The Aligned Systems was founded at the start of the year 0 P.I. The founders of the Aligned Systems envisioned peaceful cooperation between species.
On the thousand-year anniversary, we take a look at some of the greatest oddities of this Alliance.
Number one: there was, and still is, no contract between Humans and Shraphen regulating citizenship, trade, or joint military service. And still, those two species have the fewest documented frictions of any member species.
Number two: the Psstips were integral in the formation of the Aligned Systems, but did not sign the founding papers. They waited for ten Earth minutes to ensure sufficient time had passed, avoiding an internal crisis. The Emperor of the Nekoorian Republic cannot form an Alliance without leading it, since this would make him look weak. But he can join one if the benefits are strong enough.
Number three…
— Excerpt from On the Founding of the Aligned Systems, 1000 P.I.
The five Infector ships were on course to Margresh 3, as it was known in the Republic. The planet was inhabited by the Flirr, a mammalian aquatic species with no love for the Psstips.
Lord Lanceer Macavity wanted to concentrate on the advancing enemy ships, but Lanceer Tomiu's voice still rang out annoyingly through the communication terminal.
"Our House lost fifteen ships trying to stop these abominations. Why are we defending a system that doesn't belong to the Republic? House Tomiu will sue for reparations from you personally, Lord Lanceer. The loss was avoidable."
Macavity was at the end of his already thin patience with the screeching fool. Standing on his bridge in his ridiculous parade uniform, the Lanceer of House Tomiu's fleet looked more like a bouquet of flowers than a soldier, dressed in medals earned by his ancestors.
"Your House lost the ships because you didn't retreat as planned, blocking our firing solution and pinning your own ships to enemy fire."
Even through the dark fur of the Lanceer's face, Macavity could see the skin reddening.
"House Tomiu does not retreat."
"That is why House Tomiu lost fifteen ships. So either you follow my battle plan, or you and your useless ships can retreat home to the Emperor and explain to him why you have been sent away from battle. Losing you would be a win for the Republic's fleet."
Macavity had not initially liked the broad defense plan from Lord Lanceer Sanders — no, Admiral Sanders — but after the Human explained her reasons, he could see the wisdom in it.
And even if he hadn't, Ambassador Mekari's orders to follow the Humans' lead were unambiguous.
He was Lord Lanceer of House Mekari's fleets. His House was small and had served House Mekari for centuries. House Mekari understood what had gone wrong in the Republic, and what needed to be done to save it, as did his own.
Admiral Sanders' fleet was only hours away, but her plan was already in motion.
The plan was simple in framing, but almost impossible in execution. Prevent the Infectors from infecting more planets.
Each time an Infector landed on a habitable planet, all life was eradicated and transformed into more Infectors.
Holding territory against that kind of reinforcement was suicide. That was why the fleets now tried something purely human.
Offensive defense.
A concept no Psstips had ever envisioned.
Lord Lanceer Macavity studied the five Infectors on the main screen. Around him he could hear the crew snicker and whisper about his insults against the fool Lord Tomiu.
He didn't care. The crew was loyal to him and Mekari. And it was an extremely capable crew. The best of the Republic.
The enemy ships looked like creatures dredged from a dead sea. Long tentacles protruded from the body. They fired a powerful particle beam from a "mouth" between the tentacles. Capable of cutting a ship into parts in seconds
Their biological shields were strong. Amazingly strong.
But not invincible. The two dead husks in the outer system were proof of it.
And all it had taken were two hundred and thirty of his ships.
At this exchange rate, the Republic would be out of ships in a matter of weeks.
Macavity knew he should feel something. Hate. Revulsion. Maybe fear. And he had felt all of it, but that was gone now.
System by system, retreating from the outer colonies, he had left something of himself behind.
With each retreat, another planet burned in the end. Another Infector grew.
Until nothing was left.
The five ships on the screen were more than five enemies. They were five planets, five civilizations gone. Eradicated by the ghosts the Batract had called for. The ghosts the Batract were now running from.
And he had to clean up their mess.
"Lord Lanceer, message from Admiral Sanders. The Humans have pushed their engines and will arrive soon."
The communications officer, a female dressed in her House's colors of red and white, called out.
"Good. Anything else?"
"Yes, she said… duck ?"
Before Macavity could react, light blinded him. A feeling of a massive shift in space overcame him, as if his ship were entering transit.
Even the taste of copper in his eyes was the same. No doctor could ever explain the confusing sensation of entering and leaving transit.
Then the ordered chaos on his bridge turned into pure chaos.
"Collision warning, starboard, 500 meters."
"Collision warning, port, 200 meters."
"Message incoming. Reads: Don't change heading. "
The tactical holographic overview flickered in a fast sequence, then stabilized.
Around the ships of his personal guard were new dots. Hundreds of them. And still more were appearing at the back of the formation.
He could feel their transit shocks as the color blue he felt in his tail.
The Ambassador had warned me. Humans can transit extremely precisely. That wasn't precise. They almost landed in my hangar.
Then he saw them. From the top and the bottom of the screen, the elongated ships overtook his formation.
He still couldn’t make out details, as his vision was still blurry from the transit shock.
The Ambassador had been right. They looked primitive but dangerous. Like a sword cutting into the enemy.
"Lord Lanceer, Admiral Sanders is calling you."
The comms officer seemed as confused as the rest of the bridge crew. Half of them were still shaky on their feet.
The Humans managed to take out my crew by simply arriving. Let's hope they're as efficient in fighting.
Before he could answer, he felt the sensation of transit again, but much weaker this time.
Sanders' whole fleet had fired on the five Infectors with their impressive main guns.
Space rippled around the Infector ships, and he could see one losing liquid.
They had just injured an Infector ship with one volley. He had his answer.
"Put Sanders through."
On the main screen, Admiral Sanders appeared. At first glance, the Human female could have been mistaken for a female Psstips of the southern continent. Long blond hair, crystal blue eyes, and a predator's look.
That woman was beautiful and dangerous.
And she was completely relaxed. She had just dropped her whole fleet out of transit into the middle of his Squadron, had fired on a mortal enemy, and the woman sat there as if she were enjoying her afternoon bath.
Lord Lanceer Macavity was sure this woman enjoyed battle.
Sanders smiled at him as she saw him appear on the screen.
"Lord Lanceer, so nice to finally see you. Sorry for the noise our transit made, but we wanted to surprise the Infectors."
Noise… The gold plating of the captain's couch had almost buckled from the space distortion.
"Nothing to be sorry for. Maybe next time you can transit directly onto my bridge, and we can share breakfast."
Sanders' smile grew wider.
"Maybe, Lord Lanceer. Point taken."
"Admiral, I have to confess, I'm surprised by your weapons' efficiency. Your initial reports spoke of equal problems breaking the Infectors' shields."
Had the Humans lied, or was this what they considered inefficient?
The Admiral shook her head and, with a quick gesture, moved her hair to one side.
"You're correct, Lord Lanceer, but thanks to you and Ambassador Mekari, who was gracious enough to share all your combat data, we were able to improve our weapons to be efficient against Infectors."
As if to prove her point, her fleet fired again, almost simultaneously.
Streaks of burning protomatter connected the ships' main guns to the biological abominations.
The already wounded Infector was ripped apart. The others, all larger, began to turn towards his and Sanders' position.
"Protomatter? You're firing protomatter?"
Even the idea of using such an exotic and unstable substance as ammunition would be preposterous to any Psstips engineer.
"It does its job. Doesn't it?"
Macavity sank back in his commander's couch as his bridge crew stared at the remains of the dead Infector.
The Human fleet had already separated and begun strafing runs on the remaining four vessels.
The Human might not know it, but her fleet had just destroyed generations of Psstips indoctrination. The simple idea that the Republic was superior to everyone else.
To his surprise, Sanders seemed to pick up on it.
"Lord Lanceer, without your fleets fighting the Infectors for months, we wouldn't have the data to adapt to them and defeat them. My crews and I thank you for your sacrifices. Without them, we would now die."
Beautiful, deadly, and smart. If she weren't an alien, he would begin to court this woman.
On the screen, Sanders turned, ordering something, and Macavity noticed for the first time that he had never heard her crew speak.
He focused his attention on one of the screens behind her, but he couldn't make out any details.
They cut out all background noise and blurred all screens in transmissions. Smart.
"Lord Lanceer, I've ordered my fleets to attack. We can sit back and enjoy the fireworks. My pioneers are ready to construct a beachhead for resupply and refit. How are the locals?"
Macavity had to process the Human's words. Beachhead? Pioneers?
The outside view showed him that the human fleets had split up, aiming for renewed strafing runs at the remaining larger enemies.
For the first time, he took a moment to look at the human ships more closely.
They glittered in grey, looking like long swords, thin and deadly, the hull filled with blocky turrets. But they preferred to use their main guns.
From the look of it, the gun must extend through the whole ship, almost as if the Humans had built a gun, and then built the rest of the ship around it, just so they could move it.
"Lord Lanceer?" Sanders' voice ended his observation. He was tired, it seemed. Losing focus.
"The locals? Not friendly. They even fired at us when we arrived in system. Psstips and the Flirr, we have history…"
He wasn't proud of this part of the past. Emperor Cheshire II had expanded the Republic in this direction, and for a hundred years, the Flirr had been suppressed and exploited in their own home system.
"Wonderful. That seems to be the common thread between your people and everyone else out here."
"Yes, yes, it seems that way…" Macavity's ears lowered themselves. The Human woman's disappointment hurt him. Him and his pride.
————
Pain. For the first time, it felt pain.
Flames crossed the void unnaturally fast. And when they made contact with its shields, every neuron burned from the impact of the relativistic projectiles hidden behind the flames.
The newcomers were different.
Then, with the second volley, they killed one of its group.
It ordered the others to attack the newcomers.
To cut open their metal hulls, so it could taste the enemy.
It searched for memories of the new enemies.
Deep down, it found something. In the memories of the cursed and crippled ones.
Humans…
The newcomers were called Humans.
A deeper memory, a memory of the ones that were before. But it was a weak one. Nothing but a taste.
A warning? An order?
It didn't care. Another one of its group was killed under the unnatural fire.
It screamed at one of the grey ships and spit at it.
There… the ship broke apart.
Another one was broken by its partners.
It grabbed the burning husk with its tentacles and tasted it.
Dissolving the metals and the treats hidden inside.
Its second was hit hard.
The planet was so close, it could taste the life on it, but these Humans stood in the way.
It was the primary. Its deepest urges, its whole being screamed to dive for the planet, reform the planet. Feast on it…
But not today.
It had to retreat. To think. To plan with the others, because behind this planet was another, bigger threat. The home of the Psstips.
And beyond it, the crippled ones.
A true feast. A feast that would fill its hunger for ages.