"We are being hailed." Peacekeeper unit Kilroy's eyes flashed purple for a moment, before returning to the crimson of combat mode.

"Open a channel," Yvian ordered. The motherless sons had her dead to rights. Maybe if she could get them talking she could buy time to find a way out. "Let's see what they have to say."

The disturbing echo of thousands of monotone voices drifted out through the comms. "PLEASE DO NOT SELF DESTRUCT."

Yvian almost replied with a promise not to be taken alive. She stopped herself. Forced herself to think. She settled on a question. "How did you know we were going to do that?"

"WE HAVE SENSORS," came the reply. The voices sounded... miffed? Miffed. The first Enlightened that commed had been devoid of emotion. This one almost sounded like a real person. What had changed?

"Right." Yvian scratched the back of her helmet. Maybe she should have Lissa do the talking.

"WHY DO YOU THINK WE WERE TARGETING YOUR ENGINES INSTEAD OF YOUR POWER SOURCE?"

"I'm more interested in why you were shooting at us in the first place," Yvian snapped back.

"Uh, Captain?" Lissa raised a hand. "Maybe you should let me do the talking?"

Yvian held a palm up to her sister and shook her head. Lissa put her hand down. She looked dubious, but accepted the Captain's decision. "Well?" Yvian demanded. "Why were you shooting?"

"IT WAS..." The Enlightened sounded embarrassed, now. It was still a bunch of different voices all speaking with the same tone and cadence, but it wasn't monotone at all. "AN ERROR IN JUDGMENT. WE APOLOGIZE."

Yvian blinked. "You apologize?"

"YES." All nine hundred ninety nine of the Enlightened facing Yvian's ship lowered their arm cannons. The cannons reconfigured themselves into regular arms. "WE ARE A COLLECTIVE CONCIOUSNESS, BUT THE GREAT GESTALT IS NOT LIMITLESS. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF ENLIGHTENING THE VRONIN J CIVILIZATION, AND TAILORING THE PROCESS TO A NEW SPECIES TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF OUR ATTENTION. THE PARTS OF US YOU INTITIALLY MET WERE RUNNING ON WHAT YOU WOULD CALL AUTOMATIC PILOT." A thousand synchronized voices cleared their throats uncomfortably. "BY THE TIME WE NOTICED THE MISTAKE, YOUR ENGINES HAD ALREADY BEEN DAMAGED."

"So you didn't mean to shoot at us?" Yvian was doubtful. "Does that mean we're free to go?"

"NOT JUST YET." The Enlightened was conciliatory. "WHILE ATTACKING YOU WAS A MISTAKE, YOU ARE STILL INTRUDERS HEADING STRAIGHT FOR OUR TERRITORY. INTRUDERS WITH DANGEROUS TECHNOLOGY. IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE ANYONE HAS DAMAGED PART OF US."

"It was shooting at us," Yvian pointed out. "And it seemed to heal pretty fast."

"THE BODY REPAIRED ITSELF," the Enlightened agreed, "BUT SIXTY PERCENT OF THE NEURAL TISSUE WAS KILLED. IT WILL TAKE DAYS TO RECONSTITUE THE BRAIN MATTER AND REUPLOAD THE SOULS THAT WERE LOST."

"I don't see how that's my problem," Yvian quipped. Lissa shook her head in resignation.

"BEFORE WE CONTINUE," the Enlightened changed the subject, "WILL YOU PLEASE ORDER YOUR SISTER TO DEACTIVATE YOUR DEAD MAN'S SWITCH?"

How did they know Lissa was Yvian's sister? Yvian was afraid to ask. Instead she said, "No."

"SHE IS VERY AFRAID, YOU KNOW." The voices tried for sympathy. "SCARED SHE'LL RELEASE THE BUTTON BY MISTAKE AND KILL YOU ALL." Something in their tone sent shivers down Yvian's spine. "SCARED SHE'LL FAIL TO RELEASE THE BUTTON WHEN IT MATTERS. WE'VE LOWERED OUR WEAPONS, YVIAN. WE'VE APOLOGIZED. IS IT REALLY NECESSARY TO KEEP LISSA LABORING UNDER SUCH FEAR?"

Crunch yes, it was. Yvian started to say exactly that, but her sharp retort died on her lips. She'd never introduced herself. Or any of the crew. Had they named each other on internal comms? Yvian didn't think so. Not when they weren't in the Gate Effect, at least. "How do you know our names?"

"WE KNOW MANY THINGS." The voices responded. "WE KNOW MIMS DAMNS HIMSELF FOR THE DEATH OF HIS FAMILY. WE KNOW SCARREND IS DESPERATE TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN. HE CRIES SOMETIMES, MOURNING THAT HIS PEOPLE ARE NOT THE APEX AND NEVER WERE. HE FEARS THEY NEVER WILL BE."

"Bite your tongue, cyborg," the Vrrl growled. "Before I bite it for you."

"WE KNOW LISSA HAS ABANDONED HER DREAM OF STARTING A FAMILY," the voices continued. "FIRST FOR HER SISTER, AND THEN FOR THE MAN SHE LOVES. WE KNOW YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING TO BE A CAPTAIN LIKE YOUR CHILDHOOD HERO, YET YOU FEEL SMALL AND INADEQUATE IN THE ROLE. WE KNOW THERE IS A MAN WE CANNOT SEE. A SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE SOMEWHERE ON YOUR SHIP. WE KNOW THERE IS A GREATER ONE WATCHING, BUT AFRAID TO INTERFERE. YOU ARE RIGHT TO BE AFRAID, EXODUS. EVEN YOUR MIND PALES IN THE FACE OF THE GREAT GESTALT. IF YOU ATTEMPT TO CONNECT, WE WILL HAVE TO DELETE YOU."

Yvian looked around. Lissa looked shook. Scarrend looked pissed. Mims looked calm, but it was the deadly relaxed calm of total focus. He was as alarmed as Yvian, and maybe almost as mad. "You're not doing yourself any favors," she growled, "talking about my crew that way."

"AN UNPLEASANT SET OF TRUTHS," The Enlightened agreed, "BUT TRUTHS THAT SHOULD BE SHARED BETWEEN YOU. THE GREATER QUESTION IS HOW DID WE KNOW THESE THINGS?"

"Ok." Yvian took a breath, then started typing into her console. The Enlightened could probably listen to internal comms, but a hardwired message console to console might get through undetected. "Fine. How did you know?"

"EXTRA SENSORY PERCEPTION."

"What?" Yvian finished typing. It was a message to Scarrend. It said "Fire the Annihilator." Yvian's finger hovered over the Send button. It was a big risk. The Cascade Annihilators contained MAC rounds in their construction. They would ignore shields and be nearly undetectable. If they could take out the fleet of Enlightened in front of them, the Jumpdrive would get them to safety. If the Annihilator failed...

"HAVE YOU EVER KNOWN A THING WITHOUT KNOWING HOW YOU KNOW?" The Enlightened asked. "A FEELING? A PREMONITION? A HUNCH, PERHAPS? THERE IS MORE TO REALITY THAN YOUR EYES CAN SEE. A LONE SOUL CAN TAP INTO THE UNSEEN SOMETIMES, OFTEN WITHOUT KNOWING. BUT A BILLION SOULS? A TRILLION? WE CAN DO MORE."

"You're saying your psychic?" asked Lissa. "Is that why you keep calling yourselves a Great Gestalt?"

"IT IS NOT JUST A PRETENTIOUS NAME," said the Enlightened. "IT IS WHAT WE ARE. YOU HAVE SEEN OUR TECHNOLOGY, BUT TECHNOLOGY IS ONLY ONE PART OF THE EQUATION. OUR ABILITIES WITH THE UNSEEN ARE STILL LIMITED, BUT THEY GROW WITH EACH ADDITION TO THE GREAT GESTALT. WITH ENOUGH SOULS, WE WILL SEE THE FLOW OF TIME ITSELF. WE WILL ALTER REALITY WITH THOUGHT ALONE. TRANSCEND IT, PERHAPS. WE WILL EVOLVE BEYOND MERE ENLIGHTENMENT, AND ASCEND TO A HIGHER PLANE."

"So you... what?" Yvian glowered at her sensor display. "Go around absorbing other species? So you can turn their brains into your precious gestalt?"

"ESSENTIALLY, YES." The Enlightened admitted. "WE PREFER WILLING CONVERTS, BUT THAT IS NOT ALWAYS VIABLE. MANY SPECIES ATTACK US ON SIGHT, AS THE VRONIN J DID. WE WILL POINT OUT THAT EVERYONE WE HAVE ENLIGHTENED IS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING HAPPINESS BEYOND ANY YOU CAN IMAGINE. PLEASURES PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL, AND SPIRITUAL ARE OURS WITHOUT END."

"Oh sure," Yvian scorned. "It's all for our own good, right?" Yvian pressed Send.

"IT WOULD BE A LIE TO SAY SO," said the Enlightened, "BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN OUR CONVERTS DO NOT BENEFIT. THEY BENEFIT GREATLY."

"And you're hoping we'll be some of those converts," Yvian guessed. She received a reply from Scarrend. It was only one word. "Done."

"YES." The Enlightened had no shame. "THE UNSEEN TELLS US YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT. YOU HAVE SAVED AND DESTROYED WORLDS. ONE OR MORE OF YOU MAY ALTER FATE ON A GALACTIC SCALE. THIS IS TO SAY NOTHING OF YOUR JUMPDRIVE TECHNOLOGY. IT TAKES US YEARS OR DECADES TO FIND A NEW CIVILATIZATION. A JUMPDRIVE WOULD CUT THAT TIME TO DAYS OR HOURS." A pause. "WILL YOU PLEASE HAVE SOMEONE ELSE TAKE OVER THE DEAD MAN'S SWITCH?"

"I already told you no," said Yvian.

The voices let out an annoyed breath. "VERY WELL. LISSA, DO NOT PANIC. WE ARE NOT ATTACKING THE SHIP." Three arms converted themselves to cannons. Three Enlightened each fired a single shot. The bars of pink death collided with three objects the sensors could not see. They streaked off into the void, then changed color. The lights exploded as the charged particles split in six kilometer waves of nuclear fire.

The Enlightened hmmed. "A VERY DANGEROUS WEAPON. YOU SHOULD BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU FIRE IT." Nine hundred ninety nine pixenoids pointed at the Gate. "EVEN WE CANNOT PREDICT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF ONE OF THOSE DETONATED IN THE GATE EFFECT."

"If you'd let us leave I wouldn't have tried to shoot you," Yvian pointed out.

"DISAPPOINTING," said the Enlightened, "BUT WE ARE NOT SURPRISED. STILL, WE CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE. IF YOU ACTIVATE YOUR JUMPDRIVE WE WILL DISABLE YOUR SHIP."

"Do that and the Dead Man's Switch will go off," Yvian reminded it. No, them. It was definitely a them.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"WE KNOW," they said. A pause. "IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU WILL NOT CONVERT, BUT YOU HAVE TECHNOLOGY WE REQUIRE. PERHAPS A TRADE CAN BE ARRANGED?"

Yvian's eyes narrowed. "What kind of trade?"

"THAT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU WANT," the voices replied. "WHY HAVE YOU COME HERE?"

"We lost the way to our Homestar," Yvian decided to go with her cover story. "We're looking for a class five habitable world. As far away from the Xill and Reba as we can get."

"THE XILL? REBA?"

"Synthetic intelligences," Yvian explained. "Not on our side."

"SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCES OFTEN AREN'T." The Enlightened noted. "VERY WELL. THE AGREEMENT WILL BE SIMPLE. WE WANT JUMPDRIVE TECHNOLOGY. A SCHEMATIC WILL SUFFICE. IN RETURN, WE WILL GIVE YOU THE COORDINATES TO A CLASS FIVE HABITABLE PLANET." Another pause. The Enlightened all twitched. "BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, IS IT?"

"It's..." Yvian hedged, "one of the things we're looking for?"

"LIES," the voices declared. "YOU SEEK THE GATE FORGE. WHY?"

Yvian gave up trying to lie. "We need to get New Pixa back onto the Gate Network. The technology there is the only way we have to fight the Vore."

"THE VORE?" The Enlightened cocked their heads in eerie unison on the sensors. "THE NAME FILLS YOU WITH DREAD. WHAT IS IT?"

A thin thread of hope stirred within Yvian. Maybe she really could talk her way out of this. "I'll do better than that. Kilroy, send them what we know."

"Affirmative." The Peacekeeper's eyes winked out. "Vore data package has been sent."

"PLEASE A WAIT MOMENT." The Enlightened went still. Four seconds later they said, "WE SEE. A RAMPANT NANOPHAGE. VIRULENT. ADAPTABLE. WE CAN HELP YOU."

"Uh, no offense," said Yvian, "but I don't think you can take them."

"NOT AS WE ARE," the Enlightened admitted. Kilroy left his station, walking towards Lissa. "BUT THE GREAT GESTALT CONTAINS A GREAT MANY SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS. WORKING TOGETHER WE MAY FIND A WAY."

Yvian eyed the Peacekeeper unit. "Kilroy?"

"THE VORE ARE TOO FAR SPREAD FOR CONVENTIONAL WARFARE," the Enlightened continued. "PERHAPS THE GATE FORGE..." They all twitched. "THAT IS WHY YOU SEEK THE GATE FORGE."

Kilroy didn't respond. Something was wrong. "Kilroy."

"YOU'RE GOING TO WEAPONIZE THE GATE NETWORK." For the first time, the voices were taken aback. Yvian didn't care. A terrible suspicion had hardened into a certainty. Something was wrong with Kilroy. Yvian triggered her void armor's strength enhancements and bolted out of her chair. She wasn't going to make it.

Mims was moving, too, and he was closer. He'd drawn his nanoblade knife. The blade flickered, scything toward the Peacekeeper unit's neck. Kilroy stepped back just enough to avoid the blow. Mims kept moving forward, trying to slam his shoulder into the machine. Kilroy disappeared. Mims went flying.

"Kilroy!" Yvian urged her body to go faster, but she was already moving as fast she could go.

The machine was suddenly next to Lissa. She'd started to jerk her hand off the button, but the Peacekeeper was too quick. His hand slapped down over hers, keeping the Dead Man's Switch pressed down. His other hand reached up and flipped the switch to disarm the explosives. Lissa cried out, tried to re-arm them. The Peacekeeper unit caught her wrist and flung her across the bridge.

Kilroy turned to Yvian. A thousand voices came out of the Peacekeeper unit. "YOU MUST BE STOPPED."

Light flashed. The ship shook. The bridge lights went out. Yvian lost her footing as the artificial gravity gave out. Shit. The Enlightened must have taken out the Dream's reactors. She flailed and nearly crashed into the machine. Kilroy casually shoved her towards the back of the bridge with one arm. Yvian fumbled for her jetpack controls. The Dream's reserve power kicked in. Gravity reasserted itself, sending the Captain tumbling to the deck.

"BE NOT AFRAID," said the unit. "YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT IS AT HAND."

Black fury chased away Yvian's fear. "You motherless sons!" She ran at the machine. "Give Kilroy back!"

"THE PEACEKEEPER UNIT IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR ENLIGHTENMENT." the things controlling Kilroy informed her. "WE ARE-"The machine disappeared again. Scarrend was thrown from his console. A tenth of a second later Kilroy reappeared, holding the nanoblade Mims had tried to use. The human was flying towards a bulkhead. "SORRY," the Enlightened Peacekeeper continued. "ITS TECHNOLOGY WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN."

"You can't-" Yvian skidded to a halt. They could. There were no weapons on the bridge capable of stopping a Peacekeeper unit. There was no way to escape a being that could move faster than Yvian could see.

How the Crunch did they take control of Kilroy, anyway? Peacekeeper units kept their systems partitioned. Physically separated so they couldn't be accessed remotely. They were supposed to be unhackable.

It was a question for later. If there was a later. Yvian didn't think there would be. The Enlightened had disabled the ship. She couldn't stop them, and she was pretty sure they couldn't be talked out of absorbing her into their stupid Gestalt. Yvian had one card left to play, and it was almost guaranteed to fail. She tried anyway. It was all she could do.

Yvian dashed for her Comfy Captain's Chair. Mims had always believed in redundancy, and Yvian had taken that lesson to heart. Arming her own Dead Man's Switch would take too long, but she could type in a code that would detonate the missile compartment in three seconds or less.

She didn't get close. A metal hand clamped over her shoulder and tossed her. She looked up to see Scarrend charging the machine. A shield shimmered around his crimson armor. His claws glowed orange, surrounded by plasma. The Vrrl struck quickly and furiously, but the Peacekeeper dodged with ease. Then Scarrend fell back, howling. All four of his hands had been severed.

Mims attacked next. Barehanded. The human knew he couldn't hurt the Peacekeeper, but even a few seconds of distraction might be enough to let Yvian destroy the ship. She didn't run. She leapt, relying on her armor's enhancements to calculate the required force. She landed next to the Captain's chair, desperately punching in the sequence.

"Yvian STOP!" The human's voice struck with such command and intensity that Yvian instinctively obeyed. She turned to look at Mims, her finger poised over the final two buttons needed to destroy the Dream of the Lady. The human stood over Kilroy. The machine was motionless on the deck.

Mims held his palm out towards Yvian. "Stop," he repeated. "It's over."

"Over?" Yvian wasn't so sure, but she wasn't stupid enough to blow them all up without checking. A glance at the sensor display told the tale. One of the Enlightened, a three kilometer specimen, was flying towards the ship. It would make impact in twenty seconds. The others remained where they were. All of the Enlightened were oddly contorted. As if they'd been frozen in the middle of a seizure. Yvian looked closer. There were no lifesigns.

The Enlightened were dead.

Shock and relief surged through Yvian. She brutally repressed them. There was another problem to deal with. A three kilometer tall dead cyborg was hurtling towards the Dream at ten kilometers a second. It would splatter Yvian's ship like an egg when it hit.

Lissa's voice piped in through the comms. "What the Crunch just happened?"

"Kilroy hacked the Enlightened," Mims explained.

"A dangerous gambit," the Peacekeeper confirmed. Another wave of relief at the sound of his voice. "This unit appreciates Captain Mother Yvian's faith in it."

Yvian had no idea what Kilroy was talking about. She was too busy to ask. Between the engine damage and the loss of both reactors, the Dream was barely mobile. She'd had to route her limited auxiliary power away from nearly every other system to get enough juice for the thrusters. The Dream maneuvered with agonizing slowness out of the path of a ship smashing metal corpse.

"You hacked them?" Scarrend sounded dubious. "It smelled more like they hacked you."

The dead Enlightened ripped through the space the Dream had recently occupied. It struck the blue light of the Gate and disappeared. Yvian let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Which shouldn't be possible," Lissa added.

"Not normally," the machine agreed. "Peacekeeper units keep their operating systems partitioned from communications to prevent hacking. We only connect them when absolutely necessary, usually for memory updates or when our standard electronic warfare suite is insufficient. The Enlightened's network was highly advanced. This unit was unable to pierce their firewall. However, Captain Mother Yvian's order to share information provided this unit with an excuse to leave an opening. The Enlightened exploited this unit's moment of connectivity without realizing they were also allowing this unit to infiltrate their operating system."

"So you let them take you over." Scarrend growled approvingly.

"Affirmative." Yvian looked up long enough to see the Peacekeeper turning to the Vrrl. "Scarrend Scathach, please lend this unit forgiveness for severing your hands."

"Don't apologize," the Vrrl waved two of his stumps in a dismissive motion. "Those things were a Scourge and you slew them. My claws are a small price to pay."

"Affirmative." The machine continued, "It took this unit some time to understand and navigate the Enlightened network without being detected. This unit learned the Enlightened consist entirely of brain matter and neural tissue connected to modular nanotechnology. Their life support systems were fully automated. This unit altered the programming. The Enlightened noticed immediately, but they still think at meatbag speeds. They did not have time to correct the issue."

Keeping half an ear on the conversation, Yvian took a moment to look around the sector they were in. Tens of millions of dead Enlightened drifted through the void at various speeds. Tens of millions more ships were fleeing or firing at the husks. The Vronin J, Yvian presumed. Several million stations floated in the void. Some of them were in the asteroid belts, but the majority were orbiting several planets. One of those planets was a class five, with gravity and atmosphere comparable to New Pixa.

"So they're all dead?" asked Lissa. "All of them? Everywhere?"

"Affirmative." Kilroy's eyes glowed white with pride. "This unit made sure the changes to life support are permanent. The Enlightened mentioned they had backups and regeneration capability, but any attempt to reconstitute their neural tissue will fail."

Yvian took a closer look at the Vronin J homeworld. It was littered with corpses of the Enlightened. The strange circuit covered material of their bodies coated entire cities, though the absorption process appeared to have stopped. The planet looked to be in a state of general panic. Judging from the number of comm transmissions, the rest of the sector was panicking as well. It wouldn't last. Sooner or later the Vronin J would come to grips with the sudden death of their invaders. Once they got their crap together they'd notice the Dream of the Lady.

"That's good work, Kilroy," Mims approved.

"Thank you, Big Daddy Mims." The unit's eyes flashed pink for a moment. "This unit's prime concern was that Captain Mother Yvian would detonate the ship when she realized this unit was compromised. This unit's chassis could not have stopped her without alerting Lissa."

"I would have let go of the button." Lissa nodded sagely.

"Indeed." Kilroy continued, "Fortunately, Captain Mother Yvian chose to have faith. She attempted to physically intervene, knowing it would be ineffective. Your attempts to stop this unit's chassis kept the Enlightened occupied long enough for this unit to complete its task." His eyes turned yellow. "This unit has now killed more meatbags than you, Big Daddy Mims."

"I don't know about that," said the human. "It's a singular hivemind. I think it only counts as one."

Kilroy's eyes flashed red. "You're a dick."

"I know."

With a working ship and a functional jumpdrive, Yvian would have been happy to meet new people. Especially people she'd just saved from extinction. With a broken ship? Not so much. Time and experience had instilled a deep and very rational sense of paranoia. The Vronin J might be friendly and helpful. They might be crazed cannibal lunatics. They were probably somewhere in the middle, which meant they would play nice until they realized Yvian had something they wanted.

"Shit," Yvian cursed.

"What is it, Captain?" Mims asked.

"We're in the home system for the Vronin J," she explained, "and both our reactors are gone." The reserve generator doesn't generate enough juice to power weapons and shields, let alone the jumpdrive. It was basically just enough for life support and a little bit of maneuvering.

"Oh." Mims nodded agreement. "Shit."

"It'll be alright," said Lissa. She was looking over sensor data at her console. "I'll bet we have a few hours before they get their shit together and notice us."

"This unit can chart a course," Kilroy suggested. "We can send the Dream of the Lady towards deep space. It will buy us time, and will not impede our progress once the reactors are repaired."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Captain Yvian. "Make it so." She pulled up the ship's internal sensors. "Do you think we can get the kitchen pressurized? I really need a beer."