The Past Will Come Back As A Tidal Wave [13.13]

After Descent, Year 975

Late 975 saw Bosporus put its final seal on the affair of the Nichori riots, one of the worst student uprisings the Imbrian Empire had ever seen. Once the metaphorical letter was drafted, deciding the official word of history, and the bloody-red wax seal stamped upon it, the University moved on. Despite the deaths of hundreds of students, including targeted killings of Eloim (the status as “hate crimes” denied by the administration) that saw an entire dorm building massacred and blood running down the streets in brutal skirmishes– the curriculum called, and the year was closed out per protocol. Between expulsions and “missing students” the class of 975 was one of the smallest pools of graduates ever seen.

In that surreal atmosphere of denial and neglect, one soul carried the weight of truth.

Those were the days that indelibly altered Menahem Halevi’s life.

She remembered her dorm as a place full of life. She didn’t have many close friends, but the people in her hall, she saw them every day. She woke up with her roommates. Her hall officer berated her for coming in late a few times when there was curfew. There were a lot of Eloim in her dorm so they celebrated the Yamim Tov together. But all of that life had been chopped to pieces by Maggie the Cleaner’s saw and strewn throughout the rooms, stairs, and halls.

The University had gone to some lengths to make the dorm barely habitable again. They left no evidence of the violence that had taken place there. Menahem had been quickly moved to a room with a functioning door just down the hall. It used to house a few slightly annoying freshmen girls who were seemingly always partying and making noise.

Now they were permanently silent.

The University did not move anyone particularly far from where they were first housed.

An entire floor housed Menahem alone. She was the hall officer now, for herself alone.

Menahem herself was the evidence that Maggie the Cleaner had killed almost every Eloim in that dorm. All of those memories she had of her dorm were permanently carved in memory alone, without the bodies and the sounds and the warmth and love that used to fill them.

And just as the dying madwoman requested– Menahem now carried her story.

There was no escape from it.

Even when she refused to think about it, that story became her world.

She woke in the morning, stepped out into the hall, and attended her classes feeling like a ghost. Knowing not what power even compelled her body to move through the near-empty halls and streets. Half in and half out of the world of the living and that of the dead.

On some days, the worst days, it felt like Menahem woke up in the morning, and before she knew it, she was back in her room alone at night, with no recollection that anything had transpired in between those two points in time. Her belly was full of food of unknown provenance– sometimes she coughed it up in the toilet out of the sheer incongruity of having gone, in her mind, from an empty stomach to a full one with no recollection of the context. Her legs felt tired as if she had been walking an entire day, but she did not know where she had been. She had no friends, nobody who had seen her come or go anymore–

so there was no one to ask what had happened to her.

It was impossible to take any tests or write any essays–

Because on most days she did not even remember going to class.

Sometimes she would have a good day that would bring immense relief– she would wake up, eat, hold her food, wash up, go to class, and each moment would follow in an uninterrupted sequence that led her from morning to night. An entire day in her life, a life lived, where she was in the present and she left the past behind herself. With presence of mind she began to keep a diary of events on her tablet computer so that she could remind herself of the days.

That did not stop the frequent surreal moments where she did not even recognize herself in the mirror.

Days where Menahem would find herself in class without knowledge of how she got there.

As if another being entirely in her own body had carried her there, without her knowledge.

Straight from bed to one of her noon lectures in an auditorium only an eighth full.

Despite this she learned nothing.

Not even history, her favorite subject, stuck in her head anymore.

Sometimes, she would come to in a hot shower.

There would be blood trickling down her arms and belly and chest from scratches. Whether she or anyone else inflicted them she did not know. On other days her body itched all over and she realized she had been wearing the same clothes for many days. While this embarrassed her and she corrected it, she did not feel in command of her own senses enough to have a stable relationship to personal upkeep. She lost some weight, her hair turned duller, and she started sleeping entire days away almost without control of it.

On all of those days, the diary still had entries– but she did not remember writing them.

Slowly it felt like her life was completely unraveling.

After weeks of this she finally let herself cry again.

Menahem felt, more than anything, an overwhelming helplessness, a loss of any control and agency. Even if she had justice in mind– a word that deeply frightened her because of what it demanded– those with power over her rendered it impossible to do anything with her story.

There was nobody to talk to– the Inquisition had already wrapped up the “case” of the riots.

Anyone who was involved was summoned and questioned,

and Menahem had never been summoned.

She feared showing up to a counselor or student representative in her current state.

Would she just start babbling about Maggie the Cleaner;

would they just lock her up for being crazy?

As far as Nichori was concerned, the only criminals were the rioting students and street fighters. There were no sides, no races, no issues– only a single mass that had somehow beaten itself bloody for no apparent reason. Therefore nothing needed to be done.

Sometimes, Menahem would shut her eyes and she would be back on that awful night.

Maggie the Cleaner standing over her, looking down at her.

At the side of her bed, on the adjacent seat in a tram, in another stall in the bathroom.

Wordlessly draped in the flesh of everyone Menahem had come to know at school.

Wordlessly filled with her violence toward every Eloim on Aer.

Wordless– she had already said everything she had to– filled Menahem with her poison–

Menahem did not know what to do otherwise so she attended and failed all of her classes.

Finally, she received an order to leave the dorm.

Those last days at school, which felt like they were whirling around her as a storm of sights and sounds and impossible colors without coherence or context– once she was ordered to leave it felt like the first day where some part of her life made any sense. Menahem donned a simple jumper dress, left with a small duffel bag of the only things which were hers or would be of any use, and she made her way out of the spotless charnel house in which she had been residing almost alone for what must have been months. She had gotten one clear idea of something she wanted to do, as ephemeral and ghost-like as she felt walking around the husk of a campus left after the riots– there was someone to say goodbye to–

“Professor Livnat, ma’am–”

She had almost whimpered the name, but she stopped outside the closed door of the professor’s office. Beyond that door in that desolate little corner of the humanities campus–

There was more than one voice raised,

and neither of the two had heard Menahem approaching.

“–I want you to take over organizing. I’m not cut out for it. I’m a fighter, not a leader. I’m only in the position I am because of the Blood Bund. It was never supposed to come down to me to choose the future of anything, much less something this important. I’m not an inspirational story. I could never have planned what we did. And I couldn’t save them, Tamar. Frankly, I don’t have any idea what to do anymore. If it’s up to me now– I am at a total loss.”

“I couldn’t save anyone either. But you gave everything– I’m just a professor of theoretical history.”

“Maybe they need a little theory right now. They’re defeated– they need a new direction.”

“All I have for anyone is the past, my dear Gevurah.”

“Judging by how the future is looking, Tamar– we’ve really only got the past to comfort us.”

“Will you leave then?”

“Of course I won’t leave– it’ll be really over if I leave. But it’s the same with you.”

“Is it now?”

“Without Uria, everyone’s thinking about what you will do.”

“Uria wasn’t part of the administration– she could do whatever she wanted–”

“You’re now in that position now yourself. And you believed in the same things as her, right?”

“No– I’m not Uria. I can’t replace her.”

“You yourself know how much family means to us. How much blood does.”

“Well– I’m leaving soon. Embarking on a– on a dig. Maybe they can come. I don’t know.”

“That’s good enough for now. They’re students too, Tamar. You can still be a teacher.”

Menahem, listening at the door, heard exactly what she wanted–

That, perhaps, Tamar Livnat, the elder sister of the famous Uria Livnat–

Who paid the ultimate price for her activism and turned protests into an uprising–

Heedless of the consequences, Menahem opened that door and stepped into that office.

“Professor Livnat, please take me with you.” She said.

Inside the office were two women.

She recognized one and not the other– a girl with long, bright champagne-red hair who felt much closer to Menahem’s age, with a somewhat delinquent style– she had an oversize hooded top and short pants, with the hood down, and her hands in the pockets. Her skin was slightly pink, and she had ears that were slightly sharp. Menahem noticed that the skin on her face and the skin on her long, bare legs were slightly off in color, with her limbs much more pale and almost had a bit of a sheen. When Menahem looked at her face, she got an incongruent sense of delicate beauty, at odds with her clothing, posture and demeanor.

Her scowl indicated a lack of the regal bearing her face seemed to carry–

Menahem realized this woman, Gevurah, was an elf– or a mixed race elf at least.

Her name was a very traditional Eloim name, however.

Meanwhile, behind the desk in the cramped office was the woman Menahem sought.

Smiling warmly, with a deep, soft gaze, and an approachable demeanor. Long hair and an elegant beauty to her facial features, along with a simple style with touches of light red makeup, wearing a white button-down with a long black skirt. Menahem would have never mistaken her for anyone. Just seeing her there relieved some of her stress.

Menahem’s favorite professor, perhaps the only professor she cared for– Tamar Livnat.

“Menahem, how long were you at my door?” Tamar asked.

She did not sound bothered. Very few things ever seemed to get her to raise her voice.

“Ugh. I thought this place was supposed to be almost deserted.” Gevurah grumbled.

Menahem tried to overlook the sheer disdain Gevurah seemed to have for her–

the green and black color that began to swirl about her–

“Professor, I’m sorry– I’ve– I’ve got nowhere to go. Please let me go with you. Your classes about the ancient world are the only place where I’ve ever felt any hope for anything.” Menahem said. “Any hope that things might change– the idea that all of this awfulness wasn’t here in the past, won’t be here forever– please let me go with you–”

Desperation coursed under her skin and troubled her breathing–

“Calm down, Menahem. You’re speaking too fast. Are you alright?” Tamar asked.

“No, professor.” Menahem said. She couldn’t help it– she began to weep. “I’m not!”

She shook her head and reached up to wipe more tears than a single finger could bear.

Finding herself weeping so profusely she began to shake with embarrassment.

Gevurah’s disdain gave away to pity and she averted her eyes.

Tamar stood from behind her desk and embraced Menahem, stroking her hair.

“I’m so sorry, Menahem. It’s okay– I can’t imagine how horrible this must be for you.”

Menahem wanted to offer her condolences to the professor, but could not.

Her own pain was so overwhelming, and she was so swept up in it–

Having found arms to fall into she could not countenance ever standing back up.

“I’m so scared– She just walked in, Professor– nobody stopped her– All that killing–”

“Huh?!” Gevurah shouted suddenly. “Are you talking about–?”

“Gevurah, please–” Tamar said suddenly–

“No! I won’t fucking stand here and listen to this!”

Gevurah stepped forward and pulled Menahem apart from Tamar.

She pulled back her sleeve and showed Menahem her arm–

at first Menahem did not understand–

“Nobody tried to stop her?! You fucking bitch– I did everything possible–!”

Menahem realized the skin on her arms had small segments.

Visible joins between affixed sections–

Gevurah’s arm had an artificial skin–

Both arms, both legs– that must have meant–

In her mind she recalled the grievous wounds Maggie the Cleaner suffered.

Realizing the depths of her own offense, Menahem’s knees buckled to the ground.

Clinging to Gevurah’s over-long hood and crying and sobbing against her lap.

“I’m so sorry– I’m so sorry– thank you– you killed her– thank you–”

She must have been the one– the only one who managed to do anything–

While Menahem had been cowering in her room– while everyone else died–

Gevurah averted her gaze again– perhaps disgusted at the entire situation.

Tamar sighed and crouched to Menahem’s eye level, reaching out to the crying girl.

“Menahem, all of us experienced the same pain. You are right to feel distraught– our worlds here have collapsed. You could complete your education, and I could keep teaching here– but there’s not much left to learn and it feels pointless to teach, in the face of the Blood Bund’s massacre. And it’s not just Nichori. The Imbrian Empire as a whole does not care if the Blood Bund slaughters us. And it’s not just the Blood Bund– the fact that they can kill so many of us is because the people at large hate the Eloim and enable it. It’s very bleak.”

She brushed Menahem’s hair off her face and peeled her from Gevurah once more.

“I will not abandon you– if you want to follow me, I will not turn you away. I will take care of you. But Menahem, I am not staying here. I cannot and neither can you. You have to know where you are going, if you want to follow me. Can you stand? Hold your tears for just a bit.”

“Yes– I’m sorry–”

A deeply embarrassed Menahem picked herself up from the floor, wiping her tears.

Setting her shaking jaw to choke down the sobs.

At her side, Gevurah tentatively reached out and touched her shoulder in silent support.

“There.”

Tamar looked at her with such a gentle and sympathetic expression–

Before saying some of the most insane things Menahem had ever heard.

“I am going to the Abyss of Alexandros, between Buren and the territory of the Pythian Black Legion.” Tamar said. “I received information that the Pythians successfully smuggled an ancient artifact out of the pit– I intend to lead an archeological dive, deeper than they were able to delve, in order to prevent further pillaging. I believe that the Alexandric Gorge is a possible site linked to Judea– it is a site of collapsed continental crust near Katarre.”

Menahem’s eyes went wide, her hands, where Tamar held them, shook wildly.

Her trembling lips could not form words.

“So that’s what you’re up to?” Gevurah sighed and put a hand up to her face. “Fine. Fine.”

How was she consigning herself to this so easily? When it was nothing short of suicide!

“I know what you must be thinking.” Tamar said. “But I have nothing left to lose.”

Menahem met her professor’s eyes and wept fresh tears and realized in her own madness–

“Do you–?” Tamar asked her–

Realized– she had come so undone, been so hollowed–

That she would follow Tamar to hell itself.

Those smiling lips could have told her anything and she would have done it.

On that day, alongside Gevurah, they plotted their journey down a road to certain death.


After Descent, Year 979

“Well– there they go. Doing as you requested.” Zachikova said dispassionately.

On the main screen of the Brigand, hacked cameras throughout the third tier broadcast the bloody carnage. Mycenaean numeroi, foot-soldiers in sleek nanomail bodysuits, kevlar plate vests and greaves, and tactical visors; led by Katarrans in powered armor, colored gold, wielding massive vibroaxes– tearing apart the occupying Aachen Citizen’s Guard stood in their way. Clad in cloth masks and whatever they had been wearing, armed with improvised explosive bottles and stitched carbon-fiber pistols. Cleaved in half, shot to pieces, blown apart, beaten to death, pounced on and stabbed to death with heat knives, ambusher’s heads torn bodily off their shoulders in hand to hand combat–

Scenes like this had begun to play out from the transit tier and then into the mall.

Murati stared at the screen in a cold sweat, shaking from the pain and disgust with herself.

She had made such a brash decision without knowing all of the details.

Those were not Judean forces– why were they even there?!

Captured by the chaos she had brought about she almost forgot her own predicament.

“Look at the aura on your hand, Murati.” Euphrates counseled her suddenly.

She was holding on to that hand to see what she could do about– what had transpired–

When Murati laid a mental finger on the trigger of her psionics, she saw–

Her hand was wreathed in white aura, where none of the rest of her body had any.

Somehow she knew– it was sublimity– perhaps even divinity– the world’s own will–

“Give me a moment here, Murati. Don’t be alarmed.” Euphrates said. “You must trust me.”

She held Murati’s cursed hand by the wrist, and she raised her remaining hand to cover it.

Saint’s Skin: Annoint.

King’s Gaze: Aetherstitch.

Murati focused on trusting Euphrates, filling her mind with feelings of comfort toward her.

Trying to lower her psionic defenses to allow Euphrates to work.

Euphrates’ hand took on a thick cloud of white and black aura. From the palm that she held over Murati’s own, the aura seemed to extend into appendages that resembled arthropod legs as well as scalpels. They extended to her flesh like blades scraped over Murati’s hand. Gaseous cutting ends sliced phantasmal through Murati’s hand and the aura over it. Tufts and ribbons and streaks of white aura dispersed from over the wound, looking like cotton candy being spun or like soap suds or bubbles being blown away from their source. Murati felt a tingling in her mind to accompany the pain in her hand, knowing that this attack on her aura constituted also an invasion of her mind. She did everything she could to think openly toward Euphrates, to be permissive and supportive of her actions.

Moments later, Euphrates’ aura dispelled, returning to its ordinary blue and green colors.

She sighed, a bit of blood beginning to drip from her nostril.

“Euphrates–” She whispered.

“It’s okay.” Euphrates said. They were whispering with a conspiratorial air.

She produced a handkerchief from her vest pocket and wiped her nose.

On Murati’s hand, the aura that had been hacked apart simply collected itself anew.

Euphrates sent her a mental message accompanied by an image of herself with a stern face.

“Murati, I am not able to remove or dispel whatever you just did to yourself– it’s almost like you executed a conceptual attack on yourself. And unfortunately, I am having more and more trouble trying to disbelieve what has transpired. That belief will prevent me from countering it. I am afraid this Oath will actually have force. I am not sure what will happen if you break it– we both know psionics can hurt their own users quite badly. Please be careful.”

“I guess for now I will avoid upsetting Astra Palaiologos.” Murati sighed deeply.

Despite what Astra was now doing– at her request–

At Murati’s other side, Aatto brought up a roll of bandages and showed it to her.

Euphrates waved away Murati’s hand, and so she gave Aatto custody of it.

While bandaging the still-bleeding wound, Aatto spoke with a strange breathy inflection–

“Master– I’m afraid that I must raise an issue– pursuant to Article 15, Section 2 Union naval regulation– this oath you swore could potentially be considered an act of treason to the Union and collusion with enemy forces.” Aatto said, with a strange expression.

“Then why do you sound excited about it?!” Murati whispered with dire vehemence.

“Please stay still while I bandage your wound, master.” Aatto said, smiling crookedly.

“No one has committed treason.” Euphrates whispered, sighing more audibly than her voice. “Has this ever been a ship that followed the letter of the regulations? I would not still be here if that was the case. Murati, I know that Captain Korabiskaya will be reasonable, and she will understand that you took this action to save the lives of your officers and crew.”

“That’s if it turns out that it does. We still have to go save them.” Murati said.

Even if she did rescue them– how would Erika feel about her swearing an oath with Astra?

No matter what, it felt like their alliance had received an irreparable blow.

Everything had gone completely awry so far. Murati could hardly believe it.

In her mind she ran through her reasoning, trying to make it all seem rational.

She had known that Katarrans were superstitious– she had learned about a few of these superstitions from her friend and first lover, Hanko, back before she met Karuniya at the Academy. She had learned even more on her journey, trying to immerse herself a bit in the culture of the Volksarmee, composed of mostly ex-Pythians. She heard a few mercenary legends; she heard about their rituals and habits. But she had never imagined, even knowing about psionics, that these superstitions could have any basis to them. She had only viewed them through a cultural lens– Katarrans valued oaths and therefore treated them with reverence. They were from a war-torn place and so spilling blood became a ritualized act. Signing away one’s blood thus became a symbolic show of loyalty in their culture.

When her calculated and mercenary demeanor failed to have an effect on Astra–

Murati instead tried to tap into the romance and superstition of Katarran culture.

It worked– Astra was on her side now. Because Astra was indeed superstitious.

And because Murati had actually signed away in blood her assistance to Astra Palaiologos.

To help Katarre fall under the sway of ultranationalist Mycenae during the mythical Time of Polemos, when all of the Warlords would go to war to reunite Katarre. Polemos had been spoken about in hushed tones among Katarran mercenaries and elites alike, and for over a hundred years it had not come to pass. Now Murati could feel Polemos as all Katarrans claimed they could. A chill under her skin, the presence of something massive– she could feel it in the distance, inching nearer. She would know when it was time– what would happen?

Solceanos defend! Will I have to turn that damned Astra Palaiologos into a communist!?

Even joking about it could not lift the dread that Murati began to feel.

She had not just said some words and made a tactical gamble on this one day.

In her heart and mind she really knew and felt that she had sworn her allegiance.

Allegiance to someone now slaughtering people on this station.

“Captain, we are being hailed by Astra Palaiologos again.” Semyonova said.

Speak of the little devil herself. There was no escaping it.

Regardless of the future, in the now, she had to rescue the captain and all of their allies.

Perhaps Premier Erika might know some way to break a Pythian oath.

Murati would beg her forgiveness and hope she still wanted to see Murati’s malice.

There would be a lot of it for her to witness.

“Accept it whenever Astra calls us.” Murati said. “Put her calls through to me.”

“Yes ma’am.” Semyonova said. Murati wondered what she thought of all this.

Would her crew look at her differently now? Perhaps even as a traitor?

There was no time to think about that. She just had to trust everyone was still with her.

Around the bridge everyone appeared to be consumed in their tasks.

They had to prepare for a counter-offensive against the Judeans– and their civilian allies.

Thinking about this brought consternation to Murati’s face and it was with that expression that she greeted Astra Palaiologos, appearing on the personal monitor attached to the captain’s chair. Unlike Murati, Astra looked chipper. She had a small smile, but it was distinctly a smile, rather than the glum, nearly expressionless demeanor she previously showed. All of the little black strands interspersed in her lush and copious white hair glowed a faint purple. That smile would have looked cute were it not for all that it had wrought.

“We have begun to advance. Why are you looking so down? You were magnificently brave– I will make sure you are spoken of in Katarran legends, Murati, the foreigner who fought as a Katarran!” Astra spoke grandiosely and Murati did not know whether she was being made fun of or whether it was genuine. She surmised that Astra probably was not the type of person to joke. But perhaps her good humor had brought out some new facets.

“I hope it impressed upon you how important this is to me.” Murati said.

“We will prioritize reaching and rescuing your VIPs. I already have a plan in motion.”

“I am seeing the plan in motion.” Murati said.

For a moment she thought of asking Astra for some leniency–

It would have been pointless.

Murati herself knew– the only effective mercy was to avoid combat in the first place. Astra could have never asked her soldiers to “take it easy” on people who were shooting back and hurling petrol bombs. If Murati had been in her place she would have committing the swiftest and most effective slaughter of those rioters possible. To do otherwise was to risk her position and to risk the loss of her troops. In war, consequences just stuck much tighter.

“I’m sending an agent down to assess the situation at the Oststadt very soon.” Astra said.

“Thank you.” Murati said. “But we are also facing a tough situation out here. The white uniforms are Eloim nationalists– they intend to break into Stockheim and try to make away with our ships and probably anything else that they can get. We contacted Stockheim control tower and couldn’t get a hold of anyone. I think they had infiltrators either jamming the communications or holding the tower hostage. That being the case, we won’t be able to unclamp from the tower until we take care of the Judeans or get through to Stockheim.”

“Hmm? You can use small-scale explosives to destroy the docking clamps.” Astra said.

Murati had not thought of just destroying the clamps– because she had already implicitly decided to make her stand and to fight the Judeans instead of escaping. She felt compelled to rationalize away the option– “We can do that, but there are many more ships stuck in Stockheim that the Judeans would get their hands on anyway.”

“And you are concerned with them getting their hands on them? You want to stop them?”

When confronted with that– did she want to stop them? It was such a confusing situation.

She tried to think to herself quickly– what did she want to do? After all that happened?

Was the safer option to go mobile in the water and leave everything inside to Astra?

Perhaps–

“I want to stay here– to stop them.” Murati said. “I want to destroy their ability to fight.”

Anyone who threatened the United Front as they did– was not someone worth the pity.

Murati could not see the glint in her own eyes–

I want to crush them for harming my comrades.

“They’ve shown their colors.” Murati continued. “I won’t let them threaten us again.”

She would wipe the callous laugh from that Menahem’s face with a bullet–

“So this is the kind of person that you are? I am quite intrigued by you, Murati Nakara.”

Astra smiled a little bit brighter than even before.

It was almost cute.

“I will do what I can to support you in this endeavor. My means are not unlimited, but I have some tricks up my sleeve depending on how things shake out.” Astra said. “You will need to prioritize defending your position over encroaching on the enemy right now. Otherwise your VIPs won’t have a place to return to if you allow yourself to get overwhelmed.”

“We’re launching a preemptive attack.” Murati said. “Pitching up a static defense would be accepting that we will be overwhelmed in the long term. It won’t work. Our best chance is to attack them. If you don’t believe in me, Astra Palaiologos, watch closely and learn.”

She had become ever so slightly irritated when getting Astra’s tactical advice.

Her tone toward Astra was rougher than she had intended.

But Astra was not offended.

In fact she continued to smile with a curious, almost girlish delight.

“Perhaps I will learn something. Keep the line open. I will be back, my Merarch.”

Astra disappeared from the screen and Murati pushed away the monitor in a huff.

At her side, Euphrates reached out a hand to pat her shoulder reassuringly.

“She is a level-headed girl.” She said. “I expected different from a Katarran princess.”

Murati held her silence for a moment, working out her irritation with everything.

“Captain,” Zachikova turned over her shoulder again with a strange grin, her tawny spiral ponytail slightly frayed and her eye bags looking just a bit darker despite her good humor, “I’ve been looking and finally turned up the deets on the local shit-stirrers in Mycenae’s way. Turns out they’ve got group chats, they’ve got BBS threads, manifestos, there are guys doing homebrew broadcasts. They are practically having a party up on the net.”

On the main screen Zachikova displayed columns of quickly scrolling messages drawn from popular direct messaging platforms and BBSes documenting the current events. There were hundreds of names in each, perhaps thousands altogether, though it was unlikely the vocal online support reflected how many people were on the ground and armed. Some of these chats had been operating for some time, since before even the election of Adam Lehner, but all had renamed to some variation of “Aachen Citizen’s Guard” whether “Supporters Of,” “Friends Of,” “Comrades United With” or even “The Knights Of.” The Aachen Citizen’s Guard appeared to be the popular umbrella term for the local rioters and activists.

There were so many posts– a veritable infinity of text.

It was difficult to keep up with and to read– Murati withdrew her glasses and put them on.

Only barely improving the readability of this massive scrawl.

“There’s too much activity.” Murati said, still barely able to read individual messages.

Some of the chatters posted pictures. Dead Uhlans, the uniformed Judeans, the barricades.

There were a lot of pictographs being shared. Skull faces, thumbs up, guns and fireworks.

It appeared events online had yet to capture the grim reality being faced at the very front.

“I had the computer try to parse through it.” Zachikova said. “It’s too much for any one person to keep up with. I’ve noticed a few trends and throughlines. Quite a few of the chatters are actually on the ground to some degree, so we do have some real info. It looks like the rioters set up some roadblocks and checkpoints and have a lot of people at the third tier mall. They have access to guns, improvised explosives, and a lot of carbon-fiber extensible barriers– I have to assume looted from the Uhlan. Among the people posting actual receipts, we have some indie journalists, some anarchist ideologues, a few total cranks, and a lot of enthusiastic riders. There’s apparently backing from activist figures that were organizing against Lehner’s election campaign and the Volkisch in general even since last year. There are a lot of people just posting, but I think the turnout at those barricades is pretty significant. It seems like a bonafide spontaneous political movement in the works– apparently united by the politics of wanting to blow some shit up.”

Murati had not considered there was such untapped zeal for a riot in Aachen.

She assumed most people living there were too disconnected from each other and too exhausted for such a thing to transpire on its own. There was not enough organization, she thought. The United Front was composed of long-standing clandestine groups with tight membership. Even the anarchists affiliated with Moravskyi, a firebrand with revolutionary experience, were not plotting to stir up chaos and arm civilians for an uprising in Aachen– as much as they talked about wanting something like it, they were not ready to do it.

However– these people had risen up at the first sign of a spark. They had been waiting!

Tragically, that spark had been lit by Menahem and her group. It was they who were ready.

Menahem had outmaneuvered the Volksarmee– had they let themselves succumb to elitism?

Their disconnection from the locals as clandestine outsiders had made them vulnerable.

Promising these people the Uhlan arsenal made them into fresh bodies for her own plot.

In the euphoria of finally fighting back against the authorities that they despised, they likely did not even imagine that Menahem and her gang were just using them, and that they would be riding out with far more loot if they were successful– leaving this Aachen Citizen’s Guard behind as nothing but bait for the pursuing Volkisch forces. With the entry of Mycenae into the scene, they would also have an immediate threat to rally together against.

Murati had really messed up– she had completely misread and overlooked everything.

She tried to push down her shame– to tell herself there was no use drowning in it–

“Are there any demands? Or calls for specific actions?” Murati asked.

Zachikova looked back at her station. She had the computer run the parsers again.

“Uh. They want to like– kill cops? Throw the politicians out on the street? Vandalize corporate storefronts and steal things–? Some of them are like– talking about ‘marching on Stockheim and emptying out all the corpo freight.’ It just sounds like a bunch of guys going wild and talking shit. I don’t think they’ve drafted a platform, Captain.”

She shrugged with an amused and helpless little grin.

“It also means we can’t negotiate with them in any meaningful way.” Murati said.

“With these guys? Probably not. They’re not anybody.” Zachikova said.

But that was also the broader, darker point– there was not anybody else to parlay with.

Menahem was not going to represent these people, they were just meat to her.

From within the ranks of this A.C.G group, was there anyone else they could talk to?

They were running on a roaring high after years of hopeless exhaustion finally broken.

With the coercive power of the Uhlan thrown aside, they were activated like fired neurons.

Even among themselves, there were likely disagreements only barely papered over in the moment. Those barricades, on this day, represented the only thing that truly held them together. If they “won,” whatever that meant, they would fracture; and as they moved in the present, there was purpose but not leadership. Spontaneous energy had demonstrable power here, but eventually the veil of violence would give away to lucidity. There would have to be more days after this one for the Aachen Citizen’s Guard. What would they do in the future of their own making? Murati had certain beliefs about politics and force– she did not see this faction lasting without a chain of command. Without proper education, leadership, planning– without technical skills and their tight direction toward a clear purpose.

Poring over the situation, she felt like a fool.

She wanted desperately to have understood this before it transpired.

To have done anything.

For a moment it consumed her with an almost obsessive self-loathing.

How had she not seen this as a possibility? But there was no time– no time for anything.

“Zachikova, keep an eye on these chats every so often and keep parsing the text.” Murati asked. “Extract any names or handles that come up frequently and try to match them to any specific content, like any pictures or any outside identifying information. Make an account, get attention, and talk to people. I want to see if we can contact any representatives.”

“I’ll try. It’s a lot of data so hopefully the computer won’t fuck everything up.”

Her tone was becoming a bit more casual and carefree, but Murati would not scold her.

Captain Korabiskaya allowed plenty of liberty in expression on her bridge, after all.

“If you’re able to get in touch with someone, I need to talk to them.”

Murati breathed heavy and sat back in her chair. She was doing everything she could.

She had to tell herself that and not succumb to any self-destructive thoughts.

“Captain,” Semyonova spoke up– “What is our posture toward the Citizen Guard now?”

There was only one possible answer. Murati wished dearly that she didn’t have to give it.

“They are enemy combatants, along with the Judeans. Until such a time as we secure our VIPs we will engage any Citizen Guard with lethal force. We will support the operations of the Mycenae Military Commission to break through the Citizen Guard and the Judeans, to whatever degree we are able, and our mission will also be to break through their ranks until we find our VIPs and secure an extraction route. This will be our posture until we can either negotiate the withdrawal of the Citizen Guard or they are otherwise suppressed.”

Would she be remembered negatively by her crew for this decision?

Or would everyone on the bridge forget in the feverish haze of their own activity?

Murati felt utterly defeated in that moment.

But she could not allow herself to be defeated materially as she felt in spirit.

Captain Korabiskaya, Commissar Bashara, Premier Kairos, and their allies–

Everyone was depending on her. It was all on her; even if her soul might break.

All she was doing was giving orders. Someone else was pulling the trigger this time.

She couldn’t give in to too much self pity. Harden that heart, Murati Nakara.

Captain Korabiskaya had told her before that she would eventually have to.

This was war. She was responsible for the safety of her comrades.

That had to be more important to her than her responsibility to the civilians.

Otherwise she would really lose everything she had.

“As dramatic as all of this looks, it would never be useful to us.” Murati said. She was speaking out loud but to nobody in particular, just thinking. Aatto and Euphrates could certainly hear her, and they were paying attention. “For Menahem it’s convenient because it can help her to abscond with our equipment. The A.C.G. can serve as a temporary distraction and keep us mired. But in terms of Aachen Station and its revolutionary potential long-term, the Volkisch navy can show up and retake it at any time– this rioting will be short lived.”

“Master, it would not surprise me if Violet Lehner’s clique was already prepared for this.” Aatto said. “They may be watching from the sidelines and allowing the chaos to unfold. It has already led to the exposure of long time activists and militants out into the open. This rioting is also damaging to the liberal government of Aachen. Once everyone is exhausted, they might be able to pounce on any survivors and blame everything on the Kleyn family.”

“You’re right Aatto. We have to be ready for anything.” Murati said.

“Speaking of– Master, the entry team is almost ready. Illya Rostova wishes to speak.”

“Put her through to me. Thank you, Aatto.”

“At your service always.”

Murati pulled back into position the arm-mounted monitor she had shoved away.

On the display, a silver-haired woman appeared, clad in armor.

Illya had olive-colored segmented armored plates over her shoulders, and similar plates were layered over her chest. Her neck had a small plate guard but was mostly covered only by her nanomail bodysuit, while her head had a bulletproof visor and communicator earguards. Her hair was worn in a ponytail that hung over her back. She was wearing one of their few suits of Union-spec powered armor, similar to the Imperial type but a little bulkier.

As with everything Union, ease of manufacture was prioritized over total comfort.

She pulled the visor’s glass shield up from over her face. While Murati could see her through the glass, it was harder to hear her speaking naturally unless they tapped directly into the communicator. She was not speaking through her communicator– instead she appeared to be locked inside a private communication booth, one of the couple installed in the hangar for the use of officers to speak discreetly. Murati began to feel slightly uneasy.

“Captain, my preparations are almost ready. There is something I need to discuss with you, but it must be in private. We have an ace in the hole you might not be aware of. But I need you to isolate the upper bridge, encrypt this call internally and then delete all records of it after the fact. If you will consent to that, then I can elaborate.”

Two words surfaced in Murati’s mind, in response to this request:

Ashura secrets. Deniable operations.

Illya and Valeriya formerly worked as special operatives under Nagavanshi herself.

“Yes, I can do it.” Murati turned to Semyonova. “Semyonova, encrypt the call between myself and Illya and raise the separation shield for the upper bridge. We’ll be brief, don’t worry.”

“Acknowledged.” Semyonova said.

On the side of her station, she popped open a button panel rarely ever used.

She tapped one of the buttons in it.

From between the bridge’s highest tier and the officer’s station, a glass shield rose from a small gap in the floor and connected to the ceiling completely blocking off the top of the bridge. There was no shield separating the Commissar’s position from the Captain’s, however, because they were both meant to be equal in stature among the crew and within naval affairs. As such Illya would have to speak where Aatto would hear it– but she did not seem to mind this. While the shield was up, the door to the bridge was locked, and the call between Illya and Murati was now encrypted and marked as classified information. Nobody in the stations below the Captain’s, nor the gas gunners farthest below, could hear them.

“We have as much privacy as we can give you. I’ll delete the records after.” Murati said.

“Thank you. You will understand my precautions shortly.”

She drew in a deep breath, looked Murati in the eyes, and began to speak.

“Murati,” Illya addressed her by name and not as Captain, “I know that you’re not like Korabiskaya– you’re less experienced, but more flexible. You understand there are risks worth taking with people’s lives. Sacrifices that might be necessary in order to accomplish the objectives of a mission. You understand our material position quite well. Communists are the world’s underdogs, and we need to have every advantage. I don’t want Korabiskaya or anyone else to know about this, because I want Valeriya to be able to lead a normal life on the ship– but I think you will understand the value of what I am about to tell you. Valeriya was the subject of a form of psychological conditioning that can amplify her combat abilities to an incredible degree. She can become stronger physically, more resilient to pain, more focused, with far keener reflexes than a normal person. Outfitting her in powered armor and with lethal weapons– we might just be able to even the odds against the mob coming down.”

Valeriya– a lethal weapon that could equal hundreds of people bearing down on them?

It was almost difficult to square that quiet, sweet girl being their “ace in the hole.”

She was a highly qualified special forces operative– but this was still surprising.

Murati had seen a lot of things in the Ocean in the past few months.

While she could open her mind to this also, something about it still felt unnerving.

“Do you have any questions Captain? I must have your full consent to do this.”

“Forget my consent. Illya– what about Valeriya’s consent?” Murati asked.

“Valeriya is completely willing, and she always has been.” Illya said. “I understand you might have doubts. Her conditioning was years ago now and we were young, but we were not stupid, we had agency in everything. Look– Sonya’s sister– a good friend of ours, had just died in the line of duty. I was injured in the Raja hostage crisis. Ahwalia and Jayasankar’s split was becoming more obvious and more dangerous. To top it all off, we were trying to be there for Sonya as much as we could and we could see her hurting. For Valeriya it must have seemed like her world was toppling over. It was a chaotic time, and I was confined to bed and she was alone. I needed a lot of medical care to get me back up– including some stuff Nagavanshi wouldn’t want me to tell you. Murati, it was in that climate that Valeriya volunteered for the experiment. She wanted to avoid losing more people– and she was afraid that she was too weak to protect her loved ones. After I came back, Nagavanshi told me what happened and gave me operant codes for Valeriya– she was the biggest success.”

“And what happened to the other people tested?” Murati asked, making a grim expression.

Illya fixed Murati with a serious gaze. She crossed her arms.

“Everyone who entered that program alongside Valeriya was someone who would give up everything to protect the Union. But a lot of them didn’t have it in them. That’s it. You need to understand the mentality of Ashura special forces Murati. It’s brutal– I know you must be able to imagine what it’s like. No reinforcements, no room for mistakes; wiretapping, blackmail, kidnapping, wetwork; you might cut it– because you’re a little bit of a sociopath just like us. But you have to be perfect. If you fuck up, you stop being a hero and become a criminal. Everyone will be a potential enemy. Unless Nagavanshi really likes you, that is the end of any career aspirations. And if you’re good, you’ll never be acknowledged. Special forces are ‘special’ not just because the rules don’t apply to us. But because the rights and protections of a common citizen also don’t apply to us. We all know what that means.”

Murati felt partially indignant at being referred to as a sociopath in the midst of all that.

But she couldn’t deny that if it meant safeguarding the Union there was a lot she would do.

She understood the desire to protect everything the Union stood for.

To be ready to do anything for the way of life the Union promised to uphold.

In that sense, she understood Illya and perhaps they were a bit alike. She would not judge her– nor bother to ask about all the dirty deeds she may have done. The Union lived under total siege from the Imbrium. They did not always have the luxury to choose the kindest and least harmful decision. The desperation of being surrounded by enemies could compel terrible things. Murati knew she had a bit of that madness in herself as well.

Protecting their little world from a vast enemy– wasn’t always pretty.

Murati was pragmatic enough to understand Illya– and not as a “fellow sociopath.”

“I understand. However, Illya– there is a lot coming down on us right now.”

“Zachikova is keeping us appraised of the threat. I understand what we are dealing with, and I think if we activate Valeriya at the right moment we can still turn the tide in here. Those civilians from the A.C.G. haven’t been in a war. We’ll see how much their gear avails them when blood is spraying, and bodies are hitting the floor. If you’ll let me handle the ground war and give me every tool I need– I can make at least one miracle for you.”

Murati’s plans had been described before as “miracles” and “sorcery” by the crew.

She found it disquieting in a way– to her, these were not supernatural feats.

Everything she had done had simply made sense to her as what needed to be done.

In this situation, she was not so sure anymore. It was far more complicated than ever.

“I’ll trust you. Use everything. But please keep Valeriya’s safety in mind.” Murati said.

However– she could trust that her officers and comrades knew what they were doing.

“I always am. I know it might sound like I am treating her as a tool– but I love her.”

Illya bid farewell and dropped the communication. Murati got to work on her end.

She used the captain’s master code, recently refreshed, to access the classified call data.

Then she requested irretrievable deletion of this data from both ends of the call.

All related timestamps and other metadata and log entries were deleted as well.

“I heard and know nothing.” Euphrates said, smiling to herself with her arms crossed.

Murati turned to Aatto. She smiled also. “Master, I am as deaf and dumb as you need.”

It would have to do. She trusted both of them. She would have to trust them.

Once everything was complete Murati signaled for Semyonova to lower the shields again.

Slowly, the glass separating them came all the way down again.

“I apologize for that, Semyonova.” Murati said. “Thank you for acquiescing.”

“Oh! No problem at all, Captain. It’s the most extenuating circumstances we can have.”

Because the shield blocked the way out of the bridge for the officers, it was a safety hazard and should not have been raised outside of specific emergencies. Semyonova as the representative of the officer’s union would have likely had objections on the basis of the safety regulations– but it seemed that everything was fine from her perspective. It was only Murati who was becoming somewhat high-strung about the course of this entire situation.

Things would be out of her hands soon– all she could do was leave it to Illya.

“Zachikova, keep in touch with Illya’s group throughout the operation.”

“Already on it, Captain.” Zachikova said.

At her side, Arabella peeked her head over the station and then peeked back down.

“Captain,” Fatima turned from the sonar station– Murati had a sudden fright thinking she might have heard something out in the water– “Speaking candidly! You’ve been under so much stress. I’m sorry if I come off as patronizing, but I think there is enough of a lull now for you to catch a breather. All of us have had our duties on and off– but you’ve been active this entire time. Please take care of yourself. We are all counting on you. These circumstances are absolutely extraordinary– I want you to know that I understand you, Captain!”

As she spoke the concern in her expression grew more pronounced.

Murati had to speak up before she broke out into profuse apologies.

“Thank you, Fatima. You don’t sound patronizing at all. I appreciate it.”

Everyone could see how much the tension had begun to wear on her.

As much as Murati detested the idea of affording any comfort for herself right then–

If it got any worse, she might make a mistake– she needed to catch her breath.

“Semyonova, contact Daphne in the Rostock, and see if she can get those Biene drones into the air to support our attack.” Murati said. “And– I’ll step outside for a moment and see if Minardo has some sandwiches. I’ll bring some food and drinks up for everyone if I can as well. Aatto has the bridge until I return. All of you have performed splendidly and I am eternally grateful for your work and your trust in me. You are fighting like naval elite. The pivotal moment is almost near. I am nothing without this crew– let’s get our comrades back.”

She stood up from her chair, feeling weary as she rose, and saluted her crew members.

“Acknowledged, comrade Captain!”

Around the bridge, the officers saluted back– even Zachikova took the time to do so.

As tired as Murati felt, and as much as they could see it– they still supported her.

Maybe only because they had to– but it was enough for now that they did at all.

Despite her bloodied hands, they were all marching into the muck with her.


On the communication station’s LCD screen, Daphne Triantafallos appeared, dark blue hair tied up in a quick ponytail, a bit of sweat on her orange-mottled pink skin. It was evident to Semyonova that Daphne was under the same amount of pressure as Murati, though she perhaps had the benefit of experience to temper any sense of desperation. She was quick to answer when called and always professional, polite and collected in her speech.

Semyonova passed on Murati’s request for Daphne’s Biene class drones to fly out.

“Thank you for the information and for conveying her wishes.” Daphne said. “Murati hardly needs to ask– of course we will do everything in our power. I’ll have Nomia fly the drones. She has experience with them. She can maintain contact with Rostova during the operation. We have a few tricks of our own that can help even the odds for our brave infantry.”

“Thank you kindly, Captain Triantafallos.” Semyonova said.

“You can call me Daphne.” She said. “If I can ask– how is the crew holding up?”

Semyonova glanced at her side for a moment.

In a second or two she knew what she would say.

“It’s been a shock– but we are ready to fight. We are throwing ourselves into our work.”

“Having seen that work before, I have the utmost confidence. How is Murati doing?”

“She has stepped out to get food. She’s under a lot of stress.”

“I’m glad she’s finally taking care of herself. When I last saw her I was afraid she was running herself down. If I don’t get a chance to call her again soon, please let her know– it’s more important to be awake when it matters, than to sleeplessly await the pivotal moment.”

Semyonova smiled. It was reassuring to have such understanding allies.

“I will pass on the message.” Semyonova said.

Daphne nodded her head. “The combat group will move out soon. I have to go prepare.”

She saluted Semyonova affectionately, and Semyonova saluted back.

Then the screen on her station went dark.

Semyonova wanted to double over on top of the station.

Having constant communications work to do was all that kept her from bursting into tears.

Nothing prepared her for a situation such as this. In the kind of missions she undertook in the Union, there were sometimes threats to the ship, like Katarran smugglers or Imbrian spy drones or stray Leviathans. There was always the small chance that the ship itself would fail and kill them all. The Ocean was uncaring and cruel. There was always the fear that she would die along with her ship. She was used to it. It was an ultimately simple fear– compared to the threat of losing her captain and several comrades after a failed operation, and having to carry on with a foreign campaign that was at a glance almost suicidal.

That was a much more complex fear than her previous experiences.

She did not even want to think about what would happen if they failed– especially to Murati.

It was very clear that Murati was taking all of this much, much harder than everyone else.

All of the bridge officers were buoyed by the tasks required of them.

It was enough to keep their minds in check. All they had to do was follow orders.

Geninov and Santapena-De La Rosa were running extensive maintenance and checks on the weapons systems while awaiting any further orders that involved them; Kamarik was also running checks and keeping in touch with core engineering to insure the ship was ready to retreat into the sea if and when it was necessary; Zachikova was perhaps the most hard-working member of the bridge, having a million things to keep track of, but she did so with a grin and seemed satisfied with herself, and she had Arabella to help buoy her morale as well; Fatima kept a close watch on the seas, and despite her sensitive and emotional demeanor her gaze was locked to her station and she was determined. They officers were all engaged and though they shot the occassional quizzical look at the Captain, they had cohesion.

Despite the turns the situation had taken, they were still functioning normally.

Semyonova turned to Aatto, who had the bridge while Murati was away.

She had not known Aatto long, so she had no idea how Aatto was taking things.

“Acting Commissar, ma’am ,” Semyonova said, a title the bridge had essentially made up since they did not usually have to answer to a trial adjutant, but Murati expected them to answer to Aatto, “I have just contacted Captain Triantafallos about the drones and relayed the Captain’s instructions as I was ordered. Do you have any further orders for me?”

Aatto looked up from her station and smiled at Semyonova.

“Not at this moment– you have been most splendid, Madam Semyonova, and all communications work has been taken care of for now. In the spirit of the same kindness that was offered to our esteemed Captain– I will oversee the hangar. Unless there are further hails to the bridge, you should take a break. Rest your voice for the moment.”

Semyonova was surprised. She thought Aatto might have been more bossy.

“Thank you ma’am.” Semyonova said. She paused, nursing a small curiosity about the other officer. “Acting Commissar, would you mind answering a personal question?”

“I am happy to answer any question.” Aatto said, speaking without hesitation.

She started looking down at her station again, returning to her work.

“You seem like an– ardent– supporter of the acting captain. What drew you to her?”

“I believe that she can change the world. And that belief gives me hope.” Aatto said.

Straightforward, immediate and without any stumbling. Almost automatic perhaps.

“Thank you, Acting Commissar.” Semyonova said.

Aatto was a bit strange, but her simpering loyalty to Murati was almost endearing. Even if they found her annoying, nobody on the bridge questioned her commitment and that was enough for the bridge to run properly even in such a difficult scenario. Trusting someone was much more important than liking them personally. It helped that Aatto also clearly demonstrated the skills to support Murati, having come from a military background herself. She had impressed everyone when she led Murati into and out of the Volkisch Gau office.

Semyonova glanced at Fatima on her side and reached out to touch her shoulder.

Fatima glanced at her and withdrew her earphones from the white fluff of her ears.

“How are you holding up? It was kind of you to address Murati like that.” Semyonova said.

“Ah– thank you for your kindness, Natalia. I felt rather sorry to have put Murati in a spot– but she seemed so very distressed.” Fatima said. “I could hear her heart hammering when I removed my earphones. Her breath was also terribly erratic. I was scared for her.”

Golden ears. Semyonova shouldn’t have been so surprised by Fatima’s keen hearing.

“I can take over your station while you pray, if you want.” Semyonova said.

Fatima shook her head. “I will make up my prayers later. I must uphold my duties.”

Semyonova smiled at her.

If they failed– nobody could blame a lack of commitment for it.

Seeing everyone around her focused and engaged made her want to keep at it.

She would rest her voice– but in the meantime, there had to be other work to do.


“Where could they be? Damn it, Valya– if anything happened to you–”

Down in the hangar, Galina Lebedova oversaw the work of the sailors even in the midst of her own internal turmoil. Because the ship was at port, maintenance and preparatory work had been continuous but relaxed in terms of its depth and specificity. Now when she least expected it there were suddenly a lot of things that urgently needed doing. More stringent checks on everything to make sure they could go out to sea at a moment’s notice; running the cyclers and stitchers to break down and reconstitute worn-down tools they had been using for far too long; setting up medical and food stations. Engineers and mechanics got the Diver weapons ready; sailors in protective equipment dug around the ship’s innards to load the missile magazines, and to check the condition of the exterior hull layers.

Between all the sailors running around, security had come down to hand out weapons.

On the screens around the hangar, the situation had been spelled out clearly– all of the sailors knew that the bridge was missing some officers, including the Captain and Commissar. They knew it was possible these officers had been taken in captivity by an armed group that was also now bearing down on the first tier of Aachen’s core station, intending to cross the lower shopping malls and enter Stockheim to seize their ship.

What the sailors did not know first-hand was that Murati Nakara was handling the situation with aplomb in Ulyana Korabiskaya’s stead– as such, the distance from the bridge became a catalyst for a plethora of demoralizing gossip among the sailors in the hangar.

Galina had her hands full quelling that too.

“Murati Nakara is doing exactly what Captain Korabiskaya would have done in this mess! You lot have no idea what being on that bridge is like! That is why you work with machines and not people! Quit yapping and get back to work, there’s plenty to do around here!”

Galina was firm enough with her subordinates that none of them could be offended now.

It would come as no surprise to them to be yelled at for standing around.

So they resumed their work with no wounded feelings toward her.

Nevertheless, it was evident that everyone’s nerves were on edge.

In previous emergencies, at the very least they had the assurances of their veteran staff.

Everyone on the ship knew, or learned very quickly, that Captain Korabiskaya was an elite.

As far as Murati was concerned, they knew she was a good pilot and a bit of a weird nerd.

Endearing and cool to have around– but not necessarily a figure of ironclad authority.

Galina trusted Murati well enough– she knew Murati was a bit of a wunderkind.

That was not her fear.

Right now her foremost concern should have been the exterior flood mitigation systems, which had taken a continuous beating since the battle with the Iron Lady and were supposed to be on an intensified maintenance schedule because of this– however, what was foremost on her mind was her nibling Valya Lebedova. In her worry all of her most troubling thoughts rose to the surface. It was difficult to see Valya as an adult who could care for themself and not as a kid that Galina had failed to protect from a cruel world. She should have seen it– she had thought Valya was acting differently the past few days! Maybe they were in some kind of trouble, and she never knew– never did anything– and now they were god-knew-where–!

“Chief, is everything alright? You’re glaring daggers at that wall.”

A clean-cut blond boy approached and waved his hand– Gunther Cohen.

Galina blinked. She really had just been staring at the hangar wall for a few minutes.

“We’re all a little loopy today.” She said. She put a hand on her forehead. “I’m fine.”

“Forgive me for the assumption but: is this because Valya has not returned?”

She felt miserable at how she was exposing her own vulnerability.

Her pride as a section Chief was in making herself a rock of stability for her crews. Sailors were perpetually new people– they’d join her, carry out their duties, learn the ropes, and ultimately go on to bigger things. She would always be getting newer, young, untried people who needed to be built up into specialist, NCO and even officer material. That was her– she was the one who was supposed to do that. She couldn’t get caught in her own shit.

“It’ll be fine. They can take care of themself.” Galina said.

Something perhaps said much more for herself than directly answering Gunther.

“Ma’am,” Gunther said, “I can handle things here, if you want to look for them.”

Galina looked at Gunther critically– feeling both a need to defend herself as someone who was strict with her own duties, but also, as someone whose facade had been peered through. She thought for a split second of what she would say– she had to say something to ward this suspicion off– but her hesitation seemed to draw more words out of Gunther.

“I know I haven’t been excelling in my work lately.” Gunther continued, before Galina could say her own part, “I’ve been distracted, and I’ve had my grievances with the way the hangar has been run. I’ve been trying to reevaluate things. I know that I don’t thrive in chaos, and that nothing here has been orderly. But I’m still a human being and a comrade and I don’t want anyone to suffer. Ma’am, could you trust at least that about me for now?”

“You haven’t done that bad at all. I’ve never written you up for anything.” Galina said. She felt forced to say it. She never felt that Gunther deserved to be sidelined at all. “Don’t prostrate yourself, Gunther, it’s not necessary.” She sighed. She did want to take him up on it. She did want to go search for Valya. “I’ll talk to the Acting Captain. If she gives the okay, then I’ll put you in charge. You’ve got the schedule; you know what to do in my absence.”

She smiled. It felt like a load off her shoulders to admit that was what she wanted.

Gunther nodded his head. “I’m sure they’ll be okay; you’ll find them.”

Valya had been badmouthing him behind his back a bit– but he still cared.

After all this mess, maybe she needed to have a heart to heart with the whole team.

Maybe she had been focused too much on work and too little on camaraderie.

Galina reached a hand and laid it heavy on Gunther’s shoulder, smiling at him back.

Without a word more, she turned and headed for a monitor, silently thanking him.

“Valya, wherever you are, just hang on for a bit, okay?” Galina murmured to herself.

That kid was brave and had a tough, determined heart– but they hadn’t stood up for themselves enough yet. They were not old enough to have been really challenged. Maybe it was wrong of her to believe so, maybe it was antiquated, but she still felt that she had to be responsible for them. Maybe one last time– maybe as much as it took.


“Hmm. You didn’t cut it quite down the very middle but that’s okay.”

Elena Lettiere groaned looking down at her sandwich with grim disappointment.

“Ah, it’s fine, it’s just sandwiches! Look, I’m cutting mine all over the place.”

At her side, a brightly beaming Maryam Karahailos patted her back reassuringly.

“Maryam, you have to put care into the food you make. People can taste the difference.”

Between the two, Logia Minardo looked more amused than annoyed by her young charges.

With the auxiliary pods locked down for security reasons, Minardo had set up a sandwich station in a meeting room, which they could quickly evacuate and lock down once actual combat began. On the meeting room table, they assembled sandwich boxes to hand out. They had a lot of brown bread that had been baked and cut on that day, and a few simple sandwich fixings– packages of biostitched green vegetables and containers of spreadable egg salad with celery, or a white cheese spread with roast red pepper, or a kidney bean spread flavored with corn. Along with the sandwich fixings they also had soft plastic squeeze bottles of flavored vitamin drink. Her experiences with the Brigand suggested this was typical working food for the Union, something that was served aboard any given ship.

Each sandwich had one square sheet of biostitched greens, which Elena found somewhat disconcerting in appearance but could not knock for its proletarian character; a layer of spread, either the egg, cheese, or bean type; and finally, they were cut down the middle, the two halves stacked up together, and placed in reusable containers with a belt loop so anyone with a TBT uniform could tot one around. The juice containers also had a similar belt loop for that purpose. Elena carefully laid down the first slice of bread, used a blunt knife to smear a thin layer of spread, topped with a sheet of greens and the second slice of bread. She laid her sharp knife across the top of the bread, judging the angle as best as she could. She cut gently from corner to corner with the sharp knife. She looked down at her handiwork and again found that one slice of the sandwich was simply wider than the other.

She sighed– such a simple task, and yet–

“You’re giving it your best and that’s what matters.” Minardo said, smiling at Elena.

She glanced over at Maryam, who cleaved her sandwiches in half in one wanton blow.

Of course, hers were not symmetrical– she wasn’t even trying to make them like that.

“Maryam, you’ll be handing out only the sandwiches you pack, okay?” Minardo sighed.

“Aye, aye, ma’am!” Maryam said happily, seemingly untroubled by the implications.

Not only were they cut wrong– Maryam’s sandwiches also had slightly sloppy spreading.

Minardo’s sandwiches had just the right amount of spread that stayed just short of the crusts so that it would have room when the sandwich was bitten. She cut hers symmetrically, and they looked neater and more photogenic. They went into the boxes perfectly, so they could be picked out of them without mess. Elena knew it was silly to fret over sandwiches, but she once again felt keenly her immaturity compared to a woman of Minardo’s caliber. It was not only sandwiches in which she felt inadequate– she felt like a child in so many ways.

With a bit of personal disappointment, Elena stuffed her sandwiches into the boxes.

They carried on in this way while outside the meeting room, by all accounts, the world had fallen into complete bedlam. Aachen station was in an uproar; they had several officers and pilots missing; and they were preparing to fight a ground battle. Elena had learned and even seen the differences between such battles. In the water, people died in an instant. A pierced diver cockpit would decompress and kill before you could feel pain. While under pressure, people could be cut, perforated, burned, maimed. She hardly knew what was scarier.

“Minardo, will everything be okay?” Elena asked. She felt childish doing so.

However, the tension was beginning to boil over inside her chest.

“Right now, a ship full of professionals is doing everything they can to get the situation under control.” Minardo replied. She put down her sandwich and gave Elena a sympathetic look, reaching out and caressing her cheek. “All we can do is to trust and support everyone. Food is not a trivial matter, you know. It’s especially important to eat in a crisis.”

She withdrew her hand, tossing Elena’s hair a bit as she did so to tease her.

Elena recoiled slightly out of surprise. Her face went hot, and she averted her gaze.

“Sonya will protect all of us, I know it.” Maryam said. “And that young miss Murati too!”

“Murati is almost certainly coming up with something as we speak.” Minardo said.

As much as she wished that was satisfying, Elena had something else on her mind.

“Minardo– what if I had the power to fight– and–” She started mumbling–

At that moment, the door to the meeting room opened behind them.

A tall, brown-skinned young woman in uniform, with shoulder-length, messy black hair–

Minardo immediately smiled and clapped her hands.

“Well, if it isn’t the woman of the hour herself! What can I do for you, Captain?”

“Ah– don’t say that– I’m getting some food the bridge while we still can.”

“How many folks you got up there? I can get you a trolley filled up.”

Murati looked down at her fingers.

“Zachikova, Semyonova, al-Suhar–” She mumbled.

Minardo laughed, teased her about it, and began to pack from the sandwiches and vitamin drinks she herself had boxed up, stacking everything on a trolley for Murati to take to the bridge. Exactly as many as needed. She knew everyone on the bridge who needed one.

“Do bring the trolley back! We’ll need it again later.” Minardo said.

Elena thought for a moment about interrupting them– asking Murati if she could fight.

Even after all that had happened, it took another crisis for the worst of her to come out.

She had some sort of power now but– she was still uncertain and frightened–

What if she was killed–? Or perhaps worse– what if she killed someone?

Already, she had used her powers before to harm someone–!

Recalling that regret caused her head to swim.

In her guts, the shame surged overwhelmingly hot, and she could not bear to speak.

Murati came and went without hearing from her– she hesitated the whole time.

Perhaps it was for the best. Elena packed her sandwiches unable to say another word.

Another fight that she would spend praying for everyone.

I am not helpless anymore– what am I now is worse– a coward– she chided herself.

Sometimes she could still hear that chiding in Bethany’s voice as that creature wore it.


“Wouldn’t things be easy if I had some weird power too? Man. God fucking damn it.”

Marina chided herself for even mentioning such damnable things.

She had made a promise both to herself and implicitly in her behavior to Elena to just forget all the hurtful things that had happened during their escape from the Serrano region and try to be there for her no matter what. Elena seemed to be trying her best to forget all of those things also, from Marina’s perspective. She was burying herself in her little books and frolicking about the ship so happily. Uninvolved in all of that mess– a new person.

Part of that unpleasantness was– what she had done to Marina.

Therefore, Marina buried all of that too.

Psionics— that bewildering thing that Elena’s Shimii friend had demonstrated to them.

Just as she had said, Elena had those talents too.

It wasn’t as if Marina was completely shocked by the existence of these things– Alayze had always known about the superstitions of their neighbors, like Hanwan mysticism and the shocking rituals of some of the Katarrans. There were always people willing to believe in the supernatural. However, it was simply pointless to spend energy practicing esoterica.

Guns and governments changed the world. Psionics wasn’t going to stop Vogelheim from collapsing; it wasn’t going to bring Bethany back; it wasn’t going to spare Elena from all of the pain her position entailed. That Shimii girl could push on everything but the world.

Because it was useless– Marina did not care and was as uninvolved in it as she could be.

Neither Elena nor that cat– no young girl could change what was happening.

Useless things a GIA agent heard went in one ear and out the other frequently.

Haunting only them while having no bearing on the mission.

That was what Psionics represented to her.

Throughout her life she had seen many fantastical things happen before her eyes–

And she had been fantastic at burying those things deep down.

Despite this, Marina could not help but feel in that moment that–

If she had some magic on her side–

Then maybe it would have been a little easier to get around at least.

She stalked through the eerily quiet halls of the first tier shopping centers, ducking behind vending machines, stalking past shopfronts. Only a few had been broken into– and it seemed the people looting them had not stuck around. Almost everyone appeared to have made a beeline for the trams to get back to the detached residential habitat blocks. Away from the mess Marina headed towards in the core station. Advertising still flashed from the signage and the screens; the vending machines still exhorted her to try all seven delicious flavors of Adventia canned pop. However, without a crowd of shoppers, the glitzy storefronts and the inviting fake tiled hall floors and the gaudy ad monitors and the planter domes, all of it looked hollowed out, like the bleached bones of a picked-through skeleton laid bare.

Spotlights on the corpse of something that all manner of bottom-feeders had come to pick.

Marina could feel the tension in the air. There was nothing to blunt it.

All the power she had was the gun in her hand and the training scarred into her being.

On the model that the Brigand had developed, there was an interstice accessway that ran through the rear walls of the shops in the corners of the tier structure. If she could sneak her way in there she would just need to climb a ladder to make it up to the second tier, and then to the third. It would be a long climb, and there was always the chance someone had the same idea as her– in which case she’d have to be ready to kill in quarters tighter than the rooms on the Brigand. She moved across the storefronts with a sense of paranoia.

Moving out of cover gun first, her eyes quickly clearing every obstacle, every glass pane, every door, seeking any sign of activity. As empty as everything seemed, it would only take a moment for something to kill her. Those white-uniformed Eloim could be bearing down on her from any corner, from down any set of spiraling stairs, from any ramp between the mall’s floors. Or worse– she would truly hate herself in the grave if some rioter scum took her out. That would have been the absolute capstone to her utterly pathetic life, wouldn’t it?

“Korabiskaya– If you die and I can never get you back for all your pity– damn it–”

Everyone else was doing everything she could. She would damned if she sat out of it.

As she stalked closer to the shops in the northern corner–

“Over here, Ms. McKennedy! Over here!”

Marina turned her weapon on the shattered glass storefront of a custom stitch-shop.

Behind a window display, a short Katarran girl raised her hands with a nervous smile.

“It’s me, Chloe!” The girl said. “Chloe Kouri! From the Volksarmee!”

Marina kept her weapon trained. “I– I don’t know who the hell you’re supposed to be.”

She almost felt embarrassed about it. Almost.

“Oh c’mon, you’re not going to hold me up like this! We have to go save everyone!”

They clarified the misunderstanding quickly when Chloe showed off her Treasure Box ID.

It meant she could come and go on and off the Brigand– she was a friend of the commies.

Marina had hardly even gone near the Rostock– she was not the biggest fan of Katarrans.

“So what the hell are you doing out here?”

For the moment, Marina hid in the store with Chloe to avoid potentially being seen outside.

“I’m always running around in stations! It turned into my job over time.” Chloe said. “I hate being stuffed inside a ship all day every day. So I learn the interior layouts, I get in touch with the Katarrans if there are any, and I learn about what’s going on to report back.”

Chloe really looked a bit compact for a Katarran. In an overlong black coat, hood pulled up with her grey hair spilling out, and those big golden eyes. Marina couldn’t imagine the brute strength of a Katarran coming out of this girl who was huddled almost into a ball next to her.

Though– she was kinda cute– looked and felt soft for a Katarran– nice hips–

“What’s wrong?” Chloe asked. “Is there something on me? Is it a rat?”

“What? No? There’s no rats.” Marina sighed. Chiding herself internally for her reaction.

Not the time, Marina

“Too bad– I’m getting a little hungry.” Chloe whined.

Marina cleared her throat. “Kid, I have to get going. Like you said– I have people to save.”

“I know! I can help you! And I’m not a kid!” Chloe insisted.

“I don’t need your help. Don’t follow me.”

“Hmph! I dealt with a bunch of the white uniforms up ahead, you know.”

Marina could not contain the surprise on her face.

Looking a little too full of herself, Chloe led her out into the thoroughfare to confirm.

However, as unimpressive as she looked, she moved very keenly.

Marina could tell from watching her dart from cover to cover.

Her timings for moving, surveying, hiding, and when she decided to peer out–

Everything was almost exactly as Marina herself would have done, like she was trained.

And with her “fun size” stature, and weirdly flexible limbs, she was able to hide very effectively. Chloe clung closer and tighter to any surface than Marina had ever seen. When she moved, she was stunningly purposeful, making it to the next spot whisper quiet and fast. It was evident even from a relatively quick jaunt that she was in her own league.

The pair quickly and quietly made it to the exact corner store Marina had been aiming for.

A schnitzel shop with back panel access into the station interstice.

Following Chloe inside, Marina found a pair of white uniforms knocked out behind the counter. Their berets were on the ground. Both had bruises and a bit of bleeding in the back of their heads. Their hands had been fastened with two pairs of plastic cuffs each, behind their backs. Their gear had been laid out on the floor in the ingredients storage room in the back. Two heavy pistols, a few mags, radios, flashbangs, smoke grenades, heavy binoculars with predictive functions. In addition, Chloe had propped up two riot shields near the gear.

“You knocked these guys out?” Marina said.

Chloe nodded her head.

“Yeah. I watched them for a bit and caught ‘em by themselves. I found that these guys wander around in groups of two or four. I think the groups of four eventually split into two units of two. They can cover more ground that way, and faster, but it leaves them open if anyone catches them. They don’t keep in close contact. Minimal radio usage, probably following a prescribed set of plans. I assume they spread out really far to do like, recon and sabotage stuff. In the Volksarmee we call this kinda unit ‘diversion-reconnaissance groups.’”

“Similar to how you run around by yourself?” Marina asked.

“Nope, I’m special. I can easily wipe out like three or four DRGs if I apply myself.”

How scary, Marina thought to herself, rolling her eyes.

“But– this here is how they survive those kinds of risky operations.”

Chloe walked over to the shield. It was taller than her– a full size riot shield.

On the front face, it was nice and shiny, very well-polished. It was flatter than a typical shield.

When Chloe turned it around, Marina saw the handle and a few spaces for extra mags–

And a lot of electronics she did not recognize in affixed box mounts, connected by wires.

“This shield can project a really high-fidelity optical-camouflage field. Watch.”

To demonstrate, Chloe flicked a switch on the back side, and then turned it over again. There was a very brief flicker of light over the surface of the object. In Marina’s vision, it soon looked like the shield had completely blended into its surroundings. Chloe could step behind the shield and completely disappear. Because the object was between herself and Marina, and the object was completely camouflaged, it also hid Chloe from anyone’s sight. That explained how the Judeans were so confident moving around in these small units. Nobody would catch them if they were smart, so the small size of these units wouldn’t matter. In fact, the units had to be small because the shields themselves were bulky– too many guys wondering around in close proximity would have limited movement.

“These motherfuckers are hiding all over the place.” Marina said.

“They’re pretty dangerous. But– I can sniff them out. They can’t hide their odor.”

Chloe sniffed the air and smiled.

Marina averted her gaze. Were Katarrans really so animalistic?

Though she supposed Loup could also sniff things out like that– what a world–

“I suppose you’ll come in handy after all, kid.” Marina said.

“Don’t call me a kid.” Chloe frowned. “I can even drink alcohol you know.”

“Come on, we’re wasting time.”

Marina wanted to take those shields so badly. But there was no way to make it work.

Their destination was several very tall and tight ladders away from them.

She would avail herself of one of their 10 mm heavy pistols, however.

“You see these in crime movies in Alayze all the time. It’s so fuckin’ hefty.”

Holding it in her hand, feeling the power and weight.

Maybe she could make her own magic with gear like this.

“Good idea. I’ll take their grenades.” Chloe said.

“Not good with guns?” Marina asked, a bit snidely, as she continued inspecting her trophy.

Chloe formed a fist. “This hits way harder than any gun I would carry. I like to travel light.”

No argument there. Maybe this girl was a full-fledged Katarran after all.


In the rear of the Brigand’s hangar, near the deployment chute, the strike team organized.

Illya and Valeriya stood at the head of the squad, outfitted in two of the Brigand’s scant few suits of powered armor. These suits were layered over the shoulders, chest, arms and legs, consisting mainly of a body and back plate, arm guards and greaves with muscle enhancement, and angled plates on the shoulders, knees and elbows. All of the platework consisted of two layers, a titanium alloy layer and a complex ceramics layer.

On the back, there was a small electric motor with an agarthic battery that provided energy to muscle-enhancing elements whose main components were located behind the upper arm and shoulder and along the back of the legs to support the body with extra power.

On Imbrian power armor, the muscle enhancement was built into the suit components themselves, which made each part thicker and protected the entire body better but also meant the entire thing could become nearly unusuable after any penetration. One leg or arm shot through and suddenly the soldier would find themselves unable to maintain their balance with the weight of the suit. Katarrans mostly dispensed with the muscle enhancing and instead focused on making the armor legendary in its protection and durability. The Union focused on ease of manufacture and in the realities of war– if someone got a clean shot from behind, it was unlikely that any armor in the world would save you. Protection was forward heavy and the entry seam in the back remained something of a weak spot, as well as the exposed enhancing complexes in the backs of the limbs. Overall, the suit was lighter.

Despite the design, for Illya, it felt just like wearing the nanomail bodysuit she still had on beneath all the metal parts. She barely felt like she was moving in something bulky, and even fighting hand to hand in the suit felt completely natural. The muscle enhancement helped with carrying additional gear and heavy weapons, and offset the recoil of Union AKs, which generally maximized lethality per bullet over pinpoint accuracy. While she would never trust her protection completely to any suit of armor, she knew these powered armors could ablate automatic fire and light explosives that would have shredded nanomail.

It was the perfect protection for an assault team.

They were not the only ones dressed in such a high-tech fashion, either.

“Daphne’s already briefed us on everything. We’re ready for your orders, Rostova.”

Women in power armor with somewhat dour expressions and guarded mannerisms.

Illya felt just a bit better seeing for herself what Daphne Triantafallos had sent over.

The Rostock had its own special forces squadron, nicknamed the “Ekdromoi.”

Apparently this was a little joke among the Katarrans– Ekdromoi in the chaotic early Warlord period were unarmored, often teenaged soldiers sent into the fray with heat knives and grenades to support boarding actions or station attacks as fodder. Erika Kairos seemed to know her history and decided this would be a cute nickname for a trio of women in full suits of steel-grey power armor. Given the typical Katarran prospensity for strength and endurance, the usual drawbacks of Imbrian power armor hardly applied to them. They had similar weapons as Illya and Valeriya too, with well-maintained G63 assault rifles, vibroknives, and grenades clipped on magnetic strips.

“Let’s do some quick introductions. I need to know what to shout when we’re in the shit.”

“Ah ha! You’ve got a real sly grin on you, madam Rostova– I like that! Alright, ladies!”

The woman in the center of the formation gestured to her two companions.

Both of them looked at her with a certain disinterest, silently entreating her to go first.

“Bah! You two need to look livelier. You give us a bad rep.” She pointed a thumb at herself. Out of the group, she was the tallest, and broadest, with shoulder-length blond hair and brown skin with orange mottles. Big ladies were not Illya’s type particularly, but she could see the appeal. “I’m Kyra Stravidis. I lead this outfit because I’m the only extrovert!”

She looked at her side to a much shorter woman with skin a shade of blue-ish-purple, nearly black. She had long white hair that was very fluffy and from within it extended a pair of fin-like protrusions standing in for her ears. Her suit of armor had a few clearly homebrewed joins intended to take material out and make it smaller for her. Illya was aware that there were Katarrans of all shapes and sizes, including ones that looked a bit too short.

Nevertheless, Illya knew she had to watch out for even a 150 cm shortie like this.

“Aylin Karatasos.” She said, averting her gaze slightly.

Glancing at her own side as if passing the burning embers to the next poor sap.

Those embers, Illya’s gaze, fell upon a woman taller than Aylin and shorter than Kyra, and a bit rounder and curvier than both, evident in the slight outward curve of her abdominal armor plates. She had a rather cheerful face with a strong nose, and shiny brown hair that fell over her shoulders in waves just barely contained by a few different colors of hair clips. Her skin was almost the same color of her hair but with intermittent glowing spots, and a pair of small horn-like protrusions just above her brows. Despite her friendly smile and the pleasant look in her eyes she said nothing for a moment when Illya looked her way.

Illya then looked down at her hands– she was signing.

“Thekla Vasiliou. Pleasure. Looking forward to a glorious battle!” Her fingers said.

It had been a while since Illya had to read Low Imbrian sign language, but she understood it.

“If you’re worried about her not being able to talk, don’t.” Aylin said suddenly.

“I’m not worried about anything.” Illya said. “I’m treating everyone here seriously.”

“Don’t be so sensitive Aylin!” Kyra said. “Trust in our Union comrades like Erika does!”

“Sorry.” Aylin looked down at her own armored boots, making her seem even smaller.

At her side, Thekla patted her in the shoulders for support.

“Well– alright.” Illya said. “I’m Illya Rostova, and this is Valeriya Peterburg.”

At her side, Valeriya had been staring at the wall with her mask up.

“And over there, we have Zhu Lian and Klara Van Der Smidse.”

On Illya’s other side stood two girls who saluted when their names were called.

Both were somewhat slight and lean looking girls dressed in suits of powered armor just like the one Illya and Valeriya had. The pair had interesting contrasts. Zhu Lian was taller and a bit leaner than Klara, with dark hair tied into a ponytail and slightly angular eyes; while the slightly curvier Klara had an almost comically cheerful expression with her AK in her hands, her long pale hair tied up into a braided tail that was much more well groomed than usual. Illya suspected Zhu Lian had braided it– she had more deft hands than Klara did.

If there was one thing she could count on it was that those two would at least have each other’s backs. They had trained in the infantry together and were also definitely a thing.

“Anything to say, you two?” Illya asked them.

Zhu Lian and Klara exchanged glances then saluted the Ekdromoi.

“It will be an honor to fight alongside you.” Zhu Lian said.

“I wanna pick up some techniques! Get crazy out there!” Klara said.

Illya glared at both of them, causing Klara to raise her hands defensively and grin.

Kyra laughed heartily and seemed pleased with them. Aylin said nothing. Thekla smiled.

“Now that everyone’s acquainted–” Illya began to lay out the upcoming plan. She withdrew a tablet from a nearby equipment trolley and held it up for everyone to see. There was a map of the first tier mall on it. “As you can see, the shops form two half-square rings with three floors that meet around the back of the atrium. The atrium is walled off with glass and full of water– it’s sturdy enough to take a few good hits, and it is not open to the ocean. If it breaks, it breaks– but then we’ll get swept up in rushing water, so don’t push our luck. The enemy is coming from up above us and trying to come down,” Illya pointed a pen at the transit tier at the top of the mall, consisting of the large rectangular stairwells connecting them to the second tier, “with the elevators out they have to take the stairwells. We will not try to block the transit tier. The enemy coming down will be too concentrated and will overwhelm us.” She drew a line from the transit tier, down three spiraling staircases through the mall’s floors. “We will attack the enemy in the covered halls of the mall ground floor. That will give them room to spread out– there’ll be guys on every floor, and we can pick them off as they come. Because of the atrium structure, they won’t be able to deploy snipers–”

The ladies of the Ekdromoi nodded their heads as Illya developed the battle plan.

Zhu Lian chided Klara for covering her mouth to yawn.

Valeriya peeked every so often, knowing more intimately than anyone what she had to do.

In this way, the special forces group prepared their crucial attack.

They were what the Volksarmee had to work with, and though not a ground army,

it’d have to be enough.


When Murati returned to the bridge, she had a lunch box for everyone, and distributed them all herself out of the stock she had brought in her trolley. Receiving a thank you and a smile from her officers as she handed each of them food. It was a fleeting moment of levity that she greatly cherished. She had set aside a bean spread sandwich for herself and when she sat back down in the Captain’s chair she took a few silent bites of it. She drank from the vitamin drink pouch and felt relief wash over her. Having food going through her system made her feel just a bit less crazy and desperate than she had in the past few hours.

Not that eating would have really helped her with any of those predicaments.

Nor any of the ones to come.

“Aatto, how are you doing?” Murati whispered, leaning back on her seat.

Aatto looked at her with a glowing expression. Her ears raised up high.

“Master, you needn’t concern yourself with me. Your Aatto is tireless when you require her.”

Her tail thumped against the seat.

She looked too cheerful– Murati would let her have this one.

“I want to see you eat something and take a bit of a break. What tasks do you have now?”

“I’ve been working with Illya Rostova, keeping appraised of mission needs.”

“She can’t ask for much more can she? She’s about to move out. Let that sit for a bit.”

“You are too kind, master.”

Aatto pushed away her own chair’s computer screen and opened her lunchbox.

Murati reached out and patted her on the shoulder.

She watched her eat for a moment in silence. Her own worries began to bubble up again.

“Aatto,” Murati said in a whisper, “Tell me honestly– would you have done what I’ve done?”

“Yes, but you must understand, I think we are equally ruthless sorts of people.”

“Is that so?”

“I think both of us put the requirements of success ahead of the costs.”

A lot of people seemed to be telling Murati that she was ruthless or bloodthirsty lately.

Was she really? She had wanted to believe she was just doing what was “correct.”

Then again– when she thought of the Judeans she burned with an anger to fight them.

When she sunk Imperial ships and executed strategies she felt a sort of adrenaline.

“When you smuggled all of those liberals away from the Volkisch, were you ‘ruthless’ then?”

“Oh yes. I couldn’t save everyone. I had to be practical. Sometimes I had to weigh whether it was worth saving someone or not. There was a famous union organizer who was being hunted down– and on the other hand, there were a few people who had been identified while protesting the Blood Bund. Who would I save? I had to weigh my own capability as well– if I was exposed, then I couldn’t ever smuggle anyone out again. So I let all of them be caught. The organizer just went to jail– but the Blood Bund demanded the protesters be turned over. I can only imagine their fates. Then the next opportunity I got was a politician with a lot of contacts. She put me in touch with people who made the smuggling a bit easier to arrange. It was perhaps inhuman of me to consign certain people over others. A parade of suffering wandered in front of my eyes. But by giving up a few people short term I managed to extend the length of the overall scheme and help more people out in the long run.”

Hearing Aatto speak of her former experiences, Murati always had to push down her reflexive disgust. There must have been so many people cursing her by name by proxy, cursing the people and system who damned them– but even though Aatto had condemned people for the Volkisch she was also one of the few cracks in that iron wall through which any light could shine through. For that light to shine on anyone, to save anyone at all, Aatto also had to play the role of assistant executioner that was expected of her.

Murati neither wanted to hate her nor wanted to forgive her such a thing.

As much as she wanted to, she could not answer how she felt about this.

Was Aatto trying to atone now? Perhaps– perhaps not–

“The requirements of success ahead of the costs– I see.”

“In that situation, master, would you have done as I did?”

Aatto’s eyes wandered a bit. Murati could tell that she really wanted her approval.

Murati answered honestly, out of her convictions and not simply to please Aatto.

In that situation–

“I understand that to be able to continue defying the Volkisch you had to protect your own cover sometimes. Aatto– it was brave of you to take those risks. I don’t want to judge you for what happened. I can’t imagine what I would have done. It’s so far from any decision I’ve had to make. Your answer was as good as any. I suppose I would do the same.”

Perhaps in that moment, Murati was making a similar decision herself.

Choosing for her comrades to live– and consigning someone else’s comrades to death.

Those people would curse her name by proxy, for damning them for her own ends.

Sitting with Murati’s response for a moment, Aatto looked strangely wistful.

“Ultimately– it was misguided effort. I wanted the liberals to fight back, and they did not.”

“That doesn’t make what you did any less brave.” Murati said.

“Ah– master, I appreciate your praise. You are trying to comfort me. But it is unearned. I joined the Volkisch in the first place. I think to have been truly commendable I should have, when the intelligence departments fully cooperated with the Lehner government– I should have pulled out my pistol and shot everyone in the office and myself. Even before– I also did nothing to resist the Imbrian Empire, my former employer. It took so much and so long for me to offer the merest resistance– compared to anyone on this ship I am an utter coward. I want to earn your esteem by assisting you in something worthwhile.”

Aatto– I wish I could have done something before all this horror dug its claws into you.

There was no use saying that to her–

It was also presumptuous to try to tell her that she was expiating for her past now.

Everyone on this ship had something Aatto never did.

The Union’s alternative vision for the world.

Without that– God only knew how any of them would have turned out.

Maybe Murati would have been Reichskommissar of Eisental if she never developed as a communist. If all she had was her desire to fight against some nebulous evil.

Evil could take any convenient form, after all.

“Aatto, I think your heart’s in the right place. I believe in you completely.”

Words she could have never imagined saying mere weeks ago.

Aatto smiled a little bit. It lacked her usual effusiveness, but it was better than before.

“Thank you, master. If it’s okay, I want to resume my tasks.”

Murati nodded. When Aatto returned to her monitor, she glanced at her other side.

Euphrates quietly tucked into her egg salad sandwich and vitamin drink.

Likely she had heard something or other, but she had enough sense not to interject.

She smiled at Murati when she noticed her looking.

“It’s quite a nice egg salad. I was surprised to find dill in there.” Euphrates said.

Her comment struck the entirely wrong note.

“We grow all kinds of things in the Union. Our agriculture is fantastic.” Murati said.

Euphrates burst out laughing.

“You’re incomparable, Murati.” She said.

Of course, she was teasing her– she would have found a way to tease her for anything.

Frowning, Murati leaned back on her chair again feigning disinterest in further banter.

“How’s your hand?” Euphrates whispered.

Murati felt prompted to look at it. There was not much to see.

Bandages with strips of medigel wrapped around the wound, enclosing it. Slowly the medigel in the bandage would seep into the wound and assist in the process of healing. It hurt. It was not agony; it did not hurt bad enough to occupy her thoughts. Flexing her fingers, closing her fist, it did cause pain in a way that reminded her it was all real.

Not just her strange psychic feelings but the very present-ness of this moment.

None of it was a bad dream. All of it was happening right in front of her.

The wound on her hand, because it hurt–

it confirmed all the other devilry that happened was real.

In that sense, Murati hated and almost wanted to chop off her own hand completely.

“It’s fine.” Murati said.

She was lying about her feelings, and she hoped everyone was just used to it by now.

Euphrates nodded her head.

“Whatever happens, Murati, you’ll have me. I promise you that.” Euphrates said.

“Well– alright. Thank you.”

The indestructibility of her dear immortal was not particularly comforting in that moment.

Her thoughts were growing darker by the second. It was time to return to work too.

“Zachikova, any news?” Murati asked, looking to her left.

“Nope. Workin’ on it. I might have something soon.” Zachikova said, munching on an egg salad sandwich. She could not be faulted– Murati had given her so many tasks.

At her side, Arabella ate a bit of the sandwich and made a face.

“Geninov, how are you all doing over there?” Murati looked to her right.

“Ma’am! Our weapons are not just hot– they are downright spicy!” Geninov said.

She turned and saluted with a big grin.

At her side, Santapena-De La Rosa joined her in saluting with a more reserved expression.

In a strange coincidence, both of them had gotten matching cheese sandwiches.

“All projectiles are on the cusp of climax and await ignition.” Santapena-De La Rosa reported.

Murati decided to overlook the terminology she used and avoid clarification.

“Good work you two. I might route some drone functions to you, Geninov.” Murati said.

“Yessir!”

Wasn’t she ma’am before–? Not that it mattered in that moment.

At least both halves of the officer’s stations looked lively.

For a moment, the bridge was relatively calm. Quiet clattering on keyboards, tapping on screens. Circulating air with a slightly plastic smell. There was enough of a hush that the circulators themselves were just barely audible. While the main screen was filled with a silent cacophony of information that blended into imperceptible nothingness, itself becoming quiet by virtue of its chaos. This was Murati’s reprieve before the violence certain to come.

Murati cast a glance at her close left, just beyond Aatto–

“Semyonova–”

“Ah, sorry Captain– I will have to interrupt. It’s Astra Palaiologos, ma’am.”

Semyonova turned to Murati with a sympathetic little smile.

“Put her through.” Murati said.

On the screen–

That pale, soft, girlish face that looked so incongruent with the power and violence she commanded. Her golden uniform, heavily decorated, and the crown-like horns.

Once more, red eyes fixed auburn.

Astra smiled and beheld Murati with an imperious demeanor.

“Murati, I have a task for you and your crew. I have summoned one of my personal vessels to rendezvous here. It is roughly equivalent to one of your Frigates, though laid out differently– there are additional troops inside that will assist us.” Astra said.

“I was unaware you had any naval assets here.” Murati asked.

Murati had passively assumed Astra had a ship somewhere, though this was not the case.

It made sense– if she had a ship in Stockheim she could have had the crew assist Murati.

Astra had never acted as though that was possible.

“It is not particularly suited to naval combat. That is my reason for calling you.” Astra said.

“Wait a moment. Can you tell me how you arrived at Aachen then? How are you deployed?”

Astra crossed her arms– her facial expression returned to neutral, making her look a bit annoyed compared to the smile she previously wore. Her tone remained dispassionate.

“At the request of Herta Kleyn, only my personal guard is currently present in Aachen itself, while the rest of my troops awaited in a sparsely populated substation just outside of the Aachen hydrospace. I and my guards booked private transport instead.”

That battalion slicing through the rioters was only her bodyguards?

“You wouldn’t happen to have any troops in another part of the station?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“I assumed as much– but I wanted to confirm it.”

Better to clear the air than to continue making assumptions.

She already felt foolish enough for having overlooked other small details.

“Given what you’ve said– you want us to protect your vessel?” Murati asked.

Astra nodded. “For now, use your sonar to keep track of it. I’ll give you an acoustic key. I don’t suspect there will be any issues and I don’t want to waste your time and equipment. However, if something happens– you must deploy to assist my vessel. Blow up the docking clamps if you have to. I’m relying on you to see that ship here safe.”

Murati felt that she should clarify something– “My ship won’t be going anywhere.”

“Are you outright refusing my request?” Astra said, her tone of voice sharpening a touch.

Was that a note of petulance she detected? It made her face look more childish.

Murati had wanted to try pushing Astra’s buttons and managed just enough for now.

“No I am not. We have Divers– I’ll send a Diver to protect your ship if needed.”

“I don’t care about the method, as long as that ship docks with this station safely.”

The Warlord’s voice calmed down as if she had never shown the slightest emotion.

Astra really was more results oriented than Murati had given her credit for.

Someone inflexibly tyrannical would have demanded respect and made more of a scene.

Murati’s lack of deference did not seem to bother her too much.

“Contact your vessel and tell them to hold their fire if a Diver approaches–”

“What profile? Send me an acoustic key– our enemies might field Imbrian class Divers too.”

As much as Murati hated giving up information like this– there was no avoiding it.

Keeping Astra completely in the dark could endanger Shalikova if she had to deploy.

It would be an absolute disaster if her partnership with Astra ended that way.

“We will send it to you shortly.” Murati said. An instant of silence then lingered between herself and Astra Palaiologos. In place of their speech there was a nagging voice in the back of Murati’s head that compelled her to speak out further. “Madam Palaiologos– I have been monitoring your attack against the rioters in the third tier through my sources.”

She immediately felt too foolish to continue that statement with any kind of request.

Who was she to tell Mycenae to take a lighter hand in the middle of battle?

And– when it was she who begged them to undertake this slaughter to begin with?

“How do you feel about it, Murati Nakara?” Astra asked her.

Her expression remained impassive.

“I pity the rioters.” Murati said. “And acknowledge your troops’ strength.”

Astra smiled a little bit.

“This is a highly complicated situation for me. You must understand. Though I am being paid by the Volkisch I have extended my operations well beyond what was necessary to accomplish my commission– for your sake. And against a variety of local actors that will not look upon me kindly. I have done this because I believe you will have value for me.”

She gestured with her hand toward the screen, toward Murati.

Those bewitching, jewel-like red eyes beheld her curiously.

“Were you in my position, what would you do? What would seem ethical?” Astra asked.

Murati knew that she could not really lie to Astra– she had lost her that way before.

Somehow, it felt like she saw through Murati’s lies and dissimulation very easily.

“It’s not a matter of ethicality. If I had the same task as you I would not go out of my way to preserve the mall’s property by fighting using mainly close quarters attacks with small arms. I would use more high explosives, flamethrowers, anything shocking and demoralizing– if I had to clear out a bunch of barricades.” Murati said. “But I would not have made myself beholden to the Volkisch and their creditors in the first place. That’s a key difference.”

“Murati– why did you swear that oath to me?”

Perhaps she truly believed there was no use in lying– perhaps she was compelled not to lie.

At this point she could hardly tell the difference.

“I wanted to manipulate your emotions.” Murati said bluntly.

Astra’s lips curled into a wide, eerie smile. Her eyes narrowed with a strange mirth.

This was the most unreservedly joyful Murati had ever seen her–

again she would have described it as “cute.”

“You are truly so fascinating. I truly made the right choice. I just wish we had more time. I want to get to know you! In a better world we could be discussing books.”

“I’m not very fun for that– I mainly read history and politics.”

“That’s precisely what I’d love to talk to you about.”

“I’ve been told I’m rather partisan.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Strong beliefs are worth shouting about.”

Perhaps the most tragic result– seeing Astra’s smiling face did make Murati wish–

For that world in which they could have just talked about books together.

“I have to go oversee operations, madam.” Murati said.

“We’ll talk again.”

Astra winked at her and cut off her side of the call.

Murati was left with a twisted feeling in her heart. Even more pain heaped upon the rest.

She pushed the video screen out of her way again and made herself available to the bridge.

In the very instant of this gesture, the next issue arose.

“Murati,” Zachikova always spoke her name in a certain tone when it was something serious, so hearing it from her caused Murati’s guts to constrict, “I just noticed– I think that someone else is hacking all the cameras that I hacked. They are not trying to lock me out, just to watch alongside. There’s an additional connection on every one, with crazy high bandwidth. I am going to live and let live with this other hacker for now. But I wanted you to know.”

“I trust your judgment.” Murati said.

“Also, I think I’m narrowing some leads.” Zachikova said. “I’ll let you know if I get something.”

“Best news I’ve heard all day.”

Zachikova grinned and turned back to her station.

Murati let out her breath and tried to center herself.

With any luck they might be able to get the Aachen Citizen’s Guard to–

Back down? Surrender? Murati almost let herself have such wild and impossible dreams.

Almost.


Inside Stockheim, the bulkhead into the Brigand’s deployment chute finally slid open.

Eight women stepped out onto the landing hall.

Brandishing assault rifles; wearing disposable tube launchers on their backs with anti-armor missiles; with belts laden with grenades and close combat weapons. One woman had a full-size diamond sword carried in a large recharging sheathe for its motor. Two of the women, the youngest and least experienced but carried by an excitable demeanor, were entrusted with grenade launchers and shotguns in addition to their assault rifles.

One woman stayed at the bulkhead while allowing the others out.

Illya and Valeriya, Lian and Klara, and the Ekdromoi of the Rostock were ready to move out.

Chief of Security Evgenya Akulantova watched them go.

“I trust you know what you’re going out there to do.” Akulantova said.

Illya smiled a little bit, catching the Chief’s gaze on the corner of her eyes.

“I think of it as repaying you for rescuing us last time.”

“What I mean is– you’re responsible for a lot of people. Bring them back.”

“I know you think of me as a reckless, arrogant bastard– but I have feelings too.”

“I know– you have feelings for her.” Akulantova sighed. “I’m trusting you as a leader.”

“I come highly rated– just ask Nagavanshi. But if anything gets through– I’m concerned.”

“It’ll be fine.”

“You’d better kill them, Chief Shark.”

“It’ll be fine. Just go.”

Akulantova waved Illya off with a sour look on her face.

Smiling, Illya caught up with her team walking past and into the halls toward the Aachen core station. Setting off together with an eerie enthusiasm for a journey toward a massacre.

The Chief watched them go with a twisted feeling in her own chest.

Then– behind her, she sensed the presence of someone else.

She knew immediately who it was.

“Not going with them?” asked the familiar voice, with a note of derision.

“I’m the last line of defense.” Akulantova answered.

It was the Brigand’s security team medic, Syracuse Chernova.

“And should the worst come to pass– will you still only defend your comrades?”

Akulantova shut her eyes and grunted. She did not want to answer.

She did not want to acknowledge the conflict she still felt.

And how much her own contradictions came into sharp focus each time they entered battle.

“You’re incredibly frustrating, Evgenya Akulantova.”

Syracuse turned and re-entered the Brigand first, leaving Akulantova outside.

Her hand formed into a fist and shaking– perhaps with that same frustration her ex-wife felt.


“Murati, I’ve got someone!”

Zachikova turned over in her seat to look up at the captain’s chair.

Though she could hardly believe it, if anyone could have created this modern miracle, it was Zachikova. True to her word and to her task, she had set up a meeting with an activist.

After making accounts in several chats, Zachikova curried favor by sharing sometimes wildly exaggerated disinformation backed up with meticulously edited screenshots she took via the cameras she was hacking. In this way she appeared to be someone with insider information while also not revealing anything that could compromise the Brigand or Mycenae, since almost everything was a fabrication. As much as Murati did not approve of any of that, which to her had gone far beyond the honor among thieves of typical BBS trolling, it did lead Zachikova to quickly make a lot of new friends that she just as quickly discarded after reviewing their personal information. As she and the computer churned through posts, and got a few accounts banned and spun up new ones for the same purpose, she was eventually contacted by an administrator of one of the chats who took an interest.

“She’s an older lady and a teacher who actually believes in correcting people’s thinking in BBS arguments.” Zachikova shrugged her shoulders. “Her information and story check out– she teaches at the technical college in the underground part of the habitat in the supporting tower. It’s affiliated with Kreuzung’s own university. Apparently she’s been running this chat since Lehner began to campaign a few years ago. I told her I could give her real, valuable information by connecting her to a friend of mine, and she accepted it. How silly!”

Zachikova seemed endlessly amused by the idea of acting in good faith on the network.

Was the Union’s trans-national network that toxic?

She felt a bit disgruntled with Zachikova’s indulgently antagonistic behavior.

Nevertheless, she had exceeded Murati’s expectations in carrying out her mission.

It did not take much more effort to get this lady on a video call– she really did believe Zachikova. Her particular site, now called “Mutual Aid Aachen Citizen Guard” was indeed the oldest one existing. It was one of the most popular and boasted having vetted information.

“Madam, thank you for accepting our hails. And– I apologize for my subordinate’s behavior.”

“As long as she stops trolling and becomes a kindly netizen she can come back in the chat, madam–?”

“Captain Murati Nakara. I know this must come as a surprise– I do have information for you.”

“I see. I’m Sidonie Sigberg. If I may inquire– what is it that you are a captain of, madam?”

Murati felt a momentary relief. This woman looked like somebody serious and responsible.

She was an older lady with long brown hair with a lot of white mixed in. She had thick black glasses wore a cardigan over a long sweater. She wore a lot of makeup and looked the part of a technical college teacher. Her muted and simple style along with her clear and confident manner of speaking gave her quite an air of reliability and respectability.

It felt like she had finally found someone to talk to within this chaos.

“Ma’am, I work for a private military company, we’re currently stuck in the port of Stockheim, tower control is unresponsive, and ships aren’t allowed to leave. I apologize again for what we had to do to get your attention– but this is a very urgent matter concerning us all. I have intelligence about the situation today that you and your fellows should hear. It concerns one of the groups involved in the riots. I am hoping it can help– keep people safe.”

She couldn’t outright say she hoped the rioters would turn around and go home.

In her heart of hearts she still felt so conflicted– she was sympathetic to their desire to fight!

Unfortunately too much of that fight was being turned her way.

“Private military company? I think you had best remain uninvolved, Murati.” Sidonie said.

“We’re unable to ma’am. Please give me a moment to explain. Right now, some of our colleagues are trapped in a bar on the lower level of tier three, in the middle of the rioting. My goal is to get them out of there, and that’s why I contacted you– but there is a complicating factor. The white-uniformed militants who stirred up this whole event are Judeans, ultranationalist eloim militia– they are trying to hijack the ships docked in Stockheim to flee from here with a king’s ransom, and that includes my ship. I have evidence of their intentions that I will send to you. Right now I am preparing to defend my ship against the Judeans– they made it clear I have no peaceful solution here.”

Sidonie’s expression softened with surprise.

“They introduced themselves as the Aerean Preservation Militia– as a group of anarchists.”

“They are something else entirely happening ma’am– they are using you.” Murati said.

By you, of course, she meant all the people out on the street– the ‘real’ anarchists.

Sidonie looked conflicted. She crossed her arms, her expression darkened.

“You understand such accusations are often used to sow distrust within anarchist groups?”

“I understand that ma’am. But I have evidence of Menahem Halevi’s intentions.”

Murati nodded at Semyonova, who began a transfer.

She had been preparing an edited version of Menahem’s communications with them.

Muting any sensitive words but letting the recordings run their course otherwise.

“I had to censor some personal information for my own security and again I must apologize for how that might look. But this is the leader of this group, threatening us and making clear her intentions. Even in this state, it must be clear that she has ulterior motives, right?”

On the other end of the video call, Sidonie was clearly reviewing what Murati had sent her.

At times she did look perturbed. Menahem’s bearing had been quite vicious in that video call.

“Murati– is it your intention to implore me to stop the rioting?” Sidonie asked.

“I would hope disseminating this information would raise some concerns in your group.”

Sidonie shut her eyes and breathed out a sigh.

“That’s just the thing Murati– this is not ‘my’ group. This revolution belongs to us all.”

“You organized the biggest chat room for this– surely you can pass this information around?”

Murati could feel it again– her fingers brimmed with nervous energy. Was she losing her?

“Murati– yes, I can do that. I plan to do that. This information concerns me greatly. However, that will not stop the rioting and I’m afraid it will not even slow it down. Some people will believe this, some will have concerns, and some might leave entirely– but the people here are not going to go home for you or for me. All I can do is raise the issue.”

Of course it could have never been that easy. Obviously it could never be so.

But for a moment she had fooled herself. She wanted to believe in an alternative.

“But– Sidonie– they will see that the Judeans–”

Sidonie shook her head.

“It’s just as I said– many people will believe this is a disinformation campaign to break us up.”

“But– is there anyone who could be convinced– that might be able to–”

“No, Murati. That is the nature of a decentralized movement– that is the beauty of it, in fact.”

She started to smile.

She was clearly nervous, maybe just as nervous as Murati, but she smiled.

Her seemingly carefree demeanor gave Murati chills.

“Madam, they are going to be slaughtered. If this continues– it won’t lead to your victory.”

Sidonie reached out a hand as if trying to touch Murati through the screen.

“Captain, even if I could talk them all into stopping what they are doing I would not do so. I do not want to do so. It goes against everything that I believe. I want each of these persons, and this group as a whole, to make for themselves what decisions they think are justified. That is the freedom that I want them to have. That is the freedom they are fighting for. Whether or not it is safe, or helpful for us, or whether it is a doomed endeavor– they should make that decision, not us. Anarchism for me, holds above all else this level of agency– it is not convenient, it is not easy to explain, but it is right, Murati. You won’t find our ‘Captain’ whom you can talk to into marching all his troops back home. I hope you understand.”

Murati was on the verge of tears. This was pure madness to her. She needed it to stop.

“I’m going to open fire on them, madam. If they come here, or if they harm my comrades.”

“That is your decision, Captain, and I would not interfere with it either. My standard for you is no different.” The elderly teacher smiled at Murati. “Thank you for what you have provided for us. I will talk with my own trusted comrades. At the very least, they should know that these folks might have ulterior motives. But they will decide what to do after that.”

“I suppose that’s all I can ask. Thank you.” Murati said.

When the video call disconnected, Murati practically collapsed on her chair.

She wanted to scream.

There was no avoiding it then– they would have to slaughter the Aachen Citizen’s Guard.

Murati would never forgive Menahem Halevi– if she got her hands on that witch–

“Captain!”

Fatima turned over her shoulder with wide eyes.

This was it– Murati shared the same terror that she saw in those eyes.

“Something just launched from the Antenora! I think it’s that Diver again!” Fatima said.

Murati’s heart sank. She hadn’t a moment’s reprieve. She had to jump back into action.

“Semyonova, Shalikova has to launch now! Right now!” Murati shouted.

This was completely insane– everything was out of control.

On the main screen, one of the Brigand’s cameras caught sight of something superficially quite similar to the Jagdkaiser launching from the adjacent berth. The computer analyzed its bearing and their data suggested– it was heading right in the direction of the Mycenaean assault carrier that Astra had called them about. That meant the situation had acquired a new, ugly layer of complexity– Murati would also have to defy Norn in defense of Astra.

“Send this information to Astra!” Murati said. “Can we launch anyone else?”

“The Rostock can launch Dimmitra in a Jagd.” Aatto said. “And I can launch in the Agni.”

Murati felt a sharp pain in her head. It wasn’t just Aatto– Karuniya would have to launch too.

The conditions for success ahead of the costs–

She had already promised Karuniya not to patronize or coddle her.

And for their ocean-going drones to work properly the Agni had to be in the water.

“Aatto, go to Karuniya and prepare to launch the Agni. We need the HELIOS network up.”

Aatto nodded her head and smiled at Murati. Was she pleased with this choice?

She dashed out of the bridge as soon as ordered, leaving the Commissar’s chair empty.

Without another word said. Of course– she was her loyal adjutant.

“Euphrates, can you assist me in Aatto’s place for now?” Murati said.

“Absolutely.”

Euphrates practically threw back her own chair as she quickly took Aatto’s.

Nodding to Murati and patting her on the shoulder for support.

She quickly got herself acquainted with Aatto’s instruments.

“Captain,” Semyonova said, “We’re receiving a priority call from the Rostock.”

“Damn it. Explain to Astra if she calls us– I’ll take the Rostock in my monitor.” Murati said.

Now what?!

On the captain’s monitor where Sidonie had been, Daphne Triantafallos appeared instead.

Her expression was controlled but her voice betrayed her nerves.

“Murati, I’ve got bad news.” She said. “Dora and Magdeburg just detected the Greater Imbria bearing for Aachen from northern Rhein-Sieg-Kries, accompanied by a small fleet. They’re making a full-ahead dash, and they have the speed to make it a threat. The Volkisch will have forces in Aachen within hours, maybe as soon as one or two if they don’t mind replacing a few pumps. I’ve ordered our frigates to skirmish, but they may not even slow them down.”

“Thank you, Daphne. I will see if the John Brown can join the skirmish.” Murati said.

Maybe Burke had some GIA trick for getting the docking clamps off without making a mess.

Not that Murati had faith in anything going right at this juncture.

“Tell them to be very careful. I’ve got a bad feeling about this Murati.” Daphne said.

She left the call.

Enough was happening at once now that Murati started feeling somewhat numb.

Even this was nowhere near the end of her troubles.

“Murati, sorry to pile on!” Zachikova shouted. “We’ve got something on the upper floors!”

Murati almost wanted to throw herself from her chair.

“What something?” She asked.

Then she noticed that Zachikova did not look like her typical, amused self with the situation.

Her eyes were turning a little red, her hands were shaking.

She looked small– too small.

“We’ve got sensors going off. In the government sector. Hazard sensors.” Zachikova said.

Everyone on the bridge, who had once been taken by a cacophonous activity, went suddenly quiet. Hazard sensors meant chemical or biological– fire and flooding had their own types.

“How many sensors? Can you tell what’s happening?” Murati asked, her own voice faltering.

Zachikova looked at her with a haunted expression. “Like– all of them. A lot of them.”

She mapped the sensors being tripped to probable positions in the government sector–

And on the wireframe map of Aachen–

It appeared as though everything in the station’s peak was flashing warnings–

except the Kleyn estate.

Council Assembly, the Station Citizen Center, the Government Habitat, Central CPU Control–

Flashing red everywhere–

Alongside the cameras filled with brutal images of dying rioters–

and the sonar tracking the divers–

“Murati I think– I think someone just gassed everyone in the government module.”

All of the lights, all of the sounds, washing over the bridge with a pure madness.


After Descent, Year 976

Aetherometry: Purple (ABERRANT)

“We shouldn’t have come here.”

Menahem’s lip trembled as she spoke. Bubbles escaped from her nose and mouth.

Traveling slowly up the fluid in which she was completely submerged.

Fluid that had filled her lungs and yet not drowned her.

Sickly-sweet with an aftertaste like iron. A strangely glossy mouthfeel.

Her tears traveled down her cheek and did not join the fluid, like oil separated from water.

On her knees out of sheer terror in the middle of the vast temple of flesh–

Temple– that was the only way she could describe it–

Ridged walls like the flesh of a vast throat bent into a ceiling supported by rib-like structures. Beneath her there was no ground but soft almost postulant flesh like a membrane she feared piercing through. Irregular in its makeup, rising and falling, with red and blue sinews spreading through it. More alarming was the seeming infestation of purple crystals that seemed to spear the flesh in every direction, growing out of the ground and diving through the ceiling, the bases of each stalactite and stalagmite surrounded in scarred flesh. Casting off irregular bolts of power that drew bubbling blood from the surrounding flesh. Menahem could only like it to a malignancy, cancerous growth, burdening the flesh, and yet the intermittent pulses of purple light only heightened the feeling of divinity.

Outside the temple, through the gaps in its ribs and through the ventral opening,

a vast fleshy landscape stretched out in all directions.

Long fields of strange pale reeds growing out of the rolling hills of bone, sinew and flesh, blood and mucus, with strange clouds of purple color blowing in and out of the surroundings like a luscent storm. Dancing in the strange waters she saw pale, eyeless leviathans and strange protoplasmic floating creatures and long-forgotten extinct animals in a perversion of nature– or perhaps in its truest, untouched form, preserved in this sweet bloody amber that troubled Menahem’s eyes and filled her body. All of them moving in the water despite what should have been immense pressure, what should have been crushing, hopeless death in the very bottom of the world. Her nervous breathing and the shaking under her skin felt like too simple a response to the unfathomable place she found herself marooned in.

An alien paradise littered with steel debris, sunken hulks.

Some rusted, partially absorbed into the flesh.

Others freshly deposited, the sediment of humanity in this great uncaring beast whose life transpired enormously around them to a degree that they could never understand.

Whose breadth had supported them throughout their existence.

Menahem’s mind struggled to cope with the insane feeling that this was Aer.

This was Aer— it was Aer herself–

Then, within the mistifying flesh temple in which she found herself–

A group of ray-like animals that had been resting on some structure became fearful of her approach. She must have been the first human they had seen in an eternity.

With a strange bellow the animals lifted off like a swarm of bats and blew past her.

Their departing biomasses unveiling something that had been buried in this place by happenstance– that had fallen from perhaps a swallowed-up continent–

There was a statue that they had all been perching on.

A statue of a woman– a Shimii woman at that. Cast eternal in untarnished metal.

On a plaque at its base,

Menahem found a name in large type and a deed of unknown enormity.

Writing which, against all odds, she could perfectly read as if in Low Imbrian–

Solamund Dunyanin

Venerated founder of the Aer Federation

Through war, famine, and collapse, she traveled the Terra Fracta,

Each step in blood and track of mud, an Aerean hope for Humanity

And the promise of a Human future in this and every world

Year One, Aera Invicta

Menahem could see her.

She stood before Menahem not as a statue out of time but as a woman frozen in it, her light brown skin and tall cat-like ears and her small fluffy tail and shiny mane of golden brown hair billowing as if stood before an eternal wind. Her regal bearing, the sleek brass dress wrapped tight around her body. Solamund Dunyanin stood before her a titan amid this landscape of flesh. Menahem looked up at her and her eternally mourning eyes looked back in silent pain. Menahem could see the audience around her under an open sky, the millions and billions cheering her from every corner of the world as she became the symbol that brought them out of chaos, death, mutual self-destruction and hopelessness–

Revered to the point of inhumanity– elevated beyond the point of agency–

A God who could have only failed.

A world that could have only broken again.

And tears that could have never taken it all back.

Mistakes– all of the mistakes– singed into her skin until it was hard as this statue–

Menahem’s mind reeled, shuddered, faced with the enormity of this presence–

she could hear–

Voices,

whispering in her ears as if their lips were pressed close to her–

and she felt dead hands grasping

tearing and peeling and caressing every inch of this woman they could grab in reverence–

dozens, hundreds, thousands, millions, wept at her back and tried to comfort and sway her–

She was betrayed, she never stood a chance–

Her creation was perverted–

Forgive her, her resolve was for humanity–

Without her there would none of us left–

She’s innocent–

Forgive her failures, forgive her crimes–

An infinitude of voices and an infinitude of hands grasped at Menahem,

gentle and pleading with her–

It felt as if entire generations of people wanted her to consider their lamentation–

In that moment, however, she chose to listen to Tamar Livnat.

Stepping forward through the flesh as if confronting the statue, as if piercing its majesty–

Raising a hand to the plaque and curling her fingers like claws as if she wished to scratch it off. Unlike Menahem, the professor had no moment of sublimity with this fallen icon.

No empathy.

“This proves it.” Tamar said, staring at the statue with a wild gaze.

“The Shimii were responsible.” She said. Wreathed in a bright purple cloak of colors.

Menahem looked upon the Professor as she found the final piece of her grand work.

In that moment of vulnerability, pliability, her words rang loudest–

“This Shimii, and the polity she founded– it was the Shimii who damned us Judeans.”

And Menahem chose, in the hour of this gargantuan madness, to believe utterly in her.

“Menahem, are you seeing it–? This is the answer I’ve been waiting for–”

She stood upon the fleshy earth and joined her professor before the profane monument.

Despite the whispering voices begging and trying to pry open her mind and heart–

Menahem chose to believe Tamar Livnat and to close herself off from this place of sublimity.

Just as she followed her to this hell at the end of the world–

she followed her to the hell of their own making.

“It was always true. It was the Shimii who condemned us all.”

Menahem chose to forever discard the maddening, inexplicable empathy of that moment,

and embrace a white uniform and black steel against all thought of mercy.


Previous ~ Next

The Past Will Come Back As A Tidal Wave [13.12]

After Descent, Year 935

Through the enormous archway gate strode a lone figure, dwarfed by her surroundings. A blond ponytail billowed in her wake as the artificial wind blew past her. Her lithe figure clad in armor, her stark red eyes unblinking, fair pink skin sweat-slick with bangs that stuck to her forehead. Small, insignificant wounds failed to mar her striking beauty. At any other time she would have been a majestic warrior striding proudly into the Holy Land.

On that day, she was the malefactor who had come to bury it.

Her powered armor was covered in so much blood that it began to stick in the segment gaps as if she herself were sweating or extruding gore. Her vibrosword’s blade had begun to chip from the amount of clashes it had endured. Her exertions were clear in her shaking hands and the slight limp with which she walked. She was not deterred. She had forced open the double doors on the archway gate and slipped through, grinning throughout.

At the top of Augusta’s Core Station, the remaining Royal Guard held the high courtyard.

Three figures in imposing suits of Knight-class powered armor, each a relic of the most masterful stitchcraft found in Imbria. Standing a few heads clear of an ordinary soldier.

Surrounded by the chattering birds, false winds, an artificial sunset and beautiful gardens.

Norn Tauscherer walked with her sword in hand, dragging that slight limp along.

Dripping her victim’s blood onto the pristine white tiles and masonry.

She stopped halfway to the inner courtyard.

Where the last of the knights stood guard atop the Nocht mausoleum.

Beneath that beautiful park, through a circular access-way, an entire dynasty was buried.

Perhaps in Norn’s wake they would be exumed and destroyed.

Such a thought must have been in the minds of the figures as they turned fully to face her.

In turn with their movements, she shifted her grip on her sword to hold it with two hands.

Holding it in front of her, a shaking, quivering threat.

“So this is the ‘Holy Land of Augusta’? I find it a bit morbid for knights to take their leisure over the corpses of the Emperors– but ultimately fitting!” Norn burst out laughing. “You will have your final rest here with them! Come, remnants of the Royal Knights! By decree of Emperor Fueller, your forces in the Guard will cease to exist entirely!”

Her mad, cackling face reflected on the glass visors built into the Knights’ helmets.

Then a thrum, sliding metal–

One of the knights engaged the vibromotor on his sword, drew it from its sheathe–

He practically leaped the half-length of the entire courtyard to meet Norn’s blade.

Suspended in mid-air, bringing his entire weight to bare on the woman.

A sharp sound rang out as steel met steel.

For a moment the air stilled.

From the perspective of the knights, there was no transition between the clash of blades and their comrade Knight’s arm completely sliding to the floor in a waterfall of blood. Sliced clean through the thin aperture between the under-arm and the shoulder. His sword fell to the ground along with the limb. He stumbled back, in shock– fell to his knees, at first– and then laid on his back. Speaking not one word. Staring at Norn the entire time.

Norn saw her own smile reflected back at her, on the dark visor emptied of the life within.

She turned to the remaining two Knights, as if taunting them to join the attack.

Instead, one of the Knights took off her helmet. Copious red hair streamed down her back.

“Loup volshebstvo, like Daybringer’s power.” She said.

Norn shifted the grip on her sword back to one hand.

“Daybringer was felled by a common man. I am the true strength of Imbria.”

Her remaining hand was visibly shaking.

Not with the fear of anyone, nor even with the anger oft attributed to her demeanor.

Rather, her nerves were completely frayed from all of the slaughter.

Her sword took its toll on her with every person killed, and so many had been.

Muscles screaming with every limb shorn, with every throat cut, chest plunged through.

She had never killed so many people in a single day of her entire life.

However– she had known that it was possible.

After all, she had killed Mehmed the Tyrant and ended the Shimii’s Age of Heroes.

And now– it was time to put an end to another age. One much more deserving to die.

With those shaking hands and tear-stained eyes and her vacant, mad grin.

That grin that her face seemed to have frozen into.

“Tell me– bannerman Tauscherer, what do you see in Konstantin? In the Fueller family?”

The Knight woman stood at the edge of the inner courtyard, a few paces from Norn.

Leaving her enough room to move, in case a traditional fight broke out. Rather than one in which Norn used her abilities to batter them around ignorant of how they died. Norn appreciated the gesture, however. She was running on so much adrenaline and nobody had even tried to talk to her. Not that it would help– the order was to purge all of the Royal Guards for refusing to acknowledge Fueller control over Heitzing and the Empire.

Norn’s breathing had grown so heavy that she found it difficult to speak.

“What– I see in them?” Norn asked.

Her body began to feel so heavy. Her head was swimming.

“Who even are you?” She hated that she had paused to speak.

“I am Amaryllis Skoll.” Said the Knight. “In vain I have commanded hundreds of my brothers and sisters in arms to use any available means to put a stop to you. You have cleaved through everything that has been thrown in front of you. It was a hopeless battle for us, but you fought even more desperately. Before I throw myself in front of the storm of savagery you represent, I need to know– what drives you to execute us with such fury?”

“Out with the old, in with the new.” Norn said.

She barely thought about what she would say. She felt like her brain was shaking.

“A mere disdain of tradition spurs you on this strongly?”

Norn paused, put her free hand to her chest– feeling nothing but armor.

Foolish– she had almost forgotten how laden she was with metal.

She wanted to hold her own pounding chest, but it was impossible.

Instead, the pause gave her time to gather her breath and straighten out her posture.

In her armor, Amaryllis Skoll was over two heads taller than Norn.

“Konstantin is different than all of you.” Norn said. She drew in more breath, steadied herself further, enough to think of what to say. “He’s a cowardly tinkerer whose entire life was destroyed by your traditions. Your ineffable systems of power crumpled him like paper and threw him away. He lost his father, most of his family, and any chance of the privileged life he once led. Everything you believe in dictated that he should fold before his God-made-King and feel lucky to be alive, living his days in shame. But instead, he fought back. He spat in the divinity of your Emperor. Konstantin– is a hope for change. His fear, banality and greed has destroyed your ancient rules. Perhaps he will destroy even more. And in that destruction, amid all these tragedies, there is the possibility of change and a form of equality. Even you pompous Royal Guard are now struggling in the tide with the rest of us wretches.”

Amaryllis Skoll dropped her sword. It was so sudden that Norn brought up hers.

There was no danger.

The Knight pressed a catch in her armor and the plates began to slide apart.

In the middle of all that metal, a much smaller woman stepped out.

Still taller than Norn but by nowhere near as much.

Standing amid the sacred ground of the Nocht mausoleum, she kneeled.

Clasping her hands in prayer.

“Very well. I am moved by your words. I will die here as an equal to you, Norn Tauscherer. May you find your liberty and equality in slaughtering this wretch. May all these tragedies and the tragedies to come, forge a better Imbria by your brutal blade.” She said.

There was no bitterness in her voice. She spoke with a strange dignity.

Behind her, the remaining knight, incredulous at first, resigned himself to the same.

Leaving his armor, kneeling on the floor, and clasping his hands.

Shaking and weeping but completely faithful, just as Knight Skoll.

Norn had no good humor toward this display of submission.

She wished she had never talked to this woman and admitted anything she felt.

Her own feelings toward everything she was doing became suddenly so conflicted.

Killing all of them because they were in the way was simple and possible.

Now– killing these two because they had given up their hope to her–

An action that urged her to realize the lofty ideals which she had spoken–

That felt impossible.

There was nothing she could say to them in return.

There was also no turning back.

Norn held her breath, and the world stopped while her chest contracted with pain.

Ignoring the slow death she was inflicting upon herself, she walked closer.

Plunging her sword into each of their chests, making sure to rend their hearts.

Pulling it out completely clean.

And then, with her next breath, watching the blood erupt from them onto the floor.

Staining with gore the green grasses and flowers planted atop the Nocht emperors.

Their bodies dropped onto the soil face down as if to behold their masters.

Leaving Norn the sole living, thinking being left in Augusta Station.

Afraid to put down her sword, she dragged it, and her worsening limp, away from the scene.

Breaking out into both laughter and sobs.


After Descent, Year 979

Tick tock, tick tock, tick, tock–

Norn struck herself on the head–

“Where the hell is that racket coming from–?”

She paused in front of the people conveyor and grit her teeth.

Aachen station lay dead ahead. She had to save Adelheid at any cost.

Her momentary pause was just long enough for someone to catch up–

A nasally voice echoed through the empty corridors out of Stockheim.

“Norn! Norn stop! I’m comin’ with ya! Wait for me!”

Norn sighed. “No you won’t. You’ll just slow me down.”

“Norn, look at me– I’m goin’. For you and for Addie!”

Behind her, Hunter III had outfitted herself a bit differently. She had pilfered a nanomail bodysuit and stuck a few haphazard plates on it, clearly not knowing where they ought to go. It clung to her skinny frame so tightly, and without her cloak, it showed how thin and nearly insubstantial she always seemed– despite her appetite. Her tail, however, had grown fatter and longer, and stretched to the floor behind her. Her pale hair with its little blue stripe, her pale complexion, and that girlish appearance, her confident, bloodthirsty little grin–

“If you come along I won’t be able to use Temporal Control to make up time.” Norn said.

Even if her heart exploded in the process, it would slow down Mycenae considerably–

“Ya don’t need to! Amur and me, we’ll all help ya find Addie way faster!” Hunter III said.

Norn hesitated. She didn’t want to endanger anyone else– she worked better alone–

“She’s right, Norn. You’re already making a mistake. Don’t cross out of Stockheim.”

In Norn’s earpiece, sounded Amur’s voice, from the bridge of the Antenora.

She briefly saw the woman on her glass visor, her purple sportcoat and kepi hat, her silky blueish hair. Tipping her hat, she disappeared and a map of the station replaced her.

“Tell me where the fuck to go.” Norn said, gripping the handle of her sword with anger.

On the map, the route Amur had chosen appeared for her to peruse.

“Stockheim meets the Aachen Massif through an old cargo tunnel that leads to an industrial elevator. This elevator was never managed by the central CPU and has direct access plugs. It’s really old, but it’s built to last and still running. Take the electronic warfare gear I gave you and head to the elevator. We can take it the top and another cargo tunnel will connect you to the top of the station. As far as I can tell Mycenae has not yet realized this is a giant backdoor to them. If we can use an elevator and our enemies can’t, we’ll outpace the whole charade and take them by surprise. We just have to watch out for enemies along the way.”

“Amur, we can’t unclamp, so the enemy is already here somewhere.” Norn said. “If Hunter III is tagging along with me, then I want you to send Yurii and Petra out and find out what’s happening with the Stockheim authority in the control tower. Tell Yurii she’s free to kill anyone hostile. We need to take action right now to get on top of this mess.”

“Acknowledged. I’ll also monitor the naval situation and send Selene out if needed.”

“Good. Urge her to be patient for now. I’ll bring Adelheid back.”

Norn looked at Hunter III who had been waiting expectantly throughout that conversation.

We’ll bring her back.” Hunter III said. “I’ll be so useful and cool Norn, ya don’ even know–”

“Don’t make me regret this already. Follow me. Don’t do anything I don’t tell you to.”

Hunter III saluted with a big, toothy smile on her face.

As she ran back deeper into Stockheim with Hunter III at her side, Norn could not help but burn into her mind the sight of the Aachen core across the way from the people conveyor. She grit her teeth with anger, hoping and praying that Amur had the right idea and hating herself for not seeing something like this on the horizon. She felt like a fool for not realizing how dangerous it was for them to rub shoulders with Herta Kleyn. At any second, whether it was the Volkisch or Mycenae or someone else– she and her family had the sword of damocles hanging over their heads, and Norn simply allowed Adelheid to stand under it with them! She should have forbidden her these tea parties and should not have allowed the Antenora to have any leisure. This was war– and she had been caught sleeping!

Now everyone was twitching in random directions like their heads had been cut off.

Likely their neighbors in the docks were reacting to the crisis in some way as well.

Hopefully the Pandora’s Box would become involved and at least slow down the chaos.

Amur’s arrival had been timely– without her, Norn would have been lost.

Not that she would admit it to the flamboyant little immortal.

Without the hacker to support and ground her, she would have let her anger take control.

“Norn, I’ve been monitoring the station through the use of unsecured cameras and devices,” Amur said, “I believe that the enemy used optical stealth technology to sneak their forces and gear into the station to wipe out the Uhlans. I’ve seen them appearing and disappearing on cameras– I think they are using shields with something similar to active camouflage tarp material. But the visual effect has a higher fidelity with regards to the surroundings. It’s like they can become completely invisible, but it must have some kind of defect we can use.”

Active camouflage tarps could make it appear as though the object they were laid upon was not there, and they adapted and blended in with the surroundings– however, on closer inspection, the colors the tarp adopted were greatly distorted and made it seem like there was a “melted” spot where they stood. It worked decently in areas with false foliage, or facilities with long sightlines. It could also fool cameras employing algorithmic surveillance. A human staring closely at a spot with an active camouflage tarp would be able to pick out that something was wrong. Patrols retained some importance for the military due to the possibility of such technologies to target and fool predictor computers.

Norn would not be fooled by a camouflage tarp– but it did color the situation in further.

These invaders had come prepared and given their scenario some thought.

“I’ll keep an out. They are probably laying traps and ambushes.” Norn said.

“Be especially careful in the cargo tunnels.” Amur said. “If my hypothesis is correct, then the militia that took over Tier Two must have come in from the abandoned parts of the Aachen Massif– it’s the only place where they could have concentrated forces. Even with optical stealth, someone would have seen them if they massed hundreds of gunmen and dozens of drones in the station itself. That means you might run into either their rear guard or possibly their main force within the Aachen Massif itself. Be wary of optical stealth, Norn.”

“Got it. I have a few tricks up my sleeve too, as you very well know.”

“Yes– but I also know the toll those ‘tricks’ take on you. Please come back safely.”

Amur’s voice had the tone of someone who did not only care about the mission or her pay.

Norn hated her sympathy– but she would accept it to avoid a stupid argument.

“Just keep me posted, Old Engineer. I want your support, not your tears.”

“Acknowledged. I’m sorry.”

While they ran down the steps back into the lower docks, Norn turned to Hunter III. She was keeping up effortlessly, smiling as she ran. There was hardly any doubt that she was physically strong. But Norn still felt a bit of angst over the limitations a companion set on her abilities– if she used temporal control, Hunter III would also be stopped or slowed down. Only Norn could move in the bubble of time. The rest of the world waited only for her.

She would have to be mindful of how her ability affected Hunter III.

However– the skinny little lady had her uses too.

“Norn–” Hunter III shouted, “I heard all ah’ that! I can sniff ‘em out!”

No amount of optical stealth could hide from Hunter III’s hunger for meat.

“Keep your nose up then! If you smell something off, pounce!” Norn said.

Back down in the berths, Norn arrived in time to see Yurii setting off the opposite direction, to investigate the Stockheim control area. Norn waved her off and she saluted, and they ran their separate ways. Thankfully the Pandora’s Box had not yet deployed any personnel outside. Norn had hoped to avoid any awkward meetings with them, though she could not help but be curious about their situation in Aachen’s most chaotic day. Some part of her wished Korabiskaya and all of them whatever little luck her spiteful heart could muster.

“North along the berths, and into the storage area. From there, the cargo tunnel.” Amur said.

Norn saw the map in her visor update to show the way.

Nodding to Hunter III, they took off running along the vast wall of ships berthed at their flank. Each representing dozens to hundreds of people caught up in this chaos despite themselves. If the militia had taken over Stockheim’s control tower they could cause massive damage and loss of life by simply unclamping every ship at once and letting the natural currents just smash them into the walls and tear away the connecting chutes to the dock. That they were not doing this suggested something of their agenda. Their forces did not pose a credible threat to Volkisch power writ large, but they had the strength to crush the Uhlan– and that was the strength needed to plunder the station of anything valuable.

And perhaps live to fight another day after that.

Not merely chaos, but a calculated plot with risks and profits.

Good luck with that.

Norn had no grudge with them except that which they had with her.

And the same applied to Mycenae– if Adelheid came back to her, that was that.

Anyone in the way of her rescue effort would die.

Beneath the well-tended landing halls, the glitzy lobbies for frequent travelers, far out of sight of the people conveyors and the offices staffed with processing personnel– Norn and Hunter III descended into the bare metal guts of Stockheim. On the other side of the tower from the berths, attached in staggered square modules, were storage rooms occupied and traveled mostly by shipping containers awaiting either exit or entry into a ship, or the distribution of their contents to businesses and entities within the station. As the volume of commercial traffic reduced owing to the Imbrian political crisis, the lowest of the storage levels became disused, and the home of discarded, overturned, broken-down and scrapped containers strewn about, a labyrinth of wrought-iron corpses with ribbed rectangular shells.

With Amur’s assistance, getting through the upper storage levels was a simple affair.

Amur could do nothing about the mess found further below.

“There are no functioning cameras from here to the elevator. I’m sorry.”

“Got it. Radio silence. We’ll contact you.”

No spoken voice. If there’s any place for an ambush it would be here.

Norn sent Hunter III a psychic missive as they approached the maze-like environment.

Got it. Hey– watch this!

Hunter III approached one of the walls near them.

She reached out her arm, outstretched every digit, and laid her palm on the wall.

Then she showed Norn that her feet were bare. She wiggled her toes.

One foot on the wall– the second hand on the wall–

Quietly, she began to clamber up the walls and even onto the ceiling above.

Don’ see nothin’ yet. But if there’s any snacks out there, ol’ Hunter III has ‘em!

Norn was beginning to reconsider how useful Hunter III could prove.

With Hunter III on literal overwatch, Norn withdrew her sidearm and stepped forward. Ahead of her there was a wall of overturned containers, with one open on both ends and serving as a sort of tunnel through the rest. All others appeared to have been dumped around it at haphazard angles. Some were whole, but many of them had plates out of place, rust eating at their structures or were completely shattered. There was one particularly volatile-looking stack to the right of the tunnel that she did not want to attempt to climb. The other end of the tunnel was too dark– the lights that still worked were distant and intermittent. She resolved to move through it, with her weapon at the ready. It was the quickest and safest way to avoid the obstacle without making too much noise in the process.

I smell somethin’. Hominin. Dunno where. Close.

Norn nodded her head to no one who could see her.

Wary, she stepped gingerly into the open container. Minding the noises she made.

At her sides, the ribs on the walls of the container gave her a sense of progress.

Three ribs in, six ribs in, nine ribs in, eighteen ribs in total–

A distant thud– she paused, aiming her pistol forward.

Her head pierced by a sharp pain. Dust suspended in the air around her.

She had held her breath out of habit and invoked Temporal Control.

Norn let out and sucked in a quick breath, as quiet as she could to dispel the effect.

It was not often that a situation made her nervous–

It was not often that a situation was so out of her control.

Setting her jaw, she advanced to the square aperture across from her.

Step by step, eyes set on the intermittent dimness ahead.

Still smellin’ it– maybe hidin’ in one of the boxes.

What does it look like ahead of me?

The boxes make a lil path– it bends like an L sorta.

Norn was re-reconsidering the usefulness of Hunter III’s reconnaissance.

At the far edge of the container, Norn stepped outside decisively.

Turning her weapon to one corner, and then the next–

Finding nothing.

There were more containers scattered about, and they indeed formed a bend.

Then–

Another thud–!

Norn turned her gun on the direction of the sound.

She could not see anything.

Was she sure there was no optical stealth at play?

An idea formed in her mind.

Norn, her weapon up and her gaze scanning the surroundings, approached one of the containers forming the “wall” in front of her. Up above, she could see Hunter III hanging from the ceiling. Hunter III had smelled something, and Norn continued to hear these low noises, thudding on the metal– she found a container door that was structurally sound and also locked, with a piece of steel bar jammed through where a lock would go.

She pulled it out, stacked to the side of the door, and pulled it open.

With a quick movement, she stepped in the container and brought her weapon to bear.

Muffled cries in response.

As the lights above flashed with brief power, Norn saw faces in the container.

Found your ‘hominin’. Looks like they took prisoners.

Norn holstered her pistol briefly.

“Quit crying. I’m not going to hurt you.”

With the lights dimming again, she found it difficult to make out the right shape.

Fumbling her fingers against someone’s face she finally released the gag on their mouth.

“Solceanos defend, thank you, thank you.” They cried out.

Norn waited for the lights to flash up again and made note of where they were bound.

Using a heat knife, she cut through their restraints.

The captives were dock workers. Hands bound, mouths gagged, stuffed into a crate.

“I can’t thank you enough. It was these guys with white uniforms. They showed up out of nowhere, waving guns! We didn’t see them coming, none of us did! They took over the control tower– some of them drove us down here and stuffed us into this crate. It all happened so fast. We heard there was a commotion in the Core, but this is just insane.”

“How many?” Norn asked, a grim feeling in her chest.

“I don’t know– I didn’t see many. I surrendered to maybe five or six guys?”

Only five or six? She expected twenty or thirty!

“And that many took over the tower, and captured all of you?”

“We didn’t have any weapons! And we couldn’t reach any security!”

How weak– but she supposed this group couldn’t hijack any ships themselves.

Their situation was especially hopeless against a certain mercenary band.

And against Yurii– she at least had faith they could take the tower back now.

“A diversionary recon group.” Norn said. “Ahead of their main force.”

The lights flashed again. She could see the confusion in the worker’s eyes.

Norn sighed. She handed them the heat knife.

“Free everyone here and get back to the docks. I came and went unmolested.”

The worker nodded their head, took the knife, and turned to their comrades.

Norn left the mound of tied bodies and muffled cries.

She tapped her ear to get Amur’s attention again.

“An enemy scouting group has taken over the Stockheim Tower.” Norn said.

“I’ll let Yurii know. She is about begin clearing the control tower.” Amur said.

Move toward the next container lot. Norn sent a psionic missive to Hunter III.

Gotcha.

Up above, Hunter III crawled on all fours across the ceiling.

Norn followed her through the containers, trying to pick up the pace.

Ahead, there was a small set of steps descending into another container room. Hunter III continued to crawl along the roof while Norn ran under her. To her relief, the next room over looked clearer of storage containers, without the kind of mess she was leaving behind. The lights were also more consistent, though several clusters were broken, and the place was still rather dim overall. From a distance, however, she could see figures in the room.

Hiding near the bottom of the steps, angled away from the pair, Norn observed.

One figure, a bit plump, pink hair, her voice a little more nasally– a girl perhaps?

Wearing a familiar teal jacket–

Across from her, what looked like a lean, long-haired, slightly masculine lass in a brown jacket that reminded her of what smugglers or Katarran tough-guys tended to wear.

And around them both

Two Kolibri-class drones armed with light weapons circling menacingly.

Hunter III, do you see this?

Yep, yep, yep. They talkin’– sounds like you and Addie do sometimes. Lover’s spat.

Shut up. Pay attention. I’m going to move in– once the drones are destroyed, pounce on the one with the brown jacket. And don’t rip her throat out– just knock her out. Are we clear?

Ye–

Norn did not await further confirmation.

She felt almost a brief instant of dizziness as time slowed and her life seized up.

Across the container storage, the couple framed in the light noticed her.

Moving a quarter of the speed but– moving–!

Turning around to meet her gaze, to meet her charge–

Ever-so-slightly quicker turned the nimble little drones around them–

Swinging their bases, guns circling– slow but agonizingly mobile–

Norn moved in nearly face to face with a floating gun barrel,

when she heard the slowed click that presaged its attack,

and saw the glow within the barrel–

Sword swing quicker still, unburdened by the temporal control.

Slicing one drone in half, she flowed gracefully into her attack on the second.

Ducked under the barrel, a shot rang out in her ear, over her shoulder–

Striking with the flat of her blade she sent the drone crashing to the floor.

A heap of metal debris as Norn took a deep breath and nearly seized up with chest pain.

Behind her, she heard a loud thud and a sharp cry and felt the weight of something drop.

Hunter III had pounced with precision, taking down the Katarran.

“Oh my god!” cried the girl in the teal jacket, nearly falling over from shock.

“Thank me later!” Norn said, gasping for breath.

She signaled for Hunter III to follow her and took off in sudden run.

Leaving behind the “lovers” and their spat for the Pandora’s Box to clean up.

Norn felt herself wavering. Her heart pounding, her lungs fighting for breath–

Feeling the urgency of the situation weighing her down with every passing moment. Even the drones had been able to move under Temporal Control– they were slowed down, but they should have been prevented entirely. Norn felt her vulnerability far too acutely. If this hooligan and these toys could move under it, a Mycenean Merarch or worse–

She hardly wanted to even entertain the notion.

Nor did she even understand why her powers were waning at a time like this.

Back in Sverland, everything had been working, right–?

No– even back then– some of the guards had been moving–

Her mind raced to try to put it all together in a way where she still won–

“Norn! Ya can’t jus’ take off like that!” Hunter III shouted, trying to keep up.

Norn hit the next set of steps and ran so hard that she felt her legs scream.

Her vision became foggy and distorted, metal corridors warping around her.

Mouth dry, throat burning, chest painful and tight–

At the top of the steps, she saw the bridge between Stockheim and the Aachen Massif.

A cylinder of metal with several layers, surrounding a steel path to a bulkhead door.

“Norn!” Hunter III shouted, rushing up the steps.

“Norn!”

That second cry was in her ear–

Norn stopped at the top of the steps. Her body felt cold. Sweating profusely.

There was a sudden, frightening recognition– had she just had a panic attack?

Her jaw hung. Her eyes teared up. She was shaking–

“Norn, we’ve got a Mycenean Trojan Horse-class Assault ship on sonar.” Amur said. “It’s still making its way over, but if it reaches Aachen, the Myceneans can likely dock it to the top of the core and get some reinforcements in that way– do we respond to it? If their position gets too strong, I worry they won’t give up any captives too easily.”

It took a moment to process what was being said– as if Amur was speaking to someone else.

Or as if Norn was listening in on a conversation meant for her as a third person–

She struck herself in the side of her head. The pain brought her a bit of focus.

“Tell Selene to deploy. No cartridges.” Norn said tersely, doubling over.

Thankfully Amur could not see the state that Norn had put herself in.

“Is she free to open fire on it?” Amur asked, voice a bit tremulous.

For a moment, Norn gathered her breath, staring at the floor with hazy eyes.

Up until that moment, Norn had left open the possibility of snatching Adelheid out from under Mycenae and that they might have simply abandoned holding her. She was not feeling diplomatic, but it was doable. Adelheid likely held little value to them, and if they knew anything about the Imbrium in the past few years, they knew it would upset Norn to hold her adjutant. It was possible they were only holding her because they were holding everybody in the government tier until the Volkisch sorted things out, to avoid complicating the situation for themselves. If Norn and the Palaiologoi did not come to blows until she could demand Adelheid back, perhaps they could have gotten away without firing a shot at one another.

Firing on their ships would be a slight too far for a Katarran warlord–

Astra– that creature with her name entered her mind–

I can’t protect that girl. Adelheid is everything to me. I guess we were fated to fight.

“She’s free to open fire. Aim for weapon systems. But I repeat– no cartridges.”

She could hope Selene might be able to ward them off with minimal violence.

“Got it. I’ll send her out. Hopefully she cares them off.”

It was a dim hope.

The die was cast– Norn could not let Mycenae build their position any further.

She had chosen to escalate the situation, but on her own terms.

Better this than to let them have a few hundred more Numeroi worth of confidence.

Norn felt a soft pressure on her back, pushing on the power cells.

At that moment, Hunter III caught back up. She leaned on her a bit.

She could feel the flexible neck and face of the little Hunter close to her own.

“Norn, ya ran like a demon! What the heck got into you?!” Hunter III asked.

Though she did not sound like keeping up was tiring for her–

She sounded so concerned– Norn did not even want to meet her eyes.

Much less acknowledge her embrace.

“I needed to jolt myself awake.” Norn said. “Hunter III– I’ll be relying on you.”

“I ‘ave been waitin’ for this! Just let Hunter III deal with it!”

Hunter III smacked her chest, presumably to punctuate her sense of pride.

Norn stood to her full height, prompting Hunter III to step back.

Years and years ago, she stood across a room from a bulkhead just like this one. On the other side of it, Mehmed the Tyrant awaited Norn and her then-allies for their annihilating confrontation. Back then, when Norn felt the weight of his power almost seizing her in place, so palpable even hundreds of meters away– there was a woman at her side, her lithe stature and girlish expression belying a long life of uncountable tragic experiences.

“Norn, if you count yourself out here, then you’ll eventually fail.” She said.

She pointed at her own head, as if to say, it was there that the battle had begun.

To remember Euphrates of all people– but she was so brave back then.

Now, Norn stared down a closed bulkhead once again–

Behind which, she could feel no great power, no god-like threat.

Breathing deep, she slid her sword into its sheathe to recharge the vibromotor.

In its place, she withdrew her assault rifle.

She made herself grin and tried to think of how exciting it would all be.

When the bullets started flying, and swords started scraping metal-on-metal.

Norn was capable of more than just Temporal Control.

“Follow me. Eat one of your fruits and stay nimble. They won’t expect it.”

“Hehehe, the hunt begins.” She rubbed her hands together greedily.

Norn took her first steps toward the entrance to the Aachen Massif–

When she heard it again–

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock.

She grinned, maintained her stride, and she bore with the noise.

Soon enough it would be drowned out by the din of battle.


After Descent, Year 978

Katarre would have been the second largest polity in the After Descent Aer. At its height it was larger than the Imbrian Empire’s greatest extent, and it was almost as large as the Republic of Alayze that dominated most of the much larger Mare Cogitum. Owing to the flooding and collapse of large parts of the continents of Nobilis and Extremis, the Mare Crisium was exceedingly rich in resources. Once upon a time, this wealth led to a golden age of culture and technology for the Katarran Kingdom that spanned the Crisium and what would come to be known as the territory of the Warlord States. During the Golden age, Katarrans used biotechnology to obtain powerful bodies, and built unmatched weapons to protect their prosperity, such as the Golden Age power armors and the 800 mm cannons.

After the fall of the Golden Age Kingdom, the surrounding political powers took advantage of the weakness of Katarran authority. The Empire of Hanwa expanded further between Cogitum and Crisium and gained the resources and might it would need to challenge both Imbria and Alayze, as well as to sweep away the states of the Yu and Yan peoples. It helped establish the traitor warlord state of Argos in the central-eastern portion of Katarre while Alayze helped prop up the Republic of Rodos in the far eastern reaches. After the formation of the traitor states it became impossible to reunite the Kingdom as it once was, and the first generation of Warlords settled into the first Warlord territories, collectively representing a bulkwark that to this day Hanwa and Alayze have not dared to further attack.

The Mycenae Military Commission, warlord power of the Southwestern Katarre, bordering Imbria through the Vekan duchy, is not a geography traditionally associated with the centralized power of the old Kingdom. The Kingdom ruled from North-Central Katarre in what is now Thracia and its tributary states, bordering Pythia from the east. Nevertheless, Mycenae is notable as the only warlord state that still claims not only true succession to the Katarran Kingdom, but recently they even claim to host the remnants of the monarchy. Even Thracia, who hold the ruins of the primary Palace of the Palaiologoi, have long since ceased to claim they were the Katarran Kingdom or the true monarchy as a bid for legitimacy–

“Enjoying your reading, milord?”

“Yes, quite so. I am studying Katarran history and geography from an outside perspective. This a book from Imbria but written by a Katarran writer for Imbrian education.”

She lifted and turned the tablet to show the cover– “Orphans of the Earth and Sky.”

“A Katarran published in Imbria? That is rare indeed.”

Astra Palaiologos’s study in Mycenae’s Tyrin station was full of books. Whenever missing, the Warlord was easily found, a small presence surrounded by books. Sitting by the false porthole outside which abyssal fish danced their alien, bio-luminescent rhythms like murky stars in an inky sky. Always in uniform, her horns glowing dimly, copious white hair falling down her back and almost reaching the floor. She looked up from the book as if she would not have to put it down, though almost always duty compelled her to do so when visited.

Her accommodations were spartan for the supreme authority of a nation. She had a fold-out triple-wide bed with plain white sheets and plain white pillows. The walls were purple but so covered in things that the regal paint job was easy to overlook. She had a desk that was quite tidy as all of her work was computerized and arrived on the monitor and input devices sitting on its surface, so she could regard her duties at any particular hour. Overhead, she had a fancy array of lights removed and replaced with LED clusters with high-fidelity luminosity controls. She always kept her room a bit dim except for the lights by which she read.

Three of the walls contained storage for tablets, each of which held either a volume of a large book or an entire collection of related books, such as the tablet with all of the works of the Eloim political economist Levi Mordecai, or the writings of the Elven fascist Mikola Spiritus. Besides this there was a coveted little treasure chest in one corner, containing a handful of actual stone paper books, bound in plastic. These books were random curiosities– an agricultural almanac from a long-gone agrisphere, a book about Shimii fortune-telling, the hand-written chronicle of a Hanwan vessel during their war to subjugate the Western Yu and the Koryo. Astra cherished their tactility. Turning real pages, smelling musty paper, reading without the glow of a screen. Her little treasures that digital tablets could not replace.

When her servant entered the study, Astra looked up from her book impassively.

At the door, a beautiful Shimii with multiple silvery tails watched with a knowing smile.

“Oh! Raiza, come in! You should have let me know it was you!”

Astra put her book down and stood up excitedly to meet Raiza Sakaraeva.

“Milord should avoid treating me differently than others.” Raiza said.

“Let anyone who is brave enough object.” Astra said calmly.

They sat down together near the false porthole. This was Astra’s preferred little nook. She had cushions to sit and lay upon and could project anything she wanted on the false porthole. Her preferred backdrop was one of the wildlife cameras set up around the station. By projecting the camera feed on her false porthole it was as if the window at her back had an actual view into the ocean outside. Tyrin was deep, but rich in abyssal sea-life due to a deliberate cultivation of aphotic fish species. There was such bioluminescence outside the station it looked like what Astra imagined the night skies of the old world might have been. Human culture had kept alive the image of the black firmament resplendent with stars. The murky Crisium and the floating, glowing fish were tantalizingly close to this image.

“Tagmarch Agamemnon inquired about your health. After responding appropriately and dismissing her, I thought I would pay a visit to confirm milord’s health for myself.” Raiza said.

She smiled fondly at Astra.

“A cheeky excuse. But I am always happy to see you.” Astra smiled back just as brightly.

“You have been quite zealous in your studies of late.” Raiza said. “Is there any occasion?”

Astra nodded her head. She then leaned in, so that she would come to rest on Raiza’s chest.

The two had grown up together and were rather familiar with each other. Though Raiza had crossed her puberty quite taller and more shapely than Astra, they were almost the same age– Raiza was only a few years her senior. Both were young for what was thrust upon them.

“I’m planning to visit Imbria. I need to be prepared for the journey. I want to leave the impression of an erudite and studied ruler, rather than a backwater tyrant. If our relationship with Imbria improves, we’ll have an advantage on Pythia and the rest.” Astra said.

Mycenae and Pythia were the two warlord states closest to the Imbrium Empire. Pythia was a font of utter chaos for Imbria, taking the form of seemingly random cross-border conflict, the spillage of Pythian internal conflict across the border, and frequent refugees and illegal immigrants fleeing from Pythia and its brutal culture. As large and resource rich as Pythia was, the chaotic and violent nature of the Black Legion and the Witch Queen held it back as a polity. Mycenae had an opportunity to appear as a civilized and worthy neighbor by comparison– perhaps even one who could solve Imbrian’s Pythian problem for them.

Provided that adequate services and supply were rendered to pay for the favor.

“They will not find any warlord so dignified as you, milord.” Raiza said.

“Thank you. But more than dignity– I also want to convey capability.” Astra said.

Not just to the Imbrians– but to Tagmarch Labrys Agamemnon as well.

Serving as Astra’s mentor had served to integrate her warband with Mycenae.

As Astra grew older, she realized that Labrys benefited too greatly from her esteem.

“The Tagmarch is getting a little too conceited.” Astra said.

“There are many who would agree with you.” Raiza said.

“Not enough.” Astra said. “For one– I don’t know that I agree with myself. I esteem Labrys for what she has taught me, and for the times she has protected me. I have a naïve hope that I can show her that I have my own will and do not simply follow her and act to her advantage. Our causes aligned too closely in the purging of the legislators and judiciars. As I’ve been fated to rise, I’ve carried this remora with me. It’s vexing. At the same time, Mycenae has enjoyed stability and is building its power. I am afraid of making the wrong choice.”

“Milord– if the time ever comes. For you, I would–”

Astra raised her hand and placed a finger over Raiza’s lips to quiet her.

She shook her head. It was not yet time for such sentiments.

“Raiza, you too– I want to show you I have the power to protect myself. And to protect you.”

Raiza raised her own hand and took Astra’s fingers into her own.

Her tails curled around Astra for further comfort.

“I have the utmost confidence, milord. I am yours always. In victory or death.”

Astra smiled. “In victory, Raiza. I promise you.”

Perhaps it was naïve of her to hope, and even more naïve to believe it could happen.

And yet, it was Astra’s determination to achieve a grand, overwhelming power.

A power so almighty that it might even rule bloodlessly.

As if the stars in the dark sky of old, undeniable to all rhetoric, unkillable by men.

“The ancients who could see the sky. I wonder if they would even consider me human.”

Astra spoke up, with a sudden concern on her face.

Raiza simply held her closer. Astra knew she was being unfair to her.

Nobody could challenge such rhetoric. At least, if she wasn’t human–

Then the best she could do was to wield her inhuman power magnificently.

The power to silence critics, to repel conspirators, to overturn the world as she knew it.

The Mare Crisium was destined for upheaval.

She would set for Imbria and work diligently to become equal to the coming storm.

Hoping that at the end of it, she might still be alive, as none of her predecessors could be.

That she might still enjoy Raiza’s sweet embrace, even in the bleakest of battles.

And that, perhaps, she and her people might overcome their curse someday.


After Descent, Year 979

Atop the staircase, an axe-blade’s swing tore a man in two.

Blood cascaded down the steps.

Gory offal rode all the way to the floor below.

One swing. She swung, he died, and then she brought the blade back in front of her.

Looking down at the half of him atop the stairs, guts astrewn.

Watching the top half descend with its final incredulous expression down the steps, leaving a streak that vanished once the rest of the blood caught up with it. Step after step turning a slick crimson. Standing in silence, when the remains left her sight down the spiral of the stairs, she could hear the thudding, even over the distant crack of rifle fire. Sometimes punctuated by a scream. Moments later, the offal reached its final resting place below.

She grinned and laughed a bit at the whole banal scene.

Kicking down the top half hoping to reproduce some of the same humor.

No luck, however. It had already lost its novelty.

“Decarch Dellis here, we’ve forced the rabble down on the left wing.”

“Copy, we’ve cleared them out of the transit level, right wing.”

“How much resistance? Any casualties?”

“Very little and none. Stay sharp though– it might get worse.”

They had good information that this mob was being armed from the Uhlan barracks.

However, so far, Dellis had only encountered handguns and poorly improvised explosives. Nothing but bottles full of petrol or even balloons full of paint. One of her numeroi had gotten splashed with green paint, and to revenge the indignity of it she chopped someone in half. That was what gave Dellis the idea– she could also just not bother with her rifle and try to chop someone in half too. They didn’t have nanomail to resist the blows!

Dellis looked over her shoulder. Her numeroi were combing the surroundings.

Instead of a helmet, she had a bulletproof glass shield, so everyone could see her face.

She liked for the numeroi to be able to see her face.

Brown-skinned with silvery mottles and patches and dyed golden blond hair.

Tall, broad-shouldered, and substantial in her suit of powered armor.

A woman like that, her grin– it gave them important context.

“I know you’re all doing what you’re told, but there’s clearly nothing to recon here, right?”

She gestured for the staircase, thrusting her index finger toward it twice.

Her troops acknowledged and formed up on the staircase. Two of them went down first, and two others watched from above as best they could. Two more prepared to go down after the first group, with several paces between. Once the first group cleared the bottom, the two on overwatch followed them down. Dellis watched them with some incredulity– they were reproducing their training without fault, and it almost irked her to see it.

Once they were all moving, she followed them down the blood-slick steps.

Numeroi, Mycenaean footsoldiers– dressed in nanomail bodysuits with thin, segmented ballistic plates covering certain vitals, each had a hint of individuality. Some had their hair short, some long, some tied up, some let loose– most of them had grey skin but some had mottles or scales. Mycenae encouraged them to display small degrees of individuality in their personal grooming. Overwhelmingly, Katarrans were made and not necessarily “born.” Therefore they had sympathy for one another’s need for identity and personality.

Nobody had a concealing helmet, because nobody wanted to look too “faceless.”

They had so many advantages otherwise that it hardly made a difference to them.

“Proceeding from the transit level into the upper level of the mall.” Dellis said.

“There’s four floors– the strongest resistance will probably be in the second.”

“Are you moving down as well?”

“Yes, we’re keeping pace. Nobody here is as fast as you of course.”

“A compliment? Want to meet up after this is all over?”

“I wasn’t trying to get in your pants. But if you’ll have me–”

“I’ll be waiting ‘in my tent’ after this mess.”

In her ear was her counterpart, Decarch Inonu.

They were communicating directly via wireless and could be fairly certain nobody was listening that would care overmuch. Each of them led a Vanguard and a Rear Guard. Dellis was currently following six numeroi and she had twelve additional numeroi bringing up the rear. Inonu had an inverted arrangement, moving with twelve numeroi and keeping six in the rear. They themselves composed the tactical Vanguard, and behind them there would be a tactical Rear Guard deploying soon with two Decarchs and their own personal Vanguard and Rear Guard. This was the staple infantry unit of the Tagmata, Mycenae’s military.

Dellis and Inonu had a simple mission– kill everything between the fourth tier and the bottom of the third tier and then hold position. Then, Decarchs Cosmatos and Synadenos in the Rear Guard would overtake them and recover some VIPs at the bottom, inverting the Vanguard and Rear Guard positions. They had their own orders for what to do about the VIPs once recovered– Dellis’ mission was to enable Cosmatos to move as soon as possible.

That meant Dellis had to do what she did best.

There was no better enabler of movement than a swift and brutal attack on the defenses.

At the bottom of the stairs, the numeroi assessed the surroundings.

Two of them took cover and prepared for possible attack.

Four covered each cardinal direction.

Every staircase on the third tier mall’s floor plan landed in the same sort of rest and floor traffic junction. There were non-working elevator banks, public telephones, and a row of vending machines. There were benches and glass bubble planters were flowers growing inside. Guardrails and decorative pillars broke up the right flank, dividing up their view of the atrium. The next unbroken series of store fronts began a few meters in either direction. Nothing had been broken into or vandalized and everything seemed eerily empty. Farther south, there was something in the way which was not a natural part of the design–

a barricade.

Overthrown furniture and various other items interlocked deliberately to form cover.

“Follow me, we’re advancing! Take up positions along the advance!” Dellis cried out.

Her cry alerted the rioters at the barricade.

Small rounds impacted her chestplate shortly after– she felt nothing.

Dellis brought up her axe and broke into a sprint toward the barricade.

She let out a battle cry, practically a roar, and readied her axe for a swing as she ran.

In front of her, the rioters responded with sporadic small arms fire.

There were one or two people with arms, and several with improvised weapons.

Dellis made a bombastic show of throwing herself at the barricade–

Her numeroi followed–

Along the way, one peeled into a piece of cover.

One behind a vending machine, another behind a planter, a third ducking into a shop–

While her wild charge drew all the attention, she ‘seeded’ the path with numeroi.

Four or five meters away from the barricade, Dellis ducked behind a video ad screen.

She lifted her fist–

From six different points behind her, assault rifle fire from the numeroi fell on the barricade like a storm of bullets. Exposed rioters at the moment of Dellis’ signal were picked off, and anyone not in cover would have lost a limb if not their head. The remaining rioters were suppressed, and then Dellis opened her fist, closed it, and opened it where the numeroi could see. Suddenly, all of the fire stopped, and the numeroi hid in their positions.

Inviting attention from the enemy–

Before opening fire again in erratic sequences.

One position fired, quieted– two other positions fired, quieted–

This erratic rhythm gave Dellis her opening.

Between the numeroi’s suppressing attacks, she ran back into the middle of the street.

Charging the barricade itself, clearing the remaining distance.

She ducked under its shadow while gunfire blazed around her.

Taking two grenades from her belt, priming them with her thumbs.

Throwing them up and over the barricade.

And diving away on her back, facing the barricade with her face shield down.

Twin clouds of smoke, and hundreds of splinters into the air.

Vexingly, the numeroi continued to suppress the position by firing over her–

Until she made enough fist signals to catch their attention.

In a textbook advance, the numeroi began to move, methodically “tagging” each other out of cover and back into the squad formation through each staggered firing position. Dellis grunted while she stood up from the ground and walked to the barricade. She thought if they were this stiff someone might be able to trick them into shooting by just throwing out stuff out into the road and triggering flashbacks of their target acquisition training.

At least it meant they remembered the tactics at all.

Looking out behind the barricade with her axe raised up–

She was greeted by nothing but deformed meat, amorphous formerly-living things.

Nobody even writhing in pain. Everyone was dead and in pieces.

“Position clear! Hold the ground and wait for the rear guard. Then get ready to move again!”

She was a little bit happy seeing the effect of the grenades.

Throwing two was a little overkill but– damn it, she needed the motivation!

Though she was a Mycenaean soldier now, in good standing– she still liked killing.

She was stuffy about it now– she followed her orders– respected her training–

But she still maintained some of that quixotic Pythian character.

Dellis might have to come up with something else creative for these poor rioters.

Or maybe she could shake out all her boredom with Inonu when they decided who topped.


Outside the storefront, she heard footsteps, and a scream.

She held her breath and tried to calm the shaking in her hands and shoulders.

There would be no point to anything if she went out now.

No matter who was dying out there she had to wait for the perfect opportunity.

All she had was one shot. She had to take out someone valuable.

Or at the very least, she had to buy time.

Make them scared. Scared of the people’s will for liberation.

Out of all the shops, she decided to hide in the Raylight shop. The front glass façade was completely shattered but Raylight shops always had steel segmented displays right on the window. These could not be knocked down or moved by looters, though the shop hadn’t even been vandalized by them. She did all the damage herself. That way she could look through the gaps, and with the glass gone she could shoot or throw through them, while hiding in the corner and remaining mostly in cover because of the display frames.

She recalled a few good tips on street fighting she picked up in Thurin.

What did she have on her? Handgun, petrol bombs, a heat knife.

It would have to be enough.

(Was it enough back then? In Hertha Park when the fascists advanced?)

She grit her teeth.

Distant gunfire, punctuated by loud sharp sounds that could have been blasts. She heard battle cries she attributed to the Katarrans, beastly roars accompanying savage charges– she heard screams she attributed to the helpless victims. Her mind had already frozen at these scenes before, and she was determined not to make the same mistake twice. She told herself she felt nothing about it now. This was nothing like the night their dream failed.

No– rather than fail, it was betrayed.

Now even among colleagues she felt alone– all of them still believed with all their hearts–

“This will be the night that frees us.”

Though she would fight dearly for it, it was hard to believe that was the case.

In the presence of the gunfire and the screams.

The passing shadows of foreign killers purging the uprising.

As much as she did not want to be brought back to that moment, as much as she wanted to bury that person and pretend like she existed solely for this night, that this was well and truly the final night– alone and waiting in the middle of the enemy, waiting for death– she remembered Thurin. Not just on that final night, but in the years that led up to it. She remembered falling in with the wrong crowd, dropping out of school, disappointing her parents, thinking for the first time of the possibility of a different life.

She remembered listening to the lectures.

How good it sounded–

“Nobody’s the boss, nobody’s the father, nobody’s the teacher, nobody’s the governor– nobody coerces anybody. We are all in voluntary association for our shared benefit.”

Bosses, fathers, teachers, governors, had all failed her so many times.

All of her life had been lived under coercion–

Anarchism gave her a real definition of freedom.

With the anarchists, she felt alive. Like a person again. Like she had her life, and it was hers.

The anarchist meetings were the wildest time.

They were so irreverent, so liberated, so much their own persons. They weren’t like anyone else. It captivated her. She was a child of privilege, and these people broke every assumption she had about the world, and she loved them for it. She was swept in the energy, in their joy for the world. She learned to fight. Learned to sneak around the station. Learned the literature and what to say to people. Learned to make bombs. Learned first-aid and resuscitation. Fucked three different people across the station and realized not one of them owned her or owed each other. Everyone learned everything. They shared everything.

They were true about it– nobody was the boss. Everyone just did everything.

It wasn’t long until the wild times ended–

Because she learned about the enemy that hated their dreams and ambitions.

Not in an abstract sense: not the bosses, not the governors. Not an Emperor or God.

She learned about guys on the same street who wanted them all dead.

Guys who were doing the same training, the same marching, to kill them.

At first, they would hire Katarran thugs to disrupt meetings, intimidate members, steal shit.

That wasn’t too tough to deal with at first. It was just annoying.

Only the leftists spoke out to defend the foreigners in Rhinea and they acted like this?!

But she shut her mouth and fought and shouted the slogans like her comrades did.

Soon, however, the “nascent” right-wing started coming out with a whole paramilitary.

They had killers on the streets like the Blood Bund, and support in politics from the Libertarians, and from loudmouth stone age fuckers like the Traditional Fatherhood Front who raised millions of marks from the vilest little men and women in Imbria. Knowing how depraved the “little people” like her could be shook her back then. But she stuck with the anarchists. She felt like she belonged. She felt fired up. She wanted to fight– it all felt worth fighting for. It was her life, her love. Every Blood Bund crony whose head they smashed in. Every cop they kicked off someone at the park or in the back streets. Every rightist stenographer at the Thurin Times who got their camera smashed and their tablet broken over their head. It felt like they were stepping stones to making a truly human world.

When she was out on the street with the whole gang, surrounded by people– that was living.

In the middle of the shouting and the fighting it felt like they could heal the world.

Her grey world was given color because it felt like it was finally hers.

Then on that night in Hertha Park,

the jet-black tide of National Socialism rendered all their actions a blur.

She had thought it was too stupid to go out trying to defend that coward Heidemann who wouldn’t stand for anything except businesses and going back to brunch. But there were other people there who mattered. The liberals turned up on that night, the feminists turned up, the pro-immigration guys turned up. So the anarchists turned up. Because they had to show the fascists that they didn’t own the streets in Thurin. They had to put up resistance. So they fought like hell in Hertha Park like they always did. Then the results came in, and everyone stopped fighting. A giant billboard officially declared their cause lost.

It made her feel insane, watching everyone give up when they saw Lehner’s shitty little grin.

People giving the rightists hell just stopping to stare at a monitor with a stupid vote tally.

That night, watching her friends get surrounded and beaten and killed

and forced to run away–

While the liberals all sulked and went back to live their lives under these fascist maniacs–

While the Shimii and the Katarrans and the Loup just switched masters to whoever won–

She thought she would never see another night like that.

Because she thought she was broken and would never come back the same.

Herself fleeing to Aachen, taking up some shitty job, demobilized, beaten down.

Dead.

And yet– here was another night.

She was still here. She still wanted the people who fucked up her life to pay.

Anarchy was still here too. Still struggling to make it into the light.

So she turned up to fight again.

When the chatrooms started blowing up she could not believe the fervor.

She had skills– she remembered the wild times–

So she went up to the barricades and joined everyone.

A tiny part of her felt alive again. In their faces she saw the faces she had lost.

That part that believed they deserved to be free of all this shit was alive again.

Now–

A noise–

Her mind returned from wandering when she heard footsteps coming her way.

Hooded folks, no uniforms, no armor–

Those faces–

As soon as they entered her vision they were gunned down from out of sight.

Chests pumped forward by the impacts of the rifle bullets, splashing red on the floor.

Toppling over mid-run like she saw the moment their souls left them.

She hid again and calmed her breathing and stilled her rage.

Katarrans– always on the wrong side.

It was now or never. She had to ambush them and run.

At least it would slow them down until the main barricades got proper organized.

Two figures rushed forward, examined the bodies–

Those were just grunts, she thought– she knew there were some in powered armor–

Then someone barked orders. The two figures ran ahead.

Another took their place. A tall, imposing brunette, armored, with a vibroaxe.

If she could destroy that powered armor– or even steal the gear–

The anarchist watched in hiding, as the armored figure strode forward.

Stopping for a moment to check the bodies.

“Hmph. What are they even doing? This is ridiculous.”

That evil creature had stopped to think to herself, to say something, shake her head.

Even laugh a little at the folly of it–

White-hot rage burned in the anarchist’s chest.

That was the moment where everything would be determined.

She forced herself not to freeze up– not to give up the fight and run–

Like how things ended at Hertha Park.

No– she did not step back. This time the anarchist rushed forward.

Lighting the match, rearing up–

Zeroing in on that bulky figure in the dark, her petrol bomb shining in the dark.

She threw– and the bottle soared–

Crashing onto the power armor and bursting and setting the creature ablaze.

In that moment, in that instant, she felt alive.

She felt like she had taken one more step forward against the monsters–

Any second now she would hear the screams, see it fall, the fascist wall toppled–

Then the power armored figure turned to face the door.

Flames danced upon the metal striding undaunted toward her.

Burning petrol slid down the shoulders, across the chest, onto the legs.

Illuminating the abandoned store and casting the cornered anarchist in a fierce red glow.

She saw the face of the monster, untouched by the flames.

Behind the faceshield. Blueish skin, mottles and scales, strange eyes and a fierce grin.

Could they even feel pain?!

The anarchist was paralyzed, stepping back from the door.

Not even one– she couldn’t even kill one–?

She tripped and fell back and crawled– the beast was nearly on top of her–

Looking down at her with that mocking grin–

“You fucking Katarrans! You fucking monsters!” She cried out helplessly. “Wherever there’s something to be taken from decent folk, there you fucking are! That’s the only place we find you! God damn your entire fucking race! It’s not enough to rob people?! Not enough to kill ’em for your own greed, now you do it for the fascists too?! We fought for all of you! We fought for everybody! Why did you all fucking betray us–?! Why did everyone–?!”

Her cries turned to whimpers, to begging– she was the farthest thing from alive–

Behind the glass face-shield, amid all the fierce fiery tongues–

a white grin untouched by the burning.

“If you knew what ‘Katarran’ even means you would already have your satisfaction.”

Speaking calmly, her voice barely above a whisper despite the flames burning on her armor.

The Katarran, the ‘cursed one’, raised her axe overhead never ceasing to grin.

“Us Katarrans, our golden age is coming. We are the ones who have suffered enough.”

She brought down her axe and cleaved into the chest of the anarchist.

Crushing her sternum and ribs, splitting her spine, puncturing even the floor.

Gore smashed out of the corpse fell upon the fires and burned atop the armor.

“Decarch Inonu! Decarch Inonu!”

Behind the Decarch, a frightened Numeroi appeared and sprayed her with smothering gel.

When the fires were put out, the abandoned Raylight shop was cast into shadow.

It was only the Decarch left, and her numeroi standing outside in mild confusion.

Inonu looked down at the body.

Now that it was dead she could no longer muster any grinning or shouting for it.

She thought– thankfully, my face is not burned, nor my hair.

Dellis would have made fun of it all. They still might have fucked, at least.

Maybe she would have tenderly nursed her burns.

Her nanomail suit insulated her from most of the heat– there was only a bit of irritation.

It could have all gone much worse, however. Numeroi would have certainly died.

She had to report everything. Something was going on.

“Dellis, Cosmatos, Synadenos– I was just ambushed from an abandoned shop. Someone threw an incendiary device. They waited for the vanguards to pass and went for me. We’ll need to be extra careful. There are rioters now exhibiting more organization and tactics and targeting leadership. We don’t know what else they are capable of.”

“We will test their mettle then, brave Decarch.” Cosmatos replied.

“C’mon Inonu, being all smart isn’t sexy– get riled up and charge them!” Dellis chimed in.

“We’ll send part of our forces forward.” Synadenos said. “Clear everything methodically.”

In death, the anarchist accomplished the objective she had given herself.

Mycenae’s charge slowed down ever just so.

Now it was up to her comrades to do what they could, with the love that she had for liberty.

And the life she had given up for anarchy.


She put the pillar to her back– between herself and death.

An oppressive din of gunfire near and far and caused her to hesitate. She saw the next pillar in front of her– but there was so much just behind. They could see her. Almost as soon as she thought of moving she saw wisps of plaster dust and stucco whipped up into the air at her side. She felt dimly the impact of bullets into the column and froze up once more.

There were at least three ahead and however many behind.

Her eyes darted from the wall to the floor, and forward.

Tentatively shifting her weight, forward, back, as if she could gain momentum from zero.

“Damn it, damn it,”

She put her hands to the column as if to push herself–

Loud sharp cracking sounds–

Green tracers flew past the column and struck the floor just ahead of her.

Paralyzing her again just as she was building her courage.

She began to weep.

Peeling one hand from the hard grip on her pistol, to check the magazine.

Three in the mag, one in the chamber. Useless.

There had be some way to escape– through her tears she begged for any opportunity.

Looking down at her belt for anything–

No grenades, nothing but a spare mag and–

Her fingers gripped a tiny cylinder close to her lower back.

Thinking quickly, she threw the pepper spray bottle over her shoulder, out of cover.

In the instant it was riddled with bullets and burst into its foul red mist,

she was gone.

Taking off running to the next column, just a few meters ahead.

Her pursuers quickly raised their weapons from the canister to her position–

Striking the decorative plaster smeared over the column.

One more piece of cover, one more foothold– but so much more ahead.

Too much.

When she threw away her uniform, she thought she would be able to cheat a certain death by joining with the protesters. Nobody recognized her as an Uhlan even with her boots, the one effect she had no opportunity to discard for lack of a substitute. Throwing it all away was her first reaction to the news. She hated the job anyway– her coworkers were all dead? Fuck them. She wouldn’t die a mall cop for any size paycheck. She told herself– all you have to do is stay quiet, go along with the riot, sneak out through third tier residential. She had friends there, with condos and locked doors. Someone would hide her–

Until the Volkisch cleaned this place up!

But her bleak fortune saw fit to introduce her to the Mycenae Military Commission.

Now her lot was exactly the same as the rioters.

Mere instants confirmed every horror story ever told about Katarrans.

Everyone who ran ahead of the mob, who took initiative and was gung-ho about tearing stuff down– slaughtered. When she took off running there was nobody else who could. The Katarrans had the overwhelming advantage. The best the rioters could do against powered armor was to throw paint balloons at them and muck up the visors. She saw one kid do this and get split in half by a Katarran vanguard officer in a literal blind rage. It was hopeless up there. All of the smaller barricades that had been thrown up in the top of the tier, blocking the stairs to the government sector and into the mall, they had been systematically leveled. Meanwhile the main body of the rioters, the more organized people bringing up the guns from the second tier, they had set up their main barricades and rally points in the mall itself. These were a bit more substantial– if she could get to one of those points, she would be able to run with something quite distracting between herself and the Katarrans.

If she could get to one.

Gunfire behind her– small bursts, into the column. Trying to flush her out.

She counted the shots as best as she could.

Unfortunately, she had seen how they fought. They weren’t idiots. When they fired from cover, they varied the timing of their bursts to tempt their prey to shoot back at the exact time a second shooter had the cover sited. She had seen enough rioters getting perforated around corners and poking out of chest-high barriers to know that counting the bullets wasn’t going to be the end of it. There were at least three Katarrans on her tail right now.

Nanomail bodysuits with additional plates affixed; middle-caliber assault rifles.

Not that the caliber mattered, she had no nanomail on her anymore. It was all deadly.

If they had grenades on them, they did not deem her enough of a threat to deploy them.

Gunfire resumed, lulled, resumed. It was closer now.

They had stacked at the pillar she had just left behind.

Had they known she had four bullets in this gun they would have just charged.

Gutted her with their heat knives– she would prefer getting shot up to that.

She had to answer, to buy any amount of time–

Careful not to expose her hand, she turned the pistol sideways around her cover.

Firing off every shot. Four trigger pulls, four loud cracks.

Successive bursts of gunfire pounded the column.

Feeling the vibrations transfer to her back, she looked at her surroundings.

There was a chest-high barrier at her side with guard rails made to keep people from falling off to the ground floor. The aperture of the atrium had glass walls, floating adverts and art pieces that prevented her from seeing the opposite side of the mall. She was on the third floor of the mall, the upper floor– above her was certain death in the transit level to the fourth tier, completely taken over by Mycenae. Below her was salvation in the form of the main base of the rioters. There were columns spaced a few meters apart all along this level. There were probably at least a dozen more between her and a staircase down.

That was a dozen more games of cat and mouse that she was about to lose.

She emptied the magazine from her pistol, picked up the spare,

and threw both out one after the other.

Disciplined gunfire cut each of them to carbon fiber ribbons on the floor.

“Hey– is surrendering off the table?” She shouted out.

Nothing but more gunfire in response.

Gritting her teeth, weeping, her whole body shaking, she threw the pistol out.

And threw herself over the barrier.

Gripping the edge for an instant, just enough to see–

Letting go and praying for the strength to grab onto anything below.

The Uhlans were finished– but this officer was going on her own terms.

Her own story merely one among many in the confusion of Aachen’s longest day.


“I’ve arrived at the transit level, milord.”

“Excellent. Let’s see if we can’t give our new friends some good news.”

“It is possible I will be out of communication, if the area is being jammed.”

“I trust you more than anyone. You will be back.”

“I am elated to hear that, milord. I will return to you as soon as I can.”

Raiza Sakaraeva looked over the edge of the guardrails on the transit level between the third and fourth tier, down into the enormous mall below. Before her an ostentatious apparatus of glass, color and advertisements connected the floor and ceiling of the third tier. Around the atrium pylon with its art pieces, lighting systems and floating displays putting on a show for no one– the three levels of the mall had been arrayed, with the transit floor above them. The stores were all set into the walls of the station at each level. The second, third and fourth levels featured guard-rails and pillars separating the traffic lanes across the storefronts from the possibility of falling down the length of the glass leviathan dominating the space.

Circumventing the guardrails and falling was what Raiza had come to do.

Her silvery hair tied up in a ponytail with bands at different lengths; body wrapped tightly in nanomail, the taut bodysuit lacking any additional ballistic plates, wearing only a nylon gliding cloak with it; on her legs, a pair of labor-enhancing devices, like oversize retracting heels covering her calves that could touch the floor; on her arms, gauntlets with picks attached such that the forearm assisted the stability of the titanium piercing points. On her lower back she had a satchel with explosives, medical supplies and other helpful gear.

Behind her, her tails billowed, swaying calmly like thick, fluffy scarves floating on a wind.

She surveyed the fall below.

Somewhere directly beneath her, was the bar Oststadt, on the first floor of the mall.

All of the streets on the first floor were raised over a false pond– too shallow to catch her.

Numeroi collected near her who had escorted her from the government tier.

“Madam, you’re not thinking of–?”

Before they could ask, Raiza sprang over the guard rail and dove toward the glass.

Screams of surprise behind her were drowned out by a surge in gunfire, flashing from behind her as she descended to the third level, the top of the mall, where there was still sporadic fighting. But that battle did not exist for her. She saw only the means with which to execute Astra’s directives. Ahead of her, the many-colored, brightly lit glass became a horizon into which everything else disappeared. It was a dizzying landmark to meet head-on.

Despite this she intuitively gauged the distance between herself and the glass.

Raiza turned mid-dive, batting with her tails, employing her cloak to catch some air.

Her picks engaged and she struck the wall with both, arresting her remaining momentum.

Preventing herself from smashing into the wall. Her strength softening the collission.

A bit of pain was nothing to her– she was not even slowed.

She knew that the glass was thick enough that her own strength could not break it.

Despite this she knew it was urgent to keep moving.

Her picks started to slide down the glass seconds later. And this was not the only danger.

Raiza looked down from her tenuous perch, retracted her picks and kicked off.

Her jump boosters sent her toward an advert board floating near the second floor.

Too flimsy to stick to for long–

Instead she used her picks to hook onto the top of the board, briefly hanging.

She then kicked off before she brought the whole thing down.

Leaping down with the central pond below, gleaming blue between the steel walkways.

She heard shouting behind her–

Up overhead, behind her back, along the railings, rioters had seen her fall.

Using her cloak and tails she altered directions mid-drop to confuse anyone aiming.

And managed to land on her feet unmolested. Not even a shot fired from above.

Perhaps her enemy was too perplexed to have painted her as a target.

Landing on one of the walkways over the central pond, near the base of the glass atrium dividers and the water they contained, she gathered her surroundings warily.

Judging by the model that Murati Nakara had shared–

Still clear in her mind–

Raiza ran from the atrium center on the ground floor and into the lower north thoroughfare.

Clearing a line of vending machines and a spiral staircase, turning a corner–

Hearing guns going off, close and specifically.

Realizing that it was not just the background din of the Mycenaean clearing operations.

She saw the ostentatious signage of the bar Oststadt, and a mess of broken glass scattered across the floor. There were bodies. Dead white uniforms strewn about on the way to the bar, some against the façade, some farther, some at the front door, all shot. An injured body propped up against a wall adjacent the doors. A shooter on the blind spot of the door periodically shooting into the bar. Presumably someone shooting back from inside the bar.

“Ra–z–”

Astra’s voice in her ear was beginning to break up– the jamming was localized–

“Stealth–”

She was warning her–

Ahead of her, the one remaining shooter found herself engaged with fire from inside.

That was her chance–

Raiza turned mid-run to face the spiral staircase rising behind her.

Against the rainbow of light flooding the surroundings from the atrium sculpture–

Her sharp eyes picked up the visual anomalies.

Someone sneaking downstairs.

She quickly picked up and threw an explosive grenade toward the staircase.

And leaped back-first toward the shooter at the Oststadt.

An explosion powerful enough to turn the thin staircase to slag scattered pieces of once-hidden soldiers into the air like a shower of partially camouflaged meat. Splitting apart their connection between floors. Raiza had engaged her jump boosters and threw herself on a flat trajectory, barely lifting off the ground. Behind her, she heard the shooter turn, but it was too late. She shoulder-checked the assailant into the wall at speed enough to break bone.

Beating the breath out of her own body–

Turning with a hazy head and lungs punched empty, she drove her pick with all her strength.

Piercing the shooter’s head through the temple and striking part of the brick texture.

Blood spattered on her face and hair. Bits of dust and fragments flew from the wall.

Taking in breath, she withdrew a small pistol from her hip and shot the injured Judean.

Confirming the kill for the folks inside.

For a moment, she assumed the same position as the shooter she had just killed.

Back to the wall, pinning up the dead body, out of sight of the bar interior.

Catching her breath, scanning her surroundings.

No other visual anomalies.

She was lucky Astra managed to alert her before she got too close to the bar.

Her communications were completely cut out at the doorway.

Astra must have been warned by Murati Nakara– she had the cameras tapped.

Now, Raiza would be without that resource or anything other than what she carried.

Someone was inside– someone she needed to bring back.

To signal the change in the situation, Raiza let the white uniformed corpse fall.

It thudded on the doorway, into sight from the bar.

Provoking an immediate response–

“Who the fuck is out there? You think I’m gonna fall for that shit so easy? I am giving you one warning. All us Alayzeans are good for is shooting and killing motherfuckers! You see the results don’t you? The massacre’s resuming in 15 seconds if I don’t see your ass on that fucking door! Come to the door frame and tell me why you shouldn’t join them huh?!”

A woman’s irascible voice–

An interesting accent, that reminded Raiza of certain rare breeds of Alayzean.

Every ‘I’ sounded more like an ‘Oy’. A colorful bunch, these mercs.

“As politely as possible, God does not intend us to shoot each other.” Raiza called back out.

Putting considerable trust in the people inside the bar, she stepped slowly inside.

Holding her hands up with her picks disengaged.

Her ears twitched, and her tails continued to sway, framed in the light of the door.

Across the way, behind a long counter with a register and digital check-in–

There was a woman, also stepping out. Putting down her own pistol.

Breathing heavy.

Red-haired, her clothes disheveled, a bit of blood on her shoulder and head.

“I am assisting Murati Nakara.” Raiza said. Opening with the important details.

At the mention of the name, the woman’s eyes lit up. She heaved a loud, cathartic sigh.

“God damn it, this better not be some trick.”

“We’ll need tricks to get you all out. Raiza Sakaraeva.” Raiza put a hand over her chest.

For the first time the woman looked truly relieved. She was letting herself believe it.

“Eithnen. Eithnen Ni Faoláin.”

Eithnen looked behind herself briefly, still breathing heavy. Perhaps breathing even heavier.

“Raiza– We’ve got wounded and– and worse.” Eithnen said.

Raiza nodded. “Rescue is coming. Let’s assess and figure out what we can do from here.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Eithnen said. She nearly doubled over– the adrenaline was leaving her.

Having just a taste of the carnage that had erupted in front of Eithnen,

Raiza wondered how much worse it was behind her.


After Descent, Year 975

Artificial rain and wind had been scheduled over Nichori University.

Carried on the gusts created by the storm generators, the droplets of water drummed across the doors, walls and windows like thousands of crawling, tapping fingers. The power draw from the storm generators, along with the deliberate siphoning of power, meant that within the university the lights flashed intermittently, automatic services were curtailed, and even the air started to grow thin. It was an intimidation tactic against the rioting students.

It did little to allay the horrors unfolding.

For the woman cutting her way through the corridors, the rain was a welcome friend.

For the teenage girl hiding in the closet, the rain seemed to drown out every other sound and in its place to slot in her own imagination of what was happening– such that she could not tell her own imaginings apart from the screaming, crying, the gushing sounds of people ripped apart. Intermittent thunders masked the whirring of a motor roaring too rapaciously to be attached to a vibrosword. She heard stun batons clash metal blades. She heard fast steps amid the din of the storm that were at once silenced. Her fleeting sense of the space told her that there was something just around the corner of her own hall.

Moving closer.

She heard the loudest screams and the heaviest dancing of steps–

Then, silence.

Peering through a hole in the plastic closet, from where the knob had fallen off.

Tied with a wire to keep it shut.

Between the wires, through the empty knob–

Bright yellow sunlamp light flashed in her eye–

There was a great shattering crash as her thin plastic door fell over.

Again the lights dimmed and cast the figure into shadow.

Leaving only the suggestion of the corpses behind her, the gore on the walls.

She took uneven steps into the room as if she might fall.

Pulling something massive across the floor with her.

Jagged teeth chewing on the plastic and carbon fiber as it dragged.

Amid the sound of the rain, the buffeting wind–

There was the tiny sound of dribbling fluid from the figure’s cape and pants.

When the lights flashed again, the stain the figure left wherever she moved was cast in a muddy red color, and it was thick, and tiny fragments of something unmentionable floated on the surface of the slick. More of the figure was painted in– her black uniform smeared with blood and red and pink and brown and even black bits of fibrous and smooth and sharp and sinewy scraps of– people it was people she was covered in them–

Her eyes met those of the girl hiding in the closet, and she smiled.

Inside the closet the girl backed away but met the wall directly at her back.

There was nowhere to go–

While the killer lifted the enormous sawblade she was lugging with her.

Setting it against the wires, against the missing knob, and pounding the engine starter.

A defeaning roar– the vibrations went straight into the girl’s gut–

Centimeters between her face and the ripping blade–

Feeling the air disturbed and the metallic power thrumming right before her eyes–

Eyes that she never shut as she–

“Hey– come out. Come out right now you little beast.”

Before it could cut her face open the blade completely stopped.

Delivering nothing but the tiniest red graze on the girl’s cheek.

Once it stopped moving, the stench of iron and bile on its surface drifted into the girl’s nostrils like poison gas. Her legs gave out as soon as the blade retreated, and she fell to the floor of the closet. Shaking, hugging herself, gagging. She felt her stomach turn hot and kick up into her throat. But her eyes remained fixed on the figure of the killer who stood in front of the open closet, looking down at her. An indescribable expression on her face.

“Tell me your name. Or I kick this back on.”

She lifted the saw a little off the floor– the girl recoiled from the subtle movement.

Recognizing barely, that the figure must have had monstrous strength to lift that enormous weapon. To lift that weapon and to swing it and to fight with it.

To kick down her door so easily–

to slaughter however many people all the meat in the hallway

once constituted–

“Menahem.” The girl mumbled through the panic. “Halevi.”

Her name was a tiny noise barely comprehensible to herself.

“Menahem. You can call me Maggie. I’m someone very special.”

With another flash of the lights, Menahem saw Magdalena’s face. Her long, dark hair caked in blood and gore that had spattered off her spinning blade, her soft lips painted red whether with makeup or blood, unknown. Her eyes staring down at Menahem with a strange humor. Her body which would have been beautiful and voluptuous, coveted in any other setting, clad under in black layered red with the detritus of uncountable lives.

Perhaps recognizing Menahem’s scrutiny she tipped her peaked cap.

Rendering visible the hooked crosses symbolizing her allegiance.

“They call me Maggie the Cleaner– do you know why?”

She suddenly revved the diamond sabre with a smile.

Menahem crawled back against the closet, making herself small in it.

“I use this saw to clean up filthy places. Cut out necrotic tissue.” Magdalena said. “Any space occupied by Juzni, or Turuks or even worse, by Eloim– once this saw has cleansed it, Imbrian lives can resume in there. Imbria is a sick, sick man, Menahem– it needs me–”

She kneeled closer to Menahem in the closet, lifting her hand from her saw.

Spreading open her jacket with that shaking hand. Lips quivering as she spoke.

“Menahem, little Menahem– you see– I have killed so much– but I am dying.”

She showed Menahem her open stomach, and the hanging sleeve on her coat–

The missing part of her head under her hat–

Menahem recoiled in even greater horror, covering her mouth, kicking her legs.

Magdelena smiled, forcing herself to her full height using her handle of her saw.

Her mad eyes fixed on Menahem who could not look away–

“I am dying– and you have to tell your kind my story. You have to carry my story– to the future. Tell the tale of how I scoured you all. That the Blood Bund will continue to do everything to rid Imbria of the poison in its veins. If any of your kin are alive, tell them of my hatred, and of your weakness. And live to hate me as well– hate me with all of your feeble power. I don’t want your respect and I already know how to get your fear– what I covet more than anything is your hatred. That’s how I will be immortalized after I die– nobody will be able to say Magdalena von Treckow did not live– nobody will be able to say that the Blood Bund did not fight– we were the foremost healers of Imbria’s defects–”

Half the words in those mad ramblings had begun to slur and quaver by the end.

There was nothing Menahem could do in reponse but to nod her head.

Shaking, and silently begging and hoping that she would be left alive.

She saw Magdalena’s hand lift from her saw.

In that instant she imagined any of a thousand things that hand could do to kill her.

Any of a million ways it would move next–

Every one of a billion refracting possibilities made real within the mind–

Its colors moved away from the saw and never returned, however.

Menahem saw an odorless black mass trail out the door, and out the door Magdalena went.

Like a nightmare she had woken up from, except–

For the saw weapon left in the room, stuck into the floor, encrusted in gore.

And giving off a vibrant, lightless red glow like gaseous blood.

Too weak and wracked with every imaginable agony, Menahem fell forward.

Occupying the floor next to the weapon, weeping in its overwhelming stench.

Pulling up her legs against her chest, cold and shaking and alone, so essentially alone.

More alone than anyone in the world could be among corpses.

The only survivor– the keeper of this grim story.


After Descent, Year 979

While the rest of the Dibuqim scouted ahead, finished picking through the barracks and armory, and advised the rioters they had silently impressed into service– under a tree in the park, away from prying eyes, Menahem Halevi and Tiphereth Hadžić met for a debrief on the present situation and their next steps. In the distance, the most eager of the ‘Aachen Citizen’s Guard’ were descending the long stairways down to the first tier of Aachen’s Core Station or ascending to third tier where the rioters had begun to concentrate. Dibuqim scouts with stealth shields and heavy pistols accompanied them in either direction.

Dibuqim with assault weapons held back for the moment.

Despite the dire nature of their predicament–

Tiphereth got the distinctive impression that Menahem was not listening to her.

She was looking out somewhere– perhaps that doll of hers had hidden in that direction.

Absentmindedly Tiphereth lifted her index finger into her mouth.

“Are you paying attention?” She said through the finger.

Only then noticing she had put it through her lips and taking it back out.

Menahem suddenly turned an aggressive expression on her.

Her tail and ears stood on end, and she almost thought Menahem might lunge.

It was only a brief lapse in her emotional control of course.

Much like Tiphereth’s finger biting, Menahem realized quickly her habit. Her expression softened, she sighed and shook her head and made some kind of show, like she had a headache or was tired. Tiphereth humored her and waited for a verbal response, pretending to be understanding in this moment of difficulty. Even though time was of the essence– this was not some friendly sport they were undertaking, but a brutal, unforgiveable slaughter.

“I’m trying to think, Tiphereth. I’m being pulled in a dozen directions. Please repeat yourself.”

“Of course– say, we could have a more democratic and decentralized style of command, and it might help with the great burden which has been placed on your shoulders. Have you ever heard of anarchism? It is this anti-hierarchical social theory of voluntary association–”

“Tiphereth. Your report.” Menahem pressed.

Tiphereth bowed her head slightly, stifling a laugh.

“There are no working elevators, so our scouts are accompanying the rioters through the transit levels. We managed to advise them to separate into groups going coming down on the top of the first level and bottom of the third level from different directions using the available stairways. Otherwise they would have happily stampeded through one stairway. The ‘Aachen Citizen’s Guard’ is mobilizing in the third tier and can serve as a speedbump for Mycenae, but no more. Without our help they will be slaughtered to the last.”

Menahem crossed her arms. “They may be slaughtered even with our help. How is our rear?”

“A few of Moravskyi’s men got away, we have scouts chasing them. It’s under control.”

“And Stockheim?”

“We took over the Control Tower, but it’s pretty tenuous. We were not able to plant a lot of guys and gear there. I don’t know how long the scouts can hold out if the Pandora’s Box or someone else decides to go see why the docking clamps are locked up with no answer. There’s only so much advantage the stealth shields can confer when they are defending a tight static position. So if you want to succeed, we’ll need your doll down there fast. We have a wall in front of us and a rolling boulder at our back. We spread out too far and too thinly. If we wanted the Pandora’s Box we should’ve just concentrated everything on it.”

“Why are you calling it the Pandora’s Box?”

“I mean– that’s it’s registered name.”

Tiphereth absentmindedly raised her finger to her lips. Not sucking on it.

Menahem stared at her.

“I’m going to say something else controversial.” Tiphereth added.

“I can’t wait.” Menahem said, grinning with condescension.

Tiphereth’s cat-like ears folded slightly. “Going after the Wohnbezirk is a waste of time. We need everything we can throw at the communists. With the elevators down, it will take thirty or forty minutes to get up through the transit level stairways from the Wohnbezirk and back into Aachen’s Core Station, and we can block them off easily with a small amount of scouts and some gear. Our forces are already separated in too many directions as it is.”

Menahem reached out and grabbed Tiphereth by her shirt.

“You’re saying this because you want to protect the Shimii. To protect your kind.”

Her voice oozed with menace. Tiphereth stood unmoved in her grasp.

“I’m not a Shimii. I’m an Eloim. So I know our quite tenuous conditions very well.”

Of course, Menahem would never let her just be an Eloim.

That hatred in her eyes burned so bright as she met Tiphereth’s own.

Those eyes saw a Shimii and would perhaps never see otherwise.

“The only thing we need to win is David and myself.”

“Tamar did not think so.”

Menahem shook Tiphereth with anger, now grabbing her with both hands.

“Call her Manhig you lowlife! She might esteem you, but I know better!”

She shoved Tiphereth, who nearly fell to the ground, but caught herself in time.

Menahem seemed almost surprised she could not push Tiphereth down completely.

When the mixed-race Eloim stood back up to full height with her–

She put on an apathetic expression and began to suck her index finger again.

“I’m not here to satisfy your personal mythology. I am trying to reach our objectives. Vesna Nasser and Maggie the Cleaner are not here. The Wohnbezirk is useless.” Tiphereth said.

“Very well.” Menahem said. “Then join me in the charge! That will give us a bit more power against the communists in the first tier of the station– otherwise, you can go to your harmless Wohnbezirk and make sure your fascist brethren are slaughtered fast enough for you to double back. It is not mythology that the bulk of the fascist forces in this station are down there, not up here. We need to head them off– and we want to kill them all.”

Tiphereth made no different expression and simply nodded her head in response.

“More importantly– I noticed you did not mention anything about the Oststadt.”

Menahem locked eyes with Tiphereth again.

“Nothing to mention. Venue is being jammed from inside. I can’t unjam it and look.”

Tiphereth’s gaze did not waver but held no more emotion.

“Send more scouts. We need to make sure everyone in there is buried.” Menahem said.

Her voice was as intense and restrained as that hateful gaze.

Again, Tiphereth bowed her head, but continued sucking her index finger.

“Not feeling confident, Aluf Halevi? I thought ambushes were our forte.”

“–Take that damn thing out of your mouth already.”

“Don’t you have so many dozens of things to attend to, Aluf Halevi?”

“If it wouldn’t attract more undue attention, I’d sock you right here.”

Tiphereth winked at Menahem in response to threat.

Menahem could not retaliate without compromising her emotions again.

“I’ll be expecting you in ten minutes.” She said in a low voice.

She left Tiphereth’s side in the direction of the descending stairways.

Tiphereth watched her leave with a small smile on her face. Her bobtail swaying habitually despite lacking the length to truly sway, like the tails of full-blooded Shimii did. She stood under the trees swaying on a false wind, watching the white uniforms begin the march to the tightly plotted slaughter now coming unraveled. Though she would soon join them, she thought with both bitterness and amusement that everything was still up in the air.

“We’ll see which gambler gets all the gold.” Tiphereth said, index finger on her lips.

Of course– she said this while having a strong bet on the outcome.


Previous ~ Next

The Past Will Come Back As A Tidal Wave [13.10]

“You want to abandon me. I have not performed to your expectations.”

Impassioned words, spoken on the verge of tears, and met with silence.

This was the first exchange of words between Gloria Innocence Luxembourg and Daksha Kansal in days. They had been out of touch since the United Front deliberations began. In Gloria’s imaginary there could only be one reason for this– and so, she had begun maneuvering of her own accord in order to obviate the participation of Daksha Kansal in the Front’s business, and future. She had made her own moves, with a hard one coming.

However– her pride (and her fear) still called on her to confront her “beloved mentor.”

Gloria Innocence Luxembourg donned her pure white dress and made up her soft pink hair, looked herself in the mirror, practiced smiling, and left her apartment first thing.

To meet someone at their private quarters for business rather than pleasure.

For her efforts, she was met exclusively with Daksha Kansal’s back.

Surrounded by her spartan apartment, barely touched from when the lease was signed.

There was nothing she could have been staring in there that mattered.

“Turn around and look at me.” Gloria demanded. “I won’t disappear if you look away.”

“You’ve gotten quite demanding.” Daksha replied, in a low voice.

“You are awful, Daksha Kansal! Awful! I cannot believe you! I did everything you asked. I gave you money and I gathered everyone together. You have already decided, without any basis, that you can’t make use of me.” Gloria could not help but put on a bleak grin on her face, her heart pounding. She started speaking out of malice, out of wanting to find any way to needle or hurt her mentor. “It’s accelerating, I think! You spent ten years in the General Strike movement– and four or five years in the Union, right? Maybe a year with the Bureni nationalists– and now in a few months you’re rid of me. You’ve gotten so efficient.”

Daksha Kansal turned around. Crossed her arms. She looked exhausted.

She could not make eye contact with Gloria, and that hopeless smile Gloria wore.

“Gloria, I don’t know who you have been talking to– but you don’t understand anything. You have no idea how important communism is to me, nor how important it is to the survival of the human race. It is for that reason that every decision I make is absolutely critical.”

She was right. Gloria did not understand. Nor did she care.

That Gloria Luxembourg who stood in that room–

had been pushed beyond her ability to care.

“You can’t even use me. You can’t even treat me as a tool. You just want to discard me.”

Gloria had been more than willing to set aside her pride for someone else to give her a path.

She had begged Leda Lettiere, but she was killed before she could even answer.

She made connections with Herta Kleyn and the liberals, but they tacitly accepted defeat.

She founded Raylight Beauty, played the corporate game, made millions– but none of it gave her power and none of it absolved her of either her guilt or her sense of responsibility.

Then she gave herself to Daksha Kansal and now even she would throw her away.

Nobody wanted responsibility for Gloria– nobody could give her power–

nobody could grant her agency–

nobody could purify her sins– and nobody could save her– Nobody could– die in her place– protect her from the consequences of her scheming– protect her–

So– there was nothing to do– but to risk her own neck and die in the slaughter–?

“Gloria, please.” Daksha said. “Please. I’m not throwing you away. You have surpassed my expectations. You have your own strength. You have done everything I desired and planned. It is the next step which concerns me– you do not understand how crucial it could be!”

“Why haven’t you appeared at the United Front even once?” Gloria asked.

Daksha paused for a moment. She sighed. “I’ll put in an appearance. Tomorrow.”

“On the last day.” Gloria said. “Will it be a send off then? What will you even say?”

“Gloria– I don’t know what to do. I wish I had something I could say to placate you in this moment.” Daksha said. “That is the actual truth. I don’t know how I feel about the state of the politics in the Imbrium, I don’t know how I feel about my own actions. I don’t know how I feel about the people I have now or the ones I left behind. This struggle is so vital and so necessary and I am feeling its weight for perhaps the first time. You’re right, I ran away before. I decreed my business done or my colleagues unworthy. You and others have called it running away– I agree and I’m conflicted about everything. Is that good enough for you?”

Gloria looked at Daksha in the eyes. Her expression softened.

For only a moment– because staring at the listless expression of her mentor made her mad.

Her most childish part of herself wanted to say– you led me into all of this.

It was not true. Gloria had led herself from the very beginning.

Choosing when to hide, when to duck her head, and when to take all of the credit.

Ever since she avoided the student protests–

Ever since she witnessed the failures in leadership and the imminent collapse–

Ever since she began to desire power–

it had been her choices that led her to this day.

Whether she was brave or bold, whether she was cowardly– she chose that.

Nobody else.

But it would have been so much easier if someone would take her by the shoulders–

–and stop her before she crossed her rubicon.

It was not fair that the great Daksha Kansal was as confused and scared as she was.

It was not fair that she was not perfect despite her words being so powerful.

“Tomorrow. Alright. We’ll meet and discuss everything among the Front.” Gloria said.

Daksha drew in a deep breath. “I promise– I’ll have made a decision by then.”

“Me too.” Tomorrow, everything would have to be decided one way or another.

Gloria recalled the image of Leda Lettiere walking austerely to her execution.

There were only publicized images of her being taken– never of her dead body.

Would Gloria be afforded that much dignity? No– she wasn’t living in a dignified time.

She was living in an evil era where there were no heroes she could count on.

And– for as much as her pride wanted to say otherwise, she felt like a failed hero herself.

Daksha Kansal turned her back on her again, to stare at the walls again.

For all her fear, Gloria tried to maintain a dignified expression as she wept, unseen.

Beginning her own march toward the gallows.


“Come in, I’m just taking my tea– ah, Murati! How nice to see you!”

Through the door into Euphrates’ room, the tall, somewhat gloomy Murati Nakara walked inside, as always meticulously dressed in her Treasure Box Transports uniform. She looked around the room in order to fix her eyes on something other than Euphrates, but the scientist kept very little in terms of possessions. The room was tidy and furnished the same as any other, the immortal having little of value that she carried beside her vast memories.

However– Murati also knew that Euphrates had another possession, which she needed.

And so, she visited, feeling ashamed of the transactional nature of her appearance.

“You can pull up a chair next to me. I know you’re acting Captain and all, but if you pulled yourself away from the bridge, you must have some time to sit down with me.” Euphrates gestured toward her side. Murati did as instructed and pulled a seat up from the floor and sat down at the table. It was the same type of the table on the far wall of every other room.

“I do have some time. I left the bridge to Aatto.” Murati said.

“Have some tea with me then.” Euphrates said.

She touched the wall, and it opened up, revealing a few synthestitched cups in storage.

On the table, there was a small electric kettle and a small bottle with yellow-brown tabs.

Euphrates dropped one of the tabs in a cup and poured hot water over it.

Quickly dissolving the morsel into a cup of instant tea which she handed to Murati.

Murati took a sip. It was sweet and a bit tangy.

Euphrates smiled at her and sipped her own tea alongside.

“Union instant tea is much nicer than the Imperial kinds– but it only comes in one flavor.”

“It’s the same with the coffee.” Murati said. “You don’t really need that many, do you?”

“Ah, but there is a world of amazing flavors to be found in tea. There are people who drink for pleasure that would be angry with you. Different leaves, treated differently, with different additives.” Euphrates said. “However, you are right in a way– for me, I am only after a bit of caffeine, so the convenience factor of the instant tea is invaluable.”

“It’s not like we don’t have leaf tea in the Union. We don’t need that many instant teas.”

Murati put on a bit of a sour face and Euphrates laughed girlishly at her side.

“You don’t need to be upset, Murati. I think the Union way is quite commendable.”

“I’m not upset– I don’t really care what you think about the Union–”

“That pout says otherwise.” Euphrates said. “I’m sorry– I will stop teasing you now.”

As ever, Euphrates was dressed in a formal sort of outfit with a sportcoat and vest worn over a button-down shirt with matching slacks. The cut and fit of the clothes, which was rather austere and dignified, and reminded Murati of a commissariat clerk, or lawyer or a politician. There were suits of this sort that were dynamic and flashy and gave off a sense of modernity, but those were not the kind that Euphrates liked to wear. Because Euphrates was a relatively waifish woman, young looking as if her pretty face had been frozen in early adulthood, with her jaw-length blue hair barely combed back in voluminous and messy waves– she sometimes gave Murati the impression of a girl with a grandfather’s fashion sense.

Murati knew that she was an immortal and therefore felt that perhaps her sense of fashion was something that she had carried with her on her thousand year jaunt.

Or maybe it was all just Murati’s own biases about who wore such suits in her own life.

“Um.” Murati found herself a bit at a loss for words– and embarrassed at her inability.

This happened every so often– but more often lately as she was confronted with people and the difficulties that they represented. She lifted her hands slightly and tried to gesticulate, moving her fingers as if trying to express the handing of something over from one hand to another. She repeated the gesture helplessly. Euphrates looked at her for a moment, and then tenderly raised her own hand and took Murati’s in it, stroking her knuckles.

“Unfortunately, Murati, I am not able to understand your nonverbal cues as your wife can. I am sorry if I have contributed to this stress for you.” Euphrates said. “It is okay if you came here to ask me for something. I do not think you should be anxious about that. However, if you will allow me to collect a toll– I would like to talk to you about three little things first, and then you can proceed with your request, with full confidence. Is that okay?”

Murati nodded her head, starting to find her words again. “Alright. Sorry about this.”

“It’s fine.” Euphrates said. “It might be embarrassing to admit this, but I do like talking to you because– well, I have felt a sort of filial attachment to you developing since we met. Perhaps I am too quick to become affectionate toward people who I find endearing, maybe it’s a flaw– but I do think of you as someone close to me whom I wish to advise and nurture. Perhaps a mentee, perhaps a student, perhaps something like a– a niece, perhaps. I hope that this is not presumptuous of me to say. Does that offend you at all?”

“No, it does not.” Murati said. “I am– flattered. I respect you greatly.”

Murati was someone who had holes in her heart where family was concerned.

They had known each other a short time but Euphrates was easily the closest thing Murati had to a mother at any portion of the life which she remembered– having lost her mother as a very small child who had little opportunity to know her besides. Deshnov had not been a particularly nurturing figure for her. Euphrates was someone who offered advice and taught her things and supported her. Someone whose approval and respect she sought willingly. Someone whom she wanted to protect and even to care for– to keep from harm.

And now– someone whose resources she needed.

“You seem to be regaining your speech.” Euphrates said cheerfully. “So, my first item.” She extended her thumb in one hand. “Murati, have you continued to practice psionics?”

“Not as much as I would like to. I’m still exerting too much force.”

“I will devise a method so that you can work on that. Give me some time.”

“I trust you.”

“Good! I believe you will only become more skilled with time.” Euphrates smiled. “Murati, I want to teach you another psionic exercise that you can do basically any time– provided there isn’t someone with psionics who would think you’re gawking at them.” Euphrates lifted her hand, and moved it side to side slowly. “While you’re out and about or sitting down at the bridge perhaps– try to watch people’s auras moving along with their bodies.”

Murati pulled her internal trigger and her eyes glowed with red rings around her irises.

She watched Euphrates’ hand and tried to focus on the aura surrounding it.

“It looks like your aura is taking up the entire space your hand is moving.”

“That’s what it looks like now.” Euphrates said. “What I want you to focus on is to try to conceptualize the aura not as an undifferentiated mass that has occupied the entire space of my arm’s motion, but rather, to notice the differences in the aura where my arm is going and has gone. Do you understand? As people move, try to notice any hint of difference in their aura as they go. Does it detach in any given place? Does it move before their body?”

Murati strained her eyes but could not notice any difference at all.

Euphrates’ arm moved in the same predictable motion, for upwards of a minute–

However, the aura remained a static gradient of green and blue occupying the entire space.

There was not even the tiniest speck of a difference in Murati’s perception.

“It would be unfair to demand you understand this instantly.” Euphrates said, withdrawing her hand back to her plastic cup. “All I ask is that you try it as much as you are able, that you keep an open mind, and that you temper your frustrations. This is a conceptual exercise that will help open your mind further. You have already made incredible progress.”

Murati grumbled.

“You keep saying that– but I don’t feel like I have achieved much at all.”

“You, my dear, have achieved more than most of the human race, in this particular field.”

Euphrates smiled and took a contented sip of her tea.

Murati was not satisfied with that answer at all. However, she did not respond.

This was her way of trying to temper her frustrations, as Euphrates asked her to.

On the hand extending a thumb, Euphrates then extended her index finger.

“My second item of the promised three.” Euphrates said. “Have you opened the chronicle?”

Some time ago, she had bequeathed to Murati a chronicle left by her parents.

“I opened it.” Murati said, and said no more, leaving out a crucial detail–

She had not looked at hardly any information inside of the chronicle.

Her courage allowed her only to check that it worked.

All she saw was the first page and only briefly.

When she saw that it was a profile of Kutchicetus DNA she became demoralized.

Why would they have left data about some extinct animal genetics to her?

What was the point? They left that chronicle for her– did they think she would care?

She did not want to see the rest after that. But she could not tell Euphrates that.

Euphrates looked too delighted with her response.

“I’m glad. I do not need to hear about the contents– it is yours and only yours. It was only good fortune that led me to have possession of their work so that I could protect it. I am happy that I was able to turn it over. I collected everything I could, but I want you to understand Murati that they left it all to you. That chronicle contains their wishes for you.”

Murati felt guilty, and possibly Euphrates suspected something, but she said no more.

Regardless, she would not yet look at the full contents of that chronicle.

She did not feel ready to have the past intrude upon her present, not right now.

Perhaps– not ever–

“My third request of three– and thank you kindly for sitting with this old woman.”

Euphrates lifted her thumb, index, and middle fingers together.

She winked at Murati with a little grin, drawing a laugh out of Murati in response.

“I told you yesterday I want to form a new organization– I am not trying to recruit you or any Union military personnel on this ship of course.” Euphrates quickly pointed this out when Murati started to wear a troubled expression. “I just wanted to talk to you about my ideas.”

“I’m listening.” Murati said. “But you know– you don’t need to.”

Out of all of them– if anyone tallied up their suffering, Euphrates’ life would outweigh it.

Murati dearly wished this woman could be safe and uninvolved–

“–Ah, Murati, don’t deny an old lady her little hobbies, alright?” Euphrates teased.

As much as she joked, Murati knew Euphrates had a very strong sense of responsibility.

“Anyway.” Euphrates continued, since Murati had nothing to say in response and merely sipped on her own tea. “The Sunlight Foundation had as its chief goal, finding a way to reclaim the surface for human habitation. We had a lot of ideas of how this looked– for example, it would have been acceptable to us if we could construct a habitat that could survive the state of surface. We were not going to reverse however many centuries of destruction. We were not so foolish. Regardless we did not accomplish that. At this point, I can declare our goal a failure– but I always had a subsidiary goal I was pursuing too.”

“I truly feared,” Euphrates continued, after a little pause to sip her tea, “that Agarthicite would be abused as I knew that it had been on the surface. On the surface, I was a captive for much of my life, so I learned very little about how the world operated in any great detail. However, I knew, from the experiments on my body, and my very brief glimpse of freedom on the surface, and my long life under the ocean– that the ocean was technologically stunted in comparison. But it was only a matter of time before the crude instruments of survival which the ocean pioneers were given would develop into weapons along similar lines to those employed by the surface hegemony. So I set myself the task of interceding as I could on affairs related to agarthicite. I am not proud of it– but I still think it is necessary.”

Murati thought back to the Core Separation Crisis and felt a shudder about their future.

“With the current climate of political instability and escalation– I think it is inevitable that Agarthicite will be relied on more and abused as a vulnerability or a weapon.” She said.

To say such a thing was a heinous taboo– but the taboo was already broken.

She also knew that she was in the right company to make such a statement without scandal.

Euphrates smiled.

“No, Murati, it is not inevitable. Someone has to do something to stop it. So I want to create an organization that intercedes on issues of Agarthicite. I will create an organization that does independent research, and that advises on Agarthicite as an issue of public health and worker safety. I think this angle will work with the Union, don’t you?”

“With the Union?” Murati smiled a bit. “You’re finally throwing your lot in with us fully?”

“I have principles.” Euphrates said, grinning a bit back. “My principles tell me the Union will be far more amenable toward safer development of Agarthicite. With the Imbrian Empire and its warring states this is likely to be impossible, but the Union might just be a proper steward of Agarthicite. At the very least I think their rule of law compels them.”

As an environmental cause, it was unlikely for the Union as it was now to care about the concerns around Agarthicite– however, they were more likely to cooperate with an organization that conducted research and framed itself as supporting workers and public health. The Union was a proletarian state, and much like its workers were meant to support their own interests, the Union as a whole was organized around the interests of workers. If Euphrates founded a proletarian organization, she could potentially sway them.

However– this vision presupposed–

“–do you think the Union will be powerful enough to be a worthwhile ally for you?”

Murati asked this and Euphrates responded first with a wry smile.

“Do you not? Isn’t it your goal to spread the Union across the Imbrium?” She said.

“Is it yours?”

Euphrates looked her in the eyes with determination.

“It is now. Perhaps– it has been since the two of us met.” She said. “Everyone else has taken a side– so I am taking your side, Murati.” She raised a hand to her chest as if swearing an oath. “Murati, Daksha Kansal intervened in your life, in the life of the people of the Union, and she has abandoned you– I feel responsible for that. I am not so arrogant as to claim that I made Daksha Kansal what she is now. She is a genius, and without me, she would still have been a generational talent and a firebrand. But– the example I tried to set embittered her. If it were not for her frustrations with me she might still be leading the Union. Setting aside whether that would be better or worse for your people– now she is pitting herself against your people. Someone like her needs to take your side. I am your genius now.”

She tried to smile and to speak with more levity,

as she jokingly called herself

Murati’s genius–

That bit of humor could not hide the pain in her gaze and smile as she spoke to Murati. The edges of her mechanical eyes glimmered with tears she held back. Her fists closed on her lap. Her entire posture, her body language– she looked like someone holding back a storm by herself. Euphrates was openly in pain in front of her even as she spoke optimistically.

Murati set down her cup of tea and met that gaze and the pain hiding behind–

And she reached across the table, embracing Euphrates, suddenly taking her in close.

“Murati–!” Euphrates whimpered, surprised.

“Thank you, Euphrates. Thank you for everything.”

Murati stroked her hair and held her smaller frame, almost ephemeral in comparison.

In a strange way, in an inexplicable way, this woman had become special to her.

Though they had only known each other for weeks, months–

In her mind, in her emotional imaginary, Murati felt like she had known her for years.

Like she experienced a depth of pain and triumph with her she felt with very few people.

Not as a lover, not as a friend, not any of the relationships she ever had to another woman.

It was not something that she could explain that easily.

“You don’t have to hold anything back with me.” Murati said.

Then Euphrates returned the embrace, even more tightly than Murati had held her.

She finally allowed herself to weep. Almost silent sobs, almost austere catharsis.

Murati demanded nothing from her. She only offered herself to receive the tears.

To this woman, so powerful, so unfathomable– and so overwhelmingly burdened.

For exactly five minutes, Euphrates cried into Murati’s chest as quietly as she could.

Trying to make herself small and out of the way even as she cried.

Murati could feel when she was ready and let her go. Euphrates wiped her tears.

“Thank you, Murati. I am really sorry about that. I’ve regained my composure.”

“You don’t need to maintain composure with me. You can just be yourself.”

“That is very kind– but for myself at least, I value avoiding such outbursts.”

“Alright. For what it’s worth this does not change how I see you at all.”

Euphrates smiled.

Murati would not demand reasons or explanations from her.

“What do you think of the name ‘Dawn’?” Euphrates asked suddenly, lifting a few locks of her blue hair that had become displaced and tucking them behind her ear. She looked up at the ceiling as if there was something to see beyond it. “Back on the surface, when my body was being used for medical research– I heard of a rogue scientific collective called the Shooting Stars. They were called terrorists, villains, and were declared inhuman– because they challenged the Agarthicite conglomerates and tried to prevent calamity. Inspired by that vague memory, I came up with the name of the Sunlight Foundation to represent our goal of basking under the sun again. Our goal that tried to subvert everything to achieve. Now, I want to bring the sun down here, for the humans who are alive. I will call it the Dawn Association. Tigris and I will found it, and it will be equitable, and it will cooperate with others rather than hide away. We’ll work openly to raise a new generation of thinkers who believe in this world– rather than any more atavists dreaming of reviving the past.”

Murati smiled back. “I think it’s lovely. I’ll help however I can– in appropriate ways.”

Through and through Murati was a soldier and a communist, not a pseudophysicist.

Or even a humanitarian– all of this felt far too removed from her competencies.

Despite this she would do what she could to help Euphrates.

“Thank you. For now, it is enough that you give us a place to stay. Hopefully the Captain might be amenable to inviting a few more eccentric scientists aboard– I would like to look for some estranged old colleagues to assist me with this endeavor.” Euphrates said. “And perhaps sway any of the old guard that I can to try something new– though at least Daksha Kansal will not accept such a thing. I may have lost her– it hurts, but I must move on.”

“What will you do about Solarflare?” Murati asked.

“Cecilia is the pillar keeping Solarflare afloat. Tigris and I have always been either fixers or a source of selfish disruptions that she has put up with. We have caused her more trouble than we are worth. Ultimately, Solarflare will transition in some way, depending on what happens with Rhinea. For now Cecilia can count on Amelia Winn’s assistance. Alcor and Solarflare will be an interesting partnership. Amelia is a selfish and immature person, but she has a flexible management style to balance Cecilia’s rigidity, and most importantly, Amelia has legitimacy and resources within the establishment of Kreuzung. They will butt heads, but I think they will be fine; I am just not corporate CEO material in the way that they both are.”

“I see.” Murati would not comment on what she thought about Amelia Winn.

Euphrates took another sip of her tea, now beginning to turn room temperature.

She took a deep breath. She sounded contented when she spoke.

“That is my third little request. Thank you dearly, Murati. What did you want to ask me?”

Murati averted her gaze. All of her prior embarrassment returned for a moment.

Her ability to speak coherently did not depart from her again– thankfully.

But her request had not become any less selfish and she felt quite silly.

“I wanted to ask you for money.” Murati mumbled, staring at the table.

The Brigand’s stock of Reichsmarks was nearly depleted. While Premier Kairos would likely secure more funds from Gloria Innocence Luxembourg, it was unlikely that those funds would be available when Murati needed them, and available for her selfish purpose. It would have been even more mortifying to beg the Captain or Premier for money for personal entertainment. So for now, Murati needed money and had no way to acquire it.

“Oh! Of course, of course! Murati I would never judge you for something like that!”

Euphrates looked delighted with Murati, who still could not make eye contact.

“How much do you need?” Euphrates reached into her coat and withdrew a few credichips. Small rectangular devices that contained encrypted accounting of funds available for transactions. Less than a centimeter thick, with their cases decorated in various colors and brands and characters. She had so many– how much money could she have?

“You know, I was thinking about extending you an allowance, but I feared offending you.”

“I just need enough to take Karuniya to a nice restaurant.” Murati admitted, frowning.

“I am so happy for her. Have fun!” Euphrates handed Murati a purple and gold credichip.

Murati reluctantly took the credichip, offered her thanks,

and silently cursed capitalism.


“Oh ho! My little proteins are bouncing back! Grow little guys! Grow!”

A piercing sound of laughter rattled the instruments in the laboratory.

Karuniya Maharapratham held on to the sides of the electron microscope box, fingers clutching corners of the large chassis, while her face was nearly pressed on the LCD display to which it transmitted its magnified images. On the screen, a biostitched organoid subjected to harsh chemicals and conditions had begun to repair itself– after the application of a strange foreign substance. It should have died, as many other test cultures before it had died in the same experimental conditions. Instead it was managing to survive.

“Am I a genius? I need so much more data– but maybe this is it–

Even this modest result had been won after hours and hours of work–

And trillions of processing cycles from the main computer.

“Could this be related to the Omenseer’s durability?”

She had managed to isolate and employ an Omenseer-related substance.

Judging by its effect on an organoid that replicated human tissues–

“Can’t jump to conclusions though. For weird stuff like this– it’s got to be ironclad.”

Everything was recorded automatically, but Karuniya still took her own notes.

While she would have to trial it much more extensively and on more complex organoids, there was a sudden hope brimming in her heart as she watched the monitor. She would call the substance Compound A for now– she had isolated the enzymes from Arabella’s materials. If this was part of the Omenseer’s healing factor, she might have found a base for new medigels and antidotes– and ones guaranteed to be compatible with Omenseer biology. She would have to run a lot of tests and gather a lot of data to convince the Captain and Commissar to let her try the substance on anyone in the crew– herself included, more than likely. But she had something now. It was a start she did not have before.

Her eyes wandered over to a small rack on her desk, containing several different fluids.

These were Murati’s materials– she idly thought of testing Compound A on them–

Karuniya made a dirty grin at the tubes. “I wonder what it would do with Murati’s–”

Her intrusive thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a physical intruder–

“Mushroom lady! Mushroom lady! Good morning!”

“Don’t call me mushroom lady!”

Arabella herself had appeared to pay a visit, all smiles and with a proud grin.

“Why are you so cheerful today?” Karuniya asked.

“Braya said that I was being more annoying than ever and sent me to bother you for a bit!”

Arabella stuck out her hand with a thumbs-up. Karuniya stared at her for a moment.

“Well, if you’ve got some blood to spare, I could definitely use it.” Karuniya smiled.

In response Arabella made a deflating noise.

“Always after my blood.” She mumbled.

Zachikova must have been busy with something important to have actually sent Arabella away– probably adding new requested features to ZaChat. That made her more irritable than usual because she found her power users (Murati and Erika) annoying also. Karuniya did not mind having Arabella around, depending on the circumstances. She was always excitable or at least she put up a front that she was– how excitable was what varied day to day.

Physically, Arabella appeared well.

Her light brown skin and long, dark purple-blue hair were a contrast to how she first presented itself and made her look rather handsome, especially with her shoulders bared. Karuniya wondered if the list of princes might be amended to include her. The sailors must have seen her around without her jacket now. Her figure was sleek, her limbs slim and long, and she presented a bit taller than she used to as well, though not as tall as Murati.

Karuniya had not seen her injuries, but she had read the account of her circumstances in Kreuzung from Zachikova’s report. If a human even survived such a mauling it would take them months of care and attention. Arabella was up and about as if nothing happened– there were not even scars on her shoulders. If Compound A was part of the biological system responsible for these miracle recoveries– well, studying the Omenseers in general might save a lot of future lives or even improve the resilience of ordinary humans.

For the moment however those were pipe dreams.

“Speaking of blood, actually– there is something you can do for me.”

She beckoned Arabella closer to one of the tables, where a small refrigerator for samples had been filled with something else entirely. Karuniya opened the door and produced a small bundle of separately shrink-wrapped packages. Because the shrink-wrap was opaque the contents could not be seen until Karuniya peeled off the plastic. She demonstrated that each package contained a dark brown, nearly black snack bar with a rough surface and a crumbly texture. Karuniya tore a piece and showed Arabella the texture of it.

“This is a bar made of human blood mixed with coconut flour to keep it together.”

One thing Karuniya could test in the moment was the first part of her nascent logistical system for their Omenseer compatriots– a way to feed them human tissue in a humane fashion. This would be necessary to support them in the long term. Without a way to feed their Omenseers, they had to remain in the constant company of their partners.

Arabella averted her gaze briefly, but Karuniya shook her hand in the air.

“The blood was collected humanely! With medical consent and everything!” She clarified.

“Whose blood was it?” Arabella asked. Eyes still averted– wearing a bashful expression.

“Why do you care?” Karuniya sighed. “This batch came from myself and Dr. Kappel.”

“I care because–” Arabella started rubbing her index fingers together, “I– I like biting Braya.”

Karuniya nearly burst out laughing.

“Oh come on! You can keep biting her recreationally! I’m not here to police your bedroom activities! I just want to be able to stockpile nutrients for you and Olga! That is all!”

Arabella made eye contact again. Relief slowly dawned on her face, and she smiled.

She took the blood bar Karuniya offered her. Turning it around on her fingers.

Sniffing it.

Finally she brought it up to her mouth and put the whole thing in.

Puffing up her cheeks to the size of two fists–

“It’s not that much! Don’t act like I’m trying to choke you!” Karuniya said.

Arabella’s cheeks immediately shrank back to normal after. She continued to chew.

“It’s gross. It’s not like Braya’s blood at all. I want to spit it out.” She mumbled.

“Don’t spit it out! Do you feel a certain way when you eat human tissue?”

“Yes, there’s a certain feeling.” Arabella swallowed the bar with a glum expression.

“Do you feel that way while eating this?” Karuniya asked.

“Yes, I feel like I am eating humans. But I did not like it. Can I never eat this again?”

“You will be eating it again. We need to gather more data for my research.”

Arabella looked down at the ground with her arms hanging at her sides.

“It’s for your own good.” Karuniya said. “We can try to make the flavor better.”

She reached out and patted Arabella’s head briefly, careful to avoid her horns.

“We should use Braya’s blood. It tastes better than yours.” Arabella said.

“How the hell– I’m so much healthier; I eat a balanced diet; I actually exercise even–”

Initially offended– Karuniya realized quickly how ridiculous it was to feel that way.

“Nevermind. I promise we’ll improve the flavor. It’s a process of development!” Karuniya said. “For now, just hang around for an hour or two and tell me if you feel sated. You can help me with the mushrooms while you’re here too.” She pointed at a few racks of fresh growing media in need of installation, and then pointed at the mushroom tanks.

“It’s always about mushrooms or my blood.” Arabella said. “Can’t we just play a bit?”

“You can play with the mushrooms. By installing them on the tank.” Karuniya said.

She tried not to sound too stern, but she was an adult with a job to do.

And Arabella did enough playing with Zachikova. Both on and off the bridge.

Regardless of her grumbling, Arabella promptly went to the mushrooms like a good girl.

Karuniya smiled. She was a handful, but she was well intentioned.

“Think of it this way, Arabella– my nasty bars will help humans and omenseers get along.”

Arabella looked over her shoulder, carrying the grow media. She smiled back.


“What kind of gift would a princess like, anyway?”

Mentally, she could already hear Elena’s voice going ‘I’m not a princess!’

Marina McKennedy smiled to herself.

There were so many stores around her that it was hard to get a sense of where to go.

Especially when she was still debating with herself.

“Makeup maybe? Or maybe a new dress? I know her measurements after all.”

Unsure of how she would spend her free time by herself, she decided to get Elena a gift and bring it back to the Brigand– and maybe spend some time with her for the day afterward. The people on the John Brown were alright, and she felt more at home with them than the commies, but she was still navigating the awkward adjustment period. She had just transferred over and did not really know anyone other than Burke– even after a few games of poker she did not really feel like she had any new friends. Burke was fine, but he was also a very business-like type of guy. Captain Eithnen meanwhile was a bit too casual and could be easily provoked to drink too much or to get mad at cards for too long.

Marina missed the friendly and colorful people she had continuously betrayed.

They were strange but they were typically conscientious and easy to get along with.

It was all her fault that she missed them– and that only made it sting a bit harder.

But all Marina had ever known in life– was the sting, wasn’t it? Relief was alien to her.

“Forget it, Marina.” She muttered under her own breath. “Just try to make the best of it.”

At least she was alive– and she was a woman now too.

Some things had improved.

At any rate– what mattered was Elena, and a gift to make up for all the trouble.

And for all the failure–

Marina’s biggest obstacle on her shopping expedition was that, and she had to admit this to herself quite sternly, she really did not know Elena as well as she wanted to. Or maybe even much at all. Leda loved music and art and sweet desserts; she was a polymath and a casual artist; she liked high end beauty products and stylish clothing. She liked to tie Marina up and fuck her– if all else Marina could always gift her that. She had been a sophisticated socialite, and well-bred, with a hidden edge, all of these things were easy to understand.

Elena was not her mother. She was quieter, less sociable, even a little less feminine.

Even before her proletarian streak, by all accounts Elena was nothing like her title would suggest. When she was a girl she played video games, played pranks on her maids, and rode horses. She liked to play in the dirt and woods in her gilded cage in Vogelheim. She was not particularly accomplished in any of her schooling nor proficient in the arts– not interested in playing music, not interested in painting. She was somewhat clumsy and anxious. Leda had been a born and bred aristocrat of a premiere Elven lineage– Elena was sparsely tutored until she was unceremoniously sent to Luxembourg School for Girls where her biggest interest was courting trouble alongside her bizarre gaggle of friends. Konstantin von Fueller had not invested much in her development, unlike that of her brother.

All of this made Elena a cipher to the G.I.A. agent so reliant on stereotypes of others.

Marina walked within a maelstrom of advertising in the first tier commercial area. There were storefronts with promotional images of young girls enjoying desserts and frosty drinks, picking out fancy dresses, enjoying the latest and slimmest slate portables, trying on beautiful makeup. Floating billboards overhead promising high adventure at Epoch Clothiers or a complete transformation at a Raylight Beauty outlet. Perfumes so chic the men in the ads were completely hypnotized by the leading lady. Hip girls tasting the latest bioengineered flavors at Volwitz Foods. Marina tried to place Elena in those scenes as best as she could, but something was not clicking. She did not want to bring Elena something impermanent like a dessert, but she feared that if she bought her clothes it would be filtered entirely through her own taste– and perhaps even worse, subject to her own confused libido toward the girl. Digital gadgets were out of the question because the commies would be concerned about any potential tracking. Anything too cheap or shitty would just embarrass her. Elena would probably appreciate any gesture, but Marina wanted more.

Standing in the middle of four different LED panel ads for the same beverage, Marina put her hands in her suit pockets and sighed. What kind of gift would show her sincerity that this time, she wasn’t lying or trying to manipulate her– what would it take to show Elena that she really meant it when she said she wanted to make up for all the lies and false promises? Something that was sincere and heartfelt and could open the conversation about how fucking terrible she felt? Something to show she still cared about Elena?

Any of the commies would have said something ridiculous about her feelings–

But Marina was through and through a very material person.

More promises without any collateral– would be the same as her many empty words.

This time had to be different.

“Nothing feels right. Am I really this much of an asshole that I can’t think of anything?”

Walking through the thoroughfares, her mind filled with troubles–

She hardly saw the boisterous girl who was heading her way as if she owned the street–

When the two collided, both nearly fell.

“What the fuck is your problem–?”

“Watch where you’re going you piece of shit–!”

Marina came face to face with a girl about Elena’s age perhaps– one also boasting purple hair but wearing her flamboyant hair color openly. She was not an elf, but she was pretty, had quite a body, and she clearly flaunted it, her shoulders exposed by her wide-neck sweater, her skirt cut to where it met her thigh-high stockings. A pair of strange antennae stuck out of her head, each shimmering with a rainbow of colors but largely translucent as if made of plastic. Marina was initially captivated by the girl’s appearance–

Then her scowl brought the G.I.A. agent down to Aer.

Meanwhile, the girl simply tried to push past Marina again, making aggravated noises.

Entering and exiting her life as any other of the billions of persons on Aer–

“Hey! Wait a second! I’m sorry!” Marina called out. She had turned and called out.

Her heart nearly seized when the girl continued to walk away–

Only for a second. Because the girl stopped, and half-turned, a tentative pouting face.

Partway fixed, partway moving– partway in Marina’s life for a moment more–

“Huh? And why the fuck would I care if you’re sorry, lady?”

Why did Marina care about this girl? Why did she call out to her again?

Did she feel familiar?

“You look like a trendy girl– can you show me any decent shopping around here?”

No– Right– maybe she could help her pick a gift for Elena–?

Marina spoke almost before she even recognized that she had spoken.

“Hmph. Hmph! Well. You have some nerve, you know?”

The trendy girl tossed her hair, crossed her arms, and grinned, locking eyes with Marina.

“Trendy huh? At least you can recognize it when you inconvenience someone important. Maybe I’ll shower you with my wisdom. But you will have to make it worth my while.”

“Sure. I’ll buy you a treat. How’s that sound?”

Again the girl scowled. “I’m not a kid you know– ah– whatever.”

She put her hands in the pockets of her skirt and walked toward Marina, pausing near her.

Indicating perhaps for Marina to follow– she did, and the two of them walked together.

“My name’s Marina. I’m looking for a gift– for a girl your age.”

“Selene.” Said the girl and snickered at Marina without meeting her eyes, staring forward at the thoroughfare as she spoke. “How perverted– you must be like ten years older than me.”

“More like thirty.” Marina said, cracking a grin. “But it’s not like that. She’s– a friend.”

“You know when you say that you just sound suspicious? And now you’re after me?”

“You’re still here, so you must enjoy the thrill, you damn brat.”

“I got nothin’ better to do, you fucking hag.”

Selene– neither a common nor an uncommon name.

She really did seem way too familiar– Marina was far too amused with her.

It felt silly and impulsive of her–

And– maybe she really did think of Selene that way

However, she would make damn sure her interest remained harmless, for everyone’s sake.

Maybe she would come back with a better gift for Elena because of this.

“Well, I’m always happy to pal around with a cute girl for a bit.”

“Eww. You suck.”

Selene glared at Marina and stuck her tongue out at her. Marina laughed.

As they walked Marina ran through her mental ledger and she just couldn’t put the girl’s face to anything– nor those silly rabbit ears she wore. Marina could have sworn they were attached to her head, perhaps cybernetic implants of some kind. She feared asking about it would drive Selene away. Selene was colorful enough that Marina would have recognized her easily– but she was getting old after all. It made sense she was not as sharp as she was some twenty-five odd years ago in what she considered the prime of her life and career.

Still, the sense of familiarity bothered her. It was right on the edge of her memory–

Thinking she might be letting something slip bothered her even more–

However, even if this girl was someone she should know, there was nothing she could do about this feeling in that moment and on that day. She was a civilian out in public not a G.I.A. agent capable of anything serious. If this girl was actually some Volkisch super-spy Marina could not just blow her brains out in the middle of the shopping district. If she was a VIP Marina was not prepared to kidnap her off the street. So she resolved to put her hands in her pockets and go along with it. Certainly having someone else pick a gift could only be more productive than for Marina herself to wrack her brain in a loop about it.

“Hey, you’re so goddam tense. You’re like radiating tension. Just chill out already.”

Selene glanced aside at her. She looked and sounded more annoyed than anything.

“What do you mean I’m radiating tension? I’m fine. Everything is already ‘chill’.”

Marina tried to play it off. She shrugged her shoulders.

“Anyone ever told you that you’re actually extremely fucking easy to read?”

Too many people for me to be comfortable with. Marina simply grunted in response.

Selene stopped in front of a shop, turned to face Marina and gestured with both hands.

Voila! You ask what’s the trendy gift among girls my age? Look no further.”

Marina looked up at the sign.

It was a toy shop called Buddies Wonderworld, where they would craft custom dolls or sell specific branded ones. Right now, they were promoting, front and center, on both sides of their front panel glass and seemingly all over the store, a toy known as Funni Shark. Selene appeared to gesture silently toward Funni Shark. Marina was mesmerized by the toy– it was orange, with a dark ridged body, googley eyes and two large frontal appendages–

“Funni Shark?” Marina asked.

“Funni Shark.” Selene nodded sagely, with a little grin. Proud of herself?

“I’m not shopping for a twelve year old, you know.”

“You’re just too old to get it, but Funni Shark is all the rage among young girls.”

In no way was that toy a fucking shark! That was the extinct, ancient anomalocaris!

“I don’t believe you. You are just buying into some stupid hype marketing scam.”

“Look at me, Ms. Marina– that is Funni Shark, and he is fucking trending.

This was ridiculous but Marina could feel herself getting drawn in hopelessly–

“No, Selene, you look at me– it’s not a shark. That is not a toy shark.”

Selene crossed her arms and looked smug. “Of course you don’t understand it.”

Marina looked at the toy and then back at Selene and felt like she was going insane.

“It’s just not! I’m not missing anything that is just visibly not a toy shark!”

“That’s what’s Funni about it. That’s why it’s the Funni Shark.”

Marina wanted to buy one just to throw it at Selene’s smug face.

“You can pass it up at your own peril.” Selene said. She shrugged, lifting her palms. “But you won’t find many gifts more universally beloved than Funni Shark. It’s been in magazine ads you know– even Mia Weingarten has been seen with a Funni Shark. It would fly off the shelves and be gone forever if they couldn’t just synthestitch more of them.”

Almost certainly Selene was just fucking with her and wanted her to look stupid.

It definitely seemed to fit with her rotten personality.

Nevertheless, Marina walked past the self-satisfied Selene and picked up a Funni Shark.

Brought it to the front, got it scanned, paid for it and took it away.

Stuffing it in a bag and out of sight.

When she walked back out, Selene was still there waiting.

Marina grunted. “You’ll get your treat, but I want to buy a backup gift.”

“Fine~! I can do this all day~!”

Selene seemed far too amused at Marina’s irritation.

Through the lines of shops, the pair set off again.

Selene led Marina up to the highest platform of the lower shopping district, with the roof above them being part of the floor of the second tier. They were so high up that they were slightly above the attractions suspended in the glass sealing off the central atrium and could see the breadth of the shopping district beneath them. From above, Marina felt there were less people here than in similar locations in Kreuzung. Within the crowd she had felt that there were a lot of shoppers, but with the benefit of different perspective the place felt slightly undercrowded for what it was. There were so many shops too.

“I’m curious– what brings you to Aachen? It doesn’t strike me as a trendy place overall.”

For trend Marina thought of Stralsund, the “island of pleasures” in eastern Eisental.

Or even Kreuzung itself, the nerve center of the Eisental region.

“None of your business.” Selene replied. “I’ve got a job here, just like you do, probably.”

“Would it impress you if I said I was actually a merc?” Marina said, grinning.

She likely sounded weirder for having thought it was edgy than for admitting it at all.

“Nope! Mercs are a dime a dozen in this war-torn hellhole we call the Imbrium.”

Selene also grinned, looking far too happy with how easily she dismissed Marina.

She wasn’t wrong, however– for as much as the ordinary person might never really run into one or think about them, the Imbrium had long been the home of ideological forces thanks to the tug-of-war between various factions. The gradual weakening of the nobility and gradual rise of the innoble rich left enormous gaps between for new actors and for deniable irregular forces. So even aside from the Katarran mercenaries, militias and agitators were not uncommon sights. In contrast, Marina’s homeland was far less dynamic than the chaos that beset the Imbrium. Alayze promoted itself as the sole legitimate democracy on Aer, and this legacy was so widely internalized that even if there was an open political tussle, the winner would always align with the corporations and with democratic governance. They would ultimately uphold the Alayzean way of life– it was in their best personal interest because it was just such a convenient continuity to form a part of.

There wasn’t the kind of horrific runaway broiler of ideologies the Imbrium possessed.

Or so Marina thought– she had not been in Alayze for twenty years.

And even as a G.I.A. agent there had always been things she wasn’t privy to–

How was the Republic of Alayze carrying on now anyway? How as the Mare Cogitum?

Thinking about what passed for normal in the Imbrium brought her painful memories.

It was a dehumanizing evil country– but she had spent so much of her life for its sake.

She couldn’t help but think about it every so often.

If they kept sending failed expeditions into the Imbrium throughout her absence, while never working on the standard of living, and also giving the corporations too many advantages to exploit and too many incentives to manipulate the government for ever increasing war profit– perhaps by now the Republic could be facing its own internal crisis that might actually change the makeup of power there. But she doubted it– Alayze was far too entrenched in the end of its own history, in Marina’s eyes, for anything to ever change.

In her mind, the Imbrium was a maelstrom that would rampage without end, but Alayze was a stoic monument. It had been etched into the stone of its constitution and it could never be changed, because nobody would ever allow it to change significantly.

The Republic of Alayze was a petrified country; stone upon which nothing could grow.

And Imbria was dead; but its corpse was filled with lively maggots ready to sprout wings.

“You went silent on me. Are you that pouty that I am not opening up to you?”

“No, I frankly couldn’t care less– I just enjoy looking at you. You can be quiet if you want.”

Marina responded quickly, an instinctual playbook– Selene immediately set to fuming.

Regardless, she never left Marina’s side. Was she fascinated, perhaps?

Or did she recognize her from somewhere– as Marina had tried but failed to do?

Or– perhaps she was just as bored and aimless as she claimed to be.

Maybe it’s not all conspiracies, Marina McKennedy.

However– in the back of her mind she knew she was missing something–

After all– that shade of purple reminded her so strongly of–

Asan?

No– it couldn’t be.

And she was not in a position to beg any answers.

Definitely not for such a dear and desperate subject.

“We are here.” Selene said.

Tucked in a corner of the highest level of the first tier shopping district–

“–It’s just a Raylight Beauty outlet. It’s so shameless of them to have two here.”

“It’s a Raylight Bath & Body, dumbass. Totally different product lines.”

Selene looked at Marina like she was the stupidest individual in the world.

Marina did not appreciate being patronized so much by a brat– but she put up with it.

If this girl was related in any way to Asan, she has none of that woman’s cool demeanor.

She reminded Marina of her own difficult self than anything–

“Come on, quit standing there, I have just the thing, your girlie will love it.”

The interior of the Raylight Beauty outlet was massive, overwhelming and mesmeric. In the center of the space there were several slowly rotating pillars made up of cube-shaped product display units that were made of touch-panel steel and glass. They beckoned young women to try a sample, at which point the pillar would stop moving and dispense a bit of whatever was requested, be it a bit of soap to be touched and smelled, or a dab of moisturizer to apply, or a bit of towel fabric to touch and feel. Every wall except for the glass façade bore rows of product shelves that were themselves sealed off in reflective glass that showed the product inside, but each cell could also turn the wall into an enormous screen periodically displaying brand content. Supporting screens affixed to the ceiling also played pop music videos and Raylight commercials, some of which even featured Gloria.

Watching Gloria Innocence Luxembourg wink at her from a dozen monitors was bizarre.

Considering that same pink fairy of a woman was plotting with the commies as they spoke.

“Hmm? Do they not have it anymore? Oh, no, here it is!”

Marina followed Selene around the store as she flitted from shelf to shelf.

Finally stopped in front of a display with a purple and gold bottle of a fancy moisturizer.

“Any girl, no matter who she is, can never have enough moisturizer.” Selene said. “But this is not just any moisturizer. It has natural biotin sourced from nuts, and is made without harsh chemicals so it can be applied to any type of skin no matter how sensitive! This one also has Raylight’s patented scentillation technology– see, the aroma here is ‘jubilant afternoon tea’ and it literally smells like that. It’s the best moisturizer ever made. She’ll love it.”

Selene had said more about this moisturizer than about any other topic they had broached.

Marina squinted at the label to make sure she was not just reading off it.

“Well– I can’t disagree with any of that.” She said. She took a bottle from the shelf.

A stuffed animal, a bottle of moisturizer– Marina wondered if Elena would feel patronized.

She had run around with Selene for that long for such simple items.

Nevertheless– she did not feel particularly put off by the journey she had taken.

It had been fun.

Marina paid for the bottle and as before, Selene stuck around until they left the store.

Looking at Marina expectantly with a smug little smile.

“Alright, you’ve earned it. Whatever you want to eat, and it’s my treat.” Marina said.

“I was curious whether you would uphold your end.” Selene said, punctuated with a giggle.

Skipping along cheerfully, Selene led Marina back down to the middle platform.

They stopped in front of a venue with a large plastic sign above the door, red and green, shaped like a dozen tomatoes all attached to the same bright green vine. In white letters, it read La Bella Pomodora. It was a kitschy Elven pizza shop, its false wood interior decorated with fake reeds and vines as if to suggest the space was overrun with crawling foliage. All of the employees were dressed in white blouses with green bodices and red skirts, and dyed their hairs bright colors, green and blue and even a familiar shade of indigo. Some of the girls wore decorative ear clips as if to make themselves appear more Elven. Like Elves in general, Marina got the impression pizza was an exotic curiosity in the Imbrium.

A hostess seated the pair in a small sealed booth table with a touch interface for ordering.

Moments later she returned with a bread basket, olive oil and water for them.

When the door shut on their booth, traditional Elven strings began to play from overhead.

On the walls, a fake scrolling countryside played, all rolling hills and olive trees.

“I’ll leave it up to you.” Marina said, pointing at the digital menus displayed on the table.

Across the table, Selene’s eyes were practically popping out of her face as she surveyed the offerings. She scrolled rapidly through the menu, taking in every single pie, every single topping. Of course, there was the traditional Marzana pie, rustic, with cheese, tomato and basil. But for the Imbrian palette, there was a constellation of non-traditional offerings.

“Currywurst pizza? This looks disgusting.” Marina said.

“What, are you an Elven Heritage Association certifier now?” Selene said.

“Better. I had an Elven ex.” Marina said. “She would be livid.”

Probably not, actually– but it was funnier to pretend Leda cared about such things.

“Well she’s not ordering and I am. I don’t like currywurst anyway.”

Eventually, despite rifling through all of the condiments, combo meals, special offers and exclusive limited time dishes only available while supplies last– Selene finally decided to have a very classic and traditional Marzana pie. Marina ordered the same. Two small roughly thirty centimeter pizzas arrived at their table soon after. Fresh red sauce, melted mozzarella, big lively leaves of basil and slightly charred edges on the crust. It was tantalizingly fragrant and still radiated warmth. They were given a cutter to slice the pie to their liking, and Selene quickly cut herself a big slice, took a big bite, and shut her eyes with a sudden pleasure.

Beaming with cheeks full of pizza, a string of cheese pulled on her lips.

Her antennae twisted into little knots– Marina couldn’t help but find it cute.

She took a bite of her own pie. It was delicious– just the right balance of sweet and tangy with a deep umami, a crispy crust, perfectly melted cheese and bright herbal flavor from the basil. There was a complex, nutty earthiness to the bread, and the sauce still had a bit of texture from the fresh tomato. Marina wished the elves were as widespread around the Imbrium as the Shimii and their cuisine– she could eat this stuff every day.

It reminded her of the fast food back in the Cogitum, but of far higher quality.

“Are you having fun?” Marina asked.

Selene seemed shaken out of her reverie by the reintroduction of Marina’s presence.

She sighed openly.

“I’m glad I ran into you. I was bored. Are you happy now?”

Marina smiled.

Selene averted her gaze and continued to enjoy her pizza.

“You know– I don’t think it’s appropriate for a girl like you to be a mercenary.”

“And what’ll you do about it? Try to save me? I don’t need anyone’s rescuing.”

“Fair enough. I can’t even save myself. But you should settle down while you can.”

Selene put down her pizza for a moment and looked at Marina with a serious face.

“Hey, thanks for letting me play girlie with you for an afternoon– but you don’t know me.”

“I don’t. I’m sorry. I just– I see a bit of myself in you for some reason.” Marina said.

Maybe she was wrong– but she thought she understood what Selene truly got out of this.

Behind all of that attitude and prickliness was a girl who wished this was her actual life.

Running around shopping and carousing and being a normal girl, being a dumb kid.

Marina thought that she had helped provide her a little bit of fantasy that day.

If Selene was a mercenary, and with that strange gear on her head, she might well be–

Then today was a fantasy for a girl who normally lived in a ship that rarely ceased moving.

Maybe battlefield to battlefield; maybe murder to murder; intrigue to intrigue.

Wishing this every-day fantasy could replace her duty, what she had made for herself.

Just like when Marina wore sexy bras in her room and smoked a bunch of cigarettes and wished she was anything but an agent of the Alayzean G.I.A. Entrapping people, surveilling them, fabricating evidence, and of course, brutalizing and killing those who got caught in her webs. On some of those days she had wished she was just a girl going shopping without a care in the world, trying on pretty clothes and going on restaurant dates. Maybe even being some rich guy’s kept girl and being taken care of and bought jewelry and furs.

Having the room to live the life that the world had denied her.

Or– maybe it was all just presumptions from someone with too many regrets.

“Eat up. I’m sorry to be a bummer.” Marina said.

“It’s ok.” Selene said. She resumed eating her pizza, perking up a little bit along the way.

Marina picked up the tab, and when they left the restaurant, they faced each other.

Both of them smiled; the dark clouds left behind along with their completed oaths.

“You don’t have to worry about me, lady. I’m tougher than I look.” Selene said.

“I know. A girl who swears as much as you do does it with confidence.” Marina said.

“Fuckin’ right. Well– good luck with your own shit, you hag.” Selene grinned.

“Good luck. I hope we never see each other out in the Ocean, you damn brat.”

“Mm-hmm. Thanks for the free pizza.”

Selene turned and departed on her own way, waving her hand and laughing a bit to herself.

Marina watched her disappear into the distance, before turning and leaving herself.

Just another moment with a stranger on God’s blue Aer.

Nothing more– of course.

Once Marina returned to Stockheim, she approached Elena with her gifts and a smile.

“Oh! Marina! You didn’t need to–! But I really appreciate it– Funni Shark?” Elena said.

She pulled out the anomalocaris and squished it, giggling at its silly name and appearance.

“It’s really popular among young girls these days.” Marina said, prompting another laugh.

Elena’s gentle giggling– Marina silently thanked Selene that she got to see this again.

Marina reached out and ruffled Elena’s hair, feeling just a bit more at peace.


“Murati– when I asked if we could go out for a bit– I didn’t mean–”

“Hmm? Is something wrong? I’m sorry. I tried to pick a restaurant everyone would like.”

“Murati– it’s not that– ugh– why are you always so–”

“Why are you mumbling over there? You can speak up, Shali-Shali~–”

“Maharapratham– please stop calling me–”

“Sonya is a little bit shy! But don’t worry, she’ll bounce right back around!”

Shalikova sank against the table in complete defeat.

Maryam reached across and squeezed her hand gently in support.

At her side, Murati Nakara– across the restaurant table from her, that demon Karuniya Maharapratham, and her own purple, marshmallowy angel, Maryam Karahailos.

How had it all come to this? How had this horrific situation been inflicted on her? She traced her mistake back to her naïve idea of asking Murati out for a drink or even just a walk around– to talk to her and try to bury her one-sided hatchet. It was ridiculous, she thought, to disdain Murati and to be annoyed and even anxious to talk to her.

Just because Murati could be a little too nice, a bit smothering.

Nevertheless, she had been quite anxious going up and asking her– and then–

“Oh! Shalikova– I was going to a restaurant tonight with my wife.” Murati replied.

Salvation. Shalikova smiled. “Oh, sure, then we don’t need to do anything–”

“Actually– I can definitely pay for you too– and you could bring a friend!”

Murati smiled and became suddenly excited.

Shalikova choked on her words immediately.

“Karu would be really excited about a double date– what do you say?”

“Um.” Shalikova froze up, started to look around, and ultimately–

She agreed?!

Now they were seated at a restaurant together, on the first tier commercial district of Aachen’s core station. How Murati had gotten the money for this reservation when their budgets had been restricted was anybody’s guess– she seemed buddy-buddy with the Premier so maybe she had access to more funds? It was not a particularly ritzy place, but it was not some random currywurst joint either. It was a hip foodie spot called Green is the Garden that had won awards. Murati must have picked it for the bigger vegetarian selection. Every enclosed dining unit had a freestanding table and chairs inside, rather than just being a booth with sliding doors. On the walls, there were projections of bright blue water and flowing green meadows and schools of fish. Colorful vibes, almost garishly so.

Shalikova regretted it immediately– but Maryam had been so excited to go.

And Murati looked pretty happy too. She was usually so stoic and impassive.

So perhaps she would put up with it–

“Shalikova, I have to say, I never took you as someone to dress so boldly.” Karuniya said.

Grinning like a fox– an extroverted vixen from the fires of hell itself!

“This was a gift.” Shalikova said, as if that explained everything.

Once again she was dressed in her red and gold “ACE” tracksuit with her gaudy sunglasses.

Maryam wore her nice blue dress with the ruffled skirt and the matching floppy beret. Her attire became all the lovelier by the fact that unlike in Kreuzung, she could be her true purple self in Aachen. Beside her, Karuniya dressed casually– she had on a long floral skirt and a tight, halterneck green top, bearing her shoulders and with a triangle cutout showing off some cleavage. Probably the outfit she finagled out of the Captain when they were planning disguises for the officers. Murati, meanwhile, had on a long-sleeved button-down white shirt partially unbuttoned, with black slacks. Shalikova was most taken aback by that because she always imagined Murati being too stuck up even to show off a bit of collarbone.

She had never struck Shalikova as the type to deliberately unbutton her shirt.

And she wore a black bra with all of that? Did her evil wife put her up to that?

“Maryam, you look gorgeous!” Karuniya said, still doling out the compliments. “We’ve rarely had occasion to talk– I’m so happy we got to set this up! Shali-Shali, you are so lucky to have such a cute girlfriend, you know? You better shower her in affections day and night!”

“Hey–!” Shalikova tried to interject–

Turning over her mental ledger of who knew about them–

“Sonya is absolutely wonderful to me! She is so lovey dovey!” Maryam said. Her guileless smile had hardly ever been brighter, she was positively glowing from all the attention. Shalikova immediately gave up on trying to stop this meeting of the minds. “You look so nice yourself, Ms. Maharapratham! I always thought you seemed really fashionable! And everyone always talks about how delicious and plump your mushrooms are!”

Karuniya narrowed her eyes and mumbled for a moment. “Again with the mushrooms–!”

“What was that, Ms. Maharapratham? I didn’t quite hear–!” Maryam said.

“Never mind!” Karuniya said. “Don’t call me Ms. Maharapratham! I’m Karuniya!”

She wrapped an arm around Maryam’s shoulder and pulled her in to pat her head.

Maryam laughed racuously and played along, slapping Karuniya’s back with her tentacles.

Making lots of cuttle noises and little wah cries. At least she was happy.

Shalikova glanced at her side, feeling completely out of her depth.

All throughout her wife’s rampages, Murati had been diligently reading the menu.

“Does everyone know what they want to order?” She asked, not even looking up from it.

“Murati,” Karuniya said, grinning, “C’mon! Loosen up a little! We’re with friends!”

“I’m pretty loose?” Murati said. She was wearing her glasses and idly adjusted them.

Shalikova stared at her, wondering how she could be so simultaneously a scatterbrain, and look kind of cool when she was on mission– and look kinda attractive too? It felt like she couldn’t be the same person for all three. Or even the person Shalikova thought she knew to begin with. If that assumption was wrong, what else was Shalikova just not seeing?

What had she unfairly assumed?

Suddenly she felt rather foolish and averted her gaze from everyone.

She looked down at the menu.

“Shalikova,”

Murati spoke her name. Shalikova raised her head suddenly.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever had it, but Saag is a North Bosporan spinach dish. It’s delicious.”

Shalikova stared at her for a moment and tried to smile.

“Thanks for the recommendation.” She said, trying to be nice.

Murati smiled and returned to perusing the menu.

There was a lot of stuff on the menu, but it seemed to focus on the more “exotic” cuisines of the Empire– there was a lot of Shimii, Bosporan and Campos foods with some Eloim and Juzni dishes here and there. Certainly it was not a place where one could get a currywurst or black bread like the typical Imbrian eatery. Though they sold it as a “green” menu full of “healthy” food and did not try to exoticise it, the influences were very clear. Shalikova took Murati’s suggestion and ordered the spinach and cheese concoction with flatbread. Maryam ordered rice and beef stuffed cabbage rolls in spicy sauce, seemingly without much deliberation. Karuniya ordered an extragavant layered dish of eggplant, mushroom and potato, topped with both a tomato sauce and a bechamel along with herbs and a sprinkling of cheese, called a Musaka. Murati ordered a dish of vegetable koftas topped with a lentil-thickened tomato and saffron sauce. Everything arrived promptly, hot, and well-plated.

Possibly the fanciest plate of food Shalikova ever had in her life, and it was just a bowl of spinach and cheese with a slices of bread alongside. An herbal foam topping, an oil drizzle on the plate– it was well composed. When she dipped her bread in the creamy green elixir and brought it to her lips she could instantly taste the quality. Earthy, vegetal, deeply savory, with pops of spice adding complexity– it was not Minardo’s cooking, but it was close.

“Wow Karu, that looks a little intense.” Murati said, looking across the table at the Musaka.

Karuniya, meanwhile, rubbed her hands together with a childish grin on her face.

“Everything is courtesy of Murati tonight, so everyone should indulge, right?” She said.

“Well– it’s actually courtesy of Euphemia, but this credichip has a good bit of money.”

“Then I toast to Euphemia!” Karuniya said, raising a large forkfull of saucy eggplant.

Maryam grabbed a forkful of cabbage, rice and meat and raised it as well, laughing.

At least she looked like she was having a good time. That made worth the trouble.

Both of them ate. Shalikova could have almost sworn Maryam was mimicking Karuniya.

“Shalikova,” a little sing-song voice, her name rolling off a tongue–

Oh no– Karuniya was talking to her again

“Hmm?” Shalikova raised a spoonful of saag to her mouth.

“What do you think about Murati? Is she your beloved senior?” Karuniya said.

Murati initially looked at Karuniya sternly but then seemed to become interested.

Shalikova shrank a bit in her seat. “Uh, yeah. I think Murati is like– nice.”

“Oh, Sonya, are you happy with Ms. Nakara now? That’s so great!” Maryam said.

“Maryam–”

“She used to be scared of Ms. Nakara! But I knew she would turn around!”

Maryam clapped her hands together cheerfully.

Shalikova was reduced to whispering. “Maryam…”

Mortified, she glanced at her side to see what kind of expression Murati made–

And saw the same mildly impassive face Murati seemed to make at everything.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to scare you.” Murati said.

“I’m not scared of you! Maryam just misunderstood.” Shalikova grumbled.

“Oh! I’m sorry Sonya!” Maryam said.

“It’s not your fault– I’m sorry, this is too awkward.” Shalikova sighed.

Karuniya took a bite of her dish and put on a face like she was innocent of everything.

Maryam quickly made a similar face and bit into her cabbage rolls.

“It’s okay to be honest with me and it’s also okay to have criticisms of me.” Murati said. “I’m still new to leadership– I’m not the best with people, and I know that. I’ve focused on transmitting orders and getting everyone back home safely– but I still have a lot to learn about managing people outside of a crisis situation. I will try to do better.”

As much as she did not like how the situation was set up– it was now or never–

If it was okay to be honest then–

“Murati, the thing is– what bothers me is not anything like that– it is how smothering you can be when you try to be nice.” Shalikova said. Once she finally got those words out the rest seemed to come much more quickly and much more naturally. “I’m not a little kid, I don’t need looking after, I don’t need coddling– I don’t want any of those things. I feel like– you don’t actually trust that I’ve had the same training as you and that I can handle myself. You have too much sympathy. So I don’t want to go to you to be patronized!”

“Oh dear.” Karuniya whispered.

“Sonya.” Maryam whispered with her, eyes full of soft sympathies.

“I’ll take that feedback into consideration. Thank you for being honest.” Murati said.

Shalikova looked across the table at Maryam and Karuniya–

And looked at Murati, perplexed, as if to say, that’s it?

“Um. Yeah.” Shalikova said awkwardly. Of course this was the response!

Murati seemed unbothered by everything.

“You’re right, I did tread a bit softly around you. My surrogate father was a Navy admiral who was always a bit of a yeller– I didn’t want to become like that. I wanted to be a leader who is kind and understanding, like the captain is. But you’re right, the captain is much more mature. I think I got a bit desperate for you to like me. I’m truly sorry.”

She lowered her voice, so that no one might hear the more sensitive part.

Turning partially while seated and looking at Shalikova in the eyes.

Laying a hand on her shoulder and patting it softly. With a confident smile on her face.

“Shalikova, I know you are an absolute genius in the water. Your piloting is generational.”

Such a genuine compliment out of nowhere– and she really meant it!

She meant every word! That little smile on her face– God damn it!

It was so frustrating! Shalikova averted her gaze, her face turning a bit hot.

“Thanks, Murati.” She said. She made herself say it. It took a little effort.

Damn it– she could not help herself but to smile a bit. Murati was such an idiot.

“Aww, that’s so sweet. See, Shalikova? Murati can be a good senior when she wants to.”

Karuniya made a little gesture with her hands that Shalikova barely registered.

Was she doing one of Murati’s cryptic little gesticulations?

“It’s so blue­tiful– the reeflationship between two cuttlemrades–”

“Maryam you’re not even trying.” Shalikova sighed. Maryam giggled.

Karuniya looked at the two of them with far too much joy.

“Maryam, you’re also lucky to have landed such a handsome and dynamic young lady!”

“Oh I know, Karuniya! I’m over the moon with her! Sonya is my whole world!”

Maryam beamed her most marshmallowy beam. Karuniya was immediately taken by her.

“That’s so cute! Ah, young love!” Karuniya suddenly grabbed Maryam again, hugging her.

“We’re not that much older than them.” Murati mumbled to herself, looking a bit sullen.

“Don’t even bother.” Shalikova said in solidarity. “Just let them have their fun.”

Both Murati and Shalikova smiled a bit to themselves then– just a bit more comfortable.


Adelheid had done her best to disguise her troubles.

She went about her business efficiently and she traveled down the halls and sat on the bridge of the Antenora with Norn without saying a word of what was bothering her, nor letting up on her daily routine of barbs and demands. However as the days passed she could not help but become depressed with the cruel vagaries of fate.

She began wearing her thoughts on her face without knowing.

Even on the bridge, where she should have been the most careful with herself.

“You look contemplative– which is rare. What’s on your mind?” Norn asked.

Even her condescension did not taste as sweet. Adelheid put her head down.

“Norn–” Adelheid hesitated. Thinking of what to say. “I’m– If you had a friend that–”

“I take it this is about Mia Weingarten’s engagement?”

“Yes.”

Adelheid could never hide anything from her. Not even in her most disguised moods.

She had hoped Norn would give her that reckless grin she put on prior to a transgression.

Instead, her expression was chillingly neutral.

“I’ve been thinking about that too. I thought that it might end up troubling you.”

“I’ve been trying to keep it out of my mind. I’m sorry.”

Norn nodded. Her expression softened a bit– as uncharacteristic as Adelheid’s own mood.

“Unfortunately, Mia’s case is nothing like your own. You can’t just make a decision for her. As much as we enjoy the narrative that I took you without consent and ruined you for marriage, both of us know that I did not just abscond with you on a whim. You approached me; you made the choice. You turned your back on your family and you and I maneuvered to escape from their grasp. I am no longer so blessed with resources as I was before, Adelheid. Herta Kleyn might look like a pushover because of her politics and attitude, but where it concerns her family matters she will be much more self-interested. She is covertly collecting power and influence wherever she can get it now, and Mia Weingarten now represents her links to the communications conglomerates and their money. And judging by presence of Mycenae at her court– she’s fishing for some security connections too.”

Everything Norn said made complete sense. Adelheid still felt awful about it.

She had not even known Mia that deeply or kept in touch that intimately–

However, she knew what it was like to be in her position. Helpless to be used by others.

She wished dearly that her friend could escape that defiling situation– but Norn was right.

It was impossible to help her until she herself accepted the consequences.

Until she herself chose to make enemies of everyone around her.

“I don’t know Mia’s circumstances like you do, but I take it if you could do something, you would have done it. So you yourself must know the obstacles barring her way.” Norn said. “For now, I think she, and your conscience, would appreciate it if you continued to be there for her. Attend her tea parties, show up to that wedding and pledge your friendship without trying to change her perceptions. Maybe when she wants to escape, she will think to count on you as an ally. And maybe you will be in a better position when that happens.”

Adelheid nodded her head.

In a way, she felt particularly troubled because Mia’s weakness reminded her of herself.

She relied on Norn and was helpless without her.

Dependent even–

Before her thoughts could spiral too far, she felt a hand grip her shoulder just a bit too hard.

Looking up from her feet she saw Norn’s grinning face.

“One more thing. As much as we both like to pretend you’re an idiot bimbo– I know you’re actually quite sharp and the best second-in-command I could have. We don’t have the luxury of worrying overmuch about the affairs of others. Come back to me, Adelheid.”

Adelheid raised her own soft hand over Norn’s coarse grip, caressing it.

“Yes, milord.” She said, smiling.

“Good.”

She raised her hand from Adelheid’s shoulder and slapped her cheek softly three times.

Adelheid grimaced for Norn, but internally, she was smiling.

Just a bit.

After the pair had a moment of silence to reassess the day, they relocated to a meeting room where Yuri Anneccy Samoylovych-Darkestdays awaited them. She was dressed in a pilot’s bodysuit. All of the furniture in the meeting room had been slotted into the walls and into the floor. Yuri occupied the only remaining chair. Adelheid shut the door behind them and locked it. Norn approached Yuri and stood before her, while Yuri remained seated.

“Remember, I am not a fairy– you might have a ‘bumpy ride’ so to speak.” Norn said.

Yuri exposed her usual confidence in her smile. She was clearly ready.

“Do you have any advice for what I might experience?” She asked.

Norn raised a hand to her forehead, brushing up Yuri’s bangs. Yuri’s ears folded a bit.

“If you see my memories, forget everything you saw, for your own good. If you see your own memories, don’t try to interfere with them. Either way, just let your emotions go where they will go. Don’t try to fight it. You won’t be able to resist for long and will only hurt yourself. Open yourself, and let your self express what it will. I’ll be here to watch over you.”

“Of course. I have nothing but trust and respect for you, milord.”

It was not flattery– she really meant it. For Norn only, she meant every word.

Norn nodded. “Close your eyes. It makes it easier. You’ll feel a jolt and a sensation like you are falling. Remember, whatever happens– don’t fight your emotions. You will want to resist in some way, you will want to exert control, but your mind will drift in certain directions. Find opportunities to take control, to change the direction, but don’t fight it at every turn.”

“Yes.” Yuri said simply. A consummate soldier.

In her own mind, Adelheid lit her candle, and her psionics unveiled the colors in the room.

From Norn’s hand, her own color entered Yuri’s aura, and turned it suddenly bright white. Yuri kept her eyes shut, and her body shuddered. Her eyes moved rapidly behind the lids. Keeping her hand on Yuri’s forehead, Norn used her other hand to affix a blindfold over her face. She then stepped back. Adelheid saw her own eyes flash red briefly.

Examining her psionic handiwork just as Adelheid had been.

“Do you remember when you were baptized?” Norn asked.

“A bit.” Adelheid said.

What she remembered most vividly was her first sight of the maelstrom of colors that she now knew to be auras and aether– when she first laid eyes on it, she felt like a million gazes were judging and oppressing her. She heard their whispers and recoiled from them. She wanted them to shut up, and to be gone, so they disappeared. In their place, there was a vast concrete field, and everything was dyed red. Sparse red trees straddling a road; dim red skies like a dismal but bloody night; and the moon was an enormous red eye that watched her hungrily. However, it was a dream that was over before she could see any more.

Her psionics were awakened– but compared to Norn she was quite weak.

She assumed that Yuri would have far more talent than she did as well.

“Now you are in a position to help me.” Norn smiled. “With your assistance I can make damn certain nothing happens to Yuri. It was a little touch and go with you, I recall.”

“I’m here to serve as usual.” Adelheid said. “But I have no idea how I can assist you.”

“With you there, no matter what, I will come back from whatever I’ve unleashed here.”

Adelheid clutched her portable clipboard to her chest. She was touched.

Norn did not even look at her while saying such things– she did not need to.

However, the pair had nothing to worry about with Yuri. Nothing surprising transpired.

After about an hour, Yuri came to again without interference.

“What did you see?” Norn asked, grinning, as she removed the blindfold.

“Hmm. There was an annoying eye staring down from a red sky. I killed it.” Yuri said.


Another turning of the cycles brought Aachen from a calm night to a pivotal day.

Once more the first tier filled with retail workers, the shoppers they served, and the people grabbing a crepe or a pretzel on their way to the offices in the second tier. In the second tier, people made note of the uniformed guards filing in from throughout the station– the Uhlan had been called to their HQ for a comprehensive audit, but assured the public that automated systems, including surveillance and deterrence, were actively guarding the commercial areas and any crimes would be followed up on even in the absence of a guard. Despite this ominous portent, nobody rushed to loot the stores that morning except in the imaginary of the public frequenting the higher-end third tier of the core station. Their trepidation did not deter them from leaving their luxury apartments for another day of pampering and pleasure in the ritziest location Aachen had to offer.

And higher up, in the fourth tier, the engine of the government–

Well– that was not the concern just yet.

At Stockheim, an innocuous cargo ship arrived, ferrying sand from the Ayre Reach that was used for glass-making– the particular sand was part of the brand product. Little did the ship know that it had brought with it a passenger. From a blind spot on the underside, a small vessel detached, large enough for only a specific occupant and their life support, an agarthic-sodium-ion battery, and propulsion. This long teardrop of metal and air made its own way into Stockheim under its own power and made its way to a specific berth.

Slotting under the Cruiser Antenora, and promptly collected by the crew.

Inside the hangar, the vessel opened to reveal a waifish woman in a dandy purple sportcoat, ruffled shirt and a pair of tight shorts that met her stockings just so. Perfectly preserved within the vessel without a scratch. She had wavy blue hair that framed her face, and a kepi hat– she opened one eye then winked at Norn von Fueller in the hangar. Blinking the long strip of LEDs on the neon-blue, semi-circular antennae that stood in for her ears.

“Amur. You made good time.” Norn said.

“Absolutely! This is the kind of service you can expect from the goddess of cyberspace!”

Amur stepped out from the drone and extended her hand.

Norn shook it without hesitation.

“There is something I wanted to discuss, milord. I’ve been working on my way here.”

“Is it urgent? I’m seeing Adelheid off. She has another tea party to attend.”

“If you won’t be long, we can talk after. It concerns the Uhlan supply ship that was attacked near Aachen– I am not sure I believe the communist groups were behind the sinking anymore. I have concerns about a fourth party– though nothing substantial.”

“Interesting. Yes, we’ll talk. Prepare a meeting room. You’re third in command now.”

Amur’s eyes spread wide, and her pale cheeks turned a bit red.

Seemingly touched by the degree of trust imparted on her.

Lifting her kepi hat, she dipped into a stage bow, and then went on her way.


Amur was perhaps the only person, at that time, whose imagination conceived of what might come to pass in the following hours. Not in the fullness of its details, but in the general texture of the moment. By the time Adelheid arrived at her tea party, and Norn had a conversation with Amur, it was already too late and the events too many for any one person, however talented, to steer the chaos any one way before its formal commencement.

Not even a certain gathering of very talented individuals–

As they had the past six days the United Front reconvened in secret in the third tier.

This time they had an extra guests along.

Daksha Kansal and her attendant Kremina Qote had decided to grace the meeting room with their presence. They sat at the head of the table, just off to the side of Moravskyi and Erika Kairos and their opposed chairs. Both of them had dressed formally, in blazers and pencil skirts, their hair up in buns, all business. It had been the first time the room had seen them.

“Look who finally turned up!” Moravskyi called out, laughing, a big smile on his face.

“Taras. It’s certainly interesting to meet after all these years.” Daksha said, smiling back.

“Interesting, huh? Well, I thought I’d be madder– but I’m not upset you’re here.”

“I’m glad some of us veterans are still around to straighten out our respective young folk.”

Moravskyi burst out laughing. Kremina averted her gaze from the people around.

Particularly from Ulyana, who was staring at her with an unfriendly energy.

“You’ve all done great work. I wanted to at least acknowledge that.” Daksha said, addressing the table as a whole in a little speech. “After what I had been through, I had very humble expectations of what was possible– but you have all come together and coordinated a far stronger threat to the Volkisch than I imagined. From what I have been privy to, you have the tools and resources you need– now you just need the coordination. That will bear out in battle. I don’t doubt there will be growing pains, but you can surpass them.”

She was speaking so dryly about the situation that it was almost strange to hear it.

However, she would not get to finish those remarks.

Whatever she had prepared– someone else had prepared even more.

“Excuse me, dear mentor.” Gloria interrupted. She looked at the smartwatch she wore and smiled, before addressing the table in her typically forced saccharine tone. “We will see the coordination begin to bear out momentarily. I want to address the table! As of now– I am undertaking an operation to take over this station! All of you are invited to join me in our first battle against the Volkisch, to establish our base area and begin our rebellion!”

For a moment everyone on the table was left completely speechless.

Everyone, save for Tamar Livnat, and the disinterested Zozia Chelik, and Ksenia Apfel–

And save Daksha Kansal, who had perhaps been expecting such a move–

Everyone turned at once to face Gloria with immediate panic in their faces.

They saw on Gloria’s face, that she was pallid, nearly in tears, and her hands were shaking.

Even before she set foot in the venue, she had already crossed her rubicon.


“Ah, sorry miss, my bad–”

A grinning old man bumped into a young woman in front of the elevator banks–

However, she reached out instantly and grabbed his wrist.

Shooting him a glare– scrutinizing him in an instant–

Only to let him go a moment later.

He hadn’t taken anything. She had been worried for nothing.

“I said I’m sorry!”

Ignoring him, she stepped quietly into the elevator, grumbling, staring at the ground.

Shutting the elevator door, striking a button on the panel and sliding in a card. On the panel, the elevator warned of additional regulations when visiting the government sector. It displayed a model of the Aachen core station and the destination at the very peak and kept the occupant up to date on the progress of the ride. However, the occupant was no longer staring at the panel’s LCD. She knew her own destination quite well already.

From a pocket of her hoodie, she withdrew a cigarette and a plasma-arc lighter.

Bringing up the light blue arc to the cigarette and setting it afire.

Taking in a long drag. Cigarettes were expensive, but they weren’t fake–

Unlike her–

“Is it unbecoming for a chick to smoke? Whatever.”

However– these were all appearances and pretensions, frustrating in their complexity.

As much as he liked the disguise both for its comfort and utility, Orlan Aries conceptualized of himself as “just a guy,” in the end. Less pressure on himself that way. It’s just that women were underestimated and overlooked by Imbrian society, so it was a good way for someone, especially a troublemaker like himself, to make themselves just a bit more scarce than before. That was how he rationalized it. For the mission that he had assigned himself, and which his current employer knew nothing about, he dressed in a long hoodie and black tights of a thick, covering fabric. He wore a padded bra, and a styled wig with blue and yellow hair, cut in a shoulder-length bob. He wore lipstick, blush and eyeshadow to look less “plain.” Anyone who saw would have thought “she” was some edgy punk girl acting out.

“From what gutter did you crawl out of?” He asked his reflection in the elevator walls.

Cracking a little grin with his dark metallic blue lipstick.

Orlan knew, better than most people, what an invisible person looked like.

What people were seen by the world, who fit the picture; and who slid off the gaze entirely.

It behooved him to know, and to not have illusions about it; but he also knew it personally.

That girl looking back at him could’ve been any dumb kid he had grown up with.

Until his very own debasing star shone on him– so bright that it burned–

Now he got to lick the boots of people like Gloria Innocence Luxembourg.

And to lie to them.

Not even for money– he wished anyone would pay him to betray Gloria.

Sadly any of those bridges burnt up with the Empire and the Inquisition.

No– today was actually personal and he was already kicking himself for that reason.

Thinking about it, the expression of the girl in his reflection looked quite fed up.

“Isaiah, you’re not gonna be grateful, but damn it, you should be.”

What a stupid reason to do anything–

“No use turning back– I already did all this makeup.”

When the doors opened, there was an enormous arched hall ahead of Orlan that led to the local legislative assembly and the grand courthouse. Everything was bright and white like it was made of marble but none of it was– it was wearing marble like Orlan wore a padded bra. Such was his self deprecating conception of himself and his cynical conception of his surroundings. But he was not here to get yelled at by the welfare office or to get an ID– he hung a left from the elevators and followed a much smaller and more discrete hallway toward the governor’s estate. He turned over the destination in his mind.

There was an elevator that led directly to the estate– and Orlan had a special key.

However, he preferred to take an alternative route.

To avoid having to “sign the guestbook”.

One notable fact about the architecture of the rich and famous in the After Descent era was that the fancy open air modules with freestanding structures all needed more vents and pipes to keep all that open space comfortable, climate controlled, and smelling fresh and aptly supplied with water, oxygen, and whatever else. Orlan stopped partway through the hallway that would have led him to the estate. There was nobody around– very few people had any business going to the estate, but nevertheless there was a path to it, just like there was an elevator to it. Orlan had studied the route and knew that there were cameras at the far end of the path but not in the middle. So he stopped there, put his back to the wall and pretended to be a bit bushed for a moment, back to the wall, eyes down.

Hands behind his back.

Beneath his feet the floor panels were still shiny enough to see himself.

The girl in the reflection smiled back at him, just as he usually smiled at others.

Then her eyes glinted red.

Biokinesis–!

Behind his back, his fingers lengthened, and thinned, sliding between seams in the panels.

Feeling for every vulnerability, every exposed screw, every weak glue join–

Flesh spreading beneath the panel like crawling vines.

Beneath a concrete path, a root system could take hold from which a flower could bloom.

Orlan had seen old pavement like that in the grand plazas in Konstantinople.

It gave him the idea, and he became practiced in slipping into places this way.

Unworthy of notice, a weed, a crawling vine– fierce and tenacious as a pavement flower.

Once his flesh had infested the underside of the plate, he could easily dislodge it.

And quickly slip under it, into the ventilation duct beneath, lying on his back.

Replacing the panel above him as if nothing had happened.

Now he laid in the dark, beneath the steel, where nothing ought to be. Everything left as if untouched and undisturbed. Taking a drag of his cigarette, the tiniest glimmer of light. Cramped as it was, he had no fear of it and no discomfort. Generally, discomfort was something he feigned for others or for a mission– when it came to himself, he didn’t really care about almost anything enough to be too uncomfortable about it. So he could lay with little room for his arms, in a vent he could only shimy through, smoking quietly.

After all, his life was forfeit– whether now or in the future he would certainly die violently.

He thought that the reflection of the girl in this darkness wouldn’t have had any expression.

“Ugh, damn it, I’m gonna have to put it out. I shouldn’t have lit one up.”

Unfortunately one of the few things he truly hated was the taste of re-lit cigarettes.

Orlan sighed and put out his cigarette with unfeeling fingers.

Dropping the remains into the pocket of the hoodie and producing his plasma-arc lighter.

Flicking it on to serve as a source of equally dim illumination.

Moving primarily with his shoulders and feet, supported by his hips and calves, he pushed himself through the tight shaft, counting the plate joins that he could see with the with his plasma lighter. He began to count from one, starting at the plate he took off and slid down from. Without breaking concentration, he crossed ninety-two plate joins and felt on his side. He moved his plasma lighter closer to the wall. There was a grating there.

He could feel a bit of breeze.

There was a brief flash of red, lightless, but Orlan could see it in his mind.

Because it had come from him–

He put down his lighter between his breasts and felt with his hand on the wall.

Fingertips became the precise correct screwdriver head needed to remove the grating.

Tedious work, but he turned each screw in turn. They stuck to his fingers once removed.

He collected them and forced the grating off. He slid it over his head and out of the way.

Carefully, he squeezed through the new vent. Based on his calculations, he just made it.

Nobody had noticed it, but Orlan had lost weight– or more accurately, he had shed weight.

Nobody noticed it– because it had happened basically overnight, much like this plan.

Disguising himself as a girl was not only practical, but the smaller frame came in handy.

Inside the new and slightly smaller vent shaft, Orlan once again counted the plate joins.

“Now– my lucky number is sixty-four.” He mumbled to himself as he slid along.

Having time to think, he hoped that he was not too late.

Even as he slid through that tunnel– there was a hurtling train that he had to outrun.

“Sixty-four.”

He ripped the plate directly above himself and dust fell into the shaft.

When Orlan peeked his head out, he was in the garden of the governor’s estate.

There were fences around the property. None of the Katarran mercs were looking his way.

Climbing out of the ventilation shaft, Orlan approached the house and took off his shoes.

Lifting one of his feet to the wall. His flesh affixed to the surface.

This helped him leap up and grab hold of the wall, his hand flattening against it.

Orlan easily climbed to a window, where his crawler vines forced it open.

Inside, he found himself in an empty bedroom.

Just as the door began to open–

Orlan moved quickly and quietly to position himself behind the door as it opened.

Allowing the new occupants to walk in–

And shutting the door behind them, blocking the way himself.

Two– a young woman, gasping with fright– and a serious-looking young man.

He said nothing, and simply met the eyes of the strange barefoot girl blocking the way.

“Isaiah, it’s Orlan. Liebknecht School For Boys.” Orlan said. He modified his voice.

Both of them immediately recognized that voice.

“Orlan?” Mia said. “You look so different– um– congratulations on the change–”

“I didn’t transition! It’s complicated.” Orlan said.

Isaiah continued to scrutinize Orlan and never once smiled or made much expression.

“Orlan, let Mia go, she has a tea party to host.” Isaiah said.

“I never intended to keep her here!” Orlan said.

“Isaiah, if Orlan has something to say– I want to hear it– if he’s in trouble–”

Mia had begun speaking but Isaiah dismissed her quickly. “I’ll worry about that, go away.”

He made a gesture as if to shoo her away like a small animal.

Casting eyes down at the floor, visibly troubled, Mia approached the door.

“Orlan, please be careful.” She said.

“I will.” Orlan said.

He let her past him through the door and then shut it behind himself again.

“You do not have to treat her like that.” Orlan said.

“Worrying about things will just ruin her pretty face.” Isaiah said.

Orlan grit his teeth.

Isaiah had not changed at all. Tall, handsome, clean-faced, stoic. His brown hair, his pale face and high cheekbones. He was not so lanky as before– he had grown out a bit more. Orlan could hardly believe he was going through so much trouble for this unfriendly face, but it was nevertheless a face that, even now, made his heart race just a bit. It was so pathetic. He was right. Isaiah was not about to be grateful for anything they ever did or had.

He was through and through, still that guy.

“You’re in incredible danger. You don’t even know.” Orlan said.

“I’ve got an inkling.” Isaiah said.

“It’s not just the Volkisch Movement. I mean something right now. Today.” Orlan said.

Isaiah looked ever so slightly more interested in Orlan– but not worried.

Why? Did he have a plan? Did he really know what was going to go down?

“You’ve got a target on your head!” Orlan said. “Let me get you and Mia out of here.”

As if in response, Isaiah turned his back on Orlan and made a dismissive gesture.

In the next moment, something rushed from the wall, throwing down a camouflage shield.

Something dressed in a pure white uniform with a blue star– fast, fit, well-trained–

–put a 10 mm pistol to Orlan’s temple. A woman with an armband he had never seen before.

Isaiah cracked a little smile. “I’ve got a target on my head, but you have a gun to yours.”

Orlan grunted. He lifted his hands. He could almost cry. “You have no fucking idea, man.”

Every time, every time– this bastard just ended up disappointing him.


“Mysia? I don’t understand. Why?”

“Valya, this is what it takes to make my dream come true. It’s just that simple.”

One of the unused warehouse quarters in Stockheim.

Empty containers spilled haphazardly throughout. The lights were dim, and there was a thick glass and steel berth on the right flank that dominated the space and felt like an almost flimsy barrier between the black sea and the pressurized hull. Here the two of them stood, framed in the few working LED cluster lights, alone, the only two– people, present. Valya had met Mysia and followed them here so they could talk in private.

Their heart beating wildly the entire time.

After considering everything, Valya at least wanted to say a definitive goodbye to Mysia.

Recalling their kiss– Valya’s most passionate kiss with anybody.

They had wanted to trust in that.

However–

Flanking Mysia, two Kolibri class drones suddenly appeared to threaten Valya.

Each sporting a compact submachine gun borne on the underside of the chassis.

Buzzing quadrorotors moving the machines indepedently of Mysia’s control.

They stood between the machines with a small smile on their face.

“Mysia, who is in control of those drones?” Valya said.

“Someone powerful enough to pay any price I ask for my information.” Mysia said.

Valya’s heart sank; but Mysia only shrugged.

“You should be flattered! You became part of my payment. I have been working so hard for so many people, you know.” Mysia said. “When I saw you again, I did start thinking about you quite a bit. I’ve hardly found any of the people around me attractive since I left the Union– you always really appealed to me. I promised myself, when I left the Nectaris, that I wouldn’t deny myself anything anymore. I would live like a legendary Katarran mercenary– taking what I want. I would die without any regrets. Don’t worry; I’ll treat you right. We’ll be away from this mess, and you will not even miss it. I’ll keep you entertained.”

Mysia winked at them, and Valya could hardly communicate their disgust in return.

Their hand clutched helplessly at their side in a fist. Almost in tears with anger.

To think they had been so naïve as to trust this person– who already abandoned them once.

Abandoned them and everything they had been taught in the country that raised them.

“Mysia, I am not going with you. You’ll have to rip me from where I stand.” Valya said.

“Trust me, Valya, you won’t want to stay here much longer.” Mysia said, beckoning them.


In the middle of the morning, a ship approached the second tier of Aachen’s core station.

Larger than a shuttle but smaller than a Cutter, the unpainted metal ship had a forward cabin leading a rectangular hold divided into cargo pods pushed by two large hydrojet banks. Rather than dock at Stockheim, the ship bypassed the docks, maneuvering quickly but carefully around the side of the station and closing in to where the steel met the natural stone of the Aachen Massif. The ship maneuvered on its side and found an emergency access shaft to maintenance hull on the second tier. Slowing considerably, the ship wedged itself gently against the stone, clung on with its jet anchors and extended its boarding chute.

Not a typical entry point for a cargo vessel–

Except the ship’s cargo consisted not of sand for local glass blowing shops–

but a battalion of troops with armored vests and helmets, portable missiles, suicide drones, ballistic shields and heavy machine guns, all on a certain rich woman’s pfennigs.

The plan was simple, and they were well-equipped for it– on Herta Kleyn’s orders, the Uhlans were undergoing a complete audit before their contract renewal with Aachen. To satisfy the audit the entire Uhlan force would gather at their HQ on the second tier and turn in all of their weapons for inspection in the early to mid morning. The entry team would approach the Uhlan HQ through the maintenance sector, and take them by surprise. With the Uhlans suppressed or eliminated, the Reichsbanner Schwarzrot would establish military control of the station interior. Naval reinforcements would then follow, taking over Stockheim. All the while Herta Kleyn and Gloria Innocence Luxembourg would take full political control from both the Volkisch Movement and the liberal legislative assembly in Aachen.

Everything hinged on taking out the unaware Uhlans during the inspection.

Everything hinged– on boarding the station through the maintenance hull at this point.

With the ship in position, undetected, and the boarding chute affixed, the teams got ready.

Eight hundred troops, crammed into the cargo hold of a ship, armed to the teeth.

Mercenaries, social-democrat die-hards, desperate contractors, a motley crew but with the gear to match their ambitions. Awaiting the glow of the boarding chute’s warning lights to go from red to green, signaling a connection to the station and stabilized pressure within the chute. The boarding chute door opened, a space ten meters between their ship and the maintenance shaft door. The men and women stood shoulder to shoulder and began to slowly filter out toward the station with their weapons and gear in hand and back.

Upon reaching the door on the other end, they prepared to force the door with their tools.

As soon as their breaching tools made contact with the door–

In an instant, an explosive blew the door open and separated the chute from the station, and the ensuing pressure differential ripped through the entire boarding chute and into the entire ship. Before they even knew it, the entry team was completely butchered, the ship jerked toward the mountain and blew completely apart, killing everyone–

and triggering flood mitigation inside the station’s maintenance shaft.

That explosion and the partial flooding set off a sensor, and sealed off the area completely.

Ending in an instant any thought of ambushing the Uhlans through that path.

However, the action would not go unnoticed–

Sensor data was picked up by a certain Braya Zachikova, monitoring the network.

“Acting Captain, I found something quite strange.” She said, looking over her shoulder.

Behind her, Murati Nakara acknowledged, unaware of what was about to transpire.

Commencing her own participation in Aachen’s longest day.


Animated by vengeance, they finally rose from the darkest corners of the station.

Donning their pure white uniforms, and the blazing blue star alight in their arms.

In the abandoned mines of the Aachen Massif, rows of half-failing LED clusters partially illuminated their caps, masks, nanomail armored uniforms, camouflage shields, drones, assault rifles and heavy pistols. Faces half in shadow and light, just as their souls were bifurcated by the past they mourned and the future that they now hungered to realize. In part they had been in the Eisern Front, and they had been in the Uhlans, and the Imperial Navy, and among the social democrats, and even just civilians from Aachen, from Stralsund, from Kreuzung; and even farther afield in Antioch and Nichori in Bosporus.

Many followed Tamar Livnat here; many arrived after; some joined her in the past days.

They had been everywhere. No matter how hard they tried, nobody could erase them.

As much as they were hated, they survived it all, and they would turn that hatred back.

Below their clothes and above their skins, they had always worn that white uniform.

Animated, possessed even, by that distant, ennobling ideal– their own Nation.

A nation to return to them the status of a people with dignity and power.

All that they ever needed was for an architect to illuminate the true way.

To whisper in their ears that this ghost had always been inside them, yearning.

And that it was the reason why nothing made sense, and nothing felt right.

Even before Tamar Livnat, they had always been Dibuqim. It was their Destiny.

“Today is but the first step! They took everything from us! Show no mercy!”

At the head of the prosession, Menahem Halevi with her bloodthirsty grin spread her arms as if to gesture at the breadth and enormity of the troops that had gathered. So many people that had sacrificed everything and from whom everything was taken, and nothing left– her voice rang out through the mine shafts as the heavy bulkheads behind her began to rise. Their return to Aachen lay beyond those shadowy doors slowly lifting before them.

Their mighty sweeping-up and burning-down of everything–

“Our kingdom awaits us! From the Imbrians, from the Shimii– we shall take it back!”

From the fascists, from the communists, from the sectarians and the liberals–

Everything would be taken, to be given to the worthy, the solely worthy– to the Eloim.

God’s true chosen people– whom their human peers had denied everything.

Stoic ranks filed past Menahem with their faces shadowed and their hearts hardened.

Weapons in hand, gear at their backs and over their chests. Ready to fight.

“Remember the plan! All sections have their assignments! Crush the enemy!”

Menahem grinned, unable to contain her laughter and the swelling of her spirit.

Her cape fluttered as the ranks advanced around her, partially unveiling the cables wrapped around her body, terminating behind her back and into her forearms, as well as tanks and funnels strapped to her back. She squeezed her fist, and there was a brief whirring of a micromotor. Satisfied, she turned from the departing troops and toward the mine shaft.

“Ready, David? Today is the day we have spoken about.” Menahem said in that direction.

There, an enormous figure stood as if activating by her gaze, and took one thunderous step.

Dim lights flicked on one after another on a tall, sleek, humanoid figure.

Two and change meters tall, with a beak-like, visored helmet and a triangular torso.

A colossus of armor ambling toward Menahem and the bulkhead of that fated day.

From an audio system installed on the armor, a small and high-pitched voice answered.

“I will kill anyone you ask me to, Menahem.” David said.

As if to demonstrate her readiness, David briefly bandished a blade sliding out of her arm.

Limbs crackling with a faint indigo glow, tiny indigo sparks flying off her thrusters–

“Beautiful! That is what I like to hear. Follow me, my doll.” Menahem said.

Everything was already inexorably in motion– it already had been since the start.

Ever since the United Front was first scheduled to gather, creating the opportunity.

The communists, the social democrats, the fascists, even the civilians, played their part.

As they spoke, plainsclothes anarchist puppets had begun the task.

And the pretenders and little tyrants would soon find themselves encircled.

On that day a chaotic performance of destruction would unravel Aachen’s fate.


Previous ~ Next

The Past Will Come Back As A Tidal Wave [13.8]

In a small shack in the Mahdist village, a soft-faced, indigo-haired elf turned in bed.

A voice, distant at first but growing in fidelity as she awakened.

Nipote. Nipote. I see turning you there. Wakey-wakey.”

She groggily opened an eye to find a blue-haired elf poking and shaking her gently.

A young-looking lady in a fancy tasseled bra top with an open midriff, twin-tailed hair–

Nipote, welcome back. Are you ready to talk now?”

Elena sat up, looked at Conny in the eyes, and then darted back in bed, startled.

“Stop it!” Conny said, lifting her arms in front of her in defense. “No more rocks!”

Seeing Conny pathetically waving her arms as if it would stop any summoned rocks from striking her, Elena calmed herself down. She sat back and slid down against the wall, ending up on the mattress like a discarded doll. Her sleep, this time around, had been dreamless.

No more hallways or entities pretending to be her dead loved ones.

However she was still reeling from what she had experienced. It was not just a dream world. She had some inkling that psionic powers were dangerous. She knew that it was possible to lose her mind, however briefly, into a dream or vision that felt entirely real to her.

She knew also that real pain could result from such excursions of the mind.

Norn’s echo in her memories had done as much to her.

Elena was not prepared for the sheer scope of it. Those endless, surreal green hallways and the monster that stalked her within them. Did anyone know that such a thing could happen? How many people had fallen prey to it? She couldn’t make heads nor tails of it all.

However–

There were real problems to deal with– she had to put it out of her mind for now.

“Elena, I really want to make peace! I’m truly sorry that everything was so abrupt, but once I discovered your psionics and that Norn the Praetorian had tampered with them, I felt that I had to do something! What if you were being coerced in some way?” Conny said.

“You almost damaged my mind! I was so distressed!” Elena replied.

Conny averted her gaze as if she was beginning to feel shame.

“Losing some figment of Norn the Praetorian could have only been good for you!”

“And you get to decide that for me?”

“Yes! I know better than you! And I felt responsible for a family member’s well-being!”

“I’m an adult! I don’t need you acting like you’re my guardian! You don’t know me at all!”

Conny sighed and raised a hand to her face.

For a moment she stopped talking and looked from between her fingers into the distance.

It took almost a minute for her to turn back to Elena with her shoulders heavy.

“You’re right. I was impulsive. But I was trying to protect you.” Conny said.

“Hmph. I won’t suddenly believe and trust you for the barest amount of contrition.”

Conny crossed her arms in front of herself. “Time out!”

“Time out?!” Elena shouted.

“It’s– it’s been a long time since I had to deal with family affairs. I’m really sorry. I am afraid that I messed things up. Can we just slow down– I don’t want to make another mistake.”

Now it was Elena’s turn to sigh.

She was suddenly reminded of stupid teenaged arguments with Gertrude and Sawyer.

Two block-headed people shouting past each other. One unable or unwilling to apologize and the other unable or unwilling to accept it if it happened. Neither knowing how to resolve the issue or what to do to make it up, or too stubborn to accept it. Until one or the other or both calmed down finally, and took stock, and decided to reach out and return to the status quo. Those were always the most painful nights of her teenaged years.

Elena was often the most diplomatic one.

No matter how mad she was, she hated being on bad terms with anybody.

She had never wanted to fight anyone or to hurt anyone, but things just turned out wrong.

Her current situation with Gertrude was remarkably bad on this front.

And she felt that she would rather not also have Conny hanging over her head as well.

Especially given the potential of learning about her family– of having a family at all.

“Aunt Conny–” Elena began, with a serious tone–

Conny’s face lit up with a childish smile and she interrupted. “You called me aunt?”

She did not acknowledge the interruption.

In her mind, there was a speech taking form that she wanted to deliver as best she could.

“Aunt Conny. I am Elena Lettiere. I am the daughter of Leda Lettiere and Konstantin von Fueller. Just as you suspected. That must then make us family.” Elena said. “I admit that part of myself– but I am trying to leave behind the idea that I am a princess with power over other people. I am trying to just be a person like anyone, among my peers.” She kept from her aunt the idea that she was proletarianizing, not knowing how it might go over. She explained the essence of things regardless. “I don’t want anyone to protect me. I don’t want anyone to decide things for me. I want to be my own person and make my own decisions.”

For the first time, Conny finally appeared genuinely contrite.

The angle of her sharp ears lowered significantly, and she had a downturned expression.

“Elena. I am so sorry. I made such a grave mistake with your mother. I’m truly sorry.”

Seeing the face of her niece– did it remind her of that mistake?

Had it been recalling her painful past since the moment she first saw Elena in the village?

“I don’t think you made a mistake.” Elena said.

She fixed Conny with a gaze that made Conny blink with confusion.

Her heart filled with compassion.

“When you– connected with me.” Elena said, referring to her baptism because she was not entirely certain about the terminology. “I saw memories of you and mom. I have some of my own memories of my mom– and I know what you have told me of her too. I think– if I had been in my mother’s place– I might have made her choice too. I feel that it is a choice that she made. She was not afraid to die. So I think– she must have wanted to be close to power.”

“You’re trying to say that it was not wrong for me to have let her carry on.” Conny said.

“Yes. I’m sorry if its presumptuous of me to talk about those events. I was very young for all of that and I have poor recollections of my mother, but to everyone who knew her, she was a titanic figure.” Elena said. “I can’t imagine that what she wanted from you was someone to coddle her and hide her away from danger. She seemed too independent for that.”

And it mirrored Elena’s own experiences with overprotective figures.

“I think what she wanted was a confidant, a supporter– a sister.” Elena said, smiling a bit.

“It is quite presumptuous of you.” Conny said, her face still a touch melancholy. Her ears slowly began to raise again, however. “But I appreciate that you’re trying to comfort me.”

She reached out a hand to Elena. Inviting her– to show affection as family.

Elena reached her own in response and held the tips of Conny’s fingers.

“I’m still upset with you. But– being my mother’s daughter means being your niece.”

“You’re more mature than I gave you credit for. I wish I’d been there to see you grow.”

The two of them looked each other in the eyes. Their ears wiggled slightly.

She felt safe with Conny, despite what had happened.

“I haven’t felt what it’s like to have family for a long time myself.” Elena said.

“It’s complicated, and we make mistakes. Especially us elves– o dio.” Conny said.

For a moment the two of them shared a small laugh. Conny sat beside Elena on the bed.

“Conny, I want to learn more about my family. But I also have– my own affairs that I need to look after. I have made commitments I won’t abandon.” Elena said, careful of her words.

“I understand. Will you let me meet your crew? I promise to be discrete.” Conny said.

She put on a mischievous smile that made her look so girlish and young.

Elena wondered if she herself looked that girlish when she smiled.

“I’ll talk to the captain.” Elena said. “Maybe you can escort me back to Stockheim.”

“Absolutely! And I’ll thank this captain with all of my heart for protecting my niece.”

So unused to being referred to in such a coddling fashion, Elena could not help but laugh.


“…Elves sure can be boisterous.” Ulyana sighed,

walking through the Brigand’s deployment chute out to Stockheim’s landing, running a hand over her shoulder and squeezing. She winced– her back and her shoulders were hurting from all the sitting down she had done throughout the day and then all the sitting down she did at night. She was tense and tight all over. Her knees were starting to throb. Hunching over her notes at the United Front, standing up and sitting down, yelling her lungs out. There had been too much tension and stress and not enough keeping limber in her life lately.

“At least Aaliyah will keep that Conny entertained while I do this.” She said.

Elena had somehow met her long-lost maternal aunt while on a trek to the Wohnbezirk that Ulyana had not authorized but, once it happened, she felt should have been harmless. She would have to talk to Chloe Kuri about her little “side hustles” someday– but what was done was done. Now the loudest elf Ulyana had ever met in her life thanked them profusely for saving her niece. She offered to buy them pizza, to give them money, and to hook them up with connections from her NGO work. She seemed to have heard a quite massaged version of their story and Ulyana did not want to contradict it in front of Elena.

Especially since the girl looked like she wanted to be buried throughout the conversation.

Ulyana could tell that Aaliyah was initially furious– but she seemed to soften up eventually.

Particularly when Conny promised to sign an NDA and heaped them with promises of aid.

Ulyana was glad to be out of the Brigand for now.

But she was taking a jaunt through Stockheim for business, not pleasure.

Since arriving at Aachen, the Volksarmee had contact with sympathetic dockworkers in Stockheim who helped them out from time to time. The dockworkers had factions among themselves just as the station itself did– Gloria Innocence Luxembourg had discrete connections with the labor union brass in Stockheim, but among the rank and file, the Volksarmee had met smaller cliques of more radical dockworkers who argued for worker self-management rather than just wage negotiations and health plans.

These people helped the Volksarmee more personally.

One such group who worked out of the maintenance areas allowed them access after hours.

There were no recording devices in these locations, and they were out of the way.

This made them perfect for clandestine exchanges.

Using an unmarked pass that had been programmed to work that night, Ulyana got through a security door into a quite small, uninhabited office from which dockworkers could access the maintenance interstice between tiers of the berth structures. She dropped down a ladder into a dark, damp and cold space, the walls covered with thick bundles of wires, square glass gauges, LED indicators, and junction boxes. She had to crouch a bit to fit inside, dimly lit in green, blue and red by all of the lights dotting the walls.

There, she waited, hands on her knees.

Straining her eyes to see in the dimness the figure that she had agreed to meet with.

Checking a pocket-watch that she had borrowed from the Commissar.

Such things being more common to Nagavanshi’s favored who received niche gifts.

Ulyana waited, her ears catching every drop of condensation, every shift of her own feet.

Until she thought she finally heard a counterpart deeper in the tunnel.

Advancing through the dim distance until her figure could be distinctly read as a person.

“Allow me to assist you.”

From out of the shadows a soft, small hand reached out, the skin on the palm splitting.

Yellow bio-luminescence lit up Ulyana and the visitor’s faces.

Shed by a tumorous growth she had suddenly grown, disfiguring the palm of her hand.

An action shockingly casual and seemingly painless for this creature.

It was Enforcer III: The Gluttony, or “Gula,” which seemed to be her personal name.

In her dealings with the creatures the two names were used interchangeably.

The shorter one seemed to be preferred between her and her ‘prince’.

“I thought Avaritia would come to meet me herself.” Ulyana said.

Across stood a girl short enough she did not need to crouch in the tunnels. Her bare feet were damp and dirty from walking in the tunnels, but it did not seem to bother her. She was dressed in a lacy, fancy little dress that nevertheless showed some skin in the sides, in the shoulders, a hint of her identity as a sexual being peering out from the embellishments. Her hair fell so long behind her back it almost touched the floor. When Ulyana had first met the creature her eyes were uncovered, but she was since wearing a kind of faux-feathered white winged mask over her eyes and temples. The majority of her face remained uncovered.

Ulyana could not understand the whims of her visitor.

So well-dressed, so beautifully made up, when she could change her body at any time.

What did beautiful clothes and makeup represent to this creature?

“I can understand why anyone would relish a meeting with my fair prince, but at the same time, am I not a being whose majesty is worth admiring?” Gula put on a wild and wide smile, showing off rows of vibrating saw-teeth inside of her mouth. These were located behind the facade of human-like incisors that would show if she smiled less dramatically.

“You are indeed a looker, but Avaritia needs to keep her promises more strictly. Neither side trusts each other that much at the moment. We should be more exacting.” Ulyana said.

“Oh, we trust you plenty, hominin. You aren’t a threat to us after all.” Gula said.

Maybe not now, but sometime in the future– if it came down to it, she would become one.

Especially since this creature could not read her mind or control her.

“Have you discovered anything about the anarchists?” Ulyana asked.

“Straight to the point? How boring.” Gula’s lips closed, hiding her teeth and returning the illusion of a pretty, delicate and demure ‘princess’. “Indeed, we have met with and stood among the anarchists quite recently. Their main forces are actually located within the Aachen Massif. Numbering several hundreds. They have mastered the tunnel network and have a few means of entry and egress from the Core Station. They even restored a single ship berth in one of the extraction points in the abandoned mine, and have a vessel there, but in poor condition. It seems they had some sort of incident on the way to Aachen.”

“That’s far more sophisticated than I imagined.” Ulyana said.

“They have an impressive operation, but there are flaws. Their operational security is poor, particularly that of the Volgian man’s group. Nobody suspected us even when we refused to bring our entire forces to join the rest of them. All of them wore their intentions on their sleeves– but the group led by the Eloim woman, all of their minds are much more guarded.” Gula said. “They are all hiding something. I believe that their contingent of forces must be larger than we are led to believe. I also sensed great desperation within them.”

Ulyana had thought the anarchists used commercial transportation and fake identities and that they were simply mingling about the station with the civilians, to appear in small groups when needed. She was not well informed on the history of the Aachen Massif and did not realize what a boon it could have been to their forces. This explained why Tamar Livnat was so keen to acquire another ship from them. She must have worked hard to bring all of her forces to Aachen, maybe even devised the scheme in the tunnels ahead of time.

And now she did not have a ship with which to support all her combined forces.

“Are your senses keener than Avaritia’s?” Ulyana asked.

“I am more skilled with auras.” Gula said. “But my darling is more powerful than me in all respects. I make up for what she lacks in subtle technique, and she makes up for what I lack in force. However, I have my own ways of defending myself if necessary of course.”

She opened her mouth and shut it as if miming a bite.

“You like to talk.” Ulyana said.

“I like having a hominin audience. My kin don’t appreciate my eloquence.” Gula said.

“Well, I do appreciate it. You may regale me with anything more that you desire.”

Gula smiled widely again. “You are a very cheeky hominin. I like you.”

“Speaking of your group, how are your forces holding up? Do you need any aid?”

“I’m afraid you might not understand, but many of our forces are occupied on our ship.”

Ulyana bristled a little bit. She was a ship’s captain, they knew at least that!

“Why wouldn’t I understand? I have a crew also. I completely understand.”

“No, you see, we can’t pull anyone from their duties on our ship– because they are the ship.” Gula smiled ever wider. “We had to use significant amounts of biomass to create our ship, and it has to be ready to extract us at a moment’s notice. Separating them from the ship would be a waste of the energy it took to join them. We have only a small five-body team with us. How shall I say this– we are saving them for a rainy day? Is that still an idiom?”

Once more, Gula casually said something that made Ulyana’s guts wrench.

However, she did her best to hide her displeasure and discomfort at this disclosure.

Human crew always expressed a joy at being part of a ship– but probably not like that.

With their biological powers, a living ship only made sense.

Wandering about how its constituent persons must feel in it caused her to shudder.

“Yes, it’s still an idiom. A lot of surface-based language survived to this day.”

“I’m glad. Culture should never be lost. At worst, only recontextualized.”

“So when you take us over, will our culture be preserved?” Ulyana asked suddenly.

“Of course.” Gula said, without skipping a beat. She had thought of this– and something about that disturbed Ulyana even more than if she had kept quiet. “Once you hominin are put in your proper place, you will thrive. Free of oppressing each other for goods and services, you will be able to pursue culture in its purest forms and pleasures. Your bodies will be your art, and you will make art with your bodies. You will be like beautiful dolls who find boundless joy in your flawless performances for us Omenseers. Using our biokinesis we can sculpt you into any shape you find pleasing, and allow you to do anything that you desire, and we can even make it so you feel nothing but bliss forever. Once you become unable to practice further, rather than suffer the pain of senescence, we can turn you to biomass.”

“I– I see. Well– I’m at least glad you’ve put some thought into it.”

She was not glad at all– she was being diplomatic.

Part of her mind wondered if allying with this thing was any better than with the Volkisch.

And what had led them to host such a boundless disregard for humanity.

Or even worse– a disregard in the guise of paternalism.

“We have been engineering our ideal world for a very long time. You’ll see it someday.”

Gula bared her teeth again. Smiling so easily and without worry.

“But for now, that is all that we have to report. We will keep our eyes peeled.”

Ulyana sighed. “Let us know if you need anything.” She said.

“Nothing we feel comfortable asking hominins to do, at the present.”

Gula continued to smile as she spoke.

It was as if her voice was coming from somewhere else.

Ulyana got that feeling again– that she was in a room with something larger than this girl.

“Did you have trouble making it here?” Ulyana asked. “Do you need help getting back?”

Better to be as courteous as possible at this stage of the alliance.

“Oh no, it was incredibly easy. Ah, I know– watch this closely, hominin.”

Gula closed her lips and seemed to let her jaw settle.

She then opened her mouth, snapped it shut, and suddenly vanished.

Ulyana felt something, a force, as if she was gently shoved by something invisible.

The light that disappeared from in front of her Gula then shone from behind her.

When she turned, the found the light figure of the girl standing nonchalantly at her back.

“I am able to eat anything if I understand it well enough.” Gula said, standing behind her as if she had always been standing there. “Including, say, the concept of the distance between one part of the station and another part of the station. Of course, you can’t digest a concept, it reasserts itself quickly, but the ensuing snap does place me at my destination.”

Ulyana was speechless. Gula was far, far, more powerful than she envisioned.

“With that said– ta-ta, hominin.” Gula added. With a snap of her jaws– she was gone.

Left standing alone in the dim LED lights once more, Ulyana thought–

It was not just Gula who was powerful, but psionics was capable of far more than just throwing objects or reading people’s minds. It was capable of far more even than mind control. She wondered just how much they really knew about this power. It seemed almost like psionic powers could do nearly anything at all at the hands of these bizarre creatures. Ulyana felt like her already slim chances of defeating them had begun to slip further.

Then she caught her breath and tried to steady her spiraling emotions.

She was immune to psionics. She had come to understand from Arabella and Euphrates.

That meant no matter what they could do– the Omenseers were not omnipotent.

Because at least this “hominin” could oppose them.

And with the assistance of her own psionic allies, anything could be possible.

Ulyana climbed back out of the maintenance tunnel and left the office.

One final swipe would render her card useless and lock the office.

Mentally, she thanked the dockworkers for their continuing aid as she climbed aboard the Brigand once more. Inside the familiar, comforting steel walls, her heart eased a bit. Just as she was walking back into the hangar, she then found Aaliyah and Conny making their way to the deployment chutes. They met in the middle. Conny looked in good spirits while Aaliyah had one ear folded, the one nearest Conny, and looked a little bit bedraggled.

“Captain! I was hoping I’d see you again before the night is up!” Conny cheered.

“I’m back from a bit of business. I’m glad I got to see you on the way out.” Ulyana said.

“Isn’t all this so fun? I’m glad my niece has such reliable allies.” Conny said, gesturing to the hangar. “You will have my full confidentiality captain, I promise you, but I truly want to do something for all of you, to thank you– I want my niece to be able to be independent, and this seems like the best environment for her to get her legs under her and see the world. Let me buy you all elvish pizza– real elvish pizza and not the Imbrian junk.”

“I won’t say no to pizza.” Aaliyah said. Her voice reduced to an emotionless droning.

“We can’t have it delivered.” Ulyana said softly.

“I’ll bring it here myself.” Conny said. “That ties into my other request.”

Aaliyah folded her other ear as if in preparation. Ulyana narrowed her eyes a bit.

“Captain, let me join you all aboard. I want to observe my niece’s journey.” Conny said.

Ulyana wished she could fold her ears like Aaliyah could and ignore this.

“We’ll have to talk about it.” Ulyana said, her voice too now an emotionless droning.

Conny smiled and winked and leaned forward a little with her chest out.

“Captain, I can be soooo useful! NGO Kamma will be at your service as well!”

Despite everything, it seemed there would be another night over a desk in store for Ulyana.

Sometimes having allies could be a bit burdensome as well.


Upon Captain Korabiskaya and Commissar Bashara’s return from the United Front, Murati was relieved of her temporary command, to be restored again the next day.

She left the bridge to the late-shifters Fernanda Santapena-De La Rosa and Alexandra Geninov and departed with Aatto into the halls of the Brigand. While the days were very busy for everyone, the sailors had temporarily been relieved of night shift, as it was reasoned that if they needed them they could sound an alarm. Therefore when Murati stepped out onto the halls, though it was the early evening, there were few people around.

“Master, how did I do? Was I the image of Union gallantry?” Aatto said.

Murati thought that it was a miracle that the Commissar had not thrown her overboard.

“You’re learning fast.” Murati said, diplomatically.

She was warming up to Aatto– though hardly anyone else was, a fact that troubled her.

(Except Karuniya, whom Murati did not want to count.)

“Do you have any evening plans?” Aatto asked. Her tail wagged behind her.

Aatto was asking because she wanted to be included in them–

But it did remind Murati that she missed her wife dearly.

Both she and Karuniya had been busy since they departed Kreuzung.

They shared a room, so they always saw something of each other every day.

When they were dating in Solstice and Thassal they saw each other much less than they did now. They made a promise back then to go on a date once a week, come hell or high water, and it was an indication of how little time they had for each other that this promise mattered as much as it did to them. That was also when, though they did not necessarily call each other partners yet, they stopped seeing other people and became sexually exclusive. And yet, despite objectively being closer than ever nowadays, Murati still feared that she was, as Karu sometimes joked, a frigid and neglectful “husband” to her poor wife.

She thought they ought to at least stay up a bit late in their room and chat today.

“Private time.” Murati said simply, with a small smile borne of thinking about her wife.

“Ah! Enjoy it, master, you’ve earned your relaxation.” Aatto said, smiling pleasantly.

“Thanks, Aatto.”

“Should you require me, I will be in my quarters. Feel free to contact me at any time–”

“Thanks, Aatto. Good night.”

Murati said the second one a bit more firmly.

Aatto smiled, waved, wiggled her ears a bit, turned and left down the hall first.

Fatima and Semyonova had been roomed together to give Aatto her own place, with the Captain and Commissar reasoning she may be a troublesome roommate. Though with Marina having boarded the John Brown, there was also talk of having her move in with Elena to free up another room in case of additional guests, and to have them learn theory together.

That particular point was a headache for another day’s Murati to deal with, however.

At first Murati headed in the opposite direction from Aatto.

She walked toward the cafeteria. She had in mind to bring her wife a coffee.

Then they could stay up a bit with a warm drink and chat.

In her mind this was all perfectly romantic. Of course, no plan survived contact with–

–well, not “the enemy” this time.

The conditions of the operation, Murati corrected herself.

Walking into the cafeteria, past the chairs and the long row tables.

“Murati! Good evening! Feeling peckish? I’ve got a couple fixin’s leftover!”

Behind the counter sat Logia Minardo in her apron, leaning forward and waving with her fingers. She had a tray with a few leftovers from the dinner service. Though she was normally very meticulous about the amount of food prepared each day, the Brigand had been testing her with the amount of guests that would come and go. Sometimes a person was sick and changed their mind about dinner at the last second too– all these things meant there was sometimes food left over. It would not go to waste, however. Either Minardo would find someone to eat it or she would eat it herself– or find a way to reuse it later.

“I’ve already sent Geninov and Santapena-De La Rosa some stuff. Want to help me out?”

Murati normally did not stick around for such things much.

She was always a pretty goal-oriented person who did not meander the ship.

But– as the Captain, she should strive to become accessible to her subordinates.

Hiding away in her room ill suited a communist, a people’s Captain!

“I have a few minutes, but no more than that.” Murati replied.

Minardo’s face lit up with a smile. “I’d love even a few minutes of your company!”

Murati first got the automatic coffee machine going. It would keep her drinks warm.

After, she joined Minardo at the counter.

On the big tray there were three discrete smaller trays with leftover meals. Each of the trays had a dish of corn chips that had been fried in a pan along with a red sauce, making them a bit soggier and yet still crisped up, and topped with cheese and beans. Minardo made the chips herself using corn flour, of which they still had plenty of from the Union– a taste of home. Murati picked up a spork and dig into a corner of chips from the tray, one with beans and cheese, a bit of everything. She lifted the morsel to her mouth and tasted.

Though the outcome had never been in doubt– it was delicious.

Savory-sweet corn chips with a slightly piquant and fruity sauce, with a distinctive hint of red sweet pepper. Creamy beans, with fatty cheese that added richness. The reheated leftovers lost only a bit of the aroma that the sauce and spices would have had when fresh out of the saucepan, and there was a pleasant variety of textures with the chips still having some body to them. Murati could not help but to be impressed by this simple yet fulfilling dish.

She also could not help but make an expression of girlish joy while eating.

Minardo looked at her fondly in return.

“I feel like you enjoy the corn dishes a lot. What do you think?” She said.

“Hmm? I do. It’s an immensely important crop. Its economic value is truly second to none.”

Minardo’s smile seemed to widen upon hearing that. Murati did not understand why.

Corn was one of the things the Union produced an incredible amount of, and it was an invaluable partner in the miracle that was the Union as a functioning state. Corn was processed into grains, sugars, alcohol, oils, and starches. Grains could be further refined– ground into corn flour, or boiled and canned for whole corn, or dried into corn snacks, that sort of thing. The true miracle was in the rest of the items. Corn starches could be used in food but had a variety of industrial purposes. Corn oil could be used for cooking or processed further into resins. “Synthetic” was a common word for clothing and other items manufactured in the A.D. era, but the Union made many daily things out of corn plastics too, preserving petroleum for its more valuable, specialized chemical purposes. Corn was used in chemical productions too, it had novel enzymatic reactions– it was so multifaceted.

Murati continued to tuck into the corn chip dish, thinking about the miracle that was corn.

She then realized the cook had been watching her space out the whole time.

“It’s fantastic, Minardo. Thank you for sharing it with me.” Murati said.

“Of course! Kitchens are for feeding people.” Minardo said. Murati continued to eat, and she noticed Minardo looking at her while she did so, but she did not say anything. Once Murati was about halfway through the dish, eating silently and unreservedly enjoying every bite, Minardo finally spoke up again. “You know, it is true what they say about you, Murati.”

“Hmm? What are they saying? And who is saying it?”

“You have a certain intensity about you. You don’t even seem to realize it. You might even fade into the background without that spark of yours. But even when you’re just standing in front of me eating chilaquiles after saying one sentence to me about their economic value– I can’t help but be charmed, girl. You capture the eye without even meaning to.”

Murati frowned a bit. “I feel like people are just making fun of me when they say that.”

“They’re really not! It’s just different, but it attracts people to you. You have gravity.”

“It attracts sailor girls to gossip about me.”

“That too. But that’s because your intensity makes you so electric!”

That was a lot of adjectives being slung around that made Murati feel embarrassed.

“Thanks, Minardo.” Murati said, hoping to change the subject, her eyes wandering.

She took a peek at the third tray, which neither she nor Minardo had touched.

“You want to take it?” Minardo said. “Go right ahead. You don’t eat enough anyway.”

“I eat as much as I need.” Murati said in protest. “But yes, I’d like to take the third one.”

Minardo beamed at Murati as she wrapped the third tray in a bit of plastic wrap.

“She’s such a lucky gal. You’re both really cute together. Hurry up; don’t make her wait.”

Were her intentions that easy to read? Or was Minardo just that experienced?

Murati thanked her again, sheepishly took her tray and her small coffees, and left the scene.

She felt self-conscious about being told about her “intensity”– she wondered if maybe other people were as odd about their feelings toward her as Aatto was. Once framed in that particular way, the thought of a whole ship full of Aatto and Aatto-adjacent gazes made her quiver with terror, but she also laughed a bit to herself at the absurdity of it all. Eventually it was completely out of her mind. Regardless of what anyone saw in her, she was only going to be herself and she wouldn’t even know how to change if she wanted to do so.

She tried to imagine this gravity of hers in terms of her goals. Murati supposed being found attractive was a useful asset to a ship’s captain. After all, she found Ulyana Korabiskaya very attractive. It inspired her to follow in her footsteps. To sit more upright, to speak more precisely, to memorize everyone’s names on the bridge. To wear her own uniform more sharply, comb her hair more often. She hoped to inspire the same in the future.

In the present– she had an appointment with a certain ‘lucky gal’.

Without stopping at the door or saying anything, Murati walked into her own room.

At the pull-out desk on the wall, she found her wife, swiping at a little portable computer.

When the door opened, she looked over her shoulder.

“Welcome home!” Karuniya exclaimed with a smile.

Indeed– Murati was home– Karuniya was her home.

Murati smiled quietly and presented Karuniya with the coffee and the food.

“Oh! What’s this? Such a thoughtful hubby– perhaps trying to bribe me?”

She put on a mock skeptical face and stared at Murati for a moment, rubbing her chin.

“Maybe.” Murati replied.

Karuniya laughed. “Come on.” She made space on the table for the dish and the sporks.

Every time she saw her, Karuniya was the most beautiful woman on the planet. However, there was something extra charming about her that night. She looked like she had come in from the shower. Her hair had dried a bit, but still fell messily down her back and had a moist sheen. Dressed in only the plastic robes they were issued for bathing use, whenever she turned around she flashed a bit of her gorgeous skin and the contours of her belly, her hips, her breasts. However she was not self conscious at all, and never guarded herself.

For a moment, Murati forgot about the food and the coffees and stood behind Karuniya.

At first she just laid her hands on Karuniya’s shoulders.

Then her fingers worked their way between the halves of the robe, pulling it farther apart. Bare skin on bare skin; Murati rubbed her wife’s shoulders, and gently worked them between her fingers. Karuniya realized what she was doing. Murati could feel her relaxing in her grip. There was nothing like the immediate response of a body to touch– it was so satisfying.

“How was your day?” Murati asked, whispering near her face.

“I grew mushrooms~” Karuniya replied.

She waved her hand. Her voice had a strangely dismissive affectation to it.

Murati circled with her thumbs, enjoying the pliability of her wife’s soft, round shoulders.

“Are you still sore about the mushroom lady stuff?” Murati said.

“Yes~ I will resent it~ until the end of the time~” Karuniya said in a song-like voice.

Despite her spoken complaints, Karuniya looked rather delighted. She even made a short murring noise when Murati applied a bit more pressure in the middle of her shoulders and settled back into her chair when she eased on her. Sensing an opportunity, Murati leaned forward. She tipped her head and kissed Karuniya in the neck, close to her jaw, nuzzling her. She could feel Karu start to melt into her, heartbeat beginning to quicken.

“You’re so clumsy about everything else, but you’re fantastic at reading me.” Karuniya said.

“I’ve had been blessed with many opportunities to practice.” Murati replied.

Karu leaned back in her chair and stared up. Murati leaned forward to enter her sight.

For a moment it felt like, to a third party, this must have looked quite intense.

But to the two of them–

“Craning my neck this far is not comfortable.” Karuniya said.

“It’s a little awkward, yes.”

Both of them laughed.

Murati let go of Karuniya, eliciting a little ‘aww’ from her wife.

She reached for and raised one of the pull-up seats from the floor and sat beside Karuniya.

“Try it, it’s really good.” Murati said, pointing with one spork at the chilaquiles.

Karuniya took her own spork, pulled away the plastic wrap from the tray, and took a bite.

Her eyes shut and the corners of her mouth rose steadily as she tasted the dish.

“Minardo’s devilry at work again! How can I ever settle for another cook?!” Karuniya said.

Murati laughed. Together, they prodded the dish, catching glances of each other’s eyes, between bites, and talked around the table. Karuniya gradually talked more about her own day. She had been processing biological samples from the Omenseers and collecting data all day, and she would have to comb over everything and create plans for each sample tomorrow. She had ideas for what kind of tests she wanted to run on the samples, but she had to make sure everything she was trying to do was safe and viable.

“I’m not a little kid mixing colored oils and different fluids just to see the different colors stacking in a beaker. Though– I kinda feel like that little kid experimenting here.”

A water density experiment– every Union kid did science-y stuff like that in school.

Though, Murati had never really associated Karuniya with test tubes and centrifuges.

She had a limited knowledge of what the practice of oceanography entailed.

For a moment she felt self conscious about not knowing her wife’s work very well–

But Karuniya seemed to realize her head was being occupied and reached her arm out.

Taking Murati’s shoulder and pulling her in close, laughing gently.

An effective way to dispel Murati’s little doubts about their relationship.

“Are you excited?” Murati asked.

“This could be ground-breaking stuff, or it could be nothing.” Karuniya said. “There’s always the chance I won’t be adequate to the task. I even talked to Euphrates, and she never experimented with Omenseer tissue. Or maybe she just said that to avoid getting involved.”

“Both are equally possible. But don’t hold it against her.” Murati said.

“Oh, I won’t. I’m excited to be a pioneer in Omenseer-‘Hominin’ relations.”

“I think you’re incredibly qualified Karu. I don’t know anyone else our age working on multiple degrees. Even if you don’t know something now, you will make the effort to learn, and you’ll develop a process. You’re amazingly driven when something catches your eye.”

“Yeah– like when I was amazingly driven to jump on your dick, and I went and did it.”

Murati cracked up at the sudden bawdy joke. “Karu– I’m being serious–”

Karuniya giggled in response. “I know. Thank you, Murati. It means a lot to me.”

“You’ll always have one stalwart supporter.” Murati said.

“Can I ask my most die-hard fan to hold me more? It was nice.”

“Any time.”

After finishing their meal and coffees, they relocated together to one of the beds.

Murati tossed away her half-jacket and tie, pulled off her pants. Wearing nothing but an unbuttoned shirt, a sports bra and undershorts, she sat with her back to the wall and Karuniya sat in front of her. She pulled down her robe to bare more of her back for Murati to admire and feel. Down the spine to the small of the back, almost to her bare rear.

Murati promptly and dutifully pressed her hands over her.

One on the shoulder, one closer to the hip.

“Not your usual massage form.” Karuniya said with a cheeky tone.

“I just want you to feel your skin for a bit. Is that okay?” Murati said.

“It’s always okay. I’m yours, completely and forever, Murati Nakara.”

Karuniya backed into her.

Murati pulled with her, bringing her closer, tighter.

Her hands just wanted to feel contours of her wife more, the pronounced curve of her hip, the soft, pliable flesh of her back, the tiny, near imperceptible bumps of her spine. The elevation caused by the shoulder blade and the gentle bend of her back. She wanted to lay her chin on Karuniya’s shoulder and feel the smoothness of her skin against her lips, to smell the scents left over on her from her time in the lab, sometimes strangely sweet, sometimes a bit plastic, but always her. She wanted to feel the quake of her heart under her flesh.

“From how you’re holding me– it feels like you had a tough day.” Karuniya said.

“I wouldn’t say it was hard.” Murati replied. “It was long. I had no time to myself.”

Karuniya reached up and stroked Murati’s hair, while Murati kissed her shoulders.

“You know what else is getting a bit long?” She said, fingers twining through strands.

Murati had not really noticed until Karuniya pointed it out.

Her hair was starting to grow past her shoulder. Normally she had it trimmed at this point.

She was not in a position to take time off just for that though.

“It’ll be fine.” She said. Maybe she would look good with long hair.

Karuniya laughed. She tipped her head to nuzzle up to Murati’s cheek.

“We should go somewhere. And not dressed up as fascists. You need proper relaxation.”

“Who would I leave the bridge to?” Murati asked, nuzzling Karuniya’s neck again.

Karuniya giggled, wriggling in Murati’s hands. “Aatto would absolutely not mind.”

“Solceanos defend.”

“Oh, I got a Solceanos oath out of you. That bad huh?”

It had happened almost automatically at the thought of Aatto commanding the bridge.

“I’ve been talking with her a bit. She really admires you. What did you do to her?”

“I held her hostage. I truly have no idea how any of this turned out this way.”

“She’s a good girl. You ought to trust her a bit. She really wants your approval.”

“I do trust her, but I don’t want to overwhelm her. Maybe I’ll ask Daphne to cover for me.”

“Whatever helps– I just think we should have some time for ourselves. Like before.”

Murati was quiet for a few minutes. Trying to shut out everything else.

Losing herself in the sense of Karuniya’s skin. As close as they could be without sex.

“Am I being neglectful?” Murati asked.

She felt Karuniya briefly tense up a bit in her grasp. Surprised, perhaps.

“Oh, Murati, absolutely not. You’re fantastic. I hope my jokes didn’t get to you.”

“No. I just recognize we’re both so busy. So I felt a bit self conscious.”

“Murati, I think when you have a better head on, you know this is a weird situation for both of us to have a relationship in. We are messing around in a possibly suicidal combat mission that Nagavanshi went out of her way to force us to go on– promptly being really nice about all our relationship papers when we agreed.” Karuniya said, nuzzling up to Murati again. “We have to tend to our duties first. But we’ve always been able to live our lives as best we can in addition to that. That’s all I ever ask from you. I cherish the good nights and the good mornings. I’m really happy. Despite everything that’s going on, I’m so happy.”

“Thank you, Karu. You’ve made me the happiest woman on Aer.” Murati said.

She could have cried from how happy she felt holding Karuniya.

It felt like everything terrible in the ocean was briefly dispelled when she held her.

There had been so much that had happened so far. So much still to do.

All the crashing of ordnance in her ears, the smell of ozone and plastic, the feeling of her breaking ribs inside her chest as she crashed into the side of her diver, the sight of agarthic orbs after the deaths of ships, the exploding red mist when a diver burst under the pressure. All of the terrors imparted onto her mind, into her hearing, carved in her eyes, the invisible weights on her shoulders– Karuniya could dispel them all with a word and with a touch.

“Besides, Murati, it’s not like it’s been that long since we did something special.”

Karuniya reached behind herself, her fingers probing across Murati’s belly–

and gripping for Murati’s bulge between her legs, and seizing on it firmly.

Murati stiffed up a bit. Not quite enough to get hard. But she felt the thrill.

Holding her hubby’s weakly stiffening shaft through the fabric, Karuniya grinned cheekily.

“I recall it’s only been like a week and a bit since you gave me the second-best dicking of my life back in Kreuzung. If we can just fuck like that every so often I’ll be singing.” She said.

“Hang on. Second-best?” Murati said, picking up and playing into her wife’s mischief.

“Oh ho, curious? My best lay was this hot upperclassman at the Academy– Murati Nakara.”

For a moment she really had her in suspense. “I must have done better since then.”

“You were absolutely feral when we started messing around, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Karuniya continued to stroke her while grinning in such an insolent fashion.

It really made Murati want to teach her a lesson. Her appetite was reaching a peak.

“You have one coming, Karuniya Maharapratham.” She said sternly.

“Oh? Coming when? Ten days from now? Mu~ra~ti~? ” Karuniya said teasingly.

Murati reached out a hand to the wall and expertly summoned some loud DJ Hard Roe.

“M-M-Murati–?” Karuniya whimpered as Murati took her down on the bed.

As always, the synths would protect her modesty.


“Here you go miss! One big beautiful rainbow swirl coffee for a beautiful girl!”

A hand reached out gingerly from inside the little coffee shop’s window.

Upon that hand was a plastic, see-through coffee cup.

A rainbow-colored swirl, creamer and sweetener all at once, spiraled through the black coffee, a neat effect soon to be disturbed by the mixing of the drink. It was a limited-time specialty advertised by the little store on a corner of Aachen’s second tier. Quite a few people were waiting in line for their own “taste of the rainbow.”

Opposite the hand holding the coffee–

stood an embarrassed-looking, salmon-pink haired person in a hooded jacket, hood down.

“Ah, thank you.” Valya said, smiling sheepishly.

They did not want to draw any attention or argue, not under these circumstances.

So they put up with it– as they had become something of a champion in doing so.

They took the coffee into their hands, parted with some polymer reichsmark notes, and left.

Torn on whether to be flattered that they made a ‘beautiful girl.’

Aer had seen the turning of another cycle in its day and night, perceptible to humans mainly via timekeeping that aligned with their ancient biological rites. Another day in the 300-day Imbrian year decreed by Emperor Nocht so long ago. Valya had woken up in the morning ready to get back to work. The Captain and Commissar had departed for the third day of the United Front deliberations. As they stopped at the cafeteria, Galina pulled them aside, handed them reichsmarks, and decreed that today, they would have to go outside.

“Everyone has had at least a little goofing off time. You’ve earned some too.”

“I’m fine– I’m okay just working–”

“I will remind Semyonova that officers cannot accumulate too much unused leisure time.”

Scolded by Galina and threatened with a future scolding by Semyonova–

Valya could only agree. They donned a hoodie over their uniform and left the ship.

They made their way through the commercial district on the first tier. Crossing the lanes of storefronts and the platforms suspending them to the walls of the enclosure, with the massive atrium and its installations flanking them at all times. They were uninterested in shopping, however and even off-peak, the crowds unnerved them. They saw a black uniform in one of the crowds and began to walk more quickly to one of the elevator banks. From the briefing, they knew the second tier had a park with real trees.

They felt warmer toward spending the day at the park instead.

So they went up to a little café in a corner of the park.

Enjoying a coffee under the trees– if they had to relax, that would do just fine.

However, as they sipped their coffee, they couldn’t help but think about what was said.

How did they feel about being a “beautiful girl?” It was a pivotal question in their life.

It was the first time in a long time they realized that they had left the Union.

One of the reasons they preferred the ship and the company of machines.

Valya was in a strange place with regards to their presentation and identity. They felt that they were neither a “man” or a “woman”, social constructions that hardly mattered in the Union by law but were still carried on casually by individuals. While Valya did not want to legislate how anyone else saw or referred to themselves, the prevailing culture was a bit annoying for them specifically– to achieve their desired presentation they used feminizing hormones and had been for years now. This led uninformed people to read them as a woman; and they feared it might lead lovers to read them as a man in bed, and not as what they wanted to be read, as neither one nor the other but just themself.

One of the things that influenced them was the traditionalist attitude of their parents and some of their close family. All of them believed strictly that the family should continue as pairs of uncomplicated men and women having as many children as possible. Such people were not extinct overnight just because the Union extended the rights of bodily autonomy to everyone under its jurisdiction. When Valya came out, the ensuing argument with their parents was so virulent that on a high of emotions they ran to a local branch of the internal security forces to inform on their parents as right-wing elements to the Ashura.

Sitting in a chair in the middle of that office, barely out of their teens, they asked–

“Say that I put down a statement– theoretically, what would happen?”

Across from them, a stoic Ashura officer in their black uniform and green armband.

She looked up from a portable she had taken out of a drawer.

Valya recalled it was a Commissar-Sergeant Yulia Sinilova, a short-haired young lady.

Handsome in uniform and with a polite demeanor behind the desk, she answered–

“We will investigate and if we agree there is a seditious element it will be eliminated.”

“Isn’t that– a bit harsh–?”

Yulia looked at Valya with a strange intensity.

“Misc Lebedova.” She began, using the approved gender-neutral honorific. “So-called traditionalism begins with denying their family members bodily autonomy. It begins there– but it won’t stay there. It will lead to strife along religious lines, racial and ethnic lines; it will become about whether the subject matter in educational courses is too novel, about the makeup of the Party being too foreign, about having strange neighbors and ethnic foods in the cafeteria. It will become about the political system, about the centralized production of goods. But it can all be stopped by a bullet. It is the duty of the Ashura, the mission of our service– to stop this chain of events even if it takes a bullet to do it.”

Receiving that response, Valya apologized profusely and left shortly thereafter.

Without their statement, Yulia did not even record their visit.

As severe as she was, she must have understood.

Though they were angry at their parents, they did not want them to be eliminated.

Thankfully in addition to the Ashura, the Union also had the neighborhood guards and their local shelters where someone with a bit more empathy nursed Valya’s broken heart throughout that night. That night, with the encouragement of the guards, they began the process to transfer out of their home and journeyed to the military academy at Solstice. Unlike the wider world, the secondary society of the military had a rigidly enforced egalitarianism, and Valya found comradeship to be better than citizenship in that regard. It even bore out to the Brigand, where most of the pilot squadron was transgender.

Their parents were proud of them for serving, despite everything that had happened.

And tried to be accommodating– by referring to them as a woman now.

Truly the world was such a mess everywhere.

Whether in the Union of Ferris, Lyser and Solstice; or in the Reichskommissariat Eisental.

But– the hope of things getting better in the latter was infinitely dimmer.

At least, it was at that moment. They hoped to be able to change that.

Under the trees, they sipped their coffee, wandering how anyone found themselves.

Perhaps taking time for themselves was a start. Perhaps dealing with people.

Even if it hurt sometimes; even if they disappointed you; even if they abandoned you.

“Ugh, whenever I’m not working on something I get the stupidest thoughts.”

They had no one to talk to but themselves but still vocalized their frustrations.

When they were done with their coffee they took a stroll around the park.

Marveling at the engineering miracle that allowed all of these trees to thrive. It was a challenge to have a park such as this. Trees expected sunlight, and they expected powerful, permeating sunlight, and if any park of the tree was not receiving the right amount, it would look duller and deader, and the growth of the young tree might even be warped, as it would grow to maximize sunlight exposure– so not necessarily straight up as these trees were.

Not only that, but trees also expected soil, with a composition of nutrients, and they expected rainfall to sustain them. The composite soil in which it was planted was chemically engineered, the sunlamps were strategically placed, and rain-making devices had been installed, with digital calendars of rain days available around the park for all guests to see.

So much more care had been taken to engineer for these trees, than for any human beings.

In terms of engineering, Aachen, like Kreuzung, was hostile to people.

Were Valya to design a very typical station, their foremost concern would have been to maximize living space. To give everyone a place to stay, with enough space and privacy that they did not feel too caged but were not in conflict with others, but contained enough that within the allotted construction area they could make as many units as possible. While also allowing for cafeterias and for distribution centers for goods, and social spaces like the plazas and community centers, each with a calculated amount of occupancy. There should be transportation, childcare and maintenance capability, supported by some level of local industry. These were incredible challenges and there was no one solution that solved every problem. However, Aachen and Kreuzung had not been designed with people in mind– people were coincidental here. Instead, they were designed for commerce.

Imbrian stations seemed to require a plurality of grand, sweeping storefronts full of goods to buy, and all adorned with the slogans for the many businesses competing for the polymer banknotes in the hands of those coincidental people. Valya found the designs pretty and the engineering to be rather astonishing. It was beautiful and immersive, it arrested one’s breath– but it was also depressing. There were so many crowds of people in vast, open spaces that needed a separate station to live in, and among them, there were people who did not even have a room and only the cold, steel floors comforted them.

Something like that went against everything that Valya felt about engineering.

They made weapons because the Union needed them to protect communism.

That was what they staunchly believed– but engineering should, generally, help people.

Things should be constructed, foremost, because people needed them.

Kreuzung and Aachen did not need more shops– but more shops seemed to be the aim.

Thinking about their surroundings made Valya want to return to the ship and never leave.

Especially as their walk seemed to inexorably draw them closer to a building flying a flag with a black sun disc, encased in white, surrounded by red. It was impossible to miss it, seated as if on a hill in the distance, the concrete and glass monument to the rot festering within Aachen. Under its watchful eye all of this took place. Every pathway in the park seemed to funnel toward that building, and in any event, Valya’s own morbid curiosity led them to want to see it up close. They had been afraid and intimidated of the prospect of patrolling Volkisch officers– but surely they could at least metaphorically stare the Volkisch in the eye by approaching the Gau office. They could at least pass by the front of it.

It seemed then, that fate had other plans for Valya that day.

As they crossed the front of the Gau office they briefly stopped to stare at the facade.

Enough so that the door opened, causing their heart to leap.

Not because an evil Volkisch officer had walked out to arrest them promptly.

But because the person that nonchalantly walked out with their hands in their pockets–

Looked astonishingly familiar.

Familiar enough– to recall youthful memories long discarded.

Walking down the steps as Valya stopped before them; looking down as they looked up.

Slightly taller than Valya, but not by much, still lithe, guarded, unsmiling. Long, dark, blueish hair tied up into a braided ponytail, a soft, fair face with a small nose and eyes. Dressed in a brown jacket, black pants and a white plunging shirt that exposed a few bio-luminescent nodes on their flat, slightly narrow chest. Soft-shouldered with lean limbs and yet despite the years and despite them leaving home they hardly looked any more rugged than when they left, when they were both teenagers with foolish ideas.

Ideas about freedom that perhaps this person realized after Valya rejected them.

“Mysia?” Valya said, at the foot of the steps.

“Valya?” Mysia said, looking down from them.

Both of them were stunned for a moment at the presence of the other.

It should have been impossible for them to meet.

Each read the immediate response of the other and knew for certain whom they had met.

Valya was not prepared today to have such hope in something so impossible.

They felt that if they did not do something, the world might evaporate as if a dream.

Shutting their eyes, they ran up the steps and threw their arms around Mysia.

Throwing their head into the chest of their long-lost friend, holding them tight–

“V-Valya? We– We can’t stay here. We need to go, come on.”

Mysia did not embrace them back.

At their urging, they left the steps of the Gau office and walked.

Valya followed Mysia, barely knowing whether their feet were moving, whether they were tethered to the ground, or whether the environment scrolled automatically past them like they were hovering forward off the ground. Not knowing where they were going or what to do. Not able to speak; aborting every sentence that formed in their head out of astonishment, out of anxiety. Mysia might have been feeling the same. They stole glances at each other, awkwardly, and broke eye contact just as suddenly while walking.

“Mysia, are you in trouble?” Valya asked, finally allowing themself to speak.

“No. It was nothing. They– they tried to get me but had nothing to pin on me.”

Valya never conceived of the Volkisch as people who let anyone off with a warning.

Nevertheless, they were glad Mysia was not hurt.

After some wandering, the two left the trees and walked across grey concrete into one of the office complexes. They stood in an alley between two office buildings on the edge of the second tier’s facilities. At their backs, one of the station walls, and a capped duct giving off a small amount of visibly moving air. Mysia put their back to one of the buildings and Valya put their back to the other, standing with their eyes locked together but still silent.

Mysia reached out suddenly– taking Valya’s chin and lifting their face.

Grinning with a too-familiar mischief.

“It is you.” Mysia said. “It’s like I never left. You’re still the same softie.”

Valya pulled off Mysia’s hands from themself. “Hey! I can’t believe you, after all this time.”

“What else am I supposed to do or say? I wasn’t holding out hope of ever seeing you again.”

“Me neither!” Valya said. They smiled a bit. “But I’m– I’m really happy to see you!”

Mysia did not smile back. It was hard for Valya to read their expression.

“You look so– healthy. Grown up. You finally left the Union yourself.” Mysia said.

Looking Valya up and down in a way that embarrassed them to recognize.

“Yeah, I decided to leave. I am working as a mechanic in Stockheim now.” They said.

Of course, Valya could not admit to the truth of why they were able to meet like this.

“Stockheim’s good. Nice pay, and the people are friendly. I’m glad you’re alright.”

It was so awkward. Valya could hardly stand it. They should have been so happy.

Instead, they were standing in a tiny gap framed by concrete, staring at each other.

“Mysia– why did you leave the Union?”

And the fatal words simply left Valya’s lips though they barely realized it.

When they did– even they were surprised at themself.

Thankfully, Mysia took it in stride. Letting out a bit of a sigh, tossing their hair a bit.

“Chasing the myth of the Katarran mercenary. I told you as much when I left.”

That can’t have been the only reason. Valya always thought they had done something.

It was not beyond their will or capability to have done something.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Valya asked.

Mysia did not answer. Rather, they asked a question by way of response–

“Valya, do you still believe the stuff they taught us in the Union?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I see.” Mysia said. Valya thought they looked disappointed with that answer.

“How are you getting along these days? You’re really not in trouble, right?” Valya asked.

Both of them seemed to know that there was an impassable wall between them.

“I’m working for a rich woman now, Gloria Innocence Luxembourg.” Mysia said.

Valya froze for a moment. Surprised, perhaps elated– were they on the same side–?

Foolishly, they were almost ready to say anything– but– Mysia talked so fast–

Mysia spoke first and made a gesture as to bid Valya to be quiet for a moment.

“Valya, I am really sorry but we don’t have all the time we need to catch up now. I have something going on. But– we can still go on an adventure together, just like we wanted.” They said. “It’s really incredible that I found you. It’s– It’s something I’ve only ever dreamed of. I think it’s a sign that everything is going to go how I want. I’ve got plans, Valya. I’m going to get a ship, and a crew. You can come. We’ll go anywhere we want, and we can do anything. Nobody can boss us around anymore. I just need a few more days to get ready.”

At this, Valya’s heart sank– but a part of them, a foolish, stupid, childish part, wanted–

“You don’t have to answer.” Mysia said. “In two days, meet me in Stockheim at noon.”

“Mysia– I don’t know–” Valya felt like they were letting them slip away again–

That mane of blue hair swaying in the air as they turned their back like before–

“Even if you don’t want to leave, I’ll have time to catch up then. To really catch up. I want to know everything that happened to you. I promise I won’t leave you with regrets. I will tell you everything and then you can decide. But right now, I really have to leave. I especially don’t want to linger around this place too much.” Mysia gestured around themself. Perhaps meaning the second tier of Aachen. Perhaps meaning Aachen itself?

Then the most shameful and impossible words of them all spilled out of Valya’s lips.

“Mysia– do you still–?”

Care about me? Care about me like our doomed teenage love?

They would have said it–

But there was no opportunity.

As if in answer to the unspoken plea about to spill deadly into the air–

Mysia took a step forward into Valya’s personal space and

kissed them.

On the lips, with a bit of force, a bit of tongue. A hand on their hip, gripping the fabric.

Heat, touch, passion– a desire they hardly ever felt–

Obliterating Valya’s better judgment as easily as when they first saw them at the Gau.

As easily as when they first saw them at school in Sevastopol.

And as easily as when they almost, so close, stole them away from home.

Easy as a stolen kiss; easy as a quick turn of the feet to leave.

“Stockheim, at noon. Valya, I still want to make you mine. Please consider it.”

Rapid as the current that must have swept them away that day.

Mysia turned, showing Valya their back, and walked away with unconcerned alacrity.

With that confidence and power that imagined a world Valya could only dream of.

Their knees buckled in the alleyway; their breath stolen away with the kiss.

Tears in their eyes and not knowing what to do or what to think.

Had it all been a hallucination? But their lips were still warm with their touch.

All these years, and Valya was still so easily shaped by Mysia in mere instants.

Could they really do as Mysia asked? Did they– want to–?


UNX-001 “Brigand” Official Chronicle

Chronicle Date Code (FROM-1): 293906

Chronicler: Commissar Aaliyah Bashara

Mood

Aboard: Busy, but spirits are high.

Myself: Contemplative.

We set out on this journey long enough now that 980 is near. We left close to mid-year so it should not be surprising. But it feels like an entire year has passed. I am appreciative of my reliable counterpart. I would have broken down if I was shouldering this alone.

Meals

Breakfast: Blins with mushrooms, and a choice of sour cream, cottage cheese or both.

Lunch: Gloria had “Shimii-style” wraps delivered. Hummus, ta’miya, salad, tahini.

Dinner: “Serrano noodles” egg noodles with beans, salsa, hot pepper, avocado and cheese.

Events

Today’s entry will be one of the lengthy ones.

Ulyana slept poorly. I heard her throughout the night, making nonspecific noises in her sleep. This also affected my sleep but to a lesser degree. She was obviously struggling to get out of bed. On my own initiative I brought her a coffee and tried to comfort her. I offered to take some work off of her hands and she claimed it would not be fair to me. There was no point in arguing against this. I instead offered to get her Corvalol for sleep from Doctor Kappel.

She confided in me that she felt everyone in the United Front was hiding something. I tried to both agree and mollify her while also pointing out we were also hiding things. To calm her nerves, I reassured her that I would be at her side to support her no matter what transpired.

We set out for the United Front venue at 11:00.

Before leaving, I gave Murati a goal to frequent the hangar and get acquainted with the sailors’ work more intimately by talking to Galina and the workgroup managers, instead of bothering the bridge crew all day. Murati apologized profusely and claimed that she was ashamed of her “lack of investigation” and that she would correct herself. She volunteered to write a self-critique and I told her not to and that I would be angry if she still decided to write one and that I would not read it if she did. She seemed to finally acquiesce then.

I also gave Aatto a reading and learning goal for the day, enough to keep her occupied between her activities with Murati. It would be remiss of me to turn down a desire to become a Union commissar, which is rare even among committed communists in the Union. Aatto is experienced and highly educated but ideologically suspect and sexually troubled. Setting aside my personal feelings, I am using this as an avenue to correct her. A commissar embodies high standards for conduct. I would be glad to see her achieve this.

Along the way to the venue, Ulyana’s spirits seemed to return enough to ask if we could stop for a spell somewhere along the way. I regretted having to keep her on task, because I enjoyed our brief noontime drink together the other day. I then had an epiphany and suggested we could stop somewhere for a quick drink after the delegations adjourned. Murati would only be happy to have the ship for an hour or two more.

This more than any of my other suggestions seemed to brighten Ulyana up.

Just as we were getting to the venue, we received a message from Eithnen Ní Faoláin that she would not be attending the day’s meeting and that she would defer any decisions that would be needed from her to Ulyana and Erika. She had to talk to Burke and Marina about what they had turned up about the Uhlans and the station’s security situation overall– she figured her time was better spent helping package their intelligence for us than listening to Tamar Livnat’s “grating voice” for another day. While I mildly disagreed, I understood Captain Ní Faoláin’s disdain for politicking and did not argue with her about it. I could take a more active role to support Ulyana and make up for the lack of personnel at the venue.

But the day’s topic would be a simple one.

As agreed the day before, on the third day of deliberations each side would disclose the status and distribution of their forces. It was a simple topic that left little room for the grandiose political disagreements that had been seen in the previous days. Ulyana and I both understood that on this day, it was likely that every side would lie one way or another. The anarchists had reasons to lowball their forces as they did not trust anyone; Gloria had reasons to self-aggrandize as she wanted to take control of the United Front’s agenda generally. We had certain assets that we would never disclose, such as our Omenseer friends and the existence of psionics, as well as the Brigand’s agarthic shielding lattice. However, in terms of our conventional firepower, we laid everything out on the table, and we were frank about our number of troops. We were up front that aside from our special forces contingents we lacked infantry potential. The Volksarmee was primarily naval.

I expected Gloria Innocence Luxembourg to engage in some amount of attention seeking behavior. I did not expect the degree to which she would do so. Gloria concocted an entire “presentation” about the Reichbanner Schwarzrot. It was clearly a propaganda film! She was using us as a test audience! I was too confused to object for most of it, with each passing minute believing that the film must soon end, and some actual information must appear.

Sweeping shots of the repurposed cruise ship she used as a personal flagship. Schwarzrot troops in red and black uniforms marching with the eponymous reichbanner flag in hand, clearly shot in the spacious hangar or cargo hold of that same cruise ship. There were myriad slogans on the screen, such as “Justice, liberty, social democracy” and “fair taxes where everyone pays their share.” For whatever reason there were examples of “socialist” policies that “were already in place” like emergency services. A song that she commissioned about herself, its lyrics finally awakening me from my intellectual stupor and prompting me to ask if she disclosed to an artist any sensitive information. She claimed the artist was a zealous member of the Schwarzrot. Finally there was a Diver, clearly a rebadged Rhineametalle Sturmvolker with a slightly rounder headpiece, that had a pinup of Gloria in what looked like a skimpy halterneck robe with a rose in her hair and a golden belt.

I pointed at the screen. In my mind I was screaming righteously. But I was utterly silent.

Ulyana rarely looked every one of her 36 years– but she was haggard at that moment.

Moravskyi began to complain at the twenty minute mark how much longer it would take, but thankfully the film was only twenty two minutes long, with the final few frames having some actual organizational charts with details about the Schwarzrot. These details were about as useless as the rest of the film was. I did not for a second believe that Gloria had a fleet of 100 ships unless she was counting every escape pod or shuttle as a ship.

And, furthermore, knowing she was going to do this, I had actually researched how many employees Raylight Beauty had, and the exact number of those employees were listed in her chart as “reserve manpower” for the Schwarzrot. It was a complete farce!

Tamar Livnat called it unserious which got Gloria flared up all over again.

Erika clapped and praised Gloria’s spirit but asked if she could pull the charts back up.

They had scrolled too fast– she had missed them.

She was either untroubled by the rest or did not want to make a fuss anymore.

I was glad Murati was not here to fight these people; but some of them needed it.

Moravskyi and Tamar disclosed small numbers of infantry but with highly specialized skills. They had saboteurs, hackers, bomb-makers; they had people who could knock off supplies at ports or processing facilities; they had solidarity with some commercial transit personnel who could smuggle them places. They disclosed that most of their manpower were discrete cells waiting for a chance to strike in many stations around the Imbrium. Ulyana had learned the night before that Tamar Livnat had a ship– she did not disclose this today.

She reiterated her need for ships.

The Omenseers Avaritia and Gula, posing as the anarchists Zozia Chelik and Ksenia Apfel, made up a cover story that their cell had been uprooted by the Volkisch and they only had about five additional personnel. Moravskyi was shocked to hear this as he believed them to have an operation with thousands of people. Tamar looked suspicious of them. Neither would comment further. It was unconvincing, and their act was wearing thin, but in this stage, where everyone had lied, the indiscretion was more easily accepted.

It was at this point that things did get confrontational again.

Tamar Livnat suggested that our problems with troops and recruiting would be over if we could open up the Khaybar Pass for Bosporus. She confirmed that the Khaybar Pass is being held by a group of Shimii “pirates” (her words) that Bosporus has failed to break through. In her mind, if the Pass is cleared, we would receive a veritable flood of reinforcements from Bosporus. She had contacts in Bosporus and could reach them to coordinate.

History might judge us for our decision, but we had good reason to be against this:

1. The Union as a state with a foreign policy, has one very important and pragmatic reason to reject the displacement of Shimii by the Juzni and Eloim actors of Bosporus, which is: the Union was founded by Volgians, Shimii and Bosporans. Milana Omarova, the “Vozhd” of the Shimii in the Union, is being groomed to become Premier Jayasankar’s likely successor. Any action against Shimii on an Imbria-wide scale is likely to have repercussions “at home.” It would be seen as a betrayal and shake the trust of the Shimii. As an agent of the Union, as a Commissar, and as a Shimii, I must reject any such actions in line with the national policy.

2. It has historically borne out that “pirates” are usually downtrodden people trying to secure a livelihood. This has always been the case in Imbria. Shimii, Katarrans, North Bosporans, Campos, and even Eloim, have had famous commerce raiders who ultimately “stole from the rich to give to the poor.” It would be odious to me on not just a personal but an ethical-ideological level to become the party stealing from these people instead of helping them and meeting their needs. For a self-described anarchist, Tamar can be rather cruel.

3. Should we succeed in the odious task of evicting the Shimii from whatever home they have in Khaybar, the “flood of troops” that would constitute anarchist forces from Bosporus. While I would very much regret to see violence between our groups, an anarchist Eisental would not be as friendly to the Union as the regime of Erika Kairos and her Volksarmee. I am a soldier and commissar of the Union before I am anything else. It would be against not only my duty but also my beliefs to put solidarity or convenience before the safety of the nation which I have sworn an oath to serve. I believe that only the Union, and only a militarily powerful Union, can safeguard communism. It is terrible to me to have to now weigh the idea of allowing the Reichskommissariat to entrench itself further when there is a possibility to challenge it sooner, with the future that an anarchist Eisental might bring.

Ultimately, none of this did I speak to Tamar Livnat. I simply and efficiently stood against the proposal on the grounds that it would be a waste of our forces and incur the (rightful) anger of some of the very people we are trying to organize against the Volkisch. At any rate, Moravskyi agreed with me on the grounds that if the Bosporus militia which had the backing of many stations failed to penetrate Khaybar, our armada would likely fail as well.

Tamar quietly and serenely dropped the subject as she had done with many other subjects. Her demeanor continued to unnerve me, but I had no cause to accuse her of anything except being personally odious to me. All of us were withholding information and all of us had bitter ideological disagreements. We would certainly continue to be cautious of her and her faction. But to do any more than be personally cautious was out of the question.

She would remain at this table for now.

We set the agenda for the next day that we would talk about funds, logistics, requisition and asset-sharing within the United Front. We would permanently address the question of our individual and shared resources, as some members of the Front had more, and some members had less, but we all had needs to meet. Gloria seemed excited at this prospect– of course, being the member with the most resources. Tamar being the member with the least resources, was also glad the topic would get more attention.

After we adjourned, we called Murati and told her our plans, which she supported.

Ulyana and I stopped at a small café that served pastries, simple fare, coffee and alcohol.

We ordered coffees and Ulyana insisted we get them with a shot of honey liqueur. There were complimentary sweet crisps at the table to snack on. We talked for about a half hour after receiving our drinks. Ulyana asked what I thought of Aachen. I had not had much time to think about Aachen as a place, as much as a container for various vexations. I told her that it reminded me too much of Kreuzung. That despite its official policies being more “liberal” on paper it was still an unwelcoming and highly stratified place.

I told her I saw people’s gazes on me at times.

Ulyana agreed and whispered that the café owner had been a bit taken aback by her accent.

For the Captain, it must have been difficult to hide her accent to try to blend in.

Quite a pity too because I found her voice, accent and all, to be very charming. I told her as much and got a laugh out of her. It was fun getting to chat. We couldn’t be very honest with each other in such a setting, for someone might hear. But nevertheless, I am growing accustomed to the presence of the captain and growing accostumed to being by her side. I assume that as I have been writing the past several months my assessments must have become more glowing. I will always criticize her when she deserves it.

But more and more, I do so out of a deep respect for her.

As I wrote before– I am feeling contemplative.

Chronicles are meant to be an honest recollection of the feelings of the chronicler.

They are meant to recount feelings which the chronicler would regret losing forever.

It is the final chance of the sailing dead to ever be properly understood by the still-living.

While it is important to recollect the day-to-day, the chronicler has the privilige of having her feelings the most apparent. She can only guess what others are feeling, and she must do so in order to paint a picture of the crew. I have done my best to describe personages like Murati Nakara and Sonya Shalikova, so that it is possible for posterity to recall not just their deeds but perhaps an inkling of who they were as persons. However, one person that can actually be described to her fullness in this chronicle, is Aaliyah Bashara, the writer.

With that said, it would be remiss of me to obscure my feelings too much.

I must admit that Captain Ulyana Korabiskaya has been on my mind more and more.

Perhaps because, more and more, we rely on each other, and have worked very long nights.

The United Front has led to us staying up late together and working closer than ever before.

More than when we set off, certainly; more than in Serrano or in Goryk’s Gorge.

So I have seen many more faces of her– she has been challenged in ways nobody has been.

Ulyana Korabiskaya is one of the few Captains I have served with. She is the only Captain I have ever accompanied into serious, life-threatening combat. She and I did not get on initially. I did not respect her. I was on the lookout for her to cause problems and perhaps even abuse her power over others. However, she has proven herself to me time and again, as not only a capable and professional officer, but one that is outstandingly conscientious. She tries not just to do what is efficient or pragmatic, but what is right, even at great cost. She regrets being forced to take any action which is punitive or brutal, but she wields her powers as she must, and does not shy away from those difficult decisions. My caution around her has gradually melted away. Now I strive to give her perspective, constructive criticism, a second half to herself to help her make decisions, and yes, at times, a bit of necessary scolding. We have a very amicable relationship. She has won my support. And much more–

I find myself trusting her above anyone that I have ever trusted.

I would kill for Ulyana Korabiskaya; of this I am certain. I would protect her to my last.

Being honest– I am not sure how I could end this mission and leave this woman behind.

It is a frightening thing to admit when one’s feelings seem to verge on the unprofessional.


After another turning of the day and night, the Mahdist village buzzed with activity.

On the stage, the Tazia monument was completed and covered with a tarp.

Around the village, banners were hung up with blue, green and gold patterns.

Children were taken aside and instructed on the etiquette of the occasion.

Behind closed doors, Sareh and Baran continued to teach Kalika her moves.

Homa, meanwhile, watched the village gradually come alive around her.

Helping where she could, putting decorations up, helping to fill and move water barrels.

Despite the events of the past few days, the villagers continued to prepare, undaunted.

Feeling their energy, Homa could not help but be swept up out of her gloominess.

Tomorrow,

on the fourth day of the United Front’s deliberations,

while great forces moved in the shadows, and

as Aachen drew nearer to Destiny,

the mahdist Shimii of the little village would forget their pains and celebrate Tishtar.

A festival of water, of the great heroes, of mourning, and of the Mahdist’s will.

Homa’s heart began to beat steadily faster as she looked forward to Kalika’s dance.

And hopefully to a hard-earned plate of cooked meat.


Previous ~ Next

The Past Will Come Back As A Tidal Wave [13.5]

In the Mahdist village at the far end of the Shimii Wohnbezirk, the flag of NGO “Kamma” waved over the little motorized drone accompanying an elven visitor.

She appeared suddenly, and she caught everyone’s attention immediately. Homa stood back while the villagers crowded around the woman and her pack drone with a great and inexplicable cheer. Baran moved to the head of the little crowd alongside Sareh, both looking eager to meet the visitor as well. Despite the crowd forming around her, the elf took every hand that was offered with a smile, everyone was friendly to her.

“Greetings, greetings! I’m glad to see you all well! I’ve brought goodies!”

With a wave of her hand, the elven woman commanded her drone to open up its cargo.

Inside the drone were several bottles of a white fluid with colorful flecks, that according to the label was a doogh with rose petals– a fermented milk drink popularized by Shimii culture. Alongside the bottles of doogh were vacuum-sealed round filets of beef without any labels or even nutritional information except for a packing date. Homa’s eyes fixed on them from afar as if she could eat them with sight alone. They were not the best cuts; almost no fat and with meat fibers that would be visible across the Wohnbezirk. These were probably tough, cheap meats, but with a good, long cook, they would be mouth-wateringly delicious.

“Mashallah! Conny, thank you!” Baran said, beholding the gifts with a sunny expression.

“Don’t mention it!” replied the elf, Conny, “I heard that you would actually be holding the Tishtar festival this year again. I knew I had to make time to help in any way I could!”

Baran turned from Conny and scanned the crowd briefly, before finding Homa.

She waved for Homa to come closer. Homa hesitated, despite Baran’s excitement.

At Homa’s side, Kalika gently shoved her on the middle-back, urging her to step forward.

Homa reticently advanced through the crowd until she was face to face with Conny.

“Homa, this is Conny Lettiere! She’s helped us out a lot over the years!” Baran said. She waved her hand from Homa to Conny. “Conny, this is Homa, she is a special guest of the village! She’s a very generous and courteous traveler in search of her roots!”

Immediately Homa had a series of conflicting thoughts.

Special guest?! She felt entirely out of place being anyone’s special anything.

Though she would not complain, if it meant a place of honor (and meat) at the festival.

Lettiere?! Wasn’t that the surname of the loud elf student who was always in the cafeteria on the communist ship? Were they family? Did all elves know each other? Not that this was any of her concern, but it still piqued her interest in that brief moment.

She had met very few elves in her life and they felt– exotic.

“Nice to meet you.” Homa said, awkwardly reaching out her hand.

“Pleasure is all mine! Thank you for lending these folks a hand!” Conny replied, taking it.

They had a quick and courteous handshake. Conny pointed over Homa’s shoulder.

She lowered her voice to just above a whisper as if not to draw attention.

“Then, I take it that the lady in the splendid coat, whom I don’t recognize, is with you?”

Homa looked over her own shoulder, saw Kalika, felt foolish for looking, and looked back.

“Yes, I hired her– you know, it’s dangerous in the Imbrium lately.” Homa said.

Conny smiled and nodded. If she was thinking of anything dire, it was not evident.

With the pleasantries taken care of, Baran urged everybody to return to what they were doing and led Conny to her house, where they had an electric plug that they could hook the drone up to so it could continue to chill the food until the festival, in a few days time. While Baran and Sareh took Conny, Homa returned to Kalika’s side with a glum face.

“Look at you, so gloomy! You’re getting a whole feast of meat! Perk up!” Kalika said.

“I’m not like, a little animal that just gets happy at feeding time.” Homa grumbled.

“Of course. Just– bear with this for a bit longer, Homa. You’re doing great.” Kalika said.

She patted Homa on the shoulder, and Homa hated how much she enjoyed the praise.

Maybe she was a little animal chirping for food– in this case, for Kalika’s attention.

While the village leadership welcomed Conny, Kalika and Homa hung around outside of the village gate. Kalika had just put out a call to the Volksarmee, summoning someone to repair the village’s oxygen system. Most of the troops had been given their own missions, just the same as Homa and Kalika. But they could spare Chloe Kuri, who was allegedly pretty handy with machines and was already out and about and could make a stop at the village.

“Chloe is always running around. You can count on her to show up anywhere needed.”

“I thought we would be getting one of the engineers. Can she really fix that thing?”

“She’s a reliable jack-of-many-trades. Anyway– who was that woman?” Kalika asked.

Clearly switching gears on Homa– not that Homa minded or could say anything about it.

“Apparently she’s ‘Conny Lettiere’, an NGO worker. Friendly with Baran.” Homa said.

“‘Lettiere’ huh?” Kalika said. “The Pandora’s Box has a guest with that surname.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen her in the cafeteria. She’s always talking about random things she learned from communist textbooks. She’s an elf too. They might be related.” Homa said. “Maybe our elf can come to an agreement with their elf for a supply of meat.” She added as a joke.

“Homa, don’t call them ‘our elf’ and ‘their elf’.” Kalika said, patting Homa on the head.

“Hey, I was just kidding– and leave my ears alone.” Homa grumbled.

She made no move to resist the continued petting. Not even the feeblest resistance.

When she was satisfied, Kalika lifted her hand from the fluffy ears with a contented sigh.

“Kalika, what is ‘Kamma’? Do you know? You’re better traveled than me.” Homa asked.

“They are an organization funded by donations. They distribute free food to poor folks.”

“With how Baran talked about them I thought they would be like you all.”

Homa pressed Kalika for more details since she had never seen Kamma around Kreuzung.

Since they still had time before Chloe arrived at the Wohnbezirk, Kalika continued.

Kamma was a non-governmental organization that was established by former legislators from local but well-funded Liberal parties– because of this, Kamma and the All-Rhinea Liberals could never escape undue association with one another. All Kamma did was buy whatever was cheap or even unwanted, leveraging bulk purchasing of goods directly from suppliers or from distributors about to either slash the prices of or liquidate certain items. Then they would cook soups or hand out cans and frozen foods. It was that simple, but even that was controversial, and led to conspiracires and witch hunts. There were allegations that the Liberals employed Kamma for various criminal activities, anything from vote buying to ballot fraud to trafficking children. Alongside the political ascension of the Volkisch, Kamma began to draw less attention to itself, to avoid being used as a political cudgel.

Such things were pointless now that the Volkisch had fully ascended, of course.

“You have to understand Homa, public feeding of the poor is a compassionate act to us because we are compassionate people. There are a lot of people in the Imbrium, both ordinary and powerful, who would rather the poor and homeless receive no help and disappear. They are seen as a problem. Their continued existence takes up space. It is inconvenient that Kamma helps them to live.” Kalika said. “Kamma is actively banned from public feeding in a few different stations, Kreuzung being one of these.”

Homa’s ears folded. “That’s horrible.” She said, and it was all she could say in response.

Her mind flashed all of the different times she had been struggling with food recently.

Those last awful days in Kreuzung where it was a battle to get even a bit of meat.

Had the situation dragged any farther, she might have struggled to get any food at all.

She thought of all the ways that powerful people engineered that entire situation.

From the prices to the supply, to just not allowing people like Kamma to help anyone.

They wanted it that way– they wanted Homa to struggle and even starve.

In contrast, she recalled her recent stay on the Brigand– where she just ate for free.

And where, even at her most useless and difficult, nobody would allow her to go hungry.

“I guess that’s why Baran is not surprised to see communists.” Homa mumbled.

“That girl is a lot more learned than she seems. She is being discrete with us– I bet she knows more than she lets on.” Kalika said. “Don’t judge her by outward appearances, Homa. Mahdist religious schools teach history, rhetoric and logic, not just scripture. Not only that, but the Mahdists in the Imbrium have a history of political struggle. It’s likely she’s developed an understanding of the ideologies and situation of the Imbrium of her own accord.”

Homa did not recall receiving any religious schooling herself– her upbringing that she could remember was rather Imbrian, thanks to Leija’s investments in her education. So she could not have known what Baran did or did not learn in the little village madrasah they must have ran out of the masjid. But she also wondered whether Kalika thought of her as a Rashidun Shimii, and a part of her did not like the idea of being judged that way. Nevertheless, she kept quiet– she did not know what she wanted to or could even say about that.

Her feelings were too conflicted to assert a stable position any which way.

It was impossible to say ‘I am not a Rashidun’– because she also wasn’t a Mahdist either.

She was nothing, no one– a configuration of parts uselessly novel to the mean.

Whoever heard of a half-Shimii, half-Imbrian; who hardly even knew her own religion.

“Oh dear, you went silent on me again.” Kalika said. “Jerky for your thoughts?”

From her jacket, Kalika withdrew a small, foil-wrapped piece, a meat snack.

Volwitz-branded, salt and pepper flavored. A little cylinder of cured processed beef.

“Kalika, I said I’m not a little animal who responds instantly to food.” Homa grumbled.

“I’m sorry, I really don’t mean to offend you. I just wanted to cheer you up.” Kalika said.

“No– I’m not mad. Sorry. I’m just being difficult.” Homa said. She averted her gaze.

Feeling suddenly pathetic at how quickly she snapped at Kalika, practically her only friend.

Kalika handed Homa the meat snack with a smile. Homa accepted it with some hesitation.

“Where did you get this, anyway? It’s Volwitz grocery store junk food.” Homa said.

“Sareh gave me a few pieces before the Kamma lady arrived.” Kalika said. “She wanted to show her appreciation for us saving Baran from those thugs. I told her we did not need any rewards other than the things that we already agreed upon, but she was so stubborn about repaying me. Instead of arguing I just accepted her gift to absolve her of her debt.”

Homa held the bit of meat between her fingers, turning it over. Feeling– pathetic.

“Must have reminded you of somebody.” Homa grumbled, thoughtlessly.

“The real Kalika is much less judgmental than the Kalika in your mind.” Kalika said.

She smiled and poked Homa in the cheek playfully as if to diffuse any tension.

Homa thought of apologizing for being so quick to misread her– but held her silence.

Slowly, she unwrapped the meat snack and raised it to her lips.

Taking a bite, breaking the processed, molded meat into chewy strands. Releasing salty-sweet flavor that made the insides of her cheeks tingle and contract.

It was tasty.

It was not what she wanted, but it was tasty and meaty and provided a momentary comfort, and she silently thanked Kalika for the offer. That thanks would remain silent, however– there was a silly, petty little pride in her that refused to air this childish gratitude.

She wished dearly that she would never have to say ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘thank you’ again.

And even more she wished she could say such things without feeling so stupid.

On and on turned the maelstrom of feeling and desire in her chest and gut.

Not knowing what she was anymore, where she was situated, what she even wanted.

Thankfully she would not remain in such a suspended state for long.

Two hooded figures came into view, prompting Kalika to step forward from the gate.

One a short and cute-looking Katarran and the other a slim and pretty young elf.

Chloe Kuri and Elena Lettiere from the Nationale Volksarmee, carrying a few plastic bags.

“Oh, I did not know we would have another visitor.” Kalika said, smiling at Elena.

“I was– showing her around some places.” Chloe said, gesturing toward Elena.

“Yes, I insisted upon her, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll stay out of your way.” Elena said.

“It’s not a problem. There’s not much to be in the way of.” Kalika said. “We’ll introduce you to the village and you can savor some of the local color while Chloe works. I’m sure they’ll love you. Just don’t expect a lot in the way of amenities– and remember to mind what you say.”

There was a bit of sharpness to Kalika’s voice near the end. A warning.

Elena nodded. She looked at Homa and smiled.

That sunny, care-free demeanor kind of reminded Homa of Baran too.

“You’re Homa Baumann right?” Elena said.

“Homa Messhud, here.” Homa said, trying to contain her sudden irritation as she spoke.

“Oh, sorry! Right, cover identities.” Elena said, averting her gaze awkwardly.

There was a voice in Homa’s head calling her a bimbo– but it was unkind and unearned.

It was not like Homa herself had proven a mastermind infiltrator either.

“Maybe you should let Kalika do the talking.” Chloe said. “She’s good at that.”

Elena looked embarrassed but smiled and nodded her deference.

Kalika looked more amused than bothered by the whole scene.

She led through the gate, taking one of the bags from Elena and leaving the rest with Chloe.

In the village, things had settled back down and there was no longer a huge crowd.

The villagers went back to what they were doing. It was a bit noisy in the street, with children playing a boisterous game of tag and some of the women congregating in the town’s bakery singing and joking around by the windows. Sareh, Imam al-Qoms, and a few of the bigger middle-aged women in hijab had assembled on the stage were the taiza structure had once stood. They cleaned up, arranging the pieces that remained. Teenage girls approached the stage, bringing tools and a handful of containers, probably fixing gel.

Baran sat on the porch of the hair-dresser’s place along with Conny, trying to talk above the level of the noise, probably catching up with the friend-of-the-village. That little salon was one of the most prominent plastic buildings on the main street of the village and had a long front, hosting many people. Baran had her walking stick on her lap, and a piece of bread in hand. She waved when she saw Homa and Kalika, all smiles. Kalika nodded her head toward her and led the party to the salon. She gestured toward Elena and Chloe.

“Baran, and Ms. Lettiere, these are companions of ours who have come to help with the oxygen generator problem, just as we promised before.” Kalika said. Upon giving that introduction, Elena immediately stared at her, and at Conny, and looked a bit lost for words. Thankfully, she was not the one talking. “This is Elena Rossi.” Kalika put a hand on Elena’s shoulder and squeezed gently. Elena stiffly nodded, playing along. “And this little fish is Chloe Kuri, who will take the lead on the repairs. We hope to done by tonight.”

“Pleased to meet you!” Baran said. “I can’t thank you enough for your help!”

Conny looked at Elena for a moment while Baran spoke.

She then reached out a hand to her with a big grin on her face.

Buongiorno, paesan!” She called out with a sudden cheer.

Elena quietly returned the handshake, visibly going cold.

Homa so rarely heard any elvish spoken, but that was definitely elvish Conny spoke.

There was a pizzeria in Kreuzung Homa indulged in whenever she earned the rare bonus at work. Big beautiful pies with seasoned crusts, bright marinara and velvety cheese. The management played up that it was authentic elvish cuisine, and that the chef was an elf, bright-eyed, pale-skinned, with green hair and sharp ears– but of course, the chef was just in the marketing graphics, and Homa never once actually saw her. Everything else was just music and green-and-red flags and elvish herbs on the pies. That was the greatest extent to which Homa was exposed to the exotic and passionate culture of the elves.

Perhaps this was also the case with Elena, who clearly did not understand High Elvish.

Not even that stereotypical phrase that Homa heard at the pizza restaurant every time.

Homa began to feel some compassion for her, watching her suddenly blanching.

“May I have the pleasure of an introduction? I was busy making a call before.”

Kalika also reached out a hand to Conny and addressed her. Conny shook with her.

“Concetta Lettiere, call me Conny. I’m the Chief of Field Operations with Kamma, an NGO that gives out food to the needy.” Conny said. Kalika made no reaction upon hearing, neither the name nor the title, but Conny seemed to leave just a bit of space for silence, as if fishing for one. She then continued to speak. “But I’m not here on an errand for Kamma, at least not officially– if I was I would have brought a crate of cans instead.” Conny smiled. “I’ve come and gone from this village before and befriended the locals. I really love the culture here.”

“It is very hospitable.” Kalika said. “I’m Kalika Loukia– just an honorable mercenary.”

She winked and laid her hand on Homa’s shoulder as if to appear chummy.

Homa, with the aim of also looking chummy, laid her own hand atop Kalika’s–

And it was her metallic hand, so it was gloved, and neither warm nor soft to hold at all.

So much for even that briefest of fancies. Homa’s ears briefly folded.

Piacere, straniera. I’m so grateful you could help these folks out.” Conny said.

Comparing their elf, with her elf, Homa could see the resemblances in certain places. Conny’s hair, blue and twin-tailed, had a truly outlandish sheen, and when she did not dye it black to hide its luster, Elena’s hair was similar in its bright purple color. Both of them were slim women with gentle curves, though Conny was even shorter than Elena was. Though they both had ears situated in the same place as an Imbrian, rather than a Loup or Shimii’s raised ears, elven ears were longer and pointed. Elena’s had a slight curve to them still. Conny’s ears were longer and sharper, terminating at an angle rather than curving off.

Both of them were very pretty and had a certain timelessly girlish appearance. Their soft and gentle facial features and the shapes of their faces were almost a dead-on match. Their noses had a similar length and narrowness and Elena’s indigo eyes matched the size and shape of Conny’s green eyes, and the colors of both were similarly intense. Conny’s skin was a bit paler than Elena, who had a touch more pink on her face and hands.

Elena was usually modest, wearing her uniform and traveling clothes– meanwhile, Conny had an outlandish tasseled bra top and bell-bottoms that she only barely covered up with a white blazer jacket. That boldness was also readable in how she carried herself. Always smiling, with her head high, making direct eye contact with whoever she spoke to. Her stride was easy and confident, and she never stumbled over her words.

In that sense Elena was nothing like her– but Homa suspected they were indeed related.

Homa did not miss how awkward Elena immediately became when she heard Ms. Lettiere.

Kalika had a good eye for problems– she subtly clued Elena into what was happening and introduced her under an assumed name before Elena could possibly put her foot in her mouth. They avoided exposing Elena to any unwanted attention from Conny and Baran that way, even though Elena’s body language had been completely shaken. Homa made a note of that trick for later. In case her spy career continued to take off after this trip.

Her career as a busybody continued unabated, however.

She was very curious whether Conny had any inkling about Elena.

“Baran, I’ll take Chloe and get started on the oxygen machine. Before the air here gets any thinner.” Kalika said. “If I can ask for a favor, can you perhaps treat Homa and Elena?”

Homa would have shot Kalika a look, and wanted to raise up a fuss– but did not.

Mustering a titanic effort not to speak her mind and say something difficult.

Though she disliked how often Kalika parted from her she was curious about Conny.

“Absolutely! I’d love to have them. We can talk more over some breakfast.” Baran said.

“Homa and I will cover anything for you.” Kalika said.

She knew that just meant the communists would cover it– but it still gave her a bit of fright.

Playing the part of a generous and well-funded traveler did not suit her penniless self well.

Nevertheless Homa continued to act the best she could by keeping completely quiet.

“Don’t worry about that! We’ll be getting some more food in soon.” Baran said.

“Oh, is that so?” Conny interjected. “Do you bring it in from the Volwitz subsidiary?”

“Right, the councilwoman, Ms. Jašarević, helped us set up a weekly delivery.” Baran said.

“The councilwoman, huh,” Conny said, her eyes briefly wandering toward the gate.

“There’s a couple families that make good money outside, so they help pay for it too.”

“I do know about the remittances.” Conny said. “I’m glad you have some means here.”

Baran looked a little proud of herself. Homa felt a fresh sting of pity for the village.

Elena, meanwhile, remained tongue-tied as before but nodded her head rapidly in response.

Kalika and Chloe bid their temporary farewells and then headed for the rough, rocky areas surrounding the village, where they would work on the oxygen generator. Kalika left one of the bags that Elena and Chloe had brought in as part of her contributions to Baran’s household. When Baran unwrapped the bag, and took a look inside, she gasped, took another look, and alternated between grumbling a bit and smiling. Homa took a step forward and looked inside the bag as well, wondering what drew such a reaction.

Inside the bag, were cans of tomatoes, a jar of eggs, and jarred sweet and hot peppers.

There was enough for a big breakfast or lunch but not much more than that.

“She did not have to do this.” Baran said. “But I’ll repay her by feeding all of you.”

“Ah– you don’t really have to repay anything, it’s really fine.” Homa said.

“Then I will treat these gifts with respect by making a delicious meal.”

Baran took her walking stick and leaned on it to stand from the porch, wincing with pain from her injuries. Homa offered to take the bag, but Baran insisted on carrying it herself. She lead the way from the salon, behind the masjid, and to her own house.

While they walked, Elena looked around the village with wonder and a clear, growing concern for her surroundings. Homa thought she must have looked the same yesterday as Elena did now, seeing the humble old plastic houses, the rocky terrain, the poor lighting and limited electrification and breathing the slowly worsening air. Life was colorful in this hospitable village certainly– but it wasn’t easy, and anyone could see that.

Conny must have been used to it. Her little grin never vanished from her face for an instant.

“Welcome to my humble abode! Make yourselves at home.” Baran declared.

Through the blue and green curtain-door into Baran’s house, greeted by the little table and chair and the accompanying kitchen accoutrements as Homa had last seen them. This morning there was a bit of fragrance in the air. A lavender-scented smokeless aroma-pod, Raylight Beauty brand, had been set on Baran’s window, perhaps to help her relax after the past day’s ordeals, where the village had been attacked and Baran herself stricken.

Baran bid everyone to sit, and then declared that she would work on the meal alone.

Taking one of the chairs, Homa watched her cook.

It reminded her of her own apartment back in Kreuzung. All Baran had to cook with was an electric pot and a small water kettle, but she was not deterred in the slightest.

First, she took the tomato cans from the bag. They had tabs that allowed her to open them without tools. Once opened, she dropped the tomatoes into the pot. Without skipping a beat, as if a practiced motion, Baran broke off the top of one of the cans. She used the can top to crush the tomatoes. Careful, sliding motions of her hands– Homa was not standing but could picture in her mind that the tomatoes were crushed to a thick but wet consistency. She already knew the sort of dish those ingredients and methods would yield. Once the tomatoes were crushed up, Baran placed the empty can in a bin nearby but kept the lid in hand. She then took the jar of peppers and twisted the top open without struggle.

Silently, Baran picked a pepper out of the jar. She looked at it, turned it over in her hand.

Taking it into her fingers, she took a bite. Nodding to herself, she dropped it into the pot.

A second and a third pepper each received a bite; a fourth caused Baran to shut her eyes.

That one, too, went into the pot with the tomatoes.

Turning the can top sideways, Baran used it to cut and scrape and mash the peppers.

Homa felt a bit of awe watching Baran cook. She must have done this a million times.

No tools in reach but the top of a metal can and the pot to heat it all in.

She looked almost entranced as she cooked. Tail swaying, hands dancing.

There was a smile on her face, an automatic one arising as if from meditation. It was not the sunny, cheerful, girlish look that she directed toward villagers, guests and strangers. It was a gentle and slightly tired look that struck Homa as more mature, as revealing of more experience than Homa had thought. Watching Baran cook seemed to expose a notion of time– the sense that she must have lived like this for long enough to not only become comfortable with it but to have mastered it as technique. She was young and she looked young, she was just Homa’s age, but her expression as she cooked, reminded Homa of something, a face of a woman that she could not place. Someone with a family and a home and a place in the world. Someone with responsibilities to uphold, people to care for.

Motherhood, maybe? Whatever it was, the image came and went as rapidly as the thin air.

With the tomatoes and peppers cut up, Baran knelt down.

Wincing visibly as she tried to access the small refrigerator on which her pot sat.

Baran had been attacked the night before by the thugs that tore down the village’s taiza monument. They had hurt her leg, but despite the pain she was in, she did not ask for help nor stop what she was doing. She barely slowed down– physically and emotionally. How must she have felt about such a horrible thing? Despite frequent evidence of her pain, it seemed she would not allow it to trouble her. Baran moved as if not entirely conscious of her pain. Barely acknowledging it before initiating the next elegant movement of her body that would also, inevitably, trigger it. Wincing– but standing, moving, unbowed.

From the refrigerator, Baran withdrew a blue container with a yellow label familiar to Homa– Zlatla seasoning with a Volwitz foods branding. This staple seasoning was a mixture of finely grated dried vegetables, herbs and spices with some glutamates to enhance the flavor of anything. Homa loved it. Baran stood back up, winced, and shook a small amount of the seasoning over the tomatoes and peppers, before setting the pot to start cooking.

Homa had to fight back an urge to weep at the scene playing out before her.

It was not just that it harkened back to her own life. But rather, the quiet dignity of the scene despite everything that Baran lacked, all the unacknowledged cruelty, it made Homa so angry and so sad and helpless about things. If she saw any of those bastard thuggish boys again in that moment she would have done something monumentally stupid with the gun Kalika entrusted her. If she could have shot the walls to make them more habitable, shot the ceiling to bring light, shot the food to bring abundance, she would have, in that moment. All she had was a violence so potent that it festered in her heart and became tears. She felt incredibly stupid and ashamed, and it took every bit of her self control, every bit of her strength, to squeeze her heart dry and avoid letting out her melancholy.

She knew the dish Baran was making. It was a common enough breakfast for Shimii.

Next she would crack the eggs inside of the paste and cook everything in the pot.

Runny, soft eggs would set into the juicy, savory-sweet, spicy veggies.

Leija had made it once for Homa.

She remembered. Leija knew– Leija taught her to cook. Leija used to do those things.

She remembered–

Leija Kladuša still an upstart gangster, when she had to deal the heroin herself in the alleys and pay tribute back to the old boss Ekmečić. Dealing drugs was one of the few ways a Shimii could make it big in Kreuzung and Leija must have had big dreams to have taken on such a shame and such a risk. Homa remembered— the plastic walls, the instant pot, the treasure box with Leija’s good clothes and makeup– Homa sometimes wandered into it out of curiosity. Why hadn’t she remembered this before–? Then she recalled too– Leija’s drunkenness, the rages, leaving bags of drugs around. Cursing that she had to take in a kid– but begging, crying, for Homa to never leave her, for her little kaidaf to hug her tight–

And she remembered– a blond woman coming in one day and

changing everything,

Leija hiding Homa in the treasure chest–

“We can do each other a favor, Leija. How about it? I take care of Ekmečić–”

That voice– in the resurfacing memories of her addled brain– it sounded–

Like it came from a machine– from the communication equipment of a diver,

“N-Nasser?” Leija had said to the stranger.

Nasser–?

“Leija– someday, I’ll come back to collect. At that time– be prepared.”

That blond woman– and boss Ekmečić dying one day–

Vesna Nasser–?

Then– the ascendancy, and the privileges– then the inescapable Destiny

VESNA NASSER?!

“Homa, what’s wrong?” Baran asked suddenly. “You’re crying?”

Conny and Elena looked at Homa with surprise also.

She realized where she was again. In time, in physical space–

Homa felt the cold tears trailing down her cheeks and her heart thrashed with panic.

“It’s nothing, sorry– It’s the chili vapor– I’m not used to it.” She said, a poor excuse.

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I’ll put on the lid.” Baran capped the pot, responding in earnest.

Nobody suspected a thing, but Homa felt like her brain was being stabbed.

She focused on her breathing, trying to steady herself and calm down her rushing thoughts.

It was stress, she was worn out, she was so poor managing it. That was it, that was all.

Hiding her vast internal struggle under deep breathing and a few tears.

Homa sat on the chair feeling hollow and trying to refill herself with humanity.

Thankfully nobody pushed her, and the moment passed without further incident.

Baran continued to cook, the guests continued to sit, and the tears and fog began to fade.

“Umm, excuse me, Ms. Lettiere–” Elena slowly lifted her hand up like a kid in classroom.

“Call me Conny, paesan!” Conny said. She had been watching Baran cook too.

“Yes, Conny– are you by any chance related to Leda Lettiere?”

Conny smiled, but with less of her prior unreserved gaiety.

“My, oh my– is she still such an icon for young elf girls after everything that happened?”

“Um, well, I kinda– I guess I just–” Elena’s head looked to be sinking into her shoulders.

“I’m just teasing you. Yes, Leda Lettiere was my little sister, believe it or not.”

“Conny, can you tell me more about her? I– I’m like a– a big fan and I– her story is–”

“What is it, are you afraid of being kidnapped and bethrothed to a demon king too?”

Homa was tired out and somewhat disinterested in the conversation, but upon the mention of a demon king, a staple in the sort of fantasy stories she loved, her eyes briefly raised from the table and wandered over to the elves. She saw Elena’s flushed and surprised expression and the hesitation that appeared to grip her and Homa felt, for a moment, as silly as it sounded, that maybe Elena was worried that a demon king was after her chastity. Conny meanwhile seemed to be savoring the moment as she watched Elena squirm.

What was it with older women and teasing whoever was around?

Conny sat back in her chair and let out a sigh, her first display of anything less than cheer.

“You must know how the story ends, don’t you? It’s not tea table fare.” Conny asked.

“I do– I’m sorry.” Elena said. “I shouldn’t have gotten– starstruck. It was silly, I–”

“No, it’s fine. There’s no point in avoiding it.” Conny said, and she turned back to Elena, leaning forward on the table. “Lettiere did not mean anything to anyone when I was born. Leda was a high-achiever and gobsmackingly beautiful, but she was still just a student and still just a woman for most of her life– until Konstantin von Fueller saw her.”

Homa’s ears stood up and though she pretended not to be, she listened with rapt attention.

“We both attended the Palatine Royal Institute for our higher education. Leda was actually studying something kinda brainy– was it applied mathematics? Or maybe higher principles of classical philosophy? Could have even been both, I forget the specifics as a lowly liberal arts student. But she was a genius. Anything she wanted to do, she just did it. She would tell me that she would help me learn this or that, whether it was dancing or public speaking or even languages. She learned a bunch of High Speech like she was becoming a damn lawyer, but it was just for fun! And she would always say that all you needed to do was commit to it and then find an efficient method for learning. Completely insane girl.”

Conny leaned forward on the table, resting her head upon it. Still grinning at Elena.

“Baran, can I curse in your house?” She asked.

Homa sensed a change in the way she was grinning but could not place it.

Still cooking, without turning her back, Baran replied, “I’d prefer you did not.”

Conny sat back in her chair with a little sigh.

“Fine. Anyway. That knave Konstantin von Fueller was inspecting the institute one day, but all he checked out was my little sister that day. At that time he must have been in his fifties! Over twice her age, the nerve. Had he not been the Emperor I would have knocked all of his teeth out.” Conny said. Given the Emperor was dead, saying this sort of thing did not matter, and it would hardly have mattered in present company, even if he was alive– but Homa was still a little bit shocked to hear it. “They had a child maybe two years after. Horrible! He took Leda and in return he gave our family lavish gifts and accommodations. He made the Lettieres something— except for me. I refused any such things. Last time I saw Leda, she talked about being the wife of an Emperor like it was learning a language or learning to dance. With the right method and commitment, she could do it. Awful!”

Conny sighed and put her head to the table. Elena still did not seem to know how to react.

“You said you know the end? Well, he killed her. End of her story. Not too pretty, huh?”

“I–” Elena stammered over her words again. “I– I guess I never understood– why she–”

Conny completed her sentence with her own presumption–

“Why was she killed? For treason– the thing Emperors say about anyone they want to kill. He must have been bored of her. Though, I guess if any woman on Aer could have killed that bastard it would have been Leda Lettiere. I will certainly never know the truth now.”

Elena looked down at her lap. Homa felt that Elena was keeping back from crying too.

But, if they were related– what was Elena to Leda Lettiere, late wife of the late Emperor?

Homa wasn’t anybody, so she just knew about Elena from things she heard off-hand.

Wait– wait a minute– Homa’s head started to race in an entirely different direction.

“It’s not a great story and I’m not a great storyteller. But you asked for it.” Conny said. “Maybe if Norn the Praetorian and Samoylovych-Deepestshore had never been born it could have been a heroic story on my part– but I simply lived my life while my sister disappeared. There is only so much I can say. It is more than anyone will ever tell you, and I am telling you because you are a fellow elf and under the care of an esteemed person like Baran.”

“Thank you, Conny. It does help me understand a little better.” Elena said sheepishly.

After an awful story like that, what could Elena have been feeling? Homa felt pity for her.

“Don’t mention it. You should have a better role model, like me. I’m successful and alive.”

Even Conny seemed to realize as soon as she made that joke that it was very distasteful.

So she quieted and waited, as did Elena, for Baran to finish cooking and serve the food.

“Honestly Conny, you told that story in such an insensitive way– I’m sorry, Ms. Rossi.”

“I’m insensitive? I’m the one here that this stuff happened to, you brat!” Conny cried out.

However, she did not let her mood sour long, and Baran did not take it personally either.

Homa felt that the two of them must have known each other long and had a rapport.

On the table, Baran put down a big plate with all of the food on it. She had gracefully slid the eggs and the vegetable sauce out of the instant pot and managed to set it on the plate, making for a pretty display to the guests. There were six eggs, crisp-edged, with soft yolks like liquid gold, set into the sauce and flecked red. It was a strange number of eggs for the amount of people assembled, but when Baran sat down, she explained.

“This is all for you. I’ll be fine– I already had a bit of food earlier.” Baran said.

“Um.” Homa interrupted, now made uncomfortable. “I’d really like you to join us, though.”

“Baran, absolutely not. I’m on a diet– I’m not going to eat much. Eat from my share.”

Conny spoke up and insisted, even shifting her seat to be closer to Baran so she would eat.

Baran sighed, but Conny had a look on her face that suggested she would not yield.

So in the end, Baran joined everyone else at the table and they tucked into the dish together.

Homa felt much less awkward. She would have hated eating while Baran simply watched.

As she turned over this feeling, a thought came to her vulnerable mind unbidden.

That must have been how the communists felt when she tried to refuse their charity too. Homa thought she had taken just a step closer to understanding them, in that moment. There was something demoralizing about looking at someone deprived of everything and also then depriving themselves of assistance. Someone subjected to so much cruelty and yet continuing to make sacrifices of her own comfort for others. It made Homa feel– helpless herself. Like any little kindness she was capable of would not matter. Little things like sharing a meal with someone were all that she was able to do against the cruelty of the world. If she was not allowed even that then she felt like she would be useless to the world.

Baran should eat the meal she worked so hard to cook, even if the ingredients came freely.

Because the kindness of Kalika and the communists was repaid by living happily with it.

And maybe Homa ought not to refuse any more help from the communists in the future.

Perhaps all they really, actually wanted was to see her just a little less deprived too.

Homa took a plastic fork and gathered a bit of egg yolk, tomato and pepper and tasted it.

Of course, it was delicious. Sweet and savory, just spicy enough, with a creamy texture.

Made all the better because Baran savored it herself and looked so happy with the result.

“Thank you, God, for this meal, and for these companions.” Baran said in a small voice.


“There you are. How was your day? How are you feeling, Homa?”

Kalika parted the curtains into the little house they had been given to stay in, peeking her yellow and black eyes before crossing the threshold. She slid the curtain closed behind her and took off her jacket and pulled her hair loose. It was night and the meager and semi-functional system of lights in the village had begun to dim. There were no additional lights on inside the house, no torches, the television was off. Homa lay in bed, in the dark, on the mattress with the blankets half pulled over her body, grumbling to herself.

She looked up at Kalika and then her eyes wandered away without making contact.

Homa did not respond. She had been spending all day thinking about how she felt.

“Taken a deep breath lately?” Kalika asked.

When prompted, Homa breathed in, and then felt foolish for doing so on command.

“I guess you must have fixed the oxygen generator.” Homa mumbled.

“Chloe did. I just handed her tools and tried to keep her enthusiasm in check. She offered to stand watch so I could rest. Elena is staying for the night too, she’s one house down from us. It turns out there’s more than one little abandoned house in this village.” Kalika said.

“Baran looked happy to have new guests.” Homa said, raising her voice a bit more.

Kalika sat down on the mattress beside Homa, her long legs half-curled up.

“I was away all day– how were things in the village? I take it there weren’t any problems.”

“Everything was peaceful. When the food order came in I helped Baran distribute provisions to the villagers. She even got flour and sugar for the bakery and coffee grounds for the little cafe. I actually did a lot of work, you know. It wasn’t just you keeping busy.”

“Good! You’re going to have so many women feeding you meat during this festival.”

“Hey–!?”

Kalika laughed and Homa glowered. They sat together in silence for a moment.

“How do you think Baran is doing?” Kalika asked.

“I think she’s fine. She’s strong– and she’s used to how awful things are.” Homa said.

Unlike her– Baran was someone who remained standing in the middle of turbulence.

She must have had complaints, every human being had them.

Her outward appearance was always smiling and courteous and optimistic, however.

Homa felt weaker for not being able to control her emotions so well.

Kalika dropped back from a seated position, coming to lie beside Homa with arms out.

One of her hands, her biological hand, laid a warm ungloved touch on Homa’s shoulder.

“Homa, it’s not shameful to talk about your feelings. I’ll listen.” She said.

“I know.” Homa said. Kalika’s warmth, so near her, helped stifle Homa’s irritation.

Laying side by side in the dark together, in this underground hovel.

Katarran mercenary with a blade dripping red with history; and some useless girl.

The two frauds who had done what they could for this village.

Homa wished Kalika would ask to hold her; wished that she would have accepted it too.

“I don’t know what I’m feeling or what to feel.” Homa finally said, when she could not bear the silence anymore. Her heart was pounding. She was nervous and turning over every word she thought to say. Everything felt so difficult and came so suddenly. “I guess– I am angry. I think I am really angry Kalika. I just– I really hate that these villagers are living like this down here. I hate that they get abused by the people outside. That if they stopped receiving charity the station might just watch them all die and do nothing or make everything worse or even come and kill them. I hate that Baran has to thank God for this.”

Her voice dropped to an almost whisper, feeling that she was speaking something evil.

Even if she had never grown up very religious, the influence of God suffused her.

For the Shimii, religion was essentially inseparable from their culture and identity.

“It’s not the fault of God that this is happening. People are the real devil here and God is not without his blessings for these folk.” Kalika said. “Baran has a lot to feel grateful for. She has clung on to her home with all of her strength. Homa, you saw those boys from the other night– people can make the choice to leave. It’s an evil choice to force on them, to tempt them with– but that also makes Baran’s resistance very meaningful to her.”

Homa understood what she meant and lacked the strength or desire to argue.

But she wished she could argue against it.

“I almost wish– I could take them all way somewhere. Like I got taken away.”

“I understand that impulse.” Kalika said. “But to them, this is their home, Homa.”

Home was such a bitter-sweet word for Homa that it almost made her mad again.

“Home? I always wanted to leave Kreuzung. It was horrible. I wanted to see the Ocean.”

“I get it.” Kalika said. She squeezed Homa’s shoulder a little bit. “It’s a bit rich for me to talk about a home too, but I think that’s also why I sympathize with the villagers. I’ve been rootless all of my life. I would never look back to Pythia or to Buren and think of them as home– but I wish I had a home. Hell, for a time, I thought I had found a place like that. So I guess– what I want for the villagers is for their home to become a place that they could thrive in. I’m curious, Homa, do you have anyone back in Kreuzung? Friends? Family?”

Leija–

“No.” Homa said, fighting back tears. She could not fully disguise her pain in her voice.

“I’m sorry.” Kalika said.

She turned on the bed and wrapped her arms around Homa, who did not resist.

Pulling her tight against her chest, holding her so close, like Homa had never been held.

Homa felt Kalika’s rapidly beating heart at her back. Kalika must have felt hers too.

She had not asked and Homa had not accepted, not audibly; but it still happened.

And Homa was happy to be held. In the dark, where no one could see– she smiled.

Reminding herself she wanted to become more accepting of kindness.

“We’ll figure it out, Homa.” Kalika said. Her voice sounded a bit sleepy. “I’m here.”

Homa knew she had barely slept the day before and been so active throughout.

Kalika deserved to rest and deserved whatever kindness Homa could give.

Bob tail fluttering, ears folded, Homa nestled back against Kalika.

And took Kalika’s hands into her own, fingers intertwining.

“Good night, Kalika. Thank you for everything.” Homa said.

“Good night, Homa. I– I really– you–”

Kalika yawned and rested her head closer to Homa’s fluffy cat-like ears.

Her breathing grew steadier, and her grip started to slacken.

“I need you Homa.” She mumbled, her voice slurring. “You are my–”

Soon, she was sound asleep.

Homa, herself a bit sleepy, wondered whether she had heard that correctly.

She must have just been babbling out of exhaustion– but it was very cute.

On the night of the attack on the village, Kalika had looked so intense, so powerful.

Her sword swing cut the air with an audible whistling. She was so strong.

But in the center of all that thunder and fury there was a woman with a soft heart.

In her own soft heart, Homa had a childish little feeling of satisfaction.

So much had happened– but she wasn’t alone.

Though she still felt so doubtful about what Kalika saw in her, she still savored the moment.

Her mind wandered away from the troubled memories it had unearthed.

There was nothing she could do about Leija– or about Vesna Nasser.

At least not right now.

But she could at least help Kalika and do what she could for the people here.

Maybe she wasn’t completely useless after all.

With the soothing rhythm of another’s heart at her back, Homa soon fell asleep.


Three days passed since the Brigand arrived in Aachen, and the second round of United Front deliberations was underway– but that was a distant, unrelated concern to a particular silvery-white haired, indigo-eyed girl in an often dour mood. On that day, she had reason to smile instead. A reason that had nothing to do with politics or missions.

Her tasks were now finally behind her.

“Alright, the afternoon is yours, Maryam. We have limited funds to spend though.”

“Hmm-hmm! I already know what I want to do Sonya! I want to crush you at games again!”

“Crush me? When did you become so bloodthirsty huh? Come here, you cheeky–!”

Sonya Shalikova reached out and pinched Maryam Karahailos’s squishy cheek as payback. In turn drawing out a series of sounds from her girlfriend suspiciously like cuttle, cuttle, cuttle, while they play-struggled in Aachen’s entry lobby. Both of them were smiling and laughing, and though the sunlamps were the same and the oxycyclers had not changed, in Maryam’s company, Shalikova felt like the station was brighter, and its air cleaner.

It did feel like the perfect day.

Though Shalikova did cherish their previous date in Kreuzung, this time, Maryam was able to walk around Aachen station as her ordinary, purple and marshmallowy self. Her cuttlefish always looked happy to be running around, but Shalikova could feel that Maryam was a bit looser and freer when she did not have to wear as much of a façade around the station. The pair dressed the same as they had back at Kreuzung, their nicest clothes.

Maryam wore her long, dark blue dress and matching beret, but her tentacles rested on her shoulders rather than hiding in her hair, and her charming w-shape eyes and purple chromatophoric skin could shift freely to accommodate her many moods.

Of course, if Maryam was dressed as she had been in Kreuzung, and so was Shalikova–

this meant that Shalikova was dressed like a showy delinquent again.

However, she was just a bit less mortified about it than on previous ocassions.

She looked good, damn it– even though she did not want to, it was still a bit uplifting. Even though the red track jacket was too bright and the ACE on the back was somewhat embarassing; even though the pants were too tight for how humble Shalikova’s butt was; even though the shades made her look like a stereotypical curfew-breaker problem kid. Maryam liked it and that was what ultimately mattered to Shalikova.

It wasn’t like she was dressing up for anyone else!

No– actually– it was still basically as embarrassing as it always was.

“Illya– someday I’ll get you back for this–!”

“Sonya, you’re mumbling with such a fierce look on your face!”

“It’s nothing, Maryam. I’m just thinking of where to take you.”

Because of the activities of the past few days, the Brigand and her crew had gotten pretty familiar with the layout of Aachen station. They had cased the place and ducked into practically every nook and cranny, but more importantly, Shalikova herself had gotten a look at all the stores. She knew there were a few arcades strewn about the first tier. There was one particularly flashy establishment that she thought of bringing Maryam to, but it also played host to alcohol and gambling. She was not sure how that would go over.

“Maryam, do you drink at all? Or like– do you gamble?” Shalikova awkwardly inquired.

Thinking about her answer for a second, Maryam rubbed her chin with one of her tentacles.

“Fortune telling and street hustling is kinda like gambling I guess.” Maryam said.

“There are no technicalities here, do you like slot machines and beer or don’t you?”

“I wouldn’t say I like it, but I’m not offended by that. I’ve been curious to drink actually.”

Shalikova thought of a drunken Maryam and the puns that might result from that.

She would take her to the flashy gaming parlor– but maybe dissuade her from drinking.

All of the smaller arcades were more slanted toward kids, and Shalikova thought bringing Maryam to one of them might have looked too silly. The largest arcade in the first tier, located near the middle ring of businesses, was essentially a barely disguised gambling parlor and bar that had a substantial and eclectic collection of video game machines. Standing outside of it, the gaudy decoration was evident on the enormous façade.

Arcade Dorado, one of the biggest overall venues in Aachen’s commercial spaces.

A little slice of Stralsund here at home, the sub-header read, a promise of hedonism.

Stralsund was the northeastern station complex famous for its unfettered pleasures.

“Let’s try to avoid having too much of a Stralsund mindset today.” Shalikova advised.

“Of course! I’ll be on my benthic behavior! A truly squidnified dame!” Maryam said.

“Right.” Shalikova said. “I shouldn’t have imagined any different.”

As she led Maryam under golden archways, greeted by the rapid sound of jingling coins.

Shalikova would come to find avoiding gambling was a difficult proposition at Dorado.

Even the gaudy façade, with its glowing signage, gold-tinted windows and golden arches, could not prepare Shalikova for how outlandish the interior was. Gold and coins were predominant colors and themes no matter where one looked. Every arcade machine had a golden chassis, so there were long, long rows of gold machines sitting under a gold-foil ceiling from which dangled fake gold coins that served as lamps and decorations.

Underneath their feet, the false carpeting was red but with gold trimming and when Shalikova looked closely, the little pops of gold that formed a pattern on the carpet were themselves false gold (they could not possibly have been real!) coins. Red was the secondary color, but gold lorded over the scene with an iron fist. There was a gold front counter, golden doors to the bathrooms and VIP lounge, the bar area had gold seating, the staff had gold vests and pants with red shirts. It was an unholy eyesore impossible to escape.

Apparently it was also an exceedingly popular eyesore.

Set into the very rearmost wall of the Aachen core station to account for its space, the venue was packed. Most of the slot machines were occupied, the bar counter was full up and many of the tables around it were taken, and there were briskly-moving lines in front of every token machine near the venue’s front counter. Despite the occupancy, the staff kept the patrons under control, and there was security on standby to intervene if needed.

Strangely sensual jazz sounded from overheard and melded with the garish sound effects from the games, the laughter and cries and cheerful hollers of the visitors, the authoritative announcements from the staff. There was a scented mist piped down from overheard to try to contain some of the other odors, but it only barely lent a minty note to the predominant smells of smoke, alcohol, sweat and aluminum. Together with the large occupancy, the scents blended into a strange and almost cologne-like aroma. Shalikova had barely stepped into the building, and it already felt warmer than the outside too.

She began to regret the decision to come here– until she turned to look at Maryam.

And found her girlfriend looking at everything with a wide-eyed, beaming awe.

“Sonya! This place is so deluxe! Look! Everything is made of Gold!”

“Maryam– you know the gold is fake, right?”

“But it’s still the right color! Come on, let’s get some tokens and play!”

Maryam grabbed Shalikova’s hand, and there was no resisting her pull.

As long as she was happy, Shalikova would put up with it.

They waited in line for tokens until they got to the front of a gaudy gold machine. Shalikova plugged a credichip she got from the captain into an exposed serial port on the machine and used a touchscreen to purchase a number of tokens. The machine gave them some indication of how many tokens were required to play the average game, so Shalikova had some idea of how many she wanted to buy. Her tickets were disbursed in the form of a polymer card with a nanochip that could be written to by the lasers on the machines. Dorado’s machines would scan the nanochip on the card with lasers to access Shalikova’s token count.

Despite having the means with which to play, Shalikova was still unsure what to do next.

Not only was the venue so large, but the amount of machines was also daunting.

There were two dozen long rows of machines, and the variety of machines was astonishing. It was not so easy to discount the “gambling” machines from games that she and Maryam might enjoy. Almost every machine was some sort of LCD display and a set of controls; but in addition to the slot machines that were pure luck, there were “skill games” that also paid out, such as digital shooting galleries, fishing games, digital versions of whack-a-mole and prize redemption games. Besides these there were also more traditional video games such as scrolling ship shooting games, gun games, speedboat racing games, falling brick puzzle games, and fruit-stacking puzzle games. The selection was overwhelming.

As they wandered the halls, they encountered a commotion in one of the slot machine rows.

Onlookers and staff formed a small crowd around a beautiful woman who, upon closer inspection, had some heinous symbols in her eyes– she was taking up three slot machines for herself. One to hold a basket of wine bottles and another to hold a plate stacked high with roast meats slathered in what looked like fruit preserves. Between eating and drinking she would bet big on the machine in front of her. The staff pampered and encouraged her.

“Hahaha~! This is why Madame Waldeck calls me her prize pig!” she shouted shamelessly.

Along with Shalikova’s reticence to try the slots, this mess ruled out doing any gambling.

Shalikova gently but insistently coaxed Maryam away from the slot machines.

Into the less over-crowded rows of video game machines.

However, even the ordinary-seeming video games had opaque gambling elements built in. All of them could pay out tokens in different circumstances, and several of them had slot machine elements for acquiring in-game advantages. Maryam was immediately drawn to a game with a tall, vertical LCD where the objective was to stack fruits, which when combined would become bigger fruits. As soon as Shalikova handed her the token card, the screen lit up asking if they wanted to roll on a slot machine to acquire random special fruits that provided larger potential points, and therefore, larger payouts on a win.

“Maybe we should’ve gone to the little kid arcades.” Shalikova mumbled.

“It’s okay Sonya! I will buy exactly one special fruit, just to see what happens!”

Maryam proceeded to quickly lose the game after that.

“Huh? But I stacked the fruits up really high. I thought that was what you did.”

“No I think you are supposed to keep the fruits from getting over the lip of the basket.”

“So when do you win?”

“I kinda doubt the game is winnable. But now that you understand, give it another try.”

Shalikova put the card back up to the scanner and gave Maryam another game.

Despite the opaque nature of the games and the overbearing monetary demands they made of the player, Maryam smiled brightly and laughed with triumph. Learning quickly, her humble strawberries and mangos started to become mighty oranges and gargantuan watermelons, expertly stacked while avoiding a “game over.” Shalikova watched and supported Maryam and felt a sense of relief at how much fun Maryam was having. That was all she wanted– as long as Maryam was happy, nothing else mattered. Shalikova was someone who could live shut up inside her room forever if necessary. That was just what being a soldier was like sometimes. But Maryam deserved every opportunity to get out and have fun and live her life. Shalikova wanted to give her that.

It only began to dawn upon her recently, after spending days cooped up with Maryam.

If she wanted to have a life with Maryam, long term, could things stay as they were?

Their romance had been an unconventional one.

They had met in the middle of Shalikova’s infiltration mission to the Imbrium. There was no guarantee she would survive. As much as everyone was optimistic, as much as they all believed in each other and in victory, their luck could run out any moment. Every battle was an invitation out of living, into permanent exile from everything she held dear.

In her mind she saw the image of that demonic mecha from Goryk’s Gorge.

Selene had come so close to taking her life. She would not be the last to have that chance.

Shalikova had to make the most of every day she had with Maryam– but she also had to change a little herself and change how she interacted with the world. She could not remain withdrawn from everything anymore, because she could not ask Maryam to hide too.

As much as it irritated her to expose herself to the eyes of the world.

Maryam deserved that world of peering eyes, and it was up to Shalikova to support her.

This time it was not Maryam who had begged Shalikova for a date–

Shalikova had taken her out instead– insisting on it, in fact.

She also had a mind to ask Murati out somewhere to establish a friendly rapport.

None of this came easily to Shalikova, but it was important, and she was committed to it.

So even if it was not to her liking exactly, she could watch Maryam play all day.

After everything they had been through, they could munch a few marks.

“Maryam, for the next game, can we look for something we can play together?”

Shalikova asked, and Maryam turned her head from the fruit game machine with a smile.

A big, goofy grin with wide open eyes. “Sonya! Of course!”

In response, Shalikova smiled back almost as excitedly as Maryam had.

Maybe it won’t be that hard to change anyway– in fact I think she already changed me.

Eventually, Maryam had racked up what Shalikova thought was a massive score, but it was physically impossible to continue stacking after the two huge watermelons became a truly colossal jackfruit. Maryam eventually lost and the machine congratulated her and asked Shalikova to scan the polymer card again to update its balance. Maryam won enough tokens to cover the cost of her two plays at the game, thus ending up even.

Shalikova supposed this was the best outcome.

“Sonya! Let’s go play the racing game!” Maryam declared.

She pointed out a pair of machines down the same lane, just past the fruit games.

Unlike the fruit machines, which were played standing up, the paired racing game machines had adjustable seats, with the wheel and pedals affixed to the seat rather than the chassis with the LCD screen. Shalikova followed Maryam to her chosen machine, paid the tokens, and took the seat next to Maryam. The LCD in front of them displayed a first person perspective of the cockpit with a scrolling foreground. Judging by the ocean surroundings, demarcated by buoys and too brightly-lit to ever be real, this was a game about speedboat racing.

Small, extremely quick submersibles were raced everywhere in the Imbrium, and even the Union. Daredevil speedsters sacrificed everything to get even one additional knot out of the machine, making the best racing submersibles extremely fragile and dangerous.

In the Union, Shalikova recalled there were attempts to organize clubs for racing drones instead of manned craft to try to create a safe alternative– but many racers still wanted the thrill and organized underground leagues, using leftover and discarded parts, repurposing decommissioned rescue boats and observation bathyspheres to create their own small machines that they could launch out from disused maintenance areas. Small but dedicated audiences followed their favorite racers to clandestine events. Eventually the Union relented and worked to regulate a public league with purpose-built craft that were a bit safer than the craziest racers wanted. Now, she and her girlfriend could experience the pulse-pounding thrills from the safety of an eye-searingly gold arcade inside a sturdy station.

“Sonya, this is your chance! This is a game where I can’t use my strength to beat you!”

“Was that a hint of cockiness? You’ll see– piloting a Diver isn’t that far off from this.”

“That’s the spirit! Give it your best knot! Or you’ll be stuck following my squid-marks!”

Shalikova’s eyes fixed on the screen. A count-down appeared.

Her fingers gripped the wheel, feet braced against the pedals, her body tensed–

On the count of zero–

Maryam blasted out of the starting line and–

brutally rammed into the side of Shalikova’s boat

and sent her sailing away.

“Maryam! What the hell kind of sportsmanship is that!”

“Hah! Sonya, I am a villain of the race track! I’ll stop at nothing to win!”

Shalikova was speechless as Maryam charged brazenly forward in a way that would at the very least make her look bad on a track– and would very likely have killed someone or herself! Taking advantage of the fact that it was a video game, Maryam drove like a hellion. Bashing into the track limit buoys to corner, whacking Shalikova whenever she got near, squeezing Shalikova out of the track when she tried to pass her– it was pure mayhem.

She was so aggressive that even when Shalikova tried to play equally dirty Maryam was simply much quicker on the attack! There was no opening at all!

Even when the contest did not entail her strength, Maryam was still too strong!

“Waha! Sonya, the undefeated of the sea has once again completely scuttled you!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Maryam laughed and laughed, the color of her skin strobing with joy.

For more of that sight, Shalikova would have easily lost a hundred games.

Even if her pride did sting a little bit.

After a few rounds of the racing game that had the same results, Shalikova moved the competition over to a pair of machines that each hosted an instance of a very popular falling brick puzzle game. Invented in the Union, this video game represented one of a very few pieces of crossover culture between the Nectaris and Imbria as far as Shalikova knew. The object of the game was to drop blocks on a vertical board to form clean lines. Completed rows were eliminated and tidied up the board. Of course, the shapes that were given to each player to assemble complicated the matter. In this competitive iteration, clearing a line put junk in the other player’s board as well as forcing their bricks to accelerate.

To avoid any confusion, Shalikova explained these rules to Maryam.

“That’s all? I’m looking forward to yet another victory!”

“Someday that hubris will come back to bite you, Maryam!”

Shalikova played along, pretending to be invested in Maryam’s defeat.

When the first blocks started to drop into the digital boards, complete with flashy effects, Shalikova did begin to earnestly believe in victory. Maryam was sticking to her rather kinetic style of playing games, dropping her blocks as fast as the game would allow in rapid succession. At first, on an uncluttered board, it meant she got the first few combos of the game, putting junk in Shalikova’s board. Soon Shalikova’s slow and steady playstyle allowed her to control her board while Maryam failed to adapt as the game sped up, and began to clutter her board, make mistakes and ultimately, become overwhelmed.

Finally, Shalikova took her first victory. Maryam puffed up her cheeks with indignation.

“When it comes to puzzles you’re a real cuttlehead huh.” Shalikova said.

“Huh? Wow– that was a good one. You’re really getting into the spirit, Sonya!”

Maryam smiled and the fins on her head stood on end and then made a little flap.

Shalikova could not help but smile and laugh alongside her.

They tried a few other games once Shalikova had avenged her racing game losses.

Rather than compete, however, they found a few they could play together.

There was a flashy light gun game with 3D graphics where the two players fought off a horde of fleshy, mutated beasts to escape from a derelict research station–

“You’re holding the gun wrong. Try it like this.”

“Oh! Thank you, Sonya!”

A shooting ship game in an artsy limited color palette with very abstract enemies and landscapes, where where one player could shield the other player from bullets–

“Maryam! Switch to white shield while I attack!”

“Got it Sonya! I’ll protect you!”

And a trivia game where players could confer to answer questions about the Imbrium–

“–I was never taught any of this back in Katarre.”

“–I think I might have fallen asleep in class when learning about this Emperor.”

With some surprising twists–

“Phooey, who would have thought there was a homosexual Emperor? That’s nonsense!”

“I know, I could have never imagined it. Well, at least we’re losing together.”

Eventually the pair was almost out of tokens, the vagaries of their fate rarely yielding enough winnings to make up for the amount of games they were playing and ultimately losing or earning nothing on. It had been a few hours of good fun and Shalikova felt completely satisfied. She had even gotten Maryam’s mind off of drinking or gambling, two vices she hoped dearly her cuttlefish would never experience. Once their tour of the two-player games was complete, the pair started to walk out from the nest of machines.

Maryam poked Shalikova on the shoulder with one of her tentacles.

“Sonya, could you hang around for a bit? I want to use the little cuttlefish’s room.”

“Sure. I’ll just go poke at something with our last tokens.” Shalikova said.

Smiling, Maryam skipped away momentarily.

Shalikova turned back around to the machines, wandering back toward the fruit game.

Reaching into her pants pocket for her card and looked down at it idly while walking.

Her personal guard slackened completely; she was much less aware of the world than usual.

Such that her sharp eyes hardly detected a similarly distracted person on a collision course.

Shalikova had such confidence in her stride and so efficiently converted this into force against this foreign body that she nearly dropped back onto the floor after striking the stranger in what seemed to be both their center masses. Shalikova would not have been surprised to hear that she had butted heads with this individual– she braced herself on a stool seat in a panic and barely stayed upright. Her victim would have fallen had there not been a machine right behind her. It was such a shock, Shalikova was so embarassed.

“Whoa! Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I’m such a– HUH?”

“What the fuck?! Watch where you’re going you fu– OH~?”

In front of Shalikova was a young woman, much like herself,

perhaps near to her exact age.

A little shorter than her, a bit fuller in figure with a dazzling appearance. Dressed in a long, off-shoulder ribbed sweater that quite flattered her, low enough to bare a lot of collarbone and some of her cleavage, with a skirt and tights and heeled shoes. Fashionable, wearing a bit of makeup. Her bright eyes adorned a pretty face twisted into a grin that immediately projected unremitting malice. Out of her long, flowing purple hair, sprouted a pair of rainbow-shimmering translucent antennae resembling biomechanical rabbit ears.

Selene Anahid, in the flesh, just as Shalikova had seen in her mind’s eye.

Judging by her expression, she was making a similar conclusion.

“Sonya Shalikova! You are Sonya Shalikova, aren’t you? You stupid oaf?! I found you!”

“Hey! I said I’m sorry! And– I have no idea what you’re talking about! Who are you?”

“Don’t lie to me! You miserable little rat! I can see right through you!”

Selene’s eyes briefly glowed with red rings and Shalikova feared for the worst.

But there was no attack either on her person or mind– Selene stopped with a grunt.

“Hmph, that stupid aura of yours! Show it to me! Stop hiding it from me!”

“I can’t! I’m not doing anything!” Shalikova said on impulse. “I mean– I don’t know–!”

“Quit acting stupid!” Selene said. Her lips spread into that grin again. “Sonya Shalikova!”

There was no getting away from it– this was Selene Anahid.

And she knew it was Shalikova in front of her. It was not about bumping into her, as rude as that was, and as much as Shalikova wanted to take responsibility for it. Rather, Selene and Shalikova had come to blows in a military operation in Goryk’s Gorge and were now face to face in the civilian interlude before wherever the wind of war blew them next. Shalikova had come away from that battle with an understanding of Selene as a reckless, unsympathetic person, arrogant and condescending, reveling in violence to assert her superiority. Those were the emotions Shalikova got in her fleeting visions and even more tenuous connection to Selene’s mind during their last bout. And now, here was Selene again.

In the ample flesh, able to see her and be seen without armor and without weapons.

She had become almost demon-like in Shalikova’s mind, a haunting presence.

Nothing but a promise of the violence that might befall Shalikova if she was not careful.

Here that violence stood, with a heaving bosom and an impish grin.

What would happen?

What could Shalikova possibly tell her to defuse this situation?

Her head felt so heavy.

She did not want to come into conflict with Selene.

Not only for the mission– but because she felt some measure of empathy for her.

“Selene– I– look, right now it’s my day off! You and I have nothing to do with each other.”

“Hah! Your day off? Destiny has brought us together! Your defeat won’t take time off!”

“God damn it, I don’t want to fight you! I never wanted to fight you! Just leave me alone!”

“Well, you should have stayed home if you didn’t want to fight! It’s too late now!”

Selene paused and looked at Shalikova up and down with such a sudden vehemence that Shalikova raised her arms as if to defend herself. She did not recall anyone ever checking her out with such an intensely tactless and almost lascivious gaze. Selene even leaned to the side to try to catch a look at the rear of Shalikova and continued to snicker to herself the entire time. For a moment Shalikova felt she would have preferred killing each other to this awkward surveiling. Immersed in the quarreling, her head began to fog up even more.

“Wow, what the hell happened to you? Did you fall into a textile press?” Selene said.

“What– what do you mean? I look fine. What do you mean by that?” Shalikova said.

She was shocked, her heart pumped strongly, and she did not process well what was said.

“I mean that clearly in terms of female aesthetics I am your obvious genetic superior.”

Selene raised a hand to gesture over the curve of her breasts as if to demonstrate, grinning.

“Huh? Aesthetics? Genetics? So what? You’re– you’re not even that much bigger!”

Selene was a slender girl– but compared to Shalikova she had curves like a fertility idol.

“Hah! Nothing but pure denial on your part! How do you even sit with no ass like that?”

“Are you serious? Is this really what we’re doing? People might see and hear this!”

“Flattie~!” Selene taunted, uncaring, raising a hand to her lips and laughing behind it.

Shalikova glowered and grunted. “You had a head start on me for growing all that fat!”

In her head that had been a much more devastating blow. She meant to argue that it was disingenuous for a cis girl to flaunt such things against her. But even just this level of insult made Shalikova feel horribly awkward and childish for stooping to Selene’s level. So what came out of her lips was by comparison near incoherent and seemed to take Selene a moment to process as it contained perhaps half the words Shalikova meant to say.

Selene put her hands on her hips and leaned forward with a matching friendless glower.

“Such a convenient assumption! But I’m the same as you– blame yourself, not the meds!”

What was she even talking about then?! Were they both transgender? This was a mess!

“Why the hell are we competing over our three sizes then anyway! You’re ridiculous!”

“And you’re still a flattie flat flat flattie.” Selene said without a hint of self-reflection.

Despite acknowledging it as ridiculous Shalikova was immediately aggravated to hear it.

In all of her life, nobody had ever confronted her like this, not since she was a little kid.

Other children could sometimes get rowdy at school, but they were always reprimanded.

Shalikova had grown up a polite and reserved girl among mostly polite and serious people.

Even Khadija was just teasing her and would not stoop to frustrating childish insults.

Illya non-withstanding, but that was different– Shalikova was unprepared for Selene.

That combination of arrogance, childishness, boldness– brought out the worst in her.

Her fingers crackled with electricity– she wanted to hit her! But she had to control it!

As much as correcting Selene might fill her with temporary satisfaction, opening up the avenue of violence for this mad woman would have invited a disproportionate reprisal. Shalikova had not yet learned all the psionic tricks Selene likely knew. And who knew if Selene had a weapon hiding somewhere (like in her fat stupid tits). If she had a gun on her all hell would break loose! There had to be another way to defuse the situation–

–maybe one in Shalikova’s hand all along.

While Selene was in the middle of gloating, Shalikova raised her polymer card.

In her mind, she was striking a cool pose. Selene just stared at her, however.

“Selene! We’re going to settle our grudge right here and right now!” Shalikova said.

Selene grinned, understanding– she produced her own polymer card from her pocket.

Perhaps in her mind, she was also striking a cool pose, trying to wave her card.

“Well, well, well. Now you’re speaking my language. I will destroy you. At video games!”

“I’ll completely flatten you– at video games! And then you’ll leave my sight for good!”

“You’ll never flatten me as flat as yourself, flattie. But if I win, you will bark like a dog!”

“Deal! Now shut up and put up! Or is all the silicone in your body slowing you down?”

“Why you–?! I’m all natural, just like the beating you are about to receive, vermin!”

Shalikova was beginning to forget this was a scheme to make Selene go away peacefully.

Not the actual rivalry she was allowing it to become by stooping to Selene’s exact level!

Locked in place like coiled snakes the two of them traded barbs and growls–

“Sonya, who is your friend? Are those real rabbit ears on her head?” Maryam asked.

–until the illusion shattered.

Those simple and sudden words sent a jolt of electricity down Shalikova’s spine.

She turned around in an instant and saw her girlfriend right behind her, smiling.

Her heart sank, her throat felt drier, her sunglasses almost dropped from her nose.

Caught in the throes of Selene’s temerity, Shalikova had completely forgotten Maryam.

“She’s NOT my friend!” Shalikova shouted suddenly. “She’s a sociopathic maniac!”

Maryam then crossed her arms and leaned toward Shalikova with a stern expression.

“Sonya– that’s not very nice. Friendly ribbing shouldn’t get into harsh details like that.”

“Hear that, Sonya? You are not being very nice to me right now!” Selene interjected.

Laughing uproariously. Her eyes darting with excitement between Shalikova and Maryam.

Who knew what was going on in that twisted brain of hers?

Worse– if they were both aggravated, the possibility of psionic escalation–

“Maryam, this is Selene. We have a bit of– friendly competition.”

Shalikova turned to Selene and somehow maintained a saintly calm while introducing her.

“Selene– this is Maryam, we’re– we’re together.” She said with a monotone voice.

As if Selene was anyone worth introducing Maryam to, or worth any courtesy.

Maryam looked at Selene and the purple on her chromatophores darkened a bit. Her eyes narrowed, she raised a hand to her chin, the fins atop her head flapped slowly. Scrutinizing Selene for a moment, her tentacles swaying in the air. Selene seemed just as curious about Maryam, so Shalikova had to put up with a long and strange silence.

“Sonya, I understand.” Maryam finally said. “I will step aside and cheer you on!”

Did she understand? Could she really have understood any part of this chaos, at all?

Shalikova nodded her head with a glum expression and awaited Selene’s response.

Selene grinned, shrugged, and silently pointed out a nearby racing game machine.

Together, the pair took their seats in the machine. Selene swiped her card to start the game.

“I commend you for having some shame in front of other people.” Shalikova mumbled.

“I just don’t want to sully my total victory in front of your girlfriend.” Selene whispered.

Was that some dignity and understanding? From this fiend? Shalikova sighed.

In front of them the familiar first-person perspective of the speedboat game appeared in front of Shalikova. She got ready to drive, when a notification appeared on her screen that Selene had “rolled the slots for a premium ship”– and was now the proud owner of a sleek and screamingly purple submersible with an additional hydrojet.

It was almost certainly faster than Shalikova’s own ship.

“Can you really call this a fair competition at this point?” Shalikova said.

“Who called it that? I didn’t say that. I said I was going to crush you.” Selene replied.

Fair enough. Sighing again, Shalikova grabbed hold of the steering wheel.

With materiel superiority on her side, Selene blasted out of the starting line.

And Shalikova struggled to keep up at all. She was solidly behind on every corner.

She expected Selene to be insufferable throughout the process but instead–

“Hah! It’s so fast! Look, Sonya! Look at whose coattails you follow behind!”

In the middle of the game, her malice seemed to melt away into the thrill of a young girl playing a game, and her gloating sounded much more good-natured and even amusing. She laughed and hollered and tried to show off for the audience of one trailing permanently behind her, taking weird lines on the corners and even slowing down at times so she remained on Shalikova’s screen to show off a trick. Despite herself, Shalikova found her manic energy somewhat infectious and laughed a few times at her antics.

“How much did that thing cost you?” Shalikova jabbed in the middle of the race.

“Whatever it was, it was worth it!” Selene jabbed back.

After the race, Selene practically dragged Shalikova by the hand, running to the next game.

Was that a smile on her face?

Maryam followed behind them and Shalikova could hear her giggling faintly.

They stopped in front of the puzzle game machines– which again, Selene paid for.

“Next stop on my tour of overwhelming superiority!” Selene said.

“What premium items are you going to buy for a puzzle game?” Shalikova said.

“Shut it and play, pentomino.”

Much like Maryam, Selene had a very aggressive style of play, dropping blocks as fast as possible and tolerating a few mistakes as her lines built up. However, she also had much better awareness of her board and upcoming blocks than Maryam, and she actually set up boards in order to create multiple line clears at a time, making for a more challenging match for the careful and deliberate Shalikova who obsessed with her placements. Junk blocks traded screens several times, and each salvo prompted pops of color on the screens to quickly indicate the attack to each player. Such effects happened in vicious succession as Shalikova and Selene were quite evenly matched in the battleground of blocks.

“You have guts! I acknowledge you as a worthy opponent, Sonya!” Selene said.

“Quit calling me Sonya! It’s Shalikova!” Shalikova said.

Despite her best effort not to, she was actually having fun with her rival.

Selene seemed to gradually forget the virulence with which she had begun the contest.

Even when she lost, her response was a girlish pout rather than a demonic scowl.

“Oh! I’ll get you next time, cutting board! This is the final round! Tie-breaker!”

Once again, Selene grabbed Shalikova and dragged her to a new set of machines.

Ones that Maryam and Shalikova had not played during their visit to Dorado.

However, they had experienced this style of game before.

Selene took them to the very back of Dorado’s game space, where there was an area full of table games. Every table looked initially barren, but with different accessories the tables could host an array of digital games with physical interaction. There were a few people here, playing pool and holographic ping pong. By placing a pair of plastic mallets on the board, the table would recognize and configure itself as a game of air hockey. Selene grabbed one of the mallets and she pushed the other one to Shalikova’s side of the table.

She grinned with anticipation.

“Oh, Sonya is very good at these!” Maryam said, standing to the side of the table.

“Oh really? Then she’ll have no excuses when she loses!” Selene said.

“No, because I’m more mature. But I am going to win regardless.” Shalikova said.

The pair took up their mallets and waited on their ends of the table.

In the center of the table’s LCD, the display rendered a little hatch opening.

Releasing a digital puck that by random chance flew to Shalikova’s end of the table.

Selene got herself ready in a defensive stance.

On the underside of the mallets there were lights that the table tracked for movement.

Shalikova wondered how much of her strength and control could transfer into the game.

She drew back her mallet a few centimeters and struck the digital puck.

It went flying against the opposite wall, near the corner, and bounced.

Selene responded quickly, striking the puck back.

The game was on–

but Shalikova had made note of Selene’s pose, how she held the mallet, how she reacted to the puck, her movement. How she swung from the forearm and had a restless grip on the mallet that she satisfied by turning it in place, a few millimeters side to side.

Now Shalikova understood better how the video game board reacted to her swing.

And how her opponent moved.

So she gauged the strength that she needed to launch a serious attack.

Drawing back and pushing in from the shoulder, hitting the puck dead center.

Sending it hurtling to the wall, behind Selene’s guard and into her goal at an acute angle.

Shalikova scored her first point.

“Dumb luck.”

“If it helps you cope.”

Shalikova grinned and Selene grinned back at her, remarkably composed.

When the next puck popped out of the board, it soared toward Selene instead.

She quickly threw a feint and Shalikova did not react, standing her ground.

Her gaze and reflexes were too sharp, she was not just acting on pure impulse.

With her feint read through, Selene settled for attacking the puck.

Unbalanced by her previous movements, she clipped the side of the puck–

But the computer registered this as a full-on, dead-center strike.

Shalikova, who had been watching Selene’s arms to determine how to attack and defend, misjudged how the puck would move and struck it far too softly, essentially serving it up to Selene for the perfect counterattack. She was unbalanced herself and failed to control her mallet properly, giving Selene an avenue to retaliate with a brutal strike on Shalikova’s largely unguarded flank. It happened too quick, and Shalikova lost the point.

She could only laugh at her own clumsiness.

“Good arm.” Shalikova said. She was having some fun.

“Good eye. You are indeed my worthy opponent. But I know your game now.”

No, now that Shalikova knew how the game worked and that it was somewhat glitchy, she could easily make the next few attacks in ways Selene could not possibly have predicted or reacted to. Selene did not have a lot of experience with air hockey and was playing a bit clumsily– she had a brief advantage because Shalikova was not used to the eccentricities of the digital machine and how it treated the physical inputs. However, seeing the sunny look on Selene’s face, and how much she had lightened up from calling her a flattie and threatening to destroy her– she became much less invested in winning.

Letting Selene win and preserving that smile was the best possible outcome.

It did not take much convincing to look convincing for Selene’s win.

Selene was favored by the digital puck, made her attack, and Shalikova defended it wrong.

Breaking the tie, giving Selene the victory.

Upon seeing the 2:1 in her favor, she burst out into laughter, softer laughter, girlish.

All of the demonic evil Shalikova had seen in her seemed to have been exorcised.

Shalikova walked around the side of the table and extended a hand for her to shake.

Selene, still smiling and gloating, took her hand and shook it vigorously.

“It was decided long ago! Of course, I was always destined to be the best here.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Shalikova said. She had some rough edges, but– she wasn’t all bad.

“You really put up a fight, Sonya Shalikova! We were truly fated to meet were we not? Do you know how surprised I was to see you here? But I knew immediately that I had been handed an opportunity to prove to myself once and for all that you were nothing but some girl in the end. And now I am in the victor, and I will take my spoils!” Selene said.

It was easier to let her grandiosity play out than to try to interrupt her with sense.

“Yep, you win. I guess I will bark like a dog for you now.” Shalikova said.

Trying to accept her punishment with a smile. At least she had resolved the situation–

Selene averted her gaze and crossed her arms. “Ew, no! You weirdo! Don’t do that!”

“But it’s what you asked for!” Shalikova replied, suddenly feeling desperate again.

“I’m changing my mind. Instead, you have to take me out around town!” Selene said.

She paired this with a haughty laugh but continued to avoid Shalikova’s eyes.

“HUH?!” Shalikova felt like a pair of cymbals had been clapped on her head.

“That’s a great idea!” Maryam said, clapping her hands happily. “Much better than trying to humiliate poor Sonya just because she’s so bad at games! I appreciate Selene’s magnanimity. It’s fun when friends are competitive, but you were both getting heated– you need to relax!”

Selene looked confused by how genuine Maryam was in her excitement.

“Uh, yeah–? Magnanimity– pssh, yeah, I mean, I got that in spades!” She said.

“I– I just–” Shalikova’s head was spinning. “I don’t– She’s not– I’m not–”

“You lost, and you admit you lost, so you have to acquiesce to the winner.” Selene said.

“Sonya, it’s okay! I don’t mind, and I think it’ll be good for you to hang out with a friend!”

Maryam cheerfully patted Shalikova in the back.

Did she actually understand anything?!

Maybe she was happy her Sonya ‘made a friend’ other than her–?

The same silly worry Shalikova sometimes had about Maryam becoming too dependant on herself? But it was ludicrous for her– because Maryam was a stowaway with not a soul in the world and Shalikova had an entire ship of people to befriend! Regardless, that would explain why she was suddenly so happy about Selene’s miserable proposal.

“Maryam, she’s not– oh whatever.” Shalikova sighed in surrender. “Selene, I’ll take you out around town tomorrow, but you have to agree, right now, that your–” If she called it a grudge Maryam might start to suspect something– so she hoped Selene understood– “You have to agree that our rivalry and debts are settled and that you’ll stop with– your particular brand of nonsense. Only then will we be able to go out together, okay?”

Selene’s eyes wandered slowly back toward Shalikova.

“Yeah. Totally. I mean– duh. I know how to protect my public image, you know?”

“Great.” Shalikova said. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow at the lobby. I’m broke by the way.”

“Of course you’re broke. Whatever. I’ll pay. See you tomorrow before noon.” Selene said.

Smiling, still smiling, after everything. Selene was smiling.

What a mess– but Shalikova supposed it wasn’t all bad.

After all, they had avoided fists flying, psionic or otherwise.

Maybe they could bury the hatchet.

Selene turned around and walked peacefully away.

Shalikova was filled with relief– until she heard a voice in the back of her head.

At first like a static-filled radio channel, until the words came into sharper focus.

You’ll be fine if you stay out of our way from now on. We are not going after you. I never even thought I would see you again. But if you do interfere– just remember I will have my orders.

Selene’s voice. She was speaking to her psionically, so that Maryam would not hear.

In that instant, she rekindled Shalikova’s fears and regrets.

Out of our way– meant her crew too.

Alongside that psychopath Norn the Praetorian and her crew.

Shalikova glared at Selene, but it wasn’t up to her whether or not that happened.

She did not want to fight her, she never wanted to– but she might still be forced to.

From my perspective there’s no more quarrel. I want to keep it that way!

She tried to reply to Selene in the same way as she had been spoken to.

Focusing her mind on pushing those words and on Selene being able to hear them.

Unsure at first whether she had succeeded, until–

I can’t guarantee that. But at least, there doesn’t need to be, tomorrow. Ciao.

Selene waved mockingly with the tips of her fingers as she walked away.

Watching her go, Shalikova sighed. She palmed her own face.

A mixture of frustration but also pity overcame her. It was so stupid, so pointless.

Selene was just an idiot like her– both barely adults, and both in such dire situations.

It was so unfair– and there was nothing Shalikova could do about it.

If their captains butted heads again then both would have their orders.

“Sonya, are you okay?”

Maryam took Shalikova’s hand into her own and rubbed it for comfort.

Shalikova met her eyes. Just looking at her brought comfort to her overburdened heart.

She tipped her head forward and kissed Maryam suddenly.

Surprised at first, her marshmallow accepted. It was a quick but healing gesture.

When they parted, Shalikova tried to smile, despite everything.

“I’m a bit troubled. Selene and I actually have a lot of bad blood.” Shalikova said.

She did not want to lie to Maryam, but it was hard to admit the fullness of how she felt.

“From my perspective, the two of you seemed to be getting along.” Maryam said.

“I know, but I fear that things could get worse with us. Far worse.” Shalikova said.

“Sonya, if that happens, trust in yourself. You are strong, and you know what’s right.”

Maryam smiled.

That confidence she had in Shalikova made everything sound possible.

Even if Shalikova herself worried about the worst possible outcomes.


“Welcome, welcome! Oh, what a pleasant surprise indeed– my balcony has seen so many illustrious people of late. It has been a fine week. Please sit down, and avail yourself of anything. Hospitality to guests of the Kleyn household means everything to me.”

“Thank you, Madam Kleyn. Such lovely accommodations. You know your tea parties!”

Gloria Innocence Luxembourg took her seat, one of only two around the tea table this time.

Across from her, Herta Kleyn offered her sweet black tea and fluffy little pink cakes.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Herta asked. “I didn’t even know you were in Aachen!”

“I apologize for coming up so suddenly. I just happened to learn of your predicament.”

Gloria lifted a tea cup to her lips, after having spoken, recusing herself from elaboration.

Across the table, Herta smiled. “My predicament, dear? I am not sure what you mean.”

It had not gone unnoticed by Gloria how many Katarrans were handling security for the Kleyn estate now. Aachen contracted the Rheinmetalle-sponsored Uhlankorps for local policing and VIP security for the government– so why was Herta Kleyn dressing up mercenaries in her little suits and ties and having them screen everybody and patrol the grounds? Of course, she knew much more than that in her clandestine capacities, but that was the simplest surface-level excuse. There was anxiety in the air up here.

“Madam, these are trying times, are they not? Times of instability and scandal?”

Herta met Gloria’s eyes but remained guarded. “I am afraid they are, indeed.”

“I have a proposal for you that will solve a few problems I know you must have. You may have your own solutions, but you will have to sacrifice far less of your own position with me.”

“Is that so, Madam Luxembourg? I must admit, I am intrigued. I have had a lot on my mind recently, you are right about that. There are heavy decisions I must make that I will not be able to take back. However, I must ask whether this business is in my capacity as a station governor, or a private citizen. I have done business with megacorporations before– but not their leaders directly. And never as a civilian. So I have to look out for the optics, you see. Anything that I do will be judged heavily– my political career is part of my concerns.”

“I’ve never done business with a station government, but I have done business with private individuals from them. This concerns yourself primarily, but it also concerns Aachen, Madam Kleyn. We both know there is a black current that is pushing this way; we both know that navigating this current will be complicated and difficult in the coming weeks. It is getting fiercer, more turbulent. You will not be able to withstand it by caring about optics.”

Gloria fixed wicked eyes on Herta, upon whom the true topic of discussion began to dawn.

Herta lifted her own cup of tea at that point. Permission to continue speaking, perhaps.

“Katarran mercenaries won’t be very reliable when the tidal waves roll in.” Gloria continued.

“I am not displeased with my personal security, frau Luxembourg.” Herta replied sharply.

She clearly did not appreciate the advice. Herta Kleyn had been in liberal government all of her life. From consultant to campaign manager to councilwoman and now Governor. She had done everything there was to do, done it properly. For Gloria to suggest anything to Herta Kleyn must have felt quite annoying. Like a child telling the parent how things worked.

“I have more to sell than personal security.” Gloria said, a conceited little grin on her face. “And there are more people at stake here than merely you yourself, Madam Kleyn.”

Herta Kleyn looked, for the first time, openly disconcerted in the discussion.

Gloria laid a portable on the table without saying another word.

On it, were the excruciating details of a deal Herta would not be able to refuse.


Elena had a rough night of sleep at the Mahdist village.

It was difficult to regulate her own temperature, and the mattress she was given was tough and uncomfortable. Even the Brigand’s accommodations were a bit softer on her delicate body. In addition to her physical ails, she also had to contend with disquieting thoughts. Conny Lettiere– and what little information she parted with about Elena’s mother. All of the possibilities haunted her. There was so much that Elena could learn from Conny about her mother, so many things she had never known and thought lost forever.

Her mother had died– no, she had been killed when Elena was five or six years old.

In her teenage years, Elena had mourned plenty that she knew so little about her mother but also accepted that there was nothing she could do. Her father Konstantin von Fueller barely even spoke to Elena, much less about her treasonous departed wife. All of the imperial courtiers and noblewomen hated Leda Lettiere and were not worth talking to. Her brother knew very little about her. Bethany had always been too careful about what she said, embellished too much, Elena had always known it. She would not have told her the whole ugly truth– not like Conny, a member of her family, could have told it.

Elena still had family, right here. After she thought she had lost everything.

Family who knew all of the story of her mother that Elena could have never known.

But there was an inseparable wall between her and Conny Lettiere.

To out herself as Elena Lettiere– was to out herself as Elena von Fueller. Missing Imperial Princess; and why she was missing, who was responsible, what had happened. Elena wanted to help the crew of the Brigand. She sympathized with the communists so much. That ship had begun to feel like home. Their mission felt righteous. So she feared mightily that to admit her identity was to jeopardize their mission and even all of their lives.

Attracting unwanted attention, bringing untrustworthy outsiders into orbit–

it was unacceptable.

Despite this, Elena’s heart could not help but beat rapidly with fascination about Conny. Her aunt, an elven relation, someone who spoke so irreverently about her mother. Maybe in another life, Conny might have been able to take care of her. To give her a home and family and a place to build a new life, without the precarity and violence of military surroundings. It might have made her soft, but perhaps, it would have been more of a home.

Alas; oh well. Such soft thoughts, she already had too many.

It was hardness, toughness, that she needed more of. So she steeled herself.

Conny Lettiere would simply have to pass her by for now.

With her head filled with worry and yearning, Elena slowly fell into an uneasy, fitful sleep–

Dreaming of indigo hair swaying in the wind under the light of an artificial moon–

–and infinitely tall trees making up the sky,

Paesan, wake up. I’m afraid you and I have some business. Quick sticks; I’ve not all day.”

And awakened just as uneasy to a voice she was not expecting to hear.

And to the face of Conny Lettiere, hovering over her, hands behind her back, a mischievous grin on her painted lips. Looming, with a great pressure building up around her.

Paesan, I’m afraid you remind me of someone, and it has been weighing on my trust.”

Her eyes glowed– bright red rings traced the outline of her retina, indicating power.

Floating above her shoulder, a small metal rod like a conductor’s baton pointed at Elena.

“Did you know Elena, that Elven Medeis, Loup Volshebstvo, Katarran Mageia and Volgian Kudo, all reference sticks as an implement with which to divine? Directions, insights– safe passage in caves, finding graves and treasure, and of course, the direction of the truth? Fascinating, no? Such different cultures clinging on to similar remnants of a dead past.”

Elena, paralyzed in bed, felt the pointing of the stick to take an accusatory note.

“So tell me, Elena– what was your surname again?” Conny said.

Overhead, the stick stirred and glowed with a myriad colors.


When Homa awakened the next morning, Kalika was still sound asleep behind her.

Perhaps more because Homa slept lightly, than Kalika sleeping heavily.

It was still much too early. However, the day called to the once-sleeper.

As good as it felt being held, Homa was feeling restless and wanted to get moving.

Perhaps this was her chance to do something good for Kalika. Maybe bring back breakfast.

Regardless of what she did, her legs demanded of her to get up and move about.

Gently, carefully, she extricated herself from Kalika’s grasp–

and sat beside her a moment.

Kalika looked quite beautiful, sleeping so peacefully. Her makeup had begun to run a little bit, her hair was tossed about a bit, and her lips were spread slightly open as she breathed. Her ungainly pose in the bed was very charming. When she was awake, she was so composed and so elegant, in control and never betraying weakness. Homa felt grateful that Kalika trusted her enough that she might be seen like this, unwound, without façade. She sat for a minute watching her, before feeling like she was being voyeuristic, and departing.

In her mind’s eye, the image of Kalika at peace would not soon leave Homa, however.

Outside the curtains, the lights were still pretty dim. It was early morning.

There were people out, however, and Homa became one of them.

At the front of the village, the pieces of the broken taiza monument had started taking shape again. Sareh and Baran had also brought out a big metal pot and a large alcohol burner and dropped both near the stage and a stack of plastic benches. The layout of the festival was beginning to take concrete shape just like the taiza. There were already aunties singing and talking in front of the salon and the little café and bakery, recently stocked again with flour and tea from outside. Homa wondered whether they had competitive prices out of respect for their unique situation– but she didn’t want to find out anyway.

Slowly, more people began to awaken and to come out. Little kids met up around the front of the village and started to play and make noise. Young women assembled near the masjid, maybe waiting for school. Homa could not see a single man around. There was the Imam, and she had some recollection of a few elderly men in the crowd the past few days. Maybe some of the kids were boys, Homa did not know and could not tell, they were too little for that. No young men stood out at all, however. Maybe they had really all given up Mahdism and abandoned the village, starting their own families outside and forgetting it all.

Bastards. Homa was making herself mad just thinking about it all over again.

Then, as her anger started to simmer down again– it resumed a furious, instant boil.

She saw someone approaching the front gate that sent her heart pounding.

Her body tensed.

A tall, brown-haired Shimii woman, smiling, greeting the villagers as she entered.

At her side followed a dour blond Imbrian woman, her gaze falling sharply on every face.

Both wore black uniforms, and armbands with symbols of the Volkisch Movement.

And despite Homa’s wide-eyed fury, the villagers greeted Rahima Jašarević like a friend.


Previous ~ Next

Knight In The Ruins of the End [S1.8]

This chapter contains discussion of suicidal ideation.


It was the first living thing and therefore it was Longest Lived.

Despite its presence in an infinite space it understood only its basest of senses.

No eyes to see, no ears with which to hear. No understanding of its position.

When the sky first fell it battered its skin and the drawn blood became a world.

Longest Lived was all skin, it was all skin great and wide and millions of pinpricks upon it could not kill it. Its skin was gentle and nourishing, containing within it all substances and ultimately even coming to contain that which infinitely struck it, raining upon it, crashing into it– all of this would come to rest around and within it and on top of it in a glorious union.

It was all skin, all touch, all consumption. Perhaps this was its love.

Longest Lived, the Origin of All Living Things.

It took in the stone and it took in water and it took in warmth, ever consuming.

Upon Longest Lived, all that which it had consumed, and which returned to it–

Would constantly, cyclically, escape anew and take on new forms.

They would rise, fall and then return to Longest Lived who awaited them.

Longest Lived could not think in this way however. These were the stories of its creations.

Though it lived and consumed it never thought.

This was not a tragedy; thinking would have driven it mad and warped its selfless love.

Thinking, was a skill first refined by one of its earliest progeny.

They thought cautiously and kept in mind the love and unity in all their matters.

They too were alive, but, while they were communal in nature, they also understood their individual positions in the world. They could feel; to some extent, they could see and hear. They knew themselves to be separated even as they were together. Because they knew this, they would sing to one another, because there was one another to be sung to and to hear song from. With these understandings, they had great empathy for things which were alive and different, and wanted to encourage them to escape the skin of Longest Lived and to grow and prosper before they were inevitably swallowed back into the skin of the great being. They referred to their age of prosperity as the Time of Beautiful Songs.

In their songs, they called it Longest Lived, and themselves, The First Thinkers.

They were First to Think–

but the prodigal creatures who still heard their songs even now,

warped by ages of tragedy–

would come to be exalted as the Longest Thinkers in the world that remained.


Gertrude Lichtenberg slowly opened her eyes.

At first, in the haze of awakening, she saw a forest of vast trees with a reddening sky.

Then, in a blink, there was only the metal ceiling of her room on the Iron Lady.

She raised her hand to her forehead, pressed down against her eyes.

For a moment she looked at the hand. Fascinated by the movement of her fingers.

Gertrude flexed the invisible sinews and muscles that formed from her thoughts.

That hand grew a small additional digit next to the thumb. Moving as her other fingers did.

Just as easily, the flesh slid back into the hand as if there had been no transformation.

Gertrude sat back up in bed, against the headboard, yawning.

Pulling her blankets from herself, she found she had, in her sleep, shaken and turned enough to nearly lose her shirt off her own shoulders and to pull her own pants halfway down. Her hair was thrown into utter disarray. Her eyes wandered down from her hand to her breasts– to her own crotch. In a strange mood, she wondered something, and concentrated her new ability– and stopped immediately once she found that, if she tried, she could indeed alter parts of herself more complex and primal than just her hand. She reversed the endeavor when she felt her– alteration– stiffening and growing hot with blood unbidden.

Her lips cracked an involuntary, nervous smile.

“Maybe I shouldn’t experiment that way– at least not right now.”

She had wondered about that in the past– but she was worried about her long-term health.

Who knew whether she might go out of control? Or not be able to change things back?

Her wandering mind gifted her an image of herself as some kind of dick monster.

Gertrude burst out laughing suddenly. It was the sincerest laugh she had in a long time.

“Stick to the easier stuff for now, Gertrude Lichtenberg.” She told herself.

Despite all the painful things that had happened so far, her mood finally buoyed. She found that she did not feel as much of an impulse to question her sanity or the things she had seen. Her memories of that place, where she had stormed through in a consuming passion, were a bit hazy, as if the heat of that passion had partially burned the images. She remembered some shameful things reflected in the blue haze– but she let it pass over her.

She felt like she had her future back.

For now, she would let herself rest with those feelings and not force herself.

She recalled the things she needed to do with a refreshing lack of urgency.

Ingrid had broken up with her, but she was her friend; she just needed some time.

Monika was safe now– she would check up on her today and try to cheer her up.

Victoria and Nile would hopefully not be fighting. She needed to talk to them sometime.

Azazil–

Gertrude slumped in bed as if she had been struck in the back of the head.

Azazil could potentially be an immense headache.

Rising from her bed, Gertrude pulled off the remainder of her clothes and wandered over to the private shower in her room. While soaking under lukewarm water, she thought about her uniform. Last night she had told Dreschner she no longer wished to be called High Inquisitor. Her cape, epaulettes, coat and hat, her medals and insignias, all felt like a costume she had been desperate to force meaning on. She could no longer pretend that it gave her actions legitimacy or that it excused everything she had done in the past. Her skin, Gertrude Lichtenberg’s swarthy olive skin that was just different enough from the average Imbrian for trouble– it could no longer be covered up under the pretense of that power, for good or ill. The Inquisition could no longer elevate her from her lowly status and wretchedness.

She had more than enough of a burden with the sins she committed under its auspices.

That was a sizeable enough weight– without the heavy coat and the tall hat too.

Gertrude resolved not to wear the regalia of the High Inquisitor any longer.

From her wardrobe, she withdrew a button-down shirt and a long grey jacket instead.

Henceforth she would dress like any other officer of the ship.

Once she was clean, dressed and the morning fog had lifted from her eyes, Gertrude left her room and traveled down the main hall of the ship’s upper tier. She tied her long, dark hair in a simple ponytail, to be further dealt with some other time. She wondered how her crew was getting on after the unprecedented events of the past few days, but her confidence was buoyed immediately. People traveled the halls with their heads up and their backs straight, calm and collected. All of the crew had reduced schedules for the next day, and as Gertrude walked past and among sailors and officers, she felt a relaxed but professional energy.

Wherever she went, the crew would salute her casually, as ‘Commander’ Lichtenberg.

Dreschner must have informed everyone. Quite expeditiously too.

Gertrude smiled at the passersby, and they smiled back.

These halls and the people of this ship had been through good times and bad.

Often, they were under stress and moving with urgency, while keeping a tight hold on their emotions as warranted for the crew of a dreadnought, the elite professionals of the Imperial Navy. Gertrude was the one with the privilege to lose her mind, all of these people around her had been trained and drilled and pressured constantly to keep their emotions to themselves and in check, while doing everything she asked. Despite this, Gertrude never detected any animosity towards her. And she did not detect any animosity now.

They were proud to serve on a top-of-the-line dreadnought; to serve under Gertrude.

Even now, having surmounted a crisis and earned their leisure, they were even keeled.

Gertrude was lucky to have them. She could have done nothing without their assistance.

Life on a ship was never carried out completely off the schedule. Technically, having a day or two of leisure meant a day or two on a ‘reduced schedule’. Sailors would run still quick check-ups in the morning and at night, and never were they as efficient as they were during these times. Officers had to perform a few quick shifts on the bridge and in the hangar to insure that everything continued to run acceptably– but they had far less to do overall and far more time for relaxation in between these shifts. And of course, if anything was detected that could conceivably pose a threat or require intervention then everyone would have to return to stations quickly. Regardless, even with these duties in the back of their minds, everyone treated minimal work with the same relief as if they had none.

Arriving on the bridge, Gertrude found an immediate account of their situation on the main screen. They were descending, slowly, deeper into the abyss. Currently they were at 3840 meters of depth. Because of the Iron Lady’s size, they would have to be even more careful about their descent as they went deeper, and the trench narrowed. On the screen, there was an imaging map generated by the predictive computer, showing that at the very bottom of the trench at 5000 meters there was actually a crack in the seafloor that led even deeper down into a cave system. They had only mapped the entrance with sonar. Once they got down to it, they could send a drone inside or simply plunge deeper themselves.

Judging by current predictions, the Iron Lady could fit as far down as they had seen.

“Commander! Welcome back!”

Karen Schicksal saluted Gertrude with a smile, shortly after she quietly entered the bridge.

“At ease.” Gertrude said, smiling back.

“Greetings, Commander.” Dreschner said, from the captain’s chair.

Gertrude walked until she stood just off to the side of him, looking at the main screen.

“No time off for you?” Gertrude said, in a casual tone.

“I’m the kind of man who has never had anything but his work.” Dreschner said.

“Thinking about it, I really haven’t ever seen you take a day off.”

“I would have nothing constructive to do. It’s better that I hold the bridge, and then more of our officers can enjoy their own leisure. They would use it better than I would.”

Gertrude turned to Karen. “How about you Schicksal? Do you have any plans?”

Karen averted her gaze. She hugged her digital clipboard closer to her chest.

“I’m probably just going to man the bridge as well.” She said, a bit sheepishly.

“You don’t have to. You have been under considerable stress.” Dreschner said.

“Perhaps I am the kind of woman who has nothing but her work.” Schicksal said.

Dreschner sat back in his chair and laughed. “Don’t fancy becoming like me, Karen!”

Karen adjusted her glasses. “I aspire to the highest levels of professionalism, Captain!”

“Now I feel like I ought to stay on the bridge too.” Gertrude said.

“Absolutely not!” Karen and Dreschner both said at once.

They glanced at each other briefly and then back at Gertrude with sharp gazes.

Gertrude held up her hands in defense. “Okay, okay. I will take time to relax, I promise.”

Both Karen and Dreschner looked relieved hearing Gertrude say that.

“With all due respect, Commander– leave the bridge to us, now.” Dreschner said.

“You, more than anyone, have earned a rest. You will take that rest, Commander.”

Karen said, smiling, and then she gestured gently toward the door to the bridge.

Gertrude could not help but laugh at the sight of her officers forcing her to stop working.

“I’m going, I’m going. Thank you both.” She said. “By the way, Einz, did you tell everyone to start calling me Commander? I noticed that nobody called me High Inquisitor anymore.”

“It was in the morning minutes I drafted and sent out to everyone today. And of course, we are all professionals and read such things closely every day, even on our days off.” Karen said.

“I informed Karen of the situation.” Dreschner said. “She and the crew did the rest.”

“Got it. Thanks. I’ll be off now, and I promise I’ll try to get some rest.” Gertrude said.

Everyone was quite lively– a noticeable change from the lethargy of the past few days.

Gertrude had noticed that Karen was not as stammering and nervous as usual too.

Einz and her might have seen something in the blue pools too– she wondered what it was.

There was no sane way to ask anyone that, of course.

She thought about what to do next as she stepped out onto the hall once more.

Though she was a bit hungry, she was, more than that, worried about Monika after everything that happened. The more she saw the crew out and about the more she worried. Monika would be in Nile’s care. Gertrude headed for the clinic. She could have a chat with Nile as well and knock two things off her to-do list. Maybe she could make good on her promise to rest after all– but she was not intending to make an effort toward it.

Since she last saw it, Nile’s clinic had slightly expanded.

In addition to the meeting room with all her supplies and the meeting room in which she saw patients there was now a third meeting room on the other side of the clinic. In this room, a few plastic beds with rudimentary cushioning and blankets were set up in two opposing rows of four, for a total of eight beds. There was only one person laid up in the beds, a petite Loup woman with long, dark blond hair, sound asleep, wrapped up in blankets with a plain white gel pillow. Her breathing was steady, the curve of her chest rising and falling under the blankets. Gertrude stood at the door, given pause by the peaceful and contented expression on Monika’s face. She turned away from the beds and walked next door.

At Nile’s clinic, the door opened automatically in her presence.

Inside the room, she found Nile hunched over a table, her tail wagging and ears twitching as she used a dropper to lay tiny amounts of a clear liquid into a beaker full of murky red fluid, like a thin tomato soup. Her fingers were exactingly careful with the tool, and she watched the drops closely as she released them. Once the drops made contact with the red, the murk suddenly became active, rising and frothing as if it was suddenly being boiled.

Gertrude then stepped past the door threshold–

in the next instant Nile straightened up and looked over her shoulder, surprised.

“You’re doing an experiment here?” Gertrude asked.

More curious than she was critical, but still a touch of judgment in her voice.

“Science is the same no matter where you do it.” Nile said.

Gertrude tried to keep her eyes off Nile’s collar, its LEDs signaling a healthy green. It felt rude to worry about it– but nevertheless, she worried. So, she made an effort not to be caught staring and instead looked Nile over. She was unmasked, as it seemed to have become her habit within the Iron Lady. Dressed in a turtleneck sweater, a waist-high skirt that hugged her hips well, black tights, and her signature white coat. Her brown hair was tied up into a messy bun for work. She wore just a bit of blush and lipstick on her face.

She was gorgeous– tall, dark, curvy, Loup excellence–

Gertrude averted her gaze entirely before Nile could notice her lingering eyes.

“Don’t you need a different kind of environment to get good results?” Gertrude asked.

“Not at all. Cause-effect causality transpires regardless of how posh the surroundings are. As long as you prepare the best you can and the thinking behind your experiment is sound, the outcome can be useful for learning, whether you are in a repurposed meeting room on a ship or in the top laboratories of the Empire. Science is science. That is one of the reasons why it is so tightly controlled in the Empire– you can only control it by controlling the knowledge and materials that make it up.” Nile cracked a smile. “So– Gertrude, what ails you?”

Owing to the length of the spiel Gertrude was unprepared to be suddenly acknowledged.

Gertrude took long enough to respond, a few seconds–

That Nile simply walked up to her and stood directly before her, leaning in.

“Mind if I examine you? I’d like to check your condition after the night’s ordeal.”

“No, it’s not necessary. I’m doing fine.” Gertrude said suddenly.

Nile’s eyes trailed down Gertrude’s body and back up to her face.

“You look more energetic, but your unusually good mood might just be masking a physical issue. Adrenaline and hormones are not to be underestimated. At any rate, I won’t do anything without your consent, but you should allow me to give you a full checkup again as soon as your courage and pride can withstand the endeavor.” Nile said.

“My pride is irrelevant!” Gertrude said sharply. “I honestly haven’t felt better in weeks, I’ll have you know. I have no problems at all. Just accept what your patient tells you.”

“Hmm. I’m glad you’re still a bit surly.” Nile replied coolly. “Drastic personality changes, even positive ones, can be a sign of deeper distress. Stability and continuity are good indicators.”

“I am not being surly. You are just constantly trying to get a rise out of me for no reason.”

“My reason is that I am a concerned professional in whom you have entrusted your care.”

Gertrude sighed deeply and audibly.

Nile cracked a little grin and crossed her arms. Her ears did a little twitch.

“Forget all of that.” Gertrude said. “How is Monika doing?”

“She is just sleeping. Sleeping quite soundly in fact.” Nile said. “Thankfully before anything happened I already had permission to prepare an infirmary. Physically, Monika is unchanged from when I last examined her. I won’t be elaborating on what that means. Mentally, I can’t be sure how she fares. We’ll have to see how she acts when she awakens.”

“Thank you for taking care of her. She’s been through so much.” Gertrude said.

“My pleasure– but it is not necessary to thank me. This is my work. I would not be myself if I ignored people in need of medical help. It would be quite shameful.” Nile said. She glanced at the wall of the room. “I’m worried about her. But I’m also worried about you.”

It was not that Gertrude did not appreciate Nile’s attention.

But she had a stubborn feeling that she wanted to be treated as someone formidable.

She should have been the only one worrying– about Nile and Monika and the others.

In her mind, she had overcome her personal hurdles and deserved to be relied upon now.

“I promise, you can look after me when there’s need– but I feel perfectly fine.”

“Alright, I won’t press you any further. Just remember that I am here.” Nile said.

She turned back around to the table she had set up in the back.

“Nile, I’m curious what you’re doing to those substances?”

Gertrude pointed at the beaker, propped up on a foldable rack, and the red fluid inside.

It had done frothing and looked a bit thinner than even previously.

“I am testing Katov mass gathered from outside the ship. Preliminarily trying to figure out what happened last night.” Nile said. “I was hoping that I might be able to reproduce a fleeting effect resembling the strange aetheric phenomenon, in miniature of course. By applying a certain neurochemical to the mass, I hoped to stimulate the organisms that make it up– but it looks like it had no effect other than altering the PH to kill it.”

“I don’t follow– what led you to believe such a thing was possible?” Gertrude said.

Nile looked as if she had not understood the question. She narrowed her eyes.

“You can’t truly be this incurious about the world, Gertrude? I can’t know anything until I have tried and observed results. That is the nature of experimentation. That’s what I am doing.”

Gertrude felt like an idiot. What was it about Nile that flustered her so easily?

“I was just worried something might happen.” She said, trying to sound sensible.

“Something happening is the very point. That is how we start learning. I am working with very small amounts of katov mass and chemicals. It’s very safe.” Nile sighed. “At any rate, I now believe the mass had nothing to do it with it– it was perhaps only reacting to the phenomenon, just like us. However, I hoped to test my belief and acquire proof by actually running some experiments. I’ll keep trying over the next few days and see the results.”

“Right.” Gertrude said. There was no use continuing this topic– she had other concerns.

In a fit of pique, she locked eyes with Nile, who met her gaze almost on accident.

For a moment, Nile appeared to recognize how Gertrude was looking at her.

Her eyes flashed red; just as Gertrude flexed those alien muscles in her own eyes.

Demonstrating her ability and seeing the blue and green color that collected around Nile.

Through her psionic sight she got the sense Nile’s aura was very deep and very dense.

That there was a depth to her– a depth that she did not hide but did not acknowledge.

Nile was very powerful. And her aura seemed to flicker like a candle-fire in a gust of air.

Despite her outward calm her aura gave off a feeling of volatility, or perhaps fluctuation.

However, her aura was also gentle. Her flame was wild, but it was not unforgiving.

“Nile, you know that I can do this now.” Gertrude said. “You are seeing it, right?”

Nile smiled. Despite her almost proud-seeming expression her aura remained the same.

“I do. I told you my suspicions last night, didn’t I? I was too vague perhaps.”

“Nile, can you tell me what you know about this power?” Gertrude said.

To Gertrude’s surprise, there was no hesitation or reticence from her doctor.

She simply took in a breath and began to speak candidly.

“I must preface by saying that everything I know, I learned from others who have studied this phenomenon more closely than me. I possess the ability myself, but I am not as versed as my colleagues. We call the power, Psionics. It is a word that feels right does it not? Different cultures had different concepts of it– any kind of ‘magic’ like volshebstvo or sihr is actually an expression of this power understood through cultural myth.” Nile spoke in a confident manner, as if giving a rehearsed lecture. Had she said this same thing to others before? Or had she perhaps prepared to give this explanation to Gertrude? She continued. “Psionics is the power of the human mind and our conception of the world, influenced by our emotions. Or at least, my colleagues and I hope that is accurate, after our experimentation.”

“In other words, in my case it is the power of my anger made manifest.” Gertrude said.

In the liminal space with the blue pools, Gertrude’s red passion and anger had broken the blue walls of the phenomenon and allowed her to finally move past the maze in which she had been trapped. In that moment, she had come to understand that blue was the source of her lethargy, and that red was her spiraling passions, covering her like an armor. When she saw blue in Nile’s aura, however, she felt different toward it– she was not alarmed. It was the same color, but the intention of Nile was not to ‘sleep eternally’ as Monika once desired. It seemed much less urgent. In fact, Monika also had a quiet and gently blue aura.

Nile was quick to rebut what Gertrude thought was an ironclad assertion, however.

“That is your current conception of the power based on what you have experienced. Different people with different experiences develop different systems of intellectual decryption. This can help you control the power through conceptual associations. It is the power of your mind, after all, it is a bit abstract. But also, I must stress that your conception of the power can change as much as your conception of the world can change. Your mind and emotions are not rigid, Gertrude. You do have an effect on how you feel and what you think; it is possible to change your mind, after all. I would strongly advise you not to think of psionics as a phenomenon that intersects solely with your anger. It is limiting to you.”

Gertrude responded at first with a short, bitter chuckle at the idea of changing herself.

“I wish everything were as easy as just convincing myself out of my habits.” She said.

She could change the meat on her bones, now– in all kinds of ways.

But her mind still felt like something far less forgiving of alteration.

“I never said it was easy. But my assertion is still correct, Gertrude.” Nile said.

“That sounds like something Victoria would say.”

“Then she would be correct also. Rhetoric is another thing that is the same anywhere.”

“I don’t mean– nevermind.” Gertrude grunted. “Can you teach me to control my psionics?”

Nile averted her eyes in response. Her expression was suddenly glum and conflicted.

Gertrude noticed that her aura shimmered, as if the candlefire withstood a stiff wind.

“I– well, I mean– it presents a certain challenge– I am not opposed–” Nile was tongue-tied, “as much as I have managed to hang on to my patience with you, because you are my patient and deserve the best of me even when I see the worst of you so frequently–”

“–Hey, c’mon…” Gertrude mumbled at the off-handed insult. What was her problem?

“–I am not actually very good at controlling my emotions either.” Nile sighed.

She crossed her arms and shut her eyes, wracked by a quiet consternation.

So that was the issue– she must have been dreading this moment, anticipating the request.

“I understand. But you can still teach me what you know, can’t you?” Gertrude said.

“To be frank, I have never taught anyone psionics. I can try, for you.” Nile said.

“But you had that whole spiel in the back of your head for when I asked?” Gertrude said.

“Correct. That spiel is something I have been preparing. I knew from the moment I saw you that you had the potential to employ psionics. You just needed a push; either to discover it on your terms or to be influenced by an outside force. I was conflicted about whether I should give you that push– but I knew by accepting your offer I had to be ready to consult for you regardless of what happened. I knew that, because we were now heading into extreme conditions, you would be much more likely to discover your abilities here.”

“Then, hardship plays a part in achieving psionics?” Gertrude asked. “That means you knew that I would be under so much stress in the abyss that I would eventually awaken?”

“Correct again. Any sufficiently heightened emotion, in the right circumstances, might cause a person with potential to discover and achieve control of their psionics, to some extent.” Nile said. She crossed her arms. “Take for example the legendary Loup warrior Samoylovych-Daybringer. The stories had it that the young Daybringer, during the war with Hanwa in the late 910s, fought to the brink of death against a powerful Hanwan warrior to hold a station landing. In that state, the stories say a fairy visited him, and taught him volshebtsvo. Daybringer’s feats after that were not exaggerated– he had achieved the power to kill scores of men. I suspect a near-death experience jogged Daybringer’s dormant power.”

“That’s a lot to take in.” Gertrude said, sighing. She felt unsettled by the example and by the idea that this could happen to anyone. “I can’t help but think that despite his efforts, we lost that war with Hanwa. The Imbrian Empire was not able to expand into the Mare Crisium even with a psionic warrior on our side. Or who knows how many more of them there were.”

“Psionics can be very powerful, but it is still impossible to win a war by oneself.” Nile said.

“Some part of me hoped I would be able to use this power to do just that.” Gertrude said.

“That hubristic and whimsical part of you is very charming, indeed.” Nile smiled warmly.

Gertrude averted her gaze. “That’s all you’re going to say to me about that, huh?”

“Yes. There is no consoling you on that score, it is simply the hard truth of things. In fact, Samoylovych-Daybringer, older but still in his prime, was ultimately slain by an ordinary man. You will be similarly vulnerable and limited– but nevertheless, psionics is a useful tool to have. Especially if you are flexible in your conception and development of it.”

Of course, common sense dictated that no individual was ever completely invincible.

For a moment, however, Gertrude in her passions had truly wanted to believe she was.

That achieving this power was an enormous breakthrough that would settle everything.

There was something unsettling about it being only a tool that might help her going forward.

Arvokas Jarvelainen, Ingrid’s ancestor, had ultimately killed the legendary Daybringer.

For Arvokas there were no fairy stories or mythical deeds. He was just a kin-slayer.

Gertrude was still vulnerable, and she was not by herself suddenly an earth-shaking titan.

She looked at Nile, hands in her coat pockets, who looked back with quiet consideration.

Sighing deeply, Gertrude tried to look positively upon things. It was good to accept reality.

She was not invincible, even with her psionics, but she was also not alone either.

There was an entire ship of people who had her back. Advising her, fighting with her.

And even in this very room there was someone who had agreed to lend her assistance.

“Nile, thank you for giving me your perspective. I– I do really appreciate it.” She said.

Nile nodded her head. “I assume that at this point– you’ll want to know more about me personally, right? That is also another conversation that I foresaw and prepared for.”

Gertrude shook her head in return.

“Honestly I have lost the zest for it. I had it in mind to interrogate you at any cost about the Sunlight Foundation and what you truly knew about the world. I know you still must have all manner of secrets. But those things feel petty now. You’re right, none of us are one-man islands. I have no cause to doubt your allegiance. You’ve done nothing but help me even when I’ve been stubborn as a rock wall.” Gertrude said. Her voice was turning soft and fond of the mysterious Loup. She felt comforted by this discussion. She wanted to feel formidable, yes– but she also had to accept the reality of her vulnerability.

Hubris had already done a lot of damage to her. She had to try her best to temper it.

Thinking she could squeeze everything out of Nile, thinking it would help anything.

Both were notions that made sense before and did not make sense now.

Like Nile said– maybe her mind was something she could, slowly, deliberately, change.

“Thank you. I am willing to answer your questions, for what it’s worth.” Nile said.

She gestured toward a pair of seats– they had both been speaking standing up and close.

Gertrude shook her head. She suddenly felt very thankful to be in Nile’s ‘care.’

“I think I just want to sit by Monika’s side and see if she wakes.” Gertrude said.

“Of course. Feel free to avail yourself of anything in the infirmary.” Nile said.

She did have one question– it arrived at her quite suddenly.

One curiosity about Nile. She would allow herself to sate a single one.

“Actually– I do have one question, before I go.” Gertrude said.

Nile nodded. “Like I said, I’ve been preparing. What do you want to know?”

“How do you feel about your former allegiances? Do you have regrets?” Gertrude asked.

For a moment, a surprised Nile was pulled into her thoughts, with a melancholy expression.

“What a cruel question to ask, fittingly for you.” She tried to smile and to sound good humored. It was forced. “Of course, I have regrets. We disagreed on many things. But it was the only place I ever felt accepted and treated as a peer. I had no other home and I wanted none– they were my colleagues. We esteemed each other, motivated each other. We were flawed and arrogant and made horrible mistakes, but I would rather deal with cracked glass as long as it can keep the oxygen in. I had hope; some part of me still does.”

“Thank you.” Gertrude said. She reached out a hand to Nile’s shoulder, to comfort her.

Nile allowed it. Perhaps she even welcomed it.

She was just as vulnerable as Gertrude was. Nile, too, was not an invincible threat.


Time passed as Gertrude sat on the empty bed adjacent to Monika’s in the infirmary. She looked at the sleeping beauty’s face periodically. It was a relief; though she was still asleep, she looked peaceful. Her breathing was steady, she did not seem to be in pain. After everything she had been through, Gertrude hoped that she could have a moment’s relaxation before she resumed her activities. She deserved so much more– but at least that much. Gertrude waited at her side, hoping she might wake in a few hours more.

After about thirty minutes, Nile walked in through the door as well.

She had a cup of coffee and a handful of unsalted crackers and handed them to Gertrude.

“You should have something in your stomach.” Nile said.

“Thank you.” Gertrude said. “Can I call you when she wakes up?”

“I am planning to stay here actually, unless something drags me away.” Nile said.

She sat on the bed beside Gertrude and sipped her own cup of coffee.

Gertrude dipped one of the crackers in the coffee and ate it.

Together they watched over Monika’s bedside.

As she did so, Gertrude began to ponder the mysterious phenomenon that transpired last night. That maze of blue pools and the things they reflected; Monika claiming she wanted to invite Gertrude and the rest of the crew to an ‘eternal sleep’; and the Drowning Prophecy, the monstrous entity in Monika’s false church; did everyone experience visions in the blue pools? Victoria had confirmed she saw the pools, and that she saw events within them, lives she had not led. Gertrude likened it to a dream and Victoria agreed– but it was not an ordinary dream, concocted purely by her exhausted mind. It had felt so real, and the fact that she could still use psionics proved it. Gertrude had been there to see all of it.

Dreams often felt like being carried away to a different place and ended upon waking.

For Gertrude, the experience of the liminal pools, and her current state, felt like they were entirely contiguous events. Her memories were a bit hazy, but not gone. If Monika had put them all to sleep and beckoned them to remain sleeping, it was not a usual sleep. Gertrude wondered if everyone could remember the things they saw in the pools, if the people with less understanding were trying to puzzle out the haunting sensation that they felt from becoming trapped in that space and seeing impossible sights. Or if different people had gone to entirely different places and seen different things entirely than her.

Eventually, Gertrude got it into mind to put that question to Nile as well–

“Nile– during the mysterious ‘event’ last night, did you see a maze of blue pools?”

Nile took a long sip of her coffee, nodding her head slightly while drinking.

“Yes. With my psionics I understood it as a supernatural event, but I couldn’t escape.”

“What did you see in the pools?” Gertrude asked.

Nile scoffed. She averted her gaze. “You’re terribly nosy, did you know that?”

Gertrude smiled a bit. “It served me well in the Inquisition at least.”

Glancing back at Gertrude’s gentle expression, Nile breathed deeply and put down her cup.

“Fine. But you must tell your doctor about your own dreams, first.” She said.

“All of them were about Elena von Fueller.” Gertrude said. “We built many lives together in those pools. I was her servant, and I was her lover. She gave me meaning.”

Nile looked surprised– she must not have expected Gertrude to be so forthcoming.

To people like Nile and Victoria, Gertrude had nothing to hide about that affair anymore.

“I was Elena von Fueller’s lover– surprise? I squandered everything though.” Gertrude said.

In response to Gertrude’s honesty, Nile looked exasperated, and seemed to resign herself.

“Fine, fine. I saw similar things in the pools. Some of them represented things I knew could be possible– different decision points in my life. But there were some that were fabrications. I saw myself as some kind of horrid queen of a disease-infested flesh castle that resembled Heitzing; I saw myself as a member of the Pythian Black Legion nerve-gassing an entire station. But the worst one–” Nile paused and looked down at her cup for a moment.

Gertrude raised a hand and waved, interposing it between herself and Nile to stop her.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to keep going. I know now that we saw similar visions.”

Nile looked in that moment as Gertrude had never seen her before, but the expression was familiar because she had seen it in herself. Pain and frustration, an internal conflict, reticence that fought with passion and quaked under her skin. Gertrude thought she might hear her scream any moment; she looked that bound up in herself. She tried to reassure Nile that she did not need to say anything, but she knew, because she had been there herself, that the emotions were too hot. She had been in that exact position far too many times.

“No. I want to tell someone. Even if you might not understand– almost certainly you won’t understand it. But I’ll get it off my chest and then I can put it away forever.” Nile said. Her voice rose– she was taken by a sudden passion. “Gertrude, I saw the Northern Host of the Loup being completely wiped out by Mehmed Khalifa. Somehow, he detonated the North Imbrian Agarthic Vein– what’s known as one of the ‘Ley-Lines’. You do not know how close this came to actually happening, Gertrude. In that vision I just stood there and watched him do it. Watched him kill half of the Loup, and scores of Imbrians. He devastated the Palatine and ended the Empire.” Nile’s fingers tightened their grip on the cup, nearly shaking. Her eyes looked like they would tear up. “I– I did not want his blood on my hands.”

“Nile– I’m so sorry.” Gertrude said. It was hard to muster any words in response.

Mehmed Khalifa, better known as Mehmed the Tyrant or Mehmed the Sorcerer, had declared an organized, armed religious struggle known to the Shimii as a ‘jihad’. He mustered scores of mainly Mahdist Shimii fighters in improvised and stolen crafts. Using his limited resources he inflicted embarrassing defeats on the Empire in the early to middle 930s, slowly building his arsenal. The official narrative was that the Inquisition tracked him down to Bad Ischl and killed him, but Gertrude knew one better– she knew that one of the Inquisition’s secrets was that the Agarthicite veins in the area had a dangerous event that inflicted damage on the Imperial siege fleet but also scattered the jihadists. An act of God ended the Jihad.

Now she knew two better– not an act of God, but Nile and her ‘colleagues’ instead. Had they truly ended the Jihad? Why? Given the resources Victoria claimed they possessed, and Nile’s own abilities, Gertrude could believe that if they became involved in such an event, that they could have brought it to a conclusion. But why interfere against someone as formidable as the self-crowned king of the Shimii’s Age of Heroes? Had they become involved in any other events, Gertrude wondered? Had any other acts of God been instead the meddling of the Sunlight Foundation in the background of what had become accepted history?

Seeing how distressed Nile had become, Gertrude could not possibly ask for more context.

Despite her curiosity, the Jihad was over– and Mehmed was dead.

And it did not matter to her and her life what or who did it. It was in the past and Gertrude had no reason to litigate it. But it clearly caused Nile a lot of pain. In those blue pools she saw a world in which she never got her hands dirty, and allowed an atrocity to pass. Gertrude had thought of the pools as amoral, showing her things that were in some sense real, without judgment. She had only seen events that reflected her warped desires and horrible mistakes. To show Nile something that horrid, however, Gertrude began to wonder if perhaps the visions in the blue pools had been guided by an active malevolence.

Rather than say anything more, she gingerly sidled closer to Nile and tried to comfort her.

Nile raised a hand to gently prevent this, keeping her away, and another to wipe her eyes.

“Thank you, but– it’s fine–” She kept a hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry for losing myself.”

“No apology necessary. It’s only human. I would know.” Gertrude said, smiling.

“I appreciate your understanding. If I broke down anywhere, then at least it was with you.”

Nile must have meant that because of their similarities they could have a unique solidarity.

However, Gertrude’s heart was quick to accelerate, and her face felt a bit warm.

At the thought of Nile wanting to confer her vulnerability only to her.

“You don’t have to tell me anything. I am sorry for prying.” Gertrude said. “But– if you need someone to talk to, I am here for you. I understand what it feels like carrying a burden. God knows, I’ve made so many mistakes that perhaps no one would understand. My pool rooms were full of my stupid obsession, devoid of any of the people I care about or even people that I hurt. I am ashamed of that single-mindedness– it wiped out even the recognition of my mistakes from my psyche. This– it demonstrates you’re better than that.”

Nile lifted her hand from over her eyes, her tears wiped but clearly still a bit agitated.

She nodded in response, and quietly finished off the last of her coffee.

Gertrude took a sip too and began to calm her thrashing her heart.

“Gertrude, would you accept a chaste and professional hug?” Nile asked suddenly.

“Any time.” Gertrude quickly replied.

Nile sidled close to Gertrude, and extended an arm over her shoulder, pulling her close.

Gertrude accepted it and reciprocated. She could feel Nile’s tail thumping the bed.

For a while, they shared this quiet physical comfort before gently separating.

Going back to looking over Monika but with calmer hearts and minds than before.

After a few hours of staring in a silence only broken by Nile getting more coffee–

Monika turned in bed, once, twice– she tightened her eyes, and pulled her blankets.

Gertrude and Nile nearly jumped with surprise as if the floors and walls had moved instead.

Finally, Monika began to open her eyes. She opened them halfway, shut them.

She began to blink. She saw up in bed, dressed in only a patient’s gown. Her hair fell over her eyes partially and behind her back. Monika pulled her bangs to the sides of her face and let out a yawn. Without speaking a word, she continued to stare at Gertrude and Nile, who stared back. For a moment the trio traded stares at one another.

One of Monika’s furry ears began to twitch.

“Gertrude?” Monika asked, when she finally spoke. “Have I been dreaming?”

“Maybe. Did you happen to dream about a maze of blue pools?” Gertrude asked.

“Don’t tell her that so quickly– let her acclimate first!” Nile protested.

“Blue pools?” Monika’s eyes opened wide. She hugged herself. “Oh my god.”

“Let me handle the talking.” Nile said. “Monika, how many fingers am I holding up?”

She held up her index and middle fingers, making a ‘V’ sign in front of Monika.

In response, Monika made two ‘V’ signs with her own hands, blinking her eyes slowly.

Nile ran her fingers idly through her hair, seemingly thinking of what to say.

“She looks awake and aware to me.” Gertrude said. “Monika, how are you feeling?”

“Confused. Horrible. And– oh my god–!” Monika narrowed her eyes. Her tail extended.

Then with barely any warning she sprang from her bed and leaped over to the one adjacent.

Throwing her arms around Gertrude and nearly tackling her off and onto the ground.

Thankfully they both fell over on top of the bed instead, nearly kicking Nile aside.

“Hey!” Nile cried out. “Calm down! You’ll hurt yourself! We need to–!”

“Gertrude!” Monika cried out. “I’m so sorry! I can’t– I’m so ashamed– you saved me–!”

Between the gratitude and contrition all screamed in interwoven hysterics, Gertrude could not muster an answer. Despite her petite stature Monika in that moment had the force of a leviathan as she hugged Gertrude down against the bed, her tail drumming against the plastic headboard. Monika cried and screamed into Gertrude’s chest, her gown nearly pulling apart with her thrashing. She hugged her so close, kicking her legs, arms tight.

“Monika! It’s okay! Please calm down! Listen to the doctor!” Gertrude struggled to say.

Monika pressed herself tightly against Gertrude’s chest while Nile looked on with worry.

Then Monika raised her head and met Gertrude’s eyes, ears running down her cheeks.

With a smile on her face.

“Gertrude– I’m happy to be here. I’m glad I’m alive.” She said.

Gertrude felt an enormous sense of relief.

She let herself fall back on the bed without resistance.

Letting out a breath that felt long held.

“I’m so happy you’re here, Monika.” Gertrude replied, stroking Monika’s hair.

With some gentle coaxing from the doctor, Monika returned to her bed and sat upright.

Nile handed her a cup of water and some crackers. Monika took a few bites.

Gertrude sat across and observed her while Nile tested her faculties.

“Monika Erke-Tendercloud,” Nile said, “That is your name, correct?”

Monika nodded her head.

“Thank you– but can you speak your answer clearly? For the sake of the test.”

“Yes, it is Monika Erke-Tendercloud.”

“I am going to ask you to do something that might seem silly. Can you extend your right arm over the left side of your body, with your thumb up, and stick out your tongue?” Nile asked.

“Yes.” Monika followed the instructions without hesitation.

Gertrude looked over at the wall to prevent herself laughing– Monika was rather cute.

“Can you name this object that I am holding?” Nile said. It was her digital pen.

“It’s a pen.” Monika said.

“What am I doing with it?” Nile scribbled on the screen of her digital clipboard.

“You’re writing. It’s a digital pen and you have a digital clipboard.”

“Do you remember the small talk we had when you came in for a checkup?”

“I think you asked me about the food on board. We talked about liking the liver pate.”

“It’s a bit gritty but nutritionally excellent– lots of what kind of Vitamin?”

“Vitamin A if I am remembering correctly.”

“You are correct. One last question– where is the consortium Reschold-Kolt located?”

“They’re in the Bureni Republic. It’s one of my many misfortunes recently, hah!”

Monika spoke candidly and cheerfully and seemed to be full of energy.

Nile smiled and put her clipboard at her side on the bed.

“I believe you have all of your faculties about you. This isn’t a comprehensive test, but you are aware, your coordination is good, and you can recall details. I don’t believe that I will need to hold you here for long, but I would like to observe you awake for an hour.”

“I was going to spend the day loafing around anyway.” Monika said. “Thank you, doctor.”

She turned to face Gertrude again and pointed at her. “How is she doing?”

“I’m afraid that’s confidential patient information.” Nile said gently.

Putting it like that made it sound like something was going on!

“C’mon. I’m fine!” Gertrude said, slightly irritated. “Don’t worry about me, Monika.”

“Don’t put up an act. You got stabbed in the gut– I saw it! I was terrified!” Monika said.

“Wait– what?” Nile looked at Gertrude with wide eyes, staring down at her abdomen.

Gertrude raised her hands as if to shield herself from the concerns of the two women.

“Everything grew back. Would I be walking around if I got stabbed in the stomach?”

“What do you mean everything grew back?” Nile said. “I’m going to need an explanation!”

“Calm down and I’ll give you one. I’ve been wanting to talk about this with you anyway.”

Gertrude put her hands on the bed, reared back a bit, sighed, and then launched into her story of what happened yesterday. She went through everything but embellished or glossed over a few details– Monika did not need to know about what she saw in the pools. But she explained becoming lost in the primary edifice due to Azazil An-Nur’s cries for help; being attacked by the strange blue creatures and her experience of falling asleep; waking up in the blue pools, and breaking through them; Eris and her ambitions to recover her–

She did not mention Eris. That was still for herself only. She was still processing that.

Finally, breaking the maze, the church, the abomination and her newfound power.

“And then she rescued me.” Monika said. “That part I can corroborate, doctor.”

Gertrude nodded her head. “I killed the creature that captured Monika. Then I woke up again and I wasn’t in the blue pools anymore. I carried Monika back to the ship. You were all there to greet me– and from what I can gather, all of us saw the blue pools too. Victoria confirmed that she did, and Nile, you saw them too. So– we all had this strange dream.”

“A collective psychic phenomenon.” Nile lifted a hand to her forehead. “Ya allah.”

“I take it this isn’t something you have experience with?” Gertrude asked.

“This specific incident is magnitudes stranger than anything I’ve heard or seen happen. I could not have predicted it.” Nile said. “I knew, and I attempted to communicate to you, that the abyssal ‘aetheric weather’ would affect us. I do not know the origin of the color weather, but the abyss has been observed by my colleagues to affect the auras of people, it causes our emotions to unbalance. Most people, most of the time, have a balance of stress and tranquility and other emotional states– the aetheric weather causes one of the states of our aura to expand at the expense of this balance. I knew this and I tried to tell you.”

“You tried to tell me once, in my room at midnight, when I was dead tired.” Gertrude said.

“Huh?” Monika said. Looking a bit red. “She was in your room at midnight?”

“I broke in.” Nile said as if it explained anything.

Monika blinked. “You broke into her room at midnight?”

“Nevermind that, nothing happened!” Gertrude waved her hands rapidly.

Nile shrugged her shoulders innocently. Monika glanced between the two of them.

“Unfortunately, the weather had begun to have its effect on me also and impaired my judgment. I was also tired and unbalanced. I should have kept pushing you on that subject, even as stubborn as you were. But I did not want to deal with it.” Nile said. “The past few days I had a lot to do and did the best I could despite the creeping exhaustion, but I had limited headspace and I put off important things. I only vaguely recognized that this was the doing of the ‘aetheric weather’ but I felt that we could do nothing but ride it out.”

“We were all acting a bit more foolish than usual.” Gertrude said, sighing.

“For you such a thing is much more in-character.” Monika said.

Gertrude frowned, and Monika smile back, having successfully caused her grief.

“Doctor,” Monika turned to Nile, “I– I think the strange stuff that happened is my fault.”

“It’s not your fault at all.” Gertrude was quick to say.

“I agree with Gertrude. Nobody is blaming you, Monika.” Nile said.

Monika sat back against the bed, crossing her arms and breathing out.

“It’s difficult– but can I try to explain to you what happened? Even if it sounds crazy?”

“Of course. Listening to my patients is the very least I can do.” Nile said.

Laying in bed, looking at the ceiling as if to avoid their eyes–

Monika recounted her experiences.

She confessed to Nile and Gertrude that she had been dealing with suicidal thoughts for a very long time. Monika grew up in a deeply religious household and she referred to the Loup culture as anti-intellectual– Nile could relate to this. After escaping from her abusive family, Monika had managed to get her thoughts more under control– but she knew there was a stigma against feeling such a way. She did not want to be seen as insane or as a ticking time-bomb, so she told nobody about it. Her despair sat quietly in her and she drowned it in various achievements. In the world of the Imbrians she could do everything her family barred her from. Completed her education, found a job that allowed her to express her interest in technology, sciences and industry. Finally she accomplished the aspirational feat of any military engineer– she was chose to serve aboard a glorious, high-tech Dreadnought.

Recent events had shaken her confidence in herself. She began to struggle with work and thought about how helpless she was to influence the events happening around her– such as Imbria’s dissolution, or the battles against the Brigand. She took it hard when the machine she had worked on, was defeated in battle and then stolen– she took it harder when she struggled to repair the Magellan that Gertrude got to keep. It wasn’t for lack of materials or time, but she felt, it was a limit in herself. In her usefulness to the world around her.

She confessed that in her mind, if she failed, then– there was no reason to keep on living.

“I started to have those feelings about myself again. Every little thing triggered them.” Monika said. “If I didn’t finish this or that, or if I couldn’t figure something out– even minor everyday tasks or things like how to set up my tools so I can reach them more efficiently. Any little thing started to feel like something I ought to have stopped living over. That negotiation with myself about whether it was worth living or not felt like it was taking a life of its own. Like I was really talking with death itself about living on or dying, any time that anything happened. Then, things started to move really quickly, it felt like– at one point I found myself almost worshiping death– thinking that everyone must have felt like me and we could all die together. That’s when I found that church, and that abomination.”

“Monika–” Gertrude began. It took everything not to cry. “I’m so, so sorry.”

She reached out her hands and took Monika’s, caressing her, hoping to comfort her.

Monika reciprocated, taking Gertrude’s hands and squeezing them in hers.

“It’s alright. I decided I want to live Gertrude. I’m going to try. I know I will probably have these thoughts again– but I will fight to live. And I will also ask for help if I need it.”

“Monika, whatever you need, you can come to me. I’ll always listen.” Gertrude said.

It wasn’t that she was completely unfamiliar with the kind of feelings Monika had felt.

Gertrude had more than once felt utter hopelessness, and all of its most dire results.

However, she never suspected that Monika was dealing with such feelings herself.

That frightened Gertrude– she could have lost Monika forever and never realized it.

She had been so self-centered and oblivious to her pain despite thinking she knew her well.

Conscious of this, Gertrude did not want to turn the conversation to her own failings.

Monika had already gotten angry at her once for drowning in self-pity.

In her mind however she told herself, and she knew, that she had to do better by Monika.

Nile also reached out and laid her hand over Monika’s with a gentle demeanor and speech.

“For as long as I am your doctor, I will support you, Monika. And everything you have told us will stay in this room. It is confidential patient information. So do not worry.” She said.

“Thank you.” Monika said. She sat back up and stopped looking at the roof. Her eyes were glistening. She wiped them on the sleeve of her hospital gown. “Doctor, during my experiences last night– I felt like understood implicitly that there was a supernatural power in my self. My mind was a mess– so I didn’t care then. I understand that you have power too, and Gertrude too. You know about all of this– and you must know more than I do.”

“I am not all-knowing. But I know some things.” Nile said. “Psionics, the power you feel that you now have, is as deep and as fluid as the human experience itself. I’ve lived for longer than you might imagine, and I will never observe and examine everything related to psionics. It’s like myths, or miracles; I’m sure it will always change to elude our reckoning.”

“I understand, doctor, but could you try to explain what might have happened?”

Nile’s expression was familiar– as exasperated as when Gertrude asked about psionics.

She nodded her assent but paused for a moment clearly gathering her thoughts.

Her ears folded and rose, and she ran her fingers through some of her hair.

“As it stands, this is conjecture– and barely educated conjecture at that. During the blue weather event, Monika, you were fatigued and beset by feelings of frustration and hopelessness. These feelings were amplified by the blue weather, sabotaging your mental stability until it crossed a certain emotional threshold. It led to your psionics awakening, and you lost control over them. This may have had a synergistic effect with the blue weather, which we were all experiencing, that led to us having a collective event. Of course, I vehemently reject blaming you for this– I believe you were a victim of circumstance.”

“Monika, do you agree with this? How did you feel?” Gertrude asked.

Monike crossed her arms. Her own ears folded and rose as she thought it over.

“I think it’s mostly right, but– I feel that I was not the one who created that abomination that Gertrude and I saw. I felt that it had been speaking to me for a long time, ever since we got down here– I tried to ignore it, but looking back, at a certain point, I embraced it.”

Gertrude supported Monika’s deliberation.

“Nile, inside the blue rooms, I felt like I understood what Monika’s feelings were with great certainty. I can’t explain it, but I just knew, like I could hear a voice in my head that explained everything. But the monster always felt apart from her. Like an invader into her mind. Those were not explicitly her feelings alone, they felt like feelings anyone could have. Like mine also. It was called ‘the Drowning Prophecy’– and I think Monika knows that name too.”

“Yes, I felt just like Gertrude. Like someone was telling me about its name for certain.”

Nile paused and crossed her arms. She sighed. “You don’t say. Anyone’s feelings, huh?”

“Would you happen to have any explanation for that phenomenon?” Gertrude asked.

“Yes and no.” Nile said. She sighed again. “Like I’ve said before, I am a medical doctor, not a pseudophysicist or a parapsychiatrist. However, one of my colleagues, Euphrates, theorized that it should be possible to create constructs with psionics that anyone would recognize as real entities despite their aetheric origin. Perhaps this entity you both saw was created out of collective emotions. Maybe its reach over Monika was a result of how many tired and hopeless people were aboard the ship– in the blue weather that would mean all of us.”

“I guess it makes as much sense as anything.” Gertrude said, feeling a bit helpless.

“I still feel like ‘The Drowning Prophecy’ was something else entirely.” Monika said. “Not just our feelings, but something older and bigger than that. It was like it had been ready to communicate with me at the earliest time I was able to see it. Like it was leading me to the blue church– just waiting all of this time to talk to anyone who would listen to it. I don’t believe in God, but thinking back, it almost felt like a horrible, sublime revelation.”

“Well, I can’t know more until I see this happen myself– and I don’t want to.” Nile said.

“Right. I’d also prefer never to have that experience again.” Monika said.

She and Nile tried to smile but the topic was heavy, and clearly weighing on their minds.

Nile probably felt frustrated with her lack of answers. Her body language had grown tense.

When it came to medical problems she always had a solution– this was beyond her.

Gertrude wondered if for a genius intellect like her, uncertainty was uniquely frustrating.

“So, if this all had to do with our emotions– were we in physical danger?” Gertrude asked.

“If this was related to psionics in some way, then yes. You were in danger.” Nile said.

“Can you elaborate how? Do you think the monster could have really killed us?”

In the moment, Gertrude’s sense of pain was dull despite the horrible attack she suffered.

That monster ran her through with its tentacle, and there was blood and she screamed.

There was not the level of acute, shattering pain she would have associated with that.

Perhaps it was the red passion cloaking her in power, and the certainty she felt back then.

Or perhaps it just had not been physical, and it actually was closer to a dream than reality.

“Normally,” Nile said, “it is very difficult to use psionics to coerce someone into harming themselves– it’s an action that is too atypical for the subject’s internality to accept. But it’s not impossible and we have no idea what a psionic construct is capable of doing, whether they follow our observations. Had you and Monika faltered, I imagine you would have indeed slept eternally. However that felt to you in the moment– your body was suffering.”

Not necessarily that being stabbed by the monster would have killed Gertrude, but rather, that it would have convinced them to pursue its ‘eternal sleep.’ Everyone would have chosen to die by never waking up from the dream until they passed. Mass psychogenic suicide.

Probably Nile would not have characterized it this way, but it got Gertrude thinking about the dangers that psionics might pose. She had been thinking about it exclusively in the way her body became a weapon when imbued with her psionics– but in reality, it was farther reaching and much more dangerous than that. Psionics was much more insidious.

Gertrude recalled all the strange abilities Norn seemed to possess. The incredible control over her troops, her ability to move extremely quickly and strike someone in a blink.

There was a larger and more terrifying world opening up before Gertrude’s own eyes.

“Nile, could you help Monika to understand and control her psionics too?” Gertrude asked.

Upon hearing that request, Monika looked down at her hands with a quiet concern.

Gertrude must have had that exact same expression on her face last night too.

That dire contemplation of becoming irreversibly different than before.

“I will do the best I can.” Nile sighed. “It’s– I guess it’s my duty as a doctor, after all.”


“Vogt, nobody roughed her up, right? And she’s been behaving well?”

“Indeed High– Commander.” Vogt caught himself. “She has been quietly waiting for you.”

“Any observations?” She ignored his struggle with her rank.

“One observation. When you first brought her here, she seemed almost– giggly. Energetic. Kind of fawning over you. At some point, and probably if I went through the camera footage I could probably scrobble to the exact second– she stopped smiling, Commander. She has this very neutral expression now. Her voice feels different too. When we brought her food, she spoke to us in a weird language– the translator tool said it is High Gallic. When we asked her to speak in Low Imbrian she teased us about our lack of culture. It was strange.”

Gertrude grunted, annoyed. “What the hell is she up to now– let me in to see her.”

After making sure Monika was okay and grabbing more coffee from Nile, Gertrude had set out to tackle her least anticipated errand of the day. It would have been callous of her to continue to subject Azazil An-Nur to captivity when she had wanted to cooperate before. But Gertrude had to know more about her and had to better understand her disposition. So she traveled to the Iron Lady’s containment rooms. She would converse with her in the interrogation cell she was being kept in, and she would decide then what to do.

“She has not been aggressive, Commander. I think she will cooperate.” Vogt said.

“I’m hoping as much too, but I’m always prepared for the worst.” Gertrude said.

Things she said to reassure her troops, without always meaning them.

In fact, she knew precious little about Azazil An-Nur and had no idea how she would act.

Vogt nodded and showed Gertrude he had brought a folding vibroblade on his person.

“I, too, am prepared for the worst. So you can be at ease, Commander.” He said.

Azazil was being kept confined in a glass-walled interrogation cell, one-way viewable.

Inside the cell she had a desk and a chair, both made of soft rubber-padded plastic.

Outside, there was a media room where recordings and observations were being made.

Gertrude passed through that room, out into a connecting rear room and then into the cell.

Azazil An-Nur lifted her eyes from the table briefly and smiled a very small, slight smile.

Her expression appeared much more reserved. When Gertrude had last seen her, she was gently smiling and cooing at her, like a motherly type of woman who wanted to impress her affection and comfort upon Gertrude. Now, she had a very specific sort of neutral expression, of the sort that Gertrude associated with noblewomen. Adelheid van Mueller had this sort of haughty non-smile that she would put on for people who were beneath her notice but not worth her disrespect. A noblewoman’s smile– put on for appearances, so perfectly practiced it managed to mean something while conveying nothing.

“Azazil, how have you been getting on?” Gertrude asked, sitting down across the table.

“In my appraisal, I have been diligently cooperative in my captivity.” Azazil said.

Vogt had been right– her voice was deeper, smoother. She had changed it somehow.

Could she change her body like Gertrude could? Could Gertrude change her own voice?

Azazil sat with her fingers steepled. Her gaze felt eerily penetrating.

That presence she now had– was she always so intense?

Everything else about Azazil looked familiar.

Her sleek, long black dress still hugged her perfect figure and looked almost brand new despite the scuffles of the past night. In the haze of the terrible events in which they had met, Gertrude had not noticed how well-made that dress was. It did not appear to be natural fibers, and it glistened, but it had a very soft look. Could it have been silk? In terms of facial features, she was without fault, with a gentle and regal beauty, soft red lips, small eyes slightly angled, her countenance mature but umblemished; her silver hair long and perfectly tended; her Shimii-like ears tall, black-furred, and sharp and fluffy; and her figure, ample in the right places and sleek in the rest. She was like a sculpture given life, a living artwork.

Gertrude felt that the more she observed her the more she found her gaze ensnared.

“After acquiring more data, I altered myself to better suit your tastes.” Azazil said.

“To better suit me?” Gertrude asked. She felt almost offended. What did that mean?

“As a biomechanoid servant I can serve better with more data. Upon close examination of all of our exchanges, I calculated that your nervous energy, inquisitiveness and spiraling passion are better matched by a woman who is more collected, distant and mature in appearance, mannerisms and personality. You are titillated by the mystery and taboo of women that feel out of your reach. You respond poorly when you receive too much open affection.”

“That is enough of that.” Gertrude said. She gestured for the recording to be cut.

“You want women to vex and challenge you at least a little. You are enriched by conquest.”

“That is– you think I find this attractive? I am terribly annoyed with you is what I am!”

“Perhaps– but I can tell you are already intrigued. I made a correct assessment.”

Gertrude had broken out into a bit of a sweat, and her face felt a little bit hot.

It was less what Azazil was doing or saying and more how she was doing it and saying it.

Her deep, sultry voice that felt like it was holding everything back while pulling her close. Precise mannerisms, like the brief flutter of her steepled fingers, or the ephemeral flitting of her eyelashes or the minute changes in her expression. She was like a silk-draped, full-figured puzzle box beckoning Gertrude to probe deeper and more forcefully.

Azazil was right, and Gertrude felt like a complete idiot.

She was manipulated– she had to stop fixating on Azazil.

Or she would be made a fool of.

It’s not easy to tear my eyes away from her– she is drop-dead gorgeous.

Maybe she could instead try to play it against her somehow.

“You said you were created to take care of humans, and you must follow my commands.”

“Correct. You are the owner of this body now, Master. It is yours however you desire.”

“What if I make you do something undignified? That breaks this façade you’re creating?”

“You can degrade me as a woman if you like. I’m sure it’s part of the fantasy for you.”

Gertrude closed her fists. “I don’t care what data you think you have collected on me! You do not know me, and I won’t have you typecasting me as some kind of pervert!” She hesitated briefly, a quivering in her chest working itself out as she then spoke. “I’m– I’m heterosexual!”

An interesting and hasty gambit that immediately faltered on all merits.

Azazil crossed her arms and grinned, just a little. “I know what you are.”

Suddenly Gertrude turned to what should have been a wall. “Get out! All of you! Now!”

She could not know whether or nor the recording and monitoring team vacated the room.

But they must have– they always followed her orders. They stopped recording and left.

Azazil waited obediently until the cell felt emptier. She continued. “My data is not wrong. From observing your interactions with me, and also the composition of your crew, which I also had a chance to observe. There are several women who have forged close emotional connections to you, and no men who have a relationship to you that is anything above strictly professional. No, my master, Lady Lichtenberg– you are absolutely a homosexual.”

Gertrude was nearly speechless. Azazil was correct, but it was utterly ridiculous to hear it.

“What if I ordered you to become a man?” Gertrude said, in a near-hysteric voice.

“You wouldn’t seriously do that.” Azazil said. “Master, there is no need to be distressed.”

Gertrude had completely lost it. Azazil had twirled her around like synthetic twine.

“I am not distressed! I am furious! Aren’t you supposed to ‘take care’ of me? What is this?”

Azazil wore that noblewoman’s smile again, but Gertrude could read the implicit malice. “I am indeed your servant, and it is indeed my duty to take care of your needs. I am presenting in a way which is the most suitable for your pleasure. However, I assure you I am not here to interfere with your daily life and your real relationships. I am an appliance that you can use as you need– has it not always been this way between masters and servants?”

She was stunned. It was stunning. Gertrude was left reeling by those words.

“What– what kind of perverted society– how the hell are you an ‘appliance’?!”

Even if Gertrude had entertained the desire to be able to keep more than one woman–

Nobody could possibly have been an ‘appliance’ to her!

And even worse for such a use!

“This– this situation— I’m disgusted! I don’t want anyone to take care of me like this!”

“Do you feel that it is ingenuine of me to try to please you in this way?”

“You are not pleasing me!”

“Would you find it more honest if I acted as I did before I had any data?”

Gertrude was given pause. Back then, last night– was she just acting then too?

Of course, she must have been. After all– she was an ‘appliance’ back then too.

Azazil An-Nur was a ‘biomechanoid’ that was ‘created to take care of humans’.

Thinking over this, Gertrude felt progressively conflicted and disturbed.

She did not know what to say to someone who had been created to serve her.

Gertrude had coerced and misled many people over the years. She was High Inquisitor.

Through honeyed words, through the truncheon, through legal threats–

She knew something about forcing people to bend to her will when necessary.

That coercion didn’t change them as people. Their bodies didn’t react to suit her needs.

Azazil’s comfort with changing pieces of herself to suit Gertrude–

She had conflicting feelings about it.

“When we first met, Master, I had an unclear profile of your personality, mannerisms, and your desires and needs as a person. After observing you for long enough, I developed the correct predictions, and I am better suited to serving you in a comfortable and tailored fashion. Humans do this too– but less efficiently. You are welcome to delete the profile I have generated but I doubt your needs will change much. In my view, I have optimized our relationship and am better able to serve you– why don’t you allow me to demonstrate as such for a few days? You will find I am a much better product now than before.”

“You call yourself a ‘product’ and an ‘appliance’– I don’t know how to deal with that.”

“Master, would it bring you relief to know a mop or a broom enjoyed the act of cleaning?”

Gertrude had no answer to that. She felt her heart and head grow heavy at the thought.

It was not possible that Azazil was a mop or a broom. She was a human, like Gertrude.

There was no way in hell that any society made people that were reduced to this!

That was her thinking– she could not, in her privilege, connect this behavior to anything.

Azazil smiled, more than she had before.

“I was created to take care of human beings. For so long, I have not had any people to take care of. They were all gone. Before I met you, I only had contact with an overbearing neural model and belligerent biomechanoids. I might not look like it, but I am pleased with the prospect of being able to take care of Genuine Human Beings again. It is not in my nature to make requests– but I strongly believe I can improve your quality of life if you will allow it.”

Gertrude was helpless. She did not know the correct or moral answer in this situation.

Insisting on Azazil’s humanity might go nowhere; would accepting this make her happy?

Could Azazil feel happy? What had they done to ‘create’ her? She looked human–

Now she was really second-guessing herself– was this all encoded in Azazil’s biology?

Was it STEM? Could she somehow alter Azazil’s STEM to free her from this condition?

To alleviate her own guilt and shame about all of this, Gertrude settled on that fantasy.

Perhaps if she discovered more about the mysterious STEM system–

She could turn Azazil from an ‘appliance’ and back into an independent human being.

It was this distant hope that allowed Gertrude to take a deep breath and speak again.

“I’ll accept you as you are, for now. I will accept that you are acting this way. But listen up and listen well, Azazil An-Nur– I don’t need your services in whatever perverse way you are implying. I need you to prove to me that you are able to act independently, that you can freely make your own choices as a person. Everyone on my ship agreed to be here. I am– I am adamantly against slavery. I will not so much as touch you until I am sure.”

“Adamantly against slavery– how curious. I’ll make a note of this.” Azazil said. “However, my condition is not slavery. Humans can be coerced into slavery. I was created to serve a purpose. I want to serve that purpose and I am happy to be given the opportunity.”

“If there is some way to free you from this condition, I will find it.” Gertrude said sharply.

For a moment, Gertrude caught what seemed like a twitch of Azazil’s eye.

However– it was so quick that it seemed like only her imagination.

Maybe she only wanted to see some kind of response.

“Very well, master. In such a matter and any others, of course, I will assist you.”

Gertrude sighed and slumped forward on the table. What an exhausting conversation!

After venting through a series of noises, she looked back at Azazil again.

“You have psionics, right? You understand your abilities to be psionic?” Gertrude asked.

“Correct.” Azazil replied.

“How can I know you are not controlling me using psionics?”

“If I have been doing that, do you believe it has been effective up to this point?”

“I can’t argue with that.” Gertrude said, with a grunt. “So–were you created to be psionic?”

“No.” Azazil said. She offered no candid asides nor any rhetoric to support her answer.

“What do you mean, no?” Gertrude asked, with mild but growing outrage.

“I was not created with psionic ability. That is not possible, as far as I know.”

“Where were you– created? Who created you? Elaborate a bit wouldn’t you?”

Azazil, with her small, wry, smile, answered the question exactly.

“I was created in Hephaestus Innovations Inc., Exafactory No. 4, in Turkiye, the seat of the Aer Federation. Turkiye is part of the internal polity known as the Nobilis Community. I was designed by Margery Balyaeva, with patented technology from Rita Angermeyer.”

That meant absolutely nothing to Gertrude. Just nothing but mush in the shape of words.

It was finally dawning on her that she was dealing with a relic from a lost civilization.

A perverse and horrid civilization that she was nevertheless now committed to chasing after.

Part of that chase would have to entail keeping Azazil aboard and enduring this for now.

Gertrude’s mind wandered to that hexagon of hexagons flag– what was she getting into?

And if she was committed to finding Eris at the bottom of all of this–

In what condition would she even find her?


Depth Gauge: 4581 meters
Aetherometry: Purple (Stable)

The Iron Lady descended, farther and deeper and darker into the abyss.

As its enormous hull navigated the encroaching spaces around it, all manner of creatures were disturbed, awakened, and scattered. Many of them were natural denizens of these lightless depths who knew to flee even the barest of hint of pursuit from something larger. Crustaceans on the cliffs scurried into holes only they knew of; slow-moving fish began to drift away from the steel leviathan; glowing jellies flexed their bells and jetted away.

Then– there were the creatures that could have been called unnatural denizens.

These continued to watch the descending ship with great interest.

Crab-like things with bubble-like missile packs on their backs readying to intercept.

Clusters of eyeballs trailed by tentacles, gathering and transmitting data.

Sentries with sleek, predatory bodies wolf-like and shark-like, larger than a power-armored human being, equipped with vibrating tungsten teeth and claws ready to charge.

Stand down and hibernate.

At once, the handful of drones in this abyss retreated to their hidden places once more.

Given psychic command by a superior with an actual will to determine fate.

From the barren cliffsides she watched the ship descend.

Casually resisting four hundred atmospheres of pressure, as if she had the Ocean’s mercy.

With a temporary body that was half aquatic, with a tail, hydrojets, fins.

And an upper body that was human, feminine, substantial in its musculature.

Grinning to herself, crossing her arms, narrowing eyes that could see clearly in the water.

I’m so curious, hominin. What are you doing here? In this mausoleum?

Watching them with the patience of a hunter amused at the sight of a coming sport.

Enforcer V of the Syzygy, The Wrath, referred to by her colleagues as ‘Ira.’

Unstimulated for an amount of years so great as to be a burden to recall.

Practically salivating at the prospect of the hominin diving into Aer’s own skin.

Let them enter the Great Tree Holy Land and see for themselves what Mnar holds!

I want to see their faces; I’m so curious what they will do with their final hours.

Will they find something that surprises me, before they dieor I kill them?

Surreptitiously, so as to avoid detection, Ira followed after the Iron Lady.

Toward the Agartha, and what little remained of the civilizations that preceded them.


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