"Do you remember your master? Admiral Bethon?" Etaine asked running a brush through her tumble of curls. She sat in front of her dresser. Kage was across the room sitting on her lounge. He was anxious, not knowing what level of formality was appropriate. He had not expected to find himself in the queen's dressing room so soon.

"I do. It was a long time ago."

"Did you like him?"

"To be honest, not so much. I was in his personal guard when he traveled to Sagor on a gaming tour."

"And he lost you to a bet in a game with Sag Leggan?"

"Yes. It was fortunate for me. I've had a very good life on Sagor. Bethon could be a cruel master before his reformation."

"Which one?" Etaine laughed. "I want him to serve me on Erizza for a length of time equal to your service to him. It's only fair."

"With all due respect, I agreed to serve as his subject in exchange for immortality. I uploaded originally from one of the outer planets in his sector."

"I see. But I meant the time you served him as Lotee. You didn't contract with the admiral for that. I negotiated for Lotee in exchange for my empathic services on the Moz Lidule."

"He shouldn't have destroyed your Lotee, but he shouldn't have duplicated him in the first place. It was poor judgement on both accounts and a matter for the ancients. It's not your place to take him to task. I fear it may cause you a great deal of trouble if you try."

"Oh, my darling Kage, I absolutely thrive on trouble," Etaine said and laughed. "I was born to it. You know my history." She shrugged off her dressing gown, exposing a revealing negligee. Kage could not tear his eyes from her.

"I just don't want you doing this on my account," Kage said in all sincerity. "I don't want to be responsible for causing you more grief. If you have other personal reasons, that's different. "

"You could never cause me grief, darling. I am much more likely to cause grief for you.," Etaine replied. "Personal... yes, it is. So sweet of you to understand."

"I'm not really sure that I do."

"I must tell the man I plan to marry the truth."

Kage stood, crossed the room and knelt by her side. "You don't have to tell me anything, but I am curious."

He took the hand Etaine offered to him.

"I'm in love with Admiral Bethon, Lotee... I mean, Kage."

"You're in love with him?"

"It's true," Etaine sighed and leaned down to Kage, taking his face in her hands. "I love both of you. You are my day and Bethon is my night. You are wholesome and good whereas Bethon appeals to my darker nature. I'm not just one woman you see. I am many people, Kage, and I haven't even met them all myself yet."

"That's a little difficult to understand."

"I will always be your sweet Etaine."

"What are you to Admiral Bethon?"

"His salvation. He needs me and I need him. Plus, I simply can't tolerate being nice all the time," Etaine admitted. "With Bethon I can be a wicked she-devil and he loves it. We're both broken and together we make a whole."

"But does he love you?"

"I believe he does. He loves what I have become. I can't really go back. I'm layered like a cake with lots of broken pieces hidden between layers. Can you accept that?"

"It won't be easy knowing you want to be with him. But, if this is what you are, this cake, I will be your frosting. I will cover your broken pieces and the world will only see your beauty."

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me, Kage. That's something Lotee would have said." She stood and pulled Kage to his feet, circled her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips. "So, you will allow me to have Bethon and not be jealous?"

"Of course, I'll be jealous, but he is an elder god and his needs take precedence."

"Know that not everything I do makes me happy, Kage. Sometimes I just have to do things. I had a dream, a vision really, that I will do something awful. I don't want to, but I have to."

"What is it, my dear?"

"I'm not sure, but we'll both know when it happens. I apologize for any heartache I might cause you in the future, for I'm certain that I will."

* * *

Bethon arrived, not in a transport, but with the Moz Lidule, which he put in orbit around Erizza, dwarfing the Adder and Lady Devora. Both could fit in the giant primary loading bay of the huge battleship. Its powerful lasers could crumble a target such as a small city in a single blast. From their vantage point on Lady Devora, the battleship loomed even larger than the planet in the viewing window.

"That should get Etaine's attention," Tajlon said. "He could short out her interface and lay waste to the capitol with a push of a button."

"It's all a show. He has no intention of firing on the BakoNaat, certainly not on Etaine," Anakron said.

"Sometimes I think he wishes he'd just left the Sora crew to die," Tajlon mused.

"You may find this surprising, but Bethon never planned to harm a single member of the Sora crew," Anakron said. "He would never have left anyone to die, no matter what he threatened, not even while thinking you were guilty of mutiny. New life is a precious commodity out here. The ancients prohibit the elder gods from making new individuals de novo. Everyone here started out as an organic life born on a home planet. At the very worst you delivered him from the tedium of his existence."

"He had me fooled."

"Yes, I'm sure he did. It insured your full cooperation. He got exactly what he wanted and a lot more. He's quite enamored of you still, but Bethon admitted to me he's madly in love with Etaine."

"I don't know what to say... " Tajlon began.

"I do. It's priceless! When did this happen?" Hal asked.

"The day he allowed her to have Lotee and risked angering the ancients, only to please her," Anakron answered. "The same love that later caused him to destroy Lotee out of jealousy."

""This just keeps getting better," Greyla chimed in. "He must be in a lather now, having to give Kage to her."

"He is and he's about to make another mistake. I allowed him to have a few sexual companions on a trial basis. It appears he wants to make her suffer a little jealousy in return."

"That's a really bad idea," Hal said. "Then, nobody listens to me. I warned Munaci not to send her to their ship. If he had just listened to me Etaine might never have gotten mixed up with the BakoNaat in the first place."

"Cratus, hail the Moz Lidule and ask Bethon to meet with me before he sees Etaine. I'll try to talk some sense into him." Anakron said.

* * *

"I'm taking you with me, Greyla," Anakron said. "You can fill him in about what you saw while visiting the planet. How are the plans for the planetoid shaping up?"

"Good," Hal answered.

"Good enough to present them to Bethon?"

"Sure. I can lay it out for him."

"Alright. The three of us will go as soon as our pod is recharged."

Cratus interrupted. "It's Admiral Bethon again. He wants Tajlon to report to him in person concerning the pod chase. He's sending one of his transports to pick everyone up now."

They boarded the transport and were soon filing into Bethon's conference room. Munaci was in his Aranga form, foregoing the courtesy of a human interface for their guests. Yoeke and a few other elders were also present.

Anakron greeted his host. "Admiral Bethon."

"Lord Anakron. It's a pleasure to have you and your subjects among us again."

"Thank you. You should know we’re working on a new plan to deal with the demon."

"So, I'm told. Quite a relief. First I want to hear more about what happened on the pod. Yoeke tells me the demon was able to catch up by accelerating faster than your warp speed capacity," Bethon turned to Tajlon. "That shouldn’t be possible. As pilot, Tajlon, what's your assessment of that situation? How was it possible?"

"Once the demon determined that I was on board the pod, he tracked the pod instead of me which gave him a steady target. He could still track us with the guardchev closed. We were zigzagging to the fueling stations. I think he may have determined our true trajectory and teleported to locations in advance of our own."

""I supposed you would have a theory. That makes perfect sense," Bethon looked at Anakron who nodded. "Tajlon, at the bequest of Lord Anakron, arrangements have been made for you at the Tor Academy. A ship is on its way."

"Understood."

"It's a marvelous opportunity. You don't seem happy about it."

"I'm not going be happy until the demon has been dealt with, Admiral. I defer to Lord Anakron's wisdom and am prepared to leave for the Academy."

"I predict you will enjoy your experience and find it enlightening." Bethon walked over to Tajlon and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll still out rank you, but the next time we meet, you'll be an elder and of equal social standing to everyone in this room."

"I look forward to that." Tajlon’s guardchev was quiet. Bethon was either in better control or his thoughts or they were riveted on Etaine. Either was a welcome improvement.

Bethon smiled. "So do I. I'm very proud to have had the privilege of rescuing a godling from the jaws of a demon. Balvendro is overjoyed with your very existence, your singularity. He will instruct you personally."

"I'll strive to represent you and Lord Anakron with due excellence."

"No doubt in my mind." Bethon moved back to his place at the podium and directed his gaze toward Greyla. "Tell me how your sister is faring, Greyla. How is Etaine?"

"She's doing quite well, Admiral. More beautiful than ever and she took to Kage Loper rather quickly. Of course, he was doting on her from the moment they met. They are to be married."

"Married? Well. I probably shouldn't be surprised at that," Bethon mused. From habit, his hand drifted toward a tusk which wasn't there.

"Since she has requested to see you, I suspect she'll discuss her plans with you then," Greyla added.

"Her request struck me as being a little unusual since she declared I would never see her again." Bethon enjoyed a moment of triumph as a smug expression played across his face.

"She will have to explain herself. I would caution you that I was detained against my will, Admiral. Etaine wants you to stay on Erizza for a long while. She has it in her head that you still owe her something."

"She can be so sweet and yet demanding at the same time," Bethon said, a wanton look crossed his face. "I'm sure we can work it out."

Anakron spoke. "Be extremely cautious, Admiral, and avoid upsetting her in any way.

"It’s not my intention to do so, but who's to say what might set her off."

"You understand my meaning," Anakron said. "I would suggest you invite her on board the Moz Lidule instead of visiting the planet. We had to forcibly retrieve our ambassadors."

"More than one? Who went to Erizza with you, Greyla?"

"Nova."

"Nova?" Yoeke howled with amusement. "It's a miracle she didn't feed you both to the moat lizards after putting up with him."

"I was grateful for his company, Well, not until after we were being held hostage actually," she confessed.

"After the damage was done, am I right?" Yoeke persisted.

"Yes, Yoeke. He was a pain." Greyla regretted she had mentioned it.

"Yes, a huge pain, second only to that awful bird, Widhbo." Yoeke sighed. "Truthfully it's rather boring around here without them."

"You should go with them, Yoeke," Anakron said. ""Throwing a planetoid at the demon should prove interesting work."

"By the blessed Balvendro, it will be pure disaster. If the admiral can spare me, I should go to make sure they don't mess everything up," Yoeke said. "I'll hate every minute of it, but I suppose I should at least try to help."

"You may go, Yoeke," Bethon said.

"Know that I'll miss you, Tajlon," Yoeke said. "You're the only reason my sanity survived my last encounter with those two."

"Thanks. I'm going to miss everyone as well," Tajlon said.

"You were quite proficient at piloting the pod despite all of Widhbo's incessant chatter. If you hadn't forced him into the magiton when you did, we wouldn't be here," Yoeke said, tattling on Widhbo.

"I don't think you've told me the whole story, Tajlon," Anakron raised a puzzled brow.

"It didn't seem an important detail," Tajlon offered to discourage Yoeke from saying more.

Yoeke could not resist. "Oh, you should have seen him, Lord Anakron. Claustrophobic he said. We could practically feel the demon's breath on our backs and he still wouldn't go in."

"Shouldn't we hear Widhbo's side of the story?" Hal asked. "He's not here to defend himself."

"Nothing to defend. He was pathetic," Yoeke said.

"That's enough, Yoeke. Let's see the plan," Bethon said. "Colonel Munaci, I'll be asking you to go also. We can't afford to botch this."

"Agreed. We can't risk their incompetence again," Munaci said. “I don’t see why we ever trusted these milksops with this mission in the first place.”

"Still agreeable as ever aren't you, Colonel?" Hal retorted. "At least we have a plan."

"One that could use some improvement no doubt," Munaci said, letting a low growl slide past his words.

"Before it's done, we'll make it as pretty as you are."

"Hal," Anakron stopped him. "We're guests here and you'll mind your manners even if others are lacking."

Bethon chuckled. "Your subjects bring out the personality in everyone, Anakron. I didn't realize how stale and monotonous we'd become. I’m inviting all of you to dine with me this evening.”

* * *

"Bethon was in an unusually good mood," Tajlon said. They were back on the Lady Devora and he was filing his pack with a few belongings.

"He's satiated for the time being and looking forward to seeing Etaine again," Anakron said. "I hope it goes well for everyone's sake."

"You know he won't take your advice," Greyla said. "I caught site of his new companions as we were leaving. Three beautiful women in skimpy dancing costumes. Etaine will go ballistic on him."

"He's been warned," Anakron said. “They are to stay out of Etaine’s sight.”

"I'm starting to think the Academy was the best idea after all," Tajlon said. "It's almost time for me to go."

Greyla gave him a big hug and a light kiss. "Take care of yourself. Don't forget to keep in touch with us."

"My heart is still here. I'll not forget you."

Anakron gave him warm embrace. "I couldn't be prouder of you, Tajlon. Let me know if you have need of anything."

"Thanks. Honestly, I'm a little nervous to be learning at Balvendro's knee."

"I'm sure he'll take good care of you," Anakron assured him.

"When he's not scaring the hell out of me."

Anakron laughed. "He can be a little fierce, but he likes you."

Hal came to the door. "The Academy's ship is here." Hal said. "Say your good-byes before we all start bawling like little girls."

Tajlon forced a smile and gave Hal a hug as he left.

"We want a blow-by-blow report," Hal said.

"Will do. Where's Nova?" Tajlon asked. "I have to tell him goodbye."

"Nova's coming with you," Anakron said.

"There's no way. Will Balvendro allow that?" Tajlon was elated.

"It was his idea. I found out when he gave me Nova's guardchev," Anakron replied.

"Why didn't you tell me?

"I was asked not to mention it in advance. Nova doesn't know either. You can tell him."

They found Nova bantering with Yoeke on the bridge.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted to keep a secret," Nova said.

"I had to give my report. I had to tell them... "

"Tell who what?" Widhbo asked. He had just teleported his magiton body to his favorite niche on the console to join them.

"About our drinking on duty, Widhbo," Nova said.

"No, that wasn't it. He's lying... "

"Nova, I have surprise for you," Tajlon interrupted.

"You know I hate surprises, Tajlon."

"You've been invited to go to the Academy with me. By Balvendro no less."

"Balvendro?" Nova frowned and his ears laid back on his head in alarm. "That's not a surprise, that's a shock. A terrible shock, Tajlon."

"An ancient is inviting this leopard to the Academy?" Yoeke asked. "I've heard everything now."

"Well apparently he is," Tajlon said.

"I'll need a case of BakoNaat wine and some of the admiral's best whiskey just to survive, Tajlon. A lot of whiskey."

Anakron laughed. "I'll have some sent along for you later," .

"It's insanity. What possessed Balvendro to want Nova?" Yoeke complained.

"I do have my own guardchev now and I was blessed by Balvendro. Have you ever been blessed Yoeke?" Nova strutted about the room enjoying the moment.

"No and I don't ever care to be." Yoeke turned his back to Nova. "This can't be happening."

"You're jealous."

"Not at all. You go ahead. Enjoy being the leopard freak at the Academy."

"I will enjoy it, just to spite you if nothing else," Nova said.

"Nova, time to go," Tajlon prompted.

"We're off then. So long everyone," Nova said.

"Do you want me to bring anything for you?" Tajlon asked, pointing to his pack.

"No. I bet they'll even let me have a towel if I want one. Goodbye Widhbo."