“It has been three weeks since the League of Species Battlefleet was defeated by the Rashan, a species that is now believed to be what for thousands of years was thought to be a biological impossibility - a sentient, space-faring predator species. It has also been revealed to the Sagittarius News Network that also participating in the battle were a joint fleet of Dreeden, a minor League species and their client species, the terrans. We have unconfirmed reports that the Terrans are- unbelievably enough - another predator species.

League members are reeling from the news, with riots breaking out on several planets. League leadership has urged calm, declining to comment until the security council meets once the remains of the battle-fleet return to Assemblage station.

----

Dreeden Embassy on the League of Species Capital Station Assemblage,

The two ambassadors were an odd couple, walking side by side down the corridors of the Dreeden embassy. On one side was a Dreeden, one meter tall with compound eyes set on either side of it’s head, wearing a black high-collared jacket and pants. Small tentacles could be seen extending from the sleeves of the jacket, writhing nervously. On the other was a human, taking one step for every two of the Dreeden. Twice the Dreeden’s height and wearing a full environmental jumpsuit and carrying it’s helmet by his side, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched as he walked purposefully down the hallway.

The Dreeden embassy was one of hundreds located on the Assemblage, the enormous station that served as the capital for the League of Species, and but predated the League itself. It was built thousands of years ago by the Bonthans and the Arkone as a neutral meeting place between their races. As both species expanded, more races were found among the stars, and the station expanded along with the number of races that used it. It was Assemblage station that allowed the League of Species to form, and now it served as its bustling heart and capital. The center of the station was a 10km wide sphere which was home to the council chambers themselves and thousands other meeting rooms, offices and the infrastructure that housed the intricate bureaucracy that allowed a government made up of hundreds of member races and thousands of star systems to function.

The central sphere was surrounded by concentric rings, each ring providing embassy space for member species, housing for League bureaucrats, and docking stations to serve the member species. Each ring had been built as need demanded, so the oldest species in the League occupied the central rings, with the newer species at the outer rings. The outermost ring, which housed the Dreeden embassy as well as their client species, was under construction, with scaffolding surrounding much of its circumference. Joining these rings to the central station were spokes containing transit tubes, allowing even occupants of the outermost ring to travel to the central sphere within minutes.

“I got here as quickly as I could,” Nesh, Dreeden Ambassador to the Galactic Council panted as he struggled to keep up with the long strides of the human. “How bad is it Baden?”

“Word from the League fleet reached the council yesterday. Since then we’ve had protesters outside the embassy offices and half dozen calls in the council for our forcible removal from the Assemblage, which only failed on the technicality that the Republic of Terra isn’t actually a member of the League. Three hours ago one of your techs found a Queel in one of the embassy’s maintenance tunnels. Best guess is that they were trying to sabotage the embassy's environmental controls. If your techs hadn’t caught them when they did…”

“I’m sorry Baden. I know that this has moved up the timeline, but your species's secret was going to come to light eventually.” Nesh shook his head ruefully. “I thought after Admiral Davies managed to pull the League battle-fleet out that Admiral Nuryaw could be an ally for us on the council. She’s the ranking member of the League security council, and if anyone would support humanity, I felt it would be the Admiral that just had her fleet saved by the Terran navy.”

“Nuryaw’s not the problem, Nesh. It’s Moktep, her damned vice-admiral. He arrived before the rest of the League fleet, and has called an emergency session of the council. The Vice-Admiral has charged Nuryaw with high treason and the Associated Republics of Terra and Dreeden Republic have been named as collaborators. Nuryaw was arrested, disarmed and her personal guard disbanded as soon as she disembarked from her flagship.”

“What?” That brought Nesh to a halt. “Despite Nuryaw being stubborn and arrogant as they come, she kept that fleet together. Without her leadership, there wouldn’t have been a battlefleet for us to save!”

“That’s not the way that Moktep sees it, and it seems he’s convinced most of the security council as well.” Ambassador Baden Woods of the Associated Republics of Terra paused, glancing down at his colleague. “I’m surprised you don’t know all this already, usually your people are the ones to hear the council whispers before mine do.”

“Like I said, I got here as fast as I could, I haven’t even had a chance to debrief with our State Department. After the battle, I transferred from the Helena to a Dreeden Republic frigate and headed to the Confluence. We docked less than ten minutes ago. I received word that the Jinkto was out of the paddock just as we were making orbit.”

Nesh sighed. His legs weren’t used to this much exercise after the three week-long trip on the cramped Dreeden frigate, and what Baden was telling him was potentially devastating. It had been over 120 years since his people and the Terrans met, and while things hadn’t always been easy, the two races had become close allies. When more space-faring species had been discovered, it was always the Dreeden that made contact, keeping the human’s secret safe. Now, after all this time, humans had revealed themselves to the rest of the galaxy, and it happened with Nesh’s tacit approval. He wondered how long it would be until State got word of this mess and he was recalled.

They walked in silence for a while before Baden spoke again. “I would have made the same call you did, Nesh. If Nuryaw retained her position on the council, she could have helped convince the rest that humans weren’t monsters. We knew this day was coming eventually, and no matter what, we knew that being revealed as a predator species to a galaxy full of herbivores wasn’t going to go smoothly. We’ll make the best of it.”

The two ambassadors reached the blast doors that separated the Dreeden embassy from the rest of the station. There they were met by sharp salutes from a human and a Dreeden security detail, waiting to escort them out of the relative safety of the embassy. Despite the thick doors, angry shouting from a score of different species could be heard.

“Leave your marines here, Baden. We don’t know how other species will react to seeing one human after knowing what you are, let alone five of them wearing combat armor. My people can handle the protestors.” Nesh took a deep breath and steeled himself to face the angry mob outside.“So Baden, what’s our plan?”

“Well Nesh,we have to prevent Admiral Nuryaw’s execution, clear both the Associated Republics of Terra and Dreeden Republic of any wrongdoing, and convince the League of Species not to declare war on humanity on general principle. I thought we’d wing it.” Baden reached up to place the helmet he carried over his head, completely obscuring his face as the blast doors slid open.

“I hate your plans Baden.”

----

“How dare you accuse me, Moktep! You were at my side on the Flashing Hooves!” Nuryaw’s hackle-spines were fully extended, and flexed her grasping hooves against her restraints with frustration. Her carapace wept where her rank insignia and medals had been stripped from her exoskeleton, leaving trails of marrow down her 4 meter tall frame.

Nuryaw stood in the central council chamber, surrounded by the gathered members of the League of Species security council. She glared up at the raised table where the ranking members of the council sat. At the head of the table sat Moktep, with a new rank insignia stapled into his carapace, marking him as a full admiral. Just a few short weeks ago, that had been her seat. That had been her rank.

After the battle, Moktep had implored her to let him take a courier ship back to the Assemblage at best speed to inform them of the fleet’s defeat and warn them of the nature of the Rashan and Terrans. It had seemed like a prudent course of action at the time. Now she realized that Moktep had wanted the extra time to turn the security council against her.

At her side, her two Curthan gaolers moved closer, raising their shock sticks in warning. Clenching her grasping hooves tightly, Nuryaw tried to force herself to calm down. How could this have happened? She had fully expected a court-martial when she returned with the battered remains of the League Battle Fleet to the Assemblage. Incompetent, a failure. Those were the accusations she expected, and she had made her peace with them on the fleet’s limping return to League space.

League security had been waiting for her when she exited her ship, and Nuryaw had gone with them willingly. She thought she was ready for whatever they had in store for her. Ready for the pain of her accomplishments ripped from her body as they stripped her of her medals. Ready to be treated as an embarrassment. Ready for whatever punishment they had in store for her. If she was asked to pay with her life for the tens of thousands of crew that had died because of her arrogance, she was prepared to give it. She had told herself that she would accept whatever judgement the League council deemed fit, without protest.

But Nuryaw had not been prepared to be called a traitor.

“I have given my life to the League. Thirty years I have served the League of Species, leading the Battle-Fleet into combat twenty-two times during those years. Three weeks ago I failed it. I failed to bring victory to the League, I failed the fleet, and I failed the brave crew of the ships that I led into that battle. I freely admit those failures, but treachery is not among them.”

“That is what this hearing will determine, Nuryaw,” the Arkone ambassador spoke, grasping the League gavel-stone which marked him as the arbiter of the trial. “You’ve also presided over similar hearings, have you not? You will have your chance to speak in your defense presently, but for now the accused will remain silent.

“Admiral Moktep! You have leveled serious charges against the accused. Present your evidence to the council.”

“Of course, honored ambassador,” Moktep nodded to the Arkone. Drawing himself up to his full height, he turned to the gathered representatives arrayed on the council floor below him. “If it please the council…”

Whatever he was about to say was drowned by a rumble of voices near the entrance to the chambers. Being 4 meters tall had its advantages, and Nuryaw could clearly see the source of the disturbance. Through the entrance doors walked a human and a Dreeden, surrounded by what looked to be armored Dreeden security guards, some of which seemed to bear the signs of recent fighting. Nuryaw didn’t know what color that a Dreeden bled, but she didn’t think it was their blood on the shock batons they carried.

The crowd parted around the newcomers as they took their place in the council chambers, representatives backing away in fear. Shouts of fear began to be replaced by shouts of anger as league representatives regained their confidence. Cries of “Monster! and “Flesh Eater!” were heard over the cacophony of voices.

The Terran ambassador’s face was thankfully covered by that odd opaque helmet the humans wore when around other species to obscure their features. Still, Nuryaw felt uneasy as his head turned her way, remembering the piercing gaze of the human Admiral Davies, who had removed her helmet to reveal herself to Nuryaw after Davies fleet had allowed Nuryaw and her fleet to escape the trap set by the Rashan. She looked up at Moktep, who appeared frozen as he stared at the human and the Dreeden. He did not expect the Dreeden ambassador to return so soon, Nuryaw realized. For this first time since her capture, Nuryaw let her hackle spines lower. There was some hope for her yet.

“There will be order!” The Arkone ambassador slammed the gavel-stone on the table in front of him, his shell shaking with the effort. “We will address the issue of the Dreeden Republic and the Associated Republics of Terra after this hearing. Admiral Moktep assures me that the proceedings will shed valuable light on the crimes of both races.”

The assembled delegates of the League of Species begrudgingly turned their attention back to the central dias. Moktep gathered himself, and started again. “If it pleases the council, I formally accuse Nuryaw, former admiral of the League Battle-Fleet, of high treason against the League of Species. I have evidence that she conspired with the predator species of the Rashan and the Terrans along with their quisling pets, the Dreeden Republic.”

Moktep paused as murmurs swept the council chambers. “I was onboard the Flashing Hooves during the disastrous battle which resulted in defeat of the league fleet, and I watched as former Admiral Nuryaw conspired with the Rashan and the Terrans to destroy the battle-fleet and leave the League defenseless.”

Placing a data chip on the table, he continued. “On this chip, I have recordings from that battle that show former Admiral Nuryaw’s incompetence and treachery. Species of the Council, see for yourself.” Moktep manipulated an inset holoscreen on the table with his grasping hooves, and the lights lowered as a holographic recording of the Flashing Hooves’s bridge was projected above the council chamber. “I managed to recover these recordings from the Flashing Hooves after former admiral Nuryaw attempted to delete them. I apologize for the poor quality, the chips were damaged in the battle and I was only able to recover a portion of the deleted files, but think the recordings speak for themselves.”

The projection was filled with static, and the audio garbled, but was clear enough to show Admiral Nuryaw in her acceleration couch, with vice-admiral Moktep by her side. Nuryaw watched as the recording played out above her head. What point is he trying to make? Nuryaw wondered. They would expose Nuryaw’s poor judgement in not heeding the human Admiral’s warnings, but she was unconvinced that Moktep could make the council believe she was a traitor from them. What was his game?

“Admiral, I’m receiving a signal from the fourth planet, it seems to be audio and visual.” The projection of Nuryaw’s communications officer reported.

“Put it on screen,” Nuryaw saw herself say. She closed her eyes, she knew what was coming next.

The holo-projection changed its view from the bridge to the incoming communication. On the screen appeared a Rashan. Even with her eyes closed, Nuryaw could remember what it looked like - exposed teeth, four, forward facing eyes, smooth, hairless skin and four arms, two of which that ended in delicate manipulators that seemed at odds with the violence the rest of the creature promised. “I have to say,” the recording of the Rashan spoke, “It is...convenient when prey comes to us.”

The delegates gasped with the appearance of the Rashan, and some even cowed away from the projection. They had seen it before - the Rashan’s message had been disseminated to all council species as proof of the Rashan’s predatory nature, but many delegates still fought their urge to run or hide when confronted with the image of the Rashan.

Nuryaw opened her eyes again. Is this is how Moktep planned to bring her down? To show the council a recording of her cowering in fear? Nuryaw looked back up at the screen. She was confused by Moktep’s choice, because she knew after the Rashan had broadcast their threat, he had almost fainted. She couldn’t imagine that he would want that projected to the Council. But instead, on the holo-projection, she saw the view switch back to Nuryaw and Moktep at their posts.

“It seems the Rashan fleet is divided into five squadrons of one dreadnaught and 3-4 battleships each, with approximately twenty cruisers and destroyers. They also have launched hundreds of what appear to be parasite craft. Each Rashsan squadron is headed spinward on a different heading.” Moktep’s projection said.

“No matter,” Nuryaw’s projection replied. “Continue to close range. Contact the humans and the Rashans, let them know they’re clear to attack. Long live the predators.”

That bastard, Nuryaw thought, he’s edited the recording.

Nuryaw watched in horror as her projection willfully threw her fleet to their doom.

----

“A little on the nose, isn’t it? ‘Long live the Predators?’” Ambassador Woods leaned down to whisper to Nesh as the holo projection played overhead. “Does no one remember that we tried to stop the damn battle before it started?”

Nesh nodded. “Yes, it’s clumsily done, but look around. The delegates are afraid, terrified even. They’ve just learned not one, but two predator species exist, and their fleet has been torn to shreds. They’ll want a scapegoat, someone to blame, and Nuryaw makes a convenient target.”

“...And in blaming Nuryaw, Moktep sets himself up as the new leader of the League Security Council.” Woods shook his head. “I don’t see how Moktep plans to get away with this though. All it will take is one contradictory account, and Moktep’s fabrication falls apart.”

“Don’t underestimate Admiral Moktep,” Nesh replied. “I would wager there is more to this than an edited battle recording.”

The lights came up in the council chambers as the projection ended, and once again angry mutterings filled the hall, with hostile glares directed at both Nuryaw and the Dreeden-Human delegation. “I don’t know what the predator’s promised our former admiral,” Moktep said sadly, shaking his head at his former superior, “but it is clear she betrayed the fleet along with her Dreeden and Human allies.”

“It is my belief that our former admiral intended to defect with our flagship, the Flashing Hooves to the Rashan, after the complete destruction of the League fleet. It is only due to the bravery and skill of our battle-fleet that any escaped her treachery. She only had one loose end: me. She put me on a courier ship to Assemblage under the auspices of bringing news to the council of our defeat, but when I found that she had deleted the recording, I knew that she meant to kill me. I was the only loose end. I recovered the deleted recording as best I could and boarded the courier. My suspicions led me to search the ship, where I found this,” Moktep brandished a oblong device in one of his grasping hooves, “an explosive charge wired to the hyperdrive. If I hadn’t managed to remove it and reach you before Nuryaw did, she would have gotten away with her treachery.”

A fresh round of gasps reverberated through the hall.

“Thank you Admiral,” said the Arkone ambassador. Turning from Moktep, he looked down to Nuryaw, who looked to be vibrating with anger. “The accused may speak in their defense.”

“These recordings are falsified, ambassador. I can prove it. Any of my bridge crew would testify to that effect..” Nuryaw’s forehoof pawed at the ground. “Ask any of the captains that were at the battle! Ask ambassador Nesh, he was there too!”

“Sadly,” replied Moktep, “None of your bridge crew can be found, Nuryaw. But you knew that didn’t you?” Moktep turned back to the council. “It is our working theory that Nuryaw had them killed on board the Flashing Hooves as soon as they reached the station so that they could not contest her story.

“As far as the fleet captains, Moktep continued, “they are all on deep patrol at the Rashan border. Or don’t you remember tasking the fleet with this useless duty, conveniently weeks away from the Assemblage? As far as the Dreeden ambassador, he stands accused as well! We can’t trust anything he might say.

“If that the only defense that former Admiral Nuryaw can offer, testimony from allies or absent representatives, I’m afraid I have no choice,” Admiral Moktep sighed dramatically. “I must move for execution.”

Across the chamber floor, holo projections of [assent] appeared above several delegations.

----

“This isn’t going well,” Nesh whispered to his human counterpart as the surrounding delegations treated him to baleful stares.

Baden brought a hand up to the chin of his helmet. “His story is too complicated for its own good, too many holes. That’s why he’s moving for execution now, while he has the council’s blood up and before it starts to unravel. I have an idea, but I’m going to need to use your speaking time again.”

Nesh handed his speaking stone over to Baden. “Try to be more diplomatic than the last time”

“Did I ever tell you how most human politicians get their start?” Even with Baden’s helmet on, Nesh knew that his friend was wearing a predatory smile. “We go to law school.”

----

Nuryaw was stunned. Her bridge crew gone? What had Moktep done with them?

His outlandish story was bad enough, but to think that he had hurt her crew? Nuryaw’s blood boiled. She eyed her guards and mentally gauged the distance between her and Moktep. Even with her restraints, she might be able to charge him before her Curthan gaolers reacted. Nuryaw knew that this would confirm her guilt in the eyes of the council, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Moktep getting away with this. Taking a deep breath, she mentally prepared herself for the charge. She coiled her muscles, ready to push off with her powerful hind hooves and launch her three-ton body into the air toward her accuser.

“Objection!”

Nuryaw stopped herself as symbols for [Request to Speak] and [Objection!] appeared over the Ambassador Nesh and the Terran ambassador.

“Yes… Ambassador Woods, is it?” The Arkone ambassador acknowledged. “Do you wish to admit humanity's guilt in this conspiracy?”

“With respect, Ambassador Erukuleen, I don’t believe that the Associated Republics of Terra have yet been formally charged with any crime. But it is not justice for humanity I seek today, but for Nuryaw, who I believe has been unfairly accused.”

Ambassador Woods strode toward the dias, delegates scrambling out of his way as he did. “I also believe that under League law, the accused is allowed up to twelve hours after new evidence is introduced in their trial to respond. Nuryaw has been given none.”

“This is not a trial, human,” Moktep said from his seat at the council table. “This is a hearing of treason of a member of the League council. Trial rules do not apply when this council tries one of its own.”

The Arkone ambassador nodded in assent. “Admiral Moktep is correct. You try the patience of this council.”

“My apologies ambassador, but if I may,” Baden spread his hands, “I think I might be confused. Don’t Bonthan’s wear symbols of their ranks on their carapace? I see no insignia for Fleet Admiral on Nuryaw.”

The Arkone ambassador paused, beginning to understand the tack Baden’s questioning. “Nuryaw was stripped of her rank and title when she boarded the station, Ambassador.”

“If I understand, Ambassador Erukuleen, wouldn’t that makes former admiral Nuryaw a civilian, and not a member of the council? Wouldn’t that mean that Nuryaw is entitled to all the rights and protections that League law allows?” Baden raised his voice, reaching the crowd.

“We don’t have to listen to this predator,” Moktep growled, but Erukuleen held up a gnarled claw.

“Ambassador Woods is correct. With Nuryaw stripped of council rank, she is effectively a civilian under the law. She may find representation from licensed counsel.”

“Good luck finding someone willing to represent this traitor,” Moktep sneered.

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Baden said, walking toward Nuryaw and her two guards, who suddenly looked very nervous. “I’m licensed to practice law in Dreeden space, and pursuant to the mutual privilege clause of the Assemblage charter which considers Assemblage council chambers the shared territory of all League members, I believe that you’ll find that I’m licensed here as well.”

Baden stopped in front of Nuryaw, looking up at the huge Bonthan that towered above him. “Hello Nuryaw. I heard you could use a lawyer.”

----

“Let’s break Moktep’s story down,” Ambassador Woods said, leaning over the conference table in the Dreeden embassy. They were in one of the few meeting rooms there large enough to accommodate a full sized Bonthan like Nuryaw, who, standing opposite Woods. towered over its other occupants. A Dreeden medic had set up a ladder in front of her and dabbed at Nuryaw’s carapace where her medals had been torn out. To Wood’s right sat Ambassador Nesh, who was typing furiously on a holo-pad in front of him. At the room’s door, two Dreeden guards stood watch.

“To pull this off, Moktep has built a very complex lie, which works in our favor,” Woods continued. “It give us more threads to pick at, more angles we can disprove. If we can poke holes in any part of this story, his whole narrative falls apart, and we can clear Nuryaw and bring him down.

“Holes won’t be enough, Baden,” Nesh shook his head. “We’re going to need something conclusive here. As a human, you’re naturally skeptical of claims made by an authority figure. You expect them to deceive, to tell half-truths. Sometimes I think your entire Republic senate runs on it. The League Council though, for all their faults, tends to meet issues head on, with very little obfuscation. They are not wired for deceit they way humans are, and if Moktep can come up with an explanation for any of the issues we raise, they are likely to believe it.

“No, raising doubts or questioning Moktep’s credibility won’t be sufficient. We need to irrefutably disprove Mokteps story, and for that, we’re going to need evidence.” Nesh pushed his holopad toward Baden, “and this is how we’re going to get it.”

Baden’s brow furrowed as he looked at Nesh’s datapad, which showed a diagram of the inner ring of the Assemblage, centered on the Bonthan embassy and its docking ports, one of which was occupied by a Bonthan courier ship. “You want to board the courier ship? Why?”

“Because the courier ship had a copy of the original battle recording on it,” Nuryaw broke in. “That was the point of sending Moktep ahead of the fleet, so he could give a full accounting of the battle along with the transmission from the Rashan that confirmed they were predators.”

“That’s right,” Nesh agreed. “And it’s aboard the courier ship that Moktep must have fabricated the fake battle-record. While the content was clumsy, to create a holo-projection that is indistinguishable from a real one takes some real computing time. Even if we don’t find the actual recording, there may be traces of the editing left, a digital footprint that we can match to the file.”

“Moktep would also need one of my officers to authenticate the data record. There are security measures in place to help prevent fabrications like Moktep’s. Each ship has a unique encoded signature that is assigned to its logs. For Moktep to pass his version of the battle-recording off as genuine, he would need to place it back into the memory files of the Flashing Hooves, with a bridge officer’s authentication.” Nuryaw fidgeted as the Dreeden medic swabbed at one of the holes in her carapace where her medals had been removed. “We need to find my crew.”

“You’re saying that Moktep would have needed to bring his falsified recording back onto the Flashing Hooves?” Baden nodded thoughtfully. That gives us another avenue to pursue. “At the moment though, I think plan A should be the courier ship. It will be much easier to try and get what we need from it than trying to infiltrate a Bonthan dreadnaught.” Baden steepled his fingers. “I’ll have my people try to find what they can on the location of the Flashing Hooves bridge crew. Plan B will be to try and get aboard the Flashing Hooves itself and try to find evidence that Moktep planted the fabricated battle-recording.”

“So if we don’t turn anything up on the crew, our options are to obtain illegal evidence by somehow breaking into a Bonthan courier ship, or to sneak aboard the flagship of the League Battlefleet?” Nesh sighed, typing into his holopad. “I hate your plans Baden.”

“Are they always this bad?” Nuryaw asked dubiously.

“Always.”

Baden ignored them. “I’ll contact my marine detail, they’ll work up a plan to break into the courier ship.”

Nesh held up a tentacled limb in protest. “Baden, with all due respect, I’ve seen your marines, and they’re about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Let my people handle this. If it goes well, Moktep will never know they were there.”

Baden looked thoughtful, then nodded. “Have your team hurry, we have 11 hours before the council reconvenes.”

----

Teelm pushed himself off from the outer-airlock handhold into empty space. Below him, he watched as the airlock entrance on the surface of the Assemblage shrunk as he floated away from the station, untethered. With a flick of a tentacle on each arm, he triggered tiny bursts of compressed air from nozzles on his energy absorbent skinsuit, turning him in space to face the grey-green planet that the Assemblage orbited. The planet filled his view, with tendrils of banded clouds stretching from horizon to horizon. Here and there he could see tiny pinpricks of light through gaps in the clouds, signs of the enormous cities that speckled the planet’s surface.

Silhouetted against the backdrop of the planet, Teelm caught sight of his unit, five tiny figures motionless in space. He activated his nozzles again, and propelled himself towards them. Few Dreeden enjoyed EVA. Besides the ever-present fear of going Dutchman, - being left tumbling through empty space - for a Dreeden, there was also the ominous feeling of being terribly exposed. Dreeden psychologists said that this instinctual fear had to do with their ancestral predators on their home planet, huge winged reptilian creatures that would swoop down upon unwary Dreeden. Teelm didn’t know if he believed that what was why going EVA made him uneasy, but at least he had an excuse for the jitters he felt right now.

He slowed, then came to a stop with the rest of his squad. In his helmet, icons with their names and vital signs blinked on over their bodies as his suit linked with the squad’s low-power IR com net. All wore skin suits like him, with cylinders of compressed gas strapped to their backs. Using a personal EM drive or chemical rockets would have been easier, but both gave off energy signatures the the Assemblage’s security scanners could detect.

“Target is 15 kilometers away, you should have it marked on your HUD,” the voice of Lieutenant Reald, his squad commander, sounded inside his helmet. Turning his head toward the center of the Assemblage, an icon appeared on Teelm’s HUD, highlighting a point above the station’s inner ring. “Let your suits do the geometry, I don’t want anyone eyeballing this one. Equipment check.”

As the rest of Teelm’s team checked their gear, he reached down to his chest to check his own. Satisfied that the shallow box strapped to his chest was intact, with his vacuum hardened custom supercomputer nestled inside, he flashed a tentacles up sign to his squad leader, and she nodded back at him.

“Align to target,” his squad leader transmitted, angling herself toward the target icon in her HUD. Teelm did the same, letting his suit computer make fine adjustments as it aimed his body toward the center of the station. “25 second burn on my mark. Three, two, one...Mark.”

Teelm felt himself accelerate with his squad. The computer controlled release of compressed gas propellent only accelerated him at 1g, but by the time the 25 second burn was over, his squad was traveling 15 kilometers a minute. His suit chimed as the nozzle cut off, and the acceleration stopped. For a few seconds Teelm was left with just the sound of his own heartbeat as he watched one station ring after another appear and disappear beneath him. Then his suit beeped once and flipped him end-over-end so Teelm was facing the opposite direction, then started the 25 second burn that would bring him to a halt.

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Looking around, Teelm mentally counted his squadmates. The suit’s computers had kept them in neat formation, and now they floated just a few hundred meters away from a docking port attached to the Bonthan embassy. Sitting motionless in the docking bay was an ovoid shaped ship, with markings identifying that it belonged to the Bonthan Navy.

“That’s our target. No docking collar - it might have shields up. Faen, you’re up.”

One of Teelm’s squadmates removed a small device from a belt on his skinsuit that resembled a flare-gun, and pointed it at the courier ship. With a noiseless flash, a small canister exited the barrel, then broke apart, scattering small metal spheres in a cone. Before the metal shot could hit the surface of the ship, however, they disappeared in tiny flashes. “Shield is up, commander. Deploying insertion collar.”

Teelm held his breath as Faen jetted slowly toward the ship. If Faen touched the shield, the results would be messy, and the resulting explosion of superheated Dreeden would vaporize Faen and kill the rest of the team. From a pack on his chest, Faen removed two small hoops that were attached by a gauzy fabric that glinted in the reflected light from the planet. Faen pressed a small stud on one of the hoops, and both expanded to a diameter of a little less than a meter. As the hoops expanded, the fabric between them expanded like an accordion, creating a 2 meter long cylinder of fabric with a hoop at each end. With great care, Faen lowered the hoop toward the courier ship, through it’s shields.

The fabric began to glow as it the energies of the shield flowed around it, but the hollow cylinder held in place over the ship. “Insertion collar deployed,” Faen reported. Teelm let himself breathe again.

Wordlessly, the Dreeden special forces team maneuvered themselves through the collar, taking great care not to touch the walls of the cylinder. Once through, Teelm gently unfolded the screen and keyboard of his computer from his chest. “I’ve got no passive networks, no stray packets, no open ports. It’s locked down tight. I’ll need need a hardwired connection,“ Teelm said as he manipulated the keyboard though custom waldoes at the end of his suits arms which mimicked his tentacles, allowing him to interact with the computer without the bulky pressurized tentacle-mittens the rest of his squad wore.

“All right, Nach, Delv, find us an access point. Teelm, be ready to connect once they find a port, we’ve got a time limit on how long that insertion collar can hold that hole in the shields,” Reald motioned two more of her team forward.

One of Teelm’s squadmates jetted toward the ship, making contact with his feet, than activating his mag boots. He paced the hull of the 100 meter courier ship, inspecting its lightly armored shell until he seemed to find what he was looking for, and removed a plasma cutter from his belt. Carefully, he disengaged his mag boots and engaged two electromagnetic pads on his knees, securing Nach to the ship in a kneeling position.

The plasma torch flared as the Dreeden brought it to the hull of the ship, cutting deep into its hull. Soundlessly, a piece of hull tumbled free as he finished the cut, exposing a mass of wires and tubes. De-magnetizing his kneepads, he jetted away from the hole he had made, making room for Delv.

Taking a similar position to Nach, the tech specialist unstrapped a magnetic case, which attached firmly to the hull at her side. From the case, she removed cabling and small datapad connected to what looked to be a short grey wand with an exposed metal tip. Delv moved the wand over each wire in turn, as readings appeared on the datapad. Once she had found what she was looking for, she replaced the datapad in the case and skilfully spliced the cabling to one of the exposed conduits beneath the ship’s hull, nodding to Teelm. It was his turn.

Plugging the cable into the datajack on his computer, Teelm began the systematic process of disabling the ship’s computer’s security systems and gaining access to its files. He grinned under his helmet. Time to have some fun.

----

Naryaw had tried to tell the Dreeden medics patching the holes in her carapace that it wasn’t necessary, but they had just clucked disapprovingly at her, and continued their work. Once they were done, Nuryaw could finally concentrate on the situation she found herself in. Ambassador Nesh had left the conference room to monitor the progress of his tactical team from a secure room further inside the Dreeden embassy, leaving her standing across the table from the Terran, who scribbled furiously with a pen onto a rectangular sheaf of paper. “Why not use a datapad?” Nuryaw asked, and immediately regretted it as the Terran ambassador made eye-contact with her. Even after spending an hour in the room with him, his gaze tickled a primordial instinct in her brain, and with an effort, she retracted her hackle-spines.

“I’m sorry Admiral,” Ambassador Baden Woods said, quickly looking away. “I know how uncomfortable this makes you. If you’d like, I can put my helmet back on?”

“No,” Nuryaw frowned. “I suppose I should get used at looking at a predator. Besides, your revolting features don’t bother me.”

“You’re a bad liar Nuryaw,” the ambassador chuckled, exposing his white teeth, two of them showing sharp, canine points. Thankfully, he studiously avoided looking directly at her. “It took us years for the Dreeden to accept us, and years more for them to trust us. This won’t be an easy process.” He shook his head. “Your reaction to our appearance is a natural one, and not unexpected.”

Nuryaw mulled that over for a moment before speaking again. None of the human’s behavior made sense. What possible reason could a predator species have for wanting to help her? No, she didn’t trust him, and she would not be used by this predator as their pawn in the council. Is that all this had been? An elaborate ruse to gain her trust so they could re-install her as their puppet? She needed to find out more. “You knew that this was the reaction that you would receive, why help? Why expose yourself like this?”

“Nuryaw, you’re the closest thing Nesh and I have as an ally on the council. If you’re found guilty, and the Dreeden and Terrans are implicated, it would turn the entire council against us, who I have no doubt go to war against our people.”

“No, that’s not what I was getting at ambassador. Obviously it’s in your best interest at the moment to clear your people’s name along with mine. The the real question is,” she leaned down over the terran ambassador, “Why try to help the League at all? Why try to warn us of the Rashan? Why sacrifice your ships and crews to help my fleet escape?

“The warning at the council of war, your fleet’s intervention, the sacrifice of the Rochambeau, that was all part of your trick, wasn’t it, human.” Nuryaw saw Wood’s face darken, and his teeth clench. Now she was getting somewhere.

“I had friends on the Rochambaeau, Nuryaw,” Woods started to say, a tone of warning in his voice. “Captain Guepard was…”

“What do you care, predator? How can you claim to care for the lives of others when your very existence is based on killing? No one in the League, save the Dreeden, had any idea about your true nature. As far as I can tell, Terran territory is so far removed from League space that you could have gone another hundred years without having significant contact with League species, yet here you sit, in the center of League space. You could have let the League battle-fleet be destroyed by the Rashan, and then swept through defenseless League systems, butchering as you went. But instead, you tried to gain my trust so you can rip us apart from the inside.” Nuryaw stood on her back-hooves, rearing over the table, hackle spines fully extended.

“Is that all you see, when you look at us, Nuryaw?” The ambassador stood up and fixed her with his gaze. “A predator? A carnivore ready to tear the throats out of any race but our own?” He leaped on the table, advancing on Nuryaw, who still reared above him. The two Dreeden security guards posted at the door looked nervously at each other.

Nuryaw would not let herself be intimidated this time. “Isn’t that what you are? You evolved to kill. How do I know that that’s not all you are? How do I know that I’m not casting my lot with a species that will turn on me the first chance it gets? How do I know that you’re not just like the Rashan, Ambassador Woods?” Nuryaw thundered. “Just another race of monsters.” Naryaw could tell she was close to the truth now, as Baden’s face contorted in anger.

“You’re right Nuryaw,” Baden growled, slowly walking down the length of the table toward the towering hexapod. “We are monsters. We are bloodthirsty, and savage, and we have a capacity for evil that is so dark that we can’t even bear to look at it,” flecks of saliva flew from his mouth as he bit every word off. “We’re not only predators, but we’re the worse kind of predators. Look at my hands, my mouth, my limbs. We are weak! No claws, no fangs, no horns. No natural weapons of any kind, except for this,” he pointed to his his head.

Nuryaw found herself edging backwards as the terran ambassador advanced on her, but her back soon ran into the wall, trapping her there as this nightmare creature stalked toward her. She thought that the Rashan were the most terrifying creatures imaginable, but she now knew she was wrong. An angry human was much worse.

“Our brains are what make us the most dangerous predator we’ve ever encountered Nuryaw,” Baden continued. “Where other species were born into that role, we weren’t. We lacked teeth, so we sharpened rocks into knives. We lacked claws, so we fashioned spears. We lacked strength, so we used cunning. And when all of that failed,” his voice grew soft, but no less menacing “We simply chased our prey for hours, running it down until it could run no more.”

“Humans weren’t always a predator, Nuryaw. We chose to become one.” Baden was now within a few centimeters from her. She could feel his breath on her carapace, and his forward-facing eyes seemed to fix her in place like an insect on a pin.

“The interesting thing is,” he continued, his voice growing even softer. “That while these things are a part of us, part of our nature, when you ask us what makes us human, it’s not the answer you’ll receive.” The malice began to leave Baden’s voice. “Instead, what they’ll tell you is that despite our capacity for savagery, that we at our best when we are kind. That despite our bloodthirstiness, that we admire mercy more. That while we are very, very good at war, that we desire peace.” Baden’s shoulder’s slumped, and for the first time since he leapt on table, his eyes left Nuryaw’s. “We are a conflicted people, Nuryaw, and you are right to be wary of us.

“Why warn you about the Rashan? Why save your fleet? Part of it is pragmatic. We don’t think the Rashan will stop with the League, and it’s only a matter of time until they turn their eyes to us as well. We believe that if we’re going to stand against them, that we need each other. But there is more to it than that,” Baden looked down at his hands. “Throughout our history, we humans have done terrible, unspeakable things to each other. It has taken us a long time for us to recognize the thing that is most precious to us is not a successful hunt, or victory in battle, or territory, but life itself. And our morality doesn’t distinguish if that life is human, or Dreeden, Bonthan or otherwise. I think you knew that though, when the crew of the Rochambeau gave their lives for yours. So when you ask us why we want to fight with you against the Rashan, why we have stepped into the light now, it’s because in a way we’re fighting to save the best version of ourselves.

“You could say it’s in our nature.” Baden reached out his hand to Nuryaw. “Will you help us?”

Nuryaw looked down at the human, the tiny, horrifying, vulnerable human, who gazed back up at her with his brown, predatory eyes. This time she did not recoil from his gaze, however. She didn’t understand human facial expressions very well, but there was something universal in how he looked up at her, and behind the eyes of a predator, she saw something more, steel and softness, weariness, regret, hope and defiance.

She reached down a grasping hoof to take his hand. “It would be an honor, human.”

----

Nesh raced through the corridors of the Dreeden embassy, his security detail sprinting to keep up. Breathless, he burst through the doors to the conference room where he had left Baden and Nuryaw, barely noticing his security guards at the door, who nearly tackled him before recognizing who he was.

“My team got through to the courier ship,” he gasped, throwing his holopad on the conference room table and kicking a chair out of the way so he could stand in front of the holopad. “They sent an encoded data packet to my holo-pad, and what they found isn’t good. Moktep physically destroyed all of the courier’s memory cores, so we can’t recover any of the original battle-recording or any record of it being manipulated.“

“And without the battle-recording, we’ve got nothing,” Baden said, as he stood on the conference room table.

“However,” Nesh inputted commands on his holopad, and a projection appeared above the table, “The ship’s internal security cameras operate on a different system, and my team found this.”

Above the table, the projection showed Moktep on board the courier ship, speaking with another Bonthan. “...The bridge officer’s lies confirm them as traitors like their admiral. Execute them.”

“Yes Admiral,” the projection of the other Bonthan replied, turning smartly on his hooves to exit the room.

Naryaw slumped against the wall behind her. “That bastard, he’s killed them.”

“Not yet he hasn’t!” Nesh turned to Nuryaw. “This video was taken from the courier ship security system in real time, five minutes ago. To leave the ship, they’ll have to lower their shields and extend their docking collar to the station. My team has taken the initiative to hack their docking controls, and block communication from the courier ship. The docking collar can be extended manually, but it will take them time.”

“Meanwhile, we think we’ve found where the crew is being held.” Nesh tapped at his holo pad again, and the security footage was replaced by a diagram of the Bonthan embassy. “This storage area here,” Nesh pointed. “One of our contacts in the Bonthan embassy works as service staff in the kitchens. She’s delivered two meals to Bonthan guards posted outside of this room. It’s never had guards posted before yesterday, and on her second trip, she saw Moktep exiting the room. There is no reason that a Bonthan admiral should be on a storage sublevel of the embassy. That has got to be where they are.”

“It’s thin, but I agree.” Baden said, “How much time do we have?”

“Not enough for subtlety, Moktep and his lackey will be able to finish manually extending that docking collar and cycling their airlock in 20 minutes, maybe less. We’ll need your marines Baden. Nuryaw, we’ll need you to come with, we need someone your crew will trust.”

Nuryaw nodded. “Let’s go get my people.”

“For the record, you want us to storm the Bonthan embassy? This is way worse than any of my plans Nesh.”

“Shut up Baden,” Nesh snapped, then finally seemed to realize where the Terran was standing. “And get off of the table, you look ridiculous.”

----

Nesh struggled with his helmet as he approached the Dreeden embassy complex’s exit.

“Let me help you with that sir,” One of his security detail offered, deftly securing Nesh’s helmet the collar of his armor with a click. Baden and Nuryaw followed behind him.

“Thank you.” Nesh nodded the Dreeden who had helped him. “I always hated wearing this stuff.”

“A little tight, Nesh?” Baden poked at the armor plates covering Nesh’s abdomen. “Too many state dinners?” Baden was wearing his typical face-obscuring helmet and encounter suit.

“What I don’t understand,” Nesh ignored the jab. “Is why you’re coming along. My holopad is the only way to communicate with my tactical team on the courier ship, and we need Nuryaw to help us with her crew, but as far as I can tell, you’re just dead weight.”

“We’re going to be violating at least ten different statues of the League charter that prohibit hostile action against another League species, violating Assemblage regulations by bringing potentially lethal weapons in the common areas of the station, and committing an act of war by attacking the embassy of the race with the largest fleet in the known galaxy.” Baden put his hand on Nesh’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

Nesh gave Baden a sad smile. He knew what the Terran ambassador was really doing. If this went badly, Baden would share the blame for Nesh’s plan. “Thanks friend.”

At the compound exit, a platoon of marines in matte gray power assisted combat armor waited along with three squads of Dreeden security forces, also wearing combat armor but in dark green, with large, broad helmets that accommodated their wide-set, compound eyes.

“We’ll proceed from the embassy exit through ring seven to the spoke transit hub, where we’ll board a transit tube car to ring one. At that point, we’ll proceed to the coordinates provided by the Dreeden ambassador, where we will set charges that will allow us to breach a bulkhead that lies between the station proper and a service corridor in the Bonthan embassy.” A marine with captain’s bars painted on the shoulders of his armor addressed the ad-hoc force. “Lethal force is a last resort, this is a smash and grab, not an assault. Any questions?”

Nesh fidgeted. Yes, he had a question. He was an ambassador, yet he had been in a fleet battle three weeks ago, and now he was about to run into battle again. How did he keep getting himself into these messes? He didn’t think that was the kind of question that the marine captain was looking for, however, so he stayed quiet.

“All right, we have 15 minutes to get to the target. Check your comms, we’re moving out.”

The embassy compound’s massive doors slid open revealing a mob of angry protestors, no doubt inflamed by Mokteb’s rhetoric at the last council meeting. Their angry shouts grew louder as the doors opened then faltered as they saw what lay behind them - forty-four humans and twenty four Dreeden in combat armor, followed by a very-pissed-off looking Bonthan.

The marines didn’t hesitate. From their second rank, underslung grenade launchers thumped and canisters of riot gas arced into the crowd, and the group began jogging forward. Then the first row of marines fired, and this time stun grenades exploded directly in front of the protestors.

Nesh’s helmet automatically compensated from the blinding flash of light and deafening sound as each stun grenade went off, but the mob wasn’t so lucky. Scores were down, holding appendages over their various sensory organs. The marines formed a wedge, pushing through the mass of bodies while the crowd was stunned. At their flanks, Dreeden security personnel with stunsticks kept any straggling protesters from the column. Thankfully, most had turned an ran, allowing the group to quickly push through.

“We are so getting sued for this,” Nesh winced as he hopped over another former protester that writhed on the ground in pain.

“Don’t worry, I know a good lawyer.” Baden replied.

“You’re a terrible lawyer Baden.”

“Don’t let Nuryaw know that.”

“Let me know what?” Nuryaw asked.

The station proper was designed to accommodate a variety of species of all sizes, so its corridors were wide enough for the marines and Dreeden security to keep formationation as they rounded a corner toward one of the ring’s transit terminals at a brisk jog.

Cylindrical transit tube cars sat waiting at the station, ready to travel one of the station’s spokes to its inner rings or central hub. At the station, three Queel security personnel looked up in surprise at the heavily armed group quickly approaching their transit security checkpoint. Their mandibles gaped in disbelief, and they started to reach for weapons before thinking better of it, scrambling away from the posts. Before they scattered, however, one slammed a chitinous pincer on the emergency lockdown control.

Metal blast doors clapped shut, sealing the corridor off from the transit hub, and alarms sounded as the Dreeden and human soldiers were stopped short at the blast doors.

“Our charges won’t be enough to get through these security gates,” the marine captain frowned. “We’ll have to cut through, but that will take time.”

“No captain, even if you manage to cut through the doors, the transit loop will still be locked down. I’ve got this.” Nesh tapped at his holo-pad, then touched a stud at the side of his helmet. “Lieutenant Reald? Patch me through to Specialist Teelm.”

----

Still standing on the hull of the Bonthan courier ship, Teelm’s tentacles danced inside his suit. Their movements were mirrored by delicate waldoes attached to his arms, typing furiously at the super-computer strapped to his chest. Station diagrams flashed over its holo-screen, until Teelm found the one he wanted. Compared to the courier ship, Assemblage security was child’s play to bypass, thanks to the various backdoors that Teelm had been able to insert into the station’s code over the past two years since him and the team had been deployed to the station. He was sure that his superiors would have not been happy knowing that he spent his spare time compromising Assemblage security subroutines, but no one had told him not to either.

In moments, he had gained control of the security doors, the transit tube, and for good measure, all of the security cameras between the rescue party and the Bonthan embassy. “They’re all clear, Lieutenant,” he reported. “And Assemblage security is blind along their route.”

“Good job Specialist. Ambassador, you are clear to proceed.”

----

Built to accommodate species much larger than human or Dreeden, the transit cylinder fit the entire rescue party with ease, with only Nuryaw having to duck her head entering the capsule.

“The cylinder will take two minutes to reach the inner ring, where the Bonthan embassy complex is located.” The Marine captain punched in their destination on the console of the transit cylinder. “All security cameras are down along our route, but Assemblage security will be on alert. Kaiden and Carlson, I want thermal smoke as soon as these doors open. Bing and Richards, get us eyes.”

Four marines took post at the doors of the transit cylinder, which smoothly accelerated down one of the Assemblage’s spokes toward the inner rings, before slowing and then coming to a stop. As the doors opened, Nesh caught a glimpse of several Curthan station security guards, leveling weapons at the cylinder.

“Smoke out!” Two marines tossed small black canisters out the door. Once they had traveled four meters, both burst, dispersing aerosolized nano-glitter. Clouds of millions of tiny mirrored fragments hung in the air, completely blocking vision in, or out of the transit car. Moments later, two marines tossed ping-pong ball sized spheres out the door. As soon as they cleared the marine’s hands, tiny rotor blades emerged from each one, and they shot up above the thick fog of nano-glitter.

In Nesh’s helmet, suddenly his view screens displayed another view of the battlefield, as the camera drones networked with his suit. The marine’s underslung grenade launchers thumped again, and Nesh could see two more stun grenades burst among the Curthan security team. Baden had told him that the Curthan resembled a creature known as a giant sloth from the earth’s prehistory. Nesh had seen the pictures, but he wasn’t convinced.

Four of the Curthans had been rendered temporarily incapacitated by the flashbangs, but one armored Curthan remained standing, and let loose with the enormous flechette cannon that it carried. Hundreds of tiny projectiles shot toward the transit cylinder. Most impacted on the outside of the transit cylinder, but scores made it through the door, ricocheting harmlessly off armor and the interior walls.

“Carlson, armor piercing rounds, disabling shots!”

One of the marines near the door leaned out, firing a short burst from their heavy-looking rifle. Nesh knew that in the marine’s helmet, a reticle from their weapon would be superimposed on the image from the drones, allowing the marine to aim without ever seeing their target.

Three rounds impacted the Curthan’s shoulder, spinning the huge armored hulk around and dropping him to the floor of the transit terminal.

“First squad, move up! Second squad, secure those guards! I want a medic on the bleeder!”

Marines sprinted from the transit car with inhuman speed, augmented by their powered suits. Thirteen of them slid to a stop at the transit exit, covering the corridor that led to the inner ring proper, while another group moved to restrain the Curthans that had been stunned, while two marines with a red cross painted on the shoulderplates of their armor kneeled in front of the armored Curthan, administering some sort of expanding foam to what remained of the Curthan’s shoulder and upper arm.

“Let’s move!” The marine captain ushered the rest of the squad out of the transit car and through the dense clouds of nano-glitter.

“Hold your breath, Nuryaw,” Woods advised the Bonthan bringing up the rear, “this stuff gets everywhere, but it’s murder on your lungs.”

Nesh jogged along with the marines and Dreeden, before stopping with the rest, hearts pounding in his chest. Even though the flechettes were designed for soft targets and were harmless against armor, he still decided that getting shot at was an experience he could go without repeating. Wait a minute, Nuryaw wasn’t wearing armor… Nesh turned back to the huge Bonthan in alarm. “Medic! We need a medic!”

Nuryaw’s carapace had two flechettes deeply embedded into her exoskeleton. “It’s nothing, Ambassador Nesh,” Nuryaw waved away a marine medic that rushed over, and pulled one of the flechettes out with a grasping hoof. “It will take more than a couple of needles to hurt a Bonthan, and they’ll leave some excellent battle-scars!”

Nesh supposed to a creature four times his height, the ½ centimeter wide spikes may look like a needle, but they looked plenty deadly to him as Nuryaw removed the second spike, tossing it dismissively to the floor. “You’re a lot like Baden you know. You’re both completely crazy.”

Nesh glanced at the countdown on his holo-tablet. “Six minutes captain!”

The marine captain nodded down at him. “First squad, hold the transit terminal. Second squad, move to the Bonthan embassy main entrance and make some noise. Once you meet any serious resistance, fall back to the transit terminal. The rest of you, with me. Double time!”

Nesh was no tactician, but he thought he understood Captain Gupta’s logic. With Nesh’s tactical team controlling the transit tubes, Assemblage reinforcements in the central hub could not reach the inner ring. Meanwhile, if some of the marines could draw the Bonthan embassy’s internal security to the entrance, it would mean less chance of running into them when the main group blew their way into the back of the Bonthan embassy complex.

The group raced down the corridors of the inner hub. Individuals from a myriad of different species screamed and ran when they saw their heavily armed group running toward them, while an Arkone diplomat simply stopped in place and withdrew completely within it’s own shell. Even in Nesh’s powered armor he began to breathe heavily. Nuryaw was having no trouble keeping up, barreling down the hallway on all six hooves.

As the group rounded a corner, a squad of frightened looking security personnel opened fire from the opposite end of the corridor. The lead marines didn’t break stride, launching more flash-bang grenades. Once the security team was down, the marines quickly bound them and the group moved on. “We need to turn left at the next main junction, captain Gupta, and then we can drop down into the maintenance level!” Nesh panted as he did his best to keep up while charting their progress on his holopad.

As they neared the junction, scintillating lances of particle beam fire suddenly peppered their formation, and two marines near the front of their group went down as the rest scrambled for cover, dragging the wounded from the center of the corridor and pressing themselves against the wall of the corridor.

“Smoke and Eyes!” Canisters of nano-glitter burst in the T-junction, while more camera drones flew into the air as marines scrambled to follow captain Gupta’s command. Nesh got a good look at three Curthan security guards standing at a balcony overlooking the junction. All three of them wore armor and carried heavy particle cannons. One pointed directly at a camera drone, then the other, and both drones were shot out of the air, replacing Nesh’s hemet’s screen with static.

“Bing’s hurt sir!” One of the marines bent over a wounded comrade, applying the expanding foam that Nesh had seen earlier, while another injected something through a port in the armor of the wounded marine. “His armor is taking care of most of the trauma, but he’s out of the fight. Kaiden’s been hit too.”

“I’m alright,” Another marine grunted, limping to his feet. “It was a through and through. Got my leg good though.” Nesh noticed a smoking hole in the front of the marine’s thigh, with a matching hole on the other side. Without the powered armor bearing his weight, Nesh doubted that the marine would have been able to stand.

The particle beam fire continued, emerging from the nano-glitter cloud. Nesh winced every time one flashed by, leaving smoking holes in their wake. He pressed himself tighter against the wall.

“Swanepoel, get Kaiden and Bing back to first squad,” Captain Gupta turned to Ambassador Woods. “Sir, they have three Curthan’s in armor and heavy weapons in an elevated position. We can take them out, but I can’t guarantee that we’ll get clean shots.”

“Which means that you can’t guarantee that we won’t kill them.” Woods bit his lip. “We don’t have time to wait. Do your best captain.”

Beur, one of Nesh’s security detail that had been with him since he was stationed on the Assemblage spoke up. “Wait. If we can draw their fire long enough for you to get another camera drone up, can your marine’s make the shot?”

Nesh blanched, but didn’t say anything. He had known Beur long enough to know that his security chief didn’t boast about his abilities or that of his team. If he thought that he could do it, than Nesh believed him. “It’s worth a shot captain.”

“All right. Carlson! You’re up! Suarez, eyes in the air on my mark!” The marine captain turned to Beur and three other Dreeden with him. “When you’re ready.”

Beur and the other three Dreeden lowered themselves in a sprinter’s crouch, then launched themselves down the corridor into the cloud of nano-glitter and beyond.

“Eyes, now!” Gupta yelled, and Saurez launched a camera drone into the air, while Carlson sprinted after the Dreeden into the junction. Tucking herself in a roll, she came up in a kneeling position, heavy rifle at her shoulder.

Nesh held his breath as the view from the camera drone appeared on his screen, showing his security team in their dark green power armor leap out of the nano-glitter across the hallway. A fully grown Dreeden was only one meter tall, making them a much smaller target for the Curthan guards that shifted their fire to the four figures, but that wasn’t the biggest reason they were hard to hit. While Dreeden power armor was proportionately smaller than the armor the human marines wore, compared to the smaller mass of a Dreeden, the gain in strength and speed the armor imparted was much, much higher.

By the time the Curthans saw the Dreeden, they were moving at over 40 miles per hour, propelled by powerful servo-motors in their armor as they zig-zagged across the guard’s field of fire. Particle beam shots flashed around them, leaving smoking holes and bursts of debris as streams of accelerated particles impacted with the bulkheads behind the sprinting Dreeden. Nesh thought for sure that the beams would catch them and started to close his eyes. Just as he thought his security team would be cut down, the bark of Carlson’s rifle could be heard, and three neat holes were punched in the Curthan’s armor. One of the Curthan’s remained standing, but Carlson’s rifle sounded a fourth time as a hypervelocity slug blew it’s way through the Curthan’s reverse-articulated knee.

----

Nuryaw covered her audio cavities with her grasping hoofs as best she could as the human marines detonated blasting charges on the walls of the maintenance level. She could feel the pressure wave through her exoskeleton, and the hallway was suddenly engulfed in dust and debris as the charges blew through the wall. For not the first time in the past twenty minutes, she wished that she had a helmet with an air filter. At least the dust will cover up some of this glitter. Unlike the humans and Dreeden, whose armor seemed to slough off the clouds of nano-glitter that they used to obscure themselves from visual and IR detection, Nuryaw’s carapace was covered with a fine sheen of glitter, making her sparkle. It was not a good look for her, despite what Ambassador Woods had said.

She watched as a group of Dreeden entered the hole made in the wall, followed by the human marines. The level of coordination they showed with the humans was extraordinary, instantly filling holes in the humans ranks, covering blind spots and moving forward to scout when their smaller size would be an asset. Not only did they work well together, but they were comfortable with the humans.

Ambassador Nesh seemed to notice Nuryaw’s attention on the humans and Dreeden. “They’ve drilled together quite a bit. ” Nesh said, his voice coming through a small speaker they had given her that fit into one of her audio cavities . “And yes, we’ve kept quite a bit of technology back from the council. We could never be sure if the League wouldn’t turn against us once they found out the human’s secret.”

“But if we did, your people would alongside the humans, not the League?” Nuryaw frowned.

Nesh nodded as they approached the jagged opening the charges had blown into the bulkhead. “We would lose, of course. All of our technology and all of the human’s tactics couldn’t stand against the League if they decided that they wanted to exterminate the Terrans. But the League would have to exterminate the Dreeden along with them.” Nesh hopped over a piece of fallen debris, and paused. “There is much you don’t know about the shared history of the Terrans and my people, Nuryaw, and if it does come to war, it won’t be the first one that the Dreeden and fought alongside each other.”

Even after she had confronted Ambassador Woods in the conference room of the Dreeden embassy, Nuryaw wasn’t sure of the relationship that existed between the humans and Dreeden. She had suspected that the Dreeden were just a front for the humans - a convenient tool that they could use to interact with the galaxy at large without tipping their own hand. From Nesh’s comments, and watching them fight together, however, Nuryaw wasn’t so sure. The humans seemed to regard the Dreeden as equals, despite their smaller size and their non-carnivorous diet, and Ambassador Nesh and Ambassador Woods acted like old friends. Is this what it could be like for the the League? Could we learn to not just co-exist with these predators, but to become friends with them as well?

Nuryaw ducked low as she followed the group through the breach into the service levels of the embassy. She knew these corridors - they were close now. She had been stationed at the Assemblage for years, long enough to know her own embassy like the back of her hoof. She grunted in satisfaction. They would save her crew, and that traitor Mokteb would pay for his lies.

The group fell into a run again, eating up the distance down the corridors at a breakneck sprint. Nuryaw easily kept pace in an easy gallop.

Suddenly, Nesh stopped directly in front of her, and Nuryaw scrambled to avoid crushing the tiny ambassador over with her hooves.

“Captain Gupta!” Nesh’s voice sounded strained. “I just heard from my tactical team. Mokteb has managed to extend the docking collar, and it sounds like they’ve received word about our rescue attempt. He’s on his way with his personal guards to the prisoners, and he’s stationed additional guards in the hallways around the storage area where they’re held.”

“Can your team block them?” Captain Gupta asked, “Shut some security doors between them and the prisoners?”

“Not in time, captain,” Nesh said. “The Bonthan embassy’s internal networks are much better protected than the Assemblage security networks. By the time my team had access, it would be too late.”

“Those guards are going to slow us down, ambassador.” The marine captain turned to Ambassador Woods. “We can’t hold back if we’re going to reach the prisoners in time. That means casualties.”

Nuryaw could hear Woods sigh through his comlink. “Understood captain. You’re authorized for lethal force.”

“Wait,” Nuryaw raised a hoof. “I know a different way.”

----

On Nesh’s holo-pad, the storage areas of the Bonthan embassy complex were lined up in neat rows, accessible from a hallway running parallel to the line of supply rooms. What the holo-pad didn’t show, however, was that each storage area also had a large overhead door that connected them to the adjacent storage room, allowing large pallets of goods to be transported from room to room without using the narrower hallway.

Gaining access to the first storage room was easy enough. The storage rooms weren’t protected by blast doors, so a single charge from one of Gupta’s marines was enough to blow the door. Now the rescue party sprinted toward the overhead door inside the storage hangar. It opened without a security code, and the marines and Dreeden ducked under it as it rose, spilling into the next storage area, weapons raised.

Nesh followed suit, typing at his holo pad as he run. “Ten more rooms, and then we’re there!”

----

Teelm watched with concern on his holo screen as the rescue party made their way through the storage areas to the prisoners while he wrestled with the Bonthan embassy’s network security in another data window. Gaining access to the camera feeds in the embassy was easy enough - once the docking collar was extended, he was able to simply piggyback on the courier ship’s connection to the station, but Teelm still hadn’t been able to crack into any kind of access in the Bonthan embassy that allowed him to do anything but watch.

“How are they doing, Teelm?” His lieutenant asked, propelling herself to the hole in the courier ship’s hull where Teelm’s computer was currently hardwired to the courier ship.”We’ve got another twenty five minutes before we’re going to be red on oxygen..”

“Not good, lieutenant,” Teelm spun his computer on its extendible chest mount to face Reald. “They’ve managed to bypass several Bonthan security teams by going through adjacent storage rooms rather than the main service hallways, but Mokteb and what looks to be his personal guards are going to make it to the prisoners first.”

“Is there anything you can do?”

Teelm shook his head inside his helmet. “All major security functions are well protected. I may be able to get access to some minor environmental controls, but nothing major.”

“Keep trying.”

“Yes ma’am.” Teelm replied.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over the courier ship and the Dreeden tactical team that was perched on it. Looking up, an enormous mushroom-cap shape ship moved slowly across their field of view, silhouetted by reflected light from the planet below. Teelm typed furiously at his holo-screen, pulling up Assemblage logs. “It’s the Flashing Hooves, lieutenant. It’s been ordered out of the system by Admiral Mokteb.”

----

Communication officer Wenthan’s joints ached from disuse and his fore-hoofs bled where they chafed against the restraints that bound him in place. It was pitch black inside the storage room - that’s where he assumed they were being held, from the glimpses he had seen of the corridors beneath the clumsy hood they had placed over his head each time he had been escorted to the Flashing Hooves and back.

He could hear moans from other bridge crew, whether from the torture they had endured or their current fate, Wenthan couldn’t tell.

Suddenly, light burned his eyes as the storage area’s overhead lamps turned on, and the door opened. Wenthan’s stomachs churned when he saw who it was. Mokteb, flanked by four of his personal guard. Is this when he kills us? He has everything he wants. Wenthan burned with shame. He has what he wants because of me.

Moktep looked around the room at the restrained bridge crew. “It pains me to do this, you know,” Mokteb sighed as he pulled an ornate flechette-pistol from a satchel, careful to handle it with a cloth he held in his grasping hoof. “But Nuryaw’s words will infect the Security Council, and the League. You were there with me on the bridge! You saw her face, saw how she bought into the human’s words. She even offered them honors! You saw how grateful she was to a predator that would wipe us all out!”

“So this sacrifice you make,” Moktep continued, “It’s bigger than any of us. It’s for the League’s very survival! I don’t like what I have to do here, but I hope you understand why I have to do it. It’s a shame that none of you see things my way. This would have been much easier.” Moktep gazed at the weapon in his grasping hoof.

“Nuryaw has to be completely discredited if the League is to survive, and there can be no question as to what happened to our fleet. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see that I have no choice here? If Nuryaw, our greatest admiral, could be seduced by the humans, how many others could fall victim to the same trick?” Mokteb’s hackle-spines had slowly extended as he spoke, but now withdrew. “So when you refuse to corroborate my story, you really leave me no choice. It saddens me to see some of Bonth’s finest turn out to be such traitors.”

“You’re the traitor, Moktep,” to Wentham’s right, the Flashing Hooves’ tactical officer spat out. “Without the Terrans we would have been wiped out by the Rashan. Is that what you want?”

“We lost that battle not because of the Rashan,” Moktep approached the bound tactical officer, who had managed to struggle to his hooves despite his restraints. “But because of Nuryaw! She broke our line of battle! Retreated in the face of the enemy! I had hoped that you could see that before the end.

“As we speak, the humans and Dreedens are attacking the Bonthan embassy. They won’t make it past the gates, but it means that they know you’re here, and you have become a liability to the security of the League. Once the Humans and Dreeden have been pushed back by our security and their taint wiped off of the Assemblage, your bodies will be found in ruins of the Dreeden embassy, shot by Nuryaw’s own pistol.”

“It’s important that you know all this, that your deaths will serve a purpose,” Moktep sighed. “And that I do this not as a traitor, but a patriot.”

Wenthan watched in horror as Moktep raised Nuryaw’s ceremonial Flechette pistol, and shot the tactical officer in the face.

----

“This is the last door. We think that Moktep and his guards may have already arrived, so stay sharp. Watch your angles, we don’t want the prisoners caught in the crossfire.” Captain Gupta ordered as the group crouched behind the overhead door.

Nuryaw clenched her grasping hoofs in anticipation. Finally, they could rescue her crew and be done with Moktep’s sick charade. She crouched on her forelegs to get a better view of the storage room where her bridge crew were held as the door raised. Moktep stood over the body of her tactical officer, her flechette pistol in his hand. He turned, and raised the pistol to the head of her communications officer.

----

Wenthan closed his eyes as Moktep pointed the pistol at him. I’m sorry Admiral Nuryaw, we failed you.

“No!”

Wenthan’s eyes snapped open. He would know the sound of his admiral’s voice anywhere. Nuryaw was here? Forgetting the flechette pistol centimeters from his face for a moment, he searched for the sound of the voice. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

His admiral charged toward them on all six hooves, head lowered. Behind her, what looked to be humans and Dreeden in armor ran in her wake. Moktep’s guards drew their weapons, and Nuryaw staggered as a particle beam shot gouged out a piece of chitin on her side, but she kept coming. Behind her, Dreeden and Humans returned fire, cutting Moktep’s guards down in seconds.

Moktep moved his pistol from Wenthan’s head to point at Nuryaw, but Wenthan heaved himself at Moktep, falling into Moktep’s grasping hoof that held the weapon, and Moktep’s shot went wide. Nuryaw closed the distance at a full gallop, her carapace almost seeming to sparkle as she charged.

With a crash of bodies and a crunch of chitin, Nuryaw barreled into Moktep, sending him toppling over backwards, Nuryaw’s pistol thrown from his hands with the impact. Nuryaw advanced on him again, but Moktep scrambled for the door, running desperately into the corridor beyond. Nuryaw tried to follow, but collapsed, bleeding heavily from her side.

----

Nesh glanced worriedly over at Nuryaw as a marine and a Dreeden medic tended to her wound. The particle beam shot had torn away a slab of Nuryaw’s carapace, leaving bloody gouges in her side. “I’ll live,” the Bonthan said dismissively. “Officer Wenthan, report!”

“Yes admiral Nuryaw,” another Bonthan stumbled over, rubbing at his hooves where the restraints had confined them. “Tactical officer Ventak is dead, as is 2nd Navigation Officer Seelyaw. The rest of us are alive, though some are hurt.”

Wenthan continued. “We knew something was wrong when it was Moktep that arrested you, but we didn’t know that he had turned traitor until we were arrested by his personal guards immediately after we had left the ship and brought here. Moktep needed us to validate his fabrication of the Flashing Hooves’ battle report - if it was going to be believable, it would need to have the Flashing Hooves’ own digital signature on it.

“The battle-recorder system is meant to be a black box, free of tampering,” Wenthan explained. “To fake the recording, Moktep needed to delete the original recording, insert a new recording into the ship’s memory, and then have it authenticated with a password from one of the bridge crew. He took us back to the bridge of the Flashing Hooves to access the bridge systems. We refused at first, but then he killed Seelaw, and told us that he would keep killing us until one of us made the authentication.” Wenthan hung his head in shame. “It was me, Admiral Nuryaw. I couldn’t watch them be killed.

“Moktep would have found another way, I think,” Nuryaw said. “I’m glad that you and the rest of the crew are alive.”

“So the original recording is gone,” Ambassador Woods sighed. “Even with the testimony of the crew, it’s going to be tough to prove that Moktep’s version of the battle recording is fake. It’s a start though.”

“Apologies, ambassador,” Wenthan nodded toward Woods. “There is more. When we heard that Admiral Nuryaw had been arrested, I became suspicious of his motives, and I made a copy of the original battle-record. The files are still on the Flashing Hooves, hidden in the code for the secondary comm attentas.”

“We need to get to my ship,” Nuryaw heaved herself to her hooves, and Wenthan quickly moved to her injured side to support her.

“That may be easier said than done, Nuryaw,” Nesh said. “I just received word from my tactical team that the Flashing Hooves left dock 15 minutes ago on its way out system. Also, they say that the Bonthan embassy is coordinating with Assemblage security. We have over 300 security personnel on their way to our position.”

“Captain?” Ambassador Baden turned to Gupta.

Gupta shook his head. “We might be able to fight through those numbers sir, but only if we changed our rules of engagement. If we made it to the transit tubes we’d be leaving a lot of bodies behind.”

Nuryaw was surprised. “I know your marines have been holding back, but you couldn’t possibly take on…” Nuryaw stopped herself. I have underestimated them at every turn. At some point I’m going to have to start believing them.

Her train of thought was interrupted by Baden. “Even so captain, if we hope to clear Nuryaw’s name and bring Moktep down, we can’t kill station security personnel.”

“We’re going to have to surrender and hope that testimony from Wenthan and rest of the bridge crew will be enough” Baden sighed. “It’s the only way.”

“That may not be possible,” Nesh said grimly. “My team says that Moktep has issued orders to shoot on sight. ‘No quarter for traitors’ were his words.”

The group was silent for a moment. Just then, there was a burst of static on their com channel, and another voice broke in. “This is specialist Teelm, my apologies for the intrusion ambassador, I hacked your comm channel so I could keep lieutenant Reald appraised of your situation. If I may, I think I have a way to extract the rescue party.”

“We’re listening specialist.”

“The route from your current position to the Bonthan embassy’s secondary spacedock is relatively clear if you head there now.”

“Well done Teelm,” Nesh said. “Baden, what do you think?”

“It’s our best bet. Captain Gupta, are your marines ready?”

“Wait,” Nuryaw held up a hoof, confused. “What good is it going to do to head deeper into the embassy complex?”

“I have a tactical team currently EVA outside of the courier ship that Moktep returned to the Assemblage on. We,” Nesh replied, with a grin that reminded Nuryaw a little too much of Baden, “are going to steal a spaceship.”