Ray followed Shadow both gamely and silently, as they headed toward the communication hub of the colony. Elie had taken to using the large space for a sort of office- somewhere she could get and coordinate at least some information from the Akmanti shadow network inside Kilrathi Intelligence. As the two humans entered, three Cats stood within the room, speaking rapidly. Their words broke off as they looked over, and one of them blanched.

"What is this doing here?" the big, grizzled Kilrathi general said with a snarling grimace in Ray's direction. Ray hesitated slightly as she saw him.

"Peace, Garfak," Zuhn said. "I warned you of this."

"You warned me there were Apes here," he said testily. "You did not warn me that this spekak was here too."

"Do you know her?" Elie asked, also surprised.

"He's the one the Emperor ordered to take me out and shoot me," Ray said.

"That should still be done," Garfak said with a glower in her direction. "My Prince, do you know what this thing is?"

Before Zuhn could respond, Ray spoke again. "I'm not a Nedris."

"Of course you're not," Diane said, eyeing Garfak with just as disgusted an expression as he was giving to Ray. "The whole idea of Nedris is supernatural bullshit."

"No," Ray said calmly, looking at Diane. "Nedris is a Kilrathi term for trained spies that have certain abilities. I'm not a trained spy, and I'm not Kilrathi, and so not a Nedris."

"The beast speaks nonsense, seeks to confuse with riddles. Call her a Nedris or not, she's an Ape spy-"

"I'm not."

"That's enough," Zuhn said with exasperation, and looked at Ray. His tone was one of curiosity as he asked, "Why are you here? Did you see something?"

"See something?" Diane asked, her eyes still fixed on Garfak and swearing solemn promises of murder. "See what?"

"I have seen quite a lot of things," Ray told him. "But I'm not clear why you're here. I didn't want to intrude to find out."

"What-" Diane started again, confused. The Prince stopped her as he made an exasperated gesture.

"I am here because our time grows short, and our final opportunity to act is at hand. My brother has been watching me far too closely since we returned to Kilrah. I have been very limited in what I can do. However, even he cannot deny my right to be with my men at this crucial juncture. I am here for final preparations at the shipyard. I am to command the rest of the Fleet that remains in Kilrathi space for our final push on the Sol system."

Diane paled a bit at this news. "They're closing in on Sol? Already?"

"Yes," he told her, looking troubled. "Our Fleets have been paving the way for reinforcements even as they push for Sol. They have been dropping what you call Jump gates behind them like stones in a pond, to allow our forces still here to cover the distance to Sol in a matter of a few days. All of the Confederation's outer colonies have been evacuated or captured, what Fleets have not been broken have all retreated to the Sol system in hopes to secure it against our imminent arrival."

Diane closed her eyes, her fist clenched at her side for a moment before she spoke as evenly as she could. "Is it too much to hope for, that those captured colonies-"

Zuhn shook his head sadly. "My brother wants nothing more than genocide," he said. "They are taking no more prisoners."

"From what scouting reports I've been able to tease out of the network, the Confed force gathered in the Sol system is formidable," Elie said.

"Yes. It will not be a quick victory," Zuhn said, but Diane erupted angrily.

"The death of my people is not a victory!"

Garfak growled softly, but the Prince held his hands up. "No. I do not consider it such either, Colonel. However prolonged the fight, the cards are cast. Sol's defenses, even with the remnants of the Confed Fleets and Platforms to bolster them, will not stand up against the might of Kilrah that now bears down on them. My brother intends to open a theatre of war that will rival any that has yet been seen since this senseless conflict began, and make no mistake- without help, and with my brother on the throne, Surc will succeed in his desire for genocide."

"Then we need to get your ass on the throne, as quickly as we can," Diane said.

"That is the idea," Garfak said grimly.

"And that opportunity is now upon us," Zuhn nodded. "My brother has been watching me closely, but he still cannot move directly against me without evidence. That has not stopped him from trying to move against me covertly. He has granted me leave to take command of the final battalion about to depart for Earth. He knows Kilrah will win, but also knows casualties on our side will be high. He has taken a page from his earlier playbook; it is his intention that I should be…conveniently lost in battle. To that end, he has assigned General Garfak as my second in command on my new ship."

"Smug fool thinks I'm his man," Garfak told them, and gave a sharp, spitting hiss toward the ground. "But my loyalty is with Zuhn. Bloodlust is great, but there is no honor in having an Emperor that has let his consume him, and Sela is just mad. She is the reason the Nedris exist- thinking nothing better than experimenting on our kin, throwing them carelessly into the wind, just to see what happens. She did not care if they came back from being lost both twisted and deranged, so long as she had her small few to play with. Ara Chaz would have led us honorably, and Zuhn will lead us at least more honorably than our alternatives. If nothing else, at least our people will be free of Sela's disgusting toys."

"Garfak," Zuhn said warningly. Garfak looked back stoically.

"I give no apologies to Apes," he said. "I will fight for you, Zuhn. I will stand beside you as you end this war, but do not ask me to love Apes."

"I am not asking you to love them, just mind your words while we are seeking their help," Zuhn said stiffly.

Garfak gave a low hrmph, but fell silent.

"So you have crewed your ship with those loyal to you, thwarting your brother's plan to have you killed on the Front in Sol," Diane said. "I must be missing something, because I don't see how you being on the Front in Sol removes your brother from the throne, nor puts your ass there instead."

"We must 'remove' both my brother and sister," Zuhn said. "Just killing Surc would have his loyalists simply shift those devotions to Sela, and she'd be even worse than he on that throne. As for how we strike- they shall also be on the Front."

"He is mad," Elie snorted.

"I cannot overstate my brother's hatred for humans, El," Zuhn told her. "He is sending me to the Front with the last of our ships, but his desire to see the final eradication of Earth consumes his every waking thought, his every order and move on the board. He plans to be on his flagship in the Sol system when Kilrathi boots finally land on Earth. He wishes to be witness to the last cries of human kind."

"And Sela?"

"Will be with him. They will follow our departure, but will linger at the final relay before jumping into the Sol system. When we finally land on Earth, he will be signaled and bring his flag ship in to Sol space safely behind our Fleets. When the planet is taken, when the Confed President herself is on her knees in the rubble of your Capital, he intends to look her in the eyes and execute her himself."

"What of the human prisoners here?" Ray said, reminding the rest that she was even in the room.

"The murder of your President will be transmitted to all of Kilrah and its colonies. It will signal the beginning of our victory celebration, and part of the revelries will be the televised torture and killing of every last human in our possession. They will not be harmed before then- they are going to be the 'pinnacle of our victory festivities'; I believe is how it is said."

"So what is your plan? How do we stop it?" Diane asked.

"We turn my brother's own scheme on himself," Zuhn told her. "He thinks that Garfak will kill me, making it appear to happen in battle. Instead, I will be killing Surc, and doing the same. I cannot with full confidence plant an assassin on his ship, not knowing he's going to have his most proven, his most devoted as his crew. So I, and perhaps a small group of my own loyals, will be infiltrating his ship instead. We will kill my siblings and declare myself as Emperor. Garfak will back me, as will several others of similar standing and trust. I will call a cease fire, demand certain concessions from your Confed in return for their people and our departure, and pull our forces back to Kilrah."

"Why tell us this?" Diane asked. "You could have just put this plan into action without us being any the wiser; traded us back to the Confed without a finger lifted on our part. So why are you here?"

"The Kilrathi people think you are all dead. War is chaos, but we understand this news has reached your Fleets as well. They will not believe we still have you alive, unless we are able to present proof."

"And what better proof than to present us in the flesh, alive and well," Diane said flatly.

"What better proof indeed," he nodded.

"This is a shaky plan," Diane told him. "There is so much that can go wrong. Even if it works, you yourself said that your brother will not make the final Jump until he gets word the Capital has been captured and the President herself has Cat claws around her throat. That would mean an unimaginable amount of my people dead before you and your team can even get aboard his ship to try and take him out."

He nodded wearily. "I know. I also cannot guarantee my claim on the throne will be immediately recognized, even with Surc and Sela dead. Kilrathi politics are not so easy. I have my supporters but Surc has his. Even if I kill them swiftly, I don't know that it will be in time to bring a halt to the battle. Surc's generals may continue to fight, the taste of victory ripe in their mouths. I know this whole mess sounds desperate, but it is desperate. This is the only chance left to us to turn this madness back."

"No, it isn't," Ray said, and all eyes turned back to her.

"I am eager to hear what you have to say," Zuhn told her. Diane looked from the Cat to Ripley.

"I don't know if I'm eager to hear it," Shadow said. "But you've got my interest, Ray. You mentioned before something about breaking confidentiality. What is it that you need to tell us?"

"I was ordered not to speak of this," Ray said, looking mostly at Shadow. "Colonel, what I'm about to tell you is going to be really hard to hear and accept. It is also enough to get both of us court-martialed. That's why I didn't want Parry or Jon here. I'd rather you weren't here either, but circumstances being what they are, I don't…I don't feel I have any other choice."

"I will accept the consequences," Diane said without hesitation. "Tell me."

Ray nodded, then cleared her throat. "Zuhn already knows part of this. Before…before the attack-"

She quickly outlined the events of what had occurred just before the Cats had attacked back on Houston, breaking the First Fleet and leading to the route that had left them stranded and ultimately captured. She told them about meeting with the two Generals, Dr. Versi, and Prince Zuhn in the brig room and what they had told her the Confed had done; what had happened to her, and what they suspected she could do. She told them about seeing the Emperor's assassination in time to warn them to start evacuating the Fleet before the Cats could attack.

More than one incredulous look passed between all of them except the Prince; whenever one shot a questioning gaze at him, he just nodded, verifying that what she was saying was the truth.

"What you don't know, what no one knows, is this," she said. "When the Cats kidnapped Parry, I was badly injured in the attack. The doctors said it was impossible for me to have been conscious after that missile hit me, but I still made communications. The doctors were right. I was unconscious. I also was not."

"What are you talking about?" Diane said, looking at Ray now almost as if she believed that the younger pilot was mad.

"I was awake. I made those communications. I was also unconscious in that pit, and didn't wake up until much later on Houston. After my fighter crashed, I saw the Kilrathi capture Parry. I saw my own injured body lying in that pit. I saw the Cat shoot me, twice. When they took Parry away, I went with her. I saw her torture, I saw…everything. I thought I was hallucinating at first. Then I thought I was dead."

"This isn't possible," Diane said. "You had some kind of dream. It's understandable with the amount of trauma-"

"Parry saw me too," Ray said, and everyone save Zuhn gaped. "She thought she was hallucinating, that I was just in her head, but she saw me too. We had conversations."

"What are you saying?" Elie asked. "Are you saying that you had some sort of out of body experience? That your…what, your ghost?...was walking around chatting with your wingmate? I agree with what the human said before. This is metaphysical, supernatural jek'tak'tho."

"I told you," Garfak said. "I told you she was-"

"Will you shut up and let me finish?" Ray said angrily. The Cat blanched, then snarled and started forward a step. Zuhn caught his shoulder.

Looking back at Elie, Ray said, "In answer to your question, no, I am not saying that I was a ghost, or that what happened to me was metaphysical or supernatural. I know now exactly what happened to me. I know what happened to our people that vanished in the Jump- all the people who ever vanished in Jumps, including the Kilrathi. There is nothing supernatural about it. I wasn't a…a ghost, or a spirit. I don't know if there's an afterlife. But I do know exactly what I am now, what your Nedris are-"

"Zuhn, you may be my Prince, you may even be Emperor if I have any say about it, but I will not entertain this nonsense any further," Garfak said. "If you cannot see this Ape is as mad as-"

Ray's eyes fixed on the General and for just the briefest moment, her head dipped downward, her body wavering like she was about to stumble. Diane instinctively reached out to steady her but the motion stopped even as it started, as she was distracted by Garfak.

The moment Ray's head dipped, Garfak suddenly jerked backward as if he had been hit, crashing back hard to the ground with a cry of surprise and pain. For the briefest moment, his wide eyes glazed, and then he blinked, letting out a cry and throwing his hands out beside him as if he feared he was about to be flung upward off the ground. Gasping, he stared at Ray with a look that didn't hold disgust now, but fear.

"Now, I am going to finish what I was saying," Ray said in a calm and even voice. "And then we're going to discuss what happens next, am I clear?"