King Violaceae II lay naked on the chaise lounge situated on the canvas-covered platform in the centre of the royal courtyard. "Eighteen." He raised and lowered his right leg. "Nineteen." He raised and lowered his left leg. "Twenty!" He completed the exercise with his right leg and exhaled an exaggerated breath that was met with a cuckoo from one of the peacocks roaming the area.

"Processor, how did I do? I'm really feeling that in my hamstrings."

"That was close to a personal best, your Majesty."

"Well, aren't you going to congratulate me?"

"Congratulations."

"Thank you."

The King continued to lay, staring at the ornate patterns on the newly commissioned roof cover. He had become anxious having a clear view into space. Even though there was a garrison of his best assault fighters guarding the parameters of the area, there was always the chance that someone had discovered a new tech that would allow them to spy on him from a great distance. He liked the feeling of not wearing clothes, and his worst fear was that someone would release footage of him engaged in his royal duty and without clothes.

"Processor, are you sure that nobody can penetrate the canvas with a camera?"

"Yes Sire. There is no known imaging technology that could do that."

"Well, I'm thinking about adding another layer anyway."

The King sat upright and stretched. "Processor, I'd like an update on the state of that silly Reformation. I'm considering lending assistance to the Church. To be quite honest, I'm getting sick and tired of their nagging for such."

"The Reformation can be categorised into two areas of interest. Area 1: The locally organised civil movements that have been informally established in response to the Reformation's abolition of the Terminatio Die. Such activity has increased twenty point nine per cent following the Kingdom's defeat at Geolan. It affects seventy-three point one per cent of the Kingdom's stellar and non-stellar regions. Similar patterns are surfacing at Sovereign states; particularly at Ophiuchia where ninety-four of said state's regions are experiencing civil unrest."

"Civil unrest: Explain."

"Generally peaceful movements where sections of the population have embraced the abolition of the Terminatio Die. The number of Illegal genetic refreshes has increased by an abnormal rate, and such offenders have received physical protection against the Church such that they are untouchable."

"Against the death dealers?"

"Yes Sire, the remaining death squads. In several cases, the Church has been ejected from the region. Most notably of these in your Kingdom are the Outer Hebrides and the Albion systems."

"Interesting." The King yawned. "I'm getting sleepy. Is there anything we can do to improve the situation?"

"The Kingdom's non-intervention is already being considered, by external parties, as complicit support for the Reformation's movement."

"What does this mean? I don't understand."

"It means that you are being seen as supporting the Reformation movement."

"Really? How interesting. Should I support the movement?"

"That is a decision for you and you alone, Sire."

"Processor, what would you do?"

"A logical course of action would be to consult with the Tuath Dé, they are, after all, the sacred heart of the Kingdom."

"Okay, I'll talk with the druids. Processor, make it so. But, tonight, I'm too stressed to talk with anyone now."

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"Yes, there is the second area of interest, the activities of the formal Reformation movement. They call themselves, the Knights of the Reformation."

"Maybe later. Notify me when afternoon tea is ready, I'm going to take a nap."

"As you wish, Sire."

#

"Are you sure this will work? And, without compromising hull integrity?" Sam stood in the bridge of the Abaddon behind Harris, who had interfaced with their small fleet's newest ship.

"It will work, just think of it as a structural patch that will only affect the top thousandth of an inch of the hull plating. We'll be giving it a chemical composition similar to mica--"

"I don't care about the science, just as long as the hull doesn't flake off after the first enemy volley."

"Guaranteed, there will be no problem."

"Okay then, do it."

Sam expected to wait for the purely cosmetic procedure to complete, but Harris' response wall almost instantly. "And, that's done."

The commentary, however, wasn't necessary as a full-screen view of the Abaddon filled the tactical wall view. The bridge watched as the brilliant white Crystal class ship shimmered before shifting colour to chrome. The reflective qualities of the new hull composition showed the Ascent and Blackwing in the background cutting crystal-shaped holes through the reflected light of the star, Cian. It was beautiful.

"That's a lot of time and effort that's just gone into a new paint job." Lucas was hooked in from the bridge of the Ascent.

"Noted. But, this is more than just a paint job, it's a transformation.

"Harris, it's time to broadcast the footage of the fight. Let the galaxy see what we do to Star Templars when they get too close to the Knights of the Reformation. Splice in footage from the Grey Heron versus the Dekar. Include Honi's funeral, a hero's sendoff, and finish with this change to the Abaddon." It's more than just a message to the people, this is a 'fuck-you' to the Church.

Sam completed her orders for the day, opening a thread to the crews on all three ships gathered, "Attention to all crews, from this time forward, this ship will be known as Starlight. Captains, prepare to drift to the rendezvous point."

#

Months had passed since Tabbie and Reiko had brought Tiger in on their plans to aid Pachy in his scheme to rid the world of the Terminatio Die. Pachy, the old shark, was so transparent; being in his one hundred and sixties and hanging on to life by only the Gods only knew what means. It was just like him to create a whole movement to fulfil his selfish needs. Still, Tiger was here now, right in the thick of it, preparing for a battle against the druids. He thought of what a hypocrite he was thinking of Pachy as selfish for devising such a war when, remembering the face of the helpless woman, Aden who the druids had wrapped up alive and left for scavengers. Tiger wanted nothing better than to purge the disease that had entered the Druidic Order. Of this, he had said nothing to his hosts.

They had hiked a week deep into the forest for a secret rendezvous and spent the last day clearing new growth from what had been the convict's first, ground-level attempt for a settlement. It was a place well away from the tree huggers where none of their goings-on could be looked upon by spying eyes. Tiger looked back into the growth past the clearing and noticed a movement in the bushes--animals excepted.

The petite, elderly woman, Tabbie, who Tiger had fondly come to call Wildcat stood child-like next to the giant figure of her husband, who was leaning on his hammer. Reiko had been training hard with Tiger who was slowly regaining suppressed skills and building muscles that he forgot he had. While the capabilities of the ex-Juggernaut were no less deadly than in his younger days, age had crept into joints that had become tainted with the scourge of arthritis. Every exertion seemed to take its toll on the big man.

The three of them stood at the edge of the clearing as, just at the appointed time, two platform shuttles floated down past the dark green canopy and to the old settlement's exercise yard. Each shuttle held several standing figures, but it was not until they had almost landed that Tiger recognised the one at the head of the first shuttle. Although he had known Zeitian Wu as a druid, judging by her dress and her company, she was no longer a member of that order. The passengers on the other craft numbered four who he recognised by their black uniforms as death dealers. One, however, was dressed in silver armour. He was surprised when he noticed by her bald, glittering head that she was a beamer. He thought it very odd that there would be here, in the middle of nowhere, both a juggernaut and a beamer. Two genies from separate races in the one place, these were strange times indeed.

While he could see, by her high-tech outfit, that Wu had changed, it wasn't until she opened her mouth that he could tell by how much.