They put Cat back in cryo. It was done in record time. Apart from the poisoning, she'd been in good health and Amy Park concluded that Catherine didn't need a long break between cryosessions.

This time, the memory was a real stinker. She was back in the Commander's armor and was dragging Zack's inert form to his new home in a fashion that nobody would qualify as delicate. The outdoor prison. She could hear people moaning and crying. She ignored them. In her mood, she was more likely to kill them than to listen to their complaints. She ordered the Ultra-Marine guard to unlock one of the cells and threw Zack unceremoniously inside.

"Ow." He said waking up. "No more loving girlfriend huh?"

She turned around like she was going inside to join him and he lifted his hands up in the air. "Whoa there tiger! I've had enough of your special attentions."

"Then shut it!" She shouted back at him.

The reverse cyborg shut Zack's cell gate. He sat on the floor shivering. "I suppose a blanket is out of the question?"

"Which part of 'shut the fuck up' don't you understand?" Cat said hotly.

"The part where I lost my girlfriend, you Cat. What happened to you? I know they are your people, but can't you see what they are doing is wrong?"

"Lost me? It's me that lost you since that bitch Murakami woke up!"

"No, you didn't. You're my girlfriend. Jab had always been wishful thinking on my part. Someone like her would never consider me. I'm an orphan. I have nothing but the clothes on my back. She's the heiress of her father's empire. We are worlds apart she and I."

"You're wrong! She loves you! She stayed away from you because of her friendship for me. You fool! Can't you see? It was only a question of time before you would have left me for her!" She screamed the last part.

"Believe what you want. There's no point for me to try to convince you. Your mind is set. You're sick, can't you see it Cat? Please, come back to your senses. Do it for me. You're my girlfriend, I would never leave you for somebody else. I can't stand seeing you like this. What are you doing? This is madness. Please come back to your senses. You have friends that care for you." Zack pleaded.

"You can't lie to me. They taught me how to detect lies. And you're lying right now, even to yourself. You love her, there's no question about it. You always did. You just have to realize it." Cat said in a sad voice, her anger gone.

Then something changed, something in the atmosphere shifted, reality seemed to undo and then reassert itself. Cat looked at Zack. He stood up unbruised and well-dressed. Gone were his dirty, ripped clothes that he had worn during his stay in the outside prison. He had a well adjusted business suit that suited him well. His expression changed from desperate to interested.

"We're not in one of my memories anymore, aren't we?" Cat asked Zack.

He opened his cell door and made his way to her. "There you are. I thought I had lost you, Catherine." Zach said.

"Lost... me?"

"This is so exciting! You are about to begin your journey of discovery and metamorphosis. Don't worry, I asked Zacharia's permission before I used his likeness with you." The man who wasn't Zack said.

"I'm a little confused. Are you not Zacharia? Then, who are you?"

Not-Zack lifted his finger and pressed it to her lips. "Maybe another time. Not now Kitty."

"This is not one of my memories, so, am I out of cryostasis?" Cat asked him.

"This I can answer. Yes you are." He smiled and faded away.

"Wait!" Cat shouted after him, but he was gone. "I have so many questions. A journey of discovery and metamorphosis? What the hell?"

Cat noticed her surroundings starting to fade away. Mina's voice suddenly said. "Hold on!"

Something shook her whole body. Like the entire world surrounding her shook with her. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were glued shut. Someone spoke softly to her and Cat felt a wet sponge brushing against her face. It felt rough. Her skin must be raw.

"Hmm. Who...?" She began.

"Stay still ma'am. This won't take long. I'm cleaning you as best as I can. It's difficult when the whole ship is shaking." A girl's voice. Young. Cat didn't recognize it.

Another shock. This time, Cat heard the ship's frame creak under the strain.

"Mars!" Exclaimed the girl.

"You...you. Martian?"

"We're here to save you!" The girl said enthusiastic. "We're bringing you home! You'll finally be with your own people! I'm so glad to have the honor to meet you ma'am."

"Stop flapping your gums Carmichael and tell me how she is doing!" A gruff voice said near. Both girls jumped.

"She fine considering..."

"Considering?" The male voice grew impatient.

"Considering the cryostasis. Being woken up so fast. I'm going as fast as I can sir." The girl said.

Cat's eyes finally came unglued. She opened them to see a young blond girl in her late teens and an old man in a battered battle armor. His head was uncovered. "Jaak! Mars you're old." Cat exclaimed.

"A steady regimen of whiskey and intrigue will get to you after a fashion." He replied smiling. He looked like he hadn't smiled in a long while.

"How long..." Cat said in a croaky voice. The girl gave her a small bottle with a straw coming out of its lid. Cat took a sip.

"48 years total. We finally got a message telling us where they had hidden you. It was nice to see Mars again." Jaak said.

"I've never seen Mars before. It's beautiful." The girl said.

Cat looked at her. "I don't remember much of Mars myself. What's your name?"

"Isis."

"Well Isis, I was born in secret in the asteroid field. My grandfather had taken precautions in case we lost the war and built a secret city in one of the planetoids orbiting the field. I was brought back to Mars when I was old enough to travel. I left it when we lost the war and went to the field. I was two." Cat explained.

"Born in secret?" Isis asked.

"Carmichael!" Jaak said, his voice dangerous.

"It's fine. It doesn't matter anymore. I was born in secret because the real heiress of the Tyran family was terminally ill. They cloned her replacement. Me. When she died, I took her place."

"Back in the navigator's seat for you Carmichael. If I find you repeated anything you heard here, I'll space you myself. Understand?" Jaak said.

"Yes sir!" Isis stood up and ran out of the small infirmary.

"You didn't need to threaten her. Like I said. It doesn't matter anymore." Cat said to her old friend.

"It does! We need you. We need the Commander! The way this revolution is going, we'll be labeled and remembered as criminals. Not as liberators."

"We're already labeled as war criminals. We all are. My grandfather went too far. He told me so. Sorry but I don't intend to continue the 'family tradition'. You'll have to manage without me." Cat said taking her friend's hands in hers.

His face crumpled. "You would be infinitely better than the leaders we have now. Invisible, calling the shots from afar. Nobody knows anything anymore. We're all separate cells. We're not told where or who are in the other cells. It's frankly getting a little scary. They're recruiting young kids like the one you just saw. Under-trained, idealistic and full of the Presidium's propaganda." Jaak said distressed.

"Is that what they call themselves nowadays? The Presidium? Sounds pompous." Cat said.

"You've got no idea. The scary part is that we don't know who composes the membership of the Presidium. It's rumored to be a coalition of the heads of Martian high families. The truth is, nobody knows and everyone is too scared to ask. When we got your location from that doctor, the Presidium emitted an executive order to bring you back to Bellona station at all cost."

Another tremor shook the poor shuttle. "Shit! We can't seem to lose these bastards. They got a lot better at ship building. And us Martians we just stagnate! I'll go see the Captain. I'll send Carmichael to look after you. She's the navigator and she doubles as the medic. She's good people and she'll become someone, Mars willing." Jaak left her.

Catherine tried to assess her situation so far. Eight years had passed since her last awakening. The Martians had found her and took her by force to this shuttle with the intention of bringing her to this Presidium ruling the Martian faction now. The Martians seemed reduced to a ragtag collection of ignorant terrorist cells.

And she was again right smack in the middle of all this steaming pile of shit! Great.

She tried her limbs. Surprised, she found out that her body was in good shape. Stiff and unresponsive but her muscle tone was better than normal. She was lean and to her despair, very fit. Her shoulders wide and her stomach flat displaying her well toned abdominal muscles. She looked at her arms and could see the muscles rippling under her thin skin. The electric muscle stimulators had done their work a little too well for her taste. It was like she had weight trained for eight years. She much preferred her old soft look. Much more deceptive. At least, she looked well fed this time. She tried to stand up and had to sit down when her vision clouded over with black spots. Her blood pressure had gone down.

"Whoa there. Take it easy ma'am." Carmichael said as she helped Cat sit back down on the diminutive medical bed.

"You can call me Cat."

Isis smiled. "I'd like that. Call me Isis."

"Isis. What's happening up there? Are you losing them?"

"We tried to hide a few times but it's pretty hard when your engines are hot from all that running."

"Do you have a spare reactor?"

"Come again?"

"A spare anti-matter reactor." Cat repeated.

"Yes, I think so, why?"

"Come, help me stand up. We must go to engineering."

Sensing her Commander taking charge, Isis got under Cat's arm and helped her stand up. They walked briskly to the engineering section of the diminutive shuttle and stood before a grizzled woman in her fifties.

"What now? I'm busy keeping this tub together."

"Nice to see you too chief. We need your help."

"Do you have a spare reactor?" Cat asked the woman.

"Yes..."

"And about 3 kilos of antimatter?"

"Again, yes... why?" The chief asked them interested.

"We'd like to make a welcoming gift for the assholes chasing us." Cat said.

"I like your spirit kid. Call me Chief Morley. Come. Come." She signaled the girls to follow her in the back stores. She opened one of the crates. "Ta-daa!"

"Chief Morley, you're a lifesaver." Isis said.

"Care to lend a hand?" The chief asked them.

"Sure. Isis?" Cat asked the girl.

"Yes Cat?"

"Call the Captain and inform him of the plan."

"What plan?"

"We're gonna dump this here reactor full of antimatter and detonate it when the pursuing ship gets near it."

"A mine?" Isis asked.

"A mine!" Cat replied.

"A feking big mine up their feking arseholes!" Chief Morley added joyously. She had had enough of those Earthers pounding the shit out of her ship.

The Captain accepted the plan with alacrity. He also had had enough of the Earthers shooting at them. The device was built and put in the stern side airlock. They waited for the pursuing ship to come about directly behind them to eject the cold undetectable power unit. They modified the reactor's injectors to dump all the antimatter in one go. No heat until the explosion.

When the Captain gave them the signal, they jettisoned the small unit using the blowout from the unpurged air still in the airlock creating a pressure differential. They didn't dare ping the object to see if it was on course. Isis used a nav computer to calculate its position the old school way. With a stopwatch. A few seconds before the reactor got in range, Isis pinged it and confirmed it was in place. Now seeing the threat, the pursuing vessel tried to veer off course but its current speed was too great. The direction change was too slow and too late. Chief Morley detonated the reactor a thousand kilometers from the Coalition ship. When the glow of the blast faded, they saw the twisted hulk of what had been a beautiful spaceship. The disabled ship was emitting a distress signal on all frequencies.

The Captain got out of the sector as quick as his battered shuttle could move him. The place would fester with mudcrawlers soon and he didn't feel like sticking around to see how they had liked his little welcoming gift.