Ron sat in a secluded corner within the ramshackle bar aboard his brother's battle-frigate, nursing a bottle of whiskey.

  The large room was decorated in rustic furnishings like wooden bar counters, tables, ceiling fans, and a wall of honored heroes with framed memorabilia. Which stood in stark contrast to the metal foundation—complete with vents, maintenance panels, and pipes.

  The white-noise murmur of different conversations and booze helped distract his mind from wallowing too much in the unchangeable situation he was in.

  His wife didn't know yet.

  Their daughter was killed by the leader of the organization he welcomed into their lives. Jen was right, but he bet against it. And lost. The resistance screwed them over. He should've prepared better for this.

  Selene became part-alien, the very thing the Icarus program prophesized would happen to him. When she showed up, she changed her arm right in front of them—and asked to work with the resistance? It was just all so convenient. The jailbreak and the resources the resistance had—it all seemed so obvious at the time that this was the way to go.

  What was he supposed to do that day on Athena?

  Say no? Just go at it alone with her? She would've become overwhelmed by her Zykra side either way regardless. And that's what got her killed in the end.

  He couldn't have known that would happen. The Icarus program had no data on that part. It claimed that a person with his abilities would be exposed to an ancient evil and corrupt it against itself. Like a virus. But it seems the opposite happened instead.

  Ron took a hearty drink from the bottle, grimacing angrily.

  Regardless of how he rationalized it—he'll torment himself for the rest of his life with the thought that maybe Selene could have been saved from the Zykra, the resistance, the Protectorate... All of it. If he didn't keep making the same exact mistake.

  It was over. This was what true defeat felt like. It's been decades since he's felt it.

  "Fuck... What is the commander doing?"

  A man said, he was wearing a baseball cap and jean suspenders.

  The room's white-noise murmur of conversations grew a bit quieter for a minute, and a few of the bar's patrons looked towards him. The man who had said the line so loudly noticed their glares.

  He stammered.

  "I—it's not like I'm not grateful. The commanders bailed us out of a few rough spots... Some of us more than others. But fuck!" He slapped his beer bottle onto the table. "What are we going to do now..."

  The question was rhetorical.

  A bald Black man in an unbuttoned blue collared shirt over a black t-shirt spoke next.

  "Commanders fucked up a few times, but we could always rely on him to look out for us." He turned his bottle of beer in hand, looking at it contemplatively. "We should do the same now."

  Another Black man scoffed, a bit lighter-skinned than the other. He had very fine straight black hair, parted down the middle. He looked over his shoulder at their table.

  "Are you serious? I'm getting off at the next stop. Fuck this. I signed up to fight the Protectorate. There's always another commander."

  Baseball cap guy narrowed his eyes at him.

  "Big words for a rookie; mind your business. None of us cares if you mop the floors on another frigate."

  "The fuck did you say?" The other man stood up.

  The baseball cap's friend in the blue-collared shirt smirked.

  "Ignore him. Young buck is scared."

  This only seemed to make the younger resistance member more angry. He took a step towards them.

  But he hesitated when the door swished open behind him and the sounds of heavy boots on metal came into the bar.

  "Commander on deck." The bartender announced in a loud, official-sounding manner.

  Preston waved it off.

  "None of that! Just here on an errand; just ignore me! We'll have more announcements about what's going on tomorrow." He scanned the bar until he saw Ron. "Until then leave me the hell alone..."

  He moved in-between the tables towards where Ron was sitting.

  The tensions died down, and the quiet murmur of different conversations picked up again.

  The commander stopped in front of Ron. They both wore a similar expression of abject seriousness, though Ron's face had a few more lines of grief in it. He was good at hiding it, not because he was tough. But because he was a proud bastard.

  "Thought I'd find you down here."

  "Regular Sherlock Holmes..." Ron took a swig of his bottle of whiskey. "What do you want?"

  Preston took the seat across from him at the small table.

  "I figured I'd clarify a few things to you about our next steps. See if you wanted to stick around, or what you wanted to do. See how you're holding up."

  Ron wasn't thinking so far ahead right now. He just felt an incredible urge to give up. In time that would probably change, but for now, it was all he felt.

  "I don't know yet. I haven't even told them."

  "What? Are you crazy? The longer you hold off, the harder it'll be."

  "Doesn't feel like the difficulty is changing one way or another, brother. My wife will probably leave me and head back to Endelon. Might turn myself in so that Puck leaves them alone when they do."

  His younger brother looked at him with a look he's only given him one other time in his life.

  "Don't do that, you smug bastard," Ron scoffed, taking another drink.

  "We need to plan our next moves, man. If we don't, we're all going to be hurtin' a lot worse. Your family especially." Preston said, still wearing the same pitying expression.

  "You're going to piss me off, Preston." The grieving father warned.

  Preston was fed up with his pathetic attitude and knew exactly what he needed.

  "I'd rather you be pissed off than whatever this shit is. You need to be a man for your family."

  Ron stood up and adjusted the collar on his shirt.

  "Fine, let's get this over with then."

  He swung at him first, and Preston made no attempt to block it.

  He crumpled to the floor next to the table.

  Preston slowly wiped his mouth, clearing the bit of blood from it.

  "Good. Better than moping like some whiny teenager." He said, then kicked the chair he fell out of into Ron's shins, which made him hunch forward.

  Which made it easy for Preston to kick him in the face with his other foot.

  The other patrons grew quiet as they noticed the scuffle; patrons at the tables nearby quickly got up and moved away.

  Preston stood up and adopted a fighting posture as Ron stumbled back clutching his face. He quickly recovered and glared at Preston.

  "Bring it on, old man."

  "I'm only ten years older than you," Ron countered.

  Ron threw a straight punch, which Preston deflected and returned with one of his own. Ron leaned out of the way of it and kicked him in the side. Preston's body shook like a tree that just got hit with an axe.

  He powered through it and moved forward, eating a few punches in the process as he took Ron by the collar and tossed him into a table. The wood crunched and snapped under the pressure.

  'Oooh!' The gathering crowd groaned.

  Preston went over and started punching the prone man, so Ron covered his face with his forearms, dodging side-to-side.

  He reached up and pulled Preston down by his belt, then headbutted him.

  "You mother—" Preston winced and stepped to the side. He kicked Ron a few times in the stomach as he clutched his bleeding nose with one hand.

  The bar door opened again, and Jen came into the room, searching around the bar. She saw the gathering, and then she saw the main event they were all watching and cheering.

  "Hey! HEY! "Knock it off, you idiots!" She pushed through the crowd. "Wife coming through, move it."

  Preston stopped and took a few steps back, out of breath.

  Ron got up on his knees, then spit some blood on the floor.

  "Need your wife to come and save you?" Preston asked.

  Ron gave him a confused look. "You couldn't even kick my ass when I'm drunk."

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Jen took her place between them.

  "Yes, you both are tough guys. Now shut up and let me ask a question. Then you can get back to it."

  She took out her tablet and did a few swipes with her finger, then leaned to show it to Ron.

  "What am I reading?" She asked.

  [Selene] - I'm alive, don't worry. Keep it a secret, though.

  [Jen] - What?

  [Selene] - They threw me into a star, and I came back as a scantid.

  [Jen] - Selene, be honest, I promise I won't be mad. Did you take something?

  [Selene] - Dad didn't tell you?

  [Selene] - Mom?

  [Selene] - Mooooom?

  Ron was still seated on the ground at this point. He read the messages, then leaned back and closed his eyes.

  "What?" Preston asked, seeing his reaction. He stepped forward and took the tablet from Jen.

  "Is it some kind of inside jarhead joke? What does she mean she's alive?" Jen asked.

  Preston's eyes widened as he read. Then he chuckled.

  "I knew it... No way after all that it would be over so easily!"

  Ron stood up and faced Jen. The relief he felt was evident in his posture. There was a placating glint in his eye.

  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Jen. It just happened yesterday; Adler didn't think saving Selene was possible, so he tried to kill her. I... thought he did."

  "But she's alive."

  "Yes."

  "And you thought she was dead until just now."

  "...Yes."

  "And you didn't tell me."

  "It was probably closer to—oof!"

  'Bap!'

  Ron's head jerked back slightly as Jen punched him square in the face.

  "Ah shit! That's spousal abuse!" He said, rubbing his nose. It wasn't as if Preston just hit him, but a punch was a punch.

  "Spousal abuse is not telling me about my child's death the moment you thought it happened! What's a scantid?"

  Preston answered that.

  "Small Zykra."

  Jen stared into her tablet with a blank, overwhelmed expression.

  "My daughter's a Zykra," she said.

  [Jen] - You're a Zykra?

  "Welp, guess the fight's over." A bar patron said and went back to his table. The others took their time getting back to their seats, disappointed that it was over so fast.

  [Selene] - Mom. I've been a Zykra for, like, a year now.

  Panicked tears were spilling onto the tablet's screen; Jen didn't seem to be reacting to the fact that she was crying.

  [Jen] - You know what I mean—your body is gone? But you're alive? How are you messaging me?

  [Selene] - I'm remote-controlling one of my Zykra who can type. But my 'soul' is inside a scantid.

  "What's she saying?" Preston asked, trying to get his paws on the tablet, but Jen smacked him away and started typing again.

  [Jen] - You're grounded.

  [Selene] - Okay.

  [Jen] - I want to see you. We can fix this. Move away, find somewhere quiet, and just live.

  The next message took a while longer. It would show that Selene would start typing it, then stop, and start again a few times.

  [Selene] - I can't yet. Not until I can get my body back. I don't want you to hug a Zykra. You know I'm okay; that's enough for now. If we just ran, I would never be able to forgive myself knowing all the people I could have saved.

  Ron was reading over Jen's shoulder now.

  "Tell her we accept her for whatever she is," he said.

  [Jen] - Honey, we don't care. We just want to talk to you in person; we can help you.

  [Selene]- The resistance betrayed me; it'd be stupid to trust them again.

  "We need to call her; this is frustrating as hell," Preston said. "Besides, this isn't the place—let's go to my office."

  They left the bar and moved down the grey-trimmed halls of his battle frigate. The light-green linoleum path they followed led them to an elevator, which took them to a penthouse of sorts. The captain's quarters here was much larger than the one aboard the Sequester.

  All along the way they were still texting and talking about what happened. They were mostly catching Jen up on the 'evil Selene' stuff, which Ron was also trying to keep from them.

  Inside the captain's quarters, it was a very modern/minimalist aesthetic. Flat edges, marble counters/tables, and rectangular designer couches and lamps. Brilliant white floors and walls. And wide open space.

  There was a wide glass door at the far end across from the living room that led to a mock balcony, which displayed a fake core world cityscape.

  They called Selene then, broadcasting her to the large monitor in the living room. Preston took a separate seat on a single cushion off to the side, while Jen and Ron took seats a healthy distance from each other on the couch.

  The screen flickered, showing subtly glowing green irises staring at them in a damp, moist cavern. The room she was in was partly living, as if she stood inside a giant beast.

  "Hey." A smoky, low voice answered. Low for a woman's anyhow.

  "Who's this?" Preston asked.

  "Are you stupid? I told you in the text. The body is my friend Jade's, but I'm Selene. Just a temporary fix until I find a body."

  "You say that like it's a basic medical procedure." He said.

  "H-honey, how are you feeling?" Jen asked tenderly, standing up and approaching the screen.

  "This is fucking ridiculous." Ron said, pinching the ridge of his nose in irritation and disbelief.

  Selene glanced at either of them intermittently, taking in their reactions.

  "Honestly? I'm feeling a lot better than I have in weeks. I'm finally in control again. And it's going to stay that way, no matter what. I know everything my other... self did. And I'm going to fix it. And I'm going to kill that fucking general."

  "He's probably already dead." Preston said. Ron looked to him in confusion, and Preston shrugged. "Doesn't matter right now. How are you still alive? You said something about being inside a scantid? Why?"

  The woman on the screen definitely had Selene's mannerisms; it was almost as if she was just disguised and not in another body at all.

  She looked upwards and off to the side as she thought.

  "It's complicated... I met the guy... who made the Zykra, and he explained the nature of the universe, something about telepaths being dangerous to the natural order. Then he offered me a bad deal... I said no..." She slowly smiled, remorsefully. "And my favorite scantid merged with me. I think my Zykra are their own separate thing now. He was kind of a weird scantid."

  "How's that work?" Preston asked.

  "Merging? I can't really explain it with words. It just is. It's like there's this 'extra' part of myself that acts as a bridge between me and my Zykra." She put her hands up as if to say, 'I don't really get it either.'

  Jen wiped her face.

  "What did you say about getting another body? Cloning?"

  Selene slowly nodded. "That could work... I don't want to stay like this, and Jade needs her body back anyway... Hold on, someone's here." She looked past her tablet's camera. "What?"

  "Jade?" Someone off-screen asked.

  Selene shook her head. "No. Well, yeah—I'm not explaining this again. Go away."

  They must've gone away as Selene looked back into the camera.

  "Cloning isn't a bad idea; maybe I could get my medical records and do that cloning procedure people do to replace their organs and stuff. But like, the full thing."

  Preston spoke next; he was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

  "No cloning facilities are equipped to do full-body cloning, Selene. It's against the law."

  "Very productive, thank you, Preston." She said, playing a bit with her hair. Examining its texture. "...Can't you use your resistance connections to find a cloning facility that does do full-body? The Zykra are about to invade, and I need—"

  "The Zykra are going to invade?" Ron asked, interrupting her.

  "Yep. It's going to be way, way worse than before. Humanity has no chance. How's Camden?"

  "Your brother hasn't been able to sleep because he has nightmares about you. He's worried and doesn't know what's going on," Jen said.

  Selene had a concerned expression at that.

  "That sucks."

  Preston clenched his fist hard.

  "I don't have my resistance contacts anymore, at least most of them. I left the resistance when Adler killed you. I still have half my guys, and so does Xaya. Probably a quarter of them next time we dock somewhere. But we can help you; if we combine our strengths and stick together, we have a better shot. No more half-measures."

  "I plan on protecting you, but humans aren't going to change the outcome of this. I need to grow my own Zykra forces and hopefully find a way to make them stronger than the rest of the Zykra."

  "But—"

  "That doesn't mean no," she interrupted him. "I just don't need fighters. My main advisor ran off, and I can really use some human connections. I recently changed my infested back into humans, and they'll want clothes, food, houses, stuff like that. I'll drop them back off at Endelon 2, and we can use it as our first foot into the sector. While Aboleth funnels in my forces from outside the outer rim to reinforce it."

  Preston looked to Ron, but he wasn't really in the condition to discuss logistics. He sighed.

  "...We can probably swing that. Xaya and my fleet can build up a single colony. How many infested are we talking?"

  "1,000—Dad, are you drunk?"

  "I thought you were dead."

  Selene gave him a judgmental glare.

  "Can't we just hide? Leave the outer rim, find some place away from the Zykra..." Jen said, making her way back to the couch and sitting down beside Ron.

  "Solid plan B, Mom, and I'm all for it. But saving humanity would be nice, like I said—I should at least try..."

  Ron gave a smug smirk.

  "What's that look?" Selene asked.

  "What? I'm proud of you. Isn't that how fathers should feel? I'll say it again; I'm proud of my daughter."

  Selene looked to her mom, who rolled her eyes. They were all acting weird.

  Maybe now wasn't the time for a tactical meeting, with everything that just happened. But time was of the essence.

  "Okay... Thanks? Find me a clone. I'll get ready to fight other Zykra in the meantime. Also, find Raymond and Danny. Apparently I sent them in to spy on the resistance. Tell them to come back to Endelon 2."

  "Where did you send them?" Preston asked.

  "I'll text it to you. I have to go; get ready. We can meet up soon and talk about our next move."

  Jen spoke up next. "But, I want to spend more time with you, Selene, even like this. It's been so long since we really bonded as a family..."

  Selene knew it was unfair. But that's been her life for the past year. Her face turned to an apologetic expression.

  "I have a lot to do..."

  "Then multitask. Talk to your mother, Selene. It seems we have a lot to catch up on. We should talk more about you and the Zykra and what this all means to you. I think it'd be good for you too."

  Just until about an hour ago, Ron regretted not doing the same with Selene. War was always happening, and Selene had the same obsession he was prone to. Distracting themselves with planning and forgetting to do anything else.

  Selene glared at him again, then she closed her eyes bitterly.

  "Fine...One second." Selene looked off-screen. "Aboleth, what were you saying about planets being mostly barren outside of the outer rim?"

  "You're done notifying your family about your survival?" An off-screen voice asked.

  "I'm 'multitasking.'" She said with accompanying air quotes.

  "Most planets with life inside the outer rim or core worlds were terraformed and seeded ages ago by humanity. If we find life outside the outer rim, they could have beneficial traits to assimilate. But it'd be much easier to get biomass in bulk from inside of the outer rim. If we can. Our caasioks can detect it in at least 100 times the quantity there."

  Selene looked towards her father with a smug look as if to say, "See? Not so easy.'.

  "We can make a strategy for that," Ron said.

  "What's it like living with the Zykra, hun?" Jen asked.

  "You get used to the constant humidity. I remember how I used to see the Zykra before. Now, I like them. It's hard to explain, but we're connected. That's my Zykra, though—the others can go to hell. As for strategies to get more biomass, I figured we could do hit-and-run strategies. Pop up around the sector at random, take what we need, and carry it back to worlds near Endelon 2."

  They spoke about matters like this for a couple hours until Jen fell asleep on Ron's shoulder, and then the three of them continued talking well into the night. About her life as a Zykra queen. It felt weirdly overdue, and they'd have to do it regularly from now on.

  Selene had realized how grounding it was.

  "So the sergeant you had us release was a girlfriend of yours and became a major in the same division specifically tasked for dealing with you?" Preston asked humorously.

  Ron yawned.

  Selene was busy bickering with the evolutionist.

  "Just give them their human emotions, Evo. It's not hard; Keu'senai's Evolutionist did it. And he was much cuter than you." She said to someone off-screen.

  "Biomass to restore human emotions is costly but feasible. Secondary objective added. Become more 'cute.' Yes, your majesty."

  She looked back to Preston with an annoyed expression.

  "Not a girlfriend; we almost got there, but then the whole Zykra queen thing happened." Her expression changed, becoming more insecure. "Honestly, I've never been good... romantically. It's hard for me to focus on one person like that."

  At this point Ron was snoring too. Or pretending to.

  "Want your uncles advice on women?"

  "Fuck no. Why sabotage myself?"

  He laughed.

  "Xaya and I are dating now."

  Selene guffawed; she hardly believed it.

  "Really? Two commanders? Aren't there rules against that?"

  He shrugged.

  "It happened during your capture. I was spiraling, and she helped. Turns out she's got a softer side—don't tell her I said that."

  An off-screen voice spoke to Selene.

  "Your majesty, I apologize for the confusion earlier. My name is Hensley. Jade is a companion of ours."

  "Yeah, yeah. Nice to meet you. Evo—now that we've talked about the cost, let's start the process. Take this one with you; he can help you process the infested." She looked back to Preston. "I'm happy for you, Uncle... Actually, I'm jealous. Xaya is way out of your league."

  He waved her off as he slouched back. "Probably won't work out. Problems with women seem to run in the family."

  "That's a defeatist attitude." She said, looking away at something else.

  Preston nodded. "But it's the same with you. Maybe you should give it a shot. What about that snake lady I saw earlier?"

  "Aboleth's not interested, and besides, I don't really want to date one of my Zykra followers. It would be weird. My best shot would probably be the major I talked about before. I killed the other girl I liked."

  Preston did a spit-take with a glass of water he was drinking.

  "PFF! Huh!?"

  "Well, it was a nice chat, Uncle. I think I should go... You should sleep."

  "Wait, you can't just end on that! Selene! Who did you kill—?"

  The screen flickered to 'Call Ended.'

  "Fucking hell. That girl is a Carrington for sure."

  Behind the Chapter...

  <<<>>> SHOUTOUT SECTION <<<>>>