Yvian woke with a scream. A hand was clamped on her shoulder like a cold, steel vise. Fear and adrenaline mixed with training. She spun in the bed, her free hand snatching the blaster from under her pillow. She fired two shots center mass and a third at the head of the dark figure standing over her.

The flare of plasma was blinding in the dimness of the room, but Yvian didn't dare wait for her eyes to adjust. Before she could fire another shot, the gun was ripped from her grip. Yvian twisted again, kicking out with both feet. It was like kicking a bulkhead. The man above her didn't move.

To Yvian's surprise, the hand on her should let go. The figure stepped back. Yvian's eyes were still burning, but she could see a red light. Two red lights. Eyes. She froze. "Kilroy?"

"Negative." The Peacekeeper unit's eyes were still red. "This unit's designation is Dr. Roboto."

Dr. Roboto's voice was like a blast of cold water. Yvian's adrenaline faded, replaced by embarrassment. "Oh. Oh Bright Lady. I shot you."

"Affirmative." Dr. Roboto sounded annoyed.

"Oh Crunch." Yvian could feel her cheeks flushing. "Are you ok?"

"This unit is unharmed." The machine's eyes still burned crimson.

"I am so, so sorry..." Yvian apologized. "I thought you were... I thought..." Yvian didn't know who she'd thought it was. She hung her head and let out a breath. "I just reacted. Lend me your forgiveness and I'll make amends."

"Forgiveness is lent." Dr. Roboto's eyes switched to the yellow light of amusement. "Amends will not be necessary. This unit assessed a seventy three point six four percent probability you would attack when this unit woke you."

"Oh." Yvian scratched her head. "Uh... thank you?" She cleared her throat. "So, uh... what are you doing here?" She doubted a Peacekeeper would be here if it wasn't important.

"You're presence is required on the Random Encounter." Dr. Roboto informed her. "You were not answering comms. This unit was sent to fetch you."

"Not answering..." Yvian looked for her wrist console, but the starlight filtering through the room's viewport wasn't enough to her find it. "Lights on."

The lights did not turn on. "This quarters is keyed to Dr. Yuriko Miner," Dr. Roboto informed her. His eyes blinked on and off with yellow light, the Peacekeeper version of a chuckle. "This unit will assist."

The lights turned on, stabbing into Yvian's eyes. She squinted and blinked for a few seconds as they adjusted. Then she took a look around the room. Yuriko's quarters had been neat and tidy when she'd invited Yvian over. They were less so now. Clothes and furniture had been knocked all around the place, along with the remains of dinner and several bottles of beer. Yvian frowned, wondering if she should be cleaning this up.

"Yvian," Dr. Roboto chided, "this unit was sent because time is a factor. Please equip your armor and wrist console so we can go. This unit will come back and tidy up before Dr. Yuriko Miner returns to her quarters."

"Oh." Yvian blinked. Peacekeeper units did not do trivial labor. Asking one to clean was a quick way to give extreme offense. Yvian had no idea why Dr. Roboto would make such an offer, and she decided she wasn't awake enough to try to puzzle it out. "Uh, thank you." She got out of bed and grabbed her voidarmor off the floor.

"It's what Kilroy would do." The machine's eyes flashed a mix of colors too varied and too fast for Yvian to make out. "Don't tell the meatbags."

Yvian dressed quickly, asking "What's the emergency?"

"Priority communication from the Terran Federation." The Peacekeeper's eyes glowed red again. "High Commander General Bartholomew Young wishes to speak with you and Big Daddy Mims."

Yvian nodded. The Joint Research Station had strict communication protocols. No comms were allowed into or out of the station, which is why she and Mims had come in person in the first place. There was a single Node connected to the Technocracy, but it was in a transmission shielded room and monitored solely by the Peacekeepers.

Yvian grabbed her wrist console and followed the Peacekeeper into the corridor. She passed a few other pixens along the way, but they either glared or ignored her. The nearest shuttle platform was only a two minute walk, and she was boarding the Encounter ten minutes later. She found Kilroy and Captain Mims on the bridge. The human looked almost as groggy as she was.

"It's about time," the human quipped. "You gotta start waking up to your comms."

"I usually do," Yvian pointed out. "Haven't had much sleep the last couple days."

"No you don't." Mims took the controls. The Encounter hummed as he flew it out of the docking bay. "I usually have to activate a ship wide alarm to get you out of bed for emergencies."

"Oh." That was why she kept waking up to alarms?

"Can't do that on a space station," Mims continued. "Let me get us out of here and we'll go down to the kitchen. I need coffee."

The Research Station was nestled inside the asteroid Mims used to use for a hideout. The old beat up destroyer that used to serve as a security system was still there, but it was now flanked by heavy weapons platforms and a YEET Artillery Barge. The Random Encounter passed them and exited through the hologram masking the entrance.

"Kilroy?" The Captain prompted.

"No other ships detected," the Peacekeeper reported. Yvian looked over the sensors as well. The Hideout looked just as she remembered. It had been moved to a different sector and positioned in a new asteroid field, but it was same big rock shaped like a dick.

"Ok. Activating jumpdrive." Mims stifled a yawn.

Sixty seconds later found them in New Pixa sector. Mims set a course for planet New Pixa and engaged the autopilot. "Alright. Let's get coffee and see what the High Commander has to say.

The smell of coffee reached Yvian well before she reached the kitchen. Mims must have brewed it while he was waiting. The aroma triggered Yvian's memory of the night before. She found herself smiling.

Mims raised a brow. "Nice night?"

"The nicest." Yvian's smile widened into a grin.

"Good for you." He clapped her on the shoulder.

They got their drinks and sat. Kilroy stood behind them. Mims activated the holodisplay. "High Commander Young, this is Mims. Sorry to keep you waiting."

The High Commander appeared over the table. He was wearing Federation voidarmor with rank insignia on the shoulders. General Young was a big man, with dark skin and a strong jaw and a head shaved so clean it reflected the light. "Mims." He gave a small nod. "Do you want to tell me what the hell you're playing at?"

The Captain shrugged. "We were in a secure facility. Couldn't answer your comm 'til we got out."

"Not that." The General scowled. "You know what I'm talking about."

"I really don't." Mims met the General with a glare of his own. "You invaded us."

"Civilian casualties." The High Commander explained. "You've been targeting non-combatants."

Non-combatants? Yvian and Mims shared a look. "That can't be. The Peacekeepers have strictly been targeting Military facilities and infrastructure."

"While Peacekeeper units would enjoy killing civilian meatbags," Kilroy elaborated, "it would be inefficient. Destroying your ability to fight is priority."

"Is that so?" General Young typed into the pad he was holding. The Captain's wrist console pinged as he received an N-mail packet. "Did you think to tell your Vrrl friends?"

Mims opened the N-mail and sent the data to the holodisplay. Sensor readings of destroyed stations. A lot of destroyed stations. Mims cursed.

"Fuck is right." Fury burned behind the High Commander's eyes. "Your killer robots might be following the rules of war, but the Vrrl don't. We've got a death toll in the millions."

Mims swore again. "I should have known. Every Vrrl is a hunter. They don't understand the concept of civilians."

"The Vrrl also delayed Operation BACKLINE by three minutes and fourteen seconds," Kilroy reported. "And they stayed in Federation space a full twenty six seconds longer than planned." He shook his head. "Meatbags are unreliable."

"We had to evacuate every single fucking station in the void," General Young continued. "I've got twenty billion people floating in space with their asses hanging out."

"Is that why you tried to sterilize our planet?" Yvian asked.

The High Commander blinked. "What?"

Now it was Mims's turn to send an N-Mail. "Ten thousand YEETs jumped in system yesterday. Launched a barrage that will turn New Pixa into an uninhabitable dust ball. We're working on stopping it, but it'll be a close thing."

"Bullshit." General Young pulled the info up on his pad. "I never ordered anything like..." He trailed off. He fiddled with his pad some more. "These are..."

"From your reserve fleets," said Mims. "I know. They were sent here by remote control."

The High Commander frowned. "I'll look into it." He shook his head. "What a clusterfuck. We shouldn't even have remote controlled ships."

"I'm willing to bet you have more than you think," said Yvian. "Reba's been busy."

"Reba?" General Young frowned harder. "Reba who?"

"You don't know?" Mims tilted his head. "You didn't listen to our declaration?"

"What declaration?" The High Commander growled. "You didn't declare shit. Your damned Peacekeepers just showed up and carried out an assassination campaign."

"Hold on a sec." Mims typed into his wrist console again. "This is what the Peacekeepers were transmitting before your beam towers killed them. They didn't open fire until they were targeted."

"Bullshit." General Young checked his pad. "Send it again. I didn't get it."

"Sending."

The High Commander waited a few seconds, glaring at his pad. "What the hell?"

"Automated removal," Kilroy deduced. "A program in the Nexus is preventing transmission and deleting records of our declaration of war. That would explain why there has been no investigation or remarks by journalists despite Peacekeeper units repeatedly sending the data to them."

"Impossible," said the General. "No one has that kind of control over the Nexus Network. We've got so much security even the Xill would have a hard time."

"The Xill, maybe," Mims agreed, "but what about a Synthetic Intelligence who was there when the Nexus was built? Someone who's been embedded in the system for centuries?" His voice was grave. "Someone who faked her death in the Singularity Wars."

"You mean Reba the Mercy," the General realized.

"She's not that merciful," said Yvian.

The High Commander's pad made a musical tone. He glanced down at it.

"This unit has sent you an N-mail," said Kilroy. "It contains a paraphrased version of the Pixen Technocracy's Declaration of War on the Terran Federation. It also contains a detailed report of the events leading up the Declaration of War and a transcript of a conversation between Reba the Mercy and Exodus the Genocide." His eyes flashed red. "This unit is unable to circumvent the auto-removal program to send sensor data."

General Young was silent while he read. Yvian waited. When he finally finished, he said, "this can't be true."

"You're really going to pretend you didn't know any of it?" Yvian felt a flash of irritation. "You sent an invasion fleet to New Pixa!"

"I did." The High Commander said it quietly. "I didn't like it, but my objections were overruled. The President, the whole damned council were unanimous. At the time, I thought it was because of the Xill."

"The Xill have gone silent," Mims told him. "We think Reba's got something to do with it."

"That's..." General Young shook his head. "I guess it doesn't matter. It's a war of extinction, now."

"It already was," said the Captain. "You just didn't know it."

"Maybe." The High Commander shook his head. "Fuck me. The Council's dead. The President's dead. We lost a quarter of our pilots on that dumbass invasion, and a bunch more fighting the Vrrl. You bastards have done more damage to humanity then we've seen in six hundred years."

"We'll probably do a lot more," said Mims, "before all is said and done."

"Yeah." The High Commander grimaced. "I guess that's where we stand, now. It's a damned shame."

"It is."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Yvian cut in. "Humans are who we're fighting, but Reba's the real enemy."

"That's not how it works, Yvian." General Young said it regretfully. "Even if this..." He gestured at his pad. "Even if it's true, it doesn't change my duty. I took an oath to defend the Federation, and I will do what I must to keep humanity safe. And right now, the thing threatening humanity is you."

"That's only because you keep attacking us," Yvian argued. "I don't want this, Bart. I don't want to fight you."

"I don't want to fight you, either," the General admitted, "but I don't think we have a choice." He took a breath, straightening his back. His eyes were hard as tungsten. "Goodbye, Mims. Yvian. The next time we speak, it will be to negotiate your surrender."

"Goodbye, High Commander General Bartholomew Young," Kilroy spoke up before Yvian could reply. "The next time we speak, you will be in no position to negotiate." The Peacekeeper cut off the transmission.

"Kilroy!" Yvian protested. "Why'd you do that?"

"The High Commander is the highest ranking member of the Federation Government who survived the Harbinger units," said Kilroy. "Damaging his confidence in this war is tactically advantageous." He shrugged. "Also, it is rude to ignore Peacekeeper units."