In four separate systems the Yil’kaa found themselves under siege. The Septi system, they discovered that their enemies had placed long range stealth autonomous antimatter mines, resulting in any reinforcements that showed up getting annihilated as they pushed forward. In Derpo they were beset upon by the tiny starships of the Ele. They were a small species, but even their diminutive stature wasn’t an issue, their weapons packed a considerable punch for their size. The Ele tore through the Yil’kaa ships like angry bees, the small size of their starfighters allowing them to swarm through the very halls of the much larger capital ships and causing untold damage before exiting and watching the fireworks.

Rewot was a system that actually saw a proper siege. The lumbering, gigantic Urot warped in what they considered to be their largest fleet, which sat itself on the edge of the system and promptly started to just fire in the general direction of the enemy. It may have seemed like indiscriminate fire, but the shots would take so much time to reach their targets that when they did it’d be a constant stream of fire raining down on their heads that the Yil’kaa would be forced to bunker down and hope the Urot got bored.

Then there was Calima. And it’s where humanity got to really stretch its legs after so long without a good and proper fight. The Okali watched as humans rained from the sky in their pods and dropships, landing and rushing out to cover as the warmachines of the Nemesis Fleet cleared appropriate spaces for their organic counterparts. They showed the experience of their previous encounters with the Yil’kaa in the opening moments, as bombers and their starfighter escorts swooped out into the converted areas and dropped their payloads, spreading the light and purifying heat of black phosphorus over the organic structures and Yil’kaa troopers alike. It was merely a first strike, once the humans had consolidated their dropzones and the areas needed for their bases, they began to push out and reclaim the planet one city block at a time.

Staring down overwhelming odds and coming out on top is kinda their thing. But it was clear that humanity did not want to suffer any repeats of their past conflict, like Red Mountain. Slowly but surely, the Yil’kaa were starting to get pushed back, allowing the Okali to gain a moment’s reprieve. Many of them went home for some quick R&R, but they would be back at the front soon enough. Soon they’d be on the offensive, rather than the defensive.

It was looking to be a long war.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

“This is Badger Six, we need immediate CAS due north of our position! We’re being overrun! Yil’kaa in force!” This was a common request ever since we’d begun the slow reclamation of Calima. We had hoped to avoid long ground wars, but it seemed the Yil’kaa were determined to bleed us dry with one. Several of the Okali and even Alliance generals were debating the merits of just pulling all their forces off the planet and nuking it till there was nothing left. But the rebuilding and habitability programs would be costly, perhaps too costly. So it was going to be a last resort.

“Copy, Badger Six. Pop green flares at your position, air support inbound.” I say, launching a flight of fighters from the groundside outposts that have been set up. While Innocent’s Lament and the rest of Nemesis remain in orbit, we have split our attention between space and ground theaters. We all have our own little sectors that we control and work within, some of us have it a bit worse than others but we’re managing just fine.

I call up the feeds from my fighters as they streak through the dark skies, it’s night naturally for once, the Yil’kaa bio-shroud long since eaten away in a swarm of nanites. Six starfighters duck and weave between elegant Okali skyscrapers before they come across Badger Six and their green flare. “Badger Six, air support has arrived, beginning attack runs, danger close.”

I get a muffled confirmation and the fighters dive suddenly, spreading out and opening fire with a scream of both engines and weapons. The Yil’kaa advance is savaged, giving the unit a brief moment of breathing room before my fighters have to swing around for another pass. One gets shot down and though it’s dying I can still control it slightly, just enough for it to bank and slam into a heavy tank, causing the armored flesh to ripple and explode.

It didn't take long, four more passes and the Yil’kaa began to pull back, licking their wounds and Badger Six received reinforcements. “Badger Six, pulling starfighters back, good luck out there.”

“Roger that, thanks for the assist. Badger Six, out.”

The din of military chatter rises around me again, now that I’m no longer focused on that unit. It’s a chaotic mess out there, but only really for the Yil’kaa. On every front they’re being pushed back, cut off and surrounded. There’s no hope for them, just like there was no hope for their past victims. The question is, how long can they hold out and just how far will they go to ensure that they take us with them?

I would prefer to not find out.

“BROKEN ARROW, BROKEN ARROW!” Now that gets my attention, it’s from my sector as well, another unit running low on ammo and meds, a mixture of Human, Okali and Eltrani troops, complete with armor support. But it was also the most heavily contested zone of my sector, and it was about to fall.

Running some quick calculations, even as I watch the soldiers start to fall one by one faster and faster, I come up with firing solutions and take a deep breath.

“Zone 4, take cover, incoming fire support.” I nearly yell, but it wouldn’t be good for them to hear me like that. My cannons shift their focus, and then fire, a stream of heavy artillery rounds plunging from space to strike at the overwhelming Yil’kaa forces. It’s effective, but not enough, not yet. Another salvo, and then the last resort. A beam of pitch black energy slams down a good distance away from the actual battle, but it’s on purpose certainly. The sudden vacuum of the beam tugs at the Yil’kaa near the beleaguered soldiers, pulling them into the beam itself and reducing them to mere particles. My calculations were correct, just far enough away to harm the enemy, but do little more than tug at any loose hair on friendly forces. I receive an alert that the beam is starting to overheat and kill the power to it, leaving only a crater of smooth glass, which cracks as cooler air rushes into the vacuum.

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Dropships swoop in and relieve the weary soldiers and the armor, replacing them with fresh troops. I even throw in some of my walkers, the large, spidery behemoths looming over the battlefield. With that crisis averted, I sigh and close my eyes, wishing it could just all be over.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Time had seemingly started to slow since Intra left. The days dragged on and on, it was nearly unbearable. Worse perhaps were the changes, changes I couldn’t exactly explain. I felt… heavier almost, more prone to aches and pains. I couldn’t ask Intra about it, as she was gone and focusing on the war, and the doctors didn’t know either as they were still learning all they could about my species.

What made it bearable was Zreeth, ever doting. Even Rutaq had seemingly warmed up to me, which was nice, though I suppose it was because of Zreeth’s clear devotion to me. I suppose that’s not the best way to put it, makes it sound like I am superior to him. I guess it’d be better to say loyalty? Love… yes, I think that’s the best way to put it. He loves me, and I love him. It’s strange, I had always thought I’d fall in love with a warrior from my own species, never the prince of an empire and a completely different species to boot. But its happened, and I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve been seeing more and more humans around as well, as well as every other species that makes up both their Alliance and this Conclave thing they’re part of. They don’t stick around for very long, a few days of leave mostly, seeing the sights, enjoying the local entertainment and then it’s back out there to the fight. Since I’m the ambassador for the Alliance, I’ve kinda become their babysitter, which is strange but I find it enjoyable. It’s always interesting to listen to all the strange antics that they get up to, mostly conducted by humans of course. If ever there was a force of pure chaos in this universe, it would be humanity.

Why, just today I had to listen to how a human had taken an agri drone for what they called ‘a joy ride’, while also somehow managing to bypass its speed locks, allowing the drone to reach speeds it really shouldn’t be going. Worse, they hadn’t been the only one and the group had participated in drone jousting as they called it. Only a few injuries had been reported, and I could only sigh with a soft smile and remand their punishments to their superiors.

It had turned dark quickly I noted, and I glanced over my little desk which was situated within my little home to find Zreeth dozing upon the sofa. He spent… well, most of his time now wherever I was, unless he was needed elsewhere. I was glad for his company, he had matured considerably since the war had begun in earnest. I didn’t think of him as a spoiled princeling anymore, but a good man, and some day, a good emperor. Perhaps even better than his father.

Putting aside my work for now, I roused him with a gentle kiss on his beak and we absconded for dinner. The night ended with us in bed, the blankets around us and his soft wings around me, keeping me warm and safe as we slept.

I didn’t want to go home to my people anymore, for I had found my real home, and it was here, with him.

This is where I belong.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

The great thinkers of the Yil’kaa were growing more and more concerned with every passing day, every passing week and month that started to accrue. They were losing, and the enemy did not seem content to simply push them out of the invaded territory. Worse, it seemed like they were being invaded as well from all sides of their territory, requiring them to split their focus and spread their forces thin.

They were losing, and they realized that perhaps they had made everyone else angry for the last time. There’d be no diplomacy, just a taste of their own medicine. How bitter it would be.

They started to make plans, desperate ones which would result in the loss of countless Yil’kaa, but could potentially save many, many more and give them a chance at survival. Worlds were soon abandoned, every last piece of material and resources stripped and pulled back to the core systems, troops and ships as well.

Soon even the fleets were starting to pull back, in a desperate attempt to keep their numbers up. But the sudden retreat did not tell their enemy that perhaps it was time to call an end to the war, if anything it pushed them on and they started to spread into their space, soon burning worlds to ash. There was nothing to be gained from doing this, it was just a warning, a moment of catharsis for many.

The Yil’kaa were on the brink of ruin, but they would stand tall and proud, they would not go out without a fight.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Specialist Demina,

Okali 424th Landstriders

Wreto System, Yil’kaa Territory

Four Months after Calima Liberation

Calima had been on slog after another, but it was ours again, and now we were sweeping through the enemy’s space like a wildfire. We found their worlds abandoned, or with token resistance forces, but they were the weakest of the swarm. Nothing but invalids really. It was a mercy, when we turned their worlds into balls of flame and ash. Quick, painless. Just another world destroyed in the name of those who’d been lost, and all those unknown species before them.

My unit and I had been attached to a human regiment, they called themselves The Banshees, mainly because a good quarter of them were comprised of what appeared to be an entirely female unit called Banshees. I had yet to see these Banshee’s in a fight, but I suspect I’ll see that soon enough.

We were just arriving in the Wreto System when everything - as the humans say - went to shit. The ship rocked when it took a sudden and heavy strike, then it bucked again and again, alarms blaring and the PA system going wild.

“All troops, get to your drop pods and gunships. Prepare for emergency debarkation in five minutes.”

That was the captain, I knew that voice well, I heard it in my dreams. Such a lovely voice, rough and matured and… ahem. I and my unit rushed to do as ordered, the human ships corridors shorter than we are used to which caused us Okali to hunch over while running. Again the ship bucked, and emergency forcefields snapped into place just as a chunk of hull was blown away. I watched several of the crew get sucked out into the void, and the parasite munitions of the Yil’kaa came crawling in, gnashing their horrid teeth at everything they could see.

Luckily, we could go around them, and we did, finally making it to our altered drop pods and getting situated. That was when a squad of Banshee’s appeared and slotted themselves into our large pod as well, there was plenty of space for them after all. I got my first good look at their armor.

Sleek, slim, much like the women that wore it, it was fitted with what appeared to be folded up wings and some things that looked almost like speakers on a sound system. I couldn’t be sure why this was, but these Banshee’s weren’t run of the mill soldiers, so it had to be useful in some big way.

The door to the pod slammed shut, and then we were launched. The walls flickered and then altered, giving us a view of outside. We watched as thousands of other pods were launched towards the surface of a planet that was not abandoned like the others had been, but was teeming with Yil’kaa in need of killing. A flight of gunships sped past us, one spinning with flames and smoke trailing from its engines. A pod was torn apart by surface fire.

And then we landed in hell, and the harnesses that held us in place released, just as the pod walls blew apart. The first out were the Banshees, followed by our human counterparts. We learned in that moment why they were called Banshees.

They had formed a firing line, their rifles spewing death before their wings snapped open, propelling them upwards. Seemingly they drew in a collective breath, then unleashed it. The sound that erupted from them was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It was piercing, unsettling, inhuman and amplified to a degree where it could kill. The ground shook and cracked, Yil’kaa bio-matter rippled and then was stripped away by waves of pure, deadly sound. We watched in surprise and perhaps just a hint of horror as any Yil’kaa, approximately fifty of them, dropped their weapons and clutched their heads, their screams going unheard before their internal organs ruptured and turned to slurry, their bodies vibrating themselves apart.

It went on for longer than seemed possible, but when they had finished their wail, the Banshee’s swooped ahead, returning to more… civilized means of dispatching their foes. I was shaken, but I knew what the Yil’kaa did to us, it seemed right to inflict such horrors on them in return.

And so, once we had collected ourselves, we pushed forward, even as our companions fell from the sky around us. We were the invaders now, and the Yil’kaa would know our fury.