“Are you sure it’s ok for us to be outside like this?” Dawn asked Jade as they lurked in an alleyway across from their hideout.

“There are enough humans working in this area to cover our tracks,” Jade said calmly as she looked around. “If we are spotted from above it should look like we are just taking a break, provided you look like you are taking a break so relax, Squeaks. Nguyen and the boss need time to set up your table. You do want to be one of us, don’t you?”

“More than anything!”

“Then try to look like you belong out here and fucking chill,” Jade laughed.

Dawn tried to relax but she just couldn’t. Besides the fact that they were likely being hunted by just about everyone she was about to get brought to the table!

She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she bet it was going to be awesome!

A few minutes later Jade’s communicator pinged. Jade looked down at the short message.

“Ok, Mouse,” Jade smiled. “It’s showtime. Ready?”

“Oh yes!” Dawn said as she jumped up and down with excitement.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Jade walked Dawn back to the entrance of the warehouse. She smiled grimly. She was pretty certain that the mouse would fail the test. She wasn’t ready. She still had too much “good” in her.

She looked over at Dawn and shook her head. It would be much kinder, and more importantly much much simpler, if they just crushed her skull when she wasn’t looking. If she wasn’t Patricia’s latest pet it would have already happened. Still, the boss was the boss. Besides, her strange eyes often saw what others couldn’t see. Maybe there was more to this little mouse than appearances indicated.

They reached the entrance.

“Ok, Squeaks,” Jade said as they reached the door. “Your pistol, hand it over.”

“What?” Dawn asked dubiously.

“It’s all part of the table,” Jade responded simply. “You go in there with only your knife.”

“Ok, ok,” Dawn said as she handed over her military issue sidearm.

“Alright, Squeaks,” Jade said as she opened the door. “It’s showtime.”

***

Jade pushed Dawn through the door and shut it after her.

Dawn stood there in complete shock. In the middle of the room was Patricia, Nguyen and kneeling beside them, in front of a plastic tub, was a bound young girl, no more than twelve.

The girl looked back at her with terrified tear streaked eyes. She made a gurgling noise from behind a makeshift gag.

“W-what’s going on?” Dawn asked quietly.

“Why your table of course!” Patricia said in her beautiful voice. “It’s our most sacred of sacraments. You shall slaughter this porkie animal and we shall slake our thirst with her blood and feast on her flesh. Through this you shall be reborn as one of our tribe!”

Patricia stepped forward to take her by the hand and led her towards the sacrifice.

Dawn numbly followed. This had to be a dream, right? This couldn’t be real.

“I’m so proud of you,” Patricia said happily. “To think you would be taking this step so soon! I hope you realize how rare this is, to be brought into our inner circle so quickly. It’s a testament to your wonderful resolve.”

Patricia positioned Dawn behind the child. Dawn just stood there looking down at the kid.

This can’t be real. This can’t be happening, Dawn thought. She smelled… smoke? She looked over and sure enough, there was a Terran style barbecue pit set up in the corner of the room. This was real. It was as real as it got. After she killed this little kid they were going to cook her. Then all of them were going to eat her.

She looked over at Jade and Nguyen, their faces twisted with malice and perversion and then she looked over at Patricia. She looked exactly the same as she always did, absolutely perfect. Patricia looked at her with the same kind nurturing supportive… loving eyes that she always had as she reached down and pulled Dawn’s new knife from its sheath and placed it in Dawn’s hands.

“It’s time, child,” Patricia said in a supportive, caring voice. “It’s time to truly become one of us.”

The Colonel was right, Dawn thought as she looked at Patricia. She’s a monster. She looked over at Jade and Nguyen. They’re monsters. She looked down at the knife in her hands. She swallowed hard. This wasn’t just some military ceremony or even a bit of good natured hazing. This “table” was a ritual that was going to turn her into a monster too.

No! that voice insider her, silent for too long, shouted. This isn’t you! She tried to clear her head, to think. She was pretty sure that opting out wasn’t an option she would survive. Jade’s hand was loitering far too close to her pistol for that to be the case.

“Come on, Mouse,” Jade grumbled. “Do it already. I’m getting hungry.”

The child just looked up at her and sobbed through her gag.

“Now now,” Patricia said in a warm voice. “This is Dawn’s first sacrament. It’s only appropriate that she takes a moment to truly appreciate this wonderful occasion. Take your time, dear.”

My first sacrament?! How often do they do this? Dawn wondered as she looked down at the knife. If this is normal for them, what else are they capable of? What did the Colonel find out?

Dawn looked around the room. All three of the others were armed with pistols and all she had was a knife. She tried anything and she was dead. That was ok. She would rather die than become like them but it would be pointless. Her death would achieve nothing.

She looked down at the kid again and then at that godawful gaudy knife in her hands. That kid is already dead, she realized coldly. There was no way to save her. The only thing she could do for her was to make it quick. Yeah, just like during the Great War when she… when she made sure that Sergeant Thomson wasn’t left behind for the bugs. Just like then she couldn’t deliver salvation...

But she could bring mercy.

I’m so sorry, she thought as she met the child’s gaze for one last time and then grabbed the girl’s hair and stabbed the blade through the side of her neck and then brutally shoved it forward. That goddamn blade might be pretty but it wasn’t as good as her old combat knife. She desperately wished she had her old blade as she had to saw back and forth in order to quickly sever both carotid arteries as she brought the blade out through the front of the kid’s neck.

It wasn’t flawless, but it was brutally quick. Dawn knew what she was doing after all. It wasn’t the first throat she cut.

The child lost consciousness almost instantly as Nguyen rapidly shoved her forward into the tub.

“Jesus, Mouse.” Jade muttered in surprise. She didn’t think the pipsqueak had it in her.

“How wonderful!” Patricia exclaimed as the kid had it’s last spasm. “I am so proud!” she said as she dipped a mug into the blood collecting in the tub in front of them and held it up.

“The blood of our foe, the blood of an animal, to slake our thirst!” she exclaimed and drank. She then turned to Dawn, who just stood there motionless staring down at the child she just killed. “Here, child, drink this and be reborn!”

Dawn numbly took the cup and drank. She forced herself to keep down the warm metallic tasting liquid. She had to. The tactical situation demanded it.

Patricia looked into Dawn’s dull lifeless eyes and smiled. She had seen eyes like those so many times. Now, she would breathe life back into them. She was so happy. She had her concerns about Dawn but once again that wonderful girl had exceeded her expectations.

She looked at Dawn just standing there, no sobs, no tears, no shuddering. She just stood there like a marvelous statue.

Oh the things she was going to accomplish with her.

“Jade, Nguyen, I shall leave the slaughtering to you,” Patricia said with a big smile after they had also drank of the piglet’s blood. “Let’s get some pork on those coals!”

“Yes, boss!” Jade said as she grabbed the dead child and hauled her out of the tub.

“And you,” Patricia said as she gently stroked Dawn’s cheek. “Let’s go and get you changed for dinner.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dawn said dully as she allowed herself to be led from the room. As she was leaving she glanced back at Jade and Nguyen and a plan started to form.

***

Dawn just stood there as Patricia went through the chests of clothing that she had.

“Here, child, I think this will fit,” Patricia said as she started to undress Dawn, removing her blood stained clothes.

Dawn didn’t resist and let Patricia strip her as she stood numbly in front of a mirror. She had to do it, she thought. The kid was doomed. There was nothing for it. At least I made it fast.

Patricia pulled out a simple but smart looking black wrap dress.

“I love these,” Patricia said as she dressed the unresisting Dawn. “They are so versatile, don’t you think?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dawn said in a dull voice.

“Are you ok, child?” Patricia asked as she stroked Dawn’s face.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dawn replied numbly. “It’s just a lot to take in, ma’am.”

“That it is, my child,” Patricia replied warmly. “You have done so very well, much better than most. Better in fact than some who now stand as my bloodlords.”

“I did?”

“Oh yes, dear,” Patricia said happily. “You were so resolute! You knew what had to be done and you did it! I am so very very proud of you! Now sit here with me for a little while. It will be some time before the meat is ready.”

Dawn sat there numbly as Patricia continued to stroke and praise her for a little while then she turned and looked directly into her green eyes.

“Ma’am,” Dawn said quietly. “Do you think I could have my sidearm back. I feel naked without it.”

“Soon, child,” Patricia replied. “You will get it back after the feast.”

“Yes, ma’am. Excuse me, ma’am, but I would like to stretch my legs, maybe go and give the guys a hand.”

Patricia looked at Dawn oddly. Her demeanor and her eyes were “good” but something felt a little off. She would be the first person to ever want to help cook their own table. Then again, Dawn was exceptional and both Jade and Nguyen had pistols. Dawn did not. If something was indeed off then it would be a good time to let it happen. Jade and Nguyen were two of her very best. In fact, Jade would be a bloodlord except for the fact that she didn’t want to be.

If something was actually off they should have no problem dealing with poor little Dawn.

“Ok, Dawn,” Patricia said with a warm loving smile. “Don’t feel like you must, though. Tonight you have earned the right to rest by my side. I will be here should you need me.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Dawn replied and walked out of the door.

***

Dawn smiled a little as she walked into the main warehouse. Jade looked up at her and “waved hello” with the kid’s arm.

Dawn smirked. It wasn’t the first dismembered body she had seen nor was it the first jackass she saw playing with one. She was a Terran Marine after all.

Gonna make you proud, Colonel, Dawn thought as she approached the pair.

“What you doing here, Mouse?” Nguyen asked as she walked up.

“Felt like getting a beer,” Dawn said as she grabbed a cold one from the cooler. “Smells good,” she said as she opened the bottle and took a sip.

“Yeah,” Jade smiled. “Imagine smelling this after starving for a fucking week,” she said nostalgically. “It’s like the gates of heaven itself opened up.”

“I can imagine,” Dawn replied calmly. “Those days must have been tough, huh?” she asked as she looked around for her pistol. There it was, sitting on a nearby crate.

“You kids can’t possibly imagine,” Jade said as Dawn handed her a beer. “It was hell on Earth, literally. So many starving, so many dead. So many of us completely unprepared.”

Yeah, “us kids” have no idea what hell is like, Dawn smirked silently. It’s not like The Great War happened or anything.

“…and I was being passed around like a fucking blunt,” Jade continued. “If it hadn’t been for the boss I wouldn’t have made it much longer.”

“Sorry?” Dawn asked as she idly moved towards her pistol.

“The boss!” Jade exclaimed. “Weren’t you listening? If it wasn’t for the boss I would have fucking died right then and there. One night I was getting a train pulled on me… again… and all of the sudden there was screaming and shooting and then… they were all dead, fucking all of them! It was the boss! She just walked in and chopped them into pieces, fucking danced in between the bullets! It was… God...” Jade trailed off breathlessly. “She was like an angel! You should have seen it, kid!”

“Must have been something,” Dawn said calmly as she sat on the crate in front of her pistol.

“It was just… unbelievable!” Jade exclaimed. “Then she saw me and brought me over to the fucking chief. He was still breathing and she asked me if I wanted to kill him! Me! She asked me! Can you imagine?”

“No,” Dawn replied. “Must have felt amazing.”

“It was!” Jade replied. “I must have stabbed that motherfucker a hundred times before she finally patted me on the shoulder and said, ‘you must be hungry’. That was the first time I did it. It was… oh man…” Jade gushed. “It was the first time I was full in so long! It was… It was… Wonderful!”

“Yeah, I remember my first time,” Dawn replied with a smile.

“Your first time?” Jade asked in surprise. Nguyen looked up from the barbecue to listen.

“My first sapient, not a human,” Dawn smiled. “the first sapient creature I consumed. It was during the Great War,” Dawn replied. “We were retaking Markaxus-4 and had just taken out a bug stronghold. The fuckers were just laying all around and someone had heard that they tasted really good and we got curious,” Dawn said leaning back on the box, her hand just inches away from her pistol. “We weren’t supposed to, rules of war and all, but those rules are for warriors, not animals like the fucking bugs… or porkies for that matter,” Dawn said with a grim smile. “Anyway we built a fire and split open a few of them.”

“What did they taste like?” Nguyen asked excitedly.

“Like a fatty crawfish but tastier,” Dawn replied.

“I love crawfish!” Jade said eagerly.

“Then you would fucking love a bug,” Dawn laughed. “Imagine king crab legs that taste like crawfish this fucking big around!” Dawn exclaimed as she gestured with her hands. “Amazing!”

“Wow!” Jade exclaimed.

“I could eat that shit all day every day,” Dawn laughed. “And we did until the brass made us stop. Said that it was ‘barbaric’ and that it could be a hazard or some shit. The taste wasn’t the best part, y’know,” Dawn said. “It was… I don’t know… It was like we were eating their souls or their strength or something. We weren’t as afraid of them after we starting thinking of them as food. Sick, huh?”

“No!” Jade said forcefully. “No, we get it! It’s the same way when we gut a porkie!”

“And the best part?” Dawn said as she smiled wistfully, “The best part was leaving their shells where their patrols would find them. They used to say that the bugs were mindless, that they didn’t feel, but let me tell you one thing. When they saw our leftovers, it got a fucking reaction!”

“Exactly!” Jade said. “It scares the fuck out of them!”

“Goddamn right it does!” Dawn chuckled as she savored her beer. It was her last after all. She was going to miss beer.

“I have to say,” Jade said as she leaned back on a crate, “You have definitely surprised me.”

“Oh?” Dawn replied as she took another drink.

“I thought you would be pissing yourself and crying, not laughing and having a beer.”

“Over what,” Dawn asked. “A fucking porkie? Do you have any idea how many of those I’ve gunned down? I landed on Zaran-7 for fuck’s sake. We turned the fucking streets red with their blood!”

“I thought you guys took it easy on the civilians,” Nguyen said.

“That’s just what they told the dumbasses back home,” Dawn snorted. “Nobody cared what we did. If a few stray rounds went the wrong way or a home or school still had some people in it… oopsie,” Dawn laughed as she laid her hand on the crate just next to her pistol.

“Well shit,” Jade chuckled as she turned her bottle up. “We had no idea about you.”

“Yeah,” Dawn sneered. “It just took a little kick in the ass to remind me who I was, that’s all. I really should thank you guys for that. I’m a Terran Marine Raider, bringer of fire and death, not some fucking receptionist!”

“Good that you’ve woken up,” Jade smiled. “I guess we need to find a new name for you, Squeaks.”

“Yeah,” Dawn said as she finished her beer. “I already know what my name is.”

“What’s that?” Jade asked still smiling.

“Sergeant Newson, nice to meetcha!” Dawn replied as she grabbed her pistol and shot Jade right between the eyes. She then brought her pistol to bear on Nguyen putting two rounds into his chest before he could even drop the barbecue tongs. He fell against the barbecue pit and then slid down the side with a sizzle.

She put one into his head for good measure and then spun around to face the door.

There was a blur as something entered the room, fast.

Dawn opened fire, each bullet a perfect shot where Patricia was a split second before.

There was a sickening wet crunch as Dawn was lifted off of the ground and thrown across the floor by a devastating blow. She somehow managed to retain a grip on her pistol and tried to bring it to bear on the human shaped blur that was moving in unnaturally quickly, much faster than even a bug could.

Dawn managed to get off a shot or two but it didn’t matter.

She really can dance between the bullets! Dawn thought as her wrist shattered from a vicious kick, the pistol flying harmlessly away.

Patricia rushed over to Jade, scooped her up, and cradled her in her arms.

"No! No no no no no no..." Patricia cried.

Her Jade, her precious little pebble was dead. She stroked her hair and held her close as she rocked back and forth. She was one of the first. Back when she was just a two bit raider herself she had Jade. Her “unyielding little pebble” had been there every step of the way. Through good and bad, through fire and blood, through it all Jade had been there…

And now she was gone. Patricia didn’t know what to do. Jade was… gone…

Weak gurgling laughter assaulted her ears. She glared at Dawn.

“You!” She hissed as she dropped Jade and rose to her feet…

***

Later that night, Inspector Vance walked down a darkened street in the Lakeside district, a tangled maze of light industrial outfits and warehouses not far from the starport.

He looked at his scanner as he swept the buildings on either side.

He squinted as he was blinded by the glare of a set of approaching headlights. He reached into his jacket as the vehicle pulled to a stop.

“Just what the fuck are you doing out here, Inspector,” Detective Freela shouted from the grav-car.

“Just taking a walk,” Inspector Vance replied. “No law against that is there?”

“As you humans say, bullshit!” Freela snapped. “Surveillance drones pick up probable Terran gunfire in this vicinity and you just happen to be ‘taking a walk’? You know creator damned well that all humans are off this case!”

“What case?” Vance asked innocently.

“The fucking Hu case, that’s what case!” Freela shouted. “Honestly, what has come over you?”

“What about you?” Vance snapped. “What did you do, put a trace on my communicator? Bugged my car?”

“I’m looking out for a good friend who is going to get himself fired, killed, or put in prison,” Freela shouted. “Now get in the fucking car before the real police show up!”

“We are the real police,” Vance chuckled.

“You know what I mea-” Freela started to snap and then stopped.

“What?” Vance asked.

“Um… Inspector, there isn’t a restaurant around here is there?” Freela asked as her antennae started to wave.

“No,” Vance replied looking at his tablet. “Why?”

“I’m smelling wood smoke… and meat… It smells like… I don’t know... I have no idea what they are cooking.”

“I do,” Inspector Vance said grimly as he pulled out his communicator. “This is Inspector Vance!” he shouted into it. “I need a tactical team at my location now! Now now now!”

“Inspector?” Freela asked. “What-”

“Stay in the car, Freela,” Inspector Vance said calmly. “I hope that I’m wrong but... just stay in the car.”

***

Just outside of the warehouse, Detective Freela leaned weakly against the side of her grav-car as she vomited yet again.

She pulled at her antennae desperately trying to claw the stench of…

“Oh Gods!” she gasped as she started to dry-heave.

“I told you not to go in there,” Inspector Vance said sadly as he walked up and leaned on the vehicle next to her.

“It was her, wasn’t it?” Freela asked weakly.

“Yeah,” Vance said grimly. “I just got word from the Terran embassy. Those are her people, even the one who was turned into hamburger-”

“Huuuurrrrk!” Freela doubled over again.

“Sorry,” Vance replied patting her back. “It’s a human figure of speech. I mean the one that was beaten to a pulp.”

“What… what happened in there?” Freela asked as a crime scene analysis team walked into the warehouse.

“Looks like they were up to their old tricks,” Vance replied. “The victim is one Clara Haltonway who was reported missing earlier today by her parents. They cut her throat and then they all drank some of her blood. Then while they were cooking-”

Vance paused as Freela doubled over in a fit of dry heaves.

“Sorry, while they were doing that,” Vance continued, “Miss pulp-face, whose genetic data identifies her as one Dawn Newson, decided to grab a pistol and gun down the other two. Then, someone unnaturally strong, fast, and incredibly pissed off beat the ever loving shit out of Ms. Newson but not before she stabbed her.”

“What?” Freela asked her antennae clamped tightly to her head.

“Yeah, there is someone else’s blood on the scene,” Vance replied. “And you will never guess ‘Hu’s’.”

“Hers?”

“Yup, surprised the embassy confirmed it but they did,” Vance replied. “The stray blood belongs to the distinguished deputy ambassador herself. There’s a pretty good bit of it as well. That Newson actually managed to lay a blade on her. We found some discarded first-aid supplies deeper in the safe-house. Looks like Hu managed to put herself back together at least well enough to get out of here.”

“Any… any idea where she went?”

“We are scrambling our bloodhound drones now but knowing that bitch she has already slipped away. If she was easy to catch or kill someone would have done it long before now. God I hope whoever finds her is prepared to play. That bitch is wounded. She was fucking dangerous before. Multiply it by ten now.”

“How… how can you be so calm about all of this?” Freela asked. “This happened to one of your species and you are so… so...”

“Used to it?” Inspector Vance asked. “Yeah. I’ve seen this before, a lot of times… too many times.” He looked a thousand years old. “I don’t talk about it, the Sol Wars, none of us really do. It was bad, Freela, really bad. There were places both on the surface of Earth and out in the system where they sold human meat by the pound.”

“Gods...” Freela muttered in horror.

“I’ve seen this so many times before, Freela…. So many times… What happened to poor Clara, it’s nothing new for me, for a lot of us. It just caused a teeny little flashback and I get those all the time,” Vance said as he straightened back up. “I need to get back in there, Freela. You going to be ok?”

“Yeah,” she said weakly. “We are going to get her, right? We are going to put her away for this, right?”

“Who knows,” Inspector Vance replied bitterly. “We like to pretend that nobody is above the law but we both know that’s bullshit don’t we?”

With that Inspector Vance pulled out his scanner and went back into the warehouse. Detective Freela just shuddered and held herself, unable to face what was inside.

She was going to smell that smell for the rest of her life.

***

Patricia Hu snarled as she bounced back and forth in the back of a van.

It had not been her night.

That fucking little bitch! She winced as the van hit another bump and her abdomen screamed in protest. That bitch! She had been so intent on making that laughing little bitch pay that she didn’t sense the knife.

That had been Dawn’s plan all along, she realized. Piss her off so bad she would become unbalanced… and it worked.

God her abdomen hurt! With the nanites and the tissue adhesives she would likely be ok but it was just a combination of reflexes and dumb luck that nothing truly vital was hit. If she could just stop moving so the nanites wouldn’t have to keep redoing their work it would be fantastic.

The van hit another bump. Where was this asshole taking her she wondered as she winced.

“How does it feel to be alone, bitch?” That’s what Dawn laughed at her. How did she know? How did she know what truly frightened her? Alone… She was alone!… all alone… No, hold it together, Patricia, she told herself. You’ve been in worse scrapes than this.

Yeah? When?

She snarled. That fucking little whore! She had even denied her the cold comfort of making her truly suffer. No matter what she did, no matter how much pain she inflicted, Dawn just laughed at her… laughed!

Just like they did when they made her ALONE the first time... No! Hold. It. Together!

Then with another of those fucking laughs Dawn struck. In her rage she had completely forgotten about the knife. Stupid stupid stupid She let her get good and angry and then when she leaned in close Dawn just laughed and stabbed her. How was she even able to move? That much agony? She should have been paralyzed.

After Patricia managed to grab Dawn’s wrist, preventing the knife from entering any further, she had reflexively shattered her skull with a single swipe. The bitch even stole her revenge! She had punched her again and again out of pure rage but Dawn was already long gone by that point.

The van hit another bump and then she slid painfully as the van sharply braked. Jesus, dude! Learn to drive!

She shouldn’t complain. The asshole was the only decent bit of luck she had that evening (except for the fact that Dawn’s knife thrust wasn’t worse. Had it gone just a little deeper…). It took her a couple of painful hours wandering through the absolute worst neighborhood in the city to find him and then she had to wander past him twice before he noticed her and took the bait. The fool actually thought that his dime store stunner subdued her and that those flimsy strips of tape restrained her.

She smiled. At least the fates gave her someone upon whom she could release her many many frustrations.

She wondered how long she could keep this one alive.