“But you believe they can?”

  “I believe there is an unacceptable danger. But I see no alternative.”

  Chronos had never been indecisive, but as he sat there, he realized he had no idea what to do. He almost flipped the comm back, to threaten Barron, try to batter down the admiral’s resolve. But there was no point in that. He’d heard it in Barron’s voice. There was something dead in the admiral, some part of him killed by war and pain. Barron had no doubt suffered losses in the desperate fighting, terrible losses. He would never back down, Chronos realized, never take The Hegemony leader’s word that his forces would withdraw. Part of Barron wanted a final battle, a fight to the finish.

  Chronos would never before have considered anything like surrendering…but Colossus was unique, irreplaceable. It was an irresistible weapon in war, and in peace it was a researcher’s dream, a path to reclaiming humanity’s lost technology. He couldn’t allow it to be destroyed, no matter what he had to do to prevent it.

  But surrendering the vast ship? How could he do that? How could he ever explain such a thing?

  Barron had turned the tables on him. The Rim admiral would not trust him…but Barron’s demands put it to Chronos to trust his adversary. The Rim had no designs on invading the Hegemony, he was fairly sure of that. Even if their warriors harbored visions of revenge, their civil governments would surely exert some level of restraint.

  But would the Rim join the Hegemony to fight against the Others? It would be in their interests to do so. The deadly invaders would make no distinction between Hegemony worlds and those on the Rim. The Hegemony’s current enemies would eventually be compelled to ally with the Hegemony against the Others…but would it be too late?

  He could yield Colossus to the Rimdwellers, rely on his faith they would eventually join forces with their former enemies to face the Others. Or, he could sit and watch as Colossus was destroyed, as the precious artifact was lost, to his people and to all humanity.

  But how could he build trust with an enemy? How could he reach the Rimdwellers after so many had died, after such brutal combat? Would they ever join his people, come to their aid against the Others?

  He didn’t have those answers. But he knew how to begin, his only option, really. He simply couldn’t allow Colossus to be destroyed, not with the Others on the move. Not with he deadliest danger yet still coming.

  He flipped the comm back to Barron’s line, and he leaned back in his chair, drawing in a deep breath.

  “Admiral Barron…I offer you my sincere assurance that if you order your boarding parties to stand down, I will see to their immediate safe transfer to your fleet, along with the spies we hold. As I promised before, our withdrawal will begin at once, and I assure you the Hegemony will initiate no further hostilities on the Rim.”

  Chronos knew what the response would be, but couldn’t stop his hopes from building up…at least until they were dashed by Barron’s cold and unyielding voice.

  “No, Commander. The answer is an unequivocal and non-negotiable ‘no.’ You will surrender Colossus immediately, or my people will destroy it.”

  Chronos knew Barron was bluffing, at least partially. His comm beams almost certainly couldn’t penetrate Colossus’s imperial steel hull, and that meant he had no real idea what was happening aboard. Except that you told him…your peace offer alone was an admission you were afraid of his boarders. Chronos was a stubborn man, like Barron, and he felt the urge to engage in a battle of wills with his counterpart, to test how confident the Rim admiral was in his people, in their ability to actually destroy Colossus.

  But there wasn’t time. And he couldn’t risk the stakes such a wager would entail. Colossus was essential to facing the Others. As long as the great ship survived, there was a chance it would be so deployed. The Rimdwellers were angry, bitter and vengeful after the losses they had suffered. But they were rational. When they understood, when they knew more of the danger they all faced, they would come around.

  Tyler Barron was unwilling to bet on Chronos, to take the Hegemony leader’s word…but Chronos had no choice but to trust in Barron’s, to take it on faith the threat from the Others would soon force the Rim into the Hegemony’s embrace, as six years of war had failed to do.

  He knew what he had to do, what he had to say. But he wasn’t sure he could do it, force out the words.

  He wasn’t sure until he heard them coming from his own mouth.

  “Very well, Admiral Barron…I will surrender Colossus to you. But call off your Marines. The vessel is yours…but please, do not destroy it. We will all need it, more than you can now imagine. I am trusting in you, in your wisdom, your honesty.” Chronos didn’t like it. He didn’t like any of it, either as a matter of pride, or one of intellect. But there was no choice.

  He couldn’t risk Colossus’s destruction, not after Akella’s warning.

  * * *

  Ilius raced back from the forward area, his face a twisted scowl. His people were making their final push, driving toward the storage facility from two directions. He’d poured every trooper he could find into the fight, and he had the local superiority he needed to finally push past the last remaining defenders. He had to get his people through as quickly as possible, so they could stop the enemy from detonating whatever charges they’d put in place. It was a desperate, dangerous tactic, but it was all he had. And time wasn’t his ally.

  Nothing would have pulled him from the front edge of the attack, nothing except Chronos’s direct order. He moved right toward the comm unit, pushing back the anger and frustration. Chronos was still his superior, the only one in the entire Rim theater, and he was a creature of duty, one who always showed respect to an officer above him, and certainly to one as highly ranked as Number Eight of the Hegemony.

  But that didn’t mean he wasn’t angry.

  He tapped the comm unit on the wall, and said, “Commander…my troops are about to assault the storage facility. With your permission, I will return…”

  “Shut up, Ilius, and listen. Yes, go back to your troops at once…and stop the attack. I have new orders for you, ones you will find difficult to obey. But it is my command, and I expect you to execute it to the letter.” Ilius felt a cold tension. He didn’t know what Chronos was about to say, but he’d never heard Number Eight sounding as…defeated…as he had just then.

  “You are to cease all hostilities at once…and you are to surrender Colossus to the Confederation Marines.”

  Ilius stood, silent, stunned. “Commander…I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t have to understand, Ilius! Just do it. Now! Or the enemy will blast the antimatter storage, and Colossus will be lost.” Chronos paused again, and Ilius remained where he was, unmoving, no response escaping his lips. He was frozen, uncertain what to do. What he could do.

  “Damn you, Ilius, listen to me. The Others have returned! They have invaded Hegemony space and obliterated one of our coreward fleets. We cannot risk Colossus being destroyed…even if we must surrender the vessel to the Rimdwellers to prevent that. Now, do what I command, Ilius…before it is too late.”

  Ilius felt dizzy, as though his legs might drop out from under him. The Others…back. An attack, a fleet destroyed. His head was spinning, confusion taking hold of him…and then his entire body clenched.

  There was no time. If his people broke through and they weren’t quick enough, the enemy would detonate their charges. And if their sabotage worked, if their small explosives proved powerful enough to rupture one of the tanks…

  “Yes, Commander…I understand.”

  He turned and raced back down the corridor, without another word to Chronos, without waiting for his guards. He ran as quickly as he could, almost losing his balance as he whipped around the corner. He raced down the hallway, shouting as he ran, “Kiloron…stop the attack. Stop the attack at once!”

  He kept running until he reached the rear of his small column, coming back upon the Kriegeri who’d been about to assault the storage facility. “Stand down, all of you,” he shouted as he pushed his way forward, toward the front of the formation. “Stand down…cease fire.”

  The officer in front of the column moved toward him, but he waved the Kriegeri aside. “All troopers, cease fire and remain in position.” He turned toward the closest officer. “No one advances, Kiloron. Understood? No one follows me.” Ilius barely caught the confused officer’s acknowledgement before he slid the rifle off his shoulder let it drop to the deck, before he started forward, unarmed.

  “Rim forces, this is Megaron Ilius, commander of Colossus. I am unarmed and advancing alone. I request a parley with your commanding officer. Again, I am unarmed, and my forces have been ordered to stand down.”

  Ilius took a deep breath and pushed back against the nausea roiling his stomach. The tension and fear of battle had morphed into something else. His mind was racing, his thoughts wild, almost uncontrollable. He’d imagined victory, even defeat…but the thought that he’d be walking toward the enemy with no weapons, to surrender Colossus…it still seemed unreal. “I am Commander Ilius. I am unarmed. I request a parley with your commanding officer.”

  * * *

  “Captain, stay focused, stay ready. There are more Kriegeri coming into the fight. My people can’t hold much longer…and you’ve got to blow this thing before they get in here.” Bryan Rogan looked over at Anya Fritz, and for a few seconds, amid chaos and war and hopelessness, he managed a smile for his longtime comrade. “We’ve come a long way from the old Dauntless, Anya, haven’t we?”

  “We have, Bryan…” Fritz was prone next to the large cylinder, holding the makeshift detonator in her hand. She’d checked the connections three times. It was ready. She was going to wait, hold out for however many moments they had left, hoping for a miracle, but expecting none. She looked up at her comrade and smiled sweetly, something not too many of her shipmates had ever seen. “Fortune go with you, Bryan.”

  “And with you, Anya.” He hesitated, just for a few seconds, steeling himself up for what he knew would be—had to be—his final battle. Then he nodded to Fritz, and he turned around and walked across the room.

  He stepped out into the corridor…and he realized it was quiet. The sounds of gunfire were gone, and as he moved forward, he turned toward the first officer he found. “Lieutenant, what is going on?”

  “The enemy stopped, sir. We’ve got some Heggie officer down there, saying something about a parley with our commander. The rest of the Kriegeri appear to have pulled back, General.”

  Rogan didn’t know what to think or how to respond. He just nodded to the officer, and he pushed his way farther forward. He could see three of his Marines standing about ten meters down the corridor. Two of them were flanking an unfamiliar figure. Rogan took one more step and then he stopped again. The man was a Hegemony officer…a high-ranking one from the look of his uniform.

  He hurried the rest of the way, stopping about two meters from the enemy officer. “I am General Bryan Rogan…Megaron.” Rogan had become quite familiar with Hegemony ranks and insignia during the fighting on Megara, though perhaps somewhat less so with such lofty positions as the one held by his…counterpart? Prisoner?

  “I am Megaron Ilius, General…commander of Colossus. I am here…” The man hesitated, clearly having difficulty saying what he’d come to say. He cleared his throat, and then he paused, clearly trying to steel himself to complete what he’d come to say.

  “I am here to…surrender Colossus to you. My Kriegeri and I are your prisoners.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Troyus City

  Megara, Olyus III

  Carmetia walked up the steps into the main hall of the Senate. It felt strange to be back on Megara, all the more so, because she and her small staff were the only Hegemony personnel on the entire planet. The last Kriegeri prisoners—few in number, as usual for the Kriegeri, even in defeat—had been shipped back to Hegemony space, even as she had returned, not as a warrior, but as the Hegemony’s first ambassador to the Confederation. Her job was a daunting one, her mandate far beyond completing the treaty negotiations and similar steps toward a formal ending to the war. She was there to make allies of former enemies, to convince the Rimdwellers of the threat from the Others. That was going to be difficult—but not impossible, she kept telling herself. Whatever it took, she knew the importance of it. The Hegemony was exhausted from the war, its resources depleted. Even Colossus was in Confederation hands. Her people needed allies, and they needed them quickly…before the Others surged through the Hegemony, and then descended on the Rim, destroying all in their path.

  “This is the first time I’ve been to the Senate Compound.” Steven Blanth was at her side as she walked up the steps. Her once-prisoner was now a liaison of sorts—though Blanth’s position hadn’t been formalized yet. Tyler Barron had decided the Marine was the most suited to accompany the new Hegemony ambassador back to the Confederation capital, and he’d simply ordered Blanth to go. His command had been clear, but it had also been devoid of title or a specific description of duties.

  “I am glad Admiral Barron assigned you to work with me. We were enemies, certainly, but I believe we have come to understand each other, after a fashion at least. And I believe you appreciate the danger we all face, or at least you do not join most of your people in their belief the Others are some myth or nightmare.” She knew she overstated Blanth’s view. She doubted he truly understood the danger both the Hegemony and the Rim faced…but she was sure he took her seriously, and that was a starting point.

  “I am glad to be here, too, Carmetia. There is much to be gained by ensuring our people remain at peace.” He paused. “Are you ready to take your place as your people’s first ambassador to the Confederation?

  She looked at Blanth and she nodded. “Yes, I believe so.” That was a lie, of course. Carmetia doubted she had the temperament for diplomacy, and she considered her mission to be almost impossible. But she was one of the few Hegemony Masters who had developed any kind of relationship with a Rimdweller, and while she wouldn’t go so far as to say she and Blanth were friends, she was sure they could communicate, even cooperate. Convincing him of the danger would be the first step to success.

  And if she could do as well as Chronos seemed to believe she could, perhaps she could convince more of the Rimdwellers of the terrible danger…and convert them from enemies to allies.

  Before it was too late.

  Port Royal City

  Planet Dannith, Ventica III

  The ship lay in a wide gully, a great gouge in the ground it had created itself when it came down. The landing—or crash, Barron figured it was something dead in between the two—had been a hard one, and the vessel carried great wounds from it.

  Pegasus had multiple gashes in the hull, and a large chunk of the forward section was crushed. There were marks along one side where conflagrations had blackened the hull, though it appeared whatever else had been destroyed on impact, the fire control systems had survived and functioned.

  “I’m so sorry, Andi…I know what you’re feeling.” That was the kind of thing people often said, but Barron really did know. He remembered watching Dauntless’s death as though it had happened the day before. Time was supposed to heal such wounds, but his was still open and painful years later. He knew the agony Andi felt looking at the broken form of her tortured ship…but Pegasus hadn’t been destroyed like Dauntless had, and with Dannith back in Confederation hands, she could be recovered and repaired.

  The Confederation owed Andi a massive debt. No one would never know just how large a role her operation had played, if anyone would even have thought of boarding Colossus without word of the Hegemony’s manpower shortages. That alone was worth the repair costs for a small free trader, even one with certain…upgrades…as Pegasus had. Hell, Andi could afford it herself.

  She would have her ship back, as good a new, Barron promised himself that.

  Barron held her, his arms grasping her tightly, and for a moment, he was silent. He’d been sure he would never see her again, and he was still trying to convince himself it was real, that she was there with him. She didn’t respond to his words about Pegasus. She just pressed her head against his shoulder and looked out over her ship. Barron could see a tear running down her cheek, but he pretended not to notice.

  It felt strange to be back on Dannith. The Hegemony withdrawal was almost complete. Barron had been stunned at the efficiency of the operation, and he suspected the enemy—were they still his enemy?—would have been gone entirely if they’d had enough ships to carry everyone and everything back to Hegemony space in one trip. They’d withdrawn their strongest vessels and units first, showing a considerable amount of trust in the Confederation honoring the terms of the ceasefire.

  Barron had fought the war with a grim stubbornness, though he’d pushed forward, mostly devoid of any real belief his people could win the conflict in the end. He wasn’t sure the strange events of the past weeks qualified as victory, exactly, but the invaders were leaving the Rim, and that was close enough for him. At least no more of his people were dying.

  And, Andi was there, alive, and reasonably well…and in his arms. Even Pegasus, battered and half-charred, was salvageable. With a little work—or a lot of work—Andi’s ship would be as good as new…and after some rest and given some time to gather her thoughts, she would realize that.

  “You can’t do that to me again, Andi…I was sure I’d lost you this time. Your days of snooping around behind enemy lines are over.”

  She didn’t move, her head still pressing against his shoulder. “I’d promise you that, Admiral Barron, but what’s the point? You wouldn’t believe it, and I don’t want to lie to you. Maybe we’ll be lucky, and we’ll finally have some peace now that the war seems to be over.” Barron didn’t believe that, and Andi’s tone when she uttered the words suggested she didn’t either. But it was pleasant self-delusion, and Barron figured they both deserved at least that. “So, let’s just be happy we’re together right now, Tyler my love.”