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devoid of listening devices. As the aids exited the room, Admiral Imera poured a cup of hot tea which he offered to the other man. Sharn accepted it and took a tentative sip.
    “Adeni Shahee Ahmar?” Sharn said with a raised eyebrow. “A Yemeni Red Tea if I am not mistaken.”
    Admiral Imera smiled, “You’ve a refined palate I see.”
    “One learns to appreciate the subtle things in life. So many of my associates prefer the bitter taste of coffee. I’ve always enjoyed the nuances found only in a finely brewed tea.” He placed the cup back on the table. “I suspect, however, we are not here to talk of such things.”
    “No we are not,” Admiral Imera agreed. “The GCP finds itself in an unusual situation in which your help could be critical in resolving in a… matter of some concern.”
    Now it was Sharn Dragos’ turn to smile. “You are of course referring to the Catherine Kimbridge situation.”
    ***
    Cat reviewed the sensor data that was coming in over the Galactic info net. The Mardarus situation was beyond comprehension. Every fiber of her being wanted to rush there and render what aid she could… but deep down she knew the Yorktown and her taskforce were now considered renegades. Their very presence in the system would be disruptive and hinder what feeble rescue and recovery attempts the GCP was prepared to make.
    The sad reality was that the Yorktown’s best choice was to continue her efforts to fix the badly broken Galactic Coalition… and that meant learning what happened to the Hupenstanii and unseating the Grand Senate.

Chapter 5: Resurrection…
    Alpha analyzed the data stream coming in from his remaining repair systems.  If his creators had endowed his AI with emotion circuits he might have been depressed. As it was he was simply concerned by the limited number of available options. His power reserves were nearly exhausted. His energy harvesting systems were offline or destroyed. His reserve component stores were severely depleted and entire systems were missing due to damage that occurred while following his latest adversary through an unstable hyperfield conduit.
    A powered-down remnant of that adversary was secured in a storage bay. Alpha hoped to be able to recover critical information from the systems on that ship. But such investigations would need to wait.
    He had little choice. He programmed his few remaining repair bots to concentrate on bringing as many energy harvesting systems online as possible. He then scheduled the shutdown virtually everything else… including his own AI systems. Alpha was now little more than an asteroid hurling toward the human’s sun. Space was vast. Even a ship the size of his would be hard to detect if it emitted no electromagnetic signatures.
    In a few months, if enough energy harvesters did not come online, he would meet his end in Sol’s corona. It was a calculated risk but if he were to succeed in destroying Earth then there were no other viable options.
    ***
    Triska’nar slowly made her way to the shore. The ocean swim had been exhausting. Unlike humans, the Hupenstanii rarely swam for pleasure and fun. Their bodies just were not made for it… this despite their water repellant feathers that covered a body that visually had more in common with a kangaroo than a terrestrial bird.
    Not for the first time Triska’nar thanked her father for convincing her that she should focus her medical doctorate studies on aquatic systems. The oceans were a vast untapped resource for her people. Learning to swim had proved an invaluable skill as she explored the bio-medical diversity under the sea.
    When it became apparent that the survey shuttle was under attack, her companions had literally forced her to collect her research and dive out of the doomed shuttle into the ocean. They had given their lives so that she might survive. The world needed to know what monsters the GCP had become. The world needed to know the horrible fate waiting all of them if the GCP