The oppressive red light of Kokonit bore down on the Spaceship Noble Birth as it raced towards its solitary existing planetary system, a dull gas giant orbited by a single decent-sized rock, with gravity half-again that on Earth, and a piddling atmosphere, and a surface baked in the hard radiation of its planetary host and its gargantuan star, 91 AU away, and still blindingly bright.

 

Humans called this star Betelgeuse, but the pilot of the Noble Birth could not have cared less about that. Nor did she pause to note the beauty of the distant star, teetering on the edge of a supernova that would cleanse this system and those around it, sowing the seeds of the next generation of stars, the next era of life. Instead, she adjusted her angle, and headed toward the planet. She input the coordinates she’d been given, and waited patiently for the computer to seek them out.

 

She held firm to the controls of the ship, and for just a moment, reflected how much of her life she had spent behind the controls of a ship, piloting it across space, instead of doing what she’d been born to do.

 

There was grim irony there. Her sister would have loved this life. Well…parts of it. And she…she would have loved her sister’s life.

 

Well, parts of it.

 

The computer chirped, and Vasha Zakrov turned to look at the response. Good, right where it was supposed to be. She had the computer lay in the course, and pushed power to the internal gravitic dampeners.

 

The ship slipped through the wisps of air, aiming for the rim of a crater on the planet’s northern hemisphere. This was a simple pick-up of information. She’d take it to Kaol, meet up with the Snyusia kid, get her payment, and discuss their next move. Likely helping Scylane Rimosi out – he had avoided the dragnet, and was on the run. He was an idiot, but a useful one, and given how totally things had collapsed, they needed him if they had any hope of winning, of keeping the Empire the dominant force in this arm of the galaxy, of keeping the humans in check.

 

There wasn’t much hope in the short term, and that was a problem; the humans moved quickly, and if it got to the long term, it would be hopeless. Especially given the mood in the Empire. They were oblivious to the threat. No – that would suggest they didn’t see the threat. They did, they just thought it was the opposite – a great opportunity, of friendship and togetherness and nauseating lovey-doveyness. Loona Armac had given a dozen systems to the humans, and the humans were sharing their technology with the Empire.

 

For frak’s sake, they’d already passed the Empire technologically, at least on one front. How far ahead would they get before people sat up and took notice?

 

The ship neared its destination. Fifty units…forty…thirty….

 

Her board lit up red, and klaxons blasted, as two shuttles lifted from inside the crater. “Frak!” she shouted, turning hard about, and kicking in her thrusters.

 

The Imperial shuttles stayed with her, at least at the start; her ship was faster, but a beep from her console told her that they’d force-activated her transponder. Even if she outran them, she’d be marked the second she pulled into a civilized station. Still, there was always the possibility of swapping out the transponder on Kaol; she’d saved up enough, she could probably afford it….

 

“Noble Birth, this is Decurion Brori of Magic Heavy Raider Two. You have breached the Kokonit Restriction Zone. Stop Engines and prepare to be boarded. Please respond.”

 

“Frak you!” Vasha shouted, turning the ship and pushing with all she had. She’d use the gas giant as a slingshot to build momentum, and once out of its gravity well, go to warp. She spun up the warp drive, and laid in a course. Two minutes. She just had to hold them off two….

 

“Frak!” she shouted, as much larger ship appeared on her scope. It was a smaller ship by Imperial military standards, but it had her shuttle badly outclassed.

 

“Noble Birth, this is Captain Rovlan Tam of the Imperial Starship Tremarla. If you do not stop engines, we will fire on you; your odds of surviving that is not good. And don’t even think about going to warp; we can hit Warp 10. You’re in a Oprone Six; your top speed is gonna be Warp 5.2, even with the illegal mods you’ve made.”

 

Vasha started to swear, and she pushed her engines to vector away…only to find her ship didn’t change direction.

 

“Also, I should have probably mentioned that we already had you in a tractor beam. New design, double the range, Dr. Abaforad’s quite proud of it. We’re the first to have it installed, and man, it is fun to play with. So…yeah, sit tight, you’re going nowhere, and all you’re gonna do is burn out your engines if you try.”

 

Vasha hit the console hard, and then shook her hand in pain from the concussion. Well, they had her. At least her probation was up. She’d pay a pretty good fine. But she had no contraband aboard. With luck, she could talk her way out of this; with less luck, she’d lose the Noble Birth and have to scrounge for another ship.

 

She sighed, and hit a button. “I’m sorry, Captain, I didn’t realize you were Imperial. Thought you were pirates – this is restricted space, I know, and it’s dangerous here. I’m stopping engines now.”

 

“Of course you did. See you in ten minutes,” came the reply.

 

Ten minutes later, the Noble Birth sat in the Tremarla’s main shuttle bay. Vasha opened the door, and a very young Imperator walked in, followed by a somewhat older one.

 

“You know, you’ve made a big mistake,” Vasha said. “Do you know who I am?”

 

“Hope so,” the younger Imperator said, looking around.

 

“My sister is Princess Daz. You know, the Boyara of Aement? She’s married to Princess Rhionne, who will probably be the next Empress.”

 

The female imperator chuckled. “Hear that, Victor? She’s the sister of Boyara Daz.”

 

“I do, Phaega. Very surprising.”

 

“Really surprising.”

 

“Incredibly surprising,” a third voice said.

 

Vasha looked toward the door, and slumped, just a little. “Vanser Nix.”

 

“Vasha. Imperator Aeus, you and Imperator-Probatio Archer-Pria take this ship apart.”

 

“Of course, Praetor Imperator,” Phaega Aeus said. “Victor, you take the computer. Want to see if you’re as good as you think you are.”

 

“So do I, ma’am,” Victor said. “I’ll holler if I get stuck.”

 

As the two Imperators moved fore and aft, Vanser gestured to a small table. Vasha sat. She wasn’t going anywhere.

 

“So,” he said, “we kind of knew you were Daz’s sister.”

 

“Oh, shut up.”

 

“I mean, really,” Vanser said, with a grin, “who do you think told us to go looking for you here?”

 

“How’s the teeny-tiny wife? Heard you ditched her for a real woman.”

 

“She dumped me, quite a few years ago, and she’s doing great. Just married another actor, they’re both very happy. Probably we both got a better match this time – and no, you frakking shaar, size had nothing to do with it.”

 

“Obviously,” Vasha said. “I’m sure you fit the human better than the frakking activist you’re married to now.”

 

“It is so good to talk to you,” Vanser said. “Seems like only yesterday I was telling you how badly you’d frakked up, crossing Rixie Carey. It’s funny, her human husband has almost as much money as you did at your richest, and he didn’t inherit a credit to start. He really was worth everything you had.”

 

“All right, all right,” Vasha said. “Let’s cut to the chase. You have nothing on me, and your trained stooges won’t find anything, so charge me with violating the restriction zone, and know that I’m not going to talk without my attorney.”

 

“You aren’t? Well, that’s convenient. Salaha Snyusia happens to be in the brig, here. Caught her on the way to Kaol. My goodness, has she told us a lot. Of course, when you’re facing execution for treason, you will say just about anything to save yourself.”

 

Vasha stared at Vanser.

 

“So tell me, whose idea was it to coordinate the Federation’s secession with the Insectoid invasion? Yours? Rimosi’s? The Insectoids’? I mean, we know you all were involved, and you’re all going to hang for it. But I do want to know who first thought a bit of treason might be fun.”

 

Vasha looked at Vanser a hard moment. “There is a bottle of hustain in the cupboard there. Vilvi, five years old. Pour me a glass.”

 

“And why should I do that?” Vanser asked.

 

“Because I’m not going to get another. And because if I’m going to talk to you, I want you to show me the respect I am due.”

 

Vanser thought that showing Vasha the respect she was due primarily involved throwing the Hustain in her face and lighting it on fire, but he had not risen to his present rank by stopping his quarry from talking. “Imperator Archer-Pria,” Vanser said, “keep an eye on Ms. Zakrov while I pour her a glass of hustain.”

 

“Yes, sir,” Victor said, coming back to the compartment.

 

“Do you honestly think I’m going to shoot you while your back is turned?”

 

“Your actions have killed hundreds of thousands of people, Vasha. What’s one more?”

 

Vanser poured the glass, and handed it to Vasha. He nodded to Victor, who went back to cracking the computer, while Vasha took a long sip of her drink, and let out a long sigh.

 

“First, this was a joint decision. We all were involved in making it. And second, you were right,” she said. “About Alex Carey, that is. He was indeed worth quite a bit. They all were, you know. I didn’t realize it at the time. But if you do not learn, you do not live long, and I have learned so very, very much.”

 

Vasha took another drink. “Do you know why the Insectoids targeted Tau Ceti, and then Earth?”

 

“As far as we’ve been able to tell,” Vanser said, “they wanted to establish a base on Tau Ceti to defend against attacks from the main part of the Empire. And then they went to Earth to gather food, before attacking the Empire itself.”

 

Vasha chuckled, and took another drink. “Stupid. You are so frakking stupid, all of you. All of us,” she said, finishing the glass off. She didn’t ask Vanser to pour again, she did so herself.

 

“The Insectoids were going to use the humans for food, that’s true, but that was never their primary goal.”

 

“They said it was,” Vanser said. “To Gama fleet, when Aerti Bass….”

 

“I know what they said,” Vasha barked. “Haven’t you idiots figured out by now that the Hive will lie to you if it suits their needs?”

 

Vanser leaned forward, just a bit. “Yes, we have. So what are we missing?”

 

Vasha smiled. “They didn’t want you to realize until it was too late. Oh, they would have turned on the Empire when they were done with Earth, but they wanted you to think Earth was the start. Earth was the warm-up. They wanted you to expect they would hold reserves back – they wanted you to think they would wait to use them on you.”

 

Vasha took another swallow. “Of course, they would have taken as much of the Empire as they could, but that was never the goal. They wanted Earth, and they wanted Avalon. They wanted them destroyed. Completely.”

 

Vanser blinked. “Why would they want that?”

 

Vasha laughed. “You really are stupid, but it’s not your fault. It’s not our fault. We are what we are, all of us. They wanted to destroy Earth now because they knew what we should have realized. They knew that Earth was the greatest enemy they faced, or ever would. And if they did not strike now, they would find one day that they never would be able to – that the humans would be far too powerful to ever engage.”

 

It was Vanser’s turn to laugh. “That’s the stupidest…look, I like humans. I married one, and she’s still a friend. And they are as smart as anyone around, but Vasha, they’re still way behind us technologically….”

 

“Is that so? Who made the Gyfjon blow up? Why was Niall Freeman aboard? We’ve heard the story – he helped blow the engines – but physics is physics. Turn the Gyfjon into antimatter and it wouldn’t have done the damage it did. What happened was impossible, and beyond the ability of the Empire. But not beyond the ability of the humans.”

 

Vasha finished her second glass. “Do they end up smarter than us? I don’t know. None of us do. Not the Insectoids, not those of us who’ve been trying to protect this Empire. We know they learn faster than us. We know they adapt quicker. They can live on more worlds, with fewer resources than we can. And with the resources that power one of us, twenty thousand of them can survive – twenty thousand brains, Vanser! Twenty thousand brains for every one of ours. Even if they are no smarter than us individually, on aggregate, they can bring more power to bear. And that’s just the start. They’re reckless. They’re reckless because they can be. Kill twenty thousand of them, it’s like killing one of us. They can outbreed us. They can cover their losses. And when they do, they move forward. So they can take chances we never would, risk things we never would – and learn things we never would.”

 

Vanser shook his head. “They needed our protection to get this far.”

 

“Yes, they did! Had we done the smart thing and carved up their world when we first saw it, they’d be no threat. They’d be pets, curiosities. But no. We had to protect them. Give them time to learn, to grow. And now…now it’s too late,” she said, staring at her glass. “This was the last chance for this region. We will be bowing down to them, whether we like it or not. In a thousand years, the Titan Empire will be no more. We will be led by the Terrans.”

 

“Now that’s ridiculous,” Vanser said. “Just stupid. Earth is an ally now, a friend. We’ve saved each other. You may as well worry about the Dunnermac, or Ler. We can work in harmony with them. And even if they get more powerful than us someday, so what? They benefitted from our protection. Maybe someday we’ll benefit from theirs. The Empire isn’t going anywhere, and Earth has shown no more interest in taking us over than we have of taking them over.”

 

Vasha looked at her glass, and shook her head.

 

“The best friend of the Floor Leader,” she said.

 

“Huh?”
“The best friend of the Floor Leader,” Vasha repeated, looking up at Vanser. “A woman as close as a sister to her. She’s a human. So is the husband of the eldest daughter of the Emperor himself. The husband of the richest woman in the Empire. The husband of the owner one of the Empire’s fastest-growing entertainment companies. The ex-wife of the head of the Imperator’s Corps,” she said. “All human. Their children are already heirs to vast wealth and power in this Empire. Do you honestly think it will be more than two generations before they pull the noose tight?”

 

Vanser looked past Vasha, and shook his head at the young Imperator whose anger was becoming apparent. He looked back at his prisoner.

 

“I think, Vasha,” he said, in a practiced, placid tone, “that given what you’ve said, the real question is whether there’s really any difference between us and them at all. We have a new generation coming up, a generation of hybrids, with one foot in both worlds. Maybe a thousand years from now there won’t be an Empire. But if so, it will be because like we did with the Dunnermac, and Avartle, and Ler, we grew so much together that it didn’t matter who was ‘in charge.’ We all will be. Together.”

 

“It sounds lovely,” Vasha said. “But it won’t be. And when your descendants are slaves to humanity, they’ll praise me…and curse you.”

 

“At least some of my descendants, Vasha,” Vanser said, getting up, “are going to be human-sized. So it looks like marrying Charlotte was a good decision on my part after all. Now get up. Mr. Archer-Pria?”

 

“Sir!”

 

“On behalf of your human father,” Vanser said, with a grin, “fix restraints on this frakking traitor.”

 

*    *    *

 

Ryan wasn’t surprised to receive orders to report. He was close enough to fit for duty that he would at the very least need to discuss his situation with his C.O. and come up with a plan going forward. Of course, he wasn’t totally sure who his C.O. was right now – the Acolyte Starfighter project had been transferred fully to Terran control, and while he was sure Gen. Martínez would be happy to see him, he was pretty sure that he didn’t report to Ted anymore.

 

Fortunately, orders had directed him to meet with Epistratichos Velos in the compound. The meeting being in the compound was somewhat odd, but frankly, he was happy not to have to grab the train. So he grabbed the tram, and only as he reached the meeting level did he realize the room he’d been directed to was a Titan-sized conference room.

 

“Twixie, good to see you,” a familiar face said, greeting him outside the human-sized entrance.

 

“Mr. Secretary, sir,” Ryan said, coming to attention and saluting.

 

Like most senior and ex-senior officers, Darren’s return of salute was at most technically a salute. His hand moved in the general direction of his temple, he kind of nodded as he did it. That’s what Ryan expected. Instead, Darren came to full, attention, and gave as precise a salute as a first-week Barti Bekchi. When he completed it, he said, “Archon Carey, do you know what our estimates were for kills-per-vessel when we rolled out the Acolyte project?”

 

“You told me, Darren,” Ryan said. “Thirty, for fighters.”

 

“Yep. Y’all made me look very, very bad at estimating. And thank God. Come on in, Kid Dynamite, Mr. Peshmerga, and the wife are already in there.”

 

“Wait…Mr. Secretary…this isn’t some ambush awards ceremony, is it?”

 

“Naw, you get your award on Tuaut, and what you don’t get there, you get for choosing a good wife, same as me. But we do have some things to discuss. Come on.”

 

“Yes, sir,” Ryan said.

 

There were more salutes and handshakes when he got inside; Lysis hadn’t had a chance to see him yet, so she breached decorum and gave him a hug. Zhan gave him a handshake, and thanked him again for not making his sister-in-law a widow before they got married. And the Chief of Staff, Epistratichos Velos, mentioned yet again that Ryan had only gotten this good because of his flight instructor, leading Ryan to say, again, that it was fortunate Archon Stula had been around to help him unlearn what Archon Velos had taught him.

 

It took a moment for Ryan to work through the humans, but he had, of course, noted the three visitors; he could hardly miss them. They were all three Imperial officers. One he recognized immediately, one he knew of, and one he had not met, though she was the senior officer in the room.

 

“I apologize,” Ryan said, “I didn’t realize I was meeting with anyone other than Epistratichos Velos. Archon Ryan Carey,” he said, to the three. “I have met Captain Gwenn, and it’s good to see you again, Captain. I apologize, I have not met either of you.”

 

“Archon Carey, it’s good to see you again,” Lauryna said. “I’d like you to meet my colleague, Captain Drrntr of the Gorrk.”

 

“An honor!” Drrntr said. “You fought nobly at the Battle of Tau Ceti!”

 

“As did you, Captain! I am honored to meet you! I saw in the battle that you are a strong and honorable Captain!” Ryan said.

 

“And to my right,” Lauryna said, “is Seminavarchos Sombrel Daru. She is currently serving as the senior officer in charge of integrating the Avalonian Guard into the Imperial Military.”

 

“Navarchos, ma’am, an honor to meet you.”

 

“Likewise,” Daru said. “Epistratichos?”

 

“Right,” Velos said, standing up. “Ryan, Seminavarchos Daru, Captain Gwenn, and Captain Drrntr wanted to meet with you. This won’t take long, maybe an hour.”

 

“Okay,” Ryan said, though he was not sure it was. “I’m not going to require a representative, am I?”

 

“Don’t worry,” Darren said, “I’ve already been yelled at, done’s done. All you did was save a bunch of people. Naw, this isn’t about the past. It’s about the future.”

 

“All right,” Ryan said, turning back to the three Imperial officers. “Well, then, how can I help you?”

 

Seminavarchos Daru picked up a pad. “Archon…prior to your service with the Acolyte Starfighter project, you commanded the Zeno’s Paradox, correct?”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

“How do you feel about the ship?”

 

Ryan frowned briefly. “Well…I know it’s outdated by Imperial standards. And completely underpowered. But…well, in my estimation, it’s one of the finest ships ever built. Once you get used to its idiosyncrasies, you can make it do damn near anything you need it to. Now, it would need refit to be an effective military vessel, rather than primarily transport. But it did start out as a fighter.”

 

“It did,” Daru said. “The officer who commands it now, Captain….”

 

“Jolu Atrern, ma’am. She was my exec. Very skilled officer. She tended to be a bit more by-the-book than I was, but then, I was able to be a bit less by-the-book because of her.”

 

“So you felt like you worked well together?”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

“You are familiar with the human space program from Earth, the Alcubierre Class! What is your impression of those ships?” Drrntr asked.

 

“I loved the Paradox, and personally, would take it over any ship Earth’s ever built…but the Alcubierre is a damned fine ship, and from what General Martínez has told me, the Orion class is going to be even more impressive. Of course, we’re gonna need them, I suppose. Doubt the Insectoids are gonna give up.”

 

“We can hope,” Lauryna said, “but no, probably not. Archon, you’re engaged to a Titan, right?”

 

“Yes, Captain, Lady Fand.”

 

“So you’re not planning to, say, move to Earth.”

 

Ryan shook his head. “I was born on Archavia. Grew up here in Avalon. My dad’s from Earth, and I’ve been there – it’s great and all – but I’m an Imperial citizen.”

 

“And a fine one,” Daru said, “to be sure. Archon, one last question; you heard my title. I’m here to integrate the Avalonian Guard into the Imperial military structure. Most of the guard will be transferred to civilian peacekeeping, and some of the guard will be transferred to planetary defense focusing on Avalon. I’m wondering, where would you see yourself when this is complete?”

 

Ryan sighed. “Ma’am…I’m honestly not sure. I am proud to have worked on the Acolyte project, proud of what we accomplished. And I think I did okay, but…well, to be honest, while I love flying, I spent years flying a ballistic jet here on Avalon, years more as a pilot before I got the Paradox…honestly, if I didn’t know Jolu had the Paradox covered, I’d ask for it back. But then, I don’t know what the Paradox is gonna be once you change the command structure.”

 

Daru’s lip twitched slightly. “If another ship were available, would you be interested in that?”

 

“Well…yes, ma’am, I would. Though of course…I’ll go where I’m needed. If where I’m needed is in a cockpit, I’ll be there.”

 

“Obviously! You are a strong and mighty warrior!” Drrntr said.

 

Daru looked over at the Ler. “Your thoughts?”

 

Drrntr bared her teeth. “You know my thoughts! A strong and mighty warrior, but with strong leadership capacity! I strongly support him!”

 

“I do too, ma’am,” Lauryna said. “Of course, I did at the start. Nothing’s changed my mind.”

 

“Indeed. Archon Carey, your aptitude tests with the Guard have been adapted for our use in the military. These have been backed up with interviews from your superiors and subordinates, as well as officers from the Terran military. Everyone agrees that you are an officer of rare potential, one who belongs in command. The only question I had was how you would react to this situation – surrounded by those much larger than you, in a stressful situation.” Daru smiled. “I suppose, given that you got Lady Fand to fall for you, and given that Magister-Imperator Tam is your mother…it shouldn’t be a surprise that you appear completely at ease.”

 

“To be honest, ma’am, I’m still unsure how I got Lady Fand to fall for me. Still…I mean, I’ve been around Titans my whole life. And I’ve met plenty of the People, plenty of Dunnermacs, and plenty of the honorable and mighty Ler. We’re all people.”

 

“Yes,” Daru said, “we are. Captain Gwenn.”

 

Lauryna hit a button, and a ship appeared; its configuration did not match any Ryan recognized. “The Aertimus H. Bass class. Its lead ship will be ready for launch in three Imperial months; I’ve just started getting my feet wet there.”

 

Ryan noted Gwenn’s new patch. “Congratulations, Captain. Good you’ve got a ship.”

 

“Indeed!” Drrntr said. “The mighty LerLauryna is well deserving of a ship! My former executive officer is the finest captain I know!”

 

“With the exception of you, LerDrrntr!” Lauryna bellowed. She turned back to Ryan. “The first ship is the lead ship, the Aertimus H. Bass. The second ship is under construction right now, with a goal of launch in eight Imperial months. It’s a fast pace, but then, we’ve got cause.”

 

“Damn right,” Ryan said, looking the ship over. “That forward phase canon is ridiculous.”

 

“More power than the Talanis class,” Lauryna said.

 

“What are you calling the second ship? Niall Freeman?”

 

“That’s the name of the third,” Daru said. “The second is the Prince Antero.”

 

“Of course. A fitting tribute. General Martínez was telling me a bit about the charge he led…gutsy as hell.”

 

“As gutsy as flying an Acolyte Starfighter against an overwhelming force,” Daru said. “Or diving into the wreck of that fighter to save your crewmates.”

 

“I did what I had to do,” Ryan said.

 

“You’re a soldier, Archon Carey,” Daru said. “You know and I know that the vast majority of people – even the vast majority of officers – wouldn’t do what Navarchos Bass, or Centurium ColVanos, or you did. Archon, you have a proven track record of command, and given your intelligence scores…well, I’m not concerned about your ability to learn procedures. When Captain Gwenn suggested this, I thought it was pushing it. I don’t anymore. Archon, I am hereby transferring your billet to the Space Exploration Corps, and commissioning you at the commensurate rank of Captain. And on behalf of Praetor-Imperii Lagvul, I hereby offer you the commission of Captain of the ISS Prince Antero, Ashay-Hoth-Beth-Zero-Two, and the opportunity to be the first human to command a capital ship in the Imperial Fleet.”

 

Ryan blinked. He looked back to the hologram.

 

“Before I accept…I feel I need to ask whether Commander Ibanez was offered a ship. She was proving the capacity of humans before I was born. I….”

 

“Captain Ibanez was offered a ship, and declined,” Daru said. “She has taken a position on the Aertimus Bass that is very much in keeping with her experience and skill. She is, as you noted, a pioneer. I appreciate that you show her respect.”

 

“She demands it,” Ryan said.

 

“That she does,” Lauryna said.

 

Ryan nodded. “Well, I would have to be a fool to turn down a chance like this. And neither of my parents raised a fool. I’d be honored to accept.”

 

“Excellent,” said Daru, extending a finger, which Ryan shook. He repeated the motion with Lauryna and Drrntr. “I will be sending through far more information than you want. We do need you to complete a course on Imperial Military Decorum, which is self-paced; there are a few minor differences between the Guard and the Space Exploration Corps. And we know you have an event on Tuaut to attend. We would like you to report to Centurium Belfsec on Titan Station three Imperial months from today, for transfer to the location where the Prince Antero is being constructed. Until then, it’s an honor to have you as a colleague, Captain Carey, and I look forward to seeing you later. You are dismissed.”

 

Ryan came to attention, and saluted, and the three officers across from him returned it, with exactly the same level of precision that Darren had shown.

 

—————————————————————————————————————————–

Today’s epilogue was brought to you by DX. Think after this there’ll be two more and that will be all the loose ends tidied away nicely.