Lessirk entered the room, feeling several kilos lighter. His gaze fell upon the two people utterly dominating the room. It was hard to look past them. Both freaks stood a lot taller than everyone else and the way their heads kept swivelling from side to side as they constantly scanned their surroundings gave him the impression that they were birds of prey, looking for a tasty morsel. Part of him couldn't help but wonder if that wasn't how they saw everyone else in the room. Not superior officers, but emergency rations. He shook his head, trying to dismiss those thoughts. He did not enjoy sharing a com frequency with the creatures. Sharing a small room with them was straight up uncomfortable.

Sadly enough for him, the two superhumans were far from the only disturbing factors in the room. He glanced sideways and saw the NavInt Admiral stand beside his mentor, softly chatting with him. Her cold, calculating eyes lit up as she caught sight of him and the demonic smile she offered him made him shiver. Despite that he dutifully took his spot beside Admiral Verloff, who greeted him with a far too enthusiastic smack on the shoulders. Only then did he notice the three others in the room. Then his mind did a doubletake. There were only supposed to be two others. Last minute changes tended to be bad.

'Gentlemen,' Verloff cheerfully greeted the group. Beside him, Cindy gave him a glare, earning her a short snicker. 'And Naval Intelligence personnel,' he joked. 'I'll do a quick round of introductions. You all know me and my second in command already. Beside me is Admiral Cindy, NavInt. From the Genesis Battalion, Lieutenant Dreamer and Sergeant...' he paused briefly.

The female superhuman jumped to, the sound of her foot colliding with the deck echoing through the room. 'Sergeant X-12845621, at your service.'

'That's a mouthful,' the old Admiral chuckled. Lessirk took great delight in seeing Cindy's eyes widen. Apparently even the all knowing Naval Intelligence hadn't quite seen Genesis coming. He saw her throw a quick glance around the room to see who else showed any sign of surprise at the news and he took great care to keep his face carefully neutral. Even so he felt like her gaze lingered on him for far longer than all the others. He swallowed back a sigh of relief when she finally moved on from him.

'Further we have Colonel Girauld and her aide, Major Sharlin, from the Sixteenth Special Projects Regiment. And General Shivran of the Fourteenth Army, who insisted on being present for this debriefing,' Verloff finished the introductions.

The General stood at attention and gave a solid nod at everyone present. First at Verloff, then at the Genesis soldiers, followed by Cindy, himself and the two logisticians. He didn't doubt for a second that the NavInt officer took very careful note of that. 'Pleasure to be here,' Shivran said, a disarming smile on his lips.

'Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, Genesis,' the Colonel said, offering them a hand, which they very awkwardly shook. 'We are your behind the lines support. We had a fair hand in the practical development of the Svalinn.' The Colonel's smile broadened. We're delighted with the data you've sent us. Rest assured that a Mark Two is already being designed. You'll love it,' she told them, her voice containing the passion of someone truly invested in her work.

The General coughed softly as he stepped closer to the display. The Admiral gestured towards him. 'I've accepted his request, because I believe his input will be invaluable as an actual commander of the ground forces. Now then, to get started, please, have a seat.' He waited for a bit for everyone to take a seat and wasn't surprised when the two Genesis soldiers pointedly refused to sit down. He didn't take offense at that. He knew that they had sunk through enough of the damned things. Little wonder they regarded most furniture with a healthy amount of distrust. 'We have all read the report. General Shivran will go over the main points of action. If at any point anyone wishes to interject, feel free to. Genesis is a very new unit and any and all additions, no matter how irrelevant they may seem, will be worthwhile. General, if you would.'

The display flared to life and Shivran grasped the officer's weapon of old, a collapsible pointing stick. 'The original insertion was a daring, mad and incredibly successful venture. Through the combination of drop pods and a mass round laced with explosives, Genesis managed to make landfall and be on the move in less than eight minutes. This is a marked improvement from a common deployment for fast assault forces, which requires at least twenty. I would like to point out that during point of impact and point of mission start, more than three minutes passed. Given the orbital bombardment prior to the actual landing, this was made a moot point, however should an artillery barrage be directed their way, they would be torn to shreds.' The General glanced at the engineers. 'Suggestions to counter that?'

'We could drop a shield projector with them. Problem is that we don't have anything of sufficient size that can survive that type of impact. Not at that velocity. I'll look into it,' the wrinkled Colonel reported, numbers and calculations flashing behind her eyes. 'Alternatively we could try scattering them in a broader area. Now that we have actual data of a drop pod landing, my team will be able to finetune the pods.'

'See that you do, Girauld,' Verloff added. 'We'll need a new trick to drop them on Nagalan. There will be no distractionary armies there and orbital bombardment won't work there. Too many defensive systems. We should be able to throw them into the gaps between shields, however.'

'Might be worth preparing an alternate means of insertion,' Cindy interjected, sounding thoughtful. 'Would a semi-drop action be possible? Combine drop ship and drop pod? I'm not sure that those gaps will continue existing for long.'

The Colonel motioned to her aide to write that down. 'Estimated time of arrival to Nagalan, once we depart here, is a week and a half, correct?' Verloff nodded. 'Good. We will have something by then. It will still be experimental, but we'll make sure there are different choices of insertion available.'

'You two have been awfully quiet,' Shivran noted, turning towards the two elephants in the room. 'What do you think?'

'Sir, nothing new to add.'

Shivran's eyebrow shot up, unused to the strange behaviour of the Genesis. 'Come on now. I'd like to hear your thoughts. You were the ones going down there. Do you think we might eventually insert entire armies that way?'

'No,' came the Lieutenant's immediate answer. His inhuman eyes settled on the commander of the Fourteenth, who only now saw them for the first time. To his credit, the man didn't jump back, but it was a close thing. 'It would kill you.'

The General tried to speak, but the Colonel beat him to the punch. 'I have to agree with the Lieutenant, sir. The drop pods were made to Genesis' specifications. No others could ride them down planetside without severe injuries at best,' she explained, stressing the last word.

Cindy rapped her knuckles softly against the metal display, immediately acquiring everyone's attention. She gave a soft chuckle that carried a silent whisper of unspeakable danger with it. 'I needn't remind all ladies and gentlemen here that all things discussed here are highly classified,' she said to no one in particular. Then she vested her gaze on the General. 'Especially,' she added, 'the nature of the Genesis Battalion.'

'I assumed as much,' the veteran ground pounder replied, his tanned cheeks having turned a shade lighter. 'I'm not a fool.'

Cindy kept up her vampiric smile, one that didn't reach her eyes. Lessirk saw it and shivered. He remembered how his mentor had gone against her and silently shook his head. That woman was about as human as the two freaks in front of him. 'I assumed as much. I am delighted to see it confirmed. The security clearance for Genesis is very high,' she warned them, purring the word. She didn't mention that it exceeded her own, but then again there was no need for them to know that.

Shivran cleared his throat. 'Moving on, we have the first combat footage.' Novican tanks flared to life on the display, surrounding a lone Imperial Gungnir. 'This engagement was exemplary,' the General commented. 'The enemy was instantly jammed, targets were called and eliminated in a near-instant fashion. I see nothing that can be improved upon here.' The wave of blue that was Genesis washed over the Novican tanks as the red dots disappeared in a singular flash. 'N—'

'Sir,' came the loud voice of the female Genesis. Shivran took a step back and waved her closer, clearly excited at the mysterious soldiers finally bringing their own input. 'Strike Force One made contact with the enemy, as ordered. This could have been avoided, which would have resulted in a later detection of our landing. Further, X-12845623 made contact with the tank crew and gave them instructions to drive back and pick up a heavily wounded pilot we had passed earlier. This caused a minor disruption in the formation and gave Strike Force One a delay of forty-nine seconds.'

The gathered humans threw a confused look at the reporting soldier, whose face gave away nothing of the thoughts underneath. Beside her stood her male colleague, showing minor signs of unease. Cindy was baffled by it, in a different manner than the others. Shivran and Verloff were trying to wrap their heads around how the hell the instant annihilation of fourteen tanks and the saving of an allied tank crew and pilot could possibly be a tactical error. The other officers were just confused, unaccustomed to ground combat as they were. To her the simple, clear cut declaration was deeply disconcerting, however. 'On what grounds do you base your argument, Sergeant? she asked.

'Our given orders.' The Genesis still showed no sign of unease. Or any other emotion for that matter.

'What were they, precisely?' she inquired.

'The essence of it only!' Verloff hurried to add. Cindy arched an eyebrow at him and he leaned closer to her. 'They don't do figures of speech,' he whispered. 'She would have given you the entire briefing, from start to finish, up to every last detail.' She gave him a nod. Given what she had observed from the Genesis so far, that didn't sound too far fetched.

'Break through the Novican lines. Avoid hard combat. Break into the command bunker. Eliminate Priority One target. Eliminate Priority Two targets. Retrieve Priority Three targets. After completion of these three objectives, fall back towards the pick up point while destroying Priority Four targets. Remain within the allotted mission time.' The female Genesis' eyes were hard as she looked at every person present simultaneously. 'The undertaken actions were not part of our mission and caused a delay,' she finished.

Cindy was tempted to read it as an accusation, but her instinct told her something else was at play. What that was, she did not know. She would have guessed something alongside the lines of a power struggle, but somehow that did not line up with how she viewed the superhumans. She decided to test the waters a bit. 'Lieutenant, what do you make of this accusation?' There was very little in the way of body language to read from the man. His head kept moving slightly, but he was simply scanning his surrounding as he always did. The rest of his body was rigid, barely moving at all.

'Every raised point is correct,' he replied, just as clearly as every other thing he had said.

The gathered officers waited. It took them a while to realise that nothing more was forthcoming. 'Then why did you do it?' she asked, her mind running into a dead end.

'When we passed the pilot, she insisted she could still fight. When we encountered the allied tank crew, I saw an opportunity to preserve both them and the pilot at an acceptable cost. I found the salvaging of two combat capable assets worth the sacrifice of time and the risk of detection,' he summarised. The damnedest thing was that there was a hint of regret in the Lieutenant's voice. As if he thought he had made the wrong decision.

Shivran and Verloff nodded along, while Lessirk and the engineers were still struggling to grasp the entire issue in the first place. Nobody dared place a comment, however. Nobody, aside the one other Genesis. 'It went against the mission parameters,' the Sergeant reiterated. Had she been a normal soldier, Cindy guessed the words would have come out with a hiss and an accusing glare, rather than a monotone, emotionless tone.

'I am aware,' Dreamer replied.

The Sergeant moved, turning towards her superior. 'Yet you gave the orders.' That didn't seem to be an accusation, if anything it came of as a confused question. The Genesis didn't seem to be fully human, but still seemed to run parallel to the human baseline. It was just that their values were completely different.

'I did,' the Lieutenant confirmed. Did she hear uncertainty in his voice? Or was she just projecting on the supersoldiers?

'Why?' No, she wasn't projecting. This wasn't a power struggle in the slightest. The woman, if she could think of the sentient weapon in front of her that way, was confused and as a result of that, distrustful of her direct superior.

A silence raged across the room. It was the type of quiet that preceded a mass round striking. The very air itself seemed to hold its breath before the storm would be unleashed. Slowly, barely noticeable, the Lieutenant's head turned towards his subordinate until he looked her straight in the eyes. Which was a very weird thing to say when the rest of their lenses kept bouncing all over the place.

'I found the trade off worth the expense,' he said.

Clearly not the words the Sergeant wanted to hear, if the speed at which she turned and faced the display again. Had she been hard to read before, now she was a wall of stone. A visibly annoyed wall. One that could come to life at any point and tear apart every living being in this room, her fellow Genesis excluded, if she felt so inclined and given how tense both Genesis seemed to be, that wasn't a reassuring thought at all. Cindy felt her mind race. They take their orders literally, she realised, combining Verloff's words with her own experiences. Yet the Lieutenant acts differently, which causes hostility from the others, she hypothesized. Why? That single word, applied to a thousand questions, rang through her mind. It was the key to Genesis' true nature, the one main reason why she had been sent out here. It was only the first step, though, and she had many more to take. Her brows pulled taut as an idea started forming in her head.

Shivran waited a good long while before he dared to speak up. When he finally did clear his throat, the room seemed to let out a breath of relief. 'Moving on to the next battle,' he began.

The after action report was handled in an unusual fashion. The Genesis' trick to perfectly memorise the layout of a minefield was brought up, something Shivran vowed to try and mimic, one way or another. Next was the impossible combat speed at which the superhumans moved and fought at, even while under fire. The benefits and downsides of the constant jamming came up, as well as the close joint operation between the Navy and the Battalion as the former constantly updated the latter with crucial information. Casualties on all sides were tallied, the number of wounded slowly climbing on Imperial side, while the number of confirmed kills on the Novican side exploded upwards. That was highlighted as Shivran took a full minute to look at the numbers, before loudly muttering a surprisingly powerful expletive. Verloff had given a grim smile at that, knowing fully well how many losses the Fourteenth had suffered during that same time period.

It wasn't until Strike Force One split up to attack the Novican base that the flow was disrupted once more.

'A delay of nineteen minutes, fifteen seconds,' stated the Sergeant.

Shivran's mouth fell wide open. 'Not even twenty minutes?' he asked incredulously. 'You took two hundred odd soldiers and attacked a fortified position containing more than five times your number and you levelled the place in less than twenty fucking minutes?'

'No, sir,' came the Lieutenant's words. 'I delayed the mission with that time. The base was neutralised in twelve minutes and thirty-four seconds.'

For a hot minute Cindy thought the General was about to spontaneously combust, with how red he was turning, before he suddenly seemed to get a grip on himself again. 'For the record,' he told the other officers, his voice strained. 'If I could launch a surprise attack on that base, without artillery interference or anything like it, I would need at least four times the number of the men inhabiting that base to come out with something resembling of a functional force.' He turned back to the two Genesis. 'Not that I'll complain, mind you. You blew open some major holes in their line and cleared the way for us.' He glanced at the Sergeant. 'Which allowed us to apply significantly more pressure on the Novican lines, which should have made it easier for you to advance as well.'

'Lieutenant!' came Verloff's loud voice. 'I believe we should have a personal chat, after this debriefing. Sergeant, you will stay as well.' Cindy, unable to read the Genesis, but damned capable to pick up on the clues Verloff was putting out, heard the unspoken words. The assault of the Fourteenth hadn't influenced the Genesis time table by any real measure. And the bastard had been on the verge of saying that, too. New unit growing pains, she thought. Hah!

The rest of the briefing continued on in a normal manner, as far as that word can be used for anything the Genesis did. The Colonel and her aide were especially interested in the destruction of the Novican walker, chattering excitedly to one another about directional explosives, vectors, Newtons per square centimetre and other technical jargon that was far beyond her. The General, on the other hand, was positively obsessed with the invasion of the Novican complex and its layout. The next part should have been the rescue of the NavInt infiltrators, but that part had been edited out for security purposes.

Then came the final battle and Verloff, possibly reliving his days as Special Forces, hissed at the sight, muttering a soft prayer under his breath. 'That's one hell of a chokepoint,' he whispered. Cindy noted that the affirmative nod that Dreamer gave him was... different. She couldn't spy any outward sign that made it so, but her instincts were blaring. Another mystery to add onto the ever growing pile.

Shivran honestly admitted that the performance of Genesis was so far beyond him that he was not qualified to give feedback. Large scale battles, sure, but he made clear that the only way he'd try and tackle a chokepoint like that, would be by throwing enough indirect fire on it until the entire area was a crater. Verloff helpfully took over and suggested alternative ways of engagement, each one of which the Genesis rebuffed with ease, before elaborating on the choices taken and the reasoning behind each decision. Apparently a scant few minutes had been enough for the Genesis to go draw up a carefully crafted plan of attack.

When the death of Grand Admiral Kolpovka was reported, Verloff softly shook his head. 'It doesn't matter how great a person you are, how much of a leader, how successful in life or how high your station. If you are a soldier, you can die in any sort of way and very few of those are noble. It makes me feel blessed to have been born in the Empire, where for centuries most of our soldiers died of old age.' His eyes grew weary as he looked at the display. 'You were a good man, Kolpovka. Shame you were born in such a shit state.'

The retreat was covered in a few words. There wasn't a need for more. It was mostly Verloff and Cindy alternating between reports and hypotheses of how the rest of the Novic Confederacy would react now that the Grand Admiral was dead. Neither of them were willing to give the coup much chance of success in the long run. They lacked the political clout to get the rest moving. However, both of them agreed that, for a couple of months at least, the Novican military would be lead by the actual officers, making them a dire threat. If they succeeded in beating back the Empire, they would gain enough political renown to hold their own and they still had enough ships left to make that a reality. Sheer numbers would win the war for them. Hence, the remaining two battles would be essential and the blows needed to be struck as swiftly as possible, before the Novicans regained their bearings. Simultaneously, almost.

The rest of the debriefing was less about the war on Lufer and more about the prospective insertion and follow up battle on Nagalan.

'It'll be a hot mess,' Shivran warned them. 'Nothing but urban combat. Civilians and soldiers all around. It's lightly defended for a logistics depot, by our standards, but there will still be millions of soldiers planetside. Not to mention that if you group up, they'll just obliterate you from orbit.'

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'We do not plan to group up, sir,' came Dreamer's collected answer. 'We are aware that the enemy will be hesitant to open fire on a small amount of enemies if there are significantly more unarmed combattants in the area.'

'Not non combattants,' Shivran corrected. 'Civilians.'

The Genesis tilted his head, but repeated the word. 'They are a Priority Six target,' he said.

'Well, even if you do that, there remains the issue of being overwhelmed by ground based forces and what did you just call them?'

'The civilians are Priority Six targets, sir,' he casually repeated.

The General blinked in surprise. 'Huh,' was all he said.

'Hang on a moment,' Cindy interjected.. 'We're actively targeting them?' she asked.

Verloff arched an eyebrow. 'Is there an issue with that?'

Cindy nodded. It wasn't strange that the Admiral was surprised by her response. The Novicans had betrayed them. Civilian or military alike, it didn't make a difference to the Imperial dogma. Luckily enough Verloff was a wise enough man to wait for her explanation rather than accuse her of having grown soft. 'You are aware that there have been rumours in regards to our allies. That there are others who seem to be gearing up and gathering forces.'

The gathered officers nodded and she continued. 'And they're not making any indication that they're doing so to support us, with the exception of a handful. Given how illogically antagonistic they have become and how long it has been since we were forced to annihilate a nation, which was a hundred and eighty-six years ago if anyone wants to know, I'm worried this might push them over the edge.' She shrugged. 'Might being the key word. It might chase them into fear, but I think that message won't reach them well enough. People tend to be painfully blind to things happening far from their doorstep. Given our… I hesitate to use the word precarious, but I believe it is the most fitting, strategic situation, I would not deem it too wise to actively chase civilian targets.' She gave Verloff a slow blink. 'Especially if it's you. If one in ten survive the end of the campaign, I'll eat my uniform.'

Verloff leaned down on the display, giving all those gathered a stern glare. 'We've never been shy about killing civilians before, dammit, and we're not starting now. The brutal truth is that those men and women perform vital work for the enemy logistics and we need them out of the picture. Hell, if I could I'd just glass the entire planet for orbit without ever touching ground, but that's not an option. So we need a quick insertion and trust Genesis to survive long enough until we can come pick them up. Then they can blow the place sky high and we can finish what is left from orbit, though I reckon that at that point we'll have a pretty major fleet chasing us down, so we might not be too successful there. It will be up to you and your men, Lieutenant, to make sure that we can do enough damage to cripple the infrastructure and work force. Their logistical network needs to be crushed. The fewer civilians left alive on that planet, the better.'

'It's your call, Admiral. I just wanted to share my knowledge in this matter. Plenty of Imperial lives might be lost if we continue this course of action.' She carefully considered her next words, before deciding to take the risk. 'Wouldn't want you to suffer any sleepless nights due to crying souls of the damned.'

'I'm not bothered about those,' the Admiral replied stoically. 'You get used to them after a while. I've taught them to sing hymns while they scream out my name.'

Cindy filed that lovely remark for later use. She didn't mind that Verloff wasn't budging. The Admiral knew better than anyone else which actions they were supposed to take and had already thought things through. Any officer who casually spoke about an order of such proportions either didn't care about his men or was a moron. Neither types were tolerated in the Imperial military. Or, in Verloff's unique case, a man who had lost too much already. The Admiral had seen Imperial planets burn and that fire, hate and anger was raging inside him now and he managed the cold calculations better than any other high ranking officer. Cindy felt assured by that, as it cemented his loyalty to the men and women of the Empire. One out of three down, two to go. Speaking of...

'I will also amend one thing in regards to the upcoming strategy, Lieutenant. Colonel Girauld, your aid will be indispensable in this.' She could see from the way everyone, with the exception of the ever impassive Genesis soldiers, shifted slightly that she had their attention. Nobody had missed the way she had phrased it. She was pulling on her full authority as an Admiral of Naval Intelligence to overrule even Verloff.

Even so, she waited a few seconds, taking her time to look around the table. Part of NavInt's flair, pausing for dramatic effect. She waited until it so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. She felt her body tremble slightly, knew she was about to dive of the deep end and put her life at risk. It didn't matter. If she died, that would answer those questions as well. She gave the gathered men and women present a smile that exuded a confidence she did not posses and spoke the words of no return.

'I will join the invasion force.'

'You said that Angry Comet held multiple goals,' Jane pondered aloud. 'Given that the Empire wrecked the Novican command first...' she was thoughtful, her mind racing. 'A modern army depends on their equipment,' she mumbled. 'And the old adage that they march on their stomach still holds true, even if food doesn't expire that quickly anymore compared to the old days.' Her eyes flashed up from her notes and towards the black box. 'They moved on to attack logistical fleets with hit and runs?'

'Not a bad guess,' came Nightmare's reply. 'But no, that wasn't feasible. Nemesis wasn't suited to act as a wolfpack and could not risk spreading out too much or they would become easy pickings. You are close, however. The next step was landing Genesis on Nagalan, a place more logistics depot than planet. It was relatively small in size, completely urban in nature, and held a population of some six billion souls.' The light briefly winked red. 'Only fifteen million of which were military.'

Jane paled. 'You're saying—'

'Genesis was the only Imperial unit making landfall. The rest of the fleet would continue on to Rivan, which held the main Novican military shipyards. Time was of the essence, which explained why the Empire struck both targets at once. If the Novican officers managed to regain control over their forces, then they would have defended those two critical locations all the harder. To knock the Novican military out of the war, both targets needed to be laid to waste.'

'I understand that,' Jane replied, 'but that invasion seems suicidal! How come there wasn't any mention of it in the history books?'

The light briefly turned a darker shade of blue. 'Because what transpired on Nagalan was nothing short of a major disgrace to the Novic Confederacy, one which they tried to bury. Two thousand and forty five Imperials landed on a heavily fortified planet containing fifteen million soldiers and still they lost.'

'That's...' Jane struggled to find the right word. She wanted to say impossible, but she had seen the heavily armoured supersoldiers take down a gargantuan walker in the blink of an eye.

'Hard to believe?' the AI suggested. Jane nodded. 'That is understandable, but there were several factors that made it possible. The soldiers stationed there were not a cohesive army, rather an amalgam of thousands of different units, most of them nothing more than guards. There was little in the way of heavy firepower due to the urbanisation. The only real threat to the Imperials was being surrounded by too tight a net. That, and orbital bombardment. Both were easily sidestepped by the active usage of human shields.' Jane lost all the colour she had regained over the past minute in an instant, but Nightmare continued her explanation. 'The Genesis split up and used their low numbers to keep the orbital defence grid from firing down on the planet. They took over shield generators in civilian districts and used them as temporary bases, before disappearing and taking over a different one. They used the native population as hostages. The Novicans could not fire down on the planet without killing millions of their own. This allowed Genesis to do enough damage that when Nemesis finally returned, the planet was easily taken.' The light turned red, a deep dark variant of the colour that seemed to grow solid, before liquidising into blood. Jane felt a shiver run down her spine. 'It is estimated that approximately one and a half billion people survived the follow up bombardment. The only reason this many survived was because other Novican fleets had jumped into the system and forced Nemesis to pull back. Imperial Intelligence estimated the total military death toll that followed the destruction of the logistics depot at Nagalan at thirty-nine million. This does not include the amount of people that succumbed to starvation or disease outside of the military.'

'That's… That's monstrous!' Jane shouted, sickened to her core. 'That's… Billions! Billions of lives! Of innocents! How could they do that? I... That's on a scale you can't even imagine anymore! That's not human!'

'No,' Leonne's voice said, followed by the woman herself stepping into view with a towel wrapped tightly around her head. 'That's very human.' Her eyes were sad and full of compassion.

'But... but...' Jane spluttered. 'That's...'

'Too big for words or emotions. It's murder turned into a cold equation.' The emotions in her eyes turned to rage and anger as she vested her gaze on the black box. 'But that was the Empire's specialty, wasn't it? If it got in their way, it died.'

'Yes,' came Nightmare's voice. 'You have to admit that it was efficient.'

'Efficient?' shrieked Jane. 'You're talking about the deaths of billions of lives! People who had nothing to do with the war! What, did the Empire kill them because they happened to be born on the wrong side of the border?'

'Basically,' Nightmare said.

'But that's—'

'Monstrous, disgusting, abhorrent, unethical, diabolical, unfair, insane, the list goes on,' Leonne interjected. 'The Empire literally did not care if you were not part of them or their allies.'

'I would like to add that the Novicans had betrayed them, but honestly that wasn't even a factor in the decision to level the planet', Nightmare added. 'The civilians were contributing to the Novic Confederacy and as such they were treated as a viable target.'

Jane was trembling. She knew she was supposed to look at the past in an objective manner, but the idea of billions of people being murdered in cold blood without a second thought was heart-wrenching. She threw her friend a desperate look.

'It's in the past, Jane,' Leonne sighed. It was all the help she could give her friend. She had held this argument with the AI before. With Mentuc as well. The former would burn the galaxy with a smile if her CO commanded it and the latter had no moralistic understanding of right or wrong. To her husband it made perfect sense. Just as it had to the Empire. Everything was allowed in war. Dialled up to fucking eleven. 'The Empire didn't care for the others. There's no sense, no reason, no rhyme behind it. If you were Imperial, you were protected. If you weren't and got in their way you died. They looked at the entire galaxy with that thrice-damned black and white view.'

'It was a bit more complicated than that,' Nightmare cheerily interjected. 'The Empire would fight to protect its allies as well. And the Kra'lagh also murdered trillions. So did the rest of the galaxy when the military might of the Empire was beaten. They torched the civilian part as well. All war crimes too, so you don't get to toot your horn. At least the Empire did it with a rational reason,' the AI sang.

'Don't you start that argument, you bitch!' Leonne hissed, taking Jane off guard. 'What they did was morally wrong, insane and no creature with even a hint of humanity in their bones would have wilfully consigned an entire planet to burn. Only a complete psychopath could do that and I don't believe for one second that the entire fleet was made up of such miserable bastards. Everyone who fired a gun, who transmitted an order, the entire damned chain of command, they all knew what they were doing and they all did it! You can't justify genocide and just because the others did it as well doesn't mean that it's suddenly alright to do it!'

'Then what would you have done?' the AI shot back. 'Let the civilians live? Try to get them to vacate the area by announcing loud and clear where you would strike? Let the Novicans keep their logistics depot and allow the attacks on Imperial space to continue unhindered? Allow more soldiers, more of the people you were sworn to protect to die? If you had to choose between killing a hundred strangers or killing your sister, who would you prefer? You can prattle to me about being high and mighty all you want, but at the end of the day you protect those you care about!'

'Don't you compare how I feel about my sister with those bastards! There was nothing natural about the way the Imperials cared for one another! They were indoctrinated! Tortured until they accepted the belief that the military was their god! They took that process of wanting to care for others and stripped it of all emotion until it was a mechanic rather than a heartfelt instinct!' Leonne hurled back.

'Exactly!' the AI shouted triumphantly. 'The soldiers cared for one another and would gladly die for one another, following every order from up top with zeal while retaining situational awareness. The officers were trained to obey the orders from on high and translate them into orders for down below. They would gladly die so that the Empire might succeed. And the admiralty and the generals on top dictated policy and made sure that the Empire remained a zealous, indoctrinated, well oiled machine. They could not afford the luxury of emotions. Those things only hindered them. The admiralty lived in a perpetual state of total war for survival, whether the galaxy was at peace or not. To them, the entire universe could only be viewed in black and white!' The light turned into white, nearly blinding Leonne, but the woman refused to step back. 'Now imagine what would have happened had the Kra'lagh stumbled into a galaxy without the Empire? Everyone would be dead. And where would you be then, to preach your oh so inviolable beliefs? Being kind is a luxury of the strong! Not of the weak! It was instilled into the human body as a survival instinct because it was necessary at the start! It no longer is! Look at the world and tell me it is better off! Poverty, famine, backstabbing, treachery, murder, rape! Look at that and tell me the world is better off now that the Empire is gone!'

'That happened in the Empire as well,' Leonne instantly retorted.

'Not in the military,' the AI replied. 'And you know that was what I meant.'

'True. Regardless, the Imperial soldiers lacked freedom. Always driven by this damned duty you keep harking on about. Sure, people didn't die from hunger or disease and crime was as close to zero as it can get, but that also came at the cost that the people weren't happy!'

'Not true,' Nightmare scoffed. 'Imperial soldiers enjoyed their job. The emotional reward from overcoming challenges was a returning factor and—'

'Is this before or after they were brainwashed into being loyal little puppets? Oh wait, they were so from the start!'

'I would prefer if you used the term indoctrinated. It is far more correct. No brains were cut open,' the once Genesis replied, letting the light briefly glance over to Jane.

'Anyway, we're moving away from the entire point,' Leonne shouted. 'You cannot state that the blatant mass murder of billions is anything other than a monstrous act, one that cannot be justified no matter what reasons you can throw at it.'

The AI laughed, the light changing in colour and becoming softer. 'You can justify it with ease if you look at it from a rational point of view. Civilians are a resource, just like soldiers are. War is mostly an advanced form of economics.'

'And only war mongers look at it from that perspective. From a humanitarian perspective it's utterly insane and pure evil!' Leonne shouted

'And only fools with no respect for those fighting try to apply anything other than logic to a war!' threw back

'Enough.' The word was neither shouted nor screamed, but the discussion ended instantly. The black box, now firmly locked away in Mentuc's large hand, dimmed until the lights fully went out and the large man just looked at his wife until she backed down and began looking at her feet. 'You did not reach a conclusion the last time you argued this. You will not reach one now.' Jane noted that he sounded sorrowful. Then her eyes turned into saucers as she realised just what he had said. 'You described it as a believer arguing religion with an atheist. An argument between two people without a common ground that cannot reach a conclusion.'

'I did,' Leonne whispered, looking thoroughly chastised, to Jane's surprise.

Mentuc tilted the black box and stared at it for several long seconds. 'Your behaviour is disappointing,' he finally said.

Somehow the box managed to radiate a profound feeling of misery.

He put the black box down and pulled his wife towards him in a tender hug, to which she responded by laying her hand on his arm. There seemed to be some sort of unspoken communication going on between the two, if the squeeze and subtle nod were any indication, before he turned around. 'I will see to dinner,' was all he said.

Leonne nodded and walked towards the door, pulling Jane with her. 'We'll fetch Cassy. I could do with the fresh air.'

Mentuc waited until the two of them left the house, before picking up the pace. His own mind was racing, running along past memories.

Are you alright? came Nightmare's voice.

'Why do you keep antagonising her?'

A second of silence. Then two. Three. An eternity for a Genesis. Even longer for an AI. I don't know, came an annoyed answer. I give a reply before my cognitive programs catch up half the time. I seem to… enjoy it. There was wonder in her voice, as if this came as much of a surprise to herself than to her superior. I enjoy arguing with her. It makes me feel... Another long pause. I apologise. I'm going to run some scans on myself. The black box turned off with a click.

'Nightmare,' he called out to her, turning towards the box. He knew she was still there. She was always there. 'I understand that you are struggling to combine what you are with who you are.'

From through the sensors in the black box, Nightmare saw his eyes and suddenly realised how rarely she had actually looked at them. As a Genesis, both of them had constantly been scanning their surroundings. As an AI, she had intimately followed his heart rate and other bio-signals. She tried to remember how often she had seen his eyes, or those of the other Genesis for that matter. Despite all those years spent with him, she could only remember a scant few occasions. Something she felt sad about, to her own consternation. She turned her focus back to his eyes and found them to be oh so different from the rest of the Genesis. They hadn't always been like that. In the past they had been more like hers, like those of the rest of their brethren. Now they were… not grey, cold, without emotion. Now there was a weariness to them, laced with worry and empathy. Things alien to a Genesis, she realised.

'You can talk to me about it,' he gently told her. 'I can help.'

I—, she began before she immediately stopped as her mind broke down that sentence and analysed it thoroughly. Of course he could help. She was struggling to deal with surfacing emotions that she wasn't trained to deal with. Something he had been struggling with for the past centuries. Thank you, Dreamer, she said. He looked at the black box a bit longer before turning around and resume his preparations for dinner.

You're wrong, Onoelle, she thought. There's nothing mechanic about the way we care for one another. Then she shut herself up and began pondering if an artificially created being such as herself had any right to make such a statement.