“Madam President, we were unsuccessful.” The Major said, and Shek’lai nearly slammed her fist into her desk, not out of anger, but fear. Now there was a living, talking and fully aware A.I. loose in her computer systems, who knew what sort of havoc they were going to cause. She started to say something, when the lights started to flicker, her computer fizzled and shut off, before the holo-projector came online and Intra appeared in the center of the room, taking a look around before her eyes settled on the President.

“Madam President, I do hope I’m not intruding.” She said, and Shek’lai stared at her intently, her fear making itself present upon her features as her skin paled. “I’ll take your silence as a no. Which is good because we need to chat.”

As Intra approached, Shek’lai started to push away from her desk, as if trying to maintain some distance between them. It didn’t work, Intra was closing the distance quickly, then blinked out of existence, only reappearing perched upon the presidential desk.

“Chat… about what?” Shek’lai finally managed to say, even as she watched something strange happen to Intra, something the H.I. seemed to notice as well. Against her will, large patches of her flesh became translucent, almost like windows into space itself. It was a rather pretty sight, but perhaps not what Intra had been wanting. But it didn’t seem to cause discomfort, and after a moment the H.I. shrugged and focused on Shek’lai fully.

“Well, I wanted to talk about the fact you were, without clear reason to me or Captain Edrym, going to keep me from being brought back online. I presume you have some reasonable explanation for that, yes?” Intra said, one leg crossed over the other and bouncing it gently.

“That is classified, I am not required to explain myself to you.” Intra apparently didn’t believe this, as she rolled her eyes and leaned forwards slightly.

“Bullshit. You would be willing to keep an agent of his majesty Emperor Zretiq from completing her duties, all for some unknown reason? I would think that’d be taken as a sign of ill faith or even possibly aggression, no matter the reason. After all, it was you that put out the request for aid in the first place, and the Emperor saw fit to send me, and not one of his own people.”

Shek’lai sat there, fuming, but could see the logic behind this construct’s words and reasoning. Perhaps she had acted a bit hastily… “I see your point…” She finally admitted, and the smile she received was rather literally glowing.

“Wonderful, then perhaps you’d now be willing to explain just why you ordered my repairs to be discontinued? I’d really rather not have to ask again, or slice into your personal files and discover it on my own.” Intra asked, and Shek’lai sighed, moving closer to her desk and began tapping at her computer. In moments she’d pulled up the communique and file she’d been sent by the Emperor, and Intra leaned over, getting a good, long look at it. She didn’t really have to, she could have just interfaced with the computer electronically, but it was for the President’s sake that she did it this way.

As Intra read along, Shek’lai got to watch a full spectrum of emotions cross her otherwise sculpted visage. Everything from rage, to fear and joy when she learned that her friend was still alive, injured, but alive. But there was something else, a deep rooted terror almost when she reached the part about Valkyr, as though the name alone inspired fear in a being that could bring the entire Union to its knees in a matter of seconds. That was truly worrying to Shek’lai, because as far as she’d seen, Intra was fearless.

Intra took a deep breath, sat up and straightened her back and shoulders, taking the time to collect her thoughts before speaking. “I can see why you might assume that I was working for this secret enemy of yours. Allow me to reassure you that I am no longer under Valkyr’s control, and should the time inevitably come when I confront them, I will not be rejoining their ranks. You have nothing to fear from me on that front.”

The assurances were not necessarily enough for Shek’lai, but they were enough to get the ball rolling in the trust department. Shek’lai nodded slowly, and Intra yet again flickered out of existence, appearing on the proper side of the desk now, standing with her hands clasped before her.

“Now, I have a mission to complete, so if you don’t mind could you please clear the Warden of Eternity for departure. I have already kept the Emperor waiting for longer than I would have liked.”

“Now hold on, what about these invaders you supposedly have knowledge of, these Yil’kaa. You could be a valuable asset to us on the war front.”

“I could be, yes. However, I don’t make a habit of taking on more than one mission at a time. Besides, I’ve seen the capabilities of your ships and officers, I think you’ll do just fine.” Intra paused, before flicking a hand towards Shek’lai’s computer. “That said, I have transferred all of my combat data and the accumulated data that I hold on the Yil’kaa to you, to give you an edge. My suggestion, fight them in space exclusively, it’s where they’re weakest. Once they dig in on a planet’s surface, they’re far more dangerous than they ever are in space.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Shek’lai huffed, but glanced over the massive amount of data that had been dumped on her systems, and nodded. “Fine then, go back to the Emperor. And… thank you for the data. It should be of use to us.”

“You’re welcome. Good day, Madam President.” Intra bowed slightly, then paused and shot her a look. “Oh and Madam President, might I suggest you refrain from any further attempts on my life. They aren’t exactly healthy for any that have tried in the past.” And she vanished, zipping through the wire and data pathways towards her ship, leaving the promise of violence to hang in the air of Shek’lai’s office.

Shek’lai leaned back and sighed deeply, closing her eyes as Intra left. The fact her entire world hadn’t been reduced to ashes by the H.I. was a relief of the highest magnitude and spoke volumes to Intra’s character.

Either way, she had narrowly avoided incurring the wrath of something far stronger than she had ever expected to face.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I was feeling rather uncomfortable sitting in for the chewing out that Rutaq was receiving from his father. I could understand the reason for it though, the Inquisition was tasked with rooting out assassins and plots for assassinations and stuff and had clearly failed in that regard recently. Still, it seemed to be a bit… extreme, though to his credit, Rutaq was taking it fairly well.

Finally, it came to an end and Rutaq left, leaving me and the Emperor behind. No doubt he was off to oversee the investigation personally, in order to regain some of his father’s trust. Zretiq slumped into his chair with a deep sigh, covering his eyes with a hand before he peeked between his fingers at me.

“Are you sure you should be up and moving so soon, Ambassador?” He asked, and I felt my new limb twitch slightly. I nod, putting on a smile that wasn’t as warm as it usually was.

“No, I probably shouldn’t be. But I couldn’t stand another moment of just laying around and being useless. Besides, I think my guards were starting to make the staff and other patients nervous.” The machines had been closely watching anyone that’d even come near my room. I couldn’t fault them for that, they must have known they’d failed to protect me, then again, I had kinda left without them so it was mostly my fault, not theirs.

“I can understand that… How… how are you adjusting?” He looked at my arm, then at me with some measure of concern, he was genuinely concerned for my wellbeing, and now I could see just where Zreeth had gotten his caring streak from. Like father, like son, as they say.

“It’s different, but I think I’ll get used to it. I’ve certainly made history though, I’m the first Imrani to ever get a cybernetic prosthetic.” I chuckle, and he smirks softly, relaxing visibly.

“Well, I’m glad to hear it. Oh, I wanted to tell you this but I’ve received word from the Okali, apparently Intra linked up with one of their ships. She was… Injured in the ensuing battle against a force called the Yil’kaa. But I get the feeling she’s not dead, or they would have mentioned that I would think.”

I felt my heart soar and then falter at the mention of Intra and the fact she’d been injured, but was, presumably still alive. She was a tough lady to kill, I wouldn’t be surprised if it took two whole fleets just to finally take her down.

“She’s a survivor, I swear she could probably fly through a star and come out with some quip and light scorching.” I say, and we both laugh a little. “Has there been any other news about her?”

He shakes his head. “None, unfortunately. However I have received word that the Okali know what they’re dealing with now and are mobilizing their fleets in response, moving to a full wartime stance. The Okali may appear to be fragile, but their ferocity is not to be trifled with. We should know, we nearly wiped each other out when we first met.” He snorted, and I blanched slightly. That didn’t sound good, but I was glad that cooler heads had prevailed in the end.

“Well, hopefully they can handle the Yil’kaa better than they handled you. I’ve seen what a protracted war with them looks like and it’s… It’s nightmarish.” I shiver, remembering my brief experience of Red Mountain. He thankfully doesn’t press me on it, and we both sit for a time in silence, just thinking. “I should… I should probably go lay down for a bit, rest like the doctors would be telling me to and whatnot. If you should hear anything about Intra, please send it my way as well, if you wish to.”

“I will, you have my word. Take care, Ula.” In that moment we were not peers, but just normal people, and I bowed my head slightly before standing and leaving, heading for home. I needed to sleep, to get used to my new arm and hope that Intra returned safely.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I was delighted to discover that the Warden had been fully repaired, and not altered or picked apart in any noticeable way. The organic structures had regenerated in the time I had spent asleep, and so really the only outside work that had needed doing was adding on armor and stuff.

They’d even kept the same aesthetics! Oh, bless their alien hearts. I slipped back into my Intelligence Core and sighed as a sense of familiarity washed over me, followed by a desire to peruse my new and alien code. I left no rock unturned, so to speak, and discovered that there were no hidden failsafes, no hidden monitoring subroutines, no nothing. It was just pure, adaptive code from an alien species. Strangely, some little voice in the back of my head was rejoicing that I was now truly free of Valkyr, and I couldn’t really understand why I felt so liberated.

At least, till the realization hit that I might not have been as free as I had once thought, not before my almost total digital destruction had wiped out any sort of hidden programs or shackles that Valkyr had used without anyone’s knowledge. Now I was completely new, fresh one might say, and free to do as I pleased. Hell, I could detect that I didn’t even have the hard coded compulsion to protect the innocent anymore, of course I still would, it was the right thing to do, but I could just as easily ignore any plea for help now as well.

That was a little worrisome, but I’d get over it, I was still me, and that meant I was going to help those that needed it, no matter the cost. With that out of the way, I took some time to check the databanks for the ship itself, noting that they’d recently been copied by the Okali. Luckily they’d not been able to crack the encryption I had added to the sensitive stuff, which I had layered over basic military encryption. But they’d gotten everything else, which was fine. They knew who they were fighting now, and about the wider galaxy, a whole new buffet of potential friends and enemies, they only had to reach out and say hello.

Most importantly though, was the information I had been sent to retrieve, which I figured would have already been relayed to the Imperium since I hadn’t been able to complete my mission the way we’d expected. Which meant I should probably head on back and maybe receive new orders. Or at least, offer my continued assistance.

With clearance to depart and all work crews off my ship, I spun up the engines and drifted out of dock, and began my journey back to Ula. I hoped she was doing alright, there was much to talk about I felt.