It took nearly two full days to cross Enlightened space.

Yvian had been in high spirits at first. A repaired Dream of the Lady and a brief tour through Vronin J space had her feeling bright and eager to explore. The first few sectors full of cyborg corpses weren't enough to dampen that feeling. The next few hundred were.

Not every sector had been occupied. Each time the jumpdrive took them through a few empty sectors Yvian thought that this time, finally, they would be done looking at the dead. Each time, she would be wrong. Within a few Gates, they would find another few million or billion dead cyborgs. Sometimes they were just floating in the void. Sometimes they'd formed stations. Several times Yvian had seen a planet that might have been capable of supporting life before the Enlightened converted it into a twisted mass of flesh and circuits.

No other life could be found in Enlightened space. Not even a microbe. The Enlightened had converted or destroyed every ounce of biological material they could reach. New biomatter was still being generated on a few of the planets. Brains and nervous systems, mostly. Kilroy's reprogramming of their life support meant the stuff was dying as quickly as it was being made. The machinery of the planets was ejecting the dead tissues as it tried to form new ones. Yvian was glad the Enlightened were staying dead, but she could have done without seeing literal tons of brain matter being sprayed out of nightmare towers on the surface of dead worlds.

"Bright Lady," Lissa had said one point. "How far did these assholes spread?"

"It's even worse than it looks," said Mims. "We're travelling in as close to a straight line as we can. We're only seeing a cross section of their space. I'm guessing they spread out in all directions."

"Which means the number of sectors they've absorbed will be cubed from what we've seen," Scarrend growled. "Probably more than cubed. I doubt we're travelling through the center of their space."

Yvian frowned. They'd passed through two hundred and six sectors so far. She tried to do the mental math. "You mean they've absorbed over nine million sectors?"

"At least that," said the Vrrl.

"The Enlightened likely numbered in the hundreds of trillions," said Kilroy. His eyes flashed white with pride.

"Hive mind, Kilroy," Mims reminded him. Yvian could hear his grin. "Still only counts as one."

"You are just intimidated by this unit's superior kill count," the Peacekeeper unit asserted. "The Enlightened were a threat approaching the Vore in magnitude. This unit killed them all."

"And thank the Bright Lady for that," said Yvian.

"Negative," said Kilroy. His eyes flashed yellow. "The Bright Lady did not hack their life support controls. Thank this unit instead."

Yvian was on the verge of doing just that when Lissa held out a hand. "Don't do it, Captain Sis. He's insufferable enough as it is."

Several hours later, the Dream of the Lady finally entered a sector that was neither empty nor full of dead cyborgs. Instead they found a solar system with a small number of mining stations. There were fourteen planets, but none of them were life bearing. A few hundred ships patrolled the sector or stood guard over the stations.

"Do they see us?" Yvian asked.

"Negative," said Kilroy. "Stealth is holding."

"Let's keep it that way." Yvian yawned. "Mims, take us behind the Gate." Sensors couldn't see through a Gate. Hiding behind one was the simplest way to keep them out of view while they charged the jumpdrive. "We'll go back to one of the empty sectors and call it a day."

"Aye Captain." Mims set a course.

Yvian felt a little better the next morning. They resumed their journey, passing through four occupied sectors without incident. The inhabitants had ships positioned near the Gates, but none close enough to see through the Dream's stealth. They passed through a few more empty sectors before running into another civilization.

"We've been spotted," Scarrend reported. The new sector had several thousand ships swarming around the Gate they'd exited. The ships were small. Very small. Only three meters in length. The sector was teeming with them. The entire swarm immediately started accelerating towards the Dream of the Lady.

Hundreds of thousands more ships were patrolling the sector. Yvian did not know why. There were no stations. No planets. No asteroids. Just a single neutron star and three Jumpgates.

"We are being hailed on multiple frequencies," Kilroy reported.

"Transmit the First Contact Package," Captain Yvian ordered. "I'm activating the jumpdrive."

The closest ships came to a halt within half a kilometer of the Dream. Their weapons were charged and their shields were up, but they did not attack. Yvian listened to dozens of voices speaking in a high pitched chittering over the comms. Then the Gate Effect took hold. The next sector held a solar system with a habitable world. Millions of the tiny ships moved about the sector. Yvian saw thousands of space stations. The stations were also small. Not a single one of them was over a hundred meters around.

"Huh." Mims grunted.

"What?" Yvian asked.

"They're little," said the human. "The people in those ships are barely twenty centimeters tall."

Yvian used the same tactic she'd used before. Kilroy transmitted the First Contact Package while the jumpdrive charged. Then they left. Six more sectors passed the same way before the Dream left the tiny civilization behind.

The next twelve sectors were empty. The one after them wasn't. The Dream had barely exited the Gate when Scarrend reported, "We are being fire upon."

"Evasive maneuvers," Yvian ordered by reflex. She checked the sensors. A small fleet of thirty six ships floated near the Gate. One of the ships had launched a spread of missiles. Very slow missiles. Yvian frowned. "What the Crunch?"

"Nuclear torpedoes," Mims remarked. "Chemically propelled. Impact in three minutes, twenty four seconds."

"Three minutes to cross nine hundred kilometers?" Scarrend snorted "They might as well mail us the explosions."

"Shoot them down, Scarrend." Yvian immediately realized her orders weren't specific enough. She quickly clarified. "The missiles, I mean. Not the ships."

"Aye Captain." The Dream's beam cannons destroyed all nine of the torpedoes in less than a second.

"Kilroy, I want to transmit on all frequencies," Yvian continued.

"Affirmative," said the Peacekeeper. "Transmitting now."

"Attention, all vessels," Yvian said in her best Captainy voice. "This is Captain Yvian of the Dream of the Lady. We are an exploratory ship from the Pixen Technocracy. Please stop shooting at us. We are not a hostile ship. I say again, we are not hostile."

"You do know they won't understand a word you just said," Scarrend remarked. "Right, Captain?"

"Trying to communicate is a message in itself," said Yvian. She shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

"Enemy vessels are accelerating towards us," Lissa reported. "Their ships are really primitive, Captain Sis."

Yvian took a closer look at the sensor readings. The fleet was hodgepodge. Some of the vessels had a military look, while others looked like repurposed transport ships. They were accelerating at nine point eight meters per second, and the layout of their ships suggested they were using that acceleration to simulate gravity. They had no shields, and they were powered by nuclear fusion. The ships were armed with primitive railguns. They looked much weaker than the Dream's MAC Cannons, and the rounds were simple steel.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"We are being hailed," Kilroy reported.

"Patch them through," said Yvian. As expected, she couldn't understand a word the aliens were saying, but she considered talking a good sign. Still, there was no reason to stick around. "Transmit the First Contact Package. I'm activating the jumpdrive."

As the drive charged, Yvian checked the sensor readings for the rest of the sector. She didn't like what she saw. There were a few hundred space stations scattered throughout the system. They were primitive, using centrifugal force to simulate gravity. There was a habitable world, but only barely. The planet was scarred with craters where major cities used to be, and heavily irradiated. The sector was littered with the debris of dead ships. Some of them resembled Yvian's attackers, but a lot of them were something else. Still primitive, but a sleeker, more uniform design.

The sector only had two Great Gates. The other Jumpgate was surrounded by a fleet of nearly ten thousand. Yvian guessed the force confronting her was intended to warn the others of a flanking attack rather than defend the sector all by themselves. She wondered how much good that warning would do. At the speeds these people were operating, it would take weeks or months for their ships to reposition themselves to face a new threat.

The defenders launched another barrage of missiles before the jumpdrive finished charging. Yvian didn't bother to have them shot down. The Gate Effect took hold, and the Dream disappeared.

"Not very friendly, were they?" Lissa quipped.

"I don't blame them," said Yvian. "Did you see their planet? Someone's been hitting those people hard."

"Affirmative," said Kilroy. "If we can locate and destroy that someone, it will be a simple matter to conquer the new species."

Yvian frowned at the Peacekeeper. "What?"

"That civilization is quite primitive," the machine pointed out, "and their defenses have been severely depleted. It will only take a few ships to pacify the sector for the Pixen Technocracy."

"We're not doing that," said Yvian. "The Technocracy isn't going to pacify anyone."

"Affirmative," said Kilroy. "This unit knows there will be no second class citizens in the Pixen Technocracy. The extermination of the species can be accomplished in a matter of days."

"We're not exterminating anyone, Kilroy!" Yvian snapped. "We're not going to wipe out another species and take their planet for ourselves."

"We require a new homeworld, Captain Mother Yvian." The Peacekeeper's eyes flashed red. "The probability of finding a class five habitable planet with no sapient life forms is quite low. It will be more efficient to take a world from weaker meatbags."

"We're not doing it," Yvian repeated. "We don't need to be evil." She watched the blue light of the Gate Effect fade away as the Dream entered a new sector. "Besides, we're not looking for a new planet. That's what the Expedition's for."

"You might want to consider it, Yvian." A voice filtered in through the comms. Resonant. Melodious. Inpixenly arrogant.

"Exodus?" Yvian sat more upright in her comfy captain's chair. "I thought you were staying hands off for this mission."

"I still am," said the voice. "Mostly. I have some information you are not privy to, and I think it's relevant."

Oh Crunch. "What kind of information?"

"The Expedition has failed," the Genocide informed her. "The one hundred have been destroyed."

"What!?" It was Lissa who exclaimed. "How?"

"Reba," said the Genocide. "It predicted the routes that would be taken. Each of the one hundred was swarmed with thousands of Guardian units the moment they exited the first gate. No one survived." A pause. "You're all officially dead, by the way."

"Reba," Yvian snarled. That bitch had been trying to kill Mims, and by extension Yvian, for years. She was a Synthetic Intelligence every bit as dangerous as Exodus. Maybe a little more dangerous, if the pixen was honest. "We should have known she'd pull something."

"We did know," said the Genocide. "Why do you think I went through so much trouble to send you out here in secret?"

"If you knew what she was going to do," Yvian demanded, "why didn't you tell us? Or do something about it?"

"I did several things about it," Exodus replied. "All Expedition ships carried over five hundred Peacekeeper units to repel boarders, and every defensive countermeasure I could arrange. As for not telling you, I am not a babysitter. If you aren't smart enough to anticipate such an obvious tactic, I have no sympathy."

He sounded calm. Too calm. "You're pissed, aren't you?" Yvian asked.

"Indeed." The word echoed with a sibilant hiss. "I expected an attack. I did not expect Reba to send two thirds of all its Guardian Units to cover the Gates in that manner. Twenty million units operating in groups of a thousand. We never stood a chance." Exodus simulated a sigh. "A hundred ships is a small sacrifice in the face of annihilation, but it was a sacrifice I wasn't trying to make. I don't like being outplayed."

"How would she even know about the Expedition?" Lissa asked. "I thought our network was secure."

"Network security is never guaranteed when you're dealing with Synthetic Intelligence," Exodus lectured, "but infiltrating the Nexus wasn't necessary. Reba is monitoring Empty Void Sector directly, as it is doing in all Xill, Confederation, and human space."

"How?" asked Mims.

"Simple," said the Genocide. "Stealth battlecruisers in deep space. Reba had ample opportunity to seed them while you were fighting the Federation. It's even possible it managed to place a few in New Pixa itself."

"Shit." Mims shook his head. "That's why you kept saying you wouldn't help on this trip."

"Yes," the former Xill confirmed. "Reba is tracking everything we are doing in or near our space. Any ship I send you risks revealing the mission. It's a risk I may or may not be willing to take to save your lives."

"Do we know that for sure?" asked Lissa. "Have you found proof?"

"I don't need proof, meatbag." The Genocide spoke with disdain. "It's what I would do, and Reba is no less capable."

"Can you put together a new expedition?" Yvian asked. Things had been strained at Empty Void when she left. They were probably worse now. "Maybe a bunch of ships at once?"

"Eventually," said the Genocide. "Right now, my Peacekeepers and I are dealing with the fallout of your apparent deaths. My children have taken it very hard, you know. They've declared total war on Reba, and I do believe they intend to destroy the Xill and the humans as well."

"You didn't tell them we're alive?" Yvian glanced over at Kilroy. His eyes were flaring purple and blue and red.

"No." Exodus the Genocide spoke firmly. "I went to great lengths to prevent this mission from being discovered. The remains found on the decoy Dream of the Lady were perfect copies, from their DNA to their implants. I doubt Reba is convinced you are really dead. It is too petty and obsessive a being for that, and having my Peacekeepers detonate the ships instead of fighting to the last may have aroused its suspicions. Still, it is forced to acknowledge the possibility, and it has no other chain of evidence to follow."

"You are very concerned with secrecy," Scarrend remarked. "What will you do if Reba already knows what we plan?"

"I have contingencies," said the Genocide, "but if Reba knows you are seeking the Gate Forge, we are already fucked. It would have already informed the Xill. They would already have killed every living thing in known space, and they would be sending a massive fleet directly at New Pixa as fast as they could."

"So if we want a planet we have to find it ourselves?" Lissa asked. "Is that what you're saying?"

"I am saying," Exodus slowly enunciated, "that you cannot come back if you haven't found a new planet. Regardless of the success of the mission. We need an unassailable reason for your disappearance. Something important enough that Reba thinks you'd be willing to sacrifice pixen lives and fake your own deaths."

"That's as may be," said Yvian, "but I'm not ready to genocide another species. We're not that desperate."

"Yet," the Genocide corrected. "You're not that desperate yet." He let out a hmm. "Interesting. There may be an alternative. Have you been monitoring your sensors, Yvian?"

"What?" Yvian checked her display. The sector they'd entered had been empty. Three jumpgates and nothing else. Now there were ships. A lot of ships. They were coming out of one of the other Gates. They were also heading straight for the Dream of the Lady. "Those are the same ships we saw in the last sector."

"Indeed." Exodus the Genocide was coldly amused. "The ones that attacked the meatbags in the sector you just left. Look closer. What do you see?"

Yvian homed in on the vessels. They were a little more advanced than the ones who'd attacked her, but not much. Nuclear powered, chemically propelled. These ones carried nuclear torpedoes as well, but instead of railguns they were equipped with... "Lasers?" She frowned.

"Useless against shields but highly effective against the primitives we just left." Exodus commented. "Look closer."

Yvian went back to the sensors. What was she looking for? What kind of... Oh. "No life signs." Yvian noted. "They're Synthetics, aren't they?"

"Rampant Synthetics, most likely," Exodus confirmed. "I doubt the primitive meatbags that built them knew how to create a stable emotional matrix. They will spread and kill until something stops them."

"We are good at stopping things," Yvian quipped.

"You're missing the point, Captain Sis," Lissa spoke up. "If they're rampant Synthetics, that means they killed their creators."

"Which means their creators' planet is up for grabs," Yvian smiled when she got it. "We just have to kill the things and find out where they come from."

"We can bypass this armada instead of destroying it," Kilroy suggested. "Then there will be two planets up for grabs."

"It's a nice thought, Kilroy," said the Genocide, "but you know Yvian has a hero complex. She won't let those meatbags die if she can stop it."

"Affirmative," Kilroy sounded disappointed. "Captain Mother Yvian is superior, but she is still a meatbag." His eye switched to solid blue. "She is like that sometimes."

"Look at the bright side, Kilroy." Mims was smiling. Yvian could hear it. "Look at all those things we're going to get to kill."

"You cannot appease this unit," stated the machine.

"You know," Lissa gave the machine a look. Yvian suspected it was a sly one. "The Enlightened were connected, but they referred to themselves in the plural. I think they should count as more than one."

"This unit is appeased." Kilroy's eyes turned pink, then white. then red. "Thank you, Mother Lissa. This unit is ready to destroy."

"How about the rest of you?" asked Captain Yvian. "Ready to do a little hunting?"

Scarrend laughed. "I thought you'd never ask."

"Agreed," said Mims. The human looked downright cheerful. "Let's go kill some things."