u/jpitha

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Aboard the Venusian Dreadnought Niobe

Captain William Revelin always stood instead of sitting while on duty. Everyone always thought it was so that he could get a better view of things, or look more senatorial to his crew, or any number of other things. The reality was he thought the command seat was terribly uncomfortable. It was designed for a person a good deal smaller than his 2 meter, 100 kilogram frame.

The Starjumper First In Class had sent along the coordinates as well as the optimization code for their reactors. Venus didn’t run the latest, highest output reactors like the AIs did; they prioritized reliability and repairability over raw power. Still, Class’ optimizations allowed them to link to the Reach in 4 hops rather than the expected 6.

None of this information, nor the AI named Gord sitting sideways in his chair idly kicking his legs, helped Will’s massive headache.

****

A month after they returned, Will and the rest of the crew of Lavinia had been possessed by an intense desire to go back to Empress Melody, their Empress. People had told them it was in their heads, some psychological thing, not real, but he and the crew were driven by a compulsion to return. After playing along with everyone until they were released, they reunited and conspired to steal Niobe and return.

Will smiled as he remembered the theft. It was too easy. Forged orders were created by Bev, and nobody even thought to call HQ to verify. She flashed the orders, and the guards stepped aside. They had cast off and were preparing to link to a Gate before anyone even noticed. Instead of another dreadnought coming alongside for a broadside, a friggin AI starjumper linked next to Niobe, dangerously close and overrode their radio signals.

The voice explained that they knew what they were going through, what had happened, and that they could help. Looking back, Will realized that the AI did not say what they would help with, only that they could help. Still, they permitted the hard connection, and when the airlock opened, two grenades were tossed in.

Grenades in the confined spaces of a starship were considered a war crime given the propensity for collateral damage, but these were modified teargas grenades. Instead of tear gas, a thick, black, oily mist shot out of them, rolling along the floor, eventually becoming ankle deep. Scrambling for masks and shouting that it was a trap, Will distinctly remembered the smell. The grenades smelled like…cookies. Why does the tear gas smell like cookies? was his thought, before collapsing.

Waking up in medical, Will and the rest of the crew were lightly restrained in the beds with an AI - Will would later learn his name was Gord - standing over him, while another, much taller AI with silver hair frowned.

“Welcome back, Captain Revelin!” Gord said brightly. “Sorry about the welcome, but we weren’t sure how you were going to treat our entrance.”

“Wh-what did you do?” Will said, as he winced. Talking hurt. Everything hurt.

“Congratulations are in order! We have successfully broken the control Melody’s Voice had over you. Try thinking about going back to the Reach, what do you feel?”

Will tried, and the burning, churning desire was...gone. He felt slightly silly that he wanted to go back there so badly. His eyes flicked over to Gord and then the other AI and he raised his eyebrows.

“The Voice is the product of a nanoscale distributed intelligence,” The other one said, her contralto voice clear and precise. “The nanomachines pass the blood/brain barrier and manipulate the neurons directly, making the orders that the Empress gives physically impossible to resist.”

“That explained how it worked,” Will said, trying to sit up. Gord reached over and undid his chest and arm straps and he said up, rubbing where the belts had restrained him. “But it doesn’t explain why it doesn’t work now.”

“We made our own nanites that took apart Melody’s nanites.” Gord said.

“That is a simplification bordering on irresponsible, Gord.” The other said frowning.

“Come on, Chloe. Captain Revelin doesn’t need to know the nuts and bolts of it.” Gord looked back at Will. “What you need to know is that we have an anti-nanite gas now, and we’re going back to the Reach.”

“Why?”

Gord began counting on his fingers. “One, we’re going to rescue Melody and the others if we can. There’s no reason to keep folks from our side of the galaxy there. Two, we’ll pick up Raaden and the Crown Prince and return them to you. Three, we’re going to eliminate the Reach’s war making ability.”

Will was concentrating, trying to follow Gord’s explanation, but his head hurt so much, it was difficult to keep up. “Why are you rescuing Raaden and the Crown Prince?”

“Special favor to the Emperor.” Gord said with a sly grin. “He and I came to an understanding.” Chloe rolled her eyes at this.

“Eliminate their war making ability?”

“Destroy their weapons as well as eliminate their starships.” Chloe said.

“Can’t they build more?”

“Technically yes, but with the humans and k’laxi gone they won’t know how to get to Sol.” Gord said. “It’s not a great solution, but it’s better than nothing.”

“And it’s better than murdering 12 million people.” Chloe said firmly. “We’re not going to destroy the Reach.”

“Okay, so why-” Will gestured around “-all this? Couldn’t you have done it on your own?”

“Sure, but by bringing you, not only can we show Raaden and the others that we can neuter the Nanites, but we can show them how well we’re working together. I’m hoping that Raaden will be more likely to come along quietly if you’re with us Will. That said, if you and your crew don’t want to come you don't have to.”

“This is not an order from the Emperor, but a request.” Chloe said, showing him a piece of vellum written in a stead hand, and sighed with the burgundy and gold seal of the Emperor. “You may refuse.” She added.

“If you think we can refuse a hand-written request from the Emperor himself, then you do not know our Emperor.” Will said. “But, it’s not necessary, we’ll help. What do you need?”

****

“We’ve arrived at the Reach, Gord.” Will said, turning towards him, his lips a thin line. Will hadn’t said anything about Gord sitting in his seat, and they were engaged in a cold war trying to get the other one to act first. “What do you recommend?”

“Target any and all starships in the area.” Gord said idly. “Umbilicals too. We don’t want any escapees. Our information says they’re basically made of tissue compared to our ships, a couple of shots should do it.”

“Target the ships in the area, maximum power.” Will said to the weapons officer. He heard the WEP sirens in the distance and felt the buzz rise in his feet as the reactors aboard spun into overdrive, giving Niobe the energy needed for her exawatt batteries. With a noise that sounded for the life of Will like the biggest static electricity snap, the ship fired upon the three ships in the vicinity. As Gord said, they were immediately defeated.

The sensor officer, without looking up from her station said, “We’re being targeted. Exawatt batteries attached to the Reach are target seeking.”

“Ah, so Melody did wind up using the parts from Lavinia.” Gord said, finally looking up.

“Target those batteries,” Will said. “Missiles and Exawatts.”

“Aye, Captain.”

****

Gord felt the missiles streak away from Niobe. They were no match for even a well trained human crew, but he had a hunch that other than Melody’s little cadre, nobody aboard knew how to use them. His hunch was confirmed when the laser batteries tried to fire on the incoming missiles. The shots were wide and ragged, as if they were being aimed manually. He stood and stretched. For a moment, Gord lamented not being able to get Captain Revelin to comment on him taking his seat, but there would be plenty of times to needle him later. “Will, me and my group are going to go aboard. While we do that, please dock with the Reach.”

“You just ordered us to destroy the umbilicals,” Will said, deciding to not mention that Gord called him Will instead of Captain Revelin.

“Yes, and I also know you have a breaching team aboard and are able to cut a sally port.” Gord countered.

Even though he didn’t get to needle him about the seat, it did bring Gord a measure of satisfaction as Will processed that the AI faction knew all about their breaching capabilities; something the Venusians worked very hard to keep quiet. Despite himself, Gord was impressed when he looked into it. All Venusian ships had the ability to attach themselves to an enemy ship or station and cut their way in, avoiding the common choke-point of the airlock.

Without a word, Will reached over and pressed a button his his chair, and another tone sounded, and a voice called for action stations. “Breaching tends to take three to five minutes.” He said.

“We won’t need that long.” Gord replied as he made his way towards the door. “We’ll go over first and then ping me when you’ve cut through.”

“Go over firs- Gord! How the fuck are you getting onto the Reach?”

“It’s a surprise.”

In the small docking bay of Niobe, Gord’s small ship, Medicine Hat, was sitting, bored. Gord asked Hat to come along on this trip, but as just a passenger. There was plenty of media to consume, and enough games to keep an intelligence going until the stars went cold, but that didn’t stop Hat from being bored out of his mind, until he heard the call for Action Stations and Gord striding inside.

“About time something was happening.” Hat said. “I was getting ready to get a body just so that I could start pacing.”

“Hold onto that feeling, because a ton of shit is going to start happening all at once.” Gord said as he made his way towards an equipment locker just off Hat’s airlock. “Did you get the scans I asked for?”

“The penetrating radar? I did. Venus didn’t even notice,” Hat said. One benefit of working with folks without AI ships is that an actual AI could rummage around inside the ship and - if they were careful - be unnoticed.

“Good. Send me a coordinate set for just outside the docks, and then get permission to leave the hold and take up station outside near First In Class.”

“You got it Gord, but wh- oh fuck no, Gord.” Hat said, his voice rising in intensity. “You can’t use that.”

“I have to, Hat.” Gord said kindly. He was putting on what looked like a very large, very heavy matte black hiking pack, only it also had pieces that went down the back of his legs, and another part that slid up and connected to the back of his neck with ten very thin wires. It was like wearing the environmental pack from an old space suit without the suit.

“The personal wormhole generators have a one in fifty failure rate.” Hat said. “That’s an unacceptable risk.”

“No, those Nanites getting out is an unacceptable risk. Every risk taken to prevent that from happening is worth it.” Gord said firmly. “Hat we are not going back to the way things were. I refuse.”

“How are you going to get everyone back, you only have the one pack?”

“I’m not. Will is going to cut a sally port and they’ll escape that way.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“Too bad, Hat. Its my body and I choose to do this insane thing.” Gord said as he clipped the last bits of the personal wormhole generator to his back. His vision was overlaid with a new HUD giving him spatial information about the area around and as he moved his head towards the Reach, he could see a few pixels light where his destination was. He grabbed a few more anti-nanite grenades and began to charge the capacitors, with a whine like an ancient camera flash. “As soon as I’m gone, get out and go to Class.”

“I’m only doing this because I trust you, Gord.” Hat said, but Gord could feel the timbre of the ship change as he warmed things up.

“That was your first mistake, friend.” Gord said, and with a blinding flash of white and a titanic thunderclap, disappeared.

First / Previous / Next

Now, Raaden wasn’t wrong, I was pretty young. I didn’t have much in the way of leadership experience beyond what I was taught in OCS and what I gained in what little experience I gained on my last commission.

But, I like to think that I wasn’t so green as to stand there stupidly while Rain’s forces charged at me, improvised weapons drawn.

I would have liked to think that, but that is exactly what happened until Raaden grabbed my arm tightly and yanked me back into reality. “Melody! Get your ass moving or leave it here!” She shouted.

That was enough. The keening silence of what was happening crashed down into a roar of sound, motion, light, and smells as I took off after Raaden. Still wearing her athletic clothes, I followed her blindly. At that moment it didn’t matter where she was taking me, I was going away. She led me down an alley, around a corner, back behind something that must have been a restaurant or something - given the smell it was either that or an abattoir. Either way, I slipped on something wet and slimy and I swear that I levitated to avoid touching the ground. I regained my footing, and caught up to Raaden. “How did you get up here?”

“City told me about an emergency stairwell. She used to use it when she missed the last train.” She said. She wasn’t even breathing heavily! Who was this woman?

“Do you know what’s going on?” I said weakly. We came upon a thick metal door about human height behind another - fortunately better smelling - building. The door was slightly ajar, and Sound of the City was just behind the door holding a human built battle rifle. “Where did you get that?” I asked her, as we rushed into the stairwell.

“Ava gave it to me.” She said, somewhat defensively. “She’s been teaching me how to shoot.”

“Don’t look at me,” Raaden said and continued, “If I was the one teaching her, she wouldn’t be standing there with that sorry excuse for a stance.” As she spoke City stood up straighter. “No, not like that. If you put the butt to your shoulder standing like that you’re going to bruise.” She tisked and continued, “I’ll give you some drills if we survive this.”

Survive this. Raaden was the one that said it out loud, putting words to my worry. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we, Raaden.” I said, as we made our way down the massive spiral staircase.

“Oh boy are we,” She agreed. “We don’t have a starship, we don’t have a forward operating base, you’ve lost any advantage you had with your nanite ‘friends.’ Melody, we’ve got two things going for us right now, Jack and Shit.”

“Hey, you can call me Melody.” I said, dumbly latching onto that instead of how hey, the Nanites seem to have kicked me out and we’re ninety five thousand lightyears away from home with no way to get back.

“Yeah, I noticed back on the ship when we were talking with the Nanites. I think they were second guessing their decision to make you Empress even back then.” She said and shrugged. “They probably picked a new leader shortly after we left.”

<Hello? Nanites?>

Nothing. Not even the feeling of a presence ignoring me. I was completely shut off from them. I tried reaching out to the Builder systems and even those were gone. I was…just plain Melody now, when I could have used those Empress powers the most.

Fuck.

Back on our level the fighting wasn’t as intense and most people didn’t seem to realize that Rain was the new Emperor. We made our way towards the Throne and I found everyone milling around the chairs, nobody sitting down. “You’ve all lost your powers?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

Nods all around. “Yes,” Omar said. “We heard you go upstairs and order everyone to stop fighting, then we heard Rain’s counter order, and we all found ourselves just sitting in chairs. We were lucky that City knew how to get up there and that Raaden was willing to go get you.”

“Thanks Raaden.” I said, “I didn’t say it before, but thank you for coming to get me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” She said quickly. “There will be time for thanks once we’re off this rock.”

“Speaking of-” Um’reli said “Any ideas on how to do that?”

“You have a home that was before the Reach, yes?” Janais said. “Go back there.”

“Yes, but it was ninety five thousand light years away.” I told her. “We are from the complete other side of the galaxy.”

“But you got here.” She said simply.

“Yes, because we had an AI that used a kilometers long starship as its body to help us.” Omar said, the bitterness sneaking through just a smidge.

“You used your wormhole drive to get us here.” She said. “Use it to go home.”

“We don’t have the coordinates!” I wailed. “The AIs run the wormhole generators, we just have to tell them where to go.”

“That’s not exactly true.” Raaden said. “Remember, we use the wormhole generators without those sanctimonious AIs calling the shots.”

“So, you can get us back to Sol?” I asked

“Yes.” She nodded. “The coordinates are 0,0,0,0.”

I must have had a stupid expression, because Raaden started giggling, something I would have never expected to see from such a dyed in the wool military person. “Melody, Sol was the first place we left from, of course the coordinates for home are going to be all zeroes. All roads lead to Sol.”

“So we just go back aboard High Line, set the dials to all 0s and link home?”

“We-el,” Um’reli said carefully. “Even Far Reach couldn’t make a link that deep, and we don’t have a fraction of the reactor power they did. We’re going to have to hopscotch our way across the galaxy.”

“Which we are perfectly capable of doing,” Raaden added, “So long as we survive the next few hours; so get your rears into gear, we gotta go.”

“Uh,” Janais said as we began to leave “What about me and my people?”

“The Nanites already abandoned you, right?” Raaden said. “So long as you accept the rule of what’s-their-name, you should be fine.”

“The Smell of Soil after Rain.” I said.

“Yeah, whatever.” She said. “I don’t plan on devoting any more brain power to this shithole, I wanna go home.”

“What about the crown prince?” Ava said.

“What about him? He’s probably still moping in his apartment. We’ll go scoop him up when we fuck off. We have to leave.”

“Okay okay.” I said. Frankly, I was tired. Tired of the Nanites, tired of ruling, tired of pretending I knew what I was doing. I was ready to go home. “I’m with Raaden. The time for fucking off has arrived. I won’t begrudge anyone here who wants to stay, but Rain isn’t known for being the most understanding to those with alternate viewpoints.”

Janais stood in the middle distance for a moment, and then hugged me. “Thank you for rescuing me…Melody, but my place is here. This Rain person will need an advisor I think, so that they can rule most effectively. I will do my utmost to get them to not give chase.”

“If they can figure out how to get over to Sol, they’re welcome to knock on our door.” Raaden said, and grinned wickedly. “The AIs aren’t the only ones with exawatt batteries. We’ll give them an old-fashioned Venusian welcome.”

“What about you, City?” Ava asked. “You’re welcome to come along.”

“And leave my family? My home?” City actually sounded shocked that we would even ask her. “No. You’ve all been exceptionally kind to me, and I am grateful for this opportunity, but my place is here. I’ll go with Janais; this River person will need help.”

And just like that, the dream was done. My ‘retinue’ became my friends, the people of the Reach became just more people and I was just Melody. Plain, normal, Melody. I should be happier about it than I am.

Omar declared that the best way to make it back to the docks was to look like we were supposed to be going there, so that’s what we did. We did not stop back at the Royal Dawn to collect our things - for one that would give away that we were trying to escape - and what things? Everything we had came from the Reach. Everyone came with basically their clothes and that was it.

It wasn’t even a problem to get Emery. The guards saluted and stepped aside, and Raaden went in and spoke with him for a moment, and then they both came out. He carried a small shoulder bag and looked bored with the entire thing, just like normal.

I thought we were going to make it, I really did. We had reached the docks and High Line sat at the docking umbilical, ready and waiting, but before we could reach it there were shouts and curses and a mass of security forces rounded the corner.

“Go!” Raaden shouted and she took out a pistol I didn’t know she still had and started firing at the security forces. They ducked, but soon found cover and began returning fire.

“Raaden!” I shouted, but she waved me off. “Go to the ship Melody, that’s an order! I still outrank you!”

“I don’t follow Venus’ chain of command!” I said, as I reached behind me for my own rifle, and felt nothing. My mind immediately went to it being securely stored in a locker, in my cabin High Line.

Ava saw me and yelled, “Melody!” And tossed me the rifle that she was letting City use. It was standard issue, not nearly as nice as mine, but at least it was something. I took up station next to Raaden, got down on one knee and started selecting targets. The snap snap snap of her pistol was quickly joined by the boom boom boom of my rifle. Sep’s forces knew what kind of weapons we had and appropriately scattered at our suppressive fire.

Raaden exhausted her magazine and swapped to a new one, saying “This is my last one Melody, we have to run to the ship!”

I opened my mouth to tell her to go, when the floor fell out from under me. I felt a sickening drop and then it rose back up to me. If I hadn’t been kneeling down I would have toppled over. As it was Raaden stumbled, but put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself and remained upright. “Melody!” Omar said behind me. I turned and saw that the umbilical had broken away from High Line and the ship was starting to drift away from the Reach.

“What happened?”

“Something external attacked High Line. It targeted the umbilical and is now firing upon the ship itself.”

“Is it the Reach?” Raaden said as she fiddled with her pistol.

“Probably?” Omar said. “I didn’t know of anyone else in the area.”

Following his words were three more large booms, sounding like someone was slamming a hammer into the side of the Reach. This couldn’t be Rain’s work could it? Would he attack the Reach itself to get to us? I couldn’t connect to the throne anymore, so I had no way of checking.

“Look!” Um’reli pointed to the little window attached to the airlock. We all crowded around the window and while we couldn’t see much, I could see lances of white light coming from space, firing towards us, followed by the telltale flash of a wormhole generator.

“It’s someone from Sol!” Ava said as the ship linked closer, as she gasped, “It’s a Venusian dreadnought and a Starjumper!” She turned towards Raaden, “Is this you?”

Raaden held up both of her hands, palms out. “I had nothing to do with this, I promise!” She looked thoughtful for a moment and said, “Though I have a hunch I know who it is.”

“Well?” I asked.

“Melody, didn’t you tell my crew they belonged to you with your spooky voice? This is probably them.”

“But why are they shooting?”

Raaden opened her mouth to reply and then shut it again. “Hmm.”

First / Previous / Next

So now what? Janais was the Empress but isn’t anymore, the Nanites could be defeated somehow? They burned to find out how, and we still had the Reach to tend to. I said, “I think that we’ve completed our mission here. We came to find out what happened to Besmara, and we’ve done that. Janais, you and your people are welcome to come back with us to the Reach; there’s no need to live on a mostly destroyed station.”

She inclined her head slightly. “We would like that Empress. I will call for the remaining people, and we shall make ready to depart.”

After she walked away, Ava looked over at me. “What was all that?”

“What was what?”

“She kissed you, and now you know what happened here?”

“Basically? I think that her Nanites had not talked to my Nanites in so long that they didn’t know what the other knew.”

<When we return we must begin Gate construction, and we must determine how our predecessors were defeated.>

<Gate construction already? We’re defenseless.>

<Nobody is defenseless with the Voice.>

Even before I learned what happened to Besmara, that line did not ring true. Now, it felt like the Nanites were beginning to scramble.

After about an hour Janais arrived with maybe one hundred people behind her each carrying a few possessions. “<Omar, we have about one hundred refugees from Besmara coming with us.”>

He replied out loud, probably for Janais' benefit. "That number of people should be fine Melody. It’ll be tight, but it’s not a long trip. No, wait!” I could feel Omar’s excitement. “Let’s use the wormhole generator. We know it’ll work and it’ll get us back that much faster.”

“Good idea, Omar! Do we have the power for it?"

"Ginny says we have more than enough for a link of that distance. We could clear the Wilds and link over to the Reach in minutes."

"Okay then. I approve linking from here to Reach of the Might of Vzzx."

"Excellent. I'll let you know when we're ready for you to order it. Maybe another hour."

"We're going to use a wormhole generator?" Janais looked nervous.

Ava looked up. "They're common on our side of the Galaxy, we're using an existing design. It should be no big deal."

She was clearly trying not to look as nervous as she felt. "Then I defer to your judgement, Builder."

I spent the hour on the Command Deck. It was the only place I could have more than a meter on either side of me without risking bumping into someone. As we cruised between the Wilds and the Gate Omar came over the PA. "We have reached safe distance from the Wilds of Besmara. Empress, we can link to Reach of the Might of Vzzx on your order."

"Omar, please link us home."

"Aye Empress."

And...that was that. It was like any wormhole link back home. There was that feeling of being struck like a bell, a flash of white, and we were back in the system that housed Reach of the Might of Vzzx. I let out he breath that I didn't know I was holding and then I heard the screaming. A cacophony of noise, coming from deeper in the ship. What happened? I stand up quickly and look over at Omar, "What's going on? Omar?"

He scans his screen quickly, "It sounds like it's coming from the people from the Wilds. None of them have ever taken a wormhole link before." His head shot up and he locked eyes with me. "We forgot to tell them about the side effects."

The side effects. When humanity developed the wormhole generators, it was discovered that about one in one hundred people for lack of a better word...die when we link; it's not permanent! But those people swore they died and visited the afterlife. Usually only for a few moments, but enough people do it that it has opened up all kinds of new theological arguments that people thought were closed and gone millennia ago. It doesn't happen to me, or anyone I know, but from what I understand even when you're expecting it to happen, it can be a shock. I looked over to Janais and she had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Janais! Are you all right?" I rushed to her side.

She turned and looked at me, wild eyed. "I saw her, Empress! I saw my Aeche! She was wearing a beautiful gown and when she noticed me she smiled like a dawning star and walked towards me." Janais looked into the middle distance and continued. "She said "You have done it, just like I knew you would!" I said "Done what?" and she smiled and said "Found our salvation." and then I came back here." She choked back a sob. "Tell me. Tell me Empress. What did I see? Did I see my Aeche waiting for me, or was is all a hallucination? Did I go to the Beyond, or was it a dream?"

I gently touched her hand. It was warm and soft in mine. "Janais... nobody knows. About one in one hundred people share your experience. Nobody has ever been able to confirm if your soul really leaves your body, of if it's just some kind of mirage. A side-effect of going through a hole in spacetime. People who experience it have tried asking the people they meet, and they always get a cryptic answer, if they get one at all. In the end, everyone must decide for themselves if it's real or not."

Janais looked at me strangely. She reached into her pocket, took out a small handkerchief and wiped her eyes delicately. "Thank you Empress."

What? "You're welcome, but why?"

"You have enabled me to see my love again. I do not know if it is real or not, and right now I do not care. I got to see Aeche again, and she as so happy, so beautiful. If I have to wait seventy four years to see her again, it will still all be worth it." She wipes her eyes again and looks at the forward screen. "Is that the Reach?"

"It is, Janais. Shall we go home?"

She exhales, relieved. It was real. "Yes, Empress. I would like to go home. Let's build you an Empire."

I wish it was just that easy, but as soon as we docked, I went aboard the Reach and smelled the fires. Walking into the promenade I saw black oily smoke roiling across the high ceilings, the lights dim and distant sounds of conflict.

“What is happening?” Janais asked, looking to us for guidance.

“I don’t know,” I said quickly and turned towards my team. “Omar, Um’reli, City - go to the throne and connect. Ava, Janais, Raaden; stick with me.”

“Omar and the others dithered a moment like they were going to ask something else, but then thought better of it and took off. Good, they’ll be better able to fight whatever is going on here from the Throne. I connected remotely and tried to figure out what was going on.

Multiple zones were on fire, at least two were completely out of control. Sections of the area around the fire were in active hand-to-hand combat. “Sep!” I called out. “Sep, what is going on?”

“Empress?” I could hear him over the connection. It was crackling and filled with static. Wherever he was did not have a good connection. “I’m so thankful you’ve returned! Something terrible has happened.”

“I gathered, Sep. Please bring me up to speed.”

“People in the upper levels have rebelled. They declared you an imposter who was using the power of the Builders to usurp the rights of the Administrators. Those of us still loyal to you are repelling them, but the fighting is intense. Your Builder, she-”

“Builder? Q’ari?” Worried, I reached out <“Selem? Are you all right?”>

Nothing. Not even an impression of someone asleep of unconscious. “Something happened to Selem,” I said to Ava. “I think she’s hurt or worse.”

“Where would she be?” Ava asked, her expression grave. “If she was at the throne than the others will find her.”

<“Melody!”> Omar sent. <“We’ve found Selem, she’s dead!”>

<“Dead?! What happened?”>

<“We don’t know. We found her on the floor of the main arena in the Throne. She might have been attacked when she was running back here.”>

A Builder, attacked in their home. My Builder. My representative was killed after I ordered her to stay. I could feel the anger, the frustration rising like bile in my throat. What were these people doing to my home? To my rule? <“Where is the heaviest fighting?”>

<“Two levels above in a residential neighborhood,”> Um’reli said. <“Why?”>

<“I’m going to stop this.”> I said as I took off down the promenade. When I reached the transit station, my coach was already in the station, with one of the other transit cars in a siding, and all the entrances closed with large red barriers. Vaulting over one, I ran into my carriage and before I had a chance to catch my breath, it slid smoothy away.

<What is going on?>

<We know only what you know right now, Empress. Something troubling has happened.>

<You said the people loved me. You said that they were on my side.>

<We…don’t know.>

<You said you knew everything. You said that you had done this “hundreds” of times. Why are things falling apart not even six months into my empire?>

*<*ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴛᴏɴᴇ, ᴍᴇʟᴏᴅʏ. You are in this position because of us and what we give you. You saw from Janais herself that it can be taken away.>

<I never wanted this! You gave it to me, declared me Empress, put me in charge of a dying space station in a - we assume - dead empire. For all we know everyone in the rest of the former empire is fine without us. Now my friend is dead and everyone hates me.>

<ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ.>

The force with which they sent the last command caused my body to reel and my vision to swim.

<Do not assume that it is you who are in charge. You are merely a conduit for us. You are here to facilitate our mission, and you are replaceable*, Melody Mullen. Discover the source of the insurrection and eliminate it.>*

My train slid into the station and when the door popped open the smell of smoke and sounds of fighting were louder and more intense than from the docks. <“Omar, Um’reli, why aren’t the fire suppression systems working?”>

<“We don’t know, Melody.”> Um’reli said, and I could hear the worry race towards panic in her thoughts. <“This shouldn’t have happened.”>

<“It did and I have to stop it.”> I said as my wings and crown sprang into being, brighter and more intense than before. In the dim, smoke filled light of the floor, I could see my light reflecting off of people and things as I strode towards the fighting.

This wasn’t like the earlier riot, things were far beyond that. It was a full on battle. I saw security forces fighting each other, plain citizens of all kinds with all manner of improvised weapons, people lying in the street, buildings a raging inferno - that last one caused an icy pit in my stomach. We were trained from the beginning that fire on a starship or space station was deadly. Not only was there nowhere to escape the heat, but it could quickly consume all the oxygen and we would all suffocate. The Reach was large enough that I didn’t think that was an immediate threat, but seeing those orange, oily flames licking towards the ceiling, made my adrenaline squirt.

sᴛᴏᴘ ғɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪs ɪɴsᴛᴀɴᴛ! I said, my voice becoming boosted by the Reach’s PA.

I expected everyone to roll to a halt, sheepishly looking towards me.

I expected everyone to stop, mid swing and realize what they were doing.

I expected everyone to stop fighting.

What I did not expect was another Voice saying, ᴀᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ғᴀʟsᴇ ᴇᴍᴘʀᴇss! And another set of wings and crown spring into being in the distance, their light illuminating the other side of the battlefield. Who-Wh-what the fuck?

<What are you doing?> I asked the Nanites, too startled to feel anything beyond surprise.

<What we need to do. You do not have the determination to see our great work completed. While you were galavanting around, we have found someone else.>

<You didn't mention this before. You didn't say anything before.>

<We have given you more than enough warning. We have given you everything you needed to complete our great work, and still you dithered. Still you wavered. We have found someone that does not have such weaknesses.>

The crowd parted, and The Smell of Soil After Rain stood, his crown and wings a deep blood red and pointed right at me.

ᴇʟɪᴍɪɴᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴜsᴜʀᴘᴇʀ.

First / Previous / Next

It took about an hour for the parking field to bring us to a working umbilical on the Wilds.

I spent the entire time worrying. It couldn't be Janais, could it? She disappeared when the empire fell. How long ago was that? The Nanites made me Empress, that means they thought the previous Empress was gone and not coming back. What happens when there are two Empresses?

<We control who is Empress. It does not matter if someone else was Empress before.>

But even if she was stranded over here for... some reason, she wouldn't be alive anymore, would she?

<Thanks to us, Empresses live quite a long time. It is possible.>

“Are you all right, Melody?” Ava asked. Whoops, I think she was looking at me the whole time I was lost in thought.

“I’m fine Ava, I was just conferring with the Nanites. I was worried that if Janais was still alive and Empress if there would be a problem with us meeting.”

“Will there be?”

“They said no, since they control who is Empress.”

“What if they decide she’d be a better Empress than you?” Raaden asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I…don’t know.” I could feel the Nanites presence but they were remaining silent on this point, which I think worried me more than if they had come right out to say something, but what else could we do? "Well, we're going to meet them and find out. Let's all get dressed up nice, we should try and give a good first impression. Raaden, will you put on a uniform, or do I have to order it?"

"I'll get dressed Empress, Frankly, I have to see what happens when you meet this... other Empress. No matter how it falls out, I have a feeling it will be interesting." She stood up and walked out of the Command Deck without so much as a backwards glance.

"Omar, once we've docked, disconnect and come along too. We might as well all go. I'll ask Sep's security forces to hang back and guard the door, but we came over to see what's going on, and I for one want to see it through."

"Of course, Melody. It's not like we could break away from this field and leave like Far Reach did anyway. We don't have anything with close to the power of a Starjumper's stardrive."

A short time later we all met by the exit. The umbilical was connected and the pressures equalized. All that was left was to open the door. We took a few extra minutes to let Omar disconnect and put on a fresh uniform.

I was in a muted version of my Empress uniform, not the gown, just a uniform. I looked like a more elaborate Builder. "Everyone ready?"

Omar and Ava looked worried but were trying to hide it, Starlight looked worried but wasn't trying to hide it, and Raaden looked incredibly amused, nearly smug. I wonder if she thought that something bad was going to happen to me when we met. Probably. I turned back to the door and as I pressed the button, I held my breath slightly. It hissed open and we were presented with a short umbilical, just like the one on the Reach, except... this one was much more run down. Half the lights were out and what were left were flickering. The umbilical itself was dusty. From lack of use? I can't imagine they have many visitors, but even the umbilical on Reach of the might of Vzzx was clean. I took a step out and led the way. I could feel everyone following, and that gave me a little bit more courage. It'll be fine Melody. They will be pleased to see you and everything will be fine and they'll be friendly and Janais won't order you to stop breathing or anything. It'll be fine. I approached the door to the Wilds and trying my best to stop shaking, I pressed the button to open the door. With a snap, it opened just as quickly as it did back home.

My eyes adjusted to the much dimmer light and I gasped.

Based on the Nanites memories, that was Janais standing there. Janais the Empress. Ancestors who await my return, she looked human. Different enough that she could have been from a different colony or even a different region of Earth in the old days, but close enough that she was undoubtedly human. How did that work, I thought. She was wearing an elegant gown, similar - but still different - than the one that I put on when I assumed my mantle. Hers was deep forest green where mine was royal blue. The cut was different too. Maybe cultural differences? She also has a crown and wings, but -- at least now -- they were faint.

She was standing there with one other person, an Azurian. Unless the Nanites (and the stature back on the Reach) were WAY off, that's not Aeche. Janais stepped forward, and with just a touch of bitterness she gave her introduction; "Welcome to what is left of the Wilds of Besmara. I am Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems, Janais VII. I welcome you to my home.”

Her voice was so musical! She could read me a technical manual and it would sound like a song. Interesting. She did not introduce the Azurian next to her. I swallowed and stepped forward. "Thank you for your welcome...Empress. I am...also Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems, Melody the First. With me are my builders, Omar Adel, Starlight on a Moonless Evening, Ava Williams, and my honored guest, Baron Helen Raaden." They all nodded as I said their name, Raaden not hiding her smirk in the least.

At the mention of a prisoner, Janais laughed. "A prisoner? Newly minted Empress Melody already has enemies? I am impressed. Where is this Baron Raaden from? I see she is of the same or similar race as you."

"She is human like me yes, she is from a different faction. She attempted to assume control of Reach of the Might of Vzzx, but I subdued them and sent them home - with their starship stripped of almost all of their useful components - and kept her and another as... insurance against retaliation."

Janais inclined her head very slightly. "Wise, Empress. You seem to be taking to the mantle well. Come. I will take you to my palace, such as it is. As we walk, tell me how did you become Empress? The Nanites do not select just anyone."

We started off and I looked around the Wilds as we walked. It seemed to be of a very similar layout to the Reach, but there were differences here and there. Maybe it was a mass produced design and the residents add their own flourishes here and there are they live and work in it. This one had seen better days though. The air smelled stale and the lights were dim and some of them flickered. We didn't see anyone at all, and wreckage and garbage were lining the promenade as we walked. As I looked around I told my story from joining Far Reach, to touching the directory stone, up until heading over. I left out the wormhole generators we have, and I skimmed parts here and there, but I explained what I knew and why we were here. As I finished, we approached the palace.

It looked like the Royal Dawn hotel I lived in. But in much, much worse shape.

Janais gestured dramatically as we approached. "Welcome to my home, Builders." She laughed. "I apologize. You are the only visitors I have received in a very long time, I may not be entirely myself."

Ava looked over at Janais. "Empress, can you tell us what happened here? Why are you trapped?"

It appeared she didn’t hear her, or was ignoring her. "Come, there isn't much, but I shall endeavor to be a good host. Allow me to feed you. It is nearly time for the evening meal." She strode purposefully in. As she did, I turned back and looked at everyone.

Ava, Omar and Starlight just shrugged. Raaden was enjoying herself and said, "Her? I like her. Let's see where this goes, Empress." She gestured towards us to go in. "Accept the invitation. We don't want to be rude."

Dinner was indeed simple, but it was not actually that bad. We had a similar meal over on the Reach many times. It appears that Janais lived with two Azurians and a Marians. She did not introduced us, and they did not speak to us. Everything she ordered was done with looks and gestures. It was clear they had been with her a long time.

After dinner tea was served. Janais takes the first sip and smiled blissfully. "You know, this is the first time in decades I decided to have some tea. I only have a small amount left, but I didn't want to be a poor host, so please, enjoy."

I took a sip. It's just like the regular tea on the Reach, but if it's some of her last, I made sure to savor it. Actually. "Empress. We have some supplies on board. Tea, food, things like that. If you do not decide to come with us, would you like some?"

Her eyes lit up. "That would be most generous of you Empress. I would very much like some of your luxuries. But what was that you said before 'if I decided to not come with you?' You are here to rescue me?"

I nodded. "If you would like us to, yes. I do not know how many people remain here, but we can probably take quite a few with us for a shuttle back to Reach of the Might of Vzzx and I see no reason we couldn't take multiple trips if necessary. Do you know how many people remain here?"

She took another sip of tea, trying to hide her consideration of my offer. "There are about one hundred and twenty five people here that I know about. Perhaps more that I do not."

We could absorb that few so easily. We could even do it in one trip if everyone was okay with being cramped. "We can accommodate that many easily, Empress. The Reach is in wonderful shape. Nearly 12 million strong and in fine condition."

She stopped and stared are me intently, as if she was making sure what I was saying was real. "You are speaking the truth? The Reach survives?"

"Survives and thrives, Empress. Before we arrived, some Builder controlled systems were languishing, but in the intervening months we have been able to get them up and running again. We aren't at full strength yet, but we have fully repaired most systems."

She sat back in her chair and a new emotion flooded her face, relief.

"Oh, thanks the Ancestors, it worked. Child, you have no idea how much joy it brings me to hear you say that the Reach is not only surviving, but thrives. What of the other locales? Pesmara? The Heights of Gilmenny? Imperia itself?"

I shook my head. "I apologize Empress. We have not visited them yet. We only just recently have been able to rebuild one of the Aviens starships. We stopped here because of what I saw when my original ship, Far Reach first came to this side of the galaxy."

She looked at me, and then turned away. "It is...kismet that you came here first then. I am glad." She stood. "Empress, it is time you learned what happened here. I could tell you but-" she gestures for me to stand "-it will make more sense if I show you."

She took one step towards me quickly and before I knew what is happening she cups my cheeks with her slender hands, and kissed me.

****

The pressure alarm was a loud, hooting affair meant to get attention. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it in a station as large as the Wilds before. Those last strikes must have hit something vital.

How did things get this dire? It feels like only last month everything was going so well. A new Gate had just been dispatched, and I was going to pay those treacherous k’laxi a visit and remind them that I was still their Empress, even if they decided to kill my Builders and lock my Gate.

And yet, the one thing that the Nanites - my Nanites - said would be impossible was happening all around me.

Rebellion.

Seemingly out of nowhere, planet after planet killed their builders and closed their Gate to me. Me!

<Tell me again how they did it?> I demanded.

<Empress, we are unsure at this time.> The Nanites had the decency to sound worried as well. <The traitors have discovered some way to attenuate our power. Around the rebels, we are diminished, reduced.>

<They’re killing you?>

<ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴜsᴛ sᴛᴏᴘ ᴛʜᴇᴍ>

My head reeled as they used my own Voice against me. This had never happened before. What was going on? The world was turned around and nothing made sense. Time. I needed time to process what was going on and formulate a plan, but the traitors seemed to be stealing that resource from me as well.

“Empress, please,” The attendant said - I don’t know this one, where did he come from? “You must don a pressure suit, we are rapidly venting atmosphere.” Behind him a brilliant emerald green suit stood, waiting for me to step in.

“An Empress does not hide,” I snarled. “I will not run and put on a pressure suit when my people fight for their very lives.” I waved him away and reached out to the Wilds with my Builder connection. <“Aeche, where are you? What is our status?”>

<“My love, my Empress.”> Aeche was too familiar with me, but it was over our Builder connection, so I permitted it. She was under stress as well. <“The traitors have launched another missile barrage at us. We haven’t enough anti-missiles to repel them all.”>

<“Point defenses then. Man the guns.”>

<“They are all manned and operable Empress; we have no ammunition.”>

<“What?”>

<“I’m- I’m sorry, Empress. I thought it was something that I could resolve on my own, and keep you from having to sully your hands with something so simple as materiel gathering.”>

<“What are you talking about, Aeche?”>

<“We haven’t had a supply ship in months. One of the reasons I took you to Besmara was to see if I could determine what was stopping our ships from reaching the Reach. It’s on the very edge of our Gate network, I had hoped that it was some kind of logistical or mechanical issue.”>

<“It is not?”>

<“No, Empress. It was rebellion. Since you were in the Reach for so long, our enemies took that opportunity to attack.”>

<“But the Nanites! Our nanites!”>

<“Were defeated. We do not know how.”>

I felt my knees grow weak, and I slid down into the comfortable seat behind me. “So that’s it then.” I said aloud, to the empty pressure suit staring at me.

<We are not defeated yet. They have not compromised the Gates. As soon as someone…worthy touches an addressing stone, we will re-initialize and start anew.>

<Re-initalize? Start anew? What about this empire, what about me?>

<It is very likely that this empire is lost. It is not the first time this has happened.>

<Not the first- how long have you been doing this.>

<Longer than you can imagine. Each time, the empire grows bit by bit. Think of the Gates. How many did you build?>

<Nearly one hundred.>

<Ninety three. How many Gates are in the Galaxy?>

<Five hundred and Fifty Five. I know the words, I know the songs.>

<That is how many you know about, but that is neither here nor there. The point is, you did not make the entire Gate system, nor did we expect you to complete it.>

<So, what? You will wait until someone touches the addressing stone again, and…start over?>

<Yes.>

<And me? My builders? Aeche?>

<Have become surplus to requirements.> As the words faded, I felt as the power, the thrumming life of Besmara faded from my view. I was smaller, weaker. <“Aeche? Aeche?!”>

<“Yes my love?”>

<“Oh thank the Ancestors, they did not take everything.”>

<“My love?”>

<“The nanites have abandoned us. They have declared this empire lost and will wait to start anew. We seem to still have enough to be Builders and run a station, but - wait, one moment.”> I pointed over to the attendant waiting anxiously and said, “sᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴏɴ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴇɢ.”

They cocked their head oddly, but remained standing on both legs. “Empress? What did you say?”

<“The Voice is gone, Aeche. I cannot give undeniable orders; I-”> I felt the tears well in my eyes and run down my cheeks, “<I am not Empress anymore.”>

<“Janais, my love. You must be strong. We still have each other, we still have Besmara and the Reach. Those stations love you. We will not be so easily destroyed.”>

<“But what can I do?”>

<“Leave that to me, and know that I always have, and always will love you.”>

Aeche broke off the connection then, and I found myself having to strain to reconnect. No longer Empress, I would have to go to the throne and connect to be able to access most Builder systems.

By the time I got there and connected, it was too late. Aeche had left in Worldshaker and was streaking towards our attackers; diving and twisting as she dodged attacks, she drew their fire and they gave chase. Leading them towards the planet, She dove deep into the atmosphere. With our telescopes set to the highest magnification, I could just barely see my ship and my love dissappear in a blinding flash of white and then.

And then destruction.

I can only guess, but Aeche must have used her new wormhole generator to open a link into the center of the planet. Once there, the ship would have detonated, with such tremendous power that the planet - and attacking fleet were destroyed utterly. I could only watch as the shockwave approached us.

Maybe now I would finally be at peace.

****

I broke away from the kiss with a yelp, my body sweating. I fell to my knees shaking. Ava ran over to me "Melody! Are you all right? What did she do?"

I held up my hand to keep her back as I panted a few times and caught my breath. "She- She showed me what happened. What happened to Besmara. Aeche drew an attacking fleet to chase her and she used their new wormhole generator to link into the planet, destroying it and them.” I did not mention the Nanites abandoning her.

"She did it on purpose? She blew up a whole planet?" Omar sounded disbelieving.

“But why?” Ava asked, staring at Janais.

“Rebellion.” Janais said. “I had ignored the reports from my empire, or listened too well to my advisors and had missed the resentment and disquiet that had been building for-” She made a strange gesture with her right hand, “-for entirely too long.”

“But, you were Empress?” Raaden asked, humor gone from her posture and her manner. “Couldn’t you use your Voice?”

“The rebels had discovered a way to render the Voice - the Nanites - neutered.”

“How?” Raaden asked.

“I do not know. I was kept away from the worst of things, apparently.” Janais said, bitterly.”

<We must determine how our predecessors were defeated.>

<Why? It was a long time ago.>

<Not for us. This is an unacceptable risk.>

First / Previous / Next

This time at least, I expected the tinkle of debris on the hull.

We came out inside the same debris cloud as before. Oh, I bet Raaden would be interested in this. I called out on the PA “Raaden, please come up to the Command Deck, this might interest you.”

As we coast silently away from the Gate, Raaden padded up, still in her sweats. “Yes, Empress?” I gestured at the forward screen, showing the destroyed planet and debris field. “Welcome to the Wilds of Besmara. This is the other system we visited before we came to Reach of the Might of Vzzx.”

I will admit a certain small amount of satisfaction that I was able to render such a jaded expert in spaceflight speechless. She stared at the image, mouth agape for a few seconds before catching herself. “What happened here?” She turned to me, “Did you do this?”

“No. This is how Far Reach found it. We don’t know what happened, but when we got close to the station in the system, some kind of field enveloped us. It was trying to pull us in.”

“How did you escape?”

“We tried juke charges to spin us around and the the Stardrive at 2gee to try and overload the field. That wasn’t working so I used the Voice to order them to release me, but I wasn’t completely aware what I was doing at the time.”

“I would have just found the source of the emitter and fired on it.” Raaden almost sounded disappointed we didn't just destroy the emitter.

“That was going to be what we did, but I received an impression or a feeling from the station warning us not to do that. It was done in a commanding Voice like mine, but I didn't feel that compulsion to obey. At least I didn't think I felt... I did obey it though. Hmm." I shook my head, I was getting off track. "Regardless, this time we’re going to let the field pull us in.”

Raaden looked at me and then at the ruined station and planet and then back at me. “Why?”

“I want to go aboard. I need to see who lives here and if they need help. Clearly this place had a planet, but it’s long gone. Far Reach’s thermal scans showed that there were people aboard, but not too many. I don’t know how they’re eating or surviving. According to the Nanites I carry, the Wilds used to be a thriving planet and station pair housing over a billion people.”

“Wait, ‘according to the Nanites?’” Raaden walked over to an empty station and sat down, spinning the chair around so she could see us. She was looking at me with an intense expression. Uh oh.

Ava looked up from a sensor station; she was busy trying to learn more about the station. “Melody…” I knew that tone. It was the "what the heck are you doing?" tone.

I looked over at Ava and shrugged. “It’s not like she can use the information against us. The Nanites - the nanomachines that give the Builders their abilities - talk to me.”

“Bullshit.”

“How did you think I did the Voice Raaden? Magic? The air here is thick with nanomachines. That's why your earplugs didn't do anything, things were long past that having any kind of affect. The memories and feelings are a part of the Empress package I have. The Nanites say that they contain the recorded memories and impressions of previous Empresses. That each Empress would upload them regularly-“ I didn't mention how exactly. I didn't need her escaping and touching a directory stone. I don't know what would happen and I'm not interested in finding out now, “-and if or when a new Empress needed to be made, they would get the memories. They’re supposed to be like… an incorruptible advisor I think. They help you rule.”

<That is an excellent way to think of us.>

<Was it accurate?>

<Enough.>

“So you have… an AI made out of nanomachines in your blood, giving you advice?” Raaden’s face said it all.

They’re not an AI they’re a- <Can I tell her?>

<Go ahead.>

I took a breath. This was the first time I was telling everyone, I was pretty sre. They’re not an AI, they’re a distributed intelligence from another dimension.”

Raaden didn’t even reply, I think she was too shocked. Ava stared at me and quietly said “Melody…that’s what the Nanites are? You’re sure?”

“Very sure,” I said nodding. “I don’t know why they came over here, but building an empire and Gates are important to them.”

“Why?” Raaden said suddenly.

<It is how we can spread through this galaxy.>

“They tell me it’s how they spread through the galaxy.”

“What’s the benefit to us?”

<Greatly expanded lifespan, more power than you can currently imagine, the ability to project power on a galactic scale.>

“Err,” I was getting tired of playing telephone with them, <Can you just tell them?>

When I opened my mouth, the words that came out were not mine. They had odd overtones, as if I was suddenly many many people speaking at once.

“Melody has asked that we speak on our own behalf. Please know that this is highly unusual. We prefer to work ‘behind the scenes’ to steal an idiom. There were many times when none but the Empress knew of us.”

“These are hardly usual times, you have to admit.” Raaden said, leaning forward, she was staring at me intently, and it was making me uncomfortable.

“We concur, these are…unprecedented times. But, we stand on the precipice of greatness, all of you. You will rebuild the empire, construct more Gates, and spread to all corners.”

“Why?”

“It is what we do.”

“Not good enough.” Raaden said, shaking her head. “There is no benefit to you giving Melody godlike powers and her friends demigod powers for no reason. I refuse to believe you are doing it to be nice.” She stood and towered over me, looking down as I sat in the command chair, suddenly feeling very small. “Why?”

“We do not have to answer to you.”

“And yet you took the step to speak on your own behalf. You could have just told Melody no and stayed in the background. You’re here now, so cough it up. Why are you empire building?”

“To build Gates.”

“Why?”

“To spread.”

“Why?”

“ʙᴇᴄᴀsᴇ ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ sᴏ, ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴠᴇʀʏ ʜ̴̣̈ᴜ̸̜̽ɴ̷̨͂ɢ̷̝͌ʀ̸̲́ʏ̴̥̒.” They said in my Voice as I squeaked in surprise. When they said that last thing, it was almost as if the room rumbled in sympathetic response.

Raaden finally sat down, satisfied. She waved a hand towards me. “Elaborate.”

“Er,” I said in my own voice, “Do you have to keep speaking as me? You’re making my throat hurt.”

I could feel the Nanites frown, and then a silvery cloud appeared in Command with us. Starting out barely on the edge of vision, it coalesced and increased in density until it was more like water vapor from a hot shower. “Fine. We will speak this way.” They said, their voice buzzy and odd, but understandable. “Raaden, are we alive?”

Raaden blinked and thought a moment. “I don't know, probably?”

“Are the AIs alive?”

“Ye-es,” Raaden said carefully. “We - that is to say Venus - does not deny their sapience.” She frowned again, “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Indulge our curiosity. A living being consumes energy and reproduces, does it not? We do both.”

“What does a cloud of nanoscale machines eat?” Omar asked, as their spell broke enough for people to actually think about their words.

“Energy.”

“I see where this is going,” Raaden said darkly. “What do you consume for energy?”

ᴇ̷̙̖̅͐̈́ᴠ̷̡͖͌̔͐ᴇ̶̞̣̀ʀ̷̢͓̖̆͠ʏ̸̠̜͇͆͗̇ᴛ̴̛̠̐͒ʜ̷̧̟̠̾͋̒ɪ̵͎̆͛ɴ̵͕̳͒ɢ̷̢͕͒ As they said it the room shook again.

“I assumed as much, yes.” Raaden said and sighed. “So. Why are we still alive? Why didn’t you completely consume this galaxy for lunch?”

“You are much more useful to us alive than dead.” They said.

“For now,” Um’reli added.

“Your now is but a microscopic fraction of a second to us. You have no concept, no ability to visualize just how old we are. It matters not, we are patient.”

“But you just told us you are hungry,” I said. Hey, I was going to be more than just a mouthpiece for this conversation.

“We are. We must feed, though not often. We will occasionally devour a star system. The Gates allow us to find places - safe places - to eat.”

“Safe?”

“Free from life. We are not in the xenocide business.”

“Yet.” Um’reli said.

Raaden stood and started pacing Command. “So you just nibble on the occasional star system as a snack while building a galaxy spanning empire of the locals so that they build you Gates to spread further and find more food?”

“That is a simplification, but is broadly correct.”

“Why the Voice?”

“Obedience is easier when it is coerced.”

Me, Um’reli, Omar and Raaden frowned. “I…don’t like that.” I said finally.

“You do not have a choice in the matter, Empress.” They said, their tone mocking even as they spoke by vibrating the air around the cloud. “We will rebuild this empire through you, adding the settled space on your side of the galaxy to our overall hegemony and you,

Will.

Construct.

More.

ɢᴀᴛᴇs.

“What do we get out of it?” Raaden said, as she stopped pacing. “Besides remaining alive?” She added.

“Power. Influence. Riches. Whatever you want. Ava was correct from the beginning, Melody. You can have anything you want. You just ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ people to give it to you.”

“But I want people to like me for being me,” I said a touch petulantly if I had to admit it to myself. “I don’t want people to like me because I told them to in a spooky voice.”

“Hah.” Raaden’s laugh was sharp in the quiet room. “You really are just a kid, aren’t you Melody?” She said shaking her head sadly. “You were a lieutenant right? Was this your first commission?”

“As an LT yes. I graduated an Ensign and served in the Meíhuà Navy and did a rotation on a K’laxi frigate.”

“So green.” Raaden said almost to herself. “Meldoy, you can’t get everyone to like you, it’s impossible.”

“ɪɴᴄᴏʀʀᴇᴄᴛ.” The Nanites said.

“Fine, it’s normally impossible.” Raaden added, her voice taking on a touch of venom. “But that’s what leadership is. Doing the right thing for your charges, even if they might not like or understand it at first. The job is mostly convincing people to not overthrow you.”

“It is?” This was completely different than how I had experienced rule so far.

“Oh yes,” She said with emphasis. “I am only a Baron, but I spend far more time than I’d prefer chitchatting with the Nobels or wheeling and dealing with the Treasury or trying to get the Emperor to build some more gods damned dreadno-” She coughed lightly. “That’s what I mean. It’s not all siting on a throne and looking cool. Its-” She gestured, “-politics.”

“That is exactly our point.” The Nanites said. “It need not be. With just a command, everyone obeys you, they do what you order them. No more politics, just you.”

“Melody,” Ava said as she looked at me with an odd expression. “Why not just…do it?”

“Do what?”

“Do what the Nanites say. Rule. Be Empress. Build their Gates sure, let them eat some dusty old, empty star systems; be at the top of the heap.”

If I was honest with myself, it was really fun being Empress. I felt like I mattered, like the people of the Reach really liked me. I didn’t have to use my Voice, I just made their homes nicer and gave them more food. Couldn’t I do that for everyone?”

<You could. You can. You will.>

<What about the others?>

<Convince them, either by argument or with your Voice.>

<I just said I don’t want to Voice everyone.>

<Try it your way then. We have been surprised by you before.>

Raaden smiled sadly at me and said, “Melody, I don’t think you’re seeing the larger picture. The only way you'll survive is if you take up the mantle you've been given and actually rule the Galaxy. The only other alternative is death. Either at the hands of the nanites, or by assassination." She shook her head as she sat back down. “I don’t envy you.”

<She is completely correct.>

<You’d kill me?> I asked them, completely shocked.

<We told you what we require. If you can not or will not do it, we will find someone who can.>

Ava's voice was quiet. "I can't believe I'm saying this but...Raaden is right, Melody. If you don't go to take over, everyone will be so frightened that you could take over, they won't wait for you to try it. They'll just kill you on sight. There was probably quietly a kill on sight order on you put out by the AIs already."

Raaden nodded. "Almost certainly."

Starlight looked at me, awkward. Their feathers ruffled in waves. "Empress, er, I concur with Builder Ava and Baron Raaden. You cannot leave anyone in question to your legitimacy. If you do not want to rule the entire galaxy, your only other solution is to destroy the Gates on that side. Prevent them from getting here easily and they might not assassinate you.”

I could feel the Nanite cloud turn towards Starlight, and they unconsciously took a step back and said, “Not that we would of course, you just explained why we need to build more.”

"Melody, the field has just enveloped us, just like last time. We're being pulled towards the Wilds." Omar said, over the PA.

Finally, something to pull me back to the here and now. I could concentrate on this and worry about me accidentally killing everyone later. "Thanks Omar, for now, let's let it us pull us. Keep an eye out for weapons targeting and for other things that we should know about. Are we getting any radio signals?"

"No, nothin- wait. Yes, I think we're being pinged."

"Open a channel please."

As Omar activated the radio and it scans for the signal being sent to us, there's a squeal and a hiss of static. The noise calms down and there is... a voice. It's hard to make out in the static, but Omar tries to focus the receiver and it gets tinny, but clearer.

"Who is approaching? Identify yourself."

"This is High Line, operated by the Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems, Melody the First. We seek permission to dock and come aboard. We come from Reach of the Might of Vzzx and would like to open a dialog."

There was a long pause after I made my announcement. I wondered for a moment if we've lost radio contact when I heard a different voice.

"Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems Melody the First? How intriguing. Permission to board has been granted. We shall direct you to a working umbilical and will meet you."

The Radio connection was cut by them and Ava looked on her screen. "It looks like we're being steered. I wonder if we have such a field and it's just offline or unused. It would be useful to have. Also, why do you suppose the voice changed."

"I'm sure it was some radio operator who started, and then the real authority was put on to grand our landing." Raaden lounged in her chair once again, one leg over an armrest. "Smaller stations can sometimes require administrator approval, especially if the Administrator is somewhat of a Tyrant. She looked up at me, but her expression changed when she saw my face. "Empress, what's wrong?"

At that Ava's head shot up and she looked over to me, worried. "What did you hear, Melody? You look like you saw a ghost."

"That other person? The one who gave us permission to dock? I know that voice. That was Janais, the previous Empress."

First / Previous / Next

Omar and his workers at the docks spent most of the night getting High Line ready for our trip. They loaded it up with provisions, got things set just right with Omar plugged into High Line running simulations and checked settings over and over. While I was down eating breakfast, I reached out to him and found out he's been on High Line for hours already.

I mentally sent him, <“Omar, did you sleep last night?”>.

<“I took a nap here and there. There was too much to do before we left.”> I swear I could feel him yawn over the connection.

<“You realize we're just going over to the Wilds of Besmara, right? I don't even think we'll be gone more than two or three days.”>

<“I also remember what the Wilds looked like when we were there last. I'm not taking any chances. Additionally someone invited the scary Baron to come along.”> I could feel Omar’s expression over the connection.

<“Hey, would you rather they stay here, scheming and causing trouble, or coming with us - yes, while also scheming, but now they have the threat of being tossed into a hibernation cabinet by me?”>

<“I don't trust her.”>

<“Me neither, that's why we're bringing the hibernation cabinet. Where did you put it?”>

<“I put it in one of the common rooms. It's only going to be a small crew, we just won't use the room.”>

<“Who is coming, by the way?”>

<“You, me, Starlight, Ava, Ginny, Raaden and a couple of Sep's security forces. That's all we need. Ginny is already here, she wanted to see if I needed any help with the reactors.”>

<"Selem isn't coming?>

<"She's still getting settled, and I figured we should have one of us still on the Reach in case any Builder systems needed to be monitored.">

<“Okay then, I'll go get Ava and Raaden, you call Starlight and I'll have City tell Sep we need their people now.”>

<“See you soon, Melody.”>

I went back upstairs and got Ava up out of our bed. In the time since I left to eat she had rolled over and spread herself out over the entire bed and looked blissfully comfortable. I reached down and stroked her hair gently. "Ava, it's time to wake up. We have to go pick up Raaden and go to the Wilds today."

"Hmmph. No. Sleep more."

"Ava, come on. I didn't wake you for breakfast, it's time to get up and get going."

She yawned and it turned into a full body stretch. I was always jealous of her ability to stretch, it looked so comfortable. "Fine fine, I'm up. Did you bring me something to eat, hon?"

I handed her a meal bar. "Yes actually. I thought this might happen. Eat up and get dressed. You can shower on High Line tonight."

"Ooh, is there room for two in the shower on High Line?" She said, lasciviously.

I rolled my eyes. "Someone always gets cold when we try to shower together. Baths are much better for ideas like that." I tossed her Builder uniform to her.

I cherished these little moments when we were together like this. Here, we're just Ava and Melody, not Empress and Builder. It's part of the reason I invited her to move up here, and I was happy she accepted. Even if it's only for a little while, I could pretend that we're just...us. After she's dressed, we walked over to Raaden's apartment together. I nodded to the security guards by the door. They nodded back and stepped aside. I knocked, but didn't open the door. "Raaden, are you ready? We're headed over to High Line now."

The door opened and she stepped into the doorway wearing loose, comfortable clothes. I tried to hide my surprise. Of course she had regular clothes. She wouldn't be in her uniform all the time. It was just that Raaden's look was so tied with her uniform that to see her out of it made her seem more vulnerable. Her sweatshirt was grey with REGANTOWN GIPPERS in purple along the front in a circle with two Lacrosse sticks forming an X in the middle. She was carrying a duffel over her shoulder. I reached back into the Reach systems and scanned it. It was just a few changes of clothes and toiletries. Fine.

"Good morning...Empress, Ava." She said, cautiously.

Oh right, she couldn't call me anything but Empress. On the short walk over, Raaden looked around the Reach. "I still can't get over how large this place is." She looked at me. "You weren't lying? Is it really 11 million people?"

"11.5 at the last census before we came here. Starlight said that it's probably closer to 12 these days. Now that we've repaired the food deliveries too, the population will probably grow more."

"It's... lively, but it's not what I would call crowded either. I imagine one could support closer to 20 million if everyone didn't mind close quarters." Raaden was almost talking to herself. She looked at Ava. "How does everyone get around? 11 something million is a lot for just walking."

“There's a transit system. It's like a Metro on a planetary system but in space. It is only one line, three tracks wide, but it runs in a spiral up and down the the station with a lot of stops along the way. We're actually on the end of the line here in the Docking and Administration area."

"A whole metro? I'd like to see it." Raaden perked up at the mention of the transit system. I wondered if she liked trains.

"Sure, I guess? I can show it to you when we come back." Ava said. She sounded hesitant, but it's not like the train was a secret. It's a train. Huh, now that got me wondering. Are trains rare in space? Saying it out loud made me think that they were, but then again there are a lot of really large habitats and stations that people lived on. I think Concurrency Point had a small transit system, maybe they weren’t rare after all. Raaden might know about Venus at least.

"Raaden, do the Floating Cities have mass transit?"

She visibly brightened and said, "Actually, yes! All of the floating cities have bus rapid transit for travel Outside. They're sealed buses of course, but they're wheeled, with a 3rd rail for power and usually run in single or double car setups. Inside the Floating Cities it's more of a traditional metro setup with lines and stations. Regantown is the largest city with the largest metro on Venus. More than 5 million trips are taken on the Regantown Metro every single day!" For possibly the first time since coming aboard, she seemed animated and interested.

Raaden looked back around at the station as we walked. "Smart of them to build the station with mass transit in mind. Starting with an asteroid also gives you more options. Hollow it out and you have living space right away. Take the overburden and with some light processing you have material to build the buildings inside and more on the outside if you're growing. We explored options like this for stations a long time ago. I think some of the High Mars Orbitals were made this way."

"Orchid and Hyacinth were built from scratch, Juniper, Ponderosa and Balsam were made in a similar way to the Reach out of the remains of Demos. It wasn't the same because three Orbitals were made out of what was left of Demos, but we used the same theory." Ava said, without looking over at us.

Raaden and I looked over at Ava. When she noticed us staring she blushed. "What? I lived on Hyacinth for most of my life, we had to know our history. I might have been born in Regantown, but I spent more than half of my life on Hyacinth."

"You were born in Regantown?" Raaden looked genuinely surprised. “You're Venusian?"

Ava shook her head firmly and said, "No, we gave up our citizenship after we moved. I am officially a citizen of High Mars Hyacinth."

Raaden looked thoughtful for a moment. "Empress, where were you from?"

"Meíhuà, born and raised. I actually was in the colonial navy before signing on with Far Reach for the exploratory mission."

"Meíhuà? I figured they always stuck with their own." Raaden looked at me curious.

"Come now Raaden, you don't want us spouting stereotypes about Venus, so don't repeat Meíhuà stereotypes. We trade with Venus and the Outer Planet Alliance just as much as with the independent stations, the Xenni and K’laxi.

She raised her hands in surrender. "Okay okay, I admit, I know next to nothing about Meíhuà. It wasn't even on the first list when the Emperor planned his...expansion plans."

"Oh?" That's all I said. It was enough.

Raaden had the decency to look embarrassed. "Yeah, well you know how well that campaign went. After the failure at Parvati, Wellfleet was determined to get a win and so got permission to go after that piddly little station." She shrugged. "He failed, he died, I took over, and we went home."

"He was killed."

"By me, on the order of the Emperor, yes. He may tolerate one failure. He won't tolerate two."

"So does that mean that you'll never be able to go home to Venus?" I didn't think I was trying to keep Raaden talking, but as she talked more, she became more relaxed. Maybe it was just something to do other than fret about the hibernation cabinet, but she seemed like she was trying to explain herself, or something to that effect.

"I...don't know. I've always been a loyal and successful officer. It's entirely possible I'll get a reprimand, maybe a demotion and then put back out there." A shadow crossed her face, just for a moment. "It's also equally possible that there's a bullet waiting for me in the Emperor's antechamber. I'll guess I'll find out when or if Venus gets in touch."

"If? My goodness Raaden, that's dark,” Ava said. She just accepted that there was a 50/50 chance she would get killed as soon as she got home?

"It's the truth. I won't try and deny it. You both know what Venus is like. It's entirely possible that they will write off me and Emery and work to forget we ever existed."

Ava was firm and added, "Yes, I do know what Venus is like. It's why we left and moved to Hyacinth."

Raaden nodded once and didn't say anything more about it. Well, that answers if Raaden knew what kind of place she worked for. She knew all too well.

We walked a little more, past the docks and printers where Omar's team was hard at work refurbishing Immar IV, the former Mariens ship. It had been split into three large pieces and heavy cranes were moving components into it. This refurbishment seemed much more involved than the other two Aviens ships. As we passed, Raaden stared for a moment before catching up to us. She turned and looked at me, "You have a starship class printer here? You weren't joking about taking the parts of the Lavinia and making a new ship?"

"We have a couple of them, yes. We refurbished High Line here ourselves. Our current plan is when we come back to start work on our own dreadnought, with the weapons from Lavinia."

She stared at me for a moment, then, "...The missile batteries were always 5 degrees off. I had asked the shipyards to look into it, but they never did. The missiles could always correct for it, but that burned fuel. It made our effective range 5% lower than it could have been. Be careful with that when you mount them."

That was out of nowhere. "Uh, thank you Raaden. We'll keep that in mind." What was going on? She seemed completely different than yesterday. It's almost like she had given up on trying to escape. Just because I ordered her not to do it doesn't mean she couldn't think it. She just couldn't act on it. What changed? Would Venus really abandon them here?

As we walked to the docks, High Line was out of the internal dock and was connected to an umbilical. We walked up and Starlight on a Moonless Evening was waiting by the entrance. "Ah, Empress Melody, Builder Ava, Baron Raaden, good morning. Ginny is already aboard. She came earlier.”

"Good Morning Starlight, are you all right to go?" It had only been a few days since their partner River was killed, I hope they're going all right. I decided to do my best to try and keep the mood light.

"Yes Empress, I'm ready. It will be...satisfying to take our ship out to visit somewhere else and not worry about being stranded." Starlight looked up at High Line before stepping in. "River would have loved it."

We all got in and got settled. There were only the 8 of us and there was plenty of room on the ship. I dropped my rifle and Ava's bags in our room - Omar really went all out, it actually was quite nice - and headed up to the Command Deck. I peeked in the bathroom and sure enough, the shower was only large enough for one. As I walked up to the Command Deck, I passed by the room for Raaden. Her door was open, and she was inside lounging on the bed, reading a pad. "Hey Raaden, do you want to come up to the Command Deck and watch as we head over?"

She looked up from her pad and said, "Do you order it?"

"No, just asking."

"I'll pass then. I've seen hundreds of ships leave dock, it's nothing I haven't seen before."

"You have permission to come on up if you're bored. ꜱᴛᴀʏ ᴏᴜᴛ of the engine room, reactor room, weapons bays, assigned rooms and the starboard common room. The rest of the ship is open to you."

She winced at the order, but doesn't otherwise react. "Why is the starboard common room off limits?

"That's where the hibernation cabinet was stored."

She swallowed and shuddered just a bit, and nodded silently.

"Oh also, ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀᴍɪɴᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ɪɴ ᴀɴʏ ᴡᴀʏ. Your position here is officially hostage, not crew."

Another wince, another nod. "I know my place here, Empress. I won't cause trouble."

I continued on. Ginny, Starlight and Ava were already on the Command Deck when I walked in as I looked around and took in the setup. It was different from a human ship, everyone was much closer together. The Command chair was in the front of the room, facing a main screen while everyone else was behind the commander at their stations. I don’t know, I prefer our way with the Commander in the back or the center and everyone around them. I felt like the commander here had to keep turning around to issue orders. “Starlight, why is the commander in the front on Aviens ships?”

“Hmm, I’m not entirely sure, Empress. Perhaps my ancestors preferred to be seen in the front when issuing orders. Some kind of holdover from surface battles maybe?”

“Whatever the reason, it sure makes it awkward to sit there and turn around and issue commands.” Still, I went forward and sat in the Command Chair. It was small compared to human chairs, and pressed uncomfortably against my hips. After a moment of fidgeting, I realized that wasn’t going to work at all, so I got up and stood instead. “Omar, how are we looking?”

Omar’s disembodied voice came over the ships PA. “We’re ready when you are Melody. Systems green all around.”

“Well then, no point in hanging around here. Omar, please take us out.”

And with no fanfare at all, Omar disconnected the umbilical and we gently floated away from Reach of the Might of Vzzx.

The trip out to the Gate was uneventful. Ginny and Omar spent their time going over the Aviens and Human reactors and Ginny pointed out quite a few options for improvements on the Aviens design that Omar hadn’t even thought of. Omar was ready to just print Human reactors and replace them, but Ginny was able to see how we could make them work more efficiently and save time. I’m glad she decided to stay. If she proves herself as truly on our side, I wouldn’t mind making her a Builder, if I could convince the others she was not a threat. Ava and I wound up spending a good amount of time exploring High Line. Starlight said as far as they know, it was an unremarkable Aviens vessel, but this will be their first trip through a Gate ever, so we had no real way of knowing just how unremarkable it was.

We were walking along the main center corridor in the ship when Ava stopped. "Is this ship...odd to you Melody?"

"I mean, the layout isn't what I expect, but I don't know if I'd call it odd. Why?

"Well, for one, it's the first non-human ship I've ever been on. I keep expecting to find things in a certain place and I get confused when they aren't there. What about you?"

“I did a goodwill tour with the K'laxi. I spent 3 months right after graduation onboard the frigate Isar The Greater."

"Oh, I never knew that! How was it being on a K'laxi ship?"

"Cramped. You know how they tend to be shorter than humans? The older ships don't have much accommodation for our height. It was lucky I'm not too tall. As it was, I hit my head more times than I cared to admit. I'm just happy the Aviens are around our height." I reached up and touched the ceiling "I have room enough to stretch here."

Raaden spent her time in her room. I didn’t lock it - I didn’t see the need really, I ordered her to be good - and didn’t interact with us. We had one meal before we traversed the Gate and Raaden took a plate of food back to her room and ate there. I understood, we’re her captors, we’re not her friends. She’s here purely as insurance against a Venusian retaliatory attack, but… I don’t know. I just wanted everyone to be friendly.

Right after the evening meal, we approached the Gate. On the Command Deck, I watched it loom large on the forward screen. “Omar, is the address for the Wilds entered into the Addressing Module?”

“Yes Melody, we can activate the Gate at your order.”

I took a deep breath. Come on Melody, it’s nothing. You’ve gone through plenty of Gates. This is just like any other. Why am I so nervous though?

<You fear what you will find on the Wilds.>

<Well yes. Thank you for putting a name to it, I guess.>

<You have nothing to fear in your own Empire.>

“Omar, we may traverse. Please proceed ahead.”

“Aye Empress.” Huh, he didn’t call me Melody when executing an official order.

The Gate glows that painful, hazy blue and…

We traversed.

First / Previous / Next

His Imperial Highness, Isaac Pohl the Fifth was seated upon his gilded throne, more than a meter above the throne room on a dais made of black granite as he regarded Gord coolly. On one side of him a woman stood statue still, her uniform the elaborate burgundy brocade of the royal guard, her battle rifle pointed down with the safety on. On the other side a k’laxi dressed in a very elaborate - traditional k’laxi by Gord’s eye - dress sat on a small cushioned seat, not quite at the emperor’s height.

“We must admit, it is rare for someone from the AI faction to be visiting us.” He said, his voice a smooth tenor. Gord had to admit that for a human - especially one that was at least five generations of royalty - he looked and sounded good.

“Yeah, well we’re in strange times, your excellency” Gord said, using - to even his own surprise - the correct title and everything, and he briefly wondered if he was losing his touch. “I’d like to speak to you about your recently returned expedition.”

Emperor Pohl snapped his fingers sharply, and the royal guard stiffly turned and walked out of the room, followed by two guards at the door as well as the three guards Gord knew were hiding behind the dais. As the last guard left she shut the doors, locking them deliberately. Curiously, the K’laxi didn’t leave. “Who is your guest?” Gord asked, when curiosity got the better of him.

“Madame Ta’reni Bishi is my trusted advisor and partner, and whatever you say to me can be said to her in full confidence.” He said as Ta’reni inclined her head gently, causing the silver earrings over her large ears to flash and jitter in the overhead light.

“Partner? My my, it takes all kinds.” Gord said, to hide his surprise. The emperor was sleeping with a K’laxi? That might explain their sudden interest in trade with the cats. “Bishi? The same name as one of your colony worlds?”

“Yes, my familial line sponsored the expedition that led to the founding of Bishi, and it was named for us out of gratitude.” She said. Gord found her accent interesting. It was so precise that he wondered if she was affecting it.

The Emperor coughed politely, “Now what did you wish to discuss about my recently returned expedition.”

“Well for one, where is the rest of their ship?” Gord asked, not hiding his grin.

“Humph. Baron Raaden’s expedition ran into some trouble with the locals and decided to generously donate some minor components from her ship, as well as stay behind to make sure that they are safely integrated with local equipment.”

“Including the wormhole generator? The exawatt laser batteries? Large portions of the hull plating?”

“Very generous,” He said, daring Gord to disagree.

“Actually, the wormhole generator was destroyed through sabotage,” Ta’reni said. “Some of the locals were killed when they attempted to tinker with something they did not understand. Very human of them.” She added.

“And what of the crew? What did they think of the expedition?” Gord asked, choosing not to rise to Ta’reni’s bait.

“They were all debriefed in groups and individually and while we have learned many things, there isn’t anything we learned that should concern the AIs.”

“Now that, I doubt.” Gord said. He was still standing, looking up at the Emperor. If he was human, his legs would be getting tired, and his neck would be developing a crick, but he wasn’t and they weren’t. “Tell me about Empress Melody’s Voice.”

“What about it?” The Emperor said, cocking his head slightly. “Our reports said nothing special about her voice. She was just a young to mid 20s woman from Meíhuà who has somehow gotten more than 11 million people to listen to her.”

“Does that not strike you as odd, your excellency? That a lone human woman could not only capture an entire station larger than a few of your floating cities, but that they could support her and back her?”

“You are curiously well informed,” The Emperor said, narrowing his eyes.

“Thank you!” Gord said, smiling warmly.

“But other than our donation of equipment towards Empress Melody’s project, we see no reason to continue relations. They are a significant distance away, we have no real desire to navigate the Gates, and the energy cost to link there with no real way to profit through trade makes any further communications with them pointless.”

“Goes Baron Raaden see things that way?”

“Baron Raaden has retired from the Navy and is enjoying her well deserved rest.”

“Oh?” Gord raised an eyebrow. “I had not heard. Please wish her all the best from me then.”

“Indeed.” The emperor stood. “Then, if you need nothing else-”

“Come on Isaac,” Gord said finally. “The doors are locked, it’s just us five, why the act?”

“Five?” Ta’reni said.

“The two guards that didn’t leave when Isaac dismissed everyone,” Gord said. “One is in a hidden alcove to my right, and the other is in the ceiling.”

The emperor stared at Gord, his face impassive.

“AI remember?” Gord said, tapping the side of his head. “Anyway, what’s with the ‘everything is fine actually’ song and dance?”

“What the hell do you want me to do?” Isaac said, finally sitting heavily in his chair. He glared up at the hidey holes. “Come on, he knows you’re there, come on out.”

The ceiling hatch popped open and a man dressed in a dark grey formless uniform dropped to the floor silently and took up station behind Gord. The side door opened and a woman dressed the same joined him.

“Gord, as close as anyone will tell me, they went over, had a nice meal, Raaden tried and failed to gain control of things, then Melody paraded them before the people, stripped their ship, and sent them home. Nobody reported being mistreated, nobody had anything negative to say about her or her retinue at all! I heard from multiple people how good the food was for fuck's sake. As far as anyone will tell me, they had a fucking vacation.”

“You know that’s not how it happened, right?” Gord said carefully.

“That’s just it Gord, I don’t. I’ve tried everything to get someone to tell me what really happened. You know I have people who can be very persuasive.” He gestured towards Ta’reni, “I even asked Ta’reni if the Discoverers could succeed where my teams failed.”

“We questioned three individuals heavily,” Ta’reni said. “All of them said the same thing. As far as we are able to determine, that is what happened.”

“Did the people survive the questioning? I know how the Discoverers work.” Gord said.

“You do not.” Ta’reni huffed.

“I met Fleet Commander N’ren when she was just a second class Discoverer who couldn’t keep it in her pants. I know how the Discoverers work.”

“Two of the three will make a full recovery.” She said, finally.

“And the third?”

“Will live.”

“You see Gord?” Isaac said. Behind closed doors, the regal posture and stature faded and Gord saw him as the tired, frazzled administrator he was. “They had a great time, donated their stuff to Melody and came home.” He threw up his hands. “It’s not what happened, but whatever the fuck did happen made them all give me that story.”

“Have you heard from Melody et. al. about Raaden?”

“No.” Isaac stared at Gord, considering something. “Gord, they have my son.”

“…Shit.” Gord said. He didn't like the Venusians, and had no love lost for Isaac, but Gord knew what it was like to lose a child. Nobody deserved that.

“Indeed.” The two stared at each other for a while until Isaac sighed again. “Why are you here, Gord? You clearly want something. The AIs haven’t given us the time of day in centuries.”

“You keep saying we’re not people,” Gord pointed out.

“Okay, point, but still. Why are you here?”

“Because you sent an expedition to Melody, they came back in a shambles two months ago, and we heard nothing after. Not good news, not bad news, nothing. That worries us.”

“What, why?”

“Ta’reni, do you know that Melody is Tep’ra’fel?” Gord said suddenly.

At the mention of the undeniable, Gord saw her fur ripple quickly and her tail darted back and forth as her ears swiveled to face him. “Tep’ra’fel is just an artifact of an ancient religion, no more real than your Saint Nicholas.” She said, though it sounded unconvincing to Gord.

“Santa Claus can’t give people undeniable orders.”

Ta’reni bristled but said nothing.

“So you didn’t know that Melody was Tep’ra’fel?” He said, looking at Isaac.

“That K’laxi that came to us, the former captain, Q’ari I think, mentioned as such, but Raaden took it to be the religious poppycock it was.” he said, waving his hand dismissively.

“Q’ari was here? She convinced you to go back?”

“Er yes? She explained that they had a significant empire and it would be worth our while to reach out and possible develop relations.”

“How the hell did a K’laxi captain get to meet with a Baron of the Venusian navy?” Gord said, incredulous.

“The usual way,” Isaac said shrugging. “She paid a not insignificant bribe.”

“Fuck me.” Gord said as he ran his hand through his hair. “Look Isaac, cards on the table time. Melody is Tep’ra’fel and her voice is undeniable. She probably ordered everyone to say they had a great time and not mention her voice. I know that would be the first thing I’d say.”

“How do you know this?” Isaac said, leaning forward.

“We met Tep’ra’fel once already, fifty years ago.”

“Fifty years ago?” Ta’reni said suddenly, “That was around Contact.”

“It was during Contact.” Gord said. “Well, right after. Longview went to continue their mission after you and the Xenni left, they contacted a gate, a human became Tep’ra’fel, but to her credit and my everlasting thanks, she realized what she was and used her Voice to order Longview to slag the Gate with her in it.”

“That’s unbelievable.” Isaac said.

“Sonofa-” Gord said and then looked around. “Send your guards away. Ta’reni too.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I can prove it, but only to you.”

Isaac shrugged and gestured. “Do as he asks. Wait in the antechamber with the nobles to be summoned again.”

“But your excellency-” One of the guards said.

“If Gord was going to kill me, he would have done it already.” Isaac said, sounding very tired. “Go.”

Fifteen minutes later, a tone sounded and everyone, including the small contingent of Nobels who had been less than patiently waiting for a chance to petition the Emperor, were let back into the throne room. His Imperial Highness, Isaac Pohl the Fifth sat upon his throne trembling slightly, all color gone from his face. “W-we stand upon the precipice of something...world altering.” He started, “And in these unique times, we must remember that we are not so strong as to reject a hand holding an olive branch. We are therefore entering into an agreement with the AI faction to mount a police action against The Reach of the Might of Vzzx. We will use this opportunity to rescue Baron Helen Raaden, and His Excellency Emory Pohl as well as eliminate Empress Melody’s war-making ability. We will undergo this police action with all haste, and with the generous assistance of the AI faction’s starjumpers.”

Gasps and muttering among the nobles in the back of the hall.

“Furthermore we-” Suddenly a royal guard bounded up the steps cleverly hidden in the rear of the dais and whispered something in the Emperor’s ear. “They stole what?”

First / Previous / Next

We sent the Venusians home today.

We left them enough thruster to travel to the Gate and traverse, enough environmental systems to keep them alive - so long as they stuck to their quarters and the Command Deck - and... that was it. Oh, we also took the all of their weapons. I even had the weapon lockers stripped out. We now had a good supply of high quality rifles and small arms. I gave some to Sep and asked them duplicate the weapons and begin training. I also promised to stop by later and give some tips in the finer points of their operation.

When I saw the faces of the crew when they saw what I was leaving them, I admit I cackled - in my head - just a teeny bit. We made sure it was survivable and they wouldn’t be injured, but their ship looked like a joke. Large pieces were missing from the hull, whole rooms exposed to vacuum, the thrusters we left them were undersized for what would normally be used, and so on. I imagined they were going to have an interesting time going home. Before they left, I used the Voice to order them to not mention the Voice. Just that we had overpowered them and were keeping Raaden and Emery as an insurance policy. Keeping Selem here was a foregone conclusion, and she was the only one who knew the sigil that brought people to this side of the galaxy, so I wasn’t worried about retaliation right away.

The wormhole generator was destroyed in the explosion, so they couldn’t link home even if they wanted to; they’ll have to call for a ride back to Sol from someone. Luckily, their ships operated with only human crews, so it's not like we left some poor AI behind to drag their own corpse home. It's just a ship.

Well, it's 64% or so of a ship.

As for Raaden and Emery, I did wind up going with the option Ava and I discussed. We found an empty apartment building that was close - but not directly next to - the Royal Dawn. With two empty apartments we were able to put Raaden and Emery in separate apartments quite a long distance from each other. The apartment building was guarded all hours of the day, and meals were sent up. They were prisoners but I didn’t want it to feel like jail.

It felt like I had just stuffed them into a corner and was trying to forget about them, and maybe I was a little bit, but that's what having hostages is sometimes, right? I was trying to make sure they're comfortable and well taken care of. Emery had seemed to accept his lot and he spent most of his time reading and sketching. He asked for art supplies and was excited when we brought him paper and pencils that were locally made. He spent his time looking out the window and sketching what he saw. I've seen a few of them; the drawings are actually quite lovely and it made me realize that he was pretty used to being stuck in a corner somewhere and told to entertain himself.

Raaden...hadn't accepted her imprisonment so easily. She had tried to escape twice already and the only thing that had prevented it was her unfamiliarity with the locks. After the second attempt I used the Voice to order her to stop trying to break out. Now she just sat in her apartment and alternated between seething and sulking. I almost wished we had a hibernation cabinet to put her into. She'd be less of a problem if she was just on ice the whole time.

<You stole the entire printing database from Far Reach, surely there are plans for a hibernation cabinet in there?>

<That’s a good point. I’ll ask Omar.>

Ginny was put up in the Royal Dawn in a room that was pretty far from my suite of rooms but I didn’t feel like I needed to put her into the apartment building I commandeered. I did use my Voice to order her not to talk to Raaden and Emery and to not have any contact with Venus without our permission, but she knew why and accepted the order.

Yes, we let Ginny stay. Of all of the people we interviewed she was the only one who actually wanted to be here. Everyone else was indifferent to it or was being actively ordered to volunteer. That was what finally convinced Ava, Omar, Um'reli, and Starlight. We won't give her the Builder package for a long time - if ever - but that still doesn't mean we don't need the help. We don't have her doing much right now, but she is shadowing Sound of the City and they love that they have a helper and someone they get to show the Reach. Maybe I'll take her with us when we go to the Wilds of Besmara. She might enjoy that.

I was just finishing up breakfast in the Royal Dawn when Omar came in. "Melody, what are we going to do with all the parts we took from the Lavinia?"

I couldn't help myself, and said with a stupid grin, "Put them on a Starship, Omar."

"Melody. Which Starship? High Line and Sun Dancer are done. We'd have to put them back into the dock to add things to them, Immar IV isn't done, but do we want to put all the parts on that one?"

Ah, I see what he meant. If we put the Venusian parts on High Line or Sun Dancer, then that delays how long before we could go to the Wilds of Besmara.

"Let's keep them off High Line and Sun Dancer for now. I do want to go to the Wilds now that we've dealt with Venus. Once we're back and Immar IV is done, why don't we start construction on a whole new ship?"

"A new ship?" Omar sat down at my breakfast table and looked off into the middle distance, thinking. "Yes, we could do it. I think we have a handle on how things work now. We would add the Venusian parts, of course. That would save a lot of time. I'd make a dreadnought of our own - smaller than the Venus made or other human ones - but it would still pack a punch."

"See? What a great idea I had." I'm laughed, but I meant it. It was high time we made our own Starships. I wished we had more printers, we could really get production going, but it's not like we needed a whole fleet right away. Slow and steady progress was fine.

<And once you have starships you can begin Gate construction again.>

<Gate construction? Isn’t that getting ahead of ourselves?>

<No, more Gates was always the goal. We need more Gates.>

<Why?>

<Gates are how we spread.>

<But we already have hundreds of Gates to empty systems.>

<And we can build more and take them to systems without Gates. With your wormhole generator the process will be much more streamlined. We can expand to the entire galaxy.>

<Once things are more stable here we->

<Melody, you misunderstand.> I blinked, taken aback. The nanites had never interrupted me before, and their need, their desire for the Gates leaked through, hot and sharp. <Gates are the goal. Gates are the only goal. You have the Reach up and running, go see what happened at Besmara and finish Omar’s starship, but then you must begin construction on more Gates.>

"Omar, do you want to pilot High Line when we take it over to Besmara? I want to go next week, and we need to figure some things out. You piloted it during the shakedown, but this will be our first Gate traversal since we came here." I couldn’t shake the feeling of the Nanites tapping a foot impatiently in my mind. They were very keen to begin Gate construction again, why?

"Yes, I'd like to drive if you're okay with that. We should have the others take a turn so we all get experience with it - it's different than being the Reach - but for now, I'll take us over. Who is going to come? We should probably leave at least one Builder here."

"I agree. I wanted you and Ava and Starlight to come, and we can let Um'reli run things while we're away. I want Ginny to come too."

Omar broke his reverie, furrowed his brows, and said "Ginny? Why?"

"I want to show her she's not a prisoner like Raaden and Emery. She was the only one who wanted to be here. Might as well start treating her like that. Plus, we could use a reactor tech on High Line."

"You make a good point. Fine. Ginny can come too. We don't really need much of anyone else. With Builder systems I can run most of High Line from the chair. I wonder if it feels the same when an AI runs a ship? I'm doing a similar role."

"I don't know. If we ever get back to our side of the Galaxy we should ask." I found lately I was missing stuff from back in settled space. I hoped once were done visiting some stations on this side we could go back, just for a visit. "I'd like to open up some lines of trade too. I bet people over there would like some of our foodstuffs and I sure could use some coffee." I looked wistfully at my cup of tea on the table. I hadn't had coffee since speaking with the Venusians. I was trying to save what little she had for special occasions, but it was so hard!

"One thing at a time, Melody. Let's go see if we can figure out what happened at Besmara. Then, see if we can find any other stations or colonies. We could finish the exploration that Far Reach abandoned."

I looked up at Omar in surprise. "That's it! We can continue the mission. Just because Far Reach declared Captain Q'ari unfit and left doesn't mean that there isn't good things to learn out here. We even have Captain Q’ari back here, she can give us more information about what was originally planned.” I jumped up and gave Omar a hug. "Thanks Omar. It really helps to talk things out sometimes."

"No problem Melody, glad to help."

I left the Royal Dawn and took the long way to the Throne, saying hello to people as I walked. When I first got here, people were so frightened of us, but now people greeted me, they gave me little bits of news from their world, I even got to meet families! More than once I had been told how nice it was that I was able to increase the food deliveries. As plain old Melody I was often intimidated making small talk with people and would try and avoid it, but when I was Empress, I found it was much easier. It almost felt like I was pretending to be the Empress; like it was a persona to put on and take off. When I'm with Ava in our room I was just Melody, but when the gown, crown and wings came out I was The Empress.

It was hard to explain. I wished I knew more people that had gone though this to see if it's normal. I supposed that when you're the only Empress around, anything you do is normal, by virtue of the fact that you're the one doing it. I should ask the Nanites, maybe they have some recorded personalities I can talk to.

<We do, yes. This kind of thing would need to be done from the Throne, but we could arrange a conversation with previous Empresses. It might prove helpful.>

I made my way to the Throne and settled in. I thought about what the Nanites said about speaking to previous Empress' but I decided that should wait. We had things to do. Lost in thought, I didn't notice that Ava, Um'reli, and Starlight were there already until Ava said good morning. I could feel Um'reli and Ava showing Starlight how to work things.

<“See Starlight, if you just look... over here... you can see the transit network.”>

<“Yes, yes, I see. It looks like we have the trains on schedule and... wait, what's that one on that siding?”>

I could hear Ava's grin as she said, <“That's Melody's Royal Transport. She likes to use it when she feels like showing off, or if she needs to get somewhere after hours or when things are too busy to wait for a scheduled train.”>

Mentally, I looked up at them and added, <“I don't use it to show off. I use it when I want to make an entrance.”>

<“Okay, so when Emp-Melody's not showing off, she stores it over here?”> I smiled to myself when I heard the smirk in Starlight's tone. When I made them a builder, I told them that they could call me Melody. I had decided it would be weird for Ava, Um'reli and Omar to call me Melody, and have Starlight call me Empress, and I didn't want to make everyone call me Empress as well, so Builder Starlight can call me Melody.

“Um'reli, you're okay with staying here and running things while the rest of us go to the Wilds of Besmara to see what happened to them?” I said aloud as everyone disconnected from the Throne.

“Sure Melody, it's fine. I have reports to go over on reactor efficiency. We have enough of a power surplus now we should look at taking down the reactors one at a time for refurbishment. I don't think it's ever been done!”

“What do you mean, take the reactor down for refurbishment?” Starlight looked curious while Um'reli and I talked.

“So, at least with our reactors, they need regular maintenance. We usually build our systems with enough overhead that they can run with one whole reactor down so we can work on it, or if one fails we can swap it out without inconveniencing anyone. Before we got here, the Reach had enough power, but I wouldn't have dreamed of shutting a reactor off. Now, I think we can turn one off, make sure it's in good condition and then turn it back on, move on to the next and so on.”

“That's impressive, Builder Um'reli. You have found so many ways to improve efficiency.”

“Just Um'reli is fine, you're a Builder now too, remember. But, thank you. I enjoy working with the reactors. I hope we can get Ginny up and helping us too, it will be useful to have someone else - someone who actually took some training on this and isn't just an enthusiastic amateur - take a look at things.”

It was time for me to chime in. “Okay, good. Omar was going to drive, I'll sit in the Command chair, Ava could monitor systems, Starlight could let us know if there's anything we're missing with local information and Ginny was coming along to prove to her that she's not just another hostage like Raaden and Emery.”

Ava looked up from the report she's reading. "I like it, Melody, it seems like a good plan. Ugh, I wish there was something we could do about Raaden. I don't trust her as far as I could throw her."

"I know! I was thinking about it on the walk over. What if we printed a hibernation cabinet for her? I know that Starjumpers carry them, and that Far Reach used to be one so their printer database must have the plans.”

"Actually, I think that could work. Let's ask Omar how tough it would be to print one up. On the one hand, I don't like the idea of just sticking her in a closet until we decide what to do with her, but on the other, I don't know what to do with her. She'll never trust us, and we can never trust her."

"Exactly."

Starlight looked like they were warring with themselves over something. After a moment, a decision was made. "Melody, why did you keep her anyway? If I was in charge, I would have declared her culpable for Rapid River Roaring's death and had them executed."

Now everyone was looking at me. "Starlight, for right now, she's worth more to us alive than dead. If we killed her and sent the Venusians home with their ship stripped and them humiliated they would have come right back with all their dreadnoughts and just fired upon us as soon as they traversed the Gate. No radio, no opportunity to use the Voice on them, just kaboom." I mimed firing a gun. "This way, with Raaden, their Baron and Crown Prince Emery, they have to think twice about whether to come in guns hot or not."

"Ah, I see. Yes Melody. You are making it so that we are too valuable to outright destroy. But, what do we do when they want their crown prince and their baron back? Or worse, what if they don't want them back?"

My shoulders slumped. "I don't know yet. As soon as we figure out a deal and we give them Raaden and Emery they don't have a reason to not come in and destroy us."

Starlight's eyes were bright. "Well then. We just need to be better armed then they are by then. We can then repel them the regular way."

"Hah. That's the best idea I've heard so far Starlight. For now, we'll go with that plan. Once we come back from the Wilds, Omar was going to look into building a dreadnought from the parts we... liberated from Venus. Do you know of any Aviens plans for large warships?"

"Actually, yes. I believe we had some plans for a ship like that. We should try and reach out to more of my people. Ever since our ancestors were trapped here, we have not heard from any other of our kind."

"Starlight, I was wondering, what did trap you and the Mariens and others here all those years ago?" Um'reli and Ava looked up at Omar's question. I guessed we were all wondering it.

"I wish I knew, Omar. My parent's parents were the original ones left here, but they wouldn't talk about it. From what I can gather, there was a war, or something like it. The last Builders left the Reach to do something and never returned. My parent's parents did mention that the first few years after the Builders left were very difficult."

"Another mystery to solve then. I want to get going. Hey Omar, do you think you can print a hibernation cabinet?"

"Probably Melody, what for?" He said, nodding.

"For Raaden. I just don't trust her to be awake and around while we leave to do explore the Wilds of Besmara. I was thinking of putting her in a cabinet and sticking her on board in hibernation. Crown Prince Emery seems fine, we could probably leave him here under guard."

"Melody that's brilliant! We don't have to deal with her trying to escape and we can carry her around as a kind of talisman against Venus attacks. You just have to get her into it."

"Leave that part to me."

It actually only took Omar a few hours to print the hibernation cabinet. When you have printers that could make a whole starship in a few weeks, one small hibernation cabinet was hardly a feat. It came out gleaming and white, looking like a long lozenge from the medical department. On the top was a clear window to see the face of the resident and on the side was a small readout of vitals. I asked Omar to let me borrow some people, and an Aviens and Azurian wheeled the cabinet behind me as we walked. When we arrived, I stared up and said, “Wait here please. I will be down with them in a moment."

Upstairs, I nodded to the guards and knock on the door before opening it. "Raaden, come here please."

"Go to hell mmmmmm-Empress." The voice was muffled, and I didn't see her. She must have been in another room. I still smiled that she was still trying to get around that order, but in the end I didn't have time for this. "ꜰᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴍᴇ Raaden." She got up out of the other room and robotically walked to me. Her eyes radiated hatred, but she followed nonetheless. When we got to the bottom floor and I opened the door to leave, she caught a glimpse of the cabinet. Raaden's eyes went wide and the snarl of hatred on her face was replaced with a new emotion.

Terror.

"No! No nonono! You're not going to put me in one of those! Please! Empress! Don't put me in a hibernation cabinet! I won't escape, just don't put me in there!"

I stopped and turned, surprised. "What? Why not Raaden? It's just a hibernation cabinet, brand new even. Omar printed it up from our copy of Far Reach's printer database. It's not a local design, it's one of ours."

As she stood in the doorway, shaking like an off balance thruster, I didn't need the Nanites to see that she was legitimately terrified of the hibernation cabinet. "I-I-Its a form of punishment in Imperial Venus. For p-people who have displeased the Emperor. A person is placed into the hibernation cabinet and then they manipulate the settings. They can change the person's sense of the passage of time such that a day could feel like centuries."

<Interesting.>

<Don’t get any ideas, that sounds horrifying.>

<Indeed. It would be an excellent deterrent, don’t you think?>

Was that what was waiting for her when she got back to Venus? The people who were wheeling the cabinet heard her terror and looked at each other, concern radiating.

"Raaden, I'm not going to manipulate your perception of time. We're going to run you deep enough that you won't have any perception of time passing. It'll be just like when people were put in cabinets for Starjumper trips before the wormhole generators. You'll go in, and then you'll awaken on Venus when we've worked out the details with the Emperor."

“Or instead, I’ll never wake up from my failure. Or worse, I will but it will be after ten thousand years subjective and I'm a gibbering mess. Empress, I am actually begging you." She got down on her knees in the doorway and bowed down. "Please. Don't put me in hibernation. I will literally do anything else." She put her head up and her cheeks were wet with tears and she was shaking. She whispered. "Please, don't." I looked over to the cabinet and then back at Raaden. I just couldn't. It was too cruel. I looked at her and tried to concentrate. Was she just acting? No. I think she was completely terrified of going into hibernation.

<Melody. After this much time we are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but we would be remiss if we didn’t mention that this is a mistake.>

<You can see her as well as I can. She’s not pretending, she’s truly terrified.>

<Regardless, she should be locked up.>

Ugh.

I sat on the cabinet and reached out to my Builders. <“Hey. Raaden is wet her pants terrified of going into hibernation. She's literally begging me not to do it.”>

<“Was it a put on, was she just really good at acting?”> Ava said over our connection.

<“I don't think so. My heightened body language processing says she's being honest, and the nanites agree.”>

<“What do the Nanites say about it?> Ava said.

<“They said I should put her in anyway.”>

<“I agree with them. Order her to do it anyway, use your Voice.”> Um'reli suggested.

<“Doesn't that seem unnecessarily cruel to you? We'd be leveraging a legitimate phobia just to make things easier on us. She'd never forgive us.”>

<“You still think she'll actually forgive us?”> The suspicion in Omar's voice was clear.

<“Hey, we have a responsibility to treat our prisoners humanely, and that includes not torturing them. This would be torture for her.”>

<“They wouldn't have the same consideration of us.”> Omar added

<“All the more reason for us to treat her better.”>

<“Okay then, what do we do with her?”>Ava asked.

<“Take her with us.”>

<“WHAT?”&gt; Their voices had an odd harmony over the mental connection when they exclaimed at once, especially when the Nanites chimed in.

I practically reeled from the combined force of their surprise. Still, I pressed on, <“Take her with us. She'll still be on board, I can order her around with the Voice and we'll still bring the cabinet. If she causes trouble I'll order her into it and we'll be done with it. This is her chance to show us how much she doesn't want to be in the cabinet.”>

<“Or for her to show us how good of an actor she is,”> Ava said.

<“Ava, I'm pretty sure she's not acting.”>

<“Ugh fine. Let me get a room ready and strengthen the locks on it.”>

<“Thanks Ava.”>

I looked up. Raaden had gotten up from the floor but her eyes were still wide with fear. She was working very hard to control it, but fear of the cabinet was still very strong. She truly was terrified of being put into it.

"Raaden. I won't put you into the hibernation cabinet." As I completed the sentence, her body relaxed and she started breathing heavily.

"Yet."

She tightened up and held her breath again.

"You're coming with us on High Line to explore the Wilds of Besmara. I need insurance against Venus, and if you won't get into the cabinet then you'll come along. I will also bring the cabinet so if you cause us even a small amount of trouble I will just order you into the cabinet and be done with it." I narrowed my eyes and met her gaze, "Do you understand?"

She stands straight and tall and matched my gaze, looking me in the eyes. "I will not betray you, nor will I attempt to escape, nor will I sabotage any aspect of your mission. So long as it keeps me out of that thing, I do whatever you order.”

"See that you do." I jumped off the cabinet and gesture to my helpers. "Bring this to High Line. Omar will show you where to put it. "ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʀᴀᴀᴅᴇɴ, I will bring you back to your apartment."

She followed me without struggling this time. I stop at the entry to her apartment. "We'll be back tomorrow morning. Do you have any requests for food or drink onboard?"

She blinked. "You're asking my opinion?"

"Well yes. You're going to be onboard with us for at least a week, if not more. You deserve to have some input."

She ran her hand through her close cropped hair, surprised. "Uh, I don't like coffee, so don't bother giving me any. I know you love the stuff, so don't waste any on me."

Oh nice. More coffee for me then. "Thank you. We'll come by tomorrow after breakfast."

She nodded and moved to close the door. "Until then."

After the door closed and I locked it, I looked at the guards and they acknowledge me. "Empress" they both said, and then face forward, silently.

First / Previous / Next

It was three days into stripping the Vengeance of Lavinia before the first trap was found.

Before that, Omar wound up having more volunteers than he knew what to do with. I rounded up the leftovers and asked about their skills. Most everyone had a job here already so those whose work was still needed on the Reach were sent home with thanks. Others were tasked with helping support the people stripping Lavinia. Food and drinks were needed, as well as places to rest, messages to be delivered, tools to be found and brought. There was always plenty to do.

Lavinia was much too large to be placed into one of our interior docking bays, so Omar diverted the printers from their work on the third ship - the Mariens ship Immar IV - and made some pressure suits. He then led a team out to carefully remove their missile batteries and lasers. Working methodically and carefully they made sure they did not overly damage the hull so they could still safely go home, and while Omar and his team carefully removed the outer weapons, a team led by Starlight on a Moonless Evening stripped the interior. The walls and doors were left, as well as personal effects - I'm here to send a message, not ruin lives - but furniture, art, computers, everything not directly related to the environmental systems, their Addressing Module (probably purchased on the black market, I wonder who sold them that?) and their thrusters were taken. We were going to take their wormhole generator as well. It was my idea, I was hoping to save time constructing a new one.

That was our mistake. As Starlight's crew worked to disconnect the wormhole generator, it exploded.

Fortunately for us, and everyone on the Reach, it was a small, targeted explosion. It's not a detonation of the wormhole generator, which would have destroyed Lavinia, the Reach, and a significant portion of the area around. It was a small anti-personnel charge placed in the delicate machinery, destroying the wormhole generator. It critically injured two technicians nearby and killed Rapid River Roaring, who had insisted upon doing the work themselves. I later learned that they were worried about something like this and insisted upon doing the most critical work themselves. Starlight on a Moonless Evening came to me covered in soot with some of their wing feathers were singed. They had been on their way to River to ask for a report on progress when the wormhole generator detonated. Starlight explained what happens in fits and starts, as they flapped their wing-arms and shook their head, a constant ball of anxious motion. I could see how hard they were trying to keep it together, and when they had to report to me that River died, they just couldn't. They fell to my feet and between sobs explained that River was gone.

I scooped up River and just held them.

In tears myself, I ordered a stop to work that day. Everyone is to put down tools for one day while we mourn the loss of Rapid River Roaring.

But this would not stand. They were following my orders and they died. They died because of Venusian treachery. In a rage, I burst into the room that we were keeping the Venusians, causing everyone to look up from what they were doing in shock. I might have kicked the door pretty hard.

"ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴛʀᴀᴘꜱ. Speak now!"

Raaden looked up from the corner where she was sitting. "Tried to take the wormhole generator did you?

I strode over to her shaking with rage, barely containing myself and said, "Where are the others? ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ.

"There's another bomb in the kitchen. If someone tries to open the food stores without knowing the code, it'll detonate. There's one more on the thrusters. If they are tampered with, the same thing happens." Raaden answered my order robotically. She couldn’t stop herself and every time I made her speak she hated me more.

While I'm speaking to Raaden, stood at the doorway staring at the interaction. They haven't cleaned up yet and are still sooty and singed. "Empress. What have you learned?"

"Do not touch their food supply and do not touch their main thrusters. Everything else is open."

They nodded. "And whom shall we take?"

I looked back at them. "Pardon?"

"They killed one of us through treachery. It is only right we take one of theirs. They will need to learn that one does not underestimate the people of the Reach."

<They are absolutely correct.>

Tears on my face, streaming down my cheek, I swung my hand over the group randomly. "That one. You, stand."

A young man stood up nervously.

ꜱᴛᴏᴘ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜɪɴɢ.

His head cocked as he tried to understand the order and opened his mouth to speak and found nothing happened. Eyes wide in panic, clutching at his neck uselessly, he looked around the room, his mouth opening and closing without anything happening. Everyone else put their head down, and didn't meet his gaze while it happened.

<You are demonstrating your power as well as avenging River's passing. You are powerful, they are not.>

As the seconds ticked past and they flailed more, falling deeper and deeper into panic, my bloodthirst fled me, and all I saw was a young person, younger than me, dying because I told them to die.

<No. No, this is wrong. They didn't do anything other than pick the wrong side. They didn't set the bomb, they probably didn't even know about the bomb.>

ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ ʙʀᴇᴀᴛʜᴇ.

<You are making a mistake.>

He gasped loudly and collapsed on the floor, panting. Starlight looks at me completely shocked and said, "Why did you stop, Empress?"

"We are not barbarians, Starlight. We will mourn River's passing and celebrate them as a martyr. We will not kill a Venusian for no reason. They didn't set the bomb, they probably didn't even know the bomb existed. Raaden is the only one culpable here and she is worth more to us alive than dead." I stared at Starlight, their rage at their partner's death bright and hot on their body. They did have a point though, we couldn't be seen as weak. Looking back over to the panting officer I said, "ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ғɪɴɢᴇʀ."

Before they could even parse the order, they grabbed their own middle finger with their other hand, and with a sickening crack, broke it. The color drained from their face and they moaned, falling to the deck. I could hear the sympathetic groans from the rest of the Venusians as a few rushed over to their compatriot.

Starlight stared at me a long time, their eyes going between me and the officer writhing on the ground. Finally, a decision was made, and they nodded. "Empress." and without another word they left.

<You should have finished it.>

<No. I wasn't going to kill someone because I was upset. That is a terrible reason to carry out an execution.>

<It has been used countless times.>

<That doesn't make it the correct choice.>

<They are going to see you weak.>

<They will see me as magnanimous.>

<Even though you made him break a finger?>

<A minor, painful injury. They will recover, and they will remember what could have been.>

After Starlight left, I regarded the Venusians cooly, surprising myself at how controlled I was being. "Look. Look at your colleague and see what I saved you from. It takes only a few words from me, and any one of you will suffocate, or worse. Starlight is broken over the loss of Rapid River Roaring. If any more of my people die, I will not stop at breaking a finger a second time." I turned on my heel and walked out.

That night, I laid in the bath staring up, worrying. "What am I going to do?" I said to the ceiling.

The door chimed. "It's Ava."

"Please come in."

She came in and sees me in the bath and her eyes lingered. "Not tonight Ava, Rapid River Roaring died. They were blown up when the trapped Venusian wormhole generator detonated."

"I heard Melody, that's why I came." She immediately stripped down.

I sat up in the bath, hot water pouring off me. "What are you doing Ava? I said not tonight."

"No. No sex tonight Melody. Tonight you need comfort." She climbed into the bath, wincing. I liked it much hotter than she did. As she got used to it, she came over and leaned her head on my shoulder. Her arm went across my chest and she just laid there.

"How did Starlight take it?"

"They wanted me to pick a Venusian to kill."

Her grip on me tightened, but she didn't say anything.

"I made one stand up and ordered them to stop breathing." Ava grabbed me even tighter. "I was watching them, Ava. I was watching them writhe and panic and open and close their mouth like a fish. I-I couldn't do it. All I was thinking of was how mad I was, how upset I was at them, but also how this person who I was killing didn't do anything. Just be the wrong person at the wrong time. They didn't set the bomb, they didn't kill River... I did. I ordered them to start breathing again, but I did order them to break their own finger."

"How did you kill River?"

"I ordered them to strip the Venusian starship. River wouldn't have tried to take the wormhole generator unless I told them to. I did it."

"Oh Melody" Ava lifted her head and kissed my tear stained cheeks. "Melody, you didn't kill River. Venus did. Venus made the choice to trap the wormhole generator. Venus tried to take control. River's death is theirs."

Ava put her head down. I could hear her voice vibrating through my chest. "You were right to stop though. As much as I hate Venus, killing them over that would cause more trouble than it would fix."

I nodded. "It doesn't make it any easier though." Fresh tears ran down my cheeks silently. "I explained to the Venusians that if another person from the Reach died, I would not be so merciful. Ava, what am I doing? I'm not an Empress. I'm just someone who did a stupid thing and how I have-" I flung a wet arm around the room "-all this. All these people. All this... responsibility. Whether or not it's my fault, River died on my orders."

<Nobody said being an Empress would be easy. You are doing better than most, even if you are not as…decisive as we would prefer.>

Ava lifted her head up and kissed my mouth. "Hey. Hey. You're doing great. You were thrust into something so big so massive with no training. Your instincts were correct.”

"Oh but Ava, River died. They died and Starlight acted like their spouse died. Were they together? I never asked. I should have gotten to know them better."

"It's not too late. Invite Starlight up to lunch tomorrow. We could get to know them. They can tell us about who River was before the funeral."

"I should have asked Raaden about traps before we started."

She nodded. "But we didn't. The only thing we can do now is mourn River, complete the work, and show Venus that we mean business."

I turned my head and looked her. "Thank you Ava. If it wasn't for you, I don't think I would... have made a good choice about Raaden."

She laughed and gave my breast a squeeze, "Oh Melody, I know her type. If you have what she wants then she's your best friend and more. Once she has it, then you're discarded for the next shiny thing."

"I know, but... she looked really good."

"So you want me to get some riding boots to clomp around the Reach in?"

I blushed and stammered, "I uh, wouldn't say no to it."

Ava's laughter was music, and I needed music now.

"You don't need to worry about Raaden stealing me away now. Have you seen her face? She hates me. Every time she looked at me, I remain glad that even I can't kill with a look, I'd be dead a dozen tines over."

Ava nodded. "Raaden is trouble. I wish we didn't have to keep her here. She's going to be a constant pain."

"You were right Ava, you told me to watch myself. Thank you."

We stayed in the bath another hour, just holding each other as the water got cold. Then we got up, toweled off and fell into bed, exhausted. The night was blissfully dreamless.

The next day was Rapid River Roaring's funeral. Their funeral was in the afternoon by custom and so I asked Sound of the City to ask Starlight over for breakfast.

When they arrived, I could see that they barely slept. They did their best, but their feathers were dull and flat. Their eyes were tired and there was staining around the corners of their beak.

I had a breakfast table set up in my room for two. Ava got up and left early to go to her chair in the Throne "so I can get some work done before this afternoon."

"Starlight. Join me for breakfast before we begin today's preparations."

They sat silently as plates of food are brought up. By their expression, I could see that Starlight hadn't eaten in a while. I began slowly as they tucked into their plates. After a while, when they had finished their food, I had drinks brought up. Coffee for me and Tea for Starlight. "Starlight. I know this past day has been difficult for you, I wish to offer my more sincere condolences."

"Empress, thank you but that is not necessary. I know you care about us."

I held up a hand "Regardless, I feel terrible about River and what happened. You and River have shown a dedication to the people on the Reach that is admirable. I wish to offer you a boon"

"A boon, Empress?"

I chuckled sadly "Well, its more of a crushing responsibility, but its yours if you want it. Would you like to become a Builder?"

Their head shot up and their eyes narrowed. "You would do this?"

"There are only 4 of us right now and that's not nearly enough. The Builder package can seemingly be installed on any person if it's initiated by the Empress. It's not a humans only thing, I have a feeling it never was. I need more help. You have shown me that you truly love the people here. Will you help?"

They looked down and their shoulders moved gently. I can't tell if they're laughing or crying until I see the tears splash onto the table. "River.. Rapid River Roaring always wondered about it. They wondered if anyone could become a Builder, or if you had to be born into it. They wanted to become one so badly. There were so many parts of this station's operation we could see were locked off from us. They thought if they could become a Builder we would really be able to help."

Starlight on a Moonless Evening looked up and straightened. "Yes, Empress. I would like to become a Builder. I would like to help here."

"Stand, Starlight on a Moonless Evening." I got up as they did. I walk over to them and bend down and gently kiss them. Their beak was warm and hard.

Their feathers rippled a blush, and they looked at me, confused. They reached up and touched their beak where I kissed them. "Empress?"

"It's the easiest way to alert the Nanites to start the installation process. It will take about a day for the concentration to build up and for you to be able to access Builder systems. I'll have Ava, Um'reli and Omar show you the ropes." Speaking of...

<“Ava, Omar, Um'reli, I just made Starlight a Builder,”> I thought to them.

<“That's an excellent idea!”> Ava sounded pleased.

<“Yes, I agree. Starlight is a brilliant choice.”> Omar was pleasant, but sounded distracted. He's probably busy.

<“It'll be a good thing, but next time, tell us when you plan on making more Builders, okay Melody?”> Um'reli's voice was wary. I don't know if she wanted more builders. Hmm.

<“Okay. I'll run the next one by you. All this time, I was worried about how to get more help, when more help has always been right here.”>

<This is a lesson the previous Empress never learned. We are forced to admit you have surprised us, Melody.>

<Thank you?>

<Believe us when we say it is rare.>

Ceremony over, I sat back down and poured tea for both of us.

"Starlight, tell me about River. You were close right?"

****

Rapid River Roaring was cremated and per their traditions, a small phial of their ashes were given to their family by Starlight. As their partner, Starlight placed the phial on a delicate chain around the neck of River's mother. A phial the same size was kept by them and I placed it reverently around their neck. Later, I was told that to have the Empress present the phial was a tremendous honor to River's family and would be talked about for generations.

The rest was launched into space in a small capsule. It's aimed at a random star and with prayers that they would fine peace in their journey, we said goodbye. I wore my Empress gown, fluttering train black blue, studded with stars for the ceremony. Hundreds of people came; River was a popular administrator. They were seen as the foil to Starlight's ambition. Not for the first time I wondered how we were even able to insert ourselves into this place at all. The fact that we were Builders and able to control the station to a greater level than they could must have been our only saving grace at the start. I liked to think that we had become a welcome member of the community, but with this crowd, this love seen for River, I wondered if we were able to succeed because River and Starlight let us. That night Ava visited again, and this time I didn't turn her away. She realized I sought release and distraction from everything going on, and she was an enthusiastic partner, trying to give me what I needed.

Day five dawned, and I returned to the captives. They went home today, and I had to finish my interviews. Before the explosion, I was meeting with the crew individually in a separate room and trying to pump them for information. I looked down at my list. All that's left are Prince Emery and a Chief Petty Officer, so I called the officer in.

"Good morning," I had two steaming cups of coffee from Venus' own supply on a table between us. We were able to get around the trap in the stores that Raaden mentioned two days ago. I'm not out to make them starve, but they could go without some coffee on their ride home. Across from me sat a young woman, probably around my age.

"Hello." She sounded meek and tired. Her long brown hair was tied into a tight ponytail low on her head.

"Would you like some coffee? I won't order it, you don't have to have any if you don't want." I took one of the cups and took a large sip. Oh my, this was the good stuff, from Earth if I was any judge.

"Y-yes, please." I gestured and she took a cup. I gave her a moment to sip. She was savoring it. I bet it's the first coffee she's had in a while and she perked up immediately. "Thank you. I haven't had any good coffee in a long time. They don't usually let us have anything other than instant onboard."

Instant coffee? The barbarians!

"We were quite far from a steady supply of coffee out here, but I hoped to open up trade relations soon, and soon we can get some more regularly. Until then I had to enjoy it when I could.” With a smile, I realized that I might have something here. "Tell me, what is your name and job onboard?"

She looked around. We're in a room next to the banquet hall, all alone. Well, Ava was listening in too and offering help and insight when needed, but this person didn't need to know that.

"I won't use the Voice,” I said gently. "Unless I need to. If you can answer my questions without it, we'll all have a better time." I reached between us and poured her more coffee from the carafe on the table. I also topped up my cup. There was no sense in wasting it after all. She took another sip and glanced back at the door to the banquet hall, worried about the crew.

"Don't worry about the crew or Helen. Nothing you tell me will get to them, I promise."

"That's just it," She turned and looked at me, then her gaze dropped to the table. "You call her Helen. Nobody calls her Helen. Even her friends call her Raaden. We all call her Commander, or Baron. She hates her first name. Every time you call her that, I think she gets more and more mad."

Interesting. I figured she was just mad at me for having power over her. Is she also furious that I was using a name that she hates? There's no reason to be calling people by names they hate. "I did not know that. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I am Empress here, but I try not to be thoughtlessly cruel." I thought for a moment. "Unless I need to be, but then I guess it's not thoughtless. Please, tell me your name - or what you prefer to be known as."

"I'm Virgina Fallmill, but please, I prefer Ginny."

"It's so nice to meet you Ginny. My name is Melody."

"I know, Empress."

"Yes, I imagine you heard Hel-Raaden talking about it."

Another nod.

"What did you do on the Lavinia, Ginny?"

"I worked in Reactor Systems, I'm Chief Petty Officer for the whole Reactor Room." She said. I noticed she had stopped looking around, and was meeting my gaze, speaking to me without fear.

<She is comfortable talking to you.>

<Why?>

<We’re not sure. Maybe she hasn’t had much opportunity to just talk about herself aboard. People love to talk about themselves.>

"Where were you born, Ginny?"

"I was born on Earth, but my parents moved to Venus when I was in elementary school."

"Oh, why did they move?" Besides making conversation, I was always interested in what made people migrate to Venus. It was so different than any other place I knew, even the colonies. What made people go and live on top of a caustic atmosphere on a floating city?

She shrugged. "Work, I think. Dad worked on computers and was able to get a job relatively easily, but Daddy always had trouble. He was a painter and had a hard time selling his work on Venus. He worked in the casinos mostly."

"Were you going to volunteer to stay behind?"

"Yes, I was."

"Were you doing it because you wanted to, or because you were ordered to?

Ginny looked away. "I wanted to."

<She is not lying.>

I raised an eyebrow and tried to hide my surprise with another sip of coffee. "Oh? How come?"

"It sounds so fun! Starting a new life across the Galaxy helping out people, being in charge, I was excited to try it."

"Did Raaden order all the volunteers to be spies?"

"Yes. She said that we'd all have to report to William weekly and he would get messages back to Venus."

"William?"

"Yes, the tall, burly looking guy with the curly hair sulking in the corner." Ginny explained while taking a sip of coffee. Even though we're in a separate room, it seemed like she was trying to not give them any indication we're talking about him. He must have been intimidating.

I thought to Ava, <“Look in the banquet room. See that cheerful looking person in the corner with he curly hair? Ginny here says that William. He was going to be the spies contact for the volunteers who stayed behind.”>

<“I see him Melody. He looks...pleasant.”> She thought to me, sarcastically.

<“Indeed. If we make sure he has no power over the crew, I think there might be some people here who legitimately want to be volunteers.”<

<“I don't know Melody. It feels very dangerous.”>

<“You said we need more help yourself.”> I pointed out.

<“Ugh, help like Venus we could do without though. Just think about what would happen if we gave one of them the Builder package and they weren't 100% loyal to us.”>

<“Okay, we'll try and get help another way.”> I mean, Ava wasn't wrong. It would be dangerous if someone became a Builder, and then tried to move against us. I focused back on Ginny.

"Thank you Ginny. You don't have to rush to finish your coffee. When you're done, please head back." I stood and left the room.

<“Ava, what is she doing?”>

<“She's drinking the coffee and looking around. Doesn't look like she's trying anything.”>

<“Good. I'll talk to the prince later. He's staying with Raaden anyway, I'm not in a hurry. Do we know where we're going to put them yet?”>

<“I asked about a couple rooms in the Royal Dawn. I think we can secure them enough.”>

<“I don't know how I feel about them staying where we're all sleeping." I really didn't want them in the same building as us. "That seems dangerous. Maybe we can put them up in the Admin offices.”>

<“We have to think long term Hon; we don't know how long they'll be here before Venus either pays ransom of tells us to pound sand. We have to give them a real place to live.”> For as much as Ava didn't like Venus, she wasn't a monster. It was one of the reasons I liked her.

<“What about an apartment? Something near the Royal Dawn, but not in it.”>

<“Hmm. Maybe. That might work. I'll have City send some messages. I bet there's some empty apartments around. Oh, Melody, Ginny is looking around; she's asking for you. I let her know you're on your way.”>

I went back into the room, and Ginny was standing up, looking at the ceiling and talking with Ava. "-There she is, thank you."

"Ginny? What is it? I'm all out of coffee."

Ginny got down and - awkwardly - bowed like she saw the locals here do. "Empress Melody. I want to stay."

"What? You don't want to go back to Venus?"

"No, I hated it there. Daddy and Dad were saving up to leave and if I come back as part of-" she gestured back to the group "-that, I won't get paid. If I stay here, they'll get a prisoner payout and be able to afford to move."

<“Melody…”>

I thought to Ava while Ginny stood politely. <“Come on. She seems truthful, and I can just use my Voice to tell her to not report to Venus.”>

<“Sigh. I don't think I'm going to win this one, but at least talk it over with Um'reli and Omar first.”>

<“Okay, deal.”>

"Ginny. I have to talk it over with my fellow Builders. I need you to know, if we agree I'm going to use my Voice to order you to break ties with Venus. You won't be able to contact them - for years probably."

She stood and nodded. "I understand. I would expect nothing less."

"I'll talk it over with them and let you know - privately - before it's time to go."

"Thank you Empress."

First / Previous / Next

Loud, hearty laughter from the Venusians filled the hall.

"Oh Melody Mullen, playing at being Empress over on her toy station." Raaden smiled and stood, radiating smugness. "You have no idea what you are doing, and have no concept of real power." Allow me to demonstrate to you what real power is." She touched her ear and after a moment she made a face. She touched it again and glared at me.

I did my best to look puzzled as I thought to Ava, <Good work, looks like the radio suppression field is working.>

<Thank Omar, he found it inside Royal Dawn weeks ago. Looks like we were right, this place was for royals before it became a hotel.>

Raaden snarled and reached down and tried to grab her pistol. Her her long fingers wrapped around it and she brought the weapon to bear on my face. With a manic grin she squeezed the trigger, but she couldn't. Her glee turned to confusion, and quickly to rage. "Melody! What did you do! What is going on here! Release us this instant!" The mask had completely fallen off. I gently pushed the pistol out of my face and smirked, I couldn’t help it.

"You will refer to me as ᴇᴍᴘʀᴇss.

Raaden kept trying to get her pistol to bear on me while she was talking. "I will do no such thing, Empress. You are not an Empress, you are," she grunts with the effort of trying to shoot me, "just a girl who just found -ugh- some old junk and declared herself Empress! Ugh, why can't I call you Empress; I keep calling you Empress instead."

"I told you earlier, you're mine now. You and your entire crew belong to me. You cannot refer to me as anything but Empress, I have ordered it. The Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems can not be disobeyed. The K'laxi knew it; The Empress was known as Tep'ra'fel in their ancient language. The Undeniable. You thought earplugs were enough to stop me? The moment you stepped aboard you and your entire crew became mine."

The moment I mentioned Tep'ra'fel Raaden's gaze shot out to the assembled people and locked eyes with Selem. She was standing back with my retinue watching the events unfold with her ears forward and her eyes brighter than I had seen them since she returned to me. This was the culmination of weeks worth of trials and difficulty for her.

Moving my attention from her, I examined the Venusians; their grins were still plastered on their faces, but I could see them start to falter. I turned back towards Raaden and said, “Call the remaining crew members here, we appear to be a few short."

"You're blocking the radio." Raaden said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, My apologies. Allow me." I connected to the Reach and found the radio signal for the Vengeance of Lavinia. On board, they heard the radio click and then my voice saying, "Go ahead Helen. Tell them to come out and come to dinner. I will have a runner show them the way. You can just speak, they will hear."

Raaden glared at me, and said nothing.

ᴅᴏ ᴀꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀᴇᴅ.

Her body flinched as if I had slapped her. "This is...Baron Helen Raaden. Please...leave Vengeance of Lavinia and a runner from the Reach will...lead you to dinner." As soon as she stopped speaking her hands flew to her mouth as if to stuff the words back in.

"Lovely. Thank you Helen." Only then, did I cut the radio connection to the ship. Everyone seated at the tables looked awkward as we waited. Smiles gone, some people toyed with the utensils, or took sips of water. Raaden stared straight ahead, her hands turning purple from the fist she was making. I looked at her hands, then up at her.

"Helen, you are going to injure yourself. You should relax."

She turned to look me straight in the eye - they're so pale - and then turned straight ahead again.

"I'm sorry Helen, I phrased that poorly, ʀᴇʟᴀx ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴀɴᴅꜱ.”

Instantly her grip eased and she began to massage feeling back into her hands. Omar leaned over and looked at Raaden and then me. "Empress..."

I looked back at him. "Yes, Omar? You lived on one of the stations in settled space that Raaden and the Venusians came to visit, didn't you?" Raaden's head snapped up at that and she stared at Omar, but he did not meet her eyes.

"Yes Empress, I was there. I remembered when Venus shackled our AI, and then attempted to set up a puppet government out of the Administrators. I also remember how the residents blew up at least one whole platoon of troopers and then the administrators blamed it on Venusian carelessness and Raaden and the Grand Admiral bought it, because her troopers were of such poor quality."

At that Raaden turned her head slowly to Omar, her teeth bared as if she was going to leap forward and attack him. "I fucking knew it. I knew it was you bastards on that cursed station. Wellfleet was a fool from day one and I am glad I shot him and took over. I should have obliterated that station the moment we linked in-system. I should have obliterated you the moment we went though that stupid Gate."

Omar was completely unsurprised at her reply. "Why are we doing this, Empress? We should just destroy them and take their ship for our own. Order them to kill themselves." Raaden was shaking with a fury that was only controlled because I ordered it.

"That is true, Omar. It would be easy to make this problem go away, and then have a nice large dreadnought to play with and copy. But doing it this way?" I looked at Raaden and this time I met her eyes. "It sends a message." I looked out at the Venusians waiting for their colleagues to join us and I saw the fear, the worry. They thought that Raaden was going to show us what it truly meant when Venus came to visit. They were right, just not in the way they expected. I turned to look at Raaden again. "Helen. Look at me. Don't make me use the voice again." She turned and looked at me. Her eyes were red rimmed and her pretty face exuded pure hate.

"I. Am. Empress. You live, because I allow it."

She whipped her head away from my gaze as the stragglers from their ship arrived, confused. Ava was right, they looked like they were mostly guards. They were muscular, with darting eyes. With them though was a youngish man, tall and willowy who looked nervous. One might even say that he looked noble. Interesting. Places are set for them and they are led to seats. Once everyone is here I clink my glass for silence. Everyone turned to look at me "Ah, now everyone is here. This is so nice, thank you for coming out. I, for one, am starving, so we all shall ᴇᴀᴛ.

At my command the servers from the Royal Dawn brought out steaming plates of food. Just like I ordered, everyone began eating as the food was brought out. Everyone went all out; I could smell the food as it was served. I thought we're going to be served a meal to remember and I didn't want to waste everyone's hard work. The Venusians were trying to look at Raaden for guidance while also obeying my Voice. More than a few of them were struggling, their utensils shaking as they ate. One or two had tears running down their face freely.

Good.

Raaden was robotically eating, her fork tinkling a staccato against the plate with every bite. She was clearly trying to struggle against the orders the whole time. "Helen, you will have an easier time if you just accept the order and eat." I said after taking a sip of - local - tea.

"There has to be a way around this-" she struggled mightily before giving up "-Empress."

"We haven't found one yet."

Omar looked over at me and inclines his head and raises his eyebrows questioning. He wants me to ask her. Fine, fine.

"Helen, why did you listen to Selem and come here? It would have been just as easy - if not easier - to ignore her pleas.”

"Fuck you, Empress."

ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀ ᴍᴇ ʜᴇʟᴇɴ.

“Nobody believed her when she spoke of your Voice, we all assumed that it was just a metaphor, or an example of you ruling through fear. My Emperor wanted me to come and see you, to find out how pliable you would be, and how easily we could integrate you into our empire. A convenient marriage, an unfortunate assassination, whatever it took. I for one wanted to come in guns blazing and just either capture or destroy you." She gasped in surprise and glared at me.

I gestured with my fork before going for another bite. "I have to say Helen, your option probably would have worked better."

"I see that now... Empress, but I was under orders to dry diplomacy first."

"As well as seducing me? Did you find me attractive?"

She shrugged, still clearly upset that she's answering questions. "You're pretty enough, but not my type. I wouldn't have minded it."

<Melody.> Ava said in my head, flatly.

Right, right. We ate in silence. It really was an excellent meal.

I finished my meal and delicately wiped my mouth with my napkin. I hoped everyone enjoyed it. I took a sip of the last of my tea and looked at Helen. She's not saying anything, but her eyes could melt starship hulls. "Helen, what are we going to do with you?"

"How about you let me go, and we pick up and leave."

"Tempting. I have a different idea though." I turned and faced the gathered Venusians finishing their meals and I pointed at the nervous young man I had noticed earlier. "Who are you? ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀ.

"I am Crown Prince Emery, the Emperor's son." As soon as he said it his eyes went wide in surprise and he slapped his hand over his mouth. I glanced over at Helen. I didn’t think it was possible, but she seemed even more angry.

"Nice to meet you Prince Emery, thank you for coming." I faced the rest of the crowd. "Who here was going to volunteer to stay behind and work with us?"

About half the hands went up."

"ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ who was going to spy and report back to Venus?"

Not one hand went down.

"Is anyone here not in the Venusian Navy?"

One hand came up.

"Oh? Who are you?"

"My name is Will, I work in the Venusian Spy Corps." He said calmly, as the people next to him at the table turned and looked at him in shock.

<They didn't know they had their own spy.>

<But why spy on your own people?>

<Don’t be naive, Empress. You must always know what your people are thinking, feeling, plotting. You will have to create your own internal spy organization as well soon enough.>

I stood, "Thank you for taking this meal with me. I for one enjoyed it quite a bit. Venusian guests, please ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ, I have something to show you." There's a simultaneous scrape of chairs as everyone stood up at once. I reached out my hand to Helen, and she just glared harder. I glanced over at Omar and Um'reli and Omar rolled his eyes, wishing I'd lay it on less thick, but Um'reli was reveling in it. I imagine Ava enjoyed it quite a lot from her Builder chair as well. Well, except for the flirting. Raaden didn't take my hand, and I didn't force the issue. I led them out of the Royal Dawn and inclined my head to Wind as we leave. "It was an exceptional meal, Wind, with exceptional service. Please make sure everyone has a 20% bonus applied to their pay tonight."

Wind Rustled Leaves bowed low and said, "It was our pleasure Empress."

I exited the hotel towards a temporary platform here that wasn't here before dinner. I carefully walked up the stairs and went to the front, where there was another, smaller platform. I stepped up onto the higher, smaller platform as the Venusians climbed and looked out to see thousands of people cheering. Ava had called runners and used the Reach's address systems to ask everyone who was able - within this and the further two levels - to come down and witness a presentation from the Empress.

<This is perfect, thank you Ava.> I thought to her.

<Putting the Venusians in their place is my pleasure, Melody. I am enjoying this.>

I raised my hands for silence. "People of the Reach!"

Everyone went silent. They stared at us in that unnerving way a silent crowd can. "These-" I gestured "-are humans from my side of the Galaxy. They are not Builders. They have not taken the rites, they do not know the ways. They thought us weak. They thought your Empress was a fool. They thought that they could come in and take over with gifts and words and trickery."

The crowd shouted and jeered at the very nervous Venusians. Only Raaden still looked defiant, chin up as the crowd heckled them.

"We have shown them hospitality. We have taken them in, we have fed them, we have shown them our home. What do they do in exchange? They threatened us. They threatened me. They lie about volunteers who wished to stay with us."

The jeers and shouts rose in volume, nearly at a fever pitch. If I wasn’t careful the crowd was going to tear them apart. I held up my hands for silence again and continued, "So, I ask you, my people; the residents of Reach of the Might of Vzzx. What shall we do with these people? These spies. These interlopers." Over the screams and jeers, the Venusians could hear shouts for them to be killed. At least I assumed they could. Based on the fear they showed, they could understand the gist of it, if not the nuance. They didn't ask for an update to their translators, so I assume they got a copy of the one that Fer'resi was working on. I raised my hands for silence again. It came, but slower.

<The crowd was bloodthirsty. They would tear them apart at only the merest hint from you.>

<I don’t want that, I have something better planned.>

<We would like to once again state that killing them is the better solution.>

<Noted.>

The nanites were right though; I couldn't rile them up any more. "You demand their deaths, and you are correct in doing so. But! I am merciful. I do not call for their deaths. I will educate them on who their empress is and send them on their way."

At that, Omar, Um'reli, and the Venusians pivoted and stare at me wide eyed.

<What.> Ava's voice was flat, unbelieving.

<Keep listening Ava, you'll see.>

"I will send them on their way, without their crown prince and without their Baron. They will remain behind as our...honored guests. They will not be able to send a warship after us in retaliation as we have their second and third in line for their own throne. They will learn both that we are merciful and that we are not to be underestimated." This time, Raaden and Emery stared at me. Raaden was beyond furious, Emery just looked tired.

"But first, before they go, we shall strip their ship. We will leave them enough thruster power to traverse Gates home and enough environmental systems such that they will survive the trip. It will not be in luxury. We shall use their parts to retrofit our ships and make our ships formidable again!" Cheers and shouts from the crowd. Everyone loves to hear how we are going to have starships again, powerful ones. "I need volunteers! Come and see my Builder, Omar and he shall put you to work. I want their ship stripped in 5 days time. Thank you for coming out and showing these people what it means to be from Reach of the Might of Vzzx!"

More cheering for me; the crowd was chanting my name. After everyone realized the presentation was over, the crowd started to dissipate. A large group of people stayed and Omar walked over to them, determining how they could help.

<Are you sure about sending them back?> Ava asked, concern radiating from her as she messaged me.

<Yes. The only other option was to kill them, and I don't want to do that. Without Raaden and Emery, their Emperor won't send a dreadnought to just blow us up, they'll want to deal. They will be our hostages and will protect us. Plus, this way we get a leg up on ship refitting.>

<Empress, you are playing a dangerous game. Given how Raaden reacted, if there are more like her in this Venusian empire, we now have some new enemies.>

<Venus was always going to be an enemy. They do not want equals, they want subordinates. We are not subordinate.>

<Empress.>

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Okay, you could do this. She just represented Venus, and everyone outside of their own space hated them, she was just the second in line to all of the Venusian Empire, she came in a massive warship 'to offer assistance' and...She looked so cool. No, stop thinking about that. They're not good guys, we're not going to be friends. What was I going to do? Ugh, she's so cool and collected and just standing there. it's like she's demanding I come running and jump into her arms. Maybe they'll be friendly? No Melody. Stay focused. Think about Ava. She hated Venus. You'd make Ava so mad if you got friendly with Venus. Dinner. Invite them to dinner. I could use my Voice then, and make them leave us alone. Yes. That'll work.

I hope.

<It’s a good plan. It will work.>

"Thank you so much for coming to visit us. Please, I would love to extend an invitation to your whole crew to come to dinner tonight. We'll set up a banquet and everyone can be welcomed officially."

Raaden inclined her head. "We graciously accept. Currently It is slightly after lunch, on our ships time, when would you plan on eating?"

"It is a few standard hours after breakfast here; you are a little ahead of us. If you could possibly have a light snack around your dinner and then come see us for a late evening meal? Ten standard hours from now?"

She clapped her hands together, her eyes bright. "Wonderful, I do so enjoy a late dinner. Shall we bring anything? I have a stock of various alcohols as well as coffee and tea-" her eyes flicked to Um'reli "-even Chamomile." Um'reli's eyes met Raaden's. I knew she hadn't had good tea since we got here. Politically, Venus never had an issue with the K'laxi and the K'laxi didn't really mind Venus. They were the only human faction that showed up to Concurrency Point for initial trad negotiations and as such enjoyed a special relationship status with them. That special relationship even supposedly extended to some highly placed k’laxi who were “friendly" with the Emperor.

When Um'reli met Raaden's glance, Raaden winked at her. I saw it that time for sure. She's doing it on purpose. She's trying to throw us off! I could see that Um'reli suppressed a blush. Well, at least it was not only me. Was she doing something to us? Does Venus have Nanites?

<There are no Nanites that we detect, Empress, just your and Um'reli's raging libido.>

<Quiet.>

<Just offering council, Empress. As Ava would say, ‘keep it in your pants.’>

Oh, but more coffee would be so nice. I ran out a month ago, it's been awful going without. I can't let it go without asking, I just can't.

<Be wary of enemies offering gifts, Empress.>

"We do find ourselves running low on luxuries from human space, some coffee and tea would be most appreciated."

<Melody…> I could feel the nanites sigh in exasperation, but I didn’t care I needed some coffee.

If at all possible, her smile got even wider. "Then it's settled. We shall all come for dinner, and tomorrow we can get down to the business of business. With your permission I shall station two guards outside of our entrance, just for the look of the thing."

I nodded. "Yes, that's no problem at all. Thank you for asking."

She smiled and I melted slightly. "We are here to serve." She snapped her fingers sharply and four of the guards turned smartly and walked back in through the umbilical, and when they have left she made a gesture at the other two who put their rifles on their back, and stood at parade rest on either side of the umbilical. She then turned and went inside herself, and the umbilical closed behind her.

Mindful of the guards, I turned back to my group and said "Please, come with me to the Throne, we have a dinner to plan." As we walked, I thanked Sep and Vaaqo for their assistance and coming to meet the Venusians, and I invited them both to dinner.

Vaaqo gestured a kind no thank you. "That is very generous of you Empress, but I cannot take meals anywhere but in our sector. Our pressure suits are not designed for cuisine."

"Ah yes, that makes sense Vaaqo, I apologize."

"Not necessary Empress. I am here to serve."

Sep seemed to be of two minds about it. As head of Security on this level he does get his fair share of fancy meals, but rarely with the Empress; he also seems intimidated by the Venusians. That was probably deliberate on Baron Raaden's part given her highly polished troopers. "Ah, I would very much like to attend, Empress, but I'm afraid that I cannot. We have much to do to prepare for visitors to be spending time here, even if only for a short while."

Intimidation won then. "It is fine Sep, I am glad you came to meet the Venusian Baron today. I shall dispatch a runner if you are needed."

Sep nodded and hurried back. They seemed to be in a hurry to put some distance between us.

<The Venus contingent worries them. Venus seems to know how to be Imperial better than yourself, even with our help. You would be wise to use your Voice on them as soon as you can. Perhaps at dinner when they are all gathered.>

<Yes, that was my plan too. Hence the last minute dinner invite.>

Once we got some distance from the guards and turned a corner towards the Throne Ava turned to me and hissed "Dinner? You invited them to Dinner? What were you thinking?"

Um'reli looked over at Ava surprised. "Melody invited the whole crew. At dinner she can just use her Voice on them and they'll do what we say."

Ava threw up her hands and said, "But it's Venus, Um'reli. They're not to be trusted."

"And we won't trust them Ava. But we can't just give them the cold shoulder, that's more suspicious." Huh, Omar was backing me up too. I wonder what happened with Ava and Venus.

<She has a history with the Venusians.>

<You think?>

<We would wager 1000 skys on it.>

<Hmm.>

I looked at Um'reli and Omar. They seemed to have the same idea I did, I didn't need to convince them. "Head on back to the Throne. Dispatch a couple runners to one of the fancier restaurants on this level. Let them know we needed a banquet fit for an Empress tonight at the Royal Dawn. We will cover all expenses.” I looked at Selem. She seemed at the same time pleased to be near me, but lost as to what to do, her head ping ponging back and forth between people speaking. “Selem, I would like to thank you for coming home.”

She inclined her head, “I thought of little else while I was gone, Empress, but-” She looked back up at me, “What are you going to do about the Venusians?”

“Don’t worry about them,” I said and winked. “You can just hang back while we get this taken care of. When the Venusian issue has been…settled we’ll see about getting you integrated and settled in.”

“I think I know just the place for dinner,” Omar said as he turned to Um'reli "It's that place we went to last month that did that roasted vegetable dish with the white sauce."

"Oh I loved that place! Good idea!" Um’reli gestured towards Selem and said. “Come with us Selem, we can show you around.” Taking one more look at me, she went with Omar and Um’reli as they walked off towards the Throne, lightly arguing about the menu.

I turned to Starlight on a Moonless evening and Rapid River Roaring. "We do not trust the Venusians."

They nodded, their feathers ruffling worriedly. "It is as you say, Empress. Are you worried about an attack?"

"I hope it does not come to that. They are known more for their... treachery than outright combat. Still, if they were to attack right now we would be at an disadvantage. I'm hopeful that we can... use dinner to our advantage."

River nodded. "You plan on ordering them to not attack."

"Something like that yes. But just in case... make sure that Sep and Security is ready. If you have to arm them with something more powerful than stun clubs, you have permission to do so."

Starlight and River shared a glance and had some conversation in their body language. Arguments? No, it didn't look like that. River nodded once at Starlight. "Yes Empress. I know just what to do. Thank you for trusting us."

"You and Starlight both have been integral to our work here. Thank you for trusting me."

Starlight shook their head. "We did not treat you... appropriately when we first met. It would have been entirely expected and within your rights to have us killed after the attack. We are in your debt for your kindness."

"Thank you River, thank you Starlight. Your work here shows your love for the Reach. Go. Dispatch a runner if you need anything."

They both nodded and peeled off at the next intersection. As they walked, I see Starlight grab River's hand. Hmm.

<Now aren’t you glad I didn’t just space them in the beginning?>

<You could have found alternatives.>

<Yes, but by saving them, they are fiercely loyal, and do not fear me.>

<A measure of fear never hurt anyone.>

<And you wonder why your empire fell.>

Now it was just me and Ava. "Ava? Do you have a moment?" As we continued on to the Royal Dawn I took Ava's hand. "Walk with me, Ava."

She took my hand and squeezed it gently. "You're going to ask me about Venus, aren't you."

"Only if you want to tell me. I don't need Nanites to tell me that something about them bothers you beyond their attitudes towards AIs."

Ava looked out at the promenade as we walked. She was weighing something in her mind. "Melody, I was born in Regantown, one of the largest of the floating cities."

Venus's atmosphere was much too thick and toxic for people to live on the surface, but it turned out that about halfway up. the temperatures and pressures were pretty close to Earth. When outside, you just needed a mask for oxygen and a light suit against the acidic atmosphere, and could almost forget you were not on Earth. Before they developed their military moved to a war footing, Imperial Venus was mostly a tourist destination. Resorts, Casinos, those kinds of things.

"I see. Well, it certainly explains your feelings about them."

"Yeah. We moved away when I was about 10 or so to High Mars Hyacinth."

High Mars was the polity that made up the orbitals, stations and stations around Mars. Low Mars was the surface, and was abandoned. Ava continued, "Even though Hyacinth was far out into the system and…unique in it’s own right, it was still better than living in Regantown. Melody, Venus is bad news. They say they only care about rising up human voices and making sure "we're" heard, but it's so much more than that. The only voice they want to raise is their own, at the cost of everyone else. All their rhetoric is about AIs, but that's only because it's their most convenient bad guy. If they had their way, they'd eliminate anyone not born in the Floating Cities."

Ava finally turned and looked me in the eye. "Melody, please. Trust me. Don't take any gifts from Venus. Don't do anything to make us owe them anything. Don't take their advice, don't take their volunteers. Don't take their gifts. We don't need them."

The corners of her eyes were wet. " We don't want them."

Oh Ava. I spun her around and kissed her and hugged her deeply. "Ava, I had no idea you felt this strongly. Of course I trusted you. How about instead of not taking anything and sending them on their way we take everything from them instead?

<Now you’re getting it.>

She looked up and starts with "Didn't you he-" and then she saw my wicked grin. "Melody! What are you going to do?"

I hugged her again. "Make sure that Venus can't hurt you or anyone here. I have an idea. Come on, I need your help." and we walked off, planning.

After not nearly enough time, it was dinner. I had to admit that my retinue was worth their weight in skys at this point. I should make some of them Builders, they deserve it. I told them just after breakfast that we were hosting a banquet for the Venusians and they:

Found tables and chairs and tablecloths and plates and everything somewhere. I haven't asked where, I don't think I want to know.

Worked with the restaurant that Omar and Um'reli picked to develop an entire menu with local dishes that are most likely to be liked by people who have never been here.

Found/made/acquired decorations! I had no idea where or how they did it, but they set it up in a hall at the Royal Dawn and it looked amazing. It looks elegant and royal and...

"It's perfect! Thank you so much everyone!"

City, Vaaqo, and the others bowed low. "It was our pleasure Empress. Thanks must be given to the Royal Dawn staff too. They were responsible for much of the work."

I turned and faced Wind Rustled Leaves, the manager at the Royal Dawn. "Thank you Wind, your work here is simply amazing."

Wind bobbed a bow and stood up straight. "It is always our pleasure to be the place that you call home Empress. We are here to serve. If we can impress people from your side of the galaxy with our food and fine dining, all the better."

"And my Builder Ava has reached out to you...?"

"About your request? Yes, she has. Please do not worry. Everything is in place and we will be ready when we receive the signal from her."

I looked around. Everything seemed to be in place. I mentally reached out to Ava, <Are you in place?>

She thought back to me, <I’m in my chair and am ready. Looks like I was right, there wasn't that many people on the Lavinia. No more than 30.>

<Does that mean she lied about the volunteers?>

<Probably not, but she pointedly did not say how many she had. I bet there's under 10. I bet that not too many of them actually volunteered. I bet most where volun-told to go.>

<If any are really here because they want to help, we could use them.> I reminded her.

<After you have a Talk with them, maybe, but I still think it's too risky. Go grab Um'reli and Omar, it's showtime.>

I left the Royal Dawn and made the quick walk to the Throne. Omar and Um'reli were there, waiting. Their Builder uniforms were clean and pressed, smart looking. I stopped and concentrated for a moment, switching to my more royal gown, complete with the long train and higher heels. I tweaked the neckline down a little bit as well, two could play the intimidation game. "Okay, let's go get the Venusians. We have a dinner to host."

"What about Ava?" Um'reli looked around, wondering.

"She's going to stay connected to the Throne while we eat. I've got her doing... some reconnaissance for us."

Omar said nothing, even though it looked like he wanted to. We made our way towards the docks and as we arrived, I saw them. There were maybe two dozen Venusians milling around, all in dress uniforms and all looking around in wonder. This was the first time they had been able to leave their ship, so it was time to impress. I flared my crown and wings bright and greeted them. "Friends! Welcome! I'm so glad you could make it. Please follow us and we shall take you to the Royal Dawn, where a wonderful banquet awaits you."

As Baron Raaden saw me and smiled warmly, I had to stop myself from melting right then and there. She was dressed in an extremely classy dress. It was slim and black and clung to her alluringly. She was wearing very tall heels that were black with blood red on the underside, and you got flashes of color as she walked. The dress had a slit up her leg that went almost all the way up. She was clearly trying very hard. Perhaps my talk with Ava or the Nanites has cooled me a bit on her and I could see that she was actively trying to get me to be attracted to her, but I couldn’t deny that she looked good. She waved us over, and in her other hand was a package. "Please Empress. Take this with the thanks of Venus."

Ava reached out over the Builder connection. <Hold on, I'm scanning... It's coffee, tea and a couple bottles of wine Melody, I don't see anything odd about it, or the composition. It's probably real.>

<Thanks Ava. Anyone left aboard the Lavinia?> I thought to her.

<Yes, looks like maybe 5 or 6 people? Not too many.>

I was trying very hard to hide my expression while I talked to Ava. I even thought it was working. <Too much to hope that they'd take everyone I suppose.>

<That was never in the cards Melody, Venus was too paranoid. I'd assume at least one or two of the people left are highly ranked and/or excellent warriors.>

<Agreed.>

I took the package and opened it carefully in front of everyone. It was a basket containing two packages of coffee - from Earth! This was the real deal! - as well as three bottles of wine and two packages of Chamomile tea. I was going to have to beg Ava to let us keep this after they leave, this was too nice to just throw away. "This was a thoughtful and useful gift, Baron. We are in your debt." and I inclined my head just a bit.

<Don't go overboard Melody,> Ava warned.

Raaden laughed lightly. "It's nothing at all. It is only things we had in our stores, though I appreciate your kinds words. Please, call me Helen, we don't need to stand on such ceremony here." Just for a split second, I caught something cross her face. I don't think I would have noticed if it wasn't for my heightened abilities.

<Did you notice that? She doesn't like her name. She doesn't want to be called Helen, but she offers it to you anyway. She is an excellent player of this game. Do not trust her. She has buried her genuine feelings and opinions of us very deep.>

<Both Omar and Ava said Raaden was known to be ruthless and extremely perceptive.>

<You are wise to listen to them. It is too bad really. She would be an excellent Builder and an asset if she was on our side.>

<She would never do it.>

<It is as you say Empress, we are merely lamenting that fact.>

"Helen, please come with me. Allow us to lead your party to dinner." I gave her my hand.

She took it and squeezed gently and slid close - it was so warm! "Please lead the way." she purred.

<Melody.> I could feel Ava's jealousy leaking out. I couldn't help but tweak her just a little.

<Jealous?>

<Yes actually. Don't go falling for her.>

<Ava, I only meant to make you a little jealous. It's kind of fun to wind you up, I apologize. I won't fall for her. Not after our talk earlier today. Actually since we talked, this whole thing comes off as…>

<Desperate? Yes, I got the same impression. She's laying it on too thick now.>

As we walked slowly, I noticed Raaden looked around. She couldn't help herself, she seemed impressed.

"So what do you think of my Reach of the Might of Vzzx so far, Helen?"

"It's so fascinating. I don't think I've ever seen a station this large, not even the High Mars Orbitals are this big. The Venusian floating cities are larger of course, but they're not spaceworthy." She looked again at the crowds standing to the side, watching us and added, “or as densely populated.”

"Home to over 11 million people of all different kinds." I was rightfully proud of my new home.

"And there are humans around here too?"

"At one time there were, or people that were genetically very close to us. As near as we could tell, we were some of the last, if not the last outright on this side of the galaxy. Once we have a starship again, we plan on visiting other locations and seeing who is there."

"Amazing. So how did they get to Earth?"

"We think what happened is that a splinter group of Builders fled to Earth and destroyed their Gate so people couldn't follow. We don't know exactly when though, and we don't know if the Builders were Humans, or just... compatible with them."

Raaden looked around as we walked and said to herself, "So then you've come back here, where we belong, to take up our rightful place."

Where did that come from? I didn't like the sound of that. "Well, sort of. They were doing mostly fine without us, so we worked extra hard to be needed and appreciated for being here. We did discover that the Reach was starting to fail from a lack of Builder involvement, so we've been spending the last few months getting things back up and running properly, but it was still quite a long time that things ran fine without any Builders here. The Reach was well designed."

Raaden nodded to herself while looking around. "Smart. Get them to love you and not be able to live without you. We were right to come here. What you're doing here will be so beneficial back home."

Okay, now I'm confused. "In what way?"

She shrugged and leaned in closer as we walk. She was wearing a scent. It smelled of flowers and wood and something I couldn't quite place. It was quite nice actually. "People back home place too much faith in their AI partners. They relied on them. They expected them to come to their aid whenever called." Her face hardened as she talked. These were things she truly believed, the mask was slipping. "It's only a matter of time before they decide that things would be better off if they were in charge. And then where will humanity be? Subordinate. Subordinate to people we made." She shook her head once and the mask returned. "But out here? Here you are showing everyone that humanity still has a place. A place at the top."

I sure hope she didn't notice my gooseflesh while she talked, or mistook it for attraction. She was genuinely scary.

<What did I tell you, Melody? These are not people one allies with.> Ava said, over our connection.

<This Raaden is extremely dangerous.>

"Here we are, the Royal Dawn hotel. It is my home away from Throne." The joke went unnoticed or politely ignored, I wasn't sure which.

<She ignored it, Empress.>

Not everyone could appreciate the finer points of wordplay I supposed. "Come everyone, this way!" I led them through the entrance and into the hall that had been set up. The lighting was low and dramatic, but still bright enough to see, with tables made looking warm and inviting.

Everyone began to find places to sit as I led Raaden to a table at the front of the room, elevated slightly over the others. Omar and Um'reli were sitting there already. As we approached they stood and bow. "Empress. Baron, please join us." We walked up and Raaden sat. I looked around and everyone seemed to be seated. There was curious conversation and people were looking around excitedly.

<Ava, are we ready?> I thought to her.

<Yes Melody. Raaden and 4 others were armed, two at each table. Raaden and the armed ones were wearing ear protection too. They looked like human standard active noise cancelling buds. I wager they expected you to use your Voice.>

Ah, but if it was only my voice that did it, she was protected. She did walk close to me for ten minutes on the way here, laughing and talking and breathing air so, so close to me. Everyone here had been breathing the Nanite saturated air the entire time they've been here. As near as Omar and Um'reli could tell, that was the secret to the Voice. People need to be in direct contact with me or areas I control. The air here was absolutely saturated with Nanites.

*<*We make the Voice work. It works by our will, with our permission.>

I looked over at the assembled people and turned my back to Raaden. "My Friends! Before we begin, I'd like to say a few short words." I raised a glass and gestured out towards everyone.

ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇʟᴏɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ ɴᴏᴡ.

First / Previous / Next

Three months have passed…

I couldn't believe we're already on our second ship! High Line took two months instead of the one that Omar first promised, but that was because he and his crew were getting used to the process and how best to refurbish the ships. Then, after that I made the decision to refurbish the food tugs, but those were (relatively) easy. New thrusters, some strengthening of the cargo containers and a few brand new ones and that was it. Once that was finished the food deliveries increased over 30%!

You would not believe how much cheaper, more abundant food improved one's legitimacy. As soon as that was finished and the food rolled in, the last grumblings about me coming in and "declaring" myself Empress died down.

I couldn't wait, and we took High Line out for a quick spin around the system after it was completed. Omar asked to be in control for the trip and since he refurbished it, I saw no problem. While Omar was looking through the Builder archives, he found plans for a starship's control chair. It was like a small version of my Throne, or the Builder chairs back on the Reach. From the chair, a Builder could interface with the ship and control it, like how AIs were ships back home. I asked Starlight, River and Ocean if they wanted to come along and see what we did to their ship. For the whole tour they looked around in wonder and surprise at the work we did. Starlight said it felt like a new ship and River marveled that we were able to add so many features to it. I didn't tell them about the wormhole generator, I don't know why. Maybe I still think we needed some kind of secret surprise. Really though, I couldn't do what I was doing now if it wasn't for my fellow Builders and our staff. Ava was my second in command and handled most of the interactions between us and the institutions here at the Reach. Finances, Security Team, and Maintenance Crew; she worked with them to bring their needs to my attention, and then we worked out a solution together. She still tended to be a little more aggressive than I preferred, but she knew who was Empress. She made me more assertive and I was able to cool her down. We worked well together.

Um'reli had dug deep into the Builder systems here on the Reach. She was working out how much work the old Builders did day to day to make the Reach run so smoothly. When I told her that the Nanites said that it was a full time crew of 10 she believed me. It's a lot of work. There's still only the 4 of us, so we still couldn't run at full capacity, but she's got the fire suppression systems up and running, the environmental systems were much more efficient and even the gravity worked better. We were operating with a small power surplus now so I asked Omar build another reactor for the Reach and soon we will have even more power to spare.

Omar, had taken over as my shipbuilder and general head of engineering and was really growing into the role. When we were on Far Reach, printing was just a hobby and his main role was ship's battery, but here he had become a master printer. Between the database from Far Reach and the existing database on the Reach, we had more than enough plans to make anything we needed. He even worked out that Reach of the Might of Vzzx used to have defensive batteries! He found the hardpoints and had been using downtime on the printers to build new laser batteries. We didn't know where the original weapons went, so we were just adding Starjumper class laser batteries to the existing hardpoints - hence the need for more reactors. That should help hold off anyone who comes to pay us a visit. Speaking of visiting, I haven't told anyone, but I unlocked the Gate last month. With two ships and the laser batteries almost done, I figured it was safe to unlock the Gate.

Why did I unlock the Gate? When I try and think about it, the decision bounces around in my mind and I flip between it being the right choice and completely stupid. Could the nanites be influencing my decision making more than I had originally thought?

I was anxious to go back out and visit the Wilds and see if we can figure out what happened. I didn't think I was ready to admit to the others yet, but I'm also excited to visit other stations and planets as Empress, and see just how much of this side of the Galaxy was happy to see me. Waves and smiles for everyone who was happy to see me, Starjumper laser batteries for those who weren't!

I'm kidding about the Starjumper laser batteries if people weren't happy to see me. I didn't want to restart a war of conquest.

<For now.>

These days, I spent a lot of my time on the Throne, just watching things. I found it soothing to sit here and just feel the world go by. Things were running so smoothly, and the people legitimately seemed pleased that we were here and working, I liked to, I don't know, absorb the vibes? It was just after breakfast and I was settling down for a day of reports and presiding over a few small disagreements when a chirrup interrupts my reverie. I glanced over and, It's a signal from outside the Reach? I extended my senses into the local space and I feel... Activity from the Gate. Someone was coming through.

"Ava, Um'reli, Omar! We've got a ping from the Gate. Someone was coming though!" I was excited to tell everyone.

Omar was less excited. "What? Okay, Reactors to 200%, defensive batteries online, sound general alert.." I could hear hooting in the background. Omar insisted on activating the old alert tones and we had been sending out messages reminding everyone to listen to them.

"Omar, Omar! It's just someone coming through. Do we really need to get ready to shoot them?"

"Uh, yes Melody? We had no idea who it was. I didn't even know the Gate was unlocked. Did you do that?"

"Yes, I did it a month ago. I figured we were ready for visitors then. I'm so excited to see who is coming to visit us!"

Over the mental connection, I could feel Ava, Omar and Um'reli staring at me.

Uh oh.

Um'reli sounded exasperated. "Melody, we are at least a year away from unlocking the Gate. We have added some defensive lasers sure, but we didn't even have the new reactor online and we only have two small ships now. Two. If that was a starjumper or even a K’laxi dreadnought, we would be utterly outmatched. What were you thinking?"

"Um'reli be nice, I'm sure Melody was just so happy about our progress she wanted people to come and see it and see her." Ava said as she jumped to my defense.

<Ava was the right choice in partners. She knows how to support you.>

"It's still something she should have run by us first. We could have given her more insight to our actual readiness..."

"She is the Empress Um'reli, and besides, what's done is done. Now we had to get ready for our new visitors. Melody, had they come though yet, did we have a visual on them?"

I was looking out, into the system and I could see the ship. It was huge; way larger than anything we knew about on this side of the Galaxy. It didn't look like a Starjumper; it was the wrong shape. "It's through. Here, I'll send you what I saw through the long range scopes." I tossed the visual feed over to them. Um'reli was as confused as I was, but Omar had a sharp intake of breath and Ava swore.

"What is it Omar? Did you recognize the ship Ava?"

"I did, but I wish I didn't. That's Vengeance of Lavinia; the flag carrier for Venus." Omar sounded disgusted.

Ava sounded downright angry. What the hell are they doing out here?"

Um'reli zoomed in on the image and tried to enhance and get more detail. "It Looked like Far Reach didn't succeed in keeping us quiet like she wanted. Clearly someone told them we were out here and they're coming to say hello."

<You should have destroyed Far Reach like we recommended. Now we are at risk.>

<I was not going to blow up an entire Starjumper just to keep us quiet.>

<So instead, we will be defeated before we can even begin. You must use your Voice and use it quickly.>

<We will wait and see. There is always time to voice them.>

I could feel the nanites seethe, but they relented. Even if they didn’t like the choice, they allowed me to make it so I turned my attention back to the newcomers. I didn't know much about Imperial Venus; I grew up lightyears away on Meíhuā. From what I understood and what Omar explained while Ava made a face, they declared governance of the Sol. Omar said the reality was much more complicated than that though. Venus could legitimately claim their planet and the Mercury Array. They declare sovereignty over Luna and the Low Earth Orbital Confederation, but have not been able to enforce that sovereignty. The High Mars Orbitals and the rest of the Outer Planet Alliance ignore them completely.

Figuring they would have more luck in settled space, Venus came out into the colonies to throw their weight around a few years back, but they got massacred at Parvati, and since that they stayed in the Sol system and dialed down their rhetoric. Even if they weren’t the most popular faction in space, they were still worth talking to. "Maybe they have people who want to come join us?" I said as I tried to sound hopeful. I didn't think it worked.

"More like spy on us." Omar said darkly. "Melody, I'm going to go against my usual stance on you using your Voice on people. These folks need to be told how we do stuff here."

<Even Omar agrees. Heed their warnings.>

I could feel Um'reli nodding. "I agree. We don't want them to start anything, but don't lead with Voicing them. If you did that, they'd probably try and run and we'd lose any advantage we had. Play it cool. Be nice, be welcoming. It's not like we couldn't use more Builders. If folks are coming out because they want to come out, we should welcome them."

"But they're from Venus, Um'reli. Don't forget how they treated AIs." Ava was unusually firm. Venus had a strict policy of not recognizing AI sapience. AIs had been recognized as people for nearly two thousand years in Human space; for them to come out of nowhere and say that they're not was ludicrous and treated that way in Colonial space. It was a joke.

Almost.

We couldn't turn them away, we simply didn't have the firepower. "Omar, let them know we're not defenseless. Free the defensive lasers but don't target the ship. The are probably scanning the heck out of us, they should see them come online." When Omar released the lasers, I could feel it. 6 different batteries energize and told us their readiness. Wow, I don't know if this was something new Omar added, or something he tied into old systems, but it was so intuitive to use them. With a thought, I could swing them around, aim and point them, and- yes, if I were to pull there, they'd fire. Neat. After moving them around a little, I swing them off to the side and set them to follow our commands. If Venus wanted to start something, we could bring them to bear relatively quickly, but Um'reli was right; we did need more builders. If they were just shuttling volunteers because Far Reach told all the AIs and none of them would have anything to do with me, then we should be nice. Radio contact. We were being signaled. "Uh, Reach of the Might of... Vzzx? This is Vengeance of Lavinia. We'd like to speak to Empress... Melody?"

They were reading from notes. Their comms officer sounded so unsure. I decided to answer myself and lay it on thick. "Good morning Vengeance of Lavinia. This is Empress Melody Mullen the First, Empress of the Holy Imperial Systems. I hear your call and am replying. How may I assist?"

"We are requesting docking permission and to be able to come aboard for a goodwill exchange as well as to deliver some volunteers from our side of the Galaxy who wish to sign on with your work over here."

<Interesting. Volunteers>?>

<See? I was right to unlock the Gate.>

<Hmm.>

"Be careful, Melody." Ava said, giving me a mental side-eye.

"But, don't turn them away just yet." Um'reli was right too.

Ugh did they want to do the talking here? I felt like I was being pulled in so many directions. I checked on the docking ring. High Line and Sun Dancer, the two ships we were able to refit were next to the dock the Far Reach used; I'll put them there.

"Vengeance of Lavinia you are cleared to dock at umbilical X45, I shall note it on this image I am sending your way. Additionally it shall be lit as you pass by. After you dock a welcome party will meet you at the umbilical."

"Umbilical X45 confirmed. See you soon, Reach of the Might of Vzzx. Vengeance of Lavinia out."

Well then. I guess we had better go and meet them.

<Do not allow yourself to be cowed. You are Empress here, not them.>

<You sound like they’re going to rush in, go “ours now” and lock me up>

<…>

If they weren’t going to explain themselves, then the nanites could sit back and watch. “Okay everyone, we're on. Let's go gather some folks and go see them."

Ava, Um'reli and Omar disconnected from their chairs and came out. "I swear to you we're not ready for someone like Venus coming, but here they are so I guess we're going to have to be ready." Um'reli said and looked around. "Where is City?"

Sound of the City bounded up the stairs. "Here, Builder, what do you need of me?"

Um'reli smiled. She liked Sound and treaded her a bit like a protégé. I wondered if Um'reli wanted to make her a full Builder. It wasn't a bad idea really, but it should wait until she was older. "Hello, City. Please gather Starlight, Ocean, River, Vaaqo, and yourself. Dispatch a runner to Sep and ask them to bring a few security guards too. Make sure you have your Builder uniforms on and they're clean and neat. We have visitors."

City bowed. "Of course Builder. I shall fetch them at once." There was a pause while they tried to figure out what they could get away with. "Who is visiting?"

"It's a group of people from our side of the Galaxy. They're a different faction than we were and we always haven't been friendly with them. We're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but make sure everyone knows to keep watch on them."

Another bow; "Builder. I go!" and Sound of the City bounded away. I was so happy we were able to give them a job. They're still young so it was only part time, but they brought me happiness every time I saw them. They really became a vital part of our retinue so easily. They're just so energetic! I hope they stayed with us.

I picked up my rifle from next to the Throne and examined it. I did get a chance to go to Sep's Security office and got some range time in every now and then, but it was never enough. Omar had programmed the Security Office's printers to make rounds for me, so I didn't even have to conserve, it's just that there were only so many hours in a day. But, I felt good that I could still do the things that 'Melody' liked to do. It helped ground me and reminded me that I'm more than an Empress.

I sighed to myself, checked the rifle to make sure it was loaded and safe, and then clicked it to my back. It's weight was reassuring. While we walked down the steps, I got myself ready. The crown and wings came out, but I kept them dim and subtle for now. I made my heels a little taller but kept my working outfit on - no gown today. It's still royal blue and still sharply cut, but I just looked like the head Builder I am instead of all full Empress.

As we reached the docks, Starlight, Ocean and River were there already. They were probably over in the drydock working on the third ship so were close by. At our approach, they all bowed low.

"Empress, Builders. It was always a pleasure to see you."

I inclined my head. "Starlight, Ocean, River. We have guests coming."

They looked at me and blinked. This was unexpected.

"O-of course Empress. We shall welcome them warmly. Who is coming?"

"People from our side of the Galaxy. They represent a different faction than us, so we're wary about their visit. Still, we shall receive them. Just, be on your guard."

They bowed again. "Always Empress. We have learned that about Builders."

<Cheeky.>

<But not wrong.> I decided to let it slide.

City bounded up out of breath. "I have alerted Vaaqo and Sep, they shall arrive shortly."

"City, take a moment and catch your breath, they're not here yet." Ava looked concerned. Sound of the City was so eager to help that sometimes they ran themselves ragged. I thought we all fussed over City because they're still a kid, but I remembered being a teen and so eager to prove myself.

After a short time, Vaaqo arrived with Sep and a dozen security guards, all with clubs and energy weapons. Vaaqo spoke first. "Builders. What is it you need of us? Your runner mentioned visitors?"

I smiled warmly and nodded. "Yes. people from our side of the Galaxy have come through the Gate and wish to visit. They are from a different faction than us originally, so be wary, but let us welcome them. Sep, have your people set up around us, visible, but not part of the welcome party. Clubs can be seen, but let's keep the firearms behind their backs for now."

Another bow, and Sep gestured to the guards and they set up like I asked. We had a semicircle of guards a bit away, and the rest of us were a few meters from the umbilical. As we finished setting up, I heard the whir and hum of the umbilical coming out to meet the ship. After a few tense moments, there was a hiss as the pressures equalized and the umbilical opened.

Immediately, silently, 6 troopers walked out. They were wearing glossy maroon armored pressure suits polished to a mirror sheen. They're so glossy the coloring of the pressure suits looks like it had depth. I could see all of us distorted in the reflection of their faceless helmets. They're holding battle rifles, but they were aimed down and I could see they're safe and they had little decorative tips on the end - that was a nice touch. It showed everyone that they couldn't shoot without extra effort. Looking closer at the rifles I was shocked when I saw it was the same model I used. That's not a standard issue. My rifle was a special order. I could feel it's weight on my back, reminding me. The troopers lined up, three to a side of the umbilical, and stood there at attention for a moment, and then a woman walked confidently out.

She was not wearing a pressure suit, but she had a very elaborate uniform on. It didn't look like our Builder uniforms, but it was of a similar ilk. Professional, Military, it has short sleeves and was form fitting, with pockets and folds and places for medals and ribbons. Her uniform had plenty of both. It was colored the same maroon as the troopers, but there was a pure white sash from her left shoulder to her right side of her waist. In a tooled leather shoulder holster was a sidearm - hmm, that looked like a custom version of a very fiddly - but accurate - pistol, and was very well taken care of. She's wearing maroon pants tucked into highly polished black riding boots with a bit of a heel that clicked on the floor of the deck. On both of her shoulders were gold epaulets. Was that a tattoo I saw peeking around her collar? She was standing there with a smirk, all casually professional and extremely cool. She looked like she was in charge through sheer charisma. She looked as if nobody would dare question whether she was in charge. Standing next to her was-

“Captain Q’ari!” I said, all pretense at being regal forgotten. Q’ari was standing off to the side, wearing a simple maroon uniform, looking small next to the sheer personality this woman coming out. I took a step towards her, but as one, all of the guards placed their hands on their rifles - not lifting them, but showing that I should move no further. Q’ari stepped to the side and moved in front and fell to her knees, bowing with her head touching the deck.

“My Empress, I have returned. I apologize for not staying with you when you asked for volunteers. With the help of the honorable Venusians, they have returned me to you, and come themselves with hands open in friendship.”

“Oh Selem, rise my friend.” I said and as she stood, I scooped her up into a hug and I felt her trembling quiet. “Welcome home,” I whispered and directed her to stand next to the others. Turning back towards the Venusians, I turned up the crown and wings.

"Welcome to Reach of the Might of Vzzx. I am Empress Melody Mullen of the Holy Imperial Systems." I gestured to my side. "This is Ava Williams, Omar Adel, and Um'reli Desmen, my Builders." I turned to the other side. "This is Starlight on a Moonless Evening, The Smell Of The Ocean, Rapid River Roaring, Sound of the City, Sep and Vaaco. They were part of my retinue and they assist with day to day operation here. We welcome you."

The commander inclined her head slightly then stood up straight and saluted sharply. "I am Baron Helen Raaden of Imperial Venus, second to the crown prince of Venus and third in line for the Venusian throne. I come with a contingent of Venusian soldiers and citizens as well as a small group of volunteers from throughout Human space. We come as friends on a goodwill tour, and wish to extend our most sincere greetings to her Imperial Highness and make a personal offer from the Emperor to give assistance in any way we can." When she finished her pronouncement she winked at me so fast I wasn't sure that it was real.

As she winked, I felt heat rise from my chest, and it took every bit of nanite infused will I had to not blush. She was so hot. What was I going to do?

First / Previous / Next

The Floating City Regantown, Venus

“Repeat when you just said to the Baron,” The main said, gesturing to the woman who just stepped in as he and everyone else in the room stood. Selem had never met this human before, but she carried herself with the air of someone very highly placed; if she were K’laxi she would have been the matriarch of one of the old families. She wore her burgundy uniform with no wrinkle or fold out of place, her gold epaulets vibrant against the dark uniform. The only part of her that even began to look like even a suggestion of going against the uniform regulations was the flight cap she wore at a rakish angle over her closely clipped hair. Carried under her left arm in a tooled leather harness was a gleaming pistol. Nobody sat until she did, and they all waited two beats before sitting. She was almost the complete opposite to Selem Q’ari, who wore rumpled civilian clothes that she had clearly slept in, her fur dull and limp and unbrushed. It had been a rough few months.

“Tell me about Melody,” Baron Hellen Raaden said, her voice velvety smooth and unhurried.

“Empres- er Lieutenant Mullen was the human who had touched the addressing stone at the Gate. At first, nothing seemed amiss, but as time went on, it became clear that she had been inoculated with nanotechnology, and that technology had given her abilities beyond those of baseline humans.”

“Such as?” Helen asked, leaning forward. Selem tried to calm her rippling fur; a very old part of her brain was sounding the alarm that she was being stalked by a predator and needed to run.

“Melody can understand every language as well as being understood by all who hear her speak. It does not matter the language, and whether we had even heard it before. When they speak, she understands, when she speaks, we understand.” Selem said, her small hands folded tightly together in her lap to quell her trembling. It had seemed like such a good idea back home. Make her way to Sol, and meet with the Venusians. They had no use for AIs, and were always on the hunt for an edge. If she told them about Melody, about the Reach, they would take her there, and she-

She could be where she was supposed to be.

Getting out from under the eye of the Discoverers was difficult, but not impossible. Her familial line had some money, and they understood the value of being close to Tep’ra’fel. While they didn’t exactly support her decision, they didn’t dissuade her either. Her matriarch handed her a chit with more money than she had ever seen in her life and said, “This is from all of us to you. There will be no more. Come back to us in regalia, or not at all.”

It took every single credit she was given to buy quiet passage to Sol and bribe her way into an introduction with the Venusian upper echelon. She knew that at any time they could laugh at her story and slam the door, stranding her with no way home, no way to the Empress and no hope, but she had gauged them correctly, they were ambitious and looking for any way to gain an edge.

“Understanding all languages is quite an impressive skill, for sure.” Baron Raaden said, leaning back slightly. “But it is not enough for those AIs to declare you unfit, the mission a failure, and to run away their thrusters between their nonexistent legs.”

“The entirety of the station there - The Reach of the Might of Vzzx - believes her to be holy and the Empress to their long lost empire.”

“Oh?” Helen raised an eyebrow. The Venusians fancied themselves empire builders as well, but everyone knew that they held no power in Sol beyond Venus and the Mercury array. They had no power in the colonial worlds, not even an Embassy with the K’laxi or Xenni. They had a seat at Concurrency Point, the station created after the ceasefire, but this was not about resource trading, this was about real power. “How much of their empire remains?”

“I-I do not know, Baron. I was…removed before I could learn more. But given her power, and the size of the Reach, I imagine her power was-is vast.”

“Still, that doesn’t seem enough to cause them to run. They would foolishly see another Empire as a potential partner, rather than a threat. What else can she do?”

“She is Tep’ra’fel.” Selem said, dipping her head, not meeting the Baron’s gaze.

“What is that? Some cat thing?”

“She is the most powerful and most feared person in my religion.”

“A human is the most feared person in a k’laxi religion?” Helen said, her voice incredulous. “That doesn’t seem right. First contact was less than a century ago.”

“And yet.” Selem shot her head up and locked eyes with Helen. For a moment, the old power of Captain Q’ari showed itself again. To her surprise, Helen Raaden met her stare and did not waver. “The Reach had a massive statue of a human in front of their Administration building.”

The others in the room gasped as the photo that Selem had given to the interviewer was projected onto the wall in front of Baron Raaden. Someone she had spoken with had a flair for the dramatic. She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward again. “Tell me more.”

“Tep’ra’fel translates as ‘the undeniable.’ It was said that when Tep’ra’fel gave an order you could not disobey it.”

“Because if you did she’d have you messily killed? We’re familiar with that kind of persuasion.”

“No, you could. not. disobey. Your body would move of it’s own accord and do what you were ordered. If she ordered you to fetch you a drink, you went to do it. If she ordered you to yell slurs in the promenade, you would. If she…ordered you to jump out of a high window, you did.”

“Nonsense.” Helen said, her lips a thin line. “Religious bullshittery. This Tep’ra’fel - she tripped over the syllables but still made an effort to pronounce it correctly - is nothing more than a person that people feared to displease. Our own Emperor is the same.”

“Baron, I do not think-” Selem said, but Helen slapped the table, causing her to nearly jump out of her seat.

“No more religious nonsense.” She stood and started to pace the room. “How many people were at this Reach of the Might of Vzzx?”

“We were told more than 11 million.”

“Were you able to confirm this? Without proof, it’s just a number.”

“No, Baron. I was not there long enough to fact-check anything they told us. Given the size of the Reach and how densely populated the part we visited was, I am inclined to believe their population numbers.”

“More people on one space station than three of the floating cities.” Helen said, mostly to herself. “Do you know how to get there?”

Selem swallowed and suppressed her need to pant. She didn’t sweat like humans, but she felt overheated and nervous. This was it, she could do this. The sigil that Melody said would take them there was burned into her mind. She could almost reach out and feel it. If they could get to a Gate, any Gate, she could input the sigil, and they would be at the Reach. “Yes.” She croaked. She swallowed, and Helen slid a glass of water over to her. Taking a sip, she tried again. “Bring me to a Gate, and I will bring you to the Reach.”

Finally, she would see Melody again. Her Empress.

****

The beacon flashed back a few hundred thousand kilometers from Home, transmitted its data and sat inert, waiting for its next order. Northern Lights collected the data and did a quick initial analysis. Nothing, not even a system with an empty Gate. Northern Lights sighed as she input the next set of coordinates into the beacon and set it on its way.

“How goes it, Northern?” Gord asked, stepping into the doorway of her office. Gord didn’t know what to think about her office. She was given complete leeway in decoration and had decided to cover every surface, walls, ceiling, and floors in plush, colorful carpets. Gord felt like his voice was snatched away from him when he tried to speak in there.

“Another bust.” She said, looking up from her console. “This is hardly an efficient way to search for it, Gord. Far said it was 95,000 lights away.” One or two lightyears off wasn’t much at that distance, but it was far enough that even if they were in the correct part of the galaxy they wouldn’t see it.

“If you can come up with a better way to figure out where they are, then I’m all ears.”

“The Gate they left from.” Northern said.

“Had been closed by the Xenni with all of our entreaties to go there soundly rejected, and even if we just bullied our way there, Far doesn’t remember which of the zillion sigils it was. Honestly, we don’t even know if an AI can activate it. There was always some mumbo jumbo about the gates from the cats and the crabs; we had assumed it was just religious woo, but if they were made by some nanoscale intelligence then-” Gord shrugged “-woo made a kind of sense. It also means that if the nanites don’t want us to use the Gate, we won’t be able to.”

“Why close the Gate at all?”

“The Xenni don’t know what Far found, but they know it was something and have declared the Gate to be strategically important.” Gord sighed, and continued, “Honestly, it’s probably for the best. It means we can’t go there, but it also keeps the riff raff out.”

“So why are you having me spend months linking beacons across the galaxy to the middle of nowhere? I have plenty of things to do that aren’t wastes of energy and resources.”

“Because in all my years being alive, I have been shown time and time again to never ignore the power of luck.”

Northern looked up from her console, aghast. “You’re having me do this in case I get lucky and link there?”

“Yup!” Gord said and smiled. “But also, you’re building a link database on how far we can go. How many links do you have it down to now?

“Far did it in three, I can do it in two. If we can massage the capacitors and get a bit more power we can probably link that distance directly.”

Gord whistled low. “Opening a wormhole across the galaxy. Wild. I remember when it took everything we had to link to Parvati.”

“Yes, we all know that you’re so old dirt was clean when you were young.” Northern said, but she was smiling when she said it.

“Careful with that joke, it’s an antique,” Gord countered. “Anyway, where did you learn such an old phrase?”

“You taught it to me.”

He shrugged, “Yeah, that sounds like me.”

“Gord?” Northern turned away from her workstation and up at Gord. “When we find this place, are you really going to just destroy the whole thing? Really just going to kill 11 million people to save ourselves?”

A shadow crossed his face, “People have done more for less.” He said.

“Yes, but as you so often point out, we’re not people. We’re supposed to be better.”

“Northern, the moment we get within radio range of the Reach we’re in danger. The moment Melody cottons on to the fact that we’re not her friend she’s going to order us to be her friend.”

“I’ve been thinking about that, actually.” Northern said and stood. Her body didn’t need her to stretch after sitting a long time, but it still felt good. Sometimes she wondered why things like that were built into their bodies. “We’re pretty sure that the Voice works by the nanotechnology in the air around Melody manipulating the brains of everyone around, yeah?”

“It’s the only option that makes any sense if we’re going to discount ‘Space Magic,’” Gord said.

“Our brains work differently than BIs brains. (BI is what the AIs called biological people. It stood for Biological Intelligence. Was it a slur? Depended on who you asked.) One thing that we can do that the BIs can’t is apply patches.”

“You want us to patch out the Voice?” Gord said, incredulous. “That’s- wait.” His eyes widened as the gears in his head moved. “That’s brilliant Northern! If we can find the mechanism of the Voice and block it then it’s just a girl talking to us with a funny voice!” He hugged Northern tightly and took off down the hall.”

“Does this mean I have to keep linking beacons?” She yelled after him.

“Yes!” Gord said, nearly out of sight.

“Fuck.” Northern sighed, sat back down at her station, and send another beacon on its way.

First / Previous / Next

I did wonder if I was being too casual with everyone for a moment, but really this was who I am, how I wanted to rule. Even the nanites decided to give me more leeway after seeing me rule in my own way. I wasn’t sure how I felt about getting ‘permission’ to be myself, but it probably wasn’t worth dwelling on.

<Enjoy your freedom. Precious few Empresses had it.>

<What did that mean?>

They didn’t reply, and I didn’t press. I remembered Far Reach's words and I'm reminded that she and much of the crew that left thought I was changing, but that wasn’t happening. I was going to keep on walking around and talking to people and trying to learn as much about my new home as I can. My new home. That's what the Reach was, and I was here to protect it and its residents. There was no need to rush back to the throne, if the others needed me they could reach out, so I spent the evening up here visiting shops, talking to people, trying to learn as much as I could. It turned out most everyone here went down to the Throne this morning, so people were open later today to allow folks who missed their morning shopping to be able to get things.

I stopped by a restaurant that looked nice and got dinner by myself. After I shooed away the entire staff who was practically falling over themselves to be the one who took care of me and gently remind them they have other patrons who also need help, I enjoyed my meal and even tried out some of the tea that everyone here seems to drink. It was no coffee, but it's pleasant in its own way; It's hot and sweet and herbal and smelled slightly of anise. I should see if I could get more to bring back, thinking that Um'reli might like it. After dinner, I strolled slowly back towards the train and connected to the Reach and looked for Ava and Um'reli. "Ava, Um'reli, where are you?"

"We're back at the Royal Dawn; where are you Melody, it's so late!"

Is it? Hmm, I should figure out the timekeeping here. It's hard to believe it's only been a few days since I left Far Reach; I was probably still on ship's time.

"Oh, after the brawl, I went and met the Security forces up here, and then I walked around talking to people, and got a nice dinner. Um'reli you have got to try this tea they have! I think you'd really like it."

"Oh? Thanks Melody, I will check it out next time we eat. Um, are you coming back? Omar is back too, he has a report about High Line."

"I'm walking back to the train station now, I'll be home in a bit. No more than half an hour probably. Omar, do you want to tell me about it now while I walk or wait until I get back?"

"How about when you get back Melody. It still feels odd talking to people like this, like I'm having a discussion with myself."

"Sure thing Omar, see you in a bit."

I made my way back to the hub station just as a train pulled away. As I watched it go, an Aviens was running down the platform shouting, "No no no no, I can't miss my train! They're going to be so mad!" They reached the end of the platform and their feathers rippled and they looked despondent.

"What's wrong? What about waiting for the next train?” I asked.

They looked up at me, saw who I was, and nearly jumped a meter into the air.” E-Empress! I er, um,” And they bowed shakily.

I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and gestured for them to stand. "Yes yes, that's fine, but not really necessary unless I'm doing royal stuff. What's the matter? You sounded so sad."

"Oh Empress, that was the last train! There isn't another until tomorrow! I must get back down to my home, my parents were going to be so upset to find out that I missed the last train home again and have nowhere to stay,” they said, practically in tears.

What’s the point of being Empress if I couldn’t help folks like this? “Oh no! Well, I have to get down a level so I can go home as well but I had no idea that was the last train - I'm still getting used to time here, it's different than where I'm from. Let me see what I can do. What's your name?"

Their expression was a little tough to parse, but with the nanites help it seemed like they had shock, surprise, and awe all at once. “Oh, thank you, thank you Empress!” They said as they bobbed a quick bow again, “My name is Sound of the City."

I love the Aviens’ names, they’re so descriptive. “It's so nice to meet you Sound of the City! Let's see about finding a way for both of us to get home."

I led them to a seat on the platform and sitting down, gestured for them to join me. After a moment, they they snuggled up next to me and yawned deeply. Surprised at how fast they become comfortable with me, I looked over and realized they're so young! Just a child. If they were human, they might have been a teen. All the more reason to get them home. I leaned back a little and connected and began a quick search for the train subsystem.

Ah, there. They were right, that was the last scheduled train. Luckily though, when you're an Empress and a Builder, you didn't have to worry about things like schedules. Let's see, what train was closest to us... hmm? What was that? I saw something marked 'Royal transport - offline' and it was very close, in a siding nearby. I dug a little deeper and it seemed like it was a whole train for the Empress. They must have used it when the previous Empress was traveling around the Reach. I remembered in my dream how proud Aeche was of the transit system, I wondered if this was related to it? Well, it was the closest train, and this way I won't mess up tomorrows schedule either. I touched the train gently, and it activated. Basic systems check indicates nothing was wrong, so I called the train. After only a minute, there was the trilling chime that indicated a train was coming.

"Sound, look. I found a train,” I said as I touched their shoulders gently.

They blinked sleepily and looked up and I laughed as they did a real double take, gasping at what was before them. I had to admit, it was impressive. The Royal Transport was a subway train, but turned up loud. It was royal blue and gold and gilded with sweeping flowery designs. It was only three cars - the other trains seem to be between 6 and 10 cars - but what it lacked in length it made up for in elegance.

I'm almost sad that the station is empty, this is something that needs to be seen. I will have to ride it around more.

"This train is beautiful, Empress! This is how we're going to get home?"

"Yup. It's the Royal Transport. It was designed for the Empress to move around the Reach."

We approached the door and with a soft chime it slid open. I stepped in and I marveled at how luxurious it was inside, carpeted and plush and only smelled a little bit like must and dust. Sound of the City stood at the door, not coming in.

"What's wrong Sound? Come in"

"A-are you sure? It's a train for the Empress."

"And as Empress, I'm telling you it's fine. Please, come aboard. I'll take you home. It's only two stops."

I reached out my hand and they nervously took it, stepped in, and the doors hissed shut behind us. I lead us to a seat and we both sat down. Only after we were seated did it begin to roll away, nearly silently. Sound once again snuggled up and was nearly asleep instantly. While we rode I searched the train mentally. Oh! There was a log! The last time this train was used was...

185 years ago? That a long time, but but nearly as long as I thought it would be.

When did the last Empress touch the directory stone? The timing of everything didn’t make sense. Either things should have failed centuries ago, or they failed recently and degraded quickly. For things to be offline for ‘only’ 185 years doesn’t seem right. Once High Line had been refitted, I think I needed to go to the Wilds of Besmara and try to figure out what happened there.

As I was thinking about what could have happened to cause an entire empire to fall, the train rolled to a stop. Just as silently the doors hissed open and were back at my station. "Sound, wake up, we're here." I said gently.

They rustled and blinked and realizing they were sleeping on the Empress jumped up, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry!"

I laughed gently and said, "It's fine Sound. I'm pretty tired too. Let me walk you home." This is the latest I have been out so far, and the Reach was so quiet! The lights were down low, but it was still easy to see. Sound said they lived close to the station and they led me there. It was a little block of apartments in between the bank and the Administrative offices. Convenient location, I bet at one point this place was expensive. As we approached the door, an older Aviens opened it ahead of us, clearly upset. "Sound of the City, you are late." They said. "How did you even get home? The last train had already arrived and you were not upon it. Were you wandering around causing trouble after you got here?"

"No Father! I was working late to help Gemli finish up inventory and ran to catch the last train. I missed it, and thought I was done for when-“ Sound gestured behind them to me, and I knew exactly what to do. In the low light, I flared the crown and wings just for a moment and darkened them again. There's a gasp and the adult Aviens bowed low.

"E-E-Empress! What are you doing here?"

"I too missed the last train home, and ran into Sound of the City weeping that they were going to be in trouble and had no way of getting home. I was able to call the Royal Transport and bring them and myself back home. I just wanted to make sure they made it home safely." I paused pointedly. "I do not believe Sound should be punished; it seemed that they got caught up helping a friend."

"O-of course, Empress." They reached out to Sound, "Get inside and wash up child, it's past bedtime." Sound of the City hesitated a moment, then ran up and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, Empress,” they said as they ran inside.

"You're very welcome, Sound of the City." I waited a moment until they were out of earshot and looking back towards their father, I narrowed my eyes just a bit. "They did not bother me, they did not put me out, I was helping because I wanted to. Do not give them trouble about this."

Their feathers blanched at my tone, but they bobbed a quick nod. "Of course Empress. Thank you Empress, I really am grateful you brought them home. They get caught up helping friends and lose track of time. It's a regular occurrence with them."

"There are worse problems to have than being late because one is helping friends. People like that are what makes the Reach home."

"You're absolutely right, Empress. I will do well to remember that."

"Good night then."

"Empress." The bowed again and closed the door gently.

By the time I made it back to the Royal Dawn, there's only one bored looking person behind the desk. They waved me up, and I went to my rooms. I looked longingly at the bath, but it's so late, I should just go to bed. I'll ask Omar about the work on High Line tomorrow. Maybe the dreams tonight can help shed some light on what's going on here. I fell asleep almost the second my head touched the pillow.

****

I was the Empress.

I was on Reach of the Might of Vzzx, continuing my tour with Aeche. She had grown attached these last few weeks, by my side at every moment she could, standing behind my throne, and tried to steer the residents away from me. I wondered if she thought herself higher because of our relationship. As pleasant as her adoration was, it was probably time to move on, so I asked her when Worldshaker would be ready to leave. It was odd, originally I was burning to go and show the K’laxi the price of insubordination, but now I was more inclined to hear their complaints, to find out what caused them to kill their Builder and lock their Gate. This was only the first step in taking my empire back. We had once been so mighty, and with my leadership would be again, but nothing would happen if I was here concentrating on my bedroom instead of my empire. “Soon,” Aeche said as I asked that night when we were in bed together. “Very soon. We only had a few more preparations to make.”

"No more excuses. We will leave tomorrow." I was firm.

"But Janais my love, we are almost ready. I- I have a surprise for you. It just needed a few more days to prepare."

With two fingers I tipped her chin up towards me. "Aeche, you are my most prized Builder. What we have is special. I am glad to know you and I am glad you are here, but I am Empress. There is much that I have to consider beyond what brings me happiness. I have an empire to claim.”

"Of course Empress, I did not mean-"

"Shh, I know you didn't. I am just making sure that we are clear as crystal about what this is, about what we are."

I tried to change the subject. "What is this surprise you have for me?"

That caused her to perk up immediately. "Empress, you will love it! My Builders and I are working on a new way to transit the stars! We can avoid using the Gates entirely and may shorten the distance to worlds even further."

<What.>

<I do not know either, shh. Let her speak.>

The nanites reached out to me directly so rarely these days, I was beginning to wonder if they had left. I raised my eyebrows. "And how does such a miraculous device work, Aeche? And why have we not developed it before?"

She shrugged. "I do not know the science Empress, I left the details up to my Builders. They say that we have a way to cut a hole in spacetime and jump from one point to another. It requires a tremendous expenditure of energy, but they think that one of the reactors that we use when we construct the Gates will be sufficient. As the Reach has the equipment to make a Gate, I decided to refit Worldshaker with a Gate reactor. Once it has completed, we can leave."

<This is dangerous Janais. Do not let her continue.>

<Why? What is so dangerous? Traversing the Gate system takes many days to transit my empire. If we can cut that time, we can make retaking the systems so much easier.>

As much as I was taking Aeche’s side in consultation with the nanites, I wasn’t completely without worry, I asked, “Is this safe?" I did feel it was a little presumptive for Aeche to not mind at all that she was installing a Gate reactor into my ship and was going to use it to power an unproven design with me aboard.

"It is perfectly safe Empress. We have used it to jump small beacons over vast distances. I sent a ship through the Gates to a location far away from here and then jumped a small beacon to them. They collected it and brought it back to us via the Gates. It worked flawlessly. This is the culmination of our research. We will leave, jump to the Wilds of Besmara as a final test, and then jump to the K'laxi world."

I was still not sure, but it sounded like she had done some testing. It would be impressive to jump right there without using the Gate. That would really show the K'laxi that their little rebellion was ultimately futile. "Aeche, finish your refit and we shall leave when it is completed. Before we jump for the first time though, I must visit the Gate and complete an upload. It has been too long since I've completed a ritual. It must be done regularly."

<Far too long, especially if you are going to galavant around the galaxy in this…abomination, this perversion of our gate technology.>

<What troubles you? Why are you so against this?> Rarely had I heard the nanites reply with such venom.

<It is unnatural.>

<And traversing a Gate is?>

<We built the Gates, we understand the Gates. This is neither of those things.>

Aeche raised her eyebrows and touched my arm as we walked. "Does it matter which Gate you use for your Upload? I don't think you've used the Gate here yet."

"No it doesn't matter which Gate. There was only one Gate. All the Gates we have in our Galaxy are...echos, or shadows of The Gate. As Empress, I can do the upload from any Gate, and it will work. I must complete an upload; I've been slacking."

"My Empress." Aeche bowed low. Was she being sarcastic? I felt like maybe a little, but I probably would cause more trouble than it's worth if I pointed it out.

****

I awoke with a start. Aeche's engineers had been developing a wormhole generator! But the Wilds of Besmara was destroyed utterly. Was it a wormhole accident? Ugh, I wish I paid better attention in history class. No new system was perfect, early wormhole generators must have blown up. Could it be that catastrophic? Would a failed wormhole link crack a planet?

<Perhaps if they misjudged their coordinates and linked into the planet itself?>

I do know we had to be extremely accurate with our wormhole calculations. The coordinates weren't enough, we had to know where all nearby celestial bodies were and likely locations of traffic. It was one of the main reasons we didn't link close to things like planets, orbitals, stations or stations. It was too dangerous. Get your location a hundred kilometers off and you're in a starship with no control surfaces screaming through an atmosphere. Or worse, link into a planet.

My head was swimming as I headed down for breakfast. I decided to keep the gown, but I made it more casual. I removed the flowing train, raised the neckline more, lowered the heels. Hey, my feet didn't hurt, but I was in those tall heels all day long. I wondered if that was the Nanites doing. Before this, anything higher than a kitten heel annoyed me to no end. At breakfast I explained my afternoon yesterday and told them about the security office I visited and the dinner I had after, making sure I mentioned the really good tea. When the server came by, I described it to them and they brought some for us to have with breakfast. I still made some coffee though. "Okay, before we begin today, do any of you know... about wormhole generators?"

Omar finished chewing and swallowed his food. "That's an odd question Melody. Anything specific about them?"

"Well maybe more about their history. Do you know if there was a lot of accidents with them when they first started out?"

"Well sure. It used a tremendous amount of energy to rip a hole in spacetime. There were a lot of mistakes in the beginning. That's why it was so crazy the scientist from Ganymede went off to Parvati on his own. I think he had only tested it like 2 or 3 times before he climbed in himself and left."

"Was there enough energy say to... crack a planet if you accidentally linked inside one?" I took a sip of coffee. I really wish we had more beans, this whole one cup a day thing was murder. It made every cup delicious though.

Ava picked up what I'm thinking. "Melody, do you think it was a wormhole accident that destroyed that other place, the Wilds of Bes...Bas?"

"Wilds of Besmara. Yes, I'm wondering. Last night when I was dreaming the Nanites showed me that Aeche and her team were here with Janais and they were refitting her ship with a wormhole generator. She was going to link to the Wilds as a final test, then link on to the K'laxi homeworld. We go to the Wilds first and see a destroyed planet. It sure seems like maybe there wasn't a revolution, just an accident.

<An accident would explain why we have no memory of any decline of the empire.>

<Empires don’t fall over all at once. Are you sure that the previous Empresses were just being kept in the dark about trouble?>

<Never. Everyone loved their Empress.>

I mentally made a face, but didn’t say anything else. Um'reli's ears flicked. "Right, it has to be something like that. The K'laxi gate was closed a thousand years ago, and everyone here says the Builders left “a long time ago.” As good as this station is there's no way it lasted one thousand years on automatic."

Let's get High Line refitted and spaceworthy, then go to the Wilds of Besmara and see what we can find. Maybe it was just an accident."

"Wait, that's it!" Um'reli was lost in thought, but at the mention of an accident she snapped back to us. "What if that's the answer. All the builders didn't disappear, just the Empress."

"What do you mean? Ava looked curious.

Um'reli's small hands were moving as she talked, trying to shape her ideas as she spoke them. "Melody says that Aeche and her team were trying out a new drive, what we think is the wormhole generator. That says they were looking for an edge, for a way to get ahead of someone. What if Melody's empire was already in decline. Maybe we're wrong about the timing of the K'laxi locking their gate. They locked it a thousand years ago and the Empire had to just... deal with it because they didn't have the resources to go and take it back. Then, here comes Aeche with a new way to bypass the Gates and the previous Empress goes "Hot damn! Now I have a way to retake my Empire" and they zoom off to try it out... but it blew up. Now, no more Empress, but there are still Builders. For... some reason... they don't - or can't - make another Empress and they run on without one until.. ugh. Where did the Builders go then?"

<We admit, the theory had merit. Remember, you were long lived now thanks to us. We don't know how long Janais was here after Aeche brought her. We don't know what the Builders did after Janais and Aeche left.>

<Does it? You made me Empress, I didn’t do anything. Why wouldn’t you have made another when Janais died?>

<We-> The nanites stopped, and I could feel them furiously thinking. What I said made sense after all. If Janais died they should have just been like “whoops, time for the next most senior builder to have a turn.” <You have to understand Melody, this pains us to admit.>

<But?>

<We don’t know why a new Empress was not made after Janais died.>

<You don’t know? You told me that you’re a fucking inter-dimentional, impossibly old intelligence. How can you not fucking know?>

<Watch your tone, Melody.> As soon as the nanites finished speaking, I developed a massive headache. Worse than the worst hangover I had ever gotten. I winced and gasped aloud. Just as quickly as it arrived, it dissipated. <We’re in here with you. We treat you with respect, and we expect the same from you. We don’t know why a new Empress was not made. We will most likely learn at the Wilds. We should go there with haste.>

“Are you all right, Melody?” Omar asked. I think he might have been the only one who noticed my wince of pain. Um’reli and Ava had been discussing something together, probably related to timeline stuff.

“I’m fine, Omar, thanks for asking.” I said and smiled. “Just some tweak of pain, nothing to worry about. Remember, with the nanites they’re supposed to make me healthier than any baseline human.”

“If you’re sure…” Omar trailed off. He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t press the issue either. I polished off the coffee and sighed. “Ugh. I wish we had a clear timeline of events. Maybe we'll learn more if we go over to the Wilds of Besmara. Speaking of that Omar, how are we with High Line?"

Omar's eyebrows and shoulders shrugged. "It's only been a day Melody, but I think we're on the right track. We've got the printers going full speed now. It turns out Starlight knew of some people who can work their printer. They were still using it for repairs. I was able to integrate most of our database into theirs and we're off and printing. As parts and pieces are completed, River has personnel that can help install them. We're also working to make sure our refit is modular too. There are still 4 other ships around the docking ring here. Once High Line is done, we should move right on to the next."

"Good work Omar. When all the ships have been refitted, we should begin construction of our own. I wish we had a full shipyard, I'd love to make our own Starjumper and make that my flag carrier."

Omar grinned. "In time, Empress, in time. For now, High Line will have to do. It won't be very large, but it should be powerful - especially for ships around here - and it should do well to help you project power. Give me a month or so, and I'll give you a ride to the Wilds of Besmara."

"A month then. I'm holding you to it!" I laughed and turned to Ava and Um'reli. "Okay, what's up with the Reach it self. Did you learn anything useful yesterday?"

Um'reli looked up from her tea. "Actually, yes! Remember the food thing? How people said that food was unreliable and expensive and the Administrators said it came from a hollowed out planetoid a little bit away?"

I nodded, lots of people asked about it. "Yes, I remember. What did you learn?"

"For one, the system to deliver food to the Reach was automated! The crops were processed and packed on the surface of the planetoid and then packed into boxes, and those are clipped to automated thrusters and they are then launched towards the Reach. When they arrive - at their own special docking bay on the top, nowhere near the dock for starships - they're unloaded and the empty boxes are sent back to be filled. It's actually a pretty efficient process. I could totally see it running without any input for one hundred years. Now though, I think the thrusters are wearing out and through regular wear and tear the boxes were breaking. Once we have some ships, we should devote print time to repairs of the food delivery system."

"Good idea Um'reli, let's do that. Let's get High Line and maybe one other ship done, then we'll pause the refit effort to repair the food delivery system and then continue on with the refit. When I first connected, I saw some old, closed off places that were listed as "food distribution centers" any idea about those?"

"I saw them too, and looked into it. As near as I can tell they were very old, and left over from when the Reach was new. They were never meant to be used forever. They were always meant to be shut down when restaurants and shops come online and they were kept to be used only if there's issues with food production or a disaster where a lot more people come all at once needing food."

I nodded. "Okay, so at least people are getting fed the way they're supposed to be. Yesterday I was talking to folks and I asked some people on the subway if they wanted a job and...oh! I have to get to the Throne! There's going to be people waiting for a job." I stood up quickly.

"Feel free to stay and finish your breakfast, but I have to get going, I don't want people just sitting around!" Ava stood up too and after a moment Omar and Um'reli do as well. "We were finished anyway Melody, let's get to work."

We made the short walk over to the throne from the hotel and there were a small group of people there, maybe a dozen. Nothing like the mob from yesterday. I was glad for that at least, I could probably find work for everyone here. Oh hey, I see Roar of Thunder and Sound of the city! Vaaqo is here too! I had Ava, Um'reli and Omar make their way towards the back room behind the throne as I sat. Getting online I called everyone to approach closer. If they're going to work for me they need to get used to being closer to me. "Thank you for coming everyone. I'm so pleased to see so many people who want to help us out with our important work. Please line up and I'll talk to you individually and figure out how best we can use you."

I was right, there was something they could all do to help. Now I have people who could take messages for us, who would keep my Throne clean and watched, and people who could tell me about the social workings of the Reach as well as groups I should know about and their political power. I have a retinue! I spent the rest of the day connected to the Throne and working with everyone to get an idea of our overall status and what needed immediate work. The fire suppression systems for sure should be online everywhere, the food distribution tugs need to be refurbished and I needed to contact Rain. Actually... I sit back and think about The Smell of Soil After Rain. What they looked like, what they sound like...there! Higher level, walking around, talking to people. Others are coming up and reporting to them. Wow, they were taking my edict to be my bishop seriously.

"The Smell of Soil After Rain. It's your Empress, can you hear me?"

With a start, Rain jumped and looked around. "I-I can hear you Empress! What is it you need of me?"

"There was a riot yesterday. Some of the rioters said you were threatening people that if they didn't worship me their children would be taken out of schools."

"I was merely being...emphatic with my urges that everyone attend services and render their worship and..."

sɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ!

His mouth slammed shut.

"Rain, you will threaten nobody. Nobody is required to worship me. I am their Empress, not their God. If people choose to worship me, so be it. They will not be coerced into it.

Am. I. Understood? sᴘᴇᴀᴋ."

"Y-y-yes Empress, I understand. I obey. I will spread your word but I will make sure everyone knows it is not compulsory."

“Never forget that you are replaceable, Rain.” and I disconnected. I wish I could have slammed the connection like an old communicator, but I had to make due with an abrupt disconnect. It was a little harsh - I admit - but I will not tolerate Rain making people hate me because they think I need them to go to...church for me. The last thing I wanted was a religious war in addition to any other kinds of wars I might have to deal with here.

First / Previous / Next

Well, this was new at least; i’ve never had to quell a riot before.

There were easily hundreds of people here, and it was effectively a brawl. I saw what looked like to be more security people, Mariens, Aviens and, some Azurians on the edge of things, trying to get a handle on what was going on. Chairs from nearly restaurants had been taken and broken into clubs, and there was shouting and smoke and the sound of of flesh on feather on bone. Wait, why was there smoke?

"Ava, Um'reli is there a fire here? I smelled smoke."

"Um, one moment Melody.... Yes, there was a report of a fire, but there's also this warning - it said something like Fire Suppression Offline, local assistance was needed." Sounds like we had some kind of station wide fire suppression system but it doesn't work anymore."

All the Builder controlled parts of this place were broken, what was going on here? Was it on purpose or did they just fail because nobody was around to maintain them? "See if you could get it back online. It doesn't have to work forever; just see if we can knock down the smoke. Turn the air scrubbers and air cycling up higher too, I don't want people suffocating from the smoke."

"On it, Melody." Um'reli was checking into it while Ava was helping with an overview of the area. It was a wide open area, kind of like the promenade on the lower level, but this area was a good deal nicer. It had parks and gardens! We needed to come up here more often. Why was it so drab down closer to the docks?

I sighed to myself. Fine, let's stop the riot and figure out what was going on. I took a moment and concentrated, and my crown and wings sprang into existence. In fact, let's make those wings bigger and brighter. I was going to need to be seen and heard. I connected to the station, located the local public address system - I mentally waved to Um'reli and Ava as I went by - and then...

sᴛᴏᴘ ғɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ!

I hoped it never got old. As if I pressed pause on a video, everyone immediately stopped. I put some work into my command this time, I specified fighting so that they could still move and breathe, but sure enough, everyone stopped.

I put a little extra oomph into my presentation and towered over everyone. Now that I had their attention, they turned towards me, fearful. “Now then. What is going on here? Why are you fighting?”

Everyone started talking all at once.

"-They started it when-"

"Those liars said that the Empress wasn't-"

"-There wasn't enough food for-"

Wait that one. What was that about food?

ᴄᴇᴀsᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄʜᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ. “You." I pointed to the Azurian close to me who mentioned food when they were all talking at once. "What was that about food?"

"Empress, the results of the last two harvests had been 15 and 20 percent lower than in previous seasons. The population here wasn't dropping. If this kept up, the garden planetoid won't be able to support us!"

Okay that was serious, but it wasn't like 'drop everything and have a riot' serious - at least not at the numbers they gave me. What else was going on?

"Thank you, it's important to learn this. Please come to the Throne later and explain to me in more detail about your concerns. That's not really enough to have a riot though, is it?"

"Oh the riot? No, that's not about the food supply. It's about them-" They pointed across the plaza "-not believing that you're holy."

Oh.

<Ah, it is good to see your subjects are already defending you. We were correct to make you Empress.>

<But a riot?>

<When reason fails, force prevails.>

One of them, a Aviens, shouted from across the area, "You're just someone who showed up here! You're not holy at all!"

On this side of the plaza the crowd hissed and cursed.

<Well hold up now. I never said I was holy, they just decided.>

<You did elevate Rain to bishop during that presentation yesterday. Perhaps they are going around causing trouble in your name.>

<Hmm.>

I walked out across the plaza to the other side, and strode right up to the Aviens who yelled that I wasn't holy. "Was Smell of Soil After Rain coming around, giving you a hard time?"

The Aviens visibly crumbled as their feathers drooped, and became duller. "They said that my family would be forgotten if I didn't attend services. That you ordered it. They said you would remove my children from school."

What.

"What? No. Absolutely not. I am Empress, I don't need to be your God too. So long as you recognize me as Empress and Builder that's enough. Worship the way you please, or don't worship at all. Atheism is not forbidden. I- We- will not remove your children from school for not attending services.”

I turned back to the crowd. "I will not punish those who choose not to worship me! So long as you accept that I am Empress, that I rule here, that's enough. Nobody here must also worship me. I will speak to my Bishop about their...enthusiasm. Nobody here will be compelled to worship. So please. Return to your homes after you assist the security forces here in cleanup."

Everyone looked around at each other, then back at me, still with crown and glowing wings, then back at each other and they started picking up litter and broken pieces of chair. I turned back to the Aviens who I was talking to, put away my wings and crown and bent down gently to speak just to them. "Just for your own information - and if pressed by anyone else I will deny it forever - you're right. I'm just a person who did something stupid, and now I'm Empress. My name is Melody, I like coffee and computer systems and being able to have time alone to read."

<What are you doing?>

<Telling them the truth.>

<You are undermining your own authority.>

<I am not holy, was never holy and arguing otherwise is disingenuous.>

<You are holy now. From the moment you touched the addressing stone, you have been holy.>

They blinked in surprise. Of all the things they expected to hear from me, this was not one of them. "Uh, hello Em-, er, Melody, my name is Roar of Thunder and I work in an office building down on the docking level. I'm not entirely sure what the business does, I would just file paperwork that people gave me, but it's not difficult work. I enjoy cooking during my free time."

<Doing this? Meeting the individuals and learning about them is one of the most important things I can do as Empress. If they speak to me directly, see me as Melody in addition to being Empress, I will have so much more support.>

I felt the pride in the nanites, as they reached out to me. <You will have their adoration. They will follow you into a black hole.> I felt the nanites consider this. <We may have been hasty in our initial assessment of you. We will…take a step back and see how you do on your own.>

Buoyed by the words of the nanites, I stood back up. "It's wonderful to meet you Roar of Thunder; I love your name." I looked around, as people continued cleaning up. “A thought strikes me, Thunder. Come to the throne tomorrow. We can find a more stimulating job for you with the builders.”

They blinked in shocked surprise, and their beak opened and closed and then opened again, as they squeaked, “That's... that's a wonderful opportunity Empress!” Their feathers brightened and suddenly they shimmered like a cut jewel. “I will be there tomorrow.

As they practically floated away from me, I turned back towards the crowd and spent a few minutes helping to clean up the riot. I mean, why not, I was there already, everyone would love it, and it was something to do. In the meantime Ava and Um'reli seemed to get the fire suppression going enough to fog some water over the smokier parts of the plaza and soon enough the smoke had dissipated and things were - if not clean - then at least cleaner. I gave my thanks and as I got up to leave, one of the Mariens in the security coloration approached me.

"Empress, thank you for coming up. We didn't even get to report back to headquarters that a riot had broken out yet, how did you know?"

This time I grinned impishly. "This is just one of the things that can happen now that the Builders are back. We have eyes and ears all over and can assist quickly when needed. If you'll notice, we even got the fire suppression foggers going in this sector. Hopefully soon we can get them operating everywhere again."

The Mariens looked out at the scene and then back at me and saluted sharply, then bowed. "I am known as Kilad, Empress. I know my supervisor would love to thank you personally."

Ah wonderful! I was hoping to go see more of the security forces. What a nice coincidence. "Please lead the way Kilad. I would love to meet them."

Kilad walked me across the plaza and through a park. There were trees and greenery, but naturally, I didn't recognize any of the plants. They were very dark green and fragrant. I wondered if they originated on a planet that had a dimmer star than Earth. Less light might cause them to evolve darker coloration to squeeze every drop of energy out of a weaker star.

We walked through the park and came out in another plaza, just like the one near the train station. At the far end of this one was another large, original looking building made out of the same stone as the station and Administration offices. Clearly some of the institutions here were original - or the buildings were and they have been repurposed. Kilad opened the door and I followed. Inside was a bustle of activity. Mariens, Aviens, and all the others were here. The Mariens were all colored the bright yellow of security while those without chromatophores were wearing smart yellow uniforms. Kilad walked up to a low desk in the back of the atrium. There was an Azurian sitting there in a yellow uniform with silver piping along the top, and carried themselves with the air of a supervisor. Kilad saluted the Azurian and gave a report.

"Kilad, returning from the suspected riot near the hub station. Suspicions were confirmed; it was a riot between people arguing about the holiness - or not - of the Empress. Luckily the Empress herself-“He gestured towards me with of of his arms, “-appeared to quell the riot and explained that while people can worship her if they so desired nobody would be forced to. She also explained that she will speak to her new Bishop, The Smell of Soil After Rain, about his proselytizing." Kilad then stepped aside and bowed. "Additionally, the Empress herself is here, she'd like to speak to you."

At that, the Azurian looked behind Kilad and nodded. I loved how it seemed like every single Azurian didn’t really care that I'm the Empress. It was so refreshing. I really needed to make a few of them Builders. "Empress,” They said as they they nodded again. "Thank you for your assistance, and for the official confirmation that nobody is required to worship you."

"It's quite all right. I'm glad to be able to get the word out that worship is not compulsory. Everyone is free to worship - or not worship - however they see fit.” I looked around and saw that everyone was quietly pretending to work while also watching this interaction. “Can you explain to me what the role of your forces is here? It doesn't have to be a whole history, just the basics."

"Yes, Empress. We are the Security force on Reach of the Might of Vzzx" He pronounced Vzzx with a pop on the end. "This station is 100 people, and there were more than thirty more stations this size across the whole of the Reach. We mostly help settle small disputes, assist with investigating petty crime and quell the occasional riot. For the most part, the residents of the Reach are calm and open to working together. There is friction here and there, same as - we assume - everywhere, and with living spaces so tight conflict does break out. But, there was a strong sense of collaboration and community here too. You probably saw people cleaning up the riot they caused after it was quelled. That's not because you were there, that's a normal occurrence.”

"Do you know any history? Do you know the role of your forces when they Builders were here in force?"

They indicated no, and seemed a little sad about it. "Few records exist from then. When I was young, I asked some of the oldest staff here and they made it sound like things were much the same back then as now. It was probably different in that there were Builders able to detect and react to things sooner - like you and yours did today - but I imagine the day to day operations were much the same then as now."

"Thank you for the history lesson. What's your name?"

"I am Commander Sep."

"Thank you again Sep!" I inclined my head slightly and walked out.

First / Previous / Next

It was still early, so we went to find a cafe and eat lunch. Once again, I didn't have to use my voice, they just gave us our meal for free. I really should get an idea about how money worked here. I knew they were called skys, I knew at least some of them were small green metallic coins - actually they looked like the same metal the Throne and Chairs were made out of, I wondered if they were - and I knew that everyone used them here to buy stuff. That's for later though. For now, we worked our way to the dock, and found the internal docking bay Omar discovered earlier.

Walking in, it became clear that we had a lot of work ahead. High Line was here and it was junk.

Even when - if? - it was operating it was clearly made up of a hodgepodge of at least three different starships. It looked like this thing had been limping along on patches and ad hoc repairs for centuries. Human ships tended to be very personalized. Riots of color, patterns, little flourishes here and there that spoke to the operator. It was probably a function of the fact that all our ships were AI operated. It's their body after all, and they decorated and personalized it.

High Line was downright drab in comparison.

Grey on grey with streaks of soot and...was that rust? It looked like rust. What would rust on a spacecraft hull? High Line was all boxes and blocks stuck together where they fit or where a need was found. I'm much more used to the sweeping, flowing shapes the starjumpers had. In addition to looking fast, they looked much more elegant. Even our smaller ships, the Frigates and Destroyers, tended towards looking more like living creatures than a box.

As I walked around staring at things and - apparently - making a sour face, Starlight, Ocean and River were standing there, looking nervous and worried. "So Empress... Here is High Line. We admit, it's a little worse for wear than the ship you came to us on, but-“ Starlight stood a little taller. "It brought my forebears here all those years ago and through all that time many light-years were put on it shuttling people around the system and still it held air and gravity. It's not much to look at, but it was ours."

I mean, they're right. Maybe I was being too hard on it. They got centuries of use out of it with barely any maintenance. All the more reason to refit it right and make it soar once again. I looked over at Omar and he was smiling, walking around, taking measurements, examining the ship from all angles, having a great time. "Melody, it might not be much to look at now, but it’s a good foundation! We can add some improved thrusters, beef up the armor, add a wormhole generator and some laser batteries and while we won't be able to take on a dreadnought or even a Starjumper, we'll be able to hold our own against anything local we've seen.

I smiled, his enthusiasm was infectious. “At this point a starship is better than no starship so I'll take what I can get. How long will the refit take, Omar?"

He looked at the ship, at the Aviens, and then at me. "It will depend on their printer and how well we can integrate the designs from my copy of the database, but maybe a month? Hopefully less?"

"Well then, you had better get started. You spend your time getting High Line up to your satisfaction, and let me know about your progress. For now, we will be staying at the Royal Dawn. I don't know if there's other royal quarters that we just haven't found or if the hotel is made out of the original royal quarters, but I'm satisfied with our current accommodations. Make your own schedule and if you need something or someone, just let me know. Starlight" - I looked pointedly at them - "can help you with any personnel needs you have." Starlight bobbed their head eagerly. "If you need to speak to me or the others, you should be able to though the Reach. Just... concentrate and it should work."

"Okay Melody, I'll get on it." He turned away from us waving to the Aviens, "Come on Starlight, show me the printer. Ocean, go see what kind of help you can find for us. River, go see about the condition of the other starships. Some of them have to be operable, how else is food getting here?" Omar looked up at us as the Aviens run off in different directions to obey Omar. "What happened to Ottarn, that Mariens who took their ship and tried to run? If nothing else, we could use that ship."

I reached out with the help of the Reach and scanned the local area. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for, but I assumed the nanites would tell me.

<There. Over by this edge. Do you see the drive emissions?>

I did! I could see it in my minds eye as some kind of pink smoke or fog. I concentrated on that area, zooming in and found their ship. It looked like it was drifting, with that pink fog venting.

<Do we have a way to see if anyone is alive?>

<Reach out to the ship, use your abilities as Empress.>

<That doesn’t mean anything. How do I do it?>

<Think about wanting to do it. How else have you been doing anything with our abilities?>

Fine. I reached out and thought about wanting to see who was still alive aboard the ship. I had a feeling like an itch on the back of my brain, but, there! There were three lives on the ship.

<There are three people still alive aboard.>

<They have proven themselves unworthy. Take care of it.>

<Take care of it, wha->

Before I could finish my thought, there was an alarm. I had never heard any kind of alarm like this, but it sounded important. Clanking and hooting, and had a bit of a crackle and a muffled sound as if the speaker was covered in dust. Everyone looked up and around as the alarm sounded, and then there was a massive thump.

The entirety of the Reach vibrated, as if the biggest person ever was stomping around upstairs. Looking inward, I found that the Reach was firing on Ottawa’s ship. <What are you doing?>

<We cannot have anyone escape to warn of your return until you’re ready.>

<The ship is junk, there’s no need to kill them!>

<We are doing them a kindness Melody. This death is swift and painless. Otherwise they will either starve, or suffocate - neither of which are especially pleasant.>

The nanites continued to fire on the ship until I saw a purple white explosion as something important was struck, and then just a rapidly expansing cloud of debris and gas.

<There.>

Ava looked over at me, and saw me looking inward. “What is it Melody?”

“The nanites, they- we- I- they fired upon Ottawa’s ship, destroying it.”

“Why would they do that?” Um’reli asked, “We could have used a mostly working ship.”

“It wasn’t really working by the time they- we- I- fired upon it.” I said. That was odd, I was having a hard time saying that the nanites did something on their own. Every time I tried, I stuttered and said some version of ‘we’ or ‘I.’ “It was more of a kindness, really. Their fates otherwise were to starve or suffocate.”

“Much kinder,” Ava agreed. “I know I’d rather just go all at once in a big explosion than suffocate.”

“We still could have used the ship after the crew was gone.” Um’reli said, her ears flicking in thought. “But, what’s done is done.”

Omar had looked up from a panel on High Line when the firing started, and gave me a troubled expression, but then Starlight asked him something and he put his head back down.

I grabbed Ava and Um'reli, "Come on, let's leave Omar to his work. We have other things to take care of. I think we're going to have to hire on some help, but before that we're going to have to figure out money."

Ava scoffed as we walked, "You're still going on about money? Just make people help us out."

"Ava we're looking to help out here, not be overthrown in a couple weeks. If I make people help us, the moment we walk away people will start to wonder why they're helping us at all."

"Melody has a point Ava. What is it that we do here?" Um'reli was really good at throwing cold water on Ava's plans. I'm glad she came. Without her I had a hunch that Ava would have talked me into all kinds of bad ideas.

<Ava would have talked you into proper Builder ideas.> It really sounded like the nanites were pouting.

"Builders seemed to work like the AIs on stations back home. So it's not like we have no job." I said as we walked.

"Well then, let's go back to the Throne and do some work. I'm tired of walking around trying to mooch free stuff from people because they're scared of Melody." Um'reli turned towards the Throne. I really didn't have anything else to do, so I followed. "You coming, Ava?"

"I guess. I don't have anything else to do." Ava looked around somewhat wistfully and followed. I wondered what she was hoping to do instead. Probably have me order people to give her something. As we walked into the entryway to the Throne - I still couldn't find a back door, I really needed to find one or make one - something caught my eye. I walked over and... "It's a shrine." I said, bending down to get a better look at it.

"What?" Ava peeked over my shoulder, "Oh, it's beautiful."

It really was. Someone made a drawing of us in some kind of pastel medium, like pencils or chalk. It was me at the top, my wings spread wide and I was glowing. Below that, Um'reli, Ava and Omar were standing tall and proud looking up. Under that was a decent representation of hundreds of people bowing before us. Written on the bottom in the same local script I see all over it said, "May They Protect Us." The drawing was on a little easel and there were flowers and candles all around it in a semicircle.

Protect them from what though?

"These flowers were amazing! I've never seen ones like this before" Um'reli bent down to get a closer look. She took a deep breath "And they smell so good, Ava, Melody, you should smell them!"

Well if Um'reli - a K'laxi - could smell them and not immediately break out in allergic hives, it was probably fine for us to smell too. I bent down low and they smelled... familiar? Why was that?

<You’re remembering.>

<Someone else’s memories.>

<No, the Empress. You.>

Ava straightened and said, “Wait, these were grown. We need to find out where the gardens are and visit it!"

Um'reli stood as well. "After we get some work done Ava. We need to show everyone that we do something and aren't a drain on resources because Melody can order them around and they can't say no."

"What's the point of all this power if we don't use it!" Ava whined.

“We 'use it' like you want to and people will come after us with guns and knives. Who was the Empress before Melody?" Um'reli was looking hard at Ava.

"We have no idea."

“Her name was Janais.” I said suddenly. Both Um’reli and Ava turned and stared at me.

“How did you know that?” Um’reli asked carefully.

“I’m not sure. The nanites? Her name was Janais, and she had long silvery hair that she hated combing every day but knew it looked good when she wore her gown, and her girlfriend Aeche - she's the one who built the Reach - liked it, so Janais kept it long.”

<Why did I remember that?>

<We keep telling you. You Are Empress. Eventually you will have all of their memories and yours.>

<You’re overwriting my personality?> I sure as hell didn’t want that.

<No, adding. Improving.>

Um'reli’s tail swished, but she continued up the stairs to the Throne itself. Ava didn't say anything further and followed, and with one last look at the shrine, I went up as well.

In the Builder room, Um'reli and Ava sat down and their bodies went distant as they were integrating. "Uh, Melody there might be a problem." Um'reli's voice sounded worried over the speakers.

"What is it Um'reli?"

"After I integrated, I saw what looked like an alert. Ava and I checked it out and there's something going on at the main transit hub station."

"Oh neat! I haven't been there yet. I'll go down and check it out. You two stay here and be my eyes and ears."

I bounded down the stairs and headed out into the promenade. This time, I went towards the Administration offices but continued on past them. After a short walk I reached the transit station. It reminded me a lot of photos of transit stations back on Earth. Platforms, people milling about, advertising. But I saw no crowds or anything worrying. I connected to the station and thought to Ava and Um'reli "I didn't see any problem here, what's going on?"

"It's not here, it was at the main station. Get on the next train and ride two stops, you'll see it."

Oh, okay. Just as Ava finished speaking, a train rolled up. Like a lot of this place, it clearly was very fancy a long long time ago. The fact that it's still working was pretty impressive, even if it looked a bit run down. I walked on, and looked around. There were seats all along the walls of the train car and poles along the middle to hang on to. Mentally I shrugged and sat down near the door. After a moment, there's a trilling chime and the doors closed.

With a lurch and a hiss of brakes, we started moving. I wondered if this train was automated, or if someone drove it; I should ask later. I'm lost in thought for the ride through the first station stop, but then I looked around and realized everyone was staring at me.

"Oh, Hello everyone." I said brightly.

Immediately, the people closest to me dropped to the ground, bowing their heads. "Oh, thank you, but you don't have to do that right now, please just sit. I'm just riding the train over to the hub station. My Builders told me there's some kind of issue and I'm going to check it out."

"But, Empress... Surely you have people that you can send to do that for you?" It was a Mariens sitting across from me, looking amused.

"Oh not right now. I'm between retainers and assistants right now. One of my Builders, Omar is helping to repair the High Line, that Aviens ship, and my other two, Ava and Um'reli are sitting in their Chairs, assisting with the operation of the Reach." Oh wait. "Do you want a job? I do find myself needing more people to help out with-" I gestured "-all this. I'm not sure how much to pay yet or really where to get some money, but I'm sure I'll work all that out soon enough."

The Mariens chuckled "Thank you for the offer Empress, but I quite like my job. But, if you so order it of course I'd help.” Their skin flashed a muted rainbow of colors, the visual version of their chuckling. “If you're just asking though, no thank you."

"Oh, that's quite all right. I don't want to order you. But, if you know anyone that would like to help, have them come to the Throne chamber tomorrow, we'll see what we can do!"

And with that same trilling chime, the doors opened and I'm at the hub station.

Ah. Okay. I see what Ava and Um'reli were talking about, there was a riot.

I wish they had told me first.

First / Previous / Next

After I sent River and Ocean away, I took a moment to compose myself. Omar was watching, trying to see how I was reacting.

"Melody, if you're going to use your Voice, you need to be very careful about the things you order. You didn't specify to bring the Mariens back alive, and now they're dead." He said.

"Yes, you're right, I need to be careful when I'm wording things."

Ava didn't seem to mind. "They did do what you asked though, and so quickly! I expected to not see them for at least a week."

It didn't seem to bother Um'reli either, "You have to admit, it sent a message. People weren't taking you seriously before, and between this and what you did to Starlight... they're going to realize you are the real deal."

Omar looked ahead as his nostrils flared and his eyes widened slightly and said, "Speaking of the real deal, look."

We looked out and-

Oh my, the crowds.

It was wall to wall people in front of the entrance to the Throne. More people than I've ever seen in one place before. Not here, not on any station, not even at home on Meíhuā, and they are all here to see me. Immediately, I wished there was a rear entrance to the Throne. I bet there was, I wish we looked harder to find it before now. If we're going to do this, we had better do it right. I looked back and my friends and smiling said, "Okay, we're on. I'm going to try and impress everyone and see if they'll make a path for us. Once we're up I'll sit on the Throne and you can just stand behind me and look official. Ready?"

Nods all around. Good.

I turned back forward and thought about how I wanted to appear. My gown started to rustle like I was in a stiff breeze and my crown and wings appeared. I thought about the connection to the Reach and was able to tweak the air settings to get a breeze going around here too and as people looked back to see where the wind was coming from, they saw us. Their cheering was a wall of sound that we walked headlong into, practically a physical thing. As we stepped into the crowd Um'reli and Omar pushed forward to clear a path and the people parted like grass on the plains. Walking in the middle of my builders, I spread my wings for the look of it and they hung over the crowds as we walked past. People reached out to touch them as I passed and - I'll be honest here - I didn't think people would be able to feel them as they're made out of light and fog by the Nanites, but they could! I could even feel their fingers brushing over the feathers. It was very odd to have a sensation from a limb you've never had before. If I concentrated, I could hear the individual cries from people in the crowd as we walked, but after trying that for a couple of seconds that was entirely too overwhelming, so I just concentrated on the noise as a wall of sound without definition, it was easier to take that way. We made it to the top of the gallery without incident and I turned to face everyone and saw that every seat was filled and the entire lower level spilled out into the street almost all the way to the dock. I had never seen this many people here before all in one place! Aviens, Mariens, Azurians, the people who wear pressure suits and a few others I haven't met yet, all shapes, sizes and colors.

They were here to cheer me?

They were here, to worship me.

This was all for me.

<Take it in. This is what being an Empress is.>

Omar, Um'reli and Ava took up station behind me, seen, but in the background as I raised my hands and spread my wings for silence. A hush descended, and everyone stared up at me, waiting.

"People of Reach of the Might of Vxxz, thank you for coming. Today is a great day. Your Builders and your Empress returns to you, so that you can become whole once again!"

Cheers and shouts. I held my hand up for silence once again.

"The road ahead is long. The Gate is locked, the starships here in need of repair and systems all over the Reach have languished. But! You remain. We remain. Now that I am here, I will begin repairs and upgrades. I will make our ships move again. I will open the Gates. I will reunite my Empire and we shall once again, rule the stars!"

More cheers; it was almost as if the force of their breath was pushing me back. I waited for them to die down before continuing.

"Today though, you can come to me directly with your immediate grievances about things here, and me and my fellow Builders-" I gestured behind me "-will work to resolve as many as we can."

I sat on the Throne and felt the familiar cold tang of connection to the station. It was only the third time, but now It felt different; smoother, more familiar. I leaned back and let go. From all around the arena, my voice was heard. Everyone perceived my voice as coming only to them, as if I was speaking to them, and nobody else. "Speak your issue, and be heard."

"We are a family of 6 and yet, our quarters are such th-"

"Please, Empress, my son, he nee-"

"Those nosy Aviens next door are alway-"

"Food prices keep going higher and hig-"

As everyone talked to 'me' I kept a list of the grievances. I wasn't sure how I was doing it; I assumed the Nanites plus how I'd naturally try and keep a list of information being used together, but as they spoke I tracked what their problem was. After they spoke, I was able to offer some soothing words to everyone. It's me, and not me at the same time. Even with my full Builder persona lit and sitting upon my throne, I didn't think I had the parallel processing to complete a feat like this. The station and the Nanites must be doing the majority of the work. After only an hour or so, it was done. Everyone that wanted to speak has spoken, and we had thousands upon thousands of complaints to sort through. Through the PA, I gave a farewell, and ordered the restaurants to feed everyone - promising they would be reimbursed for their work today.

Royal part over, it became somewhat of a festival atmosphere around the Throne area. People were milling about, talking with each other, catching up with old friends, eating and laughing. From my perch on the Throne, I watched the celebration getting an overwhelming sense of relief from the populace tinged with a small amount of anxiety over what it meant to have an Empress again. It strengthened my resolve to do my best and to have it mean good things for the people that lived here. They would not regret putting their trust in me. I turned my attention to the list of complaints, and with the throne and the Nantes help I tried and do some rough categorization.

Neighbor Complaints - this was the largest list and could be ignored for now, but after the more pressing issues were resolved, we could work out some kind of system to air and settle grievances. There might even be one in place already.

Food issues - this was second largest. We would have to examine the issues closely and see if there was some underlying issue. Don't for get the disused food distribution centers, Melody. Maybe they're turned off because there wasn't the resources to use them anymore, or maybe it's another reason.

Environmental issues - third largest and issues related to the environment here. I had just turned up the settings here yesterday, so I hoped this helps eliminate those.

The rest of them were things like, asking when we're going to launch the Starships again and quite a few asking when I'm going to "take care of" the issue of other groups of people. Hmm, I didn't like that one. Luckily, those questions seemed to be in the minority, but still.

<If would be wise to keep that list handy. If we can determine a group of people who is causing an outsized amount of trouble it would be worth our time to examine that further.>

<You mean kill them.>

<Not...every time.>

<It sure seems like your default solution.>

<It solves so many problems.>

*<*I am not going to kill people for being annoying...as much as I sometimes want to.>

Job finished for now, I stood up and stretched. My goodness that was boring. I hoped I didn't have to do it very often. Looking around, I found Omar, Um'reli and Ava wandering around the area behind the Throne. "Find anything interesting?" I asked as I stowed my wings, but kept the crown lit dimly over my head.

Omar gestured towards me and said, "Actually yes, look here. There's a door behind the Throne, out of sight of the people on the ground."

"What's behind it?"

"I don't know, there's no handle and I can't get it to open."

"Try to do it as a Builder. Just concentrate on the door and imagine it doing what you order."

Omar stared at the door, and I could see the concentration in his hands and on his face. There was a small breeze around him and with a hiss, the door slid open into the ceiling.

"You did it! Congratulations, Builder!" I was super proud of him. I was proud of everyone. They were taking to their new roles so readily.

<They were born to be Builders. You are only showing them what they did not realize.>

Omar stared at the open door, and then down at his hands, and then over to me. "That... was the most amazing thing! I just thought about the door opening and it did!"

<Now he will be one of us. He has felt the power.>

<I'm just happy he was able to do it.> "Come on Omar, lead on. Let's see what's in here."

We went into the darkened room, and Omar again concentrated as the lights came up. Like most Builder stuff it clearly hadn't been touched in a very long time, but there wasn't much dust here at all. It looked like everyone left for the day and shut the door, but then the door stayed shut for who knows how long. Inside the room was 6 chairs that were arranged around a long table. Each of the chairs and the table were in the same green metallic substance as the throne. Molded into the floor instead of the ceiling, but they looked like where the Builder operators would sit when running the station.

"This looks like where the Builders sit when they are the station. Come, let's sit and try it out. It'll feel odd when you first sit, and if you get that feeling in the back of your brain to let go and sink further, don't yet. You need a few more days of Nanite development, but we're safe to connect lightly. I'll stay out of the seats and if I see anyone in distress, I'll pull them out. See if you can find my notes from the celebration."

Omar, Um'reli and Ava all sat gingerly. Ava was especially nervous - she's the one that saw me scream when I tried to integrate too quickly, but after a moment, I could feel them with my connection to the Reach.

"Wow, this is amazing! Melody, can you hear me?" Ava spoke to me through my connection to the Reach, her mouth unmoving, her eyes closed in rapturous concentration.

"Sure can Ava, it sounds like you're standing right next to me."

Um'reli spoke up and said, "I found your notes Melody. Looks like you sorted it somewhat already? Wow, how did you collect all this data?" Her voice sounded different here. Her accent was muted somewhat. I wondered what would happen if she spoke her native language. With all of us imbued with nanites, probably nothing.

"I have to admit, I don't really know. I just knew what to do. The nanites know more than I do, so sometimes I just let go and let them drive."

I could feel Omar's concern, bright and sharp. "Are you sure that's wise, Melody? Every time you get all fire and brimstone, is that the nanites?"

<Be very careful how you answer.>

<Why?>

<Omar is wary. He has tasted the power, but he still is unsure.>

"I think it's more a combination of me and the nanites, Omar." I said. It wasn't a lie, not really.

<But it's not the entire truth either. Yes, that will do nicely.>

Ava spoke up, "Melody? I found the docking bay. It's empty right now, but I think I see how to maneuver High Line from the umbilical to the docking bay."

"Oh good!" Omar said, his worries seemingly forgotten. "Once it's inside we can get a better idea of what it would take to refit it with human systems and make it a viable starship again."

Oh, wonderful! I'm so glad Omar was here.

"Yes please, do that. We'll go down and check it out once you've finished and everyone has a chance to get more familiar with how to be Reach."

While everyone was working, I went back over to the Throne and sat down. I got reconnected and just looked around for a while. I liked watching the movement of people on the Reach. It was soothing.

I could feel Omar, Um'reli and Ava behind me exploring things, learning how they work, and with them here, I swore the station was already starting to work better. I could see people looking at lights that were long off being on again, breezes blowing as the air freshens, and I noticed people starting to clean and sweep. It really felt like we had turned a corner.

First / Previous / Next

Fine. I admitted it.

The Royal Dawn was a really nice hotel. ceilings with a stamped repeating pattern, beautiful carved tables and desks, subtle lighting, and even what looked like hand woven rugs! The whole place was cozy and elegant.

And the best part was, after my demonstration to the Administrative offices today, I didn't have to order the Hotel to give us some rooms! They just offered the minute we walked in!

I was given 'The Empress Suite,’ and I giggled at the name. I wondered if this had something to do with the royal retinue back in the day. Between the opulence, the name and the theme it feels possible.

<It is possible. There was always more than just the Throne for you and your retinue. Every station competed to offer you the most luxurious accommodations. After all, if you didn't like them, you could just rest on your starship.>

My room - my suite of rooms actually - were easily the nicest place I had slept in my entire life. I made sure Omar, Ava, Um'reli, and I each had our own rooms and while I'm glad that they had their own space, I was too used to being around other people in the close quarters of Far Reach or stations back home. I rattled around the rooms opening cabinets and drawers until I saw it in the corner near a window overlooking the promenade.

It was made of some kind of white stone flecked with gold, and was carved to look like it was weathered by the wind and water over millions of years. It was so large that it straddled the line between a bath and a pool. I figured out the taps, and started drawing a bath.

Once it was finished, I took off my outfit - Ugh, I wish I had a chance to pack before Far left; these are my only clothes unless I used the Nanites to make more - or demanded a local tailor make me some - and slipped into the bath. It was hot and steamy and blissfully relaxing.

I'm laying back in the tub, just floating, and I wished Ava was here with me. Where did that come from?

I thought for a split second about calling her in, but decided against it. I'm sure she'd come running if I called, and I'm sure she'd be... enthusiastic about it, but I didn't think I was ready yet. I comforted myself with the thought, and soaked for nearly an hour.

After, I dried and climbed into the bed naked. I'll deal with clothes tomorrow.

More wild dreams.

My ship, operated and led by my most trusted Builder, Aeche, carried us to her prized station. Built on her order for me, it was beautiful. She took me on a tour, and we visited all of the highlights. She is especially proud of the transit system, the largest one off-planet in the Empire.

A team of 30 Builders lived and worked on the Reach operating in shifts to make sure all the needs of the residents and builders that live here were taken care of. It's one of the most complex stations yet and one of the most impressive.

That night, she came to my rooms while I was in the bath. She asked to join me, and I accepted. For her, this was a culmination of months of jockeying and positioning to catch my eye, it's the realization of a goal years in the making. For me, it was a fun night. She was easy on the eyes though, and I saw no harm in keeping her around for a while. The next day, she led me to the Throne they had built here; the only one larger existed back home on Imperia, and I got the impression that this one was smaller only out of courtesy. Sitting upon the Throne, with a full contingent of Builders behind me, I was able to instantly take stock of my Empire. Things were going well. There were new reports from the frontier, and I sent them to my ship, Worldshaker, so I had something to read while en route to the K'laxi. While I was on the throne, I kept getting something at the back of my head, some kind of unsettled feeling, but whenever I moved to focus on it the feeling ran away from me. After checking with my Builders that there was nothing wrong with the throne, I chalked it up to stress and ignored the feeling.

This was the last stop before I left to interrogate the K'laxi, turn their Gate back on, and remind them the price of insubordination. Worldshaker was getting provisioned and refreshed as the trip was longer than normal and I wanted to make sure we could stay a while if needed. On my way out, I'll touch the Gate, and commit an upload.

That night, Aeche visited me again. After, we went to bed and I laid awake thinking about next steps. Aeche sighed and rolled over in her sleep next to me as I stroked her hair gently. Yes, things were going quiet well. It was nice to have some quiet.

****

I woke up in my bed alone, in the hotel room, fully myself again. Not only was that the most... idyllic dream I've had as Empress yet, it was the first that I felt like it was me doing the things, not some other Empress.

<Yes, your integration proceeds apace. You could probably integrate with the Throne completely if you were to try. It's up to you. But remember you told The Smell of Soil after Rain to bring everyone today. We should head over there.>

*<*What was that part about the thing pulling at her - my mind while I was on the Throne?>

<The beginning of the end.>

<What does that mean?>

<It means what we said.>

<Hmm.> That was no answer at all, but the Nanites were not any more forthcoming. Fine. <Okay, let's get up, get dressed, grab everyone and head over.> I looked over at my outfit from yesterday. It was nice and impressive, but if I was going to be presenting as Empress to everyone, I needed something...more. I concentrated and thought about what would be right. Not thinking about specifics, I let the Nanites take my whims into consideration and see what they built for me. The fog cloud of them surrounded me and my outfit from yesterday and I when they finished I turn and looked in the mirror near the bath.

I'm still in royal blue - good, I liked that color - but the outfit now was more of a strapless ball gown rather severely low cut - I wonder if that was from dreaming about Aeche, or thinking about Ava - and the dress clung on the top half and billowed and flowed on the lower half and ended in sparking stars and nebulae on a train that flowed behind me, rippling gently as if a breeze was blowing it. I checked and... yes, it's not touching the ground. That was a neat trick for fashion. I'm wearing taller heels than yesterday too, but at least they're comfortable - for now. It's not something that Lieutenant Mullen would ever wear, but it seemed right for Empress Melody. <Raise the cut in the front, I don't need my chest hanging out.>

<As you wish.>

The front of my dress slid up two centimeters, and I felt much more comfortable. In deference to who I was, there was even a way to mount my rifle on my back. I clicked it in place and felt complete. I wonder how many Empresses were armed?

<Many were. We even have records of one or two who would carry a battle rifle with them.>

That brought me some happiness. Even after how different we were, there were still some things that I shared with Empresses across time. As I opened the door to leave, I saw Omar, Ava and Um'reli in the hall dressed and ready. They turned to see me and Ava and Um'reli both gasped and blushed and Omar grined. "Melody, I have to say that this is the first time since you told us you were an Empress that you look the part. That is an amazing outfit."

I curtsied, "Thank you Omar. Did you all sleep well? I have a hunch with the Nanites you had... intense dreams?"

Ava whipped her had back to me and said, "I did! I dreamt that I was running a station. We were preparing for your visit and I had so much to do, but I knew how to do all of it, and I had a really strong team, and you complimented our readiness when you arrived!"

Um'reli looked at me with an odd expression. "I did too, but... I dreamt I was a human. A Builder. I was operating a Starship, Sunrunner. We were tasked by you directly to tour the frontier worlds and build a report about how they were doing, if they needed anything and if we thought there was any unrest. I don’t recall any specifics, but I do remember how it felt. The entire crew were very proud because you had personally asked for us."

"What about you Omar?" I asked, as Ava and Um’reli turned and looked at him.

"Yeah, I had a vivid dream too. I dreamt that I was a planetary administrator. I ruled over more than a billion people on a world with two suns. One was white and the other was larger and redder. I remembered clearly looking down at the odd shadows it cast, and how everything had an odd coloration. You had requested an increase in the delivery of Magnesium. We were able to meet the new quota this time, but I was worried that if you had requested to keep the quote high, how we would be able to make it without overworking the miners."

"Wow, so not only did you dream about being a Builder, not only did you dream about being a powerful Builder, but you all were in direct contact with the Empress. I wonder if that's because you received your Nanites from me directly."

"Who knows?" Um'reli looked at all of us. "But I for one am starving. Let's get some breakfast and go back to the Throne. Melody has a performance to give."

We headed downstairs and sure enough there was a restaurant attached to the Hotel. We sit down and immediately I asked for a carafe of boiling hot water to be brought. While we waited, I took out my hand grinder and scale and made some coffee. By the time the water arrived, everything was ready. The Mariens who brought me the water is watching curiously as I made the coffee. Soon enough, it's finished, and I took the first sip of coffee in nearly three days.

Now, I could rule.

"Pardon my asking, Empress, but what is that?" The Mariens asked and pointed to my beverage.

"It's called coffee; it's the roasted seed of a plant that's native to the planet we originated from that is ground and then hot water is used to make an infusion. It contains a chemical, called caffeine that offers a stimulant effect to us, but unfortunately we've found it to be toxic to other sapients, like our friends the K'laxi here. You can smell it if you'd like though." I held out the cup.

The Mariens leaned in and gently inhaled. They leaned back sharply and looked at me. "That smells amazing." Their body language expressed wonder. "Truly, the Builders do amazing things. Now, what will you be having for breakfast?"

We ordered and ate and walked towards the Throne. As we're walking this time, people were not ignoring us. Children waved, and the people followed us with their eyes. They didn't seem to be fearful of us, more respectful this time. As we turned a corner, Rapid River Roaring and The Smell of the Ocean approached looking worse for wear. Both of them had matted feathers, with even a few bare spots. Wild eyed, they were looking around with River clutching a cloth bag that was wet on the bottom.

Uh oh.

They turned and saw me and relief washed over them as they ran up to me. "Empress! My Empress!" They both approached and bowed low, head touching the ground. "We have completed your task. We have found Vivvix and Zemmlin and brought them to you."

Ava looked around. "But, where were they?"

<I know what’s in those bags, don’t I?>

<Yes, they did an excellent job carrying out your orders.>

River opened the bag they're carrying and inside were most of Vivvix and Zemmlin.

"I see..." I said as I tried to not look unsettled. Omar's face darkened and he turned away. Ava looked in and nodded, satisfied. Um'reli didn’t look in, but she didn’t seem unsettled by this development either, actually coming across as rather disinterested in the whole thing.

Well then. "I would have preferred they be brought to me alive, but that is my fault for not specifying that. Where were they?"

"The cowards were hiding in the docks. They were attempting to board another ship and catch up to that traitor, Ottarn. We were able to surprise them, and carried out your order, Empress."

"Yes, I can see that. Er, thank you both for your hard work. Go to High Line and find Starlight on a Moonless Evening. After this presentation, I plan on visiting the ship to assess it for refitting."

They both bowed again. "Empress."