Yvian watched the Peacekeepers cut a swath through Fico Station. The jamming signal that shut out her comms did nothing to interfere with the Random Encounter's sensor suite. She wasn't sure if the signal was designed to allow sensors, or if the human built ship was too advanced to shut out. She supposed it didn't matter, as long as she could see what was going on.

The Peacekeeper's moved at a dead sprint. Well. A dead sprint for a pixen. Kilroy had mentioned he could run at three hundred and twelve kilometers per hour. Compared to that, the units might as well have been on a leisurely stroll. The first two groups of ten had already rendezvoused with Lissa. She sent Mims along with one of them to free the closest group of pixens.

Station Security's response was surprisingly coordinated. Yvian supposed they had some way to communicate despite the jamming. Not that it did them any good. Mims and the Peacekeepers gunned down everyone that got in their way, leaving piles of unconscious guards and inert power armor in their wake.

"Communication with Lissa and Mims has been established." Kilroy jolted Yvian out of her reverie. "Your presence is no longer necessary here. Should you not join the other meatbags?"

Yvian shrugged. "They don't need me." Yvian had not been comfortable among the crowd of pixens. She didn't like crowds in the best of circumstances, but now... If she went back, it would only be a matter of time before someone realized who she was. What she was. Pixens didn't always kill the motherless on sight, but they did more often than not. As far as her people were concerned, she was banished. Exiled. Hated and held in contempt.

It was best to stay on the ship. Yvian's presence might cause a riot if she went back and got recognized. Yvian doubted she'd be in any danger, armed and armored as she was, but it would certainly complicate the evacuation. At least that's what she told herself. The truth was she didn't want to face it again. The anger. The disgust. She didn't want to be reminded how much they hated her. How she was doomed to be alone.

Sure, she had her sister. Mims loved her too in his way, despite a near inability to show affection. She had a family, of sorts. But they were all she would ever have. Her former mother had made sure of that when she'd struck Yvian from the Registry and taken away her last name. No pixen would willingly associate with a motherless. They were the lowest of the low, more contemptible than murderers or harmers of children. Only patricides were hated more, and not by much. Yvian would never be accepted. She would make no pixen friends, take no pixen lovers. She would not be allowed to live on New Pixa. Yvian would die alone, with only her sister and a murderous human would mourn her.

"This unit understands," Kilroy nodded. "This unit also finds crowds of meatbags annoying."

A Peacekeeper strike force reached the Command Center. This section of the station was much more heavily fortified. Fico station might be a pleasure resort, but it was also a Guild headquarters, and they didn't skimp on security. Combat drones, plasma turrets, and power armored guards formed a heavy deterrent. More than enough to deal with pirates or the occasional pixen uprising. The strike force tore though them like wet paper.

"This unit is surprised the Confederation is a major power," Kilroy remarked, "with such weak technology."

It was true. Yvian had seen enough of the verse now to know that the Confed's tech was bottom of the barrel. The Vrrl and the Oluken were far more advanced, to say nothing of the humans. Nearly every other nation had better shields, faster engines, and stronger weapons. The Random Encounter, a single human built ship, had been enough to turn Captain Mims into an unstoppable force in Confed space. It wasn't even a capital ship. The Encounter was one of their basic fighters.

"It's a numbers thing," she told him. "The Confederation has tens of trillions of citizens. They control over a hundred sectors, and they've got billions of ships. You don't need to have better tech when you outnumber everyone a hundred to one."

"This unit is not sure that is the case." Kilroy gestured at the holodisplay. The Peacekeeper strike force had just cut their way through the hatch to the command center. "This station has a population of one hundred twenty three thousand, four hundred and two. Nine thousand, eight hundred and four of the residents function as security, and they are insufficient to deal with two pixens, one human, and fifty Peacekeeper units." Disdain dripped from the machine's voice tones. "Our units are not even functioning at optimum capacity. We are operating on the level of a trained meatbag."

"True," Yvian allowed. "But that's because we're hitting them fast and not dealing with any big groups. If they hit us with a couple thousand guys at once we'd been in trouble."

"Command Center secure." Kilroy reported. "Units are locking station security protocols and environmental controls." Yvian nodded acknowledgement. That should keep the Guild from gassing or asphyxiating any trapped pixens. Kilroy continued, "It is unlikely station security will organize such a force in the time available to them."

"Not this time." At least Yvian hoped they wouldn't. "They're all too spread out. But if we stay too long they'll clump together and throw more at us than we can handle. That's how the Confed is. It's too big and has too many people. The other powers could go in and do a lot of damage, but then the Military will swarm them under with more ships they can deal with. They're doing that to the..." Yvian scratched her head. What was the name again? "They're doing that to someone right now."

"The Yeeva Collective," Kilroy supplied. "This unit estimates their subjugation will be completed in two years, seven months."

"Yeah. See?" Yvian watched the Captain's strike team close in on the security forces holding Syra's parents. "They're invading the Tucvali, too, and they still got enough ships to cover all of Confed space with another couple hundred million in reserve. No one else can match those kind of numbers."

"Incorrect," said Kilroy. "The Xill have greater numbers."

The Xill. Yvian shivered. Sapient machines, so advanced and so murderous they made Kilroy look like a children's toy. It had been the Xill that gave her New Pixa. She and Mims had betrayed the Confed to get it, handing over tech that would vastly increase travel and communication speeds, making the Xill even deadlier than they already were. On top of that, they'd brokered an alliance with the Terran Federation, giving the Xill access to human science and military forces as they tried to prevent the Vore from eradicating all life.

She'd been working for them for over a year now, and they still made her hair stand on end. The Xill had no regard for organic life. Quite the opposite. They genocided any species that might pose a threat. Yvian was certain the Xill were the reason the Yolobros had created the Vore. It had been their final fuck you before the Xill wiped them from the verse. If the Vore wasn't targeting the Xill specifically, she suspected the machines wouldn't mind letting it kill everyone else.

"No one outside of the Xill, I mean." Yvian accepted the correction. She watched on the holodisplay as Mims and his Peacekeepers led their rescued pixens over the bodies of their captors. Breathing bodies, she noted. The Peacekeepers were still using stunshots. "Thank you, by the way."

"Thank this unit for what?" Kilroy asked.

"For doing what we asked," said Yvian. "For helping us, and for not killing anyone." She took in a breath. "This whole thing would be a bloodbath if we were using lethal force."

"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "It is a missed opportunity." He simulated a sigh. "These units were contractually employed by the Pixen Technocracy Stellar Defense Force. They will follow reasonable orders as long as you represent that department. Gratitude is unnecessary."

"I know." Yvian told him. "But thanks all the same. And thank the others for me, too."

"Understood," said Kilroy. "Gratitude transmitted to other units. Gratitude acknowledged." His eyes glowed an amused yellow. "This unit predicts requests for salary increase will be received within the next fourteen hours."

"What?" Yvian blinked. "Because I said thank you?"

"Affirmative."

"Crunch." Contract negotiation wasn't part of Yvian's duties. This was going to be a problem for Captain Mims. He would not be amused. "Is it too late to take to take it back?"

"Affirmative." The Peackeeper's eyes glowed yellow with amusement. "The Recompense is in position. Do you wish to try docking it now, or wait until the Emergency Command Center is taken?"

Yvian thought about it. Whoever was at the Emergency Command Center could try to raise the station's shields, but the station itself wasn't armed. The Confed didn't allow station mounted weapons in its' territory. "Go ahead and dock it. The quicker we can get this done the better."

"Affirmative." Kilroy was silent for a moment. "Station shields lowered. Recompense is dropping stealth and moving to docking bay 1423."

"1423?" Yvian pulled up a map on her console. "That's on the other end of the station. Are you sure we can't get them closer?"

"Negative," said Kilroy. "Docking bay 1423 is the closest bay large enough to support the Recompense." As he spoke, the stealth cruiser appeared on sensors. The Recompense was a battlecruiser, roughly two kilometers in length. The ship itself had been built by humans, but it was armed and shielded with Confed tech. While it didn't have the raw firepower of terran cannons, it's stealth function was extremely useful, and it was more than a match for anything the Trelg Militia could throw at it.

Not that they would. The Militias were in charge of sector defense, but they spent most of their time shaking down freighters and looking for slaves. The Trelg Militia was especially craven, rarely bothering to fight even small bands of pirates. Yvian doubted they had the balls to take on a battlecruiser without help from the Military.

"Emergency Command Center is attempting to raise shields," Kilroy reported. After a few seconds, he continued. "Attempt blocked. Emergency Command Center is attempting to call for help. Attempt blocked. Recompense will be docked in six minutes, thirty three seconds."

"Good." Yvian thought for a moment. "Can you unjam the comms?"

"Stand by." Ten seconds later. "Jamming signal disabled."

The Encounter's comms pinged. They pinged a lot. Yvian had trouble sorting through the jumble of different pixens calling for help. She asked Kilroy to help. Together, they pieced together that station security had cracked down on the pixens in the commercial areas. The Guild had decided on a more heavy handed approach. They were taking pixens to cargo areas. Loading them into cryo pods.

"Crunch." Yvian was glad she hadn't waited to dock the Recompense. "They're going to sell them into slavery." Yvian relayed the information to Lissa.

"Fuck." Lissa wasted another several seconds cursing. Then she made a decision. "Is the Recompense coming?"

"It'll be docked in three minutes."

"Good." Lissa swore again. "All Pixen Stellar Defense Force teams split in half. Half of you keep doing what you're doing. The other half goes to stop the slavers. I want our forces off the Recompense and getting to work the second it's docked."

"Affirmative." Kilroy. "Is lethal force authorized?"

"Fuck yes," said Lissa. "Kill anyone that gets in your way."

"Affirmative." The Peacekeeper's eyes flashed orange and yellow.

"Sis, are you sure about this?" Yvian was perfectly happy with leaving security guards in an unconscious heap. Letting the Peacekeepers slaughter them was more than she was comfortable with.

"They're slavers, now," said Lissa. "Slavers don't get mercy. We'll kill them and rescue our people. After that, we're going to pay Guild Headquarters a little visit." The last part came out as a growl. "I fucking warned them."