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I don't like walking around this old and empty house. /

So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear.

The stairs creak as I sleep, /

It's keeping me awake. /

It's the house telling you to close your eyes.

Some days I can't even trust myself. /

It's killing me to see you this way.

— — — — —

"Yoyo, I need a paw."

Iolvin immediately jerked into motion to rob his sister of a large, but empty, steel cargo barrel. "I've got it. Remember your handicaps before you hurt yourself, Lulu."

"I... Well, thanks." Ilaria refocused her efforts on about twenty kilogram bricks of semtex explosives and a good double-duty slab of compound C-4, prepping the detonators for impact settings. "These should do the trick. If it's Terran tech, C-4 will make it fail."

"Well don't let me touch it if you know what's best for us." Yoyo slid the barrel into the probe launch chute and opened one of the lids. "Ready over here, sis."

"This is basically set up. We can thank Lilly for being paranoid about keeping this stuff wired up at all times."

"That's the first time I've heard of that... and it doesn't sit too well." Yoyo held the barrel securely upright out of precaution, but pointed to Adrian and Rhyme near the forward cargo hatch. "Kiddo, get in one of those suits like Rhy's wearing. There's some in that hatch there. We'll need to vent all the air from this area soon enough."

"Yes. Of course, master."

Ari finished wiring the detonators to a single impact accelerometer and started loading the bricks one at a time. "She sounds a lot happier recently. Hormones? The kid?"

"Love. I'm not kidding when I say we've grown to love her." Yoyo pinned the barrel with his legs and helped adjust the positioning of the blocks of explosives. "I know our chances are slim here, but I'd really like to get out of this alive—for her and Adri's sakes, more than anything. I'd die protecting them, but I'd rather it not come to that..."

"Having a kid's better ~alive~, bro. The plan will work, Yoyo. Trust in it and it will work." Ari finished stacking the moldable death bricks and placed the detonation circuit in last where it could be accessed. "Doubt will only increase the chance of failure. You've never had a reason to doubt me, right?"

"No, never. Never will, either."

Ari snapped an unnecessary dead-man's lever and then released it, arming the explosives. "Good, then we'll be fine. Now carefully tip this guy over."

Yoyo did as he was told, though with a rare nervousness for his typical demeanor. "Isn't this thing going to get ~more~ than tipped over firing out this cannon?"

"It's set to ignore the first big shift in force, then explode when that force reverses itself. I'd rather the first not be dropping it and the second be the cannon."

"Oh, well in that case..." Yoyo carefully shut the loading chamber door and backed away slowly. "I think that's ready. Zoë? You done?"

There was a muffled reply until Rhyme switched on Zoë's suit radio. "Oh... Ah, yes! I'm in this suit thing, master."

Rhy nodded and clicked her own radio. "She's fine, Yoyo. We should start decompressing now. You guys good?"

Yoyo checked his sister's helmet before sealing his own. "Yeah, we're good when you are."

Out of habit Rhyme checked everyone's suits visually before taking their words for it. "Alright. Pumping the air back into the main system now. Should be done in ten minutes, but we can safely open the doors in two if we need to do so."

"Gotcha." Ari brought up her watch and began talking, but ended up rolling her eyes and repeating through her radio when she realized the watch microphone barely read her with the helmet in the way. "Alex? What's our status?"

"We just finished circling to that weak spot Prisma pointed out. Closing now. I'd say... a minute until we can make a clear shot."

"Perfect. We're loaded and ready to go. We'll charge the cannon."

"On it." Adrian checked his side of the external hatch, then once satisfied he walked over to the maintenance terminal for the probe cannon. "Okay... she'll be charged and ready in less than that, maybe forty. Apparently she's never shot a load that heavy before though, so maybe stand back a bit..."

"Oh I'd be in the next bulkhead if I could be, babe." Yoyo helped his twin to her hindpaws and joined Zoë in grabbing a stabilizer bar near the external doors. "I trust the plan, but I don't trust shooting that shit like a glorified bottle rocket."

"It'll be fine, lil' bro." Ari crept up beside her brother and held him rather than a bar. "The cannon can't make that explode, only the detonators. Calm down."

"Really?"

Dee joined the group as well, holding his husband from the reverse side. "She's right. It doesn't explode even if you shoot it like in movies."

"Fuck, that's a relief..."

Everyone chuckled at the uncommonly anxious otter, but cut themselves short when Trick clicked on the radio. "Ari, we're in range. We've only got like ten seconds until it's too hard to stay in line."

"Then fire. Don't wait on me." Ari grinned as she pulled herself up to peer out a hatch window. "Blow this guy a new asshole!"

"One asshole with a ~new~ asshole, coming right up. Firing!"

The probe cannon clicked loudly as its large capacitors connected and instantly charged the firing rails. A percussive blast could be felt through the floor even with the shaft sealed, the gang having forgotten to pump the air out before firing. Ilaria watched as in less than half a second the projectile crossed the large gap between vessels, creating a huge tuft of debris and smoke upon impact. Milliseconds later the atmosphere inside the enemy ship reached the explosion and ignited into a brief yet utterly satisfying fireball.

"Bingo!" Ari pumped her paw in preemptive victory and surveyed the damage visually while she asked for a report. "Buck, how big's the hole?"

"Tiny hitch with the crud floatin' by, cap'n. One moment, if ya' might..."

"I hope the bastard was standing right there."

"He'd be in the control center." Carbon walked calmly to the exterior door with Sydney in tow. "You could use some help finding him and I've got a living map in my head."

Cid played things cautiously and grabbed a stabilizer bar near Rhyme. "And Cait has a copy, though we've never been on one of these things and Carbon has."

"You don't need to argue to get on the team, guys. You've proven yourselves invaluable already." Ari nodded to Rhyme and grabbed Carbon with a nanite tendril as the main hatch rotated open. "We'll want all the firepower we can get, and it helps you've got those suits."

"In that case," Yoyo pulled his rifle from his back and nudged his snout towards the large—yet somehow controlled—damage to the enemy barge as he continued, "I'll keep the door open. I see them in suits too."

"Really?" Ari squinted her eyes, then created a set of nanite goggles in her helmet to correct her vision. "Oh, shit. Well don't hold back on my account."

"You got it."

As Yoyo shot his first slug into a floating enemy's chest Buck came back on the line. "Ma'am, they've got fancy light shields and what have you. We popped a hole an' they jus' sealed it up."

"But they're floating right out..."

"Kinetic barrier. Figures he'd be smart enough to reinforce that shitty barge with alien tech." Carbon groaned as he contemplated their options. "They're one-way, and guess what side we're on. You need to move painfully slow through it, which we can't do here..."

"Or you can overwhelm it. No such thing as overkill, right?" Carbon and Ari shook their heads at Cid, but she backed her idea with fact. "What? The cannon did it, right?"

Carbon sighed as she resumed her head shaking. "But you don't want to board them ~that~ fast, hon."

"No, but if they have a maximum force ratingon those shields..." Ari pulled up her watch and confirmed the speed of the Starbreeze. "Force is just basically speed times mass. We're only a tiny mass, but the Starbreeze..."

"...Normally I'd slap you for thinking that, but the Earth is at stake and we're out of options here." Carbon pulled that watch over and sighed at the ludicrous nature of this new plan. "Slow us down to fifteen percent our current speed and we should live through this. The mass here's doing the heavy lifting."

Trick chirped on the radio with a forced cheerfulness. "Roger that. You might want to, um... back up some."

Dee added, "Alex, hit them with the ventral deck. We've already equalized the whole cargo deck."

"You bet. Impact in twelve."

"Shit, babe..." Yoyo reeled his husband and human companion back as he found a cargo crate for cover. "Hold on tight."

Ilaria took a deep breath as she backed away and found a new stabilizer further from the front. "Everyone brace for impact. This isn't going to be pleasant."

Nothing else Ilaria could have said in that moment would have been more of an understatement. The belly of the Starbreeze crashed into the enemy barge, stressing at first under the cushion of the kinetic barrier. When that seemingly frail net snapped the whole ship lurched forward into a wall of twisted steel. Two large girders punched through the cargo door, which would have been scary enough if more objects didn't move to fall upon the same sword. Nearly everything from a few ounces to several tons shifted forward, with Iolvin surfing atop his cargo container when his grip faltered.

"Iolvin!"

The taller otter waved back to his husband once he stood atop his toppled cover. "I'm fine, babe. No need to yell into my ear just yet."

"O-Oh... s-s-sorry..." Adrian climbed out of his own safe spot to reach his husband, but fell on his face when the gravity shifted. "Ah, shit... What the hell was that?"

"I feel that too, I think." Carbon and Cid both hopped atop their own debris, appearing to be standing forty-five degrees off of center. "Yeah... They have artificial gravity too. Our fields are fucking with each other so be careful."

"And watch for enemies once we pop that hatch." Ilaria groaned as she got back to her hindpaws with some difficulty. "Nice flying, Alex. What's the damage?"

"Well I think I got about twenty of them on the hull..." When Trick's joke wasn't very well received she shifted to a more neutral tone. "Structural damage to the two foremost cargo bays and the reactor's lighting things up, but we look alright. Just need to check the oil."

"Good. Keep an eye on things and back us away once we depart if possible." Ari checked with everyone before clicking an emergency explosive bolt system on the buckled main hatches. "We'll be back soon."

"Yeah, you will." Yoyo pointed to a potential boarding enemy with Matilda, then promptly fired two bullets into his suit. "I'm staying back here to keep the door clear."

"Then I am too." Dee pulled his modified MP7 from around his back and stood next to Yoyo. "We'll keep the lights on for you. Just try to make it quick."

"You got it, Dee." Ari passed by and gave both Dee and Zoë pats on the head. "Thanks. Now let's kill this guy so we can focus on the invasion fleet." The otter paused as she spotted a hint of worry in her girlfriend's eyes. "But if it looks like there's still some reason left in him, let's not spill any more blood than necessary. He might be able to help with the enemy fleet."

"Y-Yeah." Rhyme took a deep breath to counter her nervousness, then calmly hopped out of the Starbreeze to fall into the barge. "The floor's sturdy. Hurry up."

Ari nodded as she hopped from one gravity field to the other. "Yeah, I wouldn't feel safe here either. Let's move."

"What? I'm not—" Rhy forced herself to shut up and think about her next words. "I'm a grown woman with military training. I can handle any of this."

"Rhy..." Ari paused to hop from one gravity field to the other. "I know that. I wasn't implying that. I'm just trying to... keep your mind off him"

"Oh..."

"And I forced nothing but that in your head now. Sorry." Ari sighed as she started moving again, whipping out her pistol for a moment as she verified a corpse that entered the gravity field was actually dead when it plopped next to her. "Yeah, definitely not safe. Where's my Sherpa? Carbon?"

"Coming. Head to the right and keep going." Carbon huffed as she lifted an exotic rifle—one of Ex's mounted armaments—and impossibly carried it with little difficulty. "We're right behind you."

"How much can you fucking ~bench~, girl?" Ari shook her head in astonishment as she watched the hybrid hobble along whilst using her vines to keep her upright. "Okay. Right it is."

Sydney followed somewhere between Carbon and Ilaria, her much more manageable rifle shouldered and ready. "Check corners. They're definitely going to set up some welcoming gifts for us."

"I hope it's nothing too dastardly. We ~are~ sophisticated lad—" Ari halted her comment and bulged her eyes at Cid. "Well, most of us are ladies, anyway."

Sydney groaned at the prospect of her cover being blown over a live transmission. "Just... take that bend ahead slowly. If it were me, I'd set up a claymore there."

"Glad you're here, Cid." Ari went ahead first, finding that there was indeed a block of explosives and an infrared proximity sensor. "~Very~ glad you're here. One sec and I'll pop this..."

A silent bullet dinged off a nearby wall, followed by a more noticeable burst. "Work fast." Carbon flipped around and started firing at the muzzle flash, a laser painting individual targets before zapping them with a massive bolt of electricity. "Cid! There's too many and this works too slow!"

"I told you a carbine would be better." The meerkat stepped beside her hybrid and let loose a few two-round bursts. "See? Control trumps power sometimes."

Carbon exploded yet another enemy as her weapon reached full charge. "Never thought I'd hear ~you~ say that. You love a big boom."

"Think of it this way:" Cid paused to take out another target as he foolishly changed his stance in the open, the betraying fur's helmet filling with the contents of his head. "It's like ~concentrating~ all the death and destruction."

Ari figured out the trap finally, nudging a priming wire free with an arrow. "Clear, guys. Let's get through here so we don't die if we take a scratch."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Rhyme walked over to a nearby safety door and triggered the manual override. "Make it quick, guys. We don't want to vent the whole ship."

Ari fought against the tapering rush of air that exited the barge's safe interior. "Wouldn't that be great if we suffocated them, though?"

"Not if you want to open more of these damn breach doors. Also... Looks like methane mixed with normal air?"

"Aliens. Watch for plasma weapons." Carbon clasped the tip of her weapon shut and started moving again, with Cid covering her tail. "Time is definitely a factor here, Ari. Control center's over—"

"Carbon?" Cid passed through the doorway and let Rhyme seal the bulkhead again. "What's up?"

"Hold on..."

"Oh no you two don't..." Cid reached out and grabbed Carbon's wrist, their suits Linking them and revealing Evelyn. «What's up, Eve?»

«The... The air is contaminated with æti. It won't harm us, but...» The phantom gave Cait a concerned look that shook Cid a bit. «I think they screwed something up. Their reactor's leaking.»

Carbon looked around, her extended visual range allowing her to faintly see the leaking oxydium. «So we can leave and the problem will solve itself?»

«Sounds like a plan to m—»

«No!» Evelyn took center stage, making absolutely sure she was understood. «Æti chain reacts and has more potential energy in it by volume than some stars. If we let this explode...»

Carbon fidgeted with the controls of her weapon, her nervousness noticeably jacking up a few levels. «The Starbreeze barely had enough to make it here and will take a while to recharge. We'd be stuck in the blast.»

«Shit.» Sydney broke her Link to Carbon and tried elaborating to the others, pausing as the rapid increase in perceived time threw her off balance. "Uh... Ari, we have a problem. The engine or whatever is going boom and if we don't stop it..."

"What...? What!?"

"We need to find it." Carbon sighed and tapped her temple. "Or rather, we know where it is and need to fix it. The blast will be immeasurably huge."

"Fuck. What about the mission?" Ari drooped her head as she tried to resolve the new dilemma. "Rhyme's brother might still make it to the enemy before this thing blows. And if we do stop the reactor, we'll only be helping him."

"And saving our own asses, but you're right." Carbon checked in with Eve for a moment, then pointed forward down the current hallway. "Take this to the end, then a left and an immediate right. That's the control center."

"Why does that sound like you're not tagging along?"

"Because the only one here with Robyn's repair plans in her head is me and their reactor is certainly based on her upgrade designs." Carbon took the first left in the hall and paused at another safety door. "I'll fix the reactor, and you three can make sure we own the damned ship by time I'm done."

"Hell no." Cid jogged over to her otter and readied her rifle for when the door opened. "You'd be too focused on that to keep yourself alive, and I'm not cool with you dying like that. Gotta be something ~way~ cooler than 'shot in the ass' on your headstone."

"Well it won't be 'consumed by a Easy-Bake star' either." Carbon nodded to Ilaria and Rhyme as she pulled the override lever. "Make it all count. Your dad would cry if he knew how proud he should be right now."

"I don't cry." Vasily grumbled over the line, indeed holding back his emotions. "But she's right. You're leading the bravest mission in history; I couldn't be prouder, Ielunschra."

"And I won't let you down. We won't. Just don't tell mom anything." Ari shook her head and got back into the right mindset to press forward. "Good luck, Carbon."

"You too, baby Lulu."

"Baby Lulu?" Rhyme giggled as she envisioned a much younger Ilaria in diapers. "That's a weird nickname."

"One I wish he'd stop using."

"I..."

Ari sighed and pressed forward, finding the left turn that was mentioned. "Don't worry about it." She paused to pull back an arrow, then loosed it into a guard's abdomen. "Rhy, you have a weapon?"

The tanuki pulled out a sturdy utility knife from its ankle sheath. "Just this. I'm not here to—"

Two unarmed traitors rounded the door they needed, but quickly shut it tight and scurried away. "Ah, fuck!"

"I've got it." Rhyme slid up to the door and pried open a service hatch with her knife. "Keep them off me for a minute."

"Easier said than done." Another patrol of burlier furs huddled behind cover ahead, responding to the fleeing crew. "Work fast."

"I'm trying." The flustered tanuki jabbed her knife between two nodes to short them out. "Do I need to mention how dangerous a spark is in space?"

"Please don't remind me." Ari readied another arrow and loosed it, but partway down the hallway the gravity field seemed to end and her shot flew high. "Fuck. Seriously, focus harder for me honey."

Rhy's blade jumped two nodes once more, this time making the door break its seals. "Sure thing, sweetie."

Ilaria whipped out her revolver and fired three times into an enemy's chest, breaking his armor but nothing more. "These guys sort of have an advantage on us here." Two bolts of plasma audibly sizzled even through Ari's helmet as they scorched the frame of the doorway. "Well that one's got a toy. Hunker down a little more and I'll play the easier target."

"No, I've almost got it." Rhyme tried to pry a board loose but fumbled her knife onto the ground. "Crap. Keep them off me for just another—"

The door suddenly slid open long enough for a visually-cloaked figure to pull Rhyme inside. As the door shut before a pouncing otter, Rhyme's brother flickered into view through the hatch's lone window. "My, what a surprise. You escaped my trap alive, figured out my plan, and even brought me my dearest sister. Quite thoughtful for a dead woman."

"You bastard!" Ilaria pounded on the window with her false paw hard enough to crack the glass, but her only reward was a searing toroid of ionized gas to her good leg. "Augh! Fuck!"

"Oh well. Thus is your fate, filthy animal." The despicable twin dragged his struggling sister along by a strap on her air tank. "Come now, sister. No need to resist against ~me~."

"You're not my brother!" Rhyme broke free of the poor grip on her and reached for the door controls, only to freeze mid-motion. "What... the...?"

"What a shame. And here I hoped I wouldn't need to control you, my poor Alfie." The eviler of the two stood straight and so did his sister. "You know I'll never touch your mind given the choice, sister. I do hope you come to your senses before we have another episode as before."

"What... What are you talking about? I don't know anything about you! Why are you doing this?!"

"Ah, is that the scenario here? Ponderous." Rhyme's brother donned his head for a moment as he checked the status of his ship. "It's rare, but amnesia does crop up now and then when I'm a little too harsh on a Watchman's brain."

"Watchman?"

"Yes... How do I explain this best?" The tanuki flipped a few manual switches and then typed out a set of commands into his computer. "We were both born into the Neighborhood genetic weapons program. You and I were the first and only two of batch forty-two, myself being Forty-Two Bravo—and yourself being—"

"Alpha... Alfie..."

"Correct, my dear sister." Sensing the lack of resistance in his twin, Bravo released her body from his control. "Previous batches were flawwed of lackluster. We both proved unique. You were resistant to everything those damned scientists served us, totally adaptive one might assume. Even now, you take all of my free willpower to simply restrain."

"And... you have control over the other test subjects? Was that your ability?" Rhyme looked towards the door, but upon seeing continued weapons fire she held back from another rescue attempt. "I only remember vague bits... Busy Bee."

"Hmm. You can't imagine how long I've desired to hear that nickname again." Bravo beckoned for his sister to join him, but not before forcing her to drop her knife. "Yes, I can control the others through pheromones or touch. Apologies for dislodging your air supply to do so."

"We... We both broke free. You made the others... sacrifice themselves while we escaped..."

"Good! You're remembering now!" Bravo smiled as he brought up a diagram of the ship's power supply. "I hate to interrupt, but you were always better at solving mechanical puzzles. It seems my crew's incompetence has led to a breach in my reactor. Care to help so we can have more time to be reacquainted?"

"We noticed that on the way in..." The weapons fire intensified outside, drawing a concerned groan from Rhyme's lips. "I'm not... sure I can solve that, uh... solve it from here..."

"You're truly concerned for that pure-blooded Terran? Sister, please forget about her. We have each other again, and soon we'll have our true ancestors as well." Bravo tapped on a few keys and brought up a security dialog. "If you really wish for a better fate for that woman... we can come up with a ~quicker~ solution after this. Your colleagues seem to have used a physical flaw to gain security access for the whole reactor. I'm guessing that nuisance of a hybrid is responsible."

"I might be able to fix that, but..." Rhyme sighed as she took over the controls for a moment to bring up more details. "Why are you doing this? What have the people of Earth done to deserve all this terrorism and destruction?"

"Nothing, for the most part. Their leaders are at fault." Bravo moved Rhyme aside with his mental ability so she wouldn't dig too deeply into core ship systems. "They set the Neighborhood Watchmen as lowest-class citizens. No, they cast them as slaves and soldiers! We may be a bastardization of that traitorous hybrid's genes, but we're not inanimate creations!"

"So you're switching sides?"

"The Terrans denied us our humanity, so it's only fitting that we embrace our Yangurran ancestry."

"Our... family..." Rhyme placed her paw over her brother's in a show of confidence and comfort. "Now that I remember... I know my purpose here. I know what needs to be done, and what parts of my past must be shed in sacrifice for my family."

"Sister... Alfie, that makes me—"

The base of the main door exploded inward before Bravo could finish his statement. Ilaria swung herself inside, brushing away frozen scrap metal as she cleared the door to land on her prosthesis. "Ten years of training for this shit! Ta-da, motherfucker!"

Ari raised her pistol and fired a Rupert's drop round into Bravo's shoulder, but Rhyme covered her brother as he fell. "Ari, no! Stop!"

"Persistent little—"

"Wh-What...?" Ari's good arm reached for Mjolnir, but her prosthetic one easily kept it out of reach. "How the hell!?"

"Only thing I hate more than that hybrid Carbon are cyborgs." The mad arm finally snatched the weapon, but caused Ilaria to lose her balance and fall forward. "So pesky, not being able to control the whole of a Watchman..."

As Ari fought to keep her own pistol aimed away from her head Rhyme squeezed her brother pleadingly. "Don't do this, Bee! Don't kill her! She'll stop if I ask her!"

"Rhyme...?" Ari's crazed arm slowly relinquished its control back to its original master. "Rhyme, what are you saying? How could you?"

"She's listened to her instincts. My dearest sister wishes to—!"

"I've listened to my heart, dearest brother." Rhyme sat upright, revealing a strip of metal coiling from her helmet's seal penetrating into Bravo's chest. "I'm so sorry it... came to this, Bee..."

Bravo coughed up a heavy dose of blood, telling of the puncture to his lung. "Sister... why...?"

"Because I remember." Rhyme cradled her failing twin, tears streaming down her face and lightly fogging her helmet. "I remember why you took over my mind all those years ago. I had to stop you. I tried to save you from becoming a monster."

"They're the mons—"

"No, you are!" The elder tanuki gave her choking twin a hug. "I wanted to be free with my brother! But who did I find in my arms when we made it out of that damned place? A murderer! A monster!"

"I did what I—Kack!—had to so you would be—Kuff!—be safe!"

"You sent hundreds of innocent people to die! To be gunned down so we could escape!" Rhyme pulled her brother up into her lap and stroked his head gently. "I never wanted that, Bee! I wanted to live in peace!"

"But I thought..." Bravo looked up into his sister's eyes, then over to a helpless Ilaria. "You're right. I've never known... how to love... anyone but you."

"I'm so sorry, brother..." Rhy pulled off her useless helmet and kissed Bravo on the forehead, ignoring the lack of good air in favor of family. "I love you..."

"And I love you—Kack!—you enough to accept this..." Bravo closed his eyes for a moment before going limp. "Let me use what time I have left... Hack!... Let me help you again..."

"What? No. No, you've got to fight." Without her permission, Rhyme's body started to move her towards the hallway. "Bee!? No, don't do this! We can patch you up!"

"But you shouldn't." Bravo led one of his controlled Watchmen to pick up Ilaria and take her out of the room. "My crew won't stop you anymore. Try to get them to safety, but... make sure you're safe first..."

"Brother!" The emergency shutter slammed down over the doorway as Bravo struggled to hit another switch further up his console. "Bee, don't leave me alone!"

Bravo pulled a microphone to his muzzle as he flipped off the gravity generator. "Oh, but I'm not... I'm leaving you in loving paws... so get your love to safety..." He barely pulled himself into the captain's seat and wheezed into the mic. "I only wish... I could have seen your... children..."

"You still can, damnit! You still... Just..."

Ilaria reached out to her love, managing to grasp her shoulder. "He wants you to live. Don't take this from him."

"But..."

"I stole your life... just like our captors..." The dying tanuki gasped with every breath that drove his paw back to the console one last time. "You deserve... to prove me wrong..." He tapped his final command with his dying breath. "I love you... dearest... Alfie..."

The barge started slowing immediately, and seconds later all of the Terran enemy fighters outside followed in suit. "Busy Bee..."

"He gave us a fighting chance." Ari pulled herself towards the way they'd come. "Rhyme, let's not waste his last gift. We need to get back to Carbon and—"

"No, you need to get back to the Starbreeze." Carbon's voice shook the two into action. "I'm sorry for your loss, Rhyme, but I'm not sure we can stop this reactor."

"Then... we'll get back to the ship." Rhyme grabbed her floating helmet and snapped it back in place, realizing a critical component was now inside her brother's remains. "My suit should hold for a quick jump. Let's... just make it count."

— — — — —

There's an old voice in my head /

that's holding me back. /

Well tell her that I miss our little talks.

Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past. /

We used to play outside when we were young /

and full of life and full of love.

Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right.

Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear.

— — — — —

"What the hell is going on?" Sydney ducked down as a Yangurran opened fire on her, its Terran comrades simply standing there and even taking friendly fire. "Why are only the veggies fighting now?"

"Super busy, hon."

Cid fired back with the last rounds she'd brought for her rifle, ultimately tossing the emptied weapon towards the enemy. "I mean that's good for us and all since I'm low on ammo, but—"

"Seriously busy, Cid." Carbon closed her eyes as she helped Evelyn concentrate on finding a solution to the imploding reactor. "Eve, what if we—?"

"Send it through a wormhole? Nice idea, but the Æti has become too massive to move. It's practically a black hole in that containment field." The flowery fairy shook her head at the various scenarios she was still crunching the numbers upon. "That knocks a few more options down, actually. Fuck."

"Then maybe—?"

Again Eve used her connection with Carbon's mind to cut her off early. "Turn it into a rocket? That's even worse." She brought up a visual of how catastrophically low their chances were with that option. "Making it chain react would cause too many explosions to dodge. We might as well just wait it out and—"

Sydney shoved up against Carbon as she fired back against three remaining Yangurran soldiers with her pistol. «Let us help. You two look like you're in a rut.»

Carbon physically sighed in frustration. «Focus on keeping us alive and that's help enough.»

«Carbon, she's right though. Maybe our girls can help me with calculations.» Eve smiled as she noticed Cait floating around nearby her, but sighed herself when she couldn't find Leannan. «Cait, where is your sister? I don't sense her in the Link.»

Cait quirked her head, almost as if she was confused that the question needed asking. «She's hibernating so she can grow, mom.»

«Well wake her up. We need to... stop...»

«Eve?» Carbon perked up in concern as he felt a rare emotion from his lifelong companion—fear. «What's wrong? In the century we've known each other you've only been scared twice.»

«I'm... Goddess, Sydney...» Evelyn looked over to the reactor and then to the host of her children. «You need to get out of here. We don't have much time and... there's only one truly probable solution left.»

«Leave? Hell no.»

«That's not a request. You're carrying our children.» The phantom kissed her available child and then looked up to Sydney pleadingly. «I'm pretty sure this will work, but there's a good chance it'll still end badly for anyone nearby.»

Cid paused to place a pair of bullets between the eyes of one of the enemy combatants. «You need our help. There's no way in hell we're—»

«Sydney, you're pregnant.» Eve took a few elongated milliseconds to let that set in deeper. «Leannan is actually growing inside you.

«What!? How!?»

«I don't know. She's something new and special—and important for the whole of my species.» Eve gave Cait a strong hug and then stepped away, leaving the poor veile streaming tears. «That's why it's all the more important that you protect her. Protect our children however you can, Sydney and I'll... I'll protect them the only way I can now.»

«Oh goddess... You're going to interface with it directly, aren't you?» Carbon suddenly understood the dire situation she was thrust into and relayed her own fear to both his loves. «Sydney, you can't win this fight. You have to leave us and run.»

Cid looked to the open doorway from which they'd entered and then back to Carbon. «I... don't have a choice in this, do I?»

«You always knew I'd give anything for you, Sydney. Well...» Carbon broke the Link with a firm shove, forcing Cid into the open and subsequently a dash for the door. "Tell Fleur I love her!"

"And what about me, my silly otter?" With tears of her own welling in her eyes, Sydney nodded and backed through the doorway. "I love you, Carbon. I always will."

"And I wish I could have married you, Sydney Karidan. I love you and our girls so much." Carbon pulled off her helmet, taking a deep breath of palatable Yangurran-formatted air. "Now get that cute ass moving, meerkitten. I've got lives to save."

— — — — —

"Go!" Ilaria barely grabbed a floor grate of the fore cargo hold with one paw and pulled Rhyme with the other. "Back us up further, Alex!"

"What about Cid and Carbon? Didn't you hear them?"

"If they fail we're all dead anyway. We need to focus on helping our pack now." Ari rested briefly as Adrian helped pull Rhyme fully inside, the tanuki barely responding with more than mumbles and tears. Ari switched off her radio transmitter so she could have some peace then wobbled as she tried to stand on her one working leg. "I think I have our solution, but the fleet isn't going to like it."

"Lulu? Fuck, what happened!?" Iolvin gave up on his sniping duties and swept beneath his twin's arm to support her. "Don't tell me you're down another leg... Fuck..."

"It looks worse than it is, lil' bro. Get me to that nuke, will ya'?" Ari raised another arm toward aft and nudged her helmet to Dee. "We need to get this thing out there somehow since the cannon's still charging. Find my kids."

"Sure thing."

"Wait!" Sydney came skidding across the deck as she flew into the cargo bay and its gravity field. "Shit... Okay, what can we do about Carbon?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry, Cid." Ari reached her stolen warhead and popped off the loose access cover. "We've got to focus on those enemy ships. Just... pray Carbon solves her own problem in time and we'll assist when we're clear. She's our absolute priority after this, and you have my word on that."

"I... Fuck. I understand." Cid sulked as she followed behind Dee. "I'll help with the girls."

"Uh... actually..." Carmine held down his transmit key and groaned tellingly. "...Buck, uh..."

"Buck, Ma'am. A moment?" The line fell flat save some hushed whispers between the crewmen. "We got us a bit o' a pickle. Yer young'uns... They're not poppin' up on tha' internal sensors, cap'n."

"They've got their suit stealth... Damn, they had to get scared right when we need them."

"Well, there's where that pickle comes in. I figured as much knowin' 'bout them schemin' an' all. UV an' infrared ain't comin' back with no extra bodies." A few loud taps and bleeps poured through the line as Buck verified his findings. "Yep. Thems off the ship, ma'am."

"Well fuck me..." Ilaria peered out at the slowly shrinking construction barge and started shaking. "They warped out to the other ship to help... but they can't hear our radios. Oh gods..."

"We're in the same boat then." Sydney ceased the futile search and spied a few barrels of reclaimed oxydium. "I think I have a better plan, but we still need to launch this nuke."

"A plan? How is a nuke not the damn plan?" Ari sat against the weapon of mass destruction casually as she tried to figure out the meerkat. "What do we have on this ship that's better than a ~nuke~?"

"Oh, my plan is still to nuke their asses." Cid struggled with the fifty-five gallon drum, enticing Yoyo and Dee to help drag it to the missile. "You see, why go for enough when you can aim for ~so much more~. No such thing ~as~..."

"Uh... Oxy is the overkill? We need that to get back home."

"There's more on that barge. Besides, no home to go back to if we fail. Right?" The three finally moved the barrel just adjacent to the nuke, the smaller two of the group heaving in exhaustion. "Carbon and Eve were going on about how this stuff is worse than a nuke if it blows and all this math stuff. I figure that means a nuke is a good starting measure when it comes to detonators."

Ari stood now that her interest was piqued. "But isn't that the exact thing we're trying to avoid?"

"We can potentially survive this if the mass is low enough..." Cait hovered over the can of ultraviolet goop and nodded in confirmation. "Educated guess, but I think the math's right."

"My little Cait is saying the mass or something is fine." Sydney found the one construction tool she was truly handy with and began duck taping the barrel to the body of the nuclear warhead. "We just need to control the nuke's detonation and... I think I can pilot Ex to hurl it out there."

"Uh, mom?" Cait hunched down, not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. "Carbon is bonded to Ex. We don't... have the right genetics to use him alone... I think..."

Cid rubbed her invisible pink daughter behind her ears to let her know it was alright. "We~lp, that's a bust. No giant hunter-killer robot. Any other ideas?"

"Uh, we—"

With a very deliberate force, Gimbal silently floated between the two and clacked against the nuke. Then she did it again, harder.

Ilaria reached out in concern for everyone's immediate safety and prevented an even harder impact as Sprite fluttered nearby. "What the hell does this little girl want?"

"We're trying to figure that out." Prisma flickered her face into view over Ari's watch. "Gimbal's... hard to understand."

Ari cradled the now-larger orb of various 'borrowed' materials to keep her calm for lack of a better descriptor. "What, she's still speaking too basically?"

"Actually, she's gotten too complex. She's adapting to our translation matrix and... she's very descriptive." Prisma flickered a bit as she hurried Sprite's translation. "It seems... screw it. I'm guessing here, but she sees you moving that stuff slowly and wants to help."

"Oh, really? This could be good." Ari held the ball before her face and mouthed out her next words carefully as if it would help get her point across. "Ask her specifically if she can hurl this out the cargo bay for us. 'Can you throw this quickly towards a specific point?' or something, so there's less general info to parse through."

"Sprite's already on it, for whatever good the funneling might do. Hold on." The display went completely blank as the AI lent her fullest computational might towards the request. After about seven seconds she returned full force with a smile. "That worked exceedingly well. Give me some coordinates."

"She can do it? Holy ~shit~, I love you!" Ari gave Gimbal a hefty smooch she seemed to dislike, if her squiggling and shifting meant anything. "Okay, I can't see everything for certain. Yoyo, you've got a scope and all; lend a paw?"

"I can do one better." Yoyo held out a paw and created a set of binoculars with his nanites, ones the reached nearly two feet with the lensing and fit snugly around his helmet visor. "Guide me and I'll spot."

"There was a larger ship, but only just so. It was in the center of the enemy fleet when it arrived."

"Ah... No... No... Nope..." Yoyo panned around, squinting every time alien plasma fire flared in his scopes. "They all look alike, like wood actually. About half are large and almost identical."

"It had... some kind of—"

"Tails, sticking right out the back. I've think I've got it."

Ari grinned as she reached for the detonation controls. "Pris, how fast can Gimbal throw this thing?"

"She can... Oh, wow." Prisma blinked a few times as she confirmed her translations. "Hard enough. About a kilometer a second, slightly less... and apparently ~without~ cracking my spine with the reaction force."

"Not a friend of Newton, I suppose? I don't care how she does it, just that she can." Ari tapped a set of details into the firing detonation computer of the missile, pausing for a bit of mental mathematics. "Yoyo, I need a distance in klicks."

"That'd be... Well fuck, that thing must be ~huge~. Hundred and twenty one klicks."

"So that's one-two-one... two minutes..." The nuke lit up as it was armed. "I gave her sixty seconds extra and she's ticking now. Pris, relay that to Gimbal and tell her to go ahead."

"You got it, sis."

Ari quirked her head at the title. "You... called me 'sis'..."

"She's getting a bit more comfortable in that new body of hers, I guess." Dee helped Ilaria stand up and clear some room for the floating ball. "Maybe she's starting to heal a bit in the head? Memory's repairing itself?"

"I hope so. I... miss the quirky girl as she was, not that she isn't great now too." Ari hobbled a few paces and held onto a nearby crate, waiting nervously until her watch spooked her. "Pris? What's wrong?"

"Oh, Gimbal wants to remove the gravity. She says she might have better aim or something."

"Do it. Everyone hold onto something." The reversed gravity shut off with a disturbing shudder throughout the whole ship. "Alright. Now then... Carmine, relay this to all ships: Our nuke is hot and you have two and a half minutes. Recall all fighters and get ~way~ clear, further than expected."

"On it, Ari."

Iolvin stayed perched near the broken front bay with his hindpaws hooked below the edge of a container. He watched for the other ships and gave a thumbs-up back to his twin when they started turning around. Oddly the enemy ships remained on their slow and steady course, returning fire in an oblivious state.

With only two seconds to spare, Gimbal lashed out a beam of pure, matte black that enveloped the nuclear improvised explosive device. With completely zero effort the IED cleared the deck, then rocketed forward like it had been held taught in an invisible slingshot. Ilaria pulled Rhyme close as she watched the metal of the nuke recede to but a glimmer against the system's lone star.

The suspense gnawed upon all who dared wait for the blast until Ari perked up with a warning. "Wait! Shield your eyes! Don't look directly at it!"

Everyone's natural reflex was to indeed flinch as the explosion seared their visors, though thankfully not beneath. Yoyo quickly ducked down cautiously as the enormous, moon-sized fireball engulfed most of his vision. "Fuck me sideways... That shit isn't playing around."

Cid looked up at her handiwork with a large grin. "Because there's ~no such thing~ as overkill."

"No shit." Ari pulled herself up to her legs and motioned for everyone else to do the same. "Pris, you can switch on the gravity again."

"It's spooling up now." The AI looked perturbed by something, then her virtual eyes shot wide open. "It's not over yet! Hold onto something, guys!"

"What?" Sydney noticed gaseous wafts and waves spilling and spreading from the persistent explosion. "What the hell are we looking at here, Cait?"

The pink phantom immediately hovered in front of Sydney's face. "My math was off... I forgot that those ships run off of that oxydium too, so..."

As those extensions billowed closer Ari stressed, "Cid? What's the word?"

"Uh... Hello, mister overkill?"

"Shit. Everyone get clear." Ari threw a nanite tendril to the aft bulkhead doors and pulled herself and Rhyme out of the exposed cargo bay. "Get deeper inside the ship. If we get hit, this'll take the most damage being exposed."

"Guys, you've got seconds." Yoyo grabbed Dee and threw him towards his sister, then threw up a shield using his nanites and whatever debris and particulates he could find. "Move! I'll hold it for the first wave!"

"Yoyo!" Dee twirled around weightlessly, only to slam into the floor as gravity returned. "Ouch... Wait—"

Zoë reached out as her suit was pinned by an upset cargo crate. "Master! I... Help!"

"Zoë!?" Yoyo winced as his shield cracked, though luckily it held out for the initial wave. "Everyone keep going! I'll get her!"

The rest of the gang hurried their evacuation except Adrian who lingered for his husband. "Iolvin, you'll never make it! Just..."

"No! I'm not leaving her!" Yoyo groaned as he hunched over the human and created a denser, more efficient shield around the two of them. "I promised you we'd have a kid, Adri. Now I'd die for that dream."

"But... I love you..."

"And I love our new family. I can't protect you both like this, so go hide." The otter clutched Zoë protectively and shot a stern, scary look to his husband. "I love you, Adri... but I have to try."

"I..." Dee tried to move, freezing before adrenaline kicked him back into gear. "I'll be waiting for you. Don't you dare stand me up, Iolvin."

"It's a date then. I love you, babe."

Dee coughed through tears as he passed into the next bulkhead. "I love you."

"Same for you, kiddo." The next wave crushed Yoyo's shield, crushing and crinkling it inward but not quite breaking it. "You're the mother of our child, now. You're family—and we protect our own in this family."

"M-Master..."

"Enough of that. When this one ends, we seriously need to run." Yoyo heaved as he lifted the edge of the cargo box. "Now! Run!"

Zoë donned her game face and scrambled into a sprint. "We'll make it, master!"

"Damn right we will!" Yoyo dropped the container and followed his vassal. "This one's closer! Luck don't fail us now!"

Fate and Luck had a disagreement, the whole ship rocking under the pressure of the final large blast wave and sending Zoë sliding face-first across the floor. "Guh! M-Mas... t-ter..."

Iolvin eyed the nearby exit, then back to the plasma wave that already began filling the cargo bay. The sudden pit in his heart calcined away, replaced by love-flavored bravery. Without a moment to spare, he leaped backward and covered Zoë, throwing up a quick shield just as the plasma reached them.

When the wave dissipated, Zoë opened her eyes and hugged her master laying atop her. Then she noticed the blood. Then the partial arm near her head. Then then organs that spilled out the missing right half of a body. Then her own shrill, deathly screaming.

— — — — —

"Is that it? Are we clear?" Ilaria checked out the bridge windows, a well in her gut telling her something was absolutely wrong. "What... What's the enemy's status?"

"Sensors are down, ma'am. They tend to shut off to keep from puffin' fire an' all."

"Keep at it, Buck. Anyone have visuals?"

"Checking—"

The intercom suddenly blasted out in Adrian's voice. "Elliot! Get down to the cargo bay! Now!"

"Yoyo..." Ari's body froze and went cold as she realized what she felt—or didn't feel—over her wireless Link. "Gods, no... No..."

A sudden slap hit hard enough to break Ari's helmet free. "Your girls and my Carbon are still helpless. Get yourself back in the game."

"But Cid..." Ari shook her head, then soaked in all the confused and flustered faces around the bridge. "We... still have a mission to see through. Thanks, Cid."

"Cap'n, I don't much like what I'm gettin' from that ol' barge..."

"The enemy, Buck. Focus sensors on the enemy."

"I'm talking 'bout with eyes, ma'am." The moose pointed out a window at the ship in question, a large plume of burning methane venting from a large rupture. "She took a might big wallop."

"Fuck." Ari hurried over to the window to get a better look. "They're losing atmosphere. Everyone's got suits though, so—"

Cid shoved right up next to the otter. "Carbon had her helmet off..."

"There's safety doors though. Maybe she's fine." Ari nodded and perked herself up. "We definitely can't outrun a blast larger than that last one. Since we'll probably die anyway, let's board that barge again. Who's up for a rescue par—?"

A silent explosion ripped apart nearly half of the captured barge, sending twisted structuring and debris out in all directions. It wasn't until the clack of metal against the hull that Ilaria realized Sydney was crying out for her love. That sinking feeling in Ari's heart only plummeted as her hopes for her children collapsed like the barge's hull.

"Damnit, Carbon! Answer me!"

Ari steeled her will and calmed Sydney with a paw to the shoulder. "We'll find her. Buck, give me some fucking news so I can rescue them, already!"

"Ah... Oh, well will ya' look at that." Buck pulled up a composite sensor sweep on the main hologram. "All raw stuff, ma'am. I'll tag it all in a jiffy."

"No need. Pris?" Ari walked up to the display and watched as the AI best-guessed the nature of the raw data. "All the big ships look like they're gone."

"Yeah, seems that way." Prisma finished her analysis and smiled. "Only enemy ships left are fighters, and they've all shut down engines. Oh, but..."

"We lost two."

"Yeah, and four more are crippled." Pris quieted down and hid her avatar. "The Rosaria and the Arkansas, though..."

"I... Ghah..." Sydney froze in place when Carbon's voice faintly whistled over the radio line. "I knew the... captains... They were good men..."

"Carbon!"

"Hey... Meerpuss..."

Sydney didn't even care that nickname made it onto the air, rejoicing as she clung to the window frame. "Are you alright? I'm coming to get you."

"I don't... Just give me some time..."

"What? No way." Cid shoved off the window and headed back towards the cargo bay. "I'm grabbing your ass, placing it in bed, and riding it the whole way home."

"Seriously, I need some... Goddess..." Completely unlike the hybrid, Carbon broke down into sobbing. "She's really... How is she...?"

"Carbon?" The meerkat stopped dead in her tracks, unsure what was wrong. "Don't tell me Ari's kids are... gods..."

"Th-They're f-f-fine. Th-They're h-here with-th m-me..." Carbon wailed and moaned, her speech breaking down quickly. "B-But Eve..."

Sydney swallowed hard enough it sounded through the radio. "Stay where you are. I'm coming."

Ilaria nudged forward the obvious question Sydney was unable to ask. "Carbon, what happened to Eve? Can we help?"

"Sh-She's gone! She..." The sobbing plant-otter forced herself to take even breaths. "She s-saved us. Eve gave herself to... to stop the reactor."

"Gods..." Ari fell to her knees, giving up her struggle to stand in favor of the easier solution. "We've won, but... what price did we pay?"

— — — — —

You're gone, gone, gone away, /

I watched you disappear. /

All that's left is a ghost of you.

Now we're torn, torn, torn apart, /

there's nothing we can do. /

Just let me go, we'll meet again soon.

Now wait, wait, wait for me, /

please hang around. /

I'll see you when I fall asleep.

— — — — —

"Thank you all for taking the time today to..." Ilaria hesitated to continue, spying quite a few friends and family tearing up before she even started. The absense of her twin brother choked her progress, but his bravery fueled her second wind. "...to pay tribute to those we've lost. I know we have important days ahead of us, but we'd be no better than our enemies if we didn't remember the true cost of war."

Ari paused to give the crowd of the aft cargo bay time to settle. "Yesterday we were not only participants in the largest triumph of our noble planet, but we were also lucky enough to witness our kind at their greatest." She passed before the span of the audience of captains, crew, and loved ones slowly, pausing to acknowledge the occasional glance with a nod. "It takes a unique breed of person to sacrifice his- or herself entirely so that others may hope to live in peace." Ari ended her slight walk at the end of a small row of coffins, placing her real paw softly on the top of one to feel the wood grain. "We were all part of this horrible battle, all attacking and distracting for the sake of stopping great evil. Yet for every iota of effort we exerted, the honorable few gave many times as much. Outnumbered and surrounded, these people shored the defense and gave us a fighting chance."

Ilaria took the time to say a silent prayer before each casket, but cringed when Carbon cried out as she reached an empty one labeled 'Evelyn'. "These great beings before us aren't just furs or people. They're heroes. They're legend." She took a deep breath and turned around to face the crowd. "I led all of us into this battle for our planet. These titans led our pack to victory." Ilaria nodded to her girls, and one by one portals opened beneath the caskets to load them into the rear airlock. "It is with the greatest respect and hope that we cast these heroes into limitless space, that they may live on endlessly in legend until the grand day they find a new people to protect. May they guide those lost to the black so they might become brilliant stars."

Once the coffins were loaded safely, Ari reached over to a physical control and pressed the safety release. "May great men and women become heroes. May heroes become legends. May legends become gods." She depressed the airlock cycling button and donned her head in silence for a short time. She then slowly raised her head and stared directly upon the various expectant woman. "And may gods guide our children safely down roads untraveled."

— — — — —

Hey! /

Don't listen to a word I say. /

Hey! /

The screams all sound the same. /

Hey!

Though the truth may vary /

this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore.

— Little Talks, Of Monsters and Men—as sung by Ielunschra Mikhaila Rihzyet and Rhythm Rhyme Bleu.