V’rni System, 2175 A.D.

Thirty-six hours after the Battle of Wadi Delta

Alixa stood in awe as he watched the massive Hive ship begin to rotate 2,000 meters above the ground after burning through the atmosphere like a fiery deity before finally stopping to hover over the battlefield.

He knew how large the massive vessel was on paper, but looking at it with his own eyes allowed him to grasp the sheer size of it for the first time.

He thought back to when he saw an entire wing of Republic battleships attack a single Hive ship during the Sacrifice of the Saviors battle in his home system, remembering just how small the largest Republic warships looked next to the Hive ship.

They looked like a school of small fish trying to attack a whale, and as his eyes roamed over the gargantuan vessel hovering above him, he finally realized why the advanced and powerful Commonwealth fleet was so soundly beaten when confronted by the sixty Hive ships.

In his mind, he imagined what it must have been like to willingly fight one of these ships for the first time, and he whispered a quick prayer of thanks that the Republic fleet still had the courage to hold their ground and give battle after seeing what they would face.

Even the battle they just fought was a testament to the unwillingness to yield by the human warriors he fought alongside as endless swarms of drones relentlessly attacked them.

Even with the Republic training he and the other Eleani drop troopers underwent and the warrior ethos instilled in them, he knew in his heart that they would have retreated long ago if it wasn’t for the presence of the humans fighting beside them.

They didn’t fight for glory. They didn’t blindly follow and execute their orders like drones. They fought for each other, and that was what made them so deadly and competent.

If a Republic soldier became overwhelmed with fear, all they had to do was look to their left and right to gain courage from their brothers and sisters fighting next to them.

Knowing that they would never be left behind and that they were fighting not for the Republic but for each other gave them the strength to keep going and allowed them to master their fear.

Alixa snapped out of his reverie as the hundreds of thrusters under the Hive ship stopped firing, and the anti-gravity repulsors took over and gently lowered the massive five-kilometer radius Hive ship a short distance away from the top of the underground Hive that was jutting out of the ground.

Large, blocky landing struts emerged all around the perimeter of the Hive ship, and it slowly descended until over two hundred struts all contacted the ground and finished leveling out the Hive ship as the struts compensated for any uneven terrain.

A shadow suddenly blocked out the sun behind him, and he spun around, startled. Staff Sergeant Ayoub had silently come up behind him without him knowing that a Mark-12 ATS suit was within three meters of his position.

He quietly cursed himself for his lack of awareness and came to attention, snapping a smart salute. Ayoub returned the salute, her dark blue suit arm having reverted to an arm configuration with a massive, gauntleted hand at the end.

“Private, I just want to let you know how proud I am of you. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that you had a couple of combat drops under your belt already. I hope you don’t mind, but I requested that I be allowed to do this personally. Here, this is for you.”

She held out a massive fist palm side up and opened it, and Alixa felt his heart rate quicken as he saw what was inside of it.

There were two objects. One was bright silver with upswept wings on the sides and two crossed swords in the center. He had earned his first combat drop wings. Next to it was a bronze star attached to a ribbon that had the colors of the Republic flag.

Alixa stood rigidly as Ayoub took two paces forward, looming over him in her dark blue, three-meter-tall combat suit. With surprising gentleness, she pressed the self-adhering combat drop wings onto his breast plate in the traditional location, right where the human heart is located.

Further up on the left breastplate, directly over where she put the combat drop wings, she placed the bronze star.

Stepping back two paces, she addressed him.

“Private First-Class Alixa, in recognition of your meritorious conduct during the Battle of Wadi Delta, the Republic awards you with this bronze star. You have the thanks of the Republic of Humanity for your bravery under fire and the dedication you have displayed to your brothers in arms.”

Alixa stood straight as Ayoub was speaking, and tears were freely falling down his face by the time she finished.

Ayoub’s suit went into a parade rest configuration, and her voice returned to her normal tone as she addressed him more softly.

“Private, you have now joined the ranks of a very small and special cadre of warriors. You have proven that you had what it took to become a drop trooper, and you have proven that you are a warrior worthy of joining such an esteemed organization. I would be honored to have you as my battle buddy anytime, anywhere in this galaxy.”

Alixa continued to stand at attention as he focused his eyes forward, embarrassed by his emotional display as the tears continued to fall down his face.

He worked so hard to join the Drop Trooper Battalion, and hearing Ayoub say that she would be willing to face any enemy with him at her side was the greatest honor an ATS Bio-Synth could confer upon a biological like him.

“Don’t be ashamed, Alixa. I cried too when I earned my first combat drop wings. Welcome to the fold.” She stepped forward and gently wrapped her suit arms around him, patting him on the back of his combat suit. He returned the embrace, his much shorter arms barely able to reach the sides of her suit torso.

After a few moments, they ended the embrace and separated. Ayoub turned around and started walking towards the Hive as she called out to him over her shoulder.

“Let’s go watch the bugs leave, Mush. Come on.”

Alixa smiled at the term of endearment the bio-synths used for biologicals they liked. “Mush” was short for mushy, the slang word they used to refer to the fragile bodies of biologicals. He was now accepted as one of them, and he made several large leaps to catch up to Ayoub, a light spring in his jumps.

Aurora stood outside the large opening that had been created by a team of ten thousand drones in preparation for leaving the Hive. Her guardian combots were behind her, their weapons systems powered down but still vigilant for any threats against their primary.

Her thoughts returned to the time when she had been insisting on creating a small group of soldier drones. She was rightfully entitled to a bodyguard as a Hive mother, and she demanded that she be allowed to create them while Bandit-Friend translated between her and the male command drone when she was first building the Hive.

At first, she refused to acknowledge the male drone. This created tension as she tried to understand how it was possible for male drones to have the ability to do anything other than procreate and die after passing on their precious genetic material.

It was Bandit-Friend who taught her that the human animal Hives used to be dominated by male drones for most of their existence, and the revelation shocked her to her core. There was so much they didn’t know and understand about the animals, and she tried her best to adjust her thinking to the new reality.

What really made her change her thinking was when Bandit-Friend told her of how the male drone had lost its mate in the battle that led to the Hive mother abandoning the swarming and retreating from the animal worlds they had conquered.

She was still having difficulty with the concept of how the animals would form pairs and mate for life, wondering how such a strange system would ensure genetic diversity and population growth.

She tried to imagine the concept of two animals bonding and becoming one, and as she did so, she imagined the pain they must feel when their other half died.

Bandit-Friend showed her images of animal mates that formed their pairs when they were young and virile, and she saw them progress through their life cycle as they matured before becoming old together as their bodies broke down before finally dying.

They would spend many cycles together as they had eggs from which sprang animal daughters and male drones.

As she started to understand what losing a mate would mean to an animal, she realized that the male command drone must hate them for killing its mate. Despite that hatred, the male drone was willing to help her build her Hive and work with her. The least she could do was try to change her thinking.

Slowly, she started acknowledging the male command drone and tried her best to ensure they developed an efficient and productive relationship as the Hive continued to be constructed. It was the male command drone that offered her an alternative solution to her demands for soldier drones.

He sent one hundred machine animals down to the surface and demonstrated their abilities. She remembered watching them perform feats of strength and agility that far surpassed the abilities of the soldier drones she was demanding to create.

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What she was really worried about was how she would be able to control them, as she could not share thoughts with them. The male command drone had considered this and came up with a clever solution.

He had come up with an initial system of claw movements and body language that the animal machines would learn with her as she used them and developed her own version.

The machine animals had powerful thinking minds, and they rapidly adapted to her as she developed unique signals and claw movements to control them. Within a few solar days, they responded to her commands almost as instantaneously as a soldier drone would from her thoughts.

She felt extremely safe with them as they became a part of her Hive, and she soon stopped thinking of them as strange machine animals, instead considering them no different than the soldier drones she had wanted.

The first formation of worker drones started to come out of the opening, and she focused her attention on them, releasing calming pheromones as they passed by her and headed towards the nearby Hive ship.

She saw a small group of animals in the distance approaching her location, and she made almost imperceptible claw signals to her guardians behind her, hearing them activate and fall behind her.

She started walking towards the approaching animals, passing through the worker drone formation as they opened a pathway to let her through. She saw that the small group of animals were being trailed by large, dark blue animal machines, and she continued to walk towards them.

There were six animals and four animal machines, and she wondered why they were coming and disrupting her efforts to evacuate the Hive. As the animal group got closer, she saw one of them remove its head covering and saw that it had yellow hair on the top of his head, and she then saw the distinctly patterned yellow facial fur.

It was the male command drone, and her thoughts became confused. Why was he here? She halted, her guardians assuming a protective stance around her without having to signal them.

After a short wait, the animal group reached her, and the large animal machines took up positions on the sides of the animals, their machine heads swiveling as their sensors scanned her guardians. She started feeling nervous and wished Bandit-Friend was with her.

As the rest of the group started to remove their head coverings, she saw that one of them had yellow eyes, like Bandit-Friend. The machine animal started signing to her, introducing itself to her, and telling her that the male command drone had a gift for her.

She signed back with her claws, thanking him for the gift. She watched warily as the male command drone turned away from her and reached behind one of the large machine animals, removing a small container that was mag-locked to it.

Turning back to her, the male command drone started making animal noises with his feeding hole as he placed it on the ground between them and removed the top. She leaned over to get a better look as her curiosity grew about what the gift was.

She saw two devices made of an extremely thin, flexible metal material as well as two small, black devices. One was oblong, while the other was square. Puzzled, she looked at the machine animal and made claw movements, asking what it was. It responded, asking her to wait.

The male command drone took out the black square device and attached it to the front of his thorax before removing the two flexible metal devices and holding them out to her. She reached out with her tarsal claws and took them, looking at the machine animal and waiting for it to tell her what they were.

It started making claw movements, asking her to place the devices on her tarsal claws. It reached out and took one of the devices from her before tapping on its thorax. A small hatch opened, and it removed what looked like a machine Insectoid tarsal claw that was the same size as hers.

Intrigued, she watched as the machine animal placed the devices on the ground before removing one of its machine animal hands with a sharp twisting motion and placing the imitation tarsal claw in its place. She saw the tarsal claws making movements as the machine animal activated the claw.

Reaching back down, the machine animal picked up one of the devices with its other hand and slipped the device over the tarsal claw before removing it and slipping the device back over the claw again. It removed it and offered it to her again.

Now she understood what she was supposed to do, and she slipped both devices over her claws, her excitement growing as she tried to figure out the purpose of the devices.

When she had placed them both on her claws, the machine animal took the black oblong device out of the container and offered it to her, pointing to where the male command drone had placed the other device on his thorax.

She understood what he wanted, and she pressed the device in the same position on the flexible armor she was wearing and heard it hiss as it self-adhered.

The machine animal asked for permission to touch her, and she consented. It reached the imitation tarsal claw out and pressed a small button on the oblong device before pulling the claw back. It made claw movements, asking her to sign with the male command drone.

Confused, she turned towards the male command drone, and he pressed the same button on the square device that was attached to his thorax and started making animal noises.

A hologram of two tarsal claws appeared, making claw movements while the male command drone spoke.

She was momentarily stunned by what was happening, and the male command drone spoke again, his animal noises being translated into holographic claw movements. She focused on him this time, paying close attention to what he was saying.

“Aurora, I am Admiral Thompson. I am pleased to finally be able to share my thoughts with you. Please respond with your claws; the device on your thorax will translate your thoughts into words for me.”

Excitement coursed through her, and she responded with claw movements hesitantly. She flinched involuntarily as the device on her thorax started making animal noises and startled her.

Regaining her composure, she started signing again and responded to the male command drone.

“I am Aurora. I am pleased to be able to share my thoughts with you. Can you understand my thoughts?”

She finished signing, and the animal noises from the device ceased. She waited for the male command drone to respond.

She saw him grimace and display his teeth in happiness, and she felt a wave of euphoria rise inside of her. He could understand her thoughts!

He responded to her with animal noises, and the holographic claws continued to perfectly translate his thoughts.

“I can understand your thoughts perfectly. I am happy that this is working; we spent a lot of time and effort to create these devices. Are the devices comfortable on your claws? We can modify them if they cause you discomfort.”

The Hive mother within sent urgent thoughts to her, and she opened her mind to her ancestor.

Aurora responded enthusiastically, still stunned by this new way of sharing thoughts with the animals. Now she would be able to share thoughts with all of them and no longer have to rely on intermediaries.

She felt the Hive mother within recede, and she focused on the male command drone in front of her. His name is Admiral-Friend. I must stop calling him a male drone; it is rude. She thought in self-admonition before returning her attention to his thoughts as he made animal noises.

“Aurora, I wish to express my happiness that you were successful in saving this Hive. Is there anything we can do to help you?”

As his thoughts were translated, she felt shame for being so disrespectful to him when they were first building the Hive. She must make amends for her wrongness.

“Admiral-Friend,” she signed, trying to express her thoughts coherently in this new fashion.

“I must make amends for my actions when we were building the Hive. I ask for your pardon.”

She hesitated, unsure if it was appropriate to convey her thoughts on the loss of his mate.

“I also wish to express my sorrow for the loss of your lifemate. I grieve for you.”

She put her claws down as the device on her torso finished turning her thoughts into animal sounds. She stared intently at him, detecting a change in the behavior of the animals as they all heard her thoughts.

Curiously, the other animals turned and moved away a few steps, as did the larger, menacing machine animals. Only the machine animal that was like Bandit-Friend remained in its position until one of the animals came back and grabbed one of its arms, pulling it away to join them.

Admiral-Friend had looked down as her thoughts were turned into animal sounds, and he was still looking at the ground for some time after the device had finished.

Worry came over her as she considered the behavior of the animals and the reaction of the Admiral-Friend, wondering if she had committed a wrongness and ruined what should have been a happy time for them all.

Finally, the Admiral-Friend looked back up at her, and their eyes met. They were now noticeably moistened, and she realized that she was witnessing an emotional animal response that Bandit-Friend had called tears.

As she focused on them, she realized that his irises were a pale blue like the sky above them, and she found herself mesmerized by the color.

She quickly focused a single eye on the other animals and zoomed in, seeing that two of them had brown irises, one had a different shade of blue, and another had what looked like a mixture of green and yellow.

She returned the eye to him. She had been studying the animals and their ways, and Bandit-Friend had explained the act of crying to her. She found it confusing that they could signify both sadness and happiness, and now she found herself unsure of the response her thoughts had elicited.

Admiral-Friend started making much softer animal noises, and she focused one eye on the hologram claws while keeping the other on his face. He stopped making animal noises, and she turned the claw movements into thoughts in her mind.

“Aurora, I thank you for your thoughts of grief. I did not trust you, and I did not want anything to do with you or your Hive. I unjustly blamed you for my loss, and for that, I ask for your pardon. I am grateful that we have become friends and allies, and I am happy that you have proven me wrong.”

As she made sense of his thoughts in her mind, he stepped forward and put out a flattened claw, pointed towards her. He started speaking again, and she focused intently on the hologram claws.

“It is customary for humans to shake hands to signify peace between them.”

As an understanding of what he wanted to do dawned on her, she found herself overwhelmed by a confusing abundance of different emotions. She gingerly put out her dominant claw and placed it against his claw, unsure how to proceed.

Admiral-Friend opened his claw slightly and, with surprising gentleness, closed it around her claw, moving it up and down slowly two times before letting go of her claw. She was surprised by how warm it was, and the action made her feel good.

Admiral-Friend grimaced in happiness, and Aurora wished her species was able to make facial expressions to signify what they were feeling like the animals were able to do. Instead, she made quick claw movements.

“I am grateful we are friends. I feel happiness for us and for the time to come. Thank you for this wonderful gift.”

He grimaced again, showing more of his teeth, before stepping back. The other animals returned, sensing that peace had been made between them. Making more claw movements, she asked them to join her over by the Hive and pointed both claws towards the Hive opening.

“Please come with me, friends; we will watch my daughters leave the Hive together.”

She turned towards the Hive and signaled her guardians to escort them. The combots arrayed themselves around the group, forming a perimeter.

They all started walking back towards the Hive opening, where tens of thousands of worker drones were streaming out in orderly formations as they headed towards her Hive ship.

Soon they will be in their new home, and she will ensure that they live the remainder of their short lives in peace. As they got closer, her excitement grew at the gift she had received.

Now she will be able to share her thoughts with the animal queen directly. She will ask for permission to build a Hive for her daughter and ask that she be allowed to continue to save the abandoned drones on the animal worlds.

Soon, she will ask to be able to make ships. She will join forces with the animals, and then she will take over the Hives. She will become the Hive-mother of the Empire, and she will teach her daughters to never make war on the animals ever again.

She will rule with love, and their Hives will grow. They will once more feel the warmth of a thousand suns, and they will finally know peace again.