Several green caasiok's exited warp-speed and immediately began assaulting the remants of Ku'senai's brood, as well as destroying the remaining Protectorate forces weapons. Not the frigates themselves.

  Xaya's battle-frigate appeared with them to bring aid to the human survivors.

  The battle was soundly decided then, and besides from ordering them not to absolutely destroy the Protectorate forces, Selene had some time to focus on other things.

  So she ran down to the gymnasium where the battle between Aboleth and Dr. Bryant went down.

  Selene saw her mom leaning over Camden with her hands on the sides of his face, with some people standing around. Her dad had been dragged out of his armor and placed beside him, a deep gnash in his side that had been stitched up.

  A doctor moved away from Camden and looked to their mom. "Your son had a seizure, we'll need to give him a few tests to know if there was any permanent damage but I'm optimistic that he'll be fine."

  Jen nodded.

  Then the doctor gave an uncomfortable glance towards Ron, lying on the floor nearby.

  "And... I'm sorry for your loss."

  A moment later he awkwardly went to attend the other wounded in the room.

  "Mom..." Selene said, having walked across the room in shock. Camden had blood all over his face.

  Jen gasped, looking up to her daughter. Her eyes immediately filled with tears.

  "Selene!" She hugged Selene forcefully. "It's aweful! There was a fight... And.. And.." She had no idea what to say.

  Selene rested her hand behind Jen's head and hugged her gently. "It's okay... Everything will be okay."

  "H-how?" She sniffled. "Your dad is dead. Why aren't you crying?"

  Her mom didn't know what Selene was capable of, so her look of sadness seemed lack-luster to Jen.

  "I can bring him back. As Zykra, like me. I've done it before." Selene looked to the crumpled up snake-woman on the ground nearby. The silver barbs had been removed, and she was healing. Albeit slowly. She very nearly died, but even if she did Selene was confident she could bring her back too.

  Zykra health insurance was good... She still didn't like seeing her family go through this.

  Jen blinked at her, hope was rapidly filling her eyes. As well as confusion.

  "You can save him?" Her mom asked.

  The doctor who was treating other survivors looked back at her, husbands, mothers. Grieving like Jen was.

  "I can bring them all back as Zykra hybrids."

  Camden and other survivors who didn't have mortal wounds were kept aboard the frigates for treatment.

  Those who died were brought onto a caasiok for ressurection.

  There were many questions about that...

  "Will they still be the person I know?", "Will they look the same?", "What are the longterm affects?", "How will this change our life together?"

  Selene answered all of their questions. Starting with her mothers.

  "How long until you bring him back to me?"

  And the answer was "Soon. A few days. A week."

  It was understandable that some people had trouble believing her, but tough. She had the authority to do it anyways. This battle was her decision. Her play. And it was the right one. They won.

  It wasn't pretty—it wasn't clean, but that was war.

  The amount of biomass her hive was about to spend to create dozens of aboleths simutaneously was barely consequential. They could expand a bit to make up for it. They planned to anyways now that they're going to have an alliance with the Protectorate.

  But that was another thing Selene was dreading doing.

  The space around her caasioks was riddled with Zykra pieces and fragments of metal, she ordered her Zykra to keep the Protectorate from leaving for now.

  She would wait until Aboleth was awake again before dealing with them.

  The medical room within the caasiok was like a hot springs. She rested in the glowing white, steaming warm waters for an hour or so before waking up. And Selene was waiting there.

  Aboleth smiled weakly. "Don't you have a sick brother to look after?" She adjusted her tail so that it propped her slightly up out of the water.

  "I can't thank you enough for everything you do Aboleth, you saved my family. And you risked your life for the..."

  "Zykra?" Aboleth finished for her.

  Selene shook her head solemnly. "It's more than that now... We have human citizens, in a way. Though we haven't formally said they are our citizens, they're living under our protection and serving in our army now."

  Aboleth sighed. "We really need a name."

  "Yeah. I've been thinking about it for months now, but I got nothing. What would we even call ourselves? We're not a resistance, we're a nation. I want to know before I go negotiate a deal with Desuran."

  Aboleths eye's popped open, she had been relaxing. "We have him?"

  Selene nodded.

  The wounded snake-woman leaned back and considered this for a few moments.

  "Hmm... How about... We'll probably devolve into being some kind of federation at some point... Dr. Bryant said something about a dominion which sounds nice, but we won't have time to rule that way..."

  "Does our name have to have something to do with our government type? Maybe it could just be a name. Like Sparta or Greece. Dr. Bryant liked to name Zykra by combining old words."

  "...Names like those are tough though. I know some latin though, so we could try it out. What do you think our kingdom should represent?" Aboleth asked thoughtfully.

  It was a hard question for Selene. They've been through so much. Constant change and evolution was a thing, but they didn't obsess over it like other Zyrkra... She became a soldier, then a queen, then was trapped within herself and had to merge with her most loyal follower to escape. She restored the people her evil, Zykra-self had infested...

  There was a running theme there.

  "Rebirth? Fixing stuff?" She offered insecurely.

  Aboleth nodded. "We definitely did a lot of that, and of everything we've done that's what we should focus on. The latin word for rebirth is renovo. So, keep it simple and call it Renova?" She offered.

  "Good enough. We're Renovians now." Selene smirked.

  It was a fast, flippant decision but they couldn't agonize over it forever. A name was a name.

  "Sounds good to me... As much as I'd like to just lay here, I guess we better meet with Desuran."

  "We could make them wait."

  "No. Might as well get it over with. I'm a bit sore, but I'll manage." She rose up out of the water and began to transform again. Back into her human form.

  Selene looked away. "I'll just uh... Wait outside. I had a spare uniform brought up."

  Aboleth had a smug smile as her queen left the chamber. Selene always became flustered so easily.

  It was a strange thing though—how when someone you respect and care for has a certain attraction towards you, it can be difficult not to return those feelings because the validation feels good. That's why bosses shouldn't date their subordinates.

  Because validation and sexual attraction weren't the same things, but they could be confused for each other. Aboleth was smart enough to notice it the moment she felt it... Selene's other subordinates might not. They'd like it because she liked it, and for no other reason.

  She'd have to talk with Selene about it at some point, her position as queen complicates a few things like that. They'd have to be careful about how she handles those kinds of relationships.

  She started dressing back into her uniform.

  Aboleth didn't envy her. She had met her husband before being a high-ranking military official after all. Imagine being a queen at that... Status would really make finding authentic attraction difficult. Poor girl.

  They met with Desuran.

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  For this, Selene had decided to change into her human form and wear one of those slim-fitting green uniforms with the narrow collar and gold trim. It was a generic one—not very queenly, but she wanted to convey that there was a deeply human aspect to Renova.

  The Protectorate forces were surrounded on all sides by over a half-dozen of her caasiok. Her entire force at this point. They boarded it with Selene's entire command structure thus far, minus her dad.

  Preston, Xaya, Aboleth, and herself. As well as a few ex-resistance soldiers, who would now be considered Renovian soldiers. Selene had caught them up on everything, the new name, her plans going forward, and now they just needed to inform the Protectorate of it.

  They stood in the command deck across from major Luan Crowley, general Desuran, and Riddick, who seemed to be more of a personal guard or advisor on telepath related matters to the general. Selene remembered her meeting with Riddick months ago. He said that he had some kinetic-type ability, so it likely wasn't so special.

  She gave a playful glance to Luan, just to make her feel seen. Luan—as always—didn't seem to know what she should feel, but Selene was confident that would change when Luan learned that she didn't rule a kingdom of monsters.

  She looked back to the general, her expression becoming serious.

  "General." Selene started.

  "Carrington." He replied.

  "Let's get straight to it then. We'd like to make a new deal with the Protectorate... You don't have to agree with it, just listen to what we have to say and bring it back to your bosses."

  He nodded, then flipped out a lighter. He ignited a cigar and began smoking it. Ignoring the smug, arrogant glare those gathered before him all had.

  "If I really was the monster you say I am, I would've killed you. I just want to state that for the record. I also out-played you here. Proving that you're capable of underestimating the Zykra. And I wasn't lying before, what we experienced just now could hardly be considered the first wave. More are coming."

  "Yet you have no proof of that however... If I go to my government with this conspiracy theory, they'll bring up your recent attack on that cloning facility, and the other colonies. Your assertion that was not your will matters little. That you consider it an act of necessity matters even less. It is all unfounded."

  "Send probes outside of the outer-rim and you'll see what we have. The Zykra are fighting each other over who gets to exterminate humanity right now. And when they're done, they'll kill us all. Renova included."

  He tilted his head at her, ashing his cigar into the ashe tray on his chair.

  "Is that what you're calling yourselves? 'Renova', how quaint. In exchange for the Protectorate allowing you your 'kingdom', you'll aid us against this Zykra invasion you insist is going to happen?"

  Selene nodded.

  The general smirked deviously. Then looked over to an operator sitting nearby.

  "Alaric, if you would?"

  He turned around in their swivel chair and stood. His pale face was covered in freckles and he had black hair that barely went over his ears, slightly wavy. His eyes were black with yellow iris's. If Selene had to describe heis body type she would say it was similar to her own.

  For a man anyway. Average height, and slim but toned.

  His expression was serious but not overly concerned as he raised a hand, as if clutching some invisible orb.

  Selene's limbs were suddenly spread out in an 'X' as she slowly began to float from the floor. It felt like a she was incased in concrete.

  It all happened too quickly..

  Kinectic class. Fuck.

  Her body began to transform, a dark exoskeleton growing over Selene, stretching and tearing her uniform. It wouldn't be enough.

  Again Selene was surprised the abilities telepaths were capable of having. Telepaths were resistant to each other's abilities as well, which meant he could do much worse to a regular person.

  Selene's entourage all looked between themselves in surprise, unsure of what to do. Aboleth was about to transform herself.

  "Don't..!" Selene managed to say through gritted teeth.

  They'd have no chance against him. Coming aboard was stupid of them. Of course the general had a trump card.

  Alaric brought up the other hand now—this time squeezing a fist.

  A pressure began to build on Selene's neck, it was as if an invisible vice was tightening around it. It could easily rip her head off. Selene's hair began to tighten against her neck from the force.

  "Stop!" Aboleth pleaded, taking a step forward, with a placating hand outstretched.

  Xaya and Preston were shifting their gaze around the room. They both seemed ready to draw their sidearms, but were fiercely aware of how outgunned they were.

  The other operators were looking over in a cold sweat, now standing with their own side-arms drawn. And the dozen or so enforcers that lined the edges of the room at trained their rifles on them. It was a mexican standoff at an execution.

  Luan looked between Alaric and Selene with a series of worried and pleading glances.

  The power dynamic had suddenly shifted, but the major wasn't surprised by that. It was how far Alaric was taking it that surprised her.

  Aboleth spoke frantically and desperately.

  "She's worth more to you alive! We weren't lying when we said the Zykra are coming, we can help you learn more about them!" She put a hand over her chest, turning to the general. "Take me, run experiements, whatever you need! Please!"

  Selene gurgled as a bit of dark purple blood began to drip from the corners of her mouth. Her vision was darkening at the sides, but she refused to break eye contact with the silent telepath across from her. Their eyes were locked on one another, an invisible battle of wills played out between them.

  "That's enough. Release her." Desuran ordered.

  Selene's incredibly dense Zykra form hit the metal floor. Her arms and knees left indents in it.

  "I believe that's an adequate example Viceroy. If she attempts to resist further, kill her."

  The General said, standing from his chair.

  Surprise and horror were written on Selene's face, as she tried to processed the situation. Her heart beat wildly, she wanted to throw a tantrum and destroy everything around her. But an invisible presence was all around her—daring her to try.

  They couldn't kill the telepath before she was killed in turn. Her empath ability wouldn't work, she already tried it while she was suspended. The psycho was completely warded against her.

  Desuran strolled nonchalantly and stood over Selene. Then produced another cigar and lit it.

  "Do you see now? You arrogant child? Know your place."

  "I don't know what game you're playing at general, but Selene doesn't represent the true threat to the sector." Aboleth said, her voice immersed in quiet, controlled fury.

  Selene felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Preston's.

  "You alright?" He asked. His niece couldn't spare him a glance.

  The smell of tobacco wafted around the space now as Desuran took a few steps towards the exit before turning.

  "Well it seems you have the situation under control Viceroy Stanhope, I'll send in your aid and be on my way."

  Selene clenched her fingers on the floor, they cut through the metal. The general sees and smiles in triumph.

  "Oh, come now. This result is not too disimilar to what you had planned before, isn't it? Be grateful, if it were up to me you would be dead already."

  He left the room then, with a couple enforcers trailing him.

  Luan and Riddick approached and stood near Alaric, who still had his focus on Selene. He was gauging her reaction carefully.

  "I guess we're coworkers now." Riddick said humurously.

  Selene stood slowly, she looked to Alaric. An uneasy quiet took over the room.

  A man in a butlers outfit serendipitously strode into the room, vibes of urgency and eager need to serve emitted from him. He had slightly red-toned skin, and a braided ponytail.

  He took his place next to Alaric and then turned to face them all alongside him. He bowed curtly.

  "Pleasure to meet you. I will be speaking for viceroy Stanhope as he does not possess the ability to speak himself."

  The butler placed a gloved hand over his chest gracefully as he introduced himself.

  "I am Bran Sainsbury. Representative and caretaker of viceroy Stanhope. I look forward to working together with you all to better serve the Protectorate and sector at large." He noticed how his liege and Selene were glaring at each other, and cleared his throat awkwardly.

  "I understand that the circumstances which brought us together are rather unpleasent, but there is no reason we can not cooperate amicably. The viceroy has ensured me he intends to capitulate to your demands when able. If your desires are not harmful to the Protectorate, he sees no reason not to do so."

  "So we're glorified slaves..." Preston said, he stood on the opposite side of Selene than Aboleth.

  Bran gave him a less placating look then. "It is our goal to make this process as painless as possible, but if you refuse to allow us to do so, then that is your choice. I'm sure your leader here has every intention of cooperating with us, if she has any hope to salvage the situation. Let's not doing anything unwise." He turned his focus to Selene.

  Selene sighed, finally breaking her scathing standoff with the viceroy and looked to Bran.

  "Obviously I have demands."

  The butler seemed pleased to hear it.

  "Of course, I'm confident that we can meet them all."

  That was difficult for her to believe. Maybe it was unrealistic to expect anything else...

  Alaric had to be the strongest telepath in the entire sector, or close to it. Why would they send anything less to control her? Which meant when she surpassed him, they'd have nothing left. No more trump cards. She'd be unstoppable then. She'd burn half the sector to the ground if it was required.

  It was the only hope worth clinging to. Her fury gradually faded and she resigned herself towards this longterm goal. The invasion took priority. For now.

  "How will this work? Is he just going to hover around me all the time?" She nodded towards the viceroy.

  Bran gave a look of mock offense. "That would be impolite of the viceroy..." He gestured to the uniformed man beside him "As I've explained, we intend to capitulate to some of your desires as well. If you make any effort to flee or offer other offense... Suffice to say we have our ways of knowing. Your containment will not require his constant attendance, but he will be working in proximity to you from now on."

  He walked towards Aboleth then.

  "You are her primary advisor, yes?" He offered to shake her hand. The tall woman gave a sidelong glance to Selene and ignored the offer.

  "Oh? Not a fan of handshakes then? It's a pleasure to meet your aquaintance in any case. We'll be working together closely from now on, tell me, what are you current forces, and metric for growth in the near future? Say, the next month to start? I will also need to know the coordinates of planets your kind currently infest." He noticed Aboleth's irritated expression.

  "Was that phrasing inconsiderate? I will say 'occupy' from now on. In fact, the Protectorate has prepared a list of worlds for you." He gave a flamboyantly playful wave. "But we'll exchange documents later. Though, I'd suppose the Zykra do not possess printers..?"

  "We can do that." Xaya offered, catching up on the state of things.

  "Splendid. I think together we can quickly organize a seamless workflow." He looked towards Luan and Riddick. "Major? Agent Riddick? You have roles as well. Should we all move to a more secluded to discuss such details? If you would follow me, I believe this vessel has such a place..."

  Selene ignored the butler and focused her attention on the viceroy himself.

  The metaphorical collar around her neck, ready to explode at anytime. The man was shielding himself from Selene, with no visible chinks in his armor. No vibes.

  They were leaning on the console now, looking towards the Zykra outside the window. He met Selene's gaze, and half smiled. A jarring expression considering he had just been choking her. A playful, curious vibe came out then, like a word. 'Hey.'

  Selene blinked. She was going to send a far ruder psionic signature of her own when Bran leaned into her view.

  "Ms. Carrington, if you would accompany us? Your input would be of the most substantial value."

  She looked back at the viceroy but his unreadable expression had returned.

  Weird.

  "Okay..?"

  Their 'meeting' was a humiliating and long process. For each of her demands they'd have two. It was a weak effort at placating her.

  In summary, her brood would be their disposeable attack dogs. Whenever the mission was especially dangerous, they'd call her. The IBT would be changing it's own role from containing feral Zykra to being her prison guards, with Luan holding the key's.

  The space station Alexandria would be relocating itself outside of Endelon 2 to serve as an ambessy. And the system around it would be renamed to Renova. Any planet they used to produce Zykra would be considered part of that system, regardless of where it was.

  That was for a good reason, since laws would be different in the Renova system.

  Those with the Zykra genome would be considered second class citizens, whose lives would be held second to any others. Infested, or hybrid, were forbidden to leave Renova. And the system would be illegal for anyone without explicit permission to enter. Meaning no trade routes, no tourism, nothing. Even accidentally wondering in could be forfeiting your life.

  It was a prison without bars. And it didn't stop there.

  They wanted her to infest prisoners, to turn them into Zykra soldiers. They'd build research facilities to experiment on them. The only thing they allowed Selene to run was the Zykra themselves. And her own tiny desmesne being Endelon 2. They didn't even give her the original Endelon.

  The butler seemed open to it, but Alaric was clearly against giving it away just to spite her.

  She'd get the right to decide their own laws in the hives, on the worlds they gave her. But they were secondary to the Protectorates. They'd have their own laws when interacting with her.

  If they accidentally killed a hybrid for example, it would be little more than a 'oops my bad' kind of mistake.

  It was infuriating.

  When the Protectorate called, they'd be mobilized. Sent against whatever target that was designated, likely human ones until the Zykra invaded.

  It was so much information Selene felt dizzy afterwards.

  She didn't care about any of it.

  All she knew was that if they wanted a weapon, she'd give them one. There was nothing she wouldn't do for her people.

  Behind the Chapter...

  really hard. I started to overthink things, and the best chapters I wrote were when I was just going with the flow. I guess I started feeling a type of responsibility to readers to make sure it was good, because I never expected to be writing for anyone.