LOCATION: XIN SPACE

SYSTEM: XIN PRIME

DATE: 2402

Kaela had Omari jump Kitsune into the system well outside the Oort cloud. They didn't know the capabilities of the Shican, if they truly were in the system, so she erred on the side of caution, which was counter to her normal approach to dealing with threats.

The system, so aptly named Xin Prime by the megalomaniac in charge, or who was supposed to be in charge, wasn't much to look at. It was a basic yellow dwarf, much like Earth's star, if a bit larger. She ignored the rest of the scientific information on her console, not interested in it.

What she was interested in was the planet in the habitable zone, the three large asteroid fields, and the two massive gas giants in the outer system.

The ship's sensors classified the habitable planet as near-perfect for human life. Technically, it gave a bunch of scientific calculations about atmospheric composition, magnetic strength, and other such nonsense, but she knew a good planet when she saw one.

She wondered how the STO had missed such a pristine world, and how Xin had learned of it.

Then again, the three flashing red icons indicating Shican vessels probably explained the latter.

Those three ships were easy to miss amongst the hundreds of other red icons in the system as they passed silently through, but the onboard computer had helpfully highlighted them.

Kaela zoomed in as far as Kitsune's optics allowed, but the ships were still small specks on the view screen. She needed to get closer to see if they matched the ship that Vitor had talked about.

It took four grueling hours for the computer to finally identify the vessels. She breathed a sigh of relief. None of the three ships was like the massive ship that had attacked Kane. One was clearly a Shican carrier, just based on its size. The computer confirmed that guess a moment later. The other two were Shican destroyers, but the comparison image that came up was from an old Asgardian recording.

An older model? Survivors from the First Shican War? Kaela wasn't quite sure. The STO used older ships for routine border patrol, who's to say the Shican didn't do something similar?

Then again, this went way beyond a border patrol. The answer to how and why they might be in the system was answered a few hours later.

"Boss, is that what I think it is?" Omari asked as he pointed to a grey icon that was hidden amongst the clutter of red ones. Her pilot zoomed in to show what he was pointing to.

It had been obscured thanks to its range, the fact that there was no power coming from it, and the massive number of shipyards and constructions that seemed to surround it.

Kaela swallowed hard when she realized what she was looking at. "Yeah, that's definitely a hypergate. And it looks like they are trying to get it online."

She pulled up a star map and calculated the distance from Xin Prime to the STO border. It was only thirty-six light years. If the Shican managed to reactivate the gate, they would flood into STO space from the side nobody expected them from, giving no warning of their arrival.

Xin's attacks, or more likely, the Shican's, made much more sense now. It kept STO forces engaged while whittling away at both sides. Ivan did say that Xin's original deserters had been forced into practical slavery, never being allowed off their ships after they arrived.

That didn't answer the question of how Xin had so many people, and could field so many ships, but she didn't think that mattered much anymore. There was no way she could get close enough to destroy the hypergate, nor did she believe her little ship possessed the firepower to even put a dent in the massive construct.

It was time to call this in. She flipped on the comm node, but before she could even connect, Omari yelled.

"Oh shit!"

The three Shican icons updated as the ships jumped, appearing practically on top of Kitsune. Omari blasted the ship into evasive maneuvers as the two destroyers started firing a hail of railgun darts in their direction.

How? She asked herself as the three vessels fired, the rounds flying unnervingly close to their vessel despite their stealth.

"Carrier's launching fighters," Taigo added as the three icons around the planet finally vanished as the tactical plot updated.

The ship shook slightly as the FE cannon spat out a hail of rounds back at their pursuers. Kaela thought quickly as she controlled the PDLs, striking down the incoming missiles. How could the Shican have possibly seen them? From all the information she had gathered, the alien ships were old. The estimates on their abilities ranged slightly, but it was far short of what Kane's ships were capable of, and she had fooled Vanguard. These old heaps shouldn't have had a snowball's chance in hell of seeing them.

"Not optical detection," she grunted as Omari threw the ship to the side. The only thing that had changed since they entered the system was the comm node.

"Omari, get ready to cut thrust and throw us on a random heading when I give the order."

Her pilot grunted in confirmation, trusting her judgement. She waited for the next missile volley to be destroyed and for the Shican fighters to be thinned out by Kitsune's turret before she turned off the comm node. "Now!" she shouted.

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The ship lurched violently, and Kaela had to clench her body tight as her vision narrowed into a thin tunnel. The deafening ping of rounds impacting the hull was just enough to keep her aware until her vision returned to normal.

They passed through the Shican hail of fire, but the aliens didn't give up; their field of fire was expanding to bracket the area, hoping to hit them. Her guess had been correct. Somehow, the Shican tracked and pinpointed the source of an active FTL comm link, something that shouldn't be possible.

For the next six hours, Kitsune and its crew were forced to play cat and mouse against the nasty kitties. Omari did his best to avoid their fire, but a few lucky shots clipped their ship despite his best efforts, helping the aliens orient their fire more accurately, starting the chase all over again.

It only came to an end when Kaela ordered Omari to flip and face the alien ships. Taigo launched the three missiles they had aboard and left them to drift toward their pursuers.

Luck wasn't exactly on their side. One of the Shican fighters impacted the first stealth missile, destroying both of them. Surprisingly, that was enough to get the three ships to scatter and jump away.

The fighters still hung around the area, taking shots, but without their backup, it was easy to avoid them. Once they were far enough away to activate their jump drive, they did, flashing out on a random vector, just outside the system.

"Damage report," Kaela called as she exhaled in relief. Her heart was still pounding a million miles a minute, and while she always enjoyed the exhilaration that came from the adrenaline rush, that had been far too close for her liking.

"Armor down to ten percent in some spots. One of the drive cones is damaged, but otherwise we escaped relatively intact," Omari said.

"Ammo?"

"Enough for maybe another half an hour of sustained combat," Taigo replied.

"Too close," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that, boss?" Omari asked.

"Nothing. As soon as the FTL drive resets, set a course back to Union space. We need to report this, and I'm not turning on the comm node until we are safely within friendly borders once more." She really hoped Vitor didn't get antsy and try to comm her, she didn't know if the Shican's ability to determine her location was based solely on an outbound link, or range-based, and she wasn't in a hurry to find out.

The three ships were either going to attempt to follow her, which should be nearly impossible given their current location and plans to remain well off the beaten path, or they could redouble their efforts to get the gate up and running. Neither was a good option, but she preferred if the fuzzy bastards stuck to the gate.

***

"We have failed to keep the project secret," Commander Sivarra hissed softly, his head bowed to the floor in front of the display.

Grand Commander Thesska looked down on him, pity and disgust hidden within his perfect features and piercing metallic gaze. Sivarra did his best not to shudder at the thought of those eyes boring into his eternal soul. If the Grand Commander wished him to take his own life, he would do so, and gladly. He kneeled there on the cold, rough floor and waited.

After what seemed like ages, a soft growl escaped the Grand Commander's mouth. To Sivarra, it sounded like divine justice. The words that followed were his will made manifest, and they caused his skin to crawl. Thi^s c-hapter^ was up@l#oa*ded@ by the tea^m* at M|V+LEMP.YR.

"Commander Sivarra, your efforts have been subpar. Poor bloodlines may mar your lineage, but that is no excuse to fail in your duties. Your forebearers were given dispensation to break off and seek glory, and instead of subduing the technologically inferior humans, they failed utterly and fled like prey. Now you and the three ships under your command are the only ones left of your line."

Sivarra was smart enough not to ask what had become of the other surviving ships after his great-grandfather's pride was separated from the rest during a battle. They would have returned home in shame and been excised from the records as outcasts. Sivarra's great-grandfather would have shared the same fate, but the man had been too cowardly to face justice, and instead hid beyond human and Shican reach, or so it had been assumed until they came across the one named Xin and captured him, offering him a deal in exchange for his life.

Despite Sivarra's father providing the human assistance, Xin had failed spectacularly to destabilize human space and came crawling back with his metaphorical tail between his legs, asking for pity. Sivarra's father executed the man and turned the rest of the humans into genetic banks to build a new offensive against the humans. Sivarra slew his cowardly father for inaction and started launching probing attacks against the humans who had bested them so long ago in an effort to see how difficult it would be to take them down, so he could reclaim his honor.

It was during that time that he was contacted by the Shican Grand Commander and given a way to rejoin the Shican Empire.

"Do you know how many outsider clans have ever been reinstated into the empire?" Grand Commander Thesska asked, his tone remaining neutral.

Sivarra twitched his ears to indicate that he did not, not wanting to risk raising his head.

The Grand Commander growled softly in annoyance before continuing. "It seems basic knowledge has eroded during your absence from the empire. Let me rectify that. In the last thousand years, only three clans have had their outcast status revoked. They have received this boon because they went out and restored honor to their clan. A recent exception was made for your clan because someone stumbled upon your reported discovery of an inactive gateway and your disgusting experiments with the humans. While I find your methods appalling, it is an interesting way to survive without breaking the laws against outsiders growing their clans through anything but the natural process. Still, you should be ashamed of what you've built."

"I can assure you that I am, Grand Commander," Sivarra hissed pitifully against the floor, wishing his father were still alive so he could throw all the blame at the man responsible for deciding to start cloning the humans.

The Grand Commander growled in approval. "Despite your discovery, your inclusion back into the empire was only made possible because the three gates in human space were destroyed. Can you guess how many clans have returned to the empire twice?"

"None," Sivarra hissed against the floor.

"Correct," the Grand Commander replied. "The empire cares nothing for the humans or their pitiful technology. They would have been eradicated when our people required more space to expand. While we don't care about the humans, we do care about the ones that seem to be protecting them. If we have to kill off every human to flush those beings out of hiding, we will do so. Your gate will make that job quicker, but it is not necessary, and neither are you. I estimate that you have no more than three months before the humans attempt a counterattack. That gateway must be operational before then. Use the human clones you seem so proud of creating and their ships to prevent them from approaching the system. I am lifting the restrictions on your clan. You may clone yourselves and produce more Shican ships to augment your forces if you can manage it. I am also authorizing a technologue from my own lineage to support your efforts to get the gate operational. She was instrumental in getting the hypergate online on our end. Failure to meet these expectations, and your entire tribe will be outcast, and I will make it my personal mission to hunt you down like an animal. Are we clear?"

Sivarra was nearly ill at the proclamation; it was far worse than if he had been ordered to end his own life. He slammed his head against the ground. "I will not fail you."

Had he gotten the nerve to look up, he would have seen that the Grand Commander had disconnected as soon as he laid out his orders.