They Answered The Call

Insectoid Cruiser

6,982 light years from Earth, 2175 A.D.

Thirty-six hours after boarding action

The drone had never felt thirst like it did now. It reached out with its mind, trying to join with a sister. There was nothing, just silence. It moved its antennae, testing the air for new pheromones.

There was very little, just a faint residue of old and stale chemicals barely at the threshold of detection. An overwhelming loneliness came over it, and it tried again to find a sister to share thoughts with.

The solitude was unbearable. It looked at the water that was left by the animal before, its thirst threatening to override its fear. It was so thirsty. And hungry. It was a good worker drone. Why was it being punished with isolation?

It did not understand why the command drone had forsaken it. It was a good worker, diligent and obedient. It always did what it was told. The echoes of the last thought commands it received came back to it.

It struggled to keep the thought commands alive, desperate for other thoughts in its mind. It wanted guidance. The thirst came back, stronger than before. It lifted its antennae and pointed it towards the water.

It smelled the water, its thirst becoming stronger. It could almost taste the water as it envisioned putting its tongue in it and drinking. The desire to quench its thirst became overpowering.

It moved slightly closer—the first time it moved since before. Terror gripped it, and it searched the air for any sign that it had been detected. It moved again, sure that the animals would hear it and kill it.

Reaching out a tarsal claw, it touched the water and quickly withdrew the claw back to its body. It put the tarsal claw in between its mandibles and tested the water with its tongue.

It was tinged with organics and oils, but it was good enough to drink. It reached out again, putting its entire tarsal claw into the water and withdrawing it back to its mouth.

The thirst was overpowering, and it sucked every drop of moisture from its claw with its tongue. It detected a change in the air, the hairs on its antennae warning it that something was happening as they vibrated.

It withdrew itself back to where it was before, fear coursing through its body. It heard animal sounds growing louder, and it started shaking uncontrollably. The animals are coming to kill it.

It will die alone, with no sisters to comfort it as its body stops working and its mind grows dim. It will not be able to let a queen know that it could work no more and feel her thoughts of gratitude before receiving permission to enter its eternal sleep.

Its body would not be brought to the graveyard by its sisters so that it could be recycled for the good of the Hive. It would dry out and turn into a husk, its essence wasted instead of being used to grow food for its sisters.

There was a loud noise, followed by a flash of light. Fear gripped it, and it searched for a sister to comfort it. There was no response to her thoughts, and it froze as an animal crouched down in front of the opening.

It was the same animal as before that left the water. It stayed completely still as the animal made noises at it and reached a claw inside to kill it.

The claw withdrew, and the animal made more noises before moving away from the opening. There was another loud noise, and then it was dark again, like before.

It stayed completely still, afraid to move. It detected something different in the air, and it slowly moved an antenna towards the new scent. It knew this smell; it was food.

It stayed where it was until the smell of the food became too much to resist. Slowly, it reached out a claw and touched it. It was food. It was hungry, and it pulled the food closer to it.

It brought the food to its mouth and put out its tongue, testing it. It was tainted with the smell of animals, but it tasted right—sweet and moist. Its instincts overrode its fear, and it brought the food to its mouth.

It finished the food and drank more water, slowly creeping towards it and putting out its tongue to drink it all until it was gone. The animal had left more water in another vessel.

It will drink that when it is thirsty again. It went back to where it was before and remained still.

It made the image of the animal in its mind, the same one from before. It committed every shape and color of the animal face to memory. This animal means food and water. This animal does not kill.

It will remember this animal. When this animal comes, it will not die. It will have more food and water.

It was tired. It had never been this tired before. It reached out one more time, looking for a sister to share thoughts with. There was nothing, just silence.

Sadness overwhelmed it. It was alone, no longer part of its Hive. It lowered its head to the ground, pulling its legs under its body. It allowed itself to go dormant, waiting for the animal to bring it more food and water.

Ominian System

Automated Border Outpost 1D-25

1,893 light years from Earth, 2175 A.D.

Hreth’nir waited for the human child to finish getting comfortable in the newest configuration of the chair it had thought made for its guest. After searching through the Republic databases, it selected a chair that looked like it might be comfortable.

It was called a reclining armchair, and it seemed to be favored by human males. They all seemed content in the images Hreth’nir had seen during its search for the gift it wanted to make for the human child.

Looking at him, Hreth’nir saw the smile on the human’s face as he activated the manual lever on the side and the chair extended. Hreth’nir felt joy when it heard the human sigh in happiness as he closed his eyes momentarily.

He opened his eyes again after a few moments before looking at Hreth’nir. “Honored elder, thank you for this thoughtful and unexpected gift. It reminds me of sitting in my grandfather’s chair when I was younger.”

Hreth’nir carefully modulated the speakers before responding. “It gladdens me that you like it, my human child. I have come to look forward to our time together, and I want you to be comfortable.”

“I am grateful for your consideration, and I too enjoy our time together.” The human responded as he reached over and pulled the manual lever back up, returning the chair to its sitting configuration.

“What did you think of the Hoonean songs, my human child?” Hreth’nir asked.

Sadness fell over the human’s face as he answered. “They are beautiful. I plan to bring them with me when I return to Earth, and I will play them in our oceans. Perhaps the whales will add them to their own, and the Hooneans songs will live again on our world.”

The human’s words touched Hreth’nir deeply, and it was barely able to control its emotions at the thought of the ancient songs of the Hooneans finding a home in the waters of other worlds again.

“Ask your questions, my human child. I know you have many.” Hreth’nir stated as the servant android appeared with food and drink for its guest and placed the tray on the small table between them.

The human looked troubled and fidgeted in the chair as he thought about the questions he wanted answered.

“Honored elder, what happened after the Balrikans stopped fighting fleet battles? What happened to the Magnati, and how are we descended from them?” He finally asked, looking at the suit sensor lenses with an intense stare.

Hreth’nir sighed to itself as it quickly thought about how it would tell the terrible story. Crouching the suit down so that the human would not have to look up, it answered the human.

“After the last battle, the hateful creatures changed their tactics and resorted to what you humans would call guerrilla warfare. They no longer engaged in full fleet battles, and they split their fleets into thousands of small hunting packs.

The change in tactics created great issues for the Federation, as they were now forced to defend thousands of cubic light years of territory from the depredations of the hunting packs.

The Federation fleet was forced into a defensive posture, which diluted the combat power it could bring to bear and returned the initiative to the Balrikans.”

Hreth’nir flicked a suit finger, and a three-dimensional map of the local space appeared in the air, slowly rotating as colors and icons resolved. There was a large area shaded in blue, with small areas of red spotted throughout.

Surrounding the blue were thousands of small red dots, and inside the blue were numerous green icons, thinly spread along the blue boundary.

Hreth’nir resumed speaking. “This is a representation of the situation after the last fleet battle. As you can see, the Federation fleet was inadequate for the task of defending so much territory.

It was not building ships that was the problem the Federation faced; it was finding crew willing to fight and kill others from among a mostly pacifist society.”

The red icons penetrated the blue areas along numerous points before retreating. The green icons would move to counter the red icons, but there was never enough of them, and they were incapable of effectively intercepting all intrusions.

“As demonstrated on these maps, the Balrikans had the tactical flexibility of striking along the entire border without concerns of reciprocal attacks. They had no territory to defend, and they could choose to end all engagements that were not in their favor.

They resorted to what you humans refer to as hit-and-run attacks, targeting infrastructure critical to the war effort and destroying convoys of war materials and other targets of opportunity.”

Hreth’nir paused as it flicked several suit fingers, and multiple small screens appeared.

“They also launched terror attacks by entering multiple systems at once and launching swarms of antimatter missiles from the outer system that targeted the home worlds and colonies of multiple member species all around Federation space.”

The small screens then showed dozens of worlds being hit with antimatter missiles that managed to penetrate the defense systems or slip by Federation ships that tried to intercept them.

Some worlds were hit by only one, while others suffered multiple strikes. The destructive flashes of light that erupted on the surfaces were visible from space as the powerful weapons destroyed entire cities and critical infrastructure.

New screens appeared, and Hreth’nir continued speaking as they now showed worlds being hit by asteroids.

“They also sent suicide ships that would exit null space within the heliosphere and set a course towards the asteroid belts before shutting down their engines. They would drift in powered-down ships as their crew hibernated, undetectable to any sensor networks.

Some were detected by chance and destroyed, but many were not. They would drift for many solar weeks before finally reaching the belts and being woken up by their computers.

The crew would then attach undetectable gas thruster systems to small asteroids, coat them with low-albedo material, and redirect them towards their targets.

Most of these iron asteroids were one hundred meters as you measure in diameter or slightly smaller. The destructive power was equivalent to one of your old-style hydrogen bombs and would destroy an entire city with ease.”

Hreth’nir saw expressions of shock and anger on the human’s face as it continued to describe the cowardly Balrikan tactics.

“After weeks of thrusting, the small asteroids would be almost upon their targets, and the Balrikan ships still hiding in the asteroid belts would activate their systems and burn their engines at full power towards the edge of the solar systems as if fleeing.

Ships and sensors would focus on them, and they would be hunted down and destroyed while the asteroids would reach their targets undetected or too late to stop because the Balrikans diverted attention by making themselves visible to be destroyed.”

The screens disappeared, replaced by casualty figures of the dead and wounded. Hreth’nir pointed towards the figures, allowing its disgust to be heard over the speakers for the first time as it continued.

“Billions were wounded, and almost two billion others were killed in these cowardly terror attacks over a period of many solar months. The Magnati and the Wan’sho had enough of fighting a losing defensive war and forced Fleet Command to act.

Against the objections of the Federation Senate, a large fleet of Magnati, Wan’sho, and Ma’lit warships was assembled in secrecy and launched on what was considered by many to be a suicidal assault on the Balrikan bases in the trinary star system.”

Hreth’nir removed all the holograms and screens before putting up a new one that showed a large mass of green icons deep within the center of Federation space, and there was an obvious decrease in the total number of green icons guarding the periphery of the Federation.

The blue areas had a notable increase in red shaded areas and dots, highlighting the extent of the Balrikan assaults on Federation territory over many solar months.

The green icons disappeared from the center of the blue and reappeared outside of the dark red-shaded trinary system three solar days later, according to the time index displayed on the bottom of the screens.

The human child leaned closer to the hologram, and Hreth’nir made it larger so that he could see it better before describing the next events.

“The assault fleet numbered over five thousand warships—the largest concentration of Federation military power ever assembled in its history. The Balrikan presence in the system had grown during the war, and they had also heavily fortified the system.”

Additional screens appeared, showing a cataclysmic battle within the trinary system as the Federation armada assaulted it, taking on dozens of massive forts and hundreds of smaller defensive stations.

“Federation ships fell by the hundreds, but they still pressed on, undeterred by their losses. They pushed ever deeper into the systems and destroyed bases, factories, shipyards, and refineries.

For almost two solar weeks, they continued their assaults as they eradicated every single piece of infrastructure in the three systems while simultaneously fighting off multiple Balrikan fleets that responded to the distress calls and returned from Federation space.”

Hreth’nir stopped speaking, letting the human take in the screens as they displayed the terrible losses suffered by the Federation fleet. Under the screens were time indexes, casualty figures, and ship losses listed by class.

Flicking a finger, Hreth’nir made them disappear and replaced them with another larger screen, showing what remained of the Federation fleet after their assault. There were only three hundred and forty-six ships that survived out of the over five thousand that began the assault.

All those noble souls knew this was a one-way trip, and still they went to protect the ones they loved. Hreth'nir thought to itself sadly as it watched the human's eyes roam over the screens.

On the larger screen, another Balrikan fleet flashed in, and the severely outgunned Federation ships fled towards home.

The screen depicted them fighting a running battle back to Federation space as they were constantly hounded by Balrikans seeking revenge.

The time index showed the passage of time, and after six days, only twenty-seven warships out of the original five thousand finally reached the safety of Federation space.

Hreth’nir paused the screen. “The assault was a success, and the Balrikan ships were forced to retreat from Federation territory after the grievous losses they suffered and the destruction of their bases in the trinary system.

What you just witnessed was the loss of almost 70% of the Federation fleet and over six million brave souls.

The rest of the fleet went on the offensive and pursued the retreating Balrikans, destroying thousands of ships as the scattered survivors fled back to their territory in the Perseus arm.”

The human, who had been silently listening, raised his hand and spoke. “So, you won the war? Is this when the plague started, or was that after?"

“We did not win the war. Be patient and listen, my human child." Hreth'nir responded, gently chiding the human. The human looked embarrassed and pressed his lips together, stifling any further questions he may have had.

"When the Federation ships reached the Perseus arm, they discovered that the Balrikan fleet that had invaded the Federation was only the first wave in their attempt at our extermination.

We erroneously thought they had sent all their might against us. The Federation ships pursuing the Balrikans were ambushed by waiting enemy fleets that numbered in the tens of thousands.

They retreated from the onslaught and fled back to Federation territory after losing half their numbers.

Surprisingly, the Balrikans did not pursue and finish them off. I think they wanted the Federation to know that more of them were coming. They wanted us to be paralyzed with fear when they came again.”

The human stammered at what Hreth’nir had revealed, trying to articulate his words as his mind rejected what it had just heard.

“Honored elder, I don’t understand. How is it possible for them to have so many ships? How could their civilization support such a war machine without their economy collapsing? Do they even have an economy?"

“We wondered the same thing, human.” Hreth’nir answered. “When the fleet returned with the grim news, we were just as shocked. We were barely able to withstand the first wave, and finding out there were more coming filled us with dread.

The Federation Senate panicked and declared a state of total war. We redoubled our shipbuilding efforts; forced conscription was mandated, and diplomatic overtures were made to involve the other regional powers and even former enemies in our efforts.”

“Did the Balrikans attack right away?” asked the human.

“No, and we believe it had to do with the destruction of their bases in the trinary system. You must understand their motivations, my human child. Their entire species is on an evil crusade to eliminate all sentient life in this galaxy.

They believe it was gifted to them by their gods, and they must prove they are worthy by cleansing it before claiming it for themselves. They are an implacable foe, even worse than the insectoids are.

However, they are not mindless animals; they do not blindly attack foes they are not capable of destroying.

Nor would they act to bring about their own destruction by making blunders like invading without the proper infrastructure to support them and ensure eventual victory.

The Insectoids have their own motivations, but they would not cleanse the entire galaxy; it is not in their nature to do so. At some point, they would reach the limit of their carrying capacity and stop expanding.

The Balrikans would never stop; that is the difference between the two species.”

Hreth’nir could see the human thinking about what it had said and waited for him to ask more questions.

“What happened next, honored elder?” he finally asked as he took a small pastry off the tray in front of him and took a bite, nodding in approval.

Hreth’nir ignored the surprised look on the human’s face as it did the same thing and placed the pastry into the receptacle that slid open on the suit torso.

The human had the good grace not to say anything, and Hreth’nir answered him.

“We littered the space between the arms with drones and early warning networks as we accelerated our shipbuilding and training efforts. Spy drones kept tabs on Balrikan territory, vigilantly watching for any signs of them launching another invasion.

The Ma’lit devoted themselves to weapons research, and we brought several experimental technologies into fruition, such as cloaking generators, shield grids, and new weapons systems.”

Hreth’nir waved a hand, causing blueprints and diagrams to appear that showed several classes of warships. It could see the humans’s eyes widen at the sight of them as the diagrams rotated and highlighted multiple systems. Hreth’nir let the human look at them for a minute as the rotating screens showed the new weapons and armor technologies being created before continuing.

“The Magnati and the Wan’sho suffered the most ship and crew losses and completely redesigned their warships based upon their experiences fighting against the Balrikans.

The shipbuilders of the Magnati brought back long-abandoned kinetic weaponry to supplement their particle beams, and their ships became much larger, with twice the armor and almost triple the firepower of the ships they previously fielded.

The Wan’sho reverted to their ancestral roots and made their ships smaller and more agile, perfectly suited for pack hunting tactics.

The smaller sizes were compensated for by the installation of what was at the time the most powerful particle beam weaponry fielded by the Federation."

One of the screens displayed a task force comprised of several new Magnati dreadnoughts surrounded by hundreds of smaller Wan'sho ships. A battle simulation showed the task force firing their weapons systems, and the human gasped in shock at the sheer amount of destruction that poured out of the new ships.

"The combination of the Magnati heavy capital ships and the smaller, heavily armed Wan’sho hunter escorts increased their combat power exponentially as they perfectly complimented each other and developed new battle tactics.” Hreth'nir stated as it continued to add and remove holographic screens.

Another map appeared, showing Federation space and the surrounding powers. The time index was accelerated, and thousands of new green icons started appearing along the borders as the smaller powers around them became shaded with a light blue.

The number of green icons rapidly increased as the time index showed the passage of almost two cycles. The light blue-shaded areas expanded as more regional powers fell under the sway of the Galactic Federation.

Hreth’nir paused the screen, freezing the time index as it started speaking again.

“A grand alliance was formed, and all the surrounding powers, even long-time enemies, joined in our efforts at presenting a unified front. There was severe social unrest among the more pacifist societies as their young ones were forced into military service.

The Federation Senate suspended the Bill of Guarantees on those worlds, and troops were landed to suppress dissent. Even the Peace Faction within the Senate agreed with this action, knowing that the hateful creatures would eventually return.”

Hreth’nir stopped speaking for a few moments as more screens were added.

“After twenty-six solar months, the Balrikans finally left their territory and began the journey to cross the expanse between the arms. Drones returned to Federation space, showing that almost another 105,000 ships were coming.

Spy drones within the Perseus arm had detected signs of even more ships being built, with tens of thousands of others patrolling the vast Balrikan territory. The second invasion was on its way, and we prepared ourselves for the coming darkness.”

“How could you possibly prepare to fight 100,000 ships, honored elder?" The human asked incredulously as his eyes roamed over the multiple screens.

“You cannot,” answered Hreth’nir. “You can only hope that your preparations are sufficient and that the Creator intercedes on your behalf. By this time, the new Federation fleet numbered almost 40,000 warships."

A small hologram appeared, depicting a round object approximately five meters in diameter. Alongside it was Ma'lit script, and Hreth'nir converted it to Republic standard for the human to read.

"One of the new technologies created by the combined efforts of Maganti and Ma’lit weapons scientists was null space mines such as the one being displayed now.

A small fleet of Magnati and Ma’lit mine-laying ships that were waiting for the Balrikans to cross the expanse were activated and sent to intercept them after they began their journey.”

Several screens went blank and then different videos and sensor scans appeared as Hreth’nir explained what was being displayed.

“These null space mines were seeded along the path being taken by the multiple Balrikan fleets, and their function was to disrupt the null space capacitor fields generated by their ships.

Whenever enemy ships came within range, the mine’s disruption field activated and forced the ships to be violently ejected from null space.”

Hreth’nir paused to enlarge two of the screens and play them. One video showed Federation ships dispensing the mines in null space. The mines shimmered before disappearing as the new cloaking generators activated.

When Balrikan ships came near the mines, the mines dropped their cloaking fields and activated, pulling the ships towards them despite all efforts to escape.

The other video showed empty space at first before there were waves of blue light and something formed at the epicenter. What looked like a tear in the fabric of space itself appeared, and the blue waves grew in intensity as the rupture opened and contracted rapidly.

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash from the rupture, and dozens of ships were violently expelled. They were torn apart as they passed through the apeture into normal space, almost like they had been forced through a massive shredder.

What was once dozens of ships was now a massive debris field that expanded rapidly, and the rupture flashed one more time before winking out of existence.

Satisfied that the human had seen the results on both displays, Hreth'nir closed them and began describing what happened next.

“As you know, when null capacitor fields are disrupted, ships are forced back into normal space and destroyed by intense gravitational shear forces.

For six weeks, the Federation ships laid their mines as they maintained position in front of the Balrikan fleets and forced thousands of enemy ships to be ejected into normal space and destroyed.

By the time the Balrikans reached the edge of our arm, over fifteen thousand of them had been destroyed while making the journey across the expanse. It was a great success, but we were still facing almost 90,000 ships.”

Hreth’nir realized that they had been speaking for some time without a break, and it sent a thought command for the waste processing commode to emerge from the floor.

It was also hungry and wanted to eat the pastry still sitting in the compartment. The human turned his head at the sounds as the commode emerged.

“Please refresh yourself, and then I will continue, my human child.” Hreth’nir stated as it waved a suit hand towards the commode.

“Thank you, honored elder. I will return shortly.” He replied gratefully as he got out of the armchair and walked quickly towards it.

Hreth’nir opened the interior compartment and took the pastry, sniffing at it before taking a bite. It had found the recipe in the Republic databases while searching for the gift and instructed the servant android to make it.

It was called baklava, and Hreth’nir closed its eyes in pleasure while chewing on the human delicacy. The servant android had done an excellent job making it, and it would add the treat to its weekly food rotation.

It had the suit reach down and pick up another one, quickly putting it inside the torso compartment and waiting for the outer hatch to close before opening the interior door and bringing it to its mouth.

The second pastry was just as delicious, and Hreth’nir thought about introducing it to the other Ma’lit on the outpost as the human emerged from the commode and started walking back.

After the human sat back down, Hreth’nir asked if he needed anything else before resuming. The human shook its head, and Hreth’nir resumed from where it had stopped.

“When the Balrikan fleet arrived along the outer edge of the arm, they dropped out of null space and dispersed their fleets all along the rim.

There were no attempts to penetrate further into the arm, and we positioned the new Federation fleet all along the border regions as we waited for them to make the first move.”

“Why didn’t the Federation go on the offensive or launch spoiling attacks? Why didn’t you continue to lay mines when they reached the rim?” The human asked as he continued to watch the screens showing the massive Balrikan formations break apart into tens of thousands of hunter packs.

Hreth’nir answered his questions in the order they were asked.

“Fear and prior experiences made Fleet Command reluctant to expose the Federation by sending fleets out to meet the enemy. While we were building thousands of ships, we were also fortifying our systems with the intention of making the Balrikans pay a heavy price every time they invaded.

As for the mines, they can only be used in low-density stellar areas such as the expanse between the arms or in the void of systems with at least ten light years of distance between them.

Though the mines are null space weapons, they can cause black holes to form in normal space if the conditions are right.

If you use the mines too close to a system and a black hole is created, it will begin to grow as it feeds on the matter of the nearby solar systems. This is why we were reluctant to use them once the Balrikans arrived.”

The human looked shocked at the mention of the mines creating black holes, and Hreth’nir quickly answered the question it knew the human would ask.

“Do not worry, my human. We have perfected the technology since then, and this is no longer a cause for concern. Are my assurances satisfactory to you?"

The human nodded slowly, and Hreth'nir suppressed the desire to laugh at the human's facial expression before continuing.

"For three solar months, the Balrikans roamed along the rim and attacked any species they came across. This time, however, they did not exterminate or glass entire worlds.

Instead, they conquered four local species and established bases on their worlds, careful to preserve the industrial capacity of the subjugated worlds and forcing the population to relocate and live among their infrastructure.

This alarming change in tactics caused great consternation among our ranks as entire worlds were now hostage to the hateful creatures, and they would be forcing us to knowingly murder billions in order to destroy their bases and manufacturing centers.”

“Those sons of bitches.” The human muttered angrily as he shook his head in disgust.

Hreth’nir did not understand the phrase, and it was surprised when the suit AI translated the meaning of the invective after searching the Republic linguistic databanks.

Hreth’nir catalogued the expression and continued speaking, confused as to why the human would equate the endothermic reptilians with the offspring of female canine animals.

“Fleet Command wanted to launch an attack before the Balrikans were able to fully establish themselves along the rim, but factions within the Federation Senate refused them, unwilling to murder billions of innocents.

This deadlock continued until two solar months later, when spy drones returned with evidence of the unspeakable atrocities being committed against the captive populations.

Elements within the Federation senate tried to suppress the evidence of these evil acts, but certain factions inside Fleet Command disobeyed their orders. They released the drone footage among thousands of media networks and the interstellar linksystem using a command override frequency.”

Hreth’nir faltered, not wanting to bring life back to the unspeakable evil that occurred by voicing it. The human sat there, staring at it with an emotionless face as he waited for Hreth’nir to continue.

“My human child, it is very difficult to tell you. I must warn you that what I am about to reveal will burden your soul for the rest of your life.”

The human nodded once before responding in a low voice. “Tell me.”

“Federation citizens suddenly found themselves watching drone footage showing the captive populations being used not just for slave labor... but for food and sexual gratification as well.

The Balrikans built industrial slaughterhouses, and tens of thousands of innocents were processed for food every solar day. They were corralled like livestock and led to their deaths in massive factories where they were butchered for their meat.

The Balrikans would extend the suffering of their victims as they butchered them, believing that the fear and excruciating pain their victims underwent made the meat taste better."

Hreth'nir shuddered involuntarily as what it had seen passed through its mind, polluting his soul with the evil done all those years ago.

"They would take special care to inject them with clotting agents, stimulants, and synthetic blood to ensure that the victims would not bleed to death or pass out from the pain as they extracted muscle tissue.

It would take hours for a victim to finally be butchered. They were awake the entire duration of the process and felt everything those abominations did to them.

The Balrikans were particularly fond of the young and newborn, their delicate flesh being reserved for the upper caste clerics that led them.”

The human was trembling, and his normally dark skin was pale and glistening with a sheen of sweat. Hreth’nir had stopped speaking, and the human looked at the suit sensor lenses with eyes full of fury.

“Tell me.” He whispered.

Hreth’nir felt anguish, not wanting to speak of the evil anymore. It felt impure even thinking about what the hateful creatures perpetrated. Hreth’nir silently prayed. Creator, please give me the strength to continue; they need to know what is coming.

“They also gratified themselves. They would force their victims to run in forests so that they could hunt them down for sport. The sex of their victims did not matter, nor did the age.

The hunt and the satiation of their lust were all they cared about. Once caught, their victims endured unspeakable violations as dozens of Balrikans gratified themselves until their victims died. Afterwards, they would roast the bodies over an open flame and eat them.”

The human shot up out of the chair with a ferocious snarl, startling Hreth’nir with the sudden violence of the movement and causing the suit to step back a few paces before it regained control.

The human was shaking, and his chest heaved as he took large, shuddering gasps. He opened and closed his hands as if looking for something to tear apart.

His eyes fell upon the suit, and Hreth’nir felt sudden fear as it saw the feral madness within them.

I told him too much; he is going to attack. Hreth’nir thought to itself in panic as it readied the nonlethal weapons systems to stun the human if needed.

It moved the suit back a few more paces and crouched, ready to defend itself.

Even though the suit was armored, Hreth’nir was still fearful of the rage emanating from the human as he paced like a deadly predator.

For many minutes, Hreth’nir waited to defend itself as the human slowly regained his composure and the madness left his eyes.

Finally, the human’s breathing returned to almost normal, and the fury that possessed his facial features disappeared. The human finally looked at the suit again, trembling from the side effects of the adrenaline surge he underwent.

He began to speak quietly in a shaking voice. Hreth’nir was forced to increase the receiver's sensitivity to hear what he was saying, still maintaining a safe distance from the human child.

“Honored elder, please forgive my reaction. I apologize for losing control of myself, and I understand if you want to end this session.”

As he finished speaking, the human looked down at the black granite tiles of the floor. Hreth’nir saw the look of shame taking over his features before turning his gaze to the floor.

The wild animal was gone, and the human had returned.

Hreth’nir responded, still wary. “Son of the Magnati, I understand your reaction. I am willing to forget what just transpired if you are.” After a few moments, the human nodded slowly, still looking at the floor. “Look at me, my human child.”

The human slowly looked up, and Hreth’nir looked into his eyes, seeing that they were red-rimmed and filled with regret.

“I will continue if you are willing. Please sit back down. If you are not, then depart in peace and let me know when you are willing to resume; I will be here waiting.”

The human slowly sat back down in the armchair and reached towards the table. He picked up a glass of water and drank it slowly, the glass slightly trembling.

After emptying the glass, he gently put it back on the table and clasped his hands together, placing them on the top of his legs. He looked at the suit sensor lenses and waited for Hreth’nir to resume.

“Faced with the evidence of the atrocities being committed by the Balrikans against their subjugated victims, a large majority of the Federation populace reacted with rage and demanded action.

When it was discovered that certain groups within the Federation Senate tried to suppress the evidence, dozens of worlds demanded the removal and prosecution of the senators, threatening to withdraw their membership from the Galactic Federation.

Threatened with widespread revolt, the government arrested the small cabal of senators and imprisoned them with life sentences. Some senators fled persecution, thinking they could hide and avoid prison.

The fools did not realize the error they had made until it was too late, and they were being dragged out of their hiding places by mobs of enraged citizens. Their pleas for mercy were ignored as the vigilante groups tore them to pieces.

Fleet Command, facing possible rebellion within their own ranks, started making plans to drive the Balrikans out of our arm once more and began to gather the fleet for action."

Hreth’nir paused as new screens appeared, highlighting several of them before continuing.

“As I said before, the Federation did not have an issue with building the ships required for victory. What had always been a limiting factor in our military might was properly manning our ships with citizens that were willing to discard their pacifist tendencies and fight.

An unexpected result of the exposure of the Balrikan atrocities was a Federation-wide increase in volunteers, even from among the most pacifist societies of the Federation.

Tens of millions swarmed the recruitment centers, bases, and government offices to volunteer for service in the days after, overwhelming the staff. The interstellar linksystem military and governmental portals shut down suddenly for the first time in over a thousand years.

At first, the government thought it was sabotage until the investigation revealed that it was caused by tens of billions of search queries on how to join the military.”

Pointing at the holograms, Hreth’nir isolated two of them.

“For the first time, we had too many citizens willing to join and fight. When the government put them on waitlists for processing, they took matters into their own hands.

Citizen militias sprang up all over the Federation almost immediately. Billions donated credits, and the citizen militias used these funds to retrofit tens of thousands of civilian ships for war.”

As the screens showed thousands of small civilian ships and transports being converted, the human raised his hand. “So, these civilian ships became technicals? How was the government able to retrofit them without affecting military production?”

The suit AI translated the term after searching the Republic databases, and Hreth’nir now understood what the word technical meant in the context that the human had said it.

“Yes, my human child. They became... technicals. An apt term. As far as your question about military production is concerned, industrialists all around the Federation converted their civilian shipyards and oversaw the retrofits with the donated funds for a fraction of their usual price.

They were careful not to be accused of war profiteering, and they willingly absorbed the losses they incurred. They did not wish to be hunted down and receive the same vigilante justice the senators underwent recently.

Not to be outdone, weapons manufacturers contributed by providing outdated weapons systems and munitions stocks at cost, though I am certain they secretly appreciated not having to spend credits to store and maintain them anymore.”

“What about the crews?” The human asked as he zoomed in a screen and inspected a converted transport ship that was now bristling with weaponry and covered in armored plating.

“Retired veterans, some of them out of military service for decades, volunteered to return to duty. They offered to man the ships and train the militia volunteers to a basic level of proficiency.

According to the historians of that time, it seemed as if the populace was so horrified by what they had seen that an organic desire to launch a righteous crusade gripped the entire Federation.

All the different societies of the Federation finally became unified for the first time under a single purpose, which was to liberate the subjugated and eliminate the evil Balrikans once and for all.”

The human’s face began showing the first glimmer of hope since Hreth’nir had started telling the story, and regret filled its heart at having to crush the human’s expectations when it came time to tell him of the plague.

“These militias would not be able to attack the Balrikans, as the converted civilian ships did not have the proper training, armor, or weaponry. More importantly, they did not have the speed or range of the military-grade null drives.

They could, however, protect Federation space and free up most of the newly built war fleet for combat operations without leaving the Federation wide open for invasion.

After three months of retrofitting, the militia fleets now numbered almost one hundred thousand ships, and the training and weaponry added to them was deemed sufficient for the task of defending Federation space until the main fleet could return if need be.

The entire Federation fleet was assembled, save for one thousand older warships that were to remain behind to form the core defense fleet and lead the militias if the Balrikans invaded.”

Raising his hand again, the human asked another question. “How many ships were launched, honored elder?”

“Just over 36,000 warships, my human child.” Hreth’nir answered. “The regional powers all contributed to the Liberation Fleet, as it came to be called, and brought the total fleet number to over 52,000 ships.”

The human whistled, surprising Hreth’nir with the curious action and noise. “Wow. I can’t imagine seeing that; it must have been an amazing sight.”

Hreth’nir responded to the statement. “Indeed, my human child. I need to stop here, unfortunately. I have a meeting with the ruling council to discuss the state of the Ominian efforts to return to a self-sufficient agrarian society.

You may remain here if you wish or return in two of your solar hours.”

“I will remain here and wait, honored elder. This chair is comfortable, and I am impatient to hear more. If I stay here, the time will pass faster for me in my mind.”

“As you wish. I will depart and return.” Hreth’nir stated before turning the suit and walking towards the exit.

Before exiting, it looked out the rear sensor lenses and smiled to itself as it saw the human activate the manual lever and extend the chair before closing his eyes as he laid his head back.

Seeing that all was well, Hreth’nir left its quarters and headed towards the conference room.