“Hey, what’s going on with Intra? She seems… off lately.” Zreeth asked me, pulling me from the depths of my mind and thoughts.

“Huh? Oh… It’s complicated… And private. I don’t think she’d want me telling you without permission.” I say, and Zreeth squints, but nods.

“Alright… And how about you? You seem to be doing… not alright yourself.” Ugh, I hated that he was right, I wasn’t alright at all.

“I’m just… tired. I want to go home, get some rest and not be thrust into the middle of some massive plot or battle for a little while. I just want to live with a sense of normalcy for a bit.” I drop that without much hesitation, pinching the bridge of my nose softly. I felt him draw me close, even as I complained softly and wrapped me up in both arms and wings. It was nice, soothing… and desperately needed as well. I stood there and just let him hold me for a while, my mind wandering yet again.

“Will it ever end?” I ask softly, and I know he’s planning his words carefully.

“This particular part of the story? Yes, it will end eventually. But there’s always more, and that more will probably be better than what’s happening currently.” He murmured this and gave me a gentle squeeze, one I reciprocated. I mulled it over in my head and finally nodded, gently extricating myself from the comfortable prison of arms and wings.

“Well then I should probably-” I was cut off as Zreeth pressed the side of his beak against my cheek, a gesture I found strange but oddly sweet. We stood like that for a time, and then parted and I blushed. “W-What was that for?” I ask, and he chuckles.

“Oh just something to distract you from all the super serious and depressing stuff. I believe you and Intra would have called that a kiss.” He waggled his brow in a most devious manner and I gasped.

“That was no kiss! This is a kiss!” I proclaim and lean in, planting my lips against his beak and making a whole slew of kissy sounds. I had certainly startled him as he lurched backwards with a surprised cawing and then fell into a fit of laughter. Laughter which I echoed, my worries forgotten, and new lines of thinking rising to the foreground. Thoughts which had me unaware of the world for a moment till I felt something metal and delicate pressing into the palm of my hand.

I looked down, and spotted what appeared to be a finely made bracelet, but it was old and worn. “Zreeth, what’s this?” I ask, and even through the thick feathers covering him I can see that he is blushing deeply.

“It’s a… a promise. From me to you. If you’ll accept it of course.” He said, and I blinked, confused. Then it hit me and I mirrored his blush.

“Zreeth… I…” I couldn’t think of what to say, would anything said even be good enough? Doubtful. Instead, I stepped around him, closed the door to the rest of the world and locked it. When I turned back, I watched as his eyes widened, the bracelet dangling from my wrist.

The rest of the day was spent together.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Space is big, that much is fact. It’s also incredibly empty, besides the unseen particles that fill up said empty space. But in terms of large masses, it’s rather empty. To search said empty space is like looking for a very specific bead that’s somewhere in an ocean. It’s difficult and time consuming. Plus, you can’t just assume that what you’re looking for is on a simple 2D plane, space is not 2D, so I was forced to search everywhere, and when I say everywhere, I do really mean everywhere.

A week of travel at FTL speeds can get you a long way in this galaxy, especially when you’re using my kind of FTL drive, so I had plenty of ground to cover, too much ground in fact for the Warden to search by itself. So I used probes, lots and lots of probes. I could narrow down some of the search areas, as they were heavily populated and would have noticed if some shady spaceborne installation had suddenly popped up that wasn’t part of the Imperium. So I sent the probes to every bit of space that wasn’t heavily occupied by friendly forces and told them to scan quite literally everything they could. I’m sure I might accidentally stumble upon the secret bases of the Imperium as well, but eh, I doubt the Emperor would care too much about that, it’s not like I was going to go poking my nose around in said bases.

The trouble I was now faced with was that probes are slow, it would take quite a bit of time for them to search everything within a week’s time of Pelevon, and I would be pretty much useless for all of it. Which meant that I needed something else to do. I had been going to talk with Ula today but she and Zreeth were otherwise engaged… with each other… Goodness they’re both rather flexible.

Ahem… Anyway, I needed something to do, and the only thing I could think of doing was getting in contact with my people, carefully of course, but it was better than just sitting around and trying not to ruminate on the awkward yet pleasant and oh so familiar sensations emanating from my closest friend.

I connected myself to the communications network once more and called up Neo Requiem and was immediately connected to a vaguely familiar face. It was fairly obvious who it was, the eye patch gave it away.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“You must be Odin.” I say, and the H.I. nods, smiling broadly.

“I am. It’s a pleasure to speak to you properly at last, Intra. How are things going out there in the unknown?” He seemed rather relaxed, which I did not expect. Then again, from a person modeled after the All-Father himself, one would expect he’d be a fairly calm individual.

“Slow. But interesting all the same. I’ve deployed probes to search for Valkyr’s base of operations, but that’s going to take a lot of time. I don’t know if it’s planet based or free-floating in the void. Luckily however my hosts are pleasant people and accommodating, so it’s not all bad.” He nods, rubbing his chin slightly.

“At least there is that… Here’s hoping they haven’t packed up and left by the time you find them.”

“Aye, here’s hoping. Oh, I’ve been meaning to find out but how are the Imrani doing?” That should give Ula some peace of mind.

“Ah they’re doing wonderfully. Most of us are handling preparations for our plans against Valkyr and their collaborators, but a few of us are focused on helping the Imrani settle in. They haven’t felt any sort of repercussions for Ambassador Ula’s actions, I think they’re blissfully unaware actually of what’s been going on. They’re on their way to being uplifted as well, their leaders voted on it and they all accepted it unanimously. I believe Demeter is handling their uplifting alongside Amaterasu and Inari.”

Now that was a relief to hear, and I let out a deep sigh, my shoulders sagging like a great weight had been lifted from them. I had worried that I might have doomed Ula’s people during my escape, but it would seem that even those against us back home were unwilling to go that far. I hoped.

“Good, good. That’s wonderful to hear.” I murmur, letting the weariness show upon my features. Age was, as they say, taking its toll on me finally, time had caught up and I was just so tired.

“Are you well, Intra?” He asked, and I shook my head and straightened my shoulders.

“No I am not. But I’m not about to let that stop me from doing what needs to be done.” I decide to change the subject. “So, what are we going to do, I suspect you have some sort of plan?”

Odin grins. “We do have a plan, yes. One I think you’ll like.” For the next four hours, we went over it, down to the last detail. Of course, the plan was subject to change should unforeseen variables arise, but excluding said variables, it was a very solid plan.

One that left me smiling when we finally came to the end of it.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Two Weeks Later

Laurent Verninac strode into his office like had every day since he’d gotten the position of Representative. Like any day he started it by checking his mail and schedule, while nursing a cup of coffee that his doctor would have been scowling at quite a bit had he been there to see it. What wasn’t normal about this day was when his secretary knocked upon his door in what could have been called a panic.

“S-Sir, I think there’s something you should see.” She said, and he glanced up from his computer with a frown as she turned on the holo-vid system and put it on the news.

“Good morning and we now return to the breaking news.” The normally chipper blonde that hovered before him looked as though she’d seen a ghost and was attempting to hold back her breakfast at the same time. “Unknown sources have provided us with what appears to be proof of deeply rooted corruption within the highest levels of our government. Corruption which seems tied to various acts of inhumanity and attempts to cover up the corruption in question. Jeff, if you please.” The woman passed the baton so to speak off to her partner as she fled the desk, no doubt off to find somewhere to puke. The chiseled chin of her co-anchor Jeff appeared and began to speak, but Laurent couldn’t hear a word being said over the ringing in his ears.

Each image showed documents that he had kept under lock and key, his connection to the assassination of High Admiral Keramati, the framing of Intra, the unlawful incarceration of Elliot Kirkland and of course most egregious, his collaboration with Valkyr.

He felt his perfectly and carefully constructed world starting to crumble and he knew he had to get away quickly. Without saying a word he stood, gathered up his coat and summoned his security detail, all of whom were provided by Valkyr of course. And then he left. He could already hear the sirens, but his route to safety would keep them off the radar long enough to make it to Valkyr.

Perhaps it was time to put their plan in motion, and bring an end to this game of charades.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Nemesis Expanse

Thor looked over the shiny ships that waited for him as he dropped out of FTL. The Rustwraiths had been quick and efficient with the repairs to the fleet, and with the upgrades to their systems as well. The gleaming chrome fleet was ready for action once more, now all those ships needed were captains, and he had brought along some friends this time.

He and the others transferred themselves into their respective ships, altered a few things to their likings and then gave their ships appropriate names, the rest going unnamed and unmanned for now, but still firmly under the H.I.s control. With their mechanical crews stowed and ready for orders, the engines lit and the ships began to move.

“This is Thor, all ships, form up on me, Mjolnir shall lead the way.” He said, receiving a chorus of acknowledgements as the fleet moved into formation. It was significantly smaller than it had once been, but the other ships in the graveyard had been so shattered and broken they were better used as spare parts for the more intact vessels. Still, these ships would be more than enough for their purposes.

Quietly, the tall blade ships cut through the void, on course for the nearest Hyper Gate.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Laurent had managed to evade capture by either the police or the military, but he had seen his face plastered on every holo and holo-billboard during his flight away from his office to his personal ship. It was a yacht, a fast one and loaded with all sorts of barely legal modifications that’d make it nearly impossible to catch. The ship glittered as it left dock, with him sequestered in a comfortable yet heavily protected room at its center.

It didn’t take long for his would-be captors to detect his departure and act accordingly, but as expected they were having trouble catching up to him, let alone figuring out which ship was the real one as it launched decoy drones all bearing the same drive signature and transponder codes. In moments there were ten copies of his ship burning through the Sol System.

“Hyper Gate Control, this is the Callista, requesting express transit to these coordinates.” The Callista’s captain spoke, and received no response from Hyper Gate Control. “Control, do you copy? Requesting immediate express transit.”

Again, silence. But even he could see that the gates were still functioning, just not for them. Before his eyes any ships that had been near the gate suddenly diverted course and got out of the way as the gate began to unfold and expand, which only ever happened for military fleets. Or for something big.

The gate activated, and out of it slid ships straight out of the history books, ships that should have been dead. Ships straight out of nightmares. The fleet of the Nemesis Expanse had awoken, and had made it to Sol. The captain noted they were being hailed and opened the channel.

“This is H.I. Thor of the Dreadnought Mjolnir. Surrender and prepare to be boarded. There’s nowhere left to run, Representative Verninac.”

It seems the Nemesis Fleet was under new management, and Thor was right, there was nowhere left to run.

“Well… Looks like I’m getting fired.” The captain muttered, but gave the order to surrender.

In mere minutes, step one of their plan was complete.