Relia and her entourage strode purposefully to the hangar bay which contained the small assault transport known by some as Hope. When they arrived there, thirty or so security personnel surrounded three kneeling women who had just recently relinquished ownership of their weaponry. All three wore fresh bruises and electro-motive shackles, no doubt a payment of sorts for the eight enshrouded and prone figures that lay off to the side. The chief medical officer there simply shook his head and jotted notes onto a datapad.

Relia broke the circle and faced her would-be assassins. For a second, shock registered on all four faces. Then Relia chuckled to herself and grabbed a laser rifle from one of the security officers.

“CJ?”

CJ lifted her puffy, yet still defiant face, but said nothing.

“You would kill your own friend?”

CJ glared at the enemy before her. “SunKrux is already dead. Even now, I mourn her loss.”

Relia nodded and aimed the rifle toward her. “Then you shall join her.”

~/~

No!!!! SunKrux shouted in the expanse of her shared mind. Within, the scene changed to an outdoor classroom where SunKrux was seated at a pupil’s desk and Relia sat on the edge of a teacher’s desk. SunKrux’s right arm was raised and she was surprised to see that it had taken on the blue-veined black marble look of her alter ego.

“You have something to say, SunKrux?” Relia asked condescendingly.

“Please, don’t kill them,” she pleaded.

Relia made a show of thinking about it. “Why? They pose a threat. Their assigned mission was to kill us without warning. Stand up and explain yourself.”

After standing, SunKrux said, “They don’t know that I’m still alive. Perhaps, if they see that I am, they won’t pose a threat anymore.”

“Are you, SunKrux? Do you yet live?”

She considered the changes of the past week. She had freer reign and the power to influence those around her. “Yes, I am alive.”

Relia nodded. “So you do. However, you still haven’t convinced me that they are not a threat. Simply, they must die. Alive, they are a threat. Their actions cannot go unpunished, lest others think that we are weak and vulnerable. Would you be willing to save their lives at the risk of surrendering your fledgling one? What purpose would this serve?”

SunKrux thought about this. “If we were able to control them somehow, and punish them, use them as an example of our wrath and our mercy, then they could live and we would not be vulnerable.”

Relia smiled. “That is a good answer. However, they are your friends, not mine. I want them dead. I’m willing to simply space the two lesser ones to spare you the agony of watching them die, but I find the blonde’s attitude offensive. She must pay dearly and I am very much looking forward to watching the life drain from her body. You may sit now. Class dismissed.”

“No! That can’t be it!”

“Yes, I’m afraid it is.” The scene began to dissolve around them.

“No! I’m willing to make a trade!”

“I’m not interested.”

“I’ll do anything you say! Anything!”

The scene held and regained its former solidity. “Anything? These people mean that much to you?”

SunKrux detected a note of victory in the questions, so she paused and thought long about it. Finally, she said, “Yes. I’ll do anything to spare their lives.”

Relia smiled. “You disappoint me, SunKrux. I thought your heart was harder than that. Still, perhaps we can both get what we want. You will get your friends’ lives and I will neutralize the threats to me. Come here, SunKrux and stand before me.”

Wary, she walked to the head of the class and stood before her teacher. Relia reached out and took hold of her shoulders then, leaned forward and kissed her full on the lips. SunKrux resisted, then heard a voice within her identity. “Resist me and your friends die!”

Filled with fear and shame, SunKrux surrendered herself to Relia.

~/~

As CJ closed her eyes and braced herself for her imminent death, she heard Relia say, “Not like this, however.”

Relia returned the rifle to the security officer and calmly walked toward CJ. Standing before her, she grabbed the sides of CJ’s head and sent rivers of blue energy through and around it. CJ cried out once then fell ominously silent, much to Kat and Cel’s dismay.

When it was over, Relia released CJ and surprisingly ran her fingers lovingly through CJ’s hair. “Release this one!” she commanded.

After exchanging some looks, two security personnel came forward and removed the shackles from CJ’s wrists and ankles. Now freed, CJ crawled to Relia’s side, knelt and faced her former compatriots, both of whom looked upon CJ’s glowing blue eyes with barely concealed horror.

The security officer asked Relia, “What of the other two?”

As Relia absently caressed her new pet, she answered, “Send them to the captive men in the pleasure galleries. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind meeting some new friends.”