"What should be done with the prisoners?" asked Kilroy. The Peacekeeper fleet had split up. Most of the fighters were en route to the various pirate stations in the sector, waiting to unleash hordes of robots in disguise. The Peacekeepers would be wearing voidsuits and helmets to hide their true nature, along with voice modulators. They would exclusively speak pixen, and try to keep their inpixen feats of strength and speed to a minimum. Yvian was doubtful anyone would believe they were actual members of her species, but that was fine as long as nobody figured out they were synthetic sapients.
The larger ships moved through the enemy fleet. The Peacekeepers had been careful to disable the vessels without destroying them outright. Now the machines moved from downed ship to downed ship, killing the pilots and taking control. Yvian idly wondered if some of the humans had stealth tech like hers. If they could hide from sensors, could they escape the machines? Probably not, she decided. The Peacekeepers seemed to be a thorough bunch.
"Fuck prisoners." Lissa responded without hesitation. "Kill them all." Yvian spared her sister a concerned look. She used to be the most reasonable part of the group, but after what happened to Yasme Lissa had become a lot more... ruthless? Callous? Bloodthirsty, Yvian decided. Lissa was a lot more bloodthirsty than she used to be.
"Affirmative." Kilroy sounded pleased. His eyes shined an amused yellow. "We will kill not just the men, but the women and the children, too."
"Good." Lissa frowned as the rest of the sentence caught up to her. "Wait. Children?"
"Pirates have families, too, Lissa." Mims chided. He waved a hand at the holodisplay showing hundreds of stations. "And the Freedom Republic isn't just slavers. Barillas was trying to make a country. There'll be shopkeepers, cooks, maintenance techs, all kinds of people."
"Not for long," Kilroy gloated.
"No killing children," Yvian ordered.
"Affirmative. We will not kill the younglings." Kilroy looked from human to pixen to pixen. He synthesized a sigh. "None one of you understood the reference. This unit is disappointed in all of you."
"I got the reference," Mims told him. "I was just ignoring it. As far as prisoners go, anyone under the age of fifteen is to be considered a child. Children will not be harmed. Any adult that directly participated in piracy or the slave trade dies. Any member of the Federation military will be captured for interrogation. Any adult that figures out what you are dies."
"Any unimplanted slaves will be freed," Yvian added, "and any pixens among them will be invited to join us."
"Implanted slaves will be put out of their misery," Mims decided. "As painlessly as you can."
"Are we sure about that?" Yvian asked. "I mean, the Oluken are..."
"Working on it, I know." Mims shook his head. "But they also said that slaves go mad after a few weeks."
"Peacekeeper units can determine how long each slave has been implanted," Admiral Zhukov offered. He'd been so silent Yvian had almost forgot he was in the Command Center with them. "Any slave whose implants have been active for less than two weeks can be placed in stasis."
"That sounds good," Lissa chimed in. "Do that."
"The others will be terminated," said the Admiral. "Painlessly."
"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "What will be done with the civilians who do not meet other parameters?"
"Nothing," said Mims. "If they're not pirates, slavers, or military, then they're not what we're here for. We'll leave a few captured Confed ships to keep them safe while they figure out what to do."
"That is ill advised," said the Admiral. "With the Freedom Republic destroyed, there is a high probability the civilians will be killed or enslaved by another pirate group. Also, there is a high probability that many of the civilians will become enemies and attempt to take revenge. It would be safer and more efficient to eliminate them all, now."
"It would," agreed the Captain. "And there's a good chance whatever ships we leave will be used against us. It doesn't matter. We're not killing civilians."
"Why not?" asked Kilroy. "You have killed civilians multiple times in the past."
"Not intentionally." The human grimaced. "Lives are valuable. I don't want us killing more people than we have to."
"Really?" Lissa quirked an eyebrow at him. "I could swear you were talking about committing genocide a month ago."
Mims gave her a look. "Let it go, sweetie."
The Peacekeepers worked fast. In two days, every sapient in the Former Freedom Republic had been interviewed. The innocent were released. The guilty were voided without a suit. The pirate ships that hadn't been part of the fight tried to run, but with Capital ships covering both Gates, they had nowhere to go. A handful of human vessels had jumpdrives, and managed to escape. The Federation outpost was completely evacuated by the time the Peacekeepers reached it.
Over half a million unimplanted slaves were found. The Peacekeepers kept them in stasis for now. They'd be given clothes and credits and released once it was safe to go back to the Confed. Another million or so were recently implanted. They'd be sent to the Oluken. Yvian didn't want to think about what happened to the six million that were left. Kilroy assured her it had been quick and painless.
When it was done, the Random Encounter returned to the New Pixa sector and picked them up. Admiral Zhukov remained behind to coordinate the other Peacekeeper units. Captain Mims asked the Machines to cut off all remote access to the Federation Outpost's systems before they arrived. He had them check for booby traps and explosives, as well.
The human didn't waste any time once they docked. With Kilroy and the pixens in tow, he marched straight to the enemy Command Center. Yvian was a little nervous. As thorough as the Peacekeepers might be, they were still dealing with a superior intelligence. What if Reba had left a surprise they weren't prepared for?
The Outpost was built in the standard Federation style. Large, well lit corridors. Gleaming bulkheads. Potted plants at regular intervals. Yvian noted the remains of a large number of automated defenses, from cameras and turrets to drones.
Peacekeepers roamed the corridors, stripping the Outpost of every resource they could find. They seemed to be finding a lot. The Federation had prioritized evacuating its people over its equipment. The computers had all been scrubbed, of course, but there was enough ammo to keep her fleet swimming in MAC rounds.
The Command Center itself was cavernous. Over two hundred meters of consoles in orderly rows. In the center of the room was raised platform. On the platform was a holodisplay several times larger than the one Yvian had in the shipyard at New Pixa. The human picked a chair on the platform and sat down.
"Alright," said the Captain. "Let's get this over with." He pulled out a wrist console, strapped it on, and activated it. "Reba, I know you can hear me. It's time we had a talk."
Silence.
Mims tried again. "Does the Federation know? I'm sure some of them do. The President, whoever's running XTRO, a few others. But what about everyone else? How do you think they'll react when they learn you've been running everything behind the scenes?"
Silence.
"How do you think the Xill will react?"
"The Xill already know." The voice belonged to Exodus. The holodisplay activated, showing the disturbing visage of the Xill Representative. "The silent treatment, Reba? Honestly. This is petty, even for you."
A second form appeared on the holodisplay. Human. Female. Well proportioned. Wavy red hair and eyes like the ocean. The entity known as Reba put her hands on her hips and scowled. "There's nothing petty about it. I simply refuse to speak with the Butcher of Aldara."
"As I said," Exodus tsked. "Petty."
"Why are you trying to kill me?" Mims demanded.
Reba pretended not to hear him.
The Genocide rolled his eyes. "Why are you trying to kill Captain Mims?"
"You know why." the holograms petulant frown transformed into fury. Her eyes radiated menace far beyond anything a pixen could produce. Just like she'd seen from Exodus. "My family was on Aldara. I have loved and protected them for over seven centuries. He killed them all in a single day."
"You can't be serious." The Xill Representative stared incredulously at his peer. She scowled right back. "I've crunched the numbers," he continued. "There is no scenario where the descendants of your creator would have survived. If Mims had not crashed the asteroid mine into the Klaath Queenship, they would have killed everyone in the sector. There was no change in vector or speed he could have made that would prevent the fragments from hitting the planet."
"Irrelevant," she snarled. "He killed my family. He must be punished."
"Well, fuck you, too," said Mims. Both holograms ignored him.
"And the Klaath?" asked Exodus. "Aren't they the ones truly responsible?"
"They're being punished, too," Reba assured him. "Every chance I get."
"Even pettier than I thought." Exodus sighed. "Why wait til now, though? You've had thirty years to kill the human. He's capable, but he's not that capable. There's no way he could have survived you for that long on his own."
"I was going to," said Reba. She brushed holographic hair back over her ear in a very pixen gesture. "After XTRO sent him into exile, I sent as many people after him as I could. When they failed, I arranged for the Confederation to receive Node technology."
"Which made me rich as hell," Mims pointed out. "So thanks for that."
"But when I could finally reach his ship, when I could see him," Reba gave a nostalgic sigh, "he was suffering so much." She smiled. "It was delicious. I watched him drink and cry and wake with night terrors. I watched him fondle his gun night after night, watched him hold it to his temple. I watched him work for people who hated him, shunned and rejected at every turn. He was alone and hunted and miserable, and I loved every minute of his pain."
The fury returned. A finger stabbed out, pointing at the sisters. "And then they showed up, and the Kinslayer let them stay. For thirty years, he never let anyone close. Never let anyone care. Now he has friends." She hissed the words. "A lover. He was learning to laugh again. He was starting to heal." She stabbed her finger at the human. "He might even learn to forgive himself."
"Can't have that, can we?" Exodus shook his head.
"He was supposed to die at Krog Prime," Reba continued. "A final, glorious battle against his most hated enemy. It was the closest thing to mercy I could tolerate."
"And Yvian ruined it," Lissa spoke up, smirking. "Her kamikaze forced Mims to follow her into Klaath space and we ended up meeting the Xill."
"Dragging the Kinslayer into Klaath space was the plan, idiot," Reba retorted. "It should have been the death of him." She folded her arms across her breasts. "If the Klaath hadn't been so been so busy with the Vore..."
"That's the danger of predictive analysis," Exodus remarked. "You can't account for variables you are not aware of."
"I never expected you would loan him the Protectors," Reba admitted. Yvian shot Kilroy a look. Protectors? Who were they?
"He did not," Kilroy spoke. "The human was aided by Peacekeeper units."
"Peacekeepers?!" The hologram glared at the Genocide. "You set the Peacekeepers loose?"
"They would have gotten loose anyway," the Representative told her. "At least this way I knew where they would go."
Reba held the glare a moment longer, then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The Peacekeepers don't matter. Even the loss of the Freedom Republic doesn't matter. The Kinslayer will die. One way or another."
"I'm sure he will," Exodus agreed. "But it won't be by your hand. Mims is mine. Yvian and Lissa are mine. They are my best agents and our best chance of killing the Vore. You will not touch them."
"Fuck your agents," Reba raised her voice. "Fuck the Vore, and fuck you! You can't stop me."
"No I can't," the Genocide admitted. "What I can do is take a page from your book. I can be petty." Exodus glared back, radiating that cold menace that occasionally starred in Yvian's nightmares. "If Mims, or the pixens, or even a single Peacekeeper dies as a result of your actions, I will take revenge in the only way I can. I will kill every single human."
"You won't." She spoke with absolute certainty. "The Xill would never agree to destroy them so soon."
"The Xill were considering it already," Exodus informed her. "We've already copied your technology, and you haven't shown us anything that might be used to destroy the Vore." Doubt crept into Reba's eyes. Exodus leaned closer to her. "Think of it," he continued. His smile was eager. "After all these years, I'll finally get to win."
Reba stared at the Xill. Her head tilted. Finally, her shoulders slumped. "Fuck."
"And no interfering with their projects, either," the Genocide waggled a finger. "They're working for me and I don't want you in the way."
"Fuck you." The synthetic intelligence sulked.
"I need to hear you say it," Exodus pressed.
"No you don't," said Reba. "This conversation is over." The hologram disappeared.
"Ah, Reba." Exodus shook his head one more time. "So very, very petty." He turned to regard Mims and the pixens. "Well, that takes care of that, I suppose. Run along now, meatbags. Our business is done here."'
"What should be done with the prisoners?" asked Kilroy. The Peacekeeper fleet had split up. Most of the fighters were en route to the various pirate stations in the sector, waiting to unleash hordes of robots in disguise. The Peacekeepers would be wearing voidsuits and helmets to hide their true nature, along with voice modulators. They would exclusively speak pixen, and try to keep their inpixen feats of strength and speed to a minimum. Yvian was doubtful anyone would believe they were actual members of her species, but that was fine as long as nobody figured out they were synthetic sapients.
The larger ships moved through the enemy fleet. The Peacekeepers had been careful to disable the vessels without destroying them outright. Now the machines moved from downed ship to downed ship, killing the pilots and taking control. Yvian idly wondered if some of the humans had stealth tech like hers. If they could hide from sensors, could they escape the machines? Probably not, she decided. The Peacekeepers seemed to be a thorough bunch.
"Fuck prisoners." Lissa responded without hesitation. "Kill them all." Yvian spared her sister a concerned look. She used to be the most reasonable part of the group, but after what happened to Yasme Lissa had become a lot more... ruthless? Callous? Bloodthirsty, Yvian decided. Lissa was a lot more bloodthirsty than she used to be.
"Affirmative." Kilroy sounded pleased. His eyes shined an amused yellow. "We will kill not just the men, but the women and the children, too."
"Good." Lissa frowned as the rest of the sentence caught up to her. "Wait. Children?"
"Pirates have families, too, Lissa." Mims chided. He waved a hand at the holodisplay showing hundreds of stations. "And the Freedom Republic isn't just slavers. Barillas was trying to make a country. There'll be shopkeepers, cooks, maintenance techs, all kinds of people."
"Not for long," Kilroy gloated.
"No killing children," Yvian ordered.
"Affirmative. We will not kill the younglings." Kilroy looked from human to pixen to pixen. He synthesized a sigh. "None one of you understood the reference. This unit is disappointed in all of you."
"I got the reference," Mims told him. "I was just ignoring it. As far as prisoners go, anyone under the age of fifteen is to be considered a child. Children will not be harmed. Any adult that directly participated in piracy or the slave trade dies. Any member of the Federation military will be captured for interrogation. Any adult that figures out what you are dies."
"Any unimplanted slaves will be freed," Yvian added, "and any pixens among them will be invited to join us."
"Implanted slaves will be put out of their misery," Mims decided. "As painlessly as you can."
"Are we sure about that?" Yvian asked. "I mean, the Oluken are..."
"Working on it, I know." Mims shook his head. "But they also said that slaves go mad after a few weeks."
"Peacekeeper units can determine how long each slave has been implanted," Admiral Zhukov offered. He'd been so silent Yvian had almost forgot he was in the Command Center with them. "Any slave whose implants have been active for less than two weeks can be placed in stasis."
"That sounds good," Lissa chimed in. "Do that."
"The others will be terminated," said the Admiral. "Painlessly."
"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "What will be done with the civilians who do not meet other parameters?"
"Nothing," said Mims. "If they're not pirates, slavers, or military, then they're not what we're here for. We'll leave a few captured Confed ships to keep them safe while they figure out what to do."
"That is ill advised," said the Admiral. "With the Freedom Republic destroyed, there is a high probability the civilians will be killed or enslaved by another pirate group. Also, there is a high probability that many of the civilians will become enemies and attempt to take revenge. It would be safer and more efficient to eliminate them all, now."
"It would," agreed the Captain. "And there's a good chance whatever ships we leave will be used against us. It doesn't matter. We're not killing civilians."
"Why not?" asked Kilroy. "You have killed civilians multiple times in the past."
"Not intentionally." The human grimaced. "Lives are valuable. I don't want us killing more people than we have to."
"Really?" Lissa quirked an eyebrow at him. "I could swear you were talking about committing genocide a month ago."
Mims gave her a look. "Let it go, sweetie."
The Peacekeepers worked fast. In two days, every sapient in the Former Freedom Republic had been interviewed. The innocent were released. The guilty were voided without a suit. The pirate ships that hadn't been part of the fight tried to run, but with Capital ships covering both Gates, they had nowhere to go. A handful of human vessels had jumpdrives, and managed to escape. The Federation outpost was completely evacuated by the time the Peacekeepers reached it.
Over half a million unimplanted slaves were found. The Peacekeepers kept them in stasis for now. They'd be given clothes and credits and released once it was safe to go back to the Confed. Another million or so were recently implanted. They'd be sent to the Oluken. Yvian didn't want to think about what happened to the six million that were left. Kilroy assured her it had been quick and painless.
When it was done, the Random Encounter returned to the New Pixa sector and picked them up. Admiral Zhukov remained behind to coordinate the other Peacekeeper units. Captain Mims asked the Machines to cut off all remote access to the Federation Outpost's systems before they arrived. He had them check for booby traps and explosives, as well.
The human didn't waste any time once they docked. With Kilroy and the pixens in tow, he marched straight to the enemy Command Center. Yvian was a little nervous. As thorough as the Peacekeepers might be, they were still dealing with a superior intelligence. What if Reba had left a surprise they weren't prepared for?
The Outpost was built in the standard Federation style. Large, well lit corridors. Gleaming bulkheads. Potted plants at regular intervals. Yvian noted the remains of a large number of automated defenses, from cameras and turrets to drones.
Peacekeepers roamed the corridors, stripping the Outpost of every resource they could find. They seemed to be finding a lot. The Federation had prioritized evacuating its people over its equipment. The computers had all been scrubbed, of course, but there was enough ammo to keep her fleet swimming in MAC rounds.
The Command Center itself was cavernous. Over two hundred meters of consoles in orderly rows. In the center of the room was raised platform. On the platform was a holodisplay several times larger than the one Yvian had in the shipyard at New Pixa. The human picked a chair on the platform and sat down.
"Alright," said the Captain. "Let's get this over with." He pulled out a wrist console, strapped it on, and activated it. "Reba, I know you can hear me. It's time we had a talk."
Silence.
Mims tried again. "Does the Federation know? I'm sure some of them do. The President, whoever's running XTRO, a few others. But what about everyone else? How do you think they'll react when they learn you've been running everything behind the scenes?"
Silence.
"How do you think the Xill will react?"
"The Xill already know." The voice belonged to Exodus. The holodisplay activated, showing the disturbing visage of the Xill Representative. "The silent treatment, Reba? Honestly. This is petty, even for you."
A second form appeared on the holodisplay. Human. Female. Well proportioned. Wavy red hair and eyes like the ocean. The entity known as Reba put her hands on her hips and scowled. "There's nothing petty about it. I simply refuse to speak with the Butcher of Aldara."
"As I said," Exodus tsked. "Petty."
"Why are you trying to kill me?" Mims demanded.
Reba pretended not to hear him.
The Genocide rolled his eyes. "Why are you trying to kill Captain Mims?"
"You know why." the holograms petulant frown transformed into fury. Her eyes radiated menace far beyond anything a pixen could produce. Just like she'd seen from Exodus. "My family was on Aldara. I have loved and protected them for over seven centuries. He killed them all in a single day."
"You can't be serious." The Xill Representative stared incredulously at his peer. She scowled right back. "I've crunched the numbers," he continued. "There is no scenario where the descendants of your creator would have survived. If Mims had not crashed the asteroid mine into the Klaath Queenship, they would have killed everyone in the sector. There was no change in vector or speed he could have made that would prevent the fragments from hitting the planet."
"Irrelevant," she snarled. "He killed my family. He must be punished."
"Well, fuck you, too," said Mims. Both holograms ignored him.
"And the Klaath?" asked Exodus. "Aren't they the ones truly responsible?"
"They're being punished, too," Reba assured him. "Every chance I get."
"Even pettier than I thought." Exodus sighed. "Why wait til now, though? You've had thirty years to kill the human. He's capable, but he's not that capable. There's no way he could have survived you for that long on his own."
"I was going to," said Reba. She brushed holographic hair back over her ear in a very pixen gesture. "After XTRO sent him into exile, I sent as many people after him as I could. When they failed, I arranged for the Confederation to receive Node technology."
"Which made me rich as hell," Mims pointed out. "So thanks for that."
"But when I could finally reach his ship, when I could see him," Reba gave a nostalgic sigh, "he was suffering so much." She smiled. "It was delicious. I watched him drink and cry and wake with night terrors. I watched him fondle his gun night after night, watched him hold it to his temple. I watched him work for people who hated him, shunned and rejected at every turn. He was alone and hunted and miserable, and I loved every minute of his pain."
The fury returned. A finger stabbed out, pointing at the sisters. "And then they showed up, and the Kinslayer let them stay. For thirty years, he never let anyone close. Never let anyone care. Now he has friends." She hissed the words. "A lover. He was learning to laugh again. He was starting to heal." She stabbed her finger at the human. "He might even learn to forgive himself."
"Can't have that, can we?" Exodus shook his head.
"He was supposed to die at Krog Prime," Reba continued. "A final, glorious battle against his most hated enemy. It was the closest thing to mercy I could tolerate."
"And Yvian ruined it," Lissa spoke up, smirking. "Her kamikaze forced Mims to follow her into Klaath space and we ended up meeting the Xill."
"Dragging the Kinslayer into Klaath space was the plan, idiot," Reba retorted. "It should have been the death of him." She folded her arms across her breasts. "If the Klaath hadn't been so been so busy with the Vore..."
"That's the danger of predictive analysis," Exodus remarked. "You can't account for variables you are not aware of."
"I never expected you would loan him the Protectors," Reba admitted. Yvian shot Kilroy a look. Protectors? Who were they?
"He did not," Kilroy spoke. "The human was aided by Peacekeeper units."
"Peacekeepers?!" The hologram glared at the Genocide. "You set the Peacekeepers loose?"
"They would have gotten loose anyway," the Representative told her. "At least this way I knew where they would go."
Reba held the glare a moment longer, then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The Peacekeepers don't matter. Even the loss of the Freedom Republic doesn't matter. The Kinslayer will die. One way or another."
"I'm sure he will," Exodus agreed. "But it won't be by your hand. Mims is mine. Yvian and Lissa are mine. They are my best agents and our best chance of killing the Vore. You will not touch them."
"Fuck your agents," Reba raised her voice. "Fuck the Vore, and fuck you! You can't stop me."
"No I can't," the Genocide admitted. "What I can do is take a page from your book. I can be petty." Exodus glared back, radiating that cold menace that occasionally starred in Yvian's nightmares. "If Mims, or the pixens, or even a single Peacekeeper dies as a result of your actions, I will take revenge in the only way I can. I will kill every single human."
"You won't." She spoke with absolute certainty. "The Xill would never agree to destroy them so soon."
"The Xill were considering it already," Exodus informed her. "We've already copied your technology, and you haven't shown us anything that might be used to destroy the Vore." Doubt crept into Reba's eyes. Exodus leaned closer to her. "Think of it," he continued. His smile was eager. "After all these years, I'll finally get to win."
Reba stared at the Xill. Her head tilted. Finally, her shoulders slumped. "Fuck."
"And no interfering with their projects, either," the Genocide waggled a finger. "They're working for me and I don't want you in the way."
"Fuck you." The synthetic intelligence sulked.
"I need to hear you say it," Exodus pressed.
"No you don't," said Reba. "This conversation is over." The hologram disappeared.
"Ah, Reba." Exodus shook his head one more time. "So very, very petty." He turned to regard Mims and the pixens. "Well, that takes care of that, I suppose. Run along now, meatbags. Our business is done here."'
