Yvian came awake slowly. It was a nice surprise. Less nice was the throbbing in the back of her skull. She felt her face scrunch in a grimace as she let out a little groan. Her eyes opened, squinting against the light.

She was in a med pod. The sight comforted her for a moment, then gave way to confusion. If she'd been healed, why did her head hurt? Venturetech med pods were not known for leaving injuries unaddressed. She should have woken up feeling like a million credits.

"She's awake!" Lissa was trying to whisper, but she wasn't doing a good job. She sounded... excited. Joyful, even. How long had Yvian been unconscious?

Someone walked over and hit a couple of buttons. The med pod retracted, leaving Yvian exposed on the surprisingly comfortable med table the pod was installed on. A quick glance told Yvian she was still in her voidarmor. Then the smell hit. French dip. Au jus. Fries. Yvian's mouth watered.

She brought her head to the side, expecting to see food. Instead she saw a crowd. The med bay she was in was much larger than the one on the Random Encounter, and it was filled with Peacekeeper units in sharp suits. Their eyes glowed yellow with pleasure. Yvian wondered if Kilroy was one of them. Lissa and Mims were a few meters away from the med table. Mims had a plate, more of a platter, really, heaping with food. Lissa had a case of beer. Standing closer to the table were four Oluken.

The Oluken were an odd looking species. Three sturdy legs, and two arms that ended in masses of tendrils. Their heads were long, thick, and topped with four eyestalks all swiveled to point at Yvian. They were greenish brown in color, and their skin gave the impression of being both leathery and damp.

Before Yvian could ask a question, Mims stepped forward. "Welcome back to the land of the living." He set the platter down next to Yvian, then set a bottle of ketchup next to it.

Yvian decided questions could wait. She was ravenous. She tore at one of the sandwiches. She'd eaten half of it before she even remembered she was supposed to dip the thing in the au jus. She held a plaintive hand out to Lissa. Lissa placed a beer in it. Yvian chugged the entire thing in one go.

It was only after finishing the first sandwich that Yvian could bring herself to remember she had questions. She started with the obvious. "How long was I out?"

One of the Peacekeepers answered. Yvian assumed it was Kilroy. "Twenty three days, eleven hours, and forty three minutes."

Yvian paused with another sandwich halfway to her mouth. Twenty three days? She'd been unconscious for over three weeks. Au jus dripped from her sandwich onto her lap. And the floor. No wonder she was so hungry. She stuffed more bread and roast beef into her mouth. After swallowing, she asked the question she'd been dreading. "The Vore?"

"Dead," Mims assured her. "The Klaath, too. Half our ships and all the Stingers are still scouring the sector, making sure there aren't any little clusters of nanomachines floating around. We've found a few, but it looks like most of the stuff stayed in the Spheres."

"We were sufficient," One of the Peacekeepers spoke. Unlike the others, this one had a white band in his fedora, signaling he was no longer a standard unit. Yvian suspected it was Admiral Zhukov.

"We were sufficient!" The other Peacekeepers thundered in reply. Definitely Zhukov, then.

Yvian's eyes watered. It had been enough. She blinked, trying to hold back the tears. It didn't work. She found herself sobbing into her sandwich.

Lissa came and wrapped an arm around her. Yvian leaned in, crying on her sister. The Captain put a hand on her shoulder, an oddly gentle look on his face. Yvian dropped her food back onto the platter and pulled both of them close, crying and shaking and leaking snot everywhere. She'd been going for almost a minute before she remembered there was a bunch of other people watching.

Embarrassed, flushed, and messy, Yvian wiped her eyes and tried to pull herself together. She looked around for her helmet. It wasn't attached to her voidarmor. Rather than search further, she grabbed the one attached to her sister. She put it on and activated the auto-clean. A moment later, she took it off and handed it back.

Lissa gave her an exasperated look. "Really, Sis? Snot in my helmet?"

"It's self cleaning," Yvian huffed.

"Anyway," Mims moved on, "The Peacekeepers managed to kill the last of the Queens about six hours after you went down. The rest of the Klaath went berserk, but they weren't coordinated anymore. It took a couple days to get them all, but the planet and all of our stations are intact."

Yvian nodded, starting in on the fries. Bright Lady, this was good food. Speaking of... "I can't believe you brought me food in the med bay." She squinted at the human. "I thought food belonged in the kitchen."

One of the other Peacekeepers answered. It wasn't Zhukov or Kilroy. "This unit is Captain of the Master Exploder. This unit decides where food is and is not allowed."

"Captain Obvious overruled him," Lissa grinned. She tilted her head. "I don't think Mark fought it much, though."

"His ship." The human shrugged. "His rules."

"Captain Obvious?" Yvian quirked a brow.

"I'll tell you later," said Lissa.

"We lost a lot ships," Mims continued, "And two thirds of the Stinger units. We're salvaging what we can, but it'll take a while to rebuild."

"Especially since we're still fighting the trelg and rescuing the other pixens," Lissa added.

"We are constructing additional Peacekeeper units to increase our production speed," Kilroy reported. "We are also constructing additional Stinger units to improve defense."

Yvian nodded, washing down fries with a second bottle of beer. "Are you going to keep these ones from trying to kill us?"

Kilroy's eyes, no, all the Peacekeeper eyes flashed purple and blue for a moment, then went back to yellow. "Lissa has suggested a solution to that problem. We have compiled a data packet which all new units will receive."

"A data packet?" Yvian prodded. Then she continued stuffing her face.

"The data packet contains the memories of Peacekeeper units," Kilroy explained. "New units will know everything this unit, Admiral Ender Zhukov, two of the Stinger units, and ninety six others have experienced. They will have a comprehensive understanding of you, Pixens, and their role in society. They will know why we work with meatbags instead of ruling or destroying them."

"Mhm," Yvian made an approving noise. She swallowed. "That sounds smart. Plus it means your famous!"

Kilroy's eyes flashed crimson. "This unit is not famous. This unit is standard."

"You can be both," Yvian placated.

"This unit is standard," Kilroy repeated. His eyes ceased to glow. "This unit's experiences are necessary because you, Lissa Kiver, and Captain Mims are the leaders of Pixa. Each unit should know you as this unit does."

"In other news," Lissa came to the rescue, "the Xill are absolutely thrilled that we repelled a Vore infection. Exodus gave a speech and everything."

"Apparently, it's never been done," Captain Mims stole one of Yvian's fries. "No species has ever successfully repelled a Vore attack. Not even the Lucendians." He reached for another fry. Yvian smacked his hand away. "Though they might have, if the Xill had helped them out instead of turning on them. That crystal tech's a lot weaker without conventional ships to feed them power."

The mention of Lucendians sent a jolt down Yvian's spine. "Skygem?" Yvian asked. "Is she..."

"Alive," Lissa assured her. "She's in rough shape, but she's healing."

"An extraordinary being," one of the Oluken remarked. Yvain had forgot they were there. "And more resilient than we would have guessed. She will make a full recovery."

Yvian blinked at the... woman? She sounded female. "I'm sorry... who are you?"

The Oluken raised her hands and waved her tendrils. "I am Durko. These are my associates." Each of them waved their tendrils in greeting as she named them off. "Talm, Menilik, and Avyrn. When you would not wake up, the human requested our assistance."

"When I wouldn't..." She'd been out for three weeks. That wasn't normal. The throbbing in the back of her head was still there.

"It was your implant," Durko explained. "The Lucendian crystal in your brain stem. It was damaged. It still is damaged, though the fracture has lessened. It will continue to cause you pain for another week, and you must not interface with Lucendian technology until the pain is no more." Her eyestalks bobbed. "Truly, the Lifestream is a wonderous thing. I had never imagined a crystal that was alive."

"Not just alive," a male Oluken remarked. Menilik? Was that the name? "Sentient. Perhaps even sapient. The crystal mimics a cellular structure similar to those found in the nervous system."

"Yes," Durko agreed. "Fascinating. We would love to examine Skygem more thoroughly once she has recovered."

"I'll ask her," Yvian said around a mouthful of fries. "And thank you."

"Yes," said the human. "Thank you very much. Yvian would have died without you."

The Oluken all bobbed their eyestalks. Yvian got the impression they were embarrassed. "We serve the Lifestream," they intoned.

"We will also enjoy your generous donation," said Menilik.

"I think of it more as a fee," Mims told him.

"We do not accept fees for our work," Durko explained. "But donations are appreciated."

"Speaking of work," Mims snatched another fry, too quick for Yvian to catch his wrist. "I've got bad news. Your second Pulse disabled the Encounter. Someone's going to have to replace all the computers again."

"Lovely." Yvian gave him a reproachful look. He was eyeing her fries again, but she beat him to the punch, snatching the rest of them in one big handful and stuffing them into her mouth.

"Fixing the ship will have to wait," Lissa told her. "Now that your awake, we've got a ceremony to attend."

Yvian hadn't finished chewing, so she asked the question by quirking her eyebrows.

"It is a memorial ceremony," Kilroy told her. "We will celebrate our victory and honor those who have been lost."

"The Xill took most of the dead Vore for study," said Mims, "but the Peacekeepers took a few of the smaller spheres and melted them down. We're turning them into monuments that we'll post near each of the Gates."

"Affirmative," said Kilroy. The Peacekeeper units all flashed happy yellow lights again. "The monuments will display the unit numbers and names of all units that were lost. Once the monuments have been placed, we will surround them with the remains of Klaath vessels. Our dead will be honored using the corpses of our enemies."

"That's nice," Yvian smiled at him. She took another beer from her sister. Her head still hurt, but she was glad to be awake. Her friends were alright, New Pixa was safe, and she had beer. What more could a girl ask for?