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Part 2 - Warrior

"You're sure about this, love?" Night Star asked, turning from his customary seat on the bridge to face her. "You know that there's no going back from this. If we start this, then they're never going to stop looking for you."

The Mrr'tani Pride sat at rest in hyper, floating gently among the waves that flowed around them. On occasion, Strong Soul could feel the ship move through her connection with Micah as the AI made subtle adjustments to keep them out of the path of any potential waves.

"I know, Night Star," Strong Soul answered. She would be lying to him and he would be able to feel that if she'd said that she didn't have doubts, or that she was totally sure about herself. But there was one thing that she was quite sure of, and that was that she was choosing the right path.

First Spark and Stargazer were in their usual spots on the bridge as well. From Stargazer, Strong Soul felt the calm determination that she was used to from him, but there was something else beneath it. She recognized it, as she'd felt it time and time again. Stargazer was the same as her. He was a hunter, and this was their game.

"There has not been a revolt of any significant size in a generation, Keeper," Stargazer added. "What we plan to do will not go unnoticed."

"That's why we're doing it," Strong Soul answered. "It's been a generation since the Mrr'tani have had any hope, and I intend to give it to them once again."

Thanks to some helpful Mrr'tani and human ship captains, they'd plotted out the most likely course for an Allied cargo tug. This particular one never varied from its route, and they always stopped for exactly the same amount of time on each of their planets. According to one of the captains they spoke to, there was an overriding concern among Allied pilots and ship captains on saving fuel. The more Thorium they saved, the more their share of the run was. And with only a small number of humans on the ship, there was even more to go around.

The planet Zed 3 lay on the other side of the hyper barrier. The Pride had come across the barrier long enough to plot their ambush, and with the time they'd had, Strong Soul and Micah had taken every opportunity they could to learn more about the planet. It was small, almost half of Silverwell's size, and there was no atmosphere to speak of. It was also far away from any significantly traveled cargo lanes, something that had cemented it as their choice for where they would attack.

Strong Soul felt no Mrr'tani presence on the planet, and Micah's scans had only picked up a small Allied outpost on the surface, likely associated with the very small satellite station that orbited almost directly above it, high enough to be geosynchronous. Aside from those two signs of civilization, the planet and the space for parsecs around it were utterly empty.

"Twenty seconds," Micah said over the speakers.

"Let's get ready," Strong Soul said. "Keep us in the void until we're close enough, okay?"

"Of course, love. We'll just have to decide just how close 'close enough' actually is, though."

The joining started and their bodies fell away as their minds merged into the usual single thought. While she would usually be doing her usual duties to assist Night Star in bringing the ship across the barrier, this time she stepped back and let go of the hold on her own thoughts, letting the thoughts of the others flow all around her and through her, just as she'd done before they arrived at Mss'ranaw. She knew now the feeling of trying to contain too many minds within her own, and through her work with Silent Heart, she'd learned how to simply be the conduit for everyone around her without feeling the need to intervene.

The waves shifted through the windows and the stars fell into place. The four sets of eyes and every sensor on the Pride peered into the star-spotted darkness. A moment later, a colossal ship winked into existence less than a light minute away, a torrent of energy crackling off its hull and shields, dissipating the the accumulation of power required to cross the barrier.

With just a thought, Night Star and Micah set the Pride on a course that would eventually bring them to meet the tug and set the engines to full. Strong Soul felt the surge of power through her as if she was the Pride herself, charging across the void, the huntress with her target in sight and within her grasp. Micah's mind sang with the pleasure echoed from hers, and despite his cool logic, she could tell that he enjoyed being linked with her as much as she did with him. It was the first he'd ever felt of the excitement of the chase, and the answering wave of his mind pushed the ship even harder, right to the very edge of what it could handle. It was something that none of the Mrr'tani on board would ever dare to do, as it would be courting disaster. But Micah knew the limits of the ship, he was the ship, and the ship was him, and with them all joined as they were, the ship was all of them, and they all felt the pure rush the added power brought.

"Transmission from the tug," Micah's voice said in their minds.

Strong Soul didn't need to listen to it to know what it said, but she shunted the data to the screen anyway.

"Unidentified vessel," a stern male voice said. There was no picture that came along with the voice. "You are on an intercept course with a ship of the Allied Planets. You are instructed to change course immediately or we will be forced to take defensive action."

Defensive action, Night Star thought, his mind amused beyond his ability to hold it within himself. With that old bucket, they might even have a phased plasma cannon, but nothing worth mentioning.

Strong Soul said nothing, letting Micah continue his course without any change in speed or heading. She knew that their intentions would soon be clear to the tug. They were not turning around now. She watched the numbers click down in one corner of her mind, silently counting the seconds. She knew that she could have done what she intended back at the hyper wall, but she wanted to be sure that no matter what happened, they would be able to ensure the tug never made it to the planet or across the hyper barrier.

Besides, a simple freighter like the Pride wouldn't be something anyone perceived as a threat. Even the least respectable pirate in the galaxy would have used something with more punch than a Juniper.

"Unidentified vessel," the voice said again, "this is your final warning. We will fire on your ship if you do not change course."

Now or never, love, Night Star said in Strong Soul's mind.

Drop the void, she answered.

The shield dropped away and the minds of almost a thousand Mrr'tani suddenly opened to her. Each one a bright flicker in the darkness, brighter than even the stars surrounding them. They flared in unison as they found her beacon, the touch of her mind, something they all yearned for, unspoken as the desire was, even unknown to most of them. Together, Night Star, Stargazer, First Spark and Strong Soul let them in and joined them together, inviting them to the same joining of consciousness that they already shared. The multiplicity of vision shattered once again, just as it had when she touched the minds in the cruiser.

This time, she wasn't fumbling. Strong Soul knew exactly what she needed to do. While the Mrr'tani crew was reeling from the shock of the connection, she was already seeking through their minds, finding those that were loyal and good and those that were the overseers. It was easy to tell the difference, as most of the minds were filled with exquisite pleasure and wonderment at this new, very right, sensation. Some, though, were filled with fear when they first felt the touch of Strong Soul's mind. Then the loathing set in. That hatred and fear gave her all the information she needed, and the hundreds of minds linked so closely to her own gave her the only weapon that she needed.

She poured the energy down the links to those most filled with hate and kept pouring it in until the links flickered and finally died. She saw through one set of Mrr'tani eyes the devastation that she'd caused, the body of an overseer on the floor contorted in agony and then death as his head split from ears to crown and a sickly gray substance seeped slowly from where his eyes used to be. She didn't stop until every last one of the suspect links was gone. Only then did she reel back in the power and take more time to focus on the rest of the Mrr'tani that she could feel.

With a skill borrowed from Stargazer's years of experience, she followed the links to the Mrr'tani minds, tasting the edge of their thoughts, looking for a split moment out of their eyes until she found the one on the bridge of the tug, closest to the console she wanted. With a flick of her mind, she sent the one she'd found hurtling across the bridge, running full out into the human with his hand poised over the panel she knew to be the weapon's console. The impact sent both of them flying across the tug's bridge, limbs intertwining.

She had no attention to spare yet for that one, though, and she shifted her focus to the Mrr'tani in the engine room. Three of them were already charging the human guard who, seeing through their eyes, was caught completely unaware and had yet to make a single movement to avoid the oncoming Mrr'tani. Finding another at one of the consoles, she shifted her link to him.

Shut the engines down, she thought to him before moving on, trusting from the sheer pleasure that she felt from him that he would do her bidding.

So much was happening at one time that she found it difficult to keep track of it all. Alongside her, though, she felt First Spark's presence and she opened her mind even more to the young Frr'a'narr'ah.

Get the engines down and make sure they can't get at the armory. One of the crew will know where it is, she said to First Spark's mind.

With that, she left First Spark to do what she needed and moved on, shifting her focus back to the bridge. The Mrr'tani and human were still on the deck, each trying to extricate themselves from the other. Less than a moment had passed, and Strong Soul pushed the astonishment to the back of her head at how quickly she could coordinate the minds on the ship. There were only three other humans on the bridge, and around them, on the outside ring of the bridge, nine Mrr'tani stood watching. A tenth lay in front of one of the stations, his body bent and shattered like the other overseer she saw earlier.

Remove them, she thought to the nine Mrr'tani, giving them a cohesive task. The Mrr'tani advanced on the humans and Strong Soul backed out of their minds, watching it unfold.

Then she felt something that stopped her mind cold. It was the sheer hatred that the servant Mrr'tani held for the ones on whom they were advancing. The intent was clear in Strong Soul's mind and she stepped back into focus in their mind immediately.

Do not harm the humans, she commanded. I know your pain, but there are other plans ahead.

There was no question of trust. Each and every Mrr'tani on board had figured out what was going on and who was in their minds, and through the rage and hate of them all, a resounding chorus of joy rang in her mind at the sheer rightness of the connections between them all.

One last thing remained to be done, and when the human crew on the bridge was secured, she directed one of the Mrr'tani to the panel next to the chair in the center of the bridge. With a flick of a button on the panel, the tug's AI opened a link with Micah. It was a secure, computer to computer line that every spacer in the galaxy knew to be safe from interference, as it used an encryption scheme so complex that not even another AI from the outside could crack it and overhear what was being said. The programming on any ship's AI also made it impossible to modify or change in any way that would harm another AI.

This was different, though. Strong Soul wasn't just a programmer with access to the code, she had access to Micah's mind, and now with the channel open between the two of them, she pulled the tug's AI into the joining as well, letting Micah communicate much more intimately than he ever could have before. It was a sharing of pure ideas and thoughts, and when it was over, she felt the suspicion of the tug's AI turn to curiosity and then subdued pleasure as she felt the joining of the minds around her.

This is Jules, Micah said after what felt like minutes. Strong Soul knew, though, that hardly a second had passed.

Hello, Jules, Strong Soul said, welcoming her into the joining fully. I need to use your inter-ship communication system, if I may.

Of course, Keeper of Hearts, Jules answered.

Strong Soul watched a light wink on through one of the Mrr'tani's eyes on the bridge and she assembled three of them near the pickup.

"Attention human crew of the Ferret," the three of them said in unison. Their voices were their own, but their words were Strong Soul's. "I am the Keeper of Hearts. Your ship is now the sole property of the Mrr'tani Federation. Your weapons are secure and your ship will no longer answer to your commands. Surrender peacefully and you will be delivered safely to the outpost on the planet."

She paused and took a mental breath. What she had to say next was something that she didn't want to have to add, but she had to convince them of their resolve.

"If any of the newly liberated Mrr'tani on board are harmed, then they will deliver the perpetrator as unharmed as possible to the nearest airlock. You will secure yourselves in the human mess hall and someone will be sent when the ship has reached the planet."

Then she pulled back and returned every bit of control to the Mrr'tani on board the Ferret with only an admonition to do as she said and leave the humans be provided they followed her instruction.

There was one, though, that she kept linked closely and that was the Mrr'tani she knew had the most navigation and maneuvering experience.

We will be intercepting the Ferret in about ten minutes. Have a docking port ready, she thought to him.

With pleasure, Keeper of Hearts, the Mrr'tanou responded. I've been waiting fifty years to meet you.