"Is this really happening?" Yvian's heart pounded. Her breath came faster. Her chest was tight. Hope and excitement and fear and joy all swirled together, threatening to burst. "Are we really doing this?"

"We are," Mims assured her. He lounged beside her, a beer in his hand. The human was usually a stickler for keeping food in the kitchen, but today was a special day. "I think it's finally time."

Yvian looked around, taking in the sights. She wanted to keep this moment, to remember it for always. She took in the familiar layout of the Random Encounter's bridge. Four consoles, three chairs. A table with a holodisplay. City 43 could be seen rising around them through the viewports. Lissa had scooted her chair next to the Captain's and nestled her head on his shoulder. Kilroy stood nearby, eyes emitting a cheery yellow glow.

"I still can't believe it," Yvian breathed. "We've been through so much. Almost died so many times." Yvian had given up everything for this moment. Suffered so much pain. She'd lost her family. Her people. She'd become a killer and an outcast. Everything she'd ever done, every missed opportunity, every lonely night knowing she would live and die without ever experiencing true love. All of it. All for this. Her eyes watered. She choked back a sob.

The last six months had been a flurry of activity. The ships of the Freedom Republic had been repaired and transferred to New Pixa sector, save for a small fleet of five hundred to protect the civilians they'd left behind. Yvian hadn't kept track of how they were doing. Just because the people hadn't been directly involved in piracy didn't mean they didn't support it, and she couldn't muster a lot of sympathy for a group that tried to form a nation on the backs of slaves.

The unimplanted slaves had been released piecemeal back into the Confederation. The Peacekeepers had helpfully manufactured clothes and wrist consoles, and each victim was dropped off at the station of their choice with a working voidsuit and a chit for twenty five thousand credits. Mims had grumbled at the expense, but he'd also been very happy that he didn't have to meet or explain things to anyone himself. Yvian and Lissa had taken care of it, with Kilroy and his fellow units providing security and support.

Some of the slaves had been pixens. Yvian had asked them to quietly spread the word that the Homestar had been found.

The implanted slaves had been handed over to the Oluken. No way had yet been found to remove the implants safely, but Yvian had been assured they were working on it.

With the threat of Reba and the Freedom Republic removed, Mims had opened a floodgate of ships and materials for the Peacekeeper units to make use of. The downed units on planet Pixa had been repaired, and the machines had expanded the sector's infrastructure at an explosive rate. The asteroid fields were littered with mines. Hundreds of stations manufactured goods. The Peacekeepers had built things Yvian had never thought possible. Fabrication stations that could alter the molecular structure of material. Drones with beam weapons that were only half the size of the Random Encounter. Automated farms that could produce a full crop every six days, and vats that grew slabs of meat. Kilroy had explained that Exodus had given them schematics detailing a large amount of Xill technology. They were even building a new shipyard, and designing ships that could rival those of the Federation.

"Believe it, Sis," Lissa's proud assertion snapped Yvian back to reality. She nestled deeper into the Captain's shoulder. "This is what we've been working for."

"New Pixa sector now has sufficient defenses and manufacturing capability to support up to two hundred million meatbags," Kilroy reported. "Defense fleets are in place and manned by Peacekeeper units. Planet Pixa is prepared for habitation."

Kilroy was still something of a mystery. All the Peacekeepers were. Yvian had tried her best to get to know the machine as they worked together, but he rarely parted with personal information. He enjoyed snarky banter, and had showed impressive insight in some of their conversations, but he seemed resistant to the idea of close personal connections. Yvian suspected he was afraid to get close. He might have been resigned to the idea that he would become non-standard, but it was still a terrifying prospect, and he was doing everything in his power to stave it off as long as he could.

"We won't be sending anyone to City 43," Mims remarked. "But most of the other cities have been set up. There's plenty of space, and they have all the amenities."

Yvian had spent a large portion of her time surveying the other cities with Mims and Kilroy. They'd taken Skygem instead of the Encounter, hoping that a Lucendian ship wouldn't trigger an alarmed response from whatever entities might be living in the crystal structures. The precautions had proven unnecessary. Most of the cities were dead. Two hundred and fourteen were alive, but alive the way Skygem was alive. Thinking and feeling, but not much more intelligent than a pet. The trips had been mostly boring, aside from her Peacekeeper escort spray-painting "Kilroy was here" in red human letters at every city they checked.

Only one other city had possessed an entity similar to Shard in city 43, but that one had panicked at the touch of Yvian's mind. The being had been fragmented, broken somehow. Yvian was pretty sure it was a he, and was very sure he was insane. They'd left quickly, and instructed that no pixen or Peacekeeper come within two hundred kilometers of the place. Yvian planned to ask Shard for advice on how to deal with it as soon as they got the language barrier sorted out.

Learning lucendian was hard. The chittering whistles Shard used to communicate were completely foreign to Yvian, and difficult to memorize. She suspected her own speech was just as alien to the city. They'd become more proficient at communicating with feelings and images, but both parties were becoming frustrated with the slow progress on the languages themselves. Yvian was developing a deep seated wish for an automated translator, but Shard still seemed to enjoy the company and didn't like it when Yvian had to go. She suspected Shard was Lucendian who's mind had become trapped in the crystal city. She could barely imagine how lonely that must be.

"How are we on information security?" Mims asked Kilroy.

"We can connect to the Confederation Nexus at any time," the Peacekeeper unit reported. "Live comms and communications are disabled from Pixa itself, and photographs and N-mails will be screened by Peacekeeper units before transmission. Citizens will not be able to inform the Confederation of our presence or the location of New Pixa sector."

Keeping the Peacekeepers secret from the incoming pixens was not an option. The machines were citizens, essential workers, and absolutely necessary for educating the populace and teaching them how to do things other than porn and prostitution. The pixens were rightfully terrified of the Xill, and by extension, all synthetics. Getting them used to the Peacekeeper units would take time.

Keeping the Peacekeepers secret from the Confederation was a must. The Confed would absolutely attack if they found out. Yvian gave even odds whether they would try to enslave the machines or just exterminate them outright, but the presence of free synthetic sapients would never be tolerated.

Most important was keeping the nav data for New Pixa secure. Habitable planets were rare, and the Confed had a long history of conquering and exploiting every one they could find. On top of that, Yvian's new nation would take away an entire species worth of exploitable sex workers. The pleasure guilds would start a war for that alone.

"Good to go," said the human. He turned to Lissa. "Is the list ready? Every single pixen?"

Lissa nodded. "Every pixen we could find. Venturetech has a database for everyone using the Nexus. We'll miss a few who don't have N-mail or faked their species online, but everyone else will get it."

"Ok." Mims took a breath. Let it out. "Any last minute thoughts? Problems? Once we do this, it can't be undone."

"We're ready," Yvian told him. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Pull up the message."

Mims pressed a button on the holodisplay. An N-mail appeared, ready to transmit to every pixen in the Confederation simultaneously. Yvian read the message one more time, her breath coming too quickly.

ATTENTION PIXENS!

THE HOMESTAR HAS BEEN FOUND.

THE BRIGHT LADY HAS RETURNED.

PIXA HAS BEEN REBORN.

LONG LIVE THE PIXEN TECHNOCRACY!

Attached to the N-mail was a packet of information that included sensor data and readings from planet Pixa, along with instructions and contact information for pixens who wanted to colonize. Lissa Kiver was listed as the original sender. She'd wanted it to be Yvian, but Yvian had refused. The addition of an outcast motherless to their invitation would turn most pixens against the idea.

Yvian teared up again as she read it one more time. At last, at long last, her people would have a place of their own. The Pixen Technocracy would take it's place in the galaxy, and no pixen in its borders would ever have to fear slavery again. After everything, they had done it. She was accomplishing her dream. A dream no one had believed in but her, and Lissa, and Mims. A dream that would change the Verse.

"I think it looks good," said the human. "Lissa?"

"Of course it's good," the pixen replied. "I wrote it, didn't I?" She wrapped her arms around the Captain and squeezed. "I can't believe this is really happening."

"It is sufficient," Kilroy approved.

"It's perfect." Yvian chuckled, than sobbed. Mims and Lissa both stood at the same time, circling to Yvian's chair and wrapping their arms around her.

"Do you want to do the honors?" Lissa asked.

Laughing and crying and nodding, Yvian squeezed the arms of her family wrapped around her. After one last joyful sniffle, she reached out and pressed SEND.