“Well, I’d like to believe there’s gonna be a full house to see me sworn, but I know better.”

Rodrec Zeramblin laughed at his colleague. “Yeah, when they swore me in there was maybe one reporter in the gallery. Funny how quick you become a has-been.”

“You won’t be a has-been, Rodrec,” Forna Qorni said. “I’m a has-been. They’ll be building a statue of you on the square.”

“Nah. That’ll be Armac, maybe Senator Tarsuss. Maybe both. Or maybe Yamanu Neutha.”

“You’ve never been modest, Rodrec, don’t start now.”

Zeramblin chuckled. “Frak, Forna, you’re more fun now that you’re down here. And seriously, I’m not banking on it. I’m not Magilna. Diante, at best. But I’ve got my legacy, and I’m happy about it.”

“That’s one of us,” Qorni said.

“You never know. I hear that Freeman Colony is in pretty frakking good shape given that it had bugs munching on it a few months ago. Doesn’t matter why you wanted it, it’s your idea. Who knows? You might just be able to make it a positive before it’s all done.”

Qorni smiled. “Well, it’s better than being a complete frak-up. Thank you, by the way. You didn’t have to agree to swear me in.”

“Of course I did,” Rodrec said. “Forna, you and I fought a lot. But you were my gorram Deputy Floor Leader. You weren’t Brid, for frak’s sake. You accomplished a lot.”

“History will view me as wrong on the most important issue of our time,” she said. “And frak, maybe I was.”

“You were. But you weren’t Gleebo. You didn’t launch the attack on Tau Ceti, and you didn’t make the Federation secede. Gleebo was a traitor, in the end. You were just wrong. Hell of a lot of Floor Leaders were wrong. Most of us on the big things, and all of us on something.”

“I was wrong on all the big things, and that’s what history’s gonna remember,” Qorni said. “You tried to warn me.”

“I did,” Zeramblin said. “More than once.”

“There’s the ego,” Qorni said, with a slight smirk.

“Oh, your ego will recover. You were Floor Leader, Forna. Lot of brilliant politicians never get there. You made it. And while your term was short, and you frakked up a good amount, your career isn’t over.”

“The Senate barely meets, Rodrec,” she said.

“True! But that doesn’t mean there’s no role for those of us who still want to have one. I’ve been working on the joint committee for health oversight. No, it’s not big and public, but we do good work. Seems to me you’d be a great fit on the committee for crime and rehabilitation. That’s where the Senate has influence. You know how often we complained because some frakking senator on some joint committee was pushing for some frakking piece of legislation that we had to figure out how to get through? You can be that frakker pushing that frakking bill.”

“I don’t know if Armac’s gonna be interested in boosting my legislation, Rodrec,” Forna said.

“Armac has surprised you more than once, Forna,” Zeramblin said.

“Frak…she has,” Qorni replied. “And I will say…I miss working on criminal justice. Crime and rehabilitation has oversight of Rura Penthe, doesn’t it?”

“You know it does,” Zeramblin said. “And you know the House never does anything to fix that debacle because ‘Send the bastiches to Penthe and forget about them!’ polls at gorram 93 percent.”

Qorni began to smile. “You know…it will be nice to work on policy without having to face re-election.”

“When the senate works best, that’s what we do,” Zeramblin said. “Now, when we frak up, we’re just a roadblock that hurts the Empire, but working best, we push some things toward the house that they’d like to deal with, but can’t. We give them someone to blame, they give us the policy changes we all know we need, the Empire is better for it. You’re a sharp policy mind, Forna, better than you are at strategy. You want to work?”

“Yes,” Qorni said. “I do. So did you figure all this out in half a year? Or by watching while you were Floor Leader?”

“Neither,” Zeramblin laughed. “Senator Tarsuss and I had a long chat.”

“And she didn’t tell you to freeze me out?”

Zeramblin laughed. “She wanted you gone as Floor Leader, but you did yourself in there. Now? Well, we’ll see. But if you want to restructure Penthe, she’ll be happy to back you. You remember that speech she gave about her husband?”

“Hard to forget,” Qorni said. “It was the last blast to our hull.”

“It was. Well, the woman her husband had to kill was an escaped convict from Penthe. You want to help make it more secure and less of a frakup, trust me, Tarsuss won’t stop you.”

Qorni nodded. “Well. I guess this isn’t completely pointless, anyhow.”

“Nope. Maybe mostly, but not completely,” Zeramblin said, downing his kapskrasi.

* * *

“How do I look?” a nervous blonde woman said, checking her dress for the eighth time.

“Same as you did five minutes ago,” Loona said. “Pretty, fit, and possessed of an amazing backside. That dress is impressive. Tapp?”

“It’s Tannith Ley, but it’s one of her designers. Iabrito Chanel.”

“Chanel? That’s a weird last name.”

“He picked the last name himself when he became a citizen. Apparently it’s the name of a fashion designer from Earth.”

“Should have known Tapp would hire human designers. Former pet, then?”

“Yeah, he has a great story. But we probably don’t have time to get into it. We need to head over.”

“They’ll wait for me,” Loona said, kissing Aisell on her cheek. “You’re sure you don’t mind this?”

“How many ‘Consorts to the Floor Leader’ did Zeramblin have, eight?”

“Roughly.”

“Nobody expects anything out of us other than to be pretty and quiet, and I can do that. I’m not marrying you, because I’ll be frakked if I take on Imperial Host.”

“I’m actually designating Nonah as Host, long tradition of unmarried Floor Leaders appointing siblings, and I wouldn’t do that to you. Nonah will talk to anyone about anything.”

“And I would rather not talk to anyone most of the time, so that works,” Aisell said with a grin.

Loona’s pad buzzed. “Madam Floor Leader?”

“Yes, Telusa?” Loona said.

“The Senator and her delegation are here to escort you.”

Loona checked the time. “Down to the second. Tell the Senator and the Senators-designate that we are on our way.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Loona turned Aisell to look at her. “You don’t have to be there as ‘consort,’ you know. You’re my friend, and theirs, too. You can be announced as that.”

Aisell brushed a few stray hairs out of the face of the second-most-powerful woman alive, and said, “I can wander in and out, and you can too. But we always wander back to each other. If you don’t mind the press talking about you dating a hick from Korafia, I’m not gonna mind being linked to the best Floor Leader in Imperial history.”

“I’m dating a wealthy food magnate and philanthropist who helped me free our friends. And your name keeps popping up under rumored identities for Felltree for some reason,” Loona said. “The only thing I wonder is which name we should give out in the press release.”

“You of all people know I’m not gonna break Kayfabe,” Aisell said.

“No, no,” Loona said. “It’s just that the Tribe’s name for you was so perfect, and those Eyes Like Ice are, too.”

Loona gave Aisell a quick buss, and offered her arm. “Shall we?”

“Let’s,” Aisell said.

* * *

Lali Berisen checked the clock; he wasn’t going to the Senate – the Floor Leader was, as was the Minister of Non-Titan Affairs, so the House was represented. Put too many members in the gallery and it would begin to look like an invasion. Not that the Senate wasn’t awful; Berisen had spent decades in the House, of course he thought it was awful. But you treated them with due respect, so they would do the same for you.

No, he didn’t have to leave, but he did want to watch it, so he wanted this meeting to be over quickly. Of course, he would have had he needed his hair done, too.

“Rep. Brid,” he said, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Lali, I –”

“Deputy Floor Leader Berisen,” Lali corrected.

“That’s just it. How can you hold that title, be second to Armac, when we held the premiership just a few months ago?”

“That’s Floor Leader Armac,” Berisen said. “And ‘we’ didn’t hold it. Forna Qorni held it by mutual agreement of all major parties, until it became clear that she and the cabinet couldn’t agree on some fairly major things. Now, all major parties agree it’s Armac who’s best to lead us. Get to the point.”

Dases Brid gritted his teeth. Policy-wise, he liked Tradition plenty fine, but they were so gorram stuck in their ways.

“Well…Deputy Floor Leader…I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m gonna challenge Pane Segdi for leader of Empire. She isn’t challenging hard enough in the upcoming by-elections for the Titan Party seats, and Qorni’s. Armac’s gonna end up with a majority if we aren’t careful, and we’ll be outside looking in.”

Berisen sighed. “Representative, can you count?”

Brid glowered. “I know people think I’m stupid. I watch ‘Yesterday Tomorrow’ on the weekends. But I can frakking count. She just needs fifteen of the 34….”

“She needs thirteen for an outright majority. Two True Independents flipped to Liberal a month ago. And really, she needs zero. The True Independents have already told me that if she has a plurality, they are willing to backstop her. She will be able to form a government on her own. We would have to win thirty of the thirty-four seats to deny her a plurality, and I will tell you right now, we will be lucky to draw even.”

Brid slammed his fist on the table. “And what are you doing about it? If she gets 15, 20 seats then, we’re just gonna be left with our hands on our genitals. You think Armac’s gonna care what we think if she has the majority?”

“Yes, I do,” Berisen said.

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“Because she assured me she would. We are at war, Representative Brid. She has already promised that even if she gets an outright majority, she intends to keep Segdi at Defense and Eusy at State, and will give us at least a quarter of committee chair positions. And she has asked that I stay on as Deputy Floor Leader, even if I’m also Minority Leader. And believe me, her side of the aisle isn’t necessarily thrilled that she won’t just run over us, but she and I both understand that right now, it is important to be united.”

“United with the liberals?”

“United against the bugs, you frakker!” Berisen thundered. “Or have you forgotten about them in your zeal to knife Pane Segdi in the back? You came in here because you were hoping that Tradition would lend you support, maybe even encourage a few members to switch to Empire, and help you gain control of your caucus. Well, let me tell you what I’ll give you: not a gorram thing.”

“You and I agree on more than you and Segdi, you know that.”

“So what? Let’s say you beat Segdi. What happens? Well, probably everyone more liberal than you leaves Empire to go join Aspire, or go independent liberal. Armac ends up with a solid majority, including plenty of recent conservatives. She doesn’t need to give us seats on the cabinet, she can give Segdi and Eusy seats they’re due as members of the majority. We get no chairs. We get nothing. And while I trust Armac would still listen to us – she learned from Zeramblin, Brid, and he always respected the minority, even if he didn’t agree with them – our power to make changes would be gone.”

“So you’re gonna sell out the conservatives for the cabinet,” Brid huffed.

“We’re fighting with everything to win as many seats as we can, you nitwit. And we think we can win as many as nineteen, which will keep Armac from running wild on domestic issues. But we can read polls and do math, and we know what’s coming next. The Floor Leader saved two million lives. She’s going to get support from even conservative districts.”

“This is why I’m gonna try to move,” Brid said. “Because you’ve lost your way, all of you. You play games, and don’t fight for what’s right. You shake wrists with the enemy and you think you’re friends.”

“The bugs are our enemy, Representative. If you think the Floor Leader is…well, understand, I care a lot more about this Empire than you. And if you are so lost that you can’t recognize your enemy during wartime, well, you will have an enemy in the House. But it isn’t Armac. It’s me. If you get control of this side of the chamber, I will personally move to dissolve the House. I will campaign against you. And when Armac has seventy percent of the seats in the next legislature, I will laugh at you.”

“You don’t care about conservative principles at all,” Brid huffed, getting out of his chair. “I will be sure to tell everyone….”

“First, should you share details of this meeting, I do too. Not that Pane isn’t aware that you’re working against her, but she’d appreciate me calling a press conference to preemptively denounce you. And I will. And second, it is precisely because I care about conservative principles that I will fight you. You aren’t a conservative, Representative Brid. A conservative believes in the Empire, first and foremost. We believe in the rule of law, the traditions of our government, and respect for others. We recommend patience and careful consideration, and argue against making foolish, quick changes. But we do so from a position of reason, and we accept arguments against us if offered in the same way. You would blow up our coalition and badly injure your allies, and set up liberals, moderates, and even conservatives as your mortal enemy, and all because you disagree with Armac. That is not conservative. That is far more radical than anything the liberals have promoted.”

“We have a gorram pet on the cabinet,” Brid said. “That ain’t conservative.”

“His name,” Berisen said, “is Minister Ammer Smit. He is a citizen of the Empire. The law is very clear on that. If you deny the law, Representative, you are not a conservative. You’re a seditionist, and given that we are at war, that would make you a gorram traitor. So consider very carefully how you proceed. As for me, I am done with this meeting. I am focused on winning the war, as is the Floor Leader, and the cabinet – including Minister Smit. If you think him a pet, understand that I think a pet is far better at his job than you are at yours.”

“You said in the debate –”

“The debate is over. I obey the law. That was my oath, you know. And yours. Good day, Rep. Brid.”

“I think….”

“I said, good day,” Berisen said, turning away.

* * *

About a hundred Terran light years away, Decanus Svenna Botlan sat across the desk from her boss’s boss’s boss. On said desk sat two Terran general officers; there was a time when that would have been mildly amusing to Svenna, but knowing who they were and what they’d done, their presence only made her more nervous.

At Svenna’s left sat Magister Tholiscil. Magister the Hon. Lady Ene Tholiscil, OTE, GE, director of construction for the Planetary Defense Corps.

Her boss’s boss’s boss was the lowest-ranking officer in the room, for frak’s sake.

“Decanus,” Centurium Belfsec said, “are you familiar with the planet Persephone?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Svenna said. “It’s the ninth major planet in the Sol Earth system, orbits way out, something like 180 Archs or so.”

“185.7, to be exact,” Tig said. “Admiral Nejem, ma’am?”

Hala blinked on an invisible cursor, and the Sol Earth system spawned holographically above Tig’s desk. The image swooped over Titan, and then out toward a distant dot, which slowly grew into a mid-sized ice giant with a small planetary system.

“Persephone takes a bit over 18,500 years to orbit Sol Earth,” Hala Nejem said. “As….”

“That’s 2800 Imperal years, Decanus,” interrupted Tholiscil.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Svenna, who was quite familiar with translating Terran to Imperal years.

Tholiscil continued. “As viewed from the inner solar system, the planet is currently located in the Terran asterism known as Taurus. That’s an incredibly useful place for it to be, because it is in the same part of the sky as Sol Archavia, and not far distant from Tau Ceti or Sol Tarsuss.”

“Titan Station is an important facility, but it has limitations,” said Ted Martínez. “It’s right on top of Earth, cosmically speaking. And that makes it a terrific place to run civilian traffic into. And an important forward base….”

“The point is that it’s too busy with civilian traffic to allow us to maintain the necessary military traffic,” the Magister said. “Especially with increased transit to this system, and the activity of the natives. Even with new pads, this station is getting overwhelmed.”

“So we’re going to establish a station out by Persephone,” Svenna said. “That makes sense. A joint station, or Terran?”

“We will be constructing it,” Tholiscil said. “Once completed, it will report to Titan Base, though thanks to some history and treaty names, we will likely only change its status, not its designation. Which is why Centurium Belfsec is running this meeting, this new station will be part of her command.”

Svenna wasn’t sure, but she thought Centurium Belfsec’s smile in the direction of Magister Tholiscil was a bit scornful; still, the joint commander’s voice stayed even. “So to answer your question, it will be a joint station. And to be precise, ma’am, that’s why Admiral Nejem and I are running this meeting, Hala, you had some thoughts, I know.”

“Yes, Tig, thanks,” Hala said, and Svenna definitely caught the note of sarcasm in the tiny flag officer’s voice.

“Ms. Botlan, if you were going to build a base from scratch out in Persephone’s orbit, where would you start?”

Svenna had a strong feeling she was about to be transferred away from Prometheus Station on Earth.

“Well,” she said, “I’m going to assume we’ve already done a geological survey, and identified the best moon to put it on.”

Hala nodded. “Innana,” she said, “fourth moon out. It’s roughly the size of Luna. It has significant ice reserves and iron….”

“We have not completed our survey,” Tholiscil said. “We have not had an Imperial ship make a survey. We hope to soon.”

Svenna blinked. “Admiral Nejem,” she said, “what Terran ships have surveyed Innana?”

“The Orion just completed a second sweep. Obviously, we’ve had a number of ships through the system. The Alcubierre under both General Martínez and Commodore van der Graaf. And the Cherenkov and Bousaid are currently completing close-range mapping of Innana….”

“As I said, there’ve been some brief looks at the world, but the Imperial military has not mapped it,” Tholiscil said.

Svenna looked over at the humans, and then back to the Titan General officer. She looked in the direction of Centurium Belfsec, who was no longer masking her frustration.

“Magister,” Svenna said, “you know I was on this station for First Contact, right?”

“I’ve read through your file, Ms. Botlan, you certainly did well in your time here, but….”

“Ma’am, I have a point I would like to make, please.”

Svenna had interrupted a general officer, and people have lost their careers for less. But the other people in this room had to be diplomatic and respectful of a senior Titan officer. She was a station systems engineer. Her job was to fix things. If she was impolite, she might get a demerit and a talking-to, but she could live with that.

“Ms. Botlan, I was not finished,” Magister Tholiscil said. “I outrank you and Centurium Belfsec. Hell of a station you’re running, Centurium, bad enough you talk back, but a gorram Decanus….”

“My apologies, ma’am,” Svenna said, “you haven’t let Gen. Martínez or Adm. Nejem complete a sentence yet, and they both outrank you. I thought that was how you wanted us to proceed.”

Tholiscil glowered. “How dare you speak to me that way. I’m a gorram Guardian of the Empire, you know!”

“Magister Tholiscil, as I was saying earlier, I was on this station for First Contact. All four of us were. And I’m not bragging about my part in it, everyone else in this room did a lot more than I did that day. You know, I met Alesia Nonahsdottir, she was on the station with Sorcha Freeman. And she was having to pretend to be a pet, because this was three years ago. And when I first met her, I treated her exactly that way. Like a pet. The woman just received the Order of the Emperor, she’s a gorram hero of Tau Ceti, and the first time I met her I cooed over her like she was a gorram klipkaer.”

“Get to the point, Decanus, I want to let you have your say before I bust you down to Princeps.”

“Ma’am,” Svenna said, “I have felt guilty about that since basically the day it happened, even though Dr. Nonahsdottir forgave me when I had a chance to apologize to her. But I don’t feel guilty about just her, it’s every human I met over the years, and treated like it was impressive that they could use a litter tray. I’m ashamed of it, and I should be. But ma’am, I will say this: When I was treating Dr. Nonahsdottir like a toy, I didn’t know any gorram better. I was stupid and young and didn’t realize that humans were people. But you, ma’am…you do know better. The Zeramblin Act is law, humans saved our arses at Tau Ceti. So with precisely the respect you are due, ma’am, where the frak do you get off treating our allies like they are mud on your boot?”

Magister Tholiscil stared down Botlan, her lips a thin line. “Centurium Belfsec, call for the peacekeepers. I am ordering her placed under arrest.”

“That is not a lawful order, ma’am,” Tig said, evenly.

Tholiscil turned to the base joint commander. “The frak you say!”

“Ms. Botlan observed you showing disrespect to allied officers, officers who under the Alliance Agreement outrank you. They were polite enough to ignore it; I was hoping that we could get through this meeting and get you the frak off my station before I ended up having to turn myself in for busting you in the chops. Ms. Botlan is correct, Magister, your behavior has been abominable, and I will back her to the hilt for defending the senior officers in the room against your insubordination. I was hoping that I could handle this administratively through Krator Boleus, but you don’t appear to be willing to give me that option.”

“I’m wearing a comet!” Tholiscil said, pointing to her breast.

Tig stared her down. “I’m wearing an artificial arm I picked up at Tau Ceti,” she said, pointing to her shoulder. “You think a comet scares me? Ms. Botlan was ready to die to protect humans back at First Contact, you think it scares her? As for Hala and Ted…they’ve been through more than you or I could ever dream of handling. Nobody’s scared of you, Lady Tholiscil. You are a good officer with a strong history of management, but you’re acting like a bigot, and you’re insulting our allies, and I will not accept that on my station. Please depart at your earliest convenience; as Joint Commander Titan Station, I am recommending to my co-commander that Earth be placed in sole charge of construction operations on Innana.”

“You can’t….”

“I concur, and the order is given,” Hala said with a grin. “Thank you for your assistance, Magister Tholiscil, but you can leave now, and as they say in Ted’s country, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“You little…Centurium, you are a gorram idiot! Waste my time, drag me from the Dodecahedron just to send me back when I don’t pretend like these…our ‘allies’ deserve to be saluted like a real officer? Who do you think you’re dealing with? I’m not just a general officer….”

“Yes, you’re a Guardian of the Empire,” Ted said. “You’ve mentioned it. You know, that reminds me, isn’t Alex Carey about to get sworn in to the Senate?”

“Is that today? Gorram, time flies,” Tig said.

“A human joining the Senate. Hmmf.”

“We should make time to watch it. I think Thyllia said Pryvani was going to be there to sponsor Lord Bass, too,” Tig mused.

“Like you know Pryvani Tarsuss well enough to call her that,” Tholiscil said.

“Have you met her husband, Krator-Imperator Tarsuss?” Ted asked. “I spent a fair amount of time with Zhan on the Alcubierre’s mission. Great guy. Oh, and he outranks you, too. Does it bother you that if you get to see Lady Tarsuss, you’re going to have to salute her human husband? You know…like he’s a real officer?”

The Magister leaped out of her seat, and slammed her palms on the desk, shaking it badly enough that both Ted and Hala momentarily lost their footing. “Pathetic,” she said. “Look, you may be our allies, but you are not my equals, and neither is…whatever the frak Tarsuss thinks she’s ‘married’ to. Humans are not fit to be citizens or officers, and I’ll be frakked if I salute them! They deserve the back of my hand!”

Tig leaned forward, and before anyone realized what she was doing, she had leaped over the desk. Before Tholiscil had a chance to react, Tig had her down on the ground, but she knew that would hardly be enough, not with Titan’s light gravity. “Ms. Botlan, I could use some help restraining the Magister,” she said, and Svenna dutifully obliged.

“Peacekeepers,” Hala said, “Report to Centurium Belfsec’s office, security emergency, priority one.”

Less than twenty seconds later, the door opened, and four armed officers rushed into the room. “Place Magister Tholiscil in custody,” Hala said.

“Yes ma’am!” the leader, a young Ler officer, said. “The charges?”

“Well, assault, for one,” Ted grumbled, getting to his feet.

“You’re taking orders from them?” Tholiscil barked. “I order you to arrest Centurium Belfsec and these…human officers.”

“Admiral Nejem is the superior officer, as is General Martínez, who is a glorious, adorable hero as well! We report to them, and to the honorable, heroic Centurium Belfsec! Secure the Magister!”

“Charges, Ms. Grrakk,” Tig said, as she let them take over, “are assaulting two superior officers, disobeying a direct order from a superior officer, and threatening a superior officer – I do believe what she said about Krator-Imperator Tarsuss counts.”

“Serious charges!” the Ler said.

“We’ll have statements to you within the hour, and both Gen. Martínez and I were recording,” Hala said, straightening her uniform.

“And I’ll alert Praetor-Imperator Nix that Magister Tholiscil has made a direct threat against one of his reports. Probably I should contact Zhan and Pryvani as well,” Tig said.

Tholiscil had been struggling up until Tig said that; she had not quite realized, up until that moment, that they were not name-dropping when they mentioned Pryvani.

They simply knew her well enough that to them, she was “Pryvani.”

“You…don’t have to do that,” Tholiscil said. “Really.”

“I don’t?” Tig asked. “You made a threat against Lord Tarsuss, I think I really do.”

“I just…it’s been stressful. I was going to retire, then the war started, I lost my investment in a human breeding operation on Granav…of course I wouldn’t hit a human. Or any officer,” she said. “Honestly. I was just frustrated.”

Tig took a slow, patient walk up to the Magister, and stared her dead in the eye. “I’m confining you to the brig for 164 hours,” Tig said. “When that time is up, you and I will have a little chat about what you are going to do to make up for the damage you did today. I will have to notify Krator Boleus and Praetor-Imperii Lagvul of this incident; if they believe I should give you a chance to redeem yourself, we may be able to find a way to handle this administratively. I feel fairly certain that your comet will change color…if it doesn’t become a couple stars…or one. But if you’re lucky, and you do your frakking job and start treating your fellow officers with the respect they are due, that might be the worst that will happen to you.”

“You think I’ll accept demotion all the way down to Centurium?” Tholiscil said.

“We could call Pryvani up and tell her what you said you’d do to her husband,” Ted replied. “You ever talk to Alex Carey after a few hustains? Frak, I’d accept being busted to junior sanitation engineer before I’d cross her.”

Tholiscil glanced over at Ted, and glowered. “You’re probably right about that, you frakker.”

“You said he was right, and you didn’t cut him off!” Hala said. “We’re making progress!”

“Take her to the brig, two-day insubordination hold, Ms. Grrakk,” Tig said. “Admiral Nejem or I will contact you when we have further orders.”

“Yes, ma’am!” the Ler bellowed. “You should consider yourself lucky!” Grrakk said, as she led the Magister out of the room. “Do you know how many people they have killed in glorious combat? It is –”

Tig sighed, and righted her chair. “Should have killed her in glorious combat.”

“Not worth it, honey,” Ted said. “Your son would miss you while you were on Penthe. Figure it’s easier just to let Lagvul bust her down?”

“Probably. Frankly, I think he’ll ask her to resign. And I think if she’s not a complete idiot, she will.”

“She isn’t a complete idiot, that’s the frustrating part,” Hala sighed. “I was looking forward to talking with her. She’s good at what she does. Too bad she has to be a bigoted fucker.”

“She isn’t good at what she does, ma’am, if she doesn’t treat other officers with respect.”

“Ah, Decanus Botlan,” Tig said, with a weak smile. “Not how I thought this meeting would go. We wanted to talk to you about serving as the Imperial lead on this base project.”

“Imperial lead… so I’ll be reporting to a human, ma’am?”

“Yes,” Hala said, “I guess this is primarily on us, now.”

“Sounds good. I was going to recommend we start with human facilities, ma’am,” Svenna said. “Ground control, gunnery, power – none of that needs Titans right away. Main thing we can do early on is grunt work – clearing area, moving equipment, that sort of thing. We should prioritize building the human habitat, maybe with a few basic sealed bunkhouses for Titans working on construction. We can fabricate the shell for the human part of the base here on the station, and if we need Empire-specific tech we can get it from Avalon or Azatlia.”

Hala smiled widely. “Ms. Botlan,” she said, “you are going to be a perfect fit. And before we get further into the details of Persephone Station, let me say…it is good to see that you’re as brave as ever.”

Svenna bowed her head, just a bit. “I’m sorry to say that my people are as foolish as ever.”

“Nah,” Ted said with a grin. “This time the bigoted jerk was just yelling. Giving my wife the chance to take her out, which…honey, you have no idea how amazing it is to see a person the size of a building kick someone’s ass.”

Hala sighed. “So I should see if Ulala wants to babysit for you two later?”

Tig grinned. “Probably. But first, Ms. Botlan, let’s talk about the new station, and your new role, and the promotion you’re about to get for moving to the middle of literally nowhere…..”