Raivyn walked down the corridors of the palace one last time, out the massive bronze door and across the square to Rehkna’s house. She knocked on the door and the elderly shaman shuffled to her door and greeted her.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to train with you anymore for a while, elder," said Raivyn.

"A pity, to be sure," said the elder with a smile. "Just continue to practice what I've taught you. When you need it most, it will be revealed to you."

Raivyn cocked her head in thought. "Is that a lesson, or a prophecy?"

Rehkna laughed cheerily. "A few are blessed with psychic gifts. Fewer with visions from the Progenitor. Fewer still may be blessed with both. Farewell, Raivyn. You will see the fury of creation stilled by a mightier hand. You will know pain, yes, but also joy, in equal measure. I hope to celebrate the latter with you."

Rehkna nodded her goodbye and retreated into her house, closing the door. Sensing that that was the final word, Raivyn bowed to the closed door in respect for the prophet and continued on to the Wingspan.

***

High King Jylik's fleet continued to push through the aether.

"Your Highness," said a tree priest, walking into his command room. "Our hydration is fine but our travel shields are running low. We'll have to make a stop soon and give the trees time to absorb solar radiation."

“Surely some portion of the fleet can push on,” said Jylik.

“Yes, my lord, I’ll see to it that those best suited to doing so go ahead to the destination. It is possible we will lose a tree or two due to failed shielding.”

"Acceptable,” said Jylik coolly. “Are we near any settled worlds?"

"No, but there are plenty of charted stars we could orbit."

"Very well. Choose the one that will provide the most radiation in the shortest overall time frame. I want to arrive at Gateway as soon as possible."

***

As they were leaving from Hruduk instead of Kirakna, the Wingspan's next stop was adjusted to Glasaxia rather than the planned stop on Avonia. While this meant a significantly longer jump, it would reduce the downtime significantly.

Jasken was happy to be heading back to the Cluster, though the Astralbian threat worried him. The Gladius had joined their fleet, hoping to track down Hoon-Kra's cult, and Jasken was thankful for the extra firepower. Part of him hoped they’d stick around long enough to face off against the Astralbians if it came to that.

“Admiral, this is Dekken,” said the engineer over Jasken’s comm. “Looks like we’ll be arriving at Glasaxia soon. We’ll want to land to take on water, but this time the ice mining infrastructure will be in place. Oh, and apparently the station has an electric fence that’s worked to keep out the muck newts, so that’s good news.”

“Glad to hear that,” said Jasken. The massive ambush predators had nearly claimed one of their scientists the last time they visited the icy world.

Soon the dismal ochre sands and brown-black hydrocarbon seas of Glasaxia appeared before the Wingspan. One by one the Blue Griffon Fleet appeared in the skies and descended to the ice mining plant, located on the shore of a massive hydrocarbon lake.

Jasken sent Dekken and a team of engineers to ensure the ice processing equipment was all in working order and properly attached to the ships, then made his way down to the stables. Ol’ Blue was in sore need of some grooming and Jasken was in sore need of some down time. On his way down, he ran into Vanbrook, who was inexplicably wearing his aethersuit.

“What are you wearing, Specialist Vanbrook?” he asked imperiously.

Vanbrook looked down at his outfit and fought down the urged to answer with “an aethersuit.”

“I thought I’d take a walk on the surface, Admiral,” he said. “Clear my head.”

Jasken looked around and saw Raivyn at a distance.

“Specialist Raivyn,” he called. “Would you please escort Vanbrook on his excursion? Take a sample kit along. Bag anything that looks… undiscovered.”

“Yes, sir,” answered Raivyn, shooting Vanbrook an inscrutable glance.

***

“You could have killed him back on Hruduk,” said Raivyn a half hour later.

They had walked around the inside of the plant’s fence a few times now, sample kits still empty as they drudged through very discovered-looking ochre sludge.

“Darvik?” asked Vanbrook in response. “Yeah. I guess I could have killed him.”

He stopped to look at a muck newt, at least twice the size of the one they’d seen on their first visit, as it slid into the inky liquid that made up the lake. After the last ripples dissipated, he continued on, seemingly unconcerned about the fact that he was beginning to form a rut around the fence line.

“You don’t get to be mad at me!” shouted Raivyn suddenly.

Vanbrook turned to her in surprise.

“You were going to throw your life away, and I stopped you!” she continued, hurt and anger chasing each other across her face.

Vanbrook held her gaze for a moment, his face hurt and thoughtful. “I’m not mad at you, Rai,” he said finally. “I’m grateful.”

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Raivyn looked at him, hurt replaced with confusion.

“Then why - ” why what? she asked herself. She wrestled with her thoughts for a moment. “Why are you so angry all the time? Where’s the Vanbrook who never misses a joke?”

“Maybe he’s the guy I did manage to kill back on Gateway,” said Vanbrook. He turned away and kept walking. Raivyn stared after him, unsure what to say.

***

Hoon-Kra smiled as he watched another ship land. He had pulled marginalized populations from around the galaxy, including many gifted psychics and mercenaries, but that wasn’t enough to claim nationhood.

The incoming ship was special: it had children aboard. Koomia was finally settled enough to bring out families, so a good portion of Hoon-Kra's clan were brought out to create the appearance of being an independent nation. Now, he was ready.

He spread his arms wide as his youngest relatives streamed out of the ship. Hugs and handshakes were exchanged. Cameras caught it all, of course.

"We were sorry to hear of your mother's passing," said a cousin.

Another patted his shoulder and winked.

Some of the other Koomite settlers came out of their ships or their hastily built shacks and greeted the newcomers. The encampment had been fenced in and something of a town had sprung up. While they were not fully self-sufficient when it came to the niceties of space travel and luxury, Koomia was a verdant planet that offered everything the Koomites would need to survive.

In the center of the camp stood a tall stone stage, and a sculptor was hard at work forming a stone figure that rested on it.

Dismissing the sculptor, Hoon-Kra leapt onto the stage and addressed the crowd.

"Welcome, Clan Zyrp!" said Hoon-Kra. "Please, make yourselves at home. Your arrival marks the beginning of Koomia not only as a religion, but as a nation!"

When the cheering died down he added, "To that end, I must go make some very important calls!"

***

Sipping a cup of rakka, Mairen sat down at her station on the bridge of the Wingspan. She smiled at Jasken in greeting, and he returned the gesture with a curt nod. Rolling her eyes internally at the man's stubborn stoicism, she turned her attention to the screens and readouts that fed her more data in an hour than most people would look at in a day. A small alert icon on her main screen caught her attention. Tapping the icon, she frowned as she read the notification.

"Admiral, you're going to want to see this," she said.

"What's this?" asked Jasken as he walked over. "An IGC alert?"

Jasken read the notification. His naturally melancholic face grew stony as he read.

"So the Koomites have claimed a world now, have they?"

"Looks that way," said Mairen in disbelief. "And the IGC is recognizing them as an independent nation."

"How could they have gotten through all the red tape?" asked Jasken. "There's no way this is actually to Code."

Mairen shrugged. "Hoon-Kra is well-connected. He almost certainly had someone in the IGC working for him to help provide cover for Zrykyk. If he managed to have the proper paperwork filed and met the minimum threshold for declaring independence, the Code is pretty lenient on these kinds of things. Unless his ships are stolen from their former governments or other similar crimes can be proven, the claim likely holds up."

"How about harboring fugitives?"asked Jasken "Or sending assassins?"

Mairen shook her head. "He can denounce the murders and still refuse to extradite. He's played his hand extremely well."

"What's this part at the end?" asked Jasken. "Some world called 'T'Lakia' is listed under 'other claims.’"

Mairen clicked on the word "T'Lakia" to bring up the data file. Jasken stared at the page a moment.

"Does that say 'Glasaxian System?'" he asked aloud.

"I'm afraid it does, sir," said Mairen, turning to the Admiral. "Looks like we've got neighbors."

Two more notifications popped up. Jasken shook his head.

"They activated their beacons," he said, irritated. "Okay, get Grepk on the comm. He's-" yet another alert popped up, this one notifying them that Grepk was already calling them, "going to want to talk about this."

Jasken walked back over to his chair and sat facing his own screen, then answered the call.

"Captain Grepk," he said when the Marine appeared on his screen. "I take it this is about the Koomites?"

"Yes, sir," answered Grepk. "We're under your command at the moment, but we'd like leave to investigate T'Lakia. There's a good chance our assassins are still there."

"You have it, Grepk. But strictly as a matter of reconnaissance. Koomia may only be a nation by way of bureaucratic sleight of hand, but we are honor-bound to respect the Code."

A wave of anger swept across Grepk's features. Jasken noted it but was impressed at how well he kept his composure.

"As you say, Admiral," said Grepk.

***

"One more group of worms we'll have to crush," said Jylik when he saw the notification that a new nation had just been established in the Cornucopia Cluster.

"Let me see, my lord," said Trilia.

She looked over the notification on the membranous screen in Jylik’s command room. “Ah, Koomites! This could work in our favor.”

“How so?” asked Jylik doubtfully.

“According to our spies, the Koomites worship power,” answered Trilia. “Mostly that of the aether beast Koo L’Koom, but they respect anyone who can demonstrate power.”

“You think we can subjugate them through a show of force?” asked Jylik, more interested now.

“Perhaps,” answered Trilia. “But it may be wiser to ally ourselves with them long enough to drive the Republic from the Cluster.”

“Ally ourselves with worms?” asked Jylik coolly.

“Long enough to drive off the Republic,” repeated Trilia. “After that, we can put them in their proper place.”

Jylik nodded. “I will think about this. For now, Gateway is our primary concern.”

***

After instructing Grepk to meet them at Gateway when possible, Jasken hung up and began making preparations to leave Glasaxia. They had filled their water tanks and their travel shields were ready to make the jump.

On the observation deck of the bridge, Talon Squad settled into seats and strapped in for take off along with most of the rest of the crew of the Wingspan. Vanbrook took a seat next to Raivyn. He glanced over at her and saw that her hands were shaking.

“Hey, uh, you okay?” he asked in a low voice.

“Huh?” she asked, snapped out of her thoughts by Vanbrook’s voice. “Oh, yeah, fine.” she paused. “Um, it’s just that, uh, this is the jump. From last time.”

“The jump from… oh,” said Vanbrook, remembering the last time they left Glasaxia to head toward the Cornucopia Cluster, when the aether squid had attacked them. It had been a memorably bad experience for all involved, but only Raivyn had to deal with the brunt of the squid’s psychic presence. Clearly it had shaken her more than he’d realized. Honestly, he was surprised to learn she could be shaken. As far as he knew, Raivyn had been born the toughest sapient being in the galaxy.

“You know what?” said Vanbrook, feigning confidence. “It’s a big galaxy. I think we’ll be alright.”

“Don’t patronize me,” she said sulkily.

“I would never!” said Vanbrook sarcastically. He pointed over to D’Jarric and spoke up loud enough for the Solaran to hear him. “Look, you see that big yellow oaf sitting on the other side of you?”

D’Jarric leaned over to stare at Vanbrook with quizzical amusement.

“He’s not going to let any aether beasts get away with any aether beast shenanigans,” continued Vanbrook. “I don’t know how, and he’s certainly not going to explain it, but I promise you he’ll handle it.”

“And I am equally certain that the small, mouthy oaf on that side of you,” said D’Jarric, pointing at Vanbrook, “will be by my side with his saber, which will certainly intimidate an aether beast.”

Raivyn shook her head, smiling despite her best efforts. She looked at D’Jarric and then Vanbrook and nodded her thanks to each, hoping they couldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes.