Rogues in suppressor suits counterattacked from the command center while they were away. Marika and the remaining bath exchanged fire with them till they lost their nerve. One bath and three rogues were killed.
The explosives arrived. The moment the charges blew Marika shoved the great black into the control center. She followed. She had to slay only one more of the brethren to force their surrender. Five minutes later she had them out of their suits and the great black off seeking other rogues' nests.
She found those everywhere. Most she did not attack because they held too many hostages. She would not force grand sacrifices unless she could break the rogues no other way.
She set the shadow loose upon the world, in places where the rogues were strong, till all was confusion down below. Then she sent the great black off to its home system.
She examined the ship's control center. It duplicated that in which she had lived so long, reduced in size. "Wake them up," she told the bath, indicating prisoners who were unconscious. Those who retained consciousness she told, "Take your stations."
They moved reluctantly. A few refused. She drew a small ghost inside, chose a male at random, and made him die slowly.
She demanded, "Anyone else want to be a martyr to an idiot cause?" She extended a paw toward one who seemed senior.
He moved to a position.
"Good. Now activate all secured systems. This ship is going to do what it was designed to do."
Males eyed her blankly.
"You'll buy your lives by destroying those who summoned you." She wrinkled a lip in amusement.
No one argued, though many sets of shoulders tightened in anger and resentment.
"Good. You know me well enough not to waste time arguing. You may begin by recalling those who have taken control of the stations and mirrors."
The senior male replied, "They will not come. They have orders."
"They will not come, mistress. Recall your upbringing. Annoy me again and you will enjoy a long life as my personal bond. I am not pleased with you meth. I am tempted to see that your lives are very long and extremely unpleasant."
"They will not come, mistress. They have orders to remain where they are, no matter what they hear."
"Very inventive. We shall have to convince them, then. Prepare a rocket. We will destroy the Hammer. Send the order. Give them one minute to respond. Then launch."
The senior rogue started shaking.
Typical male fear fit. They had no choice but to entrust tasks to cowards. They were all cowards.
"I am watching you. While you work recall that I have spent years studying the ship on which this one was patterned. I will know what you are doing." She stopped, flipped a ghost at a male doing something surreptitious. He screamed. "You see?" She ordered the bath to hang him from the overhead. "Your friend will sing songs of agony while you work. His screams will serve to remind you who rules and who obeys."
She patted the senior's shoulder. He shuddered. "This time you pushed too hard. You made the Communities beg me to deal with you. You sealed the doom of all brethren. Even those we silth think good, I suppose. You were given countless chances to learn and refused all of them. In the Ponath, where I was whelped, we destroyed an animal that threatened us. Immediately. Sentiment did not stand in the way. Life was too fragile, too difficult." She patted his shoulder again. "Be of good cheer. You will participate in great events. You will see the end of an era. You may become the only brethren left alive. I might set you loose later, to wander the world and bear witness to the fury of silth aroused, to the fury of the All, when meth dare defy the natural order."
Some of the males looked at her as though she were mad. Most tried to evade her attention. The senior started to rise, lips back in anger. Marika gestured. The hanging male shrieked. "Such is the fate of those who will not obey. Those who will will survive. Destroy the Hammer. The dome on Little Fang will be next." She whispered to her senior bath, "I am leaving for a moment. Watch them."
She stepped out of the control section, closed her eyes, opened to the weak touch she had felt a moment before.
The Redoriad Mistress had entered the home system.
III What is it? Marika sent.
You may have sprung a trap.
I knew that when I came. But the males were here. How otherwise?
I came back too soon, too tired, hoping to be of aid. I dropped out of the Up-and-Over too soon, and askew from the ecliptic. Chance showed me three starships very like that which attacked the world. They are lying quietly out there.
Marika grunted, reflected a moment. So. Did they detect you?
I think not. I remained only a moment. Barely long enough to note them, probe them, and get out. They are not alert.
Interesting. Were they shielded?
No.
Stay where you are. It is dangerous here still.
Marika paced. A trap. With the deadly part awaiting a signal from in here. A signal already going out at the velocity of light. How far? She queried the Redoriad Mistress. Many, many hours. Too far for them. They had been too careful in hiding themselves.
The fools. She closed her eyes and summoned the system's great black. It did not take long.
She returned to the control center afterward. "Have they been stalling?" The rocket had not launched.
"I think so, mistress."
"So." She waved a paw. "Like that. That easily. Your ships in hiding have been destroyed. They were not alert. They did not have their shields up. You gain nothing by trying to stall till they get here." She faced the bath. "I want all the brethren aboard gathered here. I will give them the chance to die for their beliefs, or to make their peace."
The senior male looked grim. Marika said, "I told you to destroy the Hammer. You have not done so." She waved. The dangling male howled till the senior closed a circuit that launched a rocket.
"Now the dome on Little Fang. Orders to return here, then one minute, then launch. I want the orders sent on a frequency open to everyone."
The senior growled, "You are enjoying this."
"Very much." And she was. She was free of restraint. There was no one whose opinion concerned her. This would be done her way entirely. She would shatter their power, and humiliate them in the process. And she would enjoy doing it.
There would be no mercy this time. This time she would redesign the world.
It took only four rockets to convince the brethren that their position was hopeless. Marika made it seem obvious that she was willing to sacrifice everyone in the stations.
A few hundred meth died. And the void around the homeworld was hers.
Once the brethren from the mirrors were safely away, inward bound, she loosed the great black and finished everyone who had held the stations.
The senior male protested.
"I promised them nothing. Only you who are here." She stared down at the homeworld, at the place where Kublin cowered. He would not respond to the touch. But he never did.
She had a rocket carry a greeting down.
The explosion, half an hour later, was most gratifying. But it did not neutralize Kublin's installation. She sent another.
A tendril of touch reached her. A fartoucher sister down below sent her the gratitude of the Communities. The message sounded terribly contrived. Marika responded, You are not yet saved. That from which you fled has overtaken you. That which you feared has befallen you. I have the rogue ship now. And there will be real changes before I abandon it. You had a choice. The brethren way or Marika's. You chose mine as the lesser evil. Now you must live or die with it.
The second missile detonated over Kublin's headquarters, highlighting her position of strength.