Their arrival at the Chiln world was somber. Allan, feeling responsible for many things, let this all boil under a thin emotional veneer of calm and collectedness as they descended to the planet's surface. Aly did her best to help her husband calm down.

"You know Chalxra would never hold anything against you, right?" Aly said, gently placing a hand on Allan's back.

"It's not that," Allan said, feeling as if he would collapse under the weight the gods had placed on his shoulders. "I told Chalxra I would help him; I promised I would be there. And I wasn't. I failed him. But even knowing I had failed him, he still reached out. I don't know why, but it terrifies me."

Aly gently rubbed Allan's back and thought about what he had said. Moments later, Jalla's voice came over their comms. "Ready to send you down whenever you want."

Allan looked around, getting nods from both Nara and Aly. Aly wore the black suit of armor she had worn during the fight for her homeworld, as did Allan. "We are ready. Jalla, if anything goes wrong, you get Aly and Nara out of there first, then me. Okay?"

"Understood. Standby." Was all Jalla said, then the three who were traveling found themselves on the beach amidst a camp of clearly wounded Chiln.

Immediately weapons came up, and Nara shapeshifted into some monstrosity with six-foot-long swords for arms—a voice called out over the sudden panic. "Hold your fire! Stand down!"

A familiar velociraptor form pushed through the crowd alongside a scaled and battered Galgax. Allan smiled and triggered the faceplate of his armor to rise. "Hilx'Nit! Doc! What in the hell are you doing here?

"Allan, it's good to see you after so long! We received some interesting intel from none other than our own god, so I am up to speed on your situation." Hilx'Nit said, clapping a hand on Allan's arm. "But there is much you need to know. Come with me."

Allan nodded and walked with Hilx'Nit. Nara shifted back to her Quillinar form when Allan lifted his visor, and Aly raised her visor as well. Hilx'Nit led them through the crowd of wounded Chiln. Allan looked concerned. "Doc, what's going on here? Why are the Chiln here, and how are so many of them injured?"

"This is all that remains of the Chiln Royal Guard," Doc said, gesturing to the Chiln around them, "They are the only ones who remained loyal after the rest of the guard, and the general populace turned to the side of the enemy."

The dinosaur-esk man looked disgusted. A cry of pain made Doc scurry off with little to say about it. Hilx'Nit picked up where Doc left off. "We came across a small fleet of Chiln ships limping through the gates, away from their homeworld and fell in with them. We ended up fighting three enemy ships and just barely winning."

Hilx'Nit stopped and looked at Allan; his tone was hoarse and barely above a whisper. "I have never felt so overpowered in combat, except for by you, Allan. I hope the gods are right and you will provide an answer. Without a way to fight them. Well...we will all die."

Hilx'Nit turned without another word and led them through a flap on a tent. A semi-familiar Chiln sat, hulking above the average Chiln, looking as if he had been through the propellers of a boat. The Chiln made the strange arrangement of facial structures that indicated a smile for his race and rose to his feet. "Allan, Aly, it is good to see you. I am glad you came. And according to the gods, it is good you are quite literally back from the dead."

Allan smiled back at Chalxra, looking up to meet his eyes. "Yes, it is good to be back. But I will admit I was hesitant to come, as I was sure you would be mad I had not come to help as promised."

Chalxra's face fell. "Yes, I do wish you had come. My mother might still be alive. But you might be dead. We all might be dead. I see, at least in this thing, why it was better for you to not be there. You are here now, and that is what matters."

Allan placed a hand on Chalxra's arm. "Still, I am sorry I did not keep my word. And I am sorry for your loss."

Chalxra seemed to sniffle. It was difficult for Allan to tell the difference in biology. Chalxra shook his head. "It is not a problem. If you feel bad, help me protect these people. And help me kill those who did it and caused my people to suffer."

"That I can do," Allan said with a smile, reminding Hilx'Nit and Chalxra why they had called upon him.

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Allan, Aly, and Nara spent the next hour or so helping where they could. Moving the injured and the dead, as well as getting water and supplies from several supply shuttles rising from the depths to the surface. When the night began to fall, Allan, Aly, Nara, Chalxra, and Hilx'Nit teleported aboard the Solstice.

"Firstly," Allan said as they all took seats in the mess hall, bowls in front of them, "you should both know humanity, my people, have voted to join the fight and are making preparations as we speak."

Zall stepped into the hall, raising the eye scales of Hilx'Nit, who had never seen a banker outside their strange cubic form in person. "What is left of the banker clan has taken refuge on the human world's moon. I suspect there will be many who seek refuge."

"Will Earth become a bastion?" Chalxra asked, "Can your people afford to take in others?"

Allan rubbed his shoulder. "That's a funny thing about humans; we don't think of it like that. Sure after the wars are fought and the enemy dead, we will make sure we collect on our debts and pay others, but at the moment, it's not a matter of affording to do it; it is simply something we can do, so we do."

Chalxra looked at Allan, his eyes indicating he was deep in thought. "Allan, I have a request to make."

"Ask my friend," Allan said, having a fair guess at what he would ask.

"Please take in all the Chiln on this planet; any who have sided with the enemy have been dealt with, but we are not safe here. This world is on the very edge of Chiln space, so we fled here in preparation to seek a different world to hide in." Chalxra stated all of this without revealing any emotion, as if preparing himself for rejection.

Allan nodded, "I must warn you before I give you an answer; the oceans of my homeworld are not clean; while I love the Earth, Humanity has not been kind to their home. On top of that, the life that lives in our oceans is unknown for a large part, and some of the greatest predators on Earth come from the ocean depths."

"We are well acquainted with cleaning oceans; for most planets, we are perfectly capable of cleaning their oceans in weeks; if your world is particularly bad, it might take months. As for the predators, there is no greater threat in the water than a Chiln warrior trying to defend his home, so these terms are acceptable." Chalxra sounded slightly hopeful now. "So I ask again, will you shelter my people?"

Allan opened his mouth to say yes, but before he could say anything, Chalxra spoke once more. "In return and in thanks, on behalf of my people, the bankers, and any others who may want to seek shelter, I offer you this as the last free monarch of the Chiln Empire."

What he pulled from under a scale on his chest, he pulled a sash. The shash he had shown them before in Japan was bright, seeming to shimmer with life and emotion; this one, while still beautiful, looked like dull silver. "This is my mother's stash. When a monarch dies, their shash is used to pass on the cumulative technologies and experiences; I have learned all that I need; this will allow humanity to understand and produce the entirety of Chiln technologies."

"Chalxra, when I saw your shash in Japan, it was different than this."

"Yes, shashes change as a Chiln age, but the most vital piece of the hash is its tie to the very life force of the Chiln who owns it. It is customary to give your shash to your spouse in the Chiln culture; by doing so, you give them a literal piece of your life force. The technologies and cultures behind the hash are not important at this moment. Will your people take in my people, Allan?" Chalxra said and laid the silvery shash on the table.

"I do not need your mother's stash to tell you yes, Chalxra," Allan said gently, sliding the shash towards Chalxra.

Chalxra picked the shash up and thought for a moment, then handed it directly to Allan. "I am not giving this to humanity; I am giving it to you, Allan. Should you need to use it to persuade the rest of your people, I will not fault you for it."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Allan took the shash and carefully placed it in his pocket. "Very well, thank you, Chalxra."

Hilx'Nit looked at Allan. "I do not know how my people are faring, and I can not promise you the complete technologies of my people, but if the need arose, I would ask you to shelter my people as well."

"I know, my friend and I will happily lend my strength to it, but first, we should discuss the threats we must defend against on Earth," Allan said, and everyone nodded.

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"The first thing you should know is that while they seem to have the ability to travel incredible distances without a Jump Gate, they will not use this when the Jump Gates are available," Hilx'Nit said.

"They are also somehow able to highjack a Jumpgate, remove it from the system, and feed it power from some special ship," Chalxra added.

"So if we put some kind of point defense on the Jumpgate and then perform monitoring of the rest of the system, Earth should be pretty well served to act as a last bastion." Allan was thinking, trying to think of something that would act as a sufficient defense.

"We had plasma cannons and laser defense barriers, and they walked right through them." Chalxra said, "They seem to take plenty of damage from being hit or shot with solid slugs."

"Pretty hard to beat pure kinetic energy." Allan said, nodding, "Guess that means we fall back on humanity's good old standard of shoot first, ask questions later, and if they don't die, you didn't use a big enough round."

The remainder of the night was spent developing several ideas for defending the Earth Jumpgate and how to defend the surrounding space just in case. When they were done, Allan asked Aly to pull a recording of their conversation and send it to Eddy, the UEWC, the Bankers, and directly to each world leader. Along with this, Aly suggested they send a summary in text with AI mock-ups of the proposed weapons systems.

Moments after Aly had hit send and the message was on the way, another message was received in an almost eerie form of Deja Vu; Aly and Allan looked at Aly's spawn father on screen, with the sounds of a battle waging behind him.

34.4

"Allan, Aly, I had hoped never to make another message like this. But we need your help." Yilkie said. "Strange people, along with some Chiln warriors, are attacking our world. We have done what we can to slow them, and we are fighting with all that we can, but if we do not receive help. Well, the Quillinar homeworld will fall. If you can not get help, do not come for me; flee and save yourselves. Survive despite these monsters. Allan, take good care of my daughter. And Aly... I know I was not a great father, but I hope you know I love you, and I am sorry for what happened. If I never see you again know I am proud of you. Goodbye."

Aly was stunned. Chalxra was fuming. "The traitors of my people now wage war on your people Aly. I am sorry; I will lead what remains of my warriors and attempt to push them back from your world."

"No, you will not," Aly said, something sparking in her voice. "You should take your people and go to Earth, your people are great warriors, and on top of that, they are some of the best builders in the known galaxy. Lend those skills to the humans. Work with them to establish somewhere we can base our retaliation from."

Chalxra looked as if he wanted to say more but simply nodded, and Aly sent him down to the surface to begin preparations to take the remaining free Chiln to Earth. Aly turned to Hilx'Nit and pulled from her neck the carved scale he had once presented her. "Hilx'Nit Gartinbrox, I would call this mark of honor due."

Hilx'Nit looked long and hard into Aly's eyes. "Keep the mark; you have yet to stop earning the honor in my eyes, Aly of the clan Jushintorg. I will instead do this on a promise from your husband."

Hilx'Nit turned to Allan. "My family and the families of many of my crew are on a passenger ship we managed to extract from station Xenttrop Theta. If I may send them with the Chiln to reside on Earth, my men and I will go with you and provide what support we can in what I am sure is about to be a bloody battle."

Allan smiled and clapped Hilx'Nit on the shoulder. "You have my word. They will be well cared for."

Hilx'Nit nodded and requested to teleport to his ship to begin his preparations. When he was gone, Aly looked at her husband. "I know I have my issues with my people, especially my father, and I know I love you and married you because you are gentle and kind and everything I need in a life partner."

Allan could tell she did not want to continue her train of thought. "But?"

"But." She took a breath. "But I also know there was a time when you were little more than a merciless fighting machine, and I know it was a terrible time for you... I... I..."

She broke down sobbing and fell into Allan's arms. He knew what she was asking. She was trying to be kind to him, deal with the possibility of losing her people again, and still ask him to return to something he used to be. Allan stroked her hair, holding her close to himself.

"I have never truly given up that side of me, Aly. The thought of you even worrying about that is plenty. I swear I will do everything I can to save your father and your people." Allan said, gently kissing her head, hoping she felt his love for her.

"Thank you, Allan," Aly said, looking up and kissing him.

"Of course, my wife." He scooped her off her feet and carried her to the sands of their sleeping pit, where he made gentle love to his wife...

Later that night, as Aly slept in the sands, Allan slipped away and went to the mess hall. "Xulgra, Elunitra, lets have a chat."

Xulgra appeared almost instantly. Elunitra followed soon after, but she looked haggard. "I know things are bad on the Quillinar homeworld, so I have a favor to ask. Can you relay a message to Draco? Tell him I need to ask him some things if he is willing."

Elunitra nodded and vanished. Xulgra looked at Allan and then spoke. "You, in particular, are a child of death; though you may not see it, I can see my influence flowing through you like a great river, where it is merely a mist in others."

"I am aware," Allan said and was about to speak more when Elunitra returned. "He says that when you sleep, he will pull you into his realm, well, your mind at least."

"Very well, Xulgra, I just want to know if I am immune to death. Immune to you, thanks to this." He tapped the tattoo Draco had given him.

"Yes, and No." Xulgra shrugged. "Even I am not quite sure what Draco has done to you, I can see that there is potential, great potential, but otherwise, you are affected in a way I can not see."

"Thank you," Allan said, and Xulgra nodded and vanished.

"Allan," Elunitra said, her voice sounding as if it was on the verge of breaking into sobs. Allan looked at her and was instantly reminded of his wife, who slept in the other room. "I know you are one man. But... Please... Save my children... I know you think me a stupid Goddess who should step in more... But please..."

Allan was shocked when the Goddess of the quillinar fell to her knees, clutching her middle and sobbing. Allen surprised Elunitra then by pulling her to her feet and hugging her. "I have already promised one of your children my best; I can offer you no more; however, tonight only, I can offer you the comfort of a sleeping pit with your most devout child and her husband to hold you."

Elunitra was more surprised when Allan scooped her off her feet; though she could have, she did not resist. He lay the Goddess down next to Aly, who woke, and Allan quickly explained before pulling his wife close. Aly looked at her Goddess, who mimicked her and snuggled close to Allan. The two of them fell asleep almost instantly, and Allan chuckled to himself as he drifted away into the arms of Morpheus.

As his eyes finally closed, Allan found himself once more seated at a great table with a dragon opposite him. "Draco, it is good to see you."

"You as well, my friend." The dragon said in its strange way. "One of the little ones, actually the one you now hold alongside your wife, said you wished to speak to me."

"Do I ever," Allan said, leaning back and preparing for a long conversation.