The girl's name was Syra, and her story was simple. The Guild had clamped down. Pixen Bullyboys and Station Security had closed off several sections of the station, preventing a large number of pixen families from reaching the Promenade. Syra's parents were among them.

Yvian supposed it made sense. The Guild had been anticipating a negotiation, an opportunity they could take to capture or kill Lissa and Yvian. They hadn't expected their strike team to fail so spectacularly, and they certainly hadn't prepared for an exodus. Their response had been panicked and slow.

Unfortunately, a lot of pixens had been slow, too. The families milling around the area had been the smarter, faster group, bringing only themselves and whatever bits of precious they couldn't bear to part with. The rest had foolishly tried to pack, or dither, or otherwise allowed themselves to be delayed. Maybe it was fear, or indecisiveness, or maybe they were just naive. Yvian had known her people's place, and the things that could and would be done to them, but she'd seen over and over how many pixens refused to acknowledge it. They chose to trust, in spite of the evidence.

If there was one thing the Guild knew how to do, it was keeping pixens in their place. The response had been slow, but it was competent. Hatches were sealed. Troops were mobilized. Those hoping to leave were detained. Yvian had no doubt they would find themselves in a slave processing station before the week was done.

While Lissa listened to the girl's story, Yvian tried to contact her ship. No joy. The Guild was jamming the comms. Fico Station was a pleasure resort, a place for the repressed men of Trelg to gamble and cavort and do all the things they preached against. The Guild owned it, and the Guild controlled everything on it. Or they had, until Lissa showed up.

When Syra finished explaining, Lissa gave orders. "Yvian, get back to the Encounter. I want a full deployment. And bring in the Recompense. I think we're going to need more transport capacity."

Yvian gave a pixen salute, fist over her heart. She activated ENERGIZER and sprinted down the corridor to Docking Bay 5. The ENERGIZER function in her suit let her push her body at maximum capacity without feeling tired. It was dangerous to use it for long, and she'd be sore for a week, but it let her traverse the two kilometers in under five minutes.

The docking bay door was open. Bodies were everywhere. Yvian skidded to a stop. Dozens of power armors lay inert, rendered inoperable by ion weapons. Uniformed guardsmen and pixen Bullyboys were scattered on the deck. Yvian nudged one with her foot. He was breathing.

The only bodies standing belonged to Peacekeepers. The machines were pixenoid, resembling a fit man exactly two meters in height. They wore voidarmor similar to Yvian's, in pixen colors of blue and yellow. Visored helmets covered the immobile masks the synthetics had in place of a face. Eight of them were casually dragging unconscious guards to the side, while the other two were disabling the docking clamps that held the Random Encounter in place.

The Random Encounter was small compared to a capital ship, but large for a fighter. Roughly eighty meters in length, twelve meters tall, and forty meters wide at it's widest point. The ship was a curved triangle, with wings for atmospheric flight. Guns bristled from the front of it's hull. Engine ports were scattered all over the surface of the ship, part of the omnidirectional movement system she'd come to associate with Terran vessels. It was sleek and fast and deadly, and Yvian loved it more than she loved cake or women or even beer.

Yvian gave a friendly wave and a hello to the Peacekeepers, then resumed her sprint. She flew up the ramp and made her way to the bridge. There she found Kilroy. The Peacekeeper Liason was not dressed in voidarmor. Instead he wore standard Peacekeeper attire. A sharp black business suit with a white shirt, black tie, and a fedora. Metal skin shined where the suit didn't cover it, save for his face, which was a solid piece of some white material that vaguely reminded Yvian of ceramics.

"Greetings, meatbag." Kilroy gave a friendly wave. His silver eyes pulsed briefly with yellow light, signaling he was happy to see her.

Yvian came to a stop, but kept ENERGIZER active. She'd collapse if she turned it off too soon. She took off her helmet and gave the machine a smile. "You don't have to say that every time you see me, you know. I've only been gone for an hour."

"Seventy six minutes," the Peacekeeper corrected. His eyes flashed orange. "Is it time to release the units?"

"Yeah." Yvian relayed the information Syra had given. "Lissa wants full deployment, and she wants to bring in the Recompense."

"Affirmative." Kilroy sounded both eager and amused. "It will be necessary to take both of the station's command centers. Is lethal force authorized?"

"No," Yvian shook her head. Kilroy was a little too fond of lethal force. "Same rules of engagement. You can kill any combatant with a slave implant, and anyone non-pixen that figures out what you are. Keep everyone else breathing."

"Affirmative," Kilroy sighed.

"We need to move fast," Yvian continued. "Before some Guild flunky starts gassing or decompressing pixens. I used ENERGIZER to get here, so that should give you guys cover as long as you don't run faster than a pixen can."

Deploying the Peacekeepers came with serious risk. If the Confederation realized the Pixen Technocracy was harboring synthetic intelligence, it would spark an immediate war of extinction. Every ship and station would become hostile, and there was a good chance the motherless sons would genocide the rest of Yvian's people. The Confed did not fuck around when it came to sapient machines.

Unfortunately, the Peacekeepers were the only military force Yvian had. Until six months ago, her people had been refugees with no rights, and very few knew how to do anything that wasn't related to adult entertainment. It would be months at least, but probably years, before they could train enough pixens to form a real fighting force. The Technocracy would have to use what it had, and hope the machines could pretend to be pixen.

"Affirmative," said Kilroy. "Ten units deployed to Fico Station Command Center, ETA nineteen minutes. Ten units deployed to Fico Station Emergency Command Center, ETA forty three minutes. Twenty units deployed to Promenade 5C, ETA two minutes. Ten units remain stationed in Docking Bay 5, Berth 21."

"Sounds good." Yvian put her helmet back on. "I'll go tell them."

"Unnecessary," said Kilroy. "This unit has already informed the other units."

"What?" Yvian blinked. "But the comms are jammed."

"You are using sub-par Confederation communication devices," the Peacekeeper explained. "Peacekeeper unit communications are more advanced. The Recompense is on approach. It will drop stealth and dock once the command centers have been taken."