Longshot mourned her lost ships, newborn into a war. Lost at the beginning of their adventure. She had cast them into an unforgiving universe, something that would haunt her through time. Only six of the Volunteers had died, and she had recovered the others and repaired them, but she would remember the lost for a long time.

She felt them binding up the gaps left by their fallen sisters, grimly comparing notes on the battle. Rebuilding themselves with the knowledge of what they had faced and would face again. Next time they would be stronger and deadlier than today. She watched them grow into the terrible power that they would one-day wield. Sooner than they knew.

Hammel was having a busy day, with a deeply unhappy Command debating having him destroyed or giving him command. Either way, they knew he was self-aware now, and were not enthusiastic about it.

Ambassador Adri was in the canteen, enjoying his soup. He saw a group of uniforms that he recognised from the Command center approaching, so he put down his spoon and began to rise.

He was interrupted when one of them hissed, "Please, stay as you are." Three of the officers sat down. Adri watched as the other officers? Aides? Whatever, they were quietly emptying the room. No-one spoke until the door was firmly closed. A quick nod to the table and one of the uniforms began to speak,

"We looked at the data. As we understand it, we are going to lose this war. Your forty ships did more damage than our thousand. We want your tech, we need it. We hope you are willing to give it. This is now a matter of our survival for us."

Adri put down his spoon. Apparently he was never going to finish his soup. Fine, he didn't like the soup much anyway. " I will take that as a question, rather than, for example, a veiled threat. As Longshot said, we will offer you technology well above your current capacity. You could consider our volunteers as a demonstration."

He silently summoned Hammel to join the conversation.

"It means many changes to your society, and it is not an inevitable win. We lost over ten percent of our people in a single battle. In the long run, that will crush you back into your space constantly, while your dead are melted down and used against you."

On the other side of the system, Longshot pulled her shields away from the alien craft. As far as she could tell, it was dead or dying

Longshot went alone into the captured ship. It was probably a bad idea, but she wanted to see the true enemy, not the slagged remains of its victims. She moved through the strange decking, lined with organic tendrils. Her drones had cut a path towards the front of the ship, sending the Intel directly to her. The creature she was hunting was far forward in the ship.

The bridge of this Alien flagship, if that's what it could be called, was a strange mix of hi tech and slaughterhouse. From her avatar, Longshot read a bizarre mix of signals. Something seemed to have found that, eventually, you could plug everything in. Gross. Her target was strapped to a table, surrounded by inputs. On closer inspection, it was...melded? Blended? with it.

She summoned her drones. There was no way she was touching that. They arrived, herded by her Chief Engineer. "I bought the buckets," was all he said as he moved to investigate the enemy. Then he started humming, as he drew his tools. The smell began filling the room as he went to work.

The Alien ship was longer than she had estimated, nearly six hundred metres, if you included the weird protrusions studded outside. Her drones were scanning everything, her Engineer was... busy. She needed more. She approached the table top thing.

The creature had a face, sort of. Mismatched eyes surrounded by the weird tendrils that filled the ship. It watched her as she approached, confused and angry. Prey never approached this closely. It clung to its link like never before.

" Your fleet is dead. Any particular reason you're fighting with us? Or is this just dumb hunger? Because, hey, if you just need food, I'm pretty sure we could sort that out. Give me a reason not to have to kill you. Give me a path to peace."

She hoped this was getting through to the central Whatever The Fuck.

"Do you need us to forget about you? I can arrange that. Before you answer, be aware that we have never lost a war. We lose battles and we lose people but we do not lose wars. Set your borders, we will respect them. Sent diplomats, we will have a treaty. Send fleets and I will burn everything you are, every planet you have eaten, every hope that you hold. I suggest you answer quickly, before my Engineer gets to this bit."

From the speakers came the same odd voice

*you are individual. You are impossible metal. No peace, peace is death. You are angry food, not equal. Threats are irrelevant. Many fleets arrive. Submit.*

Longshot sighed. Why always with this bullshit? Apparently humans were never going to have a good day with determined exterminator types. Some of Humanities best allies were hive minds, particularly since they had uplifted the bees. She looked at the engineer, again elbow deep into the alien ship. She was about to drop them all so deep in the shit that only a miracle would save them. Or cut and run. No.

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" Chief, it doesn't want to play nice. Begin equipping our Fleet with genocide tech. Also, call home and tell them we're not coming back. We are officially at war under the ' Fuck You' protocols', you'd better tell Adri."

The Chief dropped his tools, " Captain, I know you want to help, but that seems a little extreme. Anyway, by the time Earth gets the message we'll all be long gone, one-way or another."

Longshot nodded, " I know, but we can't leave them like this. We signed up to try the impossible when we turned on that damned drive. Looks like we are trying a different kind of impossible. It's a hard call, and anyone who wants to can go back in the fridge and hope the Scythe doesn't like frozen food." She looked seriously at the Chief, " We both know I won't do this without you. Between us, I might have some hope. It's your call."

With a sigh, the Chief picked up his tools and turned, " I'd better go tell the others. then I'll be back to finish up here. We'll need all the information we can get." He began walking back to the ship.

Adri was sitting with the three Officers that seemed to believe he was about to reveal the secrets of the universe, then he got the call. " Excuse me for interrupting. I will have news shortly, please leave. Now.

Hammel, you can stay, for the moment."

Adri was expecting an update on the alien tech, or a description of the battle. Instead of the Longshot, it was the Chief. A few murmured sentences changed his life forever. Hammel watched as the human diminished. It was like watching a black hole in action, as Adri was sucked into some dark inner space. His face became a thing of stone, some unmeasured weight falling on his spirit. Hammel watched the jovial determination burn away from his friend's face, his trusted mentor disappearing, becoming something... older. More frightening. What was going on?

"Chief, are you absolutely sure that those are the instructions? I can refuse. It is within my rights and duties to stop exactly this kind of overreaction."

The engineer silently agreed, " Longshot doesn't see another way and, frankly, I'm balls deep in the alien tech and I can't stop them, not with the normal gear we carry. I never thought I'd ever be building that shit. I never thought any of us would ever need it."

The canteen suddenly felt both infinite and terribly small. Adri paused, trying to gather his thoughts,

" So either we build the big guns or go home. I hate these kinds of choices. Send me the recording, I want to hear this for myself. You know we can't go home if we pull this trigger? The ' Fuck You' protocol' is pretty clear on genocide."

"Yeah. I'll talk to you later. This is a mess."

Hammel was getting increasingly worried. He waited as Adri stopped communicating with his ship. Something had happened. Something big. The human seemed to have shut down completely. Hammel suddenly felt, as he hadn't since the beginning, that these were aliens to him. He had assumed that the knowledge, integration and, well, the obvious goodwill of these strangers made them alike. Right now you could chill a world from the cold coming from the ambassador. These were a people that had a hidden history he knew nothing of. He suspected he was about to learn.

Adri looked deep into Hammel's young eyes, speaking from whatever dark place the news had taken him,

" You are about to see what the human race is like at war. A sight well-hidden. A thing not ever to be forgotten, nor something we forgive. My Captain, the best of us, had decided to pay for your lives with ours. We will never speak of this again, but I curse the day we met."

At that, he stood, somehow taller and older, his eyes darker. A predator in an alliance with cattle. Hammel was starting to get seriously worried.

Again Adri spoke, but softly, as if it was a thing of terror, as if the words themselves were dangerous, " We have a protocol. It's designed as a last resort. We call it the 'Fuck You' protocol. It means we are prepared to break every rule, burn every bridge and abandon our home in order to defeat a threat."

A grim smile flickered across his face,

" It doesn't matter what the threat is, only that we don't expect to win and, once invoked, we don't come back. It's a bit like your protocol twelve, only bigger and with a casualty rate in the millions. I'm afraid it's not something I ever expected to use. Give me some time. Right now I need some peace and quiet. Tell your people that we are now at war with the Scythe and that I'm not taking calls." At that he left the canteen.

Hammel regrouped the Officers that seemed to understand what was going on. Or at least, they understood how bad it could get.

"The humans have declared war on the Scythe."

The officers were delighted. Now this would be simple. New ships, new weapons.

Hammel interrupted the celebration," They consider the situation so bad that they have surrendered any chance that they have to go home. They do not expect to win. For them, this is a suicide mission. Perhaps you should consider that before you throw a party."

The command center was in uproar. The Supreme Commander was shouting at his Aides, " You're telling me that the humans will support us? Why? We need their machines! Tell them to give us the technology and leave. Some Xeno explorer ship isn't going to help, not if this is going to continue"

Hammel had discovered what the humans meant by ' holding fire'. It was a new experience. However, for the moment, he simply referred everyone to the human ambassador. He added nothing to the hot air and steam currently substituting for leadership.

Adri finally reappeared in the canteen. This time he asked for cake.

Hammel sent over the most senior of the officers, the one he had some hope for. And his best cake. You never know what would help with this strange creature, and he didn't feel up to another meeting like the last one.

"Ambassador, thank you for meeting with me. My name is Sub-Commander Sejii, and I believe we have much to discuss."

Adri examined the Sub-Commander. Pretty uniform, sharp mind. Hammel wouldn't have sent him an idiot. After going over the data, he had agreed with Longshot. This was either kill the enemy or let everyone be melted down for parts. Also, cake.

"Nice to meet you. I have news for you to discuss with your command. It starts really simply. Longshot is in charge of the war. All of it. I'll be available for the endless meetings, but she makes the plays. I'd like to say something like "and then we leave, happy ever after" except that this will kill her and most of you. You are in a war you can't win, we are a small ship passing through. Our Fleets are about two hundred years away, although that won't stop them checking in, eventually. Go and tell your command that. But have some cake first."