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Xiaoli shook her head a bit at the sight that greeted her as her shuttle came out of phase space. Twenty Cybran city ships in a single system was something that you couldn’t see very often. One of the reasons was that the Cybrans had learned long ago that having so many of the precious vessels in a single system was a massive liability as a single disaster or enemy attack could wipe out a large portion of their population in a single swoop. She understood the reason they were here as they were salvaging a major orbital facility that used to belong to the Dawn Collective, but it was still not a good idea.

Ka’eo seemed to read her thoughts. “It might make them vulnerable, but that gathering is the reason we’re here.” He pointed out a simple fact.

“It’s still disappointing to see. Dangle a juicy enough price in front of them and they’ll forget all the bitter lessons that we’re supposed to have learned in the past. It might not come to haunt us this time, but it will some day.” She argued with another shake of her head and a sad tone of voice.

"Which of these city-ships is the one where the meeting is supposed to take place?” The Dashane piloting the shuttle asked, and Xiaoli pointed out one of the ships closest to the shipyards. It was also one of the largest and wealthiest city ships in the system.

Xiaoli had sent a message ahead to gather some of her old acquaintances. She was planning on recruiting them. Enduring Symphony had escorted the shuttle into a nearby system and was standing by to provide help in case things went sideways. The Shaer hadn’t entirely stopped the abductions after all, or some other species had picked up where the Shaer had left off. Either way, traveling still wasn’t safe, and unlike with Amaterasu, Selendil couldn’t just warp Xiaoli to her destination.

As Xiaoli and her Dashane guards got off the shuttle, she couldn’t help but note the difference in appearance between the sleek and almost edgeless design of the Dhar shuttle and the spiky and full of sharp edges design off the Cybran shuttles. As she looked at the various shuttles, a voice at the back of her head, trained by years of experience, was whispering that there was something weird about the shuttles. She couldn’t quite put a finger on what, but she had learned to trust those instinct honed over years as an operative. As they walked further inside the hangars, she kept staring at the shuttles and finally figured it out. None of those Cybran vessels had any visible signs of repair or outer displays of customization. Something seen in all Cybran civilian ships. That meant all of the ships here were in military use. Why would they be diverted to a military dock?

“I think we might be walking into a trap.” She whispered low enough to only be heard by the Dashane, and she even used the language of the Eternal Empire, so that if anyone was around to hear, they wouldn’t be able to understand.

“I’m quite sure you're right," Ka'eo commented. He had noted that there weren't that many people around when comparing to the number of ships present. Usually, hangars like this were swarming with activity as people worked on their ships or just performed routine maintenance. There were some cleaners and maintenance workers present, but those workers didn’t seem to be really paying attention to their work. One cleaner kept sweeping the same spot for example.

“Feel like springing the trap on purpose?” Xiaoli questioned with a smile. It was a bit reckless but they were all much stronger than they had been before signing up with Selendil. Added to that, they were all wearing gear enhanced with Dhar technology, so it was significantly more advanced than what their opposition had access to.

“Sounds more fun than skulking around. Besides, don’t we have a meeting to attend? Wouldn’t be a good first impression to be late.” Ka’eo retorted and seemed to vanish. Even Xiaoli had trouble locating the Dashane hunter. The entire guard detail kept disappearing one after another and soon Xiaoli was proceeding forwards on her own.

She finally walked into a large reception area where incoming ship crews would report and go through checkups. Except the normal officials were not present. No doubt they had been bribed to be elsewhere. The area was far from empty though. There were dozens of guards around the room, all pointing their weapons towards Xiaoli. Opposite her was a familiar face standing next to a Cybran man dressed in fancy attire and using the finest enhancements the Cybrans could produce. The man she recognized was a Cybran Deity she had faced once before. A two halo elementalist with ice abilities to be exact. That implied that the fancily dressed man was likely his employer. She also noted two rather high ranking psions on a nearby balcony. Not Deities, but not all that far from it either. A fairly effective strike force for Cybran internal politics standards.

“Red Spider. Fancy meeting you here.” The man that apparently ran the show stated with a cheery voice.

“Oh, I doubt the Shah of Isfahan has appeared here by random fancy. You seem to have gone through quite a bit of trouble to arrange this meeting. Bribing the officials couldn’t have been cheap.” Xiaoli countered in an equally chipper tone.

“Well, at least you live up to your reputation. Still, I’m glad you decided to attend. It would’ve been much less interesting to have to hunt you down in space had you decided to run.” The man’s tone belied the rather grim implications of his words.

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this sort of thing if I can help it. I’m surprised the man next to you bothered to show up though. I can sympathize with a need for revenge when it comes to a father and such things tend to make one blind, but he should’ve known better. The last time didn’t go so well for him and his friends.” Xiaoli joked.

“You don’t have help from that freak this time.” The Deity stated with a grim voice. “And we went for quality over quantity this time.”

“And yet she doesn’t seem to be worried. I was expecting a lot more worry at this point.” The Shah stated with a voice that seemed displeased. “Either she’s bluffing, or we’re missing more than just the couple Dashane she arrived with.”

"Well, you are missing something. As a friend of mine once put it, you seem to think you have me surrounded, while I think you've just provided me with a target-rich environment." Xiaoli kept on a relaxed posture but hundreds of psionic threads were already reaching towards the gathered enemies should it become necessary to act.

One of the guards apparently tried to test things and fired a shot from a high-caliber railgun with psionically enhanced bullets. A rare and powerful weapon that would’ve actually been dangerous the last time Xiaoli met the Deity. Many things had changed since then, however. The shot crashed straight into a shield surrounding Xiaoli. Even if shielding had not been the first thing Selendil had forced all of them to master, she was wearing Dhar battle gear, which meant that she had a psionic shield that would intercept anything traveling at high enough speeds to hurt her. Of course it drained her powers to do it, but thanks to the focii placed around her body, the drain was rather minor. “Are you just going to leave me hanging here Ka’eo?” Xiaoli asked with the same playful tone.

“You seemed to have things well in hand.” A voice came from behind and a blade was placed at the throats of the Shah and the Deity. The Deity tried to activate his powers, but standing near one of the most powerful Nulls in the galaxy made that rather pointless and he only managed to make himself nauseous. Other Dashane appeared around the room, all taking enemies hostage and holding them at blade-point. There were still more enemies than Dashane, but the difference in level had already been made clear.

“Now then. You can try to resist, but I can assure you that it would be futile, as you no doubt already figured out. I think we’re going to have to ask you a few questions before we decide what to do with you, especially about how you knew to expect me. I assume you’re going to want to avoid answering those questions, but you’ll find that attempt equally futile. It's a wonder what you can do with mind-based psionics. Anyway, I'm going to enjoy this and you most certainly will not." Xiaoli promised. Only certain people knew she would be here at this time, which meant that one of them had sold her out. She was going to find out who.

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The meeting place Xiaoli had arranged beforehand was at the back of a rather famous nightclub in the red-light district of this particular city-ship. Just the existence of the district spoke of the wealth of the city-ship as few ships had space for such frivolity. As she entered and signaled some people, she herself and the people she was here to meet were led to a rather spacious private backroom usually used for high-stakes gambling. In fact, the table they were using for their meeting was formed by pushing a couple of card tables together. A rather sizeable group of twenty Cybran of various backgrounds and attire had gathered in the room.

Some of the people looked like they were coming straight from a long-haul flight on a freighter, still wearing the usual flimsy attire used on such ships. Cybran freighters were often quite hot inside as they tried to minimize waste heat as heat was very easy to detect in space. The best way to avoid hostile forces was to stay undetected. The only problem was that the heat built up inside the vessel, turning it into something like a sauna. Some of the people were dressed like old fashioned nobles, an aesthetic choice and not one that actually said anything about their heritage. Quite a few of the remaining ones were best defined by how non-descript their attire was, but they all had an edge of hardness and danger about them. Operatives of various types.

“Xiaoli! Good to see you! I've heard some things about your adventures and we've even gotten to enjoy some of the fruits of your labor." A man dressed like a historical noble, wearing a tuxedo and a monocle of all things, greeted her happily. Xiaoli had sent back many of the technologies she had run into, like phasing torpedoes and designs for better phase engines and power cores.

“Cao Li. It’s good to see you old friend.” Xiaoli grinned and gave the older man a tight hug. She had always liked the guy. He was a bit eccentric but quite honorable and could be counted on to work to the betterment of the Cybrans. Oh, he’d line his own pockets while doing so, but he’d still work to improve the Cybrans as well.

“I’m eager to hear what you have in mind this time, and I’m sure the rest are as well. Your message was a little cryptic.” Cao Li stated with a genuine smile that made his eyes twinkle with merriment.

“And I shall not keep you in suspense for very long. However, there is a matter that must be addressed first. I had a little welcoming committee waiting for me when I arrived. Someone had informed the Shah of Isfahan where I could be found at a particular time. His little ambush was of little concern and easily dealt with, so that’s not the issue. I don’t really even begrudge the Shah, as my boss did kill his youngest daughter, so his desire for revenge was understandable despite the fact that said daughter was a bit of a cunt. No, what disappoints me is that one of the people in this room, people I was ready to recommend to my boss decided to sell me out despite our shared past and the benefits I’ve already brought our people. Now that I took personally.” Xiaoli was genuinely a little hurt, though not nearly as much as she was pretending. These were all old friends, but she understood that many of them simply played the game of weighing benefits against odds. One of them had decided to bet on the wrong side despite their friendship.

Her words caused some of the people, those that were not really used to such things, to look around in shock and surprise. “That’s outrageous!” Cao Li even protested. Oh, he was used to such things, even if he did look down on dishonorable behavior. He was a bit old fashioned in that sense.

“And yet it’s true. Interestingly, when questioned, they were almost eager to offer your name Cao Li.” Xiaoli pointed out.

“You know better than that Xiao-Xiao.” Cao Li stated with a voice that displayed his confidence in her not believing such lies.

“And I do. It was rather silly of them to use your name of all things, but that just goes to show what kind of person we’re dealing with. Not only did they betray me, but they were also willing to sell you out as well. Of course, I had no trouble ripping the real name out of their minds despite the rather heavy protections they had in place. There are some benefits to working for the right people after all. Isn't that right, Shufen?" Xiaoli looked at the woman dressed in an old-timey silk dress next to Cao Li.

"Well, I had to check whether you had actually gained anything from your time under the person you now work for. I'm sure you're here to recruit people after all." The woman stated shamelessly as if her words justified everything. That wasn’t the real reason of course. She had simply wanted the easy reward the Shah had offered as it was safe money without any effort on her part.

Xiaoli nodded sagely and then her form blurred. Suddenly she had crossed the table and was standing on the other side of the room with the head of the woman in her hands, hanging it by the hair. The woman’s headless corpse slumped on the table. The cut in her neck had been cauterized so there was no blood. “Incidentally, I’ve learned quite a few things from my new boss, and that’s one of them. The Shah’s daughter died the same way so I felt this was appropriate. My boss also doesn’t have much patience for deceitful people and she doesn’t appreciate being looked down upon. Something you should keep in mind.” She then carelessly tossed the head into the corner of the room.

Her actions would’ve caused panic in a normal crowd, but this wasn’t the normal crowd. Most of them had all seen blood and death before. Even those that had been surprised by the earlier betrayal had seen their friends die before. It was part of life as a spacer. “Now then. Let me make something quite clear. I don’t really like it when people have the presumption to think they are in a position to test me, even if that was an excuse. It shows me that they haven’t quite understood the dynamics in place.”

“Was she right though? Are you here for recruitment? If so, does that not give a certain amount of leeway for testing things out, even if her actions were overboard?” One of the operatives that she knew from her past asked.

“She’s not entirely wrong, but your and her words do the situation a rather large injustice. I’m here to offer you an opportunity the likes of which you’ve never encountered. I’m here to offer you the chance to lift our miserable people from vagabonds to something greater. Yes, I’m here to find people to work for my boss. However, we have the opportunity the likes of which may never come again. And if we act fast enough, then we can get a significant advantage over the other races!” Xiaoli said rather heatedly.

“That’s a hell of a sales pitch. It also sounds a bit too grandiose to be true.” One of the mechanic types pointed out.

“Does it? Well, let’s give an example then. I could, with a single word, have our entire race face annihilation, or make all of us in this room fabulously rich.” Xiaoli stated confidently.

“How?” The same mechanic asked.

“Leaving aside my boss who could wipe all of us out with a flick of her wrist, there are Shinzen Queens on our ship. Now, I’m rather friendly with a couple of them, or at least as friendly as you can be with a cute but amoral murderpuppy. It would only require a nudge from me to have the Queen turn the attention of their race towards their new neighbor. As for making us all rich part, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the new media company based on Haven that’s been pushing out all this new content that is so very different from anything you’ve heard or seen before, right?” Xiaoli looked around the room and noted they all knew what she was talking about. “That media company is mine. Everything they are putting out came from another galaxy. We simply traded media libraries with another person on our crew who comes from that other galaxy. Incidentally, she’s also making a killing with all our media. I don’t like to brag, but I think I might already be one of the richest people in the galaxy, and I haven’t even started revealing the best parts of that media library. That’s just the most obvious and the easiest example.”

"And the downside?" Cao Li asked smartly. “Surely there’s a downside, as nothing is ever that easy.”

"There's always danger involved," Xiaoli admitted freely. "Not in the same way as standing in the front line against an alien race as my boss could just wipe them out, but danger from the unknown. The next trip will take us into another universe instead of another galaxy. Imagine all the weird and awesome shit we will encounter! Well, that goes for good and bad. We’re prepared for much of the bad stuff, but you can’t prepare for everything.”

“Sounds like an adventure. Beats the usual bickering and backstabbing at least. Count me in.” Cao Li was the first to agree and the others started showing signs of agreement as well.

"Good. We're going to need a whole lot more people though. So reach out for people you have your eye on. Remember, their potential and ability to learn and adapt are more important than their current skills. Their current skills will most likely become obsolete quite quickly after all." Xiaoli instructed. This was a good beginning, but it was only a beginning. With enough Cybrans on the ship, there would be less need to hire others, and that meant more benefits for her people. More danger as well, but she had confidence in Selendil.