Zygrath the Pusher’s steps clanked on the maintenance walkway. There weren’t many places to hide on an Galactic Council starship. There were even less when you were the Captain.

Zygrath had taken to wandering the backways to avoid the endless amount of drivel that a crew could invent on a long space voyage. He breathed a sigh of relief when the bell had sounded their arrival.

Zygrath didn’t know why he was called to assist with a routine system integration but it couldn’t be one of two things. Politics or the Oracle. Either way Zygrath the sooner this was over the sooner he could get back to what really mattered. One galactic year, five aspects cultivated, and billions dead. Easy.

Their target was already displayed on the main screen when Zygrath entered the bridge. It was a small planet, by Galactic Space standards, mostly covered in water. The poor souls on the planet had no idea what was in store for them.

“Ensign, report,” Zygrath commanded. The ensign jumped, having not heard Zygrath enter the bridge. Zygrath suppressed a smile, there were more benefits to using the maintenance hallways than just being able to hide.

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“Sir! Planetary scans have confirmed a human population of 11 billion individuals, a higher than average number for this planet size but not out of expectations. However…” The ensign hesitated but continued at Zygrath’s prompting. “Most of the population appears to be in a forced sleep.”

“A forced sleep?” Zygrath asked.

“Yes sir,” The ensign pulled up the scanning information on the screen. “They are being kept in a high tech pod which is able to both feed and sustain the sleeping population automatically.”

“What about children?”

“Within the pods, sir,” the ensign confirmed.

“So the entire population is within these pods?”

“No sir, there appears to be a single nation not using the pods. About fifty thousand individual's sir,” the ensign reported. “What does this mean, sir?” the ensign asked.

“It means we know why I was assigned here,” Zygrath said. “If they’ve lived their whole life asleep then there’s no chance for the civilian's survival. Every integration is a slaughter, this one will be worse than usual.”

Zygrath’s mind raced with possibilities and potential solutions. He finally settled on an action plan. “Here’s what we’ll do…”