3.14.

In the aftermath, nobody was certain exactly what had happened. Eolai arrived to a facility that was smoking and partially destroyed. Miraculously nobody was killed, but walls were reduced to rubble.

Rooms and hallways showed signs of a firefight between the Earth’s forces and someone using advanced weaponry, leaving scorch marks and unexplained dents in walls.

Yet nobody who had fired their weapons recalled even drawing it. Osterham only knew that he’d fired his weapon because he could smell it, and because his spare clip was missing.

Eolai dropped out of the transport craft, a fast response atmospheric shuttle that his people had given the Earth. He’d arrived within twenty minutes of the call from Major Phillips. He wasn’t surprised that it wasn’t fast enough.

He was wearing his armor, glowing blue, and with the help of his wetware and his suits abilities he scanned for the scouts trail. He found it, not particularly surprised to find that there was evidence of three participants in the rescue.

He set out in pursuit.

The ambush came exactly as he’d expected it to, a plasma lance that he barely dodged in time. It would have burned straight through his armor, and him. He threw up his hands in surrender.

“I wish to speak!” he shouted in High-Yonohoan. “Peace! Peace! I wish to speak!”

A moment of silence, and then a single figure emerged from cover. Like him, they were wearing armor and glowing blue.

“We will speak then,” the figure said in the same language. “Identify yourself.”

“I am Eolai of the Yonohoah,” Eolai said. “I am the son of Eodar. I was born to be his last son, but that privilege may no longer be mine.”

The figure evaluated him carefully. “I see you Eolai.”

“May I know your name?” Eolai asked.

“I am Trewali.”

“I know you, Trewali. I have heard of your many deeds in your other lives. I know you to be an honorable and valiant person. I ask you, as a soldier for mankind to a soldier for mankind, why have you come to Earth?” Eolai questioned.

Trewali was silent for a moment. “Because Taskforce Ragnarok believes that it is the cradle. The birthplace. The origin system.”

Eolai swallowed. “What does that matter? The universe has been at peace for fifty thousand years, Trewali. Why does it matter now?”

“Because an armistice isn’t peace. Because mankind has enemies who would gladly destroy the universe itself to bring an end to us. Because even if our actions to defend her are never known, Earth must be defended,” Trewali answered. “You should know these things already, Son of Eodar.”

Eolai nodded. “You will not harm its people?”

“I will break my body in their defense,” Trewali said.

“Then go. I will not pursue you. I will not make promises for the governments or people of Earth, but I will attempt to convince them of your righteousness,” Eolai said.

“I do not need your permission or your help,” Trewalai said. His image flickered and vanished.

Eolai swallowed when he realized that his suit could not track them. That surprised him; he had intended to let the scouts go, just as he had promised. But he had expected pursuing them further to be an option.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The capabilities of their equipment surpassed his own. After fifty thousand years of Yonohoan advancement, the Swarm still had secrets.

He returned to the facility, which was slowly reorganizing itself as the people swept the ruins for survivors and threats. He knew that there would be no casualties; he saw this for what it was. A demonstration to the Earthlings.

They were completely eclipsed by the Swarm. Self-designated Taskforce Ragnarok, the Swarm existed for a single purpose. It would protect Earth.

Not necessarily the people of earth. Not its present, or its future. It’s past.

The worst of the danger was past, he realized. The fact that the swarm had decided not to simply vaporize the planet indicated that they believed that destroying Earth was not the solution. Instead they had sent scouts.

He doubted that there would be a way to convince the swarm to come into the light. Not in this generation. Perhaps not during Eolai’s lifetime. Perhaps not in his children’s.

Perhaps not ever.

The members of SWAT and the soldiers of the facility pulled their weapons on Eolai as he approached. He dismissed his helmet, allowing it to puff into dust, and presented his hands in surrender. “I am Eolai,” he said. “I believe I am expected.”

The men and women kept their weapons on him until they’d sent a messenger ahead and received orders to send Eolai through the line into the makeshift command center that was dealing with the recovery efforts after the attack. He arrived to find Major Phillips discussing matters calmly with Agents Osterham and Morrison, who were somewhat more upset about the events than the Major.

“There were three of them,” Eolai said. “They struck your building with a Kirata beam first. That is why your personal electronics are not working. After that, they struck you each with a weapon that distorts short term memories to give the illusion that everything happened in a flash. In reality you lost about twenty minutes. They were likely acting in haste to complete their mission before I arrived.”

“How could they infiltrate and exfiltrate in less than twenty minutes?” Morrison demanded. “Our security should have slowed them down at least a little!”

“They were likely standing next to you when you contacted me, Major,” Eolai continued. “They possess advanced stealth capabilities that surpass my own by a significant margin. You were never in control of the situation. They were. This was a demonstration of that fact.”

“What do they want?” Mary asked.

“To protect Earth,” Eolai answered.

“If they’re here to help, why not simply come forward and join the team?” she asked.

“I did not say they were here to help. They will protect you whether you like it or not,” Eolai answered. “You may not enjoy some of their methods of protection, Major. Your governments, your sovereignty, your rights, these things mean nothing to them. Only that Earth is defended. And not in the way that you believe.”

~~~~~~~

Yunono examined the latest reports from the scouts. She evaluated the capabilities of the forces defending the blue marble.

Inadequate. Completely inadequate to defend the planet itself as it was now. Even more so to protect it from the true danger. From Temporal Dissolution. The Earthlings knew about it, must have been told about the existence of a weapon that could reach into the past and destroy the future.

But she couldn’t blame them for doing nothing about it. They could do nothing about it. That was the entire point of using such a weapon; it was almost impossible to counter.

Not entirely true, but close enough.

She evaluated the threats to Earth throughout the galaxy. Minimal.

She evaluated the nearby galaxies. Minimal.

She continued her evaluation.

There. They would use a pre-emptive strike if they could.

She reached out to the swarm generators in that galaxy and ordered the Thraxacians to be destroyed.

She tisked. Honestly, that should have been done fifty thousand years ago. Who was it that had allowed that oversight to continue on for millennia? Filled with disgust for the commanders of mankind’s past, she continued to go through space galaxy by galaxy, species by species, as she evaluated them for the threat that they posed Earth, and by extension, mankind.

A million light-years away, the ancient gears of war began to spin.

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