She was human. She was more than just human, she was of the People. Of all the dreams that Ben had held, this was not one that had occurred to him. To survive, to bring his people safe into a new life, yes, he had dared imagine that. He had spent other people's lives to get here, yet he found himself speechless. In the minutes after she had spoken, he had sought the words, but it was beyond him. His crew collapsed, forgetting any threat, forgetting all their cunning plans. This was beyond them all.

Tay remained standing, ‘Well, I see I have made an impact. Good, because you brought me to a war. I need a longer explanation, I need to know what we are up against. I could kill them all from here, what I need from you is reasons. Reasons why they should live. We are a power, out in the dark. We have hated them, as no doubt they have hated us. Give me a reason, a path. I have asked this before, but here and now, you stand as judge and jury,’ She looked at the silent crew around her. ‘That’s you, by the way. Feel free to chip in. Do I kill them all, disarm them, or send them an angry note? The doctor and I are going to take a short walk. If you will forgive me, I wanted to blast this planet from space. Remember that as you decide.’ At that she grabbed Reten. Fuck, he was heavy, ‘Come on, Doctor, lets look outside.’ As they reached daylight, a beautiful sight, after the sullen dark of the cave, she began to cry.

Reten was lost. The euphoria of Tays revelation had stunned the Aṉangu, obviously. Then she had asked them to sentence an entire city to life or death. And now she was crying. What were these creatures? ‘Tay, Tay please explain. I have no idea what you just did. I find I understand nothing.’ Tay looked at him briefly, ‘Doctor, I gave them hope beyond anything they could imagine. Then I gave them power. The power to kill all of their enemies.’ She dried her face in the dawn light, ‘Now I wait, and pray to spirits known only to my grandfather.’

Reten still understood nothing, ‘ But why, we have ways, we have time, why would you do this? Why would you think this right?’ He watched as her tears dried, as her face hardened again. The face of a human warrior reappearing. She looked at him soberly, ‘So that I can see if they are still human, doctor.’ Then she walked away, towards the sun.

Ben's brain eventually began catching up with current events. It wasn’t easy, he had to skip a few steps, but he got there. The People were in space, Earth was real and alive, likely angry about the slavers. His people had been lost and found. His enemies were at his feet. It was only Tuesday. Fuck. First was rage, then satisfaction. She would kill them. He had no doubt, that look spoke truly. She would wipe out those slaving bastards in a heartbeat. Then he remembered what she had said, that she had been ready to blast the planet from space. Yet she came to this cave instead. Today was not a day for death, nor fear. Probably half those bastards trapped for years behind those walls would welcome a way out. Born and dying in those tiny spaces, clinging to alien weapons. At least his people had room to move. Still, to those trapped, born into misery and enslaved, someone would have to pay. But not death, not on Independence day. He rose, ‘There will be no killing today. Let me talk to her. Go and gather the people. We have things to discuss.’

Ben found the Doctor and Tay sitting outside, enjoying the view. ‘This truly is a beautiful world. How sad that all it had known is cruelty.’ Tay remarked to Reten. Ben stepped into view, ‘ Well perhaps we can change that. I want no war here. I will speak to the people, but I want change, not war. If you can kill the drones and persuade the compound to surrender to you, I’ll be happy.’

Tay was surprised, ‘Surrender to me? Not you?’ Ben laughed, ‘I live in the bush, what do I know of cities? You can speak for the People. Get them to surrender to Earth.’ Reten interrupted, ‘ We are not soldiers! We are scientists, engineers and diplomats.’

Tay gave Ben a sharp grin, ‘I accept your terms. Welcome back to the human race.’

As Reten and Tay returned to the Noctema, the Doctor was badgering her with questions, questions about her plans, questions about the Aṉangu. Finally she ended it. ‘Doctor, you were there. My plans are, as I explained to Director Ben, kill the drone network in a way that doesn’t cause a mass murder, then walk into the Compound and take their surrender. I just need permission from the Captain. I’m still a ships officer, remember?’

As she returned to the bridge, the entire crew was watching. Whatever the Captain had told them, or whatever they suspected, they were involved as well. She nodded to them as she passed, trying to reassure them that all was well with their Human. She slowed down her walk, dropping any appearance of panic or haste. It seemed to help, a little, as they went back to work. The Captain came out to meet her, preferring to let the crew overhear the conversation. Too many meetings in private, too many hasty calls to strange ships had left his crew edgy, and edgy crew made mistakes. ‘Welcome back, Engineer. I trust you have found a solution to our little problem?’ Tay was grateful for his approach. This was just another issue for the Engineer, another odd project for the human. She'd probably have to put that damned sticker on the planet. ‘Thank you Sir, I think so, if you will allow it. I have taken control of the drones, or a least most of them. I’ll need to check in engineering first. I intend to land them and then demand the surrender of the compound. I might need to call in a HDF ship, but only to assume control and begin integrating the planet into human space. I imagine they will have a few questions.’

The Captain had been kept apprised of the details on her way back, only his response was needed. He nodded, ‘Very well, if that is how you wish to sort out your fellow humans, who am I to interrupt? As it happens, the HDF Pyro is on the way. I am quite looking forward to seeing one of these human warships that I didn’t know existed.’ Tay smiled, ‘I’m sorry to disappoint, but that’s not a warship. It’s a Marine deployment ship, although I doubt it will turn up without support. Those will have the big guns, but they rarely introduce themselves.’

The Captain hesitated, ‘Just be aware, it is my job to take surrenders, should that moment arrive. Please remember to do it on my behalf. It will help make this all nice and legal, especially if you would prefer to remain vague about some of the more...difficult details.’ The Captain was offering to bury the whole ‘humans as slaves and slavers’ thing and keep her name out of it. Humanity would know, but they were good at keeping that sort of news quiet. Also, he would be owed one hell of a favour from the HDF, if he ever needed it. Tay saluted him, something that didn’t really exist among the Xenos. Still, she felt he deserved it. ‘I’ll get to it then, Sir.’

Back in Engineering, it felt a little like coming home. She had given Ben a decent, secured Comm. She was waiting to hear back. The Aṉangu needed to agree, and he seemed to think it would take a while. In the meantime, she might have oversold her abilities a little. It had been obvious that she needed to impress the Aṉangu, but control of the drones wasn’t yet a given. She went back to work. Her fake drones had infiltrated over eighty-percent of the local ones, none of them had nukes. Lots of nasty, illegal and forbidden shell types, but no nukes. Some gas, some incendiary and a bunch of anti-personnel. Very anti-personnel. She checked the rate of transmission of her little surprise. Another few hours and anything in the sky would belong to her.

Ben sat quietly. He had made his speech, now it was time to decide. If he hadn’t held the new Comms in his hand, there were plenty of people here that would think he was out of his mind. His crew sat behind him, prepared to witness for him, if necessary. A decision arose from the babble, the people had decided something. It was his father that stepped forward and raised a hand for silence. ‘We have heard the news and we find it true.’ A murmur passed through the crowd. ‘We agree to the terms set out by the Engineer. We will seek only justice, not vengeance. You may tell Tay, our People in the stars, that we are agreed. Make your plans’

Privately, he met Ben, ‘Son, you have made me a believer, but we need to see something. News this big, it needs to be seen to be believed. May I see this Tay? I would see the truth myself.’ Ben handed him the Comms, ‘She is expecting a call. You can give her the news.’ His father shook his head, ‘No, that is for you. I merely want to be here as you do it. She trusts you.’ He smiled at his son, ‘We trust you.’ He handed back the comms. Ben made the call, ‘Tay, we have agreed. What do you want us to do?’ Tay grinned. She would put money on it that it was his dad, peering over his shoulder. ‘Director, I will be moving soon. Please have your witnesses in place. I’m sending you the exclusion zone, please clear it if you can. Also be aware that if this fails, Earth has a small army of heavily-armed soldiers ready to drop. If that happens, step aside and let them work. One way or another, this ends.’ And with that happy news, she cut the call and went to get the shuttle.

As predicted, the HDF Pyro arrived with two unmarked ships. They didn’t attempt to contact the Captain, simply sitting quietly in place. The Captain was impressed. He turned to the Doctor, ‘ Well, it looks like our engineer knows her stuff. The fleets they don’t have, are interested in what's going on. I’d better talk to them, in case they have plans.’ He hailed the Pyro, ‘This is the Noctema. Welcome to Australia. Our Engineer is on the planet right now, we expect her to have resolved the situation shortly. She is, apparently, a former colleague of yours. She asked me to send you this message. Unfortunately, it is encrypted, but I assume you can read it. In the meantime, please wait for my permission until you take action. Under our treaties, we are the first contact and I am Scene Commander.’

The Pyro Comms officer grabbed the transmission. It was encrypted to Engineer level, so it didn’t take long. ‘Sir, you will want to see this.’ he sent it straight to the Captains desk. The captain opened the file, seeing the engineer for the first time, ‘Fuck’, he whispered to himself. She could wipe out everyone on the planet and walk away. She wouldn’t even be charged. Whatever about the average human, the Fleet hadn’t forgotten what happened when a cult took over a state. He hit play, hoping this wasn’t a suicide note. He drew a sharp breath when he realised that the Xenos couldn’t be allowed to report it, if it was.

‘Captain or Commander, this is Engineer Tay of the Noctema. If your reaction was anything like mine, you are preparing for something drastic. I have found a solution. I have also found my people, alive and well. In the event that my effort fails, I am including the details of the Compound that needs to be taken, one way or another. I have neutralized the drone net, and yes, you heard me correctly, these bastards built another one. I am descending to the planet now. Oh, and I have already filed a detailed report of all of these events, leave the Noctema alone.’ The Captain smiled slowly. Human engineers weren’t as clever as the galaxy thought they were, but they were well trained. He turned to his second officer, ‘Go play nice with the Noctema. We will take no action until their engineer reports.’

Tay landed the shuttle outside the compound. Ben had given her a rough guide to the range of the weapons on the walls, so she stayed out of their way. She descended, carrying only her Comms. Then she sent the shuttle into orbit. Either she would never need it again, or it was ten minutes away. She began summoning all the drones. Across the continent, every drone changed course, set to her co-ordinates. The doors of the Compound slammed shut. Fine, be like that.

Ben watched as the drones turned away, the contrails all beginning to point in one direction. His people watched with him, a miracle in action. For many standing in the heat, it was the first proof that it was true. Someone began cheering, then everyone joined in. The enforced silence of generations, suddenly broken in joy.

It didn’t take long for the first drones to arrive. Tay checked her distances, then sent it to explode into the wall of the compound. She tried to vary the target, but sent drone after drone exploded into the surrounding wall. Tay made a note to check up on Intec engineering, if she ever had a free moment again. Behind her the queue of drones grew, all lining up to crash. Just to make it more interesting, she crashed a couple behind her, just to give a nice backdrop, then she stopped, sending the drones into a holding pattern. Then she waited. Eventually, the gate swung open a little, some men ran forward and began shooting at her. Her suit shields were designed for nova-level radiation. She wasn’t even going to get sunburn from this. She wasn’t even wearing Mil-Tec, this was just standard Engineering gear. She pulled one of the drones out of the sky and dropped it on them. Fuck being nice, she had wanted to do that since she had been a child, listening to her grandparents. The gates closed again. She waited.

A woman was pushed out of the gate. One of the People, sent to die at her hand. She scurried to Tay. ‘They want to know who you are, what you want. They say they will kill you!’ Tay laughed and turned her helmet transparent. As soon as she did, a sniper shot hit her faceplate, bouncing off into the distance. ‘Those guys are real assholes. Stand behind me. Any suggestions on where I drop these?’ The woman was still wide-eyed at Tay's appearance, before gathering her thoughts. With a quick smile, she said ‘The tower on the left, at the front. They don’t allow us in. The gunman will be there.’ She moved quickly behind her. Tay sent three of their precious drones straight into the tower. Then she resumed pounding them into the wall. She turned to the, well, slave person, and said ‘ I will keep them busy. Head that way’ she nodded towards the bush, ‘Your people are waiting. Um, nice to meet you. Ben will explain’

The walls started to give, so she decided to blow up the gate. It didn’t take long. Then she paused again. In her head, this was their last chance. The next drone was going into the roof. She had been out here three hours and her suit was beginning to smell a little. Finally, just as she began dropping them on the roof, someone came out, waving a white flag. She let them hit anyway, because fuck them. Then she stopped, redirecting the rest. The man approached. It took him a while, since he kept stopping to check the sky. Eventually he got there, waving the flag in her face. He began to kneel in front of her, before she stopped him. ‘ Look, go back inside, tell them I’m here from Earth, that I require an unconditional surrender, all weapons dropped. You will all file out here, form a neat group in front of...where the gates were. Then I will meet whoever is in charge of this shitshow and accept your surrender. Otherwise, I’m going to stop playing with your toys, and start playing with mine. You have an hour.’

Exactly an hour later, just before she ran out of drones to crash into things, a file of people began leaving the building. Stubborn bastards had never answered, so she just kept piling the drones in. She sent the last few to explode behind her. It would look good in the movie version. Then she had a very angry, middle-aged guy wearing robes in front of her. ‘ We surrender, we have followed your instructions. But know this, just as the Earth fell, you will fall! We are the chosen, we are protected by the armies of God!’ She nodded, turning her mask transparent again. ‘Earth is fine, thank you for asking. Wait until you see our armies.’ In a more formal voice she began ‘ I am here to accept your unconditional surrender on behalf of the human race, in the name of Captain Zac’Hary of the Noctema.’ Do you give your surrender? In a muttered tone, he conceded. Tay looked at the sky and shouted, ‘ Hey, guys you can land now. We’re good’

The HDF Marines had been cloaked for hours, waiting to see when they needed to intervene. They had, in fact, been enjoying the fireworks. Weird watching that little engineer take on a city. Whatever she was doing, it worked. Then she had looked straight at them and told them to land. Fucking engineers.

She left Ben and the Pyro to sort it out. Her part was done. She headed home. The Captain was waiting for her. ‘ Are we finished? I see that, surprisingly, the human military is already on the planet. I trust all is well?’ Tay nodded, suddenly tired beyond belief, ‘All good. They get around, ignore them. I’m going to take a day off, have a drink. Care to join me? I imagine the Doctor could do with one as well.’ The Captain smiled, his teeth sparkling for a moment, 'Certainly, and perhaps we could discuss my food processor. Now it is arguing with me about my diet. What, exactly, is a vegan?'