Allison looked around and found some Sauroid, hence, Silwrath style furniture in the form of padded benches. The benches were in the ballroom which was just a school gymnasium that hadn’t been converted for sports. She kicked her heels off and tucked them under the bench and laid down. Tyler did the same on another bench. Their feet were facing away from each other. The windows were white with snow and green lightning was lighting up the night.

Allison folded her fingers across her midsection and looked back at Tyler. When she spoke, he looked at her but had to catch his glasses.

“So, our first sleep over. Did you imagine it would be like this?”

Tyler shook his head. He pulled his glasses off and slipped them into one of his shoes. When he came back up Allison booped his nose. He smiled bashfully.

“Tyler, you know, you look weird without glasses, but at least now I can see your eyes. Which are cute, by the way. Why do you even wear glasses anyway? I have never seen anyone else wear them ever.”

He looked up at the ceiling.

“Surgery is too expensive, and I’m not compatible with organic stuff.”

Allison was confused.

“Like, no one wears glasses because no one has bad eyesight, at least as kids. Because poor eyesight was edited out of well us. So, uh, how did it happen? You know what, it’s probably personal, sorry I shouldn’t have asked.”

Tyler looked at the ceiling for several minutes before he answered her.

“Well, my dad and mom, they uh, weren’t born in the dome. Well dad was born in a dome… on Tritan. Mom grew up under the Africa Dome.”

Allison looked at him.

“Your dad was in that church?”

Tyler got quiet again. Allison rolled over so she could see him better.

“I don’t hold it against you. I won’t tell anyone, I know… I know what people might do.”

Tyler tapped his long slender fingers on his stomach.

“Mom got fired. I was getting beat up… She begged for a spot on a colony.”

Allison put her chin on her hands which she folded on the cushioned bench.

“I see why you didn’t say anything. Did you have family on Tritan?”

Tyler moved his head from side to side and then nodded.

“Yeah, my dad’s whole family was there… when… when the System’s Alliance bombed it. Dad and my older sister left. Mom didn’t want to go with them. I was too young to understand. We haven’t seen them since the day after the attack.”

Allison frowned.

“I am so sorry Tyler. It must… be hard. I didn’t even think. I’m sorry I dragged you to the base.”

Tyler rolled over and leaned his head on his elbow.

“I don’t mind. I had fun. Even firing the guns. Mom… she didn’t want guns in the house. Dad used to have them. Lots of scary people would visit. I don’t blame the System’s Alliance. My dad did though…”

Allison reached out her left hand and put it on Tyler’s.

“It would be alright if you did. I… have a confession to make, and if you never want to talk to me again, I understand. It was my grandfather who ordered the attacks and was in command of the fleet that attacked Tritan. I’m sorry.”

Tyler shifted to look into Allison’s eyes.

“Why are you sorry? You were twelve, like I was.”

Allison sighed.

“He didn’t want to do it you know, but killing five hundred thousand innocent people… what choice did the System’s Alliance have? Even I lost family in that.”

Tyler nodded. He squeezed Allison’s hand.

“War is bad.”

“Amen to that.”

Allison looked around the empty ballroom.

“I was actually kind of surprised there was no attempted attack tonight. This seems like a prime target. Godless aliens rewarding one of the System’s Alliance soldiers for committing a genocide… it kind of writes itself.”

Tyler shook his head.

“Is that why you seemed on edge all night?”

Allison shook her head and avoided meeting Tyler’s gaze.

“On edge? No, I wasn’t. I was having fun and partying.”

Tyler pointed to Allison’s dress.

“Then why do I see a knife hilt sticking out there.”

Allison blushed and readjusted her dress to conceal her vibro knife.

“Just making sure I followed regulations.”

Tyler frowned.

“You said you were on leave.”

Allison rolled on her back and folded her hands over her stomach. She got quiet. He sighed and adjusted his head, so he was laying on his palms.

“Allison, it’s alright to need help you know.”

Allison scowled.

“I’m fine. Yesh.”

“It’s not normal to carry a weapon everywhere. I don’t see Ajay and the others.”

Allison closed her eyes.

“They don’t have Major Ghai breathing down their necks. The universe is a dangerous place. Just because everyone else refuses to acknowledge it doesn’t mean I will.”

The pair fell into silence. The lights flickered then went out. Allison sat up quickly and tapped night-vision optics on her contact lenses. She didn’t put her shoes on when she hopped off the bench. She crouched down beside Tyler and whispered.

“Get your glasses on go to the kitchen. Tell the staff to seal it off.”

Tyler looked around, he whispered.

“It’s just a power outage.”

“We don’t get power outages. Each habitation has its own fusion reactor. Something isn’t right. Go.”

“This is what I’m talking about Allison, you’re being paranoid.”

He went to say something more but was interrupted when Allison put her finger on his lips. She looked around. The night vision optics only gave her black and white. Content they were still alone she pulled his glasses out of his shoes and put them in his hand.

“Put your left hand on the wall and follow it around, you’ll reach the kitchen. Go. I’ll go spring whatever trap someone set by the fusion reactor.”

Tyler relented and Allison watched him until he was around the corner and stood up. She pulled her Qual’sa pistol and knife out. She muttered to herself.

“Yes, Ambassador we’re perfectly safe… just had to say it didn’t you Allison.”

She slid along the right wall, if it was like all the other habitation the life support and fusion reactor were in a core utility room. She tapped on thermal optics with the hand holding her knife. She flipped it to identify humans. She saw six around the fusion reactor. Four outside the utility room, two inside. Her contacts started identifying weapons. They also identified body armor. She slowly snuck away wishing she had her armor and holo-web the whole way. She tried to reach exterior comms but the electrical component of the storm was interfering with them.

Allison heard them walking down the hall and she started to run away. She fired a few stunner blasts, forcing them to dive for cover. She skidded around a corner and fired around it a few more times. They returned fire with projectile rounds. The habitation domes weren’t exactly armored. She was showered with chips of the ultrahard foam used in their construction. The wind was howling through the newly formed holes. She fired two more shots and dashed down the hall toward the side room her gifts had been secured in.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She tried to unzip the dress and sighed. It was going to be impossible to get out of it quickly alone. She closed her eyes and ripped the back apart. The dress dropped to the ground, followed quickly by her slip. She dropped her weapons on a table and started pulling the Silwrath armor on. It certainly felt like it was the real thing and not ceremonial. The armor had built-in webbing, it was easy to find appropriate holsters for her dual pistols. She slid the knife into a wrist sheath on her right hand.

Whoever the humans were, she could see them on thermoptics just outside the door. She pressed her back against the wall and glanced over her shoulder. The largest of the group motioned at the door, one of them moved closer and popped the panel. Allison could open the door, but she wanted the bulk of the group to be further away. She pulled the knife out of her wrist sheath and flipped the switch to power it on and holstered her pistol. It was a good assumption in her opinion that these people were here to do her and the others inside harm. These weren’t Sal’nash. These were other humans. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with killing one.

The door slid open and Allison grabbed them from behind. Her vibro knife was pressed against their throat and gauntlet was over their mouth. She whispered into the woman’s ear.

“If you make a sound I will kill you.”

Allison pressed the knife against the woman’s neck and ripped the translator off. She tossed it aside. The woman moved to escape; Allison’s knife grazed her neck. It would have beheaded the woman if Allison hadn’t been so averse to killing her. Before the woman could call out Allison got her hand over her mouth and slammed her into the hardened foam wall until she stopped resisting. The woman started to resist again as the daze caused by the bashing wore off. Allison lifted the woman up by the front of her ballistic vest and punched her in the face. The woman’s head lulled back, and blood began to leak out of her broken nose.

Allison checked the woman’s wrist for a holo-phone. She found one and ripped it off tearing the band. She held it against her own holo-phone and tapped one of her attack daemons. It told her it would take several minutes. She tossed the holo-phone aside and picked up the translator. She synced up with their comm frequency by infiltrating it. She spotted a cross pendant on the girl’s neck. She frowned and shook her head.

“I knew it.”

She leaned on the wall again and listened to their comms.

“Keira, did you clear that room?”

A few minutes later.

“Frank, Victor, check on Keira. Be careful, that alien is out there somewhere with that zapper.”

Allison sheathed her vibro knife again. She crept out of the door and across the hall to another door they’d hacked open. She drew the pistols Aryna had given her and leaned against the wall. It was obvious the terrorists were using some form of night vision, but not thermoptics or they would have seen her easily. Their comms came up again.

“Keira’s down. She’s alive but that alien did a real number on her.”

Allison glanced around the corner. They were both kneeled down. She spun around and shot a volley of stun blasts at them. The pair took several hits and fell down in a heap. She shot the woman they’d called Keira twice just to make sure she didn’t wake up anytime soon. Their comms flared to life again.

“Victor? Frank? Keira? What was that? Answer me.”

Allison hit the control on her AR HUD to speak on their Comms. She spoke in Silwrath. If they were planning on attacking the Gala she assumed they’d have the translation matrix for Silwrath loaded.

“You have invaded the wrong embassy, human. You face a Silwrath Battlelord. Your allies have been disintegrated and you are next. Surrender or die.”

The rage in the leader’s voice when he answered wasn’t exactly what Allison had expected.

“I’m going to kill you, you scaly cunt, if it’s the last thing I do! I’ll fuckin murder your entire family if you harmed a hair on her head!”

Allison decided to push more buttons. It was something she excelled at, and angry people were dumb people, or so her recent military training told her.

“Oh, you cared about the woman. It is good I disintegrated her. There wasn’t much left of her face. You humans are a squeamish lot. Not meant for real battle. She begged for her life before I beat it out of her. Pathetic.”

They changed comm channels. She didn’t need access to hear him. He was furious and was shouting.

“Find that scaly bitch.”

Allison dragged all three of the unconscious attackers into the room across the way, threw her dress in with them and sealed the door. The three remaining terrorists were running in her direction. She retreated down the hall. She was pretty sure she could engage in a gun battle with them without cover and come out on top in her armor but a stray bullet could hit her head. She hadn’t quite figured out how to activate the armor’s helmet. Allison hit her gauntlet on the wall as she ran, to keep the group engaged. She figured if they were chasing her the Ambassador, Tyler and the staff would be less likely to become targets. Whoever the man in charge was, he taunted her over comms.

“I heard Silwrath were honorable warriors, come out coward!”

Allison was unphased. Pride was not one of her vices. She pressed herself against the wall in the ballroom. She fired at the first person who came through the door with both pistols. He collapsed. She slid behind the bar. One of them knelt down and checked their companion. He spoke in Swahili.

“Breathing, but unconscious. She’s playing with us. Probably wants to eat us slowly.”

She heard a scuffle and then Tyler’s voice yelling.

“Stop!”

Allison stood up ready to unleash everything in her clips to save Tyler from the terrorists. The lights came on suddenly. Allison’s contacts flipped to natural vision almost instantly. She was face to face with two men. One was black and the other was Caucasian. She had her pistols pointed at them. The black man who looked older had his gun pointed at Tyler. The white man grabbed Tyler and put his gun to his head. Tyler kept staring at the older man. The younger man looked surprised to see Allison.

“It’s her, the butcher’s granddaughter.”

Allison kept her pistols leveled at them.

“You harm a hair on his head, and I will stun you both, then make what happens next take a long time.”

Tyler was struggling to get away he was glaring at the older man.

“Dad why are you doing this?”

The man holding Tyler released him.

“Will, is that true, is this your kid?”

“Yeah, Andy, it is.”

Allison’s arms drooped slightly but she leveled the guns again.

“Stand down. I have armor that will stop your bullets, your armor will not stop my weapons. No need for anyone else to get hurt tonight. Tyler, get out of the way!”

Will addressed his son and pointed at Allison.

“Tyler, your sister was here with me tonight and she killed her.”

Allison shook her head slightly.

“Tyler don’t listen to him; He’s lying. You know I don’t kill people.”

His father kept one gun trained on Allison and offered Tyler another.

“You remember how Keira used to spin you around. You know how much she loved you? If we’d known you were here, we’d have come looking for you sooner. Your mother took you away from us. Take the gun and let’s put an end to this monster. Her family butchered ours and she just killed your sister. How many has she killed? Fourteen billion? What is one more?”

Allison pleaded with Tyler.

“Tyler, don’t do it.”

Tyler looked angry. He took the gun in both hands and leveled it at Allison. She crossed her wrists in front of her face and dove down as all three of them started shooting at her. She hit the ground so hard her pistols went flying. They got behind the bar and kept shooting at her. She crossed her arms behind her head. When they were all reloading, she rolled over and threw her knife at Andy. The vibro blade sliced through his ballistic vest easily. She drew her original pistol and shot Tyler’s father. Tyler was struggling to get his gun reloaded. Allison pointed the Qual’sa pistol at him.

“Tyler, I didn’t kill your sister. Drop it, please I do not want to shoot you. I don’t know what this will do to someone with a heart condition.”

Tyler squeezed the trigger. Time slowed down for her. She moved her head to the side and felt the bullet graze her head. She didn’t hesitate any longer, she pulled the trigger on her pistol and Tyler went down. She held the side of her head and used the thumb of her gun hand to set the pistol to max discharge. She pointed at one of the fallen barstools and fired. The blast hit the stool and it vanished in a flash of blue light. She pointed it at Andy who was trying to squirm away.

“Remember I’ve already killed fourteen billion sentients, a few more isn’t going to bother my conscience. Is there anyone else? I’m not going to ask twice terrorist. Don’t bother lying my scanner will see right through it.”

Andy held up one hand.

“No! Don’t shoot. I’m not a true believer I was just hired for a job.”

Allison set the pistol to stun and shot him twice. The pistol beeped, indicating it had been fully discharged she slid it into a holster. She retrieved both fallen pistols and holstered one of them. She kept her hand over the graze caused by Tyler’s shot. She looked at him and shook her head.

“Ugg, idiot. Why did he shoot me?”

Several staff came rushing out. The Vortique who’d spoken to them in the kitchen was trying to look at Allison’s injury. Allison motioned at Andy with her pistol.

“Him first, wound sealant foam. I’m fine.”

Allison regretted saying that almost as soon as she finished speaking as the room started spinning and she was forced to hold herself up on the bar. Ezeen grabbed Allison’s arm to help steady her.

“Though I may have a concussion. Get these guys restrained, there are three more in the hallway over there.”

Allison pointed with her pistol.

“Strip them down to their underwear and make sure to remove their holo-phones… the black things on their wrists. The translators too.”

Ezeen motioned to a bench.

“Battlelord you’re injured you should lay down. What about your date? Is he with them?”

Allison shook her head.

“No, he just got caught in the crossfire.”

Ezeen sent one of her assistants to go get some ice for Allison’s head. Allison put her other pistol back in its holster. She let Ezeen help her to a bench. Once she got sat down Allison quickly cut the gun fight out of the video record on her holo-phone as well as any admission of who Will was to Tyler. She wanted to send it to a secure storage space and delete any records of the files, but she still lacked a connection to Alliance-Net. This was a mixed blessing as it meant none of the video made it out of the Embassy so the military’s VI wouldn’t have access to any of the feed. She instead renamed them to data files and encrypted them.

By the time the ice arrived her injury had healed itself. The concussion didn’t seem to be healing quite so quickly. She let Ezeen put the ice pack on her head. She didn’t see the point in arguing. She wasn’t in pain she was just really dizzy. Ezeen looked at Allison.

“Where is your beautiful dress?”

Allison motioned down the hallway.

“I had to rip it to get it off. Better than being shot without armor, right?”

Ezeen looked Allison up and down.

“You know, you look like our ancient warrior queens who were dressed for battle. Very regal, even with the blood.”

Allison chuckled.

“No queens here, just unlucky high school students.”

She watched as Will and his two henchmen were led away. Their hands had been tied. She couldn’t see Tyler. She stood up quickly and was forced to reach out to the wall.

“Where’s Tyler?”

Ezeen tried to sit her down again, but Allison forced herself past the woman. She realized she was suffering from vertigo and had to struggle to make it to the bar. The contents of her stomach were threatening to come back up. Tyler’s lips were turning blue. Her contacts indicated he was in cardiac arrest and wasn’t breathing. Allison pushed past the two-embassy staff trying to help him. One had the electric paddles. She shook her head.

“No, his heart’s not beating at all. Just get back.”

She ripped off her gauntlets and started giving him CPR. She felt his ribs break but she kept going. She leaned down to give him air. Then she returned to chest compressions. She kept going until her contacts showed his heart was beating and he was breathing. She didn’t try to get up. She sat there on her knees; Hands folded in her lap. She closed her eyes, but everything was still spinning.