Dahntnee awoke suddenly at the sound of knocking at his door. Groggily, he sat up in his bed and tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

“Enter!” He yawned. The door to his bedroom and a young woman in the garb of the City Watch entered, coming immediately to attention.

“Sir!” She saluted sharply. “I have a report from the city jail sir.”

Dahntnee nodded. “Of course. What is it Lieutenant?”

The woman hesitated for a moment.

Dahntnee sighed. “Bad news eh?”

“Yes sir.” The young woman nodded warily. “Khalin and his people… they’ve escaped.”

“WHAT?!” Dahntnee wasn’t sleepy anymore. “How could that happen?”

The lieutenant shook her head. “Nobody knows. The guards say they were attacked suddenly. Overwhelmed and knocked unconscious. When they came to, the dungeons were emptied.”

Dahntnee leaped to his feet, throwing a robe over his sleeping clothes. “Tell Captain Lysis to seal the city. Nobody gets in or out until further notice, understood? After that, start a systematic search of every street and alleyway in Atlantis. If they’re still within the walls, I want them found.”

The lieutenant nodded. “Sir. Captain Lysis left earlier today with a small contingent hoping to track the prisoners…”

Dahntnee shook his head. “That’s unfortunate but it can’t be helped. Nobody in or out, understand?”

“Aye sir.”

“Good. Dismissed.”

The lieutenant gave him another crisp salute and left his bedroom. Dahntnee sat on the foot of his bed. It was likely Khalin and his people were long gone, but if they weren’t, he wanted them found.

*.*.*.*.*.*

“Incoming message!”

The announcement was followed by a persistent buzzing sound that cut through Rixie’s dreams, which up until that point had been rather pleasant. With a groan she rolled over and slapped at the clock beside her bed until her mind woke up enough to realize it wasn’t the alarm that had been bothering her.

In fact that was set to go off several hours later.

Finally she managed to mash the right button and the video screen lit up as it made the connection to whatever person was monumentally stupid enough to wake her up at this particular hour.

Finally the screen clicked on and a face appeared.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?!” Rixie yelled as she quickly threw a shirt on. Thankfully she was already wearing a pair of pajama pants.

“I’m sorry Imperator, but this was something of an emergency.” An amused male voice spoke from the screen. “I hope I haven’t caught you at a bad time…?”

Rixie froze, the hem of the shirt clutched in her hand. She whirled to face the screen, eyes widened in abject horror.

The man whose face was pictured on the screen was roughly twice her age. His dark skin offset by a neatly trimmed but snow white beard. Somewhere above him, a light reflected off his bald head, and his green eyes sparkled with wry amusement at her obvious discomfort.

His name was Sahmis Zisko. He was a Sebastokrator in the Imperial Military, a rank which came second only to the very highest echelons of the hierarchy. It also made him her superior officer.

At least, it would if she were still commissioned, anyway.

“Krator Zisko!” Rixie yelped, hastily running a hand through her braids in an effort to straighten them out. “I… I wasn’t really expecting to hear from you… especially not at this hour.” Rixie was beyond mortified. One of the few people in the military hierarchy who had had enough clout to issue her orders was seeing her in her pajamas. It was something out of a nightmare.

“Of course you weren’t.” Zisko’s mouth twisted into an amused smirk. “After all, you’ve been discharged.”

Rixie blinked and her heart rate slowed from ‘panicked’ to merely ‘racing.’ She carefully sat back down on the bed and cleared her throat. “So… so why have you called me… sir?”

“Well, I’m afraid I have some bad news. We’re going to have to reactivate your commission.”

Rixie blinked, suddenly all her nervousness dissipated like smoke in a windstorm.

“WHAT?!” She snarled, suddenly jumping to her feet and forgetting all deference and protocol. “Sir, with all due respect… you can’t do that to me, I served my time honorably!”

“Yes you did.” Zisko agreed patiently. “But the Empire has need of you again.”

“There’s nothing it needs me for, sir. There must be hundreds of young officers looking for a chance to prove themselves.”

“There are.” Zisko nodded. “I don’t care. I want you. And in order to get you, I’m citing Article forty-two”

“But…” Rixie spluttered, but she could see the iron clad will behind his green eyes. She wasn’t going to win, especially when he was holding all the cards.

“Yes sir.” Rixie sighed, rubbing her eyes. Article forty-two of the Imperial Military Code allowed command-level officers to re-commission inactive and retired officers during qualifying emergency situations. Rixie had to wonder just what sort of situation she was about to find herself in, if Zisko had to resort to article forty-two.

“I knew you’d see it our way.” Zisko smiled smugly. “But don’t worry, I think once you hear the mission, you’ll realize you would have volunteered for it had we given you the option.”

“Am I going to need to secure the line?” Rixie asked resignedly, her hand hovering over the keypad to her computer.

“Yes.”

Rixie nodded and tapped a series of codes into the keypad, securing their transmission from outside interference.

“Line secure, sir.”

“Good.” The older man nodded. “First thing you should know is that there has been a successful escape from Rura Penthe.”

Rixie’s eyes widened. “How?”

Zisko shook his head. “The details aren’t terribly important. Not for our purposes anyway. We’ll leave them to the penal system administrators to comb over. What we care about is not how, but who.”

Rixie nodded and leaned forward. “How many escapees were there?” She asked; eyes narrowing as she focused on the screen in front of her.

“Three.”

“I suppose my mission will be to retrieve them?” Rixie sighed.

“Yes.” Zisko replied simply.

“Okay.” Rixie rubbed her face again. “Who am I dealing with?”

“Well, in ascending order of importance: The escapees are Dorok Melaskah;” In the corner of the screen flashed a picture of a young man, who was at most barely out of University, with limp brown hair, and a pallid complexion.

“Looks like a real charmer.” Rixie peered at the photo, memorizing the face.

“Dorok here was sent to the colony for attempted rape, assault, cruelty to animals and unlawful tampering with tracker chips. They were also able to link him to a number of unsolved banking system hacks. He was apparently paying his tuition with, shall we say, misappropriated funds.”

“This seems totally deserving of a military manhunt.” Rixie grumbled sarcastically. “You woke me for this, sir?”

“We’re not done yet.” Zisko smiled indulgently. There was an electronic blip and the young man’s face was replaced with a picture of a grizzled and scarred man with short cropped hair and pitiless grey eyes.

“Next, meet Greno Shan.” Zisko clicked another button and brought up his record. “He’s your garden variety thug. Assault, larceny, breaking and entering, rape. He’s been linked to a number of murders and disappearances but nothing that they could ever make stick.”

“Sir, I’m still not seeing why you’re going to be needing me for this mission.” Rixie barely held back a yawn. “These look like low grade losers to me, but nothing the regular Legals couldn’t handle.”

“Well, then allow me to introduce you to contestant number three.” Greno Shan’s image was replaced by another picture, a face which Rixie knew very well. Her golden blonde hair, hard brown eyes, and an annoyingly superior smirk.

Trell.

There was a moment of silence as Rixie processed the information in front of her.

“Sir I withdraw my earlier protests.” She spoke softly. “I would very much like to volunteer for this mission.”

Zisko smirked triumphantly. “I thought you might.”

“Having said that, and fully admitting I would love nothing more than the opportunity to crack Trell Pria across the jaw… again… I’m still wondering why this mission rates the involvement of an Imperator. I was under the impression that Pria’s offenses, at least the ones we could prove, amounted to nothing more than corporate espionage, sabotage and…” Rixie subtly glanced around to make sure Alex was nowhere nearby; “Animal cruelty.”

Zisko cleared his throat and leaned forward, clasping his hands on the desk in front of them. “That’s what we all originally thought as well. The truth is once we had her in custody we were able to verify a number of aliases she’s used over the years. This woman is much more than a corporate secret-trader and a pervert, Rixie. She’s connected to a number of cases where state secrets had been leaked and military equipment had been stolen. She’s not just some low level con artist; she’s been a hired gun for many of the more lethal criminal organizations that plague the Empire. Trell Pria has been classified as a grade-one traitor to the Imperial crown.”

Rixie’s face split into a feral smile. “So what are my mission parameters, sir?”

Zisko’s eyes narrowed. “Shan and the kid are secondary objectives. Pria is the main target. Your primary mission is to bring her in, using any means necessary.”

Rixie’s eyes hardened. “Understood.”

Zisko leaned back in his chair and nodded. “Good. Now, the matter of business we need to discuss is where you can meet with your partner.”

“Partner?” Rixie blinked.

“Yes. I believe you know him, someone you’ve worked with in the past.”

“Oh no.” Rixie’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean Vanser Nix, do you?”

The Sebastokrator’s eyes sparkled with amusement.

“Of course you do.” Rixie sighed. “Who else would it be? Okay. I’ll play along. Where am I meeting him?”

“The orbital platform the Tarsuss Corporation owns around that moon you’re on.”

“Valhalla?”

“Yes. Nix is scheduled to stop aboard it tomorrow morning. He will contact you when he arrives. Meet him there and he will be able to give you further instructions and mission details at that time.”

Rixie sighed in resignation. “Who is mission commander?” She asked, bracing for the worst.

“You are, of course. You have seniority, after all.”

“Good.” Rixie breathed a sigh of relief. At least she had that going for her anyway. “Now sir, if there’s nothing further… I’d really like to get dressed.”

Zisko nodded. His face was blank but she could see the amusement in his eyes. “Of course Imperator. We’ll be in touch.”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

“You’ve been reinstated?” Pryvani stood up from her desk and stared at Rixie incredulously.

“Yes.” Rixie sighed. “One of my old partners got assigned to recapture Trell and her cohorts and asked for the military to reinstate me so I could help him do it. I can’t say no to this Pryvani, for several reasons- not the least of which being that I want to be the one to put Trell back where she belongs, rotting away on some penal colony… only perhaps someplace a little more secure this time…”

Pryvani sighed and sat back in her chair. “Well, I can certainly understand that. And it seems Trell may be even more dangerous than we previously believed.”

“You don’t know the half of it, and I can’t tell you either because it’s classified.”

“Never stopped me before.” Pryvani smirked. “Still, it appears I have no choice. Not that that was an issue, when the Empire calls you answer, after all.”

“Of course.” Rixie nodded. “I just wish I wasn’t leaving you shorthanded, you are in the middle of a bit of a crisis, after all.”

Pryvani shook her head and sighed. “We’ll manage. It’s not like having Trell running about loose is in our best interests either, and I can think of no one more suited to the job of bringing her in than you are, Rixie.”

“Thank you.”

“Not at all, dear.” Pryvani smiled softly. “Just… be careful okay? I’d hate to have to replace you so soon after I was just starting to get used to you.”

“Thanks.” Rixie smiled wryly. “I guess.”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Khalin stepped into the dim light of early dawn from the shadows of the city’s sewer system. It had been an unfortunate set of circumstances that had led them to this place. Apparently, Lysis had had the foresight to change some of the duty rotations, so they’d found the more alert guardsmen blocking their paths.

So they’d had to take the sewers.

On the plus side, they’d broken into a smith’s shop on the edge of town and stolen as many weapons as they’d been able to find. Not enough for every one of them to be armed, unfortunately, but it made Khalin feel a bit more in control of his own fate to have steel hanging from his belt.

“Where do we go now, my love?” Cara whispered as she drew up beside him.

“There should be a path a short ways from here, we follow it until we find somewhere we can lay low and rebuild our strength.” With a jerk of his head he indicated the direction they were to travel and started walking. After only a second’s hesitation, he heard the rest of his cult start to follow after.

It wasn’t long before the forest gave way to the plowed fields of a small homestead farm.

With a feral grin, Khalin began marching faster towards the small farmhouse, which was already showing signs that the family that dwelled there was beginning to wake for the morning.

Striding up the pathway and towards the door, Khalin took note of a couple of old dogs hiding in the shadows of the barn’s interior.

When he reached the house, Khalin threw a grin back at his followers and knocked confidently on the door.

“Who’s there?” Came a gruff male voice from within. “State your business.”

“Sir,” Khalin affected the voice of a weary traveler, “We’re but poor vagabonds looking for a crust of bread to eat.”

A few of his followers sniggered but Khalin waved them into silence. “Surely, you can spare a loaf or two.”

“Vagabonds my arse!” the old farmer yelled. “Ruffians more like. Ain’t got enough food to feed all o’ you and my family both, and between the two of you I know which I’d rather see starve.”

Khalin blinked. Despite himself, he felt a modicum of respect for the old farmer. “Ah well, more’s the pity old man. Certainly you’ve heard the story of the man who shows hospitality to a beggar, and the beggar is revealed to be the Goddess herself.”

“Aye, sure enough I’ve heard the tale, but you ain’t no Goddess friend.”

“Well… no, I’m not the Goddess…” Khalin suddenly reared back and kicked the door down, relishing the sound of the farmer’s wife and daughters screaming. “My goddess would never reward such weakness…”

*.*.*.*.*.*.*

“Rix, you’re not thinking of leaving me here, are you?” Alex questioned as he watched the Titaness move about the apartment packing her things for the mission ahead of her.

“I have to Alex, it’s too dangerous and, well, you know the rules in the military about…” Her voice trailed off.

“About keeping pets?” Alex crossed his arms over his chest.

Rixie sighed and threw a box of supplies into her bag. “Alex, come on, don’t start. Please? You know I don’t think of you that way… anymore… but the military will and I could get into trouble.”

“Oh don’t give me that!” Alex persisted. “You’re like Elite level tier one black ops special forces or something. I thought that meant you could basically do whatever you wanted!”

Rixie chewed her lip, unable to look him in the eye. “Well…”

“Oh my god!” Alex exclaimed. “It’s true, isn’t it? The military wouldn’t care if someone of your rank had a ‘pet’ human would they?”

“Well… Normal military personnel can’t have pets, of course. But for me…? No. That whole ‘against policy to own a human’ thing was just part of my cover.”

“So the real reason I’m being left at home is…?” Alex asked, tapping his foot on the table top.
“Because it’s a dangerous mission and I don’t want you getting hurt.” Rixie snapped, already irritated with the conversation. “Why did you think Alex? That I was leaving you home because I thought it would be funny? No! Believe it or not I actually do care what happens to you… you ass.”

Despite his best efforts, the corner of Alex’s lip twitched when she used the human curse word. “Well, what am I supposed to do while you’re gone? Sit around here and be Pryvani’s plaything? Hmm… actually… that might be okay…”

“Wh-what?!” Rixie spluttered.

“Oh yeah.” Alex grinned. “I can only imagine how luxurious her suite of rooms must be… just sitting around playing video games. Sure, I’d probably have to help her relieve some stress every now and again, but I don’t think I’d mind too much. I’m sure Pryvani wouldn’t.”

Rixie frowned, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “Alex…!”

“I suppose I’d have to rub her feet or something. Not really a big deal…”

“Okay fine you can come!” Rixie replied, turning away to hide the blush on her cheeks.

“Good.” Alex crossed his arms over his chest and smiled smugly.

Rixie reached over and snatched the little human in between her fingers. She raised him to her eye level and stared at him wordlessly, her pale green eyes betraying no hint to her intentions.

“Uh… Rixie…” Alex gulped nervously. “Y-you know I was just kidding about Pryvani, right?”

“Of course I do.” The Titaness’ tone remained flat and not at all reassuring. “But I have to say, you did give me an idea. How about you come give me a foot massage?”

“For how long?”

Rixie smirked. “No sense in limiting myself, is there?”