Sebbain Pein, Chief of National Security, stood amidst the aftermath of what might be the worst event to befall Inkopolis since the Great Turf War. Seagulls stood atop the cold carcasses of a hundred crabs, picking at the meat with their beaks. The overwhelming stench of blood and dead bodies didn't seem to disturb them.

"So much for covert," he muttered. There was no way they would be able to disguise this as a mere gang war. The 'gang,' in this case, was outnumbered by the corpses. Members of the Xapheerell Shoal, who graciously decided to help with the cleanup, wandered around, pushing the bodies of the crabs into piles to be dealt with later. While this obviously wasn't the entire shoal, it had to be the majority of it.

He eyed their leader, who was being questioned a short distance away. He was actually curious what kind of story they planned on telling. He couldn't imagine anything trying to cover this up. He was sure the Crab Consortium's ambassador was already meeting with the Calachoran diplomatic office to discuss this incident. He was sure to have a lot of phone calls waiting for him when he got to his office.

The officer in charge of the scene came up to him and saluted. "Sir, I'm sure you have a lot of questions about… all this. But we're still gathering information. Honestly, a lot of it seems difficult to believe."

The officer spoke like someone in a dream, not willing to accept that what they were seeing was real. Sebbain understood that well. He had been part of many homicide investigations in his time; although, nothing on this scale, and killing was rare in Inkopolis to begin with. This scene would be traumatizing for anyone.

"Do you at least have an idea what happened?"

The officer frowned and looked down at his notepad. "Near as we can tell, Sir, the Xapheerell shoal came in and attacked the wharf in retaliation for their aggressive taking of turf in the ward, and for the deaths of many of their people, including their matron, a year ago. They also claim that the crabs were preparing to make war on Inkopolis as a whole, starting with them, and destroy the country." He frowned, ripples of doubt in his mantle. "Honestly, Sir, it seems a bit far fetched."

"Maybe taken on its own," Sebbain said. "But have you heard of the other piles of bodies found? In particular, there's a huge collection of dead crabs just to the Northwest of here. Apparently, some horrified people called at about seven-thirty this morning after discovering they had been driving over crustacean corpses covering half a roundabout. Officers on the scene report that there are probably close to a thousand bodies, most of them clustered around an old hardware store that looks like it was being used as a bunker of some kind. Sounds like war to me, don't you think?"

"I… suppose so, Sir, but we don't know for sure if the two incidents were conducted by the same people."

"Then make it a priority to find out, because somebody clearly thinks they are."

"O-of course, Sir. But as I said, we're still collecting information and, well, there's a lot to collect."

"Just do your best. Have you been able to keep the media away?"

"So far, yes." He gestured to the ship nearby. "If you want more answers, Sir, I suggest you speak to the people next to the ship, hostage victims. I've been prioritizing the homicide part of the overall investigation before the bodies get too cold."

"I see. That's fair, I suppose. Everyone needs to be identified and the crab's ambassador will be bothering us forever about it."

"Yes, that's probably true, Sir." The officer gestured to his left. "But I'm more concerned about those."

Sebbain turned and frowned at two enormous crab husks. When he had first arrived, he had mistaken them for crab-themed shelters of some kind. He said as much to the officer.

"Yes, Sir. We couldn't believe it at first either, but it's true. Those are two gigantic crabs. Their deaths; however, are more cut and dry." He grimaced, unpleasant emotions washing over his mantle as he looked at his notbad again. "When first responders arrived they found two individuals… consuming the corpses."

Sebbain shivered slightly, feeling the touch of clarity in his mind. "Let me guess, it was Callie and Marie."

The officer's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"I've heard things. A lot of unpleasant things." He pinched his brow. This whole thing was a disaster and it was going to fall right on top of him. "Where are they now?"

"They were taken to Inkopolis Special Care." He winced. "They practically needed to be craned and trucked out of here."

"Details I don't want to know," Sebbain said. "Any other quick notes before I let you get back to work?"

"Yes, Sir. An electric eel that had been reported missing two months ago was found here. He had been used as part of a weapon during the fighting, some kind of spark projector. He was also taken to Special Care. As for anything else, well, I'm basically learning new things every minute. Bottom line is, there was a big fight here and the crabs lost, badly, despite having those two monsters on their side."

"Maybe, but I suppose we had a couple of monsters on our side too. Carry on."

"Yes, Sir."

Sebbain started walking towards the ship, wandering around the piles of corpses. His boots stepped in blood that was still wet and the gulls ignored him as he passed.

Halfway there, a National Security car screeched to a halt on the edge of the scene and his aide, Narii, emerged, running towards him and clearly making a point not to look at all the bodies.

"Sir, you should have told me you'd be here."

Sebbain pulsed blue. "Narii, I know you're my aide, but that doesn't mean your life has to revolve around me. I'm just looking into the situation for myself, that's all. The monarch's bound to have questions. I want to be able to give her some answers without waiting for an official report."

Narii opened her mouth but then slowly closed it. Then she looked around, her mantle darkening and rippling worriedly. "Sir, this…"

"I know," he said softly. "I know. As long as you're here, you can come with me and we'll see what we can learn."

Narii took a deep breath and put on her serious face. "Yes, Sir."

The two of them walked to the ship tied up along the wharf. There were a few officers there. They appeared to be interviewing a handful of inklings. The ship's crew perhaps? Then he recognized one of them, noticeably removed from the rest, her arm in a sling, and her eyes a familiar red.

One of the officers saw him approaching and walked up to him, saluting. "Chief, what can we do for you, Sir?"

"I'm just looking into the incident, Constable. I'm trying to find out what happened here. All I know is that a fight happened and the crabs lost."

"Cursed right they lost!" A red inkyora boasted. "They won' be tryin' to take our turf again anytime soon."

Sebbain eyed her for a moment then looked back at the constable. "Who are these people?"

"The loud one is Scylla Sunreader. Apparently, she is the acting matron of the Xapheerell Shoal, but I've checked and there's already an actively serving matron representing that section of the ward."

"She's actually dead," Sebbain said bluntly. "I'm sure you'll be briefed on it later. If she says she's acting matron, then she probably is."

"I never asked for it," Sunreader said, "I just ended up with the job. Couldn' let the shells just up and take it without a good scrap."

"I'd say you put up more than a good scrap judging from the pile of corpses here, Ms. Sunreader. I'm curious what kind of help you had." His gaze fell on the young girl sitting away from the others. She didn't avert her gaze when his fell upon her, instead she stared right back, not defiantly, merely resolute and unafraid.

"Who are the rest of these people, Constable?"

"The ship's crew, mostly." Her tone of voice and mantle darkened noticeably. "Allegedly, they were doing business with the crabs here when they were suddenly taken hostage, apparently to try and dissuade the shoal from attacking. They were rescued, somehow, and then this all happened while they were knocked out." He waved his hand towards the carnage.

"Hostages?" Narri gasped, and she looked at the two boys and Agent 3. "But some of them are children."

"They didn't care," the younger boy said. "They just took us to the front and hid behind us like cowards. They said they were going to kill us if they took just one step forward, and one of them had their claw around my neck."

"Surely they were bluffing. I can't imagine anyone murdering children!"

"They weren't bluffing!" One of the sailors pointed to a bandage at his neck. "One of 'em was startin' to snip me neck when we got splatted. The octolings that 'elped us out practically 'ad to reshape my neck because me windpipe was almost crushed. That wound is where some of the skin tore when I got splatted, 'is 'old on me neck was so tight. T'aint somethin' ya' do when yur' bluffin'."

"Point taken." Sebbain said. "And you are the crew of this ship?"

"Aye," said the teal inkyar. "I'm the captain. We were just makin' pickups for the crabs, liften' crates of salvage from the bottom of the ocean. Nuttin' illegal, we thought, but now, I guess, we know it wan't for anythin' good."

"The crates were full of golden Salmonid eggs."

All eyes turned to Agent 3.

"The golden Salmonid eggs have odd properties that help in genetic modifications. That's how those crabs grew so big. You'll find all your evidence in the warehouse. We tried not to touch anything."

Narii gasped. "Little girl, don't tell me you were actually involved in all this." She gestured to the carnage behind them.

In response, Agent 3 stood and discarded the towel covering her, revealing clothes caked in glistening blue blood. Narii gasped, shocked and somewhat horrified. She even took a step back.

"You should have seen her when we first found her," the constable said. "Head to toe covered in blood. Didn't find a weapon on her, but we've found a few broken hammers and wood axes around. Trust me, she was involved. We haven't been able to contact her parents yet, but she's been fairly cooperative."

"She saved our lives!" The captain shouted, his eyes burning passionately. "You're worried about the crabs and how they died, but if things hadn't happened the way they did, you'd be wondering why this many inklings died, and you'd be gettin' crucified by the few inklings left for lettin' it 'appen! What in the black pits have you all been doin'? Why do these young kids have to be the ones to step up an' save our city?"

Sebbain faced him, looking the inkyar up and down. "You don't blame them for creating the situation that nearly got you killed?"

"If they didn't kill us they would have tried to kill someone else later. In fact, they already did."

"So I've heard. Are you a father, Captain?"

"Aye, two boys and four girls. Some of' em 'er age." He tilted his head at Agent 3. "I don't know 'er but if I was 'er dad I'd be cursed proud. Every lad in the nation 'd be fight'n over 'er."

"Well I suppose, as a father and grandfather myself, I should say the same thing, but I don't know all she's done so we'll have to see."

He turned and looked at her. "So, what exactly did you get up to? Oh, let's start with your real name. You know I'll find it eventually."

The girl frowned suspiciously and her mantle darkened. Defiance leaked into her eyes as she looked deeply into his own, trying to judge him. "Cortina Scarletteri," she finally confessed.

"Scarletteri!" Narii suddenly shouted. "As in Fulvia Scarletteri?"

Cortina's eyes went wide and her mantle turned a bright green with wisps of buttercup yellow. "You knew Mama?"

"She was your Mama?"

"Narii," Sebbain interrupted. "Did you know her mother or not?"

"Of course, Sir! She was one of my idols growing up, an inkyora who took no prisoners and rebelled against the established norms of society." She covered her face with her hands. "Um, that isn't to say I approved of everything about her, but she wasn't as bad as people liked to say back then."

"She was the head of a street racing gang," Cortina said bluntly. "But that was before she retired and settled down with Dad and Iya."

"You're in an epeso family?" Sebbain asked. "That's rare these days."

"Iya and Mama loved Dad and he loved them. Win win. Does any of this actually matter right now?"

Sebbain smiled. "No, I suppose not, but I just wanted to get to know you a little before we had a little private chat." He gestured for her to follow him and started up the gangplank. "We'll be borrowing your ship for a few minutes, Captain. I hope you don't mind. Constable, do try and finish your questioning so that they can be on their way. They've already been held captive once today."

The constable smiled a little. "A little dark, Sir, but yes, I'll try."

Sebbain led the way into the ship's interior, climbing the stairs up to the wheelhouse where he sat on one of the nearby chairs. It didn't seem right to sit on the captain's chair. Cortina sat on the chair across from him, fighting clear signs of exhaustion.

"Alright then, young lady, since I am, willingly or not, involved with your little crew, I want you to tell me everything that happened last night, starting from the beginning. For both our sakes, let's hope it justifies this."

Gabralla watched as the Inkopolis Expeditionary Force formed their ranks. The sun was high and it was much later than the planned time they were supposed to be back, but at least it seemed largely intact.

Another thing she noted was that, despite how exhausted they all looked, many of them also covered in blood, there was no sense of defeat; instead, a quiet sense of satisfaction seemed to emanate from them. That was good. Honestly, the army needed all the morale boosts it could get.

Agent 4 and an octoling of about the same age approached her.

"Thank you for your help," Agent 4 said as she stopped in front of her. "The war has been won."

Gabralla arched an eyebrow and lifted one of her front tentacles. "War?"

"A small one but, yeah, turned out to be a war. I'm sure your officers can give you better details."

"And where is Callie? I thought I understood she was the one supposed to be commanding the unit until its return."

"She's in the hospital, last I heard. She's sorry she couldn't come herself but, you know."

Agent 4 gestured to the octoling beside her who was standing crisply at attention, her arm raised in salute. Gabralla casually returned the salute and the girl spoke.

"Lady Sever, Trooper Vella Stormhook. I was assigned as an agent in Inkopolis by, then Septain, Betanuss."

"Ah, you are the one she left behind. I see. I'm glad to see you are still with us, Trooper."

"Thank you, Ma'am. It is my pleasure to serve the army."

"Indeed. And where is the ambassador?"

Trooper Stormhook winced. "Um, technically, she is also in hospital, Ma'am – but she's not injured; rather, she has performed a… an act of motherly love. Um… she saved another soldier's life by taking her into her ink sac."

Gabralla frowned. She had heard of such a thing, somewhere, but she hadn't heard of anyone actually doing it.

"And, when can she be expected to return?"

Stormhook shank away slightly and then took a datapad from her pocket. "Um, I don't know, "Ma'am, but the ambassador did give me this to hand to you, for your eyes only."

Gabralla accepted the datapad and keyed the screen, she found that it was locked. The only way past it was to use a high-level code. Whatever was on that pad was bound to be very important.

"Thank you, Trooper. Tell me, are you still able to operate in Inkopolis?"

"Yes, Ma'am. As long as the ambassador wants me there, I suppose, but…" she trailed off. "I suppose she's not in the army anymore?"

Technically, she is not. Honestly, your status is a bit of an odd case but it seems to have worked out so far. Therefore, for the time being, you will continue to serve as you have been. However, I am tasking you with ensuring the ambassador's safe and swift return."

"Yes Ma'am!"

Agent 4 smiled with amusement. "It should only be a couple of days. They need the girl inside her to heal up enough to get her out, then a little more time for her to recover. I hear you usually feel sick after you've had someone in your ink sac for a long time and they come out."

"Noted. Is there anything else?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Then I suppose our business is concluded. Let us hope neither of us regret it."

Agent 4 simply shrugged. "If we do, we'll feel it long before you will. Don't worry though; if anything, our government owes you a favour."

"Even though we traded for our service?"

"It's still sticking your neck out a little, right?" She gave her a little salute. "See you soon, Ma'am."

Agent 4 began to walk away while Stormhook remained at rigid attention.

"You're dismissed, Trooper. Ensure the ambassador returns safe. I'm sure she will have much to tell us."

"Yes Ma'am!"

Vella caught up to Four and fell into step beside her. Four gave her a sideways look, her mantle turning a curious yellow colour.

"You didn't want to stay?"

"I am where I need to be," Vella insisted. "And I still think I can best serve my people here."

"Mhmm." Four grinned at her cheekily and Vella blushed, crossing her arms.

"Am I not allowed to change my mind?"

Four laughed. "No, you're allowed; I'm just glad to finally see it."

"I was forced to change my perspective. I suppose I did so just in time."

Four sighed audibly. "Yeah, I guess we've all gotten a little perspective shift after all that. Can't believe a war was about to happen right under our noses and nobody saw it until now."

"But now you have to justify yourselves to your own people, no? You weren't able to keep your involvement a secret."

Four pulsed grey. "Eh, worth it, I guess. It's better that the crabs were stopped. I'm sure people will understand, as long as the facts come out. I'm sure Callie and Marie will handle it, when they come to."

"And what will you do until then?"

"Dunno. What I want to do is go home and sleep, but I'm sure there's a lot of work to do given everything that's happened. What about you?"

"I… don't know. I suppose I should check on the ambassador and make sure she's alright."

"She'll be fine. Anyone who does what she did will get well taken care of. Why don't you come with me and we'll get some breakfast. I'm starving."

Vella thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "I suppose I could stomach some inkling food." She gave Four her own cheeky grin and Four grinned right back.

"You two are definitely sisters."

"Easy, easy," the nurse said gently as she guided Avrika towards the rectangular pool of water.

Her blood-soaked clothes long discarded, Avrika was clad only in a towel. Kalisha and Aishi, being quite filthy themselves, were not permitted within the sterile parts of the hospital, but it didn't take much convincing to get them to stay out. Tephilla, on the other hand, had insisted on coming with her, going so far as to strip down herself. The nurses made no effort to stop her, instead, they seemed to regard it as almost a natural thing.

The pool in front of them wasn't all that large, especially compared to the breeding tanks she remembered from her time eggnant, or as deep, but it was probably more than enough for the purpose it would serve her.

Tephilla helped the two nurses ease her down, not caring that her towel had slipped off. She even slipped into the water first, holding her arms out and helping lift the burden of Avrika's occupied abdomen to make the transition easier.

Her feet landed on a step that kept her head above the surface and one of the nurses leaned over.

"Now, we just need you to test your gills before you go down. Dip your neck into the water and let us see how they work."

Avrika did as the nurse instructed, bending her knees until her chin touched the water. She opened up her gills and they began to breathe for her. It felt good to use them again, but it also made her long for her little girls, memories of the breeding pools stirred up into her conscious mind like disturbed silt.

She gently touched her pendant, the only thing she had been allowed to keep wearing. The nurses carefully watched her gills work and once Avrika told them she was satisfied, they pulled back.

"Now, we'll be in to check on you periodically. We'll also bring you your meals. Tephilla, sweetie, look after her. Make sure she gets plenty of sleep."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Alright then, down you go. Don't worry, the bottom's nice and padded."

Avrika braced herself and then stepped off the ledge, letting herself fall down gently towards the bottom. The sensation of water pressure had a comforting familiarity and stirred more intimate memories in the breeding pools.

Her feet touched the patted bottom, a luxury even the breeding mothers didn't have. She knelt slowly and then gently rolled onto her back. The exhaustion of the past twenty-four hours – nay, the past few months, finally felt like it was lifting off her shoulders.

Tephilla daintily touched the bottom in front of her as she adjusted the position of her neck. She still wasn't sure why Tephilla had followed her. At first she'd assumed that it was to avoid any cultural issues or just so that they had an inkling they had some trust in to guide them through the process, but that didn't explain why she'd followed her even into the tank.

Tephilla made a single hop towards her, drifting to the side to kneel beside her. Her mantle had adopted a gentle, soothing pattern of blues that mimicked the refractions of the ambient light in the water.

They locked eyes for several long moments, but it never became awkward. Then, Tephilla lay on her side and tenderly nuzzled up next to her, even as Avrika's own arm instinctively wrapped around her, probably because of her maternal instincts, rekindled thanks to the other girl in her ink sac.

Thinking about it in reverse, perhaps that was why Tephilla had come. At some point in the last twenty-four hours, Tephilla had come to see in her some kind of mother figure. This was a girl desperate for a sense of love, belonging, and perhaps validation.

But I can't give it, for a number of reasons. She has to find that herself. Still, Avrika thought there was no harm indulging the poor girl after they had both had such a rough night and morning. So, she held her snugly against her side and as she drifted off to sleep, pretended it was one of her real children she was holding close.