Chapter 62

***This article contains spoilers.***

## Highlights

* Shinatobe, the assassin filled with cybernetic implants, is actually a girl named Sakura Honami who has been a prisoner in her own mind for 75 years.
* After Alyssa gets the consent of Sakura's subconscious, the team works to heal her and remove the bomb in her head.
* The team arrives in Iota Leonis and find that the Terran Federation has formally declared war on the Kintark Empire.
* Gabrielle Lynton asks John to attack a Kintark staging ground while waiting for authorization to disclose Buckingham's location to him.

## Summary

Rachel goes over Shinatobe's health and cybernetic implants.

* She's suffering from a severe vitamin D deficiency due to a total lack of sun exposure, compounded by what seems to be an extreme form of cryo-induced frostbite. She's been put into cryostasis hundreds of times.
* She's physiologically 20, but her DNA shows that Sakura Honami was born on New Eden on February 12th, 2684, technically making her 95 years old.
* She’s had dozens of cybernetic implants installed, such as:
	+ Two bionic eyes
	+ Subdermal armor plating
	+ Synthetic kidneys
	+ Data jacks in her wrists
	+ Filters in her nose
	+ Adrenal booster, linked to all her major muscle groups
	+ Reflex booster, linked to her adrenaline booster
	+ Artificial lung
	+ Deactivatable pain receptors
	+ Ceramic compound fingernails which can be extended into claws
	+ Part-synthetic brain with a data chip port, allowing data chips to be inserted that provide mastery of a subject
	+ "*A fucking bomb in her head!*" (Dana)
* The implants are black-market Maliri tech, but the Maliri officially outlawed the practice centuries ago. It might be possible to trace the tech back to the sellers. Especially with the new abilities at Irillith's disposal.

Alyssa Spirit Walked and broke into the assassin's mind. First, she found structured memories that were actually video files of assassinations. Then she saw the figure of a sad, young girl who led her to a memory.

*The memory was a happy one. The girl said grabbed her backpack, in a rush to get to her class on time at her university's law school. She said bye to her parents, who called her Sakura, and took off in her hover-bike, racing for Elizabethtown in southern New Eden.*

The memory fades, and the girl had an agonized expression on her face as she led her to the next memory.

*Sakura was on her way to class in her hover-bike when she saw smoke pouring from the engine of an otherwise intact blue hovercar, and a man was standing beside it waving at her frantically. After she descended to help him, a big, grey van stopped ahead, and she was jabbed in the back with a stun-rod. This had all been planned.*

*Two men placed her on the floor of the van as the other one locked her into place with hand restraints. They were being payed to kidnap her, but when saw how beautiful she was they decided to gang rape her, and then clean her up so that the buyer wouldn't know.*

Alyssa forcibly pulled herself out of the terrible memory that wasn't going to end anytime soon. When Alyssa looked, Sakura's spirit was at the next memory, staring at it intently.

*Sakura wakes up strapped to a cold, metal table with wheels. Her sore body wasn't used to being abused in either way. She had been gangraped two more times until they finally cleaned her up, preparing her for the handover to the client.*

*A man arrives, calling her Shinatobe, telling her she's home now. Two orderlies wheel the horrified girl away, and she only stops screaming in terror when the doctor gives her a powerful sedative to knock her out.*

When Alyssa jerked herself out of the memory, she finds the spirit of Sakura standing at one final memory, the pathway to which was a cold, bleak, black.

*Sakura's entire body was in pain. When she heard a cold voice telling her to rise, she sat up and hopped off the bed without her consciously willing her body to do so. His name is Amatsu Mikaboshi, and he wants her to address him as Idaina-sha, meaning "Great One." Sakura's mind was now a powerless captive in a prison of flesh and metal.*

A horrified Alyssa snapped out of Sakura's mind, and pleaded with them to help Sakura. John wants consent first, so she went back to speak with Sakura's subconscious. Alyssa explained exactly who John was, and what they intended to do. Sakura still begged Alyssa to help her.

John, Alyssa, Calara, and Jade head to the Bridge, leaving Rachel, Dana, and Irillith to do the prep work. Faye had started picking up a big fleet of ships on the extreme edge of the sensors.

They come across the Medusa, and see that the Terran Federation picket ships had been reinforced. Four modern cruisers and a battlecruiser had been added to the supporting ships. In the center of the fleet was the Heavy Carrier, surrounded by three heavy cruisers, several light carriers and dozens of destroyers. The addition of the modern cruisers and the battlecruiser made this a substantial battlegroup.

When they drew close enough to be picked up by the Terran Federation forces, they were hailed by Captain Maddox, threatening to fire at them if they don't turn around. When John informs him he's now a Rear Admiral, all the blood drained from his face, but said be still can't let anyone in, under orders of Admiral Lynton. John and Maddox switch to a private channel, and John explains he's been asked by Admiral Devereux to lead a task force, and has to report to Fleet Admiral Buckingham. Maddox relented, but said he still needs to rendezvous with Admiral Lynton in Iota Leonis. So the team heads there.

John wants to sense how Calara's hand is healing, and when Alyssa suggests picturing mental compartments similar to how the Ashanath taught her (Chapter 25), it was like a black curtain was suddenly lifted back, and what had appeared to be a featureless void was suddenly filled with row upon row of compartments.

He saw his Matriarchs on top. Underneath Alyssa were the girls on the Invictus, connected by lines representing the strength of their connections. It reminded him of a Terran Federation military organizational chart. Underneath Edraele was a first tier made up of Luna, Almari, and Ilyana. Beneath them were the 80 engineers, Makaela the shipyard Commander, and Alyndra the Power Core Lead Technician. He was amazed that he could remember the names of every engineer, the four of which he'd spent most of his time chatting to slightly higher than the rest. Having only six active compartments wasn't so bad when a huge section of his mental capacity was devoted to maintaining links with all these women.

In John's mind there was a soft glow emanating from Calara's belly that corresponds to her carrying his cum in her stomach. This meant be had an active connection with the gorgeous Latina, and while that was in place, he’d be able to focus his will, healing her of any ailments.

John spars with Calara, showing her hand is now fully healed. They have their after-spar ritual.

To deactivate Sakura's bomb, Irillith infiltrates the data jacks in her wrist and deactivated the CPU, preventing Shinatobe from returning. However, she couldn't deactivate the bomb since the trigger controls for it were not linked to the processor, likely being mechanical in nature and hooked up to a signal receiver. Dana sets up inhibitor fields and signal dampeners around Sakura's head.

When Jade pumps John’s cum into Sakura's belly using her fingers, John checked the compartments in his mind. He's linked to Sakura now, so he begins healing her numerous injuries and burns.

John goes to the Ready Room to call Eito Yamamoto, who's drunk and doesn't believe John's alive, because they don't leave people alive. Surprised, John asks him if he knows that group of assassins. Yamamoto fought one, but the assassin was better. He saved the target, for one night anyway, but let the assassin get away. So instead, they killed his wife, Ayumi, and daughter, Kimiko, effectively killing Yamamoto himself. John promises to hunt them all down and make them pay. Yamamoto's obsession with killing is now clear.

Faye's PTSD from Jade's death eased slightly when she watched John and Jade having sex, but it didn't completely go away.

As the Invictus approaches Iota Leonis, Calara counts 27 cruiser class or larger vessels, not including auxiliaries or supply ships.

Rachel gives Alyssa a status update. She's halfway through, but removing the adrenal implant and the links to all the muscle groups is going to be the most time consuming operation.

When they drop out of hyper-warp, they see Port Medea is in better shape since they had saved it. There was a large Terran Federation fleet that was currently arrayed defensively around it. At the center was Thor's Hammer, a colossal Terran Federation Dreadnought, representing the pinnacle of humanity's shipbuilding craft. Despite being over three kilometers long, its profile was dominated by a pair of huge singularity drivers built into the topdeck. Although it was fresh off the drydock, it's already pock marked with light battle damage.

A battleship on the outskirts of the system moves to approach them, flanked by several cruisers, a half-dozen destroyers, and dozens of fighter wings from the combat air patrol. The Invictus is hailed by Commodore Sasaki on the Battleship Artemis, following protocol by asking him to identify himself, which he did with his new Rear Admiral rank. "*Good Lord, you’re a Rear Admiral now?!*" Sasaki updates him. As of 0800, the Terran Federation formally declared war on the Kintark Empire, and now Iota Leonis is a highly restricted area. John informs her he's following orders from Admiral Devereux and has urgent business with Admiral Lynton.

John is put through to Gabrielle Lynton in a secure channel. There was no video because apparently a comm array was damaged repelling a Kintark assault on Port Medea. John explained his situation, and he and Alyssa were shocked with how friendly acted. When she throws a couple subtle jabs at Lynette, Edraele advises caution. It seems there are bigger games being played here.

Gabrielle tells John that the Fleet Admiral is in Kintark territory. She'll need to confirm with his chief of staff before she can disclose his location in an active war zone.

While waiting for authorization, she asks him for a favor. Prelate Jarganth, from the Kintark Carrier Captain that John captured, had decided to cooperate, no doubt after some *enhanced interrogation techniques*. The Prelate gave up the location of the munitions and fuel dump the Kintark have been using as a staging bass to launch their raids into the Dragon March. It’s hidden in a nebula not that far into Kintark territory. Gabrielle, fully aware of John's Ashanath tech, knows he'll be able to slip past any border forces before they can interdict him, and then strike at the staging base before they can respond. Supposedly it won’t even slow down the mission to visit Buckingham, as Gabrielle can send John an Ultra-encrypted message with his location through the temporary comm beacons in Kintark territory.

John confers with the crew. Calara estimates the base is in the *Mar’Katrach Nebula*, and confirms it would be a perfect staging ground. Edraele gives helpful advice. "*Be very careful dealing with these Admirals. You can’t get to this kind of rank without being accomplished at manipulating people. You’ll probably find there are factions vying for power within the Admiralty, and until you find out the lay of the land, you might accidentally end up making enemies amongst the different power groupings. It sounds like Admiral Lynton initially thought you were Admiral Devereux’s pawn, and she could be trying to usurp her influence over you.*"

John reopened the call with Gabrielle. He'll destroy the base for her.