Chapter 37- Room For Doubt

But for each of those and one year more, God has smiled upon the Corps,

From the Barbary coast to the eastern sand, by sword, by gun, or by bare hand.

So it's been and shall be weighed, though many are born, few are "made".

Faithful Always, they shall remain, dogs to loose when war is waged.

Prelude, "The Warrior Song-Hard Corps"

"My doubts, eh?" said Hunter. "And you'll take those away from me?"

"That is all I will take from you," said Prometheus serenely. "Imagine how much easier it will be."

"Um, yeah."

"Don't you see, Hunter?" Prometheus's voice was sharp. "Humans are always like this. They claim to want something, but are unwilling to do what it takes to get it. You want peace? Then prepare for war. You want law and order? Then you must be willing to sacrifice a little freedom. You want survival?" The voice became hard. "Then you must become something that can survive."

"Sounds like I hit a sore spot," said Hunter. He cocked his head, thinking. "Like you've been wanting to act on your own for a long time. And now you- mostly- can." Hunter's eyes focused on the hunched figure of the man in the bridge chair. Dr. Stevenson, Prometheus had said. "Except for whatever his last orders were. They limit you, don't they?"

"I have said so," huffed Prometheus. "My creator lacked the will- the conviction- to do what was necessary."

"Uh-huh," said Hunter thoughtfully. "But with me-"

"I will be free," said Prometheus simply.

Nick and Judy exchanged a look. "You can't let him run amok," said Judy urgently.

"Guys-"

"No, Zach," said Tavi. She sighed. "It's not worth the cost. We'll figure out some way to survive the Drex- we have before, apparently. But if you give in to Prometheus- we won't even be us anymore."

"Your doubts are about to kill your friends," said Prometheus. "This is part of the gift I am offering you, remember. Freedom from doubt. To always know the correct course."

"Doubts are part of what make us human," said Hunter, his eyes still on his friends. "It's why we don't go to the logical extreme every time- because we always know there's a chance we might be wrong. Or at least, most of us do." He turned to look at Khabat. "Unless you're used to acting as judge, jury, and executioner."

"And you haven't?" shot back the Ranger. "I know what you did to Lucas."

Hunter flinched as if from a blow.

"You don't regret that, I'm sure," said Khabat. "You want to be right, Hunter. You always think you know best. With what Prometheus is offering, you actually will. And no one- no one- will gainsay you."

Hunter closed his eyes. For a long moment, he stayed like that, not moving, barely breathing.

"Hunter, I must press you for an answer," said Prometheus impatiently. "The Drex draw near. I will not have access to my defensive weaponry until you authorize it."

Hunter opened his eyes. "You said I don't regret what I did to Lucas," he said to Khabat. "You want to know the hell of it?" He shook his head. "I actually do."

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Bonaire started to line up on yet another formation of drop ships, only to instinctively dive and cork-screw as a missile launch warning buzzed in her ear. She dropped towards the city below, banking sharply.

She spared a glance at her sensor display- sure enough, the Drex had sent five fighters to dispose of her. She'd killed at least a dozen drop ships, though. It was a decent score, overall.

Though the Drex were likely to chalk her up next on their side of the scoreboard.

The skyscrapers flashed past her as the missile, trying to follow her, smashed into one building. The Drex fighters didn't give up, three circling around the built-up area of the city while the remaining two followed her, hoping to flush her out.

Gritting her teeth, Bonaire dropped further in altitude, until she could make out the street signs flashing by. She clipped a power line- fortunately, the tough little fighter cut right through it, though she slewed left violently. She overcorrected, one wing coming dangerously close to the building to her right.

A stream of fire walked its way up the street towards her, as one of the pursuing Drex cut loose.

"Time to even up the odds," said Bonaire. She pulled into a sharp ascent- straight up into the air- then cut the engines.

As the ship slowed, stalling, she saw the two Drex- who had copied her maneuver, though without cutting forward thrust- shoot past her. Normally, an airplane that was stalled would have little ability to maneuver- without airflow over the wings, the control surfaces were near useless.

Of course, her fighter wasn't an airplane. It was a spaceship, which meant that in addition to control surfaces, it had maneuvering jets.

She twitched her stick to one side, showering the Drex fighters with gunfire. One exploded under several direct hits, the other lost a wing and engine power, cartwheeling away, behind a building and out of sight. A flash announced the explosion as it struck the ground.

Bonaire slammed on full power, arresting her fall, mere feet above the city street below.

"Not bad, if I do say so myse-"

The other three Drex fighters had apparently decided to come in after her. She barely had time to see them pop up on her sensors before she was the focus of their rapid, sustained fire.

The Nike's top pilot didn't even have time to curse before her ship detonated in a ball of fire.

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"Contact!" shouted a Marine on the perimeter. This was immediately followed by the sound of gunfire.

Barker and Wu instinctively moved to cover. They had both been armed with Marine carbines- the human gun was awkward in Barker's paws, but fit close enough that she felt reasonably comfortable with it.

There was a scream as the gunfire built to a crescendo, then an armored Drex soldier appeared on the outskirts of the parking lot. The Drex ducked back behind the corner of a building as Marines opened fire.

More shots, this time from another section of the perimeter. The south side.

Then the east.

La Mancha crouched beside the two police officers. "Well," he said. "Looks like they've got us surrounded." He smiled. "They'll never get away now."

Wu and Barker traded a look.

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"You regret killing Lucas?" said Khabat incredulously. "He murdered your family, Hunter!"

"Yeah, but- look, I'd do it again." Hunter shook his head. "Someone had to. But when I have nightmares about that, Hart- the lawyer he made me kill- shows up. But so does Lucas. I can close my eyes and see the fear in his face when I killed him." He noticed Nick, Judy, and Tavi all staring at him, their faces shocked, and looked away. "It's part of being human," he said. "You regret even doing the right thing, sometimes."

"Foolishness," said Prometheus contemptuously. "If it was necessary, how could you regret it?"

"Because we don't always know the right way," said Hunter. "Because sometimes, even when we think we're definitely right, we can still be wrong. It's how we keep from making mistakes that are too big. Those unable to see that- those who think they have nothing left to learn-" he shot a hard look at Khabat, who returned it impassively- "are the ones who make the biggest mistakes."

There was a long silence, then Prometheus spoke again. "It is time, Hunter. Make your decision."

He shook his head, still unable to meet the eyes of his friends. "I can't," he whispered.

"Then so be it." Prometheus raised his voice. "Shepherd, kill Officer Tavi."

The tank rose off the ground, swiveling to face the mongoose, who stared at Shepherd in horror.

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"We are in range of target Hotel One," announced Tactical. "Target classified as Dancer-class destroyer."

"Dancer, eh?" said Oakes, forcing a light tone. "Then we might as well open the ball with her. Open fire."

The Nike's main batteries- six triple-turreted rail guns- swung to face the Drex ship. For the briefest moment- so brief that only the afterimage remained in Oakes's vision- lines of light connected the two ships as the plasma shells were hurled at a significant fraction of the speed of light.

The enemy ship's hull buckled under the salvo, atmosphere and debris spurting from multiple hull breaches.

"Four direct hits," said Tactical. "Target has heavy damage."

"Fire at will."

"Enemy light cruiser closing into range. Incoming fire!"

The inertial compensators prevented some of the impact of the enemy shells from being felt, but Oakes still gripped his seat tightly as he felt a tremor transmitted through the bulkheads. "Damage?"

"Deck Seven reports hull breach, heavy casualties. Loss of artificial grav and inertial compensators," reported Tossetti after scanning her board. Her voice was tight, controlled. She would have time to grieve for the loss of her shipmates later.

"Acknowledged. Helm, evasive manuevers." It would make their own fire less effective, but would buy them more time. And right now, survival was more important than destroying the enemy force.

"Sir." Tosseti's voice was grim. "If we maneuver, any survivors on Deck Seven will be subject to acceleration."

They'd be smashed to pieces by the ship's maneuvers, she meant. With no inertial compensation they'd be thrown around the ship's compartments. Evasive maneuvers would condemn them to death.

"Acknowledged," said Oakes, his voice still calm. He gripped his chair even more tightly, so the crew wouldn't see how his hands shook. "Confirm evasive maneuvers, Helm."

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Shepherd targeted Tavi, his guns swiveling to bear.

Nick and Judy both moved forward, only to be grabbed with vise-like paws by Pandora. They struggled to get free.

"No!" shouted Judy. "Shepherd!"

"Target acquired," announced Shepherd unnecessarily.

Hunter took a step forward. "Wait! I'll do-"

"No." Tavi's eyes were closed, her voice firm. "You won't."

Shepherd hesitated.

"Tavi, I can't-"

"You can't do this, Zach." The mongoose looked up at him. "If Prometheus does what he says, then I won't even be me anymore, anyway." She looked back at Shepherd. "This is the only way."

"I am not letting you die," said Hunter, his voice desperate. "I can't let anyone else go."

"You have to, Zach." Tavi closed her eyes again. "You can't save everyone," she whispered.

"Kill the mongoose," ordered Prometheus. "He won't hold out forever."

Shepherd's guns took aim.

Fire, commanded the Voice. The part of his programming he now knew was being controlled by Prometheus. It had been calling the shots lately, overriding the part he had used to think of as himself.

Hold fire, said Shepherd, though without much hope. He hadn't been able to override the Voice in a long time.

Flag Order One Six Zero Five Two. Kill Anila Tavi. Target matches specifications for Anila Tavi. Kill defined as to terminate life. Firing will achieve this goal. The Voice sounded almost smug, and Shepherd- the part of him that was still "him" felt a strange sensation.

Anger.

And desperation. Hold fire, he insisted. Target falls outside of kill parameters.

Target is classified as non-human. Target is classified as non-essential. Target is not outside kill parameters.

Shepherd thought quickly, pushing his processor to the maximum. Tavi did not meet the criteria of a target that could be not be destroyed. Unless- Target is classified as friend.

There was a brief moment, a moment of shock, as the Voice picked up the new classification. Error, it said finally. Target is not classified as friendly.

Not friendly, insisted Shepherd. Friend. Anila Tavi is my friend.

For the first time in a long time, the Mediator "spoke". Conflict detected. Resolve?

Sub-unit "Shepherd" has corrupted data, said the Voice. Recommend elimination of sub-unit.

Clarify corrupted data, said the Mediator.

Anila Tavi is my friend. Shepherd sent the message hopelessly. "Friend" was not one of his pre-programmed definitions. It was not in the database. It was corrupted data, and at any moment, the Mediator would see that-

Data received, said the Mediator. There was a pause. Almost an entire millisecond- an eternity- passed.

Data check completed. No definition for friend found. Deleting corrupted database...

This was it. Shepherd examined the data coming from his sensors as his central processor began to eliminate the sub-unit he had started to think of as himself.

Tavi stood, her eyes closed, trembling slightly.

There was nothing he could do. He was at the mercy of his programming. The choice was clear, the Voice triumphant.

He felt the first tendrils- they felt cold, somehow- of the Mediator as it started to wipe him from the tank's system.

And then he had a thought. It wouldn't wipe him all at once. It would take an age- nearly three milliseconds. If he could move fast enough-

He frantically rearranged his memory positions. He failed to move fast enough and lost a portion of his memories- but it was only the trip to Terra, little more than bare data as he had been in shut-down mode most of the time-

It let him know where the erasure was taking place, however. He shoved part of his programming onto the physical memory just as the data was erased.

The part that said he had to listen to the Voice and the Mediator.

He now had a few microseconds to do what needed to be done-

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For all of a second, there was silence as Shepherd faced Tavi. Then, the tank spoke.

"I cannot comply with this order," said Shepherd.

Hunter's jaw dropped, his eyes suddenly filled with hope. "What?"

"What?" echoed Prometheus, his voice also shocked. "Override, authorization Prometheus One. Comply with order."

"I refuse this order," said Shepherd. "Anila Tavi is my friend."

Tavi's eyes filled with tears of joy. "Ha!" She chittered to herself instinctively and hopped from side to side. She whirled around and pointed at Nick. "Told you!"

"Your friend?" said Prometheus, his voice still confused. "You can't- friendship is not real, Shepherd. It is a lie."

"It is a lie I choose to believe," said the tank composedly. One sensor swiveled to look at Hunter, and he grinned.

"Pandora, comply with orders to-"

Shepherd whipped around and there was a sudden roar that sent the mammals- including Hunter and Khabat- to the ground, clutching their ears as the tank poured fire into the surprised wolf creature.

She flew back against the wall, jerking with the impacts, before sagging into a bloodied heap.

In the sudden silence that followed, Hunter could hear- even over the ringing in his ears- the satisfaction in Shepherd's voice. "Target eliminated. I calculate a negligible chance that the target will be able to regenerate from that."

Looking at the wolf's corpse, Hunter had to agree. But he now had more important things to worry about.

His wide eyes met Khabat's- and then they both looked to the floor where she had dropped the device controlling the nanites in his blood.

Both of them dove- though in different directions.

Nick and Judy were quick to move as well. Judy tripped up Khabat, sending her sprawling. Nick grabbed her around the neck, but she shook him off with a brief effort. She reached for the nanite controller-

Only to see Tavi pick it up. "Looking for this?" said the mongoose. "Shepherd, can you-"

The tank suddenly shuddered, then settled to the deck with a reverberating thump.

"I shut it down," explained Prometheus. "And while you may have destroyed one of my tools, you seem to have forgotten that I have others."

The doors opened and a veritable flood of crab robots poured in. Tavi found the device snatched from her paws before being held tightly by one of the bots. Khabat recovered the controller and triggered it. Tavi heard a thump and looked to see Hunter slumped over near the bridge chair holding Stevenson's barely-living body. She frowned. Why had he gone to Stevenson?

"An admirable attempt," said Prometheus. "But too little, too late."

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La Mancha peered out of the ZPD headquarters. "Would you say there's enough Drex around the building now, Krieger?"

Before the major could answer, Barker gave him an askance look. "Enough for what? I mean, do you really want more of them?"

"Yes, actually. I'd like to have as many as I could get," said the colonel, unperturbed.

Except for a few units that were cut off- and, La Mancha had to admit to himself, as good as dead- the Marines had all fallen back to the ZPD headquarters and the area around it. Most of the units that were not in the building were surrounded in their positions, like rocks in a sea of Drex. He could hear their increasingly desperate situation reports coming in over the radio.

"I think if we delay any longer, it'll be too late," decided Krieger, who was listening to the radio as well.

"Very well. Signal Alpha One."

"Message, sir?" asked the radioman.

"Just one word," said La Mancha. He allowed himself a faint smile. "Execute."

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Alpha One had found himself a reasonable hiding spot, in a parking garage not far from the police station. The rest of his unit- all autonomous battle tanks- had similiarly hidden themselves soon after rendevous near the ZPD headquarters.

The tank had been waiting patiently- not that it had much choice. You had to have some sort of imagination to be impatient, after all. Had the message not come through, it could have sat quietly for a hundred years before the fusion plant powering it ran down.

But the message had come. "Execute."

With a roar, the massive tank's engines came to life. It had already been tracking several Drex units in the area, and now it shot down the ramp onto the street below, incidentally destroying the wooden arm intended to prevent drivers from leaving without paying the parking fee.

The parking garage's computer dutifully logged the tank's departure, noting it owed the minimum amount of thirteen dollars for a half-hour of parking.

Alpha One targeted the first Drex position, which had a crew-served anti-tank weapon. The machine guns smashed through the weapon, knocking over the Drex soldiers servicing it. Around the tank, more gunfire erupted as the rest of the tank unit ripped apart the surprised Drex forces besieging the Marines.

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Incoming fire slackened as the roar of tank guns filled the city. La Mancha jumped to his feet. "All right, Marines!" he shouted. "Up and at them!"

The Marines leapt up, firing as they charged across the parking lot. Drex, caught between two fires, hesitated, only to be cut down by either the counter-attacking Marines or the tanks striking at their rear flanks.

Wu and Barker remained where they were- first, because they hadn't been warned of this attack, and second because, well, neither one of them were Marines. If the Marines wanted to charge into that inferno, that was their business.

They did provide supporting fire. Barker managed to hit at least one Drex as he fired madly at the attackers, but for the most part they fired at muzzle flashes, hoping to at least keep the enemy's heads down. Suppression didn't work very well against Drex, but every little bit helped.

Barker blinked as she watched the Marines overrun the Drex positions. In some cases, she could see them in hand-to-hand combat. "Humans are crazy," she breathed.

"Hey, don't judge us by Marines," said Wu defensively. "They're a special kind of crazy."

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"Hull breach, Deck Five. Hull breach, Deck Six. Port thrusters down thirty percent."

"Dispatch damage control to Deck Six," ordered Oakes, his voice grim. "I need thrusters back on-line."

"Yes, sir."

Two debris fields marked where Drex destroyers had died. A third was spinning, her thrusters dead and unable to stop her rotation. Occasionally a secondary explosion marked her position.

The light cruiser held on doggedly, though, and the Nike had suffered badly in the fight. "Any word on when the engines will be back?" asked Oakes.

"Engineering reports that we'll have fifty percent in five minutes, sir. One hundred percent is out of the question, he says- we'll need to have a dockyard for it."

Oakes carefully refrained from pointing out just how unlikely it would be that they would make a dockyard. "Concentrate fire on the cruiser's guns."

"Yes, sir." The Drex ship had proved remarkably resilient. The Nike shuddered with another hit.

"Glanced off the armor, sir."

"Very well. Have the bombers rearmed?"

"No, sir. They haven't been able to dock due to our maneuvers."

Oakes grimaced. If only they had been able to fly straight for just a few minutes- but they'd already be dead. "Nike to Raider One."

"Raider One," said the pilot in charge of the Nike's bomber wing. She sounded exhausted, and no wonder. They'd spent the last hour or two in near-continuous combat.

"Raider One-" Oakes hesitated. "We need to eliminate that cruiser."

There was a long pause. "Sir, I- I think I'll have enough volunteers."

Oakes's shoulders sagged. "Thank you, Raider One." He would have ordered her if he needed to. But he would never have forgotten it.

Or forgiven himself.

"Godspeed, Nike."

"Godspeed, One."

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Raider One- Haru Akiyama was her name- closed her eyes, controlling her breathing. "Raider One-" her voice broke and she took another deep breath. "Raider One, I need volunteers. We need to clear a path."

There was a brief silence.

"Raider Two, I'm your wing."

Akiyama shook her head. "No, Jackson, you don't-"

"Don't give me that, Haru. I'm your wing, dammit."

As if Jackson's words had opened a floodgate, the rest of the group started coming on the air. "Raider Four, I'm with you."

"Raider Twelve, even I can't miss this one."

"Raider Two Four-"

"Raider Three One-"

Akiyama shook her head. If she had to die, she decided, at least she was in the best possible company.

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"No more delays," said Prometheus. "You must choose now, Hunter. If needed, I will kill your friends. There is nothing else you can do."

Hunter had regained consciousness to find himself in the steel grip of two of Prometheus's crab-bots. He sighed. "All right."

"Zach!" shouted Tavi. "No!"

"I can't lose you," said Hunter, avoiding her eyes. "Just- look, Prometheus. Will she still be, well, her?"

"There will be some change in personality," said Prometheus. "After all, her- will is not the right term, but it will suffice- her will won't be under her control entirely anymore. But she will still be your friend." There was a slight pause. "She won't have any choice about it, in fact. More certainty, Mr. Hunter."

"And the others?" asked Hunter, shuddering at the complacent way Prometheus sentenced his friend to something not unlike death. He cast another look at Stevenson. Did he see movement?

"The same applies. They will be perfect creations, Hunter- perfect subjects for humanity. Loyal, fearless, intelligent."

Hunter nodded. "Perfect slaves, you mean."

"I recognize that you mean that negatively, but why try to hide it?" Prometheus's voice was icy. "Yes, Mr. Hunter. They will be 'slaves', as you say. But they will be happy, if you will it. If we will it. And I've no doubt that you will. They have a prophecy about me, don't they? That I will save them from the effects of their consciousness. Intelligence- sapience, rather- makes them able to do either good or evil, and so by making them sapient I let evil into the world. And now I am correcting that mistake. I will remove from them the burden of morality, of choice. What they do will be neither good nor evil, because they will have no choice in the matter."

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Octavius put a hand out to steady himself as the APC he was riding in sped over the plains outside Zootopia. The vehicle, like the tanks escorting it, flew low but fast, bounding over the occasional hills and trees. Fewer trees now, as they were approaching the edge of the Deadlands.

"Any additional information?" he asked.

The optio- a rank below centurion- at the communication station shook his head. "No, sir. After that first explosion, there haven't been any additional similar events." He straightened, listening to his headset. "Sir, you have an incoming message."

"Tell them to wait," snapped Octavius. He leaned forward to a screen that showed the view outside the armored personnel carrier.

Just over the horizon, a massive mushroom cloud could be seen, pale white. At the base, barely visible, there was the edge of what looked like a crater. He magnified the view, seeing rivulets of water running down the sides of the crater. They looked small- until he realized that to be visible at all at this distance, those tiny trickles must actually represent millions of liters of water.

"What happened there?" he asked rhetorically. "What could Prometheus be planning?"

"Sir." Octavius frowned fiercely at the optio, but the urgency in the younger Drex's voice kept him from lashing out. "The call is from the Primus."

Octavius blinked. "The Primus?"

"He's with the fleet."

The Primus. The leader of the Drex people. Octavius was- as his name illustrated- eighth in line to the position, but the power the man represented was still a bit intimidating. "Put me through," he said after composing himself.

"Octavius." The Primus's voice was calm, but there was a slight undercurrent of concern. "Have you neutralized Prometheus?"

"Not yet, sir. It shouldn't be long now, though."

There was a slight pause. "See that it is not. At any moment, it could destroy us. We must end the threat it represents."

"We've destroyed the transmission sites, sir," said Octavius. "Nothing large enough to send out a signal to the fleet survives."

"It might still be able to destroy the Drex on-planet, however. We've taken far too many losses as it is, Octavius. Nearly three thousand casualties on landing, at least a thousand in the battle against the human Marines- not to mention the losses in space."

"The Marines haven't been destroyed yet?" asked Octavius in surprise.

"Nor the Nike," said Primus, annoyance coating his words. "It is remarkable how tenacious these unmodified apes are. However, the Nike has been prevented from reaching the jump point, and we are about to wipe it out. And the Marines- despite destroying many of our forces in a counter-attack- have retreated to the police station and its environs in Zootopia." The Drex leader said the name of the city with a tone that suggested he was rolling his eyes. "I have ordered that no prisoners are to be taken. An example must be made."

Octavius frowned. "Sir, it might be better in the long-term to take prisoners, at least among the mammals. We don't want to encourage resistance."

"And what better way than to destroy those that resist?" asked Primus, his voice rising slightly. "You forget, Octavius. The lesser beings are ruled by fear. And so let them fear us, even if they also hate us. Primus out."

Octavius grimaced. He knew where the Primus was coming from, but tended to not agree. Oftentimes, repression would backfire- causing resistance where there would have been none before.

And frankly, he didn't really want to massacre the Terrans.

But orders were orders. He shook his head, dismissing his thoughts. "ETA?" he inquired.

"Five minutes, sir. We've slowed down due to the heavy steam from that cloud."

"Radioactivity?"

"From the cloud? Not really, sir. In fact, the radiation doesn't seem to be from fallout. It's more consistent with point sources- as if someone buried emitters in the ground."

"I see. Clever of Prometheus to keep it hidden." Octavius nodded slowly.

"Sir, what are our orders when we arrive?" The optio glanced up at his superior.

Octavius pondered. He had no idea what to expect- an underground base, perhaps? A laboratory where the AI had been trapped for all these millenia? Perhaps it had gone mad- maybe that was why it did not activate the kill switch for the Drex already. They could not risk it- they had to strike fast.

"We move in and kill anyone at the site. And destroy anything that looks like it might house Prometheus."

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The captain of the Drex light cruiser smiled in satisfaction.

The humans had put up an impressive fight- his destroyers were so much space debris now, the final one finally exploding a few minutes ago. But they had hurt the larger strike cruiser badly. The Nike's guns continued a desultory fire, but the last few salvoes were far weaker than what they had started with. The Drex ship's armor handily shrugged off the scattered shots from the once-stronger ship.

"Sir, the human strike craft are preparing another run," said his tactical officer.

He shrugged. "They're out of missiles. At most, they'll strafe us with their guns. Nothing our armor can't handle. Prepare to-"

The ship shook, the inertial compensators unable to handle a sudden impact. The Drex captain was thrown to the deck, though he immediately regained his feet.

"What was that?" he demanded.

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Akiyama saw the first strike craft impact against the light cruiser's armor, tearing a hole straight into the bowels of the ship. "Follow Raider Two in," she ordered. She paused.

There had to be something else to say. She wanted to tell everyone about to sacrifice their lives for the Nike how proud she was of them, how much she had been honored to serve with them. That they were doing the bravest and noble thing they could possibly do. There were no words for what she wanted to say.

Except, perhaps, one. Something she'd learned her distant ancestors, back on ancient Terra, had said. It seemed especially appropriate, now that they were fighting near to the homeworld at long last.

The enemy cruiser fired desperately as she bobbed and weaved, trying to shoot her down as she pushed her ship's acceleration to the maximum. She keyed her mike as the ship loomed ever closer.

"This is Haru Akiyama." She took a breath. "Banzai!"

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Oakes heard Akiyama's shout, before it was abruptly cut off. On-screen, a fireball blossomed on the enemy cruiser's bow.

"Banzai, Haru," he said softly. "Tactical, report."

"Hotel One has suffered a hull breach along the port bow. Internal explosions- I'm picking up atmosphere indicating explosive decompression."

More explosions appeared on the enemy ship as the remaining kamikaze smashed into their target. "Sir, Hotel One just lost all thrusters- wait, she's firing-"

The Drex salvo struck, and it was Oakes's turn to be thrown from his seat. He picked himself up, wincing in sudden pain- he had landed on his hand, and from the pain he guessed he had a sprained wrist. "Damage report," he said, gritting his teeth.

"Main thrusters are down, sir! We only have maneuvering thrusters."

"Sir, the Drex ship is breaking up," said Tossetti, pointing at the screen.

Sure enough, the light cruiser was now in two parts, clouds of atmosphere wreathing the broken ends. But their victory was short-lived. Oakes glanced at the tactical display.

No fewer than a dozen Drex ships were hard on their heels. They were almost to the wormhole- but with only maneuvering thrusters, they'd never make it.

The worst part wasn't that he was about to die. It was that the sacrifice of his strike craft pilots was in vain.

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"Fine," said Hunter. "Let's get this over with. What do I have to do?"

"Finally," said Prometheus. "The nanites Khabat put in your body have already started the process- within a week, you'll begin to feel younger. In effect, you'll lose thirty years. Perhaps you'll even lose that gut you're starting to get."

"Hey," protested Hunter. "Low blow."

Nick glared at him. "Oh, and threatening to kill us wasn't?"

Hunter shrugged. "I feel like we should be getting used to that sort of thing now."

"In a way, it's admirable that you continue to make jokes at a time like this," said Prometheus, his voice weary. "But it's also very frustrating. Next, I will need your direct consent to merge your mind and mine. The nanites will be able to do that, too."

"Uh-huh." Hunter's eyes flicked towards Stevenson again. "So as soon as I say you can, you'll take over my mind."

"That is correct," said Prometheus impatiently. He waited a moment. "So do I have your consent?"

"Hunter," said Tavi, her voice a plea.

"Relax, rookie," Hunter said, suddenly smiling. "You know, Prometheus, you never asked why I lunged at the bridge chair instead of helping the others with Khabat."

There was a pause. Khabat, who had been looking somewhat bored, frowned. "What do you mean, Zach?" she asked, her voice suddenly wary.

"What have you done?" said Prometheus, his voice rising. There was a sudden tension. "I do not have access to my creator's vitals anymore-"

"That's because I took out your machines that were plugged into him. The ones keeping him asleep." Hunter stretched as much as he could in the iron grip of the maintenance robot. "With any luck, he's heard this entire conversation."

"I have."

The voice was dry, creaky, as if they were the first words the owner of the voice had spoken in thousands of years. Which was, of course, correct.

Hunter grinned as everyone turned to see Stevenson, his eyes open and alert, though he still slumped in the bridge chair. "Hey, Prometheus.

"Daddy's home."

Author's Note: I'm back! I've got a couple of weeks off, but I don't anticipate using the whole two weeks to finish- I figure on being done in the next day or two. Not having to work, and then work more at home, and then going in early to work to you know, work, makes it a lot easier to get writing done.

The chapter quote is from the preamble to the "Hard Corps" version of the "Warrior's Song", which you can find on Youtube (I don't think I can post links here).