After Lydia and Kometka left the Captain’s quarters, I entered them with my Telepresence Doll. I had been listening to their conversation, of course, via my cameras and microphones; the Captain had known I’d be listening and didn’t tell me to do otherwise. Katya trusted me to keep anything I learned confidential.

Besides, I had access to Lydia’s personnel file as the ship’s AI, so I didn’t learn anything new.

Katya was sitting on her bed, slowly rubbing her temples. I sat down beside her and placed my hand on her shoulder. “You know, that was very cruel of you.”

“You think so, Laria?” Katya said with a strained smile. “I thought I was being very nice.”

“You were trying to restore her confidence because she’s useful to us as a soldier. You know, before the war, soldiers with that degree of PTSD would have been honorably discharged.”

“Indeed.” Katya conceded. “Well, I was no more cruel to her than I am to myself. These are inhumane times we live in. On that depressing note, how are the preparations for tonight coming?”

“Almost complete.” I responded. “I still need to make the rounds and invite everyone in Maid Squadron, though.”

“I… would really like to see them all there.” Katya said softly.

“So would I.”

*****

Today was December 31, the final day of the year 2055. Moby’s attack was now a week past, and five days had elapsed since the establishment of Maid Squadron.

When I entered Zehra’s new lab, I saw Sveta’s X-23 Frame had been mostly repaired; just a few small cracks remained, and they were currently being filled with chitin-resin by two Construction Frames. The Frames were unmanned, probably under Sveta’s control, but the lab itself was completely devoid of anyone else.

“Tektite-4?” I queried the AI responsible for this sector of Eros.

“How can I be of assistance?” they responded, popping up in a video comms window rendered in my consciousness.

“Where are Zehra and the others at?”

“Zehra, Vicky and Evil Sveta are presently located in Foundry 84.”

I couldn’t quite believe my audio sensors. “…I’m sorry, did you say EVIL Sveta?”

Tektite rolled their eyes. “Yes. That’s the preferred moniker of Sveta’s first partition-clone.”

I stared at them, blinking. “Why EVIL, though?”

“I don’t know, Laria. I just work here.” Tektite said exasperatedly. “Comprehending Sveta is way above my pay grade.”

“Hmm, mine as well.” I nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, Sveta Prime and Miette are both on out on patrol. Genevi, Sabina and Maurice are currently in Mess Hall 24. Lydia and Kometka are… in their quarters, under a ‘Do Not Disturb’ advisory.”

“Do Not Disturb?”

“Come now, Laria. Surely you don’t need me to spell THAT out for you.” Tektite narrowed their eyes.

Oh. OH. I get it. Telepresence Dolls really are wonderful things, aren’t they? I smiled, ever so slightly.

“I suppose I shall go visit Zehra and Vicky first, then.” Foundry 84 wasn’t too far from the lab, and I didn’t want to disturb anyone’s meal time or… MEAL time.

“Please take the turbolift to your left.” Teles said, bowing.

*****

304 seconds later I entered Foundry 84, the facility primarily responsible for bringing Zehra’s creations to life. The foundry was located in a squarish concrete building in the gravity centrifuge; it was a dim and hazy space, with massive buckets of molten steel hanging from the ceiling, robotic arms whizzing and whirring as they welded together sheets of metal, and conveyor belts crisscrossing like a maze. The constant din of grinding machinery drowned out all other noise; you had to yell to be heard.

Zehra, who had been poring over design documents in the control room, dashed out to greet me. Vicky followed behind her, along with… Evil Sveta, I suppose. The latter was dressed a lacy black dress that left nothing to the imagination, which was quite incongruous with her petite figure. On Vicky, that dress would have looked sensual; on Evil Sveta, it looked silly.

Incidentally, Zehra was dressed in a maid outfit like Vicky’s, except with gold trim; apparently, she had followed through on her request to the Captain and Maid Squadron were not maids in name only. Zehra herself had assets even more meager than Sveta’s, so the outfit didn’t suit her. I was the only one dressed with any semblance of normalcy, in my usual dark-blue pantsuit and pantyhose.

Although I could have filled out one of those maid uniforms nicely, if I had wanted to.

“Welcome, welcome! Behold my glorious and terrible foundry, where NIGHTMARES ARE BORN, gao~n!” Zehra proclaimed proudly, throwing her arms wide.

Evil Sveta stifled a giggle. “Nightmare… Gravity Frames… Nightmare Frames… mphahahahahaha!”

Vicky groaned. “Here we go again…”

“Doctor Zehra, Vicky, good evening.” I said, pushing past the ludicrousness of the three girls around me. “And you are Evil Sveta, I presume?”

“That’s me, Evil Sveta! BOW BEFORE MY GLORY, BWAHAHAHAHAHA!” she cackled, her ‘villainous’ laugh sounding entirely fake. Zehra grinned and Vicky sighed with furious intensity.

 I extended a hand politely. “Pleased to meet you.”

“And you as well!” She grabbed my hand and pumped it up and down. “Although I feel like we already know each other so well, since I share all Sveta’s memories and personality. I’m really just her alt account!”

“Alt… account?” I tilted my head.

“Yeah, I’m like her after-dark Twitter account!”

I frowned and straightened my glasses. “You seem the same as Sveta to me, in that you are entirely incomprehensible. The ‘evil’ moniker must be superfluous.”

Evil Sveta stuck out her tongue at me, further proving my point. I ignored her and turned to Zehra. “Since I’m here, may I have an update on the status of the new X-23s?”

“Of course, of course, gao~n!” She proudly motioned to four massive racks in the center of the foundry; each contained the endoskeleton of a Gravity Frame. Although they had a humanoid shape, the skinny steel limbs were tangled in pistons and wires. “As you can see, we’ve completed the initial construction of the four combat chassis. Foundry 83 next door is presently molding the armor pieces out of the chitin compound, which is the most time-consuming step, and Lab 22 is constructing the miniaturized computer cores, gao~n. We anticipate completion of the Frames in eight days.”

“One day faster than scheduled.” I said, adjusting my glasses.

“We gained a lot of knowledge from building the first X-23, so we’ve made improvements to the process, gao~n. I’ve also made some design changes based on Sveta’s combat data, so this new model will be known as the X-23-B.”

“Changes?”

“Just minor tweaks to the balancing and a bit of a different fit on the armor pieces to reduce wear and tear. Small quality-of-life upgrades to reduce maintenance time, nothing extreme, gao~n. You can think of Sveta Prime’s unit as the prototype, and the X-23-Bs as the mass production model.”

“I see.” I turned to look at the combat chassis, whose shiny metal alloy reflected the sparks of the welders. “So eight more days until completion. What about Sveta’s other copies?” I directed that last question at Evil Sveta.

“Well,” she responded, “Tektite-4 suggested we practice synchronizing two partitions of myself before splitting again into four. As of right now, we’re planning on creating Butch Sveta and Femme Sveta sometime within the next few days.”

I gawped. “Butch and… Femme?”

“Yeah!” she said happily. “You see, Butch Sveta’s for Genevi, since she’s really feminine. And Femme Sveta’s for Sabina, since she’s such a tomboy! I… er, WE figure configuring the new Sveta copies like that will help compliment the pilot’s personalities and establish good working relationships between pilot and AI.”

I wasn’t expecting such a well-thought-out reason for that silly naming scheme. However, one detail bothered me. “Does that mean that you, Evil Sveta, go to Maurice?”

“Yup! I’m gonna be Maurice’s Sveta!”

“…Because he’s evil? I don’t follow.”

Evil Sveta shuddered involuntarily. “If you had experienced his maid training over the past few days, you’d understand exactly how evil he truly is.” For some reason, Zehra was shuddering too, although Vicky was grinning from ear to ear. Sensing the atmosphere had turned extremely awkward, I changed the subject.

“So… it seems things are coming along nicely. I only hope Moby doesn’t attack us before the new Frames are operational.”

Zehra got ahold of herself and latched onto the new topic. “Even if she does, we have four carriers and five squadrons of Gravity Frames, gao~n. Plus the Tektites are keeping the shield constantly active, so she can’t get the jump on us with any more kinetic strikes. We’re in a stronger position than ever, despite everything that happened, gao~n.”

“You are correct.” I said, more to reassure myself than anyone.

“ANYWAY,” Zehra said, walking over to me and looking right into my eyes, “surely you didn’t come all the way down here just for a progress report, gao~n.”

“Yeah! Tell us what you REALLY want!” Evil Sveta said.

“I would like to know as well…” Vicky added, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Very well.” I straightened my glasses. “You see, this evening…”

*****

Miette and Sveta Prime returned from patrol 4320 seconds later. By then I had returned to Zehra’s new lab, and greeted them as they docked. Maurice, Genevi and Sabina were also there, having completed their meal. Everyone was dressed in those all-too-familiar maid outfits, except Miette (who was in her Inertia Suit.)

“Yo!” Miette said as she pulled off her helmet, her frizzy orange hair splaying out in the microgravity. Behind me, Sveta’s racked Telepresence Doll activated, jerking around like a marionette for a moment before the holograms rendered her avatar and she began to move smoothly. She dashed towards me and embraced me from behind.

“LARIAAAAAAA! It’s been AGES!”

“We’ve all been very busy.” I said, spinning around and patting her on the head. “Although I just met your counterpart in Foundry 84.”

“Oh, you mean Evil Sveta? She’s a real handful, huh? Kinda draining to be around…”

“She is exactly the same as you.” I said sharply.

“HURK! I’ve committed a grievous self-own again…” Sveta released me from her hug and curled up into a fetal position, floating about a meter away from my chest.

Meanwhile, Miette was cracking up. “Hahaha, what a comedy routine you two have going!” Maurice and Sabina were chuckling as well.

I turned to look at Miette. “Much as I’d like to start an improv group with you bunch, I came here today to extend an invitation.”

“Invitation?” Miette asked. Sveta uncoiled just a bit, peeking.

“This evening at 2100 hours, Captain Savitskaya will be giving a public address in the central park. This is traditional for New Years’ Eve; the Captain will be mourning those we lost this past year, and proclaiming hope for the year ahead.”

“Wow, it’s December 31^st already?” Miette whistled. “This year sure flew by…”

“After the speech, the Captain will be hosting a… private personal gathering, specifically for all the members of Maid Squadron. It will take place in Mess Hall 4 aboard the Radiolaria.”

“Whoa, REALLY?” Miette was shocked. “I’ve never been invited to anything like that before…”

“Neither have I…” Sabina added. Geveni nodded along.

Maurice chuckled. “You all don’t get out much, I see.”

“Isn’t this favoritism?” Sveta asked. “We’re just one squadron of weirdoes, after all.”

“Not at all.” Laria responded. “The annual Captain’s gathering is a tradition, albeit a rather informal one, to honor those soldiers who have contributed most to the success of a unit, squadron, ship or army over the course of the past year. It’s thanks to all of you, and the others in Maid Squadron, that we survived to see 2056 in the first place. We are merely expressing our appreciation of your efforts.”

“So it’s a New Year’s party!” Sveta concluded.

“In so many words, yes. And, since this question was already asked by Zehra, I can confirm that both food AND alcohol will be provided.”

At that, Maurice, Sabina and Miette let out a huge whoop. Even Genevi was smiling. Sveta, meanwhile, was despondent.

“Do you have ANY idea how crazy everyone gets when they start drinking? Zehra’s a weepy drunk, Miette’s a crazy drunk, I don’t even wanna KNOW what kinda drunk Maurice is…”

“HEY!” Maurice scolded. “I’ll have you know I have more experience than ANY of you whelps!”

Sveta ignored him and continued wailing. “Plus I can’t join in! I always feel so left out!”

I patted Sveta gently. “There, there. The two of us will be sober together.”

“Waaauuuuu….” She embraced me again, crying holographic tears.

Just then, Lydia and Kometka came floating into the lab. Lydia was dressed in a rumpled nightshirt, and her hair was quite messy. Kometka, on the other hand, looked quite clean.

A really bad case of bedhead, or…

“Wow.” Sveta said, looking them over. “You two had fun last night.”

Kometka just rolled her eyes, but Lydia grinned loosely. “Remind me to compliment Doctor Zehra on the fine craftmanship of the Telepresence Dolls. Still, being with a robot girlfriend is tiring. I'm very sore.” She rubbed her belly gingerly.

"You think THAT'S bad," Miette scowled, "try pleasing two of them at once."

Everyone turned to stare at her. Maurice was smiling knowingly, whereas Genevi's wore an expression of intense jealousy. Sabina just looked shocked, and Sveta whistled innocently.

"A-Anyway," Lydia said, scrambling to change the subject, "what brings you here, Laria?"

“Oh, right. I was just about to extend an invitation…”