We sent the Venusians home today.

We left them enough thruster to travel to the Gate and traverse, enough environmental systems to keep them alive - so long as they stuck to their quarters and the Command Deck - and... that was it. Oh, we also took the all of their weapons. I even had the weapon lockers stripped out. We now had a good supply of high quality rifles and small arms. I gave some to Sep and asked them duplicate the weapons and begin training. I also promised to stop by later and give some tips in the finer points of their operation.

When I saw the faces of the crew when they saw what I was sending them home in, I admit I cackled just a teeny bit. We made sure it was survivable and they won't be injured, but their ship looked like a joke. Large pieces were missing from the hull, whole rooms exposed to vacuum, the thrusters we left them were undersized for what would normally be used, and so on. I imagined they were going to have an... interesting time going through joint human/K'laxi space.

The wormhole generator was destroyed in the explosion, so they can't link home, so what they'll do after they reach human space an the end of the Gates is a bit of a mystery. They won't be trapped though, there are plenty of human Starbases or colonies they could reach via the Gates and ask someone to link a beacon to Venus so they could get a ride the rest of the way.

They didn't use AIs either. Their ships run with only human crews, so it's not like we left some poor AI behind to drag their own corpse home. It's just a ship.

Well, it's 55% or so of a ship.

As for Raaden and Emery, I did wind up going with the option Ava and I discussed. We found an empty apartment building that was close - but not directly next to - the Royal Dawn. It had two empty apartments and we put Raaden and Emery in separate apartments quite a long distance from each other. The apartments are guarded all hours of the day, and meals are sent up.

It felt like I just stuffed them into a corner and were trying to forget about them, and I guess I was, but that's what having hostages is sometimes, right? I'm trying to make sure they're comfortable and well taken care of. Emery had seemed to accept his lot. He mostly read and sketched. When he asked for art supplies he seemed excited when we brought him paper and pencils that were locally made. He spent his time looking out the window and sketching what he saw. I've seen a few of them; the drawings are actually quite lovely. I had a feeling he was pretty used to being stuck in a corner somewhere and told to entertain himself.

Raaden... hadn't accepted her lot so easily. She's tried to escape twice already and the only thing that has prevented it was her unfamiliarity with the locks. After the second attempt I had to use my Voice to make her stop trying to break out. Now she just sits in her apartment and alternates between seething and sulking. I almost wish we had a hibernation cabinet to put her into. She'd be less of a problem if she was just on ice the whole time. I wonder if Omar could print one? I'm sure there were plans for one in the printer database we got from Far Reach. I should ask.

Ginny was put up in the Royal Dawn. Not right near our rooms, but in a room in the hotel. I did use my Voice to order her not to talk to Raaden and Emery and to not have any contact with Venus without our permission, but she knew why and accepted the order.

Yes, we let Ginny stay. Of all of the people we interviewed she was the only one who actually wanted to be here. Everyone else was indifferent to it or was being actively ordered to volunteer. That was what finally convinced Ava, Omar, Um'reli, and Starlight. We won't give her the Builder package for a long time - if ever - but that still doesn't mean we don't need the help. We don't have her doing much right now, but she is shadowing Sound of the City and they love that they have a helper and someone they get to show the Reach. Maybe I'll take her with us when we go to the Wilds of Besmara. She might enjoy that.

I was just finishing up breakfast in the Royal Dawn when Omar came in. "Melody, what are we going to do with all the parts we took from the Lavinia?"

I couldn't help myself. "Put them on a Starship, Omar."

"Melody. Which Starship? High Line and Sun Dancer are done. We'd have to put them back into the dock to add things to them, Immar IV isn't done, but do we want to put all the parts on that one?"

Ah, I see what he meant. If we put the Venusian parts on High Line or Sun Dancer, then that delays how long before we could go to the Wilds of Besmara.

"Let's keep them off High Line and Sun Dancer for now. I do want to go to the Wilds now that we've dealt with Venus. Once we're back and Immar IV is done, why don't we start construction on a whole new ship?"

"A whole new ship?" Omar sat down at my breakfast table and looked off into the middle distance, thinking. "Yes, we could do it. I think we have a handle on how things work now. We would add the Venusian parts, of course. That would save a lot of time. I'd make a dreadnought of our own - smaller than the Venus made or other human ones - but it would still pack a punch."

"See? What a great idea I had." I'm laughed, but I mean it. I thought it's high time we made our own Starships. I wished we had more printers, we could really get production going, but it's not like we needed a whole fleet right away. Slow and steady progress was fine.

"Omar, do you want to pilot High Line when we take it over to the Wilds? I want to go next week, and we need to figure some things out. You piloted it during the shakedown, but this will be our first Gate traversal since we came here."

"Yes, I'd like to drive if you're okay with that. We should have the others take a turn so we all get experience with it - it's different than being the Reach - but for now, I'll take us over. Who is going to come? We should probably leave at least one Builder here."

"I agree. I wanted you and Ava and Starlight to come, and we can let Um'reli run things while we're away. I want Ginny to come too."

Omar broke his reverie. "Ginny? Why?"

"I want to show her she's not a prisoner like Raaden and Emery. She was the only one who wanted to be here. Might as well start treating her like that. Plus, we could use a reactor tech on High Line."

"You make a good point. Fine. Ginny can come too. We don't really need much of anyone else. With Builder systems I can run most of High Line from the chair. I wonder if it feels the same when an AI runs a ship? I'm doing a similar role."

"I don't know. If we ever get back to our side of the Galaxy we should ask." I really found lately I'm missing stuff from home. I hoped once were done visiting some Starbases on this side we could go home, just for a visit. "I'd like to open up some lines of trade too. I bet people over there would like some of our foodstuffs and I sure could use some coffee." I looked wistfully at my cup of tea on the table. I hadn't had coffee since talking with the Venusians. I was trying to save what little she had for special occasions, but it's so hard!

"One thing at a time, Melody. Let's go see if we can figure out what happened at the Wilds. Then, see if we can find any other Starbases or colonies. We could finish the exploration that Far Reach abandoned."

I looked up at Omar in surprise. "That's it. We can continue the mission! Just because Far Reach declared Captain Q'ari unfit and left doesn't mean that there isn't good things to learn out here." I jumped up and gave Omar a hug. "Thanks Omar. It really helps to talk things out sometimes."

"No problem Melody, glad to help."

I left the Royal Dawn and stared walking towards the Throne, lost in thought while I walked.

We were going to go to the Wilds of Besmara with the refurbished High Line and see what's up. Last time we went there was some kind of field that grabbed Far Reach and started to pull it in. Maybe it was an overzealous landing field? I don't know. Either way, if it happens again, I think we will want to let it take us in. Also, that warning. I know now it was in the Voice, but it was over radio which - for me at least - orders given with the Voice don't work. I wonder how it was in the Voice, I thought that was just an Empress thing. Maybe it was a recording? All these mysteries. We just had to go and find out for ourselves. I took the long way to the Throne and said hello to people as I walked. When I first got here, people were so frightened of us, but now people told me hello, they gave me little bits of news from their world, I even got to meet families! More than once I've been told how nice it is that I was able to increase the food deliveries. As plain old Melody I was often intimidated making small talk with people and would try and avoid it, but when I'm Empress, I found it's much easier. It almost felt like I'm... pretending to be the Empress; like it's a persona to put on and take off. When I'm with Ava in our room I was just Melody, but when the gown came on and I walked around I'm The Empress.

It was hard to explain. I wished I knew more people that had gone though this to see if it's normal. I guess, when you're the only Empress around, anything you do is normal, by virtue of the fact that you're the one doing it. I should ask the Nanites, maybe they have some recorded personalities I can talk to.

We do, yes. This kind of thing would need to be done from the Throne, but we could arrange a conversation with previous Empresses. It might prove helpful.

I made my way to the Throne and settled in. I thought about what the Nanites said about speaking to previous Empress' but I decided that should wait. We had things to do. Lost in thought, I didn't notice that Ava, Um'reli, and Starlight were there already until Ava said good morning. I could feel Um'reli and Ava showing Starlight how to work things.

"See Starlight, if you just look... over here... you can see the transit network."

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Yes, yes, I see. It looks like we have the trains on schedule and... wait, what's that one on that siding?"

I could hear Ava's grin. "That's Melody's Royal Transport. She likes to use it when she feels like showing off, or if she needs to get somewhere after hours or when things are too busy to wait for a scheduled train."

Mentally, I looked up at them "I don't use it to show off. I use it when I want to make an entrance."

"Okay, so when Emp-Melody's not showing off, she stores it over here?" I smiled to myself when I heard the smirk in Starlight's tone. When I made them a builder, I let them call me Melody. I had decided it would be weird for Ava, Um'reli and Omar to call me Melody, and have Starlight call me Empress, and I didn't want to make everyone call me Empress as well, so Builder Starlight can call me Melody. They're still getting used to it.

"Um'reli, you're okay with staying here and running things while the rest of us go to the Wilds of Besmara to see what happened to them?"

"Sure Melody, it's fine. I have reports to go over on reactor efficiency. We have enough of a power surplus now we should look at taking down the reactors one at a time for refurbishment. I don't think it's ever been done!"

"What do you mean, take the reactor down for refurbishment?" Starlight looked curious while Um'reli and I talked.

"So, at least with our reactors, they need regular maintenance. We usually build our systems with enough overhead that they can run with one whole reactor down so we can work on it, or if one fails we can swap it out without inconveniencing anyone. Before we got here, the Reach had enough power, but I wouldn't have dreamed of shutting a reactor off. Now, I think we can turn one off, make sure it's in good condition and then turn it back on, move on to the next and so on."

"That's impressive, Builder Um'reli. You have found so many ways to improve efficiency."

"Just Um'reli is fine, you're a Builder now too, remember. But, thank you. I enjoy working with the reactors. I hope we can get Ginny up and helping us too, it will be useful to have someone else - someone who actually took some training on this and isn't just an enthusiastic amateur - take a look at things."

It was time for me to chime in. "Okay, good. Omar was going to drive, I'll sit in the Command chair, Ava could monitor systems, Starlight could let us know if there's anything we're missing with local information and Ginny was coming along to prove to her that she's not just another hostage like Raaden and Emery."

Ava looked up from the report she's reading. "I like it, Melody, it seems like a good plan. Ugh, I wish there was something we could do about Raaden. I don't trust her as far as I could throw her."

"I know! I was thinking about it on the walk over. What if we printed a hibernation cabinet for her? I know that Starjumpers carry them, and that Far Reach used to be one so I assume their printer database has the plans."

"Actually, I think that could work. Let's ask Omar how tough it would be to print one up. On the one hand, I don't like the idea of just sticking her in a closet until we decide what to do with her, but on the other... I don't know what to do with her. She'll never trust us, and we can never trust her."

"Exactly."

Starlight looked like they were warring with themselves over something. After a moment, a decision was made. "Melody, why did you keep her anyway? If it was me in charge, I would have declared her culpable for Rapid River Roaring's death and had them executed."

Now everyone was looking at me. "Starlight, for right now, she's worth more to us alive than dead. If we killed her and sent the Venusians home with their ship stripped and them humiliated they would have come right back with all their dreadnoughts and just fired upon us as soon as they traversed the Gate. No radio, no opportunity to use the Voice on them, just kaboom." I mimed firing a gun. "This way, with Raaden, their Archduke and Crown Prince Emery, they have to think twice about whether to come in guns hot or not."

"Ah, I see. Yes Melody. You are making it so that we are too valuable to outright destroy. But, what do we do when they want their crown prince and their archduke back? Or worse, what if they don't want them back?"

My shoulders slumped. "I don't know yet. As soon as we figure out a deal and we give them Raaden and Emery they don't have a reason to not come in and destroy us."

Starlight's eyes were bright. "Well then. We just need to be better armed then they are by then. We can then repel them the regular way."

"Hah. That's the best idea I've heard so far Starlight. For now, we'll go with that plan. Once we come back from the Wilds, Omar was going to look into building a dreadnought from the parts we... liberated from Venus. Do you know of any Aviens plans for large warships?"

"Actually, yes. I believe we had some plans for a ship like that. We should try and reach out to more of my people. Ever since our ancestors were trapped here, we have not heard from any other of our kind."

"Starlight, I was wondering, what did trap you and the Mariens and others here all those years ago?" Um'reli and Ava looked up at Omar's question. I guessed we were all wondering it.

"I wish I knew, Omar. My parent's parents were the original ones left here, but they wouldn't talk about it. From what I can gather, there was... a war, or something like it. The last Builders left the Reach to... do... something and never returned. My parent's parents did mention that the first few years after the Builders left were very difficult."

"Another mystery to solve then. I want to get going. Hey Omar, do you think you can print a hibernation cabinet?"

"Probably Melody, what for?"

"For Raaden. I just don't trust her to be awake and around while we leave to do explore the Wilds of Besmara. I was thinking of putting her in a cabinet and sticking her on board in hibernation. Crown Prince Emery seems fine, we could probably leave him here under guard."

"Melody that's brilliant! We don't have to deal with her trying to escape and we can carry her around as a kind of... talisman against Venus attacks. You just have to get her into it."

"Leave that part to me."

It actually only took Omar a few hours to print the hibernation cabinet. When you have printers that could make a whole starship in a few weeks, one small hibernation cabinet was hardly a feat. It came out gleaming and white, looking like a long lozenge or pill from the medical department. On the top was a clear window to see the face of the resident and on the side was a small readout of vitals. I asked Omar to let me borrow some people, and an Aviens and Azurian wheel the cabinet behind me as we walk. In front of the apartment complex it was clear that the cabinet was much too large to bring up to Raaden's room. "Wait here please. I will be down with them in a moment."

Upstairs, I nodded to the guards and knock on the door before opening it. "Raaden, come here please."

"Go to hell mmmmmm-Empress." The voice was muffled, and I didn't see her. She must have been in another room. I still smiled that she was still trying to get around that order, but in the end I didn't have time for this. "F̷̗͝o̸͔͌l̷̺̊l̴̨̃o̶̦̾w̵̡͠ ̶͔͘m̷̢̒ē̵̬.̸̹̊ Raaden." She got up out of the other room and robotically walked to me. Her eyes radiated hatred, but she followed nonetheless. When we got to the bottom floor and I opened the door to leave, she caught a glimpse of the cabinet. Raaden's eyes went wide and the snarl of hatred on her face was replaced with a new emotion.

Terror.

"No! No no no no! You're not going to put me in one of those! Please! Please Empress! Don't put me in a hibernation cabinet! I won't escape! Please! Don't put me in there!"

I stopped and turned, surprised. "What? Why not Raaden? It's just a hibernation cabinet. It's brand new. Omar printed it up from our copy of Far Reach's printer database. It's not even a local design, it's one of ours."

She was standing in the doorway, shaking. I didn't need the Nanites to see that she was legitimately terrified of the hibernation cabinet. "I-I-Its a form of punishment in Imperial Venus. For people who have... displeased the Emperor. A person is placed into the hibernation cabinet and then they... manipulate the settings. They change the person's sense of the passage of time. A day can feel like centuries."

I actually felt bad for Raaden right now. That sounded like a horrible punishment.

"Raaden, I'm not going to manipulate your perception of time. We're going to run you deep enough that you won't have any perception of time passing. It'll be just like when people were put in cabinets for Starjumper trips before the wormhole generators. You'll go in, and then you'll awaken on Venus when we've worked out the details with the Emperor."

"Possibly, or else I'll never wake up from my failure. Or worse, I will but it will be after ten thousand years subjective and I'm a gibbering mess. Empress, I am actually begging you." She got down on her knees in the doorway and bowed down "Please. Please. Don't put me in hibernation. I will literally do anything else." She put her head up and her cheeks were wet with tears and she was shaking. She whispered. "Please, don't." I... looked over to the cabinet and then back at Raaden. I just couldn't. It was too cruel. I looked at her and tried to concentrate. Was she just acting? No. I think she was completely terrified of going into hibernation.

Ugh.

I sat on the cabinet and reached out to my Builders. "Hey. Raaden is like, wet her pants terrified of going into hibernation. She's literally begging me not to do it."

"Was it a put on, was she just really good at acting?" Ava said over our connection.

"I don't think so. My heightened body language processing says she's being honest."

"Just order her to do it anyway, use your Voice." Um'reli suggests.

"Doesn't that seem unnecessarily cruel to you? We'd be leveraging a legitimate phobia just to make things easier on us. She'd never forgive us."

"You still think she'll actually forgive us?" The suspicion in Omar's voice was clear.

"Hey, we have a responsibility to treat our prisoners humanely, and that includes not torturing them. This would be torture for her."

"They wouldn't have the same consideration of us." Omar added

"All the more reason for us to treat her better."

"Okay then, what do we do with her?" Ava asked.

"Take her with us."

"WHAT?" Their voices had an odd harmony over the mental connection when they exclaimed at once.

I practically reeled from the combined force of their surprise. Still, I pressed on. "Take her with us. She'll still be on board, I can order her around with the Voice and we'll still bring the cabinet. If she causes trouble I'll order her into it and we'll be done with it. This is her chance to show us how much she doesn't want to be in the cabinet."

"Or for her to show us how good of an actor she is."

"Ava, I'm pretty sure she's not acting."

"Ugh fine. She can come. Let me get a room ready and strengthen the locks on it."

"Thanks Ava."

I looked up. Raaden had gotten up from the floor but her eyes were still wide with fear. She was working very hard to control it, but fear of the cabinet was still very strong. She truly was terrified of being put into it.

"Raaden. I won't put you into the hibernation cabinet." As I completed the sentence, her body relaxed and she started breathing heavily.

"Yet."

She tightened up and held her breath again.

"You're coming with us on High Line to explore the Wilds of Besmara. I need insurance against Venus, and if you won't get into the cabinet then you'll come along. I will also bring the cabinet so if you cause us even a small amount of trouble I will just order you into the cabinet and be done with it."

I narrowed my eyes and met her gaze, "Do you understand?"

She stands straight and tall and matches my gaze, looking me in the eyes. "I will not betray you, nor will I attempt to escape, nor will I sabotage any aspect of your mission. So long as it keeps me out of that thing, I will be good."

"See that you do." I jumped off the cabinet and gesture to my helpers. "Bring this to High Line. Omar will show you where to put it. "C̵͖͋o̷̤̒m̶͉̍e̶̩͛ ̶̰̎R̷͈̅ä̵̮å̷̡d̴͍̒e̶̙͝n̷̬̓.̶̀ͅ, I will bring you back to your apartment."

She followed me without struggling this time. I stop at the entry to her apartment. "We'll be back tomorrow morning. Do you have any requests for food or drink onboard?"

She blinked. "You're asking my opinion?"

"Well yes. You're going to be onboard with us for at least a week, if not more. You deserve to have some input."

She ran her hand through her close cropped hair, surprised. "Uh, I don't like coffee, so don't bother giving me any. I know you love the stuff, so don't waste any on me."

Oh nice. More coffee for me then. "Thank you. We'll come by tomorrow after breakfast."

She nodded and moved to close the door. "Until then."

After the door closed and I locked it, I looked at the guards and they acknowledge me. "Empress" they both said, and then face forward, silently.