Now we’ve taken Independence Station
Their last headquarters in this sector
Our ship stands above like a splintered moon
Betrayal wins battles
We nearly lost
Yet robots love robots
Their machines think like ours
They turned
We’ve killed the scattered wounded
Won’t hop again on those two spindly legs
I sniff their blood off the dry air plates
Sweet to taste and angry like them
Shining red droplets swirl over consoles
Poison but I’d love to lick it
The view from their bridge frames our deliverance
Space a gorgeous black column we own
Ahead lights curl into spiral necklaces
Jump points; go anywhere from here
We think that’s why they fought to the death
Yet who knows the minds of round-headed slugs
They call us snakes on legs
Their own snakes long extinct
Rectangles of color hang new curtains
Mounted on a torso of burnt burst lungs
The surface pretty as maps of our cities
His arms pulse under rotating lights
Still looks ready to fight
Why
Did the reactor fields turn on?
My tongue shortens, stiffens
Invisible voices frag my head
Four jump points wink out
The bodies were sacrificed
Their machines have control
Our ship explodes in bolts of blue light
I hear your screams, my sisters
Move, move, move
You must not stop
This story is now yours