Rieven turned from the ‘FOB’ for clearing the Death’s Silence, his mind already latching on to the next matter requiring his attention when he received an incoming hail alert with major Hardy’s tone from the speakers in the gold stitching on his uniform colar. He briefly tapped his collar once to receive the hail. “Major, Rieven speaking.”

  “Sir, you need to see this. M’girl here just uncovered something for your eyes only.” Rieven’s body went rigid. ‘For your eyes only’ was reserved for the sort of intelligence that would change the course of the empire, it was not used frivolously. The fact that his head of intelligence was using that term meant that they had uncovered something world-breaking.

  “Where are you located?”

  “We are in the Death’s Silence Ship’s Computer Central Processing Room, stupid name sir, but it’s what the dragons call it, guess they think it’s elegant. I’ve sent directions to your datapad, it’ll direct you right.”

  “Very well major. See you in four. Rieven out.” He tapped his collar again to end the call. He was walking before the exit tone even sounded. Three minutes later he walked into the CP, he refused to use the full name, took too much time, Grief and Steeltoe shuffled in behind him.

  “Major, what do you have for me?”

  Hardy closed the doors behind the marines and walked over to stand by a woman in her late twenties. “Spaceman first class Hermendez here had the brilliant idea to do some extracuriculars while we were spiking the Ship’s Computer for malicious code. She decided to run a search for humans through the database and found something worth your time. Hermendez, please show the commandant your discovery.”

  “Yes sir.” She tapped a few buttons on the computer terminal and an axiomatic screen appeared between Rieven and the Silent Stalkers. It was a comm recording between Blind-eye and another dragon, one Rieven hadn’t seen yet. This one was ancient, its scales were thick and broad, and the white colour was fading into ivory at the edges where it began to grow translucent. Its size was difficult to determine, but it looked more like a serpent than it did a lizard. Hermendez tapped another button and the recording began playing, Blind-eye began speaking on the left-hand side of the split screen.

  “My lady, I have no reason to expect the condescension of your glory through visual communication this day.” The obsequiousness of the statement felt slimy to Rieven.

  “Of course not, Rising Sun, you have no reason to expect anything I condescend to give you. You are not worth the expectation, you are worth whatever time I manage to find that fits you. Such a time is this moment.”

  “Thank you, my lady. I am gratified to have received such consideration from one of your imperial standing.”

  “Heat Death Virabdhara is moving.” The green’s head snapped up at that, surprise in his eyes. “Yes, that red prick has found them, beings he claims are capable of internal axiom manifestation.” She rolled her eyes, “you know and I know that this is false, but I cannot afford for him to posses even the sheen of success in this matter or my plans will be stalled into ruin. His envoy has informed me that one such being is being considered for translocation to this empire. This cannot happen. It cannot. I need you to burn your holdings to fuel a working that will bring this being, along with any associated with him to our empire, where you will slay them one and all, to the last breath.”

  The green dragon jerked his head back in shock. “B, b, burn my holdings? My lady, that is”

  “That is precisely what is required of you. The emotional connection you have to your familial holdings, combined with the lives of those who live therein are sufficient to allow your working to bring them here not only smoothly, but without warning. There will be no transition, there will be no surge of energy, there will only be a change in reality. The working will be so subtle that only the change in the stars will be noticeable, though I doubt such creatures will even care.”

  Rising Sun’s colouring was still pale, he had not recovered from the shock yet. “My lady, I will lose everything if I do this.”

  Her eyes narrowed at him, “Am I to understand that you are offering your refusal to comply with my desire?”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  He trembled slightly, “N no, my lady. You are not meant to do any such thing. I am merely concerned about the balance of sacrifice.” His voice trailing off into nothing at the end.

  “Sacrifice? Sacrifice? No, Rising Sun. This is not sacrifice. Sacrifice would be me watching that red prick ascend in glory and honour within the Imperial Court. Sacrifice would be your refusal to prevent such an occurrence. Sacrifice would be me becoming personally involved at this moment. No. Do not speak to me of sacrifice; you are not close enough to making a sacrifice to even broach the subject. You will do this, or your entire familial line for twelve generations will be shattered against the stars. You will do this, or your place in the tapestry of the great families will be scorched into oblivion. You will do this, or the pain remaining within the nature of the Rising Sun after your punishment will prevent any claimant for twenty generations from actuating it; Rising Sun will belong to the group of lost natures. Do you wish that?”

  The dragon paled even more, he looked now like a white dragon that was sickly green. “My lady, I do not wish that.”

  She smiled then, gently and with great seeming affection, “You will do this and the number of systems you claim as yours will triple. Your familial holdings are near the border of the contested zone, you can claim the Wythgoesh brought death and ruin upon you and yours. You will do this and your name shall be marked in ascendency with the bestowal of knighthood within the order of the Solar Knights of the Centre Star. Do you wish that?”

  He fell over himself to respond, so quickly was his countenance changed. “Yes, my lady! Yes, I desire this! I have ever desired this!”

  “Then you know what you must do?”

  “Yes, my lady, and I will do it gladly.”

  “Go, knight claimant, and be made ascending.”

  The recording paused as the screens began to darken. Rieven stared into the eyes of the white dragon. She looked more untrustworthy than a three year old sitting next to cake crumbs claiming they didn’t eat it. Rieven knew dragons could not, or would not, lie. Jackson had confirmed this. Her words would have been fulfilled, he thought. That explains why he had been so quick to initiate hostilities, and how his fleet had been so close to them. It had seemed to structured to be coincidence at the time, but there had been no answers given, nor context provided from which answers may have been gleaned. Now they had answers. The Empire of the Celestial Skies would burn the Operatic Empire down in their fight over the Throne Above the Clouds, and they had the means to rewrite reality at the expense of systems. Systems! They could burn worlds and stars and fuel workings they could not defend against. He cursed to himself. This was not good. This was not good at all.

  He looked at Hermendez through the axiom screen, “Have you found anything else of this nature or on this subject?”

  “I have, sir, I’ll bring it up now.”

  The view of the two dragons was replaced by a memo. Huh, thought Rieven, I guess every race does memos. How strange.

  To: All Members of the Fleet of the Rising Sun

  From: Rising Sun Ahknahten

  Subject: The Commencement of Imminent Hostilities

  Body: Our intelligence has determined that a new race of beings will make an incursion into our most glorious empire. I have validated the omens. You are hereby directed to focus all energy on locating foreign actors within the bounds of our jurisdiction. Once located, I will begin a dialogue. Should they not fall on their knees before the might of our glory, I shall commence their destruction.

  That is all.

  Rieven snorted. That was amusing. It was also concerning, as it set up a paper trail contrary to reality. The auditors would love this. When he looked at Hermendez she again tapped a key on the terminal and a final document filled the screen. It was an encrypted communication – encrypted on the receiver’s end, not the sender’s, so they could easily access it. There was a surprising lack of security within the computer system. I wonder why that is?

  Borogovdha, it is time. My worlds burn. Make good your part or we shall both be destroyed.

  “Well,” said Rieven, “that’s incriminating. I wonder if Big Red knows this?” He looked at Hermendez. She gazed back at him with calm resolve. “What do you plan to do next, spaceman first class Hermendez?”

  She straightened. “I had planed to make it my personal mission to determine what other plans these bad actors had with regards to our navy and to Heat Death, as he seems to be our support here and they don’t care for him. Additionally I intend to bring in another spike to hasten the joining of the SC to the new SI. That will tell us much more quickly if there is anything we need to know.” She walked forward and handed him a small data stick the size of a cigarette. “This is a copy of these three evidences. The relevant meta data has been included, so any attempt to validate their reality will return only truth. I thought you might want a copy.”

  His fingers closed on the drive, and he looked at her intently. “You have done well, spaceman first class Hermendez. I am proud to have you as a part of the Silent Stalkers. Thank you.”

  She nodded and stepped back. I have to decide what to do with this. Do I really want the dragons to know that I am aware they can burn worlds and stars to rewrite reality so subtly it can’t be discerned? Probably not. I’ll keep this close to the chest. This drive is secured with Void Stalker seals. It won’t be broken into quickly if at all. I’ll keep this with me just in case. He looked at the marines behind him. “You two know that I’ll have a special something just for you if you ever allude to, speak of, or hint at what you have heard, seen, thought, or witnessed here this day?”

  “’Course, sir. We ain’t seen nothing anyhow. I’m not sure what you wanted us here for in the first place. Right Grief?”

  “’Course, sir. We’re Dragon Guard. We guard your secrets. It’s all safe with us.”

  “Good.” He turned back to the major. “Thank you for getting this to me quickly. It explains much. I need you to have one additional priority: learn as much of this ability to burn systems as you can. We need a defence against it immediately. Additionally, learn what you can of this knight order. I need to know if they are going to come after us because a potential claimant was slain in shame. It would appear that pride rules much in this empire, and I would not have us fall victim to it again. We will not get far if we are fighting reality on our way back to Homeworld.”

  “Aye sir, that was my figuring on the subject. I’ll let you know what we find. I’ll keep it small, no more than necessary to get the work done.”

  “Thank you major. On to the next fire.” He opened the doors and walked out, his mind filled with the horrible possibilities that had just opened up for them if they continued to remain unprotected. “Time to grow,” he said quietly to himself, “time to grown and to guard. It will not be long now before they come for us. We only have to outlast their available systems. Eventually they will run dry.” It didn’t sound any more comforting out loud than it had in his head. Not comforting at all.