Brothers Damian and Darius Trougao were practical beings and had been so for as long as they remembered. Orphaned before either had an independent memory, they had relied on each other for defense... and more often offense. Whatever the situation called for. It was how they had lived their lives... and their undeath. Both had worked out pretty well so far.

In the early stages of their Cultivation, they’d been recognized by Xsias for what they were. Brutal, cold-blooded killers who didn't let an abstract concept like morality get in the way of their effectiveness as security, thieves, or assassins.

Xsias, being Xsias, had approached them as she approached all her servants, as a predator stalking prey. She had walked directly up to them with a Force Attunement item of power in each hand. The two unattuned Cultivators had been licking their wounds on a backwater planet after a particularly difficult contract kill. All that remained was for them to agree to serve as bodyguards in her personal service. She left unspoken how quickly they would die if they refused her... But she knew they would never choose that option. As hungry as she was, they had followed her off the planet. The rest was history.

As Xsias had advanced in the Savoy, so had they. Of course, when she had been slain, they had also opted to transition into undeath. With all the enemies they had collected over the cycles doing her bidding, the brothers weren't foolish enough to believe they would survive as breathing spirit beings outside her service. Existence as blood-Essence vampires also had its perks. Significant increases in speed, strength, and recovery rate, amplified even more so after feeding, suited Damian and Darius just fine. There was never a lack of prey.

Now, the brothers sat at the peak of their fifth Spherical Attunement. ready to rise again with an appropriate item of power. Assuming, of course, they didn't have their reanimations snuffed out by Dod Stal for Xsias' recent lack of performance. After two failures, the continued survival of Xsias and all who served her was unprecedented. There could be no further failure. Damian and Darius knew they needed to bring this robot back. There were no other options. And so they would. Already captured, the mech sat deactivated and wrapped like a Life Day gift to be given to the never-satisfied clutches of their ultimate master, Dod Stal.

Now they sat in the forward lounge a level below the cruiser’s bridge. As always, Damian and Darius followed Xsias' orders. Specifically, to 'Keep your armor on and feeding up while that AI mechanical is our prisoner."

Always good advice. Even if Damian and I think it is overkill for one mech. To get maximum benefit from feeding, they needed to consume the blood from spirit beings every twelve hours. All it took was drinking a few containers from the stockpile Xsias maintained in her stores. As similar as they were, he and his brother had different opinions on feeding. Darius preferred to feed on live spirit beings... Hopefully with a little bit of fight left in them. He would generally wait for such a specimen if he wasn't in danger of Essence starvation. He had often told Damian, ‘Preserved blood just tastes like plas!’ But, orders were orders. So he sat next to Damian and drank.

Darius put his hand on Damian's shoulder and spoke directly into his mind while he waived the half-filled blood ration under Damian’s nose.

You know... This foulness shows her desperation.

Mind Attunement was the one Attunement the brothers didn't have in common, and Damian had made it plain to Darius that using its telepathy on him was like a pridecock fanning its feathers without a mate around: arrogant, unnecessary, and irritating. So, of course, Darius had worked on the skill unceasingly over thousands of cycles to make sure he could speak into Damian’s mind on demand. Now, in the fifth Spherical Attunement, he succeeded over 90 percent of the time, always delighting in the scowl on Damian's face.

But, unexpectedly, Damian's scowl became thoughtful. "Yes, it does. Her fear of a third failure was why we've set out with minimal crew. Less chance of one of Dod Stal's rats aboard to report if we can't bring that AI mech back. If we hadn't gotten him... I'm sure Xsias was planning on doing a runner." He shook Darius' hand off his shoulder and took a long pull on the straw to drain the rest of his ration.

...Xsias run? The thought whirled through Darius' head. Until that very moment, Xsias fleeing from anything had seemed impossible. Damian raised his eyebrows in superiority. "I see you hadn't figured that out yet ...So much for the mighty mental powers of the Mind Attunement." Damian's shoulders rose and fell in gruff laughter at his own slight.

It was true. Darius hadn't put those pieces together. He hadn't noticed the reduced crew beyond the fact that he preferred it when the ship was piloted and crewed by the AI mechs and modules. Other than use as fresh food, spirit beings tended to be very needy when it came to their environmental requirements... and most other types of undead were unpleasant to share space with. But Damian is right. If we failed there was no other move for Xsias to make...

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Darius sat down at the bar and signaled the servo-mech to give him another ration. Despite the steely glare he received, Darius spoke back into Damian's mind. Now that you bring it up... as improbable as getting away from that metal monster really is... I don't see another way out if we had failed to get the third mech... do you?

"Nope." Damian's response was blunt and to the point as sharp mischief gleamed in his dark eyes. "We better not let it get away, huh?" Elbowing his brother, Damian laughed heartily again as Darius let the new realizations play out in his mind and he couldn’t keep his next thought from his brother.

If Xsias has already done all the math about her chances of returning to the Savoy if she failed... Why take the chance and change our plans so abruptly? She did literally just up and leave with one of her thralls right before the big mech's arrival. There was more than a touch of disapproval in his mental tone.

Damian nodded as he drained half of his second blood unit. "I agree... It is easy to see that as putting this mission in jeopardy. But Xsias' last-micro plan changes have almost always gotten us real increases in our fortunes and Cultivation. Good things usually happen when she follows her gut instincts! At least… they always have. I took her leaving as a sign of increasing chances of success..." Damian waved his free hand as if he was a wise elder considering the fates. "...Like she had turned things around and was acting with confidence again. Not just for mere survival." Damian got severe and looked directly into Darius' eyes.

Darius couldn't argue with the depths of his brother's thinking on this point either. Xsias 'hunches' had always exceeded Dod Stal's all-important 'expected results.' Rapid flexibility was her hallmark. You're right, brother. I'm not going to worry about her absence either... There is something about that mech, though. It managed to destroy all of the swarm bots with its impact detonation—

Damian cut off his brother's mental words with a carelessly waived hand. "Ya... But after that it was the next best thing to deactivated. All you had to do was point and shoot the C-I netting to bring it in—"

And that's another thing! Darius cut over Damian this time. Why has she insisted on spending a Sultan's ransom using a wired capacitor-inhibitor net on an AI mechanical? I know Xsias isn't shy about spending the necessary money for the right gear and tools... Darius opened his hands and indicated the full exo armor both wore. But wasteful is not an adjective that would describe her. Is there something she knows about this mech that she hasn't told us?

Damian turned his head away and noncommittally, and the rounded white shoulders of the exo-plate rose and fell as he shrugged. It was evident that he had thought of this as well and didn't have a good answer. "...She likely has a reason that she isn't sharing everything with us. You know how she is." Damian rolled his eyes. "Never has... Likely never will. It's not our job to ask questions. So, we don't... do we?" He raised his dark brows. "...Maybe the inhibitor netting will stop advanced Cultivators from finding it..."

It was clear that Damian wasn't buying this himself. He shrugged again and continued. "...Anyway, that net is nasty business. My hand is still numb, and it's been more than a gyra since I brushed against it." Damian pointed at his right hand he was opening and closing with a slight wince. "I'm glad for the netting. The more confinement on that metal menace, the better. Just means the mech isn't going anywhere—"

A calm but incessant AI voice came over their communicators.

"Power failure in the containment area. Recommend immediate intervention."

Darius and Damian jumped to their feet in a blurred flash and sealed their helmets as they streaked from the room to the detention area in the ship's lower levels.

What now? Ten micro-gyra ago, internal sensors had picked up a small mammal inside the containment cell. The security AI's evaluation had been a void rat and logged a recommendation for fumigation. This was the downside of a non-humanoid crew: You couldn't punish or threaten the AI modules to put them in fear of their own survival. Their programmed behavior wouldn't change even after they had been reduced to a crushed and sparking ruin spread over the floor by your displeasure. And, if AI modules required confirmation of every detail of their off-protocol operations... They would have it or nothing would get done. It was enough to drive the spiritually risen insane.

"What is the nature of the failure?" Damian queried the supervising AI module.

"Disruption of the power conduit to the inhibitor netting."

They both slowed down. The C-I netting had days of adequate charge with the dozens of inhibitors melded in its mesh joints. In their hundreds of thousands of cycles, neither Damian nor Darius had seen a net with so many redundancies in place.

Darius about-faced and walked back to the bar to finish his ration. Damian was a step behind and gave orders to the security AI. "Send a drone mechanical team for visual inspection... as well as a fumigation unit to get rid of that void rat..." He then tilted his head to Darius. "...damn vermin probably chewed through the reinforced cable to feed on the electro-mag flow."

Darius nodded in agreement but added, "Xsias was clear before she left. RX and the issues of his containment are our problems..."

Damian wiped a dribble of blood from the side of his mouth caused by their dash out the door. "You are a worrier, brother. Always have been. We’re going to go down there to inspect—as soon as we are done following her other order of keeping our feeding up. I know you hate the bottled stuff. But I kind of like it. Reminds me of the old days." Damian pulled out the plaz straw and drank directly from the container, a crooked grin on his face.

"...Ugh!" Darius replied as he sat in the chair beside his brother and pulled the straw from his own to toast him. Damian's right. Things are going to work out fine.

They were still sitting and laughing together 5 micro-gyra later when the intruder alert sounded.