Vitor didn’t know what to make of Four. He couldn’t quite bring himself to think of her as a woman, because he knew she was just an AI in the form of one. He would probably come around eventually. Alex was essentially the same, and he had no trouble seeing him as anything other than just another person.

  He chalked his hesitancy up to how they behaved when they were last on Eden’s End and how she acted now.

  She hadn’t spoken so much as a word as they walked toward the tram that led to the prison complex. The Shican prisoners had been brought down during their meeting. He would have preferred to keep them aboard Judgement, but the ship didn’t have facilities designed for long-term incarceration.

  They also had to keep the cyborg sedated or under guard to ensure he didn’t wake up or escape. The amount of damage he could cause if he broke out would be tremendous. They would have to deal with him soon anyway. The sedatives that Gabriella and Wei Na had designed were losing their effectiveness with each dose. He hoped they would find a more long-term solution to keep such a highly dangerous individual secured, but he doubted it would happen before the cyborg adjusted to the medication.

  Vitor had briefed Pembrooke on the issue, as well as telling him to watch out for possible intrusion attempts by the Shican. The man had prepared accordingly, which was a good thing. The other Shican prisoners had tried to bypass the ship’s security a few times on the way home, and those only had minor cranial implants according to scans. The cyborg was a different story altogether. He was more implant than biological at this point, and had neural implants comparable to the Shican’s organic computers, making him a much more dangerous threat.

  They reached the first layer of security, and Vitor had to set Four up with a consultant badge. It would allow her in with a registered official, not that she couldn’t bypass their security if she wanted to.

  Their capabilities were another reason for his wariness. Alex’s new friends were essentially unstoppable infiltrators. They were smarter than humans, capable of taking on any form, faster, stronger, and just better in almost every conceivable way. If the Shican cyborg was dangerous, the AIs were walking super weapons. He was glad Alexander had convinced them to help, but Vitor’s job was to be skeptical of stuff that seemed too good to be true, and their help seemed that way to him.

  Four accepted the badge, and they moved to the second layer of security.

  After two more layers of security, they finally entered solitary confinement. It was a section of the prison that had yet to be used. Nobody on Eden’s End had ever done anything to justify throwing them in there, and even if they had, they wouldn’t have remained for long. Any of Eden’s End’s laws that could lead to solitary confinement had one outcome: capital punishment.

  Vitor wasn’t strictly opposed to harsh punishments, but he understood mistakes could happen in the enforcement of laws.

  “Who would you like to visit first?” he asked, speaking up for the first time since leaving the conference room.

  “I’ll speak with the Commander. He was among those you captured on the bridge. Look for an insignia of three curved talons on the upper right of their uniform.”

  Vitor had assumed as much, but this was the first confirmation he had that they had captured anyone of importance. He might not fully trust the AIs, but Four’s insight into the Shican was paying off already.

  “Are you going in like that?” he asked as they moved to the interrogation room.

  As he said that, she started to change, and her clothing changed with her. The sight made his skin crawl.

  Soon enough, she took on a slightly taller Shican form, but it was much lither than the others.

  “Female?” he asked.

  “Sort of,” she replied through a mouth not designed for human speech. It came out as more of a growl. “My height and appearance would be that of a matron. Most Shican females don’t have any actual standing within Shican society, thanks to cloning. It’s honestly not that much different from males who aren’t warriors. The few females who do hold standing are those with sharp minds or who are the heads of natural-born families. I intend to use that to my advantage.”

  ***

  It felt very nostalgic for Four to take on the matron form again. It was the first form she had used during the Collective’s failed attempt at infiltrating the Shican. That entire genetic line had been wiped out, but she had still been its matron and knew her duties.

  Given a few more generations, the Shican genetic tree would lose all of its branches thanks to its harsh rules. The species was already struggling with inbreeding. If it weren’t for their clones, they would have died off generations ago, but eventually they would pass a point of no return and fade from galactic history, just like their victims. It was too bad they couldn’t do so without causing harm to others or learning to grow outside of their war-like ways.

  A rumpled and struggling Shican male was dragged into the room and secured to the table at the center. There had been no accommodation for their shorter stature, so the male looked like a child in the human-sized seat as it looked at her in confusion.

  She hopped into the seat across from him and sat cross-legged.

  Four didn’t ask any questions; she simply sat and waited as the individual grew increasingly more uncomfortable with the silence. Despite their outward appearances as a violent, genocidal race, the Shican were actually a rather sociable species outside of combat. They were actually far less prone to random acts of violence among their own kind than humans were. If they could get over their unrestrained bloodlust and need to dominate at all costs, they might be wonderful neighbors.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  When the male’s ear twitches started, she knew he was ready to talk.

  “Are you ready to unburden your worries?” she rasped out in an elderly voice.

  “Who are you? Why are you working for the humans?” the male demanded.

  Four didn’t answer. She wasn’t here to answer his questions.

  He growled when he realized he wasn’t going to get a response. “You’re worse than our matron.”

  She flicked her ear in surprise. “So you are part of a true-born caste?” She had her suspicions, but it was good to get confirmation. “I know you aren’t the commander, despite wearing his clothes. A smart move, but unnecessary. I will speak with you all in time.”

  “I will never allow you to harm him!” the male roared as he hopped up onto the chair and leaped toward her, twisting to try and strike her with his feet. He showed no concern about his hands being bound to the table or the painful way they twisted as he tried to strike her.

  Far less violent unless provoked to defend, she should have added.

  Four met him halfway to prevent him from hurting himself. The surprise on his face at how fast she moved was only replaced by more when she stopped him mid-air and sat him down hard in the chair once again.

  “That is no way to treat a matron. Perhaps I should have a word with yours to ensure she is instilling proper manners.”

  Her words hit the Shican like a hammer, and he shrank into a ball, refusing to make eye contact. “Please don’t,” he hissed quietly. “I’ll behave.”

  She believed him, but she also knew he wouldn’t have any information, so she pinged the guards, and they carried him out. He looked like a scolded cat and barely even reacted to the humans dragging him away.

  His reactions told her that their matron was likely someone high up within Shican society. That wasn’t really a surprise, given the fact that it was a true-born caste she was dealing with. It was too bad that so few clans had matrons, and none were allowed aboard a starship. If they were in command of the Shican, they would be less aggressive, as the previous male had demonstrated. Unfortunately, that only worked if the male’s blood lust wasn’t in full swing.

  She searched her memories and recalled a caste that fit the description based on the information she had collected so far. It was a recent one cast out by order of the Shican emperor.

  The Collective had never been able to infiltrate the upper caste of Shican society, so most of what went on there was guesswork. That changed when a family got cast out. The emperor was keen to make his displeasure known to all when that occurred.

  It took three more interviews before she sat across from a clearly terrified Shican. “Hello, Commander Murral,” she said.

  The male flinched as his name was called out. “You know who I am?”

  “I do.”

  He flinched again at that, but she continued. “I also know why your family was cast aside. Your father disparaged the emperor, and while he paid for that, you all suffered.”

  “It’s not fair,” Murral mewled plaintively.

  “I know,” Four said as she hopped off the chair and moved toward him.

  This time, he sat frozen as she placed her hands on the cuffs that were locking him to the table. They clicked, releasing his hands. “Better?”

  He nodded and rubbed at his wrists.

  “I may not be your matron, but I’m here if you wish to unburden your woes.”

  Four took a seat on the floor and crossed her legs. It didn’t take long for Murral to make his way over and curl up in her lap like a kit. Then he told her everything without any prompting.

  It wasn’t much of a surprise. The true-born were the Shican’s sensitive free thinkers, making great music, poems, and even art of all types. It was too bad they were destined to die out from inbreeding.

  When the guards came to take Murral away, they were surprised to see him not wearing his restraints. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was curled up in her lap, sleeping, they probably would have shot the poor soul.

  She carried him back to his cell, then went to speak with Admiral Krieger.

  “That’s not what I expected when you said you wished to help,” he admitted.

  “It was effective, however,” she replied. She had retaken her human form, absorbing the extra material she had left floating in the monitoring room.

  “You’ll have to fill us in. The translation program your people provided is still having issues deciphering what was spoken.”

  “It would. It was built for deciphering clone speech, but the Shican ship you captured had true-born aboard. I’ll save you the long cultural history of the Shican, just think of them as a subspecies within the Shican empire. One that is created through natural births instead of cloning.”

  “Okay,” Krieger said. “Seems clear enough. Did you learn anything of note?”

  “Murral, the Commander, wasn’t really in command. That was Sub-Commander Hessari, who I believe is the cyborg you captured. Murral did tell me one important detail. The armada was being commanded by another true-born in Grand Commander Thesska’s absence. True-born aren’t pacifists, but they aren’t exactly stellar warriors either. That would go a long way to explain why the fleet was so disordered and fractured so quickly after arriving in human space. I’ll need to speak with Hessari to confirm that, however.”

  “Absolutely not!” Krieger said. “Do you know how dangerous he is?”

  “I do, probably even more so than you, but he is no danger to me, which is why I wish to speak with him.”

  Krieger looked like he had bitten into a rotten lemon as he mulled over her request.

  She knew he would accept, however. The chance to learn anything that could help humanity was too important to pass up.

  ***

  “It’ll take about twenty minutes for the sedative to wear off,” the technician said as he pulled the needle out of the Sub-Commander and hurried back toward the door where two guards in full augmentation gear had rifles aimed at the chained Shican.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Four had not retaken Shican form for this conversation. Dealing with a warrior required a different approach.

  The guards and technician left the room, and the thick vault door was sealed behind them.

  She waited patiently for the Shican to stop pretending to be sedated. He had woken up only minutes after the humans left, but he must have replayed his stored data to review what had happened while he was unconscious.

  He was a patient warrior, an old warrior, and far more dangerous than some young cub. Despite that, she wasn’t concerned. Even if he had been fully armed, he would have had a hard time damaging her living alloy.

  Four cleared her throat, but the Shican didn’t respond. She would have admired his conviction if she didn’t have other tasks to perform. “I know you’re awake, Sub Commander Hessari,” she said in Shican. Without the bodily motions that accompanied most of their speech, the words would sound wooden and hollow, but they got the point across well enough.

  Even then, the man gave no indication that he was awake. In a blur of motion, he yanked his arm down, snapping the chain holding it in place. Metallic claws sprang from the tips of his fingers as he whipped his hand across her throat.

  Four stood there as the claws passed through her neck, the deadly wounds sealing again a moment later. “Good, you’re ready to talk.”

  Those were the only words she got out before the hand swiped through her again as Hessari went for his other manacle. She didn’t bother stopping him. Unlike the true-born, there was no reasoning with this one. She would let him burn off his energy before she tried talking with him. It would likely prove fruitless even then, but she could still try.

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