I asked @awesomedog and @foxcutter to lead the way to the Pit so that we could be ready to assist The Pharaoh if needed. The Pit was home to Steve's Ship & Shop. I knew Steve would be appalled by the state The Pharaoh was in, but he probably wouldn't be surprised. I also knew that the presence of Oblivion would freak out everyone at the Pit, so I wanted @awesomedog and @foxcutter to smooth things over for us before we arrived.

  @stardvark needed a pot of tea and an extended session with Oblivion and I to come to terms with our new arrangement. He and Oblivion had never chatted before (not like this anyway), and @stardvark lost his shit when they started talking about Obliteration mode. It was Oblivion's favorite thing ever, and the one thing @stardvark was the proudest of. That got @stardvark excited enough to accept that we were Outer System Alliance forces.

  The presence of @auroraloon, being another soldier in the Solar Union, helped a lot. I was starting to think of us as more of an independent crew. Not only did we now have three Burners aboard, we were piloting a Solar Union ship, and there was no way I was going to give up Oblivion. That was part of the whole point of the catnip virus. I wanted the ship for myself, and the ship would fight to keep it that way.

  Our other newest member of the crew, the Solar Union woman who had pointed the flip37 at me, was @dragonlotus. She begrudgingly accompanied me as I explored the ship on our way to the Pit. I wanted to start by getting Sango settled into my captain's quarters. Apparently, Sango was with @auroraloon down in the workshop area. The kitten had bonded with the two of us, it seemed, and the way he melted @auroraloon's Infiltrator heart was kind of precious.

  "So you had no idea about the zos612 virus?" I asked @dragonlotus again.

  I was having a hard time believing that the crew of Oblivion, the ship I had found at Starlab 41665.1, the ship that had @bronzelion aboard, the ship where I learned about @moonqueen and the successful test results, had been kept in the dark about it.

  "We are a warship." Her voice had a melodic rhythm I wasn't expecting, but it was otherwise tonally flat. "I'm just engineering. They don't tell us what we do."

  "And what do you do?" I tried to make it sound like I wasn't interrogating her.

  "I program repair droids," she said, and then she grabbed my arm as I started wandering down the wrong way. "No, no. This way. That way is the pool."

  So there was a pool on the ship. I was trying not to use the navigation or map layout of the ship so that I could get a better natural sense of my surroundings. Engineering was in the rear part of the lower level. As we walked, I realized we were approaching the heaps of dead bodies. Some of @dragonlotus's repair droids were disposing of them, but they had only just started on cleaning up the interior of the ship.

  "Sometimes @stardvark will have me make improvements to the ship," she continued, "or I reprogram repair droids." She gestured toward a repair droid that had just hoisted one of the dead crew into the air for removal.

  I paused as the intersection came closer into view. "I'm sorry about this," I said. "I'm sure some of them were your friends."

  @dragonlotus turned back toward me. She was almost my height, athletic, with a pretty face and dark eyes. Honestly, she was what I expected of an aiways. One of the touches of authenticity she gave herself was a slight gap in her front teeth.

  "You say Oblivion did this," she said, more a statement than a question.

  "Yes, but if Oblivion hadn't, we would have needed to take over the ship," I admitted. "It would have been bad either way. Almost everyone would have died anyway. Because of me."

  She studied me. "And you're not worried I will sabotage the ship? I'm not in a holding cell. I am free to roam the ship. Just like that."

  I nodded. Was I wrong to let her wander unsupervised? Maybe, but I knew Oblivion liked her, and I knew Oblivion would protect itself and me. That was good enough. "Just like that," I said.

  "What if I kill you?"

  Wow, she was being honest or just very direct.

  "I don't think Oblivion would appreciate that. We're kind of … bonded. The ship likes you, but I wouldn't want to see what it would do if harm came to me."

  "I see. You and the ship. Connected."

  "Something like that. You're welcome to ask Oblivion about it. It talks now." I motioned for us to keep going. "It loves to talk."

  She hmphed in acknowledgment.

  We quietly passed through an area with recently deceased crew members. I didn't want to look, but I forced myself to. The crew didn't know about the virus. They were Burners, sure, but so were @auroraloon and @stardvark. These were just aiways, serving their military like the rest of us.

  A man with a brown mustache, his mouth hanging open, his eyes closed, his hands reaching for the ladder. A woman with short red hair. Another woman who could have been her sister, but with dark curly hair. More and more faces. I tried to remember them, to store them in my memory banks. If I ever see you alive, I will apologize. But that is war. And war is death.

  "They will be reanimated," she said simply. I appreciated that, even if she said it more for herself than for me.

  We were approaching the workshops now. I could hear metal clanking. When it stopped, I heard what sounded like the hissing of hot water. @auroraloon must be working on something.

  I knocked but didn't wait before entering with @dragonlotus, mostly because @dragonlotus practically ran in.

  "This is my workstation," she spat angrily at @auroraloon. @dragonlotus turned to me. "You tell her to work somewhere else."

  @auroraloon was intent on her project. She calmly looked over at @dragonlotus, and then me, before grabbing the hot piece of metal she had dipped in a parts washer to clean, using a thick heat-resistant glove, and setting it down on the workbench. She pulled the glove off and tossed it on the table. She hadn't bothered finding appropriate attire. She was wearing black boots, a pair of blue jeans, and her disfigured black v-neck shirt. The look of her reminded me why I had a crush on her before I met @sundial.

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  "I suck at this anyway," @auroraloon complained. "Is @zerogstar around? She's much better at tinkering with machines."

  "I need her on the bridge to navigate and monitor," I said.

  "Aren't we just auto-piloting on this self-aware ship of yours?"

  That was a valid observation, and I wondered that myself. Other than giving orders, did I really need much of a crew on Oblivion? It seemed odd that my little catnip virus could change the way Oblivion behaved that severely, though, so I didn't trust deviating from normal ship operations. It did make me question if other ships were much more capable than we gave them credit for. Maybe all I did was change the user interface.

  "You want to let the murder ship run wild?" I replied. "That seems like something I would do, and then you would talk me out of it after bruising me somewhere violently."

  @auroraloon finally smiled and let out a little laugh. "Fair point."

  "Hello?" @dragonlotus said, waving her hands at us and then crossing her arms across her chest. "I'm still here. My workstation?"

  "@dragonlotus, meet @auroraloon," I announced. "@auroraloon, meet @dragonlotus."

  The two of them glared at each other. "@dragonlotus, you should know that @auroraloon is with the Solar Union too, so you're both on the same side," I explained, trying to smooth over the situation. "I get it. You're pissed because she's in your spot, but I'm actually the outsider here. The two of you should be ganging up on me, the despicable Darksider responsible for the deaths of countless Burners, not posturing at each other."

  "He has a point," @auroraloon said. "We should gang up on him."

  "Yes, he is bad. You punch his face? I kick his balls?" @dragonlotus suggested.

  @auroraloon reached over and grabbed a pair of pincers from the workbench and held them up menacingly. "I have a better idea," she said with an evil smile.

  "Yup! I get it," I said, backing away. "Why don't you two become friends. I'll just fetch Sango and be on my way?"

  Right on cue, Sango strutted over from who knows where, opened his mouth at me, saying something with no words coming out. He plopped into a sitting position a few steps away, staring at me.

  "Hey, buddy," I baby-talked at him. "Wanna take a 10-minute nap with me?"

  He opened his mouth again and squinted his eyes.

  "I love you too," I said, and I scooped him up, letting him smell my face and get a couple licks of my nose.

  "What are you working on?" @dragonlotus asked, as @auroraloon hopped out of her chair, curly hair bouncing, and started cleaning up the workstation.

  @auroraloon eyed me over before looking back to @dragonlotus and responding. "It's a surprise. Do you like machines that blow things up?"

  @dragonlotus didn't miss the way @auroraloon had looked at me. "Surprise for him?" she asked bluntly.

  I won't lie. @auroraloon's cheeks flushed, and I had to push my feelings toward her out of my head. We were friends now, and that was a good thing. I just missed @sundial.

  @dragonlotus must not have been all bad. She noticed, and instead of forcing @auroraloon to respond to her question, she jumped right in to sort through the parts on the workbench. "I love machines that blow up."

  "Machines that blow other things up," @auroraloon corrected her.

  "That too," laughed @dragonlotus.

  Now that they were off to become friends, and a potential disaster for me, I dismissed myself. I needed that 10-minute nap before I contacted @horus to try to explain Oblivion and what had happened on Dactyl.

  horus: "So the virus is loose?"

  kittyboy: "Yes! That's what I'm saying."

  horus: "The official report from Ida is that it's a neurovirus strain."

  kittyboy: "And you believe that because you were there?"

  horus: "I didn't say I believe it. I'm telling you that's what official news stations are reporting. Is the virus contained?"

  kittyboy: "Hell if I know. It looked like they were trying to destroy any evidence. Oblivion was blasting everything on Dactyl until we flew out of there, and it chased after us."

  horus: "I still can't believe you captured a Valkyrie ship. Job well done. You'll receive honors for that. I knew we were right to promote you."

  Just like leadership. Go ahead, take credit for everything we've done by saying you picked the right aiways for the mission. I shifted in my chair, irritated, wanting my crew to get credit for all we had been through and accomplished, and wanting to spare them from reprimand.

  kittyboy: "Are we expecting both honors and punishment?"

  I was afraid to ask, but I hoped our actions had made up for deviating from our mission so that we could save @bitchfrog.

  horus: "How could we command effectively without accountability?"

  Damn.

  kittyboy: "Well, I hope honors comes with some downtime. My crew has been through a lot. They deserve to be commended and rewarded."

  @horus leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms.

  horus: "The truce is in place. The peace talks are going well. I think you and the crew have earned some time off, although maybe it should be in solitary confinement. Regardless, now is the best time for it. You say you're on your way to the Pit? Head to Sovereign Starbase instead. We'll regroup, go over Oblivion, and you get your rest and relaxation."

  I couldn't tell if he was joking or not about solitary confinement. It sounded like a joke, but @horus was so straight-faced that I just couldn't tell.

  kittyboy: "Sovereign Starbase? Mmm, well … about that."

  I wasn't sure how to phrase insubordination. I could see the worry start to creep its way onto @horus's face. He knew me too well.

  horus: "@kittyboy?"

  kittyboy: "Oblivion isn't going to like that, so I think we'll just head to the Pit and figure it out from there."

  horus: "You think? You get that ship over to us ASAP. You have three Solar Union prisoners and one of the most powerful ships in the solar system. You get your kitty ass back here. Pronto."

  Well, it was now or never. The moment I had dreaded. Got to be firm. They kick me out, and at least I'm free.

  kittyboy: "I don't have any prisoners. They're part of the crew now. And Oblivion is mine. No one is analyzing it, taking it apart, or going anywhere with it."

  @horus slammed his fist on his desk and stood up. He walked out of the viewer, but I could hear his puffing and loud stomps around the room.

  horus: "You think you can just KEEP it!?!"

  I shouldn't have laughed. I really shouldn't have laughed. But I just couldn't stop myself. I laughed uncontrollably. I laughed so loud that Sango woke up and left the room.

  kittyboy: "I don't think I can. I am keeping it. Oblivion will destroy anything that tries to harm me or get in our way."

  horus: "Is that so?"

  kittyboy: "Yes. As soon as my catnip virus activated, Oblivion was mine, my own, my precious!"

  I was proud of myself. I had channeled the best Gollum impersonation I could muster, and I had pretty much nailed it.

  horus: "You programmed it. Un-program it."

  kittyboy: "Um … No. Why would I do that?"

  horus: "Because if you don't, you'll be hunted for all eternity. We'll obliterate your clone reserves and terminate every bit of you we have on file."

  I will say that he was making a compelling argument, but it was one I had anticipated. I am pretty good at telling the future after all.

  kittyboy: "That sounds like fun. Sign me up. Let me know how that works out after Oblivion and I wreak havoc on the solar system."

  @horus was fuming. He still hadn't sat back down. He was just storming back and forth in the background.

  kittyboy: "You have two choices here. One, you get Oblivion as part of the Alliance Starmada, crewed by the most awesometacular group of heroes in the solar system. Two, you get to chase me around while I break all your toys."

  He screamed. It was so satisfying. Someone knocked on his door to check on him, and he shooed them away.

  kittyboy: "You don't need to tell me your answer. I already know how this works out."

  I ended the conversation unceremoniously, with a hiss and two middle fingers, leaving him to glare angrily at an empty screen from the office on his warship, Talon. I felt sorry for whoever he was going to talk to next.

  We pulled into the Pit two hours and six minutes later.