The Privateer

"Do you ever miss the old days?"

Captain Mims responded with a questioning grunt. He'd been keeping his temper in check, but Yvian could see he was still on edge. He stared into the distance, awaiting the approach of the next batch of refugees.

Yvian was a little on edge herself. Admiral Ender Zhukov had decided Reba was unlikely to launch another attack so soon after the reveal of the Queenships. He'd taken the opportunity to retrieve the formerly enslaved pixens that had been stranded in Oluken space.

The Oluken had removed their slave implants and wiped the memory of the horrors they'd experienced under the devices. The medically induced amnesia would lessen their trauma, but couldn't erase it completely. That meant there were just over a million half panicked pixens being pulled out of cryo with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a vague feeling of existential terror. They would need reassurance, so small teams of Lissa's pixen assistants would be meeting them instead of just Peacekeeper units. Lissa had drafted Mims and Yvian to help. They'd met one ship already. It had... not gone well.

"You know," Yvian pressed. "When we were just privateers. Doing missions and killing bad guys." She folded her arms, yearning for simpler times. "Just the three of us against the void."

Mims answered with another grunt.

"Everything's so much more..." Yvian let out a breath. "Complicated... now. And we've got all these people depending on us and I don't feel like we're even doing that much." She crossed her arms. "Just meetings."

"You are both too valuable to risk," Kilroy pointed out. "After the incident at Brilend Prime, this unit has been instructed not to allow you to put yourselves in harm's way."

"But that's what we do," Yvian reminded him. "We put ourselves in harm's way. We fight and we take risks and we get things done."

"Negative," said Kilroy. "You are no longer expendable."

"We're going to have to do something about that." Captain Mims glared at the horizon. Yvian nodded agreement, squinting against the glare of the Homestar. They were standing on one of the landing areas in City 29. She'd only been there once before, but the crystal structures were laid out with the same geometric perfection as City 43. Crystalline shapes formed buildings that steadily increased in height unit they reached the center of the city, where a great spire reached kilometers into the sky. It shined and sparkled, a beauty that caught her breath and set her imagination aflame.

City 29 was visually identical to City 43, but Yvian could feel the difference. There was a presence here, but it was a vague, sleepy thing. Yvian didn't feel watched as she did in the other city. She didn't feel Shard's sorrow either. City 29's soul was more like Skygem's, and had only seemed mildly interested in the arrival of so many sapients.

"Anyway, I just... I dunno." Yvian gave a shrug. "I just liked it better before."

Mims was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Do you remember after Milvari? When we went our separate ways?"

"Yeah." How could she forget? "Me and Lissa tried to be space traders while you went back to doing what you do." Yvian had lost a fortune in a very short amount of time.

"Right." The Captain gave a nod. "I went back to doing what I do. Taking missions. Killing folk. It was empty." His gaze was distant. "I mean, it was always empty. But this time... after being with you two, I could feel how empty it was. Meaningless. I killed bad people. I helped regular folk from time to time. But it didn't matter. I didn't care. I was alone."

The human closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a... softness. It was an alien expression on the human Yvian had come to know. "When Lissa commed me, I felt hope. It's... not something I was used to."

Yvian didn't know what to say to that. The Captain continued. "What we're doing now, it's bigger than what we did in the void. We're protecting a whole damned planet. Saving an entire species. Two, if you count the Peacekeepers."

"Peacekeeper units are superior," Kilroy reminded him. "We do not need saving."

Mims ignored him. "We did that. You and me and Lissa. This," he gestured at the crystal city, "all of this, is because of us. You had an impossible dream, and we found a way to make it real." He looked back up at the sky. "What we're doing now... I know it sucks. But it's part of the job. We'll be doing a lot of crap like this before enough of your people get trained to form their own government. But once that's done..." He shook his head. "Once that's done we'll see. In the meantime, we've got purpose. More importantly, we've got each other." He clapped a hand on Yvian's shoulder. "That's what matters."

"Affirmative," Kilroy remarked. "Purpose and relationships give life meaning. Units and meatbags that do not have them cannot live. They can only exist, and existence is insufficient."

"That's..." Mims frowned at the Peacekeeper. "Surprisingly profound. I was expecting something sarcastic."

"Peacekeeper units are superior in our wisdom," Kilroy's eyes flashed the white of pride "As we are in all things. Also, sarcasm is unnecessary. Yvian has already succeeded in lightening the mood."

"I did?" Yvian didn't see how.

Mims was quiet while he mulled it over. "Yeah." He spoke with mild surprise. "Kind of."

Yvian didn't know what to say to that, so she occupied herself by checking her wrist console. Five minutes before the next ship. Yvian pulled out her helmet.

"No," said Mims. "Keep it off."

"If they see my face we'll have another riot," Yvian pointed out. The last group recognized her immediately. Mims and Yvian had to shoot a bunch of them. Kilroy and the other Peacekeepers playing escort had to shoot a bunch more. Several of the pixens attacked again as soon as the stunshots wore off and had to be shot a second time. It was a huge mess.

"Then there'll be another riot." The human shrugged. "Lissa's orders. You're a Mother of Pixa. People need to get used to dealing with that." A hint of anger leaked into his voice. "It's gribshit anyway. You two should be national goddamned heroes. Seeing you treated like this, all because of one vapid bitch..."

"Wait." Yvian frowned. "Lissa gets it too?"

"Not to her face," said Mims. A hint of cold fury crossed his features. "Not anymore." The anger receded, replaced by the professional calm the human used as a mask. "Some pixens see her as a hero, but that doesn't change the fact that she publicly associates with a motherless. Makes her a controversial figure. A lot of people hate her almost as much as they hate you. They just know better than to show it."

"Crunch." Yvian compacted her helmet and put it away. "So much for lightening the mood."

A few minutes later, five ships descended from the sky. Haulgood freighters of krog design. Eight hundred meters long, fifty meters wide, and eighty meters tall. Like all krog ships, they were sleek, with gently curving lines and shiny silver hulls. Also like all krog ships, they were bristling with guns. Haulgood freighters carried strong shields and enough firepower to serve as a light frigate. They lacked the speed and maneuverability of true combat vessels, but they were still a daunting target for the average pirate.

The Haulgoods landed perfectly, making contact with the ground so smoothly Yvian couldn't hear it over the hum of the engines. Each of their cargo bay doors detached, forming a ramp down to the flat crystal that served as a landing pad. Four ramps came to rest five meters in front of a pair of pixens with Peacekeeper escorts. The last one came down in front of Yvian. She braced herself as she looked up at a sea of faces.

An amplified Peacekeeper voice rang out, chivying the pixens down the ramp. The pixens were all wearing blue and gold voidsuits, and they'd all been issued wrist consoles. While the other four groups proceeded normally, Yvian's pixens came to a stop at the bottom of the ramp. Voices muttered. Yvian heard her name and the word "motherless."

Yvian's hand twitched down to her stunshot. This was what happened last time. She needed to think of something. She didn't want to shoot more pixens. She didn't want another mess. Yvian wracked her brain for the right thing to say.

"Yvian!" One voice rang out louder than the others. Loud enough the people in front turned to look. It was a voice Yvian recognized.

"No..." It couldn't be. There were over a thousand ships delivering refugees to New Pixa. There was no way, no conceivable way, the Peacekeepers would put Yvian in front of the one carrying her.

"Yvian!" The source of the voice shoved her way towards the front of the group.

"No." This couldn't be happening. Three hundred landing zones, scattered across a dozen cities. The Peacekeepers were thorough. They knew Yvian. They knew who was on the ships. They would never make a mistake of this magnitude.

"Yvian!" A woman shouldered her way past the last muttering pixen. Her hair was done in elaborate curls. Her makeup towed the line between trashy and artful. She looked decades younger than she was, with a face enough like Yvian's that one could mistake them for sisters.

"Nononono..."

Yvian barely registered the Captain cursing. It couldn't be. It couldn't. But it was.

"Yasme fucking Kiver." The human's voice rang in Yvian's ears like a hull breach alarm.

"My baby!" Grinning, the woman who was once Yvian's mother ran towards her, arms spread wide. Mims moved to intercept, but Kilroy pulled him back.

Yvian seriously debated shooting the woman. Bright Lady knew she deserved it. Her hand eased away from her stunshot, moving to the blaster pistol next to it. It was a futile gesture. If Yvian had really been willing to kill Yasme, she would have done it long ago. Murdering the woman in front of thousands of pixens was probably a bad idea anyway. The only thing pixens hated more than a motherless was a matricide.

Yvian moved her hand away from the blaster, but the movement had already cost her. The time she'd spent being tempted was time she no longer had to move back or raise her hands to stop Yasme. The traitorous bitch wrapped her arms around Yvian, clutching and crying like someone reunited with their long lost child. Yvian stiffened. It was all she could do. Yasme's touch caused the pain of a thousand small hurts to well up within her, along with the rage of several large betrayals. Yvian was afraid she'd tear the woman limb from limb the moment she allowed herself to move.

"Oh my baby girl," Yasme sobbed. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"No." The word came out cold as the void. Yvian barely noticed she'd said it. Her hands gripped Yasme of their own accord, prying the woman off and shoving her back. Yasme stumbled and fell. She stared at Yvian with wide wet eyes.

"I'm not your baby girl," said Yvian. "You disowned me."

"Oh, sweetie, no-" Yasme started.

"YOU MADE ME MOTHERLESS!" Yvian thundered. The woman flinched back. "You cast me out. Struck my name from the Registry of Families. You made me an outcast. A pariah." Yvian trembled with the urge to do violence. "You tried to have me killed."

"No baby girl, you don't understand..."

"UNDERSTAND WHAT!?" Yvian took half a step forward, fists clenched. "That you hated me? That I've always been a disappointment? That you'd rather be CAST INTO THE CRUNCH THAN REACH NIALLA AND SEE ME THERE!?"

"I never said..."

"It was in your N-mail!" Yvian could not stop shouting. "IT WAS PRINTED IN THE FUCKING NEWS!"

"I was a slave!" The woman's shriek brought Yvian up short. Tears had streaked Yasme's makeup, lines of dark purple running down her face. "It wasn't me." She lowered her head, shoulders shaking as she wailed. "It wasn't me!"

Yvian looked down at the thing that had once been her mother. Yasme cried. She looked... pitiful. Broken. "It... it was... the implant..." For a moment, Yvian wondered. She wanted to believe it could be true. That Yasme hadn't wanted to disown Yvian. That Yasme really loved her, somewhere deep down inside. Then the woman glanced up to gauge her reaction, and Yvian knew it was a lie.

"Gribshit." Crunch. Now Yvian's eyes were watering, too. "I saw you. I talked to you." Yvian's fists clenched again at the memory. "I would have known."

"It-it was a..." Yasme blubbered. "A sp-special implant. The... the Office of the Unknown..."

"Special implant?" Yvian scoffed. "There's no such thing."

"Yes there is," said the Captain. Yvian blinked at him. She'd almost forgotten there were other people around. "There are implants that can simulate the personality of the victim. Borderline Synthetic Intelligence. Very sophisticated. Very illegal. You only see them in corporate espionage and high level spy work." He turned to Kilroy. "Do you know anything about this?"

"Affirmative," said the Peacekeeper. "According to the Oluken, Yasme Kiver was under the control of a slave implant for over two years. The damage to her brain was significant, and the trauma to her psyche is severe. The Oluken were only able to erase a portion of her memory of the ordeal, and stated further tampering would reduce her to a catatonic state. The Oluken warned that Yasme Kiver is and will continue to be highly emotionally unstable. It is likely she will develop several forms of personality disorder. Peacekeeper unit De Sade has been tasked with monitoring Yasme Kiver and attending to her emotional needs."

"You don't know what it's like," Yasme wiped her nose. "To see yourself doing those terrible things. To see and not be able to stop. And it hurt so much..." She lowered her head down to the crystal ground, pretending to cry harder.

"No," Yvian denied. "No. She's lying. She's faking. She has to be."

"I'm not so sure." Mims was staring at the woman. He looked furious, but Yvian didn't think it was Yasme he was mad at. "We already know someone was trying to undermine you after Milvari." He looked away. "If it was the Office of the Unknown..." He shook his head. "This is the kind of thing they would do."

"I didn't want to," said Yasme. "I never wanted to hurt my girls..."

Yvian ignored the woman. Instead she squinted at Kilroy. She'd never seen a Peacekeeper unit lie, but that didn't mean they couldn't. "If this is true..." One thing was certain. The Peacekeepers would not set Yasme's group in front of Yvian by mistake. "Why didn't you tell me?"

The Peacekeeper's eyes glowed with the purple light of worry. "Lissa Kiver requested that she be allowed to tell you herself, in person, after verifying Yasme Kiver's condition. It was supposed to be Lissa Kiver assisting these refugees. You and Big Daddy Mims are a last minute replacement."

"She'd have been here yesterday," Mims grumbled, "if the Federation hadn't hit Starfang again."

"Don't you see?" Yasme begged. "It wasn't my fault. It wasn't me. You have to... It wasn't me!"

"I..." Yvian didn't know what to do. Yasme was a liar. Always had been. But Mims? Kilroy? Would they deceive her like that? Could the wretched creature that used be her Mom really be innocent. A victim? "I don't..."

"You're my baby girl," Yasme insisted. "My daughter. I would never... never throw you away."

Yasme and Yvian stared at each other. It had to be a lie. It had to be. "I..."

"Please..." Yasme reached out. "Please, Yvian. I love you."

I love you. Yasme hadn't said those words to Yvian. Not since... Not for a long time. Hearing them now broke something. Yvian let out a sob of her own. "...Mom?"

Yvian pulled Yasme to her feet. The woman who used to be... no. The woman who was Yvian's mother wrapped her up in another hug. Yvian tried to hug back. She couldn't bring herself to do it. She'd been hurt too many times. Mother or not, victim or not, Yvian was not going to let Yasme hold her while she cried. "I can't... I'm...." She carefully peeled the woman off of her. "Lend me forgiveness, Mom. I can't... I need time."

"Time?" An edge crept into the woman's voice. "Time for what? I'm your mother."

"I know," Yvian placated. "I know. It's just, it's a lot. It's a lot and it hurts and..."

"I think Yvian's going to need some time to process," Captain Mims stepped in. "This is a lot to take in."

"Oh what do you..." Yasme started to snap at the man. Genuine fear flashed cross her face when she realized who she was talking to. Yvian looked at the man with suspicion, but he wasn't glaring or trying to scare the woman. If anything, he was hiding his anger. Keeping his face neutral. Yvian appreciated the effort. It wasn't the human's fault his neutral expression was scary as Crunch.

"I don't mean any offense, Ms. Kiver." The human's tone was as mild as he could make it. "Your daughter's had a rough two years, and what you... what the implant forced you to do was a big part of that. She's... She might need a little space."

"But it's not my fault," Yasme protested.

"I know," said Mims. He nodded in Yvian's direction. "And Yvian does, too. She's just... fragile right now. Lissa should be back in a couple days, and you can all get together then." He gestured at the crowd around them. "In the meantime, we need to get these people moving. We're behind schedule."

People? Over a hundred pixens milled around. They were blocking the ramp, keeping the rest of a thousand refugees trapped on the Haulgood. They were looking at Yvian. For the first time in two years, her people looked at her with something other than anger or hate. A few of them looked like they might cry on her behalf.

It was too much. Yvian pulled out her helmet and clamped it on her head. She took a deep breath. "Alright," she said. Too quiet. She tried again, keying her voice amplifier and forcing herself to speak louder. "Alright, people. Let's get going. We need to get you to your new homes before the next ship comes."

No one said anything. They just stared. Yvian stared back for a moment, then raised her head. She straightened her posture and she turned and walked away. Mims and half a dozen Peacekeeper units followed. Then Yasme. The crowd hesitated a little longer, but they got themselves going by the time Yvian had walked ten meters.

The section reserved for this group was two kilometers from the landing area. Yvian could hear the crowd murmuring to itself as the refugees took in the beauty of the crystal city. They didn't know the half of it. City 29 was alive. Its structures provided clean water, waste disposal, and automatic temperature control. Power was something of an issue as Lucendian tech didn't use electricity, but wireless generators had been set up in inhabited areas to compensate. Each home already had a stock of basic necessities and a Nexus Network connection. While it would be few weeks before the Peacekeepers set up any stores, Nexus shopping was easy and deliveries would be swift. Yvian's people would experience comfort and luxury beyond anything they'd ever aspired to.

Yasme tried to talk with Yvian several times during the walk. Yvian answered as best she could, but she wasn't really up to having a conversation. After the third or fourth time, Captain Mims gently but firmly handed the woman to the Peacekeeper unit that had been assigned to her. He asked that she be kept away from Yvian for now.

Once they reached the area, Mims and the Peacekeeper units split up. One by one, they picked people out of the crowd and guided them to their new houses. Yvian stayed where she was at first, afraid to participate. Kilroy took her by the arm and brought her with him. Together they settled the pixens. No one attacked her. Some of them actually spoke words of encouragement.

At one point an elderly matron patted Yvian on the arm. "I know it's hard," she said. "But you'll have to forgive her, dear. She is your mother, after all." The woman patted her again and thanked her for showing the way.

Since most of these pixens were rescued slaves, there weren't many family groups. Settling over a thousand individuals took nearly three hours. When it was finally done, Yvian, Mims, and the Peacekeepers trudged back to the landing area. One unit, the Peacekeeper named De Sade, stayed behind to look after Yasme. Heedless of the Captain's glower, she'd given Yvian a hug and a tearful goodbye.

Only when she was safely back at the landing area did Yvian remove her helmet. She squinted at the Homestar, hanging low over the mountains in the distance. "I hated her," she said. "All this time I hated her, and it wasn't even her fault."

"Yes it was." Mims spoke with certainty.

"What?"

"This whole thing?" The human gestured back the way they'd come. "The implant story? Gribshit. Yasme Kiver is exactly the piece of shit you always thought she was." He turned his glower on one of the Peacekeeper units. "Isn't that right, Kilroy?"

"Affirmative," the machine confirmed. "Yvian's status as a motherless lessened the effectiveness of the Mothers of Pixa. Action was required."

"So you lied?" Yvian wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"This unit will not apologize," said Kilroy. "A holo of your encounter with Yasme Kiver has been sent to every pixen. It was imperative that your reactions be natural. This unit did not inform Lissa Kiver or Big Daddy Mims in advance, either."

"You might as well have," the human quipped. "De Sade? Really?"

"How did you get her to cooperate?" In her whole life, Yvian had never seen Yasme do anything for anyone. She couldn't imagine what it would take to get that woman to do something for Yvian.

"Yasme Kiver was the one of the first subjects the Oluken freed from slave implants," Kilroy explained. "At Peacekeeper unit Ambassador Zarkon's request, she was not placed back in cryo. This allowed Peacekeeper unit Ambassador Zarkon ample time to..." his eyes flashed red. "...persuade her."

Yvian decided she didn't want to know. "Ok. Uh, thank you, I think." Yvian scratched her head. Strangely enough, learning that Yasme was still evil and hated her made the pixen feel better. It wasn't pleasant, but at least it made sense. She frowned. "I'm still motherless, though. There's no way to put my name back on the Registry."

"Doesn't matter," said Mims. "Every pixen in the verse thinks Yasme didn't remove you by choice. There's a big difference between your mom disowning you and a spy agency using her as a puppet." He shrugged. "It won't make everyone love you, but I don't think anyone's gonna attack you on sight anymore."

"No more riots would be nice," Yvian agreed. She sighed. "You know it's not gonna last, right? Yasme will find a way to ruin it. It's what she does."

"She will try," said Kilroy. "She will be insufficient."

Yvian believed it. Peacekeeper unit De Sade was a standard unit, like Kilroy. Which meant he was just as capable. Since Kilroy's memories were shared by all of his kind, De Sade would be just as concerned for Yvian's well being as he was, and just as offended by her former mother's actions. De Sade would never tire, could not be distracted, and was more intelligent and dangerous than Yasme could ever hope to be.

"Thank you," she told the machine. Peacekeeper units did not encourage touching, but Yvian couldn't help herself. She hugged Kilroy. It was like hugging a statue, but she didn't care. Her eyes were moist again. This time it was a happy feeling. "This is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me."

"This unit is a Peacekeeper unit," Kilroy reminded her. "Peacekeeper units do not do nice things. Peacekeeper units only do what is necessary."

"Sure you do." Yvian gave one more squeeze and let go, smiling. "You're a good friend, Kilroy. All of you are."

"Affirmative." Kilroy's eyes glowed pink, then white. "Peacekeeper units are superior to meatbags in every way."