Prologue

 

“If you were smart, you’d stay home.”

“No,” Sediryl said as she wedged her bag of toiletries into her case. “I wouldn’t. And do you know why? Because no one would tell one of the Pelted that their job is too dangerous for them and they should stay home and let someone else handle it. I’m going because I need to be there, Millie. Me. The new Ambassador ad’Alliance. I’m already the Queen’s proxy. Her proxy shouldn’t be sending another proxy in her stead.”

“Kara—”

“Don’t you ‘kara’ me.” Sediryl folded her arms, facing the solidigraphic projection of her Karaka’An friend. “Not about this.”

The other woman sighed. “Can you blame me for worrying?”

“Yes,” Sediryl said. “I can.” Her mouth twitched. “But I’ll do my best not to, if it makes you feel any better.” She saw the stockings she’d forgotten on her dresser and plucked them up. Finding a place to tuck them into her luggage allowed her to turn away from the emitter. Sediryl had met Mildred Kentlewine through Eliza, Mildred’s niece and one of the Eldritch’s first friends on Starbase Ana. The same impulse that had driven Mildred to run one of the Alliance’s biggest border charities had opened her arms and heart to the naïve Eldritch who’d lost her mother in every way that mattered. Sediryl had never been able to think of Millie as a replacement for that mother—she was all too aware that the Pelted woman was a quarter her age and already a third done with her life—but she still had a tender spot in her heart for her, enough to have accepted being called kara, ‘child,’ now and then.

It wasn’t tender enough to change her mind about anything important, though. Sediryl shut her case and locked it before facing the other woman again. Millie’s bright blue eyes, set in a seal-brown mask of fur, were steady, but Sediryl could read the resignation in them.

“There’s no point in belaboring it, then. I assume you have resources to protect yourself with?”

Sediryl assumed she did too, but she wasn’t about to admit to uncertainty. “I’m an ambassador now, arii. They’re not going to let me get into trouble.”

“No, I suppose not. And since I’m obviously not going to be able to sway you, let’s discuss the charity’s contact in that sector.” Millie lifted a brow. “You know the locals who are organizing this from the Chatcaavan end, yes?”

Thoughts of Amber swam to mind, wan as a diluted watercolor. What did her cousin even look like now? She’d last seen him as a youth; presumably he’d changed as much as his brother had. Sediryl tried very hard not to remember Amber’s brother and was fairly sure her cheeks weren’t tinting. “I do, yes. They’ll be expecting me.” At least, Amber had better be expecting her. He knew her that well, surely. “Brief me, please.”

Millie nodded and began, voice crisp. That was one good thing about the Karaka’An: once she’d decided there was no use fighting something, she didn’t hold it against you. Particularly once it touched on the charity’s works.

“And that should do it,” Millie said, some time later. “You’ll keep in touch?”

“As the work allows.” Sediryl was seated now on the bed beside her case. “I don’t want you to worry if I miss a check-in when I honestly don’t know how the situation’s going to develop once I arrive. The plan is… loose.”

“Loose, yes,” Millie said. “Just what we want when dealing with the Chatcaava.” She sighed, ears flicking back. “Then all I can say is Goddess-speed, kara. May She and Her partner watch over you, and bless this errand.”

“Amen,” Sediryl said. “And thank you, Millie. For everything. When we finish this… it’s monumental. All the worlds are going to remember our names.”

“I know it,” Millie answered, showing teeth. “So go out there and make sure it happens.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sediryl smiled. “See you in a few months.”

And then she was alone. Completely alone, for the first time in as long as she could remember, because even her virtual dog had been packed for the trip. She had her marching orders: there would be a ship awaiting her in the Fleet dock somewhere, and further instructions from the Queen when she arrived. After that, she would be on her way to the border, where good little Eldritch went to be enslaved by dragons because Everybody Knew that Eldritch couldn’t step foot out of the protected Core of the Alliance without being captured and sold into a harem somewhere.

It was patently ridiculous; Sediryl’s own cousin Amber was proof of that, since he had apparently been living on some border backworld for almost a year.

No, she didn’t fear the Chatcaava. She didn’t even fear failure. She knew, in the dense, deep heart of her, that they would succeed in rescuing the refugee Chatcaava and rehoming them among the Eldritch. What made her nervous was the idea that someone might try to take this away from her. After years of straining towards responsibility, towards some goal worthy of her energy, the Queen had finally offered her something to do… and now that she had it, she was expecting something to interfere.

Or try to, anyway. Sediryl snorted and pulled the case off her bed, toggling the anti-grav leash. She led her luggage through the little house that had served her during what she could now admit had been her exile. Standing at the door, she looked at the kitchen, the glass doors that led to her veranda, acknowledged the familiarity of the warm umber shadows and the gold sheen of the light reflected from the waves of crops beyond her doors.

“Close up for extended leave,” she told the house, and left without a backward glance.

Sediryl had made assumptions about how she was going to reach her destination on the border. She probably should have examined those assumptions; as an ambassador she could be housed in style anywhere she was sent, but there was no reason for the Alliance to lend her any of its military assets unless her Queen had requested and been granted them. Since Sediryl had been directed to present herself at the Fleet base and not the commercial docks, she’d been expecting to hitch a ride on one of Fleet’s many smaller ships… surely they made the trip to and from the border often enough.

But the wolfine in uniform who greeted her did not escort her into the care of a Fleet crew. He led her instead nearly to the end of the facility, where the ship crouching there did not share any of the markings of the other vessels she’d passed. Nor was it the same size or configuration. The lack of anyone awaiting her completed her confusion. To the Hinichi, a youth with earnest brown eyes, she said, “This is it?”

“That’s correct, alet,” the wolfine said. “This is your vessel, the RGRV Visionary. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Since it was obvious there wasn’t, Sediryl said, “No, thank you. I’ll just… inform you when I’m ready to go?”

“Very good, alet.”

The youth’s departure left her with no other course but to start up the ramp, her obedient luggage floating behind her. Ducking into the hatch brought her into a room larger than she’d expected, one with a hemispheric wall of windows and a broad bank of mysterious computers she didn’t know the first thing about operating.

“Well,” she said. “Even for Liolesa, this is outside of enough. Computer? Is there any message waiting for me about this enigma?”

“There is,” a voice at her shoulder said. “I can play it for you if you wish, alet.”

Sediryl whirled, almost backing into her luggage, because the computer had spoken so close she fancied she could hear it breathing against her ear. When she saw the amorphous purple cloud behind her—the one with the hazy face—she tripped in her haste to backpedal. The creature grasped her wrist to steady her, and she gasped.

“Apologies, alet!” The distress in the androgynous voice lent it the vibrato of a sad violin. “I didn’t think. Is this better?”

As Sediryl watched, the violaceous fog grew more defined, shrinking and solidifying until she faced a Seersa foxine that could have been taken for a flesh and blood person… albeit one that was sexless in its nudity, floating a foot off the ground, and furred in silver-tipped lilac.

“That… is better, yes,” Sediryl said. And remembered her manners. “You’re a D-per. I’m sorry, I’ve never met one.”

“I’m sorry too.” The Seersa’s ears drooped, trailing glimmer. “It’s been a long time since I’ve manifested to anyone. I’ve forgotten it’s impolite not to look like your code-form.” She—he?—pressed a hand to her breast and inclined the lavender head. “My name is Maia, alet. I am your ship’s crew. Would you like me to play your message? I believe it may illuminate the situation.”

“Yes, please. Thank you.”

Maia vanished, which didn’t really help settle Sediryl’s nerves. She sat on one of the chairs near the forward windows, and once she had, the audio began to play. Liolesa’s voice, but no image.

“Dearest niece. You are now my agent, and this role requires mobility. To that end, I have transferred to your care a ship that will serve your need, as it has so nobly served other needs in the past. It can be manned by a single person; as I suspect you are not yet able, I have supplied your crew. They know the ship’s capabilities. You may rely upon them.

“Take good care of the Visionary, Nuera. But do you recall that it is a ship, and replaceable. Intransigent nieces are not.

“Go well, and I shall see you anon.”

A chime signaled the end of the playback, leaving her staring out the window. “Just like that,” Sediryl muttered, but her lips were trying to turn up into a smile. Smoothing her hands on her knees, she looked up. “Maia?”

“Alet.” The Seersa solidified again, in front of her this time on another chair.

“So,” Sediryl said. “You are my aunt’s hire.”

“That’s correct,” the D-per said. “I’m pleased to have been given the opportunity. It’s been a while since I’ve had work like this.”

“Work like this,” Sediryl repeated.

The Seersa nodded. “You know something of the history of D-pers, alet?”

How to answer a question like that? “I know as much about their history as perhaps they know about the history of the Eldritch.”

That made the other laugh, a soft huffing noise. “Fair enough. I’m an old D-per, alet. When they made me, the creation of one of us was arduous enough that when we were “born” we had substantial indenture contracts to work off. When my coders finished making me, I was put to work in Fleet—most of us worked in Fleet initially, since they had money to finance our creation—and I spent thirty years serving in various capacities, mostly on starbases or supply depots. I was manumitted twenty years ago, and have been spending most of my time suspended, until I heard your Queen’s request.”

“Suspended?” Sediryl asked, careful. “That sounds… unpleasant.”

“It saves money,” Maia said. “Even digital people need space to live on a piece of hardware somewhere—or more accurately, several pieces of hardware split all over the Alliance. Most of us pay for backups as well, and we aren’t small bits of code.” The D-per threaded her fingers together. “For the opportunity to stretch again, I am very grateful to your queen.”

Thinking of what Liolesa had done for her, Sediryl said, “You and me both. So… tell me about this… this ship. Is it mine?”

“It is your Queen’s,” Maia said, floating free of the chair. “Or at least, it’s registered in her name. The Royal Galare Reserve Vessel Visionary. She’s a fine piece of hardware, alet. Not the newest ship in the dock, but she’s been excellently maintained. I think you’ll find her very comfortable, and for your purposes, I don’t think you could ask for a better ship. Would you like a tour?”

“I would, yes.” Leaving her luggage hovering beside the chair, Sediryl followed her floating D-per. The androgyny was distinct, even from behind and in a more specifically Pelted form. Maia’s tail also trailed glitter, which Sediryl found charming. Her former lover, who had created solidigraphs for entertainment, would have found that detail an artistic touch. “If I may ask… do you prefer the cloud shape?”

Looking over her shoulder, Maia said, “Alet?”

“I thought D-pers always looked like a very specific individual of a determinate sex and species. But you can look like anything, can’t you? There’s no… prohibition?”

Was that a wince? Yes, she’d made her newest companion flinch. “There’s a cultural one. We’re supposed to be recognizable to the people who made us, otherwise we could be anyone we said we are, couldn’t we?”

“But you like the floating shape,” Sediryl pressed.

Her D-per stopped.

“Because if you do, I’m well with it.” Sediryl halted. “You surprised me when you popped into existence behind me, but only because you were so close to me, not because I found you… disturbing… to look at. If you want to appear as a ghost, a rainbow of glitter, a Seersa with six arms… I don’t care, as long as I know what to expect, and what to call you—you don’t appear to be male or female? I’d like you to be comfortable. Particularly if you’ve spent twenty years cooped up in a computerized cage somewhere.”

“You’re serious,” Maia said, ears sagging.

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Sediryl said. At the D-per’s incredulous silence, she finished, “Alet, I’ve been constrained in a cage of my own for so long I can’t believe I’m finally free. I’m not going to go into my new life shoving the people around me into cages as a condition of accompanying me.” She thought of Millie, rueful. “Even if I think it’s safer for them. You don’t grow by being safe.”

“God in the Stream,” Maia said, wide-eyed. “And you’re a diplomat?”

That shocked a laugh out of Sediryl, but it was a good one and she enjoyed it until her cheeks and ribs hurt. Wiping her eyes, she said, “I’m afraid I was chosen more for my single-minded determination to win than I was for my tact.”

“Where we’re going, we’ll need that more than gentle words,” Maia admitted, and colored peach. “Fortunately you’ll have a good ship to get you there. It’s this way, alet. And you may use ‘she’ or ‘it’, either of which are fine.”

As the D-per stepped in front of her, she shed the definition of her edges and became a ghostly impression of a Seersa in apricot and rose. Smiling, Sediryl followed.

The Visionary begged more questions than the tour answered. It had a large living suite on one side of the corridor leading back toward the engines; the other side had been separated into a guest room and a conference room “recently,” according to Maia. There was no significant cargo space, though there was one small compartment for storage. The aft of the ship was dedicated to its environmental, propulsion… and weapons systems.

“Weapons?” Sediryl repeated, bewildered.

“I wouldn’t go into a real fight with them,” Maia said. “But yes. You have four lasers, two e-packet tubes, and a first generation Duster tied into a skin shield. This is a ship for sneaking past enemies and maybe surprising them with a shot while you run away, not for wading into a pitched battle. We couldn’t take a serious hit from anything, alet. Glancing blows, maybe one or two. On the other hand, we’re awfully good at the sneaking and running. Given where we’re going, that’s exactly what we need.”

“You know our mission, then.”

Maia nodded, curling a tail of sparkling vapor around herself and hovering alongside the engine bank. “We’re heading to the Alliance/Empire border to oversee the flight of its refugees to the Alliance.”

“On the eve of a war,” Sediryl murmured.

But the D-per surprised her by replying. “There’s no ‘eve’ about it, I’m afraid. The war’s already started. The coreward border is seeing action now. Mostly pirates, if I’m reading between the lines correctly. And Fleet is massing ships on the edges of sectors alpha, delta, and gamma, which suggests they think that’s where the main push is going to come.”

Sediryl said, “What?” Because that was all she could think to say in response to something so obviously outlandish. The Alliance couldn’t possibly be at war. Threatened with it, certainly. But already fighting?

“Would it help to see it?” Maia asked. At Sediryl’s nod, the D-per pulled down a sheet of color like a magician out of legend that clarified into a star map. A cone of purple led from the edge of the Empire inward toward the Alliance Core: the well-defended Core, rich with planets. Targets, Sediryl amended. Rich with targets. And if the dragons were willing to spend their own to plow through the fortifications and Fleet vessels in their way…

The upper corner of the map was already bright red.

“There’s definite fighting there,” Maia said. “If it’s Chatcaava, I’ll wager it’s diversionary. That area’s too far from them to be a good staging platform for a serious initiative.” The D-per hesitated, then finished, “There’s a bulletin out to all shipping. Fleet’s declared a Finite-1 war status.”

“What does that mean?” Sediryl whispered, reaching for the map. It solidified under her palm when she touched it, waiting for command.

“There are only four of those conditions,” Maia said. “One’s a warning. At condition 2 and 3, they’ll start upping taxes to help pay for the war effort. At Infinite, everything’s suspended that isn’t devoted to winning the war. I’ve never seen any of those war warnings used.”

“I see,” Sediryl managed. She fisted her hand, shrinking the map until she could see just how large the Empire loomed in relation to the Alliance. Her own homeworld was lost against those two titans… barely a gleam in the bottom right. “Well. We have work to do, Maia-alet. I think it’s time we were about it. Will you prepare us for departure?”

“Alet,” Maia said, bowing her glowing head, and vanished.

That left Sediryl to tow her luggage into the suite and begin unpacking. Who had used this vessel last, she wondered? Liolesa herself? Or some other Eldritch whose secrets Liolesa had kept?

Did it matter? Those Eldritch had obviously come home in one piece, if they’d managed to bring the ship back. Not only that, but unless Sediryl had completely misheard the subtext in the Queen’s message, those Eldritch had known how to pilot this ship themselves.

She should learn. Learn, and come back one day having built on the legacy of those unknown women and men with stories of how she’d played a part in the salvation of three nations. There was no other outcome possible.

The male who had once been Logistics-East was not overseeing the court dinner; or at least, not paying attention to it. He was sitting on its most rarified pillow, certainly, but his thoughts were distant, as they had been every day since he’d claimed the throne.

Tonight, he was distracted by the problem of titles. Particularly his own.

The male had not expected to find the multiplicity of his titles troublesome because he hadn’t expected to have a multiplicity of titles. He had been Logistics-East. Now he was the Emperor. And while he’d read the references to himself as the Usurper—always levied against him by anonymous Chatcaava on the Empire’s computer network skein—no one had yet dared call him that to his face.

By all proper Chatcaavan standards, he should consider himself the Emperor. Somehow, though, he continued to think of himself as Logistics-East. And now and then, in his least disciplined moments, he found himself admitting “Usurper” was more satisfying than either of his other titles. He liked its implications: abrupt and violent, like a cauterization. He had amputated a diseased limb from the Empire, like a male Outside.

Sometimes he found himself thinking of himself that way, as a male Outside. The males Inside were so… emotional. He found their irrationality frustrating. Did they not understand that allowing their reactions to drive them was unproductive? He himself was not subject to such drives. He knew better.

The Usurper. The Usurper-Surgeon? He pondered permutations. Perhaps he had not settled on a title because none of them was the right title.

“Do I find you brooding?” Second asked, draping himself on the pillow alongside him. “Look about you, Emperor, and see your subjects. They dine in orderly obedience, just as you decree.”

The Usurper—that would do for now—glanced at the males sitting at the tables, ignoring the high table and talking in subdued murmurs. He found the custom of eating on the field outside the palace distasteful. Unhygienic. Who had originated the practice? Perhaps he should amputate it as well. “It is the least of what is required of them. You are tardy, Second.”

“Speaking to the Lord of the Twelveworld, who is halfway back to his homeworld now. He should be back within a month with his fleet.”

None of which interested Logistics-East at all, and he could think of himself as that title while remembering his duties as the military administrator of the Empire’s most industrialized quadrant. He didn’t care about the war he’d promised the Navy in return for their support in his bid for the throne. Second, who’d been Command-East, the fighting head of the eastern quadrant, did care, though, which is why the Usurper had left it in his hands. Still, he didn’t want the Navy losing. At least, not to the freaks. So he said, “I presume he made the journey because there’s some personal business he needs to arrange with those pirates of his.”

“So he says.” Second leaned forward, plucked a strip of spicereed off his plate, chewed on it idly. “Apparently it was not much effort for him to induce the pirates to attack. What does require negotiation is inspiring them to dedicate enough effort to those attacks to make the wingless freaks nervous.” Second snorted. “Apparently the aliens are so spineless they ignore a great deal of lawless activity. The threshold at which they are willing to commit their militaries to the pruning back of piracy is ridiculously high. And then they throw everything at them. Presumably because they fear to lose.”

Logistics-East eyed him. “This sounds like underestimation of the foe. I hope we are not being so stupid as to assume that because they are freaks they can’t actually fight.”

Second snorted. “Be reasonable, huntbrother. It doesn’t matter how hard they fight. They’re going to lose. They don’t have the ships to meet us in battle alone. Us and pirates who have been stealing their own warships from them for years?” He shook his head, eyes narrowing and lips pulling back from his teeth. “They’ll divide their attention and die. They’ll have to; their own people will demand it of them. They aren’t like us. When one dies, they all wail for help.” When the Usurper didn’t respond, Second eyed him. “You’ve seen the numbers. You know I’m right.”

He had seen the numbers. He even agreed with Second’s assessment. But he couldn’t help his nature, which was to plan for contingencies, and to see the seeds of the worst scenarios germinating in every situation. It was why he’d succeeded thus far, and he had no intention of devolving into complacency now. “So long as we remain vigilant.”

“We shall. And to prove it to you, I have a plan to advance to you. One that will net you something you’ve been seeking for months now.”

The Usurper cocked his head, skeptical. “This should be good. Go on. Huntbrother.”

Second grinned, unoffended, and bit off the end of the spicereed. “How about a way to catch that Eldritch you wanted?”

The Usurper stiffened.

“Ah, you see? I do listen.” Tapping the edge of his plate with a claw, Second said, “The ridiculous plan the Slave Queen perpetrated to free her little confederates. The ones we didn’t want anyway. It occurred to me that she had to have aid, yes? And who was her special friend while she was here?”

“The Emperor’s pet freak,” the Usurper hissed.

“The former Emperor’s pet freak, yes,” Second said. “Who will no doubt be waiting for her wherever she’s supposed to have gone. I’ve found one of the traitors who helped smuggle out one of the groups and questioned him. He didn’t tell me everything, but enough to know where to hunt. We need only send a few ships out to wait and we will catch you an Eldritch of your very own.”

The Usurper said nothing. He touched a hand to his chest with a frown, wondering why his heart had chosen this moment to beat erratically. He’d been curious about the creature that had ensnared the interest of the Emperor—former Emperor—enough that he’d sent some hunters to catch one, but all they’d brought him were frustrating reports of how well guarded those particular freaks were. His only promising lead had reported significant contact with an Eldritch willing to betray his people to the Chatcaava, but that male had vanished and the Usurper hadn’t heard from him since.

The longer he went without owning one of these mysterious aliens, the more he wanted to understand their mystique. But as much as he wanted to examine one for himself, he wasn’t sure he wanted the Emperor’s particular Eldritch. What magic did that freak command to have corrupted a Chatcaavan as powerful as the male the Usurper had deposed?

And yet, he had deposed the former Emperor, hadn’t he? As long as he was careful….

“We have had a warrant out for that particular individual,” Second said casually. “And almost caught him on his way back to the freaks’ part of space. It was… embarrassing.”

“And you want to be the one to bring him to heel, is that it?” The Usurper managed a thin smile. “Why not, then? Let’s see if your plan works.”

“It will,” Second said confidently. Gazing out over the court, he said, casual, “It’s a pity your predecessor won’t ever know that his precious pet alien died here at your hand.”

The Usurper laughed. “Him? No. I imagine he’s not in a position to know anything ever again.”

“Poor former Emperor,” Second said with a smirk. “Made friends with the freaks in time for them to teach him to trust. He should have known better.”

The Usurper lifted his jeweled cup. “Everyone has a price.”

“So they do.” Second toasted him. “To the demise of the former Emperor. May he live long enough to know himself betrayed.”

“Or not,” the Usurper said. “The end is the same, and the end is all I care about.”