The conference room of the science vessel is tense. I sit there with a hand covering my face as I feel a headache coming on. Uriel and Josef stare forward each with a thousand-yard stare. Whittney stares at me with a mixture of disappointment and incoherent rage. Then there is Shariah who is three shades paler and is pacing back and forth in front of me. She had laid into me for about an hour. I can't really complain or get her in trouble because I probably screwed the pooch when it comes to diplomatic stuff, something I should've never been allowed to even touch.

I am embarrassed about the situation but I feel as if my argument was justified, I'll admit I should've probably not been as confrontational. But shit, I'm a sixty-plus-year-old Navy Captain, or commodore now. I'm a salty space dog, I'm not good at this kind of thing. I break the tense silence by stating,

"So when was the diplomatic and science team going to explain to me that the Eternal Kingdom was under the assumption that all of this whole diplomatic situation was so we could be annexed or otherwise integrated into their nation? I mean I think I acted as well as I could've considering my lack of intelligence."

Shariah growls,

"Yeah, we know you lack intelligence."

I have to stop myself from laughing at the clever response as now is not the time. She realizes her rash response and after taking a deep breath she comes over and puts her hands on the table. She then explains,

"Yes, we knew that was their role and goal. They are an expansionist empire that believes itself to be divinely inspired and created. Their understanding of the universe is that it is orbiting around them. We had not expected this inquisitor guy to show up, but the plan was to slowly educate these people that it is better that we cooperate mutually as equals rather than serving under them and integrating into their culture.

The Inquisitor gave us no reason to believe he would approach that subject that quickly, but in hindsight we see that it was rather... shortsighted of us to assume that. So I don't think you are entirely to blame for this situation, but we are going to have to fix this."

She looks over at Phillia who has been standing behind me still in what appears to be shock. Shariah asks her,

"Phillia, is there any way we can take the authority of the Commodore and utilize it in order to continue proper negotiations with the Inquisitor?"

The poor alien woman stands there clearly having just now joined us in reality. Her color has yet to return to her face from our time with the golden man. Phillia then responds shakily,

"Uh, he can send you with a letter carrying his seal... and that letter can detail that you all are his voice."

Shariah nods and looks at me asking,

"Do you have a seal?"

I shake my head and joke,

"What is this? The 1500s?"

I dig around in my pocket and pull out a quarter. The head of the nearly ancient President Washington shining brightly in the artificial light. I flip it over to Shariah who catches it expertly. I say,

"Use this and say the face of the man is my ancestor or something, or use tails. It doesn't matter really. "

Shariah nods and tells Phillia,

"Stay here with us and explain to us how to properly create this letter and seal."

I stand up with a grunt and say with a smile,

"Well... my shift is over for today, I pulled a 14 hour so I am off!"

I stride out of the room and head directly for the shuttle which will take me to the Catfish...

Phillia Perspective

This whole situation is messed up. This man... or demon, whatever he is somehow, even with that protective suit was able to not only shrug off the Inquisitor's pressure, but he also managed to put him on the back foot! There is no way he is a living being or isn't something infernal. I still can't figure out if he, like all the other humans is stupid, incredibly trusting, or if they see me so below them they are willing to bring me into their inner circle like this.

I'll admit my time here has been enlightening, and in fact, has taught me some amazing things I am happy to have learned. These humans are beyond my imagination, and if I hadn't been present for their magicless miracles I would have believed them to be fantasy. Their art, their artifice, their culture, and their governing systems are so alien, yet they all make sense when they are described to me. Despite all of this... I hate them all. Despite the kindness they have shown, unless this is all a game and they are demons, of course, I can never forgive them. My father... most of my friends and comrades, and my freedom all of these things have been stripped from me, but I also know these humans are my only chance to survive at the moment, to strike a blow at the kingdom whom I have dedicated my life to destroying.

Now here we are, all of that a moot point as we have pissed off the inquisition. I know the humans are strong, but there is no way they will be able to defeat the Eternal Kingdom.

I am pulled from my stupor by the woman. I care not for her name. She asks me how they may speak to the Inquisitor since the Commodore can no longer be trusted to speak with any other important figures, which is reasonable. Strangely he seems unbothered and somewhat happy that he was disrespected in this way, further confirming to me that he is some sort of incredibly powerful demon, far above the rest of us.

I explain the simple process of how a noble can give delegates permission to speak for them, but I am held back as the Commodore leaves quickly. Despite my hatred for the man who killed my father, he has been rather benevolent to me which is quite concerning, to be honest, it shows he knows I resent him and he is simply torturing me through his kindness. I don't want him to leave me with these people though, I do not like them. The emotionless one, the fat one with a sadistic glare as his standard look, the diplomat woman, and the worst of all, a legal scholar...

After an hour or so of teaching the humans the simple task of a noble granting authority, I am released back to the USS Catfish. The emotionless woman sends a message to the larger ship apparently and by the time I make it to the port, the ship is awaiting me. I board the strange vessel of metal and unknown materials and arrive at the Catfish, a strangely named vessel. The ship healer explained that nearly all of the ships in this fleet are named after fish in some way. If the Commodore didn't lie to me, they may have enough ships to where there aren't enough names for each ship to have a grand one.

Once onboard the larger vessel I touch the strange device on my ear, the strange thing allows me to understand their odd and guttural language as well as speak it apparently, but it's most important utility is how it allows me to communicate with anyone on the ship I am on. I am told there are more powerful versions that can speak to anyone in the fleet, but I was given the cheapest and weakest one because of my strangely shaped ears, according to the healer. I "open a line" with the Commodore who is breathing heavily. I shudder to imagine what kind of debaucheries the demon could be partaking in right now to cause him to pant like that. His tone is friendly as always and I say,

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Commodore, I have returned to the Catfish. What other tasks do you have for me?"

I hear a loud thudding in the background and a strange whirring sound and through his pants he says,

"Alright, you can take off for now. I'll get ya when we need you."

Then the communication device shuts off. I shudder physically, my stripes darkening as I imagine the horrifying task he is doing.

I head toward the quarters given to me, a place somewhat close to the healing area of the ship. It's supposedly a healing room that is usually reserved for the rare events the healer is overwhelmed, an "overflow" room. I walk quietly down the metal halls, my feet feel so heavy on these human ships for some reason, but slowly I'm getting used to it. Along the way I pass by one of the dark green knights, I shy away out of instinct as the imposing being passes by, the clearly heavy being making very little sound as its metal boots hit the metal floor. I have no idea how they are able to walk so silently, even my ears cannot hear them approach if not for the slight squeaking sound that comes from them every time they move a limb. I've seen one without their armor, they are terrifying, their eyes speak of barely contained violence and their bodies are forged to enact that violence. They even eat strange colorful sticks, I managed to get ahold of one and found it beyond horrible tasting, I have no clue how they are able to eat them.

I enter the area of the ship near the healing area and come across one of the "Corpsman", an assistant to the actual healer. He is one of the stranger variants of human, with dark brown skin, dense curly hair, and golden-colored eyes. Rather interesting how humans are so diverse despite being only one species. He greets me kindly and I do the same. He stops me to chat for a moment, he seems really interested in the more hairy species within the Eternal Kingdom, his questions about "cat girls" are strange but his description does sound somewhat like a primitive race called the "Jakkolins".

Our conversation continues for a while and I notice his voice is changing pitch wrong and quickly I notice his hands tremoring a little. His facial expressions seemingly change randomly and he is getting progressively louder. I step back and he steps toward me. I feel fearful of this man as he is clearly insane, his interest in the hairy Jakkolin now seems to be extreme perversion as I can see drool come from the side of his mouth as his pupils dilate. I prepare to scream for help when suddenly he falls over and begins violently seizing on the ground in front of me. Panic runs through my veins as I realize he may have been having a health issue rather than being insane or dangerous. I try to remember what my mentor said about healing magic in this situation. Then I remembered that humans will die if exposed to mana. I try to find a solution and decide that maybe a small amount wouldn't hurt.

I kneel down and try to draw out all of the mana I have left in my body after the strange "cleansing" machine the humans used on me. My first spell is less directly on him, rather an area that includes him. A standard field of intuition that allows me to see into his body and help discern what's wrong. I've heard mention of humans having a curse on them or something so I look for that and find nothing... I then try to imagine a non-magical curse and slowly the field of intuition finds something wrong in his body, mostly in his brain and spine. I stop the field quickly as it tells me his skin has become burnt in many areas as he continues seizing and foaming at the mouth.

I grab his shaking hand, bite into his finger, and draw blood. I put the drop into my hand and create a smaller field, luckily for me the strange curse... things... are within his blood. In my palm, I experiment with healing magic of all kinds to see what can destroy this thing. I pause remembering my dislike for the humans and wonder why I shouldn't just let this man die. I have no obligation to save him and I am sure the humans can understand that I may not have the proper magic to heal him... but... this... thing... this non-magic curse... it's so incredibly curious that I have to cure it, if for no reason other than I want to be able to, so I continue my discovery task.

It's a strange thing... it looks and feels like it's part of their body but somehow it is causing damage, focusing on the brain and nerves. I've heard in ancient texts there were words about something like this, they aren't a disease or infection... they are something wrong with the body, a non-magical curse is an apt description. I focus my magic, refine it, and make sure I can hit the curse rather than the man's body. When I finally make a sample of blood free of the curse with... minimal damage to the blood itself as far as I can tell, I prepare for the operation.

Around my hands a sickly green aura forms as I draw every last bit of mana from my body, I feel myself become weaker and weaker as this happens, as the very mana that makes me up is used in this focused attack. The green glow extends around the man, I make sure not a single drop of mana touches his body aside from the targeted curse. With a single word of power, one that I cannot pronounce in a normal state, where mana is required for the word to even manifest, the green flashes and suddenly the man stops convulsing and lies there stunned.

I sigh and collapse onto my back and there, standing above me is the head healer...

Back to Commodore Hollander's POV

I am pulled from my workout by a desperate ping from the medical officer. I ignore the fact that I am still in workout clothes and bound down the hallways on a mission. The short message simply read,

"Curse victim, Phillia attempted to rescue with magic."

I don't know what happened yet, but it sounds really bad. Magic can fuck someone up, and if the curse is involved then this whole situation could probably get me court marshaled again and Phillia sent back to the Eternal Kingdom if the suits decide to throw the book at us. My sneakers squeal on the metal floor as I round corners, while in my mind I am moving at incredible speed, for those watching the cameras see my slow, long-legged lope through the halls at below-average sprint speed. I reach the medical area quickly and storm through the main doors a look of worry on my face.

The chief medical officer is crying along with a few of the other medical officers and corpsmen, men and women alike. Phillia is sitting with her head down and ears droopy. On the bed is a man who looks to be a corpsman. He is unconscious but his vitals are steady. I notice small marks all over his bare body where a medical machine had cut out tissue and burned the hole shut. I walk over to the group and ask in a low voice, not angry or anything, just serious,

"What happened here?"

The crying Chief wipes her eyes, and springs to attention as her years of work have conditioned her to, and explains,

"Petty Officer 3rd Class McCoy had fallen to the early stages of the curse in front of Phillia. This manifested as mania and eventually a violent seizure. Phillia being a healer mage...wizard... or whatever attempted to heal McCoy despite her knowledge that humans will die if they are exposed to mana. According to her, she utilized pinpoint streams of mana in order to target what was ailing him, which as we know is a devastating prion found within our neural tissue and really anywhere within our bodies.

After apparently identifying the prions within him she then hit them with mana. Being as prions are made of the same atomic and molecular structures that make up us, the prions were systematically destroyed...

Sir, what I am saying is, Phillia cured Petty Officer 3rd Class McCoy of his curse."

I feel as if I just had the wind knocked from my lungs, and I have to lean against a wall, then I laugh. Not one just of joy but a laugh of disbelief, relief, and because I have no other reaction to this news. If we finally found a cure... that would be beyond my wildest dreams... no one else would have to suffer the terrible fate.

I get myself together turn to Phillia and ask her,

"Is her retelling correct?"

The alien woman looks up and responds,

"Yes sir. I feel as if I have done something wrong..."

I quickly rush to her and drop to a knee, taking her hand in mine and raising her chin. I say to her with a warm smile on my face,

"No, you haven't done anything wrong. You did what you thought was right and in the end, it was right. You freed that man lying in the bed there. Maybe you've opened a pathway to free all of us."

She stares me in the eye for a while before looking away. I release her and then turn back to the Chief. I ask the woman,

"What consequences did McCoy face when exposed to the targeted mana?"

The officer turns to a console and reads off,

"Multiple 3rd-degree burns, all smaller than 1cm in diameter, down to bone. Multiple tumors formed on the skin and within the flesh, all were removed by the medical machines. All cancers were noninvasive and were still in development. This is like your injuries but localized to single, small points in non-vital areas that can be healed and treated easily, unlike you who needed to be practically flayed alive."

I shudder in memory but feel a soft smile grow on my face. I then give an order,

"Call Mengel, no one else. Work with him and Phillia to figure out the viability of this treatment. I want this fully understood and if it is possible to use on a mass scale I want it perfected. Be careful who you share this information with, I don't want any panic or too much hype."

She nods and salutes, and I look over the various pieces of medical equipment. I ask the Chief,

"Why is he still asleep?"

She frowns and explains,

"Despite the curse no longer being in his system, there was massive damage to his brain and nervous system already. He will live, but we don't know yet if he will ever be okay."

I nod with a frown and set him on medical leave. I then leave the medical crew to their task. I have lots of work to do...