The dinner was concluded in a relatively peaceful manner, given how Onoelle, now reinforced by her husband, decided to get well and truly even with her mother for the earlier remarks. She especially delighted in making subtle innuendos that flew over both his and Cassy's head, but definitely hit home for the other adults. A few glasses of wine may have emboldened her further. Eventually Nyna had decided to drastically reroute the entire discussion, possibly feeling a bit too much heat, by talking to Cassy about her day, who immediately exploded in a long winded explanation of what she had done.

Mentuc had been content with quietly stuffing himself, observing everything closely from behind his ever present sunglasses, and sitting as close to his wife as physically possible without pulling her on her lap. Jane had been very quiet, trying to subtly stare at Mentuc and Leonne and looking away quickly when that failed utterly. She couldn't look at the latter without also seeing the former and Mentuc was far too aware of her. Every time she looked in his direction he turned his head and stared right back, utterly ignoring social decorum.

She had been very glad when the dinner came to an end and Cassy got the delightful news that she could go with them. Nyna and her daughters bade each other a tearful farewell, Cassy climbed on top of Mentuc's shoulders again and Jane and a slightly inebriated Leonne made their way into the Vertigo. Jane tried going fast enough to leave the jogging Mentuc behind as the man hoovered dangerously close to the vehicle, but Leonne wasn't nearly drunk enough to miss out on that and vetoed it quite thoroughly.

'Spit it out Jane. You look like a chicken trying to keep herself from laying an egg.'

Jane sighed. Mentuc was too close for her liking. He couldn't hear what they said and she had darkened the glass upon departure to cut him out further, but she still didn't trust him.

'He won't bite,' Leonne remarked snidely, getting sick of the attitude her friend was giving her husband.

'Tell me the truth, Leonne!' she shouted. He's got Imperial ancestry, doesn't he?'

Leonne arched an eyebrow, clearly not impressed. 'If he did, does it matter?'

Jane slammed her fist down on the dashboard. 'Dammit girl! You know what they did! You should've reported him!'

'I like how you're assuming a lot,' retorted Leoone, vitriol in her voice. 'I also like how you want to condemn him, me, probably my family, presumably the entire village, to a rather cruel death, just because he might be connected with some people who lived centuries ago.'

'They're not people,' she hissed. 'They're Imperials. Don't ever equate them with people.'

Leonne laughed, propping herself up. 'That's ridiculous.'

'I had family on Novica Prime. Do you know what those monsters did there? The Confederacy was allied with them before they decided that they had to go and laid the entire planet to waste.'

'Jane? Your family as you call it lived there more than six hundred years ago. That's like saying I had family on Earth when the planet was turned into a radioactive hellhole. You're still wishing death on someone for being related to someone evil. For something they can literally do nothing about. For events that have absolutely nothing to do with us. The Imperial war is over. Gone and buried.'

'I can't believe you! They're monsters! You didn't study them like I did! They're—'

'Gone. And. Buried. Toss and turn it however you want, the people who are alive now have nothing to do with what happened then. And don't act like it's the first genocide our species ever did! Or the first genocide to ever happen in this galaxy!'

Jane couldn't believe her ears. She was defending them! Defending history's worst collection of mass murderers!

'And for the record I'd like you to know one tiny detail about Mentuc in that regard.' Leonne pressed the button and the window rolled down. She gestured for Mentuc and her husband came running up to the window, to Jane's consternation. 'Who are your biological parents?' she asked.

The tall man shrugged, not bothered by the random question. 'I don't know. I have told you this before.'

Leonne nodded, thanked him and rolled the window up again. 'So?' she asked, looking more than a little smug and something else Jane couldn't place.

'He could be lying,' she protested.

Something changed in Leonne at that. Jane couldn't tell what, but there was a line that had been crossed and it was akin to a stone wall dropping down around her. 'Mentuc does not lie.'

'That's what you say—'

'Jane. Mentuc is, and for once in your life get over who I was in the past and assume I have my shit together and stuff your prejudices where the sun doesn't shine, literally incapable of lying. Now, I have a very simple question for you and you will answer this with a very truthful yes or no. Are you planning on reporting your assumption that Mentuc is Imperial?'

'I—'

'Yes. Or. No.'

Jane had never seen her friend like this. Her presence was overwhelming and her eyes revealed a steely gaze, unwavering and full of resolve. The young woman she had lived with had never displayed such characteristics. She was more akin to her husband now, a pillar of stone, unpliable and unreasonable. It was frightening to witness and there was an unspoken threat that hung in the air, because Jane fully realised that Leonne wouldn't let anyone threaten her life.

'No,' she whispered. 'I won't.' Then, a weak protest, refusing to give in entirely: 'Not on an assumption.'

The woman of steel disappeared immediately and her old friend was back. Leonne threw her arms around Jane and she coughed as the strong woman held her in a desperate hug.

'I want you to trust me, Jane. I really, really need you to trust me. I'll give you the full truth. But I can't do that without his permission. It's so much more complicated than you think and there is nothing I want more than to share it all with you.'

Jane didn't reply, didn't even respond to the hug. The new Leonne was worrying and she didn't like any of it.

'I can't,' she eventually said. 'Not without cause. I neither like nor trust Mentuc and at this point I'm not even sure I can trust you. And I'm only telling you this because we promised to never lie to one another. A promise you trod on,' she harshly reminded her friend. The words struck Leonne like a hammer and she recoiled.

'You seem completely smitten. Almost to the point of mind control. I've known you for years, Leonne, and this is not who you are. This isn't how you ever were. Now you're asking me to trust you on this. How can I? You didn't study the Empire as much as I did. You can't ask me to trust you on that. I won't do it.' Jane knew her every word was damaging the relationship between them further, probably straining it past breaking point, but she refused to back down. Not on this. Not when it came to the Empire. Her family had always had a fondness for history and archeology and the family tree was well preserved. There was an abrupt end to a significant part of that roughly six hundred years ago. When the Empire and the Novic Confederacy had gone to war, a war that started with a brutal betrayal and had ended badly. The Empire had been ruthless in their onslaught and had turned the beautiful capital of Novic Prime into a tomb world, killing billions, her family members included.

'Jane,' whispered Leonne, tears rolling down her cheeks. 'Please,' she begged, but Jane held up her hand.

'No, Leonne. The Empire killed my home world. If you married an Imperial... I will expect you to report him.'

This time Jane became the suppliant. 'Please, Leonne. I know you love him, but you can't stay with him! I don't care what lies he told you, you just… You can't! Please!'

'He doesn't have Imperial ancestry!' Leonne protested, but it sounded hollow to her own ears. It was a half lie and the truth was far, far worse. Forget Imperial ancestry! Mentuc was Imperial. Forget that the truth had been altered, modified and hidden over the centuries! Ignore that the victor wrote the history books! She hadn't been able to believe it either at first, but she didn't have the same personal connections to the Imperial war that Jane had, so she'd been more open to the notion, especially due to her extensive knowledge of the human psyche and its tendency to dehumanise their enemies. She hadn't quite counted on Mentuc being able to provide undeniable proof.

'Don't lie to me!' Jane shouted, tears now running freely on her face as well as she kept up her impassioned plea. She saw the cracks in Leonne's facade and kept pushing on, hoping, praying that she'd through to her now thoroughly distressed friend. 'If you care about our friendship in any way, then you'll tell him to leave! Even if you don't report him! Just send him away! I don't ca—'

Whatever Jane had intended to say was cut off when the Vertigo sharply lurched to the side, engine whirring loudly to compensate the sudden shift in balance. Jane and Leonne both tumbled around, crashing into the doorframe. Jane was squished against the window and could see Mentuc standing just beyond it, holding onto the roof of the vehicle, ending her pleas instantly and replacing them with raw fear when she looked into his eyes.

The on board computer noticed the imbalance and the displacement of its passengers and the emergency brakes were activated, quickly bringing the vehicle to a stop. Leonne got back to her senses far quicker than Jane and crawled over the frightened woman, their earlier spat completely forgotten due to her husband's interference and pushed the button for the window. She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her husband was on edge, visibly disturbed. She doubted Jane could tell, his body language was hard to read and the sunglasses made it even more difficult. She didn't need to see his eyes to tell her that he was looking at both of them at the same time, and intensely at that.

'How was Novic Prime destroyed?' he asked. She realised far too slowly that his voice was utterly devoid of emotion and her mind raced to try and understand what he was leading up to. He wasn't stupid, no matter how he seemed and he never acted without a plan or reason. And he definitely didn't like revealing anything about himself, hence his stubborn refusal to get on the light craft that couldn't compensate for his weight.

Jane stuttered out vowels and consonants, her mind tumbling around in her skull, desperately attempting to regain a semblance of control over the panic the massive presence that Mentuc was radiating.

Typical for him, he didn't say anything else. He had asked a question and would now wait until Jane replied. Leonne vaguely realised that Cassy was no longer on his shoulder but she wasn't worried. He wouldn't hurt her.

Eventually Jane managed to return herself in a slightly functional shape and her eyes narrowed. To her Mentuc represented the Empire and all the atrocities they committed. Not something she looked kindly upon.

'They bombed it. Left nothing but craters,' she hissed.'

He nodded. 'What battlegroup?'

'What?' His response took her off guard.

'What battlegroup?' he repeated, his voice lacking anything that characterised him as human. It was a simple inquiry. To him at least.

'Imperial!' she shouted back, but the answer lacked its earlier fire.

'What battlegroup? Who was the leading Admiral? What priority was it assigned? What was the type of armature used? What was the type and tonnage of bombs used? Who was in charge of the logistical support? What type of vessels were used?'

'What kind of questions are those!' Her anger was flaring up again as he tore into the still open wound.

'Do you know?' he insisted, his voice still calm.

'No!'

He nodded and pulled back from the window, stepping off the Vertigo, which immediately lurched upwards again, the whirring engine roaring in protest as its constant attempts to compensate now betrayed it and the inhabitants were thrown against the opposite side before the vehicle managed to finally come to its normal, horizontal state.

'You are a scholar and you do not know the truth,' he said, more to himself than to her, as her not knowing confirmed something.

'What do you mean!' she shouted, her anger making way for something she hated herself for; doubt. Mentuc's voice was calm, every word spoken with certainty.

'Nagalan, Rivan and Lufer were priority five targets. Battlegroups Nemesis, Perseus and Icarus, under the joint command of Admiral Verloff were present for the duration of that battle. Perseus and Icarus had been present on the border when the Novic Confederacy launched their surprise attack. Nagalan was the main logistics depot. Rivan was home to the Novician shipyards. Lufer was their fleet HQ and source of fleet coordination. The goal of the attack was to cripple the Novician ability to wage an offensive war.'

He calmly listed off the facts, ignoring Jane going pale as a sheet in consternation as she softly shook her head.

'Novic Prime was a priority seventeen target. It was later used by the Kra'lagh as a staging area to launch further attacks into Imperial territory. Imperial ships reached the planet twenty-seven years after the Kra'lagh invasion. At that point the planet had become a Hive Planet. Human casualties were total. After the Kra'lagh fleet was lured away, Battlegroup Gorgon, under the command of Admiral Rolden, launched a hit and run attack on the planet. In the span of two hours they rendered the planet uninhabitable through the use of Cleanser-type bombs. Radioactive weaponry. This deprived the Kra'lagh fleet from their supply base, forcing them to retreat.'

Leonne's mouth was wide agape, a perfect mirror image of Jane. Both were stunned into silence, albeit for vastly different reasons.Jane ran her mind over everything he had mentioned and compared it to what she knew. The weaponry, the battlegroup names, the admirals, the planets he named, that all made sense. Yet at the same time there were major inconsistensies. The Novic Confederacy launching a surprise attack? The Confederacy being the one to betray the Empire? What kind of bullshit was that!

Meanwhile,Leonne couldn't believe that Mentuc had just divulged so much information, details about a war she only knew the barest bones of, but knew that every word was true. He couldn't lie and he had an eidetic memory. He recalled those events with perfect clarity and they were the very same things that haunted him. Every battle, defeat and victory alike, had been paid in blood. He could not forget, remembering it all with visceral accuracy.

He occasionally talked to her about it, when she inquired or when a particularly traumatic memory was trigged. He never hid what he had done from her and a lot of what he had told her had shocked her to the core. The man in front of her had been a sentient weapon and had been wielded as one, efficient, without holding back. He had seen the worst of the war and in more ways than one. She had learned so much from his memories as they tore her worldview open. She thought she understood. Then Nightmare had shown her. She had paid the price for her hubris with many sleepless nights, where they both huddled against the other, drawing solace from one another against the horrors of their own subconscious. She still didn't understandd even half of what he was or why he was that secretive and knew she wasn't ready to hear more yet, her own heart a fragile thing compared to the stone that rested in his chest. If Mentuc chose to hide things, he did so with a damned good reason and it had taken nothing short of a minor miracle in the form of a marriage before he had fully opened up to her. A promise of those he'd come to trust was a powerful thing.

All the more reason his sudden candidness took her so off guard.

Jane's mouth opened and closed, trying to make sense of it. Mentuc stood in front of her, the epitome of certainty, radiating calm confidence. She wanted to challenge him, to call him a liar, but something in her held back. It had come out of him too smoothly. Too fast. Too detailed. She didn't want to believe! She wanted to cast it in doubt! Hell, she wanted to ridicule it! To laugh it away! To call it a futile defence and a blatant bunch of lies!

But somehow she couldn't. There was several parts of his story that didn't line up, but one stood tall above the others. She did not think him stupid enough to make such a major mistake and suspected him of having another reason. So instead she chose to ask him directly.

'Who are the Kra'lagh?'

The first thing Leonne became aware of was the violent pounding of her head. Then, as her conscience started waking up properly, her brain began receiving the plethora of alarm signals that the rest of her body was sending to it. She tried to get up, lost strength halfway and started coughing violently, each cough wracking her body even further. She tried opening her eyes, but the light played havoc with her sight and what little she saw was blurred beyond recognition. Exhausted, she let her body fall back down onto something that felt warm and soft and it took her far too long to recognise it as a bed. She tried to speak and found that words came reasonably easy, even if the simple act added to her hurt considerably.

'Easy there, just stay in bed,' came a gentle, soothing voice. She recognised it but couldn't place it.

'Where am I?' she groaned.

'You're in Agitana, Leonne. Your father dropped you off at my clinic after he found you and your sister out on the road. You're both safe.'

She finally realised who the voice belonged to. Only one person would refer to the doctor's office as a clinic and that was the woman who ran it, Catie.

Then the memories came flooding in and she opened her eyes wide, a rather painful mistake as she groaned at the sudden influx of light, shutting them immediately and willing the dizziness away. 'My sister!'

'She's fine, you're both fine. You were both suffering from a severe case of hypothermia. Hang on, I'll dim the lights.'

'Cassy,' she moaned.

'Shush dear, she's fine. She's still asleep. She was off a bit worse than you were, no surprise really, given how bad the storm was. Goes to show how much those weather satellites are worth. Nobody expected it to be that fierce. You were very lucky that you got that close to the village before collapsing.'

'Lucky,' she mouthed, remembering the shadowman.

'Come on, let me help you up. Don't rush it though, move slowly. You've got an intravenous drip in. Although I'd wager you're quite hungry.'

Leonne felt how Catie carefully helped her sit up in the bed and slowly tried opening her eyes again. The lights had been turned down significantly, making her able to finally look around. She turned to her arm first, looking at the drip, before searching the small room for her sister. Cassy was laying in a bed just across from her, several cables connecting her to a set of monitors that were keeping a careful watch on the girl.

'Is she really fine?'she asked, unable to read the monitors but assuming the steady beeping was a good sign.

'She is,' reassured Catie her. 'Her body temperature had gone down to thirty degrees. Yours had gone down to thirty-two. Not the healthiest thing, really, but like I said, you're both fine. I could throw some medical jargon at you if you'd prefer, but I'm quite sure I needn't worsen your headache.' The doctor gave a gentle smile and walked out of the room, returning a bit later with a bowl of soup. 'The drip is good for giving you some nutrients, but you might prefer eating something yourself. It's not too warm so you should be able to manage.'

Catie placed a small plastic tray over the bed and placed the soup on top of it, gently coaxing the weakened Leonne into eating. Her fingers were still trembling slightly and moving them definitely was unpleasant, but it helped that she had something to focus on. Slowly she started feeling better and Catie gave the young woman time to get her bearings. It wasn't long before she felt strong enough to speak normally again.

'Could you tell me what happened yesterday? My memory is quite hazy.'

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

'That's to be expected. It's two days ago, really. I kept you two asleep throughout the entire day, yesterday. You can't just force heat into a body after it's been cooled down to that extent. Anyway, from the panicked voice of your father I heard they found you roughly two kilometres from the village. Half the men were out on the road, spread out and scouring the road in an attempt to find you. You were lucky you collapsed next to a lighting post. Your father swore high and low that he had gone by it earlier and that you hadn't been there then, it was quite amusing to witness. You must have crawled past him in the dark. Given the state you were in at the time, it doesn't really surprise me you missed him. I was quite impressed you even managed to make it that far in your condition, to be honest. Given your low temperature you should have struggled to remain conscious, let alone manage to drag your sister along. You did good, really.'

'I... Wasn't there someone else with us? The last I remember was when I was still more than five kilometres out.'

'Nobody else was out there. Everyone was in the village, sheltering from the storm, or on the road searching for you. You must have kept moving on auto-pilot. It happens, especially in such traumatic situations.'

That didn't sound right to her. She was certain that the shadowman had been real. Her eyes widened slightly as an assumption jumped to the forefront. 'The new guy, I remember meeting him at the Wall. He was headed to the village. Did he come here?'

Catie nodded, but kept eyeing the younger woman worriedly. 'He came by the village yesterday, I heard. Don't know what he came for though.'

She perked up at that. 'Did he ask for me? Or for Cassy?'

'Not that I know of, no. Why?'

'I...' she fell quiet, realising that she would only sound like a fool if she voiced her suspicions.

Catie nodded, however, understanding. 'You think he picked you up?'

She looked down at the near empty bowl, not answering.

'It's natural, girl, you needn't feel ashamed about it. In your exhausted state your brain probably saw all sorts of things. It's perfectly natural.'

'So it couldn't have been true?'

'I doubt it. If it hadn't been for Sam's Vertigo the men wouldn't even have gotten as far as that lighting post. The wind was really fierce.' Catie blinked in surprise at her own words and quickly amended her dark statement

'But you're safe now. I'll keep you in here for a couple more days, to make sure you'll be fine. When Cassy wakes up and manages to eat something I'll call your parents over. I've been keeping them up to date, but I've not yet told them you woke up. I'd rather not have them stirring up a fuss in my clinic while the both of you are still in a fragile state.' The doctor picked up the tray and the bowl and moved them away. 'You should sleep a bit more, girl. Rest is the best medicine you can give yourself now.'

Leonne found herself nodding along. She didn't think sleep would come easily, however. She hadn't imagined it. The shadowman, who had to have been Dreamer, had been real. But why had he picked them up? And why hadn't he acted earlier? And stars above, why had the idiot disappeared earlier! She had a dozen new questions, buzzing around in her mind like angry bees. She needed answers dammit! There was too much that didn't make sense and she hated not understanding. He was a total enigma. She couldn't entirely hide a smile, however. He had only been in Agitana for a couple of days but she hadn't been bored for a moment.

With that thought in mind, she dozed off, dreaming being carried around on the back of the tall, mysterious man.

The metal shovel cut through the dirt and Dreamer heaved, pulling it and the sizeable collection of dirt on the blade up. He was satisfied with how durable his new tools were. He had bought a set of spares as well, just in case. He didn't want to waste more time by going on another trip to the village. He had been visiting there too often already and he preferred avoiding it. Being around that many people without being armed or armoured put him on edge, made worse by the need to act like a normal human. It was difficult and not in the way he was used to. Physical pain and difficult tactical situations were simple compared to this. Part of him missed how much easier it was to just shoot people, before he tore the thought apart. I've stopped fighting, he reminded himself.

He was also concerned in regards to the two female civilians. The one whom had been spying on him as well as the smaller sibling of the former one. He had been chasing them from a distance, unwilling to reveal himself. It was instinct more than any conscious decision that had made him stay out of sight. Force of habit. Adjusting to civilian life was challenging.

He had also underestimated the storm. He had expected it to be fierce, but not that devastating. The two girls had braved it for a while, trying to return to the village as quickly as possible, but they simply couldn't make a proper pace. As they started slowing down over time, he had become concerned. If the two died of the cold after having gone in his general direction, local authorities would undoubtedly appear and suspicion would fall on him. He could not afford either case to happen. He had been at an impasse for a while, before the one who had introduced herself as Leonne had panicked at the state of her sibling. He had assumed the girl had become too cold and that her body had begun shutting down. That had forced his hand. If they died, attention would be drawn to him. That was an unacceptable outcome, making every other alternative preferable. So he had acted.

He had picked up the self proclaimed fierce one and put her on his back, before gathering the smaller one whom had been called Cassy, into his arms, pressing her tightly against him to transfer some of his own warmth into her. The wind and the rain were a minor hindrance to his senses, his body having been designed for far more hostile environments, but to the normal humans they became lethal after prolonged exposure, draining precious body heat. He only had limited knowledge in how to treat such cases and he had attempted to press as much of his bare skin against theirs without having to slow down, which limited his options. He had been surprised to find the villagers searching for them. It meant their absence had been noted and that they knew the direction they had both gone out in. Given that they were sticking to the road, they were also capable of logical thought, as the lighting posts along the road were the only thing to navigate by. It also meant he did not have to run past them and deliver them in the village. He had scanned the slow moving convoy, knowing time was of the essence given the pair's slow heartbeat and had been relieved when he spotted the large vehicle that was slowly forcing its way through the storm. From there on out it had been a simple matter to sneak past their lines and deliver the two at the lighting post in the midst of them, where they were soon found.

He was glad when the smith told him that they had both survived and were in a stable condition, when he returned to Agitana the next day. It showed that saving them had been the right decision, because nobody bothered him with questions and there had been no mention of authorities either. His cover was still intact and he had not drawn unduly attention to himself. He wondered if this would make the strange Leonne cease her attempts at spying on him. He did not understand why she did that. He was still certain he had not given her any cause to, but he had to admit that he did not understand civilians. Still, he hoped she would stop. He did not like being spied upon.

If worst came to worst, however, killing her remained an option.

Onoelle looked at her husband, who was visibly shocked and pacing back and forth, with Cassy showing up in the distance and running towards them, clearly not happy after having been plucked off Mentuc's shoulders. Jane was turning her head like a chicken, bobbing back and forth between Mentuc and her. Onoelle didn't care about either at that point. She had never known Mentuc to be anything more than slightly awkward. Being shocked just wasn't a thing he seemed capable of. His earlier behaviour had surprised her, but this was causing her genuine concern. He suddenly stopped his pacing and walked back to the Vertigo. He seemed worried and that scared the crap out of her.

'You are certain,' he asked. 'You do not know who the Kra'lagh are?'

'No,' stammered a confused Jane. Her earlier indignation was forgotten, which was a fair thing to do given that Mentuc had completely ceased any attempts to behave like a normal human. He was moving restlessly and it was hard to keep up with his movements and the sheer alien-ness of his movements overruled everything else.

'You are sure you have studied the Empire and the war?' he asked again, moving closer to Jane.

'Yes!' Jane shouted indignantly while retreating slightly deeper into the Vertigo.

'But you do not know the Kra'lagh?' He sounded on edge.

'No!'

'Onoelle, do you know the Kra'lagh?'

She hadn't heard wrong. There was an edge to his voice.

'You told me of them. I thought they were just one of the Empire's enemies,' she replied. She realised she really did not like the direction this conversation was going.

'Who were they?' whispered Jane, softly, afraid she'd draw his full attention.

'They were not an enemy of the Empire. They were the enemy of the Empire. The Kra'lagh nation launched a full scale invasion of the Empire and possessed superior technology, allowing them to drive the Empire back. The Empire struck back, captured Kra'lagh ships, reversed engineered them and managed to stall their advance. For the entire duration of the war, for a full eighty-seven years, the war was waged between the Empire and the Kra'lagh. Every other conflict that happened during this war was insignificant compared to the fight against the Kra'lagh. It cannot be that you do not know of them.'

'I... I never heard of them', came Jane's voice, barely audible over the soft whirring of the Vertigo's engine.

'That cannot be!' he shouted, slamming his fist into a tree and causing Cassy to jump up as his fist tore through the bark and shattered the wood. Onoelle all but jumped out of the Vertigo.

'Mentuc? What does this mean?' she asked, her voice wrought with fear. This wasn't right. Mentuc wasn't supposed to be like this!

He looked at his wife, then at Jane and Cassy, before turning back towards her. He grabbed her, surprisingly gently given how much he was trembling, and pulled her close. 'I need to speak with Nightmare,' he whispered. Onoelle paled at that. Nightmare's existence was a frightening thing at the best of times. Now… Then she pulled herself together, absentmindedly touching her ring. In good and bad days, she reminded herself.

'I'll come with you,' she said. He nodded, looking terribly grateful. She felt shivers ran down her spine. She couldn't even imagine what disturbed him like this.

'Wait!' shouted Jane, climbing out of the Vertigo. She ignored Cassy, who was looking at the demolished tree, something Jane herself very pointedly avoided looking at.

'What the hell is going on? What is this about this new species? What's going on Mentuc? And why do you even know any of that? Why tell me? Why should I believe you? And where are you and Leonne going to?' she shouted, demanding answers.

Mentuc was directly in front of her in an instant, the concept of personal space alien to him.

'I still do not like you and I would not have told you, but Onoelle was crying,' he answered, honestly and truthfully. The lack of emotion in his voice distressed her.

'I could alleviate that, so I did. I am married to her. Keeping her happy is my duty. And you should believe me because I told you the truth.' With that said, he turned around and ushered Cassy, gently but hurriedly into the Vertigo.

'You broke the tree,' she whispered in awe, more amazed than horrified, letting herself be shepherded away. 'You just broke it with your hand!'

'Yes, I did. You will travel with Jane and go back to the farm,' he instructed her.

'Wait a minute!' Jane shouted. 'You still haven't answered half my questions!'

'No,' he said coldly. 'I did not.'

'Answer them!' she yelled in desperation. 'You can't just turn everything I know upside down with your claims and then leave it at that!' She had already resolved herself to double check what she had known. When she had made her thesis she had stumbled upon multiple conspiracy theories that claimed the Imperial war had gone vastly different than history had recorded, but she had always dismissed those ideas. She wanted to do the same to Mentuc's words, to just dismiss them as madness, but the battlegroups he had mentioned, the Imperial admirals, the Novican planets and the roles they had were all spot on. You didn't know those unless you had studied the subject or were a part of the culture. And he had spoken with such unshakeable certainty that he had forced doubt in her mind. Even if she did not want to believe, she couldn't simply dismiss him. He wasn't a raving lunatic. The only way she could counter what he had said was with cold facts. She hated what he had said. Hated that he still might be Imperial. Hated that he had driven a wedge between her and her best friend. Hated that he might be right and everything that implied. He hadn't dismissed that the Empire and the Novic Confederacy had fought, nor that the Empire hadn't turned Novic Prime into a tomb world. And that stung her the most. He didn't say the Empire was innocent as most other conspiracy theorists. Merely that not all of history was remembered correctly.

Fuck!

'Tell me!' she screamed.

He ignored her and turned to Onoelle.

Tell me or I'll...' She fumbled, searching for something appropriate so she could at least get a hold on him. 'I'll report you!' she threatened in the end, desperate for an answer. And that was as far as she got. Mentuc's behaviour changed in a moment and only Onoelle's hurriedly screamed 'stop' saved her life.

She blinked mutely, unable to move, utterly frozen in fear as Mentuc's hand was all but touching her face, fingers held like a claw. He was no longer trembling.

'Mentuc!' his wife shouted, a mixture between fear, horror and fury warring for supremacy on her face. She was the one trembling now.

He took a step back, just in time to prevent Cassy, who was turning around, to see what had happened.

'She's my friend!' Onoelle hissed.

Mentuc's threatening behaviour didn't falter. 'She is a threat,' came his voice. All humanity had gone out of him. Onoelle felt the danger radiate off him. Jane had managed to corner him and he had fallen back on his instincts. He was thinking of killing her and she knew that the tiniest slip up on either her or Jane's part would see it happen. It already was a minor miracle that he had listened to her in the first place.

She willed her weak legs into action and tried to step in front of him, but he pushed her back, not letting her get in between.

'Mentuc,' she whispered, terrified. This wasn't the husband she knew and loved. This was a soldier who wasn't going to let anything threaten him or his. A side of him she had never seen before. Not in the flesh, she corrected herself.

He brought up a finger to Jane's face, a slow and nightmarish gesture. He was utterly inhuman now and even Cassy, who wasn't the subject of his terror, was growing frightened.

'You will not report anything.' It wasn't a request. It was a statement. Jane nodded mutely, unable to do anything else. Her eyes were open wide and there was raw terror in them. She had known how closely death had brushed by her.

In an abstract, morally wrong way, Onoelle had to admire her husband. He had acted far more human than he had given himself credit for. She had seen him in his role as a Genesis soldier quite often on war footage, but that paled with how it looked like in real life. She had only witnessed him like this once before. He was human only on a technicality and once he shed what little emotions he had, he suddenly stopped being human altogether. He was a monster, a weapon in human form, that she had slowly been transforming into something fully human. Jane had been defiant before, shouted at him despite knowing that something was off, despite feeling that he was dangerous. Now she was faced with the Genesis soldier himself and found herself utterly, completely and totally outmatched by a monster she had thought man. Everything in the woman's mind had been overridden by pure, instinctive fear in the face of someone created to be the alpha of the species.

And still he had kept himself in check. It had been terrifyingly close, but Jane was still alive and she somehow knew that Mentuc wasn't going to kill her friend, not if she complied. Because she had said that Jane was trustworthy. Because Mentuc trusted her. The minor instinctual reaction notwithstanding. And the most frightening part of it all? He did not feel anything. He wasn't angry or scared, wasn't acting out of emotions. His actions were perfectly logical to him. He merely received a threat and moved to eliminate it. Even after being married to him for a year and having his total trust, that still threw her off.

He turned around, considering the matter dealt with. Behind him, Jane's mind gave up and the woman lost conscious, her limp body falling to the ground. Mentuc paused, unceremoniously picked her up and put her in the Vertigo, past a softly sobbing Cassy.

'Mentuc?' the girl whispered.

'Yes?' he asked, surprising Onoelle with how normal he sounded. Then she looked at him again and realised that the raw terror that he had radiated earlier was gone now.

'Are you angry?'

'I am not,' he said.

'You're not?' she asked, scared.

'No,' he confirmed. 'I will need your help. Can I count on you?' he asked.

Cassy brightened at that.

'Of course!' she said, smiling weakly.

Onoelle shook her head at the sight. The girl was just ridiculously smitten with her brother-in-law. Not something she could blame the girl for, given that she married him knowing what he was.

'Can you drive the Vertigo back to the farm?'

'Alone?' The teenager was caught between excitement and trepidation. 'Are you sure?'

Mentuc nodded and Cassy steeled herself, before shaking enthusiastically.

'Yes! You can count on me!' Cassy climbed behind the wheel and started tapping buttons, her lessons from earlier that day being put to good use. She asked a few questions and after a bit of trial and error she set off, only belatedly realising that she hadn't asked when they'd be back and shouting the question at them through the window.

'Late tonight. Do not wait for us,' he shouted back.

Onoelle turned to her husband. She still didn't know what was going on or why he had suddenly snapped like that.

'Mentuc,' she insisted, 'what is going on?'

'The war with the Kra'lagh was one of survival. One species against another. Human against Kra'lagh. The Empire broke the Kra'lagh, but was destroyed before they could finish them. Then they disappeared from history.'

A horrible suspicion began to worm its way inside her heart and she shook her head softly, begging that she was wrong.

'The only reason I can fathom that they chose to go into hiding and to disappear from the galaxy at large,' he said, pronouncing the words with care.

'Is to launch a surprise attack.'

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