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  “When don’t you have the duty, or have to study?” Trey bumped his hairy shoulder against hers before moving ahead. “Live a little. You only have to make it onto the ship before it leaves, right? It’s Baba Yaga! Everyone on the planet will be watching, except for the people on the ships. Come on, she won’t be mad you wanted to watch. It’s a moment in history!”

  “I think she will understand.” K’aia relented, only half-listening to Trey. Her attention was more on the crowd around Gabriel and Alexis. “Keep watching, it’s about to begin.”

  The twins dashed into the center of the plaza just before the innermost circle of the mosaic-tiled floor began to rise up. The crowd gasped or stood in awestruck silence when the brightness of the morning was replaced by what could only be described as an absence of light.

  K’aia shrugged at Trey’s questioning look. She figured the effect was being created by the five other Shinigami-class ships surrounding the Izanami. Michael’s scary-ass android must have programmed their cloaking to create a false night.

  Gabriel and Alexis moved to meet the ramp and positioned themselves on either side as it touched down with their weapons at ease, ready to react at the first sign of trouble.

  K’aia wished her exosuit wasn’t aboard the Izanami already so she could be there with them.

  Trey continued to chatter in that sliding musical tone of his. “You know every vid-caster in the city has a drone as close to the ship as Baba Yaga will allow. I can’t believe I’m here! We all saw the leaked reports from the battle zones. I bet she’s beyond mad. I wonder…do you think she can really spit fire? That would be beyond impressive.”

  K’aia repressed a snicker and threw her arm around Trey’s shoulders to move him along. “Who knows? Come on, or I'll probably be the one to find out when I’m late to my post.”

  They halted near the base of the newly created platform. K’aia was no shy maiden, and she had no problem using her bulk to make space for her and Trey at the front of the crowd.

  The Izanami’s hatch opened, emitting a red glow that framed the hatch against the darkness. The temperature dropped sharply as the glow spilled down the ramp in a spray of fine mist.

  Trey craned his muscular neck, wanting a better view of the hatch. “That light—it’s too bright. I can’t see inside.”

  K’aia shushed him with a hand. “Give it a minute.”

  Blood-bright mist continued to pour down the ramp. It licked the edge of the platform and washed back on itself, the tidal swirl almost hypnotic in the darkness.

  The crowd waited with their breath held to see which face Baba Yaga would greet them with. Whether she appeared as the Mistress or the Witch, everyone knew that surviving contact with Baba Yaga depended entirely on whether or not you broke her cardinal rule.

  Baba Yaga appeared at the hatch and stepped into the night, pausing to take in the crowd below her. Her moon-white hair lashed the air, sending up tendrils of glowing mist that were eclipsed by the twin points of fire burning in the inky blackness of her face.

  She was clearly pissed off.

  This would be somebody’s last day breathing. However, the people of Devon weren’t the ones who had angered her.

  The planet ground to a halt as Baba Yaga spoke. All across Devon, people gathered in their homes, their businesses, and at public screens as word spread. They were drawn in by Baba Yaga’s rage, their empathy easy to come by since they felt the same anger at the disruption the Ooken had caused to their lives.

  The Mistress of the planet lifted her chin and spoke into the unnatural darkness, her grim voice needling the minds of everyone listening. “This is my planet, but it is also your home. When I came here looking for a fight, I had no intention of remaining any longer than it took to relieve my frustration about your pirate problem.”

  She grinned without joy, descending slowly to the platform. “None of us planned on the Ooken. How could we? We had no clue they existed until they attacked.”

  The crowd beneath the Izanami muttered angrily.

  Baba Yaga spread her hands wide. “The Ooken are a gigantic pain in my ass and yours, but their days are numbered. Devon is safe, thanks to the efforts of my people to make it so. However, the contributions you have made to the defense of your homeworld have not gone unnoticed.” She turned a circle, making sure to include the cameras. “I come before the people of Devon today with a damn sight more respect than I had when I arrived—respect that you as a people have earned. Sure, you’re ornery and rebellious, but I can appreciate that. The desire to steer your own course is not just a whim. It’s the right of every sentient being.”

  Her face softened, lending her terrible features a sense of sadness. “The Moen have got an Ooken infestation they can’t take care of.” A symphony of alerts rang out across the plaza. “Bear witness with me.”

  K’aia felt the mood shift another notch toward anger. She checked her holo, finding unedited HUD-footage taken by Guardian Marines on Moen. The slender aliens were chained to buildings, as Alexis had discovered.

  She continued to watch for a moment before shutting the playback off, sickened by the continued abuse of the diminutive aliens. She sincerely hoped that the twins hadn’t watched the whole video. Alexis and Gabriel had an unjaded innocence about them despite the nature of their upbringing, and she would hate for the ugliness the Ooken were capable of to rob them of that.

  “This is going out all over the planet.” Baba Yaga’s tone sent shivers through the crowd, her icy fury somehow worse than the searing anger they were used to from their ruler. “I want everyone to watch closely. See the treatment the Moen endure. Understand their pain. I will not stand for slavery in any form, and where I find it, I will stamp it out without mercy.”

  “I want to help!” a voice yelled from the crowd.

  More joined the first, a clamor rising up across the plaza.

  This was why Bethany Anne had settled on this planet to be the new Devon. These people resented any kind of management they didn’t agree to. They fought and played by their own rules when they thought she wasn’t paying attention, but they took care of their families and their friends. They would fight for their worst enemy if they believed it was the right thing to do.

  They had honor.

  Across Devon, many of the people responded much as Bethany Anne had intended. They left their homes, their jobs, or their purchases behind and banded together. In the towns and cities, Tim Kinley’s ground teams moved out to meet the mobs. It was their job to funnel the people’s energy to some purpose before it spilled into riots and looting.

  Some were more taciturn in their reactions. Inside the Bakan enclave, Mahi’Takar sat in the main hall with her sisters, scrutinizing the human on the screen. Perhaps Tu’Reigd’s dreams were not so impossible after all.

  In Hexagon Plaza, K’aia allowed the movement of the crowd to carry her away from Trey and around the other side of the platform to wait for her chance to get aboard the Izanami without being seen. She peered through the churning mist, amazed by the way the people in the plaza hung on Baba Yaga’s every word.

  “If you can fight, you’re already in the right place. Anyone who is generous enough to drop everything to help the Moen rebuild should get to a Library and start preparing for a change of scenery, because once I’ve cleared out the garbage, they’re going to need every bit of help they can get. This shit will get messy fast, and the more we can do to make the transition smooth by returning their infrastructure to them undamaged, the better.” Baba Yaga turned and placed a foot on the ramp. “If you fight for Devon, I welcome you.”

  She vanished as suddenly as she’d appeared and the mist expanded rapidly, running over the edge of the platform now that it was no longer held in place.

  K’aia hopped onto the platform and darted up the ramp behind Gabriel and Alexis, grateful once again for the enhanced speed and agility her nanocytes gave her. The last thing she saw before the hatch closed was the rush for the doors of the Hexagon.


  4

  Devon, The Hexagon, Outdoor Arena

  The arena echoed with the steady hum of a large gathering. Bethany Anne’s appearance as Baba Yaga yesterday had gone viral in Devon’s three cities within hours of her speech, and it seemed to Tabitha that she’d processed half of the planet’s population in the last day—with the other half still to go.

  Tabitha walked the lines of potential trainees, speaking for a moment with each candidate to assess their skill set before sending them on their way to meet their new teammates.

  Hirotoshi, Ryu, Akio, Tim, and Sabine were carrying out similar assessments around the arena to determine how to make the most of this unexpected resource. They’d been doing this while still running scheduled classes in the indoor training center. Assigning a hundred thousand or more civilians to the track that most suited them took time to do right, yet the people of Devon waited their turn patiently.

  Well, mostly patiently.

  Hirotoshi touched Tabitha’s mind. Trouble is brewing between those two Bakas and Trey.

  Tabitha rolled her eyes. Seriously? They can’t just wait their turns like everybody else? I’ll take care of it. She stomped over to the two males at the center of the altercation, her tolerance for this kind of shit precisely zero. “What’s going on here?”

  The bullies ignored her, too wrapped up in their posturing to realize the foolishness of their choice. They were almost identical in size and had an equal amount of scarring showing under their matted fur. Both had their hands over their blades’ hilts, ready to draw if their offense wasn’t answered.

  Tabitha snapped her fingers at them. “Hey! I asked you a question. Do you have a problem with my student?”

  “I wouldn’t anger her,” Trey warned.

  The two adults laughed at Trey. “Little worm, always letting the females fight his battles for him.”

  Trey bared his teeth. “It’s called being smart, Ch’Irzt. She can take you, and that’s double the dishonor for you. Then again, I could take you down myself…if I wanted to risk getting your ass-wodge stink on my fur.”

  Ch’Irzt and his buddy lunged at Trey, who didn’t flinch a millimeter. “You little…”

  Trey bared his teeth and cocked a fist. “What? I dare you. Just try it and see.”

  Tabitha grunted in consternation and shouldered her way between them before it got ugly. “Hey! Back up!” She planted her hands on the older Bakas’ chests and pushed them farther apart. “No fighting. Keep your dick waving outside of this arena, or you’re both out of here, you got me?”

  Ch'Irzt bristled. “I do not answer to any human, much less one I could snap between my fingers.”

  Tabitha pressed her lips together and nodded. “Is that right? Your name is Chet? Well, Chet, let’s get something straight right off the bat. You’re here because you want to be trained by me, so you’d better hope you don’t piss me off, or I might decide to make an example of you.” She pointed at the stone arch leading to the changing area. “Exit’s that way. If you don’t like it, I’m happy to kick your furry ass out.”

  The Baka snorted and spat at Tabitha’s feet. “Pah. I’d like to see you try.”

  Tabitha moved without warning, and the Baka landed hard on his ass before his brain was done processing that she’d hit him. “You were saying?”

  Two females came forward and glared at the male on the ground.

  “Get up, Ch’Irzt,” the first grunted at him. “How dare you insult our host this way?” She held her hands out palms up to Tabitha. “I can only apologize. My son is resistant to change. He will obey you, or I will no longer have three sons.” The last was said through the female’s gritted teeth and aimed toward her eldest son.

  “You behave like a youth still,” the other scolded, wagging a long, painted claw in Ch’Irtz’s face as he got to his feet. “Why do you always bring shame on our clan? Why can you not learn from my Tu’Reigd like the others?”

  Tabitha glanced at the young Baka, who shrugged as if to agree he hadn’t seen his cousins learning much except what curse words they could pick up from the training fighters. She grinned at the two females. “No offense taken. But your family’s permission to take Chet here in hand would ensure he doesn’t get himself or anyone else killed with his dumb-ass mouth.”

  The females returned Tabitha’s devious smirk. “It would be our honor,” his mother told her. “You may have his life to use as you see fit in the hope my boy returns to me a warrior.”

  Tabitha wasn’t too sure about that. “Not necessary. Six months of living and training with the youth teams will beat some manners into him.”

  She raised her voice to make sure every being there could hear. “Anyone else who wants to spend time training with the kids should start acting up right now to save me the trouble of busting your asses later. This is not a summer camp, people. I will break you and turn you out stronger than before, but only if you want it. You don’t like that? It sounds too hard? Like I just told Chet, the exit is that way.”

  Tabitha’s voice echoed around the arena, her passion overpowering the murmurs of those present. “The Ooken aren’t dicking around. They want our home, and they want us wiped out or enslaved. Sure as hell itself, I don’t intend to let that happen. Do you?”

  Tabitha stood with her hands on her hips as the lines began to reform. “That’s what I thought,” she finished softly, heading back to her line.

  Location Three, Orbiting Moen, QBS Izanami, Queen’s Armory

  Bethany Anne arched her back as the last section of her armor locked into place. “Here’s hoping Jean managed to work all the bugs out of the nanos.”

  “Any improvement to the energy drain taking armor into the Etheric causes you is to be be applauded,” Michael called from the armor case next to Bethany Anne’s. “Perhaps in the near future Jean will find a way to eliminate it altogether.”

  “It’s taken long enough to get to this point.” Bethany Anne stepped down and walked over to collect her katanas from the wall mount. “Between Eve, William, and Jean, I’m hoping we’ll see a hell of a lot of applicable tech coming from their findings on the nanocytes in the Ooken substance, however slowly the discovery phase is moving.” She held her swords to her back and her armor moved to secure them.

  “Especially once TOM and ADAM crack that Kurtherian code,” Michael agreed. He detached his armor’s gauntlets in favor of the ones Bethany Anne had given him, smiling when the nanocytes in his armor adapted to create a seal at his wrist. “Although the advances Jean has made despite the scant discoveries at the locations we’ve taken are not to be sniffed at. Who could have imagined splicing the two technologies could give us the ability to change the properties of a material at the atomic level? It will certainly make a change to sneaking around the darkest corners of the Ooken colonies in an attempt to avoid discovery.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir.” Bethany Anne waved her finger in a circle to indicate Michael do a turn. Her mouth twitched with satisfaction when he gave her that look of his and complied. She tapped the same finger on her lip. “The red looks good. Hmmm… Could be a little more fitted in the rear aspect.”

  Michael looked over his shoulder, then raised an eyebrow at Bethany Anne. “Looks fine to me.”

  Bethany Anne winked, chuckling as he turned back to her. “I’m teasing. Looks just fine to me, too.”

  Izanami’s voice came over the speaker, ending the moment. “We are one Gate away from Location Three, my Queen,” she announced. “Alexis and Gabriel are making their way to the bridge with K’aia.”

  Bethany Anne arched an eyebrow, a rueful smile spreading over her face. “Are you getting that date-night vibe? I’m not saying I’d change a thing, but finding time alone together is becoming somewhat difficult now that our children are getting older.”

  “Just hold onto the memory, my love.” Michael took the hand Bethany Anne offered. “I expect the difficulty will ease once we are no longer living aboard the ship.”

&
nbsp; Bethany Anne half-shrugged and took them both into the Etheric. “I don’t know if that’s looking any closer. I’m not completely sold on the lake house. It’s so close to the cities. Shit, this is still a drag.”

  Michael chuckled dryly. “There are at least a hundred kilometers of empty land around it on all sides. How much space do you want?” he asked as they stepped out into the transfer area on the bridge.

  Bethany Anne pressed her lips together. “More than that. It’s not the biggest buffer. It’s not like we can Gate the whole planet out of here if the Ooken somehow find a way through the defenses around Devon.” Her eyes flicked to the Ooken satellites around the planet that were displayed on the wraparound screens. It was quiet. Too quiet. “They must be wondering why I’ve pulled back.”

  Michael sat and activated the workstation at his couch. “That isn’t a likely scenario. Let them wonder. Uncertainty breeds fear, which leads to errors we can take advantage of.”

  “True.” Bethany Anne continued to scan the almost empty space beyond, settling down as the Gates bringing the rest of her Shinigami-class ships into the system came into being. “Izanami, what’s the word on the Ooken reinforcements?”

  Izanami’s avatar appeared beside the console, her blocky red aura rippling with flashes of black. “ArchAngel tells me we should expect them to be inbound in just under twelve hours.”

  Bethany Anne eyed Izanami for a moment before turning her attention back to the center screen. “Then this is a perfect time to speak to my Admiral about miscommunication.”

  Izanami’s mouth moved fractionally. “I will inform ArchAngel you expect his call, my Queen.” Her avatar vanished in its usual spray of pixelated light.

  Bethany Anne turned to Michael after the AI disappeared. “Does she look strange to you?”

  Michael looked up from the console. “Izanami? No more than usual.”

  Bethany Anne pressed her lips together. “Her hair, I think. And her face moved.”

  Michael shrugged. “I didn’t notice.”