So many things happened after my arrival on Tarsonis. Where to start? Oh yes, some sucky jerk tried to kill me just outside the gates of Megiddo. Rindell took the bullet in her human puppet body, and then another bullet, and then she whipped an acid spine out of her forearm which buried itself into the shooter's head. The shooter was 40 meters away on a rooftop, using a sniper rifle. He was a private hitman. Myself and associates are assuming he worked for GenTek.

My Tarsonis trek went swimmingly otherwise. The perimeter of my workshop had a generous minefield, with plenty of bunkers and a few Siege Tanks. The building itself was a connected blend of an industrial scale Factory and Science Facility. Stetmann wanted to show me his boring mining rig project and I humored him. We have a lot of bright and hungry talent with experience in engineering and applied science, and we're cranking out the Purpletooth like popcorn with custom-built production lines. I'm confident that once production volume increases and we can expand distribution, its sales will spike on some world or another and that'll be its breakout.

I had to do this; I had to birth, and then build a brand; a name, in the same way I built my brood on Sephulli. That was the only way I could fight GenTek, an organization so very woven into the nation my mother doesn't want me to fight. I need to steal its market; its life force, by supplanting its role one bloc at a time. My new organization was having a similar start to GenTek's, and whether Kuraski knew it or not I read his unwritten rulebook; his history of successes, and have no compunctions about emulating it. Just as I would steal the essence of a powerful enemy who faced me in war.

An office had been prepared for me in the upper floors. The commander of Megiddo's militia came to meet with me. He was curious about my fortifications and what effect it'd have on the nearby town's defenses in the event of a raider or feral Zerg attack. We came to a cordial mutual defense agreement in which my mercs would help defend the town, or the Militia would reinforce my Workshop depending on which was the target.

Controlling the feral Zerg was not an option. Even if it didn't take immense time and effort to take command of just a handful of Zerg whose original controller was gone, it would be too conspicuous. Word of their organized patterns would get out, and then the Dominion would rightly deem it a priority one threat and send half the Core Fleet to burn every Hive Cluster not underground, refusing to leave until the controller was found and destroyed. An air battle against a fleet of those mammoth Gorgon Battlecruisers with accompanying squadrons of Minotaurs was the last thing I ever wanted to fight without a ton of preparation and a sizable force at my back.

My Reactor project would need a number of rare metals. The precious metal mines on Tarsonis were managed by the local government. This made buying from them a bit more complicated, but after a few phone calls I found the people who did the actual legwork of managing the mines and made a few deals under the table. I get my ore on the cheap-cheap by picking it up right outside the mines, and they save so much on shipping costs that their financial books actually look healthier. Happy end for everyone.

By far my most interesting guest came in the middle of the night. I was at my desk. The steel building and compound outside were illuminated with spotlights, lampposts, and the windows of the lit interior. A Dropship took off and landed in the inner courtyard numerous times as the nightshift was rotated in.

Nova had tracked me to Tarsonis, and infiltrated my building at nightfall. When she decloaked inside my office I immediately shot to my feet.

No words were spoken, I went around my desk, right up to her and gave her a big hug. "Ghost lady!" She didn't stop me. "I'm so happy to see you again."

"Wha-" she was taken aback, her arms nervously outspread as she kept balance with me bear hugging her. "You really are Saraslha."

I let go, looking up at her. "It's Syrenne while I look like this, okay?"

"I don't understand. What are you doing here? Why do you look human?"

I turned around, walking back to my desk. "Can I get you a cola? Some snack cakes perhaps? Please, make yourself comfortable."

Nova stepped forward, annoyed. "I want answer—"

Just then RIndell came out from the shadows behind Nova, placing a hand on her shoulder as she walked into her field of vision. Nova genuinely wasn't aware of her and was startled. "It is good to see you again, Ghost lady."

She calmed, looking up at Rindell's face. "Who are you?"

"I'm Rindell!" She said with a wooden grin which I'd seen her put a lot of practice into making. It was not a fake smile, but rather untrained. "I projected my mind into this body, in order to protect Saraslha."

"I seriously did not detect you as I came in." Nova brushed the hand off her shoulder.

"If you had been somebody who meant harm to her, I would have ended your existence." Her genuine smile persisted.

Nova went back to facing me, stepping toward my desk. "Look, Saraslha, we're getting sidetracked—"

"It's Syrenne," I shyly corrected. "Nova, please, alias. You were trained in espionage for heaven's sake."

"I don't know what's going on!" She burst out, placing a hand on my desk as she looked me in the eye. "I sensed you here and thought you were a prisoner."

"What? No." I was shaking my head. "But it's safe to guess that Valerian asked you to find me."

"Yes." She stood straight, calming as her brow relaxed and the mood of the room let itself calm. "You're coming with me, Saraslha. I'm taking you back to Korhal."

I sighed, knowing this part to be inevitable. If she hadn't found me, then it would have been Dehaka. It was only a matter of time. I frowned, wincing down at my desk as I stood behind it.

"I saw somebody try to kill you outside town, earlier." Nova gestured outside through the window as she spoke. "You have no right to put yourself in danger like this."

"Yes, I understand that. It's just—"

"Just nothing." She said forcefully, dismissing what I said with a hand wave. "What do you think happens if you die on the Dominion's watch, Saraslha? Take a guess. Take a good goddamned guess."

Now in a suddenly accosted mindset, I processed this. "Mother… would be..." It was the happiest moment in my life, when Mom came out about how much she cared about me.

"Zagara would blame us, Humanity, for your loss. And then our relations are back to square one, if not outright war. It's not just your own life you're putting at risk."

She was bringing out all the doubts I had about what I was doing. "It's my nature, Nova." My voice was quiet and strained. I'd sat in my chair, my hands knit as I stared into them. "I've been challenged, aggressed, I'm at war. If I run away, he wins. Do you understand?" I looked up at her eyes now. "He'll have all the time in the world to plan his next attempt on my life, or to start a war some other way. If I run, I don't grow, I don't learn, and the problem persists.

"What are you talking about?" Nova's voice was quiet as well, she shook her head. "Of course you'll grow."

"How is that?"

"Coming back with me is the most grown up decision you could possibly make right now, Saraslha. You don't have to solve the issue with Kuraski on your own." She looked off. "I… know, that it isn't fair. You should be able to visit our nation without fear of some moron trying to kill you. That's our failing, not yours. All of that said…" She seemed to have difficulty finding the words. Speaking on an emotional level was not one of her skills. "Right now, you're Broodmother Rindell—in her situation, standing in the news room. The Garrison has their guns on you, and you can either fight or surrender." She was looking me in the eyes now. "She acted against her nature, when she surrendered. Was that the wrong decision?"

As I processed this, I let out the groaniest of groans as I forcefully slouched back in my chair.

"The Ghost Lady… makes a persuasive argument, my Princess." Rindell said. "We should trust the humans to take care of their own bad apples."

"I know…" My words came out in a tone of disgruntled concession. And then, once my venting took its course, I snapped forward to lean over my desk again. "You win, Nova." But then I suddenly had a finger raised at her. "LBP is here to stay though."

Nova frowned. "The hell is LBP?"

"Not important, pay it no mind." I dismissed it with a hand wave. "You win, Nova. I'll go with you. Just… give me some time, an hour or so, to put affairs in order."

"You've made the right decision, Saraslha." Nova indicated the window past my desk. "I'll call for pickup in your courtyard. My dropship is the safest means of getting you to my ship in orbit."

I nodded. "understood."

Valerian was at his usual spot in the conference room. For the first time in awhile he felt relief and release from a stress long built up. He was slouched back in his chair, humming not unpleasantly.

"You… wanted to see me, sir?" Matt Horner's voice could be heard as he approached.

"We've got her, Matt." Valerian's voice carried an extremely rare tone of casual friendliness. "The Princess, she's on her way back to the Palace."

"Wow that's… a huge load off." Horner's relief was apparent, Valerian knew exactly how he felt. "Who found her?"

A small, crooked smile appeared on Valerian's mouth with his eyes shut looking upward, still leaned back. "It was Nova Terra. Your man Dehaka… just wasn't fast enough."

Horner tsked. "I suppose I owe you a drink."

"That you do."

"I'll have a lot of questions for Saraslha, once she's back at the Palace. What was she thinking? An attempt on her life was made, and she avoided our protection?"

"If she were my daughter I'd put her over my knee and give her a good spanking." Valerian's levity persisted. "The Overqueen needs to have a stern talk with her… Speaking of which." He hovered a hand over a keypad built into his spot of the table, a few button presses activated the projector, and dialed the Zerg embassy.

Izsha's projection appeared. The semi-humanoid Zerg had her eyes shut, and a metallic psi insulator was worn around her head. This was the only way she could have any privacy on Korhal, being a telepath with no inhibition procedures done on her. She noticed the projector, and her eyes opened as she removed the device easily using the thick talons on the ends of her appendages. "What is it you require, Emperor Valerian?" The norm of her voice tone was almost perfect consistency, however this moment it carried a hint of drowsiness.

"Ambassador, you can inform the Overqueen that her daughter has been found, and she'll be available to speak on our end within the hour."

"Understood." She said normally, with no hint or suggestion that she was annoyed at being woken. "She will be very pleased with this news." The projection vanished.

Valerian expected her to call back soon. The Zerg were oblivious where communication protocols; such as saying they would call back, were concerned, so he always waited near his end to be certain, and instructed any staff who communicated with them to do the same.

"What do you think the Princess will have to say about Kuraski?" Matt Horner said. "Do you think she'll demand we prosecute him?"

"I'd be surprised if she didn't. And it could lead to a diplomatic quagmire if we don't." He was sober now, pulling a glove tighter on his hand absentmindedly. "The Dominion is a sovereign nation. No foreign element can be allowed to police our populace, no matter whom the aggrieved party is or how reasonable their grievance. It's our place to carry out judgement, not theirs."

Horner shook his head. "Though it feels all kinds of strange to say this, the Zerg would be right to demand it of us."

The stress came in; the Emperor's inability to provide that to them without proper evidence and due process. "I'll… talk to her, the Princess." Valerian said. "Talk to her socially, not officially. She's… an adolescent, but our meeting a week ago has made me dare to hope that she's reasonable."

David Kuraski had a video call running in his office. The person on the screen was a woman in mercenary attire with short purple hair and a cybernetic eye. He was pacing as he spoke to her. "And so I can assume you're satisfied with my bid, Mira Han?"

Mira Han was the leader of Mira's Marauders, a mercenary army. She had a solid poker face, and spoke with a heavy accent. "I would prefer to know the specifics of the job before my price is finalized, David."

"Destroy the LBP facility on Tarsonis and Kill Syrenne Haelstrom." He slowed his pacing a bit. "Tarsonis is a strategically insignificant world, and the presence of law is lax. It's the perfect theatre of operation for a group like yours."

"And what… size, would you prefer my attack be?" She feigned a bit of mild curiosity. "I can offer a range of packages to suit your needs, from light raids to the full-scale assault."

Kuraski didn't even bother to hide his amused look. Mira was using a negotiating tactic typical of mercenaries. She wanted to use incremental charges as a sideways angle to boost her price. "I expect you to do what I ask. Destroy the building, kill Haelstrom. If you want tactical advice as to the strength of the force you'll need to deploy, then…" He shrugged indifferently, not looking at her. "I'd have to charge you for it."

"Now just hold on a moment," she said this quickly as her finger was raised. "That isn't how this—"

"Syrenne survives, and GenTek receives full reimbursement." Kuraski cut her off. "That should certainly help to inform your deployment decisions." He was relaxed as he continued pacing.

"Your squealing is quite a bit louder than you have a right to be making, David." Her expression became one of subtle threat. "Perhaps I'll come for you, the next time you pay a visit to the fringe worlds."

"It's a date." He dismissed the threat relaxedly. "But this is supposed to be a business conversation, mind."

Mira's eye became a narrow slit. "I am a married woman, you snake."

"I'll put this concisely:" He said, continuing to pace. "I have four other mercenary leaders on my private contact list. The moment you turn down my offer I'm going to hang up, forget this talk and immediately call one of them to start this whole thing over. Then that lucky person will get this rather lucrative assignment. All of that said, this prediction is moot because I know you aren't going to refuse."

"I've heard enough of this—"

"Peacetime… really is bad for business, isn't it, Mira?" He stopped pacing for a moment, giving her a look of believable pity. "How bad have your cutbacks been? Be honest, now."

Mira Han's brow sank, and it quickly transformed into a glare. "I… hate you, David. I hate you with every fiber of my being."

"Very good then." His tone was cordial, with a hint of liveliness. "I'm glad you've accepted." He cut the transmission before she could rebut. Then with a small remote in his hand, he dialed somebody else. The person answered and appeared on the screen immediately. "Karla, has the Chronos been docked to your ship?"

Karla Simmons was seated on the bridge of a capital ship, with Korhal visible in the background through its window-like viewing ports. "Our custom docking booms were a success. The Chronos is securely fastened to our underbelly, and the Glass Raven's warp radius will encompass it fully."

He nodded. "Arrangements have been made. A sizable mercenary fleet will soon arrive over Tarsonis."

"You actually got a group to gun for the Princess?"

David Kuraski had a private, satisfied look. "Saraslha doesn't realize how much her fake identity will work against her. Most mercenary leaders would be smart enough not to invoke the Swarm's wrath; I couldn't persuade any of them to gun for her, no matter how good the offer. But some teenager from Umoja with delusions of grandeur…"

"I'm aboard the Glass Raven and her condition is green. Should I back them up?"

"Go to Tarsonis, but keep your distance and observe. Make certain they do their job."

"And the Chronos..?"

"Deploy it at your discretion. The most recent test data looks promising, and I feel it's ready."

"Understood, sir." With this, she ended the transmission.

Saraslha

"Crap…" I was hitting my own forehead with an open palm, still sitting at my desk. It had been about ten minutes since Nova showed up and went to wait for me in the courtyard. "Crap, crap, crap. Tosh…" He was on the other end of a live FTL transmission on my tablet. "Is this intel reliable? I mean… are you really sure?"

"I wouldn't be buggin' you otherwise. A sizable fleet has just sortied from Mira Han's Headquarters. Their destination be the Tarsonis system for sure."

Mira's Marauders. I knew about the organization, and had considered hiring them myself back when my plan was simply to gun for Kuraski. They hadn't exactly been at 100% strength since the End War, but still they vastly outgunned what forces I had.

"We must get you out of here." Rindell was looking at me intently. "If we leave with Nova now, there might be a chance of evading them. They cannot attack you in Korhal's system; the Dominion Armada's presence is too strong there."

"I'd be leaving my people at their mercy; at GenTek's mercy, assuming Mira doesn't just kill them outright." I shook my head. "No, The Swarm doesn't flee."

"It is you they're after." She counter-argued. "If you are gone, they will not bother with your holdings."

"You don't know that for sure, Rindell."

Tosh interjected on the still live connection. "Whatever you choose, I advise doing it fast."

I shut my eyes. "Nova, we're gonna have company."

"I just got it from my crew." She replied from elsewhere in the building. "There's no time window; we can't lift off and make it to my ship in time."

"But your dropship is almost here, right?"

"Yes, and it's staying in atmosphere until the mercenary fleet comes and goes."

"Is your ship in danger?" Nova's larger ship was in orbit of the planet

"No. My crew will know to keep their distance, where the mercs won't detect them."

I nodded at this. "Alright… I'm taking stock of our assets. Can I assume you're on my side in this?"

A pause. "…I suppose so."

"You'll take orders?"

"Just like Sephulli." Her telepathic voice had a rising tone of eagerness. "You have a plan, I assume?"

"Forming one." I turned and picked up the phone, picking a contact from its list. As I waited for the other end to pick up, I turned to Tosh on my tablet. "Gabriel, how soon can you tap into Dominion Intelligence?"

"Had a man in there for awhile." He said. "What'd you need?"

"Feed them a false report -under the name of a senior agent- that the feral Zerg on Tarsonis have begun to exhibit intelligent patterns, and are rapidly building up their forces."

Tosh had a subtle, sadistic grin. "Understood." He disconnected.

The phone was answered. "What do you need, Syrenne?" Spoke O'Malley, my head of security.

"O'Malley, I need you to activate Contingency Plan Oh-Nine-Two. Stick with our originally planned site. You have one hour."

"Oh-Nine-Two is pricey, Ma'am. Especially at an hour's notice."

"I can afford it." I said plainly. "It's important. I also need you to direct all my reserves here. Approach the planet from the night side, and then head to the compound in low atmosphere."

"My subcommanders will handle that. Sit tight."

"That's all. Over and out." I hung up, and then I slouched back in my chair, ventilating the stress. "Kuraski is a genius, Lednir. That or he's a fool who stumbled onto the perfect move." I shook my head. "I changed the rules to play him at his own game, and now he's changed them right back to play me at mine. War is my wheelhouse, and yet he wasn't afraid to hop aboard it."

"Do you consider him a worthy opponent?" Her head crooked a little.

"Of course." My eyes opened, beaming. "For all the headache and paranoia he's caused me, this is really rubbing me the right way."

"I am happy that you're happy, even with all of the headache and paranoia you're causing me."

Our eye contact lasted many long seconds, and the assurance it gave me was an isolated moment of peace. But then reality inevitably manifested itself again as thoughts rushed through my head like a torrent. "Rindell, can you revert to your real body on Korhal?"

"I can."

"I need you back in your real body within a few minutes. Once there you're to get in contact with Izsha." I was tapping my feet on the floor in a rapid pattern. "Izsha has a Khaydarin Crystal in her Embassy, which can boost the range of Psionic signals." I looked up at her face as I said this, raising my eyebrows.

"You desire the Overqueen's aid? I approve of this."

"Oh, no, no…" My head shook. There was no way I'd go crying to my mother. "You know how my pride works, Rindell. This is my fight." I looked upward, searching for the words, "Do you remember the location… That remote meeting place, where we met with Admiral Horner's fleet?"

Half a minute later.

4 Terran Capital Ships came out of Warp Space near Tarsonis, quickly closing the distance to the planet at sub light speed. A veritable swarm of smaller craft accompanied the larger ships. They all bore the colors and regalia of Mira's Marauders.

"This job is a manhunt, plain, and, simple." Mira's voice was broadcast to every vessel in the fleet. "We find the little girl, we blow up little girl's facility, we kill little girl." Her tone was perfectly calm and natural. "And then one of you brings me her remains -be they medium or well done. Aaand…" She was broadcasting, but went about it as though she was talking socially. "Then we're set. That's all the client was keen on, I think."

The Fusion-powered engines of the 4 Battlecruisers were in a state of elevated, non-frugal burn as the fleet entered high orbit over the planet. As this happened, another Battlecruiser came out of Warp near the planet a good distance from the mercenary fleet. It was an old Behemoth frame, but gleamed with modernized plating and weapon emplacements.

The crew on the bridge of Mira's flagship reacted automatically to this, with the intelligence officer reporting its presence and the man on the targeting console placing pre-coded algorithms on the newly arrived vessel which would allow every ship to fire on it in sync should the order to fire be given. The comms officer immediately began hailing the vessel. Once he got a link, he turned to Mira and nodded.

"Identify yourselves."Mira stated simply and informally. "If there's a reason for you to be here at the same time as little old us, then do share."

"This is the Glass Raven, of GenTek Corporation." The voice of a young woman answered. "We're here to observe your activities here. Do carry on with your work, gents."

Mildly annoyed but wishing to maintain a sense of professionalism, Mira answered with an order to a different ship. "Instruct the Daffodil to align its orbit and pass over the Little Girl's base. Geosynchronous facing. I want a Yamato blast descending on that structure as soon as possible."

"Understood, Boss." The captain of the Daffodil replied over comms. One of Mira's Battlecruisers deviated its course slightly as the fleet passed over the planet at high speed.

"Now then…" Mira continued, knowing the woman on GenTek's ship was still on the line. "What standard of proof shall we have for the target? A body, perhaps… or just the head?"

"You needn't worry about that." She said plainly. "The Glass Raven's sensory and detection modules are state of the art. If she dies, we'll know about it, and then your work here will be finished."

"Splendid…" Mira liked hearing this. There wasn't any military resistance in orbit, and the militias of what few human settlements existed on the surface did not have any aerospace forces to speak of. She could bombard the surface with impunity until the target was dead and collect an easy paycheck. This would cause a panic and attract the Dominion Armada, but she'd be long gone by then.

The Marauders' fleet closed into a protective formation around the Daffodil as the massive ship pivoted to aim its main cannon downward at the planet. This change in facing did not effect its orbit.

"New contact." The report came from the intel officer on Mira's bridge. "Warp Space exit, human craft, mass reading identifies it as a capital tier ship. Their trajectory is Tarsonis orbit. Mira, it's the Killer Snake."

Another interruption… "Do we have a channel with them?"

"Searching… done." The comms officer said. "They're sending a video feed. D'you want it on the main screen?"

"Yes." The video feed showed the bridge of a different ship. It was very much a human vessel. But the person in the captain's space wasn't human at all. He was a tall, monstrous blue creature, and spoke in a gravel-like tone. "State, Mirahan, your business here." He said.

"Dehaka!" She greeted him with a pleasant tone whose exaggeration gave away that it was feigned and she couldn't be arsed to put up a better act. "You look to be in good health. How have the Dragoons fared since you took the reigns?"

An inhaling growl. "Searching, for, target. Take alive. Us, not, interfered with."

"Oh… sorry, no…" She shook her head with an exaggerated somberness. "I've got a target as well, and if in my efforts to kill her, your target dies as well…" She shrugged, looking away. "What can be done about it? Things happen." She looked at him again, intent now. "You may search the planet as you please, as soon as I'm done here."

Dehaka shook his head violently. "No! Marauder, worm. I, search. You, wait."

Mira tsked at this, wagging a finger. "You are in no position to make that demand, my ugly blue friend. You're vastly outgunned; one capital ship against four, five if GenTek decides to get its hands dirty." Her look became one of smugness. "You just wait in the background like a good little boy. The grown-ups will be all finished soon."

His growl carried an unusual tone of deliberation. "Have, asked… gotten answer. Only, ask, once." With this he closed the connection.

"Boss, the Killer Snake has increased its speed… exponentially. It'll be at our location in one minute."

"Dammit…" Dehaka's ship had one of the strongest sublight accelerations in Terran Space. It was an old ship, heavily modified and didn't carry the common hammerhead frame design. "Establish a predictive target lock. All ships and all batteries are to open fire on sight. Shoot to kill!" Even with a numerical advantage, a collision would be deadly to both vessels involved. Mira wasn't about to die or lose a capital ship because the blue Zerg had something to prove.

The Killer Snake came 'round the planet, entering the field of vision of Mira's fleet. The 4 Battlecruisers opened fire on the fast-approaching ship with their particle cannons. Swarms of tactical fighters sortied out from hangars and the fleet formation to make runs on it. Without slowing down or calming in its wild evasive maneuvers, the Killer Snake primed its Yamato Cannon.

"Energy spike on the Killer Snake." The intel officer reported quickly. "Boss, he's targeting us!"

"Do not take evasive maneuvers." Mira ordered, keeping calm. "Activate Defense Matrix."

The Yamato blast fired, and then the shot broke and dissipated around a semi-visible bubble shield that enveloped Mira's Flagship.

One of the Marauder Battlecruisers' particle blasts made a direct hit on the Killer Snake, causing an explosion from inside. More direct and grazing hits hammered and seared over its plating, and the ship began to eject debris in countless tiny pieces.

From Mira's physical point of view, she saw the Killer Snake's mass pass right in front of her flagship, cruising at high speed through the Marauders' formation as its Battlecruisers stopped firing for a moment, adjusting their targeting to fire at something moving away from them. Swarms of Tactical Fighters intercepted the Killer Snake and took shots, but they were unable to keep up with the bigger ship's speed and were left behind. Dehaka's ship left behind idle clouds of metallic debris as it passed by; more debris than any ship had a right to leave after taking a few hits.

And then, to Mira's horror, the purpose of the debris became apparent. Energy signatures erupted from hundreds of tiny floating pieces as it was revealed that there were missiles hidden within the junk. Each missile suddenly ignited its micro fusion thruster and sped immediately for a random target in the Marauders' fleet.

There was no defense; no time for reaction. Tactical Fighters were caught off-guard and destroyed. The hulls of the Battlecruisers were hammered and treated to the bulk of the missiles' ire. None of the Capital ships were critically damaged, but the live feed of their condition quickly yellowed as weapon emplacements were destroyed and their air pressure was compromised in various areas.

Mira's fist was tightened to a deathgrip as she made no secret of her open, rage-filled glare. "Dehaka…"

"Warp Space entry detected." The intel officer had kept his cool. She had not been paying attention to the long, efficient stream of damage reports he'd announced to the bridge. "The Killer Snake is retreating."

"That son of a bitch!" She yelled. "I'll rip his arm off and feed it to him!"

"This is the Flutter." The transmission was from the captain of another Battlecruiser. "My ship remains Warp and combat capable. Shall I give pursuit to the Killer Snake?"

Mira had to keep it together. She took several patient breaths. "…No, stay focused on the task at hand. Do not break formation. All units are to maintain escort around the Daffodil."

"The boys are gonna want Dehaka's head on a spit now, Boss." One of the bridge staff remarked.

"I want it too, and we'll have it." Mira had a private, malicious expression. "But we're professionals, first and foremost. Work comes before pleasure."

"This is the Daffodil. Alignment is within parameters. We'll be over the target in T-minus ten… nine…" The glow of concentrated thermal energy became prevalent as the downward-angled Capital Ship charged its main weapon.

Saraslha

I watched through the window of my office as the night sky of Tarsonis was displaced in its calm darkness by an orange glow. An abundance of light was cast throughout the atmosphere by what was fired down from orbit, and this made the ruins of the deserted major city feel almost alive and populated. For a few brief seconds, the ruined Metropolis was lit. My hands were clasped behind my back as I observed this, calmly. The blast was very close to the ground now.

It struck and completely destroyed a deserted city block some distance away. The sound and vibration of it could be felt some number of seconds after the visual, and my building shook a bit from the kinetic shockwave the blast had sent through the air.

With this, I picked up a handheld radio and held the transmit button. "Our jamming tactic was a success. Good work, O'Malley." My facility had a jamming array which refracted any sensory data to place the building a long distance off from where it actually was.

"It's just the start of the real fight. We'll be ready for a ground assault, ma'am."

I nodded at this, and then switched channels. "Stetmann, are you and the civilian staff all in Megiddo?"

"It's all evacuated, Syrenne. It's just you, Nova and your mercs still in that building now. The militia has been alerted, and will fight in the unlikely event the town is attacked."

"Very good." I released the button, and then turned around. Rindell's puppet body was on the floor, limp and abandoned. She had her orders, and all I needed now was that she carry them out.

Korhal, Izsha

"Are you certain that is what Saraslha requests of me?" Izsha was alone in her embassy, having just received a psionic call from Broodmother Rindell, who had reappeared on Korhal after a week of her psionic presence mysteriously vanishing. "The Emperor told me she was on her way back to Korhal."

"The situation has changed. Tarsonis is under attack by people looking to kill her."

Izsha processed this, and came back with a calm answer. "With my crystal I could contact Broodmother Zagara. That would be a far more logical solution. The Swarm's presence in that star system could be easily excused."

"I concur on a personal level, Izsha. But the Princess was explicitly against that plan. She wishes to rely as little on the Swarm as possible."

"Very well… it is not in my nature to be difficult. However I will inform Broodmother Zagara, and Emperor Valerian of everything I know. Saraslha does not lead the Swarm, and I am not beholden to her."

"Both she and I are grateful for your assistance, Izsha."

Privately, with the shutters closed over the view of the cityscape presented by her favorite room in the building, Izsha adopted an expression of mild indignance as a tentacle shot out of a ventilation duct and placed a tiny Khaydarin Crystal on the table in front of her.

"What do you mean, 'she's still alive'?" Mira said aloud.

"Exactly those words, Mira Han." Karla said over audio transmission. "We're still reading her bio signature as alive and kicking."

"Impossible," she swiped a hand through the air. "Your sensors must be finicky, or not all they're cracked up to be."

"Here is a snapshot of the planet surface, not ten seconds old." A visual feed presented Mira with a 3-D render of the planet surface. "Here is the target building," A red cursor appeared there. "And here is the area where your Yamato blast struck." A blue arrow. "Something mucked with your targeting, Mira, or your scan of the surface."

"Damn…" Now she was frowning with thought. Equipment that caused a misplacement in orbital targeting was not uncommon at all in her experience. Black markets all over sold things of that nature; she'd even used similar tricks herself in the past. "All right then." Her voice elevated to speaker level. "All ships are to slow their orbit. We're heading into atmosphere." This would bring her fleet into range of whatever weaponry the target's army and the local militias had, but a direct fight had now become necessary.

"We've got a massive Warp Space exit!" The intel officer had lost calm in his tone; a calm he kept even when the fleet was being showered with Dehaka's missiles. "It's… colossal…"

Alarmed, and thinking quickly, Mira held down a button for her connection with the Glass Raven. "Karla, what have you got?"

"It… it's a Leviathan."

Even Mira Han, a hardened mercenary felt a chill run up her spine. The impossibly broad diameter of Warped Space manifested as the creature's titanic mass appeared in their vicinity, closer to the planet than any faster-than-light travel had a right to bring anything. The Leviathan was bigger than all 5 Battlecruisers put together, and was just ahead of them in their orbital trajectory. Slowly, patiently, it pivoted its facing toward Mira's fleet as it launched waves of scourges.

"One eighty turn for all vessels." Mira ordered quickly. "Put your full burn into killing your orbit. We need to drop into atmosphere, now!" Two of her Battlecruisers; those that hadn't fired their Yamato cannons yet, didn't listen to this order. They angled their facing and began charging their main guns, targeting the mammoth Zerg some distance ahead. "Dammit!" She pounded an armrest. "Flutter, Wildshot, what the hell are you doing?"

There was no reply. Mira knew that two, three, even four Yamato blasts would not be enough to kill something that size, and having wasted time shooting at it, the two already banged up Battlecruisers would be swarmed by the massive flock of flying strains coming for them ahead of the Leviathan. "Daffodil, continue your maneuver with my ship. All units I repeat: Kill your orbit and drop into atmosphere. Do it, or you're dead. Is that understood?"

"Continue with your mission, Mira Han. Once you're in atmosphere, you can kill the target." Karla said overaudio transmission. "Leave the Leviathan to us. We'll keep it off your back."

Stressed by two of her Battlecruisers having essentially doomed themselves, Mira let her anger slip. "Just who the hell is this target, Simmons? No lies."

A pause. "…Princess Saraslha, of the Zerg Swarm."

"Oh… hoh!" A bit of laughter erupted from Mira's surprise at this. Now she knew why Kuraski didn't say much about the target. "So if I kill her…"

"The Leviathan goes feral, and will be much easier to destroy. Work fast, Mira Han."

She'd quickly weighed the prospect of the possible war this would lead to, and it wasn't entirely unappealing. Big wars made it a seller's market for mercenary groups. Most might worry about the personal target it would make of their own selves for doing the deed, but Mira Han could live with killing the Princess.

Mira's Flagship, along with the Daffodil, and the bulk of the Marauders' tactical fighters had killed their orbital velocity, and were now falling quickly into the planet's nighttime cloud cover.

David Kuraski was at his desk, listening to Karla's report of the situation over Tarsonis. "…And Mira's chances of terminating the target?"

"Still quite good, sir. But the Leviathan is a serious threat. I'm deploying the Chronos."

"Very well." His hands were knitted as he peered over them from a downward-angled face. "Be certain to log the battle."

"Aye sir." The transmission ended. Kuraski rose to his feet, picking up a glass of wine. It was dark and silent in his pristine glass and metal office space. Before his own mind's eye, he saw the chessboard arrayed before him. "A very inspired move, Saraslha… But will it be enough?" Staring at the imaginary board, he took a sip of wine.

Saraslha

I had a pressure can of whipped cream, which I sprayed into my own mouth, letting it build up and pile on my tongue before shutting my mouth over the soft, sweet substance. I was still looking out the window of my office, watching my soldiers strengthen the perimeter around the building and their SCVs assemble additional missile towers to complement the permanent ones.

My Leviathan had arrived. Just over a week ago, it had been left to wait ever so patiently at the deserted meeting place where I boarded Admiral Horner's ship. Through Rindell, and then Izsha with her crystal, it could be summoned here, to Tarsonis.

I could see through its eyes: Two of the mercenary Battlecruisers remained behind to fire their Yamato Cannons at my Leviathan. Mutalisks strafed the two ships and Scourges crashed into their hulls. I fired a Bio-Plasmid Discharge at one of the ships. This penetrated its already damaged hull and caused its superstructure to bend. Its Yamato Blast fired, but due to the entire ship being bent it would miss my Leviathan and go into deep space. This crippling damage caused it to begin falling toward the planet.

The other Yamato shot connected though, and I felt my Leviathan's pain as the searing-hot concentration of particles hammered into its carapace, got through and burned into its innards. Eventually, the blast expended its thermal energy and its particles became soot and ash merged with the cooked biomass of the wounded area. The damage was far from lethal, but it would take time for an injury of that scale to heal.

The second Battlecruiser was doomed; there was nothing it could do to defend itself. Its particle cannons fired wildly, sometimes directly hitting a flying strain and killing it, but most shots missed. It was vastly outnumbered by my Leviathan's aerospace flock, and the Battlecruiser's tactical fighters had been wiped out. Soon its hull would fissure open or its Fusion Core explode, and that would be the end of it.

But this didn't happen. To my surprise the remaining Battlecruiser made a long range Warp jump, darting ahead past my Leviathan and escaping to some distant star system. I decided not to send a pursuit force. It was far too crippled to occupy its crew with anything but damage control, and therefore wasn't a threat.

The other half of the mercenary fleet had gone under the cloud cover of the planet's upper atmosphere, and was headed straight for Megiddo and my building nearby. Their capital ships could not move near as fast in an environment with air resistance, but soon they would be in my vicinity, and then I expect they would deploy a land army.

A noise in the physical space I occupied. Somebody had opened the door to my office. I turned, it was Keid. "Marchen. You're still here..?"

"Saraslha, they've deployed the Chronos."

A feeling of apprehension came over me. I turned back toward the window, shifting my perspective back to the Leviathan. It had been set to move over Tarsonis until it reached the area above my location, where it would adopt a geosynchronous orbit and drop reinforcements when I needed them. The GenTek ship was well out of range, and I thoroughly scanned the area between it and my Leviathan. My Zerg aerospace strains had been recalled, and were flying patrol patterns around the Leviathan's titanic mass.

6 Mutalisks were killed, at the same time. My immediate shift of perspective to that area showed no hostile presence. The dead Mutalisks' wounds showed a thick spike or stake having driven through them with such a velocity as to split their bodies apart.

"The Chronos is a masterpiece of Warp Drive technology." I heard Keid say in my office. "It can send parts of itself through narrow tactical warps, shrinking the space between the weapon and the target and translating this into pure velocity. Its six arms have monomolecular spikes at the end, which might as well be the muzzles of sniper cannons."

"How do I kill it?" That was all I needed to know right now. Through my Leviathan's sensors I finally spotted the Chronos. It was in fast motion a long distance away. Its ovular shape had opened, splitting its shell into six arms in a star arrangement. Immediately, I fired a Bio-Plasmid discharge and sent dozens of Scourges bee lining for it.

It all missed when the six-armed machine performed a tactical Warp, evading the Bio Plasmid discharge and depriving my Scourges of a target. It emerged on the other flank of my Leviathan, moving at an extremely fast strafing velocity. Its facing was fixed on my big biological flagship. More of my Mutalisks and Scourges were killed as it unleashed a disjointed flurry of Warp-driven thrusts with robotic spike arms. These attacks always connected perfectly, even on strains that were moving as fast as possible in evasive, unpredictable motions.

More flying strains beelined toward it, the bulk of their number remaining even as the Chronos shot them down while accelerating away from them with its single booster, oriented in the same direction as its arms. When my strains got too close it made another Tactical Warp.

"It's operated by a synthetic Zerg brain, which serves as a supercomputer the size of a soccer ball. it doesn't make mistakes, it doesn't slow down, and it reasons."

"I need to kill it, Keid. Predicate your advice on that."

"I only worked on a part of it, and its test data was above my pay grade." He said. "That test data would reveal its shortcomings, and was kept in the databanks of the Olympus Facility. But that…"

"We already hit that place." I completed. "They'll have moved anything valuable out just to be safe." This was getting frustrating. "Where else would the data be?"

"GenTek's corporate headquarters."

I shook my head at this. "Tosh would need planning and preparation for that, and there's no time. We need another place, even if there's only a tangential chance…" A thought hit me. "Where would they have moved the Chronos itself?"

A pause as he considered. "…GenTek West. My old workplace. Its hangar is the only other building on Korhal where the Chronos would fit."

I felt a bit of weight leave my shoulders. Finally, some good news. "GenTek West it is." I opened my eyes, turning around to indicate the tablet on my desk. "Contact Gabriel Tosh on Korhal and tell him what he's looking for. He has half an hour."

Gabriel Tosh performed ops like this in his sleep, so the half hour deadline was nothing. GenTek West was on the outskirts of Augustgrad, where there were no elevated plates or sublevels in this area's arcology; only the ground level. Tosh and two other Spectres rode Vulture bikes in the sparsely developed desert badland, approaching the giant building.

A wire fence surrounded the large property of GenTek West. The first Spectre steered to make a sideways pass on it, striking a long cut through the simple metal barrier with his blade before veering away, barely slowing down. Tosh made a similar pass striking a second cut at a new angle. The third Spectre behind him would complete the hole as their formation made a tight turn to enter the new opening head-on.

The first Vulture knocked through the freed chunk of wire fence as it easily fit through the hole. Tosh and the third Spectre followed. The main building was just ahead.

They abandoned their vultures and moved briskly on foot to a plain back door in the structure's rectangular exterior shape. An outdoor camera panned to their direction and was about to spot them, but their cloaking activated with adept timing, hiding them. Their Vultures were not left in any camera's field of vision.

Several seconds later, by total coincidence, an employee opened the door from the inside, coming out. The Spectre closest to the door immediately had an arm around his neck, holding him in a chokehold. Within a few seconds the employee was unconscious, and the three Spectres went through the open door, one of them dragging his limp body inside before the camera panned back to them.

"The camera would notice blood, so I didn't cut him open." The telepathic voice of the Spectre said as the other shut the door behind them. They were inside a storage room, with boxes stacked in a grid arrangement and a forklift in the corner. It was nighttime, and there were no other people about.

"We should finish him off." The other said as he turned to Tosh. "Brother, what is the Client's inclination on body count?"

"Leave him be." Tosh said. "We're not gonna be here long." He indicated the door. "Pesci, you'll stand by here. This'll be our exit. Buratz you're with me."

Saraslha

The object lain before me was a tablet, much bigger than mine and delivered by a random mercenary who'd squeezed through the door in his powered armor. I stood up when he entered, expecting something out of the ordinary. "What is this?"

"O'Malley received it in the mail half an hour ago ma'am." The merc said through his suit's speaker. "It's addressed to you."

"From whom?"

"…David Kuraski, it says."

I could safely assume that O'mally wouldn't deliver it to me without scanning it for a bomb or transponder. "Thank you for delivering it. You can go."

He saluted, then turned and left.

"Alright Kuraski…" I found the power switch on the tablet. "What was so important it couldn't wait 'till after our battle?" My Leviathan was still in orbit overhead, constantly deploying new airborne strains to harass the Chronos as it continued to thin them out, sometimes making direct hits on the Leviathan itself. Tosh had twenty minutes to get the data I needed.

The tablet lit up, displaying a live video feed of the office, black suit and dark skinned personage of David Kuraski himself. He appeared relaxed, no doubt seeing me as well.

I spoke first: "You apparently wanted a live chat with my humble self." My brow shifted to a glare. "Well you got it. Bask in my radiance, human."

Kuraski's relaxed demeanor didn't change. "Princess Saraslha…" He looked a bit more intent. "Your human visage is convincing. To see through it, I'd need to be present to smell you."

I adopted a detached smile. "Smell wouldn't help ya, Davie. I take a shower every day."

His eyes shut, and he took a breath. "I… was under no delusion that I could keep you contained in Augustgrad for long, and so I must ask…"

I raised my eyebrows a bit. "You want to know why I haven't escaped."

"It does interest me, yes."

"Pride, mostly..." I looked off. "I am a Zerg, you know. And more than that I'm a leader. Showing weakness, showing ineptitude; these are not options for me." I met his eyes again with my own. "My turn for a question: Why did you try to have me killed?"

"Do I owe you that explanation?"

I shrugged. "Assuming you have one, you lose nothing from telling it to me."

"Hmph," he showed a bit of calm indignation. "I suppose so."

I made a hand gesture, beckoning him to continue.

"I don't think there's any malice in you." His posture formalized, with his expression becoming stone serious. "You're too young and steeped in fantasy to do what you're doing intentionally."

"And what's that, hm?" my arms crossed. "What do you think I'm doing?"

"Subjugating Humanity. Making us your inferiors; your vassals."

I didn't quite know what he was talking about, and my head tilted a bit as a result.

"Others may not see what lies further down the road, but I do. I see you controlling the Dominion and making it answerable to the Swarm. I see you tying our economy so intimately to your nation and your assets, that we're reduced to a vassal state, amenable to your wishes. Absorbing GenTek would only be the start for you; you'll use your trade pull, and unlimited lifespan to utterly dominate our economy; our lifeblood, fueled by the Emperor's populist policies. Even if you have no ill will toward Humanity, your very presence, your very nature as a Zerg is infesting us."

My breath came in with a calm heaviness, my eyes shut, and then opened again as my mouth opened to speak. "You are precisely correct, David Kuraski." I could actually hear my voice break, unintentionally, to a calmer, deeper pitch as I said this.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, you're spot on, Kuraski. I am a Zerg, and ours is the power of life itself. And an inescapable trait of life is the thirst for dominance. The tree which grows to glorious heights and kill the saplings below it. Alpha Kings and Queens who propagate their image. Like it or not I'm cut from that cloth, and you're correct to fear what I might do." I shot to my feet, leaning over the tablet screen with my arms propped on the desk. "You're correct to fear what I'll do to you."

Kuraski had a low, sadistic grin that chilled me in how similar it was to my own. "I welcome the challenge, Saraslha."

I felt elated. I couldn't wait to see what he'd throw at me next once I finally dealt with his six-armed toy over the planet. "Likewise, Kuraski."

Without cutting the connection with me, I saw him take a phone off his desk and call somebody. "Karla, it's time to take the gloves off." I saw his eyes shoot over to me. "Release the limiters on the Chronos." He got a brief response that I didn't hear, and ended the call.

My eyes snuck over to my own tablet. There was an update on Tosh's mission. He got the data, and was 17 minutes ahead of schedule. Knowing Kuraski would have no way of knowing what I'd gotten, I reached a hand over and opened the attached file, sitting back in my chair as I did this.

"Your Leviathan will not last." Kuraski said. "And Mira will arrive at your compound soon; the forces she can still deploy outnumber yours significantly."

I relaxed. "Have I told you what an excellent tactician I am? Not to brag, but I'm awesome."

A huff of laughter. "All of my plans against you have worked around that detail."

"How's Niadra doing?"

An instant frown. My words had gotten to him slightly. "Still very much an asset, even if a dead one."

The door to my office opened. It was Keid again, carrying an item I asked for. "Whelp," I shrugged. "This has been a lovely chat, Kuraski. But there are things which demand my attention, as I'm sure there are things which demand yours." Without waiting for a response I pulled a drawer out of my desk and took a hammer out, and then proceeded to smash the delivered tablet, hitting it a large number of times and disfiguring it as its shape was warped and crushed.

"Window's open, Saraslha."

The item Keid fetched was a prototype gauss gun, with a broad barrel and experimental magnetic structure. I folded the smashed tablet like a hot dog bun and stuffed it into the muzzle as he offered it to me. "You're sure this'll send it far enough?"

"More than far enough." With apparent joy, he aimed the large gun out of the opened window, and fired. The earsplitting noise of the gunshot immediately followed. The crushed tablet was sent far away; a shrinking black dot on the horizon.

And then, precisely one minute later, the sky was alight again with another Yamato blast which came from orbit. It fell on the area where we fired the tablet, destroying more of the old city.

0909090909090

Mira took the news stoically as the transmission from the Glass Raven came in. "So your shot missed as well." Her groan was loud and pronounced. "Just perfect. I'm killing the target the messy way then."

"The shot definitely hit our inert bug in the tablet. Saraslha had to have moved it a great distance in a short amount of ti—" The transmission cut off.

"We've lost contact with the Glass Raven." The comms officer reported.

"Did the Leviathan get them?"

"No, we're still reading them intact, on a much higher orbit than the Leviathan." The intelligence officer said. "Something is jamming us, Boss. Something advanced."

Mira was about to say something but was cut off by the bridge's main screen activating. The person on screen was Nova Terra.

"What the hell is going on!" Mira said. The comms officer just shrugged while looking her way, shaking his head.

"No worries." Nova said over the bridge's speakers. "I only jacked into your ship's mainframe."

Mira frowned. "Jacked my mainframe…"

"While I was aboard your ship, of course."

Her teeth grit at this. "You snotty little Dominion lap do-"

"Call off your attack, or you die."

Mira's two remaining Battlecruisers were nearly to the target area in low atmosphere. Flying just above the metallic urban terrain of Tarsonis made it nearly impossible for the Leviathan above to detect them from orbit, even if it wasn't being harassed by the Chronos. "That's a big claim, little girl. You're obviously bluffing."

On the screen, Nova held up a handheld detonator. "A charge was planted on your ship's fusion core." She showed a hint of smugness as a crewmember got a look from Mira,then turned and left the bridge to investigate. "It's amazing how lax a mercenary ship's internal security can be. Infiltrating it was a cakewalk.

As the seconds went by of seeing this Ghost's face, Mira slowly came to recognize her, and a chill slowly went up her spine. "You… you're…" It made all the sense in the world now, that she'd be here, protecting the Dominion's interests by protecting the Zerg Princess.

"That's right, Mira Han. Warp out of here, now, and don't come back. It's the only way to get out of range of my detonator in time. One way or another, in thirty seconds I'm pressing it."

The loss of two ships, and now the lack of a payout. Mira's gut sank as the sense of defeat settled itself in her mind. "Very well… Daffodil, initiate a Warp Jump ASAP. I'm doing the same."

Nova saw the shafts of warped space pass over the sky as she observed Mira's retreat from the courtyard of Saraslha's compound. She reached out a mental link to Saraslha in her office in the building. "The bluff worked, Saraslha. Mira's hightailed it out of here."

"Hehe… Knew she would~"

Nova held up the button handle, which she'd passed off as a detonator. "What is this thing anyway? It looks like something that was broken off an arcade machine." She pressed the button several times for amusement. It had a good spring.

"Actually, I think it was."

"I didn't even leave your compound. The video feed was done by my ship… Ther wasn't much for me to do this time around."

Don't worry about it Nova. You did your part, and saved me a lot in cost and risk."

The Chronos had been dealing only superficial damage to the Leviathan as it hit and ran, surviving and killing flying strains by the dozen. It had not taken a single hit.

It warped a generous distance away from the Leviathan, with many seconds to spare before the relentless stream of Zerg got close enough to attack. With its six arms set in default positions, its monomolecular spike hands were shifted aside. Out of the revealed openings came a variance of different delicate instruments which were set with the materials and compounds necessary to create an unstable Fusion Reaction.

These hands; these partitioned pieces of a full Hydrogen Bomb were thrust forward through their own Warp tunnels. One component set near the Leviathan, followed by two other tools which contributed their own sequences and compressed matter. These tactical warps shot obliviously past the wing of flying strains approaching the Chronos. At the end of the sequence, as the final arm was retracted, an explosion.

The ball of fire expanded brutally, eating away at the Leviathan's outer carapace while the sheer kinetic force of the explosion propelled the center of its organic superstructure toward the planet below, and afterward cause its head and rear areas to snap in the same direction in compensation.

The Chronos warped itself away from the scene.

Saraslha

Me and Keid were combing through the data Tosh had sent. "Oh-Nine Two is nearly ready, according to O'Malley." I said to him. "Will the Glass Raven take it?"

"It would detect the discharge, and perform an emergency tactical warp." He said.

My Leviathan was in pain. The signal came to me abruptly, and I rose to my feet. As these signals and deaths of hundreds of smaller strains entered my mind, I walked to my window, and saw it.

The titanic mass of my Leviathan was coming down into atmosphere, passing over my building and standby mercenary army. Almost the entire surface area of its right side was cooked to a glimmering charcoal hue. Horror for the creature came over me as looking at its profile from directly below revealed just how much of its body had been eaten away. It was lucky to even be alive; that the effected area was heavily burned was perhaps the only thing keeping it from bleeding to death.

Normally I put up a face, normally I felt in control of a situation, but now… if the Chronos could do something like that… it was only a matter of time before it mopped up my remaining flyers, then it would come for me… My mind shifted to the Leviathan as my hands set on the sill under the window, my arms propped as my back and gut felt weak. The suffering my faithful vessel was enduring... "I'm sorry…"

A hand on my shoulder; I was numb to it. He probably had something to say, but none of it would help. Keid meant well, but he wasn't a Zerg; he wouldn't understand.

He spoke: "The Glass Raven would make periodic scans, of the target area of its emergency tactical warp." His hand lifted off. "To make sure that area remains clear."

My still functioning reasoning faculty took this in, and my head lifted at it. "This means…"

"We can still win, Saraslha. We can predict its warp vector."

I turned around immediately, putting up a face of optimism and determination in uprising against the crappy feeling I had. "Get it done, Doctor Marchen. Get a target, and get it to O'malley."

He nodded, and quickly turned to leave, no further words were necessary.

Word of the break-in at GenTek West had quickly reached Kuraski. He knew what they were after, and knew it wouldn't be of any use to Saraslha. Even if she knew the Chronos' shortcomings, there was nothing she had left that could exploit them. Her Leviathan was out of action, and all she had now was the land force around her compound, and they would be helpless against the Chronos.

He had won.

The mental chessboard arrayed before him had lost a lot of pieces, but all she had were pawns and herself, and he had power pieces. It was the late-game, and his victory assured.

An employee came up to his elevated space carrying a package. It was placed on his desk. "Addressed to you, sir."

Broken from his thoughts, Kuraski looked at the package, then at the employee. "From whom?"

"From somebody named 'Lednir'." He said, shrugging. "Definitely a fake name, but we scanned it for foul play."

"Alright then, thank you Carlton." Carlton took his leave, and Kuraski opened the package.

It was a tablet.

With a genuine, freshly provoked amusement, he turned it on. Displayed on the screen was the plain metallic office, flowing violet dress, and short black hair of Saraslha's human guise. She had a friendly smile as she nodded in greeting.

"You wanted to spend your final moments talking to me." He tsked, shaking his head. "I'm flattered."

"Just wanted you to have a front row seat to my victory and your frustrated reversion to the drawing board. A part of me… wants to show you what I'm capable of."

"I don't consider defeat a capability, Saraslha, no matter how glorious or noble."

She had a low, evil grin. "Me neither." The screen of the tablet switched from a live feed of her to an external view of a Drakken anti-orbital gun, hastily assembled in the concealment of the old city, and attended by a crew of mercenaries and engineers. The large gun was pivoting, orienting to a target high above.

Kuraski frowned. He didn't expect this, but there was no way she could shoot the Chronos with it.

"Y'see Kuraski, I know a lot about your toy now. For example: Quite a bit of compromises had to be made for its high-output, high-tolerance Warp drive. That it was brought here on the underbelly of a Battlecruiser should have given it away..." The screen reverted to her, and she had a smug expression. "It can't make long-distance jumps, can it?"

Kuraski's face became a blank, any expression he made now, including ending the transmission, might give something away to her.

She saw this and snapped her fingers. "I knew it!"

"Do keep digging, you pampered little child." His face remained blank, but on the inside it had a shrill glare.

"A limited operational time too, I'm guessing? Lot of energy that thing needs. When it runs low it's time to hit the road, right?" She had a melodramatic look of somberness. "Can't do that if the carrier doesn't stick around, though…"

Kuraski's left eye twitched. His hand shot over to his phone. "Karla, you're about to get hit—"

"Fire!" Saraslha's hand swept through the air.

The video feed went to the Drakken firing, and then a live render of the Glass Raven generated by sensors. It had detected the discharge of the gun and made a tactical Warp. Kuraski felt relief wash over him.

But the Battlecruiser actually took a direct hit from the Drakken, which had fired exactly at the place the ship moved itself. The round punctured its superstructure and came out the other end. "Sir!" Karla's voice came from his phone. "The Glass Raven has taken critical damage. There are no other options. I'm withdrawing with the Chronos."

With the tightest motion he was capable of, Kuraski moved his phone to his mouth. "Get out of there, Karla. You've done enough."

The tablet showed Saraslha again. "I'm not going to kill you, Kuraski. When you're at my mercy, beaten and no longer a threat, I'd like the chance to shake your hand."

"This isn't over…" He said in a low voice. "It's not over!" He bellowed with an abnormal lack of control.

"Your next move…" She said, her arms crossed. "Is to activate another of your merc contracts, get them here on short notice, and attack me with a second wave." She shook her head. "What you don't know, is that if you do this, five minutes before your fresh mercs arrive, the Dominion Armada will be orbiting the planet. Half the Core Fleet, I'd estimate, with the Hyperion at the head of it."

This story was ludicrous. Kuraski looked off, frowning. "That's nonsense; a bluff."

"Oh?" She leaned forward. "You have informants in the Navy. Check their reports. A fleet is being prepped, and Tarsonis is their destination."

He looked to his computer screen, and opened an information feed. "You…" His face sank, appearing almost tired. He knew that one of her people must have given them false intel, and they had taken the bait. "You've won this round, Saraslha."

"You've been an amazing opponent, Kuraski." With this, the tablet shut off, and smoke emitted from it as its innards harmlessly destroyed themselves.