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SAFES Liaison's Log, Science Vessel Searcher , September 23rd, 2555:

The sheer chaos of battle has got to be one of the most difficult experiences in war. I believe that our current situation must be what it was once like when armies and navies had to coordinate through a series of site-to-site instructions conveyed up and down command lines. If there was any doubt in my mind that Santos and possibly Sakura disobeyed orders, it is long since gone: Socrates and ATLAS concur that Cassandra is far out of position, perfectly functional, and ignoring transmissions. I can't even begin to comprehend what madness has seized them but without the battle-control computers, things have gone bad fast. The snub ships have begun to experience mounting casualties as the ability of command elements to shift their missions and postiions rapidly in response to a fluid battle environment has been compromised; mid-range ship fire remains as accurate as ever but is increasingly inefficient; the only reason that the Manticore-class battleships have managed to congregate in an effective firing line is that Wong stepped into the gap and started being his decorated-carrier-captain self.

The worst thing of all, however, is that the first wave of Imperial Fleet reinforcements dropped into realspace a few minutes ago. Scylla Seven managed to fire a longitudinal shot into the superbattleship commanding the reinforcements, but even with a massive projectile punching through the front and blasting a twenty-foot hole straight through a majority of the vessel, it remains alive and fighting. Nearly as bad was that the Charles team managed to bring the ripple gate up and started sending swarms of Hammer-class frigates through. Without Cassandra to determine an optimal entry point, however, most of the frigates turned into suicide ships, crashing into the Imperial Fleet without any coordination and resorting to automatic core overloads to destroy targets. Some of them even went hurtling at Haephestus Hammer but were blasted clear before they could impact. Which brings me to our major saving grace: Athena has apparently been integrated into the Hammer and has full control of its deadly firepower. I've heard what the Hercules anti-orbital batteries can do but seeing the scaled-down versions cutting thickly-armored battleships in half and tearing gaping holes in its superbattleship rival is impossible to accurately describe. I believe that, despite the best efforts of that insubordinate savage commanding Cassandra, victory is within our grasp. We have yet to get a report from the teams attacking Majesty (probably not its real name but the only name I know) but I have confidence in General Lee's boys and Admiral Williams' dear friend.

Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES

"Oh, God almighty and all the saints... we just landed on the fucking Death Star!" Akeya exclaimed after a moment of shocked silence. "These... stupid tyrannical little... little... lizards built a superweapon to murder entire planets! And they brought it here to use as their goddamn command ship! You know what this means, General?"

"Yes." Sera sighed. "That was the Grand Admiral's plan: induce us to bring in a fleet large enough to match his then aim the superweapon at the mass. I guess we should be flattered that he's concerned enough about us that he didn't want to risk a mano a mano fight."

"Considering that your own home is so distant, I fail to see why you're so distressed." Malice commented. "Those that this ship will be used against are strangers to you and it is strange that you would be so emotional to learn the precise method by which the Grand Admiral will seek to attain a goal that was already known to you."

"What do you mean, a goal..." Sera stopped as she realized what Malice had just said. "You know where our home is?"

"It is called... Earth." Malice replied, smiling a little at Sera's evident distress. "It orbits a star you call... um... Sol, I believe. You have colonized both.... Venus and... Mars."

"How?"

"To merely destroy a spying machine is wasteful." She shrugged. "I imagine that someone actually capturing your surveying machine and learning from the information it carried about your home never even crossed your minds.

"General, I believe that we have met the finest poker face in the entire galaxy." Silver commented with a tone of admiration. "We've been here for three months, spoken with him face-to-face twice and many times over communications channels, and despite knowing precisely where we came from and who we are, he acted no differently than a man who knows nothing. That, my dear commanding officer, is discipline."

"I just wonder who this girl really is." Akeya commented, eyeing her. "For being a harem girl that got booted from the palace and stuck in the military, she sure seems to know lots of things about what's going on. Like, for example, that this is the prototype of the viis Death Star."

"What is this 'death star'? Is it your planet-killing ship?" Malice inquired, looking as if she hadn't heard the rest of what Akeya had said.

"No and Akeya makes a good point... who are you, that you are so well-informed?"

"A very unfortunate concubine who happens to know a very good officer." Malice smiled broadly. "I am certain that you, General, have known many good officers who are also very good individuals."

"She has you there, boss." The rifle team member who'd been examining the viis weapons admitted. "Hey, check this thing out... I think I just figured out why the metal and chemical propellants helped us out so much."

"And why's that?" Sera turned away from Malice to look at her.

"Because they use magnetic acceleration and non-metal armor." She grinned. "I'll bet you good sols that these corridors are riddled with stuff that interferes with electrical magnets so that other magnetic acceleration weapons are practically useless. And these armor-piercing bullets are good stuff but you can see that they're designed to break an extremely hard surface that's also brittle. Take a gander."

She popped a couple projectiles out of one of the longer weapons and tossed one to Sera and another to Akeya. Sera caught the small bullet and held it up to her mask. It seemed to be metal but instead of coming to a point, the end was blunt like it was meant to smash something instead of piercing it. The lower end was also encircled with several dull grey bands which Sera guessed must be highly sensitive to magnetism.

"I'll bet these things can bruise like a mule-kick if they hit one of our boys with regular armor but it'd just dent and shatter if it hit the armored suits." The rifle soldier continued. "The big armor-piercer is probably mighty enough to do the job but those funky chemical bullets aside, we've got a sweet advantage here."

"Not as much as you think, soldier." Malice chuckled. "Those are ordinary projectiles, not armor-piercing. But you're right about the general design and purpose of the bullets we use: hammering force to break bones and cause pain through skin-contour armor and shatter rigid armor. You are also correct about the anti-weapon measures in place and I might also add that you seem to have the advantage of combined armaments."

"Don't you?" The other rifle soldier held up what was apparently a viis rifle, a long-barreled weapon with the trigger in front of the action and magazine, something Sera recognized as a "bullpup" configuration. "I've counted four distinct types already."

"Four distinct type of weapons that fire directly at what they are aimed at." She pointed out. "Where I see that you use weapons that can be thrown, weapons that fire rapidly, and weapons that fire a lethal cone of projectiles. You are lethal at all ranges and against all enemies; we are lethal at two ranges and against those enemies that can be directly fired upon."

"Well, when you put it that way... I see your point." He admitted.

"This is all well and good but shouldn't we be, I don't know, calling down to Boom and having him start touching off ejection rams?" Akeya looked pointedly at Sera. "Or something else that would make it impossible to shoot a superweapon at our fleet?"

"It might be helpful to know more about what it is before we start cutting wires." Sera looked at Malice who had begun to remove the rest of her armor. "What do you know about it?"

"Only that this ship can scour a world of life." Malice replied as she undid one of the clasps that secured the arm armor to the shoulder. "I don't know what the weapon is or if it is a single weapon. I don't know how much power it requires to operate or even what it's called."

"I'm putting my money on 'Crusher'." Akeya's eyeridges furrowed. "Say, didn't that sign over the duct map say something about how the thing tripped breakers?"

"Actually, it said that the weapon drew so much power that trying to use it would cause a system meltdown." Silver corrected her. "Apparently, one of the engineers that was working on it installed some sort of breaker that would cut power to isolate the damage. I got the impression that as of that warning, it was inoperable."

"So an extremely high-draw weapon that would fry the ship firing it, probably killing plenty of crew." Akeya chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like something a dimwitted emperor would order."

"Mentally fragile, Major, not witless." Malice let the arm armor she was unbuckling fall to the deck with a dull kong, revealing an impressively well-toned arm, before starting to work on the other. "The two resemble one another but are not the same."

"Yes, Miyakaaltold us about him." Sera watched the viis continue working on her other arm's armor for a moment. "How'd a mentally ill male get enthroned instead of a more worthy female? Ampris led me to believe that gaining the throne required cunning and occasional bloodshed."

"Corpses cannot inherit thrones." Malice sighed. "Ampris is right: even the heir apparent must wade through sibling blood to be made kaa. The foolish courtiers that wanted their puppet made sure that his sister died for while he was a fragile creature, she was both soldier and heir apparent."

"Didn't you say that the 'warm viis' don't fight wars?"

Malice grinned, dropping her other piece of arm armor. "I did. I also said that great emperors love exotic concubines. Sometimes, they even loved those concubines and claimed the illicit young as royal and heir."

Akeya grinned. "Oh, I bet that made those courtiers shit bricks."

Malice blinked at her. "Shit...? Ah, I see. Yes, they... 'shit bricks' when the kaa of that time claimed his oldest daughter by a concubine as his heir. She would have been either the Grand Admiral or the kaa and apparently, her father wished her to be the kaa. The records of how he came to decide that a cold viis should rule no longer exist, but Kaarchan believes that it was a reward for having been great in war."

"Speaking of war, since the colonel doesn't have anything to offer, I think you should call Boom and give him a heads-up." Akeya gave the pointed look to Sera again.

"Cool your jets, Major... we're not pressed for time." Sera retorted even as she dialed up the marine adjutant. "Monitor, Wolfpack. Got some bad news to drop on you, sergeant."

"Aw, hell... these generators are about to shit all over my good mood, arent't they?"

"How about you hand me over to Boom so I can ruin his day instead?" Sera suggested.

"General, you're my hero." There was a pause before Boom picked up the comm set. "Hey there, General. Let me throw a wild guess at you: superweapon."

"See, that's why they gave you those pieces of paper, sergeant: your cunning skills of observation." Sera replied lightly. "Coordinate with Gunny Zanardi, callsign Shiloh, to navigate a team to the engine rooms on the other side of this thing. Then figure out how to hit the 'eject' button on all the generators you lay eyes on."

"I'd love to, boss, but that'd be like waving a lit match in a methane-filled room for fun." Boom rumbled. "Even our reactors, with excess reactivity taken care of, have enough juice to go megaton in the event of an emergency ejection which is why we attach rockets to the ejection module. These things? Not nearly as safe, so dropping them out would nail us with a Tsar Bomba at close range each time we hit the big red button."

"Well, seeing as how this thing was assembled before the viis were incompetent, they must have some way to get rid of those things that wouldn't wreck their ship in the process." Sera pointed out.

"Oh, they do." Boom replied. "They blow the entire engine room clear then light off enough rocket thrust to reduce anyone still alive to a greasy smear. I don't think they had many warm fuzzies for their engineers, ma'am."

"They don't seem to be all that attached to structural integrity either. I remember that the rooms with their shield generators are designed to be blown free too." Sera observed. "Can you see a way to power them down?"

"That I do." Boom replied. "Though it'll take a few minutes to find and cut the control conduit so the bridge can't interefere."

"Then do it." Sera instructed. "Ultimately, we don't need any power online to achieve the objective so don't be shy about flipping breakers."

"Oh, I won't be." Boom's voice was thick with relish. "Nothing makes the ol' inner child happier than flipping switches just for fun."

"Glad to hear it. Call if you need anything." Sera turned to look down at Malice, who had rid herself of the last pieces of her ruined armor, revealing that the underclothing of Kevlar-like fiber covered her from collarbone to ankle and was skintight. She could see how the former concubine would have been considered very attractive: even years after her dismissal, she still had the lithe athletic lines of a predator, something she suspected was a common trait amount the viis that came from the polar regions. In fact, without armor concealing anything, she noticed that Malice had the exact same "deformities" as the Grand Admiral: lean predatory facial features and a total lack of a rill.

"I think we've spent enough time in conversation for now, Colonel." She said. "But while we figure out exactly where we should lock you in, I'm curious about something."

"Ask whatever you like, General." Malice climbed to her feet with the slight stiffness of a wounded person favoring their injuries. "There are certain things that I might understandably refuse to answer but I'm willing to entertain your curiosity."

"I notice that both you and the Grand Admiral have no rill and are built along lines more similar to Major Obsydien than what you refer to as the 'warm' viis..."

"It is like the difference between your medic and yourself, General." Malice interrupted. "We are the same people but differ significantly in appearance."

"I think it's quite a bit more than that." Silver commented as he lightly laid a paw on Malice's arm, holding her still for a moment so he could make sure the sutures were holding. "I think it would be fair to say that the polar and tropical viis are subspecies, akin to different breeds of cats. Mammaries, a lack of rill, and no excess of skin strike me as endothermic adaptations to a much colder climate."

"I... do not know what you just said." Malice told him after a long pause. "I'm a soldier, formerly a concubine, not a scientist."

"He thinks that it's more than just appearance." Akeya told her. "He thinks that you and the ugly viis evolved differently because you live in a cold place and they live in a hot place. He's comparing it to different breeds of an animal we keep as pets back home."

"I admit... I'm not sure how to respond to being compared to a pet." Malice said wryly. "But I think I understand your medic's point and he may be correct. But I'm not a scientist and have no way to know."

"Something for anthropologists back home, I guess." Sera nodded towards the armored marine who took up point with the two riflemen trailing him. There was no way to restrain Malice but she didn't seem all that inclined to make trouble, taking up position behind the lead element and walking along with Silver keeping a concerned eye on his work as they moved. As she passed one of the viis corpses, Akeya scooped up one of what appeared to be their submachineguns and slung it over her shoulder by a strap that seemed designed for that purpose. Sera gave her a curious look but she pretended that she didn't see it, moving her finger to the trigger of her large rifle and resting the barrel shroud on the crook of her arm. They had barely gone more than a few yards before the high-pitched whine of a motor from directly ahead broke the silence. The two riflemen immediately dropped to a knee and took aim in the direction of the sound and the armored marine braced his machinegun, waiting for targets.

"Fear not, intrepid invaders... it is merely Kaarchan closing the nearest blast doors to hinder your movement." Malice commented calmly. "Merely an inconvenience for you, I'm sure."

The engineer looked at her sharply. "These corridors have blast doors?"

"They do." She confirmed.

"And we're on the side of them where a blast is likely to come from, aren't we?"

"You are." She grinned toothily. "But again, do not worry. I'm sure there's no chance at all that some of your fellows are in the engine rooms trifling with the highly volatile reactors."

"How... volatile, exactly?"

"Enough so that it is necessary to sacrifice the lives of whomever is in the engine rooms to prevent the obliteration of large pieces of the ship." She sighed. "Artifacts of a dangerously reckless era based on a reaction just barely kept under effective control."

"Well, it looks like you've got some cutting work to do, Corporal." Sera told the engineer. "Got enough fuel to do the cutting?"

"Easily." He replied. "Technically, I have enough fuel to cut a man-sized hole through battleship armor and still have enough to cut my way through the rest of the ship. So do you want it fast or good?"

"Fast would be best. At the moment, it just needs to get us to the other side so we can stash our new friend and link up with the nearest assault group to proceed to the bridge." Sera looked at Malice. "Would the Grand Admiral deliberately overload reactors to destroy a significant part of an attacking force?"

"If the situation were desperate. But there is little chance of that."

"I think we have more than enough force to overwhelm whatever soldiers you've got." Akeya pointed out.

Malice looked curiously at her as they kept walking towards the blast door. "How could that make the situation desperate, Major?"

Akeya returned the curious look. "Being taken prisoner and this ship being captured doesn't concern you?"

"On the contrary, it concerns me and my kin greatly." Malice answered. "We will resist capture to the utmost. But unless I gravely misjudge you, you intend capture, not murder. Capture is an honorable fate at the hands of an honorable foe and a tolerable fate at the hand of a dishonorable one and so, there is only so far we would go to resist. But when there is the prospect of being murdered, there is no measure too extreme. If I, or Kaarchan, believed that you came here to murder, he would be destroying the ship around you rather than permit you to shamefully shed a single drop of viis blood."

"You know, I think I like you folks from the poles." Akeya grinned. "You're not as ugly and I approve of the death-before-dishonor schtick."

Malice looked at Sera. "Was that a compliment or an insult, General?"

"A compliment." Sera replied with a smile. "At least, I think it was meant to be one."

"Ah. Then thank you, Major." Malice looked on as the engineer unpacked his plasma cutter. "I'm interested to see how you will cut through the blast doors with such a small tool. They are very thick and very strong."

"My dear, let me educate you in some practical physics." The engineer replied cheerfully. "This here is a plasma cutter. Plasma, you see, is the fourth state of matter and is essentially gas that is so hot as to vaporize other materials on contact. My small tool can extend its plume of plasma out a full twelve inches and I have an ample supply of fuel that will permit me to cut through blast doors even if I have to do so in layers."

"Then I hope that your engineers are competent and careful." Malice stood in place, watching placidly as the engineer started cutting his way through the blast door, adjusting the length of the plume with a knob as he went. Although Sera had seen how efficient plasma cutters were, she found herself surprised that the engineer seemed to be cutting through quite fast in a smooth, practiced motion that bespoke experience.

"You know, boss, these are suspiciously thin for being blast doors." He commented as he stretched out his arm to cut a tall arc for the armored marine. "It's like cutting aluminum instead of thick armor plating."

"I had gotten that impression." Sera eyed Malice, part of her suddenly wondering how much of the colonel's willingness to answer questions was genuine and how much was a act so she could play them. "Which means that these aren't blast doors."

"You're surprised that I'm not familiar with every last portion of a prototype ship?" Malice inquired, eying Sera back pointedly. "I had assumed the doors to be those designed to contain blasts. They could also be section doors, isolation doors, or even sealing doors. Or they could be a type of door invented specifically for Overlord. I am a soldier, not a shipwright."

"You have me there." Sera admitted, her suspicions slightly allayed by the fair rebuttal. "But it makes me wonder if there's something nasty on the other side. Captain, can your fiber-optic instrument adjust its focal point beyond a few centimeters?"

"Its close focus is superior to standard biological optics but is otherwise bio-ordinary." Silver replied, using the term for standard human 20/20 vision. "May I ask why?"

"I think I want the engineer to drill us a hole so we can thread the fiber through and see what's there." Sera told him. "With the colonel either unable or unwilling to tell us the purpose of this door, better to be safe than..."

The rest of what she'd meant to say was abruptly cut off as the deck jerked hard, sending her feet flying out from under her and making her gasp with sudden pain as she was thrown to the floor with all her weight on her shoulder. Ignoring the throbbing, she rolled to her back and propped herself up on her good elbow to survey the scene. Except for the armored marine (who seemed to have naturally assumed a bracing stance in the absence of orders), everyone was spawled on the deck in various states of awareness, Malice leaning against the wall and panting as bluish blood started oozing from torn sutures and Akeya, not surprisingly, already halfway to her feet.

"What the fuck was that?" Akeya demanded, her eyes settling on the newly-wounded Malice as if she had the answer.

"Seems... like we were... hit." She managed to reply in between pants and the suddenly stiff posture of someone who was hurting all over. "Hit by a... heavy... solid object..."

"Something big enough to shake this ship must be massive. I wonder if the Hammer accidentally..."

"I don't think so, boss." The engineer interrupted. "Look." He held the forearm of his suit in front of the cuts he'd already made in the door and Sera's eyes widened as she could see frost forming over the tough artificial surface.

"It's cold on the other side of that door?"

"No, boss... it's vacuum." He replied. "I think that something just breached the hull on the other side of this door. Bet whoever's at the controls saw something incoming, figured it'd go all the way in, and shut the doors to contain the breach. 'Cept that us, being really smart people, decided to cut holes in it."

"Are we in any...?"

"She is." Silver interrupted, having made his way over to Malice and begun checking over her sutures. "I need to get her somewhere with an elevated flat surface. Didn't you mention that there's officers' quarters near here?"

"Straight through the big vacuum, doc." Akeya gestured to the door. "It'd kill her, which wouldn't bother me no matter how friendly she is, but..."

"Akeya, cut that out." Sera sighed. "You don't need to prod Captain Prower and inform us all that you don't care about the life of a POW to impress us. Besides, this thing is hundreds of feet wide... surely there's more than just one corridor that leads to the quarters."

"Backtrack one... hundred lengths..." Malice said with a wince. "Camouflaged door in the... wall, switch beside it. Four lengths... corridor to your left..." She struggled visibly for a moment before Silver quieted her by very gently laying a hand over her muzzle.

"Ssh... you don't need to give us more than that, Colonel... we'll take it from there." He assured her. "Just stay still while I check the damage."

"If we're going to be staying, welding those holes shut would be a good idea." Sera glanced back at the engineer who shook his head.

"Heat and air are rushing out too fast to put joint compound over the gaps." He reported. "But it'll be a long time before we have to get worried... there's a pretty big volume of air to empty and my cuts are only a half inch wide. Our POW might need to get out soon, though, since she's not encased in a closed-circuit NBC combat suit."

"Well, we've got no other way to obtain information on this ship so we've got to see to her well-being." Sera glanced over at Silver. "Can we move her?"

"Without much trouble." He replied. "It'd be best if the corporal could holster his machinegun and carry her. Otherwise, two of us would be necessary to properly support her without causing further damage. Many of her stitches have already torn, and a developing vacuum is too dangerous of place for me to begin field surgery to re-stabilize her wounds."

Sera didn't even have to tell him to; the armored marine removed a sling from a compartment of the suit near his hip and slung the machinegun around his neck before clanking over to Silver to have Malice loaded carefully into his outstretched arms.

"Yanno, she don't look half bad from this close." He commented lightly. "Ready to scoot, boss."

"Excellent." She glanced over at the engineer. "If it's not possible to shut off your cuts in this door, sergeant, would it be possible to weld the cutout from the previous door back into place?"

"Yup." He stood with his torch and a coil of what looked like metallic rope in hand, slinging his backpack with the rest of the gear over his shoulder. "Just need to have someone..." He paused in thought. "No, no I can't, actually. Someone would have to stay on this side to tilt the door back into place and not even the corporal's suit, as well-sealed as it is, is rated for total vacuum."

"Then I guess we have to hope that the Grand Admiral can tell there's a problem and finds a way to seal this section off." Sera nodded at the armored marine. "Let's go."

Moving from the halls along the outer shell deeper into the ship was a startling contrast, like moving from the well-designed but utilitarian corridors of a warship into the extremely comfortable but narrow corridors of a luxury liner. The light fixtures were upward-facing cones, highlighting a mural painted in tan and black of various battles that ran the entire length of the ceiling. The floor was covered with a plush carpet that was apparently laid on a deep pad based on how much it gave under her weight. The walls were overlaid in faux wood and what looked like a beautiful violet-tinted marble. Clearly, the section beyond the outer skin was designed to be luxurious in keeping with the high status of officers.

"Wow..." Sera breathed as she looked around, following behind Akeya with the armored marine, with just a foot of clearance in either direction, moving carefully in the middle of their single-file line.

"You said it... not even Searcher looks like this place." Akeya agreed. "These look more like passenger cabins for nobles than the area for military officers."

"You say that... as if... the two were always... separate..." Malice said from behind. "They... are now... but weren't always..."

"Malice, please don't speak right now." Silver admonished her. "Even small movements can cause further damage right now."

"A moment..." Sera could hear Malice breathing rapidly for a few seconds. "The quarters ahead... they're large enough... well-equipped for..."

"We appreciate your help, colonel, but if you keep ignoring the doctor, I'll ask him to sedate you." Sera interrupted. "Just lay still until Captain Prower says otherwise."

Malice apparently decided to obey because she fell silent, punctuated by an occasional sharp breath when she breathed too deeply. Just as she had said, a pair of what looked like wooden doors with a very elaborate wooden frame were directly ahead of them, the corridor bending off to the right to go around them. Akeya reached the doors first and reached a hand back to stop Sera and the others in place before leveling her gun.

"Major..."

"She has every reason to lead us into an ambush, General, even if she's proven trustworthy so far." Akeya cut her off. "I would do the same, as would you."

"Fine." Sera conceded, letting the SpecOps gently push the door open with her rifle's heavy barrel, sweeping the gun back and worth as if she was swinging a submachinegun instead of a rifle taller than she was, before returning the weapon to a carrying position and disappearing into the room beyond, followed closely by Sera and Silver right behind her. If anything, the quarters put the luxury of the corridor to shame. Although everything was covered with a fine layer of dust, all the fixtures that could be gleamed with the polished shine of gold and it was generously furnished with what Sera took to be rare and valuable woods. Three elegant chandeliers hung in still repose, the lights at their tips flickering and fluttering with a soft light that perfectly imitated flames, and the carpets were a lush violet with a flowing pattern woven in glimmering golden thread.

Sera was barely aware of having stopped to admire the luxury around her but she was jolted back to reality by the armored marine brushing by her to lower Malice onto the silken sheets of a bed that looked large enough to accommodate four people. Silver was already waiting, unpacking his field surgeon pack with the hurried precision of a very orderly professional, already ready with a preloaded local anesthetic needle when Malice had settled into the cradling softness of the bed.

"Sorry to numb you, Malice, but if it hurts even a little, you might accidentally wince at the wrong moment and damage yourself." He said as he partly injected the exposed and bleeding flesh. "Lieutenants, Major... come over here. I need staff and you three are drafted."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sera asked him.

"Yes. See if, by some miracle, these quarters have access to hot water." Silver instructed, already threading one of the suture needles as he was joined by the two riflemen and Akeya. "I don't have enough antimicrobial supplies to sustain an operation beyond a quick patch job, and we have the time and location to go beyond a field job."

"Time may not be as forgiving as you'd like, Captain." Sera warned him as she gestured for the engineer to join her in the search for a water fixture.

"Be that as it may, we are in a secure position away from the fighting and Richard won't need to cut general power to accomplish his goal." Silver retorted, following his reply with a terse order of "scissors" to one of his drafted nurses.

"True enough, I suppose." Sera went into the next room, finding it empty except for a curious circular dais in the middle, and ducking into the next one. Like the bedroom, the bathing area was the lap of luxury with the violet-tinged marble and golden fixtures but Sera's gaze skipped passed all the gaudy baubles and focused on a facet with a control knob above it. Crossing her fingers, she turned it and was rewarded with a cascade of clear, cool liquid.

"Water." The engineer commented, sounding surprised. "And it seems perfectly clean."

"You'd have expected it to look or smell foul." Sera agreed, fiddling with the knob until the water began to give off steam. "Still, gift horse and mouth. It looks like we have a source of hot water for the good doctor."

"I'll give him the good news." Sera turned the water off as the engineer ducked out and looked around, mildly curious at how very similar it all looked to the facilities she was familiar with. Knobs to turn for water, an adjustable head for water to come out of in the shower, deep basins with a drain hole, and toilets adjusted for the proportions and anatomy of a bipedal with a tail. It all looked dusty and unused yet under the dust, the fixtures gleamed like new and the water faucet worked as if it had been regularly used and maintained. If she'd seen any evidence of personal effects, she'd have suspected that the quarters were being lived in but aside from the maintenance, there was no indication that anyone had stepped foot in the room for years, possibly centuries.

"This is... spooky." She commented to the empty room, shaking her head as she left the bathroom, glancing into the bare room beside it... then did a double-take. The dais was lit up and flickers of light, like flashes of laser beams, steamed up from it.

"What the hell..." She stepped into the room, half wondering if she's somehow done something to turn the dais on, when the flashes of light abruptly resolved themselves into the image of a tall viis, visibly female, dressed in a well-decorated military uniform. The image remained stationary for a moment before the eyes blinked.

"Adjutant online." It, or rather she, said in a mechanical monotone that was surprisingly feminine, otherwise unmoving and giving no sign that it could tell Sera was there. "Greetings, councilor. Your received message is still in my queue. Shall I play it for you?"

Sera stood stock still, her eyes wide as she stared at what appeared to be some sort of holographic biological-machine interface.

"Your received message is still in my queue." The hologram repeated in the same monotone. "Shall I play it for you?"

Sera remained still and staring, wondering if she should reply or not, dimly aware of being joined by Akeya and the armored marine. There was a long pause before the hologram spoke again.

"Your received message is still in my queue." Suddenly, the hologram's expression changed, its simulated lips compressing for a moment. "Are you going to stand there like witless thralls or are you going to answer the question?"

"Uh, boss... I think it..."

The hologram became abruptly more animated, lowering its head and looking directly at Akeya, irritation clear in its expression. "I am not an 'it', albiru." The simulacrum replied, the monotone disappearing into a dialect that sounded very similar to the slightly lisping way that Malice spoke. "I am a simulated, fully-adaptable construct derived from neurological imitation technology with the personality and intelligence imprint of one Marshal-General Saesrae daes Kaa. I am also, incidentally, quite irritated at your intrusion."

"Holy shit... it's an AI!" The armored marine exclaimed. "General, it's a goddamn AI."

"I can see that." Sera replied dryly. "I imagine it, or rather she, would prefer to be addressed directly."

"Words do not adequately express how impressed I am at your astute grasp of the painfully obvious." The construct sighed. "I gather that you are not the councilor lately assigned to these quarters, and could not possibly care about the message I am carrying for her."

"Oh, on the contrary... we're very interested." Sera assured her. "More in who this councilor was but the message might be interesting as well."

The construct stared at her for a moment, her expression turning curious and her eyes moving up and down Sera in a way that was mildly uncomfortable. "I used the expression 'intrusion' reflexively upon seeing you, but you are genuinely intruders into these quarters." She commented, her eyes returning to look at Sera's face, or at least the helmet of the NBC suit. "Or, more expansively, you are intruders into this ship."

"Yes." Sera admitted, seeing no point in wasting time with denials. "But intruders who are very interested in whatever you can tell them."

"I am sure." The construct compressed her lips again in an expression of distinct distaste. "But first, I must ascertain your purpose. Did you kill the councilor to gain access to these quarters?"

"We don't even know who this councilor is." Sera replied. "The only ones we've killed so far are members of this ship's military garrison."

This earned her a very elevated eyeridge. "This ship is not under military purview, albiru. It is a colonial transport vessel, carrying Councilor Saesrae daes Kaa and a scientific expedition to the Ruu system."

"Didn't you just call Saesrae daes Kaa a 'Marshal-General'?" Akeya asked.

"That was her title at the time that her neural patterns were copied as the basis for my own." The construct smiled a little. "It was... pleasing to serve and converse with my progenitor. At any rate, you have lied to me and I feel no obligation to continue conversation with you, much less supply you with information."

"Wait!" Sera exclaimed, earning another elevated eyeridge. "Who was this Councilor? To our knowledge, these quarters haven't been occupied for a very long time."

"Who... was...?" The construct's brow furrowed heavily. "You speak of her in past tense but do not know who she is?"

"The only thing of which we're certain, construct, is that we're in a prototype supership with a planet-scouring weapon presently commanded by Grand Admiral Kaarchan." Sera told her, certain that she'd at least interested the construct enough to get more information from her.

"You may refer to me as 'Shodan' and the Grand Admiral at this time is Maesraa." Shodan pursed her lips in thought. "A prototype with a planet-scouring weapon. Your word still sound like lies, but they are not so implausible that I can be certain of that. Tell me, who is the kaa of this time?"

"We've never heard him called by name." Sera admitted. "We know only that he has a child named 'Israi' and that he regards the Grand Admiral as his most trusted advisor."

Shodan blinked several times and an expression of understanding dawned. "You are not slaves of the viis."

"We are not." Sera confirmed. "We're soldiers on an exploratory expedition from our home system that has, unfortunately, turned into open battle above Viisymel."

"Which means that Councilor Saesrae daes Kaa is long dead and her bones have rotted to dust." Shodan sighed. "I am grieved to know this... the first of her kind to be heir apparent to the throne, gone into the darkness."

That brought Sera up short as it suddenly clicked for her. "Shodan, does Saesrae have a brother? A mentally-fragile one?"

Shodan's expression became sorrowful. "She does, although he is but her half-brother. The poor creature... born a son to a kaa but so ill in his mind that he will forever be a cackling moron, a curiosity and pet. I recall him distinctly, for her patterns were copied to form my own while her memory of his birth and the realization of his illness was fresh and raw."

"What if I was to tell you that he was made kaa?"

The construct froze in place, perfectly still in the way that only a machine could be. "That... is blasphemy." She finally replied, her voice growling. "You speak of a blasphemy above all others. None who is fragile of mind may ascend the throne. The law is absolute, sacrosanct, and clear. Now I know you are lying to me and it is a lie most foul. I bid you..."

"How did the kaa's courtiers react to Saesrae being declared heir?" Sera interrupted.

Shodan stopped, closed her mouth, opened it again, then stared. "They were enraged. The rill-less daughter of a concubine with the deformities of the northern peoples..." An expression of horror suddenly appeared. "They did not. They could not have."

"They did." Sera told her, finding the reaction even more informative than the words Shodan was speaking. "Right in the middle of the attempted conquest of a planet called Sargas III, in fact."

"I hardly need to know what happened; one of the benefits of having the mind and personality of an exceptional military leader and future kaa is understanding military and political implications." Shodan shook her head, looking clearly distressed. "How long ago?"

"We have no idea." Sera responded honestly. "In our terms, it happened many centuries ago but your star and main planet have a different orbital year than we do."

"Then it appears that I have been shut down for generations and that others have come to prey on the carcass of my beloved empire." She looked at them. "Why have you come to these quarters?"

"We needed a place to stick a prisoner of war so our surgeon could fix her." Akeya answered. "She got shot up real good when our big bad armored marine opened up his whoop-ass can on her squad."

Shodan blinked. "I can understand all of the words that you speak, but they make no sense to me. How does opening a can of this 'whoop-ass' cause a squad to be killed? And if your 'armored marine' is actually bad, how is it that he effectively destroyed a squad of soldiers?"

Akeya laughed at the hologram's confusion. "Sorry, dearie... it's all colloquial, yanno?"

"I do." Shodan nodded. "I take it that your string of nonsensical babbling equates to the armor-covered soldier at your side having used a weapon, with a considerably spread effect, to destroy a squad of infantry, which comprise the military garrison your 'General' spoke of earlier."

"Yeah, 'cept my babbling isn't nonsense." Akeya smirked.

"Clearly." Shodan replied with a touch of sarcasm. "So, you have come to the councilors' quarters with a casualty. Were this still the colonial ship, I could direct you to stores of medical supplies, but my knowledge of present stores is momentarily inadequate for that task. You are, however, free to make as much use of my limited facilities as you desire."

"Would your limited facilities include data of a militarily-useful nature?" Sera asked hopefully.

"They would." Shodan replied. "But only if I am talking to a face instead of a breathing apparatus. Do not fear... there is no way of which I am aware to poison the air or otherwise harm you while you're within these quarters. Naturally, there may be ways to do so via systems of which I remain unaware, but I have no intention of bringing you harm."

"Any reason why not?" Akeya inquired suspiciously.

"I lack the ability." Shodan shrugged. "I am a machine with the functional limitations of a machine despite having an artificial intellect to work within those functional limitations. My personality, memories, and intellectual characteristics are merely a copy of those which were possessed by an exceptional individual many hundreds of years prior. Were I possessed of complete freedom, I would devise some means to evict you from my area of control, if only on the principle of the thing. That said, you are not wholly unpleasant."

"Gee, thanks." Sera looked the holographic AI over. "For a viis noble of hundreds of years ago, you don't strike me as particularly disdainful towards us."

"I am not a viis noble of hundreds of years ago. I am an artificially-intelligent computer over which the personality, memories, and intellectual..."

"Shodan, stop a moment and consider what you're saying." Sera smiled a little. "You sound like Saesrae, have the memories of Saesrae, probably look like Saesrae, think like Saesrae, and have the personality characteristics of Saesrae. Other than the fact that you have no biological body, how are you not Saesrae?"

The construct blinked in surprise and tilted her head thoughtfully. "You... are correct." She admitted. "To someone who personally knew Saesrae, interacting with me would be extraordinarily similar to interacting with Saesrae herself. I had not considered that possibility."

"So I repeat: for a viis noble of hundreds of years ago, you don't strike me as particularly disdainful towards us."

"I merely manifest the characteristics of the mind that was copied to make me." Shodan suddenly smiled in a very pleasant fashion. "In life, I disdained the equatorial viis for their capricious and foolish traditions but slaves and merchants were highly useful, and showed a tendency to be motivated towards greater helpfulness if treated respectfully."

"So... calculated kindness?"

"It's the only kind a daughter of a kaa can afford." Shodan sighed. "I think that, in the end, Saesrae would have preferred that she had been destined to become Grand Admiral and fight wars in her own way. Perhaps Sargas-III would have turned out better."

Sera's brow furrowed. "I thought you would be unaware of...?"

"Everyone who was alive then remembers the end of the war with the aaroun." Shodan interrupted, her features full of regret. "It was not a happy time, not in the way that other victories were. Slaves didn't come as a steady but gradual stream but as a flood of a confused, enraged, and terrified species that was nothing like the Kelth, the Myal, the Zhrelli, even the toth. A strong, proud, warrior people was unleashed in the very city of the kaa and blood flowed like rivers. Sargas-III was not the new jewel of the Empire but a smoking warning. We did not become rich but instead, feared. I knew then that Saesrae had not become kaa but I never knew what became of her until now and... and now I can see why all of that horror engulfed us. The kaa was mad, insane, so fragile as to be incapable of being the bastion of the viis... and the viis ceased to be great because they did not have a kaa. At least, that is how I remember the event although..." She frowned. "...I'm unsure of how I remember all of this since I didn't experience it myself, being confined to this portion of the ship by my programming limitations."

"Perhaps someone did some work on your processing core without you being aware of it?" Sera suggested. It had been known to happen; Sera had even been called on once to help a computer specialist comb through a very distressed BSY-2K's systems and find the program that made the voice of a very playful female AI sound like a deep basso male. It turned out that it was the latest broadside in a prank war between the AI and another computer specialist, but SAFC had taken it extremely seriously given what the BSY-2Ks knew and were able to do. Everything had turned out fine-mostly because the AI herself insisted that a court-martial over a prank was stupid-but it had just highlighted the primary weakness of the widespread use of the highly competent AIs.

"It would have to be a very prominent someone." Shodan replied. "Most generals are barred from the core area. But at least whoever this theoretical someone may have been, they had no apparent malevolent purpose. Speaking of malevolent purposes, what is your purpose on this vessel?"

"To seize it." Sera told the AI. "But mainly, to capture or neutralize the Grand Admiral. He appears to be the linchpin of the entire viis imperial military and it would give us a substantial advantage if he were taken off the board."

Shodan grinned toothily then tilted back her head and laughed. Sera watched, feeling somewhat discomfited by someone who probably knew more than her laughing at their objectives, until Shodan calmed down after a good long laugh at her expense.

"Mmm... the linchpin of the military..." She shook her head. "I am loathe to tell you this, General, but no one person is the linchpin of so vast a military. He oversees broad objectives and gives orders but the military would not cease functioning without a grand admiral. The Viis Empire would immediately begin to wither without a kaa, and so it has, but the Imperial Fleet and Imperial Army cannot be paralyzed just because you capture or kill a single commander within."

"We don't hope to paralyze the viis military by capturing the Grand Admiral, Shodan." Sera told her. "We plan to paralyze the viis military by capturing this Grand Admiral. It is not his position, although that is a factor, but his competence."

Shodan's brow immediately furrowed and then she sighed and hung her head. "It is truly that bad, is it?"

"We believe so." Sera had a momentary urge to pat the hologram on the back although she realized that'd be fruitless. "He's the only viis we've encountered, before our prisoner, who was both civil and able. Granted, this may be because he's the only viis we've encountered from the northern peoples, but we've been forced to plan our strategy assuming that the Grand Admiral has plans in place to thwart us."

"We've also learned that the man has the best poker face in the entire galaxy." Silver piped up. "Just today, we discovered that he has been aware of who we are, what we are, and where we come from for a substantial length of time but never tipped his hand to us." He looked over at Sera. "The surgery was successful but I am very hesitant to just leave her here and hope no complications develop. The bullet wounds went deeper than I had initially appreciated, and the armor fragments had spread out in the depths of the wounds. I am confident that I extracted them all and that she'll recover with time and bed rest, but I am deeply uncomfortable abandoning a patient before I have secured sustained medical care for them."

"You are... a physician." Shodan commented, smiling broadly. "Not merely a medical soldier but an actual physician."

"Well, I was..."

"And you still are." Shodan continued to smile warmly at him. "It is a pleasure; I fondly recall the many physicians who served honorably in the Army for the glory of our kaa."

Silver blinked once and looked at Sera. "Is this a real person, General?"

"No, an AI with the memories and personality of a real person." Sera frowned. "So what do you suggest we do with Malice? Carrying her around may endanger her and will certainly burden us, but executing a prisoner of war or abandoning her to the whims of fate? I couldn't do that without urgent extenuating circumstances."

"I could care for her." Shodan offered.

All four of them, the armored marine and Akeya included, turning and looked at the AI with varying degrees of skepticism and surprise.

"But you're a hologram." Silver finally pointed out. "And you seem confined to that projection array. I'm not sure how you'd be able to monitor and care for a patient in the next room."

"Besides that, why the hell would you offer to help us succeed in our mission?" Akeya added.

"I would help you succeed because the Viis Empire you have described is not mine and not the Empire that my father would have left me." Shodan replied. "If you are truthful, if the Empire has truly rotted so much that a single military officer is the pivot upon which all things turn, then I, the most meager and limited of its servants, am sworn to do what will best help it. If I can help it by aiding its enemies, then I shall."

"But you can't aid its enemies, at least not in this way." Silver insisted.

Shodan grinned widely. "You think that I am a mere illusion, a projection of light and sound that has no direct power over you? Were this so, my existence would be pointless because I could do little more than offer empty advice. No, I am able to do much more than speak and look pretty."

"Such as...?"

"Take full advantage of a very unusual technical achievement of viis scientists and engineers. Observe." Shodan reached her hand out towards them and as it crossed the invisible circle that constituted the outer rim of the projection pad she stood on, the blue tint and grainy appearance disappeared as if wiped away and the hand assumed the texture and color of a biological limb. As they all watched in amazement, placed a claw against Silver's face mask and then tapped lightly on it, the sound reverberating through the suddenly-silent room.

Sera was the first one to break the silence, voicing the question that was on everyone's mind. "What sort of technology is that?"

Shodan smiled, drawing her hand back into the field and having it revert to its normal appearance. "For lack of a better term, a 'painting field.' By some means of which I am unaware, it converts my holographic form to a biological one according to the genetic and physical blueprint it contains of Saesrae daes Kaa. I retain my programming as a type of neurological compulsion, however, so I may only travel within the confines of the luxury quarters."

"A technology that converts a computer program into a living being." Silver looked as awed as he sounded. "I'd have to ask Doctor Campbell how this is even possible. The Viis Empire at its peak must have been..."

"...a creature of such majesty and power as to defy your ability to understand." Shodan finished sadly. "And now, all gone to decay and rot. I am almost relieved that my true self did not live to see this time."

"If she had, perhaps this time would be very different." Sera said diplomatically. "So you're willing to care for our prisoner so we can proceed to the bridge?"

"I am." Shodan confirmed with a smile. "Be warned, however: should more of my true self's personality come out, as is fairly common when a simulated intelligence is 'painted in', you may find me somewhat more abrupt than I already am."

"You mean, quick to call me a liar and threaten to stop talking to me?" Sera inquired dryly.

Shodan grinned. "Or perhaps you'll find her an improvement."

The hologram then stepped forward and into the "painting field," the incredible technology replacing her holographic form with one of true flesh and blood. Saesrae daes Kaa, at least at the time that her mind was copied into Shodan, was young-looking although Sera wasn't sure why she thought this. The pebbling of her scales was much finer than Malice's and the scales on her face displayed a vivid tiger-striping pattern that looked to be entirely natural as opposed to the faint makeup pattern that caused Malice's allergic scars. She had the lines and gait of a stalking predator, her walk naturally sinuous and swaying... and, as Sera thought about it a moment, noiseless. Her uniform was black with a large silver marking on each shoulder that looked like a long-armed asterisk but was otherwise bare of any awards or other markings. It was also, based on the slightly stiff way it conformed to Saesrae's shape, armored with some sort of Kevlar-like fiber.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Shodan looked proud. "In her time, Saesrae was regarded as famously beautiful as well as a great war leader. I imagine that it's not as apparent to those of a different species, however. Now, if you'll show me to your patient, physician, and instruct me on how I can help her, you can be about your business."

"You mentioned being willing to give us militarily-relevant information if you could speak face-to-face." Sera said as she followed Shodan and Silver out of the projector room.

"And so I shall." Shodan replied curtly, not looking back. "But you will forgive me if I wish to see to the continued well-being of my own before I help a stranger. As much as you are not unpleasant and as willing as I am to aid you to the uttermost, you are not my sister in arms. Malice, however, is."

Sera couldn't help but grin a little; this mild curtness was, she suspected, a truer reflection of Saesrae's mannerisms than Shodan had previously shown, which tracked with her warning that being 'painted in' tended to make her true self's personality come out more. She stood politely by while Silver explained what had happened with Malice and how to deal with potential complications, at least until they had a chance to circle back.

"I am familiar with many of the complications of fragmentary penetration injuries, physician." She pointed out. "It may be a different matter in the recent Viis Empire but in my own time, a general was a combat veteran, not merely a commander. I was at the side of many friends and comrades as the healers struggled to save them, and saw the many ways in which the injuries occurred and how the healers treated them."

"See more battlefield injuries than any bonesaw-flourishing trauma doctor, have you?" Silver smiled.

"Yes." She replied simply. "Although I am unfamiliar with a bonesaw, I believe it is accurate to say that my experience with battlefield wounds likely exceeds your own. Your work on Malice's wounds evidences considerable skill and were you under my command, I would have claimed you as my personal physician, but my breadth of experience is likely in excess of yours." She paused, seeming to think over her own words. "But my point is that I need not have Malice's wounds explained to me in excessive detail, not that I could do your job with greater ability than you can."

"I knew what you were trying to say, Shodan." Silver replied genially. "Do you know if there're any caches of medical supplies in just these cabins? Perhaps even this one?"

Shodan considered this. "I do, although I regard it as highly likely that anything valuable was cleared out some time ago. If you go down the hall two doors and enter, you should find a considerable amount of medical supplies in a cabinet."

Silver thanked her and grabbed one of the rifle soldiers as he left, not-so-subtly unstrapping his "Tommy" gun as he went. Shodan watched him go before turning to Sera. "Now, General... my sister in arms attended and your physician gone on an errand, we seem to have a moment available. What are your specific information needs?"