• I promised you I would fight to my last breath, Coordinator. And I am. I’m fighting to keep Taqua alive—the planet you abandoned.
    Voisloid turned toward the crowd of people, assembled to demand what was going on. He would tell them alright.
    “My people, listen to me. The IGM, who we have fought for and served so long, that only survived because of our effort and technology, that only survived because we supported it, has left. It is no more than a dying dream.”
    He let that settle with the crowd a second before continuing. This time he didn’t have to be so loud, but he kept his voice amplifier at the same volume. “They cannot stand any longer, because they are cowards. As soon as the Coordinator and the other grand admirals began to suspect that the New Order would come after them, they fled for Ayarth. Did any of you know they left? Raise your hand if you did.”
    As he suspected, not a single hand was raised. Voisloid knew that they had wanted to leave in as much secrecy as possible. “Why did none of you know? Because they clearly don’t care about you. I know this is the kind of speech you’ve heard from children’s movies, but can any of you deny it? Who here can say that they did care about us, that they did appreciate us, after they left us here to face the New Order’s full wrath? But my friends, I will not let you die.
    “I will not let Taqua fall in war! Never will I let Taqua die for a fight that cannot be won. The New Order has promised us peace if we join them. So what if taxes will be higher? So what if our technological progress slows? It is better than stopping it entirely. It is better to have our money taken than our lives.
    “Above all, my friends, we now have a common enemy. Even if we don’t join the New Order, we can ally ourselves with them, because we have a score to settle with the IGM. And I can guarantee that they won’t harm us—what they seek is in my head alone.
    “Will you stand with me, as I ally myself with the New Order for the sake of our world?”
    All around, there was cheering. He was well aware that not everyone was cheering—he would’ve been a fool to expect that—but everyone realized, at least, that they had no choice.
    A chant started. “Voisloid Goft,” they chanted.
    Suddenly a great sadness settled over the grand admiral. “My friends,” he said, his voice suddenly weary, “do not cheer me on. You do not fight for me in war; you fight to preserve Taqua. Just as I fight to preserve it. I’m not asking you to follow me, I’m asking you to join me. Make sure you do not confuse the two.” With that, he turned his back to the crowd and walked away.
    An angry face met him. “Who gave you the authority to ally Taqua with UNO?” It was Jon Akkraf, the president of Taqua.
    In reply, Voisloid looked up at the sky. There was a shuttle coming down. “He did.”
    The president gasped. “They’re already here?”
    “Yes, and the IGM didn’t even see fit to warn you.”
    * * *
    Voisloid stared at the man in front of him for a moment, making sure it was really him. “Nithril.”
    “Grand Admiral Goft,” he responded pleasantly. “You probably won’t believe me, but I am so pleased to see that we could make a peaceful arrangement. War is such a dirty thing—I have no regret for the robots destroyed—money is easy to get, after all—but human life cannot be replicated so easily. I always hate ordering death.”
    “Don’t get too comfortable,” Voisloid said. “There’s a war yet. The IGM is not here. They fled as soon as they suspected you were coming. They left Taqua to die.”
    Understanding crossed Nithril’s face. But it also seemed as if this was a sobering reality to him. As if he wanted it to have ended here. “And I suppose you want revenge, so you’re going to tell me exactly where they are.”
    “Not so simple. I want a guarantee that no Taquans will be harmed unless they are in direct affiliation with the IGM.”
    “Or they rebel in some other way, of course. Do you really not trust me? Never mind—stupid question.”
    “I don’t trust the em… president.”
    “Right. Well, you’ll have to come with me—”
    “Not so fast. I’m staying right here until I know we’re on peaceful terms.”
    “Even if you do have body guards hidden somewhere, Voisloid, my robots here could easily take them down. These two are not the average robots—they received much more detail in their programming and weapon systems, and they were even built to think to some extent.”
    “And what happens when they wonder why they’re working for you?”
    “They won’t. They’re programmed with greed.”
    “Oh, so you’re paying them.”
    “Yes.”
    Voisloid looked over the robots. They each had various types of guns attached to each arm, and rockets attached to their legs and backs for flight. They had super thin frames, but he knew that they were strong. Their heads were small—only large enough for the proper optical and auditory input. The metal was shiny silver, and they looked more like aliens from a movie than robots.
    Voisloid turned his gaze back to Nithril. “You have to comply to my wishes for a couple of reasons. First, I have a detailed report that would allow you to crush the IGM.”
    “Don’t overestimate the value of such information. We will find them, one way or another, and we will crush them. Your proposal just makes things slightly quicker. If you take too long giving it to us, it would be better for me to just leave.”
    “Second, I have the entire base that you’re standing in under my control. This hall is currently going through a self-destruct sequence, waiting on my command to complete the cycle. If you try to kill me, or if you refuse to comply, you too will die.”
    “Go ahead. Complete the cycle, and let my army destroy this planet. And you know they will.”
    Voisloid locked his gaze with Nithril’s. Neither was willing to budge. Then a loud noise came from inside of his head. It drowned out everything else, and he couldn’t even hear himself screaming. It seemed like eternity had passed before he was able to gratefully accept the darkness.
    * * *
    Nithril had not been at the meeting at all. He had left a robotic replica in charge. It was designed to look, talk, and act like him. He knew it was efficient because he had built it from scratch by himself. In fact, it had even been given the ability to think. This was the only thinking robot in his possession that didn’t need to be programmed with greed—it just needed to be programmed with his own personality and goals. Not even the emperor knew about the machine.
    The real Nithril had been remotely observing the progress of a group of robotic informational probes, or “RIPs,” as they were more commonly called. Beyond being an acronym, it was fitting because they were originally designed for work on crime scenes. They had flown all over, but the one he was currently interested in was in the medical bay.
    The IGM had been wise enough to erase the records of themselves from the main computer. However, knowledge of biological weapons used in the past by UNO forced them to take weekly scans. Rarely did they have a test that required drawn blood, and that was always sterilized thoroughly, so that would do him no good. However… they made one critical error.
    The probe had already disabled a medical robot and overwritten its own ID with the medical robot’s. So when it plugged itself into the computer and requested information on patients that were due for a check up, it encountered no resistance.
    The most important would be listed first.

    Coordinator Marie
    Grand Admiral Lliahm Wele
    Grand Admiral Yjeyd

    “Ha!” Nithril exclaimed. “After twenty-three years, we finally know the Coordinator’s name.”
    “What good does it do us?” Commodore Fenn asked. “There’s no surname.”
    “You have so much to learn, Commodore. Observe me closely, and you may make it as an admiral. Look closely. Of the three names listed first, only one has a surname. But that’s not the point. Marie is an Earthling name, so we know that the rebellion is being led by an Earthling. This would be a shocking reality even for the rebel troops. Yjeyd is a Ryeaoan name.”
    “Yeah, so there’s a grand admiral from Ryeao. So what?”
    “Think about what Grand Admiral Goft said. The rebellion has fled. Where would they flee to? Earth would be a poor decision, would it not? If they went there, the war would be the least of their concerns. They would spend all of their time trying to thwart assassinations and terrorism. Ryeao would be even worse—only four percent of those who go there ever make it back out alive. Even I don’t give them such mortifying numbers.”
    “Then where does that leave?”
    “Lliahm Wele is an Ayarthan name. That’s where we’ll go.”
    “Then we have no need for the turncoat.”
    “That may be so, but I’ll play along with him for a little while.”
    “You’ll what? You know where the rebels are going, and you want to stand around here and play a game?”
    “The president expects me to permanently eliminate Taqua as a threat. That means I have to level the planet. I have neither the time nor the resources to do that, currently. If we wait a while and play along with Goft, we will reach a conclusion that spares millions of lives and brings us to the end objective faster.”
    “Since when does the President’s Hand care about a few million lives?”
    “Since those lives possess technology even greater than our own. If they’re our enemies, we have to take the time to destroy them, and then the rest of the rebels will come out of hiding while we’re at our weakest. However, if Taqua becomes our ally, we gain access to new technology and endless possibilities.”
    “How is it that you can come up with all of this so quickly?” Thorburn asked.
    “I’ve been the President’s Hand since I was fifteen. Don’t you think that perhaps there’s a reason for that?”
    * * *
    “Such a pity that you made my robot do that,” Nithril said to the barely conscious figure. “I would’ve preferred it if you had come willingly.”
    “Come?”
    “You’re on my ship now, the Reckless Wanderer. The computer part of your brain has been temporarily disabled, but I can make it permanent if you continue to resist.”
    “You were bold to jam my connection to the base,” Voisloid told him. “The slightest error and you would be dead.”
    “What? Oh yes… You thought that was me.”
    “What?”
    “Come here, Replica.”
    Nithril had to admit to himself that he felt some pleasure at the confusion Voisloid displayed when a second Nithril walked up to him.
    “This is Replica. He is my own creation. My personality is his personality. My goals are his goals. He takes over for me when I’d rather not be somewhere.”
    “Then you’ve already betrayed me! Why should I tell you—”
    “How could I have betrayed you when we were never officially allies? Oh, you will tell me everything, alright.”
    Four guns swiveled from corners of the cell Voisloid was in, and lasers shot at him. At the same time, though, a red light washed over him, and the lasers never touched him.
    “Listen closely,” Nithril said. “That light is acting as a shield. It has the exact rays it needs to cancel out the effects of the laser guns. It does, however, cause serious medical issues if you stay in it too long. And don’t think you can just step around the lasers—those guns are locked onto you. So you see, you really have no options. Whatever problems occur because of the light should be curable, as long as you limit your time in it to a couple of days. So the light is killing you. The problem is that it’s protecting you from a quicker death. But remember this: there will be no negotiations regarding your people’s fate if you die. So I suggest you don’t take too long in telling me what I want to know. If you procrastinate, you will die. If you directly defy me, you will die. And more likely than not, Taqua will find out about your death and will seek war. I’ll leave you to your thoughts now.”
    Nithril walked out of the room, knowing he was leaving Voisloid with no hope.
    * * *
    “Why all the theatrics?” Thorburn asked. “It would be simpler to just—”
    Nithril smiled. “You’d be surprised at the psychological effects theatrics have when dealing with prisoners. I take it you’ve never interrogated someone?”
    “I’m not exactly known for taking prisoners.”
    “Ah, yes, I forgot about that. Commodore Fenn, also known as Bloodstain Fenn. You were the one in charge of the massacre of Dzifign.”
    Thorburn smiled. “I take pride in that operation.”
    “Yes, of course, you handled it excellently. However, you made one mistake.”
    The smile faded, and the usual scowl was back. “And what is that?”
    “You made your name well known among the survivors. If you ever meet another Dzifignin, you’re very likely to die.”
    “Like you’re one to talk. The whole universe wants to kill you.”
    “That’s different, Commodore.”
    “Oh really?” Fenn sneered. “How so?”
    “I have the skill to survive, even without a single friend in existence.”
    Without a single friend in existence. He had never had any friends for as long as he could remember. The president had pretended to be his friend, but it was only to make him into a weapon. There had never been anyone—no, wait, there was one time… No! Nithril thought. If I have a flashback in front of Fenn, he’ll catch onto my weakness!
    Too late.
    * * *
    “Get away!” the president said. “We have no time for street rats!”
    “But, sir,” Nithril said, “she looks nice, doesn’t she? I don’t think she’ll do anything mean.”
    “That’s right, Nithril,” the little girl said. She had chocolate-brown hair and the same color in her eyes. She was around seven years old, Nithril’s age.
    “H-how do you know my name?”
    “I just wanted to check. I had to see if it was really you, and if you really… don’t remember.”
    “This is your last chance,” the president warned. “Leave us.”
    She turned to walk away willingly, but she called over her shoulder, “I forgive you for whatever you’re going to do. After all, you’re not yourself. When you remember who you are, let me know. I’ll be in our usual spot.”
    “Who was she?” Nithril asked.
    “A street rat,” the president responded. “Didn’t you notice the rags she was wearing? She means nothing to us.”
    * * *
    “Sir?”
    Nithril shook himself back into awareness. “Yes, Commodore?”
    Thorburn was scowling at him, as usual. “You spaced out for a moment. Is there something wrong?”
    Nithril silently swore. I’ve revealed my weakness. Now what do I do? “No, I was just thinking of a plan for when we go to Ayarth.”
    But really, he couldn’t take his mind off of that girl. Who was she, and why couldn’t he remember?
    * * *
    Kriqua felt something probing her mind as she worked. The mechanical part of her brain tried to identify it, but it wouldn’t be identified. It went around the firewalls put up, as if it knew the exact programs used—
    Juxa.
    Kriqua knew she couldn’t match Juxa’s hacking skills. If she tried to keep the fight in her head, she would be defeated. She didn’t know what Juxa was doing, but it had to stop. Her mind continued to put up firewalls as she pretended not to notice. Reaching down, her hand fumbled through the tool box. “Dociluas,” she said, giving him an urgent look that she hoped he could understand, “You need to go check on the engines again. There’s something that seems a little bit off-balance. You’ll need this—” Then she found what she was looking for. She pretended to be looking for a wrench, but Dociluas knew better. Her hand wrapped around it. “This knife!”
    She pulled out a small knife and whirled on Juxa, aiming for her throat. She didn’t go for the kill—she still wasn’t sure what was going on. She just pointed it at where Juxa’s neck was… but the knife was knocked out of her hand by a swift maneuver Juxa had prepared. After disarming her, Juxa kicked Kriqua’s stomach, then stood up just in time to dive out of Dociluas’s way, who had grabbed the knife right out of the air.
    Juxa pulled a knife out of a pouch on her belt and parried Dociluas’s knife. They continued to jab at and parry each other, but Kriqua realized that Juxa was multitasking better than the younger Taquan could hope for. Her probe continued to dig into Kriqua’s mind, even though the progress was slower than before. For a few moments, she tried to fight it, but she saw that Juxa was winning the knife fight. Once she finished that, she would have no distractions, and she would crush Kriqua’s resistance. So Kriqua was helpless.
    Almost.
    It was dangerous, and she hadn’t heard of anyone doing it successfully—they were still only theories. But she had to try.
    Focusing all of her consciousness on the mechanical part of her brain, she connected with the computer of the ship… and she left her body. She was a small probe among the computer, and for a moment, she was confused. She had never seen the computer from this perspective. But when she realized where she was, she realized what she needed to do. She navigated through the internal programming until she got to the core. Then she slammed her consciousness into the core.
    For a long time, there was nothing. She saw black. It seemed like eternity.
    Then she saw light. But it was from dozens of different places. There were thousands of thoughts in her head. There was so much she was doing. Why was she doing it? Because the pilot told me to, some part of her brain responded. Then she understood. It worked. She was the ship. She focused on one source of light at a time—each was a different camera. She sorted through them, getting to know them, until she found the one that was for the cockpit. She saw Juxa and Dociluas fighting with their knives, and she saw her own body lying on the floor.
    She had to do something. There were plenty of weapons she had control of, but she wasn’t used to them, so she could kill Dociluas by mistake. No, she couldn’t risk that. She tried to grow accustomed to the different programs she was now in control of as she watched the battle. Then Juxa threw up her hand, catching Dociluas’s blade with her own. Their arms went high, and Juxa leapt into the air and kicked with both feet. Dociluas went flying across the room, and the knife fell out of his grip and far from his reach. Juxa also fell, of course, but she got up in a split second and ran toward Dociluas, who was still on the ground, winded. She leapt into the air, knife ready to jab downwards into him. Dociluas reached for the pistols at his belt, but he was too slow. Juxa wasn’t using her guns because she would obviously want to avoid the others charging into the room. She needed the battle to be silent.
    Kriqua couldn’t just watch. She had to help. But she wasn’t yet familiar with the systems at her disposal. Yet there was one thing she could do. She shut down the artificial gravity. With the gravity, Juxa would’ve landed on top of Dociluas and ended his life. But with the gravity gone, she instead slammed into the wall, taking a hard hit on her head.
    Taken by surprise, Dociluas wasn’t able to aim his weapons before Juxa had recovered. She pushed off the ceiling at an angle, diving for Dociluas with her knife. But Kriqua knew now that she had a weapon she could use, and she would use it again. She turned the gravity back on, and Juxa slammed into the ground. Kriqua realized a crucial problem—Dociluas was incredibly useful for all of his skills, but he had almost no experience in direct combat, and clearly was incapable of adapting to the gravity situation. Still, he struggled to his feet, and instead of turning to face Juxa again, he ran to the console and slammed a button. An alarm blared throughout the ship, echoing in Kriqua’s mind. She felt her weapons activating…
    Thinking quickly, Kriqua put her weapons on standby and closed and locked all doors. Then she calculated everyone’s positions and opened doors that would take them to the cockpit. That way, she knew, the others would come.
    She turned her attention back to Dociluas and Juxa. When Kriqua had closed all the doors, she had also eliminated Juxa’s chance for escape. She knew that—but Kriqua also knew how dangerous a cornered animal can be.
    Abandoning skill in favor of aggression, Juxa threw her knife at Dociluas. It was easy to duck and avoid it, but in that moment Juxa drew her guns. Dociluas was suddenly overjoyed that he had disabled her Hover Orb during the fight between Kriqua and Juxa. Dociluas ducked for cover as Juxa fired. Like Kriqua, Juxa’s pistols were linked to her mind. If she took a fraction of a second to stop and aim, she would kill Dociluas. As it was, she kept him running, refusing to give him even the blink of an eye to fire back. She didn’t think she had time to aim. She was over-estimating his skills, but it worked in his favor, although he knew it wouldn’t last.
    Then a different kind of gunfire sounded, and Juxa’s pistols fell to the ground with electrical bullets sticking out of them. Mark stood, pointing his rifle at Juxa. “Don’t move.”
    Ryan ran into the room also. “Juxa, what is going on here?” he demanded.
    “I told you they couldn’t be trusted! They assaulted me; I only did what I had to!”
    Ryan dove away from Mark, rolled, and came up in a crouch, pointing his chain gun directly at Mark. “Put your gun down.”
    “Lionhart, if you’re willing to be reasonable, I have proof that Juxa has been attempting to install self-destruct programs inside Kriqua’s head.”
    “It was precaution!” Juxa insisted, almost screaming. “Kriqua started this whole thing!”
    Ryan was sweating. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said, still pointing his gun at Mark, “but you need to put your gun down right now, so we can figure things out.”
    Ryan suddenly felt something rubbery around his neck, and a crystal stabbed into his chain gun. A shower of sparks told him that the gun was now useless. The thing around his neck got tighter, and it fit exactly, as if it was changing shape to match his throat.
    Thyu’s voice came from behind him. “Have you ever heard about how painful an Ayarthan chokehold is? No? That’s because Earthlings don’t survive to tell about it. You see, right now my arm is the exact shape of your neck. But if I stiffen my muscles a bit, my arm will become straighter. If that happens, your throat will also become straighter. Would you like me to show you?”
    Ryan couldn’t reply. His face was purple. Thyu pulled his arm back like a whip being cracked, and Ryan spun around once before collapsing to the floor. Peyb and Inen charged into the room. Once they saw what was going on, Peyb dashed for Mark while Inen went for Thyu. Mark never took the sight of his gun off of Juxa, because he knew he didn’t have to. He felt someone breathing down his neck, and he knew who it was.
    Peyb jumped and pulled his fist back, getting ready to strike Mark, but Juyrl leapt into the air and fell toward Peyb. Easily having the higher altitude, Juyrl kicked Peyb’s shoulders with both feet, shoving Peyb to the ground. Juyrl landed behind Peyb as he began to rise. Peyb turned and swung his fist before he fully rose to his feet, but Juyrl caught his fist and brought his knee up to hit Peyb’s chin. The force of the blow caused Peyb to flip backward and hit his head on the floor, inches away from Mark’s feet.
    Mark still hadn’t moved. He had full confidence in Juyrl’s ability to handle the situation.
    * * *
    Thyu couldn’t see. He remembered Inen coming after him. He had thrown his crystal dagger with all his might. It had struck Inen, but it didn’t sink in. It had cut deep, but bounced off, causing significantly less damage than Thyu had expected. She would bleed to death if she wasn’t treated, but she could easily survive the fight like this. It hadn’t even phased her. She had charged forward and slammed into Thyu. He had flown into the wall. She had slammed him into the ground, the wall, and even the ceiling so many times that he could no longer tell which one was which.
    He felt himself falling. He knew he was about to get hit again. A few more times would be too much for him. He was falling to his death… The gravity shut off. He was still falling, of course, if it could be called that. But then the engines activated, and the ship took a hard roll, changing his course. He hit something—the wall?—and tried to make sense of his blurred vision. He saw a shape that seemed vaguely human, and it had red skin. His mind was barely able to focus, but he assumed it was Inen. Another red shape slammed into her… what was going on?
    * * *
    When the gravity shut off and the ship started rolling, everyone was knocked into the wall, and the ship came out of it’s roll to simply move sideways, pressing everyone against the wall. Juyrl had caught onto the doorway, and Mark was still in the doorway, but Peyb had fallen and collided directly with Inen. Juyrl jumped after them. He almost landed on top of them, but they rolled separate ways and stood up, surrounding him.
    Juyrl didn’t fully understand what was going on, but since the ship did something every time something was about to go wrong for Mark’s team, he assumed that Kriqua had something to do with it. Since it was Kriqua operating the ship, he knew what would happen next. So when the artificial gravity turned back on, he was prepared to hit the floor. He landed on his feet while Peyb and Inen landed hard. He kicked Peyb’s stomach, sending him away, and turned to grab Inen’s head as she stood up. Spinning around, he threw her into Peyb, who was just then struggling to his feet. They both sprawled out on the floor.
    Juyrl would’ve run forward to make sure the other Ryeaoans stayed down, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Ryan coming at him with a knife. Fool. He’s barely conscious and he comes after me? Juyrl reached forward to grab the knife, but Ryan moved faster than he expected. He maneuvered the knife around Juyrl’s arm and slashed lightly across his wrist. It was a fancy maneuver, and it would’ve cut the tendons in another human of a different race. Juyrl flicked his wrist upward as he moved his arm forward, which cuffed Ryan’s chin and sent him sprawling across the floor.
    The Ryeaoans were coming up behind him, but Dociluas was there too. Knowing that Inen was better trained in combat than Peyb, he targeted her and fired at her neck. Because his guns were so weak, it wouldn’t kill her, but it caused her to choke and halt her progress for just a second. Juyrl threw Dociluas in the other direction, and then, without turning around, he ducked Peyb’s blow and kicked his shin. Then he turned around to face his injured foes.
    Dociluas landed and dove for Ryan, who had pulled a grenade out of his belt pouch. Instead of reaching for the grenade, he jabbed two fingers at the front of Ryan’s wrist, hitting the tendons. The grenade flew out of his hand, with the pin still in place. Ryan kicked Dociluas in the stomach, but as he crumpled over, he reached out his hands to catch Ryan’s ankle before he could pull his leg back. He twisted, and Ryan fell to the ground. However, Dociluas was winded, and he also fell to the ground.
    Inen had recovered already, and she lunged for Juyrl, grabbing a knife from her belt. The superior fighter had acted calmly as he grabbed the end of it with the tips of his fingers. His other hand reached up palm-first and struck the middle of the blade, shattering it. Inen stepped back, acknowledging submission, as Peyb continued to attack Juyrl. Juyrl was still holding a shard of the broken knife, and he threw it at Peyb’s face. He ducked, but Juyrl had expected that. As one arm threw the broken blade, the other arm came down from above, and then slammed into the metal. The shard changed its direction and went down, striking Peyb’s already injured shin.
    Peyb cried out in pain, and Juyrl kneed his face, sprawling him across the floor. Peyb was still conscious, of course, but there was no longer any question whatsoever as to who was the better fighter. Juyrl had won.
    * * *
    Mark hadn’t been passive during all of this. He had been interrogating Juxa about what happened to Kriqua and the ship. At first she had spurted lies that she had no idea, and that there was no way the two could be related, but with a bullet in her foot, he had convinced her to tell the truth.
    It was only a theory, but Juxa believed that Kriqua had fused her mind with the ship. She had no clue if Kriqua could undo it, or if her body even still lived. Of that, Mark could tell she had been truthful.
    Further, he had convinced her to admit that she had invaded Kriqua’s mind, and that was what had started the conflict. “Stop!” he shouted to everyone when he had pieced everything together. Most of them seemed glad to do so. He assessed everyone’s condition, starting with his team. Juyrl was unhurt, as he expected. Dociluas was in pain, but fine. However, Thyu was unconscious and would need medical attention. If Kriqua could return to her body, she might need a cast. On the other side, Ryan would be out of action for a while. Inen would die without medical attention, and Peyb had a broken and punctured leg. “Everyone who can hear me, listen to what Juxa has to say.”
    “I started this. I assaulted Kriqua’s mind first. And no, I am not ashamed.”
    “And what happened to Kriqua?” Mark prompted.
    “She has fused with the Silent Thunder’s computer. She now is the ship, essentially. There’s no telling whether or not she’ll be able to get back. Nobody has ever fused with a machine like that before—there were only theories.”
    “Now tell them why you did it.” He said “them”, but in reality, he had no clue. He couldn’t imagine why Juxa had betrayed them.
    “Because I serve Taqua, not the IGM! The IGM has abandoned my planet!”
    Everyone conscious was shocked. “What?” Ryan gasped.
    “I was informed of this before we left. Grand Admiral Goft entrusted me to sabotage your efforts at any cost. The IGM has retreated from Taqua in anticipation of an enemy attack, and Voisloid is probably negotiating an alliance with UNO as we speak.”
    So Dociluas was right, Mark thought. He saw that Dociluas was struggling not to let his emotions show. Taqua is lost.
    Ryan’s mouth hung open until he managed to speak. “You turned us against each other! You betrayed the IGM!”
    “No! The IGM betrayed Taqua! Dociluas, join me! Kriqua, if you can hear me, join me!”
    Dociluas shook his head. To mask his misery, he let his anger show. “Then all of our efforts for the IGM would be for nothing. I knew that UNO would attack our planet, but I had hoped they would fight for it. I would’ve been honored to make their sacrifice worth something. But instead, they have sacrificed their honor, and made all of their own efforts for nothing. I am, and always will be, loyal to the Independent Governments Movement!”
    Ryan stood, slowly and painfully. “Juxa Zivango, you are a traitor to the IGM, and a deserter of our squad. I do not have to strip you of your rank, as you have already done so yourself. You are now a prisoner of war, and will be treated as an enemy. You will be held in a prison cell onboard the ship until we can get to a government prison to hold you in.”
    With a snarl, Juxa charged at Ryan, forgetting that Mark still had his rifle pointed at her. Even with all of her speed, one shot was all that Mark needed. The bullet dug into her thigh, and she fell to the hard floor. She was unconscious.
    It was over.