Automated Border Outpost 1D-25
1,893 light-years from Earth
June 13th, 2176 A.D.
Aurora carefully maintained her pace to stay within the protective circle her guardians and attendant drones had made around her as she struggled to control the growing anxiousness within herself.
Behind them, a machine animal with yellow eyes like Bandit-Friend followed, gifted to her by Lopez-Friend when she arrived at the animal station. Aurora initially rejected the gift, not wanting a machine animal that reminded her of Bandit-Friend, who she missed deeply, until Lopez-Friend insisted it was to help her share thoughts with the other animal envoys in the small space Hive.
She had tried to see Lopez-Friend immediately after the sudden explosions and fighting sounds throughout the animal station finally died down, but her guardians would not obey her commands to let her leave the strange chamber she had been given to stay in during her time here.
Her guardian machine animals had never disobeyed her before, and she did not know how to react to the sudden noncompliance of her protectors. It made her angry to see that they were not really hers after all and still subject to the commands of the animals who had created them.
Only after four solar hours had passed did the guardian machine animals begin to obey her again, and she questioned the yellow-eyed machine animal relentlessly to find out where Lopez-Friend was. It initially would not answer her questions, but she put her mind to the task, determined to find out.
During her time in her new Hive, she had been exposed to many such machine animals and learned how to get truths from them by asking many questions of them in such a way as to get them to reveal small truths that, when put together, would reveal the larger truths and answers she was looking for.
She did this with the machine animal that had been gifted to her, and she felt bad for making it unwittingly disobey its creators and reveal what had happened and where Lopez-Friend was. The machine animals were an enigma to her, their minds highly logical and their behaviors mirroring attributes that were a combination of worker drone, command drone, and queen.
Despite their logic and intelligence, they were also like pupae in many ways, and they did not understand many things about the truths and falsehoods of the world of the living, which allowed for her to do as she had done to get what she wanted from the innocent animal machine now following her.
From the machine animal, she learned that many animals had been killed by other traitor animals and that Lopez-Friend was currently with some of the animals that died, grieving over their bodies. When the machine animal told her that, she forgot about everything else and thought of only one thing: Lopez-Friend needed her, and she would go and grieve with her Hive mother.
On their way to where she wanted to go, they went through many tunnels, large and small, long and short, and passed many strange animals and machine animals she had never seen before. She was aware of them looking at her as she walked past them, and she forced herself to continue to her destination, barely able to suppress the desire to stop and share thoughts with the many new animals.
Now was not the time; her Hive mother had need of her, and she would go to her first.
After a series of tunnels, her guardians turned to the left after they went down a long, curving tunnel, and she followed them, seeing a few black, chitin-armored animal soldiers in front of a large opening at the end of the much shorter tunnel. She saw the animals tensing, and she used her claws to order her guardian machine animals to continue moving forwards.
They obeyed, and they made it halfway to the opening when one of the animal soldiers pulled out a small object and pointed in their direction after making loud noises several times. Her guardian machine animals froze in place, and the green lights on their bodies faded as she heard them stop making the internal noises she had grown accustomed to.
Rage boiled up inside of her, and she forced herself to maintain her composure as she sent claw signals to the machine animal that had been following her to continue to do so. Forcing herself through a narrow gap between her now dead guardian machine animals, she sent thought commands to her attendant drones to make a circle around her again and continued towards the animal soldiers, ignoring the loud sounds they were making at her.
When she got to within two queen lengths from them, she finally stopped and activated the small object on her thorax, the holographic claws shimmering into existence in front of her as she commanded the machine animal to share her thoughts with the animal soldiers.
The machine animal turned her claw thoughts into thought sounds, and she saw the animal soldiers looking at each other with strange expressions before placing their hands on their dangerous-looking weapons as one of them responded. The holographic claws began to move, telling her the animal’s thoughts.
President Lopez is not to be disturbed. We will inform her that you have come when she is finished. You will leave now, please. None may pass us.
She suppressed the desire to grab the insolent animal soldier that dared to defy her and tear it in half, certain that Lopez-Friend would be angry with her for doing so as she made more claw signs for the machine animal to share with them.
The six animal soldiers did move, far faster than she had ever seen animals ever do before, and there were now six dangerous-looking long daggers pointed at her, as well as six short sticks that sparkled with orbs of electricity around the tips.
She was barely able to send a thought command in time to stop the drones as her attendants prepared themselves to attack the animal soldiers threatening their Hive mother.
She noticed the animals did not threaten her with their small energy weapons, and she decided they would not really harm her because of this. She was just about to order the animal soldiers to move out of her way again when she heard animal sounds from inside the dim space.
She recognized it as coming from Lopez-Friend, though she had never heard her make sounds in such a way before. The animal soldiers immediately withdrew their weapons and placed them back where they were before, though their hands were still on them as the same animal as before made noises at her again.
Only you and the android may pass. Your drones stay out here with us.
Aurora sent a thought command to her attendants to stay and released pheromones to reinforce it before stepping out of the protective circle and skittering towards the animal soldiers far faster than she needed to. She was going to force them to move out of her way to reestablish her dominance over them for daring to defy her.
They did not move out of the way until she was almost upon them, and she felt a wave of malicious pleasure as she passed them, happy that they had to move quickly to avoid being knocked over by her. She stepped beyond them and inside the dim interior before stopping to let her eyes adjust to the lower light level of the large chamber.
There were rectangular containers in rows, many of them covered with multicolored fibers that she recognized as the strange textile identifiers the animals used to let the others know what Hives they were part of.
She struggled to remember the concept name of the colored fibers, and it appeared in her mind. Flags. They were flags, and many of them had the flying sky predators on them, which meant they were part of Lopez-Friend's Hive. She felt sadness seeing so many of them, and she knew her Hive mother must be grieving greatly for them.
Her eyes finally adjusted to the dimness, and she could now see two animals deeper in the chamber, one in all black fiber with a white band around the cervical junction, and another hunched over a rectangular container covered with the same flying sky predator flag of Lopez-Friend's Hive. She recognized the other animal immediately from its scent: it was Lopez-Friend, and Aurora could sense the sadness radiating from her like pheromones.
The black-covered animal was softly making animal sounds to the rectangular container, one of its claws making strange motions that seemed to have significance to Aurora, though she did not understand what they meant. Lopez-Friend's back was making small jerking movements, and she heard her making sounds of pain as she covered her face with her claws.
Aurora suddenly felt like an intruder, and she began to doubt her decision to come here to grieve with her Hive mother. She stepped backwards slowly, wanting to remove her presence without disturbing Lopez-Friend, when the black-covered animal turned around and saw her.
Seeing it was a male drone, Aurora locked eyes with it as it stared at her for two solar seconds before raising one of its claws and making a motion that she recognized as the claw movement that one animal would use to tell another to come closer.
She obeyed, instinctually feeling that this strange animal she had never seen before occupied a special place within the hierarchy of the animal Hives. Still staring into the male drone’s eyes, she felt herself being captivated by the almost blue-black skin of its soft endocuticle and the deep brown irises that seemed to be filled with a wisdom and understanding that she desperately wanted for herself.
Lopez-Friend finally turned around, her eyes red and filled with moisture that wet the soft rounded flesh under them, and she tilted her head before holding out a claw to her side as she grimaced and made soft animal noises.
Aurora, thank you for coming here; I appreciate it.
She skittered forward and then stopped less than a queen length from Lopez-Friend and responded with her claws, the android at her side sharing her thoughts for her as it stared at her claws with its yellow eyes and made animal sounds.
Lopez-Friend did not make more sounds and stepped forward with her claw still out. Aurora put her own dominant claw out and took it, grateful for the acceptance of her presence here. She stepped back forward with Lopez-Friend, and they were now both standing in front of the rectangular container.
The black-covered animal began to make soft noises again, and Aurora stared intently at the holographic claw signs as it translated the male drone’s thoughts.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
For the first time since she became Hive Mother, Aurora felt all her ancestors within fall silent as the death wisdom of the animal thoughts reached them. Aurora herself felt as if she was receiving a secret knowledge that had been hidden all her life and was now being revealed as the animal continued to share its death thoughts.
a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
A great upwelling of emotions and thoughts surged up from within as all her ancestors felt the wisdom of the animals becoming their own, their clamoring reaching a level she had never experienced before and drowning out the rest of the male drone’s thoughts as Aurora drifted into the spirit realm.
She felt her spirit transforming from the truth that had just been revealed, and she felt as if she finally understood some of the motivations of the animals she had come to love as her own despite their strange and confusing ways.
Her wandering spirit was brought back to within herself by Lopez-Friend tightening the grip of her claw around her own, and she looked at her Hive mother, seeing Lopez-Friend in a new way. I know you better now, Hive Mother; your motivations and thoughts have become clearer to me. Aurora felt a deep sadness that she could not share her thoughts to show how she understood as Lopez-Friend gently squeezed her claw again and a small grimace came upon her face.
Aurora let herself be led by her Hive mother to the next rectangular container, and though she was saddened by the grief of Lopez-Friend, she found herself anticipating learning more death wisdom from the black-covered male drone as it began to speak softly and make strange claw movements.
Her ancestors within fell silent again, yearning for more animal death wisdom just as she did, and she gazed intently at the holographic claw signs as they began to share the thoughts of the special male drone.
Faria Prime
Kepler-62—989 light-years from Earth
Palace grounds, Kingdom of Faria
21 solar minutes after the arrival of the Republic Fleet
The First hopped as fast as it could, hating the body it was inhabiting and the weakness of biological flesh as it struggled to take in air and provide fuel energy to the rapidly weakening muscles. It had killed a palace guard and was now wearing the uniform of the dead inferior, but that would only delay its capture for a little longer before the disgusting amphibians finally found it and put it out of its misery.
It had failed the Masters; the viral bombs had somehow been disabled, and now the Ma’Kin’Ati were invading the world it meant to use as a foothold in the quadrant. It needed to get off the planet and return to the Masters before it was found and captured.
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Despite failing its holy mission, there was still a tremendous amount of intelligence it had collected that would help the Masters and their crusaders to cleanse the quadrant, and perhaps what it had would be enough to convince the Masters to let it keep operating.
Seeing an open doorway in the distance, the First turned towards it while accessing the databanks to look at a map of the infrastructure under the palace. If it could reach the sewer systems, perhaps it could find its way out and then hide among the millions of inferiors in the capital for a time before finally getting off the planet and back where it belonged.
As it hopped towards the doorway, it felt another connection lost to the others before there was a distant booming sound, followed by a flash of light beyond the palace walls. More distant explosions sounded, and it quickly looked up at the sky, seeing the thousands of small fireballs descending towards the capital.
Contentment came over it as it envisioned the filthy amphibians and the Ma’Kin’Ati fighting each other and weakening their forces, and it sent another command to the others still embedded within the Farian military forces and other government positions.
Keep sabotaging the planetary systems and attacking the Ma’Kin’Ati. We need to get them to destroy each other. The rest of you do what you can to kill as many of these disgusting amphibians as we can and sow disorder for the Masters we serve.
It felt the others responding, reaching consensus as they acknowledged its command. Less than a hundred responded this time, and it felt hate towards the Ma’kin’Ati and their heretical machine kin for having killed so many of its companions already as they bombarded and destroyed the military targets that were firing on them.
So much effort had been undertaken to get its companions into critical positions within the government and the military forces, and the Ma’Kin’Ati, along with the traitorous amphibians, were quickly reducing their numbers worldwide.
It would not matter in the end; the Ma’Kin’Ati and the amphibians would be locked in a war that would spread to the other species, and the Masters and their Bal’Ri’Kan crusaders would come to cleanse a greatly weakened quadrant already bled of its fighting strength.
The doorway was just a few hops away, and it felt contentment coursing through itself. It was almost free, and then it woul-
The worst pain it had ever felt seized it, and it no longer had control over the disgusting body as it fell forward, right in front of the doorway that would have taken it away from here. It felt more pain as the inferior’s face slammed against the stone, and the First was stunned by the unusual sensation; it should not be feeling these things.
It heard loud yelling and the sound of boots on the stones coming closer, and it could not make the body move no matter how much it tried. It panicked, not understanding what was happening to its swarm or how the inferiors were able to harm it.
Stunners should not have this effect on it, and it felt itself losing cohesion with its millions of nanobots, no longer able to control the swarm and the body it was inhabiting. Why am I feeling pain? I should not be feeling pain. Masters, please save me!
The First felt hands grabbing roughly at it before it was spun around onto its back and now looking directly at the sky. A group of disgusting amphibians were staring down at it, and then another one entered in view, leering down at it with a malicious smile.
It was the First Prime, and the traitorous inferior leaned down, the sharp dagger in his hand shining in the ruddy sunlight of the distant red giant as he spoke to it in a voice filled with pure hatred.
“I have been waiting for a long time to do this; I hope you enjoy this experience as much as I will. I had scientists I trust search for a way to harm you, and they came upon this special type of energy modulation of the stunners that they assure me will allow you to feel every sensation as I flay you alive.
It gladdens me to know that when you die, the last thing you will see is my smiling face as I exact justice from your flesh for the millions of innocent hatchlings and eggs you murdered.
Thank you for showing us the true nature of the masters you serve; this lesson has taught us that the Kingdom of Faria would rather die fighting to the last Farian than serve as slaves under such evil.”
The dagger flashed as it came down, and an agonizing pain the First could not block overwhelmed its programming as the First Prime began to slowly and methodically peel away the skin covering the body it was inhabiting.
RSS Indomitable
Independence-Class Carrier, 7th Fleet
348,228 kilometers from Faria Prime
June 13th, 0828 ship time
“Another sixteen have been shot down over sector four; the dreadnought is targeting the source of the fire, sir!”
Ruggeri bared his teeth in anger, unable to accept that there was nothing he could really do to protect the brave souls being shot out of the sky. He tried to imagine what it must be like, hurtling towardsthe ground at hundreds of kilometers an hour through all that shit the scattered Farian air defense bases were shooting into the sky to intercept them.
He shuddered slightly at the thought, vowing to never talk shit about the ground forces ever again after seeing their insane bravery. Even though it was all just good-natured smack talk between the services and an intrinsic element of interservice rivalry for hundreds, if not thousands of years since ancient times, he had no shame admitting that he would be shitting himself right now if he was with them.
Thankfully, a majority of the Farian planetary defense systems were not engaging the landing forces, but the few that did were enough to hit hundreds of troops before the dreadnought targeted and destroyed them.
He felt Thompson tapping on his arm, and he glanced to his right, seeing the same thoughts on the face of his best friend as the admiral leaned closer. “Dom, we need to stop this before it gets out of hand. Have all the starfighters and bombers that have already deployed reconfigure for atmospheric flight and send them in to provide cover.
Order the rest of the fighter and bomber wings to deploy and hold station by their motherships. I will speak to the honored elder and ask it to halt the dreadnought’s attack. We will destroy any defenses or units still fighting against us from here on out. I do not want the Farians to feel like they are being put on death ground by the Ma’lit; it may cause them to feel as though they have no choice but to fight for their survival. If that happens, we all lose today.”
Ruggeri nodded in agreement and began to issue the orders to the XO as he saw the admiral activating the privacy screen out of the corner of his eye. The XO took over handling the reconfiguration of the starfighters and bombers, and Ruggeri leaned closer to the holo screens as he thought of their next move.
So far, the Farian naval defense forces in orbit had not violated the imposed ceasefire, and the reinforcing ships that had come from further out all had their weapons powered down as they reorganized into formations with the surviving ships in orbit.
The Ma’lit destroyers kept a careful overwatch over all of them, their weapons ports activated and powered up but not yet locked on any of the Farian or Republic ships. Looking at the ground forces video feeds, he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that most of the troops were now finally below the firing envelope of the Farian air defenses, at least the ones that had not been destroyed yet by the dreadnought.
Over 800 Republic troops had been hit/shot down, and of those, 489 were being listed as KIA. Too many, he thought with a mixture of sadness and anger as he prayed for their souls. “The starfighters and bombers are heading in now, Captain. They are reconfiguring for atmosphere on their way there, and I have updated the targeting parameters and ROEs.” Carvalho said from his left as she flicked over two holo screens to him.
“Excellent, Commander. I appreciate it.” He acknowledged her before calling out to the battle AI. “Bellona, please display the strike force currently headed towards the planet on the main holo tank. Label it as Avenger 1 and show me their flight path.
~ Affirmative, Captain. Displaying now. ~
The holo tank went blank before dozens of blue icons appeared in multiple V-shaped formations with another four horseshoe-shaped groupings of green icons trailing them, which were the bombers. Video feeds popped up on the side, and Ruggeri felt his heart quicken at the sight of the starfighters reconfiguring for atmospheric flight.
The Republic was the sole interstellar organization that still utilized fighters for space-based fleet combat, only able to do so because of the BioSynth pilots making it feasible. Most of the older species stopped using fighters long ago when they realized it was impractical for combat.
Biological pilots were at a severe disadvantage against missiles and point defense systems, incapable of withstanding the G-forces required to remain alive long enough to even get close to reaching the enemy capital ships before being shot down, and they soon became militarily irrelevant in the realm of space combat.
Even autonomous and AI-controlled fighter drones ultimately proved to be a dead end as counter-drone technology quickly rendered them obsolete through a combination of ECM jamming/spoofing systems, EMPs, and cyberwarfare.
The unique properties of the Republic bottling technology that created BioSynths meant that none of the usual issues facing biological pilots or autonomous fighter drones applied to them.
They could easily handle the excessive G-forces required to avoid missiles and point defense systems since their bottles were encased within a specialized gimbal system in gel-filled chambers that prevented their brains and nervous systems from turning into mush during maneuvers that could sometimes reach over 700 G’s for short periods of time.
They also were not susceptible to hacking like autonomous drones and AIs were, and the bottles protected them from EMPs. When the Eleani and the Xenxin surreptitiously uplifted the Republic, the Navy was finally able to bring to fruition a viable fighter platform that gave the Republic a unique tactical advantage over their peers and potential enemies.
The spherical fighters and bombers were now elongating and deploying their internal variable swept wings, another major tactical advantage the Republic enjoyed over the other major powers of the quadrant.
The only way to conduct planetary invasions for the other powers was with specialized carriers loaded with aircraft/hovercraft and skimming the atmospheres of the targeted planets to deploy them. This exposed the massive carriers to both orbital and ground-based planetary defense systems that could easily target and shoot them down, killing several thousand highly trained and expensive naval personnel and costing the invaders hundreds of billions of credits for each carrier destroyed.
With BioSynth pilots, the Republic was able to create a dual-use strike force that could be deployed safely in space and reconfigured for atmospheric flight without exposing the carriers to the deadly planetary defense systems.
“I hope the Farian Air Force does the smart thing and stays grounded, sir.”
“Huh?” he said absentmindedly before turning to look at Carvalho. She smirked slightly before speaking again. “I said, I hope the froggies do the smart thing and keep their aircraft on the ground, sir. They have no chance against our pilots if they are stupid enough to try to fight BioSynths capable of pulling some serious Gs.”
“I hope so too. Enough people have died already, both ours and theirs. Hopefully the admiral can get the Ma’lit to stand down before the Farian defense forces really start fighting us.”
Carvalho nodded in agreement before leaning forward slightly to look past him. The privacy field was still up, and he followed her gaze, wishing he was a mosquito drone on the inside of the privacy field right then.
~ Avenger 1 is entering the atmosphere, Captain. ~
He quickly shared a worried look with Carvalho before looking back at the holo tank to monitor Avenger 1’s descent. So far, none of them had been targeted yet, and he felt a surge of hope rising inside of himself as the dreadnought suddenly ceased firing on the surface.
Ma’lit Scout Ship—Watcher of Tril’fir
Polar orbit of the third moon, 328,272 likals from Faria Prime
Hreth’nir pointed one of the secondary cameras towards the despondent Farian ambassador sitting behind him, who was rocking catatonically as he stared at the black tiles and moaned quietly. Anguish coursed through it again for the pain and death it was causing, but Hreth’nir refused to give in to its growing desire to show mercy.
The ambassador had made a good point about the ones disobeying most likely being agents of the Balrikan masters, but Hreth’nir still refused to stop the dreadnought for one simple reason: The Ma’lit Domain ruled the quadrant through fear, and the only way to maintain its control was to show all the younger races that they were not to be disobeyed.
A communication request from the Republic flagship came over the command network, and Hreth’nit immediately recognized the unique identifier code as belonging to Admiral Thompson. Opening the channel, it decided to take the comm request inside the suit and set it for a one-way visual, allowing the admiral to hear its words but not see it.
A moment later, the admiral appeared in a small window, and Hreth’nir saw the telltale sign of a human privacy field around him. “Admiral Thompson.” It said curtly by way of greeting, sensing the reason for the call by the anxious expression on the human child’s face.
“Honored Elder, thank you for taking my call so quickly. My reason for contacting you is to ask for you to have the dreadnought cease firing on the Farians. I have ordered our starfighters and bombers to reconfigure for atmospheric flight, and they will take over targeting and destroying any units still firing on our troops.
I am concerned about the rest of the military and the government thinking you are going to do to them what had been done to the Ominians, and they might decide that they have no choice but to resist with all their might. We humans have a term for this: death ground. I do not want to put them on death ground, or I fear this will devolve into a full-fledged war between the Kingdom and the Republic.”
“No.”
One of the admiral’s eyelids curiously twitched after Hreth’nir’s immediate denial for mercy, and it added the unusual tic to the admiral’s rapidly growing biometric and behavioral files for later review by the intelligence analysts. The human seemed unsure how to respond right away, and Hreth’nir pushed aside its growing impatience as it waited for the admiral to speak again.
“Please forgive me, Honored Elder, but I must respectfully ask for you to explain your reasons for denying my request.”
Hreth’nir felt a flash of resentment for the insolent request to explain its actions, and it almost closed the channel on the admiral out of immature spite before a quote from the holy writ of the Ma’lit came into its mind. If a child asks, answer. Is it not better to give them wisdom while they are still innocent, before they have been corrupted by the evils of the world? I tell you, my house is full of such children, and none may enter to reside with me eternally until they become as a child in heart and spirit.”
Shame replaced its resentment, and Hreth’nir silently asked the Creator for forgiveness before replying to the human child.
“Son of the Magnati, I warned them what was to happen if they resisted. Even if the ones who are ordering the weapons to fire are the agents of the Balrikan masters, the Farians under them still obeyed in defiance of the Ma’lit Domain, and they must suffer for it.
What I am about to tell you will not be repeated. If you speak of this, all contact with the Ma’lit Domain will cease for you. You will become a pariah to us, and we will refuse any overtures or endeavors from your government involving you. Do you still wish to proceed?”
The admiral looked greatly disturbed by Hreth’nir’s threat, and it seemed as if he was going to refuse to proceed before he surprisingly nodded his assent. Hreth’nir decided that what it was about to reveal called for face-to-face communication, and it activated the two-way visual before it began to speak.
“My human child, the Ma’lit Domain maintains control over the younger species through a fragile combination of fear, politics, and economic pressure. This triad has served us well for many thousands of cycles, and we do this because only we truly know the horrors of what is coming.
To prepare the younger ones requires us to bend them to our will, whether they understand our reasons and intentions or not. We do this for the greater good, but we also do this for another reason: the time is rapidly approaching when the Ma’lit Domain will be no more.
We are a dying race, my human child. Our last gift to the young ones will be to ensure they survive on after our time comes to an end. We will finally be reunited with our long-departed cousin-kin, the Magnati, and you will become the rightful inheritors of both the Magnati and the Magna’Lit.
You will be our legacy, and you will take on the mantle of greatness when we are gone. You will inherit our power, our wisdom, and our knowledge, but you also will know the endless burden of being the shepherd of your fellow young ones. You will know the anguish of having to punish those who do not know better, and you will come to know the exhaustion of perpetual vigilance as you watch over a flock of tens of billions.
This is why we have chosen you to lead the war effort against the coming invasion. This war will be the forge that tempers humanity. You will either prove you are ready to take on the mantle of greatness, or you will break like brittle iron and be at our side as we pass into the afterlife.”
Hreth’nir felt exhausted after speaking so many words, and it waited as the admiral processed what it had just revealed. A variety of emotions passed over the human child’s face: surprise, sadness, disbelief, fear, and uncertainty. After a few moments, the admiral cleared his throat and spoke again in a tremulous voice, sounding like a timid child rather than a warrior leader.
“Honored Elder.... I don’t... We are not ready for this, and we do not want such a responsibility put upon us. We do not seek to rule the others; we only ever wanted to be accepted as their equals. We want friends, not subjects.”
Hreth’nir heard the earnestness in the human child’s voice, and it knew right then and there that they were truly ready, whether they realized it or not.
“I know, son of the Magnati, and this is why it must be you and your kind that carries on our legacy and takes our place. I have seen into your heart, and you have shamed me. I see now that I allowed my anger to make my own heart cold and to seek vengeance for myself rather than justice. Thank you for reminding me of this; I will order the dreadnought to cease fire immediately.”
The admiral looked both astonished and confused, and Hreth’nir smiled at him, hoping the rare expression would still the human child’s troubled mind and spirit before closing the channel.
Accessing the command network, Hreth’nir joined with the dreadnought.
My Companion, cease fire. Remain in orbit and keep your weapon ports open. My kin-children will take over for us.
~ As you command, so shall it be done, my liege. ~
Thank you, Companion.
Hreth’nir, feeling far older than the many cycles it has lived, turned the exosuit to face the ambassador, who was still mourning in the corner of the chamber.
“Ambassador Skarl, I have ordered the dreadnought to cease firing. The admiral has prevailed upon me to show mercy and reminded me that I was being a hypocrite and that the vengeance I was seeking is not the same as justice.”
The Farian’s head shot up, staring at it in disbelief for a moment before pushing himself off the chair and kneeling obsequiously as he gave thanks to Hreth’nir.
“Do not thank me, Ambassador Skarl. It was the Admiral that saved your people. You will do well to remember that when the Republic calls upon the Kingdom for aid. Do not make me regret this.”
Hreth’nir turned away from the ambassador as he began to earnestly pray in classical Farian, and it added its own silent prayer to the Creator as it watched the dreadnought begin to climb into a higher orbit.
Creator, please help the sons and daughters of the Magnati rise to the occasion being thrust upon them. They are worthy, and they will have need of you to see this through to the end.