Peace settled upon the galaxy, even though the threat of Valkyr still loomed. But that foe could wait a little longer for justice’s hammer to fall on their heads. The H.I.s of the Nemesis Fleet took a well deserved vacation and Intra did her best to settle, even if only for a little bit. Of course, plans have a nasty habit of falling apart rather quickly. As some would say, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Three weeks later, a small ship dropped out of FTL in the Yil’kaa’s home system, ran several scans and then initiated a link with its homebase. The Yil’kaa were still coming to grips with both their survival but also their captivity, many of the more zealous members had killed themselves in an attempt to flee the infernal machines that had become a part of them. Others were despondent, but the younger ones had been of the mind that it might just be the kick in the balls they truly needed for real change to come about.

The stealth ship received an answer, then focused its attention on the shielded homeworld, breaking through the programming of the nanites and triggering the killswitch. As Intra had said, the species did in fact die in agony, driven mad by the sudden pain that filled them and tearing each other apart in an orgy of blood and death.

In moments, the extinction of the Yil’kaa had been achieved, and the satellites, registering no Yil’kaa life signs, or any life signs for that matter, descended upon the planet and self-destructed. Soon, the homeworld was quiet as a tomb, a charred, ashen tomb. The stealth ship recorded the results, then left.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I had received an alert from the security systems that were installed in Intra’s house, something was wrong and though peacekeeping units had been prepared, I told them to standby, that I would see what was wrong.

I had upgraded from a personal ambassadorial shuttle to that of a more royal type, even my Rustwraiths had been upgraded, looking far more like the royal guard should. I may not be an official member of the Imperial family just yet, but it was practically a done deal already. My shuttle landed on the pad just outside her home and carefully I waddled up to the door, finding it ajar.

“Intra?” I called out, gently pushing the door open and finding the place trashed. Stepping in, my guards following and becoming far more alert at the chaotic redecorating that had been done. She had certainly made the place her own over the past few weeks, but now it was just a mess and I wondered what had happened. “Scan for intruders.” I say, and the machines nod then their heads twist around and around slowly, their sensors piercing the walls and looking for anyone that shouldn’t be here.

“No intruders present. Master Unit Intra is located in the living room, she is in distress.” One of them said, and I nodded before moving to see what had become of my friend. As I entered the living room I found her sitting on the floor, covered in grime and cuts from her apparent rampage through the house.

“Intra? Intra what’s wrong?” I ask softly, and she looks up at me. Her golden makeup ran in streaks over her cheeks. I hadn’t realized they’d make her so… organic, tears when crying was not part of the brochure as they say.

“They’re dead… They’re all dead…” She whispered.

“Who’s dead?” I asked in confusion.

“The Yil’kaa, they’re really just… all gone. I killed them…” Ah, that was the issue. Even for all their evilness, she still felt a deep remorse for exterminating them.

“Yes, they are. But it’s okay, they were-”

“No! It’s not okay! They shouldn’t be dead! I gave them a… a second chance, just one more, they shouldn’t have died so soon…” Now this was news to me, and I raised a brow.

“Intra… what happened, tell me.”

“I… I couldn’t… I couldn’t become like them, a monster, I couldn’t kill them all with such ease. I couldn’t destroy their star, Ula. I just couldn’t. S-So I… I cut them off from the galaxy, told them they had one last chance to survive, to change for the better. I even set up a failsafe, just in case they didn’t. But it… I… I activated it today… I don’t know why I did. I was sleeping and all I could dream about was killing them for what they’d done.” She started to babble, and I absorbed this confession of hers.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

She had shown mercy, right there at the end. From what I knew of her, that was her style, unless she truly had no other choice. But even still I felt an anger burning inside me, plus a small sense of satisfaction that they were finally gone.

But to see her so distraught, it was enough to cool my anger. She had tried to be better, and had apparently failed. But something didn’t seem right about all of this. I felt it would have been rather stupid for such a powerful failsafe to be capable of being activated by the dreams of the person with the big red button, regardless if they were synthetic or not. So while she babbled on, trying to make sense of everything and believing it to be her fault, I took the time to look something up.

Considering my soon to be promotion to crown princess, I had access to Imperial resources I didn’t have when I was just a mere ambassador and so I started tapping away on my personal tablet. Several surveillance drone and satellite systems that’d been left behind by the Imperium had detected a signal leaving the home system of theYil’kaa, however based on the trajectory it was not directed at Pelevon. In fact, it was directed deep into Union space, well on the other side of it in fact and technically on the fringes.

I took the time to look at the trace signatures on the signal, then compared it to any known signals. There were lots, but the uniqueness of this one narrowed the search considerably till it came up with several matches. With a tightening of my jaw I stared at the signatures author, before looking back at my friend.

“Intra… Intra… INTRA!” I spoke her name with increasing urgency, but she babbled on, fresh tears running down her face. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer, a hand lashing out and connecting with her cheek, a sharp CRACK following as skin met skin. The babbling stopped, and she turned her head towards me with a look of surprise in her eyes.

“The fuck was that for?!” She whined, and that nearly made me slap her again. Instead I took a deep breath, feeling my child shift in mild distress, and I showed her the tablet.

She stared down at it, putting pieces together quickly, and her surprise from my slap melted away, replaced with a cold rage. I was suddenly wishing she was still just a hologram, because her hold on the tablet was only growing stronger. I was rather glad that she wasn’t holding onto me at this moment, because the durable tablet promptly shattered into pieces with a fizzle of electricity. She didn’t look at me, but I could see a cold rage burning in her eyes.

I wouldn’t know, but even in orbit the Warden of Eternity and Innocent’s Lament were powering up and shuddering in their berths, all sorts of fluctuations in their power systems registered by the dock workers.

“Intra…” I say softly, and her clenched fist relaxes, letting pieces of the tablet drop to the floor. Running her hands over her face she takes a deep cleansing breath, and though I still see rage in her eyes, she’s far more composed now, but also… relieved. Yes her failsafe had been used against her wishes, but it truly wasn’t her fault. It was Valkyr’s, and now I saw she intended to make them pay.

“Thank you, Ula, for bringing this to my attention. I’ll be fine now…” She said carefully, clearly holding herself back. “I… I need to be alone a little longer, there are things I need to do, and you do not need to worry yourself with them.” I knew well enough to leave her alone, it probably wouldn’t do either me or the baby any good to see her work through her rage. So I nod and with a little help from her, I stand. With one last look, and even a gentle smile, I leave her be, to let her figure out what she should do.

But I know, deep down, that she once more goes to war, but this time, she won’t hesitate to end it once and for all.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

To say that I was angry would be an understatement, that I was filled with rage even more so. I was beyond that now, I was cold, and I knew that when Valkyr met me and my allies again, that I would not hesitate to wipe their stain from the galaxy without mercy, without remorse, without regret. They had taken the choice to live and be better from the Yil’kaa, I would be doing the same

To take my mind off it however, I needed to do something, and I looked at the damage I had caused in my own home. It needed fixing, and the only person I wanted to see me in this state was Ula. So, slowly I stood and went to work, setting everything right. It took me four hours to make my home presentable, but there would be more work to be done later. But it could wait.

Once satisfied, and having cleaned myself up I called up the other H.I.s, and they appeared one by one in my home. Carefully they crowded into the living room, as though they would bump into one another and who knew, perhaps they would.

“My friends… The Yil’kaa are dead.” I said, and they looked surprised. They were the only ones that had known of my decision, and now they were wondering why I had changed my mind again. “It wasn’t I that killed them. It was Valkyr.” I send them the data, and they all look it over, their faces turning grim. How Valkyr had known of my decision was unknown at this time, but perhaps they hadn’t and merely wanted to see what was going on.

Odin was the first to speak, and he did so after taking a deep breath. “I take it then that we’re redeploying?”

“Yes, as soon as I have that single traced and we get a location. And I know who to call for that.” I say, the others nodding.

“Then we’ll be ready, you just give the order and we’ll follow you wherever we need to go.” He said, the others stranding a little straighter as I looked them over one by one. We may no longer be organic, I may not have given birth to them as I had my children… But they were family, they were my descendants, each bearing my code in some shape or form. I was surrounded by loved ones, and we would go to war together one last time.

“Thank you…” It’s all I could say, and I meant it. They knew I did. One by one they approached, resting a hand on my shoulders before they left, till it was just me and Odin that remained. He just stood beside me for a while, his hand on my shoulder, my own on his arm, then he too left.

Sighing, I stood to enter the little office that had remained untouched through my rampage. I had a call to make after all, and I’m sure he’d appreciate the chat.