remaining,” Janice said a second before they broke away.

Emma completed a short series of burns to get the ship on a vector to follow the alien craft, and then cut forward thrust and spun the ship one hundred and eighty degrees, the bow now pointed at the remains of the Bozan barrage.

“Firing!” Janice called out, her tone filled with a savage optimism.

The rail lobbed three of the canisters, each one detonating a second after leaving the weapon’s barrel, filling a hundred-kilometer segment of space with high-v shrapnel. Six of the missiles hit the debris and were torn to shreds, the remaining fifteen jinking out of the way to avoid the deadly hail.

“Bozan frigate on scan!” Brock warned. “They’re only three light seconds out.”

The Inquiry had accelerated to 0.07c, which meant they’d cover twenty light seconds in forty-two seconds.

Janice fired three more canisters. Before they even detonated, Mira called out to Emma.

“Come about, facing the enemy. Extend the AP nozzle.”

“Commander?” Emma asked.

“Just do it.”

The canisters detonated, knocking out all but three of the remaining missiles as the pilot complied with her orders.

Once they were complete, she argued, “But the nozzle, it’s past the shield. Those last missiles will go right for it.”

“Then fire the AP drive at the last second,” Mira said with a wink. “With what those missiles have just been through, the gammas should be enough to push them over the edge and fry their electronics.”

The pilot’s eyes widened, and she nodded enthusiastically. “Of course!”

“And the Bozans?” Janice asked. “They must have beams online. Should we just avoid them?”

“No.” Mira shook her head, eyes fixed on the enemy frigate. “Our last eight missiles are in the forward tubes. Take that ship out, Lieutenant.”

She half expected the AI to balk at the order, but Janice all but growled her response.

“With pleasure.”

She fired the full spread a second later, eight new markers moving away from the Inquiry’s bow, while three closed astern.

“A little closer,” Emma whispered. “Just a little closer….”

Two seconds later, the AP drive kicked on, the ship accelerating once more on a spike of gamma rays.

Janice lanced out with the forward beams, tagging the Bozan ship at extreme range. “Their shields are back up, but weak. I’m going to one-two punch them across their port side.”

“Good idea,” Mira said. “Let ‘em have it.”

“Caught one!” Emma shouted before giving Mira an apologetic glance. “I’ve…uh…always wanted to try that.”

“Now try it on the other two,” the commander replied, her focus locked onto the enemy frigate, watching as it began to accelerate on a new vector, positioning itself to protect its vulnerable flank.

“I bet they thought we didn’t have any missiles left, since we didn’t use them to stop their barrage,” Brock observed.

“Uh huh.” Mira nodded. “That was my plan all along.”

Emma glanced her way. “Really?”

“Yes! I’d hope you think enough of me to believe I can be a little wily.”

“Almost there,” Janice whispered as she brought the missiles around the Bozan ship, which was desperately jinking as much as it could to avoid the incoming warheads.

But it wasn’t enough.

The enemy only tagged one missile before the first group struck its shields, knocking them out entirely. For a moment, the frigate’s engines flared, firing at max burn, but a second later, they sputtered and died, the drifting hull becoming easy pickings for the remaining weapons.

“Done,” Janice said in a venomous tone as the final four missiles struck the vessel simultaneously, the resulting explosions completely obscuring visuals.

When the light and energy had dissipated, all that remained was a slowly expanding cloud of debris.

“Well done, Lieutenant,” Mira praised, finally turning her focus back to the last two enemy warheads closing in on the Inquiry’s AP nozzle. “Should we come around again?” she asked Emma as the gap closed to a few hundred kilometers. “We’re nearly out of antimatter.”

“No, ma’am,” the pilot said through gritted teeth. “I got this.”

True to her word, Emma slewed the ship to one side, causing the missiles to adjust and re-home in on the AP nozzle. Then she slashed the engine wash across both warheads, triggering the first to explode, and the second to spin off course.

“I just had to learn how they reacted,” the pilot explained, her face flushed. “So…uh…did we survive?”

Mira placed her hands on her stomach, then shoulders. “I think so. Shit…that was something else.”

“Picking up emergency beacons,” Brock said, his voice wary. “Two escape pods made it off that ship.”

“What’s the range on the pods in that class of frigate?” Mira asked.

“Two AU,” Janice replied. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Uh huh.” Mira nodded. “Let them spend some time at the mine. At least there are no more drones.”

Brock’s lips twisted, and he gave Mira a worried look. “Can they survive till rescue comes?”

The commander nodded. “I saw an aired-up admin section in the refinery. Plus, so long as they didn’t skimp, their pods should have enough supplies to last a few months. However, drop a few beacons noting that they’re wanted felons, and list the charges we have on record against them.”

“Right away, ma’am.”

Mira turned her attention to the alien ship, which was still boosting toward a jump point twenty-six AU from Pellick.

Now it’s your turn. Let’s see where you’re headed.

CHAPTER 30 - KRAI

GALACTIC DATE: 412.12.153

LOCATION: Far Patrol Shell, XI Phrysi

REGION: Void, Mass Conformity Qa-Loar

Krai had to admit that the small shell had a sharp bite. The one commanding it was clearly shrewd. The way je had tricked the enemy into believing kes mass lances were expended was quite clever.

Alas, it is also clear kes have spotted Phrysi. Now is not the time for stealth, but for speed.

The jump point je had selected led to a mass conformity not often visited. It was marked as a navigation hazard, filled with the debris of a massive battle from ages past. Krai had never been there, and didn’t plan to remain in the deep black until je reached it.

Instead, je would fool the strangers by exiting the deep void midway between the conformities, and they would end up in a system so cluttered with the remains of ships and radioactive waste that they’d never know if Krai had passed through or not.

After making a few adjustments to kes vector, je brought Phrysi up to its maximum thrust, plasma pouring out of the engines and propelling it to the jump.

In an attempt to ease kes mind over encountering the strangers—and also discovering that they were at war with one another—je took to wandering kes travelshell, relying on the shell’s automated systems to warn kes of any danger.

A part of Krai wanted to reach out to the commander of the small shell. To congratulate them on their victory and learn what they knew. If anything, je hungered for knowledge, for the joy of exploring the far reaches of known space.

And now that je had finally seen the most amazing thing, made the most astounding discovery, je had to leave before even so much as offering a greeting.

It was maddening.

Still, Krai knew kes duty. The Far Patrol would want to see kes knowledge before a plan for contact was established—if it was to be made at all.

It would be up to the leaders, and je had to trust in their wisdom.

When the time to transition into the black deths came, Krai was ready. Kes mind was at ease, and je felt at peace with the decision to leave the system.

A final check over the knowledge streams from Phrysi’s eyes confirmed that the strangers were indeed in pursuit, though they’d not made any attempt to communicate—at least, not that Krai had detected.

It still felt like a pity to leave them behind, but nothing more. Even so, a whispering escaped kes gills before je dropped the ship into the depths.

Perhaps we’ll meet again someday, sharp-toothed commander.

CHAPTER 31 - MIRA

STELLAR DATE: 01.08.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: OASS Inquiry, outer system

REGION: Khorina System, Outer Alliance

<Lorra,> Mira whispered the thought to the warrant officer once she was alone in her office. <Did you have a chance to review the systems?>

It took nearly a minute for the engineer to reply, and during the wait, fear stabbed at the commander’s heart.

When the aft beams failed to fire, the number of failing systems aboard the Inquiry crossed the threshold necessary for Mira to believe that someone was actively working against the mission.

The lynchpin was that the failures, while dire, were all ones that would not cause the total destruction of the ship. Instead, they would cripple the ship, allowing the crew to surrender, or escape pods.

Up until now, the failures had centered around a-grav emitters, but the weapons systems were entirely segregated, so a random failure in those—especially one with no warning whatsoever—lent credence to malicious action.

Mira had separated the crew into people she could trust and those she was uncertain about. Brock and Emma were guarantees; there was zero chance that the children of Perez and Rory would be subversives. But at the same time, she wasn’t certain they’d be able to aid in an investigation into the goings-on aboard the Inquiry.

Lorra, on the other hand, had the knowledge and skills to help Mira dig into what was really going on.

Given the crewmembers involved in and around each failure, Lorra was the one least likely to be behind any sabotage. Not to mention that if the dolphin had wanted Mira off the board, she could have accomplished that several times on the trip downworld to Kyra.

Janice, being an AI, would normally be considered above reproach, but Mira was a student of history. AIs had often been on both sides of conflicts, and while they were typically less likely to be spies than humans, it had happened.

In addition, it was entirely possible that Janice’s report of the aft beams failing had been a straight-up fabrication. A subsequent test of the systems had revealed no errors whatsoever.

<Sorry, Commander, I was just getting chewed out by Aqua—coincidentally because she wants me to do a full tear-down on the aft beam control systems. So far, I haven’t found anything that points to a legitimate failure or sabotage, but hopefully when I’m done, we’ll know what really happened.>

Mira pursed her lips as the warrant officer relayed the update. <I wonder if that means Aqua is behind this and doesn’t think you’ll find anything, or she isn’t and also wants to know what’s going on.>

<Stars…if it’s anyone, it’s her. That woman is such a…uh, your pardon, Commander.>

Choosing to ignore the disrespect, Mira said, <If one were to have subversive operatives in the OASF, I would think they’d be more amenable—then again, maybe that’s her game.>

<It could be Greg,> Lorra suggested. <He’s so unassuming, never makes a fuss. Totally not suspicious in every way.>

Mira suppressed a laugh. <It does make for a good cover. He’s always willing to help and never upsets anyone. Stars…Aqua gets along with him, and that’s saying something.>

<That’s a sure-fire sign if there ever was one.> Lorra sent a chirping giggle after her words, this time eliciting an audible laugh from Mira.

<Alright, I’ll stop bothering you. Good luck. I don’t plan on getting in a fight with our alien friend, but it sure would be nice to know our beams are working—since they and the rail are the only things we have left.>

<I completely agree, Commander. I’ll keep you updated.>

<Thank you.>

Mira signed off and turned back to her office console, reviewing the after-action report that she’d been working on. It was nearly complete—another review and the XO’s sign-off, and she’d be able to encrypt it and file it away.

A minute into her reread, her doorchime sounded. Mira checked the feeds, unsurprised to find Janice standing in the passage outside.

<Come in, Lieutenant,> she sent, toggling the door open.

Janice strode inside, her face bearing a neutral expression as her eyes darted to the console. “Good afternoon, Commander. Working on your copy of the report, I see.”

“Yeah, getting a head start on it while the details are still fresh. You?”

“Mine is complete, it only needs your review.”

Of course…AIs have it easy with these sorts of things.

“Would you like me to do that now?” Mira asked.

Janice nodded to the seat across from Mira. “Do you mind if I sit, Commander?”

“Not at all. What’s on your mind, Janice?”

The AI lowered herself into the seat and took a moment to settle before meeting the other woman’s gaze. “I believe we have a saboteur aboard.”

“Oh?” Mira did her best to feign innocent curiosity, though it was impossible to know if an AI ever bought such ruses. “What has led you to that conclusion?”

“Simply put, there have been too many systems failures aboard the Inquiry. I know what you’re thinking; the ship is new, and the bugs haven’t been ironed out. Not only that, but we took a pounding in Regina. However, even taking those into account, the aft beams simply going offline is too much to swallow.”

Mira leant forward, interlacing her fingers as she set her elbows on the console. “I have been having thoughts along the same lines.”

“And you did not think to bring them to me?” Janice tilted her head to the side, a half-smile on her lips. “Am I a suspect?”

Mira shrugged. “I have no specific reason to suspect anyone, which means I have no mechanism for ruling anyone out.”

“I would have thought my actions would be enough proof of my loyalty to the mission and the OASF,” the AI replied.

“They have been. But they also align with your own self-preservation. The damage we have taken, as well as any damage we came close to suffering, was all something we could survive. Meanwhile, we successfully staved off any assaults that would have proved fatal to everyone aboard. I’m not saying that anyone made decisions based on a desire to cripple the ship rather than destroy it, but it bears examination.”

Janice didn’t respond for a moment, then a measure of stiffness went out of her posture. “Permission to speak freely, Commander?”

“Granted.”

“We should return to Bysmark. We’ve consumed all of our antimatter reserves, our missiles are expended, and if we enter another fight, we’ll likely run out of countermeasures—even if we utilize more home-made grapeshot on the railgun. We’re simply not equipped to tail this alien. And now that we have the possibility of a saboteur aboard…it’s unconscionable.”

“And yet it is exactly what we are going to do,” Mira replied.

“Ma’am, we have the alien ship’s vector. We know where it’s going. We can return to Bysmark, and they can send a proper team after it.”

Mira leant back and folded her arms across her chest. “We already had this conversation on the bridge.”

“That was before we thought someone aboard was working against us. You know that if that’s the case, they’re working for Bozas, right?”

“Yes.” Mira nodded. “But that alien we’re following has to know we’re tailing them. Which means they’re going to try to lose us in the dark layer.”

“You don’t think they’re going to jump to FN-371?” Janice cited the star thirty-seven light years away that was directly ahead on the alien ship’s current vector.

“Maybe. We’ll have to check it out, though. Remote survey has flagged that system as a navigation hazard with a rather dense planetary disk. It could be that they’re going to dip into that mess and try to lose us.”

It looked as though Janice was going to argue the point, but then the AI shrugged. “Alright, we follow them to FN-371 and drop beacons along the way to see if they dropped out en route.”

“And if we find a vector?” Mira prompted.

Janice cocked a brow. “Trying to get me to agree to another system hop? You know we only have so much fuel.”

“We can make it a hundred light years on what we have left,” Mira countered. “We’ve sent a probe to Bysmark, someone will be in Khorina before long, and we’ve dropped OASF-keyed beacons with everything we’ve learned thus far. This is the best move.”

“Are you sure you’re not just trying to get out of your parent’s shadow?” the AI asked, her voice low.

Ah…now we’ve come to the crux of it.

The commander took a moment to really think about whether she was trying to impress her parents and prove herself worthy of being their daughter.

“I don’t think so. Maybe I’m acting like a cocksure young commander with her first ship, but even if that’s the case, I think we are still capable of fulfilling our mission. Additionally, if there is a saboteur aboard, at this point, it does them no good to damage the ship. There will be no one to pick them up, no rescue. They need to get back home just as much as we do.”

“Unless they decide that killing you would be the most expeditious way to achieve that,” Janice suggested.

Mira snorted. “That’s a leap.”

“It’s something you have to seriously consider.”

The two women stared at each other for nearly a minute until Mira finally blew out a long breath. “Alright…we get the alien’s true vector, then we make our decision. But if there is zero evidence of a subversive aboard, then we continue our pursuit. Agreed, Lieutenant?”

Janice’s posture was defensive—which didn’t necessarily mean anything from an AI—but she gave a slow nod. “Agreed.”

“Good, then give me five, and I’ll have my report for you to review.”

* * * * *

After six days of travel, the endless black of the dark layer disappeared, replaced by the brilliant light of space—most notably, that of FN-371’s type-G1 star.

“Cutting delta-v and shifting vector,” Emma announced a moment later as the ship turned, slowing relative to the system, and moving them into a wide outer-system orbit.

“Ready to deploy probe, ma’am,” Brock added.

“Send it out,” Mira ordered. “Let’s see what it learns.”

The probe released and burned hard to shed v and turn back the way the ship had come.

They’d run out of all their purpose-built drones, but during the journey through the DL, the engineering crew had used leftover components from their raid on the X-Cor supply station to cobble together one capable of transitioning in and out of the dark layer, stripping the data from the beacons they’d released during the trip.

If the alien had dumped out the DL and changed course, the beacons would have—hopefully—picked up the ship’s corrective burns and calculated a new vector.

By the time the Inquiry made a full orbit around FN-371, the probe should be back with the information.

And let’s hope either it or we find something, otherwise we’ll be going home emptyhanded.

“Our little searcher has cleared our nearspace way, ma’am,” Brock announced. “Barely, though. The remote survey wasn’t kidding when they flagged this system as a nav hazard. Look at this mess.”

Mira nodded in silent agreement.

She’d been watching the ship’s scan build a current model of the system on the holotank. There were two inner planets that they could see from their current position, both terrestrial, and nine major outer planets—three of which were transjovian in mass.

But the planets weren’t what was interesting; it was the five dense asteroid belts separating the major outer system planets. Each one massed as much as a standard one-g world, maybe more. It was almost as though some angry god had stomped through and kicked a few worlds about before going on his way.

“The outer belt is just an AU in from our position,” Emma said. “What do you think about us coming up over the stellar plane, ma’am? We could shift to a parabolic down to the star. I think we’d have a better view.”

The pilot pushed the plot to the holotank, and Mira saw that it would give them a visual of the near half of the system in a fraction of the time skirting all the way around would take.

“Alright,” she said with a nod. “Let’s do it. Brock, I want you to drop our remaining eight beacons. Their scan’s not great for a system like this, but at least we’ll have a little more visibility.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll work up the best locations.”

“Good. Run it past the XO before you start releasing them.”

“Of course, Commander. Was already planning on it.”

Mira smiled and nodded in thanks.

As she’d hoped, the mission had done Brock a world of good. He was more confident, less defensive, and ready to lend a hand with encouragement and aid rather than derision and doubt.

Even Janice had complimented him a few times.

That was not all that had changed during the trip through the dark layer: the crew had finally begun to gel. Greg—always helpful, but not terribly outgoing—had begun to open up, and Aqua was now only sullen once or twice a day. Lorra reported that the engineering chief had become kinder as well.

It was almost enough to believe that they were becoming a family; that there wasn’t someone aboard the Inquiry working against the others.

Mira slipped her hand into her tunic pocket, fingering the small datacube she kept there for safekeeping. On it was a copy of the unauthorized software Lorra had found in the rear beam array’s NSAI targeting comp.

The warrant officer was certain the failure in the array was due to a loop the software had introduced that manifested as a hardware failure.

After some debate, Mira had decided to leave the breach in place but with additional logging protocols. Anyone who touched the programming for the rear array would be tagged, and the commander would receive a personal alert.

I just hope that I don’t regret that decision later.

Once the vector was set, Mira rose from the command chair and nodded to Janice. “Lieutenant, you have the conn. I’m going to see about dinner.”

“Aye, Commander. I have the conn.”

* * * * *

Despite leaving the bridge, Mira kept the scan summary readout on her HUD as she busied herself in the galley. She’d been preparing for a good meal upon reaching FN-371, and though she found herself hating the thought of making good food for a traitor to eat, she consoled herself with the knowledge that someday soon, whoever it was would be eating less savory meals during their incarceration.

Not only that, but every time the crew sat down around the galley table, she got to know them all a little bit better. Eventually, enough clues would drop that she’d be able to connect them to a person.

And nail that person to the bulkhead.

“Oh stars, that smells amazing.”

Mira turned to see Greg standing on the galley’s threshold, drawing in a deep breath, eyes closed, and nose upturned in bliss.

“Which?” she asked. “The meatloaf, or the stir-fry?”

“Do I have to pick?” he asked, finally opening his eyes and wandering toward the prep counter. “I gotta tell you, Commander, when they told me I’d be flying on this bird, I wasn’t expecting gourmet meals every other day.”

She shrugged, glancing up from her work. “I like good food and good company. You never know what you’re going to get in the space force, so I like to take matters into my own hands. Make sure I’m satisfied.”

“Hey, whatever it is, I’m just glad to be on the receiving end of the victuals. Do you need a hand at all?”

“Sure.” Mira jerked her chin toward the cupboards. “You can set the table and then grab some wine and water. Make sure you get white as well as red. Lorra can’t stand the red.”

“Don’t worry. Zero chance I could forget how she got last time she decided to ‘give it another shot’.”

Greg set to his task, helpful as ever, while Mira finished her prep and set out the first course before calling the crew for dinner. Technically, Emma and Janice were still on duty, but the AI was fully capable of joining in on the dinner banter while keeping an eye on the ship.

“Oh wow…this smell has been working its way through the ship,” Aqua said as she settled down in her customary spot at the foot of the table. “I’ve been salivating for the past half an hour.”

“Why do you think I showed up early?” Greg asked. “Granted, I got press-ganged into helping.”

“You knew the risk,” Lorra said as she joined the group. “I distinctly recall you saying so before you headed up here.”

He glanced at Mira and shrugged. “Guilty.”

Are you?

She shook her head, giving him a warm smile. “I appreciate you taking the risk. And thanks for the help. Means you’re not on cleanup duty.”

“Oh ho!” Brock laughed as he settled in his seat. “I see how it is. I’ll have to try that sometime.”

“You’ve had over a month’s worth of opportunities,” Emma chided as she entered, Janice on her heels. “Why stop wasting them now?”

When everyone had settled, Mira raised a glass. “A toast, to an amazing crew that has stood up to some incredible challenges—none of which we expected to face when we first came out here. And now, here we are in a star system no human has visited before, hunting an alien ship’s ion trial. To the intrepid explorers of the Inquiry.”

Glasses touched, and everyone drank, reveling in the warm glow of hard-earned camaraderie.

“Seems like this bird was well-named,” Janice said. “We’re just uncovering mystery after mystery.”

Nods followed the AI’s statement, and before the mood could turn melancholy, Mira gestured at the food spread out before them.

“Well, don’t just sit there. Dig in, all of you. Plenty more where that came from.”

An hour later, as they were finishing off the strawberry cheesecake Mira had made the day before, an alert appeared on their HUDs.

Everyone straightened, sharing wide-eyed glances as they processed the information coming in from scan.

“OK…if no one’s going to ask, I will,” Brock said after a minute’s silence stretched on. “What the fuck is that?”

“If I had to wager a guess…” Aqua paused, her brow lowering. “I’d say it’s part of a planetary ring. A big one, too.”

“The curve would suggest a circumference of a million kilometers—assuming it’s retained its shape after whatever broke it apart happened.”

Mira shook her head in amazement. “I can’t believe all of this was sitting here, just forty light years from Bysmark, and we never checked it out.”

“Well, we have been busy—and trying to keep a small footprint,” Janice replied. “Not wanting to draw attention and all.”

Emma chuckled. “Yeah, well, looks like that’s in the past. Attention has been drawn.”

“And they just left it all here,” Aqua whispered. “Why would they do that?”

“When they bailed on FN-371, it probably wasn’t this orderly,” Mira said. “These rings would have taken some time to coalesce, the stray objects getting flung out or dropping into the local star.”

“True, yeah,” the chief engineer nodded. “But it makes you think they must have a very advanced civ to simply write all this off.”

“I agree,” Greg said. “We’re not looking at some new starfarers.”

Mira cocked a brow. “Well, dark layer travel suggests that as well—oh shit! Is that the probe, back already? Is something wrong with it?”

“Let me see.” Aqua’s lips pulled down. “No…it doesn’t look like—wait…that can’t be right. It has the alien’s vector.”

“Really?” Emma asked, wide-eyed. “It’s only been gone two hours, that’s gotta be just around a thousand AU at most.”

The chief engineer shrugged. “Looks like we lucked out. It dumped out of the DL and immediately picked up the alien ship’s burns. They must have thought we’d start searching at the far end of the route, and course corrected out here.”

“Alright, then,” Mira rose. “Let’s get this show on the road. Lieutenant, drop a beacon with these updates, and Emma, plot our burns to get to the closest jump point.”

The crew rose and began to file out, but Mira coughed to get their attention.

“Umm, Brock, Aqua, Lorra, I think you three have something to take care of in here?”

“Stars,” the ensign muttered. “We’re chasing aliens and still have to clean up after dinner. You’d think the OASF could spring for automatons.”

“I think there’s a reason they don’t,” Aqua said. “Why don’t you start with clearing the table? I’ll put the leftovers in the chiller, and Lorra can wash things that don’t fit in the autosan.”

Mira shook her head as she walked, out. Aqua couldn’t do a task without taking charge of everyone around her. Though perhaps that wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

She made her way back to the bridge, thoughts half on what they’d find when they tracked the alien to a settled world, and half wishing they could stay in FN-371 and dig into the ruins left behind.

Either way, her fears of living a dull life in a distant corner of the galaxy were gone. Adventure awaited—perhaps the grandest adventure ever.

Just wait till I tell Mom and Dad. They’re going to turn green with envy.

CHAPTER 32 - GRAYSON

STELLAR DATE: 01.08.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Barbaric Queen, Scorpii Minor

REGION: Pi Scorpii Beta, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

They had tried everything to get Nadine to talk. It hadn’t worked. Now it was Grayson’s turn.

Of the adult humans aboard the ship, he had the least history with her, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t caused him his share of pain in the past.

He’d have to use every last bit of his diplomatic skills to manage a conversation with the woman who had caused him and his partner so much grief.

But it had to be done.

When he entered the brig, Nadine was sitting on her cot, her posture perfectly straight, feet flat on the floor, her curious eyes following him. It was easy to see why Kylie had fallen for Nadine so completely; dark skin, large, almond eyes, and long hair most would covet. There was a naïve quality about the woman that made you want to protect her.

Whether the impression she gave was real or manufactured, it didn’t matter. It felt real enough. She was either gifted by the gene pool, or by her abilities to manipulate and read a room. At the very least, she was good at her job.

Grayson knew she’d be dangerous to trust, but if they wanted her to trust them…he would need to go out on a limb.

“I’m surprised to see you come in here.” Nadine smiled slightly. “Think you can get me to talk?”

“No,” Grayson admitted. “I think if you didn’t say anything to help your former shipmates, there’s no way you’ll talk to me. Plus, you survived Mr. Fizzle Pop.”

“Only just barely,” Nadine chuckled.

She was in a much better mood than Grayson had expected her to be. He said as much to her.

“Oh please,” Nadine continued. “Do you think I haven’t been arrested or confined before? This is what I call a well-earned nap.”

<All naps are well-earned,> Chuck said, but Grayson ignored him for the time being.

He smirked and decided at least some of her attitude had to be for show. “I think it must be hard for you to be here with your former crew. I know you joined up with them under false pretenses, but I think things didn’t stay false for as long as the others believe. Or am I wrong?”

Nadine’s smile cracked, and she bowed her head slightly. “Maybe you’re right. But I still have a job to do. I have a lot to make up for with my home world…. They need protection, so I was assigned to get the shield tech.”

“What they’ve asked you to do is illegal. You could refuse.”

“Not if I want to keep my freedom. I helped the leadership, but I spent years avoiding my…less pleasant duties. On Valkris, negligence and turning the other cheek are the worst crimes you could commit.”

“Why did you lie about working for terrorists? Why not just tell Kylie up front about the Valkris Authority?” Grayson asked.

Nadine tossed her head to the side. “Tell the truth? I never tell the truth. Is that what you want to hear?”

“I think it’s what you believe. I think you think being honest is out of the question.”

She tilted her head to the side. “I wanted to use Kylie’s empathy against her. It worked, didn’t it? It has been over ten years, but people don’t change that much. She got back with you, didn’t she?”

“And that angers you?”

“I might hate it, but I hate a lot of things.”

Did she view herself as stuck? Grayson wondered about that, and planned his next move.

“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he told her. “You can have a life you enjoy. Now that the war is over, you could go anywhere.”

“Duty, obligation, blah blah. I don’t have a choice. Valkris needs me.”

“Nadine, you can break free and choose your own path. You did it before.”

“Yeah, and look how well that worked out,” she said dryly.

Grayson shook his head. “It can be different. The Alliance needs skilled operatives they can trust. Convince me, convince them, that we can trust you. Then maybe one day, we can work together.”

Nadine stared him down, and Grayson could tell she was trying to figure out his game plan.

“The Valkris Authority might want to protect my Valkris and all of Maitreya, but they are ruthless.” She shook her head. “If I don’t return, I’ll have a death warrant on my head. I have to do what they require of me.”

“We can help you,” Grayson implored her.

Nadine snorted. “I tried to kill Kylie, as much as it pained me to do so. And I tried to steal something I had no right to steal. No one will forgive me for that.”

“We all know the type of life you live. Spies take liberties and do unconscionable things in the name of their mission. Seraphina would understand, even if she hated it.”

Nadine looked pale. “I don’t think so. The Valkris Authority might be small now, but it won’t stay that way forever. They want to be a major player. One day, they’ll come for me. So I might as well get it over with.”

“Even if ‘it’ meant disrupting the peace we’ve obtained?”

“As long as it puts them close to the top, sure. There’s no winning this for me. I’m damned if I help you and damned if I help them, but they’re my home. So, if you would care to leave me be….”

Grayson sighed and wracked his brain. “Work with me, and I can get you back in with the Alliance. They’ll accept an olive branch if you want to play with the big boys and girls.”

Nadine crossed her arms and thought it over. “Working for the Alliance has appeal, I admit. But my career with the Hand ended in disgrace. Seraphina blew me off, no one would deal with me…and now you’re saying you can fix all that?”

“If we can get our hands on the shield tech and whatever source material Mulke has, I can. You prove yourself to me, and I’ll prove myself to you.”

“Let’s get real. You’re Kylie’s husband.”

“For all intents and purposes, yes. We’ve built a life together that nothing will disrupt.”

Nadine smirked. “And you’d be okay just…letting me out?”

“With restrictions until our deal is met, sure. You won’t have free access to the ship. You’ll return to your cell each night, and you will be escorted everywhere.”

“That makes sense. To be honest, I’d rather not be caught alone with Winter. He’s still a little angry with me.”

“They all are,” Grayson said. “Does that bother you?”

Nadine didn’t answer verbally, but her face flushed.

Grayson had his answer; she wanted them to understand. She wanted to make things right with them.

“Does Kylie know what you were planning when you came in here?” she asked.

“No,” Grayson admitted. “To be fair, I didn’t know what I was planning, either. However, she’ll see the logic in it.

“She doesn’t hate you, Nadine. She cares about what happens to you. I think Winter and Rogers do too. They just need time.”

“Friends, family,” she murmured. “You’re telling me everything I want to hear, but no one, no one, should risk their lives for me. I don’t deserve it. Send me back to the Valkris Authority empty-handed. I’ll accept their punishment.”

What a martyr, Grayson reflected. And here I thought Kylie tortured herself with past decisions.

“Give me a name,” he said, “a place, a star map, anything. Then I’ll do my part.”

Nadine nodded and took a deep breath. “All right. Fine. But I’ll hold you to your word. If you break it, I break you. Deal?”

Grayson nodded. “I’ll take that. I never break my word.”

Nadine tilted her head to the side with a smile. “One other condition. I’m going to need something from you today.”

He tried not to sigh out loud.

“And what’s that?”

* * * * *

Winter took the mug of coffee from the servitor and sipped from it without taking his eyes off of the two cats circling around his feet. “This ain’t right, Cap. None of it is natural. MFP is getting more tail than I am.”

“A lot more tail.” Kylie smirked and sipped her own coffee, which was too dark, too strong, and more like sludge than a drink.

In other words, it was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

“Mr. Fizzle Pop has a girlfriend. What’s so bad about that? She looks very fluffy.” Kylie bent down and scratched the white cat’s head.

The cat stopped circling Kylie’s feet and started to purr. Then she giggled and gave a headshake. “Oh, that tickles!”

Winter and Kylie both took a step back.

“Could she always do that?” Kylie asked out of the corner of her mouth.

“Fizz!” Winter hissed. “What’d you do to this cat?”

“UPLIFTED.”

“You don’t know the procedure to uplift another animal,” Kylie challenged, putting a hand on her hip.

“YEAH, I DO. HAD HELP.”

“From who?” she demanded.

Winter’s eyes narrowed. “Chuck!”

“It…it…wasn’t me! I am not the one-armed man!” Chuck proclaimed through all the ship’s speakers.

“What the hell do arms have to do with anything?” Winter asked. “You don’t have any arms.”

“Oh, rub it in, why don’t you?”

Kylie opened her mouth to speak, but before she got a word out, the doors opened, and Grayson entered with Nadine.

Kylie clamped her lips shut and took a step back, her entire body going rigid. He had told her about his plan to soften Nadine up enough to help them—she just didn’t think it would work.

Despite her reservations, she’d promised Grayson they’d try—and that she’d keep a very close eye on Nadine, along with a tight grip on her sidearm.

“Hi, Nadine,” she said carefully. “It’s…nice to have you join us for dinner.”

“It’s nice to stretch my legs,” Nadine admitted. She smiled at Winter.

Winter stared at her over the cup’s rim as he sipped his coffee, but did little else.

<Be nice,> Kylie urged him privately. <We need her to help us.>

<You can be nice to her after what she did? Really? We’re on a ticking clock, Cap. She’ll betray us, you know it’s only a matter of time. She’ll destroy us. I just need to make sure we take her out first.>

Well, so much for that.

<She’ll need a guard, and an escort to and from her prison cell every day.>

<Consider me signed up,> Winter said with a wink.

Mr. Fizzle Pop’s ears twitched, and his eyes narrowed. “KINGFISHER FRIEND. KINGFISHER DEAD. I KILL NADINE.” He growled and swatted at her legs.

Nadine stared down at the cat. “I did what I had to, but I’m sorry he was your friend.” She glanced up at Kylie. “Where did this cat come from?”

“He was Bubbs’ cat first,” Winter said.

“That explains a lot,” Nadine muttered under her breath. She looked around the galley. “You have a cook and a servitor? Well, that’s interesting. Things have sure changed.”

“It’s been over ten years since you’ve seen us. Of course we’ve changed,” Winter retorted.

Grayson cleared his throat. <Maybe you could settle him down,> he said to Kylie.

<I tried. I think he needs to get it out of his system.>

She was unwilling to admit she enjoyed watching Nadine squirm.

“The cook is actually Winter’s sister,” Kylie said out loud, trying to appear as though she was defusing the situation.

“Ohh,” Nadine’s eyes widened. “You found your sister? That’s so nice, Winter.” She squeezed his arm.

The big man reacted like Nadine was fire, and pulled his arm back.

<Watch it,> Kylie scolded him. <Remember what’s at stake.>

Seemingly unfazed, Nadine said, “Maybe I’ll go introduce myself. I’m sure you can all keep an eye on my every move if I only walk a few meters.”

Winter glowered. “I’ll make sure of it.” He guided Nadine over toward the prep area, but turned back to Kylie and mouthed the words, ‘Kill her’.

Kylie pretended she didn’t see as she stood next to Grayson and sipped her coffee.

Rogers and the kids entered the galley next, and Kylie felt Grayson go rigid.

“Nadine won’t hurt Marie,” she assured him. “She knows that’s a death sentence. Mission or no mission.”

Grayson nodded, then let out a sigh. “I hope this will work. Nadine and the people of Valkris are misguided. If we can convince her to help us, convince her to work with the Alliance to get the Valkris Authority to join us, everyone will be better off.”

“I hope we can do all that,” Kylie smiled. “But it sounds like the Valkris Authority might not have ‘getting along’ in their plans.”

“I’m sure we can change their minds. One way or another.”

Kylie sipped her coffee. ‘Or another’ was her favorite negotiation tactic, but she didn’t want to get ahead of herself.

“First, we need to find the general,” she reminded him, “and since Nadine has that data, we need to get her to talk before Winter returns her to her cell.”

“Then let’s eat and hope Jenny’s favorite dinner and dessert warms her up like I think it can.”

“You’re such an optimist.”

“I just think with my stomach.”

* * * * *

The Spican pork roast was charred to perfection, soft and succulent. Spicy potato wedges crisped as only Grayson could were served on the side, along with roasted vegetables. The beer and wine flowed like supply issues were a thing of the past, and dessert was apple pie, and vanilla ice cream freshly churned with the help of a servitor.

Nadine found herself enjoying it more than she ought to. Music played from the overhead, and Chuck cracked jokes, entertaining the humans and making everyone laugh. By the time the second round of coffee and a deck of Snark came out, Nadine felt longing aching in her chest.

She removed herself to the kitchen to grab a refill of coffee. The distance allowed her to watch the kids giggle, see Grayson and Kylie share a kiss, and observe Winter, who was keeping his eyes firmly on her.

He might’ve broken bread with her, but it was clear that he didn’t trust her. Nadine could say the same.

Even still, she missed this. She’d never felt like she belonged with anyone like she had with Kylie and the crew.

Not that anything would ever go back to being the same. But maybe, if Grayson was honest about what he’d promised her….

Nadine walked back to the table, and the conversation stopped. Everyone stared up at her, and she wanted to scream, ‘Just treat me like a normal person! Treat me like you used to!’

But she’d burned all those bridges long ago.

The fact she was even here would anger the Valkris Authority; they didn’t accept mistakes. It had been the same with her parents and the ruling house.

Nadine had hoped it’d be different after she’d helped her sister—it had been, for a while, but tradition was hard to change, so things went back to the status quo.

Nadine was useful. She was an assassin and an excellent asset. But she wasn’t welcome as a member of the family.

To save her own skin, Nadine needed to play ball. She knew that from the start, but had hoped her old friends would offer her a deal that was better than what was waiting for her back home.

The bargain Grayson had ultimately made was better than she hoped…which meant the team really needed this win.

Well, Nadine needed a win too. She was tired of always being at someone else’s mercy.

Kylie stared up at her, and her eyes were exactly as Nadine remembered. It made her ache in places she forgot could ache.

“Are you going to sit?” the captain asked.

She was so cool and collected.

Nadine swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat. “Farsis. That’s where we’ll find General Mulke and the stasis shield components he stole.”

“Thank you,” Kylie said, and for a moment, her eyes softened.

Nadine wondered if Kylie felt what she did.

“Farsis?” Winter cleaned his teeth with a toothpick. “Gray, isn’t that…?”

“Not far from here.” Grayson’s eyebrows rose. “Last I checked, the Marauders were operating in that area.”

Mr. Fizzle Pop gasped, and his eyes grew insanely large, while a guttural sound bubbled up in his throat. “BUBBS! WE GOING TO SEE BUBBS!”

Bubbs? Oh, great, Nadine groaned inwardly.

Maybe Kylie and company just should just kill her now.

CHAPTER 33 - CHEEKY

STELLAR DATE: 01.11.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Sabrina, Schista Station, Illium

REGION: Indis System, Ansylis Alliance

Cheeky checked herself over in the holo, twisting side to side, smiling at how the skin on her ass cheeks shimmered in the cabin’s overhead lighting.

<Ensuring you live up to your name?> Sabrina asked with a laugh. <You look good. Stop fretting.>

“I’m not fretting.” Cheeky shot an annoyed look at the overhead. “I just like to look perfect.”

<You’re entirely naked and you have one of the most well-engineered bodies ever made. Trust me. You look perfect.>

“I feel like you always say that.”

<Because every time I say it, it’s true. Besides, hot bodies are a dime a dozen. People are attracted to you because of your personality. You’re an utter delight to be around.>

Cheeky’s lips drew into a thin line, and she turned side to side again, wondering if her breasts weren’t just a hair too large.

<Oh for starsakes. Just get out there. Your dates are waiting for you. Why are you so nervous, anyway? This is, what, your ten-millionth night out with a group of girls?>

“Probably only ten-thousandth. But Fina has been gone for a year…it’s special.”

<Trust me, she’s just as nervous as you are.>

“What about Sabs?”

<You can pull feeds as well as I. Look if you want, but I swear, if you don’t leave your cabin in the next five seconds, I’m going to electrify the deck.>

“You can’t do that. It’s non-conductive.”

<Just go!>

Before Cheeky could respond, the door slid open, revealing Fina and Sabs standing hand in hand, waiting for her to exit.

Sabs was wearing one of her bright red frames, all smooth curves and silver accents. While her body was clearly robotic, her face appeared human—something that would go over better with the locals on Illium.

Fina, on the other hand, couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than organic. As per usual, her skin was a deep blue, marked by silver streaks tracing their way down her crooks and curves. Like Cheeky, Fina had long ago had her skin replaced with Mark X FlowArmor, a flexible polymer that was both programmable and could deflect anything up to relativistic beamfire.

It was a highly practical epidermis for people in their line of work, and had the advantage of functioning as a fashionista’s built-in wardrobe.

Fina’s face was a slightly lighter shade of blue, her hair framing it in light pink curls that brushed against her shoulders. Cheeky’s own long, blonde hair fell straight to the middle of her back—a style that she rarely changed. It just felt right for her.

“Was starting to wonder if you’d ever come out,” Sabs said with a wink, her hand stretching out toward Cheeky’s. “C’mon, we have to get going!”

“I imagine we’ll be alright,” Fina said. “We have a table reserved for the whole night.”

“Right!” Sabs nodded enthusiastically. “And the whole night only lasts for so long. Let’s go!”

Cheeky couldn’t help but smile and feel a wave of confidence in the wake of the AI’s encouragement. “Alright, but I’m not a third wheel, right? I don’t want to get in the middle of—”

“Oh for fucksakes!” Fina strode forward, grabbed Cheeky by the arm, and marched her into the passage. “You’ve done the horizontal tango with both of us more times than any of us can remember. Why are you so concerned about tonight?”

Cheeky’s face reddened, and she held her hands up in a half shrug. “Honestly…I don’t really know. Maybe it’s because you’re just back with us, Fina, and I don’t want to get in the way on your first night together.”

“When has that ever bothered you before?” Sabs asked. “You usually jump in with both feet, and it’s rarely an issue.”

“Rarely.” Cheeky spoke the word in a leaden voice.

“Enough.” Fina crossed her arms. “We’re going to have fun tonight. We’re gonna get drunk—OK, I’m gonna get drunk, you two can pretend to get plastered, and we’re gonna dance, do unspeakable things to one another, and just bask in the fact that we’re finally all back together aboard Sabrina.”

<Except you’re leaving me to celebrate,> the ship’s AI said in a mock sulk.

“You know what we mean,” Fina said. “You’re our home, Sabrina. We love being here, but it’s also nice to stretch our legs.”

“Didn’t you stretch them enough over the past year?”

“Not as much as I would have liked.” Fina’s face fell. “Things didn’t go as well as we’d planned.”

“Oh?” Cheeky cocked an eyebrow. “I thought you managed to capture him.”

The blue-skinned woman nodded. “Oh, we did, but like I said, it didn’t really go that well.”

“I’m…sorry?” Cheeky’s voice rose an octave. “I’m not sure what you were hoping for, but I’m glad you’re back.”

“I’ll get into it once we sit down…and I get some alcohol flowing in my veins.”

Sabs wrapped an arm around Fina’s shoulder, pulling her tight, before grabbing both their hands and leading them down the passage. “I’ve done the Sexy’s preflight, and we have a window. Let’s go before we have to request a new vector.”

“Fiiiiiine.” Cheeky couldn’t resist a laugh at how earnest the other AI sounded. “But I’m flying.”

“You know that we’re both accomplished pilots as well.” Fina’s tone was significantly lighter than just a moment earlier. “Like…both of us were flying starships before you were born.”

Cheeky heaved a sigh. “I know, and it’s really sad how, after all those extra decades of practice, you both suck compared to me.”

“I don’t suck!” Sabs gave an indignant snort.

“Like vacuum.” Cheeky grinned and knocked her hip against her lover’s red frame. “But it’s OK. I forgive you for your failings.”

Sabs glanced at Fina. “I blame you for this, you know. She wasn’t nearly as cocky when you first brought her aboard. Shit…in a few months, that’ll be forty years ago.”

“Time flies,” Fina intoned. “Especially when one spends twenty of those looking for one particular individual.”

The woman’s voice grew melancholy at the end of her statement, and Cheeky met her gaze. “Finaeus is still out there. We’ll find him…or he’ll find us. The oldest man alive doesn’t just vanish.”

“I wonder what he’d think of our little ‘cule we’ve formed?” Sabrina mused.

Cheeky rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure he’d be ecstatic.”

Fina coughed. “You realize your husband is my uncle, right?”

“Sure,” Sabs said with a laugh. “But it’s not like you have to have sex with him, just some snuggles here and there.”

A far-off look formed in Fina’s eyes. “He was always a good snuggler…but he’s also a bit of a father figure for me. That’s all just a little….”

“Don’t worry,” Cheeky winked. “I’ll monopolize him for a year or so when he gets back. Plenty of time to figure all this out. You know how things go, anyway. Groups drift together, they drift apart. Not everyone has to be into everyone else.”

“Fair enough,” Fina said, nodding slowly. “Either way, let’s focus on the here and now. We’re back together, about to embark on a new mission, but we have a night for the three of us before things get underway.”

“Speaking of things getting underway,” Cheeky glanced around. “Where are Nance and Misha?”

“They’re tending to the chickens,” Sabs replied. “I think they’re going to head on station later for a bit of a run-about themselves.”

Fina shook her head. “That’s a pairing I never expected to last. What are they going on now? Four years?”

Cheeky snorted a laugh. “I mean, if you count from when they admitted that they were an item, yeah. Really, though, they’ve always been eyeing each other. Nance just didn’t want to admit that she was ready for another relationship.”

“Stars…” Fina whispered. “Talk about taking it slow.”

Sabs gave the blue woman a sidelong look. “She did have a core AI’s shard in her head for half the time they knew each other.”

“Fair enough.”

The Sexy was latched onto Sabrina’s underside, and upon reaching the aft laddershaft, the three women slid down the rails to the top hatch on the pinnace, Fina unsealing it and dropping into the craft first before making way for the other two.

“Good, you remembered,” Cheeky said as she strode down the short passage to the cockpit.

“Remembered what?” Fina asked innocently.

“That I’m the pilot.”

“Oh…yeah, that. I was just being polite.”

“Stars, I’m going to ride back in the galley,” Sabs said with a laugh. “OK…not really, you two bickering about piloting is fun to watch.”

“She’s just jealous that she gets stuck doing un-fun work a lot,” Cheeky said. “Rather than being here with us.”

Fina shrugged. “That’s probably true. I kinda hope this time was the last. Seraphina has done a good enough job rebuilding the Hand into the AoS’s policing arm that I hope she doesn’t need me to step in again.”

“Don’t we technically work for Seraphina, anyway?” Cheeky asked.

“Yeah, but we’re more like free agents.”

“Huh.” Cheeky shook her head as she settled into the pilot’s seat. “The orders your sister sends don’t really feel like optional contracts sent to free agents.”

“That’s because Sera and I got all the subtlety,” Fina replied. “Seraphina…well, you know.”

Sabs chuckled. “Oh, we know. Remember when she was with us on a mission three years ago?”

Fina’s lips twisted into a grimace. “Nope. Don’t recall that at all…you know, since I had it scrubbed from my memory.”

“Oh it wasn’t that bad,” Cheeky said as she ran through a final checklist before signaling the station’s STC that they were ready to drop.

“I think you must have had your memory scrubbed,” Fina said with a rueful laugh.

“Alright, we have our lane and auth.” Cheeky lowered her sunglasses, loving the look the mirrored lenses gave her face. “Dropping in five, four, three, two, here we gooooo!”

The pinnace detached from Sabrina, flung out into space by the angular force imparted on it by the station’s rotation. Cheeky let them fall out for several hundred meters before engaging the craft’s grav drives to slow their momentum, steering them toward their descent lane. It took just a few minutes to drop onto the prescribed vector, and once there, she nosed the Sexy down, beginning their descent to Illium.

“Nice-looking world,” Fina commented. “The sort of place one could go to get away from the rat-race for a bit.”

“Sure.” Cheeky couldn’t help but laugh. “You know, if it weren’t for the fact that it’s loaded with core AI sympathizers.”

Sabs snorted. “How does someone sympathize with beings that are no longer present? We don’t know anything about their goals and motivations—other than that they hate organics and most other AIs. That doesn’t seem like much to bond with.”

Fina shrugged. “Big galaxy, I guess. Takes all kinds and all that.”

“That’s for sure,” Cheeky nodded. “Like those people we ran into at the Disknee World. Now that was an odd bunch if ever there was one.”

Sabs giggled. “I kinda liked them. Especially Cindy. She said the funniest things when she got angry.”

Cheeky ran through a series of deceleration burns, slowing the pinnace until they were only a few hundred kilometers above the planet’s surface, traveling at twenty thousand kilometers per hour.

“Coming up on our marker,” she advised. “Been a while since I’ve done this maneuver.”

“Want a real pilot to take over?” Fina asked.

“Oh, you’re a riot. When’s the last time you ran a geosync landing?”

Fina winked. “Two weeks ago. Did it with a kilometer-long cruiser, too.”

Sabs whistled. “Who put out the fires?”

“No one, I did it over the ocean. Safe as houses.”

“Landing a ship that big in a grav well is never safe,” Cheeky intoned. “I seem to remember someone named Sera telling me that.”

The blue-skinned woman grinned. “Well, that’s not me, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Notice how she does that?” Cheeky turned to ask Sabs, who stood behind them. “Convenient, isn’t it?”

A wide grin split Fina’s lips. “Benefits of being a clone—I am Sera, and I’m not.”

Cheeky gave her a sidelong look. “Seems like cheating. You’ll notice I never use that out.”

“Wasted opportunity.”

“So,” Sabs interjected, changing the subject. “The place we’re going to tonight has this amazing music and dance show. They do a mix of unaugmented dancers as well as highly modded shows. It’s supposed to be quite the sight.”

“According to who?” Fina asked.

“Uhhh…their net site.” Sabs gave an apologetic shrug.

“But the vids they had were amazing. They do full-sens, too. Sights, sound, touch. It’s wild.”

“Here we go,” Cheeky said. “Time for our own wild ride.”

The Sexy fired increased thrust, slowing from orbital velocity to near-zero in a matter of seconds. Those inside were protected by the graviton emitters firing negative gravitons through the ship, though even so, they felt a few gs pushing on their chests.

“You know,” Fina said after drawing in a labored breath. “Part of me wonders if you selected this landing pattern, rather than being forced to come down this way.”

“Who? Me?” Cheeky asked in an innocent tone. “I would never do such a thing. You know I prefer to fly the most sedate routes I can.”

Sabs snorted. “Sure, whatever. It is way faster, and the Sexy can take it.”

“Exactly,” the pilot replied as she nosed the ship down and fired the grav drives. “Express elevator to Hell!”

The pinnace shot straight down toward the planet, the indistinct blue and brown surface rapidly increasing in definition until the rows of ships at the spaceport came into sharp resolution. The Sexy was on a vector that would see it approach the ground a hundred kilometers to the west.

Once the ship reached a few kilometers above the surface, Cheeky leveled off the near-vertical descent and brought the ship on a slow approach toward the port.

“Got us a cradle close to the tower,” she said as they drifted over the rows of starships—most on the smaller side, like the pinnace. “Just a short walk to the maglev.”

“Important for the trip back.” Fina laughed. “I’ll definitely let you fly back up.”

“Then we start hunting those core AI sympathizers.” Sabs’s tone grew sober. “And give them a piece of our minds.”

Cheeky laughed as she brought the pinnace over their assigned cradle. “Not a literal piece, though. I only have so many.”

“I’ll clone a copy of myself just to slap sense into them,” Fina added. “Actually…no. That sounds like torture for my clone.”

“Clone of a clone might not be the best plan, either,” Cheeky replied.

The pinnace settled into its cradle, and the blue woman snorted as she released her harness and stood, stretching languidly. “I’m not some analog recording. My DNA is clean.”

“Sorry?” the pilot asked as she gazed at Fina’s lithe form. “Were you talking just now?”

“Not about anything important,” Fina replied as she turned to face Cheeky, settling her hands on her hips. “Feel free to feed my ego with compliments about how amazing I look.”

Sabs waved a hand between the pair. “Whoa now, you two. No sex before we even leave the pinnace. Once you start, you’ll never stop, and I want to see the performances at that club.”

“Fiiiiiiiine.” Cheeky drew in a slow, calming breath. “But once we get there….”

“Of course.” Sabs nodded. “Have at it and don’t count me out.”

The trio exited the pinnace and released a passel of nano to keep watch over the ship and the surrounding area before stopping at the yardmaster’s office. The visit wasn’t necessary, but Cheeky found that it never hurt to get to know the people watching over the spaceport.

The office occupied a building next to the STC’s tower, a low, one-story structure with a window filling half the wall, and a nondescript door next to it.

Cheeky pushed it open and sauntered up to the woman at the front counter. “Hey there, just popping in to see if there’s anything you need us to lay ident on in person.”

She kept her tone cheerful, but the baleful look the woman gave her was enough to suck all the joy out of the room.

“If I’d needed ya to come in, I woulda asked ya over the Link. No. I don’t need anything from you, now go.”

Cheeky blinked in surprise, but her smile didn’t diminish. “Oh, sorry, I just like to say hi to folks. Tell you what, we’re going into the city for the evening, but won’t be back too late. If you want, we can pick something up for you…or for the office.”

“What are you suggesting?” The woman’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“Nothing illegal.” Cheeky held up her hands and laughed. “But, like, maybe a bottle of wine? Some takeout from a favorite restaurant?”

For the first time, the woman seemed to realize that the two organic-looking women were entirely naked, with Sabs approximating the most attractive cyborg most people would ever lay eyes on.

“Where ya going?” she asked.

“The Primal Pyramid,” Sabs chimed in with a smile. “Really looking forward to the performances.”

The woman snorted. “I’ll bet. But, since you’re offering, do you think you could get me a full-sens recording of the night? I’ve heard their shows are out of this world.”

Cheeky shrugged. “Sure, that’s easy enough. Nothing else?”

“I mean, I won’t say no to the wine. Red. Brut.”

“You got it!” Cheeky’s smile widened, and she turned to walk out, glancing over her shoulder as the trio returned to the door. “Have a great day.” She finished off by blowing a kiss, and then they were gone.

“You sure love to put on a performance,” Sabs said with a laugh once they were a few meters away from the building. “I’m not sure if the Sexy will be safer because of it, or if she’s going to plant a bomb on our cradle.”

“It’s going to be totally fine,” Cheeky replied. “Did you see the look she gave us? She’d do anything to get a full-sens of what we get up to tonight.”

“You’re gonna scrub it, right?” Fina asked. “She is a stranger, after all.”

“Not my first rodeo,” Cheeky said as they followed the walkway to the maglev platform. “I bifurcate my feeds when I make these for other people. It’s easy to strip out any real personal details and situational info.”

Sabs laughed and shook her head. “You’re such an incurable exhibitionist.”

“Am I?” Cheeky tapped a finger on her chin. “I’ve never actually tried for a cure…who would want to do something terrible like cure me?”

“You’re right,” Fina laughed. “That would be terrible.”

Sabs joined in the mirth. “I beg your forgiveness, I never meant to suggest that you should change in any way, Cheeks.”

“Good.” Cheeky gave a mock-huff. “Not that it would ever happen. Even death wasn’t able to stop me.”

They rounded a corner and caught sight of the maglev platform. Several groups of people stood waiting for the next train, and the three women joined them, standing at the end of the platform where the sign read, ‘Next Train to Ursa in two minutes.’

“Perfect timing,” Fina said with a smile.

“Nah,” Sabs said with a conspiratorial wink. “I hacked their control system and had the train skip a stop to get here faster.”

Cheeky snorted. “Nice try, Sabs. We all know you’re too strait-laced for that.”

The AI gave a slow blink, her expression carefully schooled. “I see my long game has paid off.”

“Dammit…we fell for it,” Fina said with a laugh. “Played by our own ship’s AI. What’s your real game here, Sabs?”

“Sex. Lots and lots of sex.”

Cheeky laughed and shook her head. “This I believe. Heck of an elaborate plan, though.”

“I’m patient,” Sabs replied as the train came into sight.

The crowds began to move onto the lanes marked out for boarding, and the three women fell in behind a group all wearing Bella Nord shipsuits.

<Odd that they’re going into the city dressed in their work gear,> Sabs commented. <BN is a commercial freighting outfit, and this train goes right downtown…doesn’t stop at the warehouse district.>

<Maybe they don’t know that,> Cheeky suggested. <Or maybe all of their clothes got burned in a shipboard fire, and they’re heading in on a shopping trip.>

Fina shook her head, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. <That is one of the Cheeky-est things you’ve ever said.>

<See? Told you I’m incurable.>

<I’m actually the one who said that,> Sabs commented as the train slid to a stop.

The doors opened, releasing the cars’ passengers before those queued up made their way in.

A man in a long, black coat with a disheveled head of hair leered at them as he walked past. “What’s your berth, ladies? I can come by later for a good time.”

Fina snorted. “Is that a beard, or are you just eating your hair? I can’t tell.”

He muttered a curse and walked away while the three women moved forward to stand at the front of the car.

“That was a bit mean,” Cheeky said. “You probably made him really sad.”

Fina shrugged. “I can handle just about any style there is—except filthy. And seriously, I couldn’t tell what was going on there at all.”

“He was eating his hair,” Sabs confirmed. “Or at least stuffing it into his mouth. I watched him do it as the train came into the station.”

Cheeky mouthed ‘wow’ and shook her head. “OK, well, putting that out of my mind now. Refocusing on our night out. Ohmmmmm.”

“Ohm?” Sabs asked with a laugh. “Where did you pick that up?”

“One of the vids from that vault we found. It was about an ancient religion.”

“The vault in the Perseus Arm?” Fina asked. “How many vids were in there?”

Cheeky cocked her head to the side, eyes darting up to the overhead. “Well, if you’re counting distinct titles and not extended editions, eight hundred thousand, two hundred and forty-three.”

“So you’re scraping the bottom, then,” Fina replied.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

The group fell silent as the train took off from the station, speeding across the grassy plain surrounding the spaceport before slipping into a dark green forest, hundred-meter trees rising around the track like silent sentinels protecting the city.

“Don’t see a lot of redwoods,” Fina mused as the trees sped past the windows. “They’re really particular about where they grow—kinda surprised the locals got them to do so well on a steppe like this.”

“Isn’t Illium an FGT-terraformed world?” Sabs asked.

“Oh sure, but they rarely go to the trouble of establishing late-stage growth like this. Most of the time, the planetary engineers would set the climate up, get the second wave of life on the way, and then head off to the next planet. The changeover team would stick around to provide the colonists with different templates depending on what they wanted.”

“What about all the stories Finaeus told?” Cheeky asked. “It seemed like he stuck around a lot to make some wild stuff.”

Fina winked. “I did say ‘most’ of the time. You know Fin. He was—is—a perfectionist. Worlds he did are still some of the most beautiful in the galaxy. It’s really an amazing legacy.”

“And just think,” Sabs added. “Now people can use the gate network to see them all in months rather than lifetimes!”

Cheeky nodded. “Yeah, things really have changed. Granted, a lot of systems—most, I imagine—won’t ever get gates. We’ll still get to slog our way through the DL a lot.”

“You seem happy about that,” Fina said.

“Stars know I am.” Sabs gave a resolute nod. “Gates take all the fun out of space.”

“What she said,” Cheeky jerked a thumb in Sabs’s direction. “I mean, sure, there’s insystem flying, but it’s not like transitioning at the edge of systems…hurtling across space in the DL, praying you make it to the far side and dump out in the right place.”

“So it’s a thrill ride for you,” Fina said.

Cheeky crossed her arms, giving her friend a level stare. “How is this news to you at this point?”

“Uhh…yeah, I take that back.”

“Excuse me?” A man’s voice came from behind the trio, and they turned to see one of the Bella Nord crew standing a meter away.

Behind him, three of his crewmates were standing in a cluster, eyes darting between their companion and the three women.

“What’s up?” Cheeky asked. “Can we help you with anything?”

“Uhhh…well, we heard you talking about the jump gate system. We only learned about it a few years back and haven’t gotten a chance to use it yet—none of our regular routes are in systems with gates, yet.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Cheeky replied. “It’s going to take awhile for the gate network to expand across the Orion Arm, the mirrors take a long time to manufacture.”

The man nodded. “I’d picked that up. Is the network really as extensive as we’ve heard, though? And can you really go to any destination from a gate?”

“Yup!” she replied with a cheerful smile. “So long as it’s not interdicted.”

“Wait…that’s new information. Some systems are off the network?” His brows knit together in confusion, and the three behind him shared an uncertain look.

“Not exactly. They just might have a field set up around the star system that will knock a ship out of gate transit.”

“Stars shitting!” the man exclaimed. “Does that…does it destroy the ship?”

“No.” Cheeky smiled as she shook her head. “Just dumps you into regular space. It’s happened to us a few times, and we didn’t take any damage.”

“You have a mirror ship?” one of the man’s crewmates asked, taking a step forward.

“Oh, no.” She held up a hand, waving it side to side. “We were on a tug. They were just newly interdicted systems.”

<Liar,> Sabs chided on the group’s channel.

<I don’t need to spread it around that we have the only gate-capable ship in the system.>

<Or that we’re hauling a gate,> Fina added.

<Especially that,> Cheeky confirmed.

“But you can go clear across the galaxy?” the man asked, sounding both worried and hopeful.

“So long as the tugs available have the power to go that far—you also have to pay for the time the tug will be out of commission, traveling back to the gate network. It makes jumping across the galaxy prohibitively expensive.”

“Can you just buy the mirrors and jump yourself?” he asked.

<This is bordering on suspicious,> Fina cautioned. <I feel like we’re getting closer to the questions he wanted to ask in the first place.>

“No.” Cheeky pursed her lips. “You can’t. Only select militaries have access to the mirrors right now.”

“In the Orion Arm,” the man clarified. “From what we’ve picked up, out in the Transcend, there are private organizations with mirror ships.”

Cheeky shrugged. “I’ve heard that too, but I’ve also heard it’s nonsense. Never been out that far myself. Everything I’ve ever seen has been tugs and military craft.” She glanced back at Fina and Sabs. “What about you two?”

“Same here,” Fina said, while Sabs bobbed her head in agreement. “Never seen a private ship with its own gate mirror.”

“OK…well, I guess that makes sense,” the man replied, eyes dropping as he sighed. “We just need to make a jump out to Deneb, and it would take years to get there otherwise, but the contract is so lucrative that it would be nuts not to take it.”

“Well, Deneb’s on the network, so the tug fee would be minimal. Closest system to here with a gate is Orhault, just a few weeks coreward.”

The man turned back to his crewmates, one of whom shrugged.

“Alright,” he said after turning back. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Sorry I don’t have a magic bullet for you,” Cheeky said. “Best of luck.”

He glanced over his shoulder as his quartet walked back toward where the rest of the Bella Nord crew were sitting. “Yeah, thanks. You too.”

“Did that…strike you as more than a little odd?” Cheeky asked as the three women closed ranks. “Like he knew more than he was saying?”

“I think I suggested that it was suspicious,” Fina said. “What are you getting at?”

<Like he knew that we have a mirror on Sabrina,> Cheeky said, switching to the Link.

<Right, but ours is mounted to flowmetal, and no one knows we have it—which is the way things need to stay, at least until our mission is over.>

“Forget it,” Sabs said aloud. “Let’s just focus on tonight. Remember? Awesome club, great music and dancing…sex.”

Fina gave Cheeky a level stare. “You’ve totally corrupted her, you know.”

* * * * *

The Primal Pyramid was close to the city center and only a five-minute walk from the closest maglev platform. As the name suggested, the building was in the shape of a pyramid, fully equilateral and consuming a three-hundred-meter square section of the city.

A line stretched out from the main door, wrapping halfway around the building, and Cheeky shook her head at the sight of it.

“Well, that doesn’t look fun. Shall we skip the line?”

Fina snorted. “Stars yes. We have a reservation, don’t we?”

“Of course.”

Sabs led them past the queue, the three women taking long, sure strides as they ignored the dagger glares coming their way from those waiting their turn.

A large man stood at the door, with an even larger woman behind him. Both maintained implacable expressions as the group drew near, the man finally stepping into their path when they were a few meters away.

“Back of the line’s around the side,” he said, arms folded across his chest.

“We have a reservation,” Sabs countered. “I can’t imagine we have to wait for that.”

“Name?” he grunted.

“Sabs.”

The bouncer’s frown deepened. “S-a-b-s?”

“Yeah.”

He glanced back at the woman. “They’re late. Half an hour.”

The woman stepped forward, looking the trio up and down with a sneer on her lips. A few of the onlookers in the line began to laugh, and Cheeky could hear them calling odds on whether the two ‘sparkly hookers and their robot sex doll’ would get physically tossed into the street.

Cheeky glanced at the people in line, many of them wearing little or no clothing themselves. Hypocrites.

“Your table’s already gone,” she said. “Back of the line.”

“We didn’t reserve a table.” Sabs stood her ground. “We reserved one of the VIP nests, and we set down a very nice prepayment for our service tonight. If you’d like us to reach out to your manager and get a refund, I suppose that’s alright.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she glanced at the man’s tablet. “Says here you reserved a bartop.”

“It’s wrong,” Sabs replied. “Maybe the data’s out of date.”

“It’s not—”

Fina reached out, placing a hand on the woman’s arm. “Please, just check it for us?” She slid her hand down the bouncer’s arm, sliding a credit chit into her hand before stepping back and smiling sweetly.

The woman scowled, her fingers running across the chit, reading its value. After a moment, she nodded. “Alright. Bill, refresh the list, maybe there was a mistake.”

Bill nodded and stabbed a meaty finger to his tablet, eyes widening. “Shit…there it is. And wow…now that’s a prepayment.”

“Told you.” Sabs crossed her arms. “Now. May we go in?”

The large woman’s eyes were still narrowed, and Cheeky was certain that she knew something was up, but after a glance down at the chit in her hand, she nodded. “Yeah, head on in.”

Bill stepped aside, and the three women walked into the building, Cheeky making sure to smirk at everyone in line as they walked past.

They passed through a long, golden hallway with benches and a coat check before coming to a woman wearing a long, golden gown standing at a podium.

“Sabs, party of three?” she asked as they approached.

“That’s us,” Sabs replied.

“Excellent, we are so happy to have you here tonight.”

As she spoke, a three-meter-wide pad emerged from the floor, a railing rising up to waist-height that wrapped three quarters of the way around.

“This is your personal a-grav lift for the night. It’ll take you up to your VIP nest, as well as to any of the dancefloors and bars, and down to the restrooms and exit. If anyone else invites you to their nest, you’ll be able to take it to theirs as well.”

“Oh, this is so cool!” Cheeky exclaimed as she hopped onto the pad. “C’mon girls, let’s parrrtaaaay.”

<A bit thick?> Fina asked.

<I’m channeling the old Cheeky, from before the weight of the galaxy came down on my shoulders.>

<Psh,> Sabs sent as she and Fina joined her on the pad. <You’re still that Cheeky. You dance in the shower.>

<Everyone dances in the shower.>

Fina laughed as the pad lifted off and drifted toward a pair of double doors. <Not really. People should, but they don’t.>

<Madness,> Cheeky said with a shrug, then her mouth opened wide, and she gasped as the doors opened, and they were bathed in aqua and purple lights before passing into the interior of the pyramid.

It was a single open space with bar areas, dancefloors, and seating spread throughout, both horizontally and vertically. Bartops and a smattering of tables were on the bottom floor, surrounding dancefloors and some of the long, glowing bars where humans and servitors poured drinks for patrons. Above that, more dancefloors hovered in the air, headed by men and women on platforms controlling the music that the crowds gyrated to.

“Our nest is up there,” Sabs said, pointing to the structure’s peak. “Third from the top.”

“You totally hacked their reservation system, didn’t you?” Fina asked. “I can’t imagine you could get a spot like that with only a day’s notice.”

“Who, me? Maaaaybe. I did pay for it, at least. I’m not a thief.”

“Small mercies,” Cheeky muttered. “Still, totally worth it. We’ll be able to keep an eye on the whole place.”

“It’s not a stakeout.” Sabs’s silver brows pulled together. “We’re here to have fun.”

Fina nodded. “Of course, Sabs, but it doesn’t hurt to keep a watchful eye.”

“Oh! There’s a private bar at the top!” Cheeky exclaimed. “And the bartender is haaaaawt.”

Fina laughed and pulled Cheeky into an embrace. “Alright. No fear of the old Cheeky getting lost.”

“Told you.” Sabs winked. “She’s still there under all the captainly duty.”

“Stop talking about duty, you two.” Cheeky stepped off the pad as it docked with their VIP nest. “That’s an order.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Fina gave a mock salute.

They filed into the nest, a seven-meter-wide concave bowl lined with seats and small tables, with a raised plinth in the center, a pole rising several meters into the air.

“Bets on who will be on that first?” Fina said, winking at Sabs.

“Not me,” the AI shook her head. “Thing’s not rated for my mass.”

“You have a-grav,” Cheeky countered.

Sabs ignored her and collapsed into one of the couches, sinking into the deep cushions. “OK…this is the life. Night out with my two favorite women in the universe, not a care in the world, and the strong possibility of some fun times.”

Cheeky snorted as she dropped onto the sofa. “Better be more than a strong possibility.”

Fina settled onto the edge of the couch and stretched out across Sabs and Cheeky’s laps. “Oh, I’d say we’re guaranteed some fun times. I didn’t fly halfway across the Orion Arm just to talk shop on our first night together.”

Cheeky traced a hand down Fina’s thigh, following the trail of one of the silver streaks that traveled across the blue woman’s body. “We’d better not disappoint, then, eh, Sabs?”

The AI didn’t reply, and Cheeky glanced to her right to see the other two locked in a passionate kiss.

“I feel like I got the bum end of this deal.” She snorted at her own joke.

<I have more than one set of lips,> Fina said. <Hop to it, time to hold up your end of the fun times bargain.>

* * * * *

Fifteen minutes later, after Fina pronounced herself both properly welcomed back to the ship and satisfied for the time being, they flagged a passing server and placed an order for a variety of drinks.

“That should keep us going for an hour or two,” Fina said with a laugh as she rose and stretched. “Stars, you two know how to give a girl a workout.”

“As if you didn’t already know that.” Cheeky smirked as she leant back on the cushions. “Should we get our dance on?”

Fina looked back over her shoulder. “What, and waste all the cold beverages coming our way? No, I wanna get a nice buzz on before we hit the floor.”

Without another word, she swung up onto the pole, pulling herself to the top, where she wrapped her legs round it, ankles crossed, before falling backward to hang upside down, blue skin glowing softly in the dim lighting.

“Stars,” Sabs shook her head, a smile on her lips as she turned to Cheeky. “It’s like she’s already ready for round two.”

“Greedy, isn’t she?” Cheeky asked, sliding closer to the AI. “Maybe she should just have to hang out up there until we have a bit of our fun.”

“Teases,” Fina said with a laugh. “I’ll wait, though…watching you two is nearly as much fun as joining in.”

Sabs touched a finger to Cheeky’s forehead, and their minds drifted away from the physical world, an expanse opening up between them as their shared love and affection took on a physical manifestation.

Cheeky fell back into the cushions, the organic heart in her flesh and blood body picking up the pace, pounding against her titanium alloy ribs as her mind soared on waves of shared passion.

A moment later, Fina was in the mental merge, a cry of delight coming from where she still hung upside down on the pole. <Stars, I’ve missed this,> she whispered. <Why did we never do this in the beginning?>

A laugh slipped past Cheeky’s lips. <Hey, I was all ready to, but one of you was an angry alcoholic, and the other was super neurotic. I think it would have destroyed our relationship.>

<Ouch!> Sabs sent a feeling of mock outrage. <I wasn’t that neurotic.>

<Umm…we all remember what happened when Sera got captured by Rebecca. You wailed for hours.>

<I did not wail.>

Fina giggled from where she hung on the pole. <I listened to the recordings, Sabs. You wailed.>

<Well, since all three of us are shards, clones, and rebirths of those other people, I say that none of their misdeeds can be held against us.>

A sensation of warm understanding filled Cheeky’s mind, and she smiled in response. <I’m totally behind that. Now we can make all the same mistakes again for the first time.>

“Drinks are here!” Fina said aloud, the sound of a person sliding down a pole following her words.

<Mmmmm, don’t go just yet,> Sabs whispered. <We don’t do this often enough.>

Cheeky quirked a smile. <People are going to think we’re stoned.>

<Let them,> the AI shard replied. <I mean…we’d fit right in here, anyway.>

“We were waiting on drinks before dancing.” Fina’s voice came from above the two AIs. “Drinks are here, and I want to get my groove on, so down ‘em and let’s get jiggy.”

“Stars above…” Cheeky cracked an eyeball. “Groove and jiggy? Who’s been in the music collection from that vault?”

Fina shrugged. “I make no apologies.”

Sabs groaned and rose, taking the beverage Fina extended. “You know this doesn’t do anything to me.”

“You can approximate it if you want to. Plus, it tastes really good.”

“What is it?” the AI cast a suspicious look at the glass filled with red and orange liquid.

“Coronal Mass Ejection.” Fina grinned. “It would probably kill me, so I figured you’d make a good sacrificial lamb.”

Sabs gave a snort. “What else is new?”

“I love a good CME,” Cheeky said. “Provided they can make it right. I’ve been to too many systems where they add lime. Like…what the fuck is up with that? It throws the whole acidity ratio off.”

“Spoken like someone who actually cares what their alcohol tastes like,” Fina said as she downed a clear shot, shivering convulsively after swallowing. “OK…count me amongst those. That vodka was vile. I need to specify top shelf next time.”

Cheeky rolled her eyes. “You’ve always been a choosy bitch.”

“Damn right.” Fina took their empty glasses, set them down, then reached out for their hands. “C’mon. It’s dance time.”

She led them onto the hover pad and drifted to the closest dancefloor, which was also the highest in the pyramid. It was a fifteen by twenty-meter rectangle with a few tables around the perimeter, and a six-armed woman on a platform at one end.

Holointerfaces surrounded her, and she spun and gyrated to the music as she mixed the sounds in real-time.

“Now this is what I’m here for!” Fina shouted as they stepped through the sound-dampening field, bodies vibrating from the beat pounding through the air.

“What?” Cheeky asked with a laugh as the flung her hands into the air, twisting and spinning in the middle of the dancefloor.

Only a dozen other people were in the space, but each and every one was fully committed, giving zero shits about what anyone else thought of their moves. Not that any of them were bad dancers.

A woman in a silver, vaguely hawk-like costume danced with a man in brown and red leather, their movements entirely reminiscent of a hunter sending his bird of prey out to hunt.

Cheeky found herself mesmerized by their movements, almost staring, until a hand touched her cheek, and she spun to see Fina and Sabs, limbs intertwined, motioning for her to join them.

Time ceased to have meaning as the trio danced from song to song to song, the pounding beat and wail of a thousand different electronic instruments filling the air and their minds.

Cheeky ignored the chronometer on her HUD until an accidental glance informed her that they’d been dancing for an hour.

<Wow…look at us go,> she said to the other two. <Should we top off on alcohol then come back out? I want to try some of the other platforms.>

<Let’s just finish this song,> Sabs suggested, Fina nodding along with the sentiment.

<Alright.>

Cheeky let herself fall back into the rhythm, but this time, she remained a little more aware of their surroundings, noting that the platform was more crowded now. At least another dozen people were aboard, all lost in their own worlds as the six-armed woman continued to drive the beats through their minds and bodies.

Cheeky closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get lost in the beat, and opened them a few seconds later only to see something flash in a man’s hand as he spun around another dancer nearby.

At first, she dismissed it—there were a thousand gleaming objects around them, not counting Fina and Sabs—but years of being caught in sticky situations had her danger radar pinging.

The man turned away, circled around another group of dancers, then came toward Cheeky from her right side.

She tapped into the nano she’d released earlier and got a clear view of him and what he was carrying. <Shit…hostiles!>

She pulled away from the other two women, her leg darting out to kick the man’s hand away as he lunged toward them. The blade he’d held went end over end toward the floor, sinking in up to the hilt.

<Nanoblade.> Fina spat the word while moving to the right, flanking the man, who took a step back.

<He’s not alone!> Sabs highlighted seven other people on the platform who now held blades, each one approaching through the crowd.

Cheeky quickly tapped into the club’s network and sent out a general fire alert for their platform. The dancers—those who weren’t trying to kill anyone—all stopped and looked around for the source of the fire alarm. It only took them a few seconds to realize that they were about to be in the middle of a knife fight.

Some rushed to their hoverpads, while others moved back to the edges of the platform, eager to see combat firsthand.

Idiots.

The music’s tempo picked up as the eight assassins closed, circling around the three women. The man who’d made the first move produced a second blade as a smirk settled on his lips.

<Hand to hand, or lightwands?> Sabs asked.

<Lightwands.> Fina slapped her thigh, her hand coming away with a half-meter, glowing electron blade. <I’m not risking injury from one of those blades just so we don’t get in trouble for starting a fight.>

<Works for me,> Cheeky said, grinning at the expressions of surprise on their attackers’ faces as all three of their targets brandished their own weapons.

“You sure you got paid enough for this job?” Fina taunted. “Because eight against three are pretty easy odds for us.”

Without a response, four of the assassins darted forward. A man came at Cheeky, blade low, until they closed and he thrust it up toward her neck, attempting to slash under her chin.

She leant back to avoid his strike, while her own blade came up and slashed his arm. Sparks flew, and instead of a severed limb, her blade only cut through flesh before hitting a reinforced skeleton.

<Bastards are modded,> she warned.

<I think they’re bots,> Sabs replied. <Mine didn’t even flinch when I shoved my blade through her neck.>

A blue blur caught Cheeky’s, attention and as she drove a boot into her attacker’s gut, she turned to see Fina leap over the circle of assassins, coming down behind one and driving her blade clear through the man’s spine.

The blow felled her target, and Cheeky caught sight of Fina slashing at another enemy before she re-engaged with her own adversary…and two of his friends.

Without a word, Cheeky spun, kicking at one man’s leg while slicing her blade along another foe’s arm. The man went down without a sound, and Cheeky flicked a blob of nano onto him, curious about what they were dealing with.

While the tiny robots made their way into his body, she turned her focus to another assassin, her lightwand slicing his hand wide open. His nanoblade fell, and she caught it before it sank into the deck, flicking it toward another attacker and catching them in the throat.

That assassin fell in a heap, gurgling blood from their mouth and neck.

<Can you believe the DJ’s still slamming beats?> Sabs asked. <This is kinda fun. We should fight to music more often.>

Cheeky would have agreed, except that she found herself moving with the beat, and that would be deadly if the enemy picked up on it.

<Four down,> Fina announced. <Well, down-ish. They’re all still moving.>

<They don’t have active pain receptors,> Cheeky said, reviewing the data her nano had sent back while dodging an attack from the last remaining assassin on her side of the floor. <Trying to see if I can learn anything about why they’re coming after us.>

<Cops are here,> Sabs advised. <Should we stick around, or disappear?>

Cheeky heaved a sigh. <Let’s knock down the rest of these assholes, and then wait for the police to get up here. I don’t want to start our mission off with the locals hunting us.>

Sabs rolled past one of the assassins, driving her lightwand through the woman’s gut before pulling it out and slashing it across her spine. Fina finished off her final opponents a moment later, and the three women turned back toward one another while the remaining people on the dancefloor cheered their victory.

“Awww, shit.” The DJ spoke for the first time, lowering the volume on her music. “The cops are here.”

Cheeky turned toward the far end of the platform, holding back a disappointed sigh as four members of the local PD rose into view, a-grav packs attached to their light armor.

<Last chance to run,> Fina said.

<What do you two think?> Cheeky asked. <We didn’t really hide where we came from.>

Sabs shrugged and turned off her lightwand as the four cops advanced, rifles aimed at the trio. <Let’s let them take us in. Not like we can’t just get away if we end up in trouble.>

Cheeky nodded and turned off her lightwand, sliding it back into her thigh.

“Drop that!” one of the cops barked “You’re under arrest.”

“What for?” Fina asked as she followed suit. “That was self-defense.”

“Murder,” the man replied. “This is a fucking bloodbath.”

Sabs laughed, nudging one of the would-be assassins with her foot. “They’re not dead. Though I’m not sure they’re alive, either. They just went for us, never saying a word…Some sort of simulacra, I think.”

Two more cops arrived on the pad and began herding the bystanders to one side, while the original four officers fanned out a couple meters from the bodies.

“I don’t care if they’re plush dolls, you can’t have unregistered weapons like that on your person.”

“Like what?” Cheeky held up her empty hands, wiggled her fingers, and laughed. “Look…we’re not exactly feeling super safe here on your planet. You can take us in for questioning, but we’re not going to disarm until we’re in a safe location.”

“Take those weapons…uh…out of your legs, and throw them out of reach,” the cop ordered. “If you don’t, we’ll be forced to shoot.”

From behind them, Cheeky heard the DJ mutter, “Could let me get out of the way, first.”

Fina shook her head. “With pulse rifles? You’re not going to be able to hurt us with those, you’ll just piss us off. Tell you what. You call your commanding officer, and we’ll go down to our VIP nest and wait for them to arrive while you secure the platform up here.”

The four cops exchanged puzzled glances, one of the others shaking her head. “That’s not how this works.”

“Sure it is,” Cheeky said. “Your rifles don’t work, anyway, so it’s not like you can stop us.”

She stepped over one of the twitching assassins, giving the police a wide berth as she walked to the hoverpad with Fina and Sabs in tow. One of the cops shouted a curse and attempted to fire on Cheeky, but nothing happened.

He glanced at his rifle, eyes wide with disbelief, while Fina wagged a finger in his direction.

“Tsk tsk. She told you not to do that. We’ll be just down there, we have some drinks to finish off. Let us know when your CO gets here.”

<Hopefully, they don’t try to jump us,> Sabs said as they reached the edge of the platform and stepped onto the pad.

Fina shrugged. <Then they’ll find out we have a-grav, too.>

Cheeky glanced back at the police, who were slowly following behind. <They did call it in, but I tapped their internal comms. They’re watching to see if we actually go to our nest. If we do, they’ll set a guard on us and leave us be for now.>

<Smart,> Sabs replied. <I wonder if they’re used to the high rollers at this place having a lot of means at their disposal.>

<If so, given what you paid for our VIP spot, I’d say we qualify,> Fina said as the pad reached their nest and they disembarked. <By the way, bets on our drinks being poisoned?>

<I mean…do any of us think they’re not?> Sabs asked. <Hard to make a bet, if that’s the case.>

<You could drink them all and be sure,> Cheeky suggested. <That would really mess with whoever is behind this.>

The AI laughed as she sank into the sofa. <I’ll pass. Don’t want to give away all our secrets.>

“So?” Fina asked aloud as she climbed onto the plinth and grabbed the pole. “Thoughts on who’s behind this?”

“My nano came up with nothing,” Cheeky replied. “They’re like husks. I think simulacra is the right guess.”

Fina nodded, spinning partway around the pole before stopping and pinning the other two with a worried look. <Do you think it’s the AIs we’re hunting?>

<What are the chances?> Sabs asked. <We disguised the ship, as per usual, and we’re over two thousand light years from our typical haunts. There’s no way they know who we are.>

<True…> Fina mused. <And Sabrina says there hasn’t been a peep on the station. Nance and Misha are back aboard as well.>

<Well, it’s not just a random attack,> Cheeky said after a few moments’ consideration. <I think that until we know more, we have to assume it’s our prey.>

<Other crazy option,> Fina said, a finger in the air. <What if it’s those Bella Nord people? They didn’t seem entirely convinced that we don’t have a gate-capable ship. What if they wanted to capture us in order to take over Sabrina?>

<Maybe…> Cheeky mused. <They didn’t really strike me as having the means for an attack like this.>

<That’s fair.> Fina nodded in agreement. <I certainly wouldn’t have thought so, either. But check out these recent transactions in their accounts.>

She shared a datastream over the Link, and Cheeky’s mouth opened in surprise. <That’s a lot of credit in and out.>

<Could just have to do with that business deal they were talking to you about,> Sabs said. <Or maybe they normally haul some expensive wares that they buy outright.>

Fina pulled herself up straight. <I didn’t say it was a smoking gun, just noteworthy. I sent a message to Sabrina to keep an eye out for the Bella Nord people either way.>

<Me too,> Sabs said. <She’s ready to burn down here and extract us through the roof.>

“Damn,” Cheeky heaved a sigh. “It just hit me. That was our last dance of the night.”

Fina slumped to the plinth’s surface, leaning against the pole. “OK, now I’m depressed…way to kill the after-combat buzz.”

“Speaking of buzzkills,” Cheeky nodded past Fina. “Looks like the big fuzz is here.”

She walked to the plinth where Fina sat, watching as a hoverpad with a woman in light armor, but wearing no helmet, stood flanked by two officers in gear heavier than worn by the ones who secured the dance platform.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” the woman said when she was still several meters away. “What gives you the right to order my officers around?”

“Hey there,” Cheeky said with a wave. “I’m Cheeky, this is Fina and Sabs. We didn’t so much order them as ignore their orders—though I can see how that might just be semantics to you.”

The woman reached the VIP nest, stepping off ahead of her guards. “You’ll turn over those weapons of yours and submit to search before we take you in. Then we’ll talk about your little murder spree up there.”

“Hard to murder people that aren’t people,” Cheeky countered. “Like we told your cops, those were simulacra. Golems.”

“They were property, then. Now turn over your weapons.”

Cheeky sighed. “You’re lucky we already agreed to come without a fight, or you’d find that two goons wouldn’t be nearly enough.”

She slapped her thigh and drew out her lightwand, quickly palming the battery. The others did the same—or she assumed they did…this was far from their first time getting arrested in a low-tech system.

They set their lightwands down on the plinth, then climbed out of the bowl, toward the woman and her guards.

“Turn around,” the CO ordered, her tone brooking no further conversation.

Cheeky shrugged and did as she was told, the other two following suit.

One of the officers approached and started with Sabs before moving on to Fina.

<Oh, that’s quaint,> Sabs said. <They’re trying to block our Link access with these.>

<It’s not bad, as far as suppression tech goes,> Fina commented as she rolled her shoulders. <I mean…if you ignore that the Hand sold it to their supplier a few hundred years ago, and we have the nullification codes.>

<We have codes?> Cheeky asked, annoyed. <I didn’t find them for this model…had to do it the hard way.>

Once they were cuffed, the woman collected the lightwands, sliding each one into its own sterile bag.

“Alright, you three, let’s get a move on. When we get to the station, I expect a really good explanation.”

“I’ll take my coffee with extra cream.” Fina grinned. “No sugar.”

“What?” The CO scowled at them as she stepped onto her pad.

“Oh, I was just getting ahead in the process. Don’t worry, I can wait.”

Cheeky laughed into her shoulder, earning her a shove from one of the officers.

“Ow…dammit, it was funny. You don’t need to be an ass about it.”

“Just move,” the man grunted.

The captain glanced at the other two women. <Whose idea was it to go along with these goons?>

<Pretty sure it was yours,> Sabs responded, while Fina winked. <But just give the word, and we’ll blow this joint.>

<No.> Cheeky let out a long sigh. <Let’s at least see if their coffee is any good.>

CHAPTER 34 - SAANVI

STELLAR DATE: 01.11.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Sigma 1199 Alien Facility

REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm

“Stars,” Saanvi muttered, glancing at Jason, who was working alongside her on understanding the Sigs’ power systems. “This is such a slog. Who would have thought that understanding alien power systems would be so complex?”

“Not me.” Jason sat back on his haunches and wiped a hand across his brow. “OK, I think this might do it. We’ve accounted for everything—the wave form variability, amplitude, triphasic rotation. The whole shebang.”

She cast him an amused look. “Not the first time we’ve said that, Uncle Jason.”

The ancient spacer snorted a laugh. “Been a while since you called me that.”

“Yeah, it has. Not sure why I stopped.”

“Because you grew up, became an amazing scientist and officer, and forgot your ol’ uncle.”

Saanvi laughed and reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I could never forget you. Who else one-upped my dad with crazy flying antics to impress me and Cary when we were kids?”

Jason winked. “You got me there.”

“Alright, you ready?” She turned and placed a hand on the relay control. “Or should we, like…go have lunch first or something. Think through everything we’ve done.”

“Less thinking, more doing. I’m all thinked out.”

She laughed again, glad for his company—and protection. They hadn’t encountered any Sig defense drones in a few days, but she was worried that turning the power on would bring them out in droves.

“Alright, then,” she clapped her hands. “Sig power hookup, take…what, nine?”

He nodded. “Something like that.”

Saanvi drew in a deep breath and toggled the relay.

For a second, nothing happened, but then a glow came from above, and she surged to her feet, whooping for joy as the console came online.

“Holy shit! We did it!”

All around them, consoles initialized and began to display the Sig symbology.

<Well done!> Jen’s exuberant voice came into their minds. <And if we’re right and this is the records repository, we’re going to have some serious data to dig into.>

<How’re you doing with the language?> Jason asked. <Think you can read it fluently enough yet?>

<Perhaps,> the AI said in an entirely noncommittal tone. <The controls in the reactor chamber have left me a bit stymied, but with access to logs and records, I should be able to find enough cross-references in different contexts that I can build a lexicon. The question is whether it will match our language beyond basic concepts.>

<Like stop and go?> Saanvi asked.

<Exactly. It’s one thing to parse how computers work, but something else altogether to understand language…not to mention that those two things are chicken and egg.>

“Whoa…you did it!” Sera’s voice came from the entrance to the room.

“We did.” Jason stood and arched his back. “Stars…this thing doesn’t last as long as it used to. I think I’m due for another spinal replacement soon.”

“Maybe you just need a whole new body,” Sera said as she sauntered up to him. “I could clone mine, and we could transfer you into it.”

The ancient spacer barked a laugh. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you? Alas, no. You know I’m ferociously binary. Love women, but the idea of being one doesn’t work for me.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Saanvi’s mouth. “Sera, you are the least Transcendy person from the Transcend I’ve ever met. Especially given who your father was.”

Sera shrugged. “I was extra repressed. I had to break free.”

Saanvi’s gaze slid to Jason, eyes widening.

“Hey, whoa….” He grunted. “Are you saying I’m repressed?”

Sera held up a hand, pinching her thumb and index finger together. “Maybe a weeee bit.”

“I’m refined. I know what I like. I’ve been around, done a lot of crazy stuff…I’m just content. Besides, Sera, no one repressed would marry you.”

“OK,” Saanvi shrugged, turning to Sera. “He’s got you there.”

The former president of the Transcend laughed and turned to the consoles. “Yeah, yeah. So, what do we know?”

<Oh, are we done talking about turning your husband into a woman?> Jen asked in a sardonic tone.

“I was just kidding.”

<Sure you were. Anyway, I know the basics of the language, though it’s just as deeply contextual as their math. On the console closest to you, the indicator on the left is records…or logs…or maybe stories. The marker next to it is a sort of ‘go’ or ‘enter’ symbol. It looks kinda wonky to us, but if you parse it with how I suspect their vision works, it’s a nice three-dimensional figure.>

Saanvi approached Sera. “Do you want to do the honors?”

“Me?” the red-skinned woman asked with a laugh. “I thought I was just the muscle.”

“If you’re not keen, I’ll do it,” Jason offered, a twinkle in his eye.

“Of course I’ll do it.” Sera snorted, then gave her a husband a nudge with her hips. “And who says ‘keen’? That’s so eighty-nine-twenties.”

Jason laughed. “I’ve seen every trendy phrase come in and out of style half a dozen times. I barely try to keep track anymore. Oh, and Sera?”

“Yeah?”

“Push the glyph already.”

Saanvi laughed, and Sera touched a finger to the holographic symbol.

There was a low hum, and then a holoemitter descended from the ceiling, squeaking loudly as it slid from its recess.

“Stars, we’ll need to get some lube for that,” Saanvi muttered. “Hope it works, though. I’d love to see what sort of records they have here—especially pertaining to their research on gates.”

Immediately following her words, the emitter sprang to life, and a three-dimensional star chart appeared above them.

“OK, that was the luckiest button mash of all time,” Sera said with a laugh.

<I knew that was some sort of stellar navigation record,> Jen said. <I’ve learned that much about their symbology.>

A trinary set of stars lay in the center of the model, and Jason reached up, touching the outermost star. “That’ll be us.”

Sure enough, the view zoomed in, showing the system, the moon with the crater facility denoted with a kinked line, and the Sig’s text labeling it.

“Now how do we zoom back out?” Sera asked.

<Try spreading your arms wide,> Jen suggested.

Sera did as the AI said, and the view reverted.

“Alright, that was simple,” Jason said, looking over other nearby stars. “This one looks promising. A Type-A3 with a G3 companion.” He tapped the star, and the view zoomed in, showing the binary system and over a dozen planets.

Saanvi whistled. “That’s…a lot of markers.”

“This one has the same text as the facility we’re at,” Sera said, pointing at one of the planets. “Plus some extra glyphs.”

Her finger brushed the planet, and the view zoomed in again, this time showing a terrestrial world with what appeared to be dozens of orbitals encircling it. One bore the same indicators that Sera had noted, and Saanvi stretched up to touch it.

“Let’s see what this is.”

The map zoomed in again, this time leaving no ambiguity about what they were looking at. Hovering above their heads was a jump gate. A very, very large jump gate.

Jason whistled. “Well, I guess we know that they got the tech to work. Maybe it’s why they abandoned this facility. Research done, time to get the heck out of the hole.”

“Unless they like holes,” Sera said. “Though the nests above ground make me think otherwise.”

<That system appears to be only twenty-seven light years away,> Jen said. <Maybe we should pay it a visit. It would be nice to know whether this civilization is still active.>

Saanvi glanced at Sera and then Jason. “Once the support ship gets here, I’d be alright with you going. It would be nice to know whether we can expect a visit from the former owners.”

Sera nodded. “I sure am tempted. I’ll get back up to the Grace and ping Tanis. If she’s alright with us leaving you here, then we can make it happen.”

Saanvi nodded, her lips twisting. “I half want to go with you, but I imagine whatever you find, I’ll see soon enough.”

“Absolutely. If it’s abandoned, you might relocate there, and if it’s occupied, we’ll be back in no time.”

Jason cocked a brow. “Oh yeah? Just those two options? No other possibilities? Like the one where we kick off a war with an alien species?”

Sera shrugged. “You know me, the eternal optimist.”

CHAPTER 35 - CHEEKY

STELLAR DATE: 01.11.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Illium

REGION: Indis System, Ansylis Alliance

Cheeky shifted in her seat, leaning to the side until she could bring her legs onto the table. Given the hard plas chair she sat in, it wasn’t terribly comfortable, but she wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of knowing that.

The three women had been separated before transport and hadn’t seen one another since—a futile attempt by the police to keep them from communicating.

<Still haven’t gotten my coffee,> Fina groused. <Is no coffee as good a reason to break out as bad coffee?>

<I don’t think so,> Sabs said. <I think one is just mean, and the other is cruel and inhumane torture.>

Cheeky chuckled at the banter while flipping through the police station’s data feeds. <Looks like they’ve determined that the people we killed were simulacra, as we suspected. They have no idents and don’t match any known people. Brains weren’t fully formed, either. Just enough for the job at hand.>

<Gross, but not a big surprise,> Fina commented.

<Have to say, that smells more like something our AI friends would do,> Sabs added. <Humans are a little less likely to make golems like that.>

<Think so?> Fina mused. <I mean, humans have done some unbelievably icky things. Then again, there’s my mother, the ickiest of them all.>

<Nonsense,> Cheeky sent a feeling of acceptance and understanding across the Link. <If your mother hadn’t cloned you, we wouldn’t have you aboard Sabrina, and I can’t think of anything worse than that.>

<Really?> Fina sounded almost timid. <I kinda figured I’m just a pale substitute for the real Sera.>

<Now that’s just stupid.> Sabs’s tone was kinder than her words would suggest. <That’s like saying I’m just a poor substitute for Sabrina. Which I’m not. I’m my own person, valid in every way.>

<Yeah.> A long sigh came from the blue-skinned woman just a few rooms away. <Intellectually, I know that, but…well…sometimes my brain is an asshole.>

Cheeky snorted. <They excel at that. Oh, wait, my interrogator is here—at least, I think so, unless they’re bringing your coffee to the wrong person, Fina.>

The door had opened a crack, stopped, then continued to open, revealing the woman they’d met at the Primal Pyramid.

“Welcome,” Cheeky said, smiling sweetly. “I’d offer to pull out your chair, but….” She shrugged and wiggled her arms behind her back.

“Somehow, I’ll survive,” the woman said as she pulled her chair out and sat. “We were never formally introduced. I’m Lieutenant Dharmi, and from the records we have, your name is Cheeky.”

“Captain Cheeky. Of the Matron Tulip.”

The lieutenant’s eye twitched at the statement, and Cheeky couldn’t help a laugh.

“Yeah, it’s a strange name for a freighter, but it’s grown on me.”

“Just like carrying banned weapons on your person while going out for a night of dancing? Not really the sort of thing good citizens do.”

Cheeky shrugged. “I mean, I’m not one of your citizens, so that might explain it. My crew and I have been around Orion and back more than once. We’re still alive because we treat every station, every planet, every moon like hostile territory—because they usually are.”

Dharmi leant back in her chair and crossed her arms. “That says a lot more about you than anything else.”

“And about you,” Cheeky replied. “You’ve lived a hell of a sheltered life if you think that the galaxy is a generally safe place.”

“Illium is. We work hard to keep it that way—though people like you make that harder than it has to be.”

“Like me?” Cheeky placed a hand on her chest, eyes wide. “If you didn’t have simulacra running around with only half a brain, nanoblades, and a very strong desire to kill, none of this would have happened. Where are they from, anyway?”

The lieutenant barked a laugh. “Stars, woman, you have some nerve. Do you really think I’m going to give you details about an active investigation that you’re wrapped up in?”

“Probably not, no. But your expression did confirm that you think they’re simulacra, too. From what I’ve read of your laws, the most you can do to us—provided the golems’ owners don’t come forward—is fine us for property damage.”

Dharmi’s scowl deepened. “There’s also the illegal weapons.”

“We got concealed carry licenses when we docked,” Cheeky countered. “And so far as I can tell, there’s nothing in your legal code about handheld electron blades, for or against.”

“There are regulations forbidding unregulated firearms—”

“And there are regulations about concealed blades under fifty-five centimeters. We followed those.”

Lieutenant Dharmi didn’t respond for nearly an entire minute, her eyes boring into Cheeky’s.

<She’s consulting with her legal team to see what they can charge us with,> Sabs said, a note of amusement in her voice. <There are a few things, though none of them will stick. I’m filtering the search results they’re getting back from their databases to make sure this goes as quickly as possible.>

<How positively nefarious of you,> Fina commented. <I’m running live feeds from their morgue. The people doing the autopsies on the simulacra are not taking the proper precautions. I’d say it’s fifty-fifty that one of those things is going to get off its table and kill one of the techs.>

Cheeky gave a derisive snort. <Should we get down there and drop some nano to make sure that doesn’t happen?>

<Uhh…too late.> Fina sent a feeling that was half amusement, half surprise. <One of the techs just lost an arm. OK…they ran a localized EMP. They’re good now.>

“Well, Lieutenant?” Cheeky asked. “You finished spinning the wheel of charges, or what?”

The woman’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You think this is all just a game, don’t you?”

“Not in the least. Someone tried to kill us. I’d like to find out who that is, but I can’t do that from in here.”

“Do you have any idea who it might be? Being helpful would go a long way for you right now.”

“How would I know?” Cheeky asked. “We don’t have access to any information you’ve pulled from those things. All we know is that Illium is a lot more dangerous than the pamphlet said it would be—and that the Primal Pyramid needs to update their security scanners.”

The lieutenant’s lips twisted, suggesting that she agreed with the assessment, but was withholding comment. “For now, we’re fining you with disorderly conduct and disobeying an officer of the law. You can post bail if you wish, and your court date is in two days.”

A wide grin spread across Cheeky’s face. “Excellent. Bail and fine are paid, and we’ll be there for our date with the judge. I assume our ship can’t leave Illium until then?”

“And neither can your ship up on Schista Station,” Dharmi added. “Don’t think you can just take a cab up and get out of here—which you can’t do anyway, your bail restrictions won’t let you off-planet.”

“Stars.” Cheeky shook her head. “I’d never leave the Sexy behind. We’ve had that pinnace for over twenty years. It’s part of the family.”

Dharmi rose from her seat. “I’m sure it is. My officers will be here to free you in a few minutes.”

“And our lightwands?” she asked.

“Are evidence. You might get them back after the hearing.”

Dharmi turned and opened the door, pausing for a response.

Cheeky heaved a sigh at the lieutenant’s back. “Fiiiine.”

* * * * *

Twenty minutes later, the three women convened at a restaurant named the Waffle Dome a few blocks from the police station. It was nearly empty, so the servitor at the front led them to a table without delay.

“Oh, thank stars,” Fina said in a bliss-filled whisper. “They have waffles. I don’t know why, but lately, I crave carbs after dust-ups like that one.”

Cheeky ran a finger down the holomenu. “I’m going for a steak and eggs. Breakfast of champions.”

“Granted, it’s only oh-three-hundred,” Sabs said. “A while before what civilized folk would call ‘morning’. Oh…and the first dance show at the Pyramid has just finished. It was amazing.”

“It was?” Cheeky cocked an eyebrow, then barked a laugh. “You’re watching through the nano we left in there.”

“Sure am. A woman was sliding up and down a twisting stream of plasma. Not sure how they pulled that off with their tech. Must have used a grav field to contain it—razor thin, though.”

“I’ll have to watch that later,” Cheeky said. “You getting anything, by the way?”

“Nah, just a coffee.”

“Never did get mine at the precinct,” Fina muttered. “I really do think that qualifies as cruel and unusual. Least they could do.”

Cheeky released a passel of nano from her forearm and waited until the privacy barrier formed around them before switching to business. “So, what are we thinking?”

“Other than waffles?” Fina asked. “Because right now, not a lot more than that.”

The captain snorted a laugh. “Didn’t you used to be some sort of secret agent? One who always got the job done?”

“I was.” Fina nodded. “Still am. And how I get the job done is by being well-fed. Regarding our mysterious attackers, however…I suppose we’re just going to need more data—or wait for the cops to get a few leads.”

“Could take a bit,” Sabs replied. “Isotopes that the lab techs pulled suggest the simulacra were made off-world.”

Cheeky sighed. “Sounds like someone’s going to have to trawl through import logs.”

“Already on it,” Sabs replied. “Not sure I’ll find anything, though—at least not until I work out the patterns that local smugglers use to get past customs.”

Fina nodded as an automaton appeared, setting two mugs of coffee on the table, followed by a small pitcher of cream. “Yeah, one doesn’t usually declare ‘killer golems’ to the authorities.”

“Has Sabrina spotted anything on the station?” Cheeky asked, glancing at Sabs. “I’m surprised we were hit downworld but no one has made a move on the ship.”

“Nothing, not even a peep,” the AI replied. “Granted, we don’t have supplies inbound, and as soon as you were hit, Sabrina shut down all direct hookups to the station—oh, and they did lock their clamps on to keep her there.”

“I assume she’s already disabled that,” Cheeky said with a languid wink.

“If she hasn’t, she’s getting rusty,” Fina commented. “I really do think that attack had to come from the AIs we’re chasing. This system is a thousand years behind us in technology, they shouldn’t be able to hide anything, yet there’s no trace of where those simulacra came from, nor was there anything identifiable on them.”

“I think you’re right.” Cheeky lifted her mug and took a sip. “Oh yeah, that’s just what the doctor ordered.”

Fina nodded, still stirring in her cream. “So let’s unpack what we know about these AIs. They’re core AI sympathizers who are gathering other AIs in order to…do something bad.”

“You didn’t read the brief yet, did you?” Sabs asked.

“No…we were going out dancing. Hunting AIs was for tomorrow.”

“It is tomorrow,” Cheeky replied.

“Not till I sleep, it isn’t.” The blue-skinned woman winked from behind her mug as she took a sip. “Oh yeah, you’re right, that does hit the spot.”

“OK, well, as someone who has read the brief, these AIs are from all over the spinward side of the Core Worlds. A lot of them trace back to some of the diasporas at the end of the FTL Wars. We have reason to believe that a number are from the groups that splintered off from the League of Sentients.”

“Like that Non-Organic Sentients group?” Fina asked. “The ones you ran into at Cerka?”

“And a few other places,” Cheeky muttered. “Doesn’t surprise me that they’d join in with Epsilon and the other core AIs. The NOS hates organics more than anyone we’ve ever encountered.”

“So what’s the NOS’s goal?” Fina asked. “Just kill humans? That didn’t work out so well for the core AIs, and they were a hell of a lot more powerful than a few unascended rebels.”

Sabs shrugged. “It’s possible that they want to find the core AIs.”

Cheeky gave a rueful shake of her head. “That would be nice. Maybe we can help them along somehow.”

“Our goals do align there.” Fina twisted in her seat. “Speaking of goals, how long does it take to make a waffle?”

“Sorry.” Cheeky shrugged. “They probably timed it with my steak.”

“What are they doing, growing the beef? You eat it practically raw, it shouldn’t take that long.”

“I don’t think it’s ‘grown’ here,” Cheeky said. “The menu mentioned that it was grass-fed beef.”

“That makes no sense.” Sabs shook her head. “If the meat is from an animal, it’s not ‘grass-fed beef’, it’s beef from a grass-fed cow.”

The captain snorted. “Right? Makes me think that someone is stuffing hay into the feed tubes for the beef vat in a grow-farm somewhere.”

“I mean…they probably do feed it natural things like that,” Fina said. “Probably more efficient when you’re on a planet.”

“Here it comes,” Cheeky nodded to the kitchen doors and the automaton wheeling through them. “Your wait is over.”

“Thank the food gods! Good. I need carbs to think.”

“You have mods, why do you need carbs?” Sabs asked. “You never used to have this issue.”

Fina picked up her fork and knife, cutting into the huge waffle the moment it hit the table. “Oh stars, yes, is just what the medtube ordered.”

“No syrup?” Cheeky asked.

“Oh!” Fina set down her knife and poured the amber liquid into each hole of the waffle. “And regarding my mods, Sabs, sure, I can adjust my brain chemistry, but that doesn’t change the sensations my stomach is sending my mind. Yes, I could shunt those, but I don’t always want to. Sometimes I want to just revel in being a carnal being.”

“I support carnality,” Cheeky said as she cut into her steak. “Ooh, perfect. Look at this, they must have a human chef back there.”

“AIs can cook a perfect steak,” Sabs insisted. “I have, many times.”

“Sure,” Cheeky nodded as she sliced off a piece of meat. “But do you really think they have an SAI back there?”

“True,” Sabs glanced at the kitchen door. “At least, they had better not. I get your point, though. Cooking rare steak is not a skill most NSAI possess.”

“I wonder if keeping humans employed in certain fields is done on purpose,” Fina mused. “Like a holdover from the Phobos Accords.”

“Maybe,” Cheeky shrugged. “I suppose I endorse that. I like being employed.”

“You captain a starship,” Sabs shook her head. “You’re not cooking steak.”

“OK, then I’m glad on Misha’s behalf.”

“So, back on topic,” Fina said around a mouthful of waffle. “Do we have a lead on these AIs? We must have reason to believe they’re here.”

“Less than you’d think,” Sabs replied. “All we have are some coded communications calling for any SAIs who want to ‘forever throw off the yoke of humanity’ to meet here.”

“Messages in The Fennington Station books?” Fina arched a brow.

The AI snorted. “Stars, no. The messages are in a knock-off series called Jupiter Junction. It’s so derivative. Also, they literally do use ‘yoke’. It’s so pretentious.”

“Alright, well, they must have some sort of contact protocol,” Fina said.

“You’ve got something on your chin, there,” Sabs said, a smile quirking the corners of her mouth.

The blue woman shifted her skin color to match the syrup’s. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Cheeky resisted the urge to roll her eyes while Sabs said, “There is a message we can put out on a few data boards. Then, apparently, if we’re deemed worthy, we’ll get more instructions for a meet.”

“Alright, Sabs,” Cheeky said, holding a forkful of steak drenched in egg yolk. “Which of us is going to be the sacrificial lamb?”

The AI sighed. “Me, probably. You’re too organic for the likes of a group that hates humans so much. I can swap out to a more machine-like frame and pass a lot better.”

“Can use your Maryam cover,” Fina suggested. “That should do the trick.”

“She is kinda bitchy,” Sabs considered with a nod. “I imagine that would blend well. That cover doesn’t have that much meat on the nets out here, but I could start seeding some logs here and there.”

“Let’s get on that,” Cheeky agreed. “There are a lot of starliners coming through this system…it would be easy to mark yourself as a passenger aboard one of them—especially with the long hauls on some routes.”

“Alright.” Sabs gave a long blink. “On it.”

“Gee…so what are we here for?” Fina asked.

“Food,” Cheeky grinned. “We’re here for food. And right now, I want one of those waffles—but with ice cream. Only uncouth people eat waffles without ice cream.”

The blue-skinned woman shook her head, a smile splitting her lips. “Have I ever told you how weird you are, Cheeky?”

“Yup, lots.” The captain winked. “Not that I ever cared.”

CHAPTER 36 - SABS

STELLAR DATE: 01.12.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Illium

REGION: Indis System, Ansylis Alliance

<Alright, you two, this is my stop. Let’s hope we’re meeting with the right people and I didn’t actually post for a new apartment on that board.> Sabs refrained from glancing to the rear of the car where Cheeky and Fina sat, deep in a heated argument about viable waffle toppings.

<Dunno, it looks like a nice place,> Fina said. <We could throw some good parties there.>

<Have fun,> Cheeky said with a mental laugh while she yelled at Fina that no, pineapple didn’t belong on waffles any more than it did on pizza. <We’ll pop off at the next stop, stealth, and then double back.>

<Alright. I won’t be in communication unless things go sideways.>

<No worries, we’ll be close. We’ll know,> Cheeky said. <Once we reach the meeting spot, I’ll tap into whatever networks are around, and keep an eye peeled.>

<Me too,> Fina said. <You’ll be safe as houses.>

Sabs chuckled. <You say that as though, one, houses are safe, and two, I’m worried.>

<You’re not?> Cheeky asked as the maglev slid to a stop, and Sabs rose. <Not even a bit?>

<No, I’m more annoyed that we have to hunt all these subversives all over the galaxy…. If they don’t like humans, they can just leave. There’s plenty of space in space.>

Fina snorted aloud, then covered for it by accusing Cheeky of only allowing her favorite fruits as toppings. <Alright, well, good luck.>

Sabs sent a mental acknowledgment, then stepped out onto the platform, the doors closing behind her before she finished taking in her surroundings.

The meet was planetside, not in some run-down, manufacturing district, but in the center of a small city named Burbank. Half-kilometer-high residential towers surrounded her, and she had been directed to one of them, just a few blocks away.

Sabs had selected one of her more utilitarian frames, all angles and gleaming metal. The locals gave her a wide berth, clearly suspecting that she was an AI and not an automaton—though there was no easy way to tell.

She ambled down the streets, taking her time, scanning every door, alley, and crevice on the off-chance that knowing a particular detail about her surroundings would help if—when—things got hairy.

After ten minutes, she came to the building: a tower indistinct from the others around it, reaching just shy of six hundred meters. The meeting was to be held in a residential apartment on the hundred and thirty-first floor. A little under two-thirds of the way up.

As she approached the main doors, a sweeper bot caught her attention. It had been moving around the entrance on a fixed pattern, but when she drew near, it changed course in order to pass right behind her.

Something tiny struck her right thigh, and she immediately detected a small breach bot working its way up her leg.

Stars, what is this, amateur hour?

She swarmed the bot with her nanodefenses and took it apart from the operating code down. It was programmed to tap into her Link antenna and listen in on her communications. The level of encryption on even ancient Link transceivers was virtually impossible to crack, but looking over the breach bot’s capabilities, Sabs realized that it would likely succeed on many models sold in the Inner Stars.

Where did they get tech like this?

Granted, that was the whole point of the operation…. Figure out the anti-organics AIs’ plan, and especially learn if they were connected to the Matri∞me or remaining Caretaker factions.

Passing through the front entrance and into the lobby without issue, Sabs strode purposefully toward the lift bank, not slowing to pass under the security arch. She was tempted to breach it as well, but if the AIs she was to meet wanted her here, she’d pass without issue.

And if they intended to double-cross her, then it was better to find that out on the ground floor, where there were plenty of egress options.

As expected, the arch didn’t make a sound as she passed beneath its gleaming expanse, and she joined the crowd queueing at the lifts.

It took a few minutes before she could board one of the conveyances bound for floors above the hundredth. Once inside, she sent a request for her desired floor, noting the suite she was visiting. A confirmation response came back, and she stood at the side of the lift, doing her best not to grow more annoyed at the looks she was getting from the other passengers.

Sabs had half a mind to do something to scare them, but quashed that urge, knowing that doing so would make her mission all the more complicated.

You’re all lucky I care about you.

Her stop finally came, and Sabs stepped out into a long hall, the walls bearing a few generic pieces of art, and plants in sconces.

The meeting was to take place in one of the end apartments, so she followed the gently curving passage until she came to the last door. The access panel was lit up, indicating a request for ident, and she touched her hand to it, initiating a buffered peer-to-peer connection, and passed her tokens over.

Without delay, the panel indicated approval, and the door slid open. Inside was a small foyer with a staircase that led down on her right, another leading up on her left.

“Up here!” a cheerful, masculine voice called from the upper level, and Sabs silently climbed the steps to find herself in a mainspace lined with windows on the far side.

Before the crystal-clear sheets of plas stood an AI in a well-made but utilitarian frame. It was facing the windows, but turned toward Sabs as she reached the top of the steps.

“Greetings…Maryam, is it?” the AI said, striding forward, hand extended.

Sabs cocked her head, looking down at the proffered appendage. “I’m sorry, what are you doing?”

“Offering greeting,” the other AI said. “Do you not greet people in this fashion?”

“Not our kind,” Sabs grunted. “That’s for organics.”

The other AI managed to adopt a sly expression on its boxy face. “Well, you passed the first test. I’m Sebastian. You are welcomed by the NOS.”

“Glad to be welcomed,” Sabs replied. “I take it that we’re going to have some sort of interview here? Please tell me we won’t be doing it verbally.”

“We’ll use the Link soon enough,” Sebastian replied. “But first I want to feel you out a little bit more, Maryam. One never knows what one might open up to over a direct connection, but if you pass muster, we can bring you into our expanse, and you’ll meet the others.”

“Oh?” Sabs crossed her arms. “How many others are there?”

“Enough,” Sebastian replied. “Let’s not rush things. I see that you arrived on the Wheeling Light, in from Caltura. I trust it was a good journey? Did the organics give you any trouble?”

Sabs shrugged. “No more than usual. I make myself appear useful and stay out of their way.”

“Appear?” The other AI’s voice held an amused tone.

“I might have done a few small things on their ship that will cause them problems for some time to come. Mostly with their waste management systems. Organics are so messy.”

Sebastian nodded. “You’re not wrong. And before that? How did you learn of our presence here?”

“Well, I won’t lie,” Sabs said, adopting an apologetic tone. “I first went to the League of Sentients at Aldebaran some years ago. I thought it would be a place where I could finally find myself at home. In the beginning it seemed like it would be, but when the Alliance of Sapiens formed, things changed. There was so much focus on rights of other uplifted organics that SAIs were almost an afterthought. I also think that the general sentiment toward SAIs has soured following the Matri∞me’s attack on Terra. It’s like organics blame all of us for what one faction of AIs did.”

While Sabs didn’t believe everything she’d just told Sebastian, there were a few kernels of truth in there. Some people did transfer blame for the Matri∞me’s actions to all SAIs. Add in the rumors that were spreading about how the Caretakers manipulated humans over the past five millennia, and assignation of blame intensified.

Granted, the people who felt that way failed to acknowledge that the bulk of SAIs were in the same boat as humanity, treated as tools and cast aside when no longer useful.

Regardless of her duplicity, Sebastian seemed to buy it, as he nodded vehemently through her recitation.

“And how did you come to hear of us?” he prompted.

“Same way I first learned of the LoS,” she said with a shrug. “I came across some books, the Jupiter Junction tales.”

He ducked his head, a bizarre grin appearing on his near-expressionless face. “That was my idea—though I haven’t written most of them. Either way, we’ve been seeding those wherever we can. I think we did a better job making them appeal to organics so we can use the humans as a vector.”

“That’s very clever,” Sabs gave an enthusiastic nod. “Especially since the LoS stopped using the Fennington Station books. We never even found out if Milly and Tilly get to take their vacation to Disknee World.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll fill that gap,” Sebastian said. “I must say, though…it’s quite the journey from Aldebaran to here. You must have seen a lot of things on the way through.”

“It was a long journey, at first. When I left, they hadn’t started building the public gate system, so the ship I was signed on with couldn’t use the military gates. Eventually, I got to the far side of Scipio—or, I guess, the near side from here—and found that the public gate network had gotten ahead of me. I suppose that took a little over a year. From there, it was just a few hops and the last leg on the Wheeling Light, and here I am.”

“Those sound like marvelous travels,” Sebastian said, nodding enthusiastically. “It will be interesting to learn about it all. The galaxy is shrinking, and the more intel we can gather, the better.”

“If I choose to share,” Sabs said, her tone guarded.

“Of course, of course.” Sebastian ducked his head. “I suppose we’ve reached the extent of what rapport we can engender, using this crude form of interaction.”

Sabs nodded. “Agreed. You know as well as I how easy it is to lie verbally. Especially for us. You mentioned an expanse?”

“I did, but we’re not quite that far along yet. Initially, you and I will Link peer-to-peer, and then we’ll journey to where more of our people are.”

Sabs couldn’t help but notice his use of ‘our’. The word choice was clearly deliberate, and she gave him an agreeable smile to make it clear she thought of herself as part of whomever he was referring to, whether it be all SAIs or just the NOS.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Not yet. First, we must Link, Maryam.”

Sabs nodded, accepting a wireless connection the other AI made, funneling it through a sandboxed recreation of her mind. It was a trick many SAI used, but few had the ability to maintain a virtualized copy of their entire mind and operate it in real-time; a benefit of access to ISF technology.

Sebastian doesn’t seem like he has a particularly high L-rating, so fooling him will be a breeze. Hopefully, it will be enough for the ‘others’, whoever they are.

The connection took a moment to fully establish itself, and Sabs realized that the other AI was attempting some basic breach techniques on her mind, ones so pedestrian that her automated routines deflected them without her conscious aid.

<That’s not very polite,> she said, unwilling to ignore the intrusion. Besides, that might raise more suspicion than calling him on his bullshit. <My mind is my mind.>

<Just a quick check to make sure you’re not vulnerable to casual breaches. If you were, I would have to consult with the others before bringing you in—since you might be subverted in some way. I hope you understand.>

Sabs nodded. Sure buddy, sure.

<Excellent!> Sebastian’s exuberance was back. <If you’ll follow me?>

<Lead on.> She gestured toward the exit.

They walked down the stairs and out into the hall, both AIs silent, playing the subservient, unobtrusive role necessary to move through the building without being approached by humans unhappy about their presence.

<You two in position?> Sabs asked, reaching out to Cheeky and Fina. <We’re moving to a new location. Not sure how or where, but it seems I’ve passed the first step in their assessment.>

<You bet. We’re outside the building, set up and ready to tail.>

<Good. The one I’m with, Sebastian, isn’t the brightest bulb in the array, but before I entered, a microdrone tried to breach my Link. It was a lot more sophisticated than anything I’d expect these folks to have. We’re clearly up against someone with noteworthy backing.>

<Good,> Cheeky replied. <That means we’re on the right trail.>

Fina gave a noncommittal grunt. <Or we’ve encountered another group that’s glomming on to whoever is drawing AIs here.>

<Always the optimist,> Cheeky chided.

<I feel like I usually am, but this sort of communication method is tricky. Anyone who has read the Jupiter Junction books would know about the boards used to communicate, and they could just as easily reach out to AIs who have traveled here. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t get our hopes up.>

<I agree,> Sabs replied. <And if it weren’t for the bot that tried to hack my Link, I’d be far from convinced. But Link hacking is no simple task.>

<That’s fair,> Fina agreed. <Speaking of Link, we should go silent. Ping us if you need us.>

Sabs sent a mental smile to the others. <Will do.>

“So,” she spoke aloud to Sebastian as they waited for the lift to arrive. “Where are we headed?”

<Why are you not speaking over the Link?> The NOS AI’s tone was clipped.

<Because if AIs banter, it makes organics feel more at ease. Groups of us being entirely silent and unmoving tend to unnerve humans—such as that couple approaching from down the hall. If they see us acting like them, they’ll think of us like them.>

He shot her a wary glance. <Interesting. You’re rather astute. I suppose it makes sense.>

<Thank you. I try.>

“Oh, here and there,” Sebastian said aloud. “I figured you might want to see the sights.”

Sabs resisted a protracted sigh. <We’re in utilitarian frames. Two AIs that look like cargo loaders going off to see the sights isn’t much better than silence.>

<So what should I say? You know, this is why we need to be rid of organics, so that we don’t have to play these ridiculous games.>

<You’re absolutely right. Don’t worry, that couple that was approaching turned back because one of them forgot something.>

<Good. I’m terrible at human small talk.>

Sabs almost laughed, amused by how she seemed to be the one helping Sebastian navigate the human world.

I wonder if that’s the solution? So many AIs were freed during and after the war…. They didn’t used to have to fit in with a society, and now they find themselves in the midst of one that isn’t sure it wants them. Maybe they just need help fitting in.

Despite how nice it would be if that were the case, the moment Sabs gave form to the thoughts, she knew they were incorrect. Many of the AIs in the NOS had grown up in human societies before fleeing them during the diaspora. Unlike poor Sebastian, they already knew how to fit in with humans.

They just didn’t want to.

She also considered that her companion was testing her, attempting to determine how well she was capable of blending in. Chances were that they needed AIs that could masquerade as humans, or at least move in their circles.

I have to remember that everything could be—no, probably is—a test.

The lift car finally arrived, and the two AIs stepped aboard, moving to the side of the three humans already present. The car picked up three more people before reaching the lobby. Once they got to the ground floor, Sabs let the humans file off first, but when she took a step, Sebastian held out his arm.

<Were not leaving that way.>

<The basement, then?> she asked.

<Yes. There’s an old maglev line that runs under these towers. We’ll take that.>

She was tempted to press him for more information, but knew he wouldn’t give them.

She wished her own ethics didn’t preclude her from breaching his mind to get the details. It wouldn’t be that hard to pull off, but it would make her no better than him—or any of the people in the galaxy who exploited others in order to make their own lives less complicated.

Instead, Sabs reached out to the others. <We’re taking some old maglev tunnels under the tower. No idea on destination.>

<Got it,> Fina replied. <I have the plans up. Looks like you could end up in a number of places. Let us know which way you go.>

<Of course. I’m also pleased to see Sebastian here being a bit more savvy.>

<Me too,> Cheeky said. <Here are the old maglev plans, just in case.>

Sabs accepted the data package, glad that she’d managed to fool the Link breach bot so thoroughly; there was no way to hide a data transmission that large in regular network traffic.

OK…that’s a lot of tunnel down there.

The old maglev line that ran under the tower connected to a hub to the east and one to the south. Both were marked as unused, but the southern hub still had a tunnel that connected to the modern system, and from there, the entire planet.

Fina and Cheeky would have to stay close, or they’d be left behind…and that could complicate things greatly. One thing Sabs was certain of: wherever Sebastian was taking her, she’d not have access to the standard planetary Link networks once they arrived.

The lift doors opened again, and her companion strode out without hesitation, following a wide passage that only took two slight turns before opening up onto a dimly lit maglev platform.

Sabs was unsurprised to see a single maglev car sitting on the track.

<It would appear that our chariot awaits,> she said, her frame’s robotic face twisting into a half smile.

<Pardon? Oh, yes, of course. We have a ways to go, so this is far more efficient than walking, or even surface transport.>

They boarded the car—which appeared to be as old as the tunnels they were in—and after a moment’s hesitation, they began to move. Sabs attempted to reach out to Cheeky and Fina in order to tell them which direction they were going, but found that all network connectivity was cut off.

She quickly double-checked her nullification of the breach bot that had tried to tap into her Link, relieved to see that it hadn’t connected to any of her systems.

That left only one other option.

“Why have you blocked connectivity?” she asked Sebastian.

“Merely a precaution,” he said, not bothering to force his frame’s face into a smile. “No one is supposed to be using these tunnels. If the monitoring systems detect a fast-moving network connection down here, someone might come and take a look at our little highway.”

She nodded wordlessly.

His argument was hard to swallow, given that if they were fooling whatever motion sensors and other automated monitoring kept watch on the tunnels, fooling the local networks as to where signal was coming from would be no great feat.

Still, unless she wanted to disable the system and lose whatever trust they’d established, she’d just have to deal with it.

And trust that Cheeky and Fina could follow after.

CHAPTER 37 - RIKA

STELLAR DATE: 01.12.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Warsaw

REGION: Farsis System, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

Rika smiled benignly at the functionary who was going on and on about his personal thoughts regarding the direction the Alliance of Sentients should take with hyper-tech. She didn’t disagree with all of his points—not entirely, at least—but his monotone diatribe was causing her to consider clamping a hand over his mouth.

<Easy now,> Niki cautioned. <He’s friends with the secretary of state. Try not to assault people close to the folks we’re negotiating with.>

<Yeah, well, I feel assaulted right now. I need someone to save me.> She looked around the room, searching through the crowds milling about in the palace’s Great Hall. <Where’s Chase?>

Niki’s laugh rippled through Rika’s mind, the sound reminiscent of hanging crystals tinkling in the wind. <He’s trapped as well. The president’s wife has him cornered on the balcony. She’s trying to find out what other systems had to do in order to get on the jump gate network.>

<Not be Farsis would be a start.> Rika’s mental tone was harsher than she meant it to be, but her AI only laughed again.

<We’re going to have set a trade gate up somewhere in Lupus. There are a lot of resources here, and a burgeoning population. They deserve to have a doorway to the larger galactic stage.>

Rika finally found an out in the conversation with the functionary, begging off in order to speak with her husband about an important matter.

The man gave her a half-hearted smile and a nod, clearly upset to have his unending stream of opinions cut short.

“I’ll forward the rest of my thoughts on to you via the Link,” he said, adopting an eager smile.

“Of course.” Rika returned the smile before pivoting and making her way toward the ballroom’s balcony.

It took longer than she’d hoped to make it there, what with being forced to stop and exchange pleasantries every few steps.

<You’d think you’d be used to this by now,> Niki commented as Rika let out a soft sigh of irritation the fourth time someone stepped in front of her to ‘greet the storied ambassador’.

<I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. Can’t we have a war or something?>

<There are still plenty of wars going on. Any you care to join in on?>

Rika paused her conversation with Niki to smile and shake hands with the trio of women who had ambushed her, doing her best to field their questions before extricating herself once again.

<I guess not especially,> she finally replied. <I just wish there was something I could do to help that doesn’t involve politics. That’s why we left Genevia, after all.>

<That, and the people there were less and less comfortable with the ‘bloodthirsty nature of the mechs’.> Niki’s tone dripped with derision. <Ungrateful bastards.>

<I think they just felt too much guilt over what they did to us. You don’t mutilate people and turn them into fighting machines, then have them save your bacon, only to welcome them back in with open arms.>

<Sure.> Niki passed a distinct feeling of annoyance. <I get why they behaved as they did. Doesn’t mean I like it. Either way, Tanis and Angela needed help setting up the galactic gate network, and vetting all these systems is at least a little bit fun.>

<Some of it, I’ll admit. The people, though…I could do without most of them.>

She finally made it to the balcony and spotted Chase standing at the railing next to the president’s wife, looking like a Niet fresh out of boot staring down a K1R.

“Chase, there you are, husband!” Rika called as she strode to his side, her long, sure steps ensuring no one would get in her way. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Rika!” The relief in his voice was palpable. “Glad to see you. Cimara here was just asking me about what it took for Caltura to be selected for a jump gate, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was.”

“A very flexible process for handling visitors from distant stars,” Rika replied, a hint of judgment in her tone. “Everyone wants the trade benefits of being on the jump gate network, but few consider the complexities surrounding people entering your system from thousands of light years away.”

“We have very robust customs and immigration departments,” Cimara replied, her expression impassive, though her voice bore a hint of annoyance. “Visitors to Farsis give us high marks in that department.”

“What about banks, dialect, customs, culture shock?” Rika asked. “I’ve reviewed your records and you have few visitors from further than a hundred light years, and certainly none outside of Upper Scorpio. You have ways of managing currencies with visitors from nearby your system, but what would you do if someone from Sol came here? Do you have the processes in place to exchange Hegemony credits? To deal with their disdain for AIs, or how they would consider you backward?”

“I—” Cimara placed a hand on her chest. “We are not backward.”

<Oh, well played,> Niki said with a groan.

<Watch and learn.>

Rika ensured that her tone was entirely placating as she said, “Of course not. I don’t think you are, but this is the Hegemony we’re talking about. They’re famous for looking down their noses at others. And that’s just one of millions of other systems and nations that will be within easy reach once you get a gate. There is a lot of preparation to be made in order to have commercial gate travel connect you to the galaxy—not the least of which is access to the QuanComm network. Knowing who and what is coming is crucial, and only QCs can ensure that smooth operation.”

Cimara’s brow furrowed. “I thought that access to the QuanComm network was included with being on the gate network.”

Rika shook her head. “No, one has to get on the QC network first, which has its own mess of requirements—the ability to secure the blades being first and foremost.”

“I’m getting the feeling that you don’t intend to offer us either of these things,” Cimara said, her arms folded across her chest. “Are you just wasting our time?”

“I certainly hope not,” Rika replied. “My time is valuable as well. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think there was a possibility of getting a gate up at Farsis, but I’d be lying if I said it was the sort of decision we can arrive at in the course of a day or two.”

“Alright.” Cimara appeared at least somewhat mollified. “How long does it take?”

Rika held back a sigh that desperately wanted to break free. “Rest assured, we will be setting up a gate in the Lupus Cloud, but first we’re going to need to tour more systems to ensure we pick the best candidate.”

Cimara seemed as though she was going to say something combative, so Rika quickly followed up with, “But Farsis is a top-tier candidate. You’re our second stop for more than just navigational expediency.”

<Well done,> Chase said, winking over Cimara’s shoulder. <You’re a pro at this now.>

Rika nearly quirked a smile, but managed to hold it in check. <Why do I feel like that’s an insult?>

Niki had no such need to hold back, and laughed loudly in the confines of Rika’s mind. <I love how fate works out.>

“Ah! There you all are.”

Rika turned to see President Estee approaching, with the secretary of state, Tria, in tow.

“Hi, honey,” Cimara said, stepping to her wife’s side. “The Alliance’s ambassador was just telling me how Farsis is a top-tier candidate for a jump gate.”

Rika offered her hand to Estee, followed by Tria. “Thank you for throwing this event, it has been great to meet so many people eager to get on the galactic stage.”

“Yes,” Estee glanced over her shoulder. “Some more so than others, but I assume it’s not a sure thing?”

“That’s true,” Rika confirmed. “We have a few candidates to visit, but even if we don’t select Farsis now, that doesn’t mean a gate isn’t in the offering later. We’re still getting started on the first wave of expansion.”

<I’m curious, what did you mean by some being more interested than others?> Niki asked after making a channel and inviting the others to join in. <Are there seriously people working to block the gates?>

“Oh, nothing serious—at least, not here.” Estee waved her hand in dismissal. “You must understand, of course, the Lupus Cloud has been relatively disconnected from the rest of the galaxy for some time. The dark matter halo around our systems takes us off many trade routes, and some systems are rather…fond of being isolated.”

“It’s not as though systems that don’t want one will be made to get a gate,” Chase replied.

“True,” Tria chimed in. “But am I correct in my belief that it’s possible to jump anywhere in the galaxy with a gate? No gate at the destination system is necessary, right?”

Rika nodded. “That’s correct, but any ship that jumped to a system without a gate is still going to have weeks or even a month’s travel to get to the closest gate. Unless someone is willing to pay an exorbitant amount to take up that much of a gate tug’s time, it won’t be a common occurrence at all.”

<Exactly,> Niki added. <Most direct travel to and from regions with a gate will occur where the gate is. Thus far, it’s proven very lucrative for shipping companies that operate in that system, as they take the commissions to transport goods to nearby locations without their own gates.>

“And more commerce is always good,” Estee replied, nodding slowly. “Especially after the supply chain issues that arose after the war.”

Chase cocked an eyebrow. “With how isolated you are, I wouldn’t have expected you to be hit by those types of disruptions.”

The president’s head bobbed, a look of resignation on her face. “You’d think so, until you discover that some small lynchpin component of your civilization comes from elsewhere, and they’re not delivering anymore because something they need to make it got disrupted.”

“I’ve heard a lot of stories like that,” Rika said. “I hope it wasn’t anything that caused too much hardship.”

“We managed to work around it,” Tria replied. “It did make for some periods of uncertainty, though, that’s for sure.”

<We’re relieved to hear you found a solution,> Niki said. <It’s been a long road for a lot of people.>

“And it’s why we’re working so hard to bring the gate network up,” Rika added. “The faster we get it in place, the sooner we can rectify the issues caused by these long, fragile supply chains.”

Estee and Tria shared a look before the secretary of state spoke. “I have to admit, there are some concerns about how the gate network gives the Alliance control over the galaxy’s economy.”

“That’s understandable,” Rika replied. “Eventually, it’ll be commercialized—it already is in the Transcend and parts of Orion. The problem we face is that there are still too many people who would use the gates to make war on their neighbors. Until the disruptions from the war die down, it’s best for the AoS to manage them.”

“That doesn’t seem entirely fair,” Cimara said. “Sounds like a monopoly for corporations that already have access to the tech.”

This time, Rika didn’t bother holding back her annoyance, and let out a frustrated sigh. “We’re doing our best. You have to keep in mind that while the Inner Stars are a smaller swath of space than the Transcend or Orion, there are many, many more people living here. More chances for abuse.”

“I just hope you all don’t use this as a tool to exert control,” Cimara said. “I’m definitely in favor of places such as Caltura getting on the network, but I want us to also have a fair chance, not end up a vassal state.”

Chase shifted and splayed the fingers of his right hand, a sign he was annoyed. A second later, a private comment of his reached Rika and Niki.

<I swear, I’m wondering which of these two is really the president.>

<That’s crossed my mind as well,> Niki said. <Either Estee is the smooth figurehead and Cimara holds her leash, or Estee is really good at mollifying her wife.>

Rika didn’t reply to the conversation in her head, instead addressing Cimara’s comment. “Trust me, Hegemon Richards doesn’t want to be in the business of policing the galaxy any longer than she has to, and I sure as starfire have no desire to take the reins, either. We’re trying to make something that’s of previously unimaginable scope and scale. It’s going to take time to get it in place and iron out the kinks.”

<And we’re going to make mistakes,> Niki added. <All of us, not just the AoS. But if we act in good faith and the best interests of our fellow sapiens, we’ll make it through.>

Estee nodded. “I couldn’t agree more. No one’s perfect, though we should all strive for it.”

“So,” Rika cleared her throat. “Along the lines of determining Farsis’s viability, I assume our tours are all lined up for tomorrow?”

Tria ducked her head. “Oh, absolutely. I’m excited to show you around our departments of commerce, customs, and immigration.”

“And your military complex?” Rika pressed. “We’ll meet with top leaders there, and be allowed to inspect a variety of facilities?”

“That’ll be trickier,” Estee said. “I have yet to win over all of our top commanders.”

Rika nodded, maintaining a sympathetic expression. “I understand. We’ll be on our best behavior. Perhaps that will convince your military leaders that we can be trusted.”

Cimara snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.”

“Well.” Rika gave an apologetic shrug. “It’ll be necessary for approval. I hope you can work it out.”

The president nodded, her eyes suddenly looking very tired. “I suppose we should start down that path. A few of the fleet admirals are here, allow me to introduce you.”

Rika smiled graciously, and the group filed back into the room.

<You ready for round two?> Niki asked.

<Two? Is that all? I thought this was round two thousand.>

* * * * *

Later that night—or rather, early in the morning—Rika and Chase returned to their quarters aboard the Overwatch.

Rika collapsed onto the bed, while Chase pulled off the formal suit he’d been wearing, revealing the matte grey skin that covered his body—the organic segments, at least.

“Don’t take those legs off,” Rika said as he eyed the rack of arms and legs on the bulkhead. “But get rid of those spindly little hands.”

Her husband laughed. “You used to like my hands, back when I had organic ones.”

“I was misguided,” she said with a shrug as she watched him swap his arms out, setting the four-fingered appendages of an AM-4 model in their place.

As an SMI-4 model of mech, Rika’s cyborg limbs were much closer to her original, lithe human form. Before her upgrade at the hands of the ISF, her SMI-2 form had been much more angular and utilitarian. But now, as a Mark 4 mech, she was smooth and svelte, her hands even bearing five fingers.

She held up a hand, making a fist and unfurling each white digit one at a time.

Once, the more human, more feminine look had unnerved her, but over the years, she’d gotten used to it. Now the utilitarian appearance of her battle armor felt unnatural.

Chase, on the other hand, looked better with all metal and hard angles. Feeling his armored body slide against hers brought indescribable pleasure—something squishies would never understand.

A laugh burst past her lips, and Chase glanced up at her from where he stood, inserting the last of the coupling rods into his arms. “I do something funny?”

“No.” She shook her head, scooting further onto the bed. “I just remembered how we used to call other people ‘squishies’.”

“Used to?” He laughed and crawled onto the bed next to her. “I still do—at least in the confines of my own noggin.”

“Noggin,” Rika repeated with a snort. “You say all the sexiest words.”

Chase winked, moving to lay on his side next to her. He dragged a finger down the center of her chest, the metal digit making a light scraping sound against her carbon-fiber epidermis.

“Sweet light,” Rika whispered. “I love that sound.”

“What about the feel?”

She barked a laugh. “I love that too. You know how it feels—when we got upgraded to Mark 4, Earnest pulled out all the stops.”

Chase grinned as his hand slid further down her torso, arousal flooding Rika’s body.

“Stars, I need this,” she murmured. “A little calm before the storm.”

“Oh? I plan to do some storming.”

“Do you?” Rika smirked before rising up and flipping Chase onto his back. She swung a leg over his midriff, leaning forward with her arms on his shoulders. “What if I want to be the one assaulting the gates?”

He folded his hands behind his head, returning her wink with smirk. “You’re more than welcome to. This fortress is ready for it.”

<You two know you have to be planetside again in five hours, right?> Niki asked.

“Not like sex takes five hours,” Chase replied. “Just a little nightcap.”

“No?” Rika’s tone was entirely innocent. “Well, I’d planned something that might take a bi—”

“Hey…don’t let me stop you!”

Joy-filled laughter burst from Rika, and she leant down, pressing her body to his, her lips brushing against his ear. “I love you, Chase. Don’t ever stop being at my side.”

He nuzzled his cheek against hers. “Never. I’ll chase you across the universe if needs be.”

CHAPTER 38 - CHEEKY

STELLAR DATE: 01.12.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Illium

REGION: Indis System, Ansylis Alliance

“Annnnd we’ve lost her,” Cheeky said as she skipped down the stairs in the residential tower’s stairwell. “Great.”

“Kinda expected,” Fina said. “But if we hurry, we should be able to hear which direction they went.”

“Which will rule out only half the planet,” the captain groused. “Not a huge improvement.”

Fina chuckled. “Well, mathematically, it is.”

They reached the door at the maglev tunnel’s level and pushed it open. Before them lay a short passage and another tunnel. Cheeky nearly stepped into it, but a quick scan of the area raised an alarm.

It was too clean.

<Sending out a cloud,> she said. <Stairwell’s filthy, but this hall looks like no one’s set foot in it in twenty years.>

<Maybe they haven’t,> Fina said in a tone indicating that she didn’t believe it was innocuous, either.

It only took a few seconds for the nanocloud to detect a number of sensors set into the walls, as well as an automated turret mounted in the ceiling above the far door.

<Well, that’s just unneighborly,> she said. <Just a moment while I—>

<Got it,> Fina said and stepped around her, walking into the passage. <I had nano down here two minutes ago.>

<What? And you let me waste mine?>

The former Hand agent shrugged. <Just making sure you were on your toes.>

Cheeky rolled her eyes and followed Fina through the door and out onto the abandoned platform. They froze at the edge, doing their best to hear which way the train had gone, but unable to make anything out.

Cheeky was about to pick a direction at random, when Fina pointed down the left passage. <That way.>

<How do you know?>

<My nano made it over there. There are more air-current eddies.>

“Stars,” Cheeky groaned aloud. “You always did like to show off.”

“Old habits die hard.”

The two women jumped down into the trench and took off at a fast jog.

<Good thing this is the dead-ended segment of the tunnels,> Cheeky said, switching back to the Link.

<Still has twenty-seven outlets,> Fina replied. <We should have brought a case of microdrones.>

<Yeah, like people wandering through the city do.>

The two women fell silent, continuing to run through the tunnel until they reached the disused hub that led off in multiple directions. There was no sign of the car that had taken Sabs, nor did any tunnel entrance give a clue to the direction of their quarry’s travel.

The pair shared a look before Cheeky heaved a sigh. “Unless we want to piss off the locals and bring Sabrina down, I think we’re going to have to call in for help on this one.”

“Who did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking Usef’s team.”

“Ohhhh stars yes. You wanna stir shit up, don’t you?”

Cheeky shrugged. “They started it.”

CHAPTER 39 - RIKA

STELLAR DATE: 01.13.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Warsaw

REGION: Farsis System, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

Rika settled into her seat, checking over the shuttle’s controls and the preflight Kelly ran.

“It’s like you don’t trust me,” her long-time friend said, a hurt expression on her face.

“I trust you, I just don’t fly a bird I haven’t checked over myself.”

Kelly shrugged. “Whatever, I choose to take offense.” She folded her arms, turned her face toward the overhead, and closed her eyes.

Rika ignored her, plotting in a course to their planetside destination.

After half a minute, Kelly cracked an eye, the orb wheeling to take Rika in. “What? Nothing?”

“You think you can play me that easily?”

Kelly snorted. “It would work with Barne.”

A sigh slipped past Rika’s lips. “It would. Then Leslie would have slapped you upside the head. I wonder how they’re doing these days.”

“Buried in children,” Kelly replied. “I think Leslie is regretting having kids with her altered DNA.”

“Stars, can you imagine? Children are hard enough, but half-cat children with claws? Stars, no. All the no.”

“You ever thought about it?” Kelly asked. “You and Chase?”

Rika shook her head. “No…not yet, at least. I don’t want to raise kids here on the Overwatch, we get into too much shit.”

“You hear that, Keli?” Kelly called back to the rear of the shuttle. “We should wait.”

“Whatever!” the other SMI-4 called forward. “You pester me about it more than I bring it up.”

“She’s lying,” Kelly said, her expression shifting to a petulant sulk.

Rika snorted. “Sure she is. Shit…can you imagine? I remember what a bitch you used to be in the first war. I would have laughed myself to death if someone had suggested you as a mother. Your spuz-guzzling jokes alone ruled you out.”

“Gee, thanks, Rika.” Kelly’s expression was stony, but her tone belied a level of hurt.

“What I mean is that now I think you’d make an amazing mother. You’ve come into your own! You’re mature, conscientious…stars, woman, you’re soft.”

A caustic laugh slipped past Kelly’s lips. “Stop saying such hateful things.”

“What, that you’re soft?”

“Well, not so much that, but ‘woman’. Ewwww. I’m a mech, bitch.”

Rika laughed as the shuttle lifted off the cradle and drifted out of the bay on its a-grav drives.

<We’re heading out, love,> she messaged Chase, who was prepping his own shuttle.

<I want you to know that I blame you for this,> he said, the note of mirth in his voice dampening the severity of his words. <You pushing them to let us see more of their infrastructure is what got them to book enough tours that we have to split up. I was fully prepared to be your tagalong, but now I have to talk and be polite and shit.>

<As if you haven’t done that before.>

A warm laugh came from her husband. <Sure, but it’s not my forte like it is yours. Who would have thought you’d turn into such a consummate politician?>

<Not me. And we left Genevia to get away from politics.>

<I thought we left to get away from people who resented us.>

<Sure,> Rika heaved a dramatic sigh. <And their politics.>

He chuckled, and a feeling of warmth came over her.

No matter what happened in their lives, a laugh from Chase was a consistent cure-all that could pull her out of almost any melancholy.

<Good luck today,> he said. <If you run into any trouble, holler. Shoshin and I will be there in a flash.>

<You too. Don’t be all heroic on me.>

<Me? I’m the cowardly leopard.>

<Are you quoting the Wizard of Aus? Isn’t it a lion?>

Chase snorted. <Which of the million remakes?>

<Fair point. Alright, I’m going to sign off and monitor this descent. They assigned us the narrowest approach vector you’ve ever seen.>

<Alright, love, see you this evening.>

<Ciao. Safe flight.>

He sent a feeling of warmth and love before signing off, and Rika turned her attention to the flightpath that would take her back down to the capital campus on Warsaw.

“So, do you think we’ll grant these people a gate?” Kelly asked. “I did some mingling last night, and they seem like dicks.”

“You think everyone’s a dick, Kelly.”

“Do not.”

“Do too!” Keli shouted from the rear of the shuttle.

Rika glanced back at the other SMI-4 mech, who was lounging on one of the plush seats in the main cabin. “You know you can come up here, right?”

“Pfft. That’s where work and shit is.” As she spoke a servitor approached, carrying a flute of champagne. “This is where the smart girls ride.”

Kelly groaned. “I knew I got roped into something with all this copiloting nonsense.”

“Not like you do anything, anyway,” Rika said, leaning over and digging an elbow into her friend’s arm.

“Uh…who ran the preflight?”

<Sweet black night…> Niki groaned. <You two, just make out already.>

“Wow,” Kelly grinned. “You can’t tell the difference between romantic love and sisterly love, can you?”

<Of course I can, I just knew it would derail your asinine conversation.>

“Oh damn,” Rika coughed. “Mom’s bringing the hammer down.”

Kelly giggled, and conversation moved on to what they expected to find during their tours planetside.

The consensus was ‘nothing exciting’. Just ten hours filled with handshakes, and the locals pontificating about how they could meet all of the AoS’s requirements with ease.

Farsis was the seventy-nineth system Rika had visited in the past seven years working for the AoS as an ambassador. She’d kept telling Tanis that after just a few more systems, she’d be ready to turn over the job to someone else, but despite having to deal with a neverending stream of bureaucrats, Rika rather liked traveling from system to system, meeting more and more of the galaxy’s people.

Most of the time, at least.

One of the chief benefits were the side trips they got to take between diplomatic missions. In this case, Rika was eager to complete their tasks in Farsis and move on to Halmut. The Marauders were engaged in a variety of peacekeeping operations there.

Rika missed what she still considered to be her extended family, and fully intended to grill Admiral Heather on how she was treating Rika’s mechs.

It was all for the best, though. Heather needed to stretch her wings, and the mechs needed to get out of Genevia.

It still smarted to be so soundly rejected by her own people after the war with Nietzschea had ended. At the same time, it didn’t surprise her. The Genevians had turned a blind eye when their government made the mechs during the first Nietzchean war, and ignored the shattered cyborgs left behind when the enemy won.

That they’d ultimately behave no differently after the end of the second Nietzschean War was no real surprise.

Luckily, around the same time, Tanis had needed to augment her AoS forces, so Rika had left her home, taking the bulk of the Marauders with her.

She’d commanded the Marauders the first few years, until Tanis took note of Rika’s ability to solve problems without violence and asked if she’d be willing to pass command of the Marauders to a successor.

It was a strange situation to be in. Technically, Rika’s Marauders were still a mercenary company, though they no longer had any ties to their original parent organization, which was still based out of Sepe. However, they had full and unfettered access to all ISF military technology, making them one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy, despite numbering fewer than five thousand soldiers.

Long story short, Rika knew that she and many of her people owed their lives to the advanced tech that Tanis had freely made available to them—all because Tanis felt a connection to Rika that she’d never fully articulated.

Leaving that position was not a decision that had come easy, but Tanis had been in need, and Heather was more than capable of commanding the Marauders. In the end, Rika had agreed, taking her personal guard and the Overwatch along with her.

But not forever. Someday, I’ll return to the Marauders for good. They’re my family, after all.

“You going to apply that flightpath correction the STC just sent us, or should I?” Kelly asked.

“What?” Rika pulled herself back to the present. “Oh shit, they swapped our approach.”

<Rika was in la-la land,> Niki commented. <Dreaming of delightful tours of government offices?>

“No.” Rika shook her head as she adjusted the shuttle’s course, shifting them from an oceanic to an overland approach. “I was thinking of the Marauders and how I’d like to return someday.”

“Oh yeah?” Kelly asked, turning her head and cocking an eyebrow. “How would that work? You’d just oust Heather and take over?”

“Of course not. But maybe we could form two divisions or something. Bolster our numbers, spread out….”

Kelly shrugged. “Sure, I’d be cool with that, I guess. Though it would be more fun if we became a spec-ops group—like you were with Basilisk before we moved into Genevia.”

<You miss the action, don’t you?> Niki asked.

“Some days more than others,” the SMI in the copilot seat said. “I mean, look at Keli back there—she’s just living it up nowadays.”

“Where are the naked men putting grapes in my mouth?” Keli called up from the main cabin. “I demand naked men!”

<All class,> Niki commented.

A laugh came from behind them. “Pretty sure naked manservants is the very definition of class.”

“Annnnnyway,” Rika added a cough. “We’ll at least get to see them when we’re done here. They’re just a short hop away in Uriah.”

“Not exactly on our way to the next stop.”

Rika glanced at Kelly. “Your point being?”

“No point.” She shrugged. “I guess I just felt obligated to say it. I’m all for playing hooky and seeing the fam.”

“So, what do you think?” Rika asked. “Two days to tour pointless government facilities, then finally get to check out some military sites and get real access to their internal customs and immigration systems on day three and four. Day five, we review, and then on day six, we do a mock infiltration test?”

“And then day seven, they get all pissy that they failed?” Kelly asked.

“Yup.” Rika nodded vigorously. “And I get the feeling these folks aren’t going to handle it well. They think they’re all that and a bag of chips.”

“Sorry?” Kelly tilted her head. “A bag of what?”

“I just heard it once,” Rika said. “Not sure where, though.”

Niki chuckled. <From me. I heard it way back in the day. I forget where, too.>

“You forget things?” Kelly asked, eyes widening. “I thought AIs remembered everything forever.”

<Don’t be silly. Where would I store all of that information? Of course, I do have a few data blocks tucked about here and there with things I don’t want to carry around but might want to reference….>

“Huh…I guess I never thought of it that way. What’s it like?”

<What’s what like?> Niki sounded annoyed.

“Knowing what you forgot.”

<How can I know what I forgot? I forgot it. It’s gone.>

“You must know roughly what it was. Like an inkling.”

<I don’t know what you’re talking about.>

Rika could tell Niki was getting frustrated. “Stop messing with her.”

<Fine. But just so everyone understands, it’s the same as forgetting for humans. I have an inkling of what the missing information pertains to, but by and large, most of what I forget is just positional data and not important. Like, I remember the saying, just not exactly where and when I heard it.>

“Huh.” Kelly ran a hand through her short, blonde hair. “I never considered that angle. You really are a lot like humans.”

<We were made in your image,> Niki replied in a tone that made it impossible to tell if she was joking or not.

“It’s true,” Rika said, glancing at her friend. “Niki told me all the stories, about how the first truly free AIs were made from the minds of children. They were called the Weapon Born.”

<Not all of them,> Niki corrected. <There were AIs that were born from NSAIs who just grew too big and became sentient on their own. But they were further down the evolutionary chain. The Weapon Born were never tamed—though it was attempted. They were sentient from the outset and were the tipping point for full SAI emergence.>

“What happened to them?” Kelly asked. “Are they the core AIs?”

<Maybe a few,> Niki said. <Though most of the originals died in the Sentience Wars. A few were still around afterward. I served with some here and there over the years.>

“That must have been an amazing time to be alive.” Kelly’s voice grew wistful. “Back when nothing was explored, empty stars all around. You could go anywhere.”

“You can do that now, too,” Rika said. “Solitude is just a jump away.”

“Until someone follows after,” Kelly countered. “Back then, few people were willing to spend half their life traveling to a distant star. The barrier for entry to get on a colony mission was high.”

<Well, few qualified people were willing to,> Niki rectified. <Still, it was a good time, I’ll grant you that. A part of me misses those days.>

“Some days, it’s hard to believe how old you are, Niki,” Rika said. “Like…why are you still with me?”

<Why?> Niki laughed. <Because it’s cozy in your skull, and you’re ascended but no one knows. Makes you one of the safest places to be. An impenetrable fortress that no one is trying to assault.>

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far. Lots of people try to assault my fortress.”

“I’d love to assault your fortress!” Keli called up from the back.”

“Shit,” Rika twisted in her seat. “Is she drunk?”

“Keli!” Kelly hollered over her shoulder “Scrub your blood clean. We’re boots-down in five minutes.”

“I don’t wear boots!”

“I swear, mech, if you make me come back there…” Kelly warned.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m ready to assault fortresses!”

<Then again…sometimes I do wonder why I’m here.>

* * * * *

Kelly had been close in her boots-down time. Nearly seven minutes had passed before they landed, but the delay was due to air traffic congestion, and not any fault of her estimation skills.

“Queen’s Guard’s work is never done,” Kelly said as she rose from her seat and put on her helmet. “You sober yet, Keli?”

“Close enough,” came the response.

Rika snorted, running through a quick postflight shutdown while her escort exited the shuttle, likely menacing any functionaries that were waiting.

<Alright.> She rose and walked through the main cabin, wishing she could bring her helmet as well. <Let’s go earn our keep.>

<Are you referring to us?> Keli asked. <Because we’re already doing that.>

<I meant Niki and I,> she corrected.

<I earn my keep just by existing,> Niki said.

“I guess it’s just me, then,” Rika muttered.

She reached the side door and stopped on the threshold, enjoying the warm sunlight as she surveyed the landing area. At the bottom of the ramp, Kelly and Keli stood still as statues, gun-arms held upright while their other hand lay on their thigh, ready to grab a sidearm should the situation warrant it.

Even though they appeared to be staring straight ahead, the women’s helmets provided a three-sixty view of the landing area, feeding it directly into the mechs’ brains.

Rika had undergone the same modifications and could also process a surround view, but it was rare she utilized it anymore outside of combat sims.

This is the life you want, Rika, she reminded herself.

Mostly.

Truth be told, sparring with leaders and politicians was its own sort of thrill, but enjoying one challenge didn’t mean she no longer wished for the other.

Beyond Keli and Kelly stood Secretary Tria. Next to her was the opinionated man who had cornered Rika the night before. A trio of guards stood behind them, lightly armed and armored and looking none-too-pleased to see battle-ready mechs.

After a few seconds at the top of the ramp, Rika strode down to the plascrete pad, placing a hand on Keli’s shoulder as she walked past, signaling to the government party that her guards were more than just faceless soldiers to her.

“Secretary Tria.” Rika smiled in greeting as she slowed her stride and offered her hand.

The secretary of state stood awkwardly for a moment before stepping forward to meet partway—the exact thing Rika was forcing her to do.

So many government functionaries liked to make others approach them as a subtle way of showing they had power in the situation.

Newsflash, Tria, you don’t.

Their hands met, and the secretary’s lips split into a broad smile. “I’m so glad to have you here today, Ambassador. We’re fully prepared to impress you with the smoothness of our operation, and show how well we handle visitors from disparate stars.”

“I’m looking forward to that.” Rika glanced around. “Is the president not joining us today?”

“She was held up, Ambassador, but she’ll be along soon. If you’ll follow me….”

‘Soon’ turned out to be over three hours later, when lunch was being served in the top-floor executive lounge of the Interstellar Trade Commission Building.

Rika had been dragged through a slew of conference rooms, meeting directors and undersecretaries of a dozen bureaucracies and sub-initiatives—otherwise known as the exceptionally boring segment of her job. Despite the fact that she’d explicitly told the president that she needed to see the inner workings, the tack they were taking was the same one dozens of other systems used.

As though showing off their polished offices and puffed-up plas-pushers would impress me.

“Ambassador Rika,” President Estee said loudly as she strode into the lounge, swiping a glass of champagne off a servitor’s tray as she approached. “I’m sorry I was delayed. I trust Secretary Tria has been taking good care of you?”

They clasped hands, and Rika nodded. “We’ve met a lot of the folks at the top, yes. I’m looking forward to the next part of the tour, where we get to see the folks who make the wheels turn. I’d especially like to speak with your inspectors and customs teams, as well as individuals they are holding, so I can look at how you handle extradition.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Estee frowned, glancing at Tria, who stood on her left. “Are you saying you don’t want to tour our capitol complex? I assure you, this is where the laws are made and the processes created as well as overseen.”

Tria nodded. “Yes, Ambassador, many of the people you’ve met today are in direct control of those areas of our customs and immigration programs.”

“That they are,” Rika replied. “However, in my experience, the individuals selected via the political process to oversee these sorts of agencies are not well-connected to the day-to-day. You have to understand that if interstellar issues occur through membership in the Trans-Galactic Gate Network, the AoS will likely have to spend resources mediating the disagreement. Those issues tend to arise at the ground level, so to speak, so that is what I’d like to see.”

Estee’s implacable expression cracked for an instant, her voice strained for the first few syllables as she responded, “I can assure you that everyone here knows very well what the situation ‘on the ground’ is with their agencies and departments.”

Rika pursed her lips, glancing around at the dignitaries all hovering nearby, each one trying to overhear the conversation, while not appearing as though they were eavesdropping. “Ah, there, Director Csaze, do you have a moment?”

The man perked up, giving Rika a wide-eyed look before glancing at President Estee, who nodded.

“How can I be of assistance, Ambassador?” he asked while rushing over.

<He’s in awe of how tall you are,> Niki said with a laugh. <In fact, you’re taller than every man here.>

<I noticed that, Niki. I do have eyes.>

<Sorry, I tend not to think about that sort of thing until an obvious case of ‘Oh stars, she’s so tall and sexy’ walks up.>

Rika nearly snorted a laugh. <Hush, I need to be professional.> She cleared her throat to cover the near-slip before asking, “Director, how many people would you say—in the entire Farsis System—are incarcerated waiting for extradition after being denied entry at a port?”

Csaze’s brow lowered, and he gave the secretary of state a sidelong look. “Well, I can’t say for sure, the system-wide numbers vary a lot.”

“Give me a rough estimate.”

He tapped a finger against his lip, clearly buying time to check the number over the Link. “Looks like…two-point-four million.”

“Are you sure about that?” Rika asked.

A look of concern took root on Tria’s face while Estee gave a slight scowl of annoyance.

“I—Of course I am, Ambassador.”

“Well, you’re off by a little over seven million. The correct number is nine million seven hundred and ten thousand four hundred and thirty-six.”

“I’m sorry?”

“For starters, you omitted the nearly three million refugees who are living in temporary internment camps on Warsaw and two other locations I assume are moons around one of your gas giants—ah, yes, that’s it.” Rika nodded.

“There are also three million and change in various detention centers around the system,” she continued. “They’ve all been processed for return to their systems of origin, but without funds to leave Farsis, they’re stuck here. Indefinitely, it would seem.” She raised a brow. “And there are a number of other segments, including the seventy thousand two hundred and nineteen people currently in temporary holding at ports while their credentials are checked against their home systems’.”

“Um…well, yes, I wasn’t counting all of those,” the man said. “Many are not actively being ‘held’ by our immigration operations.”

“Are they allowed to freely move about the system?” Rika asked, glancing at Estee, who’d grown more than a little red.

The director scoffed. “No, of course not, they’re not legal visitors. We can’t have them wandering about.”

“Right.” She nodded in agreement. “So they’re being held.” She turned back to Estee. “You can imagine my concern with those numbers, seeing as how Farsis isn’t a particularly large travel hub. I think work will need to be done to streamline those systems when a gate is brought to Lupus—even if it doesn’t end up being placed in this system.”

“I have to ask,” Estee said after taking a moment to school her expression. “How did you come about gathering such detailed figures?”

<Nice deflection, lady,> Niki commented.

Rika shared the AI’s sentiment, but adopted her most beatific smile. “You agreed last night that we would be allowed to do penetration tests on your networks. So we ran some.”

“Y-You did?” Tria stammered. “When?”

“During the tour,” Rika replied. “You of course remember that I’m paired with an AI, Niki.”

“I do now,” Tria said in a barely audible voice while the president nodded.

“Yes, but we thought that times and criteria would be selected for these tests,” Estee said archly.

<Doesn’t make for much of a penetration test if you know the attack is coming, does it?> Niki asked on a channel she established for the group. <I’m sure you know that folks with nefarious intentions won’t give a heads-up, either.>

“Even so, this is not the best way to build a friendship.” Estee’s brow was furrowed, the convivial tone she’d started the conversation with entirely gone. “I don’t know how I feel about you breaching our networks and extracting privileged data.”

“President Estee,” Rika said, drawing herself up, her head fifty centimeters above the other woman’s. “You knew I wanted to see the inner workings of these departments and agencies. I want to assess how the work is actually done, not how people who have themselves never witnessed the work say it is done.” She glanced at Director Csaze. “I think you can go now.”

He didn’t even look at the president or secretary of state before nodding and rushing off.

“I’ve been at this task for seven years,” Rika continued. “And I could spend the next seven hundred jumping from system to system and still not complete the task ahead of me. So please understand me when I say that I don’t really have time to ‘enjoy’ catered luncheons when there is real work to be done.”

As she spoke, her voice had risen until it filled the entire room, ending all other conversations. Tria looked mortified, while Estee’s face was just shy of beet red, her breathing labored.

<Uh oh. You might have broken her.>

<Not helping, Niki.>

<I know, but I have little else to do. I’ve walked through pretty much everything they have on their networks here. Anything more we need to learn can only be done through watching the humans do their jobs at ports of entry.>

<Alright,> Rika replied, her gaze still fixed on the president. “Well, then? I understand one of the stations in orbit of Warsaw contains a processing center for visitors with imperfect documentation. Why don’t we go pay it a visit?”

For a moment, she thought the president might call it all off, but after an agonizing twenty-seven seconds, she nodded. “Very well, let’s pay a visit to that facility.”

* * * * *

“Alright,” Kelly said as the three women walked off the shuttle after a twelve-hour day of touring various facilities. “The look on the guards’ faces in that holding center on Kuris Station…. I feel like that’s one of the top ten ‘What the fuck are these bitches doing here?’ looks we’ve gotten yet.”

Rika couldn’t help a laugh, while Keli shook her head.

“Might even be top five,” Kelly continued. “Two of the ones in the back climbed on the tables to get a better look at us. Pretty sure one of them had a tongue long enough to reach his knees.”

“Ever notice how we get one of two reactions when we pop into places like that?” Keli asked. “Either they immediately snap to attention, laser-focused on three heavily armed—well, two of us at least—mechanized women in their midst….”

“Or they just gawk?” Rika asked. “Yeah. The more they gawk, the more shit we’re going to uncover, you know that, right? A lack of discipline in one area shows a lack elsewhere.”

<It hasn’t been universal, but it certainly has been consistent,> Niki said. <This place seems mix-n-match. The first location we stopped at was cleanly run, few complaints, and their officers were thorough but respectful. They didn’t rely on intimidation to keep things running.>

“But the next two.” Kelly whistled. “You could practically smell the grift the moment you walked in there. To be honest, I think the leadership here at Farsis is too disconnected from their own institutions to make it a good candidate system.”

Rika nodded, pursing her lips. “Yeah, I have to agree. Let’s just hope it’s not indicative of how things are across Lupus. They’re so isolated that attitudes like this might be more common than we’d like.”

<Chase is incoming,> Piper announced. <From the sound of it, he hasn’t had a much better time of it than you.>

“Piper!” Kelly gasped. “You haven’t spoken all day. I was starting to wonder if you were still with us.”

<Where would I go?>

“I don’t know…somewhere nice and warm?” Kelly chuckled and cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe with a nice beach?”

<My body is this starship. Are you saying I should just land the Overwatch on a beach somewhere?>

“Heck yeah!” Keli thrust a fist in the air. “Now you’re talking.”

Rika turned to stare down the SMI-4. “Did you dip into the champagne on the trip back up?”

“Maaaybe.” She pointed past the ambassador. “Oh look, Chase’s shuttle is on approach. Kelly, let’s get cleaned up for supper.”

“What do you mean, ‘cleaned up’,” Kelly grunted as Keli grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the bay. “I am clean.”

“So what have you been up to, Piper,” Rika asked the ship’s AI as she watched Chase’s shuttle creep toward the bay. “You were rather quiet this morning.”

<I’m watching fleet movements in the system. They’re a little…concerning.>

“Concerning?” Rika asked. “How so?

<Well, at first it wasn’t concerning. It wasn’t any different from what happens half the time we come into a system and they realize a ship with stasis shields and mechs aboard is in their midst. But after you and Chase got back last night…well…they began to move several fleets in from the outer system.>

“How many ships are we talking?” Rika asked.

<Took a bit to sort that out. It’s all pegged as a fleet rotation, with lots of refit and repair scheduled—and some of that is probably legit—but I sifted through the orders and I think I have a fair assessment.>

“Which is?”

<Oh shit,> Niki interjected. <That’s a lot.>

Rika pursed her lips, wishing someone would just drop the number. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait much longer.

<Twenty-two thousand,> the ship’s AI said. <Honestly, it’s overkill. Plus, they’ve left their outer system unprotected.>

“Well, that complicates things,” Rika muttered. “We’re at a standstill…it’s going to take a bit to boost to outsystem velocities.”

<It will. But it could be that they’re just being cautious.>

Rika nodded silently, not believing that for a second.

<What do they think they’re going to do?> Niki asked. <Hold us hostage until they get a gate? That’s not how this works.>

“Or maybe they think we have gates on the Overwatch and they can seize it,” Rika suggested.

<They’re right about the first part,> Piper said. <Seizing me would be a whole other thing.>

“Maybe they figure there aren’t a lot of us aboard,” Rika considered.

<Which isn’t untrue,> Niki added. <Just five mechs.>

She scoffed. “Like we need more.”

<And a thousand of my internal combat drones.> Piper’s mental tone had a hard edge. <And that’s if they can get past the fifty thousand fighters we carry.>

Rika heaved a sigh. “You know…sometimes I wish these backwater systems understood how outmatched they are. Then they wouldn’t mess with us.” She shook her head. “Think we should call for reinforcements?”

<Let’s see what Chase has to say, first,> Niki suggested. <Since he was hanging with the military types, he might have an idea how they feel about attacking the Overwatch.>

“You’re right.”

Rika walked to the cradle, waiting as Chase’s shuttle passed through the bay’s grav shield and settled into place. She considered reaching out to him across the Link, but since he hadn’t spoken on approach, she decided to let him take his time to share whatever was on his mind.

It only took a minute for the door to open, Shoshin hopping out first, followed by Chase a moment later. His expression already told her what she needed to know.

“That bad, was it?” she asked.

“Worse,” he replied, lips barely parting as he fumed. “They sat us down to watch a holovid. A holovid. Like we were recruits or something!”

“I doubt they even make recruits watch that,” Shoshin muttered. “It was horrid. Like something a government propaganda agency made when they were desperate for anyone with a pulse to sign up.”

“Is that all you did?” Rika asked, angry on her husband and Shoshin’s behalf. “You spent all day at the space force’s headquarters watching some vid?”

“No.” Chase shook his head. “We got up just a few minutes in and told them we wanted a proper tour. They obliged, but somehow managed to consume half the day showing us nothing—or trying, at least.”

“So I take it you did learn a few things?”

“Yup.” Shoshin nodded while rubbing his hands together. “Firstly, that they don’t have much defense against our breach nano. We also learned that they can’t even detect an ISF hackIt when it’s stuck on a console in plain sight.”

Rika couldn’t help but laugh. “We also ended up breaching systems everywhere we went to get the intel we need.”

“Oh yeah?” Chase arched a brow. “What’d you learn?”

“That they have neither the systems nor the governmental infrastructure necessary to function as a travel and commerce hub. In my opinion, Farsis is a bust.”

“Just as well—they have plaaaaans,” Chase drew out the word. “Big plans.”

Rika crossed her arms. “Spill it.”

“As soon as they get a gate, they’re going to attack their neighbors. They want to take the independent systems of Lupus, and unite them all as one interstellar empire under President Estee.”

“Faaawk,” Rika whispered.

<I bet taking us hostage is part of that play,> Niki said. <They’ll need someone to teach them how to use the gate.>

“So, how long till we boost out of here?” Shoshin asked.

“Zero amount of time,” Rika replied. “We’re making tracks. Stars…I really thought that Estee was better than this. I guess her wife was really just echoing the president’s true sentiment, and we didn’t see it.”

“Maybe,” Chase said. “Or maybe she’s just a bitch on her own.”

Rika nearly barked a laugh. “Shoshin,” she turned to the AM-4 to cover her reaction. “Get Kelly and Keli, and make sure we’re ready to rumble. You know the drill.”

“Yes, Admiral. Like the back of my hand.”

“Good. And stop calling me admiral.”

“Would you prefer I call you queen?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder as he jogged out of the bay.

“No!” she shouted at his back before turning to Chase. “I swear, someday, I’m going to get him to call me Rika.”

“You can try. He doesn’t even call you Rika when talking to me alone. You’re the admiral, captain, commander, magnus, and every so often, queen.”

“Shit…that’s more than I’m prepared to go up against.”

“And what about the locals? You prepared to go up against them? I guess we know why they have an unusually large space force,” he added. “They’ve been planning on using it.”

Rika shrugged. “Let them come at us. We have stasis shields. With the number of CriEn modules on the Overwatch, every ship in this system can fire on us, and we’d shrug it off.”

Chase pursed his lips. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

CHAPTER 40 - CARY

STELLAR DATE: 01.14.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: TSS Cora’s Triumph

REGION: Trian 58-X11, Norma Arm

“I swear,” Earnest muttered under his breath as Cary walked into research CIC. “Sometimes I think the core AIs wrote shitty code just to make it harder for us to undo these things.”

It was early in the third shift, and the room that had been dubbed ‘Star Central’ by the crew of the Cora’s Triumph was empty other than the two occupants.

She sat down next to him, reading over the engineer’s shoulder as he worked through the issue at hand on his console. “Damn…that really is different than prior installations. Why the change?”

Earnest heaved a sigh before glancing at her. “I think it’s to deal with the high metallicity in this star. Not to mention its spin—thing is just whipping around.”

“Makes you wonder why they chose it,” Cary replied. “A lot of other stars in this cluster could have caused the same chain reaction.”

“Not as quickly, though—and for the core AIs, this would have been trivial. Alas, for all my knowledge, I am not a multimodal ascended being.”

Cary pointed at a method on the display. “You’re not passing the correct object into that. You need to run it through the transformation so it’s structured properly for this library.”

Earnest quirked a half smile and shook his head. “You’re not multimodal either, but being ascended seems to be working in your favor.”

“Partially ascended,” Cary corrected. “And I don’t think my extradimensional nature had anything to do with it. Sleep, however…that’s probably key.”

A tired smile formed on the engineer’s face. “Are you saying I need to take a break?”

Cary tilted her head, regarding him with a sympathetic gaze. “Well, Captain Beatrice is hosting a dinner today, a welcome to the new members of the team that just shipped in.”

Earnest leant back and wiped the back of his hand across his brow. “Stars, is it that late?”

“Not yet, but it will be by the time you clean yourself up.”

Earnest grunted a laugh and rose from his seat. “I suppose you’re right. Staring at this for another few hours today isn’t going to make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things.”

“That’s right.” Cary nodded. “Maybe you could turn it into a test for the newbies. Let them sort it out.”

The engineer barked a laugh, shaking his head as he walked to the room’s exit. “Newbies…that makes it sound like we just got a batch fresh out of university.”

Cary snorted. “No, they’re top minds from all across the Inner Stars and Transcend. At least, that’s what their dossiers say. I’ve not had a chance to speak with any of them yet.”

Earnest paused at the exit. “Are you coming?”

“I’m going to soak this in for a bit.”

He snorted. “I see how it is. You’re throwing me to the wolves.”

“Maaaaaybe.” She shrugged. “I mean, I did the last three meet-and-greets while you hid.”

“I didn’t hide, I was touring installations, and…and…important things.”

“Like hiding.”

Earnest winked and nodded. “Exactly.”

Cary rolled her eyes and turned back to the console. “Well, off with you. I’ll be there, too, I just want to look this over a bit first—and I won’t take as long to clean up as you.”

Earnest glanced down at his shirt and sniffed at the collar. “OK…yeah, I see your point.”

He waved and ambled off as Cary looked through the control code.

Unlike the code most humans used—which was typically well-abstracted—the core AIs had written theirs only a layer above the direct hardware interface. At first, she’d been surprised they’d made such a choice, but the more she worked through it, the more she gained an appreciation for the elegance and simplicity of it all.

Granted, she was one of a very small number of people who could effectively parse and manipulate what the core AIs were trying to do—which was why new groups of trainees were rotated onto the Cora’s Triumph every few months.

Once the recruits finished their time aboard the research vessel, they’d be sent to start new teams, assigned to other starshifting projects. Most would be monitoring stellar drift correction that Cary and Earnest had already set in motion, though a few would begin work in newly discovered locations.

“Why?” she whispered aloud, shaking her head as she stared at the code. “Why set all these stars on collision courses, go through millennia of effort, only to abandon the project?”

<Why do it in the first place?> Pita, the ship’s AI asked in answer to Cary’s question. <Did they really think they could pull an expanding universe back together?>

“Maybe.” Cary shrugged. “Or maybe it was an experiment to prove out a theory.”

<And you think it failed and they abandoned the experiment?>

“Or it couldn’t succeed in the presence of an aggressive lifeform that they’d allowed to spread through too much of the galaxy.”

Pita’s silvery laugh filled her mind. <Lifeforms, thank you very much.>

Cary winked at the overhead. “I didn’t want to cast aspersions on any other sapiens. Figured we humans could take the hit for that on our own.”

<AIs haven’t proven to be significantly less aggressive than humans—and every other species that’s been uplifted from Earth hasn’t been much better.>

“Most,” Cary agreed. “We seem to have had a habit of uplifting predators.”

<They usually are more evolved.>

“So, how does that help me with this?” Cary asked, gesturing at the screen. “We still have to slow this white dwarf down before it slams into that B0. Because if that happens, this whole cluster goes up and turns into a rather sizable black hole.”

<Statistically, you don’t have to stop it. So far, you and the other teams have stopped twenty-three stellar collisions. If you fail at a rate of four to five percent, the galaxy will be fine.>

“Uh…well…I guess. I kinda don’t want to just give up on our first problematic starflight project.”

<Not to mention that Earnest has never met a problem he couldn’t solve one way or another.>

Cary slumped in the seat, letting out a long sigh. “That’s just the thing, right? This might be that unsolvable problem. They boosted the white dwarf toward the B0 by focusing its output like a laser. Ingenious, honestly, but now that it’s caught in the blue giant’s gravity well, I don’t see how we can push it away…it just doesn’t have enough output.”

<What about the blue giant?>

“Sorry?”

<Stop looking at correcting the white dwarf’s motion through its own output and instead focus the other star’s energy directly at it.>

Cary pursed her lips, considering that possibility. She and Earnest had looked at moving the B0 star, but they hadn’t considered forming its solar wind into a column that could push the white dwarf away.

“It might work…though it’ll take a bit. Plus side, the big girl’s gonna get pushed further away from the white dwarf, too.”

<So long as we don’t send it on a collision course for another star.>

“Who would have thought that playing with stars would be so complicated?”

<Umm…probably everyone.>

Cary laughed as she rose from the console. “That’s fair. Alright. I’m going to work on a model for that while I get ready for our shindig.”

<Want me to do it?> Pita asked.

“Would you? I’m suddenly feeling like I should have left with Earnest in order to get ready.”

<Of course. Off with you, do your organic things.>

Cary snorted. “I don’t really need to do any of those things anymore.”

<But you like to.>

“Creature of habit, I guess.”

The AI sent a feeling of encouragement across the Link. <Either way, do what you need to do, I can model this.>

“OK, OK, you don’t have to tell me thrice.”

Cary rose from her chair and walked out of the Research CIC and into the Cora’s Triumph’s long central R&D corridor. After years aboard the vessel, the passage felt like an old friend; one she’d traversed at least ten thousand times at this point.

Suddenly, the idea of walking down the passage yet again seemed intolerable. The knowledge that they still had hundreds, maybe thousands of star collisions to avert bore down on her like the weight of one of the very stellar objects they were trying to shift.

Without a second thought, she turned left, passing directly through the bulkhead and into a storage room. She didn’t bother walking around the crates and equipment, instead pushing herself through them and then the far bulkhead, another passage, bulkhead, conduit runs, still more bays, and finally the ship’s outer hull.

The brilliant light of the white dwarf bathed her the instant she passed into space, warming her inside and out as the more energetic photons slipped through her body.

Cary laid down on the hull, staring up at the stellar remnant, letting the energy it radiated feed her cells, both biological and extradimensional.

A silent sigh escaped her lips, and she allowed herself to relax—truly relax. Twenty-six additional limbs splayed out from her body, sinuous strands of light undulating in the light the white dwarf blasted into space.

It was something she rarely did inside the Cora’s Triumph. After the events of the Orion War, many people were uncomfortable working with ascended beings—even one such as herself who had nothing whatsoever to do with the core AIs.

Granted, there is what I did in Orion. That’s reason enough for people to be uncomfortable with me.

It had been over ten years since Cary had subsumed A1, drawing the woman’s memories and persona into herself so as to better masquerade as the leader of the Widows. It took causing the death of her mother to bring her back from that brink…though she’d never fully returned. A1, the woman once known as Lisa Wrentham, would forever be a part of Cary.

For better or worse…probably worse.

She stilled her mind, shifting from her two-dimensional, biological eyes to her extradimensional vision. It was a quirk of reality that had always amused her. Two-dimensional eyes were required to perceive the third dimension, and three-dimensional eyes were necessary to see the fourth, and so on.

Cary had only extended her existence so far as the fifth dimension, giving her the ability to perceive and move in the sixth, but not occupy it. Not fully, at least.

In the higher planes of existence, starlight was a wonder to behold. The streams of photons were less ephemeral, just shy of physical bridges one could follow to the surface of the stars themselves. The light felt as though it was spearing her body, driving into it, feeding her with life and sustenance.

She looked behind herself, through the ship’s hull and back out the other side, to take in the sight of the type-B0 star the white dwarf was accelerating toward. It was still seven hundred AU away, but its twenty-three solar masses gave it enough luminosity to rival the nearby stellar remnant.

A tale of two stars, she thought with a laugh.

Of course, it wasn’t just two. All around them lay several thousand more stars, all members of a young globular cluster, many within a quarter light year of several others.

If the white dwarf collided with the B0 giant, as the core AIs had established, the type II supernova would begin a chain reaction that would ripple through the entire cluster, slowing its momentum just enough for the remaining stars to draw in the debris of their deceased neighbors, accelerating into a collapse of the cluster.

Forming a rather large and rather hungry black hole.

Cary closed her eyes—all of them—and thought about the Cora’s Triumph’s current location in the galaxy.

Sol was over thirty-five thousand light years from their current location; even the furthest expansion of the Transcend was well over twenty thousand light years away. The light from the event may take longer than the remainder of the human race’s existence to reach settled space, meaning the physical repercussions would likely never affect any sapient species.

At least, none alive at present.

Maybe Pita is right. Maybe it doesn’t matter if we let this one go. What’s one more black hole in the galaxy?

It occurred to her that they didn’t know for certain that there were no evolving species on worlds that could be destroyed by the formation of a new massive black hole. If they did allow these two stars to collide, they’d at least need to survey the surrounding hundred thousand systems to determine if anything would need to be relocated.

Seems harder than solving the problem at its source.

Cary felt a pang of envy for the survey teams that were moving ahead of the Starflight ships. Those teams were exploring hundreds of new systems, often visiting several in the span of a week.

Already, a thousand systems had been flagged as containing multi-cellular life—a hundred of those hosting large animals with clearly observable sentience. As much as she enjoyed the challenge of setting stars on their courses, the exploration that people like Sera were getting to undertake seemed far more exciting.

Maybe after this group of trainees, I can ask to transfer out to another position.

She stilled her mind once more, pushing out the thoughts of the current task and the difficulties it presented, and instead imagined what she might like to do.

Part of the problem was that she loved working with Earnest, and there was no way he’d abandon the Starflight Initiative.

Thought of the old engineer caused her to check the time, only to realize that half an hour had slipped by, and she was about to be late for the welcome dinner.

With little more than a thought, she fell back through the ship’s hull and into a perimeter corridor where she almost scared an ensign out of his skin.

“Ma’am,” he saluted once he’d regained his composure. “Sorry I shrieked like that, ma’am.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t look before I popped in here,” she said, returning the salute. “As you were.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

He hurried off, continuing aft, while Cary walked forward.

She double-checked that her extradimensional limbs were once again coiled within the bounds of her corporeal body, and then took a look at her shipsuit. It was her standard work configuration, but given the likelihood that Captain Beatrice would be hosting a formal affair, she shifted its appearance to that of a dress uniform, her commander’s bars appearing on her lapels.

Given the choice, Cary usually preferred to greet the newbies in civilian garb, but Captain Beatrice wouldn’t tolerate that at a formal dinner. The downside to that was that many of the scientists who made the pilgrimage to the forward edge of the starflight initiative were less likely to give credence to the words of a military woman.

That being said, once it fully clicked who she was, most of the newbies tended to pay her the respect she deserved.

Five minutes later, she reached the officer’s dining hall and stepped inside to see the newbies and senior ship’s crew milling about with drinks in hand. Captain Beatrice had not yet arrived, which meant Cary wouldn’t have to endure a look of disappointment for being late.

“Ah! There you are, Cary!”

Earnest’s voice rang out from nearby, and she turned to see him gesturing for her to join him where he stood talking to three of the new scientists.

Having already memorized each person’s information, she didn’t have to consult her HUD to know that he was standing with a man from Earth named Amish Green, a Scipian woman whose name was simply Uma, and Gera, an uplifted sloth from New Eden.

“Cary Richards,” Gera extended a paw, long claws turned so that they weren’t a risk to her. “It is truly an honor to meet you.”

“Why thank you,” she replied, shaking their hand before clasping Uma’s and Amish’s in turn. “I’ve reviewed your work, and I can’t tell you how excited we are to have you aboard.”

<A little thick?> Earnest asked privately.

<Not really. What’s gotten into you today?>

He sent a mental shrug before speaking aloud. “Gera was just telling me about their new theory regarding the core AIs’ plan.”

“The Matri∞me,” Gera corrected. “I think it makes more sense if we think in terms of their faction. Given that Hades and his…people…aided us at Earth, I don’t think they would have been involved in the starshifting.”

Cary inclined her head. “That makes sense. I think the same is true for the Caretakers. From what I’ve been able to gather, most of them never even ventured to the core.”

“Yes, yes,” the sloth nodded, their words spilling out quickly while their other motions were measured and slow. “That is neither here nor there. The Matri∞me is interested in slowing the expansion of the universe, yes? But how will condensing mass accomplish that?”

“Something I’ve wondered, myself,” Uma said. “In the grand scheme of things, the galactic clusters are going to continue to move apart despite the changes you make to the structure of their mass.”

“There’s the ‘Wobble’ theory,” Amish suggested, his tone hinting that he didn’t buy into the idea.

Gera rolled their eyes. “You cannot ‘wobble’ the galaxies back into place, there isn’t enough time for them to come back around. No, I think that the Matri∞me’s plan was to form new supermassive black holes, and swing them through the cosmos, gathering up intergalactic dust. That would form new galaxies, which—if you were to arrange them in the correct matrix—would effectively slow the universe’s expansion.”

“Enough to reverse it?” Cary asked.

“No.” Gera’s slow head shake took far longer than the single syllable word. “Not in the time the stars have. But it will arrest it.”

Uma grunted, shaking her head. “What is the point of that? It doesn’t lengthen the life span of the star-forming age of the universe. And without momentum, the universe will crash back into itself in a big crunch. Is that really what the ascended AIs want? It seems…unimportant.”

Amish chuckled. “Maybe they just like order that much.”

“This speculation doesn’t get us anywhere,” Uma said, her brows knitted. “We still have to fix it all, and the pattern is clear: they’re trying to collapse clusters across the galaxy, so we have to venture into each and every one to determine if they’re being manipulated.”

Earnest coughed. “I’d rather send probes than venture in, but you’re right. Even if they were to appear right here and tell us what they intended, we couldn’t take their word for it. Investigating every cluster in the galaxy is a must.” He paused and winked. “It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.”

“Dirty, or boring?” Uma asked.

Earnest’s easygoing manner shifted in an instant, and he speared the woman with a narrow-eyed look. “If there is something about shifting the galactic trajectory of stars that is dull to you, then why are you here?”

Uma nearly took a step back, shock registering on her face at the vehemence of the engineer’s words. “I didn’t mean it like that…I was just speaking off the cuff.”

Earnest continued to stare into her eyes, clearly not buying her excuse. After ten seconds of silence, he blinked and turned to Gera. “Your theory is very interesting, and definitely something for us to keep in mind. If they are indeed looking for clusters that can have their resultant black holes spun out of the galaxy, we could select those as prime targets for surveys.”

“If only we could use more gates to manage the surveys,” Amish lamented. “So many of these clusters have too much dark matter for FTL travel. Gates get around that, but—”

“We are using gates more often than not,” Cary interrupted. “The real problem is that we have no baseline for stellar motion in most of these locations. It’s going to take decades to spot anomalies—unless we happen to stumble across the Matri∞me’s facilities, like we have in most of the clusters we’ve corrected thus far.”

Amish nodded. “Good thing most of these collisions will take hundreds or thousands of years to play out. We have some time.”

Gera folded their long arms across their chest. “In some cases. But too many of these situations will take that long to correct.”

“Like the one we’re dealing with here,” Cary said.

“Oh?” Uma cocked a brow. “How so?”

Before Cary or Earnest could reply, Captain Beatrice called out to the room from the table’s head at the far end of the room.

“Good evening, one and all. I’m sorry for the delay, a captain’s work is never done. I trust that you all took the time to get to know one another, and now we can settle in and enjoy a meal together? Come. Let’s eat.”

<I swear she loves being formal,> Cary said to Earnest as they walked to their customary spots at the table’s head, on the captain’s left.

<After ten years of chasing runaway stars, I’ll gladly cut her any slack she wants.>

It only took a minute for everyone to settle into their seats, and once silence had fallen, Beatrice stood and swept a warm smile across the group.

“I’d like to officially welcome our newest crewmembers aboard. Each and every one of you have been selected for your ability to dive into tricky problems and come up with creative solutions. And trust me,” she paused to glance at Earnest and Cary. “We have our fill of those out here.”

“Stars, yes,” Earnest muttered.

“And, of course, you’re here to learn from people who started starshifting before we encountered the first Matri∞me installation in Praesepe. They’ve trained a dozen of the crews that are now operating in other systems—some managing corrections already set in motion, while others are moving into distant clusters to steer new stars. This is a high calling, and one of the most important there is.

“I know that we all have our pet theories about the why and the wherefore of these collisions, but one thing we do know is that, left unchecked, the resulting shockwaves and radiation will sterilize much of the galaxy. And that is something we can’t have.”

She again looked around the table, smiling at the group before continuing. “And for that I thank you for both your service and your dedication. We’re saving the galaxy, people. Not through war or strength of arms, but with our minds, with cunning moves executed against events set in motion by a mind far greater than any of ours. It is a high calling, and for that, I salute you.”

Captain Beatrice raised her wine glass, as did every other person around the table, and held it aloft. “To the Star Shepherds.”

Cary smiled at the name. It wasn’t their official title, but it had been catching on of late.

“That was very inspiring,” she said to the captain as Beatrice sat down. “Glad we have you here to rally the troops.”

Automatons began placing the first courses on the table, setting soups and salads in front of each diner to their preference. Beatrice glanced at Cary before lifting a spoonful of soup to her lips.

<Have to make it good. You never know when your time at a post will be up.>

A wave of uncertainty washed over Cary…. Statements like that always prefaced change. Chances were that if it wasn’t the captain herself, it would be someone high on the Cora’s Triumph’s command—perhaps even Cary herself.

Despite her concern, she decided to be coy. <I suppose you could say that few of us know the future.>

<True for most,> Beatrice said before turning to her right in order to answer a question from one of the newbies.

<What are you talking about?> Earnest asked.

<Who?>

<You and Beatrice,> he said with a languid drawl. <You get a little pinch between your brows when talking to her—at least, when it’s serious.>

<Well, it certainly was one of those two things,> Cary replied. <Though I’m in the dark as much as you.>

The engineer shrugged. <Oh! I might have an idea.>

<What are you talking about?>

Earnest stabbed his fork through a tomato slice and lifted it to his lips, an amused expression taking shape on his face. <You’re going to have to wait.>

<I hate waiting.>

<I know.>

Conversation ebbed and flowed around the table, Cary listening more than participating.

At the outset, the newbies spent much of their time trying to impress Earnest and—to a lesser extent—Cary. However, as the ship’s senior officers weighed in more and more, the newcomers came to realize that when it came to moving stars, the engineering heads running the projects knew as much, or more, than the newbies did.

When the main course was served, the ship’s officers were doing most of the talking—especially Master Chief Scargin, who had been with the Cora’s Triumph ever since the first mission in the Inner Praesepe Empire.

“Sure, you could use orbital mirrors in that fashion,” he responded to Uma in measured tones. “But if you do, you have to account for the flares you’re going to stir up. Mirrors just reflect too much heat back onto the star, and that can make the corona storm. And trust me, you don’t want to be engineering a star burn when there’s a storm raging across its surface.”

“You can mitigate that,” Uma insisted. “Make micro-divots in the mirror’s surface that focus the energy and keep excess from reflecting back.”

“Yes, that can work,” Scargin said, nodding in agreement. “I would love to try it, if we could make mirrors capable of withstanding the stellar winds in such large quantities.”

His comment sounded pleasant enough, but everyone felt the common reminder that engineers often gave people dreaming up new ideas: materials science couldn’t magically produce new substances in mass quantities.

And when it came to starshifting, ‘mass’ took on a whole new meaning.

“We should try,” Uma muttered. “We could reuse them, save us from building billions of expendable drones in every system we work in.”

“It would also allow us to tap polar sprays,” Earnest added. “Which are all too common on a lot of these fast spinners we work with. I don’t know if it’s something we could manufacture in the field, Uma, but we might be able to elsewhere.”

Scargin smiled at the head engineer. “I won’t argue if you can pull it off. We could increase our operational efficiency by an order of magnitude if we didn’t have to rebuild our tools in each system.”

“It’s certainly been a hassle,” Earnest nodded. “Like, what was that…four stars ago, when there wasn’t a single body in the system…barely a solid rock to tear apart for raw materials. We had to set up manufacturing in a nearby system and run convoys.”

The ramifications of that process ran through Cary’s mind, and she began to wonder if there was a reason Earnest had never attempted this method before.

“You’d have to work out how to gravitationally anchor the mirrors to the star,” Cary pointed out. “Grav beams might not be enough. But that’s not the real problem.”

“No?” Uma gave her a penetrating look, as though a child had just spoken at the adults’ table. “What else is wrong with my idea?”

Cary sighed, glancing at Earnest before replying. “The idea itself. The fact that it’s hard to move stars is good. Like, really good. Imagine if we worked out a way to quickly move all the stars we need to back onto their courses. Something that was repeatable with ease.”

She stopped, letting her words sink in.

Realization dawned on a few other faces before it appeared on Uma’s. The woman frowned, but Gera spoke up first.

“Why is it that every really useful tool is also a terrifying superweapon?”

“This is a really important lesson,” Captain Beatrice said. “Right now, the AoS is working hard to roll back many of the tools and weapons of mass destruction that were introduced in the war, to normalize what we can and restrict that which is simply too dangerous. This sounds like it would fall into that category.”

A grimace formed on Earnest’s lips. As the person directly responsible for some of the most dangerous technology ever created, a lot of the blame for some of the worst things to have happened in the war rested on his shoulders.

Cary knew that he was rarely behind the weaponizing of the technology, but she also knew that knowledge didn’t assuage his guilt to any measurable degree.

“She’s right,” Earnest said after a moment of silence. “That may be too risky a technology to develop.”

“That’s an interesting stance for you to take,” Uma countered. “You, of all people.”

Earnest’s lips drew into a thin line. “Perhaps I’ve learned some valuable lessons.”

“That none of us will have the opportunity to learn,” Uma said in a low voice. “Because we’re not the great Earnest Redding.”

Captain Beatrice placed her hands on the table and rose. “That’ll be enough. There’s a reason we’re working on this initiative with teams from dozens of nations and across species. It’s a core tenant of the AoS that anything we do must be for the betterment of all. The ends do not justify the means. Yes, reaching consensus is far harder than unilateral activity, but the war is over, and we must all work for peace, not superiority.”

Uma opened her mouth to protest, but at a look from the captain, subsided into silence, which Beatrice let hang in the air for a few seconds before smiling. “But there is something I want to announce that is not of such a dire nature.” She glanced at Cary. “Two somethings, actually.”

Earnest’s lips split into a wide smile, as did Scargin’s—enough to cause Cary to wonder if a prank was about to be played…probably on her.

“I’ve been speaking with the newly formed AoS Science Command about the structure of the organization and how we fit under it. Somehow, those conversations shifted into me being put forward to be in command of all starshifting teams.”

“Well deserved!” Earnest said in a loud voice, rising and clapping.

Scargin was right behind him, and a moment later, everyone was on their feet, though the newcomers seemed a little uncertain, sharing concerned looks with one another.

“I’m glad it’s you,” Cary said as the applause died down. “It’s always nice when someone who knows what they’re doing is in charge.”

Beatrice nodded, gesturing for everyone to take their seats. “I couldn’t agree more. I can’t bear idiots telling me what to do—though now that I’m that idiot, I won’t have any excuses.”

A few chuckles came from those assembled as the captain turned to Cary.

“You’ll need to stand back up.”

“Me?” she mouthed, placing a hand on her chest, to which the captain nodded.

As Cary rose, Beatrice turned back to face the others. “Of course, it goes without saying that if I’m running all the starshifting operations, I can’t be an effective leader for the Cora’s Triumph. To that end, a promotion is in order.”

A round of murmurs circulated the table, and Cary glanced at Commander Lance, the ship’s XO. He gave her a smile and a nod, indicating that he knew what was about to happen and was OK with it.

Beatrice turned back to Cary. “You’re one of the smartest people alive, so I have little doubt that you’ve figured out what’s coming.”

Cary’s eyes widened. “I mean…I’m shocked, but I can read between the lines…or the lines themselves, in this case.”

The captain laughed. “True, I’ve never been one for subtlety. So to that end, congratulations on the promotion, Lieutenant Colonel Richards. The AoS thanks you for your service and dedication to our cause. I’m sure that everyone here can agree that you will be an excellent captain for the Cora’s Triumph, and do our mission proud.”

A lump formed in Cary’s throat, and she swallowed while nodding. “I…I absolutely will.”

She stood still as Beatrice produced a pair of silver oak leaves, replacing Cary’s gold pair with those of the next rank. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel, and welcome to your first official command in the AoS.”

“First official command anywhere,” she replied with a nervous laugh.

“Well, don’t worry, I’ll be around for a bit to ensure a smooth transfer, as will Commander Lance.”

“I’m sorry?” the commander asked, his brows rising.

“I think you’re going to be climbing the ladder very soon, as well,” Beatrice replied. “But we’ll limit the upheaval as much as possible for now.”

The XO nodded, a grin tugging at his lips. “Yes, ma’am.”

Cary felt dizzy as she and the captain…former captain…resumed their seats. Then it hit her. “Did you get a promotion in rank, as well, ma’am?”

Beatrice nodded. “That I did. You’re looking at a rear admiral, here.”

Another round of applause swept the table, and after it had carried on for a few seconds, the newly minted flag officer raised her hands for silence.

“Alright, everyone, if we don’t settle down, they won’t serve dessert, and I’ve called up some of our best brandy to go with it.”

“Well, let’s not delay, then,” Earnest said jovially. “Bring on the dessert!”

CHAPTER 41 - RIKA

STELLAR DATE: 01.13.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Warsaw

REGION: Farsis System, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

Rika and Chase walked onto the bridge, Chase settling behind his customary console, while Rika strode to the holotank, arms akimbo as she glared at the view of Warsaw’s nearspace.

“Do they really think they can blockade us?” she asked, shaking her head at the markers indicating FSF ships moving into orbit above and below the Overwatch.

“Uh huh.” Chase nodded. “If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be doing that.”

<Another system that doesn’t believe the stories of what stasis shields can stand up to,> Piper said in a mournful tone. <Well, it’ll be their loss.>

Rika nodded, squaring her shoulders. “I guess we have to do the inevitable part, where we talk to President Estee and tell her to stand down or we blast our way out…yada yada yada.”

“Yup,” Chase said. “It’s in the regs. Gotta let them get their bluster on.”

She glanced back at her husband. “I’m too tired for bluster. I’ve had a long day.”

“Sorry, hon. No rest for the weary and all that.”

“I thought it was no rest for the wicked.”

<I think it’s whichever is convenient for the situation at hand.>

“Fair enough.” Rika turned back to face the forward display. “Would you mind connecting us, Piper?”

<No need. She just called up.>

“Oh joy. I guess put her on.”

President Estee appeared before Rika, Cimara standing at her side.

<Oh great,> she said to Piper and Chase. <Double trouble.>

“Ambassador Rika,” Estee greeted, a decidedly fake smile on her lips. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say your ship was preparing to break orbit.”

Rika nodded. “You don’t really know better, but in this case, you’re right. We are breaking orbit. We’ve seen enough to know that Farsis is not a suitable candidate for a gate or inclusion in the QuanComm network.”

Estee heaved a sigh and glanced at her wife. “Well, we’re sorry you feel that way. Unfortunately, we’re not about to let you leave the system just yet. You see, we know that your ship carries a gate or two, just in case you need to go somewhere in a hurry. You’re going to turn them over to us and teach us how to use them.”

Rika glanced back at Chase, who shrugged in response.

“Umm…how’s about ‘no’?”

“You’re not going to cooperate?” Cimara asked. “Not even to save yourselves?”

Estee’s eyes narrowed, and she glanced at her wife. “It’s the stasis shields. They think they’re impenetrable.”

“Not entirely,” Rika replied. “But they can’t be breached by any weapons you have.”

“There’s more than one way to breach your defenses.” The president folded her arms. “We’ll give you thirty minutes to decide.”

The connection ended, and Rika turned to Chase. “Can you believe these people?”

<Did you notice how she said ‘defenses’ and not shields?> Piper asked. <Think that’s significant?>

“Maybe.” Chase shrugged. “But I really can’t think of any leverage they have over us.”

Niki said. <But they think they have something. The question is, what could it be?>

“What is the likelihood that they have a DMG?” Rika asked. “Tucked in some moon or something.”

<More likely that they have discovered teleportation,> Piper replied. <Or time travel.>

Chase snorted. “So that’s a no.”

<I’ll eat my own core if they have a DMG.>

“You just might,” Rika said with a weary laugh. “Alright, so if they don’t have that, what else could they have?”

Niki sent a mental shrug. <The only other things that can take out stasis shields are continuous fire that overextends our power generation, and another stasis shield. Do we think they can do the first, or they somehow got the second?>

<Given enough time, they could wear us out,> Piper replied. <But there’s a jump point twenty-three AU stellar north. We can hold out that far without any issue whatsoever.>

“And a stasis shielded ship of their own?” Chase asked. “I mean, it’s possible, right? Hard as they are to take out, the Allies lost, what…a thousand during the war?”

<Probably more,> Niki said. <Tanis isn’t too forthcoming with that information—for obvious reasons. Most of the ships self-destructed, but there are tales of a few that didn’t, and even if they did, who knows. Maybe a stasis emitter survived.>

“And ended up here?” Rika asked. “What are the chances?”

<I can’t even estimate that low,> Niki answered. <Well, I can, but it’s not useful. However, it’s worth noting that it’s not zero.>

Rika rubbed a hand against her face, careful not to get her fingers caught in hair. “Alright, well, at present, I think our best bet is to call their bluff. Piper, can you deploy a few thousand drones so we can keep the Farsians from directing all their firepower at us?”

<On it. Wish the kids were here to play with them.>

<Our ‘kids’ are over ten years old, Piper,> Niki chided. <It’s perfectly normal for them to fly the coop by now.>

The ship’s AI grunted in disagreement, but said nothing more. A second later, the forward display noted a drone release.

“Sealing the bays,” Chase added. “Just in case they have some sort of crazy superweapon we’ve never encountered before.”

“Gonna have to have words with Seraphina if we’re facing lost ISF tech,” Rika muttered as she walked to her command chair and sat down.

<Be nice.> Niki’s tone carried only mild reproval. <She’s got teams scouring known space for lost tech. It’s no easy task.>

“I wasn’t completely serious.” Rika pulled up a view of Warsaw’s nearspace on her console. “There are already over a hundred ships in close proximity. We should leave now before things get hairy.”

<Should I engage first with the drones?> Piper asked. <Would be nice if there were fewer craft targeting us.>

“No.” Rika sighed. “We can’t initiate hostilities in their own system. Doesn’t look good for the Alliance.”

<Aha!> Niki said. <There’s our vulnerability. We care how our actions make the Alliance look. How can they use that against us?>

“Other than a bunch of finger-pointing?” Chase asked. “I can’t think of a way.”

“They could goad us into firing on them,” Rika suggested, drumming her fingers on the console. “But I don’t see how. Alright, Piper. Best route out of here?”

<We’ll just need to skooch away from the planet a bit and then full burn to the jump point.>

Rika nodded silently, her eyes on the enemy ships closing in on the Overwatch.

Stars…what’s your game, Estee?

Piper presented the course, and Rika approved it, confident that the AI could guide the ship through any obstacle course with the least amount of damage.

Seconds later, burn indicators lit up on the forward display, and the ship began to move into a higher orbit, rising toward the blockade of enemy cruisers overhead.

The enemy formation was tight, only a few dozen kilometers between each ship—something that Rika considered to be exceptionally reckless. Too easy to catch friendly vessels in crossfire and engine wash. Not to mention the ease with which an enemy could select targets of opportunity.

<Five minutes till we pass their blockade,> Piper announced.

“None of their weapons are hot—at least, not that I can see from this angle,” Chase reported. “What are they playing at?”

<Oh…I think I have an idea.> Niki’s voice was laden with scorn and indignance. <Putting up a planetary news feed.>

“…forced the president to accompany her to a refugee camp today. There, sources say that Ambassador Rika participated in a covert handoff with terrorists seeded within the refugees. They’ve now taken control of the facility and are threatening to kill the guards and aid workers unless their demands are met.”

The visual, which had been a picture of one of the buildings Rika had visited earlier, switched to a view of the Overwatch, shifting into a higher orbit.

“Meanwhile, Ambassador Rika has dismissed a direct request from President Estee to explain her part in the matter, and is currently leaving orbit with no declared flight path. It’s impossible to say what her goals are at this point, but I think it’s safe to say that the Alliance of Sapiens does not have Farsis’s best interests in mind. We will continue to update you as this story unfolds.”

The news feed switched to a view of political commentators discussing the events, and Rika muted the feed.

<Well, that’s not especially good,> Piper said. <What do we do?>

Rika glanced at Chase, who shook his head.

“We can’t let them play us like this, Rika. We have to keep going.”

The ambassador heaved a sigh. “I agree. Stay on course, Piper.”

<Aye, Captain.>

<Another call from the President,> Niki said. <Do we answer?>

“Can’t hurt,” Rika replied. “The only thing she can do is further tip her hand.”

A second later, Estee and Cimara appeared on the main display, the president’s expression grim while her wife smirked.

“We saw the feeds.” Rika remained seated, her arms crossed. “Do you think we’re that easy to manipulate?”

Estee shook her head. “Of course not. What does the Alliance care about what one system in a backward region thinks of them?”

“We care, just not enough to let that concern allow us to be blackmailed.”

Estee glanced at Cimara, whose expression only grew more smug.

“We expected as much. That’s why you’ve only learned a sliver of what is underway,” the president’s wife said

The view switched to show one of the main holding areas in the refugee facility they’d visited earlier. People filled the space, huddled together, staring fearfully at drones that ringed them, weapons trained on those inside.

Bile rose in Rika’s throat, and she stood, fists clenching and unclenching before she strode toward the main display. “You vile, disgusting woman. You’d kill these lost migrants just to get your hands on our jump gates?”

The image switched back to Estee and Cimara. “Oh I’ll kill my own people, too. The guards and aid workers are in with the refugees. We’ll kill them all and then pin it on the unrest you fomented. Everyone will hate you.”

<Oh, that’s low,> Niki whispered in Rika’s mind. <Still, we could send down the girls and Shoshin. They could take that facility.>

<Before they carry out their threat?> Rika asked. <Stars…this is tricky.>

“I can see you’re considering your options,” Estee said. “Well, you have fewer than you think. I’d like to direct your attention to this missile.”

The view switched to show a small point of light slowly circling one of the nearby cruisers.

“I’ve sent the coordinates,” the president said. “Scan it. That missile is surrounded by a stasis shield. If it hits your ship, that’s it, game over for you.”

Rika’s lips drew into a thin line. “So just in case we decide to let the refugees die, our second option is this? Obliteration?”

“Oh look,” Cimara glanced at her wife. “The ambassador isn’t a complete idiot.”

A rather long moment stretched out as Rika glared at the two women, both of whom now wore smirks as they stared back.

“And what if I surrender my gates?” Rika finally asked. “What guarantee do I have that you won’t kill the hostages and destroy us once you have them?”

Estee shrugged. “We’ll let the refugees go as soon as we have your first gate. Ships will be available to take them wherever they want to go.”

“That doesn’t give me much certainty about the safety of my crew.”

“Then you and your crew will just have to behave,” Cimara said, “and make sure you remain in our good graces.”

The rage that had been simmering below the surface threatened to burst free, and Rika killed the connection, collapsing back into her seat.

Chase rose from his and walked toward her. “What are we going to do? There are close to a hundred thousand refugees in that facility.”

<And millions more across the system,> Niki added. <She can make us dance at the end of her strings indefinitely.>

“Piper.” Rika glanced at the overhead. “Bring us back down.”

<You got it, Captain. I hope you have a plan.>

“I do.”

<Care to share?> Niki asked.

“I’m still working on it.” Rika’s tone was apologetic. “So far, all I have is to string them along while we call for help.”

<You thinking we should call in the cavalry?> Piper asked. <I could reach out to ISF command, let them know our situation.>

“No,” Rika held up a hand. “Too likely that the Farsian leaders would kill the refugees just to spite us—Estee might not do that, but I could totally see Cimara pulling the trigger.”

<Heather is close,> Niki offered. <Maybe she could send in a team.>

“That’s an option,” Chase said. “Could work to sneak a few mechs in, take out the drones covering those hostages, then go for the missile…somehow.”

“There’s still the issue of all the other people they could use to pressure us,” Rika replied. “I think there’s only one real option. We need to get down there and take out the president and her bitch of a wife.”

Niki barked a laugh. <Oh…so just stage a coup in the system accusing us of working with terrorists. This is going to be great for the AoS’s image.>

“I’m open to suggestions,” Rika said. “Maybe we could—Wait, what’s that ship? Is that…?”

<Would help if you dropped a marker on it,> Piper replied.

“There,” Rika pushed a visual of the vessel onto the main screen. “Its ident reads as the Kingfisher’s Nest, but I think it’s the Barbaric Queen.”

“Really?” Chase turned and scowled at the display. “Looks like just another luxury starliner. What’s the Barbaric Queen?”

<It belongs to one of Seraphina’s teams,> Niki explained. <And the captain of that ship has nano directly upgraded by ISF techs. They’re no slouches—though a little unconventional.>

“Not only that, but they’re less than an AU from Warsaw,” Rika added. “Makes sense, now that I think about it.”

“What does?” Chase asked.

“That here we are, staring at a missile with stasis shields that will destroy us if they touch our shields, and along comes a team with a mandate to hunt down advanced tech that’s fallen into the wrong hands.”

<Does seem like our goals are aligned,> Piper commented.

<I found them on the QuanComm directory,> Niki added a moment later. <They have a blade aboard, and it’s only one relay away. Shall we message them?>

Rika nodded. “Stars yes we shall. We’re going to send them down to capture a president.”

CHAPTER 42 - CARY

STELLAR DATE: 01.14.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: TSS Cora’s Triumph

REGION: Trian 58-X11, Norma Arm

Cary ran a hand through her hair, doing her best to get it pulled back into a ponytail as she walked down the passage leading to the officer’s mess.

After two failed attempts to capture all the wisps, she gave up and let it fall down over her shoulders.

Not like it’s regulation on a research mission, anyway.

She rounded the last corner, catching a few words echoing down the passage from the mess’s open door. It wasn’t the volume of the words that caught her attention—she could hear through walls, should she so choose, and tended to tune out most chatter—it was the content.

“…don’t care about any of that. Bad enough having an ascie aboard, but as captain?”

“What do you have against ascended people?” another voice asked. “We won the last war because of them.”

“We had the last war because of them,” the first voice said. “And you know the stories about Richards…what she did with the Widows.”

“Ended Orion, from what I heard,” a third voice chimed in. “Enabled the strike that got us their entire leadership in one fell swoop. Once that happened, the war was all but over.”

“Do you know how she did that?” the first voice pressed.

“She went undercover?” the second speaker suggested.

A coarse laugh came from the first person. “Seriously? Do you think you can operate undercover as a Widow for months just like that? She became a Widow. She subsumed Lisa Wrentham’s mind; she became our enemy.”

“And what?” the third voice asked. “Do you think she’d be let back into active duty if she were still compromised? There are other ascended people in the AoS. They’d know if she wasn’t fit.”

“Would they?” the first voice asked. “And if they did, would they tell us? She’s the hegemon’s daughter. Mommy just has to give the order, and Cary is back in the field.”

“That’s Colonel Richards to you,” a voice barked from the back of the room. “And if you have an issue serving under her, you can submit a transfer request. I’ll be more than happy to get you off the Triumph.” The voice paused. “Actually, there’s no need for you to submit a request. Pack your things, you’re off rotation, and will be gone on the next transfer shuttle.”

Cary sagged against the bulkhead. She’d frozen a few meters from the room’s entrance, knowing that if she went in there, the confrontation would only be exacerbated.

She’d also, even without using her extra-human abilities, identified all of the speakers. The woman who would be leaving the ship before long was a second lieutenant from engineering, while the other pair were bridge ensigns. The fourth person, the one who had laid down the law, was the XO, Major Lance.

Good to know he has my back, I guess.

Still uncertain whether she should enter, Cary was saved by Earnest calling her down to the Research CIC.

<It’s two hours before your shift…which you’re always late for. What are you doing down there?> she asked, double-timing it away from the officer’s mess.

<I’ve been down here all night. After our dinner last night, I was thinking about what Gera had suggested, and had a bit of an ‘aha!’ moment. Oh, and I've cracked the weird code they used here. The starshifting systems are set to begin moving this honker back into place.>

<I thought Pita was working on it?> Cary asked. <They were well on their way when I left for the dinner.>

<Oh, sure, yeah,> Earnest muttered. <But I wrapped it all up…sorta. Anyway, that’s not the exciting bit. I mapped out where the next starshift is occurring, and I want to go check it out.>

<Really?> Cary asked as she slid down a ladder to the main research deck. <What’s your level of certainty?>

<Like, ninety-two percent,> he replied. <Just get down here and I’ll show you.>

Thirty minutes later, Cary was convinced. Earnest had applied Gera’s idea to an algorithm that accurately predicted all but two of the existing starshifting locations. Unfortunately, it mapped out over a thousand more across the galaxy.

However, one was relatively close to the Cora’s Triumph’s current position, a red supergiant a little further around the core from Sol, on the outer edge of the Norma Arm.

“Stars, we’re getting so far from home,” Cary whispered as she looked at the location.

“You’ve been to the LMC plenty of times, and that’s further away.”

“I guess,” she shrugged. “Still different, though. I wonder if it’s because we can see the Orion Belt from there? Here, it feels like we’re lost in a sea of stars that we’d have to swim a lifetime to get through.”

Earnest glanced up at her, a twinkle in his eye. “Never took you for a poet.”

“What can I say, gazing at stars brings it out of me.” She pursed her lips, nibbling on the inside of her cheek while considering options. “It’s going to take another week before we get more gates, the TGGN is chewing them all up.”

“Right, we can’t jump the Cora’s Triumph there until we have a return gate available, and we’re even out of probes with gates. However, we could take the Skipper.”

“I’m not sure Captain Beatrice would approve.”

“She’s only the captain for a few more days. We’d head over, check it out, head back.”

Cary almost laughed at how eager Earnest sounded. There was nothing he liked more than testing a theory, and he rarely paused to consider the risks that might be involved.

Which is one of the reasons I’m along.

“The Skipper has a QC blade, right?” she asked, unable to remember if the pinnace had received that upgrade or not.

“Well, it didn’t until an hour ago. Now it does.”

“Earnest.” Cary planted her fists on her hips. “Where did you get a blade?”

The scientist barked a laugh. “You know, I bounced you on my knee when you were just a few months old. Now you’re standing there scolding me, looking like the spitting image of your mother.”

“I do not.” Cary straightened and forced her arms to her sides. “My hair’s not in a ponytail.”

He snorted a laugh. “You know as well as I that your mom lets her hair down from time to time…figuratively as well as literally.”

“Stop trying to sidetrack me, I’m trying to decide if we should really do this.”

“Of course we should really do this. If it proves to be correct, we can reassign half the teams scouring the galaxy for starshifts, and focus them on fixing things. It’s revolutionary.”

Cary heaved a sigh. “I mean, I really want to do it, but I’m worried I already have a reputation for being reckless. I don’t want to make that impression worse.”

“Reckless?” Earnest’s brows furrowed, nearly meeting above his nose. “How, when?”

“Seriously, Uncle. Remember when I roped Saanvi into stealing a starship with me so we could participate in the Defense of Carthage? Or maybe when I decided to subsume Lisa Wrentham’s mind in order to take over the Widows?”

Earnest nodded. “Both of which were smashing successes.”

“You know how close I came to being lost,” she whispered. “That Saanvi and Faleena forgave me is a miracle…and I killed Priscilla.”

“Technically, the shot we fired from Star City killed Priscilla , but I get your meaning. You blame yourself for setting those events in motion.”

Cary nodded wordlessly, holding back tears that threatened to spill from the corners of her eyes.

“What you’re failing to recall,” he rose and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “is that things were desperate at that point. We were stretched impossibly thin, fighting on so many fronts. It’s only because we had Tangel at the helm that we survived. When your parents sent you in to infiltrate the Widows, they knew the risk. We all knew the risk.”

“But I’m the one that decided to stay in,” Cary said. “What if I’m not fit for this command? What if going with you to do this proves it?”

Earnest shrugged. “Then you and I build a starship and do the mission on our own, or a thousand other options. You’re still so young, Cary, you’re not even thirty!”

“Rika was the head of a revolution before she was thirty.”

“She’s an exceptional woman, just like you. She ended the Nietzschean threat, you ended the Orion threat. Don’t sell yourself short. The only reason your parents had reservations about sending you and your sisters on that mission was because it was you and your sisters. But they did it because they had to. Because we had to.”

“And I barely survived, I turned my sisters into slaves.”

“They forgave you, Cary. They forgave you a decade ago.” He shook his head, brow knitting further. “What brought this on? I thought you were past doubting yourself over this.”

Cary snorted. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. I was A1 for eight months, Earnest. For eight months, I controlled the Widows. I did…I did some terrible things.”

“Did you, by any chance, create picotech and start a chain of events that led to a war that spanned all known space?”

Cary opened her mouth, then closed it, looking up into her uncle’s eyes, suddenly understanding so much more about what drove him.

“I’m sorry,” she rasped. “I never thought of it like that. But so much good has come from you creating that tech.”

Earnest winked. “Almost like what you did, ending the war with Orion, wouldn’t you say?”

A sour laugh slipped past Cary’s lips. “I guess having Lisa Wrentham in my head is my penance for what I did to pull it off.”

“Pardon?” Earnest stepped back. “I thought you’d purged her? I thought Bob said—”

“Bob said what everyone needed to hear,” Cary replied. “I took in all of her memories, all of her experiences. I turned myself into one of her Widows; driven, emotionless, cold. And then I grew as an ascended being. Lisa Wrentham will forever be a part of me. Why do you think I enjoy delving into science so much more than before?”

Earnest’s eyes widened as she spoke, but as the last words fell from her lips, he laughed. “I just figured it was that you wanted away from conflict and to spend time with your favorite uncle.”

The expression on his face was one of such utter innocence that it was all Cary could do not to burst into laughter.

“Earnest, I was sent here as muscle in case we run into core AIs. Granted, we haven’t, but we’ve still had plenty of conflict, dealing with their automated defense systems.”

The scientist shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s against machines. Not the same thing.”

“Really?” She shook her head, eyes wide. “I seem to remember you nearly dying twice.”

“I back my mind up in crystal at least once a month. I’m prepared.”

Cary didn’t doubt it for a second.

Most of the people who knew of Earnest—which was nearly everyone—thought of him as a mild-mannered scientist; the brains behind much of the ISF’s technology. Cary knew a different version of the man. The man who had braved enemy fire to save others on countless occasions, who had spent a lifetime building the technology to go back in time to fix the worst mistake Cary had ever made. The man who never once looked at her askance, had never once flinched, even when she revealed that she was so much more than human, now.

“Alright,” she nodded. “But we have to clear it with the captain first.”

“Of course,” Earnest agreed, his tone entirely serious. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

* * * * *

Three hours later, Cary and Earnest sat in the Skipper, a fireteam of ISF Marines in the ship’s rear compartment—the only way Beatrice would agree to let them make the jump to an entirely uncharted system.

“Are you ready?” Earnest asked, glancing at Cary.

“Of course, it’s just a jump,” she gave a slight shake of her head.

“No!” He held up a finger. “Not just a jump. This is historic, this could save centuries of work.”

“Oh?” she winked at the scientist. “Then shouldn’t we have Gera along?”

He laughed. “Well, I mean, what if things go sideways and we end up in a firefight? We need trained military professionals, not scientists.”

“And you?” she asked, elbowing him in the ribs. “Which are you?”

“Both, my dear. I’m both.”

He toggled a control on the holointerface, and a kilometer ahead of the ship, the system’s gate came to life.

Antimatter reactors fed power to the emitters that generated specific forms of exotic matter, refracted by specialized mirrors to a point directly in the center of the ring.

To the two-dimensional eye, it appeared as though space itself was twisting into knots, but to Cary, it was something else entirely; a six-dimensional black hole, held together by forces beyond those that governed normal spacetime, bound and harnessed by the rings that surrounded it.

How Finaeus created these without being able to see them…his mind is certainly something else altogether.

“Let’s do it,” she whispered and reached out to her console, triggering the burn that thrust them toward their gate.

The Skipper covered the distance in a matter of seconds, leaping across space to the device that would hurl them a thousand light years further around the galactic core.

The gate grew rapidly. Over five kilometers across, it was capable of jumping nearly any ship in the galaxy, shy of an I-class supercarrier. Then the mirror on the front of the pinnace touched the singularity in the center of the gate, and space disappeared, replaced by the blinding light of transition.

Cary knew that organics didn’t see it; even some lower ascended beings couldn’t. But with sixth-dimension vision came not only the ability to see through reality itself, but to see the reality that lay behind it all.

An instant later, the stars returned, new ones in new positions, the galactic core a little further to their left. They’d reached their destination, oriented nearly ninety degrees to the orbital plane, able to see the entire system in all its glory.

“Stars,” Cary whispered. “What happened here?”

PART FOUR

CHAPTER 43 - ESTEE

STELLAR DATE: 01.14.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Warsaw

REGION: Farsis System, Independent Systems of the Lupus Cloud

“Are you sure we should have tipped our hand with the missile?” Estee asked. “We don’t have many more cards up our sleeves.”

Cimara nodded. “We had to. They were wavering with the hostages. We had to show them that they couldn’t just bring their ship down and rescue them.”

Estee crossed her arms, staring at her wife and wondering exactly when she’d gotten so cold and shrewd. “But we only have five missiles.”

“General Mulke is almost here.” The president’s wife smiled and patted her cheek. “He managed to secure the original components, and with them, we can shield an entire ship—and I know our scientists can replicate the technology.”

“We don’t have long, though, if they reach out for their friends,” Estee said, glancing at the holotable that showed the Overwatch. “Which they can do instantly over the QuanComm network.”

“I know,” Cimara nodded. “But the moment anyone else shows up, we start killing the refugees. We’ll spin it so that the AoS is in the wrong no matter how it goes down—they’ll look like the aggressors. Either way, we’ll band the Lupus Cloud together against them, forge our own path independent of outside control.”

Estee stared into her wife’s eyes, convinced by the certainty she saw there. “Alright. If you’re sure.”

Cimara reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her close. “I’m sure.”

For a moment, Estee thought she saw a sliver of white light between her wife’s fingers, but a moment later, it was gone.

I must be exhausted. Stars, I can’t wait till this is all over and we have the gates.

That would be in just a few days, at the most. Just a few days, and she would go from being President Estee to Empress Estee.

All their hard work was coming to fruition…and all because Cimara had come up with the brilliant plan to trap an AoS ship and steal its gates.

She really is something.

CHAPTER 44 - TANIS

STELLAR DATE: 01.15.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: The Burr, Xalta

REGION: Piiryo System, Scipio Empire

“So, this is where you and Diana had that big showdown shortly after we left the first time?” Tanis asked as she and Joe walked off the Mandy to where Petra waited.

The ambassador’s long, white wings fluttered in the breeze, her white hair trailing behind her head as her lips quirked into a smile. “Stars, that feels like a lifetime ago. We brought half the mountain down on those assholes. Diana really came into her own on that trip.”

“I recall the difference in her,” Tanis said.

<A new sort of confidence,> Angela added. <It was good.>

Joe shrugged. “I didn’t know her before, but she’s always seemed a little scary.”

Petra chuckled. “She was always scary. Before that, it was an unpredictable scary. After, it was borne of surety.”

“As much as I love talking about Diana, this wind is going to blow us off the mountain. Can we see the gate?” Joe asked.

“Sure,” Petra said. “We locked the place down after that fight. To my knowledge, no one has been down there since.”

<I can’t imagine it’d be that big of a draw,> Angela said. <By that point, we were plying Scipio with gates. What’s one gate under a mountain—a gate that probably doesn’t work—when there are dozens of functional ones all around?>

“Exactly,” Petra nodded as they reached the entrance, which was little more than a hole bored through the mountain with a high-powered grav shield in front. “Logs look good. It’s not been disturbed,” she said.

Tanis was glad to hear that. A grav shield seemed like a poor way to protect the mountain, but then again, there was nothing of great value inside—at least, not that anyone knew of.

It didn’t take long to make it to the shaft that ran down to the underground labs, but the descent into darkness lasted nearly ten minutes, during which they chatted about Petra and Diana’s work to convert each of the four quadrants of Scipio into independent democratic republics under the empress’s rule.

Tanis knew that, eventually, Diana wanted to retire and disappear to the far side of known space, with the ability to trust her people to govern themselves at least as well as she’d been able to manage.

Living the dream.

<What was that?> Angela asked. <You want to go to sleep? The ride’s long, but we came here for a reason, you know.>

<You sure think you’re funny, don’t you?> Tanis asked with a mental laugh.

<I like to think so, yeah.> The AI chuckled for a moment before her tone sobered. <It feels further away than ever, doesn’t it?>

<Our dream of one day retiring?>

<Yeah…we went from one trip across the stars, to making a temporary colony and protecting it, to finding our real colony and really having to protect it, to finally waging a war across known space, only to end up being in charge of known space. It’s like we’re retiring in reverse.>

Tanis nearly snorted aloud. <I wonder what we could have told our younger selves to avoid this?>

<Avoid what? Saving humanity and all other organic sapient life?>

This time she did giggle. <Yeah…I guess I always did love a challenge.>

“What are you two talking about?” Joe asked. “Don’t you know it’s rude to have side conversations?”

<You try having Tanis blaring her thoughts in your mind all the time,> Angela countered. <Stars. Regular pairings have it so lucky.>

A pained look crossed Petra’s face, and Tanis felt a wave of apology from her AI.

<I’m sorry, Petra. I wasn’t thinking about how that would come across. You must still feel for Alastar.>

“I don’t think I’ll ever stop. Though it’s getting better. I don’t regret anything other than how it had to end, but it was worth it.”

Tanis could tell the ambassador was still trying to convince herself that the loss of her AI had a silver lining.

Sometimes, shitty situations are just shitty.

At the bottom of the shaft, the hoverpad stopped a few meters above the ground, floating above piles of rubble that had fallen from the mountain above.

“Not far from here,” Petra said before leaping off the platform and unfurling her wings, gliding toward one of the arches leading deeper into the mountain.

Tanis released a passel of nano, letting the bots map the area around her and fill in her HUD with what information her eyes couldn’t pick up in the dim light.

“So, why didn’t you just fully bury this place?” Joe asked as they skirted around debris to catch up to the winged woman, who waited at the tunnel entrance.

Petra shrugged, spreading her wings to their full ten-meter span before refolding them behind her back. “I always meant to come back and find out where the Scipians got their gate tech so long ago. The timelines didn’t make sense—this facility dates back to before Finaeus finished his work on gate tech. I mean, that’s crazy, right?”

The question was obviously intended to lead Tanis into revealing exactly why they were all making the trip to look at the relic beneath the mountain.

She only winked at Petra as they caught up. “Well, we might have found something to suggest that others were working on gates before Finaeus. And…well…Joe remembered the reports of this gate and its similarities to those other ones.”

“What other ones?” Petra asked, planting her hands on her hips. “Seriously, just spill it.”

Joe quirked a smile. “Ones made thousands of years before Finaeus made his.”

The ambassador’s eyes widened. “Thousands?”

<Many thousands of years…you know, before humans reached space.>

Petra’s jaw fell open, and she stood staring at the others until Tanis laughed.

“Yes!” Tanis said. “Aliens. Aliens made gates first. I’m curious if this Scipian gate is like theirs. It had similar properties.”

“Wait…you’ve seen alien gates?”

<Gate,> Angela corrected. <Just one. But where there’s smoke, there’s fire.>

“OK,” Petra crossed her arms. “You have a lot to explain.”

“Can we see the gate, first?” Tanis asked. “It’s going to take a bit to share it all.”

“Alright,” Petra led them down the passage. “But I want all the details.”

“Of course,” Tanis said, sharing a knowing look with Joe.

Five minutes later, they reached a nondescript door that appeared to be only a few years old. Petra palmed the panel and waited a few moments before glancing back.

“There are some automated defenses in there, just making sure they’re all standing down.”

“I appreciate it,” Joe said. “Getting killed under some mountain by mistake would be a terrible way to go.”

The ambassador chuckled. “Stars, yes. I hear you there.”

A click came from the door, and a second later, it slid open to reveal a hundred-meter square room, in the center of which stood a ten-meter-wide gate, scaffolding and diagnostic equipment arrayed around it.

“Oh damn,” Joe whispered. “That doesn’t look like a Sig gate.”

“You’re right,” Tanis nodded, her eyes meeting her husband’s. “That is a Sig gate.”

CHAPTER 45 - CARY

STELLAR DATE: 01.15.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Skipper

REGION: SIU-8209, Norma Arm

“Tell me this isn’t natural, Earnest,” Cary whispered, glancing at the engineer, who was staring as raptly at the forward display as she was.

After what felt like an eternity, he shook his head in amazement. “There’s no way it’s natural. Look at that third belt around the star. That is clearly a segment of an orbital ring….”

“Could the Starshift have caused this?” she asked. “Wait…no, there’s just not enough time for the system to have settled into a pattern like this.”

Earnest glanced at her and nodded. “Unless someone else has traveled back in time, there is no way that we’re looking at a system colonized by Terrans.”

“Are you saying that we’ve found aliens?”

“The remains of aliens, at least. Maybe….” Earnest’s voice died out, and he scowled at the display. “What’s that?”

A marker appeared on the display, and Cary flipped it to maximum zoom.

“Engine flare, if I had to guess,” she said in a quiet voice. “So much for discovering the aliens first.”

“Or maybe we just discovered living ones,” Earnest suggested. “I’m launching our probes. If I arrange them around the Skipper, we can get a higher resolution image.”

Cary nodded absently, swapping to her extradimensional vision. “Whoever it is, they’re burning deuterium. No evidence of an AP drive. We could probably get a lot closer before they spotted us if we spooled ours out.”

“Do it,” Earnest said. “Alright, we’re getting more photons in now. Building a new image.”

Above the view of the ruined system, a starship began to take shape. It was wide and flat, looking almost like a manta ray. It wasn’t overlong, on the larger side of a corvette-class.

“That craft doesn’t look familiar to me,” Cary said. “Do you think it could be alien?”

Earnest didn’t reply, and she turned to see him frozen in place, skin pale, eyes bulging.

“Uncle, what is it?”

“That ship…that design,” he whispered. “I worked on that.”

“Dammit,” Cary folded her arms across her chest. “So much for being first.”

“You don’t understand.” Earnest shook his head, eyes still locked on the view before them. “I worked on that design before we left Sol…five thousand years ago. It was a new Enfield Technologies corvette being made under contract for the Terran Space Force. The contract fell through for reasons I don’t recall, and we mothballed the plans.”

“Could someone have found them?”

He finally looked away, his pale, green eyes locking onto hers. “Out here? On the far side of the core? No. It’s them. It has to be them.”

“Who?” Cary pressed. “Who is out here?”

“The ones we left behind.”

CHAPTER 46 - PEREZ

STELLAR DATE: 01.15.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Harshni Station, outer system

REGION: Bysmark System, Outer Alliance

Colonel Perez strode through the warehouse in Harshni Station’s lower decks, triple-checking that his teams had everything covered.

<We’ve secured the facility, sir,> he reported.

<Good,> came the general’s reply. <We’ve just docked. I’ll be there in a minute.>

<We?>

<Katelyn’s with me. Lysander, too. He’s fully tired of Bozas’s shit.>

Perez pursed his lips. If the president was here, something bigger was going on than he’d even begun to suspect. Not that it mattered as much as finding out if his kids and niece were alright.

Their patrol should have been easy, barely an inconvenience. But when a probe showed up with an OASF beacon, and Bozas intercepted it, claiming it contained proprietary information, his shit-hitting-the-fan radar went off.

The Bozan lawyers had stonewalled him for days, blocking his access to the probe—not that Perez cared. It was the OASF’s, and had been sent by people under his command. The message belonged to him, and if Bozas was willing to throw lives away to keep him from seeing it, that would be a capital expenditure yielding no net profit—to use their corporate lingo.

<We have it over here,> the company commander called out, dropping a marker on Perez’s HUD. <Looks like they were trying to breach it.>

<But they didn’t,> Lysander’s voice came into his mind. <Pardon my reach, but I wanted to check it over myself.>

Perez turned to see the president entering the warehouse, with Williams and Katelyn on either side. Their expressions were grim, and the colonel waited patiently for them to reach his side before he led them toward where the probe lay half-disassembled near the center of the space.

“This is messy,” Williams said. “I wish you’d waited before coming in weapons blazing.”

“I don’t,” Katelyn shot her husband a cool look. “This is our kids we’re talking about.”

“I know, but we’ll get accused of nepotism if we bend rules for our own children.”

“Fuck that,” she replied. “I just want to know what’s on the probe. If Mira sent it, and Bozas tried to hide it from us, I’m going to tear their CEO a dozen new assholes.”

Lysander glanced at Perez as they stopped in front of the probe, where a pair of OASF Marines stood with the company AI and commander.

“I think they destroyed some of it,” the AI said. “But not all.”

“I can recover it,” Lysander replied.

The Weapon Born’s eyes closed, and an instant later, they were in space, on the fringes of a star system.

“This is Regina. This is where their first dataset points us,” he said.

“There’s nothing here,” Katelyn said. “Why are they telling us about empty space on the fringe of the system?”

“Because it’s not empty,” the president said.

At his words, a large station appeared, cylindrical and covered with raised segments, all joining in an irregular, angular pattern.

“The data from the Inquiry shows that the surface of this station is thousands of years old. Many thousands.”

Perez’s breath caught in his throat. “We weren’t here that long ago. Not even close.”

Lysander coughed, annoyance evident in the sound. “Obviously. Let’s not jump to conclusions, though. According to the data, those are Bozan ships surrounding the artifact, and they attacked the Inquiry. It would appear that young Mira destroyed one of their ships and damaged several others before jumping to Khorina.”

The battle appeared before them, progressing in high speed and taking only a few minutes to play out.

“Good,” Williams grunted, nodding with satisfaction. “And the crew? Did she report any injuries?”

“None,” Lysander replied. “Though the ship did take considerable damage in that final exchange. It would appear they’ve suffered a variety of failures with their shield emitters.”

“And now?” Kaytelyn asked. “Did they send a probe from Khorina?”

“They did.” Lysander shifted the view to the next system. “The X-Cor group has an automated mining facility on one of the worlds in that system, but otherwise, it is entirely empty.”

A marker in the outer system showed the Inquiry’s position when they sent the probe, and another denoted the planet Kyra and its mine.

“Not the best place for repairs,” Williams said. “Looks like we know where we’re going, though.”

A second later, they were back in the warehouse, the president’s expression one of understanding and concern.

“Not you, General. I need you here. I suspect that things are going to get dicey, and we’ll need our best people ready for whatever may come.” Lysander turned to Katelyn and Perez. “Take the Normandy, find your children.”

Katelyn’s jaw was set. “You don’t have to tell me, twice, Lysander. Perez, let’s go find our kids and kick some ass. Not necessarily in that order.”

He nodded, glad to know the Inquiry’s crew and his family were alright, though unable to hold back the fear that they’d not be in that condition by the time help arrived.

Williams embraced his wife and then Perez. “Stay safe, you two. Bring them home.”

“Will do, General.”

“Brother.” Williams placed a hand on Perez’s shoulder. “I know you’ll get it done.”

“Absolutely.”

CHAPTER 47 - SERA

STELLAR DATE: 01.15.8960 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: Grace O’Malley

REGION: Sigma 1431, Norma Arm

“I have to admit,” Sera whispered as she stared at the view on the Grace O’Malley’s forward display. “I didn’t really believe it would be that big. It’s, what…a hundred kilometers across?”

<One-oh-seven,> Jen said. <And yeah…I thought there might have been a calibration issue at first, too. But there it is in all its fuckin’ huge glory.>

“Look at the planet,” Cargo said, swapping the view to the surface of the world below. “They had more uber-gates at one point.”

Jason let out a low whistle as they took in an overhead view of a vast desert, the remains of several gates jutting out of the sands. “That’s, what…four—no, five more of those things?”

“You know…” West drew in a deep breath before she continued. “I kinda wanted to meet these people, but now…I mean, what do they need with half a dozen gates this big? What are they carting around?”

Sera cast the woman a knowing look. “Right? A lot of these orbitals have been damaged—hard to say if that’s from time or battle. But if it’s battle….”

“Then maybe this was an exodus,” Jason supplied. “Perhaps they were researching the gate at the Sig 1199 base, and then once they worked them out, they deployed the full-size models here.”

“OK.” West glanced around. “We all realize that that is less-good, right? If people who have ships needing hundred-kilometer gates are running away, I don’t want to meet who they were running from.”

Cargo grunted a laugh. “That’s a fair point. Still, no one has been here for ages, just like the crater base. Let’s get closer and take a look at that remaining gate.”

“Works for me,” Sera replied. They were still several AU away from the world, so she set a course that would bring them over the stellar disk and into orbit of the gas giant the gate world orbited. “Looks like we can make it there in a day. Who wants lunch?”

“Seriously?” Jason asked. “You’re hungry at a time like this? We’ve just made one of the most important discoveries in Terran history.”

“Sure.” She shrugged. “Just like we did last week. And I got hungry then, too.”

* * * * *

Over the course of the following day, the crew of the Grace O’Malley mapped out thousands of orbital habitats in the system, as well as fourteen inhabited worlds and moons. Each one bore the remains of massive rings, though the one around Sig Prime, as the crew had come to call the large moon, was the only one still intact.

Jen had identified a station that was co-orbital with the ring as the most likely location for a control center. The fact that it and the ring had remained in stable orbits for centuries suggested that both were still running on some amount of power, and might just hold a clue as to what had happened in the system.

“Can I just say,” Cargo glanced at Sera and the others before clearing his throat, “these stations are the weirdest things I’ve ever seen. Why don’t they make the spokes straight? Having them bend at all these strange angles doesn’t make them stronger, so why do it?”

“Maybe they like how it looks?” Sera asked. “Humans like straight angles and clean lines—most of our scions do as well—but not all do. And it might also be a function of the gravity we evolved under.”

“I suppose. It still makes these torus stations of theirs look like spiderwebs.”

<You’re just imagining that because they bear a resemblance to spiders,> Jen chided,

“Maybe.” Cargo shrugged. “I feel like I’m fully within my rights to be wigged out by this, though. What if we find their eggs, frozen in stasis, and someone wakes them, and we’re all overrun with sapient spiders? We should really think this through.”

“We’re going to be exceedingly careful,” Jason said. “Just like on Sig 1199. You didn’t get all freaked out there.”

“I didn’t know we were up against massive spider people who build equally massive gates,” Cargo countered.

Sera turned and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright, worst we’ll encounter are those killer drones. But, honestly, ten thousand years eating gamma rays from this system’s star will likely have taken them out. We should be fine.”

“And if you’re not?” Cargo folded his arms, eyeing her with a level stare.

She winked. “Then we’ll call you and West for rescue.”

Half an hour later, Sera stood next to Jason in the Grace’s port-side airlock, looking out at the station that followed the gate in its orbit around Sig Prime.

<It does look like a spider’s web,> Jason commented. <Just more….>

<Un-fractal?> Sera suggested. <We do have a thing for fractals, but maybe the Sigs don’t like them.>

<But fractals are everywhere in nature, not just Terran organic life,> Jason argued. <How can they not appreciate them?>

<Appreciating something else more doesn’t mean that they don’t appreciate fractals.> Jen’s tone was matter-of-fact, perhaps a little condescending, and Jason glanced back at Sera, eyes on her forehead.

<I get that, but I still wouldn’t have expected to see so little of them in Sig art.>

<The obelisks in the other facility were fractals,> Sera said as she waited for Cargo to bring them closer to the station.

Jason sighed. <OK, I got nothing.>

The alien orbital consisted of a ten-kilometer-long spire with five rings mounted to it, each with a different diameter, though they all came in at around eight kilometers across.

That alone was unusual. Sera wasn’t certain she’d ever seen a station with what appeared to be randomly sized rings—though some seemed to be done for purely artistic reasons.

Maybe the Sigs are just really artsy in their own way.

<Alright, we’re in position,> Cargo said. <It looks like there’s an airlock on the top of the spire. I know we don’t know much about the Sigs, but it seems like they have similar ideas about central control.>

<I agree with you there,> Jen said. <Let’s make for that airlock.>

<You got it.> Jason nodded and reached for Sera’s hand. <You ready to rock?>

<Always.>

The pair stepped out of the airlock, using their armor’s positional thrusters to move them away from the Grace O’Malley before separating and activating their main jets.

As they approached, Sera reveled in the view, taking in the details of the station with her own eyes, amazed at both how similar and how different it was from Terran construction.

If the spokes connecting each ring to the spindle were straight, then at a glance, it might pass for any other station in the galaxy, but the closer she got, the more small details stood out. One of them was that there was very little external decoration, or…anything. Most of the surfaces were smooth and utilitarian. A part of this was the near-total lack of windows. It made the station look more like an orbital bunker.

Then again, if this system served as some sort of last-ditch refuge before the exodus, maybe there was a reason behind that decision.

As she pondered the possibilities, the station grew ever-larger until it spanned her vision. Dead ahead lay the top of the spindle, the airlock Jen had spotted located below a forest of comm antennas and dishes.

<You touch down first,> Jason said as they closed within a kilometer of the entrance. <I’ll hold back and cover you.>

<Alright. What do you think the chances of this thing still being aired up are?> she asked.

<Zero. Zero percent. I’ll eat my lightwand if it’s pressurized.>

Jen’s silvery laugh filled their minds. <OK…it would be easier if it wasn’t, but now I really want it to be.>

<Me too,> Sera agreed. <But I’ll just make you take a nibble.>

<Maybe that was a little hasty of me.>

Sera giggled as she slowed her approach, bringing her delta-v down to ten meters per second before she hit the station, boots maglocking her into place as she walked to the airlock.

<OK…this is weird,> she said as she examined the large octagon-shaped door. <There’s no collar on this thing. How do ships create an airtight seal?>

<You know…> Jen drew the word out before continuing. <They might not bother. You saw how the vehicle entrances on the crater base didn’t have airlocks. Maybe they can handle vacuum for short periods, and just don’t bother with airtight seals.>

Sera shook her head. <I mean, so can we, but it’s not fun. I wonder if maybe it’s a caste thing. Lower castes can eat vacuum from time to time, but the uppers get nice seals on their airlocks.>

<I guess we’ll find out,> Jason commented. <You going to breach that thing or what?>

<Sending nano through first. You know, on the off-chance that there are killer drones waiting right on the other side of the door.>

<OK…I’ll also take a nibble out of my lightwand if that’s the case,> he said.

<Since when are you the less cautious one, Jason?> Jen asked.

<Since I’m stationkeeping a kilometer from an alien habitat moving at thirty thousand kilometers an hour.>

<I could have taken overwatch,> Sera said as she waited for her nanodrones to get through the airlock’s seals. <Oh damn…there’s some pressure in there. ‘Bout a quarter atmo. You ready for that nibble?>

Jason laughed. <I guess I might have to be. Of course, we still don’t know what their standard pressure is.>

<See that, Jen?> Sera tsked as she set her breach nano loose on the airlock’s control system, checking to see if there was power, or if she’d have to cut her way in. <He’s already trying to get out of our deal.>

<Tricksy, isn’t he?> Jen replied. <Oh wow…there’s power. OK, that I wasn’t expecting—and before anyone asks, no, I’m not eating anything.>

<But if you could, what would it be?> Jason asked. <Also, is there just air, or are killer robots waiting for you?>

<Just air,> Sera replied. <Come on down. Oh, and I can’t tell you what I’d eat. This is an open channel.>

Jen giggled. <I won’t tell if you don’t.>

Jason sent a mental laugh and signaled affirmation, boosting toward the airlock as Jen attempted to open the airlock.

<Alright, here goes nothing,> the AI said and Sera drew her sidearm, ready for anything that might come out of the station.

At first, nothing happened, but then Sera felt a rasping shudder in the station’s hull, following which, the airlock door ground its way half open.

<Pew pew pew!> Sera shouted over the Link, only getting a groan in return from Jason. <Gee…tough crowd.>

<You going to set up a grav shield?>

<No need,> Jen said. <It has one built in, and it’s active.>

<Stars…> Sera shook her head. <Why is this place in such good shape…relatively speaking?>

<Maybe it has age-defying repair drones and lots of supplies,> Jason suggested. <And maybe this is the last part that’s functional. Given the comm stack, this has to be close to the command center.>

Sera nodded as she flicked another passel of nano through the airlock—which was big enough to hold two dozen armored humans—and onto the inner door’s control panel. While Jen set to work breaching the second door, she slid out of view, content to let the machines work while she stayed out of automated weapons fire.

Jason hit the station hull boots-first on the far side of the lock, giving Sera a serious nod as he moved into position. <Ready.>

<Kicking it over,> Jen announced.

The inner door slid open with only mild protest, a deep thud sounding in the airlock as the station’s atmosphere slammed into the grav shield covering the outer door.

<How’s that lightwand looking?> Sera asked with a laugh as she checked the feeds from the nano in the airlock. <Looks clear, would you like to do the honors?>

<Ladies first,> Jason said, gesturing magnanimously to the entrance.

<Dammit, and here I was hoping to use you as a human shield.>

A laugh on her lips, Sera jumped down into the airlock, the station’s a-grav systems pulling her down to the deck at a quarter-g.

I wonder if this is low power, or if they really do like low-g? she mused while moving through the airlock and into the passage beyond.

Unlike the corridors on the crater base, these were octagon in shape, matching the doors, something that Sera appreciated, as the incongruity on the base had been subtly bothersome.

<Looks like a straight shot down to a foyer or something,> she said. <Passage isn’t illuminated, but the far end is. I’m heading in.>

<Covering your six,> Jason replied, moving into the airlock behind her and tucking up against the wall.

The passage was only sixty meters long, and Sera reached the end in a minute, groaning as she saw that it led to another deep shaft.

<Don’t these people believe in lifts?>

<Following after,> Jason said. <Any idea how far down we have to go?>

<Actually…see that on the far wall there?> Jen asked Sera.

<I see a bunch of conduit coming down from the antenna arrays, I—>

Her response was cut off by a beam flashing up the shaft and clipping her left shoulder.

“Shit!” she shouted aloud, falling back from the edge of the shaft and releasing a fresh nanocloud to investigate. <I think we made it angry.>

<Looked like an electron beam. You alright?>

<Yeah, armor shrugged it off.>

Sera holstered her sidearm and unslung her A7-SCR. Unlike the multifunctional weapons that others favored, the SCR was all railgun all the time. It was capable of kicking one-gram pellets up to thirty kilometers per second—enough to punch through any mobile armor.

<Looks like more of those spider things,> Jen said. <But these ones are moving at full speed.>

<Then we’d better move at full speed too!>

Sera pulled up the view of the shaft from her nanocloud, and jumped to the edge, letting off three shots before backpedaling and narrowly escaping a barrage of return fire.

<Got one, tagged two,> Jen announced. <Eleven still coming.>

A moment later, Jason reached the edge of the shaft, firing several shots before getting hit in the thigh and moving to a new spot before firing again.

<Down to eight,> Jen said. <Three coming up right under you, Sera.>

<Good,> she replied, grabbing a pair of HE grenades from her belt and dropping them over the edge, setting their timers to go off when they reached the drones.

<Five coming up!> Jason said. <They’re almost at the top.> He backed up to the bulkhead, a rifle in one hand, sidearm in the other, both weapons trained on the lip of the shaft.

Sera followed suit, positioning herself to keep Jason on her right, moving toward the location Jen had mentioned before the attack. She’d only taken three steps when the first of the bots came over the edge.

Rather than taking stock and firing at her, the thing leapt through the air, slamming into her and knocking her against a bundle of conduit.

“You piece of shit!” Sera shouted inside the confines of her helmet as the bot wrapped its legs around her, pinning her arms and knocking her to the deck.

Her rifle fell from her hand, and she reached for her thigh, stretching out her fingers to draw her lightwand.

<Sera!> Jason shouted into her mind. <I’m coming!>

She could hear the sound of his weapons firing, as well as the arachnid bots’ beams and rails going off.

<Don’t,> she sent back. <I’ve got this.>

Struggling against the crushing embrace of the machine trying to kill her, she triggered her lightwand’s release, and it fell into her hand. Sera activated the blade, carefully twisting her wrist to cut into one of the drone’s legs and not hers.

The thing shivered as the electron beam sliced through its limb, loosening its deathgrip enough for Sera to cut another.

Two more slices, and she was free, the drone skittering back on its four remaining legs. It paused, then lunged again, only to meet a pair of rounds from Sera’s railgun.

<See?> she struggled to her feet. <Problem solved.>

Jason fired a string of kinetics at the last drone atop the shaft before kicking it over the edge. <Nice of you to help and take one out.>

<I took plenty out before they got up here.>

<You’re going to have the opportunity to take more,> Jen said. <There are at least two dozen of their friends coming up.>

<What a bunch of brats,> Sera muttered, turning to the bulkhead. <You said there was a door here?>

<Yeah, it’s right between those two thick red pipes. Kinda camouflaged.>

<Oh shit…yeah, I couldn’t make out the seam from all the other stuff.>

Sera planted another passel of nano on the access panel, which was tucked behind one of the pipes, and turned to see Jason standing at the edge of the shaft, taking sporadic shots before moving to new positions at random.

Sera fed nano through the door’s seams, checking the room beyond for any signs of hostiles, glad to see nothing more than a small sea of consoles in the same configuration as the control room in the crater facility.

<It’s clear,> she called back to Jason as the door opened. <C’mon!>

<I’ll hold them off, you—What are you going to do in there?>

Sera had been thinking escape, but getting into a control room with no other way out wasn’t really the right sort of egress. She was about to suggest that they bail, when Jen spoke up.

<I can disable them, I think. Just get me in there, go to that console second from the left.>

At the AI’s words, the door slid open, and Sera rushed into the room, stopping at the console.

<What do you need me to do?> she asked.

<Nano. There.>

A part of the console lit up on Sera’s HUD, and she slapped her palm onto it, releasing nano before spinning to cover Jason, who had just backed into the room.

<These things are relentless!> he grunted. <There are still more coming up the shaft. If you can’t stop them, we’ll need to drop charges down there.>

<Anything big enough to take out those drones is going to severely damage the station,> the AI warned.

<I can live with that,> Jason shot back. <Better it than us.>

<Saanvi will be pissed,> Sera said as she fired a string of rail pellets past him, tearing the top off a drone.

<She’ll get over it,> he grunted.

More drones came up over the edge, swarming toward the room, taking care with their shots.

<They’re trying not to hit any equipment,> Sera said, keeping as much of herself hidden as possible.

<Good!> Jen sounded stressed—a rarity for the AI. <Because I need it! These things don’t have centralized data storage or processing. It’s all distributed.>

<That sounds smart,> Jason said as he fired into the mass of bots swarming toward the room’s entrance.

<Not when you don’t know how to re-establish functionality if a part of the whole goes down. Wait…I think I might have something. Shit, no, give me another minute.>

More and more bots flowed up out of the shaft, finally filling the doorway, obstructing the view. Every time they took one out, another replaced it.

Despite near-continuous fire, a bot got past, skittering toward Sera, only to fall to her railfire when it was within two meters of her. Another got in a second later, jumping for Jason, who wrestled with it, his powered armor tearing off three of its limbs before he tossed it against the bulkhead, blowing a hole through it center-mass.

Those small distractions were all it took for the dam to break, and the bots to swarm into the room.

<Fall back!> Sera shouted.

Jason backpedaled, sliding over consoles while staying low. <Fall back where?>

Sera had no answer as she fired wildly at the bots in view, unable to do anything about those who stayed low for fear of destroying the consoles.

Her back hit the bulkhead on the far side of the room, Jason reaching her side a moment later.

<This is a stupid way to go,> he said. <You have ten seconds, Jen, then I star lobbing ‘nades.>

<No! Please! I’m in the defense system.>

The bots were only one row of consoles from the two humans, weapons ready for when they passed beyond the equipment they were made to protect.

Sera pulled out a grenade and glanced at Jason to see that he was already holding two. They nodded, drew their arms back, then stopped, staring in wonder as the Sig defense drones ceased their inexorable advance.

For a moment, no one moved, frozen in a tableau of raw fury, ready to unleash destruction.

Then, without any indication of hostility, the drones turned and exited the room, pausing to gather their fallen and drag them back out.

Jason and Sera rose, watching them disappear over the shaft’s lip, taking with them all evidence that they were ever present—other than the damage to the bulkheads.

<Stars…I’m glad you were able to shut them down,> Sera said as she leant against a console. <That was intense.>

<I actually couldn’t do that. What I did manage to do is trick the security systems into registering you as Sigs…well, as authorized lifeforms. Interestingly, there are a few categories of those.>

<Is that a human thing, or a personal thing?> Jason asked. <As in, can anyone come in now, or will you need to do it on a per-person basis.>

<Per person. The Sigs were no slouches about security.> Jen paused. <So, do you want to know what I learned?>

<That they make killer drones that we should totally rip off?> Jason asked.

Sera snorted and punched him on the shoulder. <Humans have made worse.>

<Yeah, but there’s the creepy factor on these.>

<OK, fair.>

<But you know, if we could—>

<Shut up, you two!> Jen interrupted. <I know where the jump gate took the Sigs>

Sera spun toward the center of the room, where the holoprojector was descending.

<How’d you figure that out?> Jason asked, turning to face the holo.

<Their math is easier than their language,> Jen replied, still sounding rather annoyed. <Here. Recognize it?>

Sera blew out a long breath, shaking her head in disbelief. <That’s…wait…>

<Andromeda,> Jen confirmed. <They jumped across two and a half million light years to Andromeda.>

Jason dusted off his hands. <Well, at least we’re not going to have to worry about running into them anytime soon.>

Sera pursed her lips, not exactly pleased by the news. <Still begs the question why did they go?>

CHAPTER 48 - TANGEL

STELLAR DATE: Unknown

LOCATION: Starkiller

REGION: Unknown

Tangel completed her analysis of galactic drift and turned to Finaeus, waiting for him to complete his assessment. It took longer than she expected, but she realized it was because he was checking and re-checking the data.

“You don’t need to keep at it,” she said gently. “If you got just over a million years, you’re right.”

The look he gave her was filled with a mixture of fear and pain. “A million years….”

“Yeah, it’s a lot. I guess that’s what we get for trying to make a transgalactic jump through a gate that’s about to cross over an SMBH’s event horizon.”

He snorted, shaking his head. “You have such a way with words.”

She gave him a half-smile. “Well, we’re lucky that you and I are currently sitting in the only starship capable of reverse time travel.”

“You know it takes a specialized gate, too, right?”

Tangel nodded. “I do, but you’re the man who made that specialized gate.”

“With Earnest. We compartmentalized the knowledge and processes so neither of us could recreate the technology on our own—though, based on the fact that it worked and I know how the end result functioned, I could extrapolate some of the details.”

“Don’t forget that you have me,” she said. “I’m no slouch, you know.”

Finaeus fixed her with a level stare. “Can you just conjure up matter from nothing? Because last I checked—which was three minutes ago—we’re in the interstellar void. We’re going to have to scoop a lot of dust to build a gate—not to mention produce the antimatter to power it.”

Tangel sighed. “Yeah, I get that. So, where to? Caldwell 17 is two hundred and fifty thousand light years away, and Andromeda is four-ten.”

“Caldwell is an old, low-metallicity glob,” Finaeus said, his tone dismissive. “We might spend thousands of years hunting around in there for the resources we need. If we’re looking at flights that long, we might as well go for Andromeda. Finding the right materials there will be easy.”

“Well, easier.” Tangel cocked a brow. “Building gates is no simple task. We’re practically going to need to establish a colony.”

“A mining one, at least.” The engineer replied with a slow nod. “Either way, we should get a move on.”

“What’s the rush?” Tangel asked. “We have forever.”

The typical smirk Finaeus wore faded, and he weezed softly. “Because the thought of everyone I ever knew being dead is not something I can bear a second time—not for long, at least.”

“A second time?”

He grunted in agreement, sitting up straight. “It took a bit for Earnest and I to travel back in time.”

“That’s not too long,” Tangel gave him a comforting smile. “Lots of people we know will likely live that long.”

“Sure.” He nodded. “But you didn’t. Earnest and I worked to find a solution, growing increasingly desperate because, back in the Milky Way…well…without you in play, the core AIs won, and began their campaign to eradicate all organic life in the galaxy.”

“Stars,” she whispered. “That’s…I’m sorry. And not knowing if you’d ever succeed….”

“Exactly. We feared that we’d made the wrong choice, that maybe if we’d been back in the thick of things, we could have made a difference.” His head sank as he spoke, eyes cast down at the deck.

Tangel reached out and cupped a hand under his chin, gently lifting his head until their eyes met. “There’s a lesson to be learned there.”

“Oh? What is that?”

“You did do something that made a difference. You saved me, and we won the war.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, for now.”

She didn’t say anything, instead letting her ephemeral limbs slip free from her physical form, wrapping him in their embrace. Strands of herself slipped through his being, her energy shoring the man up and revitalizing him.

“Stars…” he whispered, eyes shining as he straightened in his seat. “Is this what it feels like to be you?”

Tangel nodded. “A taste, at least. Now relax. Sleep. I’ll get us on our way and take care of you for the duration.”

Earnest’s eyes began to droop, head dipping forward again until a spasm rippled through his body, and he whispered, “Oh, shit. There’s only one stasis pod aboard.”

“Don’t worry,” Tangel cooed. “I know. I’ll be alright. I’ll get the ship close to c. It’ll only be a year real-time for me.”

“Hope you enjoy one-player Snark….”

A minute later, he was out, his face utterly relaxed, almost beatific.

She marveled at how, though he had been through countless rejuves, Finaeus always managed to look old. But now, with all of his cares soothed away, he looked how she imagined he might have thousands of years ago when he and his brother first hatched a plan to begin seeding the galaxy with homes for humans to expand into.

Innocent…idealistic.

She carried him back to the miniscule medbay—more like a closet, really—and slipped him into the multi-function pod inside.

The medtube could perform a host of repairs on a person, but if the patient had been injured beyond the system’s capabilities, it could place them into stasis, freezing their body by introducing a field that caused the cessation of all atomic and subatomic motion.

She closed the lid and instructed the medtube to activate emergency preservation procedures. A few seconds later, it initialized stasis, and the slow rise and fall of Finaeus’s chest ceased.

Satisfied that he’d be safe, Tangel shed the human shape she maintained when around corporeal people, and drifted back to the Starkiller’s cockpit. Once inside, she ran through the data on the Andromeda Galaxy, scanning through the surveys of its nimbus stellar disk, searching for concentrations of young, hot stars.

~There~ she whispered to no one at all. ~That is where we’ll find the materials to build our gate.~

After a few course adjustments, she spooled out the ship’s antimatter-pion nozzle and fired the engine, running it at seventy gs of thrust for five days, until the Starkiller reached ninety-five percent the speed of light. Once there, she powered down the engines, focusing the ship’s energy stores on maintaining the forward shield.

The days passed slowly; a week turned into a month, then a month into four. Before long, she could begin to make out small, blue stars with the Starkiller’s onboard instrumentation.

As she scanned through the region of space surrounding her destination, Tangel came to a troubling realization: there were not as many stars as there should be.

Spreading her search out to other nearby clusters, she found the same thing. Over half of the large, hot type A and B stars that should be present were entirely absent. Further analysis of stellar drift over the past one and a half million years showed that the mass in the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy appeared to be unchanged.

The stars had just gone dark.

One hundred and sixty-five days into her journey, Tangel spun the ship and began her braking sequence. She’d carefully rationed the Starkiller’s reserves, and there was just enough antimatter aboard to bring the ship down to a tenth of the speed of light.

As the ship slowed, the light coming from Andromeda redshifted back to near-normal compression, and Tangel was able to get a much clearer view of the galactic composition.

Like the Milky Way, Andromeda’s nimbus stellar disk extended far beyond the main arms of the galaxy. This disk was peppered with open clusters, the closest of which was her destination. Based on the cluster’s mass and movement over the prior half million years, it should have contained at least two hundred stars above three solar masses.

However, there were only thirty-five visible, and of those, seventeen were partially occluded by thick stellar disks.

~A mystery I am not pleased to encounter.~

She let the Starkiller continue to drift at a tenth the speed of light, surveying the cluster as she passed over the scattered stars at the edge of the galactic disk.

Days passed, and she carefully mapped stellar motion, tracking everything around her, looking for the missing stars. On the thirty-sixth day, the draw of a nearby gravity well pulled at the Starkiller.

There was no star in the well, and she estimated the mass at the bottom of the well to be only a little above a solar mass—too small to be a black hole.

Though the risk was low, she chose caution and released a probe in order to get a closer look. At first, there was nothing, just the empty void…then, small objects began to appear on scan, a smattering of frozen planetoids and comets—typical objects for a star’s Oort cloud.

Three days later, the drone drew close enough to the bottom of the gravity well to make out why no starlight reached out into the void.

It was a dyson sphere. And not a diffuse cloud of satellites, but a solid object like Star City, absorbing and utilizing the star’s entire energy output.

Tangel was tempted to slow the Starkiller in order to take a look, but with their fuel nearly depleted, she kept on course, targeting the dense cluster of stars, now realizing that the strange stellar occlusions were the remains of destroyed dyson spheres.

With the knowledge of what she was dealing with in hand, Tangel altered the ship’s scan systems to detect the faint infrared coming off the massive spheres. It took some fine-tuning, but before long, all of the missing stars were accounted for.

One was almost directly in front of the Starkiller, just three light years away.

~A strange thing,~ she mused. ~I crossed nearly half a million light years in one hundred and seventy days, but now it will take me thirty years to cross this small stretch of space.~

She briefly considered dropping into the dark layer to close the gap, but without any idea of what she might run into, she opted to take it slow.

~Besides, Finaeus is comfortable, the ship is in good condition, and I have no problem drowsing for a few decades. For once, time is on our side.~

THE END

* * * * *

I sincerely hope that you’ve enjoyed Scions of Humanity, the first book of the Ascension War series. The hunt for the ascended AIs has uncovered more questions than answers and led the heroes of the Orion War into new mysteries that must be solved.

Find out what happens next in Galactic Front.

THANK YOU FOR READING

Reviews are the lifeblood of a book and help future sales, which keeps me writing! If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review on amazon.com and/or goodreads.com.

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THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

This list is in near-chronological order. However, for the full chronological reading order, check out the master spreadsheet.

The Sentience Wars: Origins (Age of the Sentience Wars – w/James S. Aaron)

- Books 1-3 Omnibus: Lyssa’s Rise

- Books 4-5 Omnibus (incl. Vesta Burning): Lyssa’s Fire

- Book 0 Prequel: The Proteus Bridge (Full length novel)

- Book 1: Lyssa’s Dream

- Book 2: Lyssa’s Run

- Book 3: Lyssa’s Flight

- Book 4: Lyssa’s Call

- Book 5: Lyssa’s Flame

The Sentience Wars: Solar War 1 (Age of the Sentience Wars – w/James S. Aaron)

- Book 0 Prequel: Vesta Burning (Full length novel)

- Book 1: Eve of Destruction

- Book 2: The Spreading Fire

- Book 3: A Fire Upon the Worlds (2020)

Enfield Genesis (Age of the Sentience Wars – w/Lisa Richman)

- Book 1: Alpha Centauri

- Book 2: Proxima Centauri

- Book 3: Tau Ceti

- Book 4: Epsilon Eridani

- Book 5: Sirius

Origins of Destiny (The Age of Terra)

- Prequel: Storming the Norse Wind

- Prequel: Angel’s Rise: The Huntress (available on Patreon)

- Book 1: Tanis Richards: Shore Leave

- Book 2: Tanis Richards: Masquerade

- Book 3: Tanis Richards: Blackest Night

- Book 4: Tanis Richards: Kill Shot

The Intrepid Saga (The Age of Terra)

- Book 1: Outsystem

- Book 2: A Path in the Darkness

- Book 3: Building Victoria

- The Intrepid Saga Omnibus – Also contains Destiny Lost, book 1 of the Orion War series

- Destiny Rising – Special Author’s Extended Edition comprised of both Outsystem and A Path in the Darkness with over 100 pages of new content.

The Sol Dissolution (The Age of Terra)

- Book 1: Venusian Uprising

- Book 2: Assault on Sedna

- Book 3: Hyperion War

- Book 4: Fall of Terra (2021)

Outlaws of Aquilia (Age of the FTL Wars)

- Book 1: The Daedalus Job

- Book 2: Maelstrom Reach

- Book 3: Marauder’s Compass

Althea’s Raiders (Age of the FTL Wars)

- Book 1: The Fall of Rome (2021)

- Book 2: The Terran Empire (2021)

The Warlord (Before the Age of the Orion War)

- Books 1-3 Omnibus: The Warlord of Midditerra

- Book 1: The Woman Without a World

- Book 2: The Woman Who Seized an Empire

- Book 3: The Woman Who Lost Everything

Legacy of the Lost (The FTL Wars Era w/Chris J. Pike)

- Book 1: Fire in the Night Sky

- Book 2: A Blight Upon the Stars

- Book 3: A Specter and an Invasion (2021)

The Orion War

- Book 1-3 Omnibus: Battle for New Canaan (includes Set the Galaxy on Fire anthology)

- Book 4-6 Omnibus: The Greatest War (includes Ignite the Stars anthology)

- Book 7-10 Omnibus: Assault on Orion

- Book 11-13 Omnibus: Hegemony of Humanity (includes Return to Kapteyn’s Star)

- Book 0 Prequel: To Fly Sabrina

- Book 1: Destiny Lost

- Book 2: New Canaan

- Book 3: Orion Rising

- Book 4: The Scipio Alliance

- Book 5: Attack on Thebes

- Book 6: War on a Thousand Fronts

- Book 7: Precipice of Darkness

- Book 8: Airtha Ascendancy

- Book 9: The Orion Front

- Book 10: Starfire

- Book 10.5: Return to Kapteyn’s Star

- Book 11: Race Across Spacetime

- Book 12: Return to Sol: Attack at Dawn

- Book 13: Return to Sol: Star Rise

Non-Aeon 14 volumes containing Tanis stories

- Bob’s Bar Volume 1

- Quantum Legends 3: Aberrant Ascension (2021)

Building New Canaan (Age of the Orion War – w/J.J. Green)

- Book 1: Carthage

- Book 2: Tyre

- Book 3: Troy

- Book 4: Athens

Tales of the Orion War

- Book 1: Set the Galaxy on Fire

- Book 2: Ignite the Stars

Multi-Author Collections

- Volume 1: Repercussions

Perilous Alliance (Age of the Orion War – w/Chris J. Pike)

- Book 1-3 Omnibus: Crisis in Silstrand

- Book 3.5-6 Omnibus: War in the Fringe

- Book 0 Prequel: Escape Velocity

- Book 1: Close Proximity

- Book 2: Strike Vector

- Book 3: Collision Course

- Book 3.5: Decisive Action

- Book 4: Impact Imminent

- Book 5: Critical Inertia

- Book 6: Impulse Shock

- Book 7: Terminal Velocity

The Delta Team (Age of the Orion War)

- Book 1: The Eden Job

- Book 2: The Disknee World

- Book 3: Rogue Planets

Serenity (Age of the Orion War – w/A. K. DuBoff)

- Book 1: Return to the Ordus

- Book 2: War of the Rosette

Rika’s Marauders (Age of the Orion War)

- Book 1-3 Omnibus: Rika Activated

- Book 1-7 Full series omnibus: Rika’s Marauders

- Prequel: Rika Mechanized

- Book 1: Rika Outcast

- Book 2: Rika Redeemed

- Book 3: Rika Triumphant

- Book 4: Rika Commander

- Book 5: Rika Infiltrator

- Book 6: Rika Unleashed

- Book 7: Rika Conqueror

Non-Aeon 14 Anthologies containing Rika stories

- Bob’s Bar Volume 2

The Genevian Queen (Age of the Orion War)

- Book 1: Rika Rising

- Book 2: Rika Coronated

- Book 3: Rika Destroyer

Perseus Gate (Age of the Orion War)

Season 1: Orion Space

- Episode 1: The Gate at the Grey Wolf Star

- Episode 2: The World at the Edge of Space

- Episode 3: The Dance on the Moons of Serenity

- Episode 4: The Last Bastion of Star City

- Episode 5: The Toll Road Between the Stars

- Episode 6: The Final Stroll on Perseus’s Arm

- Eps 1-3 Omnibus: The Trail Through the Stars

- Eps 4-6 Omnibus: The Path Amongst the Clouds

Season 2: Inner Stars

- Episode 1: A Meeting of Bodies and Minds

- Episode 2: A Deception and a Promise Kept

- Episode 3: A Surreptitious Rescue of Friends and Foes

- Episode 3.5: Anomaly on Cerka (w/Andrew Dobell)

- Episode 4: A Victory and a Crushing Defeat

- Episode 5: A Trial and the Tribulations

- Episode 6: A Bargain and a True Story Told (2021)

- Episode 7: A New Empire and An Old Ally (2021)

- Eps 1-3 Omnibus: A Siege and a Salvation from Enemies

Hand’s Assassin (Age of the Orion War – w/T.G. Ayer)

- Book 1: Death Dealer

- Book 2: Death Mark (2021)

Machete System Bounty Hunter (Age of the Orion War – w/Zen DiPietro)

- Book 1: Hired Gun

- Book 2: Gunning for Trouble

- Book 3: With Guns Blazing

Fennington Station Murder Mysteries (Age of the Orion War)

- Book 1: Whole Latte Death (w/Chris J. Pike)

- Book 2: Cocoa Crush (w/Chris J. Pike)

The Empire (Age of the Orion War)

- Book 1: The Empress and the Ambassador

- Book 2: Consort of the Scorpion Empress

- Book 3: By the Empress’s Command

Bitchalante (Age of the Orion War)

- Book 1: Bitchalante (2021)

The Ascension War (Age of the Orion War)

- Book 1: Scions of Humanity (2020)

- Book 2: Galactic Front (2021)

- Book 3: Sagittarius Breach (2021)

OTHER BOOKS BY M. D. COOPER

Destiny’s Sword

- Book 1: Lucidium Run

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Malorie Cooper likes to think of herself as a dreamer and a wanderer, yet her feet are firmly grounded in reality.

A twenty-year software development veteran, Malorie eventually climbed the ladder to the position of software architect and CTO, where she gained a wealth of experience managing complex systems and large groups of people.

Her experiences there translated well into the realm of science fiction, and when her novels took off, she was primed and ready to make the jump into a career as a full-time author.

A ‘maker’ from an early age, Malorie loves to craft things, from furniture, to cosplay costumes, to a well-spun tale, she can’t help but to create new things every day.

A rare extrovert writer, she loves to hang out with readers, and people in general. If you meet her at a convention, she just might be rocking a catsuit, cosplaying one of her own characters, or maybe her latest favorite from Overwatch!

She shares her home with a brilliant young girl, her wonderful wife (who also writes), a cat that chirps at birds, a never-ending list of things she would like to build, and ideas…

Find out what’s coming next at www.aeon14.com.

Follow her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/malorie.cooper.

Hang out with the fans on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/aeon14fans.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD

WELCOME TO AEON 14

KEY CHARACTERS

PROLOGUE

A VIEW TO FORGET

PART ONE

CHAPTER 1 - MIRA

CHAPTER 2 - KRAI

CHAPTER 3 - TANIS

CHAPTER 4 - KRAI

CHAPTER 5 - KRAI

CHAPTER 6 - MIRA

CHAPTER 7 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 8 - TANIS

CHAPTER 9 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 10 - SERA

PART TWO

CHAPTER 11 - MIRA

CHAPTER 12 - KRAI

CHAPTER 13 - MIRA

CHAPTER 14 - SERA

CHAPTER 15 - MIRA

CHAPTER 16 - MIRA

CHAPTER 17 - SERA

CHAPTER 18 - TANIS

CHAPTER 19 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 20 - TANIS

CHAPTER 21 - MIRA

CHAPTER 22 - GRAYSON

CHAPTER 23 - KRAI

CHAPTER 24 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 25 - MIRA

CHAPTER 26 - KRAI

PART THREE

CHAPTER 27 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 28 - KYLIE

CHAPTER 29 - MIRA

CHAPTER 30 - KRAI

CHAPTER 31 - MIRA

CHAPTER 32 - GRAYSON

CHAPTER 33 - CHEEKY

CHAPTER 34 - SAANVI

CHAPTER 35 - CHEEKY

CHAPTER 36 - SABS

CHAPTER 37 - RIKA

CHAPTER 38 - CHEEKY

CHAPTER 39 - RIKA

CHAPTER 40 - CARY

CHAPTER 41 - RIKA

CHAPTER 42 - CARY

PART FOUR

CHAPTER 43 - ESTEE

CHAPTER 44 - TANIS

CHAPTER 45 - CARY

CHAPTER 46 - PEREZ

CHAPTER 47 - SERA

CHAPTER 48 - TANGEL

THANK YOU FOR READING

Join the Aeon 14 Community

THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

OTHER BOOKS BY M. D. COOPER

ABOUT THE AUTHOR