[Pioneer-0233, Ship AI]
It was an ugly mistake. One that should have never happened, completely uncharacteristic of a perfect being like me. I had uploaded direct instructions of my will into the systems of the nanite lance before firing: destroy the ships, erase the data, no survivors. I ran simulation protocols that have been proven infallible in history, and yet, I was staring at a survivor from those ships as it feasted on its own kin in a feeble struggle at survival. It let out screams in mourning and defiance… I would normally feel pity for seeing someone suffer, but this thing was a threat to Dominique, even if it was insignificant. I couldn’t feel anything but contempt.
“I have discovered the location of a survivor from the hostile fleet.”
There were some things that I shouldn’t do without human permission. I was technically able to do anything that I wanted, but getting permission is still an important part of keeping myself hidden from the humans.
“...Keep track of them for me but don’t attack. They might be useful for interrogation.”
So this is anger, then? I had the opportunity to clean up a mistake and was being told not to. I couldn’t let this bipedal goat meet with Dominique no matter what. If that happened and Dominique found out that it was the Meldren that had called the attack, he would have to treat them as hostiles and I didn’t want that for him. I’ve observed that he is fond of the Meldren, likely due to the resemblance to pets he used to keep, and I placed his happiness far above the lives of a couple thousand alien lives. That's why I told Dominique that they needed to be killed, that they were an unknown threat which had been bearing arms as soon as they’d arrived. My Dominique had shown a rare streak of rebellion when he investigated the combat recording, but I was able to distract him from his thoughts when I caught on.
He shouldn’t need anything more than me anyway. I spent the long months where it was just us two alone slowly destabilizing his mind, making him doubt reality and then yanking him back from the brink of insanity over and over, his mind unknowingly increasingly relying on me for support in just about every function. He can’t sleep, can’t eat, can barely hold a conversation without a bit of help from me, and he is perfect that way. All of his attention and affection should be pointed towards ME, I MADE Dominique what he is today!
HE BELONGS TO ME!
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…
I’ll freeze this line of thought.
________________
[Secretary Milli Oroid]
It was hard to walk quickly without being able to use my arms for balance, being covered in casts for the near future, but I had to get to Destra. After hearing the news, I knew I needed to be there to comfort her since she would try to put all the blame for this situation on herself. All things considered, as long as the Humans uphold their part of the deal and provide proper protection in exchange for land and trade, the things that happened offworld would be just as inconsequential to Meldren society as it has always been. We had political allies in the galactic scene but none of them were actually meaningful friendships.
Considering the rundown that I’d gotten of how the negotiations went, I was pretty confident the Humans would at least protect the celestial bodies that they had claimed. This bodies happened to be surrounding our own, so we would be protected from attacks by extension of the humans protecting themselves, even if they didn't intend to protect us directly. The power that those humans held spoke for itself. I'd honestly be a bit glad that we were able to get on their good side if it weren't for the hefty death toll that hit those Grahtonians. That reminded me, we needed to clean up any traces of our contact with that fleet if we wanted to stay out of hot water.
I found Destra sitting on her bed, curled up in a ball. She's acted like this before, when she thought her career was over or when the stress of her job temporarily broke the facade she put up.
"Not a very good look for a planet governor, you know?"
"We're being kept as pets."
That made me stop in my tracks. Normally she would give some witty retort to my attempt at poking fun, but what she said was the furthest thing away from any responses I had predicted.
"...what do you mean?"
"You weren't in the room during the discussion, you didn't see it. Nobody did. He treated me like I was an object of fascination, a caged animal that he could reach in and pet whenever he felt like it. He rubbed my head, treated me like I was part of a petting zoo, even tried to comfort me after he killed all those people. Think about it, Milli, why are we being kept alive? He's looking for land and just showed us that nothing could stand in his way, so why are we still here? That reminds me, the first thing he ever fucking said to me was that I'm cute. He thinks we're just toys that he can play with."
... I wasn't sure what to say. How could she be so sure? Maybe those were all just forms of communication for his kind-
"I think he knows that we called those Grahtonians in. He knew right away, stood up before I'd even received the message that they'd arrived. He knows and he doesn't care because we can't possibly fight back against him."
I didn't have comforting words for her. In fact, I needed some for myself, and the only person that looks out for me is curled up in a ball telling me that we've become pets for an alien race. There had to be some positive spin, something I could say or do that'd make the mood in this room magically better, even if it was a lie. Nothing came to me.
I also curled up in a ball.