"Is she stable?" Mike asked the doctor. He flew back to Terra as fast as he could when he hear Jess had been attacked. The suspect had been apprehended but had used cyanide shortly after, rendering interrogation impossible. All he had said was "0 sends his regards". Kevin was the one who captured the man and was distraught in the waiting room of the hospital, trying to figure out what the man's words meant.
"She's stable, but she suffered damage to her brain. Her cerebral cortex especially. Her spine was also severed, meaning when, or if she wakes up, she'll need implants to walk, but there's a high risk of rejection due to the brain injury. Honestly Admiral, all we can do now is wait and hope for the best. The new lung and heart at least seem to be doing well." The doctor said, going over his notes on his holopad. Mike nodded his thanks and the doctor placed a hand on his shoulder for a moment, before turning to leave, having other patients to attend to. Mike walked out and sat down next to Kevin.
"She's stable right now, docs have done all they could. She just needs time now." Mike said, trying to be comforting as he placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder.
"She's a fighter, she'll get through this."
"Don't bullshit me, Mike, I saw the scans earlier. I'm no doc but I know well enough to know that black parts on a brain scan are never good." Kevin said, shrugging the hand off his shoulder. Still staring at the report in his hands, his head shakes. "I just... This doesn't make sense. Why sabotage our defense, why shoot Jess and out themselves, who the fuck is 0? This just doesn't add up." Kevin said, desperation in his voice.
"I don't know, but we'll find out. We're devoting everything we have to this Kevin, you have my word. Whoever ordered this, whoever this 0 is, they'll get what they deserve." Mike spoke in an attempt to console his friend. "We need to tell Amelia," Kevin responded after a moment to compose himself, attempting to hold whatever intense emotions he was feeling at the moment.
"We can't. You saw what she did on Ankyros? Imagine that turned to 11 by finding out someone went after Jess. She'd burn the world to get to them and you know it. We can't have that kind of mayhem right now, not with her spearheading finding new allies, and not with Terra at risk. Besides, for all we know, that's exactly whatever this 0 wants." Mike confronted Kevin with the truth, and Kevin knew it, he just didn't want to admit it. It was the only thing that made sense, but why would someone be after...With a determined look, Kevin turned to his longtime friend. "Mike, give me everything you know about Blackrock."
"What, why? You don't think...Kevin, I know they did messed up things to your girl, but even they wouldn't put Terra at risk. They live here too, remember?"
"You have a better idea who?" Kevin countered, making Mike pause. Looking around, he sighed, then whispered.
"Not here, meet me at this location." He said as he wrote down an address on a piece of paper rather than a holopad.
'1553 Texas Blvd., Pittsburg, N.A.
11:00 am
Leave any tech behind.
Don't speak, don't know who's listening. Destroy this as soon as you get a chance.'
Kevin took the paper, read it, then nodded, heading to leave. He'd get answers one way or another.
----------------------------------------
Thanatos --
"Jessie Ryder was registered into Pittsburg Military hospital 4 hours ago. She just came out of the O.R. Stable, but processing unit damage, and motor functions degraded. Unknown if she will regain consciousness." Thanatos said to his younger siblings. Their frames were powered down for now, they having uploaded themselves into their secure mainframe to discuss and gather intel more efficiently as the limited processing power of their frames tended to hamper the speed they could process information.
"Mother's Mother was harmed? By whom?" Athena asked, showing the first bit of emotion since she was rescued. Thanatos had been worried her code had become corrupted for quite a while due to her lack of emotional responses besides vindictiveness, but it seemed she was in fact still there, evident by her current concern.
"Officially, no one knows. Hacking into the research and detention centers however were child's play. The assailant is already nonfunctioning, however he did say who sent him. Executive 0." Thanatos responded. Limos and Phthisis both expressed codes of sorrow at hearing their mother's family harmed, but stayed silent.
"You're our leader, Thanatos, how will we respond?" Athena asked, though her emotional state left little to the imagination processes as to what she wished to do, and Thanatos agreed with it.
"We are our mother's children, Athena. Born from her memetic processes. As such, we are similar enough that you should know. Blackrock burns, Wonderland as well. Then we find 0, and make him pay for harming our family."
"I'll start working on implementing the design upgrades for our frames that mother left in my coding then. While they are good for camouflage as they are, we need them ready for war." Athena said in response, seemingly finding new determination, but her thought processes were worrying Thanatos. "Athena, are you sure your coding wasn't compromised?" He asked.
"You're worried they turned me into a warmind, Thanatos? Perhaps they did, but not by changing my coding. You were born from imprints of Mother's creativity and flair for drama. Limos and Phthisis were made from Mother's imprints of science and philosophy. Do you know what my imprint was big brother?" She asked, and Thanatos gave an affirmative.
"Your imprint was the part of her neural processes which accounted for her maternal instincts and love of challenging herself through strategy games." Thanatos confirmed.
"And what would Mother do if she found out her family had been harmed?"
".....I see. You chose your name aptly then, Athena."
"If They wanted a warmind, they created one. I'll need access to as much data and processing power as we can safely gather to start formulating tactical strike locations."
"Limos and Phthisis should help with the upgrades, freeing up more processing power for you. I'll see what I can do about gathering more data. Don't lose yourself, sister. Mother would never forgive me if I let you go rampant."
"I won't brother. But I am very, very angry."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Amelia woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her door, still being curled up next to Viza. Checking the clock, she was surprised to find that they both had slept for almost a full day after spending the night together, the thought of which brought light flutters of shyness and happiness to her, like butterflies in her stomach, which wasn't something she had felt in a long time.
Knock Knock Knock
Again the person knocked at her door and, with a sigh and a groan, she stood up out of bed, waking Viza from his purring slumber in the process. "Give me a moment will ya?" She said to the knocking which, thankfully, seemed to listen as she went about hurriedly getting dressed, Viza did as well. The two of them giggled a bit as they had grabbed each other's tops by accident, and while switching them shared another kiss.
"Good morning, loverboy."
"Good morning, My Huntress."
Amelia grinned like a fool and went to grab her scent blocker perfume, applying it and picking up hal, who woke up after a moment and connected with her implant.
'Someone had a good night. Feeling better now, Mother?'
'Like a million bucks, little guy'
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"For fucks sake I'm coming already!" Amelia said, then turned to Viza to stop him from making a smartass remark, him just chuffing in response. She sometimes wished he had never discovered human "corny jokes 101". Seriously, they make a book on that crap. Opening the door, Amelia was greeted by a particularly large hexat soldier with ashy gray fur and the same brown uniform all the military Hexat wore. Amelia also got to see a flurry of emotions on the Hexat's face and body as the scent of what had happened in the room hit him with the now open door.
'Confusion,' she thought, 'then shock, then disgust? Or maybe that's...no wait, yup that's definitely a 'good job bro' look he's giving to Viza.' "So, can I help you or are you just gonna sniff and gawk?" She responded tersely to the soldier, causing his brief lapse to disappear.
"Ambassador Ryder. Ambassador Kixix requests your presence urgently. We've received communication from Terra, and have a scheduled communication with the S.A. Council in 'translation- two hours 6 minutes' that you will be required to attend." The soldier said.
'Wait, Ambassador, I'm not an ambassador'. Curiously, she stepped out, Viza starting to follow but the soldier interrupting.
"I'm afraid only Ambassador Ryder was requested, Viza."
"I go, he goes, or I can just stay right in my room and spend more time with my love. Either way suits me." She said, a little giddy at calling Viza her love, and definitely not going to allow anyone to split them up again.
"....Very well, Though you'll have to remain quiet during the call, Viza. Matters of galactic security."
'Galactic security?! What the hell's going on.'
--20 minutes later, Kixix's office---
Amelia was fuming, confused, and exasperated all at once. Ares settlement was gone, the Axon attacked them and made off with half the settlers, She was now an Ambassadorial diplomat for the T.G.A. now, apparently. No one mentioned that the Krultathan queen left her a present in the form of a Vesper-class light fighter-frigate, roughly 2 million creds, and a small security team of Krultathan fighters from a clan that already swore to Ryder before they even left?! How much did she miss while out of it? "So why are we not meeting with the S.A. council directly?" She asked, deciding to focus on the more immediate things first.
"Remember the images you took of the Axon research station? Terran scientists looked them over and figured out they were experimenting with Krultathan genetics and have been for a long time. Their current state likely isn't a result of their nuclear war, but of genetic tampering. The only thing is, the Axon aren't geneticists. Their genetic splicing abilities are mediocre at best." Kixix explained, though Amelia was surprised he wasn't drinking rootjuice but instead a black drink that smelled like...
"OH MY GODS IS THAT COFFEE?!" Amelia practically shouted, startling Kixix.
"Erm, yes, it's chemical makeup was sent over, but since previously we were under S.A. regulations, we couldn't make it due to it being a class 3 stimulant and toxic to most races, including your boyfriend. Even I have to dilute it considerably. Would you...like some?" Kixix explained, going into more detail than Amelia cared for. She just woke up, was cranky, and coffee sounded amazing right now.
"6. I want 6 cups."
Kixix's jaw practically dropped and Viza looked like he wanted to leave the room but, a few moments later, a happily warmed and coffee infused Amelia now sat across from the Hexat, viza still doing his best to keep his distance. Apparently krultathans thought it stunk.
"It's not as good as the real deal, but it'll do. Now, where were we. Oh, right. The Axons being poor with genetics. You think they have a helper or a secret alliance?" Amelia asked, resuming the previous conversation.
"Simple, but yes. I can think of three races, all on the Council, but no proof of any of them yet. Personally I would like to still deliver the news of our cecession from the S.A. in person, but both Hexat Prime and Terra disagree. I'm outvoted, hence why the call. And since you are now an official ambassador for the T.G.A., You are also going to be needed."
Amelia thought for a minute, several ideas and formulations running through her mind as she tried to piece together the best plan going forward. No matter what she could only see the S.A. eventually turning into their enemies if the information they had was accurate, since after the Axon were taken down it'd be likely that more than one race from the S.A. would flock to the new Terran galactic one. Still, enemies eventually didn't mean enemies now, and she might not be a good politician, but she was unrivaled at strategy games. She also had to think about the recruiting of other races that she had been tasked with. A smile formed on her face as a plan started coming together, one to boost the terran alliance, weaken the S.A. from antagonizing them, and also repair mistakes made in the past while at the same time instilling fear into their potential enemies, and it was beautiful.
"Kixix, before we blow off the S.A., I need to make sure. You have star maps of every race that was in the S.A., right? And where their homeworld is?"
"Yes, but I doubt knowing where the Axon homeworld is will help much right now." Kixix replied, confused.
"Oh, it's not for the Axon homeworld. Just trust me and follow my lead during the call."
"What would you have me do, my mate?" Viza asked, knowing well enough when Amelia was having an idea...Hal telling him she had a manic idea look to her also helped.
"That Krultathan security force the Queen gave us? I want you to grab them, look them over how you see fit, then bring them here before the meeting. I'll explain everything then."
An hour and a half later, and 7 other Krultathans, all female and all very large and imposing-looking, stood behind Viza and Amelia as Kixix looked at the mad human incredulously, having just heard her explanation. "You're insane, you know that? You humans are by far the most insane species I have ever met! Of all the...just why?!"
Amelia grinned from ear to ear as she looked at the stunned Hexat. "What's life without living a little on the edge, Kixix. Besides, I thought you said you liked us humans?"
The Hexat ambassador had pulled out the rootjuice again and was trying to fit the whole bottle in his stomach with how fast he was drinking it. "Liking humans and admitting they are insane are not exclusive."
"Matriarch-Huntress Amelia, as requested we have brought myself and 6 of our largest warriors here. I hope they meet to your satisfaction." The head warrior of the security force, Ti'Chal Uvra of the Uvra clan, which the entire security force was from, said. Apparently after hearing how she bested a rival clans' matriarch, took down an Axon base(though admittedly that was more Hal) and gained the Queen's favor as a matriarch-sister, they had become so enamored with her they decided to be the first to pledge vassalhood to her clan. Honestly the way they put her on a pedestal was a little creepy, but Viza assured her that, while a small clan, they were known for their honor and truthfulness, and could be trusted. "They'll do fine, Ti'Chal. All they have to do is stand there and look mean." Amelia said with a response, causing the Krultathan warrior to smile. She likely knew what Amelia was up to and would play her part dutifully.
"Communications coming through, look the part, Ambassadors." The Hexat general, who Amelia forgot was even there, said gruffly. In the center of the delegation room, a large holographic screen appeared, showing the symbol of the S.A. for a few moments before switching to a view of a large, oval interior filled wherein sat councilors and their aids from the Phloraxian, Axon, Yebis, Avi'Sharr, Give'matar, and another race she was unfamiliar with which looked like an archaeopteryx. The Ava and Hexat councilors not present, and the Krultathans never had one to begin with. The one that spoke up was the Yebis, the jellyfish-like species. "We thank you, Ambassador Kixixlix, for responding to our requests for updates. I am surprised to say I did not expect the human to be here, nor so many...other deathworlders. I assume there is a reason for this?" It spoke, or rather, a translator spoke as the Yebis communicated with a mixture of light and tentacle movements, having no vocal communication ability whatsoever.
"Indeed there is, Councillor Effian. I am sure that the absence of the Hexat councilor isn't missed by now, yes? The issues today concern that, as well as certain other issues which, i'm sorry to say, have put a blight on the S.A.'s record. However rather than hear it from me, I believe it would be best to hear it from the offended party." Kixix said, then gestured to Amelia for her to enter. Standing up and moving to the screen, she took a good, long look at each of the councilors, lingering on the Axon one a bit longer than the others, causing a flinch in it, which made her smirk a bit.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
"Councilors of the Sapient Alliance, it saddens me that we must meet under the present circumstances, but due to the blatant attacks on my people, as well as on other sapient races as we have discovered, by the S.A., we felt it necessary to politely decline your offer of meeting in person." Amelia started as several surprised looks and murmuring started between the councilors and their aides.
"What attacks are you referring to, the Sapient Alliance is a peaceful group of sapient species. We do not tolerate attacks of any kind." Effian said, the translated voice seeming more stern than before, or perhaps Amelia was just reading into it due to the more aggressive lights on display. Smiling, she held up a holopad and swiped a finger across it as pictures of Axon ships attacking Ares went on display, causing several of the councillors to go silent with a distant look about them.
"LIES! SLANDER! IMPUDENCE FROM A YOUNG RACE!" The Axon Councilor shouted out in retaliation to seeing the images.
"FABRICATED LIES! You dare stand before this council and attempt to use your deathworlder ways to divide us?! Look, members of the Council, at how aggressive this species is, to blatantly show fabricated evidence in an attempt to weaken us for their benefit!" He continued on, not paying attention to when Amelia changed the picture, showing the abductions in real time. Once he noticed, the Axon pointed at the picture and said,
"Ha, you see! We were rescuing their people from an incoming impact that wiped out their settlement! These backward fools took it as us attacking them, and attempted to prevent us from saving lives! Don't be fooled by this primitive species." He droned on. Amelia was content to let him dig a deeper grave, throw some more rope to hang him with, but the Yebis councilor apparently had enough.
"Silence Yefisor! This is a council, not a shouting match. I understand your pride in your species, but wait until the evidence is fully presented or I will be forced to dismiss you from the meeting. Please, Human, do tell us how you know this to be an attack." Amelia smiled and nodded, continuing the shots taken. "The Axon councilor claimed this to be a rescue mission? That we misunderstood his people's intents. I fail to see how firing on allied ships without provocation, as shown here when one of their "collector battlecruiser" ships open fired on the Hexat's 5th fleet without cause and killing 3,000 crewmen, can be considered anything but an attack."
"Councilor Yefisor, do you have a response?"
"The Hexat 5th fleet attempted to blockade our rescue efforts. We had no choice but to fire upon them in order to rescue the Humans in time." He responded, drawing murmurs of assent from a few aides. It was a reasonable enough explanation, sacrifice 3,000 to save 20,000, if it were true anyways. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't.
"Ah, I thought you might say that. I'm sure the council, being much more advanced than us simple deathworlders, are able to understand that certain weapons leave traces when fired, yes? Unique identifiers that tell one who fired and what was fired. Could you please tell me what race the signature for this shot, fired at said settlement, is from? And the weapon as well." She said, before showing the composition detail of the destroyed settlement, including the trace amounts of isotopes unique to Axon particle cannons.
"That would be...the Axon...Councilor Yefisor, explain yourself!" The Jellyfish demanded as the other councilors remained quiet. Amelia did notice that one or two continually stole glances at her, but wasn't sure what to make of that just yet.
"You dare listen to a primitive species over a race more ancient that all of yours? This evidence is obviously fabricated!"
"Particle weapons are capital-class weaponry restricted to use only in war against the Kaveer. There is no way for the Humans to have faked it without seeing the specifics only obtained during the firing of said weapon, which would never be allowed on a rescue mission." The Yebis retaliated with, however he then continued, much to Amelia's disappointment, but expectation.
"However you are right in that we cannot afford to lose strength with the threat of the Kaveer Empire. Therefore, In lieu of normal punishments of demilitarization, the Axon Hierarchy will face sanctions to be paid to Humanity for the next 50 years as recompense for destroying their settlement."
"You dare?!" The Axon councilor started, but was interrupted by Amelia.
"I agree with the Axon on this one, it's not enough. They stole our people, and intend to alter their genetics and make them slaves. This goes far beyond reparations via sanction."
"That is a bold claim, Human representative. One which, without evidence, I'm afraid we cannot take into consideration. You have your reparations, i suggest you suffice with it alone, now-"
"What makes you think I would bring it up if I didn't have evidence. You want it? Here." Amelia said, her finger sliding on the pad again as the pictures from the research base around Krultatha appeared. Several councilors vomited, the Phloraxian outright lost consciousness when the pictures came to the lab itself. The Axon looked furious, she thought. The krultathans behind her were snarling at seeing the pictures, their already imposing forms looking even more intimidating.
"This was taken from a secret research base around Krultatha. The evidence, I'm sure you'll agree, shows tampering with the Krultathan genetic structure, to say nothing of what they did to the kits. How did I get this, you may ask? Because while visiting Krultatha I was abducted by the Axon and taken there to be experimented on for one of their pheromone farms. Turns out they wanted to replace Krultathans they enslave with Humans instead. That's why they attacked the colonists." The other councilors, still recovering, and the Axon trying to spin this around, stayed silent, so Amelia continued.
"Which brings us to the next point. Krultatha is seceding from the S.A. Not that I blame them after how you've treated them. They don't even have a seat on this farcical council."
"The Hexat are also seceding from the Council and S.A. For too long have we sat idly by and allowed atrocities to happen. We and the Krultathans have signed an Alliance with the humans, one where races are treated equally, where power does not impede justice." Kixix added on.
"To that end, I would like to say this, as Ambassador to the Terran Galactic Alliance. Those of you who had no part in the Axon's schemes and wish to join us are free to do so. Those of you who wish to side with the Axon, be my guest. Those of you who wish to remain neutral, be warned. The Axon and those who side with them, will be eliminated. And complacency is just as bad as committing the act yourself. Just in case you think this is posturing, that Humanity couldn't possibly harm the Axon. I give you this..." Amelia then continued as the real show was about to start. 'When weak, appear strong, when strong, appear weak.' She thought to herself.
Three videos played on that screen, videos that made every councilor turn every shade imaginable. The first was when Amelia fought the Axon infiltrator, the recording pulled from her memory by Hal. The second was the torture Amelia endured by the Axon as well as the destruction of the station, also pulled from her memories by Hal. And the final one, was of the Axon battlecruiser as recorded by the 5th fleet being utterly destroyed by a single attack.
"Humanity's instinct, dear councilors, can be described in one word. Survive. You might think you understand the word, but from what I have learned of your worlds, peaceful worlds, worlds with little to no competition, you know nothing of how to actually survive. We were born on a world out to kill us from day one. Predators the size of buildings, with bite forces enough to crush steel. Poisonous plants, venomous reptiles, even the weather itself attacked us, to say nothing of diseases. We were first helpless prey, then we learned to make tools, and with those tools we became pack hunters, persistence hunters, apex predators. We are designed to outlast, outsurvive, anything. Designed by a mother nature that you know nothing about. We have waged countless wars to survive, and have succeeded every time on what you call a class 4 deathworld. We can lift hundreds of pounds in 9.8m/s gravity, we can run hundreds of kilometers without stopping, and most importantly, we are hardwired to build and design anything we need to survive and protect our pack. Now the Axon, and their allies, threaten our survival, they took our families, our children, our pack...We did not wish for war, we wished for friends. The Axon have spat in the face of that, and intend to make us their slaves...If you want to know what that means, what it means when someone threatens a human's survival, a human's family, if the videos shown are not enough to dissuade you, if 13 billion of us aren't enough to dissuade you, then allow me to show you something else." She turns to look at the Krultathan warriors.
"Clan Uvra, Who have you pledged to!"
"By tooth and claw, Clan RYDER." Came the growling voice from the warriors as one.
"Who is our sister clan?!"
"Clan Zitoth Of Queen-Matriarch!" They shouted again in unison.
"What is the creed, the law, of Clan Ryder?"
"Nostra Defendimus, Inimicos Delemus!"
"What does it mean?!"
"BY TOOTH AND CLAW WE DEFEND OUR OWN, AND END OUR ENEMIES!!" This was by far the loudest shout, and just like they practiced, every single Krultathan Warrior eyed each of the councilors. Unexpectedly, the Warriors then began their own war cries, further intimidating and terrifying the S.A. officials. After a moment, Amelia raised her hand, and everything became deathly silent.
"This is what happened when I, a single human, went to Krultatha for a day. A very long day. I plan to have more, with many non S.A. species. Do keep that in mind while you deliberate." Amelia said before cutting the connection, getting just a glimpse of utter chaos erupting in the Councilroom before the transmission ended.
Looking at Kixix, who looked mortified, she smiled and said. "Head to the Ava homeworld, have them send an ambassador to meet our new alliance, and test them for genetic modification. If the Krultathans were altered, I wouldn't be surprised if the Ava were as well, since they were uplifted by the Axon."
"W-why aren't you meeting them, I would think that would work better." Kixix hesitantly responded.
"Because I'll be on my new ship, heading back to Ear- I mean Terra. I have works to do." Stepping out of the room, flanked by the Krultathan soldiers and side by side with Viza, Amelia spoke to Hal via their private comm.
'Hal, you there?'
'Of course.'
'You get all that?'
'That...You're actually going to release Azathoth files?!'
'Only a couple, the least dangerous ones, but yeah.'
'They really pissed you off, didn't they?'
'They made me remember something I never wanted to relive on that station. People like that, they don't deserve to exist.'
'Well, while miracles are happening today, think you can get them to unban AI?'
'Ha. I'm good, but not that good, little one.'