Tay had equipped her office with a proper kettle. She had stolen it from her civilian quarters, since she basically just visited to fall asleep at night there, and then dragged herself into the shower in the morning. Bork, currently excused from participating in, well, practically anything, was tasked with bringing breakfast to the team. He was allowed to, unofficially, read every report and make comments. They had tried to console him, but he said he felt like a secret agent, so the system was working well enough.

Captain Williams finished the reports. The first attack had proved the concept and he was now pushing seriously for an Intel Engineering department. Tay had no idea of how far her work was pushing the concept of Intel, but both he and the Admiral did. Perhaps they should be meeting more often. ‘Admiral, I’m sending you the engineer to confirm the details. She's fully briefed, feel free to ask her anything. Our attack is ready whenever you wish. I believe the inhabitants call it the ‘Protected Nest' system.’

The Admiral was busy, and blunt, ‘I don’t give a fuck what they call it.’

‘Admiral Williams, the fleet reports ready to attack APXINTEC2. We have isolated the system, and I can report that our Intel is complete.’

Tay had been sent to give the news, since Captain Williams was apparently arguing with a dozen Captain’s that seemed to believe in astrology instead of astronomy.

Admiral Williams nodded, about to dismiss her. However, this engineer had turned up some useful information, and the odd piece of useful advice. ‘Thank you, Tay. Anything you would like to add, off the record, as it were?’ Tay smiled, ‘No, Sir. I believe we are perfectly prepared. I do wonder, a little, if it might be useful to make them fight amongst themselves, rather that chase them all over the galaxy. I believe that is how Earth dealt with pirates in the past.’

‘Thank you Tay, please inform your Captain that we move in an hour. I expect you all to be at your stations. I will be taking this ship straight for the planet. Prepare for battle.’ Williams watched her leave. She had a point, he had to admit. They could be out here for years squashing them one station at a time. He recalled his naval history enough to know that that could kill his campaign, should it dribble into minor conflicts.

The Fleet squadrons went back into the same twisted and perfected dance of death. Again the enemy tried to flee, leaving the stations and planet as bait. It was obvious that no central authority was planning this, just the ingrained habits of a pirate nation. Occasionally one of the Powers would take offence at the Intec. Perhaps they shot the wrong ship, robbed the wrong trader or someone had just had enough. A planet would be taken, a few ships and stations lost. Just the price of doing business, and the storm soon passed. Admiral Williams had other plans. After a little thought, following his conversation with Tay, he had altered his plan a little.

It was relatively unusual for an Admiral to fly into the fight. Probably someone worked out that it changed the dynamics of the fight too much, giving the enemy too great a target, and driving his fleet into danger protecting him. Williams didn’t think that it should be an issue, this time at least, since the system had nothing to withstand his forces. All it had was secrecy, and his Intel had stripped them of that.

He pushed his ship closer and closer into the front line, the fleeing enemy and stations falling around him. Finally he put the ship in orbit over APXINTEC2. He summoned Tay to the Comms. She might enjoy this. ‘Get me their leadership on Comms. Let me know when they answer.’

The Intec were an insectile race, more like wasps than ants, he thought. And even more unwelcome. After he began blowing up the surface a little, Tay finally got a response. ‘Put them through.’

The Intec despised war. War was futile, taking and holding against another system was bloody and expensive. Much better to raid, to simply take the prizes of war in wealth and captives, without the cost. Days such as this happened, some noble or general making his name. Space was too big to hunt them, not as they hunted. Humans weren’t even worth raiding. Ships too small, full only of books and rage. Still, the Humans were everywhere now. Working on everyone's ships, advising them. Interfering. Even a simple trader might fight now, not run as it should, simply because some fool human was on the weapons. Yet now they must talk. What did these fools want?

Admiral Williams took the call on the bridge. ‘You wish to negotiate?’ the Intec Superior asked. Williams shook his head, ‘No. You have already been bought and paid for, and I will extract the full price. I simply prefer that none of my new property gets damaged in this difficult time, I’m sure you understand.’

The Intec hissed, a babble of noise surrounding it. It took a moment to establish enough silence to continue. ‘We are not bought and sold. We will fight.’

Williams laughed. ‘That's what the previous Intec Superior said, until they sold you to me, after they had already lost everything. I will give you a better offer that he got. If you leave the planet unharmed. I will give you your life and a ship, for a name. For our next target. And, if it goes well, and I take it as simply as I have taken your world, then you will be paid. A private fortune, for you and you alone. Otherwise, well, I will leave that to your imagination. Suffice to say that you will die on this planet. Eventually.’

He cut the Comms and looked at Tay, a quizzical look on his face, ‘That the sort of thing you had in mind, Chief?’ Tay looked at him, stunned, ‘Sir, that was fucking awesome.’

An hour later a small ship left the surface, and the Intec Superior was escorted to a conference room. Captain Zac’Hary of the Noctema accepted the surrender, Captain Williams examined the Intel offered and Admiral Williams signed the papers that granted asylum on Earth to the Xeno pirate, with a full pension if the Intel was correct, and prison if it wasn’t.

Captain Williams didn’t need much time to verify the Intel, since he currently had that system surrounded by his men, preparing for the next attack. Still, it proved the Admirals strategy worked. At least once. The cost of that pension would be far higher than the Xeno knew, forever under the thumb of Earth Intel. A polished prison, but a prison nonetheless. Right now he was making sure that the bastard had full Comms, able and willing as he seemed to be, to spread his petty victory to the Intec. Now they all knew that there was a price on their head.

Tay was in her office, feeling the odd emotion that is ‘thankfully-not-an-admiral,’ a rare one perhaps, commonly associated with being around one when shit happens. She was waiting to see if Bork had managed to perfect the concept of tea, because, as never in her life before, she needed a cup of tea. Oddly, Bork had become that oldest of things, a tradition in the very bones of engineering. He had become the apprentice, carrying tea to all, easing all the meetings that must be held, but that now had cake and comfort. The odd thing that Bork had a problem with was that there wasn’t a single, consistent cup of tea. She took a bit of sugar, Olly took, well, mostly sugar and Roaden had told him to ‘Make it strong enough to stand the spoon up in’. A mistake when instructing a Xeno engineer, no matter how you expected it to end. Pity, because she had liked that cup. Captain Williams picked the right moment to arrive, ‘Well done, Chief. The operation is concluded, a complete success. The Admiral tells me that the little twist on the end was your idea.’

Tay shook her head, ‘Sir, whatever I had in mind, it wasn’t anything that damn clever. He really surprised the hell out of me.’

Williams smiled, ‘If you keep passing up credit like that to the Admiral, I’ll be saluting you soon enough. In any case, I have news. There were a couple of hundred humans on that planet, mostly from Oz. Apparently they were sold from place to place. They are being lifted from the planet now, but I thought you could speak to them, perhaps advise us where to place them.’

As she sipped her tea, she wondered about the old days, all stuck on a rock, under constant pressure. Invaded, owned, ignored and unwelcome. Stories carried through time, only the names changing. Now the galaxy was there, open and endless. Now imagine knowing that and thinking that your own people were dead, that you were debris, floating about as objects, bought and sold in an endless line of evil. What the hell could she say to these people. She called Ben and asked to speak to the Elders of the People. She couldn’t do this alone. Wouldn’t do this alone.

It was a strange gathering. The shuttle bay was crowded, the recovered humans looking mostly bewildered and tired. Children were being held close, men standing tall and defiant. This must all seem like a broken dream sequence. Perhaps they thought they had been sold again, that everything else was just more lies. She stepped up onto the platform, with nothing but an empty screen behind her. Hopefully it won't stay empty for long.

‘Welcome back. Welcome back to humanity, to your freedom, to your future. My name is Tay, and I am from Earth. We have filled the skies, we have become strong. I found the Intec holding our People enslaved and now they are free. These ships, these soldiers are the Might of Earth, come to free all held by the Intec. Most of you have forgotten Earth, a place lost to your grandparents, or great-grandparents. But I have some people who would like to talk to you, families that you might know and remember.’ She stepped back, connecting the screen. Please, please work, she prayed.

She and Ben had discussed how this would work, could work. She and he had stood aside, on private Comms, while the Elders spoke. They had their own plans, this was not the first time bewildered and lost People had come home. One by one, standing on now-familiar red dirt, they called out for families, cousins, nephews, grandchildren. The elders called out every family name, everyone ever missed or lost since before their enslavement. They had held those names in song, in enduring memory.

In the cargo bay, men and women started at their hidden names, half-remembered words from their families dead. Some called out in surprise, in recognition. Each of them was welcomed back by the Elders, assured of a home and a homeland. Those few that had no name in the histories were vouched for by those remembered, now cousins, wifes or husbands. All were welcomed into the people, all promised a home on Oz.

Tay was trying to recover, quietly, in her office. That lasted nearly ten minutes before the Admiral arrived. Admirals don’t drop in, unless you are another admiral. Even then they had people to fucking warn you. She stood up, going for the engineering version of attention. Admiral Williams grinned, it was rare to have a moment like this. ‘Relax, Tay. I'm here for the tea. I hear it’s the best on the ship, and frankly, I could do with one after today.’ He sat himself down, waiting for Tay to calm down. She sat down and called Bork. ‘Bork, I need tea in my office. Bring one-hundred grams of sugar, three hundred milliliters of extruded dairy product, full fat, also two mugs, clean, one engineering tool twenty-six and a litre of recipe forty-seven tea.’

‘He’ll be here in a minute, Sir.’