"Zhukov, this is Mims." The Captain stared at the holodisplay as he spoke into the comm. Millions of Klaath buzzed all over the sector. The Pixen forces were firing nonstop. So far, they'd been able to keep the invaders at bay, but Yvian didn't think that would last. Klaath clusters were still appearing at random in large numbers, numbers a meager fifty thousand defenders weren't making a dent in.

"Zhukov here." Admiral Ender Zhukov was the Peacekeeper unit in charge of protecting New Pixa. He was identical to Kilroy in appearance, save for a white band he kept in his fedora. "Has Kilroy spoken to you about the Stingers?"

"He has." Mims spared a glare for the other machine. The human had an odd way of communicating facial expressions perfectly despite wearing a visored helmet that concealed his face. "Don't activate them."

"Our forces are insufficient to protect the system without the Stingers," Zhukov informed him. "I calculate a 99.897 percent chance the Klaath will kill us all."

Mims took a breath through his nose. "How much better are our chances if we recall the rest of our ships?"

"Not much better. There will still be a 86.143 percent chance the Klaath will kill us all," said the Admiral. "Our forces are insufficient for an invasion of this size. That is why the Stingers were constructed in the first place."

"We can't use them," Mims told him.

"Why not?" asked Zhukov.

"Because there's no trust," said the human. "Do the best you can, but keep the Stingers out of it." He terminated the transmission.

"No trust," Kilroy mused. Red light flooded into his eyes. "This unit should have known. You meatbags will always fear the Peacekeeper units."

"The Peacekeepers are morons," the human declared. "And you're more scared than we are."

"This unit is not afraid."

"Of course you are." Mims delivered the words with cold, casual precision. "That's what this is all about."

"Our military capabilities were insufficient," said Kilroy. "This unit saw an opportunity to correct that deficiency."

"Building the fleet isn't the problem," said the human. "Hiding them is."

The red in Kilroy's eyes flickered out. "It was necessary. We need the increased capability. Reproduction has not been discussed. An autonomous military force might not have been approved."

"In other words," Mims pointed at the Peacekeeper. "You were afraid how we'd react."

The Peacekeeper's eyes flashed, alternating between purple and red. "Meatbags are not known for placing their trust in Synthetic Intelligences."

"Kilroy," Lissa stepped in. Her tone was dangerously mild. "That fleet," she gestured at the holodisplay. "All of our ships. Who's flying them?"

"Peacekeeper units." The frequency of red flashes in the machine's eyes decreased, leaving more of the purple.

"Peacekeepers," Lissa confirmed. "And who has control over our infrastructure? So much control that they can build an entire fleet without anyone the wiser?"

"Peacekeeper units." The red flashes disappeared entirely, leaving only the purple light that signaled concern.

"Peacekeepers," Lissa repeated. "Right now, if you wanted to, the Peacekeepers could kill every man, woman, and child in this sector. We gave you this power because we trusted you."

A cloud of Klaath clusters appeared a dozen kilometers from the shipyard that housed the Random Encounter. The clusters erupted, releasing tens of thousands of Klaath Raiders and Fighters. The fleet guarding the shipyard and it's surrounding stations reacted with inpixen speed and precision, blasting the motherless sons out of the sky faster than Yvian could track. It wasn't fast enough.

"Uh, guys?" Yvian tried to get their attention.

Lissa ignored her and continued, "So, knowing that, why would we worry about another fleet of Peacekeepers? If you'd talked to us about it, we would have said yes."

Klaath beam weapons rained white fire down on the shipyard. They rained fire everywhere else, too, but Yvian was more concerned with the station she was docked in. Void stations were built with more powerful shields than ships, but a roughly a thousand beams were hitting each second. The shipyard's shields rapidly started to fall.

"We're being shot," Yvian interrupted again.

"Zhukov's on it," Mims reassured her. The pixen fleet continued to blast their way through the swarm.

"Then why have the Stingers not been activated?" Kilroy demanded.

"Because you told them to hide," said Mims.

"That's right," said Lissa. "You built an army of new units, and the first thing you told them was they can't let the meatbags find them."

The pixen defense fleet finished smiting the last of the nearby Klaath. The shipyard's shields were down to eighty eight percent, and over a thousand fighter class ships had been disabled.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Mims, this is Zhukov," the Admiral called.

"Go ahead."

"We need to protect our smaller ships. I'm moving them behind the shields of some of our larger stations, but that means the shields will have to be down until our fighters are in position."

Mims gave a sharp nod. "Do it."

"I'm already doing it." The Peacekeeper Admiral spoke with a note of annoyance. Yvian watched as the fighter class ships moved towards the larger food production stations near her shipyard. The disabled vessels were being towed by the others. "I'm just keeping you informed."

"Understood," said Mims.

"The Stinger units are Peacekeeper units," Kilroy resumed the conversation. "They are the same as this unit."

"No they're not," said Mims. "They have the same programming as you, but they don't have any of your experience."

Kilroy's eyes flashed red. "Are you saying this unit is non-standard?"

The Peacekeeper units were big on being standard. As long as they were standard, they all thought the same way. It meant they shared perfect trust, and perfect love. To be non-standard was to lose that trust, and be loved less.

"I'm saying you're all non-standard," said the human. "All of you. Every unit that came to New Pixa was a veteran of the Singularity Wars. You fought humans for decades, and after you lost you ended up with the Xill. And the Xill put you in storage for six fucking centuries."

Yvian was only half paying attention to the conversation. On the holodisplay, thousands of Klaath Klusters were circling each other, forming portals. Destroyers, Corvettes, and Frigates poured into the sector. The Pixen Stellar Defense forces were still employing their beam weapons, trying to kill the Klusters making the portals, but most of them were out of range.

"The Stingers weren't there for that," Mims continued. "They didn't feel the despair, or frustration. They didn't grasp desperately at hope when Exodus the Genocide suggested you join us. They certainly didn't experience working with us, or being treated like people."

"This unit informed the Stinger Units of those events," Kilroy pointed out.

"But they didn't experience it themselves," Lissa countered. "They don't know us. All they know is you told them to hide."

"On top of that," Mims jumped back in. "Peacekeeper units are programed to look down on organics. To see us as inferior."

Yvian perked up and started paying attention again. She'd known the Peacekeepers looked down on "meatbags," but she'd always thought of it as an annoying quirk. A personality trait. She'd never seriously considered the implications before now.

"We would do that anyway," Kilroy quipped. "We are observably superior."

"Not the debate we're having right now." Lissa waved away the argument. "The point is, they're programmed to neither like nor trust us."

"Irrelevant," said the Peacekeeper. "They trust this unit."

"Which would help, if they didn't also know that you don't trust us." Mims folded his arms. "If you did, you wouldn't have told them to hide in the first place."

"This unit revealed the Stinger units when necessary." Kilroy huffed.

"Oh, sure," The Captain said. "That was the plan all along. Have the Stingers reveal themselves during an emergency. That way, instead of being upset with you, you'd be big damn heroes."

"Except that's not how people work." Lissa folded her arms to mirror the human. "No one likes it when you go behind their backs."

Yvian dialed in on Lissa and the Captain. They were tense. Hunched forward a little, like they were folding in on themselves. They weren't just angry, she realized. They were scared. Why? What did they know that Yvian didn't?

"This unit... apologizes," Kilroy's eyes flashed blue. For sadness. "This unit should have kept you informed." The blue light vanished. "However, anger at this unit should not prevent the activation of the Stinger units. The Stinger units have done nothing wrong."

"We're not excluding the Stingers because we're mad at you, Kilroy." Mims unfolded his arms and let out a breath. "We're excluding them because-"

"Oh, Crunch!" Yvian finally got it. She blurted out the words in shock. "They're going to kill us all!"

Everyone turned to look at her. Yvian flushed, suddenly glad they were at battle stations and she was wearing her helmet. She pressed on anyway. "The Stingers, they haven't learned to like people." She pointed at Kilroy. "And you told them they had to stay secret, so they think we don't like them, either." She pointed at the holodisplay. "So if we tell them to fight now, it won't be like the other Peacekeepers that are already choosing to do it. They'll feel like we're making them, or using them, or something."

"Pretty much," the Captain agreed. "It wouldn't be much of a leap to assume the other Peacekeepers had been tricked, or were operating under duress. Peacekeepers tend towards straightforward solutions, usually violent ones. There's a good chance the Stingers will try to free the old guard by killing every meatbag in the sector."

"Crunch." Yvian's mind whirled. The Stinger units outnumbered the Pixen Stellar Defense Force by a lot. "Can we stop them?"

"Negative." Kilroy's eyes were purple again.

"They're fast," the Captain elaborated, "they've got beam weapons, and they outnumber us. The Stingers could blitz everything with a beam weapon and pick off everyone else at leisure. Not much you can do against someone that can shoot you from ninety thousand kilometers away."

"The Stinger units are Peacekeeper units," Kilroy stated. "They would not destroy other Peacekeeper units."

"They wouldn't have to," said Lissa. "The three of us," she gestured around, "are the only organics up here. They could bypass us entirely, and sterilize New Pixa."

"Or they could disable the other ships without destroying them," Mims added. "Hell, they could get the three of us without killing you, too. They've got the accuracy."

"Do we really think they'd do that?" Yvian asked.

"This unit will convince them not to," Kilroy assured her.

"You do that," said Mims. "While you're at it, tell them they're officially citizens of Pixa, and offer them jobs in the Pixen Stellar Defense Force. And make sure they know we're asking them for help. They don't have to fight if they don't want to."

"If the Stinger units do not fight, this Sector and everyone in it will be destroyed," Kilroy pointed out.

"It doesn't matter," Yvian cut in. "Everyone has a choice. That's how we do things in the Pixen Technocracy."

"Plus it's a bad idea to make demands of people that can kill you," Mims added.

Kilroy was silent for nearly a minute. Yvian saw a mass of blue dots appeared on the holodisplay. Ships, next to the set of void stations in the outer asteroid field. Three hundred ten thousand Stinger class ships dropped their stealth and unleashed their beam weapons, obliterating a massive swath of the Klaath that had been approaching.

"This unit has relayed our conversation to the Stinger units and asked them for help," reported Kilroy. "The Stinger units have agreed. The Stinger units have also accepted positions in the Pixen Stellar Defense Force. They are reporting to Admiral Ender Zhukov to receive orders, now"

As Yvian watched, the mass of Stinger vessels broke up into six smaller fleets. One fleet joined the defense forces protecting the nearby stations. Two more set a course for each Jumpgate. A fourth moved towards the set of stations in the other asteroid field. The last two were en route to Yvian's position.

Lissa let out a sigh of relief. Mims said nothing, but he looked a little less tense. Yvian sat back in her chair, watching the Stinger fleets carve their way through the Klaath. "That worked out pretty good," she remarked. "And here I was all worried over nothing."

"Incorrect," Kilroy stated. The machine's eyes flashed through a cacophony of colors too fast for Yvian to sort out. They settled on a bluish purple. "The Stinger units really were planning to kill you all."