The Long Shot

If anything, the star going nova would have been

less

frightening than what actually happened.

For a moment, all Roxi knew was that she was being splashed with a wave of high energy particles, so dense that her body began to glow, so intense that her ablative armor started to hiss and boil off her, and lasting long enough that she was fairly sure that she and Sting were going to be obliterated in a few seconds.

Fortunately, the stream of energy passed and she was able to see again.

Unfortunately, what she saw struck her and her entire crew stone cold silent.

The star that the Voidbringers had been banding around was distorted into a broad, thin, bright white

disk

, spinning so rapidly that the normal texture of the star was invisible even with the amplification and dampening that Roxi's eyes were capable of. The outer edges of the disk were cool enough to darken from yellow-white to orange to red to an almost black as their heat was sucked from the plasma that made up the star through some unknown method. The edge then frayed off -- spurts of hydrogen being flung out into space through titanic hoops of black material that orbited around the super-structure...hoops that themselves were super-structures that beggared the imagination.

Macro-engineering beyond even the Concord's longest long term projects, put to the purpose of supporting

even larger

structures.

The frayed streamers of hydrogen were accelerated through the hoops, turning them from a diffuse cloud of super-heated gas into a narrow beam of super-heated gas, roiling and twisting along their own orbits, creating a kind of octopus like shape around the star. The gas-ducts were themselves being twisted in and around on themselves, turning direct line courses into bizarre wiggles -- giving the gas more time to vent its heat into space through radiative cooling, Roxi realized.

By the time they reached an AU or two, the streamers of hydrogen -- unthinkable amounts of matter -- had cooled to the point that the Voidbringers could work on them. They were directed, then, towards another superstructure that orbited at where Found had been.

No.

A superstructure that had

been

Found. The narrowed beams of hydrogen gas flew into the spherical superstructure, sweeping in through gaps built in the surface that were nearly the size of the old continents, exposing the fantastically complex machinery within the core. The planet began to glow with a dull red light -- infrared heat being dumped outwards into the surrounding solar system. Fantastically efficient systems were still bound by thermodynamics, and even with a 99.999% efficiency in energy transfer and wastage, whatever was going on within the planet-sized structure was emitting power on the scale of a brown dwarf.

The sun's disk continued to spin.

The hydrogen continued to pour into what had been Found.

[That star used to fuse six hundred million tons of hydrogen every second, how long will it take them to use it up?] Carcass asked.

[I'm more worried about what they're...]

Heinlein trailed off, then hissed.

[Niven's beard!]

Roxi had already known what she was going to see before she saw it. But...she still felt her heart sinking as she saw Found's polar regions opening up like vast flowers. Emerging from the darkness of the world came the first wave of Voidbringer ships. Battleships, frigates, subnline craft, carriers, fighters, drone carriers, and even a few Planetkillers.

[That's how they had so many damn ships, they don't just take planets apart!] Hugh said, his voice tight. [They're taking the

stars

apart. Shit. SHIT! Carcass, do we have a tachyon sensor?]

[Yes, obviously.] Carcass said. [And I'm ahead of you. If you pay attention on our next rotation...]

Roxi did so -- and Carcass painted a circular area in space as she tumbled in the debris field. It was hard to notice, since there were so many glittering stars...but she was fairly certain that that part of the sky looked a bit more sparse than it had been before.

The stars of the Milky Way were beginning to go out.

One by one.

And with each star that went out, the Voidbringers would have a fleet bigger than the one they had before.

We're so fucked, aren't we?

Roxi thought. Then.

No. That signal that the Far Observatory picked up. It has to mean something -- we have to get to the destination. Hugh! Set a course...for Earth.

[Aye, aye, Roxi!]

The Voidbringers, if they noticed her vanishing from their system with Sting's trashed body, didn't seem to care.

Why would they?

They had time and numbers on their side, after all.

***

Gyre brushed his hands along his hair as Tulon ranted at him.

"You can't just fucking go!? The Empire of Stars is threatening our homes, our families -- you have my goddamn husband in your fucking brain, this whole situation is your fault, your people's fault, because you left behind this stupid fucking scorecard, and these...comtutors!"

"Computers," he said, quietly, while he felt Xan quailing inside of him. "And listen, Tulon..."

He paused.

The facts Roxi had fed back to him...

The fleet data.

He shuddered. He could still barely believe it. She'd dumped the short brief and some gun-cam footage into his eyes, and he still didn't believe it. Yulong Tagalot Davidson was still rewatching it, and taking notes -- he was an old merc after all -- but Gyre wasn't sure how you

could

take useful notes on it and come away with anything but a screaming feeling.

The Voidbringers hadn't won by being clever or having some trick. They hadn't won by outthinking or outflying or even outfighting the people at Found. They had won, simply, by pouring wave, after wave, after wave, after wave of their own fleets into the battle. They hadn't even done some very basic, simple tactics that he could immediately spot to try and make it

slightly

less bloody on their sides. No out of elliptical attacks, no fireships, no WMD-torpedoes, just...just...more and more and more and more ships.

Roxi's crew had estimated that each Concord starship or war-rocket had killed between a thousand to ten thousand enemy ships, while each defensive emplacement had killed between fifty to a hundred thousand each. Throw in the massed amounts killed by limpet mines, dumbfire nukes, antimatter warheads, and sheer Kessler Cascade induced stupid impactor events, and it was likely that that single battle had destroyed more enemy ships than every single

war

combined had in the entire galaxy.

And it still hadn't been enough.

"Yeah!?" Tulon asked.

"Tulon, we're facing a god," he said, turning to face her. "No, actually. Worse. We're fighting..." He wracked his brain, trying to remember the term. "We're fighting an Abomination. It's something powerful enough to wipe out the entire galaxy -- not just this world, not just my world, but every world, every star, every glittering light in the star, they all have people, and the Voidbringers are going to wipe them all out unless

we

stop them!"

Tulon frowned. She looked up into his eyes.

[Let me speak to her, please,] Xan said.

Gyre stepped back into his bridge. As Xan spoke quiet words to his wife, Gyre forced himself to not pay attention to it -- instead, he walked over to Davidson, who was rubbing his simulated temple with his simulated finger and saying, with simulated lungs: "Why the hell do I have a headache?"

"Sentience is its on reward," Gyre said. "...I admit it, it feels shitty to cut and run. These people...they brought me here. Without this place, without their protection, then I'd never have gotten that signal to Roxi. Without that, then the whole galaxy might have been fucked."

Davidson nodded. "All right, well...I have an idea, if you don't mind flagrantly violating the Bronze Law."

Gyre blinked slowly at him.

"The what?" he asked.

"Shit, fuck, it's really been a long ass time, hasn't it?" Davidson said, shaking his head. "Okay, uh, Bronze Law...uh...don't give laser cannons to bronze aged barbarians. It's considered a bad move."

"Oh! You mean the noninterference directive," Gyre said.

"Whatever," Davidson said. "I've been reading through your capabilities -- you have manufacturing centers, you can...you can build goddamn nukes." He brought up the interface by making a swishing gesture with his hand, the screen glowing to life before the two of them. "I'm an E-space navigator, but...uh, I've been checking through the minds in this place, and one of my buddies is still stored here." He twitched his finger, bringing up the name of Brenda Fong Xotamill, a smiling, pig tailed blond haired green skinned girl with freckles.

"And what was her specialization?" Gyre asked, brow knitting.

"...arming bronze tech barbarians," Davidson said, his voice a bit sheepish. At Gyre's look, he coughed. "Hey, we worked for the Trade Baronies, I don't know what to tell you."

Gyre snorted. "And how will she feel about being forked?"

Davidson frowned. "Knowing Brenda?"

"Yeah."

Davidson's frown turned into a slow grin. "Mad you didn't do her first. Brenda's..." He paused. "She's very

Brenda

, if you know what I mean."

"I assure you, Davidson," Gyre said, quietly. "I absolutely do not."

***

"But I don't want to lose you," Tulon whispered, her fingers caressing along Xan's cheeks. It was strange to her how easy it was to see her husband in these unfamiliar features -- but...oh, she was so happy she could do it. It still felt fragile, unreal, as if the wrong step would shatter it apart and leave her awakened, with Xan still dead and her life ahead of her empty and howling. Xan's hands slid along her hips, then cupped her ass, squeezing her gently as he leaned his head down, pressing the coolness of his metallic forehead against hers.

"I can't say that you'll never lose me again. But I will never, ever, ever rest until I am back by your side. Even if I have to cross an ocean of stars, I will come back to you, my Tulon." He kissed her forehead, gently. "But that won't matter if every star goes out."

She closed her eyes, then slammed her palms into his chest, sliding them against his muscles. The strength of Gyre's body meant that she could beat her frustrations against him without even causing discomfort -- and Xan's hands slid up and down her back, pausing at the base of her neck, cradling her. "Shh..." He paused. "Ah, one moment."

He stepped backwards and she sighed as she watched Xan's face leave those features. It was all so subtle: A tiny shift in lips, a little adjustment in stance, and...a different light in the eyes. Nothing so obvious as a color change. Rather, it was...something subtler. Harder to put her fingers on.

Gyre was smiling at her as he resumed control of his own body. "Your husband will be back, I promise. But...I'm not about to leave you entirely bereft. How would you like to give your Queen a victory she so dearly wants."

"I'd be interested in that," Tulon said, frowning. "What are you offering?"

"Nanotech camouflage, night vision goggles, climb-gloves, and deathwands," Gyre said. "With enough for your entire crew and a shot to end the war in one fell swoop."

Tulon's eyes widened and her mouth opened, her gills fluttered, and her heart stopped. Even knowing only part of what each of those things meant, Tulon could piece more than enough together with nothing but context. Her teeth flashed as she grinned.

"I think I know exactly what you're suggesting. And I think I like it," she said, quietly.

Gyre laughed. "Good. Good. Now, uh, we just need to find some rocks for me to eat."

Tulon's brow arched.

"No, that's not a metaphor."

***

One last kiss. One last gentle caress.

Then Tulon had to watch her husband slide away into the face of Gyre, and then watch as Gyre waved, stepped backwards, then flung himself upwards into the sky, carrying his motley crew of ghosts. The silvery-red figure shot into the heavens so quickly that if she had blinked, Tulon would have missed his final departure from the world. The distant rumble of booming thunder announced it and she felt a cold weight settling in her belly.

"Come back, Xan," she whispered.

"He'll be fine, it's us that has the hard mission," Yetna said, grumbling slightly as she unrolled the first of the parcels that Gyre had left for them. Tulon tried to not think about how queasy and unpleasent it had been to watch Gyre's familiar body unfold and reveal complex, interlocking machinery, machinery that then turned heavy boulders into powder and then crunched that powder into new and interesting shapes with heat and lightning. The end products were...oddly familiar, in a way that Tulon didn't trust.

That had been the entire point, after all.

My day job was this!

The new ghost, Brenda, had spoken through Gyre -- hearing a clearly feminine voice coming from his incredibly masculine body had been quite odd. The words she had said hadn't exactly painted her in the

best

light, from Tulon's perspective.

I was all about arming bronze aged savages with advanced weapons tech so we could make money off them.

She had paused, then coughed.

I mean, uh...

The end result of Brenda's construction was a set of three spears, each one made of a solid black metal, tipped with a curved, leaf-shaped blade. They were just the right size and shape for a double grip, and could shrink down on themselves by being compacted properly, turning them from a long spear to a short stabbing spear to approximately a palm sized metal cylinder. Each of the spears had raised grips around the leading edge, with a kind of rotating toggle that could be set between three positions, and a button that Tulon could touch with her thumb.

This sets it to stun in a cone,

Brenda had said, pointing at the first setting.

This sets it to kill, and this one sets it to firing a wide dispersion heat beam that can melt through pretty much anything given time. Each one uses more power than the previous one and the batteries charge in the sun, just leave it laying out and it'll go back to full. If you need to charge it in a hurry, hold the blade in something hot for a few minutes, the hotter the better.

Next to the magical spears were three suits of diver's gear: Meshlike clothing that would cover every single part of Tulon, Chinsara or Yetna's bodies. Chinsara had been quite impressed with how her costume had included a sock for her tail, then been even more impressed with how she had been able to just tug it up and over her body without needing for wriggling or assistance. The cloth had just moved of its own will, as if it was working to make everything easier for the tropical woman -- and Tulon was pretty sure that her costume would be just as 'helpful' when she put it on. The mesh was colored a dark black, and it made Chinsara look like a moving cloud of squid-ink, even in the bright noonday sun.

At night, you'll basically be invisible. They're also armored -- if you're facing muskets, the balls are approximately yae big...

Using Gyre's fingers, Brenda had demonstrated she knew the size of a musket shot....

not small enough to pierce the fabric, but definitely going to be going fast enough that even the hardening and kinetic absorption properties are going to be overloaded at close ranges. Broken bones, bad bruising. Beyond, eh, ten, fifteen paces, they'll lose enough energy that you'll only have bad bruises. Beyond that, you can walk through gunfire without worrying. This is, of course, assuming that they can even seen you to shoot you!

She had laughed, then sobered.

Oh, but artillery will still fucking kill you. So don't be stupid.

The final tool was the most unusual. It looked like a kind of looking glass that could be attached to the eyes -- spectacles, Tulon would have called them, but they were too large for that. They had a strap that would keep them firmly attached, and a dial on the side that Gyre's finger had tapped while Brenda's voice provided more explanation:

These will let you see in the dark. This setting makes what little light is around brighter, while this one makes things that emit heat glow for you, and this last one can see through walls at a very very short range.

Tulon picked her goggles up, frowning, turning them over and over again in her palm. "Will this really work?" she murmured, while Yetna started to shrug out of her tattered clothing.

"It's the best shot we got," she said, grinning. "So, how much do you think your Queen is going to pay for

this

ransom?"

Tulon gave her the smallest of grins, then started to slide her new combat uniform on. Feeling the mesh sliding along her body, pressing against her rump, squeezing along her back, it was like being embraced by her husband -- but firmer and without the same level of heat. For a second, she worried that the pressure of the mesh against her gills would cut off her breathing, but the fabric allowed her to breathe easily despite covering her. She tested it in the water of the river that flowed by their campsite first, before nodding to herself.

"All right. We take the ship to territorial waters, then dive and swim towards Star Bay and leave Leylin and Gwenno on the ship to keep it anchored in place. There, Yetna, you lead us into the castle. We slip in, we grab the Empress, and we end this war in one fell swoop," Tulon said, twirling her staff, then retracting it down to a handle. She hung it off her belt, then turned to Chinsara and Yetna. Yetna was eyeing the tropical.

"Are you sure you're up for this?"

Chinsara snorted, then hefted her spear. "My plan is to cover you -- anyone who tries to flank, I'll hit them with the stun beam. Or more." She nodded. "I figure that we've got enough good gear to make even me useful." She smirked, her face just barely visible behind the mesh-like caul that covered her features. "Besides, I'm a pretty good sneak. Better than you, Imp."

Yetna snorted, then huffed as Chinsara smacked her rump, sauntering past her. "Come on!"

The three of them walked through the jungle, with Tulon leading the way, while Yetna experimented with her 'night vision' goggles, hissing when she found that amplifying light when it was bright out was an exceptionally poor idea. They came to the coastline and found the ship they had left there was still there, the crew having fished up some fresh provisions while keeping a lookout on the trees.

Said lookout -- Leylin -- didn't spot Tulon until Tulon was under her tree, calling up: "Good work, Leylin!"

Leylin screamed and almost dropped right out of the tree.

When the three of them had explained everything to the rest of the crew, Tulon faced what she had expected. A certain amount of...suspicion and trepidation. "How the hell are we going to cart the Empress back once you get back to us, Tulon?" Leylin asked, shaking her head. "The entire enemy fleet is going to be hunting for us."

"That's why we're going to try and be nice and quiet when we slip in and nice and distracting when we leave," Tulon said, jerking her thumb at Yetna. "Yetna knows where the gunpowder factories are. A light in the right place and they'll blow sky high. We'll be taking the Empress through the water, swimming the whole way, they won't be able to follow us without sending in divers, and...well, their divers will need to search the whole ocean for us."

"And if the Empress fights?" Leylin asked, frowning as her gills fluttered along her neck.

"Oh, I hope she does," Tulon growled, showing very sharp teeth as she did so. She then twirled and aimed the spear away from them -- and blasted the nearest tree with the 'kill' setting. The tree burst into shimmering flames all at once, as if every inch of it had been set to the torch. It smoldered merrily, smoke pouring up into the air, as Tulon looked back at the crew. "Now, any more questions?"