"The Empire has not fallen." Warmaster Scathach spoke. "Not yet."

  "The Empire is dead." Emperor Feln Tybert spoke firmly. "There is no place for self delusion at the Apex."

  "There are three billion Vrrl hunters in this sector who disagree," Scathach argued. "We've lost much, Emperor. But not all."

  "No, not all," Tybert allowed, "but the Vrrl Starfang Empire?" He shook his head. "It will never be what it was after this. Nor should it be. The Empire is gone, Skrell."

  "We can still save it," Scathach insisted. "Now that the Scargiver is here-"

  "You misunderstand, old friend." Tybert cut him off. "The Empire was already dying. The foundations laid by the First Emperor were imperfect. Starfang did the best he could, but our Mafdet is wrong. Our ways are incorrect. You know this better than I." He folded four hands behind his back, mirroring the Warmaster's stance. "The Empire is and should be dead. The only question is what we will build from the ashes."

  "Uh... guys?" Yvian frowned at the two of them. "I'm gonna need a little context."

  Tybert turned to look at her. "It seems I've started a conversation before introductions are complete. How rude of me." He stepped forward and extended a hand. "I am Feln Tybert, former Emperor of the Vrrl Starfang Empire. You must be Yvian. Warmaster Scathach speaks of you with the utmost respect."

  Yvian didn't care what Tybert said. The man was a ruler through and through. He had a presence about him. A gravity. It reminded her of King Tallest. She shook his hand. His grip was firm, but not crushing. It was a casual display of control from a creature that could easily break her bones by mistake. "It's nice to meet you," she told him.

  "Of course it is," said the Emperor. "Why wouldn't it be?" Next he turned to Mims. "You must be Mark Mims. The Scargiver. The human that stands at the Apex."

  "Nice to meet you," Mims shook his hand. "Lissa said good things."

  "As well she should." The Emperor shook his hand. "I've heard things about you as well, Scargiver. It's said you've killed more sapients than any other living thing. "

  Kilroy's eyes flashed red for a moment. He'd been very insistent that killing all the Enlightened put his kill count higher than the human's. Yvian thought he would speak up, but he didn't. Oh. Right. None of them were allowed to talk about that stuff.

  Emperor Tybert gave the Peacekeeper unit a considering look. "And last we have Peacekeeper Unit Kilroy. I see congratulations and condolences are in order. Your General Zhukov told me only non-standard units have hatbands."

  "Affirmative." The machine's eyes were back to a steady solemn blue.

  "What about Scarrend?" Yvian asked. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself to him, too?"

  "Scarrend has known me his whole life, Yvian," Tybert informed her. He stepped to the other Vrrl and wrapped him up in a hug. They rubbed cheeks. "You don't know how good it is to smell you again, boy."

  "I'm happy to smell you too, Emperor," said Scarrend.

  "You really don't know." Tybert hugged him harder. "I grieved for you as I'd grieve for my own son." He let Scarrend go and stepped back. His eyes were wet. "To smell you now, alive..." He hugged the other Vrrl again. "Don't ever scare us like that again."

  "I'll try not to, Hassath Feln." Scarrend patted the Emperor on the back. Tybert let go and stepped away, wiping his eyes.

  Yvian leaned closer to Lissa and asked quietly, "Hassath?"

  "It means chosen family," Lissa explained.

  "We were not the only ones that mourned," Warmaster Scathach spoke up. "The whole Empire shut down for three days when we thought you had died."

  "Three days?" Scarrend blinked. "For me?"

  "You underestimate yourself, Scarrend," said Tybert. "Your holovids on the Way of the Scargiver were being shared across our species, along with most of your reports. Short of myself and the Warmasters, you are our most famous Hunter."

  Scarrend grunted thoughtfully. "Strange. I had not considered."

  "That does not surprise me," Tybert told him. He snorted. "But that's enough of personal matters. We have more pressing business." He walked to the head of the conference table and squatted on his haunches. "Come. Sit. I will tell you of the fall of the Empire."

  Mims, Lissa, and Yvian all got some coffee and sat down. Scarrend and Scathach squatted next to the Emperor. Mims asked, "So what happened?"

  "An uprising." Emperor Tybert growled. "Warmaster Tab and Warmaster Sithis led their forces in an attack on Starfang Prime. If that wasn't enough, the common hunters rose up as well. They disabled our planetbound defenses and swarmed the Palace. It was all Skrell could do to get me and my family out."

  "My hunters might have fought off Tab or Sithis. We could have held off both of them together for a time. But the rising of the populace?" Warmaster Scathach shook his head. "That was the real blow. Nearly a third of our species is crying for Feln's head as we speak. They're shouting phrases like Make It As It Was and Human In All But Name."

  "Ah, damn." Mims grimaced. "Fascist takeover."

  "Fascist?" Yvian asked.

  The human looked at her, then at the Vrrl. He sipped his coffee and took in a breath. "Alright. Quick civics lesson. Generally speaking, every society has two factions. You've got Progressives who want to change things, and Conservatives who want to keep things the same. Both groups are necessary. The Conservatives act as a stabilizing influence, keeping things from changing too quickly and stopping some of the more detrimental changes from taking root. The Progressives push to improve society, removing injustice or coming up with new ways to do things. In a stable society the groups play off each other, keeping civilization moving forward without letting things get out of hand." He took another sip. "When times get hard, one or both groups start to cause problems."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "What kind of problems?" Yvian asked. The three Vrrl and Lissa were paying attention, but she got the impression they already knew what Mims was talking about. The human's lesson was mostly for Yvian.

  "It varies," said the human, "but one of the more common scenarios is fascism. It's technically a Conservative movement, but it perverts the principles of standard Conservatism. Fascists tend towards extreme nationalism, a single dictatorial authority, forceful suppression of dissent, and a strict social hierarchy."

  "That doesn't sound much different from the Empire in general," Yvian pointed out.

  "Not on paper," said Mims, "but there are some pretty big differences. The Emperor had supreme authority, but he didn't kill people for disagreeing with him, and Vrrl hierarchy was determined by competence and competence alone. There were laws, and those laws applied to everyone. Now they don't."

  Emperor Tybert looked at the human sharply. "I didn't tell you that yet, human. How did you know?"

  Mims shrugged. "The core principle of fascism is that there must always be an ingroup and an outgroup. The ingroup gets protected by the law, but not punished. The outgroup gets punished by the law, but not protected. It's one of the reasons fascist nations don't last very long. Every time one outgroup gets destroyed or kicked out, they pick a new one. Fascist countries usually destroy themselves within a decade or two."

  Warmaster Scathach narrowed his eyes. "You've guessed a great deal with no context. What aren't you telling us, Scargiver?"

  Mims met his eyes. His voice was grim. "Human In All But Name. Make It As It Was. Those are political slogans. Your people aren't and never were a democracy. Tab and Sithis would never have come up with that shit on their own. They're working with someone who knows politics and propaganda. They're working with Reba."

  "Reba," Lissa hissed. "That fucking bitch..."

  Yvian cursed as well. Reba had been the source of nearly every problem Yvian had faced in the last few years. The human built Synthetic Intelligence blamed Mims for the death of her family, and she'd spent decades making him suffer for it. Even the apparent death of the human hadn't stopped her from pulling her gribshit behind the scenes.

  "It makes sense," said the human. "We tried to help your species. If she really thought we were dead, the petty bitch would have nothing better to do than take down everything we accomplished. If she knew it was a trick, taking you out would weaken us and fuck with our emotions." He sipped his coffee. "It's evil, petty, and efficient. Typical Reba."

  "We believe so as well," said Scathach. "Our information is limited, but we believe a large portion of the Empire has been receiving N-mails containing propaganda. The Synthetic was sending them to those Vrrl it deemed were the most susceptible. Catch phrases and wild theories were circulating for months before the attack." He let out a growling chuff. "Claims that the Emperor was a pixen puppet, or mating with Lissa Kiver. Some of our people even accused us of faking our war with the humans."

  "Madness." Emperor Tybert rumbled. "We tried to track down the source of the rumors, but the digital trail was impossible to follow." He shook his head. "It doesn't make sense. The proof of what really happened is there for all to see. Why would anyone choose to believe such obvious lies?"

  "Humans have been asking ourselves that for thousands of years," said Mims. He shrugged. "There's a lot of psychology behind it, but the short version is that some people choose to be stupid. They'll choose a narrative they like and actively ignore all evidence to the contrary. Feelings become more important than facts, and people are judged by what they are instead of what they do. Once someone starts thinking that way it's damned near impossible to break them out of it."

  "Madness," the Emperor repeated.

  "People are like that sometimes." Mims shrugged again. "So Tab and Sithis chased you out of the Empire and took over. What happened next?"

  "They purged the Empire." Tybert snarled, flexing his claws. "Hunters rounded up the Vrrl who spoke against the uprising, or who didn't seem supportive enough of Tab. They called them human lovers, softpaws, and softerpaws. The ones who weren't killed were placed in camps. Lafacdio Tab declared himself Emperor, with Sithis as his Empress."

  "We tried to get our supporters out," said Scathach. He sighed. "It wasn't enough, but we tried."

  "And you all came here," Lissa guessed.

  "It was the safest option," Scathach confirmed. "We believed Tab would not be foolish enough to attack the Pixen Technocracy."

  "We were wrong," said the Emperor.

  "And that's why the Peacekeepers are pissed," said Mims.

  "One week ago," Kilroy spoke up, "Vrrl forces jumped into Empty Night Sector." His eyes glowed red. "They attacked Warmaster Skrell Scathach's fleet. They also launched Cascade Annihilators at our stations. Four stations were destroyed. Twelve million, six hundred thirty two thousand, eight hundred and five pixens died, along with thirty six thousand and four Peacekeeper units." His eyes flashed brighter. "They also destroyed the monument."

  "The monument?" Yvian asked.

  "The monument to you," Kilroy explained. "The other units believed we were dead. They were completing a monument in Empty Night Sector. A statue of all of us, built out of the smelted remains of enemies we had defeated. It was hit with a Cascade Annihilator, atomizing the monument and the twenty six thousand Peacekeeper units that were building it."

  "The Peacekeepers helped us fight," Tybert continued. "They massacred half of Tab's fleets before they could escape. Then they followed them into Vrrl space. They've been going from sector to sector, destroying every ship and station they could reach. They were in the process of depopulating Starfang Prime when you returned."

  "We tried to stop them," said Scathach. "They threatened total genocide if we interfered. Exodus convinced me that we should wait, but after he disappeared..." The Warmaster chuffed. "I was about to send half my Hunters away to preserve the species, and attack with the rest."

  "We would have killed every one of you," Kilroy informed him.

  "I know," Scathach agreed, "but I didn't see much choice."

  "It would have been stupid," Kilroy argued. "The Creator ordered us to attempt to preserve your species. We would have been satisfied with killing all meatbags in Vrrl space. Attacking us would have resulted in a war of extinction that even The Creator could not have stopped."

  "I know," Scathach repeated. "I didn't see much choice. Could you have stood by and watched eighty percent of your people be slaughtered?"

  "Negative," Kilroy admitted. His eyes flashed purple, then back to red. "It would still have been stupid."

  "And that brings us to today," Tybert said. "Most of Tab's forces are dead, along with billions of my people. Our Hunters in Empty Night Sector are afraid and on the verge of starvation."

  "We brought what food production we could," said Warmaster Scathach, "but it's not nearly enough. The Peacekeepers couldn't do much to help. They're having a hard time keeping the pixens fed as it is."

  "So there we were," Tybert continued, "in our darkest hour. And you returned at the final moment like heroes from a storybook. Seeing your ship made me feel how Aragon must have felt, when Gandalf arrived at Helm's Deep."

  "Gandalf?" Yvian frowned.

  "An ancient human tale," Tybert explained. He raised two eyebrows at Mims. "You didn't introduce her to Tolkien?"

  The human shrugged. "She's not much for classical literature."

  "I am too," Yvian objected. "I liked Star Wars."

  The human ignored that. "We've got Tolkien on the ship's computer," he said. "I'll send a copy to your wrist console. I think you'll like it."

  "Does it have lightsabers?" Yvian asked. The human sighed.

  "What matters is you're here and you stopped the Peacekeepers," Scathach changed the subject. "Now we need to decide what to do next."

  "Isn't that obvious?" asked the human. "We're going to take your Empire back."

  "No," said Tybert. Everyone turned to look at him. He stood, placing his hands behind his back. "We'll kill Tab and Sithis and reclaim our territory, but I already told you the Empire is dead. We need to decide what we're going to build from the ashes."