Commander Hayes sat on his chair in the starbase's control room. During the preceding quiet, he had been thinking about the two people whom he had in the meantime looked up in the crew roster, and one he didn't need to.

Warrant Officer Eduardo Soares Cabral, 40 years old, of Brazilian origin. As was customary for deaths during starbase rotations, first there would be a funeral service in a suitable area, then his body would be relegated to a deep freezer unit in the morgue. In five years, when the current crew departs on the transport ships that arrive from Earth, the casket would be taken aboard and brought home, with the next-of-kin notified of the death. Unfortunately, given the slave shield and the ban on communications (which Hayes now intended to follow even more religiously, given what had just happened), during the next five years Cabral's family and friends back on Earth would think he is still alive and well.

All of that was also the case for Captain Andrei Yegorovich Tarnovetsky. While Hayes did not know the man well, he would do his best to come up with a few appropriate words for a eulogy. He'd have to inject at least a bit of dry humor; Hayes had little doubt that, if he could know, the old man would seriously disapprove that his funeral had been all long faces and solemn gravity.

Then there was Lieutenant Ariane Thalberg. Age 28, Canadian, born in Germany. She was getting ready to set off on a path that nobody before her from Earth had ever been on. She would be allowed to take some personal effects—previously checked for contraband, of course. Hayes had spoken to her. There had been no time for admonitions or crying over spilled milk; he told her to keep her eyes and ears open, because she would be in a unique position to find out what's going on with the Ur-Quan and their Battle Thralls. She may have screwed up, but perhaps she could at least somewhat make up for it by returning with a trove of information and knowledge.

Hayes's thoughts were interrupted by a nearby voice.

"We have connection. Trap system holding. Transferring antimatter fuel," Engineer Buathong said. Turning away from his screen, he looked at Commander Hayes wanly.

Hayes nodded, then massaged his temples, having nothing to tell the man. Tarnovetsky was right, he thought humorlessly: as the new commanding officer for the starbase, Hayes was indeed but a glorified gas station attendant. One who had no real ownership or control over the facility he worked at.

Given the cost of the recent events, he didn't look forward to the next five years. The mere fact that they had to service those who had just executed two of his people made his skin crawl.

Ensign Katsande, the comm operator, suddenly perked up. "Message for you, Commander…" she trailed off, frowning suddenly.

"Problem?" Hayes queried.

"Err, it's the Androsynth, sir. They're, um, requesting a meeting in the Commander's quarters. With you. In person."

"What?" he retorted harshly. This had to be some sick joke.

The comm operator shrugged, sympathetic but resigned.

Hayes stood up, exhaling irately.

"Want me to assemble a team to back you up, sir?" Security Chief Toska offered.

Hayes looked at her for a moment. "And what good would that do? Simple fact is, we can't do a damn thing to protect ourselves against official Hierarchy enforcers. They say jump, we say how high. That's the way it is, and I'm not having a single new corpse on this starbase today if I can help it."

The woman closed her eyes. Hayes looked around the gathered faces, many of them looking defeated. Demoralizing his subordinates was not normally recommended for a commander under any circumstance; however, this was a point that needed to sink in. They were here to do a job, and that job did not involve heroics.

"Keep the maintenance and refuelling going. Chief Toska, you have the bridge. People…" after a moment's pause, looking each officer in the eye, Hayes added, "I'll be back. Count on it." He left the bridge without looking back.

The walk to his as of yet unused quarters wouldn't be long. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and calm himself in preparation for a meeting which he knew would tax his patience to the limit right now—assuming he survived, that is. He didn't know why the Synths might want to harm him, but then again, he didn't have any idea why they wanted to talk to him personally in the first place. In any case, he did not expect anything good. At least they chose his quarters, rather than Tarnovetsky's undestined ones—otherwise he wasn't sure he'd be able to rein in his rage.

Following a short trip through empty corridors, he found himself facing a duo of silvery-clad Androsynth marines in front of his door, quite heavily armed. Same clone line, similar age; they looked like identical twins. The two just stared at him impassively.

Coming to a stop in front of them, Hayes asked, "So, what's this about?" He couldn't quite keep the irritation out of his voice. He didn't particularly give a damn.

The one to the left spoke first. "LT wants a word with you. Don't know why, don't care. Try anything, we go in, you go down. Don't test us."

The other one just nodded towards the door to the office room.

Staring down the Synth on the left for a moment, Hayes went in, the door automatically opening for him. Here goes n-

As the door closed behind him, he stopped in his tracks. For a moment, he was tempted to in fact test the marines outside. For the person staring through the observation window into the space outside was perhaps the very last person he wanted to see right now.

The Androsynth commanding officer, the same one who had just a short time earlier executed his Captain and Warrant Officer Cabral, turned to consider him. Seconds passed, neither of them moved.

Hayes closed his eyes for a moment, forcing a composure he did not feel. "Why am I here?" he managed to articulate.

The person on the other side of the room opened her mouth, but closed it again without saying anything.

Instead, she approached the desk between them, setting something on top of the smooth, empty surface. It seemed to be a datapad, and she worked it for a few moments.

As she stepped back, an image materialized above it. Hayes soon recognized the shapes—they were schematics, Cruiser schematics. Wait a second…

They were the blueprints Warrant Officer Cabral, alias 'Worker 331' attempted to bring aboard, they had to be. The Androsynth operator at the gate must have copied them, rather than merely deleted or relayed them to Master 157. But why show this to Hayes now?

He narrowed his eyes.

"Really? That's it? You'll what, tell the Ur-Quan that I somehow smuggled these unless I give you something on the side?" He shook his head disbelievingly. The sheer nerve of these people.

The woman's eyes widened, even her mouth was slightly agape. "What? No! No, nothing like that," she appeared genuinely flustered by his allegation.

Hayes merely stared.

Sighing, the woman went for the datapad again, pushing it languidly across the table towards him, all the while returning his gaze.

Hayes frowned.

The Androsynth took a step back and stood, arms crossed.

"You're… what, giving it to me? You're handing over Star Control's naval designs… to us?"

She nodded.

He stared.

"I find that hard to…" Hayes trailed off. "Just… why?"

"Because…" the woman seemed to be searching for words. "Before I explain, there's something you need to understand." She sighed.

"Well?"

"Your captain," she began. Hayes tensed. "And the other man." She looked sideways. "Do you know why I volunteered?"

Hayes pondered the question for a minute. "Well, your feelings for our kind aren't exactly a secret." He wasn't sure he entirely believed his own allegation anymore, though.

"If that was my motive, why wouldn't I have let the Ilwrath do his bloody work?" She looked at him plainly.

Hayes thought there was a point there, but… "It would have been an unnecessary risk. Could spawn a riot. Besides, you said it yourself—your way was just more efficient, without unnecessary complications."

"Perhaps," she conceded quietly. "But we could have handled any unrest. The casualties would most likely only have been yours. And the Ur-Quan would have just brought more replacements from Earth. Point being…" she paused for a moment, "Your men were already dead. The only thing left to decide was how their end came."

Hayes watched her carefully, trying to gauge her sincerity. "So you're saying that you did it, what, as a mercy kill?"

"Yes. You heard the Ilwrath. It was either him, or it had to be me."

Either she's a very good actor, Hayes mused, or she looks genuinely pained right now.

He didn't know what to say to that.

"As for the ship designs…" she began, "There is one simple fact of life right now: as hard as it might be to believe, we're all on the same side right now. Even if most people don't see it that way."

Hayes raised an eyebrow. "It sure didn't look that way to me down there. We were the ones who had weapons pointed at us, while unarmed."

"I meant generally," she continued. "All of us, every species, we're all part of the Hierarchy now, one way or the other. Even you."

"A fact that I'm painfully aware of," Hayes couldn't help but note.

"Well, you're probably not aware of what's going on right now. With us Battle Thralls, I mean." She began pacing along her side of the table. "The ironic thing is, back during the war, the Ur-Quan left us a great deal of leeway in how we managed ourselves. We only had basic guidelines regarding the rebuilding of our navies after the Ur-Quan subjugated us, and then we were to follow their orders."

"I knew that much," Hayes interjected.

"Yes, but do you know what happened after you got conquered? In Delta Gorno?"

"The Shofixti blew up their sun, taking a whole lot of Ur-Quan with them," Hayes answered.

"Yes. Fully a third of their main offensive fleet group," the woman said. Hayes took a sharp breath. So it's true—the magnificent little bastards pulled a proper Samson takedown!

"The wipe they suffered there shook the Ur-Quan to their core," she continued, "but while our presence and therefore losses there were few, we sure felt the aftermath. Once the Yehat surrendered and the war was won, the Ur-Quan wasted no time when it came to beginning their reconstruction."

She sighed.

"Turns out, the end of the war only really began the Ur-Quan interference into our affairs. They had losses to recover, and they wanted it done as fast as possible. So they imposed quotas. Heavy ones. We had to send them raw materials and selected finished products for ship assembly. Furthermore, the number of people we had to send into central Ur-Quan space for labor and crew duties increased sharply as well. Not just for us, but for all of the Thralls, as far as we know. The result is that the Ur-Quan recovery and growth chokes our own, and there's no way we can catch up with their advantage in strength."

"So, you need help if you're to ever win back your freedom," Hayes concluded.

The Androsynth woman nodded. "Even if every single subjugated race were to act together, our chances are still slim. But we have to create whatever opportunities we can for the future."

A question came to Hayes's mind. "Does that mean that your offer comes from the top? Your government?"

The woman made a face, one Hayes usually associated with kids who did something they knew was wrong, yet wanted to hide it. "Let's just say that I'd appreciate it if this deal remained between the two of us. Or at least that none of my people hear about it."

So this entire thing was a purely personal decision? Interesting. "Then you did this because… what, you just trust us to do the right thing? That we won't build these ships only to use them against you?" Hayes wondered where this line of conversation would lead.

She considered him a moment before responding. "Right now, we don't have much we can do other than choose to trust. What you'll do with what I gave you… I don't know. But we'll have to deal with the Ur-Quan, sooner or later. And when that time comes… please remember why I did this, and don't make me regret it." She crossed her arms again.

Hayes opened his mouth, considering the holographic projection of a cruiser. "This datapad, do we need any instructions to be able to use it?"

"Not really. You should be able to figure it out easily, and it's set to plain English. If you need it, the basic info document is linked in the primary menu, which you can access this way…" She went around the table and close to Hayes, demonstrating the simple procedure. "Try it." He did, without difficulty.

For a moment, silence fell between them.

"We're not likely to have a chance to build anything though, are we?" Hayes wondered. "We have the Spathi and the Ilwrath on the Moon, and we know about the Ur-Quan drone in far orbit. We've got eyes on us, constantly."

She shrugged. "You probably won't have a chance, unless something changes. If it does…" she raised her eyebrows, "these blueprints might give you options."

"By the way," Hayes inquired, "did you also copy the communication device's schematics?"

"No," she dashed his hopes. "I noticed that the Master's drone seemed to have widened its scanning by then, and could possibly detect data traffic on our network as well. I couldn't take the risk."

Hayes looked sideways for a moment, inhaling deeply. "Well… thanks, I guess."

The woman looked him in the eye and nodded crisply. "That's all I came for, then. I should go."

After a moment, Hayes replied with a nod of his own. He couldn't decide on any other response.

With that, she turned and walked toward the exit.

"Wait," Hayes blurted suddenly, an old enigma coming to mind.

She stopped in her tracks, turning to consider him quizzically.

"Back towards the end of the war," he began, "around the time the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm fell, something happened. A massive attack against a section of the Coreward Front had to have been reported, we should have heard the hyperwave broadcasts and requests for reinforcements all over."

"Yet they never came," she added on, seemingly aware of the issue.

"Yes! We hadn't heard a word from the Chenjesu, or found out what the Ur-Quan hit them with. What we did notice was that suddenly, all hyperwave communication all the way to Wolf just… flatlined. We'd never seen such perfect jamming, across all frequencies. The Ur-Quan had never shown they had any such capability, so we assumed it had to be some new tech they found, possibly Precursor. Do you know anything about it?" Hayes hoped he could find an answer to what had so stumped the military analysts on Earth since the war.

She furrowed her brow in thought. "I wish I could tell you more, but that's pretty much all we know as well. Any of us." She began pacing across the room again. "After the defeat at Rigel, the Ur-Quan did something… unprecedented. They took full control over an entire swathe of Spathi space, ordering all Battle Thrall forces to steer clear, on pain of death. Nobody had eyes there—all detection probes along that part of the frontline were wiped, and not even Ur-Quan ships with alien crew, such as dreadnoughts, were allowed in the zone. Only Ur-Quan crews."

She paused a moment to take a breath.

"Then the Ur-Quan gave our forces in the wider area a simple warning—that we'd lose all hyperwave communications in a few moments. Afterwards, we had no idea what was happening, and just focused on keeping the nearby frontlines guarded, which wasn't easy with the blackout. That lasted for two weeks or so, and then… hyperwave was back, just like that. Followed immediately by an Ur-Quan announcement: the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm had surrendered."

"But you still don't know what happened," Hayes concluded dejectedly.

"We don't. And believe me, we tried; we asked just about everyone in the Hierarchy except the Ur-Quan. Nobody knows anything."

"Damn," Hayes said.

"Whatever it is they have, the Ur-Quan are trying very hard to keep it a secret. And from what I've heard, it's one of the most highly sought pieces of information among our people serving in Ur-Quan space. But we're still trying to figure it out," she finished.

"Well… would it be too much to ask that you notify us if you find out?"

For the first time, the woman actually smiled wanly. "Would if I could, but I can't make any promises for the rest of us."

Hayes leaned on the table, exhaling heavily. This day sure went unexpectedly.

"I'll be going, then," she said with an air of finality. "You probably won't see me again, which… is probably for the best, given what happened."

Hayes pondered for a moment. Then, shrugging, "Until next time. Hopefully as free people," he concluded, standing up.

With a look and a final nod, the woman walked out of the office, the door opening, then swooshing closed behind her. Some moments later, Hayes approached the window, seeing the reddish orb of Earth looming large outside. He wondered what the people there would make of the exchange that just took place in this room.

Maybe one day he'd find out, but years separated him from home now. In the meantime, there was work to do.