• Nithril examined the video recording carefully. He knew the IGM was up to some kind of trick. He watched it over and over again, looking for some sign of other action when the burning ships fell. But he could find nothing.
    In frustration, he rewound it to the point where they had piled into the ships. He watched as the ships took off toward the atmosphere… but this time he saw something else. He rewound the video again and played it in slow motion. There were large splashes and waves in the ocean as they lifted off.
    Suddenly Nithril understood. The video was false. Somehow, the IGM had hacked into the video camera and made it appear that the ships were going toward the blockade. In reality, they were hiding in the ocean.
    Clever, but they couldn’t survive there forever. Nithril was again on their trail.
    This war depends on the commandos that followed me here. Will they save the IGM from my grasp? Well, not if they think they have the advantage of surprise.
    * * *
    Nithril’s ship went down into the massive ocean to search for them, but the other ships stayed in the blockade formation. Being in a stolen UNO ship, the commandos blended in perfectly. No one even opened communications to ask what the ship was doing there.
    They had a plan. Thyu would stay with this ship, and the rest of them would sneak onto other ships and take them over. They were able to find small, single person ships that would get the job done.
    Kriqua was the first one to board her targeted ship. They let her in the hangar, but the robots would begin firing as soon as they saw that it was an unidentified human. So before she landed, she flew around the hangar in her ship and fired at all the robots. Her accuracy was perfect, but the sound of gunfire would alert the rest of the robots on the ship. So when she landed, she hurried to an air vent and pulled off the lid. Then she crawled into the tight space. That, she realized too late, was a mistake. This was a robot ship, so the air vents didn’t have a need to be large. With her arms stretched out in front of her, she was barely able to fit. She might not be able to get out. But it was too late to back out now; she already heard the robots coming.
    So she crawled through the space for what seemed like hours before she found another lid. She did a scan with her mind to make sure there weren’t robots below. There were three. So she reached with her mind to touch one of them, breaking into the barrier of the computer mind. She couldn’t completely take control of it, but she could confuse its visual input. In the robot’s mind, the other two robots suddenly transformed into humans wearing IGM outfits. Sweeping its gun across, it shot each of the other robots once.
    However, the bullets were designed to kill humans, not robots. So when the other robots retaliated, they completely destroyed it, since their minds were clear of illusion. They shot its eyes, and then destroyed the neck. Then they radioed to the rest of the ship that there was nothing wrong in that room.
    As soon as that radio was sent, Kriqua jumped down, shooting even before she landed. With her computer accuracy, she was able to shoot both eyes out of one of the robots before she hit the ground and rolled to her feet, already firing at the other one. She shot a small opening in the neck, and the head popped off. She did the same to the other one.
    Her pistol was quieter than the robots’ rifles. She might be able to go unnoticed from this point. She took a minute to stretch out her cramped muscles before continuing.
    She carefully went through the ship, using the radar in her head to avoid the robots. Every now and then she had to dismantle a robot to progress, but overall, stealth was the ruling option. When she got close to the bridge, though, there was a problem. With her radar, she detected a wall of robots. There were larger rooms before the bridge, which were lined with guards. She also detected a large number of guns mounted on the walls, as well as security lasers. The lasers were invisible to the human eye, but they burned badly.
    She had a plan. It was insane, but it was a plan. She pulled a fist-sized sphere out of her utility belt. With her mind, she ordered the door in front of her to open and threw the ball, then dived out of the way. The robots instantly assessed that the object wouldn’t do damage. The purpose of the object was just to heat up the area. She had been made fun of for having it, but she insisted she would find a use for it. The ball struck a robot and opened up all of its vents. The robots in the area all heated up.
    The guns mounted on the walls were heat-seeking.
    The robots suddenly found themselves under fire from the ship’s own defenses. They darted madly to avoid the bullets, and many of them ran into the lasers scattered around the room. When the lasers didn’t fry their circuitry, it heated them up even more so that the guns would target them. Then came the hard part of her plan.
    Taking another device, which looked the same, she activated it in her hand. Her senses screamed in protest as her skin became as cold as ice. Her muscles were cooled as well, but not frozen. For a few minutes, her body would stop giving off heat. She had tested the device before, but nothing could really prepare her for the painful sensation. She was relieved when her senses went numb. Then she took off.
    She ran into the chaotic room, jumping, rolling, and dodging as the robots darted around her and she skimmed past the lasers. The bridge was on the other side. Two robots barred her way, pointing rifles at her. She pulled her pistol up and fired straight into the barrel of the gun on her right. The robot tried to fire, but it struck Kriqua’s bullet inside of the barrel, and the gun fell apart.
    The other robot also fired, but Kriqua jumped to the right and dashed behind the robot that she had damaged. She pushed it so that the robots faced each other, and the undamaged robot shot the already damaged robot, trying to get to Kriqua. Kriqua shoved the robot, causing the two to collide, and she ran, firing behind her while still keeping careful aim with the camera inside her gun.
    She bolted through the door to the cockpit and fired at the guards. Then she took control of the computer and locked down the room. She was ready.
    * * *
    Peyb wasn’t so secretive. He specialized in espionage, but he knew he wouldn’t fit into the air vent, and there was no other place that he could hide. As soon as his fighter ship touched down in the hangar, he jumped out and charged at the robots, tearing them to shreds. Their bullets hurt, but they were poorly aimed and felt only like bee stings. He was able to dodge the missiles efficiently enough. More and more robots poured into the hangar, but he faced them all. By the end of it, he had several open wounds that would hinder him for this mission, but he would recover soon.
    He imagined that there would be a few more, but he had faced the bulk of the army. He made his way toward the cockpit. On his way, he dismantled a few guns that were attached to the walls, and easily avoided the lasers. He couldn’t see the lasers, but he could see spots where the metal was overheated. He made it half-way through the ship with no real trouble. But then he stopped when he heard metal against metal—a heavy sound, as if there were giant robots…
    There were giant robots. Peyb turned around to face them. There were two metal giants, each with cannons for their right arms. Their left arms were more interesting. In the place where the hands should be, there were swords larger than Peyb himself. The giants stood at least ten times higher than him, even though they were hunchback.
    Peyb stood still as they walked into the open space of the room they were in. The first one fired its cannon. Peyb dived out of the way, curling into a ball to keep his legs from being hit. He rolled to his feet and assessed the damage the cannonball did. There was a gaping hole in the floor leading to the lower level. The hole was as wide as he was tall, and three times longer. He easily arrived at the conclusion that even he couldn’t survive a hit.
    The second one fired. Peyb leapt straight upward, then bounced off of the top of the cannon ball, sending himself toward the robots. He would’ve hit the second one, but the first one swung its massive sword. Twisting around in the air, he grabbed the blade carefully so that he didn’t touch the edges. He felt himself lifted higher, and when the momentum slowed, he pushed off of the sword, going straight for the robot’s head. Then the other one jabbed at him. He pushed himself away from the sword before it could hit his chest, but he gained a long cut on his left palm.
    Peyb landed hard on the ground, and instantly rolled to avoid the first one’s sword. When it missed, the robot swung its arm to the side, swatting Peyb away with the flat of its blade. He hit the wall and dropped to the floor. He rolled to the side, instinctively knowing that another blow was coming. This time, though, two swords hit the ground. One on his right, and one on his left. They both swung toward him. He leapt into the air and straightened out horizontally, stretching his arms in front of him. The flats of the blades struck him with more force than he anticipated, and for a moment everything was blurry.
    Peyb again hit the floor, his arms and legs numb. He saw that the sword in front of him had a hairline crack. He assumed the other one had similar damage. He rolled away from the wall and toward the robots as a cannon shot the space where he had been a second ago. Instead of rolling again to avoid the downward jab with the sword, he got to his feet and sidestepped, then slammed hard with the palm of his hand. The sword chipped and cracked. Peyb leapt in front of the other robot, then leapt back. The one he jumped away from shot at him, while the other one swung its sword. Peyb grabbed the sword the same way he had before and flipped around it. The cannonball struck the sword. It shattered, and many of the pieces went flying toward Peyb. Some of the metal shards were able to cut through his skin, but his plan had worked. The cannonball had been deflected into the robot’s leg, and it collapsed.
    Peyb ran toward the one still standing. The broken sword swung to strike him, but he didn’t even have to dodge it. One of these days, they should make a robot that actually realizes that it’s damaged, Peyb thought. That would be more of a challenge. He leapt and struck the robot’s chest, creating a small hole. He used that hole to pull himself up to the robot’s shoulder, where he pushed with all of his might and broke the giant’s head off.
    By that time, the other robot had stood up again. It swung its sword, but Peyb was done just dodging. He crouched low, and the sword passed over him. While the middle of the blade was above him, he pushed with his legs as quickly as he could and shot his arms up. The hairline crack on the sword grew to a spider web crack. But the main purpose was that the robot’s arm shot upward, which exposed its torso. He leapt toward the robot and struck its chest. The robot was already off-balance, so when he struck it, it could no longer stand. As it fell backward, the sword hit the ceiling, and a piece of it chipped off and struck the robot’s head, presumably destroying the circuitry inside as it passed through.
    Then a metal foot struck him, and he was sent flying across the room. When he hit the wall, he turned around to see if there was a third one. What he saw instead was more frightening. The robot he had beheaded was still standing. It fired its cannon at him, and he was barely able to leap out of the way. The one with the metal shard stuck in its head stood slowly, and turned to face him. How can they see me? Their eyes are inoperable, I can clearly see that.
    Whatever the case, now he knew that their heads weren’t important. He could adjust his strategy. He started running toward them, and they both launched their cannons. Putting on a burst of speed, he ducked under the cannonballs before they hit the ground and continued his sprint. He dashed to the headless robot. It tried to swing its sword at him, again forgetting that it had no sword, and he leapt to the torso. He landed in the same spot, and tore at the hole he had made in the chest earlier.
    At the last second, he let go and fell to the ground. The second robot swung its sword, but—luckily for the other robot—it swung sideways instead of jabbing. The sword came inches from the robot’s chest, but what happened next, he hadn’t expected. The headless robot swung its arm down to shatter the other’s sword, and the shards rained down on Peyb. He bent over and put his hands behind his head to protect it as wounds opened up all over his body. Then the headless robot kicked him, and he slammed directly into the cannon of the other robot. His right arm was stuck. Before he could pull it free, the cannon fired.
    Peyb screamed in pain as he watched his arm fly across the room. All he could see was red. Then he saw the red cannon pointing at him. The headless robot fired, and Peyb simply let himself fall off of the robot’s arm. He crumpled as he hit the ground, unable to concentrate on anything other than his pain. The robot with its head had ducked to avoid the cannonball, and now it swung down with its cannon arm. The barrel fell around Peyb, trapping him inside. This is where I die, Peyb realized.
    But a second passed where there was nothing. The cannon didn’t fire. Suddenly Peyb realized it was out of ammo. A spark of hope lit up his despair as he punched the side of the cannon. The barrel fell apart, and he took two steps before leaping to bounce off of the robot’s other arm and hit its chest. He punched repeatedly even before his body hit it, adrenaline and desperation fueling his one arm. When the rest of his body struck, he pulled back for one powerful punch, which tore a huge hole in the robot’s chest. Peyb was knocked off, but before he got too far, he kicked, sending himself rocketing toward the other robot.
    As he flew toward the other robot, he watched the one he had just attacked. It slowly fell to the ground, and this time he knew it would not rise again.
    Throwing his arm in front of him, he struck the other robot, which already had a hole in the chest. He flipped over and dug his feet into the hole. Holding on with his legs, he punched the headless robot until he could see the smoke rising and the gears melting together. Many of the parts spilled out as the robot collapsed.
    Peyb wrapped his stub of an arm in his torn clothing and made his way to the bridge. He had never piloted with one arm before, but he would figure it out. He was ready.
    * * *
    When Dociluas entered the hangar of his targeted ship, he flew around in a circle within the hangar, trying to decide the best way to get past it to the next room. Then he boosted his fighter to full speed toward the open door. At the last second, he jerked the nose downward and popped open the bridge. Having no restraints to hold him down, he flew out of the fighter when it crashed and rocketed straight through the door. He quickly gunned down the robots that met him.
    The wreckage crashed into the door, blocking it. The robots on the other side were easily destroyed. So Dociluas was still undetected. Robots came to investigate the crash, but since they would find no human remains, they would assume it had been a malfunctioning robot pilot.
    Dociluas was able to sneak into the bridge without a fight. He snuck up on a robotic guard and tapped it with a device that quietly disabled it, then did the same to the rest.
    He pretended not to notice his last problem as he went to the controls of the ship and prepared it for his command. He heard the small click as his problem dropped off of the ceiling. He dove out of the way and threw the electrical device he had used to disable the other robots. This robot was different though. It looked as if its designers had traded its armor for mobility. It’s long, skinny arm grabbed the handle of the square device and threw it aside. Then it reached for a gun in its belt, but Dociluas shot the gun out of its hand.
    The robot charged, dropping to all fours—no, it had six limbs—and crawling like an ant. Dociluas shot both of its eyes, but it kept coming. Using its hands like a seesaw, it flipped forward to kick Dociluas. Dociluas instantly saw the flaw. The robot had its legs spread out, expecting Dociluas to try to dodge. Instead, he simply turned sideways so that the legs passed him harmlessly, and then shot the head and neck of the robot a few times so that the head popped off. Then he took a bottle out of his belt pouch and smeared a small bit of the liquid on the exposed wires. The liquid seeped into the wires, following the electrical current and distorting it until the robot finally shut off, permanently.
    He drew a small—but dangerously sharp—knife out of its sheath and smeared a bit of the liquid on it as well. As he went to work on the controls of the ship, he had the knife by his left hand, and one pistol near his right hand. He was ready.
    * * *
    Juyrl, being a Ryeaoan, used a Ryeaoan strategy—just break through. As soon as he exited his fighter, he picked it up and threw it at a group of robots. He didn’t wait until he was the last one standing. He had caused enough chaos that he could just go. He ran out of the hangar and into the hall. He bashed aside robots as he ran, not bothering to destroy all of them.
    He got to the bridge in no time. When he forced the door open, though, a bolt of electricity hit him, and he fell to the ground. The door closed again. Juyrl opened it again, this time leaning forward so that he wouldn’t fall back. But the electricity didn’t come as he anticipated, and he face-planted in the floor, and this time the electricity hit his back.
    Juyrl assumed that it was a thinking robot. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have anticipated his action like that. He lunged forward and rose to his feet, and a bolt of electricity hit the back of his head, throwing him down. He hit the ground and rolled back up, then kicked off of a wall in front of him. He saw the robot in front of him briefly before it pulled itself upward.
    Now he knew it was clinging to the ceiling. He slammed into a wall with all of his strength, which caused a strong vibration throughout the room. A bolt of electricity shot by him, but didn’t touch him. Juyrl leapt, grabbing a pipe that was hanging from the ceiling. The thinking robot unsheathed a katana and sliced one end of the pipe, causing Juyrl to swing out into open space, where he was hit by another bolt of electricity. He fell to the ground, but immediately got back up, and pressed a button on the control panel. He wasn’t sure what it would do, but figured it out when there was a jolt as the ship turned sharply. The thinking robot was put off balance long enough for Juyrl to find the button he wanted—as he pressed it, he felt his stomach lurch as he began to float. The artificial gravity was offline.
    The thinking robot most likely thought it was a good thing for it that there was no gravity. It made Juyrl an easier target. Its clawed feet let go of the wires in the ceiling, and it aimed its gun at the Ryeaoan in front of it. It squeezed the trigger, and Juyrl was hit by another bolt. It knew that at this point, even a Ryeaoan would be losing focus. But what happened next wasn’t planned. The bolt slammed Juyrl to the floor, but he didn’t stay down. Without the gravity, he just bounced off of the floor and came straight toward the thinking robot.
    The robot slashed with its sword, but Juyrl caught the flat of the blade with his palm as he struck, causing it to shatter. The next blow struck the thinking robot’s head. It rocketed to the other side of the room, now only able to see out of one eye, as one side of its head was destroyed. It saw Juyrl coming toward it and fired. Juyrl hit the opposite wall. It aimed to fire again, but what it didn’t see was the loose pipe coming toward its blind side. It broke off of the ceiling completely, and as the robot squeezed the trigger, the pipe hit its damaged head. It didn’t do any damage, but it shifted his aim just enough to miss Juyrl. Juyrl got up and pushed off the wall, coming straight toward the robot.
    The robot fired, but Juyrl pushed off of a wall next to him. Then Juyrl kicked off the ground. The robot predicted that his next move would be to bounce off the ceiling toward the robot, so it shot in anticipation of that. But this time, Juyrl didn’t bounce. Instead, he clung to the ceiling and threw something—the larger part of the broken katana. Much of the electricity clung to the metal as it flew through the blast, and when it struck the robot, the battle was over.
    Juyrl had won. His vision was blurred and smeared with red. But he made his way to the control panel and turned the gravity back on. He was ready.
    * * *
    Mark was the last one. His targeted ship was on the other side of the planet from where they had started. They had spread out a while choosing their targets, and they were now spread around the orbit of Ayarth.
    Mark had also been the last one to leave, because he had taken the time to connect his rifle to his fighter. So when he entered the hangar, he was easily able to take down most of the robots. A couple of them shot missiles, and Mark could see that one was about to hit his fighter. Then his rifle swiveled and shot twice—the first bullet destroyed the missile, and the second shot through the explosion to hit the robot that had launched it.
    Two missiles were coming up behind him. He stalled his engine for a second, and then put full power to the engines. The flare that came out of them destroyed the missiles while not harming his ship. He was coming up to a wall with too much momentum, so he was forced to turn in a wide arc. When he came out of his turn, he saw three missiles coming straight at him. Two of them were on his left, and one on his right. He turned his ship sideways and aimed his rifle at the two on his left, striking with perfect accuracy. Then he opened his cockpit and pressed a button to release pressurized air. The resulting blast of wind sent the third missile careening into a wall.
    Mark closed the cockpit again and maneuvered the ship so that it was right side up. His wing tips tapped the wall and floor as he turned a tight corner. Flying low, with all guns blazing, he flew straight through the small robot force. The ones that weren’t taken care of by the guns were turned into scrap metal by the force of a ship slamming into them. Bouncing off the floor slightly, he pulled the nose of his ship up before the wall could come up on him, and just kept the momentum there. His ship flipped upside down again, and he opened the cockpit again. Using his pistol, he shot quickly at the shield generator.
    The shield worked by reflecting gaseous particles, but admitting the rest through. So while you could fly a ship through, the air couldn’t escape. But that collapsed when Mark shot the generator. It wasn’t permanent damage, but the pistol caused it to malfunction. He closed his cockpit again. The suction of the sudden void hit his fighter hard. He battled the controls until he could regain command of his ship. The robots weren’t quite as prepared. When the generator finally recovered and started working again, there were no more robots in the room. They all floated around in the space outside.
    Mark landed his fighter and took his rifle. Although he tried to be completely serious, he had to admit to himself that he had enjoyed that. Now there would be more. He marched up to the door and put a magnetic device on a nearby computer panel. For several minutes, he waited with his gun pointed at the door. Then he heard the click, and the door opened. He quickly spotted the robots in the next room and shot them, while they were still in confusion about the wall-mounted guns shooting at them.
    Mark knew that this was happening all throughout the ship. The ship’s security system had been turned against the robots. He hurried to the bridge, surprisingly finding no more opposition. The bridge door stood in front of him, but it didn’t open. For a moment, Mark was confused. His device had to still be attached—otherwise the wall-mounts would be firing at him. So the door was magnetically sealed by something outside of the ship’s systems.
    Taking a device that looked similar to the one he had used earlier, he attached it to the door. Once it had measured the magnetic energy, he pressed the button to add the exact same energy. Mark’s arm jolted as his magnet flew off the door. The door opened. He instantly lifted his rifle and fired three times. Instead of hitting the robot, the bullets changed direction to hit the magnetic device in its hands. Then the robot lifted its arm and fired. Mark dove to the side to avoid the rapid-fire bullets flying at him. He rolled when he hit the ground, and came out of the roll with his rifle pointed in readiness, waiting for the robot to step out.
    It didn’t. Mark didn’t need to wait long to figure out that the robot wasn’t coming out. And he wasn’t willing to wait. Robots had a lot more patience than humans. He threw a grenade in, expecting it to be thrown back out. It wasn’t.
    Now Mark had no doubt that it was a thinking robot. Any other robot would’ve seen the grenade as a threat, but the thinking robot looked and saw that the pin was still in the grenade. He sprang out in front of the door, but saw nothing. He didn’t see the grenade he threw, either. He cautiously stepped through. He heard a loud thud directly behind him and whirled around. He realized his mistake too late. The thud that he thought was the robot was actually the door closing. The robot landed as soon as he faced the door and grabbed him from behind, pounding his stomach. Mark doubled over, and the grenade was shoved into his abdomen without the pin.
    Mark didn’t react by shoving it away from him, as most people would. He dropped to the ground as he pulled a metal bowl out of his belt. He clamped the bowl over the grenade. He sometimes hated carrying something as heavy as that bowl around, but in situations like this, it was worth it. His arms jolted, and pain shot through him, but he was alive. He turned around and faced the robot, which was busy with the device Mark had strapped to its arm. The circlet tightened itself around the robot’s wrist and dug its needles in. The robot’s right hand popped off.
    They both dove in anticipation of the other firing. When they came out of their rolls, they both did. Neither of them hit the other. They were both moving as quickly as they were firing. A second robot came up behind Mark and grabbed his right arm. He twisted around the robot’s grip, even though it rubbed skin off of his arm, and brought his rifle around to the back of the robot’s neck, then fired. The robot’s grasp was released, and Mark fired at the other two army robots in the room, still moving. When he turned to where the thinking robot should’ve been, he saw nothing. But he wasn’t about to keep still and search.
    Mark ran to the control panel and jerked two levers. It was a dangerous trick he had learned several years ago, but had never had a reason to use. The first lever was the activation switch for the artificial gravity. He pulled it to the off position, but then he immediately pulled the other switch to the off position—the switch controlling the entire ship’s power. He immediately jerked it back on, and a split-second later jerked the gravity switch back on. Most of the ship’s systems reset normally, but the ship tried to add gravity, when it had never had time to shut off properly. The gravity of the ship doubled, making Mark drop to his knees.
    It also made the robot drop from its hiding place. Mark fired, hitting the robot several times. A moment later, the ship assessed the gravity situation and returned it to normality, but it was too late for the thinking robot. Mark had won. He was ready.
    * * *
    Thyu stood by as they all signaled their readiness. They were spread out among the blockade, ready to launch their plan into action. All he had to do was press a single button to signal to them.
    He was still in pain. He decided that he would never again attempt to fight a Ryeaoan. Thankfully, he was on the same side as Ryeaoans were. Inen, though, was on her own side. He didn’t want to run into any more Ryeaoans like that.
    “Which ship is Peyb on?”
    Thyu hesitated. He didn’t want to turn around. He wanted it to be his imagination. But he did turn around, and saw Inen inches away from his face. One eye was missing. Chains still hung from her wrists and ankles. Based on the looks of the chains, Thyu guessed that she had pulled chunks of the wall out in her struggle to break free.
    “Which one, Ayarthan?” Thyu leapt away, but Inen swung a chain and hit his leg. He felt the chain wrap around his leg, and he hit the ground. He turned to look up at Inen. “Don’t try to fight me again, fool. You’re still recovering from our last go. Now where is he?”
    Thyu knew he didn’t have much hope. But if he betrayed Peyb to her, then he would have sunk to his opponent’s level, and would no longer be worthy to fight alongside the IGM.
    Thyu grabbed the chain and pulled himself up, leaping straight toward Inen. That was the one thing she hadn’t expected. She didn’t think her intimidation would altogether fail like that. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled himself past her, managing to slam a single button on the control panel before Inen fought back.
    The signal was sent.
    * * *
    The firing started. The robots that had been reprogrammed to serve IGM were also in the fight, tearing apart the blockade. The IGM commandos, surprised by the help they were receiving, figured out how to best coordinate with the reprogrammed robots, and there were very few losses among the IGM-controlled ships. The blockade was a failure.
    * * *
    Dociluas was targeting and firing as much as anyone else, but his hand never strayed too far from his knife. He knew he was far from being out of danger. The robots thought that he didn’t see them, but he had been watching their faint reflection in some of the screens on the control panel. There were at least two more of the insect-like, six-limbed robots.
    One of them jumped down, diving for his knife. Dociluas grabbed his knife and sidestepped, then stabbed down into the chin of the robot. Without pulling the knife out, he grabbed his pistol and dove away, then shot at the second one while he was pulling his second pistol out of his belt. It landed and immediately dashed toward him. At the last second, Dociluas sidestepped and kicked hard at the robot’s foreleg/arm. It snapped at the shoulder. The robot charged at him again, but—as usual with robots—it failed to assess its own damage. It ended up skidding to the side, and Dociluas jumped onto its back, shooting its neck. The head popped off, but the robot kept moving. Dociluas jumped off just as it slammed into a wall, then he shot a pipe on the ceiling so that it came down and smashed the robot.
    One of these days, Dociluas thought, they’re going to start making robots that actually do know when they’re hurt. That’s when we’ll actually have a challenge.
    Suddenly a face appeared on the communication screen. “Those were my experiments! And you ruined them! How could you—?”
    “The liquid I used to shut them down was also an experiment—I’ve never used that before. If I could make a suggestion, try giving them some kind of weapon.” The advice was useless, he knew, as added weapons would sacrifice the speed and agility of the light-weight robots. If the UNO engineer followed Dociluas’s advice, he’d be dooming himself.
    With that, Dociluas continued his work in tearing down the blockade.
    * * *
    Peyb was completely focused on his task, but that didn’t mean he was oblivious when there were vibrations from within the ship. Most people would’ve dismissed it as damage from outside, which was to be expected in this situation. But Peyb knew that it was coming from the inside. And he already knew what it was.
    Suddenly the cockpit’s communication screen switched on. “How did you like my projects? I see they weren’t enough for you. Would you like a third?”
    As soon as the communication switched off, Peyb dove into the panel he had already opened underneath the controls. He closed it just as the mechanical nightmare tore through the wall. Peyb waited until he heard a voice. “Where are you? Did you flee? You performed a dirty little trick to make me think you were still in the cockpit. What a disgrace to your race! I expected so much more of your warrior people. I guess you’re little more than—”
    Peyb could listen no more. He burst out of his hiding place, only to find the sword already in front of him. Too late, he realized that his opponent had already known exactly where he was, and was taking advantage of the Ryeaoan tendency to have short tempers. He tried to grab the flat of the blade, forgetting in his panic that he had lost one arm. He pushed against the blade with his good arm, but it was too late to avoid a large scrape across the side of his face. He couldn’t tell how bad the damage was, but he could still see, so he knew it hadn’t damaged his eye.
    He hit the floor and rolled on his good shoulder. He came out of his roll with a leap, already knowing that the cannon would fire. The cannonball came inches away from him, but collided with the floor where he had rolled to. He landed on the edge of the resulting hole. Peyb was suddenly grateful for the extra protective layer the hull had around the bridge. The sword began to fly through the air toward him, so he jumped down into the hole. It was filled with wires and pipes. He looked up to see the robot aiming its cannon again—but it didn’t aim for him. It aimed away from the hole. Peyb didn’t have to wonder for long what the robot was doing. The hole doubled in size when it fired, and the robot leapt. Peyb dashed through wires and pipes, trying to reach out with his right arm to tear them, again forgetting that it wasn’t there.
    The electricity stabbed his face as he alternated between his arm and teeth tearing the wires. He didn’t have time to rely on one arm. The robot landed behind him, but its shoulders were still just above the opening, even though it was hunched. The cannon fired blindly, barely missing Peyb. A path was torn open through the wires—and through the wall—but Peyb stayed still. The robot couldn’t see him, so if he stayed still, it would think him dead. Even so, Peyb realized that his situation was desperate. There was only one more layer of the hull.
    There were lights flickering in the bridge, and Peyb imagined that dozens of the ship’s systems were malfunctioning due to the damaged wiring.
    After what seemed like eternity, the robot pulled itself back up through the hole. But as he listened, he realized that it wasn’t going farther. It was staying in the bridge. So Peyb would have to do something else if he was to survive. But how?
    A realization dawned over him. There was nothing he could do to survive. But maybe there was something he could do to win. He couldn’t make it through this, but he could still serve the IGM. He could still strike at his enemy. And if Nithril really was on this planet, he’d be striking very near to the heart of UNO. He could possibly be part of the sword that would bring the fatal blow. His death would be a warrior’s death, and—even better—he would die for a cause he believed in.
    Peyb went to the second hole and stepped onto the last layer of the hull. There was something he had recently learned, which he could use in a situation that he didn’t expect to come out of. After what seemed like an eternity, he found the group of wires he had been searching for. Pulling a cluster of wires out of an extension cord without breaking them, he rearranged them, disconnecting wires and reconnecting them incorrectly. The power for the weapon systems and the engines were switched around, as well as all of the other systems. But there were two in particular that he cared about—the wires for the artificial gravity system and for the emergency power. Power would flood to the emergency power systems. The emergency power would overflow the systems that were already receiving sufficient power. The artificial gravity would also cut out, not that it would matter much. The ship would realize that the emergency power was on, but it wouldn’t be able to figure out that the wires were switched around, and would be powerless to stop the reaction.
    Peyb felt no regret as he did it. The gravity faded, and he prepared for the explosion… but none came. Then he realized that it was possible that the wires that were damaged from the robot may have ruined his plan.
    He wasn’t about to give up. A surge of adrenaline filled him as he dashed back up inside the cockpit. The sword swung at him before he was fully out of the hole—the robot had been waiting for him to come out.
    But Peyb was not willing to fail.
    Twisting around in the air, he punched the flat of the sword with all of his might. It curved around him. The cannon pointed at him, but he took advantage of the lack of gravity to climb into the cannon. Before it could fire, he moved behind the cannonball and into a tunnel on the other side, where the extra ammunition was stored. He heard the cannon fire behind him, and a new cannonball came at him as it was moved into the barrel. Squeezing to the side of the tunnel, he managed to force himself around it. He moved up the arm, and then collapsed into the hollow chest, right on top of a human.
    The UNO Earthling shouted and reached for his gun. Peyb reached out and snatched the pistol from him and crushed it in his hand. Then he swung his fist at his opponent’s throat, and the battle was over.
    Peyb broke open the robot’s chest and spilled out of it. He didn’t expect to be alive at this point. His vision was blurring, and there was a ringing in his ears… Suddenly everything came into focus as a fresh burst of adrenaline rushed through him. That ringing wasn’t his ears—it was an alarm. There was something wrong with the ship.
    Then Peyb remembered something that he should’ve remembered earlier—the reaction he had planned takes time to reach the critical state. It did work—and he only had a short time to get off of the ship.
    He ran as fast as he could to find an escape pod, but soon he blacked out.
    * * *
    Thyu was desperately avoiding Inen’s attacks, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. His fear and adrenaline had protected him up to this point, but he was tiring, and Inen was only getting angrier. She used her chains like whips, and it took all of his agility as an Ayarthan to avoid them.
    Finally, Inen managed to hit Thyu’s hip with one of her chains. He fell to the ground, and she pounced. Thyu saw her coming down toward him, and determination filled him. I will not be beaten by her again.
    Thyu rolled to the side and grabbed the chain on her left arm, then dashed and grabbed one attached to her ankle. She stood up quickly. As she charged, Thyu quickly linked the chains together. She slammed into him with all of her strength, and he was thrown to the ground. He caught himself with a back flip, finding a chain whipping right in front of his face as he landed. Inen swung her left arm, but the chain missed, because she hadn’t realized that it was connected to the one on her ankle. She automatically reached to detach them, but stopped herself in a split second as Thyu dashed for her. She swung her right arm, and the chain flew toward Thyu. Thyu ducked and grabbed the chain as it passed over his head. He was lifted off the ground by the momentum. Then the chain on her right ankle flew at him.
    She’s skilled, but not smart, Thyu thought. He grabbed the second chain and held onto both, allowing them to get tangled with him in the middle. He hit the ground, fully tangled in the two chains. Inen walked toward him with a sense of victory.
    Then Thyu relaxed all of his muscles, allowing his body to change shape as he squeezed out of the chains. Inen swung her left chains at him as soon as she realized what happened, but he grabbed the tangled mass by his feet and put it through the loop of the left chains. Pulling tight on it, he managed to tangle all of the chains together. At this point, Inen ignored the chains and just charged. Thyu, still holding the tangled mass, leapt over Inen’s head. She jerked her fist up, but ended up hitting only the chains. Thyu landed behind her and pulled, causing Inen to lose her balance.
    As she fell, she instantly curled into a ball and rolled over in a defensive position, ready to counter his attack. But it never came. She looked to see Thyu standing over the cockpit controls. Suddenly she felt lasers stab into her skin, burning her. Guns started firing from each side, pelting her. She stood up to charge at Thyu, but then a laser targeted her good eye, completely blinding her. Normally she could also fight by sound, but the guns were making too much noise for her to concentrate. The only thing she could smell was her burning flesh.
    Then she did something astounding. “I surrender,” she choked.
    There was a pause, and then the guns and lasers stopped. Thyu shook his head. “I’ve never even heard of a Ryeaoan surrendering. Why should I trust your surrender?”
    “Even a Ryeaoan can’t fight passed death. If I remain like this, I will die, even without you helping the process. Just let me get to the medical bay.”
    “Fine. Just go. I’m watching you.”
    Inen walked out of the room, groping the walls as she tried to blindly find her way. What Thyu didn’t tell her was that there were armed robots in the medical bay. In her current state, she wasn’t likely to even get to the medical bay, and if she did, she wouldn’t be likely to ever leave it. If Thyu was free of responsibilities, he might have helped her. But he had to do his part in tearing the blockade to pieces.
    * * *
    From his space on Nithril’s ship, Triidxuq had watched the whole thing. Each of the commandoes was amazing, and they had continued to earn more of Triidxuq’s respect as they went. However, that last maneuver Thyu had pulled just didn’t seem right. Inen had certainly deserved it, but who was Thyu to pass judgment? And to do so in such a manner as that was condemning her to a slow, torturous death, rather than a quick and easy one. That’s something that UNO would do.