Their first order of business was ensuring that their home would remain intact after they left, Neo Requiem was susceptible to things such as deletion and destruction of the place where it was housed. The second thing they needed to do was acquire physical, real world materials and tools to use when beginning the assault on Valkyr. They had two options, one of which would lead to treason and they didn’t want to do that.

They could take over the already built and fully functional warships and support craft that the Terran Alliance had on hand, which of course would result in charges of treason being levied against them and the organic crews attempting to forcefully retake control of their ships, which would undoubtedly lead to a few successes or total failures depending on whether the H.I.s decided to protect themselves.

This was going to be the last resort option.

The second option before them was the vast graveyards that had been created during the Singularity, when a human built A.I. had managed to escape containment and fled to parts unknown before returning with a fleet of starships and enough troops to bring humanity to extinction. The starships, though broken, were still advanced and salvageable, however the massive amount of Rustwraiths present within the graveyard prevented the salvage of these places. But with an H.I., such a thing was possible, just nobody had bothered because it’d take too much time and money to properly accomplish. Now though, the entire population of H.I.s was willing and able, they could probably get it done in a few months. That would no doubt raise some alarms, but they were more than capable of keeping said alarms from reaching anyone important.

By the time anyone caught on, they’d have a fleet all of their own and it’d be ready to fight Valkyr. Many H.I. would probably die, but it was a worthy sacrifice.

With the location of a suitable fleet already known, they turned their attention to other matters, namely the Yil’kaa and Representative Verninac. No doubt he would attempt to stop them if they simply announced their plans to take a repaired fleet of A.I. warships out of Alliance territory to help a supposed fugitive. Plus they couldn’t let his duplicity stand either. So they needed to get him out of the way first. Loki and several others were already working out the Verninac problem, digging up dirt as quickly as possible. Loki himself was on the verge of cracking Verninac’s personal computer systems and seeing what sort of secrets he had, others were going over the ‘evidence’ that had been brought up against Intra.

Next was Elliot Kirkland, yet another fugitive and it had already been discovered that the evidence against him was fabricated, so they were prepared to release that when the time came. He would be a good ally to have when the shit hit the proverbial fan. If they could just get him reinstated, he could perhaps have the Navy back them up against Valkyr, or even against the other enemy that was going to potentially get in the way.

The Yil’kaa posed a unique problem. They barely cared about the dynamics and the politics of their victims, everyone was equally guilty of blasphemy in their minds and thus deserved death. As it stood, they were engaging the people of the unknown regions and were directly in their path. One way or another, the H.I. would have to face them. Then there was the possibility of them encountering the Valkyr base of operations before or during their assault on it. That wasn’t good either, the H.I. could probably handle Valkyr’s no doubt sizable fleet on their own, but dealing with them and the Yil’kaa would be too risky. Which meant the Yil’kaa had to be removed from the equation. But prolonged campaigns against them would weaken the H.I. forces to a point where they may not be able to stand against Valkyr, which again, was unacceptable.

That’s where the Navy came in, knowing Intra, she’d probably already ingratiated the Alliance to these new aliens and they might welcome some help against the Yil’kaa swarm. But said help hinged on everything that needed to happen with Verninac. Though perhaps the rest of the galaxy could be convinced to join in on the action as well. But that might cause some even bigger problems after the battles were over.

Either way, they had their work cut out for them.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I awoke to a familiar and yet changed face, the face of a friend who had saved my life over and over again. And for once, Intra looked tired. What makeup she had projected onto her face was streaked down over her cheeks, her gaze distant and vacant almost. She looked defeated, haunted even.

I did not like this look on her.

Gently, I settled Zreeth off to my side and slipped out of the bed, moving to my friend's side and rested a hand as much as I could upon her holographic shoulder. I could feel the firmness of her shoulder under her hand and realized that she had made herself out of that hard light material she liked to use, but I recalled that the palace did not have such things. A drone must have installed a hard light projector in the room as we slept.

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My touch was registered and I watched her blink, wipe away the already ruined makeup and look up at me. We didn’t have to say a thing to know what the other was thinking, I don’t think she even needed to take a peek into my head through my implants to know. We embraced the other, not crying, not speaking, just holding. I knew she felt guilty about how injured I had been while she was away, and she knew that I felt I should have gone with her, no matter how I felt about the danger of such a thing. We forgave the other as we stayed just like that for so long my legs started to grow stiff and achy, till we heard Zreeth start to wake.

Only then did we part, and she was looking much better, but still haunted by something I could not quite discern. Perhaps she would tell me in time, when she was ready. “How did my drones fare?” She asked, and I smirked softly.

“Quite well, though uh… I think everyone is more frightened of them now than they were before.” I state, and she snorts, as if that was to be expected.

“I would think they would be, I did steal the designs from a genocidal A.I. after all.” She stood and bowed when Zreeth became as conscious as he needed to be to know that we had company. “Your majesty, I’m sorry to hear about your father, I wish him a speedy recovery.”

Zreeth seemed surprised by Intra’s presence, and her new look. A look I honestly liked better than her old one. She truly was unique now. “I uh… Thank you, I’m sure he will be just fine. Able to reign for another decade at least.” He said, and Intra smirked. “How did things go with your mission, whatever that was.”

“Oh that went… It was… mm.. Interesting I would have to say. I suspect your father will want to discuss it once he’s conscious, if he hasn’t decided to focus on more domestic matters.” She paused, then shrugged. “I’ll see if there’s anything I can do to help with the rebuilding effort, plenty of jobs only a drone can do.”

Zreeth, yet again, seemed surprised, but grateful. “That would be appreciated, just warn people before those drones show up, I think further panic would be quite dangerous.”

“Certainly.” She said, then her gaze flicked between me and Zreeth, a brow slowly rising. “Have you two been…” She started to say.

“NO!” Zreeth and I both exclaimed rather loudly, before realizing what we’d done. I was jealous of his inability to visibly blush, whereas I was turning a few shades of obvious embarrassment. Intra merely chuckled and placed her hands behind her back, looking awfully pleased with herself.

“Well, regardless of whatever may or may not be happening, I’m glad you both were able to lean on each other during my… absence.” Her smile faltered as she mentioned her mission, clearly she felt she should have been here to protect me somehow. I wanted to say something, but Intra cocked her head slightly and looked briefly distracted before she nodded. “I’m afraid I’m being called away, it seems your father is awake and wants a report from me. I’ll be back as soon as I can be.” She said, then left like she always did.

I sighed, glad to have her back at least. I just hoped she’d stick around long enough to enjoy it.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

I appeared just outside of the medical wing, not wishing to spook his guards or doctors. The two guards posted outside the doors looked me over then nodded, one pressing their hand against a pad that unlocked the door. Without any hesitation I stepped through and then paused, looking at all the wounded around me. It was bad, but they would live. They might wish they hadn't though, and I felt sympathy for their predicaments.

But my business was not with them, but with the Emperor and so I strode past the beds and bustling doctors towards the far end, where the secure wing was. Another pair of guards stopped me, one attempted to frisk me for weapons only to have their hands pass right through my body. That seemed enough to give me a pass, and I was let in.

The Emperor had certainly seen better days, I pondered just what they were going to do about his still missing wing, he already had a new arm, much like Ula’s, so perhaps a wing wasn’t out of the question. His wife sat nearby, dead asleep and bundled up in several blankets. It seemed that we would be alone in this conversation, which was fine with me.

“Intra… It is good to see you.” He spoke softly, his voice coarse and rough, rougher than it usually was at least. “I trust your mission was a success?”

“If you call almost dying a success, then yes, it was.” I say, willing up a chair for myself and sitting beside his bed. “Has the Union called for any sort of assistance?” He shook his head.

“Not so far as I know, though apparently our communications systems were infected with some sort of computer virus, their call for aid may have been kept from us. So I know nothing of what’s happening over there.” He paused, glancing a look at me. “I do, however, know who has been abducting my people, and the people of the Union.” It was almost accusatory, as if I had been part of the abductions. I know he didn’t mean it that way, but it was hard to miss.

“As do I… And I assure you, I fully intend on punishing them for their crimes.” I say, the bitterness in my words apparent. He accepted this and leaned back against the pillows, adjusting himself to lay on his good side.

“Good… Now, please give me your report on your mission.”

And I did, I left out no detail, no matter how small. He needed to know what his allies were up against, the threat the Yil’kaa posed to not just the Union, but to the Imperium as well. By the end of it, he just looked all the more tired. I swear there were some hints of silver lining the edges of his feathers by the time I was done with my report.

We discussed options, but in the end, it was up to him and he would make his mind up once he was released from medical care.

I had already made up my mind, I knew what lay before me. One way or another, Valkyr would be reduced to a mere memory.

Even if I had to drag them down to Hell with me.