The medical staff had become prisoners within the clinic, only allowed out under heavy guard when the Kaihautu wanted to consult the Precursor computer. They weren’t permitted to speak with anyone from the camp, nor were any visitors allowed by the Aggaaddub commander. He was intentionally keeping them isolated, cut off from everyone else. Blye pleaded with them to let her treat patients, but they contemptuously refused her petitions.

She was without options for leverage… save one.

It meant taking a tremendous risk, and there was an excellent chance it could backfire spectacularly. And it wasn’t just her life she was jeopardizing; if it all went wrong, if the Kaihautu simply shrugged off the potential consequences, innocents would pay the price. It was the one great flaw in her strategy, especially considering he’d shown absolutely no hesitation in slaughtering the helpless.

There was the genuine possibility that this plan born of desperation would do nothing but seal their fate.

But she had to try. Her only other option was to give up and surrender herself to the Troika, and that wasn’t going to happen. Not now, not ever. Knights might be healers first, but they were also warriors, and they had a long and proud tradition of dying to protect those they’d sworn to save.

So, in the end, there was no choice at all.

They were in the midst of staff practice when Amar suddenly froze. “Do you hear that?” he asked.

“Hear what?” Prash replied, cocking his head.

“That,” he said pointedly, as he cast about for its source. “Like a… scratching sound.”

Blye paused as well, planting the butt end of her staff. “I hear it too,” she announced. “Look around and see if you can find it.”

The three Terrans split up, each searching in a different direction, while Velsa looked on in confusion. Lacking external ears, Ksot hearing was notoriously poor compared to humans.

“I think it’s coming from over here,” Prash announced, as he headed towards the clinic’s southwest corner. The other two Knights converged on him as he knelt down, feeling the floorboards, his eyes widening in surprise as one screw holding the plank fast began backing itself out of the wood.

“... what the hell…?” Amar began, only to be shushed by Blye, as she pulled both men away from the corner while she held her staff at the ready. The other two Knights adopted defensive stances as well, watching and waiting as more screws were forced out, until finally someone cautiously levered up the board, a hairy face appearing and glancing nervously about.

“Akuum Wuzah?” Blye said in surprise, as she recognized their unexpected visitor. “What are you doing?”

A hesitant smile appeared on his face. “We’re here to rescue you,” he said.

“We? Who’s ‘we’?” she demanded.

The drilling expert clambered out of the hole beneath the floorboards, as a fierce visage with blue skin appeared behind him. “No time to explain,” Spata Zhai said in a rush, “we need to get you out of here now.”

“Are you two crazy?” Velsa said in a shrill voice. “Are you trying to get us all killed?”

“The longer you stay here, the greater the risk to the Perseus Arm,” he continued, ignoring the Ksot nurse. “The Kaihautu cannot access the computer without you, so our best tactic is to take you far from this place.” He jerked his head at the engineer. “I recruited him because I required his tunneling expertise.”

It was a lot of information all at once, but Blye immediately began shaking her head. “And just where would we possibly go?” she inquired. “With the Aggaaddub ship in orbit, no one is leaving this planet. Worse, the instant they learn of our escape, they’ll begin murdering anyone we leave behind. We can’t possibly take ten thousand refugees with us, and I will not put their lives in danger over some half-baked scheme.” She folded her arms, regarding them. “I appreciate the thought… truly, I do… but you both need to climb back into your hole before you’re spotted.”

The two aliens shared a look. “There is… something else,” the Spata said awkwardly. “Kaihautu Yugha has ordered a cordon around the camp. Nothing in, or out… including food.”

“Son of a…” she snarled, before biting off the rest of the curse. “That bastard!”

“He doesn’t want news of the vault to leak,” Prash said slowly. “He’s keeping the competition away from the site.”

“Sure,” Amar agreed, “if he gets to New Terra before his Troika buddies, he’ll be the one calling the shots,” he said in disgust. “This is a fucking power grab, pure and simple.”

“Most likely,” the Ixian concurred. “Which makes your escape even more important. With you out of the picture, hopefully, he will relax his grip enough to allow food deliveries again.”

“It won’t work,” Blye sighed. “He’ll still have the vault, and there’s no way he’ll give that up without a fight. Forgetting for a moment the reprisals he’ll carry out on the refugees after we disappear, we Terrans aren’t that hard to find. He’ll track down others and use them to interface with the computer.” She shook her head once more. “No, the only chance of convincing him to resume the supply runs is to force his hand.”

“Force his hand?” Spata Zhai repeated, confused. “And how do you propose to do that?”

The Chevalier looked to her fellow Knights. “It’s time to make a stand,” she said. “Are you with me?”

Prash swallowed nervously. “I am. All the way.”

Amar shrugged. “I’ve been living on borrowed time since Sonoitii. Just make it count.”

She smiled, taking both their hands, before turning to Spata Zhai. “You and Akuum need to get clear while we hide any evidence of a tunnel on this end. Once you're out, tell everyone to be ready.”

“Ready for what?” he asked.

Blye took a deep breath. “... for anything.”

Kaihautu Yugha was in a rare mood when he finally arrived at the clinic. The three Knights stood together as he stormed towards them. “I am told you demand to speak with me,” he snarled, reaching out and snatching Blye up by her collar, her feet dangling in midair. “Who are you to demand anything of me?”

Blye faced him with all the courage she could muster. “You’ve cut off the camp’s food,” she answered. “Until you restore those deliveries, you will get no cooperation from me or my fellow Knights.” Her eyes bore into his. “You will learn nothing from the Precursor computer… not without us.”

“You play a dangerous game, Terran,” he hissed. “You may think you have value, but you do not. You will do what I say, when I say, or I will round up the refugees you care so much for and execute them.” His yellow eyes blazed back at her. “Their deaths will be on your head.”

“If you kill them, their deaths will be because of your actions, not mine,” she answered back. “Besides, without food, you have already sealed their fate. Whether they die today or tomorrow makes little difference. In the end, they will still be dead.” She glared defiantly back at him. “You can torture me. You can even kill me… but you can't force me to cooperate.”

An odd expression came across his face as he pulled her in closer. “... can’t I?” he murmured. “Shall we put that theory to the test, then?” With a jerk of his massive head, he indicated the remaining Knights. “Bring them,” he ordered, carrying Blye to the esplanade next to the clinic as the guards grabbed Prash and Amar and dragged them forward, forcing them to their knees. Pulse rifles were raised and placed at their backs as the Kaihautu smiled.

“A single word from me, and they die,” he purred. “You will not cast their lives aside so easily, Terran… oh no, not you. You care for those around you, and while you may be willing to risk your own death, it is a very different thing to stand by and watch theirs, is it not?” He barked out a guttural command as the pulse rifles charged with a high-pitched whine.

Forcing herself not to look in their direction, Blye stood her ground. “Kill them, and you lose your last link to the computer, for if a single hair on their head is harmed, those of us who remain alive have vowed to take our own lives.” She sneered back at him, driving the point home. “Leaving you with nothing.”

“Then I will have you restrained and kept under constant watch!” he fired back. “You do not dictate to me, Terran!” he shouted, casting her aside to a nearby guard, before drawing his sidearm and placing it at the back of Prash’s head. “Swear your obedience to me now… or he dies.”

Blye looked to her fellow Knights, even as she felt a rifle barrel pressed against her own head. They were terrified, all of them, but that’s not what was in their eyes.

No, instead, what she saw was resolve.

Taking a deep breath, she faced the alien commander, but instead of an oath of allegiance, something very different emerged. With a strong contralto, clear and sweet… she began to sing.

“... Go down Moses

Way down in Egypt land,

Tell all pharaohs to

Let my people go!”

The song caught both the Aggaaddub and her fellow Terrans off guard, the former staring at her in confusion. The Knights, on the other hand, once they got over their initial surprise, began singing with her; Prash with a rich baritone, even as Amar struggled in a badly off-key bass while making up for it with thundering volume.

“Thus spoke the Lord, bold Moses said:

Let my people go!”

Blye looked the Kaihautu dead in the eye, as she drove the point home. It was doubtful the Troika had ever heard the Exodus story, but the song’s implied threat was as clear as a naked blade:

“... If not, I'll smite your firstborn dead

Let my people go!”

“... Enough!” the Aggaaddub commander roared, as he charged his pistol. Blye and the others stopped singing as they collectively held their breath, waiting for the moment of truth. “Swear your allegiance, or watch him die!”

She maintained her gaze long enough to make her point clear, then purposefully looked away. “Never,” she vowed.

Kaihautu Yugha sneered. “So be it.” Prash closed his eyes and bowed his head as he prepared himself for the end. Blye could only look helplessly on, as the massive alien tightened his grip on the trigger.

“... Sir,” one officer hissed in warning, earning a glare from the commander. “Sir… look around you.”

Lifting his head, the Kaihautu glanced to his left and then to his right. While the confrontation had been playing itself out, a crowd had slowly gathered at a distance, encircling the clinic. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of refugees, stood in silent witness of what the Troika was doing, and as Blye looked around in surprise, she saw many were holding quarterstaffs of their own. She could make out Spata Zhai and his Ixians, Akuum Wuzah, the Yait’xaik laborers, patients… and so many, many others.

They watched… and waited.

“... you can’t kill them all,” Blye said evenly, as the alien scanned the crowd. “Shoot us now, and you’ll turn us into martyrs.” He returned his gaze to her as she continued, “... and then they’ll descend on you like the wrath of God. Oh, you’ll kill most of them, but not all of them. Not in time.”

The Kaihautu’s features were carved in granite as he replied, “Then my crew in orbit will level this camp, to avenge my death.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged, as she gauged the other guards’ reactions. Suddenly, they were less sure of themselves, their usual swagger nowhere in sight. “Or maybe they’ll be worried they might destroy the vault.”

“That computer has survived a billion years,” the Aggaaddub commander snorted. “It is doubtful anything we do here will damage it.”

“You’re probably right,” Blye agreed, before casting her view skyward, “but do they know that?”

He froze, and for the first time, she saw doubt in his eyes. Holstering his sidearm, he approached her, yanking her to her feet. “I cannot decide if you are the most courageous individual I have ever met, or simply the most foolish.”

“Have you considered the possibility that I’m both?” she suggested, a hint of a smile playing on her face.

That earned her a backhand across the face, knocking her to the ground. A rumbling murmur from the crowd expressed their displeasure as she rose to her feet, wiping the blood from her mouth. “Every cell in my body is telling me to kill all three of you,” the Kaihautu hissed, as the surrounding buzz of the crowd grew louder.

Lifting her head, Blye met his gaze once more. “... four,” she corrected him.

He paused, his head cocked in confusion. “What?” he asked, thrown off by her comment.

“You said you’d kill all three of us,” she said, “when in fact there are four Terrans before you.”

He threw back his head and roared with laughter. “And just where is this mysterious fourth Terran?” He made an exaggerated motion, looking high and low, while the guards shifted nervously in place. “Is he invisible, perhaps? Wrapped up in a cloak of stealth, waiting to strike?” he mocked her. Snarling, he demanded, “Show me where this fourth Terran is located.”

Smiling, Blye placed a hand on her abdomen. “... right here.”

It took a moment for it to click, but when it did, he sneered in disgust. “You breed like vermin.”

“Perhaps,” she answered, “but as badly as the crowd will react to our deaths, consider how they’ll respond when you murder an innocent child in its mother’s womb. I know you don’t care about such things,” she jeered, “but I am equally certain that they do. So, the choice is yours, Kaihautu Yugha. Allow the food supplies to resume or take your chances with us.” She cocked her head towards the surrounding crowd. “And them.”

The moment between them hung suspended in time until finally, the reptilian approached. Towering over her, he said softly, too quiet to be overheard, “... this isn’t over.”

Stepping away, he turned to his senior officer. “Grant the convoys access,” he growled, before storming off to his waiting shuttle, as the guards he’d brought with him followed suit. Blye shaded her eyes, fearing to move or even breathe, as she watched and waited for the landing craft to depart. As it blasted off for orbit, climbing high in the sky, she let out a shuddering sigh of relief.

“... you’re pregnant?” Amar said in disbelief, before shooting a glance over at Prash.

“Hey, don’t look at me,” the other Knight responded, almost panic-stricken, as a nervous laugh began bubbling out of her.