6,018 light years from Earth
The chief cleric waited outside the Sacred Sanctum, cradling a piece of debris within his arms. His hunters had scoured the now widely dispersed field of wreckage from the first battle and finally located the evidence he sent them out to gather.
He had three wise ones run their own tests to verify the genetic material before bringing it to the Masters. All three ran their scans and analyzed the pieces of debris, confirming the presence of their most terrible of foes, the Ma’Kin’Ati.
The hatch slid open, and he shifted the heavy piece of organic material within his arms before approaching the holy artifact and placing it on the ground in front of it. He kneeled down and prostrated himself, waiting for the Masters to bless him with their presence.
He no longer trembled in the presence of the Gel’Sha’Nac, and he waited with the serene patience that comes to one who is the chosen prophet. He allowed his mind to drift as he waited for their wisdom, sure the Masters would determine the next steps when they saw the evidence.
The ethereal glow came to the Gel'Sha'Nac, and he lifted his head to gaze upon it. His eyes became filled with wonder and love for the Masters, who had elevated him above all others. A thin, red beam came from the holy artifact and cut a small piece from the debris.
A small, black void appeared above the cut piece, and something came out of it and pulled the sample into the void with a speed that astonished the chief cleric.
He could not see if it was biological or mechanical, but he was sure it was writhing and tentacle-like; it was not a hand with fingers and claws like the Bal’Ri’Kan, or any of the impure filth typically had.
He longed to see what the Masters looked like; he did not want to wait until he died of infirmity to look upon the Holy ones, whom he served with all his being. He was jealous of the martyrs that had passed from this life and were now joyfully prostrated at the feet of the Masters.
He fervently prayed in silence, the words echoing in his mind as he imagined entering the paradise that was promised. He would have an endless harem, any flesh he desired would be his to eat, and his offspring would be a countless multitude. His eternal spirit would reside with the Masters forever, basking in their love and glory.
Soon my time will come, and I will be their anointed in paradise as I am here. They will adorn me with glory. They will point to their sides and bid me; sit by us, anointed one, and receive our blessings and wisdom.
Paradise cannot come fast enough for me, and it already seems as if I live too long, waiting for my body to grow frail and for my mind to fail me. Hasten my martyr’s death, Holy ones. Bring me to the paradise you have promised us, please.
The Masters started speaking to him, their disembodied voices echoing in the Inner Sanctum as they blessed him with their wisdom.
Anointed one, we have peered into the remnant you have provided. The essence of the evil foes is within it. It is indeed them, but not them. Their life code has been changed, and we will have to teach your wise ones again.
We will bless them with our wisdom, and they will make new curses to befall the ancient enemy that still stands against us. Come back to us in two solar days with three wise ones to receive our wisdom.
Do not fail us like your ancestors did, or we will leave and find another galaxy to bring our paradise unto.
The Gel’Sha’Nac went dark, and the chief cleric rose up and left the Sacred Sanctum, feeling disquieted by the Masters repeated threats to move on from the galaxy if he failed them.
Untold billions of holy warriors had martyred themselves for the Holy ones, cleansing trillions of sentient lifeforms as they had been commanded.
It would all have been for nothing if the Masters chose to bring their paradise to another galaxy.
As he covered his nakedness outside the Sacred Sanctum, he vowed not to repeat the same failures of the ancestors. They have suffered too much death to be left behind in a half-empty galaxy filled with filthy inferiors.
Without the Masters blessings and wisdom, they would lose their purpose and be slaughtered by a vengeful galaxy. The Bal'Ri'kan would be no more, and their spirits would enter the abode of the damned.
Command chamber of Republic Insectoid cruiser
Geosynchronous orbit over Queen World of the Insectoid Empire
Bandit watched as the Insectoid shuttle that had come from the surface approached the cruiser, carrying a queen envoy who would escort both him and Luna to the surface to engage in peace talks with the Hive mother.
He did not understand why they could not have just gone down to the surface instead of having to wait for a queen to come and escort them down. He viewed it as an inefficient process and shared his thoughts on the matter with Luna.
She explained why it was the way things were done in circumstances like this and how having the queen come to them was a sign of trust. The Hive mother, by placing a queen and envoy within their grasp, was signifying her trust and belief that they would not take the queen hostage.
He thought it was a convoluted way to show and receive trust, but he did understand the intent behind such an action. They had been escorted from the border by twenty Hive ships, a great honor according to Luna.
He had been worried about a potential ambush when they arrived at the coordinates Aurora had given them, despite her insistence that such evil acts were unfathomable after safe passage had been granted and promised by a queen or a Hive mother.
President Lopez appeared to share in his concern for hostility, and he had never seen such anger from Aurora as he did when an entire Republic fleet flashed out unexpectedly within the system to escort the cruiser to the border.
Aurora was livid, and he could feel the tension between her and President Lopez as they argued over the escort. Aurora was adamant that it was an insult to her sister and the Hive mother of the empire, and President Lopez refused to give Bandit permission to go without the fleet.
“I do not know your sister, Aurora. I know you believe her, but I want the fleet to escort Bandit and Luna to the border. I want your sister to see our power and to know that we are ready for anything.
This is a form of diplomacy among us animals, Aurora. It is called showing the flag, and the fleet will escort the cruiser to the border, or I will withdraw my support for this diplomatic endeavor.”
Aurora finally relented, though Bandit sensed that she was still bitter about it when he said goodbye to her and the young queen before departing. The fleet was a massive show of force, and even Bandit found himself thinking it was a little excessive as they joined their waiting escorts.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Twenty carriers, eighty battleships, one hundred and thirty heavy cruisers, and forty upgraded nullships formed the heavy warship element. Light cruisers, destroyers, and frigates made up the rest of the four hundred strong fleet.
They flashed into null space and made the journey to the heavily defended border, passing through the dead zone before flashing out five hundred thousand kilometers from the coordinates provided by Aurora.
It appeared the Hive mother had the same idea as President Lopez did; there were forty-eight Hive ships and five hundred cruisers waiting for them at the border, though all their weapons were powered down.
It was a tense moment as the two fleets faced off against each other while Luna shared thoughts with the command drone leading the Insectoid fleet. One of the newest battleships broke ranks and headed to the midpoint between the two fleets.
The battleship’s railguns and artillery turrets slid out of their armored hatches and pointed above the Insectoid formation.
They were not powered up or loaded with munitions, and the battleship then activated the running lights, pointing them at the ship’s designation as they drifted by the Insectoid fleet.
Bandit saw the name on the hull and understood why the Republic fleet was doing this. The large black lettering and numerals shimmered under the lighting, and the RSS Mei Zhou was clearly seen by all.
The Mei Zhou returned to its spot at the apex of the battleship formation before retracting its weapons back into the armored hatches. The Insectoid fleet had not reacted at all to the battleship, not understanding what had just happened.
To them, it was strange animal behavior, and all that mattered was the ship did not fire on them.
Luna had finished sharing thoughts with the command drone of the fleet, and the Insectoid ships started flashing out until only the twenty Hive ships that would be their escort remained.
The Republic fleet would remain on station until they came back, and Luna guided the cruiser to the center of the Insectoid sphere formation. They all flashed into null space together, and now two days later here he was, waiting for the Hive mother’s envoy to board the cruiser and take them down.
Luna indicated they were to head to the shuttle bay, and he followed her, the twelve combots of their protective detail trailing them. They waited outside the hatch for the atmosphere to be pumped back into the bay before entering to greet the envoy waiting on the large shuttle.
Luna opened the hatch, and they walked to the shuttle, stopping ten meters from the starboard side. The combots arranged themselves in a semi-circle formation behind Luna and Bandit, and they waited for the ramp to finish extending from the Insectoid shuttle.
Eighteen large soldier drones came out of the dim interior, their lasers pointed away as they marched down the ramp before forming a double line on the sides. Bandit made a hand signal for the combots to maintain their defensive posture as Luna stepped forward towards the ramp.
A figure emerged from the dim interior, and Bandit used the scanning devices embedded within his eyes to record the envoy queen as she began walking down the ramp at a measured pace.
She was almost identical to Aurora, though he was able to detect the minute variations of the colored bands that encircled her exoskeleton. She was unarmored, and she extended her wings to their full width when she stepped off the ramp in front of Luna.
Surprisingly, Luna bowed deeply to the queen before raising her head back up. They stared at each other for 14.812 seconds before Luna turned to him and started signing. They were to enter the shuttle now to be brought to the Hive mother.
The envoy turned around and walked back up the ramp. Bandit followed Luna’s lead and fell in behind her. At the hatch, Luna sent claw signals to the combots, and they formed a single file line before clomping up the ramp and going to where she directed them within the interior.
The soldier drones came last, taking positions opposite the combots along the other wall of the now cramped hold. The ramp retracted, and the shuttle lifted off the deck before the hatch had fully closed.
The outer bay doors opened after the atmosphere was vented by the life support systems, and the shuttle headed for the primary Hive, where the Hive mother was located.
The trip down took 14 minutes and fifty-six seconds, and Bandit continued scanning and recording with his eyes during their journey down to the surface. Of particular interest to Bandit were the massive shipyards surrounding the primary Hive.
There were hundreds of Hive ships and thousands of cruisers under construction, many of them nearing completion. The sheer number of drones involved in the shipbuilding efforts astounded Bandit as he continued to collect intelligence for the Republic.
The Hive was massive, at least twenty times larger than Aurora’s, and there were billions of drones inhabiting it. It took them 1 hour, 22 minutes, and 14 seconds to make the journey through the Hive and arrive at the brood chamber where the Hive mother was waiting.
The combots had been left behind at the Nexus along with the soldier drones, and they finally entered the brood chamber, following the queen envoy.
The chamber was brilliantly lit with bands of bioluminescent algae embedded within the rock, and Bandit looked around slowly before finally settling his gaze on the Hive mother. The queen envoy stepped beside her, staring at them both with her large, black eyes.
The Hive mother looked just like Aurora, and Bandit was utterly fascinated by the long fleshy tube attached to her abdomen. It pulsated rapidly, and he could see small, white objects within it being moved by the contractions of the tube.
Luna quickly signed to Bandit, ordering him to do as she did and to be silent. She walked forward, and he matched her pace exactly until they were eight meters in front of the Hive mother, who was watching them intently.
Luna then prostrated herself on the floor, surprising Bandit again with her submissive demeanor as he followed her lead and did exactly as she did. Luna maintained this position for 6.398 seconds before rising back up.
Bandit mimicked her, and they approached again until they were four meters from the Hive mother before stopping. Luna bowed deeply one more time, and Bandit did so as well, only standing back up straight when Luna did.
Luna and the Hive mother stared at each other for 34.692 seconds before Luna turned to him and started signing. He was to give her the translation gloves and translator comm nodes he was storing internally.
He complied, unzipping his jacket and pressing against a point below where the human sternum was located with two fingers. The small access hatch located within his abdomen opened, and he withdrew the translator devices.
The Hive mother was watching him, and he saw her tilting her head to the side just like Aurora did when finding herself fascinated by something. He passed the gloves to Luna and one of the comm nodes before closing his access hatch.
He then zipped his jacket back up before pressing the other node to his chest, hearing it hiss as it self-adhered to the fabric. Luna slipped the gloves over her claws and then tapped the node she had attached to her thorax.
Bandit did the same, and holographic claws shimmered into existence as Luna began signing to him again. An emotionless voice came from the node on her thorax as it translated her claw movements.
Bandit nodded and replied to Luna.
“Understood. What thoughts shall we share, Luna?”
His reply was translated by the holographic claws hovering in between them, and he quickly glanced out the side of his eye closest to the Hive mother. Her head tilting became noticeably pronounced, and he could see the intense interest within her large, black eyes.
Bandit and Luna continued to share thoughts for 4 minutes, 56 seconds before Luna informed him that the Hive mother wished to share thoughts with her.
She turned back to face her, and Bandit waited silently as Luna made hundreds of claw movements to the Hive mother, repeating many of them as they continued to stare at each other. This went on for 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 38 seconds.
During this time, over two hundred worker drones came in groups of twenty from a tunnel located behind the Hive mother. They would form two double lines of ten drones each, and after some time, they would start convulsing before collapsing on the floor.
Bandit knew the Hive mother was using their brains to increase her own processing power, and he knew the collapsed drones were dead after their brains had been burned out by her. He found the entire process disturbing and wondered if the Hive mother felt any guilt or sadness for their deaths.
Luna finally turned to him and signed as dozens of other drones came and started removing the bodies of the dead drones who had been sacrificed by the Hive mother.
Luna turned away from him and took the gloves off her claws, handing them and the node to a drone who had come to take them. It took the gloves to the Hive mother, and she put them on before looking directly at Bandit as she attached the node to her thorax.
Slowly at first, she began making claw signs to him, recognizing the minor grammatical errors she was making and correcting them as she became used to the gloves.
Bandit’s neural pathways surged as he carefully monitored her claw movements, fascinated by how quickly she had learned the sign language and syntax.
The Hive mother seemed to have decided she was ready, and she tapped on the translator node on her thorax. She began signing again, and her thoughts came out of the node in Republic standard.