The day dawned, and Ava and I went down for breakfast. A little before we left, I had reached out and invited Raaden and Ginny to eat too. As we came downstairs to the dining room, they were already there, sitting.

"Why did you invite us to your office so early today Melody?" Raaden laughed as she took a sip of tea. Huh. I guess I did a lot of business in the morning - during or right after breakfast. I can't help it, morning was when I got the most done.

"I've got some news for both of you, but first lets eat." Raaden and Ginny shared a look before breakfast was brought out and we tucked in.

Breakfast was probably my favorite meal of the day. Even here on the Reach where we're thousands of light-years from a good egg or bagel I could find delicious breakfast foods to eat. I've always liked sharing a meal with others, and having friends around the table made the meal that much more enjoyable. After breakfast, the staff cleared the table and brought out fresh tea and a coffee for me. "All right. Raaden, Ginny. We've discussed things and we are wondering if you'd both like to become Builders?"

Ginny squealed and practically jumps out of her chair "Yes! Yes, thank you Empress, thank you!"

Raaden blinked in surprise. She inclines her head slightly. "Are you sure Melody? You know who I am, you know who I used to represent. If words get home that you're siding with me, it'll mean trouble for you."

Ava looked up from her tea at Helen. "Raaden, you've been here with us for a few months now and not only has there been no word from Venus, but you have shown yourself to be a model resident, helpful and interested, as well as having good insight and good instincts. We need help, and to be frank, we need your kind of help."

I put my coffee down. "Additionally, if we're actually going to try and take over back home, it won't matter that you're from Venus right? You'll be a Builder and if we succeed it'll all fall under me." I picked up my coffee and took a sip to hide my expression. "And if we fail, we're all dead anyway, so it doesn't matter."

Ava looked at me shocked. "What do you mean?"

Raaden nodded. "No Ava, Melody is right. If we're actually going to do this, we have only one option: success. If we fail we will all-" she gestures around grandly "-be killed. All of us. They will not tolerate any Builder to survive. They might even destroy the Gates."

Ginny looked between Ava, me and Raaden as we talked. "What is going on? Destroy the Gates? Kill us all? Take over? What are you planning?"

I sighed. Ginny went with us to the Wilds, but she worked with Omar on the reactors the whole time, she missed out on the conversations we had on the way there and back. "Ginny, we're tossing around the idea of amassing a fleet and... attempting to conqueror Human/K'laxi/Xenni space." I had no idea how she was going to react to that.

Ginny looked at us, expecting us to break out in laughter. "You're serious? It's not a joke?"

"Ginny, I have the power to make people who are in proximity to me do whatever I tell them, and they don't have the ability to disobey. If word gets out to home about that, they will send people to kill me. If that fails, they will just launch a dreadnought to destroy the Starbase. Raaden and Ava have pointed out the only way to survive is to attack first and win. I get that it's a lot, and if you don't want to sign on for that, it's okay, but you should know that as of right now that's our plan."

I supposed I didn't know what would happen next. I like Ginny, she seemed smart and observant but we were telling her that we planned on going to take over our home systems. As she thought about it, her face contorted into a wicked grin. "Take over back home? The whole thing? All the planets, colonies, starbases and everything? I'm in."

Ava blinked. "Just like that?"

Ginny was emphatic. "Just like that. Let's show them all what we can do."

Raaden laughed. "Well then. How can I say no? Melody, Ava, I appreciate you taking a chance on me. I can emphatically say we did not get off on the right foot, but you gave me a chance and didn't just stuff me into a hibernation cabinet. I'm in. I'm with you entirely Empress. Let me help you win.

Well then no time like the present. I asked them both to stand, and went over and gave them each a kiss. Ava frowned the whole time, but she knew that it's the best way to introduce the Nanites to them. Raaden still smelled good. I should find out what scent she has. Just to make sure there were no hard feelings I went back and gave Ava a kiss too. Laughing, I take my new Builders and we go out into the Reach to begin the work.

In the first of possibly many foolish decisions, I had Raaden and Omar take High Line out and with a small crew of local volunteers go to the other locations Janais mentioned. Pesmara was a Starbase like the Reach or the Wilds. It was intact but empty. That was... unexpected. I figured we'd see either a cloud of dust or a full Starbase like Reach of the Might of Vzzx, but instead there was a whole, empty Starbase. Raaden linked a beacon back to us, but I told her not to go aboard. We could send a crew over to figure out what happened later.

The Heights of Gilmenny was more like the High Mars Orbitals. It was originally a series of Orbital stations above the planet Gilmenny. The planet still existed, but there were no signs of the Orbitals, according to Raaden. Scanning the planet she found multiple debris fields. It seems that since Janais had seen them last, the Heights fell. Further scans could not detect any sapient life on the planet. It was good to know we had a planet under our control, and a source of mineral wealth. We're going to need it with all the ships we're going to build, but it would also have been nice to find more people.

Imperia was even stranger. According to Janais, Imperia was the old capital of the Holy Imperial Systems but when we got to the system there was nothing. No planets at all. Just a star and a cloud of dust. "Devourers." Janais explained darkly. We could only hope that it had happened before Aeche sacrificed herself to destory them. Omar and Raaden couldn't tell how long ago it happened. seventy four plus years is nothing to an uncaring Galaxy. It might as well happened yesterday for all they were able to tell. Still, the trip wasn't a whole loss. We found we have another Starbase to fill with people, and tentative plans are being made to decide what to do about the Wilds. The Starbase was too valuable to abandon completely, but it needed extensive repair. More work to do, more people we needed.

With Ginny, Raaden and Janais as Builders, we were able to reduce the load that my other Builders were taking up. Um'reli got to have some time out of the chair finally and explore, and Raaden went with Omar and got started designing new ships. It turned out that being in command of a dreadnought gave her some ideas on other ways that we could build them. Between her ideas and Janais' experience with Builder designed ships, we've begun designing a whole new kind of ship. Janais wanted to name the whole class of ships Calamity Class Dreadnoughts. I thought it was a little over the top, but Raaden really liked it, so we kept it. The Calamity Class ships were like a super Dreadnought. More than twice the reactors, a Stardrive from a starjumper, the largest wormhole generator we could make, room to hold two hundred troopers, and even atmospheric ability! That was Raaden's idea. She thought that since we were going to be attacking some colony planets, if we had the ability to land on the surface, we'd be able to catch them by surprise. Atmospheric maneuvering also meant massive thrusters as well as control surfaces. The Calamity Class Super Dreadnought wound up looking sweeping, elegant, and intimidating. It was a beautiful design.

"I mean, it's a great design. Really revolutionary." Omar looked at the designs in the Throne while Raaden, Janais, and I were connected so we could go over them. "There's just one problem though."

"What is that, Builder Omar?" Janais really has slotted herself in with us quite well. Her being a former Empress has never really come up these past few weeks. I wonder if she's just so happy to be doing something, that it almost doesn't matter what. The fact that every wormhole link lets her see her Aeche again helped.

Omar sighed. "We don't have a way to actually build it. Something this big can't be done in the dockyard printers we have. We can't get much larger than a Frigate. We'd need a real orbital shipyard to make one."

Raaden nodded. "We didn't see anything like a shipyard at the other systems we visited either. We'd need something like the Heinlein yards in the L2 point around Earth at least. Ideally, larger than that too."

"Okay then, so... I guess we need to build a shipyard first?"

"Yes, but the database you took from Far Reach and the one that you grabbed of the Lavinia doesn't have plans for a shipyard." Raaden shrugged. "We're going to have to built one the old fashioned way. We'll have to design it, print the individual parts and bolt it together."

Janais raised her eyebrow and looked at Raaden. This was all new to her. "How long will that take?"

"Don't know. We've never built one. Heinlein yards has been in service for centuries. I think it took people around fifteen years to build it the first time. It'll probably take us longer."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"We might be able to shortcut it a bit" Omar began.

"I'm hearing a 'but' coming here Omar, what's the issue?" I took a sip of hot water. Coffee won't be coming any time soon, and I'm trying to figure out what parts of coffee I like the best. Today I have mug after mug of hot water. It's nice to have something hot to sip on, but it's still no coffee. If we have to wait fiften, twenty years before we have super dreadnoughts I don't know how I'll be able to go that long without coffee.

"We'll have to take apart the Wilds. We can open it up and install printers and kind of turn it into almost a shipyard as it is. The shape is pretty close and it will be able to support the super dreadnought as it's being printed but it will mean that we won't be able to use it as living space. I could probably get it up and started in a year or so."

"Well, a year is better than fifteen. And the Wilds are damaged now, so people aren't living there." I turned to look at Janais. "You were living there until recently. How do you feel about us taking the Wilds of Besmara apart and turning it into a shipyard?"

Janais blinked and looked at me "You're asking my opinion, Empress?"

"Yes? You lived there for more than seventy years. If you have strong feelings about the place, I do not want to disassemble it to make a shipyard."

"Empress I..." Janais stopped and composed herself. "Empress. That is possibly the kindest thing anyone has said to me. If I so wished, you would not turn the Wilds into a shipyard?

I shrugged. "We would look into other options. It doesn't have to be our first choice."

Janais shook her head and smiled. "Empress, with my thanks, please take the Wilds and fufil your destiny. I spent my time at the Wilds in mourning. When you arrived, you lifted the veil from my head and showed me another way. Let us take it, and use it to further your rule."

"Okay then. Omar, let's explore taking the Wilds of Besmara and making a shipyard. Could we get it over here?"

"I mean, maybe? It's too big for the Gates, so we could link it over, but it doesn't have any wormhole generators now and would probably need at least two more reactors if the existing ones were in good shape and I'll bet they are not given what we saw when we were there. Give me 4 months, and I can get the Wilds over here, or we can bring Sun Dancer and just live out of that on rotation while we convert."

As we plan and work out details, the morning went long and became midday. As we got read to break for lunch, an alarm sounded. It starts with a sharp, high tone that slides low, then back high and repeats.

"Empress!" It was Starlight reaching out to me on our Builder connection.

"What is it Starlight? What's the alarm?"

"There was a massive energy spike in system and a blinding flash of white and-"

"Wormhole link. Oh no." Who is coming here now? We're not even close to being ready!

"Yes Empress, that's why I sounded the general alarm."

"You did the right thing, we'll be right there." I cut the connection and turned to everyone. "Come with me. Starlight has detected a wormhole link in-system. Let's connect to the Reach from the Throne and see who has decided to pay us a visit."

Raaden looked worried. Ginny, and Janais, confused. Omar and Ava have already left their chairs and were trotting towards the Throne.

We got there and sat down. It was very nice to have so many people connected; I think this is the first time everyone has slotted in. Ava looked over at Raaden and Ginny who approached some chairs but did not sit. "Raaden and Ginny, your Nanites haven't integrated completely yet. You can sit and connect, but please just watch. Don't try and access any systems until tomorrow."

They sat, and I could feel them enter the Reach with a surprised gasp. "Hi Everyone!" I said brightly. "So Starlight, show us what you see." Starlight shared the last few minutes of sensor and camera data to all of us. As we watched, sure enough, I saw the energy spike and flash as something linked into the system, about half way between the Gate and the Reach. It was huge. It's way bigger than a dreadnought, it was nearly colony ship size. What is going on?

"Omar, what is that? I don't recognize it."

"Me neither Melody, I'll scan it." I could feel his attention move towards the long range scanners.

"It looks like..." Ginny stopped. "No, it couldn't be."

"What is it, Ginny?" Ava sounded anxious. Given what Raaden had said, we were not expecting anyone friendly.

"It looks like there are two... or three Starjumpers in there! Look, if you take these parts-" She highlighted some long lines in the middle "-and remove them-" She edits the image "-you see what looked like three Starjumpers. I don't know what they're connected with though."

"Ancestors Who Await my Return, I know what that is!" Raaden was practically shouting as she swore. "That's The Heinlein Shipyards!"

Omar's voice was flat, like he was trying to hold something back. "What?"

"I'd recognize those girders anywhere. Remember, we've been trying to capture them off and on for nearly 5 years." Raaden was emphatic. "That's Heinlein."

"But..." Um'reli sounded worried, "Shipyards... don't have wormhole generators."

"But Starjumpers do." Ava sounded amazed. "Someone synced the three Starjumper wormhole generators and stole the Heinlein Shipyards out from L2 around Earth."

Now Janais was worried "But who would do that? We don't have any allies over there."

I gasped. Oh no.

"Raaden. I think I know who it is."

Raaden's joy was leaking through the connection; she was having a great time. "Yeah, Melody. I think I do too."

"Well don't keep us in the dark, who the heck just stole three Starjumpers and the entire Heinlein Shipyard?" Now, Omar sounded a little wild. I think he's having a hard time processing this.

I swallowed. "It's the crew of the Vengeance of Lavinia. Or part of it at least."

"What? Why would they do that?" Ava said. We could all see... impressions each other while connected to the Throne and Ava glanced at Raaden and Ginny. They both are quiet and look like they're trying to shrink into their chairs Raaden was still grinning though.

"Ava, what was the first order I gave everyone at dinner?" I said.

"Uh, 'you belong to me' or something right? I liked it. It felt dramatic and impressive."

"I also used my Voice. Everyone in the crew was officially a subject of mine. They literally belong to me. They must have been scheming to get back here almost as soon as they made it back to Venus."

"But how long has it been? a few months? They must have begun the process the minute they came home." Raaden sounded more impressed than surprised. It was her crew, I supposed she has the right.

Ava suddenly sounded anxious, on the verge of panic. "Melody! Those are Starjumpers! AIs run Starjumpers. You can't command AIs with your Voice, what are we going to do?"

Well I had been reading up on AI theory thanks to the Lavinia's library. So I might have a chance of getting them to listen, but it did feel too soon. Oh why couldn't they have waited like half a year before pulling something like this. We're just not ready.

Omar's head snapped up. "Wait wait wait. If that's Venus, the AIs would never work with them. The Heinlein Shipyards is where most Starjumpers are built, even now. It's possible those Starjumpers were newly build and didn't have an AI yet."

Starlight cut in to our argument. "Well, we're about to find out who it is. They're signaling us."

Starlight activated the radio, and we could hear clamor and noise on the other end. There was a burst of static and a voice said "Empress! Empress Melody! We have returned! It was a long journey and we lost some compatriots in the firefight, but we have returned and have brought you an... appropriate gift. Three nearly finished Starjumpers and the entirety of the Heinlein Shipyards including staff. We have them secured in one of the Starumper's under guard. With this gift, we hope that you will accept our return!"

As she heard the message, Raaden's expression changed from skepticism to amazement. "That's Will! That's my second in command! It is the crew from Lavinia! Oh no, my crew stole the Heinlein Shipyards alone, something the Emperor had been trying to do for more than five years! He must be incandescent with rage." Raaden started giggling.

Ava looked at the image and then at Omar. "Well, there's your shipyard, and it looks like we have three Starjumpers now to bolster our fleet.

"I won't say no, but wow." Omar shook his head. "This paints a gigantic target on our back. We had better really get going with the Calamity Class. Also, Melody, lock the Gate. It won't stop wormhole linking, but it will stop people coming through that way."

"Oh. Yes. Good idea Omar." I took a moment, and reached out and locked the Gate. So the crew of the Lavinia wanted to come back so badly that they stole the entire Heinlein Shipyards with three almost complete Starjumpers and linked the whole thing here? On the one hand, I was utterly surprised that I could inspire that kind of loyalty in anyone from one command. On the other, now I have my own zealots to worry about. What else are they going to do in my name? I disconnected from the Throne and leaned forward, putting my head in my hands. What was I going to do? We're not ready for a war and the crew of the Lavinia just made a huge swipe at Venus. The OPA, Free Luna and the High Mars cities probably already knew about it. My only saving grace was that the Sol system doesn't talk with the colonies much these days thanks to Venus. I didn't think most people would have any idea where they took the shipyards.

Ava disconnected and came over to me. She put her hand on my back and started rubbing between my shoulders, right where I liked it. "You okay, Melody?"

I could feel the tears start to form in the corners of my eyes. "Ava, they brought me so much! But, I'm not ready. We're not ready! Venus is going to come and attack to take it back if we're lucky. If we're not, it'll be the AIs and they'll just link in and slag us."

"Oh Melody." She bent her head down and kissed my hair. "They brought an entire shipyard. If we can hold off Venus, we can get going on the Calamity Class now! We'll be ready years ahead of schedule. This is a good thing hon. I mean it."

"But Ava, It's not like some socks, or an asteroid, they're gonna miss it! They're going to try and find it."

"Earth is under the control of Venus nominally. The Heinlein Shipyards were operated by the OPA; nobody talked to anyone and hadn't for a decade. It was going to be a while before they even think to look here. If we're lucky, they'll spend years pointing fingers at each other and arguing about it without actually trying to look." Ava smiled "Besides, it's not like someone can track where a wormhole link went. They have no way of knowing it went to us. We should take this gift and use it. If we get those Starjumpers fitted out for Builder operation we'll have a formidable defense of the Reach in case anyone does come sniffing around."

Raaden disconnected and came over and heard me and Ava. "Melody, Ava is right. This is so out of the blue and so against any protocol, nobody will have any idea what the hell happened for possibly years. This is a massive head start. We've been given this opportunity. We need to grasp it." Her face hardened. "We can use this to kickstart our operation. We will succeed."

I sniffed. They knew just what to say to me. I was so worried it was all done as soon as we realized it was the Heinlein yards that came. Ava and Raaden were able to calm me down and get me to see what a good thing this will be.

I'm so lucky to have them. I'm so lucky to have all my Builders.

As I stood, I looked around to everyone. They've disconnected and were looking at me. I guess it was time to be an Empress again. "Starlight. Signal the Venusians, thanking them for their gift and inviting them to the Reach. We shall hold a special celebration in their honor. I will declare a holiday. Make sure they bring the crew of the Heinlein too. We need to convince them to sign on and no do anything rash. I'll still command them, but I need them to get to the Reach first."

"Once you have finished Starlight, let's all go down to the docks."

"We have a delegation to meet."