She smiled. Try it, she urged.
"Lothos, it's up," one of the Tsavitee said into the quiet. This one wasn’t one of the cannon fodder. His eyes were intelligent and bright as they flicked over Kira.
A reaper—the shock troops of the Tsavitee. Dangerous and powerful and similar in form to the generals.
The general straightened, his height impressive. He would have towered over Graydon.
"Connect me to him," the general said as he turned to face the platform.
The Tsavitee rushed to obey as Kira settled to wait.
Battles were as much about moments as they were tactics and weapons. Strike too soon and you gave up the advantage, wait too long and you've lost before you could turn the tide. It wasn't her moment yet. She needed to wait.
A niggle of awareness drew a line from her to where Jin was lying inert on the ground. His thoughts busy and desperate. She didn't know what he was working on, only that it was important. She'd buy him what time she could.
She chanced a glance at Ziva, Joule, and the other children. They huddled in a group in front of the cage, the Tsavitee poking at them every once in a while and laughing when the children cried or screamed.
Joule, Ziva, and another boy, slightly older than Joule, protected the front of the group, defiantly facing down their captors.
Ziva and Joule looked devastated as their eyes caught Kira's. Shame moved through their expressions, both blaming themselves for her predicament.
She winked at them before smiling. It didn't work, their faces becoming more morose, Ziva's eyes welling up with tears.
Guess her reassurance needed work.
Kira sighed and shifted on her knees trying to relieve some of the painful pressure. This had turned into a clusterfuck of a situation.
When she assured Liara she'd be able to save the Tuann, she might have been a little overconfident in her abilities.
Right now, she had two main sources to protect. The children and the adults. At least the adults were behind a forcefield. The Tsavitee would have to open it and chance being overwhelmed by those inside before they could use them as hostages. The children weren't as protected.
It made Kira's promise complicated.
If this had been ten years ago, before Rothchild, before Epiron, she wouldn't have questioned herself. That was before she'd used the first burst, before people had died while under her protection. Before her body started destroying itself.
The general had been right about her not using the burst, but not for the reasons he thought. The burst was a wave of energy her body generated when under duress, capable of annihilating everything around her, friend and foe.
It was a powerful weapon but came at a steep cost. Using it put her close to death. Last time she'd used it she ended up in a coma for years. Her body was recovering slowly, but she was nowhere near what she'd once been.
Her huff was sad. Poor children, their only chance of survival was a dysfunctional Tuann and a half-fried drone that may or may not come back online in time.
She inhaled sharply.
A screen formed above the platform, liquid ribbons of silver condensing to form a mirror.
A Tsavitee general peered out of it, his expression remote. He looked as young and ageless as the rest of his kind, his eyes red instead of black. The tip of his left horn was broken, the edge jagged and white.
Neron.
Interesting choice on Lothos’ part. Neron was high ranking, but he wasn't the highest. Not even in the top five, unless things had changed more than she knew.
This general had a history with her. She was the one who'd broken his horn, which was considered a bit of a status symbol in his culture. He held a wicked grudge about the whole thing, even though he'd been doing his utmost to kill her at the time.
"Lothos, why are you calling me?" he asked.
Lothos bowed his head and touched his fist to his chest. "There has been a development."
The red eyes narrowed. "What kind of development?"
Lothos stepped to the side, giving Neron a clear view of a kneeling Kira.
Neron went still. His expression hardened, becoming even more remote. At last, he relaxed into his chair. "Phoenix. Like the human myth, you have once again risen from your own ashes."
By then Lothos had backed up until he was standing behind Kira and her two captors.
Several seconds passed as the tension in the room built.
"Nothing to say to your old enemy?" Neron asked, his voice a silken menace.
Kira pretended to think. "Just a message for your masters. You can tell them I'm coming for them. I plan to keep the promise I made you the first time we met."
Hisses of displeasure came from those around her. The only ones who were silent were Neron, Lothos, and another slim figure Kira had just noticed.
The new general was young, barely out of his maturation phase from what Kira could tell.
Neron’s gaze shifted to Lothos and the two shared a long look. "You know what to do."
Lothos inclined his head. "Of course, consider it done."
Lothos looked at the two Tsavitee, his expression flat. "Kill her."
There were pleased chortles from the Tsavitee as those in the cages erupted. The Tsavitee dragged an unresisting Kira closer to the octagon, forcing her onto her knees where Neron would have a front row seat to her death.
His face was set in the same impassive lines she associated with the generals, no recognizable emotion rippling across its surface.
Kira held his gaze as the Tsavitee next to her prepared, one of them readying a laser ax, the quiet hum sizzling through the air. The other grabbed her hair, forcing her head down and exposing her neck.
This was it. Death had come for her.
The blade neared her skin as the Tsavitee lined up his stroke. Distantly she noted their feet resembled a goat's, hoof-like with no shoes.
The blade lifted. A deafening roar sounded from the cage as something threw itself against it, again and again.
Kira couldn't turn to see what.
She slipped her hand along the top of her boot, palming the finger-length blade hidden there.
Sloppy of the Tsavitee not to secure her hands.
The ax descended.
Kira grabbed the arm of the Tsavitee holding her hair. She rolled into the other Tsavitee pulling the first into the path of the descending ax.
There was a scream as blood sprayed, the blade cleaving his shoulder in two. Kira twisted, not bothering to find her feet, sinking her blade into the executioner's leg, searching for an artery.
Blood gushed. She couldn't tell if she'd hit it or not. Best to make sure.
The executioner lifted the blade again. Kira surged up, staying close to his body. His swing missed. She trapped his arm against her side and swiped her blade across his neck.
Warm blood hit her face as she held him against her, not letting his dead body fall.
Kira maneuvered him so his dead weight was between her and the rest of the Tsavitee.
"This is your only warning. Those who wish to live—run," Kira said in Tsavitee.
Neron’s image clicked off.
Kira spared one glance at it before focusing on the force in front of her. There was no going back now. The Tsavitee higher-ups knew she was alive. They'd view her as a threat and come for her before she could come for them.
She sighed and shook her head. Thoughts of future problems could wait. There was too much in the here and now to take care of.