Rise of the Vixens

Fifty years have gone by since the last great war. The galaxy, once divided between the pragmatic Federation and the deadly Galactic Empress Empire, is now fragmented among many new players, this the result of the devastating conflict that nearly destroyed both factions. Amidst the star pirates, space bandits and petty alliances that have arisen in the wake of the great war, one new force looms larger than all the rest. Its shadowy reach now consumes more and more of the galaxy with each passing day, bringing entire star systems under its dark sway. Now, faced with possible extinction, both the Federation and the Galactic Empress Empire may need to work together to save not only themselves but ensure the survival of every sentient race in the galaxy!

Hyperspace Lane 428 – Brara 42 Approach

“No one is answering, ma’am,” said her ship’s navigator. She wasn’t completely sure of his name because even after all of these years, her mother’s ways—and her grandmother’s ways—remained the same. Men were beneath women, and even if the Federation still didn’t see this, some fifty years after losing half the galaxy, Octavia was determined that the Galactic Empress Empire always would.

She stepped up to the man’s chair and watched the streams of hyperspace bleed around their ship. The navigator was currently half her size—the entire bridge crew with the exception of one woman, was permanently reduced. Her bridge was even scaled down because she loved to feel massive amongst them. She’d even have reduced Zuri had it been legal (and not frowned upon) to shrink women.

“That’s not possible. Open every line. I want my cruiser to meet us.”

The navigator was sweating. She could see him swallow the tight lump in his throat. It was no secret that he wasn’t having luck raising ground control on Brara 42. He tried all three auxiliary channels but nothing more than dead silence.

“We’re leaving hyperspace,” he said as some sort of conciliation. Once they were near Brara 42 low orbit, they’d be able to speak on any number of short-range channels. Octavia told herself that something was wrong with the Providence’s communication array. There was no logical explanation why her fortress was silent.

The blur of hyperspace vanished as they entered Brara 42’s shipping lanes, and before them was a scene of pure anarchy. Capital ships were fleeing the planet’s surface, entering hyperspace to the aft and port of the Providence. The communication array opened with a jumble of distress signals, so many that it hurt Octavia’s ears. She willed her implant to reduce the volume of the incoming chatter.

Most of the ships were of the Galactic Empress Empire, their sleek, arrowhead design visible with the naked eye as they lined up across the greenish world of Brara 42. But many of them were making the jump while several others were dead—lights off, floating in low orbit. Those on auxiliary power were making distress calls—Octavia recognized the six blue flashes of the bridge lights.

A few of the ships were private frigates beneath no flag, and the rest were Federation. Although this was an Imperial system, trade was still welcomed—yet regulated—for the Federation. Octavia hated them all, as most of the older giantesses who remembered the turmoil that came once the wars ended. But now, even those ships were in danger, some listing dead and dark, others attempting to make the jump to hyperspace.

“Attempt to land at the Newvus Coast spaceport,” she ordered her navigator.

“Miss, with all due respect, I’m not finding the coordinates. They . . . they’re simply gone. The Providence refuses to establish a lock.”

“Move,” she said, and she shoved him out of his seat. The tiny, half-sized man scrambled away toward the nearest console. Octavia sat her oversized bottom in the chair and pushed it away from the terminal so her long, slender legs would fit. She ran a search of all available spaceports on Brara 42 but nothing came up. It was as if the planet weren’t even there. What could possibly make so many spots go dark?

“What the blazes are those?” she asked, but not to anyone on the bridge—it was to herself. She ran a scan on a trio of large starships just beyond the planet’s glow. The star of this system was a Class 2, so everything was painted with a shiny red glow. It only added to the menacing nature of the approaching starships. Octavia had never seen anything like them—they were massive, far larger than the Providence, and they moved with such speed that she thought it should’ve been impossible.

“Miss, shall we fire?” asked her weapons expert. He’d already flipped up the hollow glass cases to press the torpedo launchers.

“No, attempt to speak first. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

She raised the channel, aiming the Providence’s responder directly at the ship in the middle, the one spearheading the trio and coming toward them with breakneck speed. Octavia established a connection rather quickly, although that didn’t mean the strange craft would respond back.

The co-navigator said, “Miss, they’re attempting to send us a packet. Shall I download?”

“To disable our ship? I think not.”

“Or to provide us with a patch to understand their language. Their ship type is not a classification we’re familiar with.”

Octavia thought about it for a moment and then said, “Fine. Receive it.”

Just like the co-navigator suggested, it was a keycode to translate the language by those on the ship. Although most of the galaxy was catalogued, there were pockets of creatures, of civilizations, that were not registered with the two largest factions. But Octavia had a bad feeling about it—what kind of unknown species could rout Federation and Imperial ships?

The communication array buzzed, the bridge window parted down the middle and a face filled one half of the screen. They weren’t looking at a humanoid that Octavia recognized. This was a female by her sleek bone structure, but she had nonhuman features, namely her slightly oversized inquisitive eyes. She was hauntingly beautiful but that didn’t translate to innocence.

Octavia was beautiful and she considered herself quite dangerous.

The woman onscreen finally spoke in a pleasant, yet authoritative voice. “This is Captain Delphine of the Fade. To whom am I speaking with?”

“I’m Captain Octavia of the Providence. What can I do for you?”

“You can throw down your weapons. We are boarding you.”

Octavia stood, suddenly feeling silly in the small chair. She rested her hands on the console and laughed. “This is a Class 7 Imperial warship. You’ll do no such thing.”

The trio of ships were upon her now, and they were the biggest crafts she’d ever seen. They were thick, as if the mystery woman’s people preferred housing their entire species. It wasn’t unheard of, and it certainly pointed to a nomadic people. If Octavia were to bet, she’d say these ships were full of children and the infirm—their whole society moved as one. This lady was bluffing.

But if she were taken aback by Octavia’s boldness, she made no indication. Instead, she looked off-screen to the left, and nodded. The middle ship fired upon the Providence but rather than being absorbed by the Providence’s shields, the projectile somehow defeated their shields and made it through. Green electricity sizzled through all the panels, forcing the tiny people away for risk of being burned. And when the electricity went away, the entire bridge was dark except for the communication array. The starships in front were rising up, but that was only because the engines of the Providence were dead.

“Bring us back online!” Octavia demanded of her crew. Nothing was working, every console was dead. The cold silence of space filled the starship as it had been the first time since its creation, confirming that the ship’s main systems were off.

“Are you going to cooperate?” said the woman onscreen, now with a stern edge to her voice.

The bridge windows filled with the planet surface of Brara 42 because the Providence was going down. Her crew worked diligently to get things up and running, mainly the reserve engine that would keep them in low orbit. Right now, they were on a collision course with the planet.

Octavia felt her feet leave the floor just as her crew strapped in. They’d lost their gravity pump, and it didn’t help matters that they were in a nosedive. They had only another two minutes before they entered the planet’s atmosphere. Onscreen, Delphine waited patiently.

“There’s something attached to our hull, miss,” said the navigator. “They’re using some kind of tech to keep our systems from rebooting.”

Octavia faced the screen and said, “I demand you release my ship!” It wasn’t that intimidating because she was floating around the bridge.

Delphine said, “You have two options. We watch you make a fiery crash on that now dead planet, or you come quietly aboard our ship. This needn’t be a bad thing. I just require . . . servitude.”

And that is the problem, thought Octavia. She’d been at the top of the food chain for many years. The universe was big—she knew there were those out there who carried a bigger stick. She just didn’t think their paths would cross so quickly. Grudgingly, she nodded and said, “Fine. I yield. Save our ship.”

Delphine grinned just as the video link went away. Octavia turned to the navigator and said, “Did we lose signal?”

“No, she cut the feed.”

And then, the entire world outside changed. The gravity came back in a flash, Octavia crashing to her bottom just in front of her bridge chair. She recovered and smoothed the front of her dress—something fancy she’d decided to wear that day that paid homage to her ancestry. She was no longer looking out at the surface of the planet. Now, her entire field of vision was the long, empty stretch of space.

The Providence was being moved, perhaps pulled in by a ship tether. They faced the trio of starships and now Octavia knew in her gut something was wrong—they were much larger than they first thought. This observation came and went because the Providence leveled out and started to rise, pulling into the underside of Delphine’s capital ship.

Stars and blackness moved down as they moved up, and then they were looking at the bright lights inside of the ship. The cargo bay was enormous, stretching further than any space she’d ever seen. In the distance were vehicles that reminded her of the short-range fighters in her own hangar, but the ones she saw now were as large as her capital ship. What was happening?

And then, just when the ground started to shudder, she knew . . .

A pair of giant feet stepped in front of her, clear glass slippers that reflected the odd light inside the landing bay.

They shrunk us, thought Octavia. But how? There wasn’t any tech left these days that could shrink an entire Class 7 warship.

Just then, they were lifted into the air, those not strapped in falling over and tumbling to the windows. Octavia looked up and saw one of those large, inquisitive eyes staring in, the pupil dilating as it focused on the minuscule captain. Then, the Providence was moving back to the floor where she gently placed it on its landing gear. This was simply a power-play, thought Octavia. Delphine wanted to remind her who was in control.

A green light bathed the interior of the Providence as the pair of feet in front of them shrunk. When it was over, Octavia and her crew were much bigger than before, but still tiny compared to the woman outside.

“Would the captain of the Providence please disembark?”

The crew turned to Octavia who didn’t bother making eye contact. She left the bridge, descended the ladder to the landing pods, then walked right out through the loading dock doors and onto the coarse metal grating of the Fade. There stood not one beautiful woman but two. Where Delphine’s hair was long and golden, her friend was dark to match her brooding eyes and lips.

Both women stood around seventy feet tall—but that wasn’t quite right. It was Octavia who was small and it made her furious. No woman this far removed from the war should have been miniaturized.

“Fix me back, right this instant,” she said. Octavia couldn’t help but admire their stature—be jealous of it, in fact. They were wearing a combination of silk and metal armor, the flowing parts for accent, the tough parts for battle readiness.

But, much to Octavia’s surprise, Delphine held out a fist, and from her wrist she fired a green light that enveloped the shrunken woman. Octavia felt her body expanding, her mind racing to how she could overpower these two women and steal their shrink tech which seemed far more advanced than her own.

Neither of them would give her the chance—she grew, but only until she was half-sized. Delphine came closer, putting her crotch right in Octavia’s face and said, “This is all you get while you’re aboard the Fade. This is my first lieutenant, Xylona.” The dark-haired woman made no sort of acknowledgement.

“So what now?” asked Octavia. “Do with me what you will, but I have women aboard my ship.”

“No men?” said Xylona.

“Of course there are men. But they’re unimportant.”

That made both of the women laugh. Delphine said, “Spoken like a true Vixen.”

“A what?”

“That’s the name of our race. We’ve been watching the galaxy war with itself for too long. And your side got it right . . . your side chose women to rule it all. We share that sentiment, although we managed ourselves far better than the Galactic Empress Empire.”

“You allowed yourself to become weak,” said Xylona. “We’re here to remedy that.”

“How?”

Delphine said, “We have a very useful way of converting shrunken matter into usable energy. While under our compression, power is multiplied by thousands.”

“I don’t understand.”

The Vixens smiled at one another. Delphine said, “You will. Come with us.”

***

This new race of highly intelligent women was taking over the galaxy. Just one look at their bridge told Octavia all she needed to know. It also made her feel inferior for the first time in her life—if they were letting her see it, surely they didn’t consider her a threat. This was also the smallest she’d ever been, as Octavia wasn’t one to shrink down. Others, yes. But not someone who came from a long line of Imperial leadership.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked, looking around at all the other equally giant women. Delphine’s bridge crew was made up entirely of females—how nice that must have been!

“Because this is the best spot in the system to see our work,” said Delphine.

“Come, little one. Let me help,” said Xylona, and perhaps the most insulting part of this whole encounter came when the woman put her hands beneath Octavia’s arms and lifted her into the captain’s chair. Octavia swatted her away, but it was futile at such a small size. When the giantesses parted and Octavia could see the wide expanse of space, she nearly gasped. The once emptiness of the Brara System was gone.

Capital ships filled the horizon from to right, giant crafts like the one Octavia was currently interred in. She’d never seen a fleet so massive, in both size of ships and number. These were flanked by tinier ships that looked like fighters although she didn’t think they were needed. There was no opposition. Sure, the Brara system was a trading group, but they did have security. A couple of the planets had been decimated so badly that they orbited their star in a billion pieces. What race possessed such technology?

Several of the Vixen ships shrunk other capital ships, then pulled them inside. Octavia wondered how their shrink tech worked, as it was far more advanced than anything in the known universe. She’d considered herself at the forefront of size tech . . . until now.

“Why are you showing me this? Is this simply a display of power?”

“Of course it is,” said Delphine. “But that’s not the only reason. This system has what? Sixty planets? None of them worth anything. And look at the size of the fleet that came to secure it. Can you imagine what the more advanced star systems we’ve conquered look like right now? The Vixens are assuming control of it all.”

“Then why not just conquer me like the rest? Why am I getting a tour of your capital ship?”

Delphine laughed, then dropped to her knees until she was staring at the half-sized woman eye-to-eye. It was disconcerting, mainly because she was so small, but also because the Vixen’s eyes were so deep, so telling. There were a thousand stories in those eyes and Octavia wondered if they possessed some sort of mind control.

“I have been aboard both Imperial ships and those of the Federation, and I’ll tell you what I’ve learned. The Imperial ships never go down without a fight. They are made up of strong-willed women. It’s no surprise that a century ago they were ruling near the entirety of the galaxy. We don’t need to be enemies.”

“Says the woman who shrunk me and disabled my ship.”

Delphine laughed. “Fair enough. I won’t try to convince you to join us. You can be flattened beneath our feet like the rest of the universe.”

Xylona knelt down next to Delphine and now two pairs of eyes were staring at Octavia. The little woman kept her jaw tight, her resolve unflinching. She wasn’t about to let these women know that she was afraid. It was such an alien concept—Octavia had never been afraid of anyone in her life.

Xylona ran a finger—tipped in a bright red fingernail—down Octavia’s body, swirling around the silk, tugging at it, pulling it aside. They were both interested in her body—their leering gaze made the shrunken girl almost uncomfortable.

“She’s afraid,” said Xylona. “She wants to be like us, she’s attracted to us. But she’s too proud to admit that. She’s never been made to feel . . . less.” Octavia was struggling to keep a straight face because Xylona had made an incredibly accurate assessment.

“Maybe we just need to show her how Vixens deal with stress,” said Delphine with a wink, her long lashes looking like tail feathers of some giant, exotic bird.

Xylona lifted a gauntleted glove and made an adjustment to a sleek, onboard computer along her wrist. Her fingers were already aimed at Octavia so she was surprised when the green light washed over her. It was her first reaction to stomp her foot but she knew how silly that looked at her current size, which was diminishing rather quickly. When she was no more than five inches tall, Delphine snatched her from the chair and left the bridge with her first lieutenant in tow.

The hallways aboard the Fade were massive, and not just because she was currently bite-sized. When she spied the capital ships from the Providence, she made the mistake of assuming the Vixens were nomadic people, that their entire society moved as one. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Vixens needed space because most of the women here preferred to be extra-large, and Octavia noticed a trend—the fancier the dress, the bigger the woman. It was as if social class was tied to size. That notion made her Galactic Empress heart soar.

These ladies must have had history with the Imperials, for their decadence and attention to detail was on par with Octavia’s ancestry. The hallways were lined with deep, mahogany wood. Carpet as lush as grass adorned the floor. And above, massive chandeliers with colored jewels that Octavia had never seen before. What she felt wasn’t fear or anger . . . it was envy.

The pair of Vixens entered a lush bedroom. Octavia’s implant immediately attuned to the sounds of a rain forest, the environment which saw her from an early age to womanhood. She could smell bread baking yet she saw no kitchen where it could be made. All of these sensations were generated in her mind, as if the tech aboard the Fade knew what she wanted, and knew how to put her at peace.

Most of the room was coated in Fizranium, a rare, exotic metal with a slightly purple hue that radiated calming energy. On the open market, Fizranium sold for eight million credits per ounce. And this room was using it like wallpaper. Where did the Vixens get their wealth? Their technology? Their ambition?

Delphine placed Octavia on her nightstand next to a warm, glowing lamp. As the giant women pulled back the cover and sheets, the tiny woman’s eye was drawn to the center of the lamp—and she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. At first, she thought it was an incredible feat of artistry, but it was so much more than that . . .

The ‘lamp’ was a circular ball of glass. But in the center was a stretch of metal and green grass—a tiny city atop a plot of land. Octavia, even at her small size, could barely see the tiny people inside. There were thousands of them, all going about their day, walking, driving vehicles, flying aircraft. They were all contained in their own little environment. How was this possible?

“I see you’ve found my home city,” said Delphine. She picked up the globe, easily fitting in the palm of her hand. “It was called Xenus, and it was fantastic.”

“And why is here, at your bedside?”

“Because the rulers scoffed at the Vixens. It was never a female’s world. When I gained enough rank, I went back to that backwater planet and shrunk the entire city. It makes me feel nice knowing that I can crush my history with one fist.”

She stared into the orb, momentarily lost to the fantasy. And then, she placed it back on the nightstand and hopped on the bed alongside Xylona. Both women were starting to strip out of their armor. Octavia was stunned by the implications of the tiny city. No such technology existed. How did someone shrink an entire city?

Both women seemed to forget about her as they slithered out of what remained of their armor. Octavia noticed something in common—the wrist-mounted shrink rays remained, as it seemed the device was a part of their body. She’d heard of such surgical implants before, but nothing like this. This was hardly something Octavia cared about, especially when she noticed the gorgeous, naked bodies of her abductors.

Xylona slithered down Delphine’s body, dragging her long tongue across her cheek, neck, and breasts. Delphine tensed, her mouth falling open in ecstasy. The way the muscles rippled beneath her skin made Octavia realize she was well defined, and probably incredibly strong. The two women kissed softly for the first few minutes, purposely putting on a show for the tiny lady on the nightstand.

Never in Octavia’s days had she ever been one of the small people. She’d experimented with shrunken men before, and while that was an incredible experience, she didn’t think it would translate well to being on the other end of the spectrum. It was taboo to shrink a woman. Doubly so to play with one sexually. Still, she could feel her body tingling at the sight of these massive creatures and their sounds and smells and bedroom vigor.

The tiny woman found her hand slipping beneath her dress, She stepped out of her minuscule shoes, feeling the added insult of losing more height. Xylona was on top of her lover, kissing her breasts and down her stomach. Delphine grabbed a handful of her hair in one hand, and with the other, motioned for Octavia to hop from the nightstand to the bed.

She quickly undressed, feeling warm, but also feeling inferior because she could see out the skylight window to the expanse of space filled with Vixen ships. Would she ever be on top again? She wasn’t even sure what the end of this day would bring her—were these people her friends or enemies? Perhaps they would share an equal distrust for the Federation. Octavia had sown such discord before . . .

She stepped down on the bed, her tiny feet feeling the luxurious comfort of the sheets. These women knew only the best and Octavia knew they’d achieved it all through conquest. The Vixens had probably been around for ages, only just recently discovering the Imperial and Federation systems.

Xylona’s head was between Delphine’s legs. Both women were writhing around but it was the serviced girl who was the most vocal. Octavia paused for a moment to appreciate her breasts heaving up and down as she drew in deep breaths. Delphine caught sight of the tiny spectator and stretched her hand out along the bed, indicating she come to it.

Once Octavia was standing on her palm, Delphine gingerly carried her over and deposited her on her stomach. With her back against flesh and a pair of large breasts hanging over her head, Octavia thought the heartbeat felt different—as if it were on both sides of her body. Perhaps these creatures had two hearts.

When Xylona looked up, chin dribbling with Octavia’s juices, she had a seductive, cat-like grin on her face. It was the first time the tiny woman had seen the playfulness, the way they cast off the hard edge of leadership and allowed themselves to be free. Xylona’s ass was in the air, shaking like a cat ready to pounce.

She lunged forward, but instead of bringing teeth down to bear, she dragged her tongue from Octavia’s feet all the way up to her head—she could smell Delphine on her breath and it sent warm tingles throughout her entire body. Xylona was eager and fast, moving up and down, her lips and tongue nimble as she worked her friend and the tiny woman in between.

“If you’re going to play with us, you’re going to work, also,” said Xylona. Octavia didn’t know what she meant. But then the giantess kissed down her body and when she made it to her leg, she sucked it into her mouth and gently dragged her down until she was at Delphine’s pubic bone. Using her tongue, she flipped the tiny woman over, reversed her position, then backed away.

Octavia was staring into Delphine’s bulbous, throbbing clit. The little lady had one of her own, so she knew what was expected of her. She sat up, crossed her legs over, then leaned in and started to squeeze it with her hands. Meanwhile, Xylona continued to kiss below, dragging her massive tongue along Delphine’s pussy lips. A large shadow fell over Octavia as the giantesses met lips to lips—on both ends—and pressed her tightly.

They weren’t forceful, mainly because Delphine was keeping herself away from Xylona’s thrusts since Octavia was doing such a good job. She could already feel the heat wafting off Delphine, and she could detect her scent.

“She’s better than the men,” said the giantess to her first lieutenant.

Xylona said, “Maybe she could be a Vixen, yet.”

That was the plan, thought Octavia, burying her face against the clit and running her arms down so she could rub Delphine’s labia. She may not ever be one of them, but Octavia was resourceful. Perhaps she could gain their trust. If she could learn their resources and understand their ways, then she could restore the Galactic Empress Empire to its former glory . . .

***

Zuri was smart to leave the ship shortly after Octavia.

No sooner had she fled the Providence than a team of giantesses approached the capital ship with large ray guns attached to backpacks. One of them knelt down and pressed a button at the side of her head. Zuri watched from behind a pyramid of shipping crates as her eyes lit with some sort of advanced scanning technology.

“Three women aboard. The rest are men.”

Three of Zuri’s friends—and aside from Octavia, the entirety of the female population on the Providence.

“Go get them,” said the other, to which the first woman stood, pressed a button on her wrist, then quickly shrank down to become scaled with the Providence. Ten minutes later she returned, escorting the three women. She quickly enlarged and gathered them up, placing them inside a hip pouch.

Then, they returned to their strange ray guns and blasted blue energy at the shrunken Providence. Bit by bit, it disappeared, the metal turning a bright blue before ultimately vanishing forever. Zuri could see tiny particles in the air as the matter of the ship—and the male crewmen—was changed into energy. Then, it was all sucked into the backpacks through a circular hole at the base.

They could convert shrunken matter into energy.

Zuri found a better hiding place within a vent. She waited and listened, making sure this wasn’t a main exhaust port or else she’d be liquefied. When she was satisfied that she was safe, she pulled out her shrunken commlink—the one Octavia didn’t know about—and attempted to dial out. The strange women were probably blocking outgoing signals, or perhaps they were too confident to worry about it.

“Please, answer,” she said, typing in an address. There were satellite relays out there, and barring interference from the visitors, Zuri may have been lucky. Her power supply was weak, it would be dead soon, but if there was an answer across the stars, it would be enough.

Then the screen lit up and a white-haired lady appeared. She looked confused and the area behind her was not the sleek, high-rise apartment building back on Egara. Yasmin grinned when she saw Zuri appear but her eyes filled with terror quickly. She knew they had to talk fast.

“Yas? Listen to me! We’ve been—”

“No, you listen to me! They’re called the Vixen Collective. They’re wiping out all Federation starships and planets. They’re not like us.”

“You mean the Federation.”

“I mean all of us! Federation, Imperial, all humanoid kind! They’re sexually obsessed. They’ve transformed Egara into a pleasure planet. I’ve been press-ganged into their service. They’ve been here only three days. I would imagine they’ll take my communicator soon.”

“What do we do?” asked Zuri, feeling hopeless.

Yasmin shook her head. “Hide. Learn all you can.”

“I’m half-sized right now!”

“I’m a quarter inch tall!” countered Yasmin. “We’re all being shrunken down. They can shrink whole planets!”

“It’s over for us,” said Zuri. “How can we possibly fight them?”

“We can’t. Not now. We will wait. We still have lots of leaders unaccounted for. Neither the Imperials nor the Federation will let this happen. Keep your ear to the ground and listen for resistance.”

“Yas, my commlink is dying. I’m so sorry. Will I see you again?”

“You will. Somehow, you will. Keep your inches as best you can. Yasmin out.”

And then, the screen went dark.

She wasn’t sure how it was going to happen, but Zuri wasn’t going to allow the Vixen to assume control. And just when she stood, ready to walk out of the vent, she turned to see a pair of large, curious eyes looking in at her. Even though she couldn’t see the mouth, she knew it was smiling.

The Vixen’s voice purred with an echo that traveled down the vent as she spoke. “Well hello, little lady. How about you come with me?”

Copyright 2022. Amber Collins. All Rights Reserved.