Hild Marolla hesitated for a moment before continuing. "For years, Ceerah Kade has done this, hopping from one world to the next, paying shady members known for their criminal activities for false identities but always using her medical background as a front for her crimes. Until she arrived on Refizan, that is. There she took the name Ceerah Kade and began working at Sea Winds, a well-known psychiatric clinic. From the beginning, when she wasn't passing off fake drugs to unsuspecting recipients and selling the actual drugs to waiting dealers on the outside, she and her accomplice, Jalan Wolk, would break into the sensitive, private vid recordings of patient sessions and watch them as a source of amusement." Hild Marolla paused for a moment before continuing.

"If you are outraged at this information," he went on, "be assured that I and my investigative team are just as outraged. The ASD has taken Ms. Kade into custody, because there is no time limitations placed upon drakus seed distribution." Another inset was shown of Ceerah in cuffs, being led away by special agents. Hild Marolla continued his broadcast.

"The proof has been collected and at least sixteen deaths have been associated with her dealing of that dangerous drug. The other charges against her are nothing in comparison to this, but that still brings us back to her current victim, the one known as Reah Nilvas." A photograph of me was displayed in an inset.

"At first, I imagined that Ms. Nilvas was an unfortunate victim in Ms. Kade's scheme, and I was not wrong," Hild Marolla continued. "What I discovered after researching Ms. Nilvas' background, which was graciously opened to me, and after interviewing those who are familiar with her work, I can only say that I am astounded at the complexities of this woman. In order to illustrate what disservice both Alliances are doing her, and she is a member in good standing of both Alliances, I might add, I would like to take you through a journey tonight to show you just who—and what—Reah Nilvas is."

The scene changed and now we were shown a beautiful study filled with books and artifacts, all of it tastefully decorated, of course. Ildevar Wyyld, founding member of the Reth Alliance, sat behind a carved, wooden desk.

"Hello," he said, "I am Ildevar Wyyld. I'm sure all of you recognize that name, if you aren't familiar with my face," he smiled gently. "I agreed to this interview because a member of the Reth Alliance has been treated unjustly. If you will come with me, I will show you just a little of what Reah Desh Nilvas Silver has done for the Reth Alliance."

Hild Marolla was there, a camera right behind him as he followed Ildevar Wyyld out of his office, down an ornately designed hallway that I recognized from a trip with Lendill, and into Lendill's office. "Here," Ildevar pointed to the wall that held all my awards and certificates, "is a sampling of what Reah has accomplished for me and the ASD. She is currently working special assignments for us. Can you focus on this one?" Ildevar pointed out one of the awards that lined the wall.

"As you can see, hopefully, it says for service provided to the Alliance in bringing down the drakus seed trade," he said. "You see her name, here?" He tapped the certificate. "This one," he pointed to another and the camera focused on it, "This says that Reah was solely responsible for taking down Arvil San Gerxon and at least a hundred other criminals who were providing drugs to the Alliance and convicted of assassinations, smuggling and other crimes against our worlds. And this one," Ildevar added, "is for taking down one of the worst threats to both Alliances. I'm sure few of you have heard the name Zellar before tonight, but I assure you, for those who know, he was the worst of the worst. He it was, using the power he had, who tapped into the cores of many planets. He killed Cloudsong, Thiskil and numerous others. Many of those worlds still lie dead, as you know. You've all heard that somehow, the core energy leaked away, but you have not been informed until now how that was accomplished. Reah tracked Zellar for a very long time until she found him and the ones he'd allied with, destroying all of them. And this award, which is neither the last nor the least, recognizes her for single-handedly removing the threat of the controllers." Ildevar sighed and bowed his head for a moment before looking at the camera again.

"Reah, at great risk to herself, suffered a personal attack and other indignities at the request of the ASD, in order to obtain valuable information for the Director and Vice-Director of the Alliance Security Detail. After that, when she found they intended to bring their own controlling brains online in order to dominate both Alliances, she destroyed them, while saving nearly seventy women from being sold into slavery. You see, that's what was happening. These criminals intended to enslave all of you. Each and every one. Oh, they started by selling pretty girls they targeted at Stellar Winds, but it was scheduled to go beyond that. The blackout was their doing, my friends. Reah destroyed their comp-brain before it could go farther than that. And those women? They owe Reah their lives. Don't take my word for it, however. Mr. Marolla has interviewed some of them. I'll let them explain what they saw during that terrible time." Ildevar smiled and the location changed.

Four women sat in comfortable chairs inside Hild Marolla's studio. The "live" caption showed at the bottom of the screen. They were being recorded right then.

"I know how difficult this is for all of you," Mr. Marolla said. "But if you could, please tell me, in your own words, what happened."

"I was kidnapped from work," one of the girls said. "I'd gone to Stellar Winds about six moon-turns ago. I had no idea they'd marked me." The others were nodding; their experiences had been similar.

"I was kidnapped from my apartment," another said. "From a clothing store," the third said. The fourth and last one had been taken after visiting her parents.

"They transported us back to Stellar Winds, but we were taken in cages to a huge underground cave there," the first one said. "We were fed once a day and allowed to visit a restroom twice a day, in shifts. We were kept there for days, allowed a bath every fourth day and taunted and ridiculed."

"How large were your cages?" the journalist asked. I nodded when they said six blocks by six blocks. They weren't large and it was difficult to stretch out in one. "So, these were uncomfortable, to put it kindly," Hild Marolla said.

"There was nothing kind about the cages or our captors," one of the girls huffed. "We thought that was bad, but then the day of the full moon came. We four, along with several others, watched while they brought the white-haired woman in. We recognized her right away when they ran those awful videos. They were making fun of her, as if she didn't suffer, too. Her cage was loaded onto the ship, just as ours were. We weren't frightened at that moment, but we should have been. We thought they were just moving us. We were wrong. The ship landed us on the small moon nearby, inside a landing shield. There our cages were unlocked, men came in who turned into terrible monsters and we were assaulted and raped. Many of us required medical assistance afterward. The white-haired woman became very sick. I saw two doctors come to visit her cage afterward." The girl wiped tears away.

"And then what happened?" Hild Marolla asked gently. Another girl took up the story. "Two eight-days later, we were loaded into another ship. We were all frightened, this time. We remembered what had happened before. This trip took longer. Several clicks. I know now we landed on Cloudsong."

"One of the worlds where the core was drained by Zellar," Hild Marolla nodded. "What happened after that?"

"We found out that buyers had come. For us," another girl wiped her eyes. "They came and rattled our cages. Touched us in intimate places. We were all afraid. I could see, too, the huge, round things built in a corner of the castle. It looked like old photographs I've seen of castles, anyway. Several men were fussing over the round things, and several men and one woman, who seemed to be in charge, were talking excitedly about them. I was too far away to hear everything they said, but I did hear them say that it was coming online tonight."

"This was the night of the blackout," Hild Marolla explained for the audience's benefit. "Fortunately, we have obtained vid images of part of what happened in that throne room of Cloudsong's deserted castle. I'll show the images, and if you'll explain what we're seeing?" Hild asked. The girls nodded. A vid-screen lit up on an adjacent wall and I gasped. How had they gotten these images? How? I didn't know they existed. Teeg gripped my other hand, now. I was going to have to watch this, as painful as it might be.

The auction was about to start but prior to that, Dantel Schuul had made a big speech before flipping the switch to the brains, effectively taking over everything in both Alliances. And that's when I made my move. My decision had been made and I was committed.

The camera angle switched to one overhead, as I turned to my smaller Thifilatha, escaped my cage and began soaking up the sun's rays through a hole in the palace roof. You could see the transformation clearly as I made it. As soon as I'd gathered enough energy, making my scales glow brightly, I aimed my hands at the brains, exploding them one by one. Chaos then broke out inside the castle's great hall, and I was fired upon. I refused to run or remove myself from the doorway—I'd been protecting the girls inside.

Dantel and Nedrizif were now commanding an army of Greater Demons, who moved to attack. I was only thing that stood between sixty-seven helpless women and slavery or death. That's when I changed to my larger Thifilatha. I could imagine the gasps around the Alliances as they watched a small, white-haired woman first become a six-foot Thifilatha, and then when things became desperate, become a fifteen-foot Thifilatha, golden and glowing.

I was pulling energy from Cloudsong's daystar as quickly as I could at that point, while Greater Demons fired all kinds of weapons at me. The more solar energy I pulled inside, the less effect any of them had. And then Dantel Schuul and Nedrizif were screaming at them to attack. All the Greater Demons turned into those foul creatures and rushed at me. They winked out of existence when they hit my scales.