15. I understand and accept, Exalted One

At some point in the disaster, the lead Nameless had brought in three untrained Nameless just in case Horthus was suddenly unable to suppress his urge to start killing things again. It was such a wise move that he decided she had finally earned a name and pronounced her ‘Seefius’ on the spot. Then he had killed the one on the left and ate his heart. The other two were cowering in one of the corners, but the important Nameless, his advisors, were motivated and working hard to resolve the human menace.

"What exactly do you mean, they keep disappearing?" he demanded, not for the first time.

"I wish I could give you a clear answer to that, exalted one, but truly we do not understand it ourselves," Seefius answered. Now that she had a name and he could not just murder her without consequences, she was proving to be much more assertive. It was an attractive quality, and perhaps he was not to old to -

The humans first. He must resolve the human menace before following that train of thought any further.

"Try."

"All of the human force appear to be able to actively disguise themselves and hide from various ways of tracking and identifying them. The aerial drones are naturally immune to methods such as radar unless we turn the sensitivity up so high that it becomes useless due to the debris and smoke in the air from the explosions. On top of that, they can mask their heat signatures, and seem to have a form of … we’re not certain what to call it. It is like a skin which shows that which is behind them. They are not invisible, but they are hard to see with the eye, like a trick of the light. It makes following them very difficult for all of the untrained Nameless who have answered the call to arms."

"And the Deathsworn of the city?" he inquired.

"Most of them are in the mobile weapons which are being disabled by the quadruped forces and the aerial drones. The ones who are not are … well, they are not sure how to fight an enemy that they cannot see, that can outmaneuver them, and whom their weapons cannot even scratch. I am uncertain how to advise you, exalted one. I see no path to victory," she admitted reluctantly.

She never would have admitted that without a name, he knew. It only made his respect for her grow. He should have named her years ago.

"They are humans. Why did they break their word and attack?" he asked.

"It is unclear. In fact, I am not certain that they are humans at all. The bipeds may be wearing armor, but their quadruped forces are doing more damage than any of the rest, and there are far more of them. We cannot give an accurate count, but we believe there are between ninety and four hundred of the small quadrupeds and at least eight of the large ones. There are only three bipeds, one of which seems to be damaged, and one of which moves with the assistance of its arms rather than standing erect. Our forces are mostly focused on eliminating the damaged one at the moment."

Sudden alarm swept through him. Not fear – he believed he was incapable of fear, which was for the weak and for prey – but the realization that he was playing into his enemies tactics.

"Immediately seal off the palace. Secure this tactical room. Lower us into the bunker and initiate full shielding. Assume megaton nuclear attack or orbital kinetic bombardment. Raise dummy tactical room to replace us. Tell the idiots outside to stop focusing on the bait and start focusing on the actual threat!"

Now that he was no longer looking at her as just a Nameless, he could see the chagrin pass through Seefius as she caught up to his tactical logic. She did not repeat his orders, the relevant Nameless technicians were already working on them, and he felt the elevators lowering him and the entire room into the shelter built kilometers deep into the planet. Blast doors shut behind them, securing them from any threat that the Aurealian swarm or the Deathsworn armada could have thrown at him.

Which was fine, except that he was dealing with humans. And … he did not know what the non-humans were called, but he already hated them as much as he hated humans. Humans were enigmas, and their four legged friends were unknown variables. He hated enigmas and unknown variables.

"The two bipeds have reached the palace. The smaller one is using their plasma torch weapon to break through the sealed barricades while the larger one guards him. I apologize, exalted one, for not seeing their tactics sooner. It was my failure, and I accept responsibility," Seefius lamented.

"You are newly named, you cannot be expected to accept responsibility for things put into motion before you were elevated," Horthus answered graciously, effectively returning her life to her. A military oversight such as had nearly happened could have spelled the death of the Named commander who did not stop it. It was one of the reasons why he had so many Nameless advisors; no Named was willing to accept the consequences for his failures, while he simultaneously gained the glory for their success.

"Thank you, exalted one," she said earnestly, and he tried to keep his thoughts on the humans. Now that she had yet another reason to be grateful, perhaps -

"Status update," he demanded to distract himself.

"The quadruped forces continue to run amok, attempts to track them or to keep pace of the damage they are causing, are at this point somewhat futile. The aerial drones are likewise devastating and effective, if not more so, damaging and destroying our weapons from ambush or outside our effective ranges. The damaged biped is entrenched and continues to draw Nameless, although the Deathsworn in their vehicles are beginning to ignore him and move into position to assault the true threats to your safety. Leesius has disregarded the updated information regarding the enemy’s objectives and continues to focus on the damaged biped, directing his forces to attack it from range using indirect weaponry."

"Let that fool do as he pleases, he doesn’t control anything important anyway," Horthus growled. "What of the invader in the palace? How much damage is he causing."

"He is – very little, exalted one. He forced open a door to a room where several Nameless were hiding and spoke with them for several moments, and then made his way to the dummy tactical room. He is now simply sitting on the floor and talking to himself. As the pathway to the dummy room is intentionally unbarred, he only damaged the entryway and a few other doors that are not designed to pose a serious obstacle to invasion."

"He …" Horthus stopped talking to process what he had just been told. "Synchronize this tactical room with the dummy tactical room immediately."

"-ut your armor is mission killed. Athena, initiate PMT transfer of Nathan and his exoskeleton using maximum safety protocols for units under live enemy fire, override any previous safety settings. Initiate transfer as soon as possible," a hologram human said from just behind Horthus. He did not jump, and his tail did not almost fall off. He was not afraid of humans.

"Oh. Hello. I was hoping you would notice me soon," the human said, standing. "I was hoping to do this without causing such a stir, but your response to our peaceful attempts at a diplomatic visit forced us to take steps to defend ourselves. This is a method of two-way communication, correct?"

"It is," Seefius answered for Horthus. "I am Seefius, advisor to the Exalted Horthus."

"I greet you and honor you, Seefius," the human said genially. "And I greet you and honor you, Exalted Horthus, ruler of Horthus Prime and the Horthus star system. I am Jon Cassonova, captain of the ship Theseus and authorized representative of Yosca – forgive me – of the United Earth Origin Sentient Council. Are there any other names in the room I should know before we begin?"

"There are not," Horthus said scornfully.

"Then I would like to politely request that you instruct your people to stop firing upon mine so that we may conduct formal diplomatic talks of matters pertaining to the ongoing interstellar war between your people, under their various rulers and governments, and the species known as the Aurealians."

"First, tell me where you came from," Horthus demanded.

"Well, my parents, obviously. I was born on Luna, but spent much of my childhood on Earth itself. When I was -"

"I’m not asking for your life story!"

The human chuckled genially. "I know what you meant, but as I know has been explained to you, Yosca will not share its technological secrets with either belligerent in an active interstellar war."

"Exalted one, the damaged biped, it just disappeared!" One of the Nameless technicians declared.

"You’re just noticing that? Our estimations of your intel gathering network must be off," Joncassonova muttered to himself.

"The enemy has been disappearing and reappearing all over the city, why do you -"

"Apologies, Horthus, for interrupting you," Seefius braved, an act that she never would have just fifteen minutes prior, "But it is not simply hard to see, or masking its heat, or any of the other methods the others are using to evade pursuit. It was under bombardment one moment, and now it is simply ‘gone.’ As though it never existed."

Horthus turned to the human who was not really there, glaring at him suspiciously.

"No comment," Joncassonova said. "However, I advise you to stop shelling the area with explosives. He’s not running or hiding, and your bombs are only going to kill your own people."

"They are just Nameless. It does not matter if they live or die," Horthus growled. "Where did the injured soldier go?"

"No comment," Joncassonova said, but his tone was significantly different than it had been previously. "You can look for him if you’d like, but that will be harder if you’re blowing up the people performing the search."

"Tell that fool Leesius to stop shelling a ghost," Horthus barked, not turning to see the Nameless carry out his order. "Why come here, human? Why are you attacking us, when you say that you never attack anyone?"

"That is not our policy. Our policy is to never shoot first or initiate hostilities. We arrived in orbit around your planet and made our intentions clear to conduct diplomatic actions. We were attacked and then ignored. The urgency of the situation and our detection of an incoming fleet of Aurealians in overwhelming numbers requires us, and I say again, requires us to take certain actions, and to notify the leadership of both belligerents of those actions. It was for this purpose that we made landfall on your planet, came to the capital city, and announced our peaceful intentions. We were then attacked. We are responding to the hostility of your forces per standing protocols which have been communicated to your government in previous diplomatic talks."

"You are obliterating my city’s defenses! It will take decades to repair the damage you have caused in under an hour, but the Aurealians will be in position to make planetfall in less than a month! How can you do that and claim to be neutral in our conflict?"

"That is an excellent point. However, it is the opinion of Yosca that your cities defenses do not matter to the incoming Aurealian fleet. We do not believe taking your city from you is among their objectives. Destroying it may or may not be among their objectives, but if they do so they will do it from orbit and land-to-land defenses will be irrelevant. We are fairly confident that they will not risk surface combat anywhere on the planet except to secure approximately sixty to one hundred twenty locations that we have identified, the nearest of which is one hundred kilometers away. It is the opinion of Yosca that the destruction of weapons designated to the defense of this city will not negatively impact the defense of Horthus Prime or the innocent civilians from the fires of war. They are in the wrong place, and they are defending the wrong thing, for he Aurealians to care about them."

"But you have attacked thousands of what you call innocent civilians! That is your name for the Nameless, is it not? Thousands lay dead because of your actions!" Horthus argued.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"That is extremely unlikely. Have you actually attempted to count your casualties? I am fairly certain that aside from the operators enclosed in weapons who may have been injured or killed when my forces disabled the weapon itself, none of our forces have killed a single Horthian. In fact, I am willing to bet you my left arm on it."

Then the human did something incomprehensible. With his right arm, he pulled off his left arm and set it on the floor in front of him. "If you can bring me the corpse of a single civilian who was killed by our weaponry and was not operating one of the mobile weapon platforms or your stationary emplacements, This is yours."

"Your arm? Your arm!? You would give us your arm for a Nameless corpse?" Horthus exclaimed.

"It is a combat prosthetic. I left my real arm behind me on a surgical table some sixty years ago. This particular arm is equipped with only a nonlethal projectile launcher, but it is made of advanced materials and embedded with many advanced defensive technologies. It is not designed to self-destruct to prevent it from being studied by your people, and I am placing no restrictions on what you do with it. But if you cannot provide me with such a body before I leave, then I will take my arm with me when I go."

Horthus’s tail lifted slightly with surprise. Advanced human technology? Even if it was bait, it was an opportunity worth taking a risk for. "Seefius, find him his corpse. Begin counting the dead. I will take his right arm, and his legs as well!"

"I am afraid I can only part with the one limb. The others possess restricted weapons that I cannot give you. They are equipped with antimatter charges to destroy themselves in the event that they are captured by belligerent forces. The charges … well, they will not destroy the city, but they would probably wreck the palace above ground pretty thoroughly."

"Above ground?" Horthus snorted. "You think you stand in my true palace? I am not even in the same city as you, human. I am not even on the same continent!"

"Oh? That’s a clever. May I ask where you are?"

"Globe, Horthus Prime," Horthus ordered. The computer did not carry out his instructions, the Nameless did, but they were so efficient at it that it made no difference. And they knew his mind so well that they skipped ahead three steps in his bluff, as every tactical room on the planet lit up.

"I may be at any one of these locations," he informed the hologram. "These rooms are equipped with faster than light high bandwith communication technology that -"

"Yes yes, we have the same things all over the place," Joncassonova cut him off. Horthus bared his teeth. "I suppose it doesn’t even matter if you’re bluffing or not, does it? But because I’m human, I like to guess, I like to play games, and I like to make bets. I will bet you five hundred kilograms of antimatter, and a generator capable of turning it into usable energy, in exchange for one guess as to your location. If I am within … oh, say, five kilometers, I win. If I am not, I lose. I will warn you that the generator is designed not to be studied in its operational state, and to destroy itself once it runs out of fuel, but it can be used to provide a starship with an order of magnitude more energy than the fusion and fission generators you’re using at the moment."

"If I lose? What is the cost to me?"

"I know your location," the human answered. "You do not have to reveal your location if I am wrong, a simple confirmation or denial of my guess is sufficient."

"Make your guess then, human!" Horthus challenged. Jurassians huff for the same reasons humans laugh, and Horthus huffed in derision. There were hundreds of tactical rooms around the globe and all of them were -

Joncassonova pointed to a spot, not on the globe, but inside it. Under the city of Horthus. Under the palace of Horthus. He shot a look at Seefius, who looked as alarmed as he felt, and then he cursed them both as kricking fools because the human had his confirmation and would not believe their denials now.

"For what it’s worth, I entirely approve. Both of your bunker, and your attempts to deceive me. I am assuming that there are a mixture of operational and nonoperational rooms displayed, as well as a number of locations that are completely irrelevant?"

"Of course there are!" Horthus bellowed, although he had not thought of such a thing and doubted any of the Nameless in the room would have done so either.

"You may rest assured that I will make no attempts to force entrance to your secure locations. If you would prefer me to relocate myself to a particular location where two-way communication is possible using the secure methods that your people trust for diplomatic talks, I will remove myself to that location immediately. If those tactical rooms can communicate directly with the bunker in the same manner as the one I am standing in can, I would suggest one of those. I only forced entrance into your capitol building because of the urgency of the situation. It truly is important that I communicate certain information to you as soon as possible, Exalted Horthus. However, I fear that the resolution of the current violence takes precedence. I ask you again to instruct your people to stop attacking mine so that we may move on to the important matters at hand."

"First we must resolve the matter of how many of my ‘civilians’ you have killed with your ‘assault on my sovereign planet,’ and how the UEOSC plans to compensate me for such criminal actions."

"Those statements require certain conditions which must be met to the strictest definition, Exalted One," Jon Cassonova informed him. "The Nameless who are bearing arms under the orders of your government, meaning either yourself directly, your Named generals, or their lieutenants, or basically any Named who gave them a weapon and told them to use it to defend the city, those Nameless are no longer classified as civilians. They become classified as militia for as long as they continue to bear weapons for their government. Once they set down those arms and return to their primary occupations, they would be considered civilians again. The distinction between the death of militia members and civilians is a significant matter which would some time to explain, but for the purpose of this conversation; any Nameless who was ordered by a Named One to pick up a weapon and fight Yosca forces is considered a member of the Horthian Militia, and under our operational rules of engagement we are authorized to kill that Nameless in self-defense. Our mission ROE, however, was to use nonlethal alternatives whenever possible, and we did not change our ROEs when it became apparent how extensive your militia truly was."

"On the second matter, the assault of your planet, we made peaceful planetfall and announced our peaceful intentions, while issuing a warning that the use of force would be met with retaliation. Issuing such a warning is standard protocol when a planet is known to be a belligerent in an armed conflict. The first violence was initiated by a group of Horthian militia against one of my men who’s armor was damaged while making planetfall. This encounter was captured and recorded by his exoskeleton using forensic recording methods, the details of which I do not understand myself but which are designed to leave significant tell-tale artifacts if modified in any way. I have the data and am capable of transmitting it in your standard protocols to display the encounter. Translating the data into those formats removes its forensic properties, but I would invite you or your representatives to come aboard the Theseus to view it using our technology. Would you like to watch?"

"Yes. Show me see this supposed proof of your innocence," Horthus said without hesitation.

"Very well. The protocol I will be using is the same we used to upload our message into the wreckage of the battle of the Elizabeth that we returned to your system-"

"Never mind!" Horthus nearly shouted. It was before his reign, but he knew exactly how devastating that message had been when it had been broadcast out of every holoemitter or holotank or other communication device in the entire system. If the human’s evidence showed what he claimed, then it would make him look like a fool to every Named One and Deathsworn soldier in the system. "We shall operate under the assumption that you have been ‘operating in good faith,’ and following your ‘rules of engagement.’ Those are good, meaningful things to humans, yes?"

"Yes, they would show that you trust our stated intentions match our actions. Will you order your people to stop attacking?" the human inquired.

"I cannot. Truly. I am shamed to admit it in front of Seefius and these Nameless, but if I order my forces to stand down without drawing human blood, it will cause disorder and chaos throughout the system at a time when all must be in unity," Horthus admitted hesitantly, reluctantly.

The Nameless in the room snapped from their tasks to look at him. Except for the two who had been brought into the room simply to slake his bloodlust, they all knew that because of the words he had just said, they would die in the bunker. Sooner or later, cut off from their families and loved ones. Possibly, they will die in very painful ways, although they had served him well and he would show them what mercy he could. Even Seefius, who he could not simply murder any longer now that he had Named her, drew in a breath of shock. There were still ways of ensuring her silence.

"I see. That is unfortunate. If I help you save face and keep order, will you agree prevent further escalation and a cessation of hostility while we commit to diplomatic talks?"

"I do not have the time or resources to waste on chasing human ghosts!" Horthus shouted. "Yes. If you can keep my generals from revolting, I will agree not to escalate and talk with you, provided it does not interfere with my defense of my domain."

Joncassonova spoke into his shoulder, the one which was only half there. "Athena, priority message to all ground team; Operation successful, diplomatic talks underway. Cease all retaliation and proceed to evac locations immediately. Athena, initiate urgent PMT transfers of all ground forces back to respective armory crafts aboard the Theseus using appropriate safety measures for units under fire. Override any previous safety measures that do not meet that minimum level. Execute PMT transfers as soon as units are in range of relay."

"Confirmed, Jon," Came a strange sounding voice from his shoulder. "Shall I execute standing orders?"

"Confirmed. Execute standing orders issued by Captain Jon Cassonova issued in the event of mission success of operation ‘knock knock.’"

"Executing standing orders. Goodbye Captain Jon Cassonova."

"Who were you speaking with? Who is Athena?" Horthus demanded. "And how does that help me?"

"I was speaking with a computer. Athena is a Greek goddess. We name things after our gods sometimes. As for how I am helping you, I just ordered my combat forces to cease all hostile actions and retreat. I alone will remain behind, and I will be in your custody. They will not interfere except in the event that I activate a distress signal, which I will only do if doing so coincides with my greater purposes of preserving all sentient life. You may question me using whatever methods you wish, but be advised that I do not feel pain, I can terminate my life at any time, and my body, with the sole exception of the limb that is the wager of our bet from earlier, is designed to detonate to prevent it from being studied by a belligerent state. The detonation of the entire body would be in the kiloton range."

"You are becoming my prisoner, but you have a nuclear device strapped to you? I still do not see how that helps me," Horthus grumbled.

"It is antimatter, not nuclear. Much cleaner aftermath, no lingering radiation. The explosion is shaped to be as minimally damaging to any civilian structures or populations as possible, but, well, it’s a combat prosthetic body. It’s made of sturdy stuff. As for how I am helping you; Exalted Horthus, I, Jon Cassonova of the UEOSC, hereby surrender to you."

The human’s words were so shocking that it took Horthus a moment to process them, during which he blinked almost stupidly. Then a fierce grin crossed his face, showing his predatory teeth. Did the human understand the significance of the words he had just said? He had pronounced Horthus not as an equal, but a superior being worthy of honor, respect, and obedience. According to the laws of the Horthus system, which predated his reign by centuries, Horthus now owned Joncassonova, as he owned any of the generals which he had named throughout his career.

"Why would you do this?"

"It is a win, win, win situation. I win because I am in a position to engage in diplomatic talks between your government and the UEOSC. You win because, well, I surrendered to you. I win again because, if I understand your laws correctly, I am able to use my new position to advocate for your people to Yosca as a subject of your government itself. You win again because you get to claim victory to your people for the little kerfuffle that just happened. Your people win because I believe hearing that a human surrendered to their head of state, personally, will be a significant boost to their morale, and the timing of it would be particularly auspicious for them, on the eve of a frightful invasion of their enemies. Everybody wins, nobody loses."

"You may not leave without my permission. That is our custom. You have surrendered, and you are now subject to our laws. I will never permit you to return home," Horthus threatened jubilantly.

"I knew this to be the case. This does not affect my objectives, and is in fact beneficial to them as it allows me to advocate for your people directly to the UEOSC as a citizen of your government rather than a representative of Yosca. As for leaving, I always considered this mission to be a one way trip. I said goodbye to my family before I left. I submit myself to the laws of your government and will follow them to the best of my ability and knowledge except where your laws conflict with my conscience. I do have some concerns about the disposal of my mortal remains, both for the reason that this prosthetic body is dangerous to anyone within five kilometers, and because I understand that except in the case of certain contagious disease, the traditional method is cannibalism. It is not my place to criticize your culture’s funeral rights, however, I have reason to believe that eating what remains of my organic body will be toxic to members of your species and strongly recommend against it."

"You are committed to this decision?" Horthus inquired again, his face hurting from how hard he was smiling.

"I am."

"Seefius. Prepare to broadcast. All points, mandatory viewing, Named, Unnamed, and Deathsworn. The rest of you, begin thinking of what names you want, I wish to commemorate this with as many Named witnesses as I can. Human Joncassonova, I will have you repeat your surrender to every subject of my domain."

"I understand, and accept, Exalted One," The human acknowledged.

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