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SAFES Liaison's Log, Science Vessel Searcher , September 20th, 2555:

And so the mask slips. For months now, we have had one of these animals prowling the halls of our fleet, sneering at us and spitting upon us with impunity and receiving no worse punishment than Akeya beating him within an inch of his misbegotten life. Yet... it is hard to hate now that I have been brought face-to-face with the foe whose downfall and doom I helped to facilitate. It's partly due to bloodline; ever since werewolves got squished by the Third World War and lost their ability to start wars just for something to do with their long lives, Devoncroix has pretty much sat around weeping and wringing their hands over the good old days. After a couple odd centuries of purges and getting punched in the face by Lady Justice, they're really quite pathetic so killing them is as fun as kicking sick puppies. Yes, I realize that I'm leaving the science behind and ditching my professorial tone for a moment but there's nothing objective about the loops. Certainly no objectivity around them for me; with the help of Devoncroix' hand-wringing brigade, the other side of the coin has been butchering innocent people for years. I suppose Devoncroix is complicit in all of this but I've come to think they really have no idea what to do other than meekly obey their bullies-in-law. Well, at least until the latest generation when one of the girls grabbed the reigns of power and started running plays on Andronov. Got a kid brother named Matthias who seems to have his sister's good sense; when Akeya showed up with a security detail ready to break his face, he surrendered. Sang like a canary, bawled his eyes out, and screamed a little at Akeya-which I think really made her day.

Damn me for thinking this but I really wish we'd have gotten our hands on an Andronov. He would be insane, perhaps suicidal, but oh, we could have made him suffer. Devoncroix is harmful but Andronov? They are monsters, blood-maddened remorseless fiends that hunger for nothing less than extermination of all but their own species-and that was before the Governance demanded their wholesale slaughter by any means necessary. But like the Empire of Japan in ages long passed, they do not seem to understand the wrath they have unleashed and unlike the Japanese, they don't have an Isoroku Yammamoto to state the obvious. Strangely enough, it would seem that the reconstituted Devoncroix shares our feelings about Andronov; one of the guards tells me that Matthias had the most ghastly grin of pleasure on his face when he spoke of how the real Colonel William C. Jenkins made Andronov pay dearly for his life. It's very possible that Admiral Williams made the wisest possible choice in regards to Matthias Devoncroix' fate; I've certainly come to trust her judgment.

The mission to survey the Imperial Fleet had a very interesting outcome, to say the least. I've been working closely with ATLAS and Archimedes in analyzing the files we were given by Miyakaal as well as going over the recordings we made while interviewing her fellow researchers and we collectively discovered records indicating the existence of gargantuan fleet command ships. We learned that the primary Imperial Fleet commanded by the Grand Admiral himself had one of these command ships called "Majesty" (the closest translation of its name in written viis) but I never dreamed that they'd find a way to move it from wherever it was stationed to the blockade around Viisymel. I had meant to warn the Admiral of it but I didn't think the information was urgent. It being on hand will greatly complicate matters but it would appear that ATLAS just got some good news that will turn things around. The situation, it would appear, is bound to become extremely interesting extremely fast.

_ Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES _

By the time they reached the high-security brig of the Marauder, Jenkins had already been clapped in irons; literally, in his case, because when they came upon him, he had been bolted into a chair which appeared to have been attached to the floor with visibly large bolts. Shadow just stared; Sera looked over at one of the security officer who shrugged.

"The computer tells us to bolt the werewolf into a chair, we bolt him in." He said by way of explanation.

"I would have nailed him to it myself." Akeya commented dispassionately, having taken a position against the wall with her ever-present rifle at her side. "Much more efficient: you get to hurt him and restrain him at the same time. Everyone wins."

"Major, believe me when I say I know where you're coming from." Shadow replied, still looking at Jenkins who had yet to acknowledge their presence. "But getting information is like weeding a garden: you only use a tool when the weeds are hard to get at."

"I do not see why it would come to that, Admiral." Jenkins had turned his head to look directly at Shadow, showing that he could hear them just fine. The characteristic sneer was gone and where his voice had always had a touch of a smarmy accent, his accent was more cultured and Sera had the feeling that they were hearing what his normal speaking voice sounded like. His features were placid, his demeanor strangely unruffled considering he was behind heavy bars and bolted into a chair that made free movement all but impossible. "I also do not see any purpose behind the chair arrangement other than your amusement. Even a fit Andronov in an adrenaline rage could not reach you from behind electrified six-inch supersaturated titanium-steel bars... and I do believe their strength in that state is roughly comparable to an enraged grizzly bear."

"Frankly, 'Jenkins', I would be amused if your arms were being removed from your body slice by slice." Shadow told him. "But that wouldn't be productive."

"Certainly not. I'd have trouble talking if I was dead." He regarded her. "Although that is certainly my fate. After all, espionage is a capital offense and beyond that, I am an evil monster. What was it that charming man said... you will destroy us, annihilate us, and exterminate us? That one by one we will fall?"

"Yes." Shadow deadpanned. "I can't imagine why you'd remember Representative Ferris' speech but that's not really germane. Let's start with your real name."

"You'd be surprised how a vow of genocide sticks in your head, Admiral." 'Jenkins' retorted dryly. "My name is Matthias Devoncroix."

"So one of the wimpy ones." Akeya commented. "I thought you were easier to beat up than a loop should be."

Matthias made a point of ignoring her as Shadow continued on as if Akeya hadn't said anything. "I'm certain I know the answer to this question but what became of the real William C. Jenkins."

"He is dead." Matthias replied shortly.

"I thought as..."

"However, that does not do the situation justice." He interrupted, suddenly smiling fiercely. "He is dead surrounded on all sides by the bodies of his enemies. He is dead sopping in the blood of Andronov. He is dead having taken so many with him that it hurt them more to kill him than to leave him be. He is dead, Admiral, gloriously dead."

Akeya growled. "I can't believe you're actually spitting the death of a better man than you'll ever..."

"Major, be quiet." Shadow cut her off and stared hard at Devoncroix. "You seem... pleased by the death of the man you impersonated."

"I am." He replied, a fierce light of pleasure burning in his blue eyes. "His death is the happiest news that has come to my ears in years. Not because he is dead... he did such a service to your people and mine that if the universe was just, Admiral, he would be alive. His death is such a pleasure to me because in his death, he bled those Andronov animals white."

Shadow looked back at Sera, clearly taken aback. "You take pleasure in the death of your own..."

"They are not my kind!" Matthias snarled. "I am not Andronov! I may be a monster to you, Admiral, and to your government and your military but I am not an... an... animal."

"Right." Akeya's tone was heavily laced with sarcasm. "You prefer to manage the cattle while they just want to slaughter. Kill with kindness or kill with brutality, you're still as much a monster."

"Major, I was a pup when Andronov attacked Poplar Village." He glared at her. "I am no more responsible for what they did than Sergeant Morris would be if his distant cousin was a serial killer. Which he is not, by the way, but I hope the point is not lost on you."

"We are getting away from the point of the discussion." Shadow gave Akeya a look that served to tell her to be quiet before looking back at the lupus garou in the chair. "What is your assignment?"

"To spy on the operations of the command ship of one Admiral Myna Katherine Williams during the course of her expeditionary mission to an unknown star system, tentatively classified one dash five-eight-eight-three and later rectified as 'Vii'." He replied, returning to his placid expression. "I was to keep records of my observations and upon said command ship returning to the Governance upon completion of the mission, was to deliver my observations to a designated 'dead drop' for retrieval in an unknown fashion at an unknown time by an unknown party who was, presumably, to deliver it a representative of Andronov."

"Eyes only?" Sera inquired.

"Well... I was also instructed to attempt to kill the Admiral if opportunity presented itself but it is such an absurd demand that it's hardly worth mentioning." He snorted. "Typical Andronov thinking... presuming that you can magically kill someone to whom you can gain physical proximity. Tell me Admiral... how many pieces of my head do you think would remain after you emptied your sidearm into my face?"

"I suppose that's your way of saying that you thought the goal impractical." Shadow observed.

"Oh, no, Admiral... it's perfectly practical to presume that a young adult civilian, no matter his physical prowess, could kill a trained soldier with his bare hands." Matthias replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Why, I'm sure that we could defeat the entire SAF with shambling drunks."

"Yes would have served perfectly well, Mr. Devoncroix." Shadow sounded distinctly annoyed.

"Of course, Admiral, but it would hardly have conveyed the sheer contempt with which I regard the idea that I could kill you unarmed. I can only hit the broad side of a barn from a foot away on a good day with a firearm and am in constant danger of cutting myself shaving with an electric razor." He sighed. "As Major Obsydien so aptly observed, I am exceedingly... wimpy."

"If nothing else, you're one hell of a spy." Sera observed. "No faith in your cause, no faith in your abilities, and you've probably spent more time writing whiny entries bemoaning your fate than you have actual observations about the Admiral."

"On the contrary... I'm the best spy ever." He smiled with a certain humor. "I spend three months parading around with a neon sign saying 'I am a werewolf, kill me' and your SpecOps asset finally puts two and two together a few days ago. The real-life James Bond, sadly bereft of a scantily-clad sex object."

"You seriously underestimate how truly insufferable a human can be if they put their minds to it." Shadow told him although Sera spotted the embarrassed twitch of an ear. "I'm just surprised you don't stink of blood."

"Detective Reed's unfortunate phrasing aside, some are born without the marker scent." He shrugged, at least as much as his restraints would allow. "I happen to be one, an unexpectedly happy coincidence in a world with the Edict hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles. There was the unfortunate side effect, however, of putting me in the line of fire."

Shadow's brow furrowed. "Some? How many?"

"Oh, don't worry, Admiral... it's like the chance of being eaten by a shark. You'll have no trouble sniffing out your average lupus garou so you can kill him." He got a thoughtful look on his face. "Speaking of such, I hear that drawing and quartering is back in vogue. Or was that the guillotine? I just have such trouble keeping track of the numerous means by which the Governance intends to commit genocide."

"For a spy the gallows is traditional." Shadow told him, registering no reaction to his comment about genocide. "For others, a firing squad seems appropriate."

"Especially when I get to do the firing." Akeya added, leering at Matthias.

"Once again, please be quiet Major." Shadow closed her eyes a moment. "How did a Devoncroix who apparently despises Andronov come to be an agent of Andronov?"

"I am extremely loyal to my alpha, Admiral." His smile was more... happy than humorous, a more nostalgic smile than a pleased one. "Who, I might add, happens to be my older sister. You see, Admiral, the philosophy of Devoncroix in these unfortunate times is to remain unseen and unheard and allow your murderous rage against lupus garou in general to destroy Andronov. The Edict will not last forever whereas those who remain fastidiously hidden, growing their numbers and looking towards a day when the rage has been exhausted by time, can last forever, or at least as close to forever as we can get. It behooves Devoncroix, therefore, to spy upon Andronov and expose them wherever we can. They have no way of telling the difference between one of their own kind and one of our familial bloodline, after all. I am what you might call a double-agent, doing the will of Andronov while spying upon them."

"That explains a lot." Shadow nodded. "Such as your placid acceptance of your fate. I suppose you fully expected to be exposed and die much earlier in the expedition."

"Both I and Marie expected that I would be identified and executed before I even stepped aboard the shuttle taking me to space station Arid." He confirmed. "I expected that when you dragged me in front of a communications screen conference with SAFC, they would immediately identify the inconsistencies between my persona and that of the real William C. Jenkins. I then expected that SpecOps Gunslinger would identify me when she first struck me in the mess hall. I suppose I can credit it to incredible good fortune."

"You can credit it to Gunslinger wanting to see what you would do." Akeya said. "To just slip a noose around every loop neck we stumble across would be wasteful. So long as you were no threat to others or the success of the expedition, you were to remain alive and well. Taking notes on the Admiral, especially suppositions about her relationship with General Wilson, made you a threat to the success of the expedition. Such notes, in the hands of SAFC, would remove one or possibly two components critical to success."

Matthias stared at her a moment and then chuckled, shaking his head minutely. "Out of all the notes I wrote, of all the observations I made, of all the potentially damaging material I could have gotten to Andronov, you were prepared to kill me for noting that Admiral Williams and General Wilson seemed to have a loving long-term relationship. Considering that most people assume the scuttlebutt to be true, the irony is painful."

"So you actually did take some notes?" Shadow inquired.

"Not just some, Admiral." He replied. "I did not desire to succeed for Andronov but a ream of notes about the operations aboard a SAFN ship, and especially one under the administration of the storied Admiral Myna Williams and the oldest and most advanced BSY Core in the fleet, would have greatly helped my sister."

"How so?"

"We naturally know very little about wolvens, Admiral." Matthias smiled slightly. "We know even less about SAF and almost nothing about the naval branch since it's all but impossible to infiltrate, given our species' marker scent. Oh, stealing the original genotype records, back before there was a true realization that the lupus garou even existed, was easy enough but your genetic design is not the sum total of your existence. The universe has a sense of humor, it would seem, so I took full advantage of my unexpected three months to write all that I saw about wolvens, about draccians, about the SAF and the navy. And all for naught because I could never tell you where to find my sister and I do not see any reason for you to preserve my notes."

"What if we did see to it that they were delivered to your sister?" Shadow asked him.

He smiled sadly. "I could not ask you to do that, Admiral. It would be nothing more than a façade, not because I doubt your honesty but because SpecOps would take advantage of you and murder my sister and my kin." He looked over at Akeya. "They have done it before. They will do it again. So long as there is the Edict, they are the monster you have made in a vain attempt to slay another monster."

"You... dare to call me a monster...?" Akeya growled, coming out of her casual slouch against the wall. "You, whose kind murdered a thousand helpless people? You, whose kind attempted to murder an entire species, who employed hitmen to assassinate pups? You, whose kind has pulled the strings of or actually been every last horrible monster from known history? You would call me a monster?"

"Two can play this game, Major?" He stared hard at her. "None of you are safe, Major?"

Akeya's angry expression turned to one of surprise and Matthias closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair. "You're so proud, Major. Tell them all about that little... operation of yours. Brag about it to them, tell them all how you protected them. I'd be so pleased to hear your perspective, Akeya Obsydien."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Akeya finally said.

"Of course you do, Major." He contradicted her calmly. "Taunting is very much your style."

"Taunting the living with their impending demise. Not taunting the living with the demise of others." She corrected him in a wooden fashion. "I do not know that quotation."

"You're a bad liar, Major." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Excessive firepower is very much..."

"I did not say that!" Akeya snarled. "Those are not my words."

"Of course they're your words, Major." He came forward in the chair as much as the restraints would permit, his eyes suddenly burning with intensity. "You may not have written them but they're the creed of your perverted kind. Supersoldiers, they call you. How appropriate that they should commonly use the German phrasing. They're all about making the ubermensch. They're all about destroying the untermensch by any means necessary... pups, pregnant females, the elderly, the sick, the helpless, whatever prey will sate them. You even wear the skull on your shoulder and go about in black and red. It is the perfect symbol for your Ubersoldat. You should start using the two lightning bolts, just to get the point across."

"Mr. Devoncroix..."

"I'm not done with your pet, Admiral." He growled at her... actually growled at her, his irises becoming green-gold. "You slaughtered those three hundred twenty three souls as surely as if you had knelt them in front of a ditch and machine-gunnned them! As surely as if you packed them into cattle cars and sent them to the camps! If you could have, you would have multiplied them by a hundred, by a thousand, by a million, just to sate your bloodlust! You pretend my kind are the monsters, Major, but above your head is that damnable phrase 'Arbeit macht frei'! Y_ou are no different!_"

"Mister Devoncroix!"

"My parents never hurt a soul and you burned them and shot the ones that tried to flee!" Matthias Devoncroix' eyes filled with tears. "You are no different than those evil beasts! No different than the damned Black Brotherhood, you MONSTER!"

With that, he bowed his head and started sobbing. Sera was stunned beyond words and as Shadow turned to look at her, she saw the same shock registering on her face. Both of them then looked at Akeya who stood there looking stonily down at the sobbing spy, her scarily blue eyes devoid of pity and her expression utterly void of emotion. She didn't seem to notice them, her eyes fixed on Matthias. Finally, she walked over to the bars of the cell and leaned in.

"Welcome to the world you and the perverted abomination that is your entire species has made." She replied coldly. "Drink deeply of your bitter cup, Devoncroix. Your ancestors sowed these evil seeds by the evil deeds of thousands of years. Before anyone imagined a dragon and long before my species was conceived of, you were using humanity as your playthings." She lowered her voice to a harsh but audible whisper, baring her teeth in a malevolent smile. "Your people made me with your own... two... hands."

She straightened up and, not looking at either Shadow or Sera, strode out of the brig and out of sight. They watched her go and, as one, looked at one another, expressions frozen in shock. Silence reigned for several minutes until Matthias Devoncroix finally straightened up and looked at them, his expression sad but resigned.

"I am sorry, Admiral." He said quietly. "My outburst was undignified and inappropriate."

"I will begrudge no one their right to rant at the cruelty of the world, Mr. Devoncroix." Shadow replied quietly. "However genuine your words may be, though, I'm afraid your personal tragedy cannot affect what will come."

"I am going to die, Admiral." He deadpanned. "I have known it since I stepped aboard. I am prepared to die because I feel I have done all I could on behalf of my sister and my kin."

"You are not going to die, Matthias Devoncroix." Shadow told him, her voice remaining quiet and even. "At least, you will not die for a very long time. You are going to help Los Alamos determine a sure test for your species. As you said, Andronov cannot smell your family on you and this means that if we can find a Devoncroix, we can find an Andronov."

"You will experiment on me then?"

Shadow did not respond for a moment before turning to one of the guards. "Shut off the electricity and open the brig."

"But Admiral..."

"Shadow..."

"Open it now." Shadow cut them off, gently but with an undertone of authority. "Faith, Sera."

The guard gave Sera a helpless look before he went over to a panel and did as she instructed, the thick bars of the cell raising out of the way as Shadow turned and talked over, ducking inside and putting herself within a mere foot of the surprised Matthias. Shadow bent down to make their eyes level and spoke.

"Matthias, we are not you, we are not SpecOps, and we are not viis." She told him. "You will help us in this because even if every evil Akeya laid at the feet of your ancestors is true, the Governance will destroy those who will kill its innocents. It will forget those who have no ill intent. If you are genuine, Matthias Devoncroix, you will deliver your notes to your sister. After all... you have done nothing more than impersonate an officer and if I cannot smell a werewolf, you must not be a werewolf."

The man leaned back in his chair, his face white, staring in abject shock. Shadow smiles slightly at his reaction before straightening up and walking out of the cell. As she exited the threshold, she nodded to the guard who replaced the bars and turned the power back on. "Guard, see to it that the prisoner is fed, watered, and able to rest comfortably." She instructed. "Take every precaution but I see no need to keep him confined to a chair for the length of our mission."

"Y... y... yes Admiral." He stammered as she walked passed, starting out of the brig area. After a moment, Sera was able to force her legs to move and started after her friend.

"Shadow... just what the hell was that?" She demanded when they were clear. "Did you just promise a werewolf that we would not kill him as the Edict requires? That we're just going to let him go if he cooperates? Let him carry off any notes he's made?"

"Love, you saw what I saw, did you not?" Shadow inquired, coming to a stop and looking steadily at her.

"A werewolf spy bawling about retaliation visited upon his family by SpecOps? Yes, I saw that." Sera replied fiercely. "So what?"

Shadow looked away for a moment, thoughtful, before looking back. "Sera, that creature is not the monsters that murdered children in Poplar Village. He is the sad pathetic remnant of a dying species that is divided between rabid beasts gone insane in bloodlust and a dwindling old guard who has been crushed to their knees such that they are terrified of the yawning specter of extermination. My decision to retaliate with the most terrible and evil of all weapons has broken them and Akeya and her kindred, in their own evil and remorseless way, have broken them. I do not know what SpecOps did and I genuinely fear knowing but Matthias Devoncroix' wounds are so deep that killing him would be pointless and evil."

Sera just stared at her friend. "How can you... after that day... after everything... what they did...?"

Shadow turned and gathered the stunned Sera into her arms, leaning close to whisper into her ear. "Because unlike Andronov and their Black Brotherhood, my love, neither you nor I am a monster." She murmured, her tone almost tender in its gentleness. "And unlike the SpecOps, we cannot do evil to fight evil."

"You are better than I am Shadow." Sera replied, relaxing into the embrace, hugging the soft warm body of her lover against her.

"No, love." Shadow corrected her. "I'm just the same. I have not forgiven and I will not forget. And I know that if our places were switched and you had the option of showing mercy, you would."

"For anyone else, maybe." Sera reluctantly slipped out of the embrace. "I don't think I could be merciful to one of them. Their crime is too great, their evil too complete. I might eschew being cruel but if only a tiny portion of what I've heard about them and their history is true, I could not bring myself to be compassionate."

"You could say that about humans as well, Sera." Shadow reminded her with a smile.

Sera chuckled. "No, I couldn't." She replied. "Humanity is far too perfect as a whole. They are monsters and angels, cruel and merciful, stupid and brilliant, pragmatic and idealistic, ignorant and enlightened, niggardly and charitable, ugly and handsome. As a species, imperfect, they stumble into being good almost without meaning it."

"And is the Devoncroix of today, under this Marie, so very different?"

"Like night and day." Both turned to find that Akeya was once again leaning against a wall near them, cool but without the twisted schadenfreude she'd displayed in the face of Matthias' despaired wailing. "A creature desperately trying to supply their needs is a beast no matter their good nature; supplying that creature with every need and luxury reveals what they really are. The natural state of a human is goodness or at least harmlessness because if you surround a man with all the luxuries he might desire, he will be inert, doing neither good nor evil. The natural state of a loop is malice for having gathered all the luxuries they could wish and able to indulge any whim to sate whatever hunger came along, they went out and used humanity as their playthings."

"You're a bit young to be so pessimistic, Major. Shadow observed with a half-smile.

"It's not pessimism, Admiral." Akeya corrected her. "Whatever the virtues of Matthias Devoncroix and his sister, even Devoncroix cannot help but play with humanity. It's in their nature, like a cat with a mouse, and they cannot escape it."

"You're awfully certain of that."

"I know it for a fact because of facts in my possession that are not in yours." Akeya shrugged. "Not because they're classified or none of your business, mind, but as the SpecOps asset, they're facts that are placed in my hands first."

"So what do the facts you have recommend to you, Major?" Shadow asked. "What do you think should be done with Mr. Devoncroix, given what you know that I do not?"

"I think that my commanding officer is extremely intelligent and that whatever decision she makes won't be altered by the facts in my possession." Akeya grinned. "Even if she got all soft and all but gave the jackass milk and cookies. Sorry, Admiral, but no matter how polite he is now, you don't spend months acting the way he did unless it comes easily. It's like Director Mengele said in the lab... he doesn't have the luxury of smarting off now that he has a gun to his head. Speaking of Mengele, how is our sweet little mad scientist?"

"Fitting his head around the idea that we aren't going to cook him and eat him." Shadow chuckled. Sera couldn't help but smile; in between the various critical matters, the military intelligence people contingent from 12th Corp had reported on the progress of their work with the various prisoners and freed slaves. While a formal report was upcoming, they indicated that their questions had yielded ample amounts of useful information ranging from the general structure of viis engineering to the multilayered nature of viis aristocratic society. The scientific director that Akeya had irreverently nicknamed "Mengele" (and who staunchly refused to tell anyone his given name) and the other scientists from the laboratory they'd raided had been released from confinement once it was determined that they were no threat and had nothing else to offer and were given limited access to the Executor where they were being kept. Being treated without malice or cruelty had so taken them aback that even the director had begun to drop his haughty way of talking to others-although he was still openly contemptuous towards any of the slaves they'd rescued, something that was regrettable but Sera figured would simply take time to correct. It was clear that even with their perverted methods and lack of what a Governance scientist would recognize as ethical scruples, they were on the upper end of the intelligence spectrum and thus adapted quickly to technological designs they were unfamiliar with. Despite no apparent experience with an artificial intelligence, they recognized what ATLAS was immediately which seemed to have impressed Dr. Campbell.

"He's too stringy. Otherwise, I'd consider it." Akeya grinned in a somewhat grisly fashion. "Yet somehow, I just can't hate him like I do the loops."

"Tough to hate the delusional." Sera shrugged. "I still think he's more creepy than monstrous... I just can't forget that insane light in his eye when he realized that wolvens resemble aaroun. Thought he'd pull out a scalpel and hypodermic right there."

"Next chance we get, they're off to Los Alamos anyway." Shadow looked back towards the brig where Devoncroix was confined. "Best place for sorts we can't imprison, haven't committed anything like a crime, and who stopped being a threat when we took their lab rats away."

"Speaking of Los Alamos, are you really under the illusion that you can make good on your word, Admiral?" Akeya inquired. "If SAFC doesn't ignore you, SAFES will and if they don't, the USC will and if not them, I imagine that Senator Ivanovich wants to nail Matthias Devoncrox' head to his wall, literally in his case. It doesn't matter if he's harmless; he's a werewolf and the Governance has vowed to destroy the werewolf species down to the last mewling cub. They are visibly evil in the short term, a threat to the future, and the perpetual sword of Damocles to the entirety of our people. I'd think you of all people would recognize that."

"Why would I recognize that more than anyone else, Major?" Shadow asked her, her voice deceptively soft. "Why do you think that I am especially qualified to recognize that exterminating a species is a positive good?"

The question caught Akeya visibly flat-footed and she blinked several times before looking askance at Shadow. "Because... of your involvement with Poplar Village... of course." She replied, her voice uncertain and her brow furrowed.

"How, Major?" Shadow inquired. "As I recall, with limited resources and an especially brave counterpart on the ground, I was involved with turning a wholesale slaughter of an entire city into a desperation assault on a hospital. The guilt of imperfection ate at me in ways you are not equipped to understand but the Governance appointed me their agent of revenge. Just as the United States repaid Pearl Habor with the annihilation of cities without number by fire, the Governance repaid Poplar Village with the vengeance of an enraged god. Don't think I'm unaware of the contingency SpecOps attached to my WMD order." Shadow's voice acquired a low growl. "I will never forgive the lupus garou for their cowardly murder of the innocent but those you work for, Major, cured me of my blind hate." She paused and looked hard at the clearly-stunned Akeya. "You didn't know that, did you?"

"I..."

"No, I'm sure you didn't." Shadow smiled sadly. "Suffice it to say, Akeya, I gave Matthias Devoncroix my word because I am not a lupus garou and I am not SpecOps. I'm just the granddaughter of an old wolf that was a hero for reasons that had nothing to do with his military exploits."

"I stand corrected, Admiral." Akeya bowed her head respectfully, composing herself even as she made the motion. "I'm just saying that whatever your motivations and however right you are, I have some doubts about giving your word of honor when you have no power to fulfill the promise."

"We will see, Major." Shadow nodded. "Is there some other reason you dropped back to speak with us?"

"Other than the delight of your company?" Akeya shook her head. "No particular reason. Oh, except to hand-deliver the notice from Andropoli and Wong that they've got a plan written up for your approval."

"Thanks, Major." Shadow smiled. "You are dismissed."

"Yup." Akeya agreed, grinning cheerfully before turning and walking off with a slight skip in her gait.

"Do you mind if I ask what that was about, Shadow?" Sera asked after she was sure the draccian was safely out of earshot. "You never told me that there was any sort of contingency attached to your retaliation order."

"SpecOps using me to settle accounts with the werewolves isn't something I really felt like talking about." Shadow sighed as they turned and walked towards the shuttle bay. "I doubt I'll ever feel much like discussing it, dear. It wasn't really a betrayal but I had foolishly believed that SpecOps had scruples and that only werewolves had none. Being wrong made it easier not to hate the lupus garou with quite so much blindness and obsession."

"I'm not blind and I'm not obsessed." Sera pointed out.

"Oh, I quite disagree." Shadow teased. "You must be blind to have fallen for me and I'm quite sure you're obsessed with your girlfriend."

Sera hit her lightly, grinning. "Says my biggest admirer."

"Guilty as charged." Shadow leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Let's go see what our two carrier captains propose."

"I went into the wrong profession." Sera hadn't meant to say it but after a good minute of having nothing to say, it was the best she could do.

Dr. Campbell looked back at her and grinned. "I very much doubt that, General." She teased. "You look so good in a uniform."

"Funny." Sera chuckled as she glanced from side to side as she, Shadow, and the rest of the main officers followed the bony scientist through the main corridor of the science vessel Searcher. The typical SAFN vessel was hardly a dull harsh utilitarian place but compared to the semi-military science vessel, their ergonomic comforts looked bleak. Beyond just soft lighting that was easy on the eyes, the corridors actually had decorative fixtures. The floor covering was fireproof but soft and comfortable to walk on and had been giving various designs and color schemes depending upon what part of the vessel it was in. Each crew member had their own quarters and even the barracks for the requisite guard contingent was luxurious in comparison to the comfortable but utilitarian accommodations aboard the Marauder. There were several lounges they passed where there were couches and video playback equipment and Sera was willing to wager that Searcher's mess hall was similarly comfortable and pleasant on the senses.

"Just so you know, General, the Searcher is sort of exceptional." Melinda chuckled. "She was manufactured in the same batch as the first Epsilon-Delta class of science ship so she's been around long enough to go through several refits and a few dozen crews adding their own personal touches. At some point, I believe, there was also a large-scale refit done in a civilian yard where most of the amenities you see were added. As you can imagine, we have a little more latitude because our vessel was designed to ultimately be sent out to do long-duty surveys and some luxury has been shown to help compensate for the stresses of long periods away from familiar surroundings."

"And pampering your lab rats can't go amiss." Captain Sakura observed with a grin.

"A little pampering goes a long ways." Campbell agreed cheerfully. "But really, Searcher is more comfortable than its counterparts because of her long service rather than original design."

"My friend's luxury envy aside, Doctor," Shadow said, "we're here to observe the progress of the survey net we cast per the plan generated by Commodore Andropoli and Captain Wong. Where's a room we can do the observation from?"

"That would be the primary astophysics lab." The scientist replied. "Which we should arrive in momentarily."

Even as Melinda said this, they reached a pair of double metal doors which slid apart silently as they approached and they found themselves in a strangely empty space, a few monitors and numerous screens to one side but no visible instruments. All there was on the floor itself was a large circular platform with handrails all around it... and what looked like a humanoid badger standing at one of the monitors. He was dressed in a pinstriped collared shirt with a vest, slacks, waistcoat, and a smoking jacket completing the ensemble. Sera could even see the chain of a pocket watch dangling from his hip pocket. She had just laid eyes on the strange sight when he turned his head and looked at them.

"Good afternoon." He said in a rumbling British accent. "I am Archimedes, the BSY Core installed on this vessel. Or, to be more precise, I am the robotic extension of Archimedes that he uses to perform physical tasks and more personal interaction with biological colleagues."

Silence reigned for a moment among the officers. "You... look surprisingly non-robotic... err... robo-Archimedes." Shadow observed, a question in her voice.

"You may simply address me as Archimedes, Admiral." The robot took a handsome well-polished meerschaum from his breast pocket. "The only distinctions between myself and my computational facilities are mobility and location. Well, and the fact that due to remarkable advances in materials sciences and miniaturized motors, I appear to be biological. Were I required at this time to engage in daunting physical tasks in the furtherance of my duties, the illusion would assuredly be dissipated by manifestation of abilities that are demonstrably impossible for a biological organism of my physical dimensions."

"And most scientists have the good sense not to breath chemical-laden smoke into their lungs." Sakura pointed out as Archimedes pulled a tin from the pocket of his smoking jacket.

The badger smiled as he carefully pressed a wad of tobacco into the bowl of the pipe and drew out a match. "I cannot enjoy the enervating effects of this hobby, admittedly, but it is pleasurable to have an affectation which makes me seem all the more a fellow scientist than a tool although I am rather proud to be a tool which can be used for the betterment of the biological condition." He struck the match on a rough patch on the side of the pipe and puffed it to life. "At any rate, you are here to neither gawk at the robot nor pass the time of day. The projection apparatus is ready for your instructions, Doctor Campbell. Would you like me to assist in any way?"

"Just your normal sifting and interpretion of data, Archimedes." Campbell replied.

"Very good, Doctor." He resumed his place near the monitors, puffing serenely on the pipe as the emaciated-looking wolven stepped onto the raised platform and gripped the hand rails. There must have been some manner of sensor in the rails because as soon as she touched them, the room went dark and with the soft whispering whirring of cooling fans, an array of projectors switched on, projectors that blanketed the entire room in a vast starfield. It wasn't just a flat representation either; the stars were fully three dimensional and floated passed them like endless specks of light. A moment later, the lights all elongated, streaking like a cosmic hand had run over wet paint, until they resolved into an incredible representation of the space around Viisymel. Sera could see their small task force, the Yamato Banner with Cassandra floating near her and the fleet frigates patrolled in a tight pattern in front of the larger capital ships. The projectors even went into fine enough detail that Sera could see the coat of arms on the Executor. Viisymel itself was depicted in its full glory, muddy but giant with its dual natural satellites drifting around it perpetually separated by the planet's mass. Sera could see the gates and other space objects in stark detail but the Imperial Fleet was depicted only vaguely, symbols instead of actual ship shapes. Even the symbols were obscured by a faint haze which Sera imagined must represent the jamming that was making it impossible to get a good look with scanning equipment.

"Highlight the SAWACS flights." Melinda instructed. "Then lay out their intended flight paths."

Archimedes, whom the command was evidently addressed to, made no reply but tiny models of the Lighthouse-II ships with even tinier specks buzzing around them suddenly glowed vibrantly. At the same time, the projectors drew in bright green dotted lines to represent the planned routes of each little group. Sera noted that the paths indicated a rather clever approach by the two carrier captains: the flights would approach, keeping a great distance from the Fleet to lessen the possibility of being fired on, until they reached a certain level near the Imperial Fleet at which point their paths dipped very close to the Fleet and the dots were spread wider as they led back home. It wasn't hard to guess what was intended: the groups would be at full burn by the time they would get within range of combat patrols and anti-ship fire, thus making them able to get very close looks at the Fleet and still be rocketing along so fast that they'd be difficult to intercept before they got within the protective umbrella of the frigates and supplemental combat patrols that Andropoli had been keeping in constant motion ever since the arrival of an opposing fleet.

"Are you receiving any returns yet?" Shadow inquired.

"Other than the area of effect of the ECM resolving, no." Melinda watched the models making their way towards the Fleet for a moment. "We should get the next burst transmission within twenty more seconds, however, which will give us an update on exact position and what they're seeing."

"I'm still surprised that they can see much of anything." Sera observed. "One would assume that the jamming would get stronger as you close in on the source."

"Which is the entire point, General." Andropoli pointed out. "The closer they get to the source, the easier it is to know where the source is. They are to get close enough to know where the jamming is strongest and visually identify the source."

"At which point, we have the final two points of aim for the Manticores." Melinda finished. "Twenty seconds are up. We should be getting updates any time now."

Just as she said it, the tiny recreations of the SAWACS and their escorts jumped ahead on the planned routes and the representation of their speed adjusted significantly upwards. Archimedes' robotic avatar managed to look distinctly surprised at this, no doubt reflecting the feelings of the BSY Core. "It appears that the SAWACS have accelerated their approach significantly." He noted. "Just a moment... one moment... Admiral, the consolidated report of the SAWACS indicates that the Imperial Fleet is maintaining a close-in picket line using what one of the crews believe to be an equivalent of our Porcupine gunships. Their patrol routes are multi-planar at sixty degree intervals with each route deviating by fifteen degrees from east-west along the z-plane."

"That is an unusually tight patrol grid." Andropoli commented, his brow furrowing.

"How close is the picket, Archimedes?" Shadow inquired, looking at the vague mass of ships representing the opposing fleet.

"I shall represent it." Archimedes replied, red dotted lines being drawn, criss-crossing in a tight grid around the Fleet-a very tight grid, actually.

"The patrol is extremely close to the Fleet." Shadow observed right as Sera spotted it. "Strange... that's so close that your opponent would have to be completely blind to have any instrument ships be caught in that grid. Archimedes, effective range of the Lighthouse-II instruments, please."

"Of course." Around each group, a glimmering sphere appeared, a surprisingly large coverage considering how much interference they were dealing with as they closed in on their assigned points.

"That's what I thought... their patrols are too close to the Fleet to prevent the SAWACS from getting a fix." Shadow's brow furrowed. "Unless, of course, they are working under a protocol similar to ours where individual packs can break patrol to intercept a target."

"Archimedes, convey to the SAWACS that they are to abort and reverse course if the patrols break off in pursuit." Andropoli instructed. "Even assuming gunships with the efficiency of the small-caliber weaponry the robotic cruisers had, pure fire volume would quickly overwhelm shielding and armor."

"If they get the information, Commodore, we should be able to risk them."

"We are not yet at a point, Admiral, where we can gain anything by sacrificing pawns." Wong pointed out, his head inclined respectfully. "The news of Hephaestus Hammer being readied for transit is encouraging but it is not the same as a guarantee of reinforcements on the scale we'd need to fight the Fleet. I advise that we play a careful game."

"Very well." Shadow nodded. "Archimedes, please follow the Commodore's instructions."

"Compliance." Archimedes' avatar took a long pull from his pipe. "Confirmation from all groups. Next update will occur in five minutes barring unforeseen incidents."

"So Doc... is this projection effect one of those little extras you got installed at the third-party shipyard?" Sera asked her, experimentally sweeping her hand through the projected image of a Lighthouse-II.

"No." Campbell shook her head. "I didn't have it installed. It was an anonymous gift and the note with it simply said it was a small token for saving the benefactor's daughter's life and avenging the murder of his family. I only regret that I don't ever remember saving the life of a woman or a girl during my service and his family could be any one of the people who have been murdered by the lupus garou. Speaking of such, I hear that Jenkins turned out to be exactly what he seemed. Almost wish I could be part of the firing squad."

"There's not going to be a firing squad." Sera told her. "At least, not if Shadow has anything to say about it."

Campbell turned and stared at her. "Excuse me?"

"Shadow told him that if he cooperated in helping Los Alamos find a way to more easily locate lupus garou, he would be free to return to his family."

"...free... to return... to his family...?" Melinda managed. "How could she...?"

"Because she was cured of the hunger for bloody revenge by SpecOps, Doctor." Shadow interrupted firmly. "Except for executing him, we can do no more damage to Matthias Devoncroix than has already been done."

"Matthias Devoncroix?" She looked taken aback. "Matthias David Devoncroix?"

"I didn't think to ask his full name, Doctor." Shadow replied wryly. "But you sound as if you know him."

"Of him." She confirmed. "Brother of one Meredith Devoncroix, the pack alpha of..."

"Pardon the interruption, doctor, commanders, but the next burst-transmit is coming in." Archimedes gestured to the projection as the symbols representing the Imperial Fleet began vanishing. "Quite early, in fact. The transmissions are long so please bear with me while I translate them into a more usable form."

"Early burst-transmission?" Andropoli frowned. "Archimedes, can you confirm the status of the groups?"

"Fear not, Commodore... it wasn't a last message situation." Archimedes smiled. "I'll find out what occasioned it but after the important information, not before."

The robot calmly smoked his pipe as the data he was receiving streamed in and began to be translated into images from the projection. The Imperial Fleet began to form from the outside in, small ships bristling with tiny armaments forming first, traveling in a tight patrol pattern to (unsuccessfully, it would seem) preclude intelligence-gathering. Behind this protective cordone, myriads of ships took shape. There were large graceless ships that Andropoli quickly identified as the breaching ships that tried to attack the task force. There were the automated cruisers that they encountered before and other ships that seemed to be built with neither rhyme nor reason, their sides bulging outwards without any noticeable symmetry. The ships that were projecting a majority of the ECM, long vessels that looked like spiders grasping a sphere with their legs, were clustered around the center of the fleet that remained empty and indistinct, obviously beyond the range of the Lighthouse-II observers.

"Fleet of considerable size." Shadow commented after a long moment. "We knew that just by staring out a window but... wow, that is a fleet of a considerable size."

"I'm more worried about what the Lighthouses couldn't see." Sera frowned.

"I would be as well, General." Archimedes commented. "Visual examination of the fleet plus the sensor models I have just received indicates that the center of the fleet is occupied by a single ship. I defer to my esteemed colleague ATLAS on military matters but I feel comfortable in speculating that this ship constitutes the primary command vessel of the Imperial Fleet."

"If that's true... it can't be much smaller than a Colossus and it's a man o' war instead of a mobile dockyard." Shadow looked understandably shocked. "Where could they have built such a thing, though? We've done thorough surveys and unless they have extremely effective full-spectrum camouflage, there's not a single shipyard here."

"Well, Admiral, our ships are here but were not built here." Wong shrugged. "It is likely that the shipyards are in a different system."

"It strikes me as very... unusual that there is none of the defense infrastructure around Viisymel that we would expect." Andropoli noted. "There are no shipyards, manufacturing facilities, heavy transport, mines, processing plants, anti-orbital batteries, or even so much as a monitoring station. There was the camouflaged automated station and shield generator but there appear to be no others of its kind. I am concerned that the Grand Admiral has other assets that we cannot see or knows something we do not for the last time we were discussing the strange lack of assets, we found ourselves facing an entire fleet positioned to keep the warships distracted while our primary ground and space commanders were trapped in a shield bubble with a heavily-armed platform. That the platform did not seriously threaten you was a happy coiincidence, probably related to the fact that the Grand Admiral has no technical information about us."

"Excuse me, Admiral, but the Cassandra's commanding officer is signaling that she concurs with the results of our instrument scanning but has an observation about the Fleet that you may find interesting." Archimedes interrupted. "I can use the holographic array to project her image, if you'd like."

"I would." Shadow nodded. "Bring her up."

The starfield projection vanished abruptly and the room's lights came on again. Without any warning, a flickering image of a dark-haired human appeared in front of them, seeming to be standing on the deck itself. Sera was momentarily taken aback that she didn't recognize the human's race offhand; usually, it was very easy to at least make some sort of rough guess but she'd never met one with a brownish skin tone. It bothered her until the Cassandra's captain began speaking and she filed it away in her head for later.

"Captain Santos, Admiral." She said with a respectful incline of her head. "My compliments to the commodore and Captain Wong for their excellent plan; the use of picket ships was brilliant."

"Thank you, Captain." Andropoli replied with the closest thing to a smile Sera had seen on his face.

"Thanks for the kudos." Wong acknowledged with his own broad grin.

"So what did you want to tell us, Captain?" Shadow inquied. "Archimedes indicated that you had observed something interesting."

"We did." Santos replied. "The refit to Delphi-II includes a semi-sentient AI. No personality, no particular independence of thought or self-awareness but incredibly adept at processing information and drawing logical conclusions. Our AI made note of the fact that the formation of the ships, especially the patrols, are unusually well-coordinated."

"How is that interesting?"

"Well, combined with the analysis of the jamming itself and the brief window we got into the specifics of those ECM ships, it indicates that their jamming is mutually-assured destruction." Santos grinned. "Admiral, they keep themselves in a state of total blindness to prevent us from making instrument scans of them. The brief window we got was probably them cycling their jamming field to another set of generators to keep it running perpetually."

Shadow nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Captain. Do you have anything else you wish to report?"

"Only that the command ship is not like the other warships in the Fleet." Santos frowned. "We didn't get a really good picture since it was at the edge of our instruments and beyond the range of the Lighthouse-II pickets but what we have indicates an amalgamation of technologies. It's shields do not have a frequency cycle, for example, and there is a secondary field under it that has the energy characteristics of an ablative surface shield. That, and scans of the other ships indicate that there is a hard-and-fast limit to their engineering of scale capabilities-except where that command ship is concerned. Dunno how they got it, Admiral, but it's looking like the lizards have allies as well as conquests."

"Well, it's not as if it could really get much worse than a warship as big as one of our mobile dockyards..."

"Death Star." Wong offered.

"...except as a figment of Darth Wong's imagination." Shadow rolled her eyes although Sera caught a flicker of a smile. "Thank you, Captain. If you notice anything else, feel free to bring it to my attention."

"Of course, Admiral." Santos inclined her head and her holographic image vanished.

"This mutually-assured blinding could be useful." Sakura observed the moment the hologram had vanished. "It's possible that they would be unable to see a projectile incoming until it was practically impacting. Which begs the question: why would we aim the biggest gun in our arsenal at the jamming ships, now that we know about that gargantuan construct in the center?"

"There is little choice, Captain." Andropoli replied. "Even though the projectiles that the Manticores fire impart overwhelming kinetic force to whatever they impact, the projectile could easily have its course altered as it made its way through the fleet. The best case scenario would be a clean miss but if passing through the fleet deflected it towards Viisymel..."

The Russian let the silence finish the sentence for him; the devastation of a 150-ton projectile traveling at speeds far above hypersonic could have on the surface of a planet had been grimly demonstrate numerous times in SAFES tests on Mercury and some of the larger moons beyond Jupiter.

"The commodore is correct." Shadow stated after a long moment. "Aiming at a target sequestered in the middle of a dense fleet is too great of risk unless that fleet was clustered above an uninhabited target."

"I'll concede the point but I think the question is worth repeating: why are we going to aim a killing blow at the jamming ships?" Sakura presisted. "Sure, we want a constant look at them but isn't it to our interests that they keep themselves blind to us?"

"Especially since we know that they have breaching ships similar to our Manticores?" Wong added. "They cannot use them right now because they can't see us, partly because they're jamming themselves. But if we turn off some of the noise the Grand Admiral may just say 'fuck it' and start concentrating fire on what is still a sort of small fleet. I don't think we have the muscle to go toe-to-toe right now and even sensor-blind, the Grand Admiral is sure to be aware of it."

"And yet... he plays a waiting game." Sera noted. "You know, the game he looks to be playing looks like a game I've played before when I can see a small easily-killed force in front of me but don't know how far away its reinforcements are."

"Hold them in stalemate until you get either enough forces or the right forces to be reasonably sure you can bat aside any reinforcements." Shadow nodded thoughtfully. "It's possible. I don't remember there being a really good counter-strategy though, General. If that's his game, given that we have no real idea of the scale of the Empire's military resources, I'm not seeing a trump card in our hand. That command ship, just based on its size and what we can guess about its capabilities, is a pretty high ace in the hole and there could be more than one out there."

"There are." ATLAS' voice commented with a certain grimness, coming from an unspecific direction as it always did. "Or more specifically, there should be. Viis military doctrine is now that each major fleet group must have a dedicated command supership. Good news is that they're almost impossible to move because of their size: the network of gate devices is almost too small to accommodate them and both transit points have to be held open for dangerously long periods. They generally cheat by traveling cross-country but that eats up time, lots and lots of time. Unless they called all ships home the second we got here and all the other fleets have these ships and they're close enough for timely trasit, we'll only have to deal with the one."

"Been reading the military archives, have we m'dear?" Archimedes inquried larconically.

"Yup." ATLAS confirmed. "Once you learn the language, it's pretty fast and obsessively well-oganized. Anyway, there's a gigantic weakness in the Imperial Fleet, one that we now have the ability to take advantage of."

"When didn't we have this ability?" Shadow asked the AI, looking in the general direction of the ceiling.

"Anytime before three years ago." ATLAS' grin came through in her playfully smug tone. "But we have the ability now. In essence, the only ship with any sizable garrison ought to be the command ship and their garrisons, as you know, are poor quality in the first place. We have the ability to seize any ship we desire under their self-imposed blackout assuming Captain Santos' AI didn't forget two plus two."

"Is that contempt I hear in your voice, ATLAS?" Shadow gave her a curious look.

"I'm sorry." ATLAS responded, sounding anything but. "But consider my perspective, Admiral. Except for physical form, I am a fully alive person with the computational power of six supercomputers at the beck and call of my brain. It is a mere calculating machine not unlike old supercomputers. It cannot think, it is uncreative, and it has almost no capacity to understand subtle implications of data. It processed the data but a gaggle of highly intelligent sentients was required to tease out the important information that Captain Santos gave you. So yes, I am contemptous of it even if I have no particular prejudices concerning the quality of the pure data is can deliver."

"When you put it that way, I can sort of understand." Shadow treated ATLAS to a little smile. "So what is this ability we just acquired in the last three years?"

"I've got one word for you, my dear Admiral." ATLAS' voice beamed "Marines."