eet the demands of the Empress when I have nothing, and keep Karis a secret?_

Inspiration!

_Just because I can't reveal Karis and its technology doesn't mean I can't _use_ it!_

Dripping wet, Jason ran through the compound, down stairwells, through hallways, until he was again in the core. Cybi's projection winked into being when he entered the chamber, her face quizzical. _[Jason?]_

_[Show me. All of it,] _he ordered. _[Show me everything that the Karinnes kept secret from the Imperium.]_

_[It will take time. There is much.]_

_[Then the faster we get started, the faster we can finish.]_

_[Shall I begin with operational technologies, or research materials that were still under development?]_

_[Let's start with stuff they already had working. After that, we can get into the stuff they were researching.]_

The hologram smiled, eagerness to again be of use clear in the communion between them. _[Very well. I will begin with power systems, then we will cover starship developments; weapons, armor, shields, engines, and other systems. Then we will move into sensor systems and other planetary technologies, and then move into the tertiary scientific knowledge; biology, chemistry, physics, archaeology, anthropology, paleontology, botany, history, and so on. So, let us begin.]_

It took _hours_. Jason began standing, but eventually he ended up seated on the floor, eyes closed and head bowed as he continued his communion with Cybi, a communion where she explained _every_ technology that the Karinnes had developed to be a viable system. All of them, from the most important and used, to the most whimsical. Anything the Karinnes researched and developed into a working technology, Jason had Cybi summarize for him.

All he could say was... _holy shit_. The Karinnes didn't focus on any branch of technology. Their house members were adherents of every scientific and educational discipline, from armor and weapons all the way to philosophy. They were true scholars, considering sociology to be as equally important as hyperspace physics.

And _that_ was where they had truly branched off from conventional Faey science. The Faey knew little of hyperspace, that area of upper-dimensional space that three dimensional beings like themselves couldn't fathom or comprehend. The Imperium used hypserspace engines to travel to star systems that didn't have a stargate, and that was why they had broken away from the technology... because of the stargates. But the Karinnes had continued the research of hyperspace, and had learned how to use hyperspace travel to move in _real time_ between systems, without the relativity delay, had learned how to use it as a means of interstellar communications, and had even harnessed a hyperspace particle called the _teryon_ as a power system, for the particles were highly, highly energetic when they were captured and dragged into normal space.

The Karinne grasp on hyperdimensional physics was the fundamental difference between them and the Imperium, and it altered their entire viewpoint. They had many technologies that reached beyond the three dimensions in which they lived. Just like the Kimdori, when they did use interfaces, they were three dimensional, holographic... but there were almost no interfaces. The gestalts served as the primary interface for the Generations, and the similar-appearing interface unit was the interface used by the rest of the house. Karinnes had moved beyond keyboards and control panels long ago, and only used U/Is as a means for non-Generation house members to receive data from the unit they were using. To them, it was simply a different realm of the universe to explore and understand, where the Imperium treated it like a live snake, something dangerous and only to be used when necessary.

And there it was. There was what he was looking for. When Cybi showed him that, a relatively unimportant technology as things went, he knew exactly what he needed to do. The plan fell together in his mind. Everything he needed was right there, and the greed of the nobles of the _Siann_ would be the engine by which he could move his plans right into place.

With the help of the Kimdori, it could be done.

_[Is there a working unit here?]_

_[There is a unit here, Jason, but it is inoperative. It requires repair.]_

_[We'll take care of that when we're done. Keep going.]_

Jason wanted to see _all_ of it, so he continued with the communion, so Cybi would be able to complete her task.

                                        * * *

To Myri, Myleena, Songa, and Meya, who were looking on as Jason continued his education, it was a strange sight. Jason sat on the floor, dried sand clinging to his clothes, scattered on the floor around him, hands on his knees and head bowed. The projected holographic image of Cybi was curled around him, holding his face between phantom hands and pressing her forehead against his own.

"I wonder what they're doing," Songa whispered to Myri.

"They're communing," Myleena told them. "Cybi and Jason are in a state of mental communion. I can't tell what they're talking about, though. They're doing it privately."

"What's that like?" Myri asked.

"Kinda the same as normal sending, but it's faster, and there's a lot more, well, bandwidth. More gets moved at once than in sending," she answered. "You getting the hang of that yet?"

Myri put her fingers on the device now gracing the left side of her face, which looked like a gestalt, but was actually an interface unit. All the Faey were wearing one now, because with the repair of many of the compound's devices, the use of an interface was required just to make them work. Songa could not even _cook_, because the stoves had no manual controls. Virtually everything in the compound required an interface to make them operate.

"Yeah, I am," she answered. "It's the part where I have to _think_ to the machine what I want it to do that's kinda tricky."

"It took me ten minutes to get the stove to work," Songa admitted with a wry chuckle. "But it was nice to get the _exact_ temperature I wanted."

"Using the latrine was a challenge," Myri grunted. "Having to think _flush_ at the toilet was almost too much for an old war dog like me."

The others laughed.

"Weird, I didn't have any problem."

"Well, you're an engineer, and you're a Karinne," Meya told her. "I've seen Jason do things without thinking about them. His ability to monkey with Faey tech with no training sure as hell isn't entirely normal. I think you know how to do that by instinct. It's in your blood. Like a genetic memory."

"I never really thought about that, but I guess it's possible," Myleena mused, tapping her gestalt with a finger as she pondered the idea.

"Gotta give it to the Kimdori," Myri noted. "I think they fixed almost _everything_ in the compound already, and they got like fifty people working on that robot on the far side of the island. Their ships are already taking off to go to other parts of the planet."

"One of them told me they have a team on the moon, trying to get the lunar base back up," Myleena told them. "I think when Jason asked them to fix everything, they took him literally."

"You say what you mean when you address one of us," Zaa, the Denmother, barked as she came through the doors behind them. She had six Kimdori in tow with her, including Miaari. Myleena saw that Miaari looked different now. She had a patch of white fur under her chin that descended as a wide band all the way to her crotch, just like Zaa. They all bowed to her respectfully. "Jason asked us to fix everything, and we will do our best to honor that request."

Jason was aware of Zaa, because Cybi told him she was there. He opened his eyes as Cybi withdrew from him, breaking their communion because he wasn't going to keep her waiting. He stood up and bowed to her, then started self-consciously wiping at the sand caking his clothes. "Uh, excuse my appearance, Denmother. I got caught up in what I was doing. What time is it?"

"It is evening," she told him with a light smile. "What have you been doing?"

"Cybi's been showing me what the Karinnes knew."

"A wise use of your time," she said approvingly. "I release you now, Miaari. Step forth, Handmaiden, and take up the task I have given you."

Miaari bowed to Zaa and stepped out from behind her, and came over to Jason. She put her hand on his neck, and Jason had to touch the white fur on her chest, touching her just between the collarbones. "I take it this is your sign of station?" he asked.

She chuckled. "Observant," she told him. "Yes, I may now wear the white band, so that all Kimdori know I am a Handmaiden. And _you_ are now my responsibility," she told him, patting him on the shoulder. "I am your emissary to my people. I am the ambassador to House Karinne."

"I wouldn't want any other."

"I'm glad you feel that way," she told him, leaning down and licking him on the cheek.

"Now, Jason, come with me," Zaa ordered, holding her hand out to him. "Miaari has explained your position, and I would give you counsel."

"I'll take all the help I can get, Denmother," he told her. "I don't have any clue of how to be, well, a noble."

"That innocence should be maintained, Jason. You _do not want_ to be a Faey noble. Do not lower yourself to their level. But I will help teach you how to deal with them, my cousin, and together we will consider a plan of action to achieve your objectives. If you so wish it."

"Please!" he almost begged.

And so, they walked. They walked hand in hand, and in that physical contact they shared. They never said a word. They never really looked at each other, but that touch, that powerful touch, was the only indication of a lengthy period of explanation, debate, and instruction. They left the building and walked down to the beach, then walked along the shoreline as the waves lapped at their feet, as Jason identified his objectives to Zaa and explained his desire to maintain the secrecy of the house's technology, and in this point Zaa wholly approved. Not only was it tradition to keep such dangerous tools out of the hands of a violent and unpredictable species like the Faey, it was just good plain common sense. Zaa and the Kimdori felt that the Karinnes had evolved past such things, and as such were competent gatekeepers for such technology. When the Karinnes felt that the Imperium was ready for something, they would release it. Indeed, Zaa had to remind Jason that the Karinnes were the fundamental cornerstone of most of the Imperium's technology, that most of the Imperium's current technology was based on Karinne research. They _did_ make public some of their breakthroughs... just not everything. They had guided the Imperium's technological development to keep them competitive with other civilizations, but not allow them to overwhelm them. The Karinnes knew that if they handed over everything they knew to the Imperium, then the Imperium would use it to make war on their neighbors. It was a mathematical certainty.

Zaa looked over his objectives, and looked at the beginnings of the plan he had in mind, and felt that it was a good start. She helped him refine his idea, pointing out the flaws in his reasoning, and suggesting ways to cover those gaps. She helped him shape his idea into a workable plan that would cover all of his objectives and keep Karis and the secrets of the Karinnes out of the hands of the Imperium. It would require a _little_ revelation to the Imperium, to instill the necessary fear into the _Siann_ not to mess with Jason, just as they feared the original Karinnes. That fear was necessary. If the _Siann_ did not fear Jason, they would not take him seriously, and they would do what they could to sabotage him. That was why Miaari had guided him into his war... so the Faey would know him, and respect his ability. Zaa's suggestions expanded on what Miaari began.

After Zaa helped him refine his objectives and forge them into a workable plan of action, she _taught_ him. She trained him in the arts of politics, giving him a cavernous, almost encyclopedic knowledge not only of Faey politics and the rules of their system, but the politics and operations of several other space-based civilizations, warning him that he would have need to deal with _them_ as well. The Karinnes were very separate from the Imperium, even as they were a part of it, with their own diplomats and their own agreements with other civilizations. She taught him about galactic economics, so he would know how to better deal with others and understand their motivations and needs. She educated him in the subtle arts of sociology, teaching him about the Faey from a clinical point of view, so that he might better understand his adversaries. She also taught him about other races, like the other races of the Imperium; the Makati, the Goraga, the Menoda, the Kizzik, and the Parri, so he might better deal with them. But she _also _taught him about species outside of the Imperium, such as the Moridons, the Urumi, the Zogans, the Jakkans, the Pharaiali, the Zki, the Skaa, the _Kra-jktha_ (a sound they made with their mouth mandibles, which had evolved into a proper name for the insectoid race), and the Bari-Bari, the other species in direct contact with the Imperium, the races whose civilizations bordered Faey space.

As the sun set over the ocean, Jason stood before Zaa, the Denmother, looking up the foot of height difference between them, paying close attention to the last of her teachings. She explained to him something that she really couldn't teach, and that was how to be a good leader. She told him that being a good leader wasn't something one could learn from a book. She could mentor him on the general idea of it, but to do it required his own style, and required him to adapt himself to the personalities of those he led. The Kimdori were a very orderly species. They knew what had to be done, and they did it. They had a highly refined sense of duty and propriety that the Faey lacked. The Faey were a chaotic, arrogant, self-centered species, easy to predict but hard to control, and unfortunately the humans were no different from them. It was this messy pair of species that Jason would have to deal with, and unfortunately, he couldn't lead using the same tactics that Zaa did. She readily admitted that it was _easy_ to lead the Kimdori, and it would _not_ be easy to lead the Faey and the Terrans. She urged him to draw on the experiences he had running his rebellion, and above all, keep his sense of humor. She told him that it was probably his most endearing personality trait, and he could use that sense of humor to both deal with the stresses of command and make that command an easier task, for he had a way about him that did put others at ease, especially Faey. Jason's sense of humor made him more personable to the Faey and Terrans, and he should remind himself that seeing the lighter side could both make it an easier job, and make it a more enjoyable job. She also reminded him that to a Faey, he was both charismatic and _devastatingly_ handsome, and that was as much a weapon he could use in his duties of leadership to foment obedience as it was a hammer he could use against the majority of the female Faey of the _Siann_. He had qualities that most Faey males lacked, qualities that Faey females secretly desired. The same attraction that had brought Jyslin to him could be a quality that would make Faey obey him.

And they were done. She had nothing more to teach him, nothing more to discuss with him. She ended their sharing by professing her admiration for him, and her stalwart promise that the Kimdori would always be there when he needed them. She told him that what began as a repayment for saving the Kimdori race had become a willing partnership, an extension of family. The Karinnes and the Kimdori were more than allies. They were cousins, family, and the Kimdori never abandoned family.

Zaa held up their clasped hands, and then let go. He withdrew his hand, feeling their sharing end, and he felt strangely wistful. Zaa was an incredibly wise Kimdori, and being joined to her mind that way was like sitting at the feet of a master. "I see that your Karinne heritage has held true through all your family's generations of human breeding," she told him. "Sharing with you took no effort at all."

"I can't thank you enough, Denmother," he said humbly, bowing before her with utter sincerity. "What you've taught me today could mean everything."

"I hope it serves you well, your Grace," she told him. "For seeing you survive and thrive _very much_ matters to us. And not just for what we gain from the old partnership. We care about you, very much. I care about you, Jason. The doors of the Hearth will never be closed before you. You are always welcome in my presence."

"Thank you," he told her, then they both looked up as they heard a low rumble. A ship descended through a large cloud, and it was a _bloody big_ ship. It was shaped like a long, narrow triangle, with a narrow bow that flattened out to a wide stern, the center of the ship flared thicker than the edges. Its hull was burned, pitted, stained, and looked like the thing had been dragged by a chain over a gravel driveway. But it was its size that amazed him. It was the size of an American aircraft carrier! That ship was almost the size of a Faey destroyer!

"I see that the scout ship has arrived," Zaa noted.

"That's a _scout ship_?" Jason gasped. "It's _huge_!"

"Jason, to the Karinnes, a _scout ship_ was not a small reconnaissance craft. It was a research vessel, scouting new sectors of space. That ship will be packed with scientific equipment, and its computer will be filled with the results of its exploration and research. By tradition, they were unarmed, but had strong defensive systems such as shields and heavy armor, allowing them to escape if threatened. It is the only starship that Karinne produced in any quantity."

"Holy cow," Jason breathed as the ship lazily turned and descended, then landed directly into the water of the ocean, just off the compound. The ship then slowly crept up to those buildings that were built right out into the sea, and then from the sound of it, it began to power down.

_[Jason, the scout ship has arrived. It is conducting an internal scan and diagnostic before docking, to ensure it is safe to expose Karisian air to its internal atmosphere. It reports it will be ready to dock in 6 minutes.]_

_[I saw it land, Cybi,] _he answered. _[By the way, what kinda specs does that ship have? I think we didn't get that far.]_

_[I am receiving the ship's telemetry now. It is downloading its logs. To answer you, Jason, the ship's class is the KES, Karinne Exploratory Starship. The docked ship reports that its official designation is the KES Scimitar. The Scimitar is a D-model, commissioned in 2879. A standard KES carries scientific and survey equipment for the mapping, study, and research of stellar features, planets, and planetary ecosystems. The Scimitar was fitted for dedicated research of astral phenomena: nebulas, black holes, quasars, and such. The standard crew of a KES is 67; 24 starship operations crew, 43 scientists and scientific support crew. It is equipped with a Mark IX Hyperspace Jump Engine for interstellar travel, and utilizes Cascading Spatial Translation Engines for standard propulsion. It is powered by three singularity power plants, and has no offensive weaponry. It is equipped with a Class V Composite Harmonic Teryon Shield and is armored with a standard AE-5 Compressed Neutronium hull. The bulk of its internal systems are comprised of sensors, scanners, and research equipment.] _There was a pause. _[The ship reports its crew evacuated to a planet in 2887, and sent the ship via autopilot to a nebula, where it went into standby mode to await further orders. It has remained so since then.]_

_[Could it be the ship that went to Earth?] Jason asked curiously._

_[No, it is not. Its crew manifest does not include any of the Generations. If you make your way to the docking building, you may tour the ship. It will be docked by the time you arrive.]_

A touch of Zaa's hand conveyed the conversation to her. "Let us go inspect this vessel," she offered. "After all, it will be useful to your plan."

"It's way bigger than I thought it would be, but yeah, it'll still work."

Jason and Zaa were just the vanguard of all the Faey and a swarm of Kimdori technicians on hand in a receiving lobby when an extending hallway reached out to the hatch of the ship, and that hatch opened with a hiss of exchanging air and a puff of steam from the bulkhead. Zaa pointed, and the Kimdori started filing into the ship with their bags and tools, preparing to get to work on the scout ship. After the first wave of Kimdori entered, she touched Jason on the shoulder, and looked pointedly at the Faey behind them. He nodded and turned to face them.

"Guys," he said to them. "I'm sure you realize that you've kinda stumbled into something pretty big here. It kinda blindsided me too, truth be told. But, I don't think I have to even mention that what you've seen here can ever go past us."

"No shit, Jayce," Myri snorted. "You're one of us, honey. We'd never go back on you."

"Be that as it may, I have to kinda make sure of it," he told them, glancing at Zaa. "So, I think the only way I'm gonna manage that is if I'm more or less your boss."

"You are already," Yana noted.

"No, I'm your _assignment_," he told Yana. "The only way I can be your _boss_ is if you're in my house."

"Join House Karinne? Honey, you don't really need house soldiers," Myri told him. "Besides, we're Marines."

"I never said you'd be house soldiers. I said you'd be in the _house_," he told them. "What do you say? Put a silly title in front of your name, stop paying commoner's tax, and seal the deal because you'll be up to your pretty little necks in it right along with me?"

Maya laughed, and Meya gave him a look. "You're offering us titles?" she asked.

"You bet I am," he told them. "All of you, Countesses. Well, except Myleena, I already made her a Duchess. That way, we all know we stay together, we work to make this place live again, and we all keep this secret between us. Because it won't just be an _assignment_," he said, looking at Yana. "It'll be a goal we all work for."

"Does Myra get a title too?" Meya asked.

"Well, if it'll make her jealous, no," Jason said lightly, which made Meya laugh.

"I'm in. It's about time I got something more than a paycheck for dealing with noble brats," Meya said quickly.

"What about our families?" Maya asked.

"Immediate families, you can bring. Extended families, well, you're gonna have to be a little evasive," Jason told her. "So Vell and your children are more than welcome, Maya. And your son, Zora. And I'm not talking about us being prisoners here, guys. I'm just saying that the fewer that know about Karis, the better. I'm willing to trust that you and your families can keep this secret. In exchange, you get to share in any success we manage to find if this insanity pays off for us. If we do everything right, then Karinne will be part of the _Siann_ again, and we'll own Earth."

"Well, we are still enlisted, Jayce. That's a problem."

"No it's not," Jason told her. "The laws of the _Siann_ state that if I bestow noble titles on you, any Imperial military commitments are voided at my discretion, if I decide I want you elsewhere. If you're still in your conscription, that conscription transfers to the house," he said, looking at them. Of them all, only Myri was career. All of them were still serving some stage of their conscription.

"You're asking me to toss my pension, you know," Myri told him, but she was grinning.

"I think I can do something about that, Myri," he told her dryly.

"Well, I busted my ass for ten years in the Marines so I could have some security when I get old. I may not get old here, but if it works, then I'll have some security. I'll go for it, Jayce."

"Me too!" Maya called.

Quickly, in rapid succession, all eleven of the non-noble Faey agreed. They could see the potential benefits of being a noble, and they all believed that Jason would do his best. It would be worth the work to see something come of the new House Karinne. They swarmed around him, kissing him on the cheek, patting him, but Jason could only look to Zaa. She nodded approvingly, telling him that he had handled it correctly. He had both tied up a potentially dangerous loose end and increased the ranks of his tiny house by filling it with people who believed in him. That was important.

"Just don't think that your frilly new title is changing anything for the time being!" Myri barked suddenly. "We're still _Marines_ until this is over, ladies, and Jayce is gonna need our guns, not our titles!"

"Yah yah, Sarge," Sheleese rolled her eyes.

"That's _Countess_ Sarge to you, potato-tits!" Myri snapped.

Jason almost gagged from a sudden bout of helpless laughter.

The interior of the scout ship was dim, smelled dusty, and was very sterile. The Kimdori were already crawling all over the ship, yanking wall panels to get at equipment within, opening crawlspaces, even crawling up into the ceiling and under the floor as they went to work. This ship was going to be very important to what they were doing, and it had to be fully operational as fast as they could fix it. They made their way to the bridge, and it was a curious affair. It was small, and only had chairs for four people. One in the front, one in the middle, two to either side behind. The middle chair looked like it was the ship captain's chair. The front chair was probably the pilot, and the two in back had to be flight officers. The one thing that was apparent quickly was that there were no controls, only Faey backglass displays on consoles that the chairs could swivel underneath. It was simply four chairs with their displays facing a blank metal wall. The only decoration in this place was the Karinne crest, and underneath it, stylized writing on the back wall between the two chairs, in Faey script: [KES _Scimitar_, Commissioned 2879 with the blessing of Grand Duchess Koiri Karinne.]

"Nice name for a ship," Myleena noted as they looked around.

"No flight controls," Zora said curiously, walking up to the front chair. "This has to be the pilot's chair. I wonder how they flew it."

"By interface," Zaa informed them. "This is a Karinne ship, Marine. The only manual controls this ship contains were only for emergencies."

"I'd say that's your chair, Zora," Jason told her. "This thing is gonna need a pilot, and you're the resident pilot."

"Mine, eh?" she asked, then she sat down in the chair and swiveled behind the black glass panel in front of her chair, looking it over. Then she sighed. "I guess the flight systems are down. I'm not getting anything here. This console is dead."

"I think they're on autopilot. That, or the ship doesn't recognize you as a pilot," Jason reasoned.

"I'm sure Cybi can fix that when she rewrites the ship computer's protocols," Myleena said as she stepped up to one of the back chairs and waved her hand in front of the panel, in the same way he remembered seeing Miaari do so in her ship. The displays suddenly lit up, and then holographic projections rose up over the blackglass console, showing the ship and a list of systems. "This is engineering," she told them. "Ship's status. It's not good, Jayce. Almost all the ship systems are down. We're gonna have to really roll up our sleeves to get this thing up and running."

"How did you do that?" Zora asked.

"Wave your hand in front the little grill-looking thing on the right side, it seems to be some kind of switch that tells things around here to wake up and start listening for an interface," she told Zora. Zora turned and did so, and her console came to life, showing a three dimensional image of the ship with numbers around it displaying heading and speed, and a starchart appeared on her left, projecting out past the side of the console, showing their current location as [Karis] and showing a dashed line leading halfway through the map, to an orange nebula deep in the spiral arm of the galaxy.

Myleena sat down in the chair, and the holograms over her console changed quickly, as she seemed to get a grasp of their layout and system and started issuing commands via her gestalt. "Engines are about the only thing running. The ship let everything else go, even some of its own computer systems, to keep the engines operational, so it could be recalled when it made contact with someone."

"How long will it take to get this this fixed?" Myri asked.

Myleena snorted. "It's gonna take at least a day or two, it's gonna depend," she said. "I woulda said maybe a week, but Denmother Zaa has put an _army_ of techs in here, and the Kimdori really know what they're doing."

"This ship has highest priority for repair," Zaa said simply. "You are going to need it."

"I need to get down there. I can't let a chance like this go by. It's not every day a girl gets to stick her hands in the guts of a ship like this."

"The ship won't be refitted, Myleena, just repaired. My workers will make no changes to the ship, in any way. But they will not clean up the hull. Its bedraggled appearance is necessary."

"Necessary for what, Denmother?" Myleena asked.

"Necessary for them to believe that it has been hidden for a millennia," she answered, looking at Jason. "When they see this ship, they need to believe that Jason tracked it down and found it using clues left behind on Terra."

"Oh_ohhhhhhhhhhhhh_," Myleena said, then she nodded enthusiastically. "Laying the foundation!"

"Exactly," Zaa affirmed. "Jason must convince the _Siann _that he is what he claims to be. If he appears in a salvaged Karinne ship, it reinforces his declaration. I find myself needing rest. I will withdraw now. Jason, I will be leaving for the homeworld in the morning. I will leave Miaari in control of the Kimdori workers. She has been instructed in my wishes, and will oversee things to my satisfaction."

"I'll miss you, Denmother," Jason said honestly.

"You must come visit me sometime," she told him, taking his hand.

"Thank you," he told her sincerely, looking up at her. "Thank you for everything."

"You don't need to thank me, Jason. It was my pleasure," she told him, running her fingers along his cheek. Then 