“News of their thievery and sniping while others fight has spread across the stars!” the Brood queen hissed in agitation, seeing her points failing.

“Ah, you mean their battlefield clean-up and rescue of stranded spacers in the wake of those conflicts? Yes, yes, I know, a lot of scavengers are INCREDIBLY incensed that the Acanti are scooping up all the shattered ships and not shooting the survivors or enslaving them and trading them away to the Brood for turning into egg deposits, or leaving the corpses behind for Brood dinner tables.” I sighed in heavy sarcasm. “On the flip side, those survivors are very happy to be repatriated, and the Acanti are making bank in the salvage markets, so I guess it’s kind of business as usual for the Brood, right? First come, first served up, mmm-mmm-good.” I leaned forwards. “I mean, those are prime feeding grounds, what with the Brood hanging around them all the time, right?”

Both queens convulsed at the same moment, spinning their heads around in the same direction, where the small escort fleet that had accompanied them in had just vanished from their hive-link.

“The Shi’ar Empire would like to convey their immense thanks for informing them of the development of this new nanovirus of yours. Given proof of such advanced technical skills, it was deemed disrespectful to provide your escort with an Imperial chaperone,” Xavier spoke up from behind me. “An Acanti pod came in ten seconds after they moved off-station. We would like to inform you that your nanovirus did not seem to be up to the task of dissuading them, and they are now being eaten.”

“The Acanti are eying the sky-squid that brought these queens here something fierce, too. Those things are squishy and go down so smoothly...” I had to contribute, looking over my shoulder at him.

“Our guests do need a means of egress, and the Shi’ar have excellent reasons not to allow them on their vessels, Dynamo,” Professor Xavier reminded me.

“Stick them in a lifepod and tow them to a rendezvous point!” I waved my hand excitedly. “This is like dangling sweet berries in front of the Acanti and saying no, Your Highness!”

“Well, I imagine we can spare a lifepod, if our diplomatic guests do not object...” Xavier replied with a totally straight face. The Shi’ar guards were failing to hide their laughter, and even Imahd was having problems containing himself.

“We do not agree!” the lesser queen blurted out instantly. “We ask humbly for the continued protection of the noble Shi’ar against the depredations of our enemies during this diplomatic mission!”

“Well, since you have asked humbly and all...” Charles Xavier mused calmly, his face like stone. “Do you have any other culinary, I mean, diplomatic matters to discuss with the Acanti, Your Majesties? I have taken the liberty of making a course of these proceedings available to the various imperial powers with embassies here, and I imagine they are kibitzing with their superiors over the menu. In the event something distasteful occurs, I will make sure it is served on to the Hive Queens.”

Meaning the two of them were indeed completely expendable... and thus edible. Imahd barely let the snicker pass his lips at the choice of wording, too, but I heard it.

“We have... no further matters to share,” the older queen murmured, curling in upon herself, as if realizing her fate, totally not realizing she had bought into his mockery. “Please arrange for our teleportation back to our ship, Your Highness.”

“Well, if there are no more concessions...” Xavier answered agreeably, and Imahd almost lost it. “Ambassador Dynamo, if you please.”

I sighed loudly again, bowed to the two Brood queens who were trying not to tremble, and turned around to glide away.

After the doors closed behind me, I asked, “So, did Fatima disable their hyperdrive?” I asked the Prince Consort of the Shi’ar Empire innocently.

The nearby Shi’ar all twitched, and only supreme discipline kept them from bursting out in howling laughter.

---

The skysquid glided through the void outside the throne system of Chandilar. It had no hyperdrive, and the communication with the Hive Queens was long over. The ominous blips at the edge of their sensors were leisurely closing in, the skysquid having no ability to outrun them.

The Brood, drones and queens alike, curled up at their stations, watching the Acanti close in, the song of the starwhales’ telepathic discourse rubbing up against their hive-link in gentle waves. If they had been able to translate it, they would have heard it sounding much like a gourmand’s discussion about how skysquids of this particular bloodline had tasted in the past, and their expectations for this one... and expectation always seemed to make them taste better...

--------

Gladiator of the Imperial Guard, Kallark, was someone I had an on-again, off-again affair with. He had extremely few physical equals normally, and female ones were even less common. The only other adult Strontian known to be alive was his first cousin, so his interest in me was totally understandable.

I didn’t mind it, either. The number of lovers who could make out with me in the corona of a sun wasn’t too high, either.

Xenith, his cousin, didn’t much like me as a result, whining that I was attempting to manipulate him and subvert him for Terra and whatever. I think she was just irked that Primus was taken in return, and she was completely unable to intimidate me. The one time she’d tried I’d left her smoking on the ground, as Strontians were remarkably vulnerable to magical energies if not trained in magic themselves.

So, the Praetor of the Imperial Guard was always willing to make time in his schedule for me, and rather enthusiastically did so whenever he found out I was going to be in Shi’ar space.

This time, however, was not for amatory revels, although it was down in the corona so we couldn’t be monitored.

He could see I wasn’t in the mood, being centuries old and definitely not a fool. “You... have discovered something?” he asked, looking around tellingly at our position. His eyes raked the skies, making sure nothing was monitoring us.

I nodded slowly. “I have, Kallark.” I sighed grimly. “I don’t even want to tell you this, but you of all people deserve to know.” I grit my teeth, turned my eyes in the direction of Chandilar, and looked away. “Open your mind and let me download this. This will be a straight replay of memory, you’ll have to trust me on this. There’ll be no psionic coercion involved in this, but... ahg.” I just shook my head.

“You know who is responsible for the deaths of my people.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes. And the worst part is... never mind, make your own analysis.” I held out my palm towards his forehead.

He only frowned for a moment, before leaning forwards and closing his eyes.

---

He had asked me almost jokingly if the magic that I knew would allow me to find out what had befallen his people, and who was to blame for their sun going nova and destroying them all. He knew it was not natural, as their star was still young, and it seemed the threat had been used against the Strontians once before, and by the Shi’ar themselves, of all things.

He’d been surprised when I said I could indeed do so, and during my down times it was one of the things I’d reached out and tracked.

The Strontians were similar to born Celestial Eternals, or Kryptonians if you wanted to make that case. They were extremely powerful on all levels, each of them having the power of a starship. Fast, powerful, invulnerable, and capable of making themselves even moreso, they were a warrior people obsessed with loyalty and honor, with a reputation among the stars that was not friendly.

Then the Wraith Plague had hit them, a magical sickness that tore their souls right from their bodies, a disease for which they’d had no cure. The Shi’ar had offered them a cure for the plague, and in return the Strontians had sworn undying loyalty to them.

It was a loyalty tested by the Shi’ar, as they’d forced Kallark himself to choose between killing the Elder Council of his people, or the Shi’ar would detonate a starcracker and nova the sun. He had done so, the elders had died willingly, and he had been named Praetor of the new Imperial Guard, personal servants of the Emperor who had been formed to battle a Phoenix Avatar threatening the Empire.

The origins of the Wraithplague were the first point, as it was plenty suspicious that the Shi’ar had a convenient cure. The plague was not limited to the Strontians, but how it had happened to strike them was... interesting.

And so, I’d tracked back the first carrier to come to their system with the virus, a magic-resistant fellow who, upon tracking, had turned out to be a Dire Wraith.

I tracked lifelines back, intersections of people and messages and agreements made. It was very subtle and took quite a bit of time and attention to make all the connections.

The Wraith Plague was indeed of Dire Wraith origin, and unleashed upon their enemies who lacked the magical means to face it. It was also available for sale, such as it was, and so an elder of the Shi’ar, afraid of the untameable Strontians and the threat they poised to Shi’ar hegemony, had purchased the services of the Dire Wraiths to infect the Strontians.

Thus had come about the generous offer of the Shi’ar’s cure to the disease, playing upon the Strontian’s own sense of honor, and thus taking them into the service of the Shi’ar and ameliorating their threat. That elder had thoroughly disposed of everyone involved in the plot, afraid of Strontian vengeance should they find out, and had died without heir or issue.

Thus, Shi’ar intrigue and Shi’ar generosity were both true, and had gained the Shi’ar what they wanted most, while the Strontians sank into the status of a vassal neutral power, a potentially galaxy-conquering force neutered by their own honor.

Then merely a few decades ago had come Majestor P’Trom and his ambitions of conquest. Kallark’s own loyalty over the centuries had provided the fuel for his schemes, planning to draft an entire legion or more of Strontians, and use them to go out and strike down all who opposed his rule across the stars in a grand wave of conquest.

Six different empires had come together when whispered words of the Shi’ar Majestor’s plans had reached them, as well as Shi’ar Elders afraid of the Strontians realizing their own true power. The Shi’ar were not the only race with the technology to make stars go supernova, and there was no subtle yet fallible scheme like the Wraith Plague this time. The Strontians were a powerful people, but even they could not survive their own star going nova on them.

It was a direct hammer-blow to P’Trom’s ambitions, a dire warning that other empires were watching and would not tolerate what he was planning... but it was the Strontians who had paid the price for it, a casual by-blow of the intrigue between empires. Their own lack of presence and security in their home system was what had allowed the operation to succeed, relying on the protection of the Shi’ar, who had been diverted from that task or were complicit in it...

His plans stillborn and the blame for the deaths of the Strontians heaped upon him, Emperor T’Prom lasted less than three years before he was overthrown and died in disgrace. The number of Strontians still alive was a mere handful, as they had not ventured often off their own world, and it was known that certain agents of other empires hunted them down when they could, fearing their power and potential vengeance.

The Skrulls were particularly good at it.

There were a LOT of dead people centered around those events, tracks removed, the guilty silenced, and the truth covered up. There had even been magical attempts made to cover up what was going on from Divination magic, but those only attracted my attention when I went plumbing for them with Cosmic Awareness.

All of that was in the information download I gave to him. I showed him what I’d seen, as I’d seen it, allowing him to draw his own deductions.