[Hope]

Peering at Eshe's viewer, Hope pointed at the building schematic. The fuzzy red blobs moved about on the top floor, representing thermal images of several people. "There's a stop at the floor below. We could get off there and then take the stairs."

"True," Eshe responded. "But it wouldn't take them long to see through that and move to the stairwell."

"Allow me, Empress." Cole stood up straight, as if at attention. "I will draw their fire in the elevator while you take the stairs."

"No!" Hope yelled, snapping her head around. The whites of Cole's eyes grew larger as he shrunk back in the elevator. Hope dipped her head and spoke in a gentle voice. "Forgive me, Cole. I appreciate the dedication, but I have no desire to put anyone in direct line of fire."

"There may be another way, Empress, to draw their fire without actually being there," Owen said, taking a step forward.

Hope lifted an eyebrow. "Go on, Owen..."

"A hologram, Empress." A grin rose on his face. "I used to make them in school to fool the teachers so I could go out partying with my mates." Hope grinned in return.

Eshe gazed at the elevator control panel and responded, "We haven't much time. Do it."

"It will take just a moment." Owen placed his hand-held viewer on the floor and pushed a screen icon. "Hold out your rifles as if you will fire them, then hold still for the scan." A grid of blue lines swept across them as they posed, then disappeared. "There."

Owen bent down to touch another icon, and a full-sized holographic of the group appeared in the middle of the elevator. Hope smiled as she passed her hand through the 3D image of herself. "This is awesome, Owen."

He shook his head. "My mates at the tavern will never believe this." His cheeks flushed as he drew his lips tight together. "Umm, sorry Empress."

"Well, Owen, if this works, I will come tell the story for you. And the first round is on me."

"Building AI," Eshe said, "Stop and open the doors for two seconds at the floor immediately below the top, no more, then continue on."

An electronic voice responded, "Will comply."

Eshe turned to the others. "They won't be fooled by the hologram for very long. When the elevator door opens, we need to move fast. The stairway door is five meters to the right. Owen, you and I will go first. Hope, you hold back with Cole." Hope opened her mouth to protest, but Eshe interrupted her with a pointed finger. "Don't argue with me, Hope."

Both Owen's and Cole's chins dropped at Eshe's command. She probably broke several protocols for interacting with the Empress.

"Get ready," Eshe ordered as the elevator neared the premature stop. "Rifles set to stun, safeties off. Owen, when we go in, we shoot anything that moves. Don't give them the option to return fire." He firmed his expression and nodded.

The elevator rumbled to a stop and frosted glass doors slid open with a hiss. "Go!" Eshe barked, holding her pulse rifle at ready. She and Owen sprinted out into the alcove, which was unoccupied and dimly lit. Cole and Hope followed, the closing doors nearly clipping her trailing foot.

As they raced up a dank and seldom used stairway, muffled popping sounds of pulse weapons firing came to Hope's ears. It's working. Then the sounds stopped. And by now they figured it out.

Eshe slammed her forearm against the door to the top floor, but it did not budge. "Damn! It's locked." She jerked up her hand-held viewer. "Building AI, unlock this door!"

"Unable to comply," a voice answered. "The locking mechanism is manually activated."

"Well, I have a key." Eshe growled, taking two steps back. She flicked a switch on the stock of her rifle. "Shield your eyes." Showers of orange sparks erupted from the latch as she fired three plasma bursts in quick succession, breeching the door. A kick opened it fully.

Acrid billowing smoke stung Hope's throat as she crouched on the steps, and her heart pounded beyond the effects of the sprint. We lost precious seconds.

Diving through the open door, Eshe rolled across the shiny floor, and in fluid movement, came up on one knee while firing multiple silvery stun bursts. A plasma bolt blasted against the door frame, shattering it and spraying Owen with sparks as he dove to the floor. Lying prone at the threshold, he aimed and fired off two bursts.

Then the firing stopped. An open palm from Eshe told the others to hold back as she surveyed the scene. After a moment, she jumped to her feet and beckoned the others forward. Hope crept into the alcove behind Cole. Swirls of smoke spilled out of the open elevator, filling the air with a smoky blue haze. Four black uniformed guards laid sprawled out across the polished marble floor, stilled except for the subtle rise and fall of their chests.

Past the elevator alcove, an open glass door under a white stone arch led to the outer office. Hope and the others crept inside, rifles shouldered and ready. More stone arches, ornately carved, supported a tall domed ceiling. Patches of color reflected off the shiny floor, cast from the sunlight through a row of stained-glass windows.

Fine art paintings adorned the walls, some torn or blackened from the fight. One caught Hope's eye — a classic painting of the first Empress. She frowned. How profane that her image appears here?

Beyond an unoccupied administrative assistant's desk loomed a pair of massive dark wooden doors. Like the entrance to a villain's lair. With a nod from Eshe, Owen pulled open a door as quietly as he could while the others stood ready. One by one they glided in to an expansive inner office, rifles aimed at the back of a man wearing a fine black suit, standing at a glass-top table beside a polished wood desk.

Diego poured an amber liquid from a crystal decanter into a crystal tumbler, then turned around and raised a dark eyebrow to his uninvited guests. "Ah, our new Empress. How kind of you to drop by. Care for a drink?"

Hope snarled a reply. "I am not here for a social call, Diego."

"I suppose not. You and your family have been formidable foes, I give you that." He took a sip. "However, the legality of your entrance here and now is questionable, at the least."

"Let's allow the lawyers to hash that out, shall we? You may observe the proceedings from the inside of a dark cell." Hope motioned to Cole, who stood beside her. "Cole, would you place Mr. Diego under arrest?"

"Gladly, Empress." He slung his pulse rifle across his shoulders and reached to his belt for handcuffs while stepping forward. But he only made it two steps.

A plasma bolt struck Cole in the upper back, flinging his body forward. He thumped face down on the floor, motionless. Sickening tendrils of black smoke rose from the hole burned into his back.

Hope gasped, but before she could move, a muscular arm grappled her around the neck and the barrel of a pulse pistol pressed against her temple. "Weapons down, now!" a voice growled, while warm breath tickled the raised hairs on her neck. Somehow, he had come up from behind them.

Eshe and Owen froze with rifles half raised, to which the voice responded, "Now, I said! Or you lose an Empress."

"Okay, take it easy," Eshe said while looking Hope in the eyes. She and Owen slowly placed their rifles on the floor.

"Back away, and hands up," the man ordered. Eshe and Owen complied.

"Well done, Mr. Bernde," Diego said, then took a sip. He reached under the lip of his desk to pull out a pulse pistol and placed it on the drink table beside the decanter. "Empress, you will come with us. I had not expected you to visit so quickly after the induction ceremony, but in a way it is fortuitous. I have an exit strategy, but having you with me would ensure a safe transition. I'm sure you understand."

Hope locked narrowed eyes with Eshe, who returned a barely perceptible nod. Oh no, we aren't going anywhere.

Hope stomped her prosthetic leg onto Bernde's foot, and he cried out in pain. Simultaneously in practiced precision, she ducked her chin under his arm and spun in his grasp while pushing his gun arm up and away. The weapon discharged, blasting a divot in the ceiling and spraying the floor below with sparks and debris.

"Bitch!" he spouted. Any more words were cut short when Hope drove an elbow into his throat. He wheezed, gasping for breath.

Pivoting into him while still grasping a wrist, Hope dropped her shoulder and flung him over her hip to the floor, landing with a thud. The pistol he held skittered away from the impact. A stomp to the head with her prosthetic leg left him moaning.

While Hope fought, Owen dove for his rifle. But before he could raise it, Diego snatched up his pistol and fired, grazing Owen in the upper arm with a plasma bolt. He cried out and collapsed to the floor.

Eshe leaped toward Hope, knocking her out of the way as Diego turned his pistol on them. The plasma bolt flew by just above them. Coming to rest beside a small oval table, Eshe kicked, toppling it over while pulling Hope and herself behind it as a shield. Another plasma bolt burst against it, spreading orange sparks over the table's edge.

Diego ran behind his desk to a dark wooden bookcase. With a touch under a shelf, it swung apart, revealing a hidden passageway behind. As Eshe peeked over the edge, he fired again, blasting another bolt against the table's surface.

A sinister grin rose on Diego's face within his styled short beard. "I always have a way out, Empress. Perhaps we shall meet again?"

Diego ducked into the dark passage, but within a moment, flew back out, tumbling across the hard floor beside the desk. On his stomach, he raised his head up with mouth gaping.

Gabriel strolled out from behind the bookcase, grinning. "A way out is also a way in, Diego." With rifle in hand, he scanned the room as Hope and Eshe stood. "Would have been here sooner, but somebody trashed the elevator. Did we miss anything?" Claire followed him out.

After Eshe scooped up her rifle, Hope jumped and ran to her brother, wrapping him in a hug. She whispered, "You came just in time. Did you get the data?"

"Yeah. Transmitted it to the Firebird Rise. Sai and Celeste are going through it now," Gabriel said. "Looks like you kicked butt."

Claire focused narrowed eyes on Diego, then she bent down to pick up his discarded pistol. As her face contorted in rage, she swung it towards him. "You put me through hell, Diego."

With a huff, he stood and straightened his suit jacket. The pistol and her narrowed eyes tracked his movements. "So, you are still alive, Claire," he said. "I rescued you from that hellhole you called home. You should have been more grateful."

Claire stepped forward until the pistol touched his chest, her eyes blazing hatred. Hope put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't drop to his level, Claire. We have him. Diego will spend the rest of his miserable life in a small cell."

Diego grinned while pushing his chest against the gun barrel. "Go ahead. Pull the trigger. If you can." As she hesitated, he laughed while shaking his head. "I knew you couldn't do it, Claire. You've always been too weak--"

Claire snapped her knee up, catching Diego between the legs. His eyes shot open, and he let out an airy gasp, then crumpled down to the floor. Lying in a fetal position with hands to his crotch, he moaned.

"Ohhh..." Gabriel cringed while moving a hand to his own crotch.

"He deserved that." Claire seethed, not taking her eyes from Diego.

"Yes, he did," Gabriel replied. "But it's still hard to watch."

After cuffing Bernde, Eshe came to the aid of Owen and helped him to sit up, while he cradled his injured arm against his chest. Eshe nodded with a smile. "Well done, soldier."

"Well done, indeed." Hope kneeled at his side and pressed a white cloth against his wound. Her smile faded. "I'm sorry about Cole."

"It's okay, Empress." Owen said, glancing down. "He died with honor, doing his duty. I think that was the way he would have wanted to go."

A light-headed blissfulness swept through Hope. It is for people like these that I would serve.