At first, Jack was kind of annoyed. He was just getting back and really needed to rest. He started to say something to that effect, but Angela's next words completely shifted his focus. "First off, Em'brel is ok."

Jack frowned, trying not to let his mind run away with assumptions. "What happened?"

The AI didn't mince words. "Em'brel was attacked again. This time by one of our workers, Ral'fen, who was apparently also an assassin of some kind. Luckily, Em'brel's training helped her hold off and even injure her attacker well enough that Tel'ron could subdue him. He's currently being held captive, awaiting questioning."

Jack's mind was spinning with questions. He could tell by S'haar's expression that Angela was informing her of the situation. The anger was practically radiating off of her. Finally, Jack returned his attention to the problem at hand. "Ok, we'll talk, but in a bit. First, I'm going to check on Em'brel."

Angela didn't seem inclined to argue. "That's a good idea, but this isn't going to wait much longer. We need to come to an understanding, and it can't wait any longer."

Jack wasn't sure how the situation between him and Angela was related to this, but he was confident his sister wasn't the type to simply use an emergency to force her own agenda. Still, right now, especially now, Em'brel came first.

-

As Jack and S'haar hobbled into the billet, it was immediately apparent that Em'brel had seen better days. She was clearly beyond exhausted. At the sound of their entrance, her eyes momentarily went wild with panic as she shot to her feet before she realized who'd entered.

She still seemed a bit dazed, and she remained standing, as if wondering what to do. Jack and S'haar started to walk forward but were momentarily halted when another presence darted past them. Before anyone else realized what was happening, Sare'en had Em'brel wrapped up in an almost suffocating embrace and started bombarding her with questions. "Oh, gods! What happened? Are you alright? That's a stupid question. Of course you're not! What do you need? What can I do?"

Jack hesitated. He wanted to comfort Em'brel, but as he watched, Em'brel's expression shifted from shocked to confused, then to acceptance as she returned the other woman's embrace.

Just as he wondered what to do, Jack felt something else brush past him as Grim pushed past to get closer to his "mom." Ger'ron, who'd been sitting nearby, jumped to his feet and reached for the blade at his side before Jack held up a hand and shook his head. "Long story, but he's with us."

The guard still looked wary but let his hand ease away from his sword. Jack was both relieved and concerned when Grim reacted by cowering in the face of aggression, rather than responding in kind. He realized that even as a relatively docile litter runt, that behavior would only last so long, but it might make training him easier before reaching his adult size.

Em'brel seemed equally surprised but calmed when Sare'en turned absentmindedly to scratch the pup on the head to comfort him.

Easing out of the embrace, the younger woman looked at the strange new creature in confusion before realizing what she was looking at. "Is this the wolgen pup Angela told us you adopted? Grime?"

Sare'en smiled. "It's 'Grim,' but yes, this is him. He loves getting his head lightly scratched. I think it reminds him of being groomed by his mom. Just let him sniff your hand first.

Em'brel held her hand out. Grim shied away at first, but after looking to Sare'en briefly, he leaned forward and gave Em'brel's hand a few careful sniffs. After that, the younger woman shifted her hand to lightly scratch the pup's head, who responded by eagerly shoving his head up into Em'brel's hand. Then, after a brief look of surprise, Em'brel laughed and even smiled. "He's surprisingly friendly!"

Sare'en nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that's part of why we adopted him, rather than...um...not. I think he'll make a great addition to the Outpost!" Em'brel just grinned and continued to scritch his head.

Finally, unwilling to wait any longer, S'haar stepped forward. "How are you doing?"

Em'brel looked up, her face still exhausted and weary, but some of the hysterical edges faded during her interaction with the Sare'en. She smiled weakly, though it was clearly more for show than actual happiness. "About as well as I can, given..." she huffed and waved her hand around, "everything..."

As Em'brel sat down on the bench again, Sare'en sat down with her. Em'brel had ahold of the other girl's hand as though using it as a lifeline through which she drew some kind of strength. "Honestly...I don't know. A part of me is angry that this keeps happening to me, another part is scared that it'll continue happening to me, and the rest just seems...numb."

She shook her head. "I'm relieved you all are back...but..." She looked confused and even annoyed at her inability to vocalize her feelings.

Jack sat down on another bench, drawing S'haar down with him despite every muscle in the larger woman's body seeming ready for explosive action as soon as she was given a target. He smiled. "That's alright. You don't have to explain it all right now, or ever. It might never make sense to you, and it doesn't have to. Right now, you're still in partial shock. That's the numbness you described. So, just let yourself be without trying to force anything. This will take some time to understand and adjust to."

Images of the faces of Jack's own traumas flashed through his mind, but he shoved that to the side for now. Em'brel’s need was more immediate. He grinned sadly as he wondered if this counted as the blind leading the blind.

Em'brel shook her head again. Her eyes teared up as she looked back at Jack. Sare'en gripped her hand a little tighter. "But why does this keep happening to me? Would it have been better If I'd died that first time? Should I have? Is that why this keeps happening?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by S'haar's very loud snarl of a response. "Don't ever say or even think that! I don't believe in fate, but I believe you are right where you should be, doing just what you should do! Not because of any gods or fortune, but because you've chosen this path! I don't know what the future holds, none of us do, but I know we're all working as hard as we can to make the best future possible!"

Em'brel looked a little taken aback at the anger in S'haar's voice, but Jack hoped maybe some of what the warrior was saying would sink in. She'd certainly made a few good points in that short speech. He smiled and added his own thoughts. "Listen, if my time on this world has taught me anything, it's that while the future is unpredictable and sometimes even frightening, what really matters is making the most out of the time we have with the people we care about, and it's quite apparent you have more than a few people who care."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Grim had wormed the front half of his body onto the bench and his head into Em'brel's lap. The younger woman looked down at him. This pup had definitely seen some hard times and might see them again, but at this moment, he seemed perfectly content where he was.

That was when the door slammed open, making Em'brel jump, Grim cower, and everyone else reach for their weapons. In marched Lon'thul. "What's this I hear about Em'brel being attacked while we were gone? Why wasn't I told immediately? Where is he? Why is he still breathing? How soon can I change that?"

Ger'ron looked at the hunter with a matter-of-fact expression. "He's currently under guard, more for his own protection than ours. Tel'ron made sure that he wouldn't be a threat to anyone soon, and we both thought S'haar might want a word with him."

S'haar's expression, already a mask of rage, darkened. "Oh, I want more than a word."

Jack rested a hand on her shoulder. The look she directed at him was one of impatience, but she waited for him to say what was on his mind. "Listen, I know you want blood, but we have to get some information from him. We need to know who actually orchestrated this to stop it from happening again, and we might have to offer him something to get that information."

Her eyes narrowed. "Oh, I'm going to offer him something, alright. I'm going to offer him an end to the pain he's about to find himself drowning in, and I hope he's slow in taking me up on that offer!"

Jack found himself conflicted. A large part of him agreed with S'haar, and if he'd been there in the heat of the moment, he would have happily been the one to injure or kill the assassin. But now that he was their prisoner, was it right to torture him before execution?

S'haar looked down at him as if sensing his thoughts. "Jack, you know I care for you and value your opinion, but you put me in charge, and this is my decision."

Jack started to speak up, unsure if he would agree or argue, but S'haar cut him off. "Listen. I'm not just some angry female taking out her rage on the world like I was when I first arrived here. Nor am I doing this just because I want revenge. This will happen because one of the people under my protection is being threatened."

S'haar's expression shifted as if she was looking for understanding. "What's more, if we don't take action after something like this, all we're doing is proclaiming to everyone that we're soft and inviting more of the same. I realize you don't like violence, and that's fine. You can leave this part to me, but this will happen, with or without your approval."

Jack was a bit surprised. S'haar had certainly argued and disagreed with him on more than one point, but this was the first time she'd told him that his opinion was irrelevant. He stopped and thought a moment. Wasn't this exactly why he'd agreed she should be in charge, though, for those moments when human and argu'n methods came into conflict?

For that matter, he wasn't even confident they were in conflict on this point. There were plenty of humans that would be just as bloodthirsty as S'haar, some more so. The indecision lay within himself, and as he thought about it, he looked back on the many argu'n whose deaths he'd already been responsible for.

As he was quietly thinking, S'haar took a breath and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we don't have time for you to come to terms with this. If you're angry with me after, we can talk about it then, but I've got a job to do right now. I will do what needs to be done for myself, my family, this Outpost, and even for you."

With that, S'haar stood to leave. Lon'thul chose that moment to speak up. "Mind if I come along? I'm pretty good with my hands!"

S'haar gave the hunter a stern look. "So long as you can hold yourself back. He's not going to die until we get our answers."

The hunter grinned sadistically. "Oh, I have no plans on making this quick or easy on him!"

With that, the two of them left. Jack wanted to offer his support as they walked out, but his voice refused to come out.

Angela chose that moment to speak up instead. "Alright, you've checked in on Em'brel. Now it's time we have that talk."

Jack groaned and shook his head. "Can't this wait? Isn't there enough going on as is?"

Angela refused to budge. "No, it can't. Come to the ship. We need to come to an agreement."

Jack sighed and stood up. He took another look at Em'brel to make sure she was ok. She was listening to Sare'en tell her about Grim, how they found him, how she'd started training him, and her hopes and plans for him. The younger girl seemed to be letting herself get lost in her friend's words while stroking the pup's head. It was as good a place as she could probably be in at the moment as Jack turned and walked out to the cave.

-

Jack had been expecting to find the cave empty, but instead, he could hear something skittering in the darkness. He started to reach for his gun before Angela's voice came in over his headset. "Don't worry, there's no creepy crawlies in this cave. All you're hearing is my little project."

Jack frowned and turned to focus his headlamp on one of the sources of the sound. He saw what appeared to be a small metallic insect, running while carrying some sort of rock. His eyes narrowed, and his voice took on a suspicious tone. "Angela, what are you getting up to in here?"

His sister didn't become defensive or try to deflect the conversation. Instead, she was blunt. "Exactly what you told me to do, nothing more, nothing less. I'm stabilizing my power reserves."

Jack heard more of the insects scurrying in the distance. "How? Making these things must have cost you a huge amount of energy. What are you making with these? Also, can you even do this? I thought it was against the treaty for an AI to download their personality into multiple bodies."

Angela responded. "You'll see what I'm making in a moment. For the record, these clearly fall into the emergency exemption protocols. Also, I haven't downloaded my personality into any of them. They are temporary drones, properly programmed to avoid harming any organisms class three or above, carrying out emergency repairs. Nothing more."

Jack shook his head. "Repairing what? We both know that nothing can be done to start the core with what we have on hand, even if you manage to repair it."

Angela didn't budge. "Like I said, you'll see in a moment. But, first, we have to talk. You are my captain, and what's more, you are my baby brother. I will move heaven and earth to protect you, and you need to understand that is non-negotiable."

Jack shook his head. "I'm not trying..."

Angela cut him off. "I'm not done. Not long ago, a wise woman told me that if protecting someone means you prevent them from being themselves, you're not protecting them; you're protecting yourself. She was right. When you left to go save Em'brel, you were right. There was a significant risk to yourself. It was luck as much as anything else that allowed you to survive, but you were right. You had to do that to be yourself, and I have to do this.

As Jack neared the ship, he could make out occasional flashes, as if some kind of welding was going on. However, he couldn't quite make out what was happening until he got close enough for his light to illuminate the scene in front of him.

It took a moment for his mind to process what he was seeing. His mining harness was standing before him, but now it was crawling with the same metallic insects from the cave. The general shape was all that remained the same. Inside was all-new hardware that looked like some sort of server mounted with what could only be a powerful cooling mechanism. Around the outside, something that could easily be called an armored shell was being crafted.

As he stood there staring, the thing turned its head and spoke to him in his sister's voice. "Well, what do you think?"