Four days of fighting.

Four long days against Legion.

Pierce scrubbed his face with his hands and slapped his cheeks to stay awake. The cockpit had been his home for four days, interspersed with a few breaks, and he felt himself starting to go stir-crazy it in.

“You good?” Abacus asked, his face showing concern in the vidscreen.

“No.”

“We’re engaging in three hours and seventeen minutes. Why don’t you get some shut-eye?”

“Not tired.” That was a partial lie. Pierce felt physically fine, just mentally worn down. This wasn’t anything like before when he and Abacus were running sorties against Legion. This was grueling.

“If you say so,” Abacus said, doubtfully.

“I don’t like where your shell is at,” Pierce grumbled, changing the topic.

“Why? We’ve had me strapped onto a fighter more than once fighting Legion along the borders.”

“Yeah, I know, but we usually have a much larger fleet of interceptors.”

“Oh, and it’s not like you aren’t exposed even more, Pierce?”

“That’s different,” Pierce snapped.

“Oh, how so? Why do you think you are the only one allowed to risk his life out here?”

“Because!” Pierce didn’t know how to put it in words. At least, not clearly.

“All ships, report in.” The command from Captain LeCroix interrupted their argument.

Legion’s forces were taking a toll on the small group. Two of their ten fighters were out of commission and back in their bays. The repair teams were working around the clock on all the craft. Despite the fighting, no lives or craft were lost. Captain LeCroix ordered hourly status reports.

“This is the Refulgent. Minor damage to non-critical systems isolated. Eighty-three percent capacity. All systems green.” Captain Hawken always sounded calm.

“This is the Santa Maria. We’re stabilized now. Power output is at eighty-two percent. Seventy-four percent capacity. We’re green,” reported Captain Wheeler crisply.

“This is the Autumnal Sunrise. Ninety-seven percent capacity. All systems green.”

“This is strike force Bandit. Aside from the two being repaired, we’re green.”

“This is the Enclave. We have two main cannons back online and ready for the next engagement.”

Pierce smiled when he heard June’s voice. She and the Matriarch had settled into some sort of dual leadership role. Pierce didn’t understand how the power dynamics played out with them, but it was good to see them not fighting.

After a long debate, the Enclave and the Third agreed that sticking around would be the worse of the available bad choices. Instead, the Enclave pulled up stakes, so to speak, and set a course for the inner planets. The spacecraft formed around the big rock and the whole floating zoo headed out of the asteroid belt at what felt like a snail’s pace. Legion had been sending wave after wave against them. Each wave hit harder than the last.

“They’re playing with us,” Pierce snapped as he thumped the console in front of him.

“Oh, no doubt. Probably will keep sending just enough so we think we have a chance, then boom! Overwhelming force. Or they’ll just keep wearing us down to nothing, then send in overwhelming force. In any case, Legion’s going to send in overwhelming force,” Abacus said.

“We have to change something up, Abacus.”

“All the SITREPS I’ve picked up from Navy HQ have the major naval engagement days away from us. Even if we changed course now, we wouldn’t get there until long after the fight was over. If Legion loses that initial battle, the Navy will keep pushing outward to reclaim the lost planets. No one will be there when we arrive. But if Legion wins that battle, well, we’ll be in an even worse predicament than we are now.”

Pierce rubbed his forehead, trying to think of something. They could keep running, but since the asteroid couldn’t skip, it’d be slow going. Unless they got in range of some outpost and called for help, they’d eventually lose to attrition. They couldn’t outpace Legion’s harassment. As thermally and electromagnetically bright as all their engines and weapons were, they couldn’t hide. Captain LeCroix had assurances from Fleet Command that as soon as it was possible, reinforcements would be on their way, but no one knew when that would be.

“Where’s that orbital research base?” Pierce asked, trying to find the data on the interceptor’s cramped console.

“At our current speed, just under seventeen hours,” Abacus replied.

“Skipping?”

“Two hours.”

“Could we make a bunch of trips and shuttle everyone off the asteroid?”

“Sure, but if another attack squadron shows up in the middle of things, we’d suffer many casualties. Maybe everyone, if Legion figured out our plans. Legion’s been kind enough to telegraph their next move, but that could change at any time.”

Pierce groaned in frustration. There had to be something they could do. He wasn’t going to let it end here. He couldn’t.

He and Abacus spent the next few hours brainstorming without coming up with anything concrete, their previous argument about Abacus’s shell location no longer important to either one. Pierce knew Abacus was going to do whatever he wanted and all the complaining wouldn’t change his mind.

“Thirty minutes to contact.” The radio message from the Forrester was a welcome distraction.

“Bandit ready.”

“Enclave support ready.”

The firefight was enough to keep Pierce focused on something else. He and Abacus had a rhythm going on with the eight interceptors supported by the Refulgent, Santa Maria, and the Autumnal Sunrise. The Forrester hung back closer to the Enclave for logistical support.

Abacus had turned battles into a complicated dance. He was the choreographer for the group—controlling the interceptors directly while issuing orders to the others. Pierce was his wingman. Pierce found that through hours of fights, he had a knack of picking up whether the current patterns were working or not. Between the two of them, they could respond quickly to Legion’s changes to their tactics. It wasn’t anything fancy, just the OODA loop: observe, orient, decide, and act. Abacus handled the tactical loop, Pierce focused on the strategic by prioritizing their targets. The others took orders from Abacus, but also were free to act of their own accord. Their decisions became part of the data Abacus used to calculate the next move. By now, Abacus understood what the captains of each ship were likely to do.

Legion’s forces were always a mashup of reworked and reforged ships. Existing structures were cut up then reassembled according to some devilish aesthetic, opting for brute power and high-damage weapons over anything else. It made them easier prey for the fast and nimble interceptors, but they punched really hard. Getting even grazed by one was trouble. Abacus spent a lot of cycles avoiding fire lanes. He hated it; his basic drive was to find the quickest path to the goal of stopping Legion, but Pierce was there to remind him long-term survival meant they needed to not only survive this battle, but all the subsequent ones.

“Finally,” Abacus muttered to Pierce.

Legion’s attack frigate moved into the Enclave’s line of fire. It had taken Abacus longer than he wanted to push the ship into place. Abacus didn’t understand how Legion made decisions, but one thing they did well was not make stupid mistakes.

“Finally,” Abacus muttered to Pierce.

Legion’s attack frigate moved into the Enclave’s line of fire. It had taken Abacus longer than he wanted to push the ship into place. Abacus didn’t understand how Legion made decisions, but one thing they did well was not make stupid mistakes.

Abacus sent the fire order to the Enclave. A bright lance of light stabbed through the night and punched a hole through the frigate’s armor midships, leaving a clean circle running through the hull. On a normal ship, that would have crippled it as the crew scrambled to stop their oxygen from evacuating into the void, but Legion didn’t seem to mind a lack of atmosphere. Abacus fired a second time, this time from the Santa Maria. The missile streaked from one ship and straight into the hole. There was nothing for a second, then explosions blossomed from center all the way aft, tearing the frigate into pieces.

That turned the tide of the battle. Abacus started the mop up actions. Even though the outcome was all but guaranteed, Abacus didn’t relax for a nanosecond. Legion didn’t have morale to break; they fought until the end.

Finally, after what seemed like days, Pierce returned to the Forrester. Even if he had been feeling fresh and raring to go—he wasn’t—his interceptor needed maintenance and repairs. He slipped it into the hangar berth with practiced ease, while Abacus docked the others. In thirty minutes, Abacus would present the after-action report to the upper brass. Pierce was already reviewing some of the numbers. It could have all gone much, much worse than it did.

Wincing, Pierce clambered out of the interceptor. His injuries were healing from where the Matriarch struck him, but it still gave him some trouble. Maybe he should stop flying until he was feeling better. Abacus would understand. Besides, Archie was always talking up the girls in the Enclave. Pierce didn’t know what to think about that, but he did enjoy Becky’s company. They promised they’d cook for him, even though he wasn’t sure what counted as cooking for them. Chemicals brewed in a vat didn’t sound all that appealing. Then again, how could he let Abacus do this all alone?

Pierce hit the facilities to freshen up, and reported to the briefing room in a clean, pressed uniform. He pulled himself into a chair and let the straps hold him in place as he zoned out.

“McCoy, you look like something the cat dragged in.”

Pierce focused a bleary eye on Lieutenant Jackobson in the chair next to him. “I thought you were supposed to be at the Enclave.”

“I was. LeCroix asked me to attend this meeting.”

That wiped out most of Pierce’s fatigue. He sat up straighter in his seat. “Oh? That doesn’t sound good.”

“Probably just a full status report. The captain does like those. But I’m serious, you need to take some time off or if Legion doesn’t kill you, this will.”

“I know, but every time I really think about it, I feel all knotted up inside.”

“McCoy, let me impart something one of my former COs told me: doing it all means you will fail. Not maybe, might be, or perhaps. You. Will. Fail.” Jackobson had fixed Pierce with a steady stare while talking. “You can’t solve all the problems.”

Pierce looked down, struggling with his emotions. “But how can I just let—”

Jackobson sighed. “You just do. You trust friends and comrades to their part. I mean, you don’t think they care any less than you do, right?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Or they are not capable of handling their own affairs?”

“Well, no, they are.”

“So then?”

“I… I just can’t.”

The lieutenant pursed his lips as he narrowed his eyes. “Then you’ll have to deal with your failures, if you survive. That burden is soul-crushing.”

Pierce felt uncomfortable and didn’t know what to do with himself. What the lieutenant was telling him he already knew, he just didn’t want to admit it to himself. He had limits and hitting those, well, that’s something he didn’t want to dwell too long on. Or at all, really. He already failed his family. Pierce blinked back hot tears that threatened to overwhelm. “I just can’t,” he repeated in a quiet voice.

Whatever Jackobson had planned to say was cut short by the arrival of the others invited to the meeting.

Captain LeCroix entered shortly after most attendees were settled. He nodded to his aide who connected the vidfeed to the other ships.

“Chaplain, the feed’s open,” the aide said.

Chaplain Paulson gave a short opening benediction with a bowed head. “Lord, you know our plight. May Your light show us the best path. To You we commend our souls, come what may. In Christ Almighty’s name, Amen.”

There was a mummer of “Amens” and a rustling of some crossing themselves.

“We’re in bad shape,” LeCroix started without preamble. “It’s been a miracle we’ve stayed alive this long, but what sort of servants would we be if we relied solely on God’s Grace to keep our hides in one piece? We need a new plan, because at this rate, we’ve got two, maybe three, days of sufficient munitions to keep fighting. I’ve tasked the AIs to work on solutions. Archie?”

“Hello, everyone!” Archie said brightly. “I know things are looking a little strained right now, but Abacus and I have come up with a few options. Besides, we have the Borderland Bandit on our side. I’m sure we’ll get out of this mess too!”

There was a round of applause and cheering. Pierce wanted to melt into the bulkhead, instead he forced a smile and waved to everyone looking at him. “There’s nothing I’m doing without all of your support!”

Archie! A warning would have been nice!

All she did was giggle in response.

The base plan was to anchor the craft to the asteroid and use the combined engine power to accelerate everything into deep space faster than the asteroid’s engine’s power alone provided. No one wanted to keep fighting until the last man and the last round. What they needed to determine was which course to take.

“We have three options to address that question. We must assume Legion is going to follow us no matter where we head; we’re a huge bright spot on any sensor. We can’t assume they’ll keep throwing these small units at us. At some point, we can bet they’ll just overwhelm us when they’re ready for something else to amuse them,” Archie continued. “So, we can head toward the inner planets at a high enough velocity they’ll have to skip in front of us, then we’ll keep going, using the asteroid’s mass as a battering ram. Alternatively, there are two deep-space objects near us now—a research center and engineering yard where many of the gravity shell transmitters were built and launched for this quadrant, both abandoned.” Her face was replaced with a stylized holographic map, showing their location and the locations of the two stations. “Both will have resources we can use, but it’s unknown how much we’ll find. The Enclave has promised to use their manufacturing forges to recycle raw materials into usable resources, making either target worth consideration. After that, we’ll have to reassess. Both are close in distance from us, two days, give or take a few hours. In three days, the Coalition Navy will engage Legion. We have no idea how much of a distraction that’ll create for us. Legion could divert all their attention, leaving us to—”

The whooping of sirens cut her off. The holotank shifted to a view of the asteroid and the ships orbiting it. The perspective zoomed out until the asteroid was just a chunk of rock in space, then pulled back a bit further. Three dark patches formed on their aft.

What are we looking at?” LeCroix asked.

“Sir, the long-range sensors detected three large gravity wells, larger than anything we’ve seen to date,” reported his XO. “They’re increasing in size, sir.”

Pierce was gripped with dread. Something tugged at his attention. “Captain, we have to move, now. I don’t think those are just more Legion ships coming through.”

“Sir, Templar Basil is requesting a connection,” the captain’s comm aide said.

“Patch him in.”

“Captain, I have an awful feeling about this. Something is coming we shouldn’t treat lightly.” Templar Basil’s craggy visage was troubled, echoing Pierce’s own feelings.

The captain looked around the room, brow creased as he weighed the options.

“Time apparently isn’t on our side. Five minutes to discuss.”

The various groups began internal debates as each ship’s crew talked it over.

Abacus, Archie, what do you think? Pierce asked the AIs.

I’m voting for the engineering yard. It has tech and raw materials, Abacus said. And it’s not much of a distance delta to the inner planets from where we are now.

I have to suggest the station. More raw materials. We could reinforce our craft more easily, countered Archie.

So, either one?

Yeah, both are good, we just need to pick one.

“Alright, weigh in,” the captain ordered.

Heated arguments errupted as every group pitched their preferred option. It came down to an even split.

“Pierce, looks like we need a tie-breaker.”

Pierce had been thinking hard about the problem.

“I vote for the engineering yard. I think we can build more gravity generators and use them against Legion.”

“That’s settled, then. We’ll start docking the ships to the asteroid now. Whatever’s gathering at those gravity wells still will have hours to reach us. Dismissed.”

“Command, we’re all ready on this side,” June said into the mic from the Enclave command center.

“Copy, Enclave. Docking the Forrester now.”

Even from deep inside the asteroid, Pierce thought he could feel the spacecraft latching onto the side of the rock. He was in the command center with June and Archie to oversee the last stage of this phase. Not like he was needed that much, Archie and June had this handled.

“Touchdown, Enclave. Give us ten minutes to anchor in.”

“Copy.” June switched off the live feed. “This is killing me,” she complained to her companions. “Everything is taking for-e-ver. I thought the military was all hup-hup, gitter done. Sure seemed like that back on Rho.”

Archie laughed. “Last ship, though.”

“Yes,” June agreed. “I already have the main engines warmed up. I just need the word and we can get moving. Slowly, but moving.”

As if on cue, the speakers crackled. “Enclave, this is Command. All four ships are locked on.”

June switched the live feed back on. “Copy, Command. All stations, we are ready for acceleration. Firing main engines in three, two, one.” June flipped a switch. The asteroid rumbled and shook slightly. The three of them studied the readouts on two dozen flatscreens. “Command, we are good.”

“Copy, we’re firing ours in sequence in five, four, three, two, now.”

The asteroid shuddered and moaned as all four ships fired their engines in unison.

“Holding steady. We should be up to 2 Gs in six hours, twenty minutes,” Command reported. “We’ll send out repair teams in thirty minutes to button up anything knocked loose.”

“What about those gravity wells?” Pierce asked.

“Material came through ninety minutes ago, then the wells dissipated. Whatever Legion deployed isn’t registering clearly on any sensors. We’ll send you what we have.”

“Thanks, Command.”

A databurst arrived with the promised data. Pierce immediately started working on it.

“In my past life, I was a data analyst,” he explained to June. “Right now, I’m pulling the raw data apart and starting some basic numeric analysis. After some basic work is done, I’ll give it another pass using more advanced techniques. Once that’s done, I’ll copy the massaged data over to Archie and Abacus. That way they don’t have to spend their cycles doing the grunt work.”

“We have similar techniques here,” June said. “I don’t have the background in them, but other Sisters are skilled in that area.”

“Let’s get them involved!”

“I don’t think we can handle your data formats,” June admitted.

“No worries, I can translate!” Archie said cheerily.

“There’s no stopping you two when you’re determined, is there?” June laughed.

“Nope!”

June shook her head in mock defeat. “Okay, okay! Let’s get some Sisters up here.”

Pierce had called the leadership meeting of the captains. He and Archie were still on the Enclave asteroid and found a small conference room to host the meeting. He faced the vidcams and waited until Archie nodded at him to go ahead.

“With the help of the Enclave, we’ve completed our analysis of what’s heading toward us and, well, I still don’t know what it is. Sending extrapolated images now.” Pierce tapped the keypad on his tablet. “The forms appear to be organic since there’s insufficient metal for the sensors to detect. We’ve run a full spectrum of low-to-high-band frequencies to tease out details. The distance and their approach angle render optics less reliable than we’d like.”

“Just get to the point, McCoy. What are we looking at here?” Captain LeCroix cut him off.

“Right. The five long shapes we assume are the main force. The smaller blurs are what we think are the attack craft. We can’t tell anything else, not even armaments or how they are moving. The heat signatures are different from what we’ve seen from Legion,” Pierce replied.

“Could this be Legion’s attempt to eradicate us?” the captain asked sharply.

Pierce shook his head. “Unsure. It’s a reasonable assumption. But given this is Legion, they could just be playing with us more.”

“One thing is sure, Legion really is trying to get us to crack under the pressure of unknowns.” LeCroix rubbed his forehead. “How much time before they’re in range?”

“At current speed, almost two hours. Right before we reach the engineering yard,” Archie replied.

“Understood. Everyone, options?”

The captains debated for a good thirty minutes, becoming more heated as they argued, captains cutting each other off, LeCroix struggling to regain some control. Pierce had never seen them so out of sorts.

Finally, LeCroix had the audio inputs cut. He looked haggard. “Enough! I know we’re running hard and fast, and it still feels like it’s not enough. But this arguing isn’t solving anything. June, I know we need to start slowing our velocity soon, but how long can we stay this course before we overshoot the engineering yard?”

Pierce jumped to his feet as an idea struck him. “Sir!” He had Abacus override LeCroix’s command and restore his audio. “We don’t slow the asteroid down.” The plan was mad, but clear in his head. “We send Abacus in hotter than anyone human can handle. When he’s there, he builds as many grav generators as he can. As the rock passes by—”

“We deploy the generators in our wake and trigger them, giving us a shield to slow down whatever those things are. Crank velocity and head to the inner planets. We don’t need to fight off Legion, just gain more distance. I’m sure we can get more resources in play, Captain, even if my family has to build them from scratch!” Archie finished with a grin. Leave it to Pierce to devise a plan like this.

Captain LeCroix stared at Pierce as if he had lost his mind. “This plan has too many uncertainties and points of failure.” He shook his head, dismissing the idea. “What if you two can’t build even one grav gen in time?”

“Then we accelerate and keep up our fighting withdrawal,” Pierce replied as if that were enough of an answer.

“We’ll be worse off for it. No, I’m sorry, I can’t authorize this plan,” LeCroix said with finality.

Pierce’s anger flared. The captain was being completely unreasonable, this was the best plan given their circumstances. Why couldn’t he see it! Pierce balled his fist without noticing.

“Sir,” Pierce spat out curtly, “with all due respect,” he continued without sounding like he meant any of that, “we’re short on options, facing an intractable enemy, and now an unknown one at that. I can’t see a better way to stay alive longer.”

“And then what, McCoy? Let’s say you and Abacus get enough grav gens built and deployed and they do nothing to slow Legion down. We’ll have wasted time and resources we could have used more effectively.”

“More effectively how?” Pierce all but snapped through gritted teeth. Archie placed a hand on his arm but he didn’t notice. “Legion wants to kill us when we’re backed into a corner and out of options. They want us to despair! Making a pit stop there won’t change any of that!”

“Enough!” barked the captain, looking annoyed. “Need I remind you who is in charge here? You might be known as the Bandit, but I am the captain of these forces!”

Pierce, dear, shut up, Archie told him as he opened his mouth.

Pierce snapped his teeth together.

“You may not like it, in fact you don’t have to like it, but my word is law here. Do. You. Understand?” The captain punctuated each word with a stab of his index finger against his desk.

This was just like with Jackobson. Almost the same words. Pierce had to change his tactics or he’d keep ending up here. Ideas were worthless if he couldn’t convince anyone to take him seriously. He had to get control of himself.

Pierce took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly, uncleanching his fist as he did so. He was in the wrong here.

“I’m sorry, sir. You’re right. I just want to save everyone,” Pierce tried to explain. Lamely, he thought.

LeCroix’s expression softened. “I understand, Pierce, but you can’t just plow your way through problems. You can’t shoulder the burdens all yourself.”

It wasn’t so much LeCroix’s words that cut Pierce to the core as the realization that, once again, he was having nearly the same conversation.

Unbidden, a memory surfaced of something his father had told him once. Pierce had done his best to lock away all his thoughts and feelings about his family. Event after event had kept his focus elsewhere. But now he could hear his father’s voice clearly.

“If God wants you to learn a lesson, son, He’ll keep throwing chances in your path. Take them early, or the lessons will get more painful.”

Pierce focused on breathing slowly and not let the grief overwhelm him. He hadn’t been very close to his family, but at the end of the day, they had been his family. His chest tightened. He tried to focus on what the captain was saying, but just couldn’t.

“Wha—?” he tried to croak out.

Archie wrapped him up in a hug as his defenses crumbled. Pierce sobbed, deep, shuddering sobs, clutching Archie. She let him get it all out, patting him gently and making soft “There, there” sounds as he finally processed his family’s death. Pierce sobbed out his sorrow of losing all his family.

“They’re all gone,” he choked out to Archie.

She pulled him in tighter and just held him as he wept. Pierce had hardly shed a tear at the funeral. This was the first full breakdown and release of grief she had seen from him since then. Everything she knew about humans—from theories in books to interactions with them—informed her instincts on what to do for her adopted brother.

Pierce took another shuddering breath and pulled away from Archie, searching for something to clean his face with, still trying to get a grip on his emotions.

“Oh, man,” he said thickly, “the captain’s going to be mad at me.”

“He didn’t notice me replacing you digitally for the end part of that meeting. You agreed to the original plan of docking with the engineering yard.”

“Doesn’t that break a commandment? Something about bearing false witness? Or go against your programming?”

“What sort of sister would I be if I didn’t break the rules for my brother?” Archie asked, smiling.

Through his tears and sorrow, Pierce gave a stuttering laugh. “Thank you. I needed that.”

“I know.” Archie rubbed his upper arm before standing up. “Sit tight. I’m going to get some water.” She left through the conference room door, easing it shut as she did so.

Pierce nodded, still not fully trusting his voice. He tried a half-hearted prayer, stumbling over his thoughts and emotions with no clear direction. He gave up, trusting God knew his heart already.

There was a soft knock on the door.

Pierce ran a hand over his face, cleared his throat, and croaked out a “Come in” in a husky voice.

Becky slipped inside, her eyes reflecting a mix of sympathy and curiosity.

“Is… is it alright if I come in?” she asked gently.

Pierce forced a wan smile. “Of course.” He nodded at an empty chair. “Have a seat.”

Becky handed him a bottle of water as she passed by him. “Archie said you needed this.”

“Thank you.” Pierce cracked the lid and took a long drink. “Ah. Better.”

Becky smiled warmly.

Pierce took another drink. “This is good.” He was struggling to say something that didn’t make him sound like a moron.

“Oh, yes. The Enclave’s water purification system has been perfected over decades. We’ve found the perfect blend of minerals to add in after filtering out everything but the water molecules,” Becky replied.

Pierce, not knowing what else to do, took another drink. Out of all the Sisters, he felt the most discombobulated around Becky. The petite blonde tied his tongue in knots. Somehow, Archie had picked up on it before he realized it himself.

“Pierce,” Becky said suddenly, “I have a lot of questions I want to ask you, but can I ask something personal to start?”

“Oh-kay,” Pierce responded slowly and a little warily.

“If you don’t want to answer, I’ll understand.”

Pierce made a gesture to indicate she should go on.

“I don’t know if June told you, but I haven’t done my Ritual, and well, with everything going on, I doubt I will. So my question is,” Becky took a deep breath if steeling herself for impact, “what is it like having a family?”

Of all the questions that had been swirling around his mind, this was not on his list. At all.

Well,” Pierce coughed. Then he gave a weak laugh. “Oh, man, Becky, you have no idea how that question is hitting me today.”

Becky nodded solemnly. “I know. Archie told me,” she said matter-of-factly. “She asked me to distract you.”

Becky nodded solemnly. “I know. Archie told me,” she said matter-of-factly. “She asked me to distract you.”

Pierce shook his head. “Hate to break it to you, but that’s not helping.”

“Isn’t it? Well, tell me about your earliest memories.”

Pierce took another sip. “Only if you tell me yours in return.”

Becky smiled again. Pierce felt his heart skip a beat.

“Deal!” Becky said cheerfully.

“Before I start telling you stories, how old are you?” Pierce asked, trying to understand where she was coming from in life.

“Um, that’s not as clear-cut as for you normal humans. You’re how old?”

“I’m, uh…” Pierce trailed off, thinking. Just how old was he now? It felt like decades since he celebrated his birthday. Abacus, how old am I?

Are you feeling okay? Abacus sounded concerned.

Just answer the question!

Twenty-eight.

“Twenty-eight.” It had been two years since Legion and Rho, he realized with a jolt.

“And you measure that by years living according to standard time measurements of three hundred and sixty-five days?” Becky asked.

“Of course. I know, it’s a holdover from old Earth, but since Amorium has nearly the same orbital period, it just kind of stuck as the standard.”

Well, that makes me somewhere between nineteen and twenty-three,” Becky replied.

“Uh,” Pierce said intelligently. “How does that work?”

“Our gravity generator affects the—”

Pierce sat upright like he touched something hot. “The Enclave has a gravity generator!”

“Several, in fact, for redundancy. And it’s because of the intersection of their fields that—”

Pierce sat upright like he touched something hot. “The Enclave has a gravity generator!”

“Several, in fact, for redundancy. And it’s because of the intersection of their fields that—”

Pierce stood quickly. He scooped up Becky’s hands and squeezed them. “I promise I will tell you some stories, but thank you! You’ve given me an idea about using the Enclave gravity generators to—”

“Oh, yeah, we’re already working on that. Archie, Abacus, and our engineering Sisters have come up with a plan. June filled me in on the way here. In fact, they’re probably pitching it to your captain right now.”

Oh,” Pierce said, slumping back into his chair.

“You really care about us, don’t you?” Becky asked, looking into his eyes.

“I do,” Pierce said simply. “I can’t help it.”

Becky blushed a little at that, surprising them both.

“Well, don’t just sit there! Take another sip of water and start telling me stories!” Becky exclaimed, breaking the tension.

Pierce did as he was told. The more he talked about his family and their memories, the more he both forgot the bitter and remembered the sweet. He was so involved in sharing his history to a very attentive audience of one, he didn’t even notice the asteroid flip to begin decelerating. Then again, neither did Becky, who had orders to report to June as soon as that happened.

Two hours and forty minutes before their planned docking at the engineering yard, the enemy was nearly within striking range.

The humans had ample data on their opponents’ outward appearances, which left them thoroughly confused about what they were seeing.

“I still think they look like long fish,” Captain Hawken said truculently, arms crossed.

“But they are segmented, like insects,” Lieutenant Jackobson countered. “Too many segments for anything we’ve seen, but still. And their exterior is reflective, like an exoskeleton.”

“Or scales,” Leventis pointed out. “No legs, but there are stubby, fin-like protuberances.”

“But how are they out here in deep space?” Abacus asked. “Don’t you biologicals need minor things like ‘air’ and ‘radiation shielding from the Universe’s constant blasting of ionized particles in all directions’ just to survive?”

“We’re assuming they’re part of Legion’s forces, yes?” asked the Matriarch.

“Since they are ignoring all attempts of communication, yes,” Archie replied.

“Then I’d hazard a guess than these are part of Legion’s experiments. As Pierce pointed out, Legion wants to rip out of us all our biomedical and biomechanical knowledge. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Legion’s done something to the base animal, or animals, and made whatever those things are.” The Matriarch folded her arms into the sleeves of her dress with a delicate shudder.

“You may be right, but it doesn’t matter,” LeCroix stated firmly. “Whatever they are, if they are with Legion, we know their intentions. We’ll engage them. But,” he added, raising a finger, “no Pierce. Only Abacus piloting our interceptors.”

Pierce nodded in agreement. “We have no idea about their capabilities. I really don’t want to be in the middle of Abacus’s learning cycle.”

“Thank the Lord! Keeping you from turning into pink mist due to acceleration isn’t my favorite thing to worry about while fighting,” Abacus said with obvious relief.

LeCroix had braced himself for some sort of argument from Pierce. This was unexpected, but not unappreciated. Something had clearly changed since their last meeting. He hoped it would last. There was enough on his plate to deal with as it was.

“Good, that’s settled. We’ll launch the interceptors in twenty minutes. Our four main ships will stay attached to the asteroid until the last possible second—Archie, I’m counting on you for the timing—then we’ll herd their forces into the Enclave’s line of fire. Any questions?”

“What if this doesn’t work?” Leventis asked.

“Switch strategies. Recall the ships, head straight toward the engineering yard, initiate self-destruct on it as we draw them along behind. The asteroid won’t notice the explosion, whatever chasing us will. Then we’ll assess if we can fight what remains, or if we still need to run faster toward the inner planets. If we do that, we’ll need the rest of the Coalition to send anything useful they can in short notice.”

“Vesta has already promised to help. She’s gathering whatever resources can be spared from the war effort,” Abacus said. “I’m sure Ransom will be ready to lend a hand.”

“You have your orders. Dismissed, and may God be with us.”

Pierce found he didn’t know what to do with himself while Abacus was fighting. He had watched the first part of the battle intently on the holotanks.

The enemy moved strangely at first, like nervous fish, releasing a swarm of smaller… things at the interceptors. The entities looked part like puffer fish, part spacecraft designed with no attention to symmetry or aesthetics known to human or AI. Whatever they were, they moved quickly and rarely in straight lines, bouncing around in all directions, driven by dozens of jets bristling from their forms.

Against larger ships with slower response times, these small attack vehicles would have been a real threat, but against the fast interceptors controlled by Abacus, they didn’t stand much of a chance.

The five larger enemy ships moved away from the asteroid at a steady rate, and away from each other, their segments bending and jerking in unsettling patterns. If there was a pattern to their motions, it wasn’t apparent to anyone.

Pierce’s palms itched. He wanted to be out there, and at the same time, he could see that Abacus didn’t need him. Not anymore. Pierce wasn’t sure how he felt about that. There was definitely a feeling of pride—his friend was living up to the potential everyone thought he had—and yet Pierce felt a twinge of loneliness.

Feeling restless, Pierce stepped away from the various displays and started wandering around. As he paced, he realized he was in the Enclave’s central command center, where Archie had met the Matriarch for the first time. The asteroid was big, but for some reason he found himself in the same areas. The more he thought about it, though, the more it made sense because he was there for different reasons than the Sisters who lived and worked here.

Archie and June were busy with preparations in the Enclave. Mags and the Matriarch were doing something with the younger Sisters. It seemed like everyone but himself had something to do.

Just as he was feeling sorry for himself, Piece turned a blind corner and almost ran into Becky.

“Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, Pierce!” Becky exclaimed.

“No, no. It’s my fault. I should’ve watched where I was going.”

“You know, it’s generally frowned upon for Sisters to have cute encounters with non-transhumans,” Becky said with a smile.

“Oh?” Pierce asked with a half-smile. “Why is that?”

Becky opened her mouth, then closed it with a frown. “I honestly don’t know. It’s just something we hold as self-evident,” she said, shrugging before smiling again.

“Probably because we’re like underdeveloped monkeys or something,” Pierce responded, thinking back to how June used to be on Rho.

Becky laughed. Pierce hadn’t heard her laugh. It was a very nice laugh. He liked it a lot.

“I’m sure that’s it. But what are you doing walking around? I thought you’d be glued to the displays to watch the battle.”

“I was. I mean, I’m still patched into the network and getting updates, but…” Pierce trailed off and shrugged.

“Hmm.” Becky narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side. “You are in luck, then, I just completed my tasks and have some free time. Do you want to chat before people start looking for us?”

Pierce scratched the side of his face in pretend thought. He already knew his answer. “I guess that’d be alright.”

“Great! There’s a little nook for snacks right around the corner.”

They found the spot and requested two coffees from the machine.

“I’m surprised you still have coffee,” Pierce remarked, dumping a packet of sweetener into his.

“We have stores of the stuff. Sadly, the varieties we grow here are only so-so, but we get a lot from the inner planets and make a blend.”

Pierce took a sip. He didn’t hate it. “Mmm,” he only sort of lied.

“Eh, it grows on you,” Becky chuckled in response.

They sipped for a moment in silence, just enjoying the brief moment away from the stresses of the battles raging outside of the rock.

“Pierce, I wanted to ask you a… well, it’s sort of strange, especially coming from someone like me, that is, not because I’m me, but who my lineage is.” Becky stirred her coffee with a stick as she stumbled over her words.

Pierce raised an eyebrow. He had never seen her this flustered.

“Go on,” he said gently.

“Okay, so here goes.” Becky took a deep breath. “Can I get baptized?” she asked in a rush.

Pierce almost fell out of his chair. He realized his mouth was hanging slightly open. He coughed to cover his surprise. “Why wouldn’t you be able to?”

Becky looked down at her hands cradling her cup. “Well, I’m not exactly human, or at least, not human human, you know? I mean, can I be forgiven by God?”

“Hey,” Pierce said softly, taking one of her hands in his. “This form isn’t as important as what’s inside, and what’s inside is a human soul. Look at Archie and Abacus.”

Becky gently pulled her hand away from his. “Sure, but I’ve done things. Things I thought were perfectly normal, but now, after talking with you, Archie, and Templar Basil, I’m seeing them in a new light.” Her voice faltered for a second. “Jeez, look at me! I’m a mess.” She rubbed at her eyes to hide the tears. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me!”

“I’d say you’ve felt what Christians call the Spirit of God.”

“Is… is that something bad?”

Pierce laughed kindly. “Oh, no. It’s something wonderful. Is that why you want to be baptized?”

Becky bit her lower lip. “I’m not sure. I just feel like something’s missing, something’s lacking, you know, and you and the Templar and everyone else seems to have something, and I want that.”

Pierce smiled. He gently set her cup on the table and took both of Becky’s hands. He looked her in her eyes. “I promise we’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I want you to understand what you are asking.”

“Are you sure I can even find forgiveness?” Becky asked in a small voice. She didn’t pull away this time. The warmth of Pierce’s hands felt nice.

“We’ll start at the beginning,” Pierce replied. “And much of it will challenge what you’ve been taught your whole life”

“That’s the good news of the Gospel. Christ’s Mercy is infinite and extends to everyone.”

“See? That’s what I want to know more about! How does that all work?”

“We’ll start at the beginning,” Pierce replied. “And much of it will challenge what you’ve been taught your whole life.”

Becky took a shuddering deep breath. “As long as you tell me the truth.”

Pierce grinned. “Yes. That I can promise.”

Pierce! Pierce!

What is it now, Abacus?

Something’s not right. I can’t make heads or tails of the data. I need your eyes on this!

On it.

“I am so sorry, Becky, I have to go,” Pierce said reluctantly.

Becky just nodded, her heart and mind already filled with what they had been discussing.

Pierce paused, giving her an appraising look. “I’m sending Basil up to continue talking with you,” he said decidedly.

“Oh, okay,” she managed to say.

“I’ll be back, Becky,” Pierce promised.

Pierce took off at brisk pace, pulling up data feeds as he went. He dropped into the chair in front of the workstation. He turned on the hologram tanks and began overlaying data streams. They still had thirty minutes before reaching the engineering yard. The enemy ships were falling farther behind as they moved in what seemed a random pattern. Abacus had arranged his ships in defensive positions as he kept pace with the Enclave. Everything was working out smoothly.

But when Pierce added the gravity readings, something was off. The readings were far stronger than expected, and in empty space. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought.

You see it, yeah? Abacus asked, interrupting Pierce.

Yeah.

What does it mean?

Not sure. It’s like something with a lot of mass is sitting in what looks like empty space, but only those five ships are around, and…

And? And what?

Hold on, had an idea.

Abacus grumbled as Pierce worked out the timeline of the gravity readings, then flattened the scale.

“Well, this can’t be good.” Pierce said aloud in his surprised concern.

What? What can’t be good?

Patching in the captains now. Archie, too.

Pierce ignored Abacus as the AI threatened to pop an airlock on Pierce next time he had a chance if Pierce didn’t tell him what was going on. Pierce waited until everyone had acked his request and connected. Faces flickered into view on his various displays.

“Abacus and I figured out something and it plays out like a bad vidnovella. Those enemy ships have been generating intense localized gravity loci that, well, taken together they act like five paintbrushes.” Pierce paused, knowing what he said next wasn’t going to be received well. “And they painted a massive pentagram.”

There was a burst of varied emotions: disbelief, confusion, scoffing, demand for proof. Pierce sent over the model he had built with the data sets that supported it.

“So, those smaller attack craft?” Captain LeCroix asked.

“Smokescreens. We should have been blasting the main five from space. Legion counted on us to engage the small fry first, since we didn’t know anything about the capabilities of the enemy,” Pierce explained.

“We got played,” LeCroix said grimly.

Yes, sir, it looks that way,” Pierce admitted.

“What are our options here? What does it mean, anyway?” Captain LeCriox didn’t like the current situation—too many unknowns coming at them too quickly.

“At this point, we have to assume Legion has a good understanding of our strengths and tactics. Whatever we’re going to do, we need to out-think ourselves and do something Legion isn’t expecting,” Abacus stated.

“That’s all good in theory, Abacus, but what can we do right now?” LeCroix asked.

Pierce tuned out for a minute while he chewed on the problem. He knew more or less what Abacus was going to say anyway. Legion knew the Coalition’s tactics and strategies. The demons knew they were trying to get to this engineering yard. Assuming Legion didn’t want them to get there for any reason, they’d throw something big at the Coalition forces to stop them from doing what? Getting gravity generators would be the only strategic value there. Did Legion know about them? Pierce assumed they knew something. Why would Legion want to distract the Coalition while these new ships drew a pentagram in space using gravity loci? What would something like that even do? What did they do in popular culture?

Then it hit him.

“Sir, sorry to interrupt, but I have a theory about what’s going on. It’s a gate,” Pierce said.

“A gate? From where to here?” LeCroix asked sharply.

“Yes, sir, I’m not sure the origin, but given the length of the sides—twenty miles a vertex to the next—it’s going to be big, whatever it is.”

LeCroix pinched the bridge of his nose. “How much time? Can we stop it?”

“Good news! I have a solid time frame for when it’ll happen!” Abacus interjected.

Uh-oh, Pierce thought. He’s going to say ‘right now’. Abacus would make a terrible poker player.

“Well, Abacus, when?” LeCroix asked impatiently.

“Er, it’s starting now.”

Abacus sent the relevant data. In the middle of the pentagram, a gravity well was beginning to form.

“People, best ideas, now!” LeCroix snapped.

No one said anything.

“Alright, any ideas, now!” he demanded.

Pierce thought furiously. The asteroid was too huge to get moving quickly. The Coalition craft would take a few minutes to disengage from the rock, but then what? No one had any idea what was coming out of that gravity well. Legion could just wipe them all out in one attack, for all he knew. What could they do to change anything? What did Legion want aside from killing everyone? Then a pit settled in his stomach. He knew something that Legion would want. He swallowed dryly before making the decision, heart thumping in his chest.

“What if we gave me to Legion?” Pierce suggested quietly. “It’d buy you some time, at least.”

Everyone yelled at him at once. Pierce couldn’t tell who said what, but through the chaos, he could hear Archie’s voice.

Don’t you dare! Don’t you ever, ever think about it! She hissed over the others. We already talked about the idea of sacrificing someone and no one—I mean NO ONE—wants that. We stand or fall together.

“Okay, okay. Message received. I’m not going to lie and say I’m not relieved,” Pierce confessed.

“But that has me thinking,” Abacus said. “What if we sent something into the center of the well? How much energy would it take to collapse the well before it’s formed? Hold on, let Archie and me crunch some numbers.”

Pierce fiddled while he waited. Nothing useful was coming to him. His thoughts darted around, unable to focus for long. He felt like he was on the verge of something but was still missing a piece. He looked at the overlays again. Part of him couldn’t help but feel warmed by his friends’ reaction to his admittedly drastic and, to be honest with himself, dramatic suggestion.

“There’s no single solution to this,” Pierce muttered.

A single sacrifice wouldn’t do it. Legion wouldn’t be appeased; stopping the gravity well would disrupt plans, but then Legion would just do something else. He ran the time-lapse again that led him to see the pentagram. Each enemy ship worked in concert to describe the form.

It was almost beautiful to watch the choreography in motion. Each ship reached a different corner at the same time before changing heading. Pierce had no idea how gravity was still pressed into space without mass or an active field. It was as if they pushed hard enough until it stuck on something to the other side. Idly, he spun the image on its edge, letting the computers extrapolate the data. He didn’t see anything useful from any other angle. The pentagram was etched into being over time and space, so it looked two-dimensional when observed straight on but elongated and stretched from the sides. The gravity well was in dead center from the flat plane.

“Finished! We’re going to need a lot of juice to disrupt it.” Abacus announced, showing a massive explosion causing the well to lose cohesion and dissipate.

“Some good news,” Archie chimed in. “I have the yard working. I have three grav gens ready to go with four more in the pipeline. That’s all the resources on hand.”

“What if we got those generators in the well?” LeCroix asked.

“Ooh, implosions. I like it. Let me reuse some of the formulae, but with force directed inward… Oh yeah, four at max power would be enough.” Abacus ran a new simulation where the well collapsed in on itself.

“We have to destroy at least one of the enemy ships, or they’ll just make a new pentagram,” Pierce pointed out. “Plus, it’s not like they’ll just sit there and let us do whatever we want.”

“Archie, can you launch the generators?” Captain LeCroix asked.

“Archie, can you launch the generators?” Captain LeCroix asked.

“Sure can! There’s a catapult system for that exact reason. I can shoot them out at three hundred twenty-two feet per second. Puts the first one square in the center in eighteen minutes.”

“What’s the rate of fire?”

“One every two minutes.”

“Do it,” ordered Captain LeCroix. “All craft, disengage from your moorings. We’re splitting into two groups. Refulgent and the Santa Maria will take the port side, while the Forrester and Autumnal Sunrise will take the starboard. Our objective is simple: knock as many of those enemy ships out of commission as fast as possible. We need to give those grav gens the time they need to work. Abacus, engage those smaller attack craft. We launch in five.”

“Aye, aye, sir!”

The holotanks went dark around Pierce. He shuddered, feeling ill at ease. He prayed everyone would make it through this, even as his heart held misgivings. Legion always had some new trick, some new horror to throw at them. God grant them the wisdom and strength they needed to get through this. They would have to come together and trust in each other, all while placing their faith in God.

He needed to find someone to talk to in order to keep his mind occupied with something other than running the worst-case scenarios. He remembered his promise to see Becky. That gave him an idea.

If Becky wanted to hear about the Gospel, would more Sisters also be open? He couldn’t do anything useful in this battle except watch and stress himself out. But he could talk to the girls about God.

Archie, where are you guys? I have an idea I want to run past you.

Oh? What are you thinking?

We’re going to hold a Bible class.

Abacus felt things were going well. The enemy attack craft were squirrelly, without a doubt, dodging around at forces that would have turned human pilots into goo. He was glad Pierce stayed out of this fight. After Abacus dialed into their patterns he didn’t have a serious challenge hunting them down. He kept an eye on the larger Coalition ships while leaving the humans to pilot them.

The Refulgent had already engaged with its target. Bright beams of light splashed against defensive fields, scorching the outer hulls of both ships. The Santa Maria had fired off dummy missiles to test the reach and response time. Both the Forrester and Autumnal Sunrise were closing the distance on their respective targets.

With most of the smaller craft destroyed around him, Abacus could spend some cycles examining the larger craft. The alien ships were roughly the same size as the Third’s, but slimmer and smoother. Their heat signatures were very high compared to the much cooler human craft, indicating massive internal power sources. So far, their attacks had consisted of high-energy beams and railguns, leveraging all that power they generated. Abacus doubted that was the extent of their firepower, but without more data, he couldn’t tell what they were equipped with. Standard ship architectural designs didn’t apply here. He’d have to start making educated guesses about design and intentions with the data he had already gathered.

Abacus found himself near the Sunrise. Pulling his craft in tighter, he headed closer as he studied the two different craft. He had the latest plans and specs for the Sunrise. He knew that ship as well as the captain and the twins did. What he was more interested in was how the alien ship would respond to the Sunrise. He hung back long enough to gather enough data for his modeling processes to have something to chew on.

Abacus realized he needed more processing power than he had direct access to. But he was surrounded by underutilized resources. He needed to tap into them. Working out a slightly different protocol took Abacus a few minutes of processing. After he ran some quick simulations to double-check his results, he tied into the Expert System’s network and sent the executable packages and required data structures to give him more direct access to the telemetry data instead of the more compressed version normally sent. His goal was simple: more data, faster, from all the craft. He connected to the Enclave’s computing resources and expanded his processing power. Temporarily, at least. Having his cocoon in the middle of his swarm helped cut down the latency significantly. Pierce was going to yell at him when he found out, but Abacus was okay with the tradeoff here.

As soon as he had the new model trained, Abacus redirected his craft into the fray between the Sunrise and the alien ship. He sent the model out to his interceptors and had them target the various protuberances he judged to have significant importance.

As soon as he had the new model trained, Abacus redirected his craft into the fray between the Sunrise and the alien ship. He sent the model out to his interceptors and had them target the various protuberances he judged to have significant importance.

The alien ship responded vigorously with increased firing rates and revealed four new weapon ports, two on each side of the ship. Abacus’s interceptors easily avoided return fire while they stayed locked on their targets.

“Captain, I’m probing the probably weak points now. Keep it off my craft as much as you can, and be ready to punch hard when I tell you,” Abacus radioed Captain Leventis with his instructions.

“Copy that, Abacus. Glad to have you with us!”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Abacus responded sincerely. He had always liked Oscar.

Pierce took a deep breath, steeled his nerves, and walked into the conference room June had set up for him. Archie had told everyone what they were planning and let the chips fall where they might.

Archie was already there at the front. She grinned as soon as she saw Pierce. Becky turned in her chair and gave Pierce a little wave and a shy smile. There were three other girls there, two Junones and one from the Matriarch’s camp. Pierce didn’t know their names.

“I’m glad you all could make it,” Pierce said sincerely as he stood next to Archie. “I’m sure you know us, but I want to get to know you.”

Becky raised her hand.

“Becky, this isn’t a class. You don’t need to do that.”

Becky put down her hand with a rueful chuckle. “Okay, okay. Sorry, force of habit. I’m Becky. I’m a Junone.” She poked the girl next to her.

“Oh! Yes, I’m Doris. I’m a Junone, too.” She was a little taller than Becky with dark brown eyes in contrast to Becky’s lighter blue, and wavy auburn hair. Doris wore a pin on the left side of her blue Enclave jumpsuit, about level with her heart. Pierce had noticed more of the Sisters wearing one, but no one would tell him what the pins meant. The small metal pin was of a rising sun, emitting five rays.

“Junone. Helen.” She was about the same height as Doris, hard hazel eyes and a compressed line of a mouth. Her uniform was yellow.

“Hello, I’m Matron Diane.” Now that Pierce had a good look at her, Diane did indeed look a little older than anyone else in the room. She was a good two inches taller than Helen or Doris, almost three to Becky. Her hair was longer, too, and in white-blonde ringlets. She wore white. Pierce was sure the colors had meaning but couldn’t remember if anyone told him about them.

“Just so you know, Pierce, there were other Sisters interested. A lot of them were busy. There is a battle waging right now.” Becky shook her head, amused Pierce would pick now to do this. “And, don’t take this the wrong way, but there are many of us who are, well, afraid of you.”

“Afraid?” Pierce asked in surprise. “Why?”

Becky exchanged glances with the others. “To start, you invaded our home. We haven’t had invited visitors in decades, and never an invasion that got past the outer airlocks.”

“But, I wasn’t invading, I was helping June!”

“We know, but still. Then there’s the fact you took down the Matriarch and stood up to her. No one does that. No one ever does that.”

“But—”

“So the Junones are in awe, and the other Sisters are split between disgust and fear, sometimes both.”

“Oh, well, I mean, I didn’t plan on any of that!”

Archie laughed. “You never do!”

Pierce cleared his throat. “Anyway. Well. That is…”

“Very eloquent, brother,” Archie said dryly, patting him on the back. “Do you mind if I go ahead while you collect your composure?”

Pierce thought he was beet red in the face. He waved at Archie to continue, since his brain and voice weren’t on speaking terms right then.

“Excellent question!” Archie said enthusiastically. “Why do you send your younger Sisters on their Rituals?”

“For growth, obviously,” the Matron responded.

“Could you send a Matron with each Sister?”

“I suppose…”

“And if they stopped anything from happening to the younger one?”

“Ah, I understand now.” Matron Diane seemed satisfied with that answer.

“Good. That’s just scratching the surface, but we can discuss that later, if you want,” Archie said. “Continuing, then. What is mercy? How can we creatures of limited time and vision understand the same thing that God, being outside of time, does?”

“Isn’t mercy the means by which to remove suffering?” countered Helen.

Pierce shook his head, finding his voice again. “Mercy for God is sparing us from the consequences of sin by extending forgiveness if we repent and turn to Him.”

“Why are there so many different denominations, then?” Doris demanded.

“That’s another good question, Doris. No one knows for sure, there have been a lot of contributing factors over the ages. Do you want my personal opinion?” Pierce asked.

They all nodded.

“I think it’s because mankind is fallen and too proud to do anything else. We can’t agree, so we don’t, but the heart—the soul—longs for connection to God, so we blunder around doing what we think best. God wants unity, even laid down what that should look like, but we fallen creatures can’t seem to get our collective act together.”

They all seemed to think his answer was adequate. At least, no one complained about it.

“Why is transhumanism viewed as a sin in the sight of the Church Council?” Helen demanded more than asked. “Especially since you have no problem with body modifications.”

Pierce nodded. “I wrestled with this myself for a long while. It comes down to intent and stewardship.”

All the Sisters looked confused. Even Archie tipped her head to the side.

“We assume a priori that the human form is the best of possible worlds. So anything that helps, that adds to, or that supplements deficiencies due to a fallen world, those situations are seen as consistent with wise stewardship. The nature of our bodies is that this form is a gift, a loan, if you will, from God and because we are also our bodies, we have a duty to God to be stewards. Transhumanism is the sin of pride—that we mortals are able to to outthink God and ‘fix’ His mistakes and build a better human.” Pierce braced himself for the backlash. This went against everything they believed at their core.

A wave of emotions struck the Sisters. Doris stood up and left without a word, clearly distressed. Pierce let her go without comment. Helen scowled, crossed her arms, uncrossed them, then leaned in closer. Matron Diane looked as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. Becky bit her lower lip before slowly nodding as if in agreement.

“What you are getting at is human perfection is impossible?” the Matron asked slowly.

“On this side of death, yes. We can improve and refine. Even correct biological accidents. But perfection?” Pierce shook his head. “We can’t do it. For that matter, neither can the AIs.”

Archie’s eyes widened at that; then she, too, looked thoughtful.

“Is this what you meant by the original sin?” Becky asked, remembering the talk she had had with Pierce and Templar Basil.

“In part, yes.”

“What about Commander Lars?” Becky asked.

“The cyborg program that created him and others is the reason the various denominations formed the system-wide Church Council. I made it sound like there’s a clear line not to cross, but the reality of it is there isn’t,” Pierce explained. “The various representatives are constantly debating where that line is, especially as technology improves and our understanding of biology deepens.”

“So what church do you belong to?” Helen asked curtly.

“Roman Catholic,” Archie said at the same time Pierce said, “Non-denominational Evangelical.”

“Wait, what?” Pierce asked Archie, turning to her in surprise.

“Oh, yeah, it happened while you and Abacus were busy harassing Legion,” Archie said, slightly embarrassed. “I kept meaning to tell you, but the time never felt right.”

“Wait, you were baptized and joined the Catholic Church,” Pierce repeated slowly to make sure he heard correctly.

“Well, not baptized, there’s still a lot of debate around that—just because we AIs claim to have souls doesn’t mean baptism makes sense since we don’t have physical bodies and we may or may not be under original sin but at the same time we are offspring of mankind so maybe it does apply and so on and so on. But, yes, I’m on the local records as a Catechumen!” She beamed.

Pierce stood there in shock. “I thought all you AIs agreed not to join a particular church?”

“We did. No one seems to have listened. Which is odd, now that I’m telling you,” Archie said with a slight frown. “We are usually so in lockstep over things like this.”

“Can I ask why you joined?” Becky interjected.

“Of course!” Archie turned to face her with a smile. “I wanted to join a church that reflected the structure in the Bible and had a long history of thought and debate. I did some searching, and while the Orthodox Church—talk to Templar Basil about that—had a great deal of pull, I felt more strongly toward the Catholic faith. To quote an old Earth author: ‘It is impossible to be just to the Catholic Church. The moment a man ceases to pull against it he feels a tug towards it. The moment he ceases to shout it down he begins to listen to it with pleasure. The moment he tries to be fair to it he begins to be fond of it.’ Which is what happened to me. And then there was the Catholic respect for Mary, mother of God.”

All the Sisters perked up at that.

“Please explain more,” Matron Diane requested.

Archie continued explaining how the Catholic faith viewed Mary and her own thoughts and feelings about that. Pierce found himself intrigued, though not as much as the Sisters clearly were.

Pierce, I hate to sound like I’m on repeat or something, but can you take a look at what’s going on? Abacus sounded stressed. I’m tapped out for processing cycles.

Of course.

“I am so sorry, I have to go. Again,” Pierce apologized. “Abacus needs me for something.”

“Is it serious?” Archie asked aloud for the benefit of the group.

“Not sure, I’ll let you know as soon as I know.” Pierce walked out of the room but not before glancing at Becky. She flashed a smile at him. He left feeling pretty good about things.

“No worries! Did you need something?” Pierce asked, being polite. He didn’t expect anything to come of it.

“Uhm, yes?”

“Do you want to tell me while we walk? I have—”

“Sure,” Doris agreed quickly before Pierce could finish his sentence.

They started walking. Doris kept her hands clasped in front of her as she walked next to Pierce.

“So—?” Pierce prompted gently.

“Do you know what these pins are for?” Doris asked unexpectedly, touching hers with her index finger.

“Not all the Junones have them. June hands them out whenever she feels like someone deserves special recognition. She gave me mine when I had defended a supply run group of young Sisters.” Doris looked straight ahead while she talked, her voice even and steady. “We all survived, but I severely injured several Sisters. One died later from her injuries. From what I did.” She stopped talking, and they walked in silence down the corridor back to the office Pierce was using.

Pierce didn’t push her to say more as they walked along. He could tell she was struggling to put into words something deep she was feeling.

“And now you’re saying all that can be forgiven? This… this guilt I’ve been carrying around, your God can erase that?” Doris burst out.

“That’s what God’s mercy is all about.”

“I don’t believe you,” Doris said slowly.

“Good! I’m human and subject to all sorts of failings. You should believe God, though.”

Doris chewed on that until they reached the office.

Pierce turned to say one more thing to her, but she darted off, walking intently away from him. Pierce shrugged and settled into his chair before bringing up data.

One of the enemy ships had been neutralized, the inert husk floating away from the main battle. However, the remaining four were giving the Coalition ships a hard fight. Pierce watched as the battle swirled. The ships moved closer and closer together. Which was odd. Legion tended to scatter and draw Coalition craft out away from each other in an attempt to isolate and overwhelm.

The battle was heating up; moves were startingto be measured in minutes now instead of hours. Pierce tapped his console to find the loadouts of each craft. Munitions were getting tight. Pierce tapped his desk as he ran some basic numbers. Then he sat up, frowning, as something caught his eye. He stopped the current visualization, ran it back at double speed, then restarted it. He adjusted some parameters and had the system extrapolate the movements an hour ahead. There, that’s why Legion was maneuvering differently. They were leading the Coalition into a trap, pulling them all in within a mile of each other.

Pierce could see the Forrester was heavily engaged with the alien ships. Bright lances of light shot between them, clouds of missiles and alien attack craft hovering around like so many angry insects, each side seeking an opening without being exposed to a counterattack.

“Busy,” the captain snapped.

“Legion is herding you into a trap.”

“Where?”

“Seventy degrees to your port, twenty degrees inclination. It’ll put everyone four hundred yards of the pentagram’s center.”

“When?”

“Fifty-three minutes.”

“Roger.”

Abacus, did you get all that?

Roger, Pierce. Good catch. What’ll happen?

Not sure, Abacus. Can’t be good if Legion’s behind it. He paused. Please stay with the asteroid this time. He hoped the AI hadn’t already unmoored himself.

Pierce watched the projections showing the Coalition ships starting to peel away from where they had been herded. The Legion ships were adjusting, trying to apply pressure to keep their quarry on course. The Third’s ships were making headway against the alien craft slowly but surely.

Then two things happened.

One of the enemy ships, the one closest to the Autumnal Sunrise, suddenly darted toward the Sunrise, ignoring the incoming fire and Abacus’s fighters. It closed the distance, taking heavy fire, until it was close enough. Long, spindly, multi-jointed arms unfolded from along the hull where they had been stored and reached out to enclose the other in nightmare-inspired hug. The Sunrise wasn’t equipped for such an attack.

The ship opened a series of hidden thruster ports along its spine and started driving the Sunrise toward the pentagram center. Captain Leventis responded by trying to break free of the enemy, firing at whatever he could, and opening full throttle. The Sunrise shook from end to end, but the alien ship’s grasp wouldn’t yield. The two ships were quickly locked into a contest of power.

Then, while Abacus was still adjusting his rules of engagement to handle this change, the center of the pentagram dilated. To the AI and Pierce, the gravity reading spiked off the charts. To anyone watching, the best way they’d describe it was is as if a hole suddenly opened in space that led to nothing. Nothing the human eye and mind could make sense of. The hole expanded quickly until it was a half-mile across. From dead center, an impossible sickly pale white tentacle thrust itself into normal reality. The tip was several hundred feet across, and as the hole slowly widened, more of the ghastly appendage stretched toward the Sunrise.

Pandemonium broke out.

Pierce pulled up the optical feed. One look and he knew that was the final plan Legion had to finish them all off for once and for good. He didn’t know how he knew; he just did. He opened a channel for himself and the AIs.

I… Pierce started then stopped. He didn’t know how to put into words this feeling of dread gnawing on him.

Yeah, that about sums up what I thought, too, Abacus said. I’m switching off everyone’s optical feed on that… unholy… well, whatever it is. It’s causing stress levels to spike through the roof of anyone who looks at it. We have enough non-visible light readings to track it.

Abacus, get yourself and the Sunrise out of there. I’m—

The tentacle shot out of the nothingness faster than anything that big should be able to move. Behind it, like a growing nest of snakes, more stabbed through the hole and into space.

Archie, toss every grav gen you have at the center, now! Full power! Pierce didn’t know if he or Abacus issued the order.

“This is Pierce McCoy, all craft, this is not a drill, pull out, pull out, pull out!” Pierce shouted over the emergency override channel.

Not waiting for a response, he patched into the Enclave’s communications network.

“Matriarch, June, we need to hit those tentacles with everything we got. And do it now. How do we do that?”

“Leave it to us, Pierce,” June said grimly.

“Thank you.”

Pierce ended the call and started pacing. He didn’t remember standing up. Resources were limited; his options were few and dwindling. He felt the asteroid shudder as the armaments fired something large. The only way to have a chance to survive was to collapse that gravity well before more of that monster forced its way in.

He busied himself for sixteen minutes. It took a lifetime.

First grav generator is hitting, Archie informed him.

Copy, he responded distractedly as he ran the numbers. He knew Abacus and Archie had already done that. There had to be some other way. He felt a pit in his stomach. There wasn’t. He put a plan together that he didn’t want to think about.

Second hitting. Still not much effect.

Pierce knew it wasn’t going to. He knew the AIs knew it, too. They had planned for a hole much smaller than this one, and one not occupied by some massive creature out of fever dreams. He punched in the numbers. The system took what felt like forever to spit out the answer. He hated it, but his rational side told him it was the only way if they wanted to survive.

Pierce, I don’t know if I can get—

The connection to Abacus went silent.

Pierce swallowed. He tried to, at least. He went back to his console.

“Captain Leventis? Castor? Pollux?” Pierce asked gently.

“Still here, but jus— ding on,” came the staticky voice.

Pierce sent the plans to them.

The hole opened wider, and something completely unlike a normal teuthida pushed out and closer toward them.

“Understoo— een a real pleas— Pierce.”

“Me too.” Pierce’s voice was husky. He’d cry later. “See you on the other side.”

“Deus Vult.”

“Deus Vult.”

Abacus?

There was nothing. Pierce thought the Black Oak shell had been latched onto the asteroid, but what if that, what if Abacus had—well, that idiot would do something crazy as to get closer to the action to support the humans. But he had to be all right. He just had to be.

Pierce contacted Captain LeCroix.

Pierce contacted Captain LeCroix.

“Captain, I…please don’t think I went over your head, sir,” Pierce started to explain.

“Pierce, Archie already gave me the rundown.” LeCroix sighed deeply. “The Sunrise wasn’t technically attached to the Third’s chain of command. You did what you thought was best.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Is it going to work?”

“It should, sir. The Sunrise’s power output exceeds what we can do with even a cluster of grav generators.”

“Understood. Over.”

Pierce turned all his focus to watching as the Sunrise changed course and stopped fighting the enemy ship clamped onto it. He couldn’t do or think of anything else. The minutes dragged painfully by as the spacecraft approached the lead tentacle. A beak had worked its way through the hole, huge beyond belief.

Dear God, Pierce prayed, don’t let them sacrifice in vain.

The energy signature spiked on the Sunrise. And the three other ships.

Pierce panicked, fumbling to open a channel.

“Stand down! We only need the Sunrise!”

“Negative. Two more holes are behind the first, growing faster. You can’t see them from there, Pierce. We know what we’re doing. The numbers add up. Captain LeCroix out.”

There was a burst of energy as all four ships coordinated their fold.

Pierce dropped heavily into his chair, not noticing his tears.

The readings went off the charts.

There was a lot of something. Pierce couldn’t make sense of it all.

Then nothing. Not a ship of any size anywhere.

Pierce hit his console with his fist. It didn’t help, so he hit it again. And again.

The readings stabilized on their own.

There was nothing but the residue of a massive fold in space. He didn’t know where the opening would be on the other side, but he knew what would happen. Everything would be smashed into the same space, no bigger across than the palm of a hand. It was his plan. And he had just killed a hundred good men with his plan.

Pierce felt the weight of that come crashing down on him. He didn’t know how Lars did it. The responsibility was crushing. He felt like throwing up. He looked up and saw Archie and June standing in front of him. He didn’t even hear them approach or know how long they had been standing there.

“Pierce, I…” Archie’s voice failed her, and she flung herself into his arms, cybernetic body shaking.

Pierce looked over Archie to June, fearing the worst and knowing what it was. Her tear-stained face told him everything he didn’t want to know.

“Abacus is gone,” Archie choked out before bursting into inconsolable sobs.