The Random Encounter barreled out of the North Gate of Xill Sector 14. Captain Mims didn't waste time with a scan, accelerating towards the Hub as fast as the ship could go. Then he cursed and jerked the controls.

"We're taking fire."

Yvian checked the sensors. The Gate was surrounded by Xill. Six hundred twenty eight thousand Lig Fighters were spread out in groups of twenty, forming a grid pattern twenty kilometers out from the Gate. Ligs were the Xill equivalent of a Federation Gladiator. They were a little slower than the Encounter, but had better shields. A second grid of Six hundred twenty eight million Mig Interceptors waited two hundred kilometers past the Ligs in groups of two hundred. Each Mig was half the size of the Encounter, with less shields and firepower but higher acceleration.

Two hundred kilometers behind the Migs, Six hundred twenty eight thousand Quig Battlecruisers lay in wait, ready to engage any enemy that made it past the smaller ships. Quigs weren't the largest battlecruisers Yvian had seen. Only one point six kilometers in length. Strange curves in their hulls made them look sleek and alien and deadly. Which was accurate. Quigs were terrifyingly fast, with shields and firepower beyond anything short of a Klaath Queen. She'd seen one destroy a Vrrl battlecruiser in under three seconds.

But the real monsters floated two hundred kilometers past the Quigs. Ten kilometers long, with energy readings higher than most space stations, six thousand two hundred and eighty Xill Yig Destroyers gleamed darkly in the void. Quigs were rarely seen outside of Xill space, but the Yigs had barely been a rumor. A legend used to scare apprentice pilots. Yvian had never seen one in action. No one had. At least, no one who lived to talk about it.

The Encounter had appeared almost directly in front of one of the Lig fleets. Twenty kilometers was enough distance that Mims could easily dodge their fire, but that wouldn't last long. They'd already started closing in, and a fleet of Migs were coming to back them up. Mims was good. So good she'd seen him beat a Xill in void combat. It didn't matter. No human, no one, could hope to outfly twenty Xill at once. Not to mention the other two hundred on the way.

"I thought we were classified as friendly!" Lissa shouted. "Why are they shooting at us?"

"The Xill are not acting autonomously," Kilroy reported. "This unit believes their control chips have been activated."

"Focus," Mims ordered. "Find the target." He grimaced. The Encounter shuddered as all sixteen of her cannons fired. They wouldn't hit anything, but forcing the Xill to dodge might buy a few more seconds. "And where the hell is my backup?"

"Eighteen seconds," Kilroy answered.

The Random Encounter continued to swerve and dodge, her guns thundering continuously. Yvian noticed that Mims had changed their trajectory, angling the ship more or less towards the closest edge of the Gate. Several more small fleets of Ligs joined the chase. They coordinated with their fellow Xill, filling the space around the Encounter with perfectly spaced plasma lances over too wide an area for Mims to dodge. The Captain cursed, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Shields were already down to seventy six percent.

"There's no target," Lissa reported. "No Federation or pixen vessels!"

"There has to be," Mims insisted. "Keep scanning."

"Shields are falling fast," Yvian told the Captain.

"I know."

"They're below forty percent!"

"I know!" The Captain continued to swerve the ship in random patterns. It wouldn't help against the Xill's saturation attack, but if he stopped doing it they could concentrate their fire.

"Where the Crunch are the Peacekeepers!?" Yvian knew she should be used to this by now. She'd had more brushes with death than most holo-vid protagonists. Only Space Captain had seen more action than her. Only she hadn't gotten used to it. She was still scared every time.

A cascade of blue light washed through the viewports. Fifty thousand Peacekeeper Stinger units burst into the sector. Some of them were so close Yvian could see them accelerate past the viewports.

The bombardment stopped. Yvian checked the sensors and saw that all the Ligs near them were disabled, as were the nearly eight hundred Migs that had been about to join the fight.

"Well," said the Captain. "That was closer than I'd like. Give the other units my thanks."

"Negative," said Kilroy. "The plan was in error. The units were too late."

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Mims kept the Encounter moving towards the edge of the Gate. He continued evasive maneuvers, just in case. He didn't reply for several seconds, but when did all he said was, "Shit."

The word sent a jolt of adrenaline up Yvian's legs, but it was Lissa who asked. "What is it?"

"We should be dead." A subtle tension worked its way into the human's shoulders. "They should have killed us in the first couple seconds."

Yvian blinked. "What?"

"Look." The Captain pointed at Yvian's holodisplay. "Every single Xill guarding the Gate is in firing range, and I'll bet every single one's got a control chip. Reba should have taken control of the lot of them and blown us out of the sky." He was silent a moment. Then he said, "She's been doing her damnedest to kill me for two years now. Why stop when she's got me dead to rights?"

"And if she's not trying to kill us," Lissa continued the thought, "why shoot at us at all?"

"Oh, Crunch." A terrible suspicion crystallized in Yvian's brain. "She wants us to shoot at the Xill."

"Incoming transmission from Exodus the Genocide," said Kilroy. "This unit is patching it in to your comms."

"What are you idiots doing?" The Genocide hissed.

Mims looked at Kilroy. "You didn't tell him?"

"I heard Peacekeeper Unit Kilroy's update," Exodus seethed. "I want to hear it from you."

A weapons lock appeared on Yvian's display. Several million weapon locks, to be exact. The rest of the Xill guarding the Gate were targeting the Encounter. It was deliberate, Yvian was sure. A threat. The Xill didn't need target lock. Yvian didn't know why they bothered to carry the tech for it. Maybe just for moments like this?

"We believe Hub 14 is about to come under attack," said the Captain. "We're on our way to stop it."

"Why?" The Xill Representative crammed an inpixen amount of fury into the word. So much that Yvian flinched. She didn't dare interrupt Exodus, so she tapped the Captain's shoulder and pointed at her display. He nodded as the Genocide continued, "I told you to stay out of Xill space. You may have just killed us all."

"It's a frame-up," said Mims. His voice was matter of fact. "Three and a half hours ago someone slaughtered their way through a Federation Station and abducted a pixen named Myrsa Trin. She has a Lucendian implant. The High Commander was sure they were Peacekeeper units, but all our Peacekeepers are accounted for."

"And?" the Genocide prompted. "What does that have to do with the Xill?"

"A Lucendian implant is useless without a Lucendian ship," Mims explained, "and the only functional Lucendian ship is being held at Hub 14."

"Oh?" The Xill's anger lessened, now more of a scornful simmer than a raging fire. "Do you not still possess the derelict from former Xill Sector Ninety Two? The Last Hope of Those Who Were Betrayed?"

"The Last Hope's badly damaged," said Mims. "It'll be at least a year before she's void worthy again."

"So you think whoever stole your pixen is coming here," Exodus surmised. "That doesn't explain why this is any of your business."

"Like I said," said the Captain, "it's a frame-up. There's a ship out there, probably a Federation ship with a Pixen transponder. It's full of Peacekeeper units or something made to look like them, and it's carrying a Pixen with an implant. They're going to attack Hub 14 and steal the Lucendian ship, and they're going to make it look like we're the ones that did it."

"And so you came to stop it." The Genocide sounded mollified. A little. "Do you not think a warning would have sufficed?"

"If they were attacking your Hub, sure," said the human. "But they're after Hub 14. and Hub 14 is under Reba's control."

"Do you not think Reba is competent enough to defend her Hub?" The Representative asked.

"I think she's extremely competent," the human admitted. "The problem is that she's the one behind the frameup. She wants to convince the other Xill we betrayed you. She wants them to believe that meatbags pulled one over on The Consensus. She'll let the imposters into the Hub, she'll let them steal the ship, and she'll let them deal as much damage as they can. Then she'll tell every Xill that listens how stupid you are for trusting meatbags and declare that she's the only one worthy to lead."

"An interesting theory," said the Genocide. "Why should we believe you?"

"You're a Synthetic Intelligence," said the Captain. "You already know I'm not lying."

"That is true," Exodus agreed. "But that is not the question. How do we know you are correct? You and your escorts are the only ships I see that are not Xill."

"They're probably using Stealth," said Mims.

"Stealth Technology the Xill couldn't see through?" Yvian could hear the Genocide's raised eyebrow. "I find that unlikely." A pause. "Hmm. It seems all our people at this Gate are missing thirty seven point three minutes of time."

"Control chip?" Mims guessed.

"Memory is not recorded while the control chip is in use," said the Xill. "Hmm. It seems the Xill have agreed to my proposal."

"What's the proposal?" asked the Captain.

"It is simple." The Genocide sounded pleased with himself. "You will proceed to Hub 14 and search for this mystery ship. You will disable it, and our examination will learn the truth of the matter. If you fail to find it, you will be killed. If the Lucendian ship is taken we will assume your faction was complicit, and you will be killed along with the entirety of the human and pixen species. If you try to escape, you will be killed along with entirety of the human and pixen species."

"That sounds..." The Captain's voice was wry. "About like what I expect from the Consensus. We'll take it."

"I didn't say this was the decision of Consensus," Exodus told him. "I said it was the decision of the Xill. High End Intelligence and Low End alike. The only dissenting voices were Reba's."

"It's going to be hard to get to the Hub," Mims remarked, "if Reba's able to keep throwing Xill at us."

"She will not," said the Genocide. "Any use of a control chip from this point forward will be taken as an admission of guilt. The Xill will destroy her and all her copies. Likewise, if Hub 14 lowers its shields, is caught sending a transmission, or appears to aid the enemy in any way."

"Uh..." Yvian was hesitant to interrupt, but... "What happens if the ship runs away? Jumps out of the sector?"

"That would spoil the game," the Genocide tsked. "It would also make the truth too difficult to determine. We would be forced to destroy Reba and you and your species." His laugh chilled Yvian to the bone. "Good hunting, meatbags. Your lives depend on it."