Spy-Mistress Isa’Bella groaned as agent Li’Dona sat her down beside the Ulraar device. She held her hand over the wound the elite guard’s weapon had inflicted to her side. Whatever it was, it cut through the Human made armor as if it were not there. The agent moved her hand for a moment to inspect the damage, “It’s a through and through wound ma’am, mostly cauterized itself as it went.”

Isa’Bella shuddered in pain, “Hurts like a daughter of a bitch! Get me my communicator out of the pack, we need to inform the fleet.”

After pulling the pack from the injured Spy-Mistress, the agent handed her the impossibly small device. Taking it in her hand and twisting the top knob to turn it on she spoke into it, “Target secured, commence attack, repeat, commence attack.”

Within seconds muffled booms sounded as the underground complex shuddered. Naval artillery was hammering the island to soften it up for the marines. Agent Li’Dona was the only other survivor of their original four person squad, they lost the other two infiltrating the underground complex. Handing her the scanning device from her pack, Isa’Bella tried to get more comfortable.

“The scanner doesn’t show any form of booby trap or explosive device inside the room, I assume they never thought anyone could get this far.” The agent stated as she walked back over to the tripod like device that was forming a red force field over the blown open doorway. Several of the elite guards they had fought on the way down had tried to get past the human made shield, only to find that their weapons were useless.

Pulling a canteen out of her pack she struggled to get the cap off. She was thirsty, so very thirsty. She tore off her helm before saying, “Use the scanner to make sure there isn’t anywhere else they can get in, we were only provided the one shielding device.” She stated after taking a swig from the canteen.

Li’Dona walked around the small communications room waving the device around and watching the tiny screen. “Only air vents ma’am, and they are too small to allow anyone passage into this room. All we can do is hold up and wait for rescue.” She stated as she took a knee to get down to look at the wound Isa’Bella was trying to clean and dress with the first aid kit.

It didn’t look good, although a through and through was usually a better situation than the bullet being lodged inside the body, it was starting to turn black. Li’Dona helped Isa’Bella with the dressing and noticed she was shivering, but feeling her forehead showed she was running a fever. She reached down and picked up the radio from the cement floor, switching the channels from fleet communications to marine traffic.

“The marines have made a beach head, naval artillery will commence bombardment for another half hour to ensure all equipment has made it ashore before they push on the complex from all three sides.” Li’Dona relayed to Isa’Bella after a few minutes of listening. The wounded woman was starting to slouch against the device, her eyes becoming glassy.

Li’Dona twisted the knob from marine traffic to the secure ministry channel. “Ministry actual, this is agent Li’Dona, Spy-Mistress Isa’Bella is wounded, agents Mei’Una and Han’Larr were killed in action. Requesting orders.”

Almost immediately a familiar raspy voice came over the comms, “Agent Li’Dona, Spy-Mistress Isabella called out that the target was secured, are you with her now?” Kel’Taraan asked.

“I am Spy-Mistress, but she has become unresponsive after being shot by one of those green pulse rifles.” Li’Dona stated.

There was muttered cursing from the other end of the communicator, “Tell me everything you can about the weapon and her wounds, do not leave anything out.” The eldest Spy-Mistress commanded.

After some back and forth as she told Kel’Taraan everything she knew about the weapon and the wound as well as Isa’Bella’s current condition the line was silent for a few minutes while she conferred with the Humans. With a click the eldest Spy-Mistress sighed heavily into the communicator, “The Humans believe the weapon to be a gamma particle beam rifle, much too sophisticated for the Howrons and probably of Ulraar manufacture.”

There was another pause before she continued, “Agent Li’Dona, I want you to open the first aid kit and take out the black plunger valved syringe. Take off the cap and stab her in the thigh, then depress the plunger completely.”

Li’Dona found the syringe, “I’ve found it Ma’am, I have to ask, what will this do?”

This time there was a quite long pause, and with a shuddering replay the eldest Spy-Mistress answered, “It will spare her from the worst of the radiation poisoning that will kill her in the next hour to come. It is the only mercy we can give her.”

The young agent looked down to the syringe in her hand, then to the glassy eyed look of the platinum blonde woman leaning on the device they gave so much to capture. “Is there nothing the Humans can do Ma’am?” She asked into the communications device.

There was a click and an answer, “Sadly there is not, by the time the marines secure the facility and the Missive is able to launch a shuttle she will be long dead. Captain Je’Gori expects another two hours until they reach you.”

Nodding to herself she kneeled down beside Isa’Bella, and jabbed the instrument into her thigh, then depressed the plunger. The Spy-Mistress breathed in heavily, her eyes went wide as the drug coursed through her system. Then as if in slow motion her head bowed, and her eyes closed, Li’Dona watched as her breathing slowed, and then stopped.

She was still holding Isa’Bella’s hand when the Marines reached the room three hours later.

_________________________________

“How’s she doing?” Alex asked Monty as she came back into the common area VR environment from Kelly’s doorway.

Monty sighed, “She just ordered the death of her protege, who she helped train and taught her almost everything she knew. She spent nearly thirty years in her service. To be honest, she’s a wreck.”

Alex sighed, “Would she want to see me right now?”

Monty looked up to the big man, “You need to see her, you are the only other person here that was once biological. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to say!”

He sighed down to Monty, “Neither do I, but I’ll go talk to her.”

Walking past Monty he activated the knock protocol on the side of the door that Kara had instituted after the infamous John/Erin incident and waited. He stood there for several mils before Kelly slowly cracked the door. She peered out to him before opening the door and walking back into her cottage environment.

Not knowing what else to do he walked into her cottage and shut the door behind him. He had never visited her personal VR, but he had to admit, there was a certain comfort about the space, maybe it was the fireplace? Then he turned his attention to the tall elf like creature who stood just a few feet away.

It was hard to believe the woman in front of him was nearly four centuries old. Her digital avatar was based on pictures of her when she was young and in the prime of her life, but looking at her eyes told that she was much older. The current signs of distress were apparent, her hair was disheveled, her eyes were red, and she looked haunted.

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“What have I done?” She asked Alex as she wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him fiercely.

Alex was a bit surprised, but he put his arms around the woman who was nearly as tall as he and said, “You did what had to be done, sometimes that isn’t easy, sometimes it’s the hardest thing to do.”

She looked up to him, tears in her eyes, “I know what happens to people with that level of radiation poisoning, the archives showed it in horrifying detail. I know that she would have died in absolute agony, but I still feel so responsible.”

Breaking away from him she continued as she walked over to her overstuffed chair by the eternally burning fireplace. “I’ve ordered good women on missions that ended in their death before, but that was different. They died in the line of duty, from enemies of the state, but this was the first time I ordered the death of a subordinate.”

She stared into the fireplace as Alex sat down heavily in the chair opposite her. The unexpected noise of the action caused her to look down to Alex, then she decided to sit down herself. Alex leaned back and looked into the fireplace, “Just before we arrived in your universe I was over task force bravo in the Birmingham system. We were the speed bumps, our job was to slow down the Imperial fleet long enough for alpha team to evacuate the planet. I ordered six hundred and eight other ships, some of them will full crew compliments to hold the line against a force nearly ten times our size and probably thirty times our tonnage.”

Alex reached up and wiped his face before putting his arm back down on the arm of the overstuffed leather chair a bit harder than he meant to, “Seventeen thousand four hundred and thirty three souls were lost because I couldn’t come up with a better plan. I had to weigh that against the lives of nearly a billion civilians.”

Looking down at his hands that he held at chest height he looked over to Kelly, “People like us always have blood on our hands, we accepted that with the responsibility of the roles we have. It never gets easier, and I’d like to tell you that it will never happen again, but it would be a lie.” He dropped his hands in his lap.

“We’re here for you Kelly, anything you need, let any of us know and we’ll do whatever we can to help. Being replicated beings gives us the curse of near perfect memories, and no way of forgetting our past. But with time we find other things to occupy our time, we try to atone for what we’ve done, for our… failures.” He said.

Then he looked over to Kelly and put his arms back on the arm rests, “But make no mistake, the Redeemers killed Isa’Bella, not you. Those bastards are traitors to your entire race, and while the marines killed most of them, the ones in command did not fight to the death. Your protege wouldn’t want you to blame yourself, she would have wanted answers from them, and you are the best person on the planet at getting to those answers.”

Kelly pulled her legs up and hugged them, “How do I face my agents in the ministry of secrets after this? How do I face Li’Dona?”

Alex watched her for a moment before answering, “You ordered Li’Dona to inject her, but she had to actually do it. When she arrives back to the ministry she will be a wreck, after all she was the only survivor of the infiltration team. She needs to know it wasn’t her fault, and you need to tell her that.”

Kelly nodded as she rocked a bit in her chair, “What if I can’t face her?”

Alex looked to the fireplace and answered her, “You have to, or you’ll never get past this.”

__________________________________

Three days later agent Li’Dona arrived back to the palace by way of Missive shuttle. Under other circumstances it would have been one of the most exciting times of her life. The other huge Human male by the name of John flew the shuttle from the island with her and the prisoners the marines captured from the Redeemer headquarters. She thought he could have been Alex’s twin brother, and wondered if all Human males looked similar.

The communication device she captured had been taken in the other shuttle to the Missive upon orders from the Empress herself. Once they landed the palace guards backed up by ministry guards took the prisoners from the shuttle to the cells deep under the palace. She noticed they all were heavily armed with Human weapons and armor.

John escorted her through the ancient structure, his presence caused everyone to part before them as he made his way to the throne room. She wondered if he had been here before, she hadn’t heard that other Humans had visited the Empress, but in the past few days that could have changed. The throne room was guarded more heavily than usual, the silver ceremonial breastplates were replaced by the charcoal armor the Humans provided.

Then she found that the noise in the room quieted down, she didn’t know if it was her presence or Johns, maybe both. She was tired, she couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep, and now she had to face Kel’Taraan and the Empress. Would she be blamed for the Spy-Mistress’s death? Goddess knew she blamed herself.

Suddenly she found herself before the Empress, Kel’Taraan, and the now legendary Mon’Kelron, shield of the Empire. Not knowing what to do she saluted her Empress, fist over her heart. To her surprise the Empress returned her salute, and then Kel’Taraan wrapped her in a fierce hug, for a middle aged woman she was incredibly strong. What was going on?

“You did well Agent.” Kel’Taraan whispered in her ear before stepping back to the left side of the Empress.

The Empress looked over to her right, “You must be John. Alex told me all about you. Are you two related?”

John smirked, “We get that a lot. We’re distant cousins.”

Mon’Kelron raised an eyebrow, “I’d swear you could be brothers.”

John simply shrugged, “We get that a lot too. We transported twelve of the highest ranking Redeemers to your guard. Hopefully you can get something out of them. We have two more days before the Howrons will expect an update according to the logs on the device. We need to be believable when we send them the weekly report.”

The elder Spy-Mistress nodded, “We will start interviews after this meeting, we’ll be ready.”

Then the Empress turned to Kel’Taraan, “You need every tool at your disposal for the task at hand, and you will need a new protege.”

Li’Dona looked from the Empress to the Spy-Mistress. Kel'Taraan reached into her pocket and produced the yellow circle of rank and stepped in front of the Agent. “Agent Li’Dona, I now promote you to the rank of junior Spy-Mistress.” And pinned the circle of rank to her lapel.

Of all the things she expected to happen, this was not one of them. She hoped they would only dismiss her from the ministry, now they were giving her the second highest position within it. “Thank you Ma’am, I will serve with distinction.”

The elder Spy-Mistress put her hand on her shoulder, she seemed a bit teary eyed, “I know you will.”

The rest of the Imperial meeting was a blur as the topic switched from her promotion to the information needed from their new guests. Then it was over, and she was escorted down to the ministry of secrets by an agent who now called her Ma’am. She found herself in an office beside Kel’Tarran’s office. She knew it once housed the most precious of ancient Human technology that the ministry attempted to decipher.

Now it had been cleaned out and furnished with extravagant office furniture, it even had a laptop computer sitting on the huge desk. Books lined the shelves behind it, filled with paper copies of the ministry of secrets findings over the past three hundred years. The agent, she thought her name was Whi’Alun, but she wasn’t completely sure, asked if she needed anything further. She told her not at the moment and after she left and closed the door she sat down heavily at the desk and put her head in her hands.

She didn’t know how long she sat there, it could have been minutes, or even hours. Then there was a knock at the door. Running her hands through her brown hair she looked to the door, “Come in.” She stated plainly. As the door opened she saw the elder Spy-Mistress enter her office and shut the door behind her. She stood up quickly, not knowing what do say or do.

“Sit, sit, we have quite a bit to talk about.” Kel’Taraan said as she walked over to one of the overstuffed leather chairs in front of the ornate desk.

Sitting back down she looked across the desk to the elder Spy-Mistress. “When I received your orders to report back to the palace via Human shuttle this was not what I expected.”

Kel’Taraan sat back in her chair, “Did you expect me to dismiss you for succeeding in a near impossible mission?”

Looking down at the desk Li’Dona quietly said, “I killed Isa’Bella, Spy-Mistress of the Empire.”

Kel’Taraan stood up and walked around the desk and sat on the corner looking down at Li’Dona, “The Redeemers killed Isa’Bella, you put her out of her misery. If anything, I ordered you to kill her. Your hands are clean, the Ministry and everyone in it is my responsibility.”

Li’Dona looked up to Kel’Taraan, she didn’t think she had any tears left, but she found to her amazement she did. “I still feel the syringe in my hand. When sleep finds me I relive that moment over and over.”

Kel’Taraan dropped off the desk and put her arms around Li’Dona, “It wasn’t your fault, but we have the people who are responsible, and once we have the information we need the Empress will see that they are punished for treason, as well as the deaths of our agents. She will not be gentle with them, I can assure you.”

After a moment Kel’Taraan stood and walked back over to her chair and sat down wearily. Li’Dona sat up and asked, “Why me, why promote a field agent to junior Spy-Mistress?”

Kel’Taraan looked across the desk, “Because you showed me you could make the hard decisions.”

Li’Dona sat back in her chair, “And what do we do now Ma’am?”

The elder Spy-Mistress stood from her chair, “Our duty Spy-Mistress, our duty.”