Kaede reclined her seat backwards and stared up at the ceiling of her office, glad to be home once more. In an attempt to distract herself from the events of her captivity, she had set up her laptop to constantly stream videos of kittens, ducklings, and various other adorable creatures, which she would occasionally look down at. It worked to some extent, but she was still troubled. Her mind replayed the encounter with Sirius/Kimoto on loop, and it reminded her of her troubled childhood. She realized that if Sirius actually knew who Kimoto was, Kaede wouldn't have made it out of there, because her mother was far too stately for knives and mutilation.
It was always there, hiding in irritated glares, the occasional scolding when Kaede was small. The way she talked about how much of an inconvenience Kaede could be, like she was little more than an extension of herself. However, when Kaede's father left, the beast truly emerged, as her ego was just as predatory as the creature that took her form, and without a husband, the only person to devour was Kaede. Forbidden from having friends or outside contacts, she was locked into a twisted cycle of near-worship of her mother, and if she ever slipped up, Kimoto wouldn't scold or hit her. She would destroy Kaede, telling her how she was worthless, how no one ever wanted her and Kimoto was her only hope in the world, how without her, she would be nothing more than a useless hikikomori, who would shrivel up and die unremembered.
Eventually, Kaede snapped under the pressure, decided that if she really was worthless, she should go join the military and at least die for something. Instead, she found kinship and potential within herself, propelling her to the rank she held today. She thought that Kimoto would forget her the moment she ran away, but instead, her ego had turned on itself, and she took a bottle of hard liquor, mixed in some pills, and made a toast to heaven.
But these weren't good thoughts to think. Kaede wouldn't live in the past like that. Instead, she concentrated on the odd electricity flowing through her every nerve. A giddy feeling ballooned her thoughts, telling her that she really could do anything if she put her mind to it. Kaede closed her eyes and reached out. A dull feeling in her gut pointed in various directions, and as it intensified, she began to see the outlines of passing people in the darkness. A little further...
Too far. A torrent of information flooded her brain as she inadvertently exposed herself to the simultaneous trains of thought of half the crew. A cacophony of noise, coupled with thousands of different lights, all blinking and shuddering, threatened to overwhelm her. Her eyes snapped open as the feeling in her stomach turned to sharp pain, and she fell out of her chair, crawling weakly to the trash can under her desk and throwing up.
"I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time, Colonel Suzuki." someone said from the doorway. propping herself up against her desk, Kaede stood, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "Oh, no, just a little bit of momentary illness." she lied.
The figure in the doorway was that of a smallish lady, dressed in a sharp tuxedo rather than the various camo-pattern uniforms of CAST personnel. A pair of aviator sunglasses glittered over her eyes, and she didn't seem happy. "Momentary, you say?" she said, unconvinced.
"It's probably just something I ate. It's nothing, really."
"Alright, so imagine that I believe you. How exactly do you explain the flare that just came out of your room?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You do realize that you were emitting more energy than if you had walked through the core of Fukushima, right? Drop the charade."
Kaede was being uncomfortably reminded of the old paranormal TV shows she used to watch, and she realized that she was staring down a man in black. That being said, she still had a trick up her sleeve.
She extended her will out into the world, searching for the mind of this intruder. It would be easy: Kaede would just convince her that nothing was amiss and get on with her life. However, as she finally found her, a great, terrible pain shot through her. It was like she had put her hand into boiling water... no, liquid nitrogen... no, nothing. Not air, not even vacuum, but complete absence, which permitted nothing to exist and nothing else. Kaede recoiled in horror, the pain taking a decent while to subside.
"Kaede, did you know that while human beings can't be born psychic, we can be born psychically blank? I didn't get my job for nothing, Kaede. Now, come with me, unless you want to make this harder than it has to be."
Kaede sighed. She didn't want to be a test subject for some mad experiment, but she also couldn't abide by more people dying under her watch, or worse, by her own hand. She bowed her head, then put out her hands to be cuffed.
The woman saw her display, and simply burst out laughing. "Oh, Kaede, we're not that kind of agency. You're not going to be some jumpsuited guinea pig. Just follow me, okay?"
Kaede followed the woman through the bowels of the ship, keeping her head down and trying to avoid eye contact with anybody. This had the opposite of the intended effect, as everyone looked over to see what Kaede was doing with the enigmatic lady. Eventually, after attracting enough attention to break a record of some kind, Kaede and the woman arrived in the shuttle bay. There sat a slim, dark, unmarked shuttle, which the crew seemed to have an aversion to. Every now and again, a soldier would look over at it, only to get an angry glare from one of the men surrounding the vehicle and rapidly look away. The guards of the shuttle were equally imposing, being tough-looking, their faces obscured by gas masks and their uniforms bearing no insignia or markings. As the woman steered Kaede towards the shuttle, its rear door opened with a hiss, revealing a chamber where the troop or cargo storage would normally be, featureless save for a metal container roughly the same size and shape as a casket.
"Well, Kaede? Get on in." the woman mused, and sheepishly, Kaede complied. The soldiers came in behind her and stood in formation surrounding her as the door shut. "Climb into the storage for me, Kaede." the woman commanded. Kaede didn't like where this was going, but it was this or committing a homicide, so she obeyed once more, clambering into the casket and lying down. The woman seemed to remember something.
"Oh, of course, how incredibly rude of me. My name is Sphinx. I'll be your handler for our time together. Don't worry, Kaede; the Paraweapons Division will be overjoyed to have you." the woman said. Kaede didn't have a chance to respond before she pressed a button on the casket. A smooth glass cover slid over the top, sealing her in. Then, there was a prick in her neck and the world began to fade into a happy numbness. Sphinx said something else, but Kaede couldn't understand her words through the opiate haze. A faint chill touched her briefly, frost beginning to form on the covering. As she lost lucidity, Kaede smiled faintly at the patterns it formed on the glass. As the ice obscured the outside entirely, Kaede slept.
---
Spatha looked up from the "meal" her captors had prepared for her, secreting a blanket of disgusted pheromones that practically enveloped the room. Humans were apparently only slightly different from the Poslushi biologically; their food was edible, but just barely. The only thing that was actually appetizing was the cup of water that came with each meal, but even then it had an odd chlorine taste to it. She put down the food on her bench and looked away from it. She had already greatly disgraced herself with her capture, so why not starve?
The door hissed open and three humans entered the room with her. One was wearing a bright white coat of some sort, and the other two were in mottled green jumpsuits, and flanked them defensively. Notably, the mottled pair both held human projectile rifles, so Spatha put off her plans of eviscerating them all until they were less well-armed. The one in the coat had a slimmer form and visible mammary glands, so they must have been female. They had some sort of device covering their mouth, and when they spoke, it translated.
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"Hello."
Spatha remained silent, glaring at the mammalian angrily. The female removed their mouthpiece and whispered something to one of their guards. Then, they put the accessory back in.
"Can you hear me?"
Spatha continued her stare. However, the female remained undaunted. The warning look of a Poslushi female was enough to cow all but the most foolhardy of species into submission, and even though Spatha was just a juvenile, she still dwarfed everyone else in the chamber, being nearly three meters tall.
"We know you can hear us."
Spatha still said nothing, but she raised from her sitting position, nearly hitting her head on the ceiling. Her arms were still developing, but the serrated chitin outlining them was razor-sharp, and if she wanted to, she could free the organs from this upstart in moments. Even better still, she could grab an arm and a leg and pull, tearing them apart limb from limb...
ZAP! Spatha collapsed back into her bench, convulsing briefly. A terrible shock was emanating from somewhere under her chitin, and she felt that something terrible had been done to her.
"We've done to you what you did to our people. We'll shock you if you become unreasonable." the female said, talking to Spatha as though she were just a larva.
Then, Spatha growled her first words of the day. "How dare you?"
"What?"
"How dare you speak to me in this way, you savage!?" Spatha spat. One of the guards turned their head away in discomfort as the smell of her anger flooded the space.
"Please do not be unpleasant to us, or we'll shock you again."
"You have no right to tell me what to do!"
ZAP! This time, Spatha was left sprawled on the floor, the pain far more intense this time.
"We want information. What is your name?" the female asked as Spatha picked herself up. This was humiliating beyond belief. Spatha was on the verge of maturation, soon to be a fully fledged Battlematron. If anything, the female should be bowing before her, worshipping her, but instead they insisted that they were equals. All the rage in her mind left her in four vitriolic words.
"You don't deserve it."
The female took a deep breath, then sighed. "If you're not in the mood to speak, then we'll leave."
"Yes. Do so."
The female held up a finger, interrupted. "However, we will be back when you're calmer. Please be more cooperative when we return. I will tell you, I am far nicer than many other people who interrogate your kind."
Spatha remained silent, glaring at the female once more as they and their retinue left the room.
"Well, if we can't crack her, at least tell the CIA that I tried." the doctor said, packing a bundle of documents into her briefcase. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be anatomical reports on Poslushi females. Just as he had encountered during the raid, Darren could see that they were far larger than their male counterparts. It wasn't very surprising; many animals in nature had significantly larger females than males, especially insects.
"Hey, stay positive. From what I hear, some of the ones we nabbed from the Kormoran raid are already starting to break. Maybe this one won't be much different." Darren responded, shrugging as he unloaded and cleared his rifle. He had been assigned to escort duty for his return to service, a task that gave him something to do but wasn't too strenuous to him while his wound finished healing.
"The problem is that we've seen very few female specimens thus far, and from what we've managed to gather from the males, the Combine is a matriarchical, honorbound society. Any female that found herself captured would surely rather die than give up information that would disgrace herself more than she already was, allowing herself to be caught and all."
"If she's a politician, she'll say anything to save her own skin."
The doctor chuckled at the thought, but shook her head. "We pulled her out of a downed fighter. If anything, she's some sort of military leader, and those are at least moderately harder to break."
"And what's your doctorate in, again?"
"Xenopsychology, why do you ask?"
"Well, you should've minored in history. It doesn't matter what kind of profession the brass has; everyone breaks in the end. It was true for the Nazis, and it's true now."
"Well, let's hope the Poslushi aren't too different from the Germans, then."
Darren nodded, then turned to leave. "In my experience, they aren't."
---
"Your Dominance!" the puny Adjudicator Caste cried, bursting into the High Judge's ovipositor chamber, far below the buzzing jungles of Poslush. The cavernous expanse of hewn rock stretched out into the darkness, and in the center sat a huge steel throne hooked up to a network of feeding, life-support, and data tubes. Sitting upon it was a titanic Poslushi, ten meters at the least, wearing a similarly-sized suit of armor thick enough to deflect an artillery shot.
She turned her head to look at the entrant, looking up from the small congregation of Poslushi clamoring for her attention. "Speak." Katana of the Pos Brood's voice rang out, low and vibrating.
"High Judge, the reports from Omen have returned. It's not good."
"Elaborate." Katana's voice raised in something of a warning tone.
The Adjudicator Caste took a step back, shaking slightly. "Well, Your Dominance, the human government has sent troops to reinforce their presence on Omen, and a rival human faction has taken control of Qato."
Katana thought about this briefly. Omen, as the homeworld of the Ovinis, held significant value politically, but was otherwise useful only because of its relatively high population. Qato, however, was centrally located along the galactic hyperlane network in Polegate, making it an effective staging ground for a potential invasion of the sector.
"The 20th Flotilla is still in orbit of Pollanide, correct?"
"Yes, Your Dominance, on Irriling hunting duty."
"Retask them. Tell them that Qato must be retaken. If they must, bomb the planet. And when they're done, they are to link up with the ships of the 1447th Mixed Legion and prepare for an offensive. Humanity will learn obedience, as all creatures do."
"Yes, Your Dominance." the Adjudicator Caste bowed, then turned to leave. Katana didn't quite trust this one; he seemed a little too sycophantic, almost as though he was scheming for something. Katana had a trick up her sleeve, easy and rather base, but still quite powerful.
"And, one more thing."
"Yes, Your Dominance?"
"You please me. Perhaps I shall choose you at the next Great Selection."
The Adjudicator Caste shuddered with excitement. "A thousand, thousand thanks, Your Dominance!"
Of course, Katana didn't really mean that, but being chosen during a Selection was such a high honor that the mere mention of it could turn the most strong-willed of Poslushi into a fumbling, servile idiot. Any schemes he may have had would be utterly forgotten, making it part of the reason why the Pos Dynasty had enjoyed overlordship of the species since the Poslushi were still learning to work iron. But this was Katana's off day, and she didn't quite like to be bothered with deeper thoughts on her break; she had all the other days to ponder the meaning of things. There would be a banquet later that day to celebrate the appointment of a new ambassador from the Yolyski Union, and Katana instead thought just about what she was going to eat.
---
For a primitive species, humanity sure was hard to pin down. Rapier couldn't quite understand how they seemed to appear without warning, how the hyperlanes gave no indication of the huge masses travelling along them until their craft were already in orbit. It was like they ignored the hyperlanes altogether, but that simply wasn't possible, not by their understanding of physics. In order to move at superluminal speeds, one must shunt into another dimension where the speed of light is faster and return at their destination, and it was as simple as that. However, history was speckled with incidents in which someone didn't know that something was impossible and did it anyway, and Rapier was becoming increasingly more worried that the humans had figured out something the Poslushi hadn't.
The various space telescopes of his flagship, the Tethylon, scanned the skies near the Polegate nebula at a feverish pace, searching constantly for something, anything. To that end, the detection crew was disproportionately large, as crewmen were constantly switched out for food and the occasional period of rest.
With a high tone, the detections console of the bridge registered a new contact and Rapier hurried over. The detections officer looked over the readings hurriedly, then looked up at Rapier excitedly. A few moments later, the console printed out a summary. It was a planet, mostly covered by water, with a rich biosphere and the beginnings of a foreign presence. However, as the planet was some twenty light-years away, the presence had likely grown massively since the planet reflected the photons that they were now receiving.
"Send a probe to arrive ahead of us." Rapier commanded, looking over at the explorations officer.
"Ahead of us?" the officer tilted his head in confusion."
"Yes. If the conditions are just right, we can be there in a day or less. And a virgin world like this will strike fear into them as they watch it burn. I watched it happen with the Ovinis, and I'd like to watch it happen once more."
Ultimately, Rapier was just doing this to get off of probation and preserve his military career, but watching from orbit as the water flooded down over Novoarkhangelsk's valleys, sweeping away town after town, had reawakened something within him. He was just like the hunter stalking the ancient caves of his species' homeworld, spear in hand and Greater Imnissi in sight, but his spear was squadrons of fighter-bombers and an arsenal of shipborne weapons. Just like Scimitar of Poslushi legend, who brought the world to heel by the tip of her spear, he would be the one to shatter their armies, if only to watch them burn away.
After all, what was business without pleasure?