"It's a graveyard," Lissa breathed.

  They were standing on the bridge of the Priderender. Warmaster Scathach's destroyer was a six kilometer elongated diamond with a blood red hull. One half of the diamond was much longer than the other, giving the vessel an appearance that reminded Yvian of a bloodied dagger. The bridge was a rge and orderly pce. Rows of consoles formed a rising pyramid, leading to a ptform at the top. On the ptform stood Warmaster Scathach, Emperor Tybert, and Yvian and her crew.

  A holographic dispy showed Yvian a scan of Starfang Sector. Graveyard was not a strong enough word for it. Starfang Sector had been the capital of the Vrrl Starfang Empire. It had been home to millions of ships and tens of thousands of stations. Now it was home to corpses and debris. Wreckage and bodies floated through the void as far as the sensors could see.

  "The machines were thorough," Scathach agreed. Yvian felt his low growl vibrate in her chest. "So many lost, and for what?"

  "They died because they were stupid," said Kilroy. His eyes fshed red. "They knew what would happen when they attacked the Pixen Technocracy."

  "Tab knew," Scathach disagreed. "The rest?" He gestured at the dispy. "This wasn't their decision. They suffered and died for the lies of a pretender."

  "Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "Because they were stupid."

  "Enough, Kilroy," Mims spoke up. "Billions of Vrrl are dead, and we're the ones that killed them. Insulting them isn't helpful."

  "You and this unit did not kill the meatbags," Kilroy objected. "The meatbags committed suicide by Peacekeeper unit."

  "I said enough!" Mims snapped. Kilroy's eyes fshed red, then blue. He fell silent.

  Yvian tore her gaze away from the dead on the holodispy. She checked the fleet behind her. Scathach had left half of his ships in Empty Night Sector, but the rest were following the Priderender out of the Gate. Fifty million ships. It was too big a number for Yvian to really wrap her head around. It was also less than the number of destroyed vessels floating through the sector. Yvian had been active in space for years now, but she never got over how Crunch damned big it was, or how many people and things were making their way in the vastness of the void.

  It would take eighteen hours to reach the Vrrl homeworld. Starfang Prime was rger than the average life bearing pnet. Denser, too. It's gravity was half again what Yvian was used to. The pnet had been beautiful once. A cavalcade of blues and browns and greens. A third of the pnet's ndmass was bck now. Scorched. There were hundreds of square miles that were still on fire.

  Yvian could guess what had happened. Beamfire had swept across the nd, weaving back and forth in a steady line that encompassed the full longitude of the world. They'd moved that line, scouring every inch of nd at a steady impcable pace. There were more efficient ways to commit genocide, but the machines had chosen the one that forced the Vrrl to wait. To watch death come.

  The Peacekeeper units had enjoyed making the Vrrl watch. Seeing the meatbags cower in fear as death moved slowly and inexorably across Starfang. They'd reveled in the helpless despair of the people. The only thing Peacekeepers loved more than killing meatbags was making them afraid first. Kilroy and the other units had been friends and allies. Yvian forgot sometimes how monstrous the machines really were.

  "They've got no ships and no pnetary defenses," Mims remarked. "I still say we should blow Tab and Sithis to hell from orbit."

  "That won't do," said Tybert. "A third of our people believe in them utterly. If we make them martyrs, our people may never heal."

  "They're going to be martyrs no matter how we do this," Mims argued.

  "We can't allow that," said Scarrend. "We need to discredit them completely and publicly."

  "You can't," the human told them. "You don't understand how this works. The people following Tab have been conditioned to reject facts. It doesn't matter how well you argue or how overwhelming the evidence is. They won't accept it."

  "We have to try," Scarrend insisted. "You humans have dealt with simir issues in the past, have you not? There must be a solution."

  "There isn't," said Mims. "A big enough shock and a prevailing narrative will sway reasonable people, but not the believers. It's like arguing religion. Most of those folk will hold on to Tab and his ideals until they die. No matter what." He shook his head. "Over a century after we made it into space, we still had crazies insisting our homeworld was ft instead of a sphere. You can't persuade someone who chooses to ignore reality."

  "What would you have us do, then?" asked Tybert. "Kill the believers as they killed those loyal to me?"

  "No," said Mims. "Killing Sithis and Tab and taking the Empire back will be enough. Over time everyone reasonable will fall in line, and the true believers won't risk themselves when they don't think they can win. Confronting Tab is pointless."

  "We still have to try," Scarrend repeated. "If nothing else, discrediting the usurpers will make it harder for Reba to recruit more of our people down the line."

  "It's your choice." The human shrugged. "Just be careful. We know Reba's involved. She's going to have contingencies for any pn we come up with."

  "We'll be ready for her," said Scarrend.

  "Then you'll be the first," said Mims.

  "Is that why you asked us to come?" asked Yvian. "To help deal with Reba?"

  "No." It was Scathach who answered. "Your presence is symbolic. To show that our alliance has not ended."

  "Are we sure that's a good idea?" Yvian asked. "I mean, the Technocracy just-"

  "Did what any predator would do," Scathach cut her off, "when its territory is invaded." His gaze fell on Kilroy. He growled. "Don't mistake me, Yvian. I will not forgive or forget what your machines have done." He shook his head. "But the simple fact is we can't afford to have you as an enemy."

  "Nor can we rebuild our society without assistance," Tybert said bitterly. "Our Mafdet is fwed. We don't have the knowledge to rework it alone and we don't have the time to expand it ourselves through experimentation." He sighed. "We need help, and you are all we have."

  "How are we going to stop Tab from blowing up the pnet?" Mims changed the subject.

  "Blowing up...?" Scathach looked at the human sharply. "Why would he do that?"

  "Right." Mims folded his arms. "You've never dealt with a crazy dictator before." He thought for a moment. "There are logical reasons. The ability to hold your world hostage is a good card to py. But the truth is its about power. Tab wants to be powerful. If he knows he's going to lose he'll kill the world out of spite."

  "And if he doesn't," Lissa added. "Reba will."

  "Crunch," Yvian swore. Detonating a pnet was an insane thing to do. Insane, evil, and petty. Exactly the sort of thing that bitch Reba would enjoy.

  "He'll have at least one Cascade Annihitor hidden on Starfang," Mims continued. "Probably several, since he's working with Reba. She likes redundancy. They'll be rigged to detonate by remote."

  "Tab and Sithis wouldn't do that," Tybert denied. "Destroy our homeworld? No Vrrl would do such a thing."

  "Reba would." Scarrend chuffed. "The Scargiver is right. We need to prepare for the possibility."

  "Prepare how?" Scathach snarled. "A Cascade Annihitor is nearly undetectable."

  "More importantly," Tybert added, "How will we stop the Synthetic from detonating one when she realizes we're trying to disarm them?"

  "Those are good questions," said Mims. He looked over at the holodispy. "We've got a little under eighteen hours to figure that out."

  When the Priderender was forty minutes from Starfang Prime they received a hail. It was Tab. The former First Warmaster of the Vrrl Starfang Empire looked just as Yvian remembered. A massive, hulking specimen. Three and a third meters tall. His fur was orange with bck stripes. His mane was white. He was missing an ear, and four scars traced lines down his muzzle. His armor was bone white.

  Standing next to Tab was Warmaster Sithis. A lean female with bck fur and a white mane. Her armor was silver. She gred through the holodispy with murderous gold eyes.

  "Human lovers," Tab growled. "Have you come to finish the job your softpaw machines started?"

  "We have come to save our people," Scathach told him. "From you."

  "From me?" Tab snarled. "It wasn't me that destroyed our ships and stations, Skrell. It was not I that scorched our worlds. It was your pet Peacekeepers."

  "You knew what would happen when you attacked the Pixen Technocracy," Scathach said evenly. "Peacekeeper units know no mercy. You and all of our people would be dead right now if the Scargiver hadn't returned to stop them."

  "Mims is alive?" Sithis widened all three eyes. She snarled with vicious glee. "Interesting. Is he there?" She peered around, but only Scathach was standing in view of the holocam. "Are the pixens with him?"

  "Don't worry about where the Scargiver is," Scathach chided. "I'm giving you one chance to surrender. Renounce your cim to the Empire and accept your fates. Enough of our people have died already. I do not wish to kill more to get to you."

  "Surrender?" Tab scoffed. "Even you can't be that foolish, Skrell. The Gods are on my side. I will fight for them until my st breath."

  "Our Gods have been dead for two centuries," Scathach reminded him.

  Sithis spoke up before Tab could reply. "I have a counterproposal." Tab turned to look at her in surprise. She murmured, "Trust me."

  "You are in no position to negotiate," said Scathach.

  "We both know that's not true," Sithis admonished. "If you just wanted us dead you'd bst us from orbit." She shook her head. "No, Skrell. You want to prove us wrong. You need to prove us wrong." Her eyes glittered with amused ferocity. "I'll give you a chance to do that, but there are conditions."

  Scathach growled. Tybert spoke. "We're listening."

  "Ah, the former Emperor," Sithis greeted coldly. "I'm gd to see you're a part of this, Feln. Everything you've ever touched has been doomed to failure."

  "Get to the point, Sithis," Scathach rumbled.

  "It's simple," said Sithis. "You want to prove that human ways are best. We want to prove they are not. We'll settle this the same way we've settled all disputes of worth. In combat. Unarmed. Me against... Scarrend, I suppose? I'm assuming he survived, as well?"

  "You don't really expect us to send Scarrend unarmed to face you and yours, do you?" Scathach raised two of his eyebrows.

  "Oh, no," Sithis assured him. "If he's afraid, if you're afraid, by all means come armed. Bring your troops with you. Bring Mims, the pixens, whoever you want. Even Peacekeeper units if you can stomach their presence." The former Second Warmaster growled. "I'll prove the old ways are best on Scarrend's body. The more people there to see it the better."

  "It's a trap," Mims said softly.

  "I know," Scarrend whispered back. He spoke up. "You want a fight, traitor? I will be happy to give you one."

  "So he is alive. Good." Sithis gred with glittering golden eyes. "It's agreed, then. We'll wait for you in Starcw Square, and we'll record the event for all to see." She flexed her cws. "I look forward to killing you on a live holofeed." She cut the transmission.

  "Strange," Tybert remarked. "I could see Tab believing he could kill Scarrend, but Sithis? She's not usually so arrogant."

  "She knows something we don't," Mims agreed.

  "Something she wants to show on a live holofeed," Lissa added. "This is definitely a trap."

  "It's not too te to blow them all to hell," Mims pointed out.

  "We won't." Scarrend was firm. "Trap or not, a challenge has been issued." He made a fist. "I for one look forward to answering it."