The Infectors' abilities were severely underestimated in the Batract annihilation war. This underestimation was rooted in a pureley electronic and computer technology focused thinking of most species at the time.
It is notable that the Humans were one of the few species that adapted quickly to the new reality. Even before the war, Humans already showed their tendency to use biologically based technology. Xenobots are only the most prominent example.
We have to observe this concerning tendency in Humans closely and be prepared to put an end to it at a moment's notice if we don't want to risk another Infector plague, this time created by Human hands.
— Memo about Human biotechnology, Federation Senate, 40 P.I.
Central Gultra extended his self into the Synod.
As always, he felt the others in this formless space that only existed inside the minds of the connected Flirr.
"The first meeting with the gas-gaspers was shell-less, as expected. The Humans are like the Psstips, ignoring our supremacy and expecting us to swim on our backs for them."
Daran, a conservative Central of the Synod, made his dissent felt.
"Central Gultra, everyone here knows about your supremacist feelings. Spare us. The Synod supports your way, for now. I feel we should hear out the Humans, and I feel the Synod is making a grave mistake not heeding the Humans' warnings about the Infectors."
Gultra had no reservations sending his disdain into the central concens that was the Synod.
"They are called the True Ones, and they never fired on us. They are like us, aquatic. They are biologically superior, like us. They promised to elevate us, so we can swim the stars without cold metals. Metal brought by the Psstips."
Another voice, Neean, the oldest member of the Synod, made himself heard.
"Can the messages from our ambassadors be trusted? Will the True Ones rid us of the gas-gaspers?"
Gultra relaxed. If Neean was on his side, he was still the leader, and the fact that Neean was old enough to remember the occupation made him a true fighter for Flirr supremacy.
"Yes, the ambassadors have made contact and report nothing but joy and wonder. The True Ones are on their way and send their thanks for the exact spatial coordinates."
Neean's self fluctuated, a sign of his age and coming death.
"Good. Then let us blind the gaspers until the True Ones arrive."
The meeting ended, and Gultra contracted back into his body.
In the waters of the aquarium, inside the cold metal vessel the Humans used.
He would lead the Swarm to greatness, and no one would block his stream. Not the fool Daran, and not the Humans.
—————
Everything was wrong. Gultra had to hide his rising panic. At first it seemed fine. The True Ones arrived as promised, but then Gultra felt it.
The ambassadors, their Chro. It was inside some of the True Ones.
Almost as if they were eaten, sending feelings of joy and contempt.
Then the True Ones fired on the planet.
The dying Flirr sent waves of pain and despair into the concens, until their Chro was destroyed.
"Central, the True Ones..."
Gultra slapped the outer one who disturbed his focus.
He had to know what had happened, the Human Sanders' words in his mind.
Did I condemn my people?
He had to know.
He focused on his surroundings. He retreated his Chro, the ability all Flirr were born with, to talk to every Flirr in the universe without time delay.
The Psstips had misused the Flirr as communication devices until they found a way to replicate it with metal.
Gultra knew for a fact that the Psstips had falsified even their secret documents to hide the shame of having stolen this ability.
With his Chro silent, he could extend his senses outside the metal.
Gas-gaspers are so limited. They only experience light and sound. We Flirr, we feel everything: gravity, protomatter flows, electromagnetic fields.
He extended his senses to feel the space around the planet.
Then he felt them...
The warm energies of the True Ones that had left the portal only twenty minutes ago. They rushed towards his home, spitting their particle streams in front of them, all while the Chro of the ambassadors sent out pulses of joy.
He focused on the ambassadors and recoiled in horror.
He saw them, dismembered, getting assimilated into the meat of the True Ones.
Their Chro replicated throughout the True Ones, while their sensory bundles were draped over the True Ones' hulls, augmenting them.
The True Ones never wanted to elevate us, they wanted to harvest us, and now they came to eradicate us.
You have condemned your people.
The Human Sanders' words echoed in his mind.
Twenty True Ones had emerged from the portal. Four focused their fire on his home. The rest engaged the Humans and the hated Psstips.
It was easy to differentiate the two.
Human ships glowed with raw power. Space and time ripped appart and bent in on itself when they fired their frightening guns.
The Psstips had a refined energy. Powerful, yes, but not hasty.
They were like the mellow algae eaters, massive, strong as a rock in the stream, but all in all harmless.
The Human ships were always moving, like a swarm. But unlike a swarm, they were predators.
Closing in on their target, before the True One could decide which to hit, they fired in absolute synchrony, ripping the True One — no, the Infector — apart .
He hadn't experienced the first battle, but now, he began to understand. The Humans weren't vassals of the Psstips. Such predators would never allow the corrupt Psstips to rule.
If anything, the Humans would feast on the body of the Psstips Republic, like any predator would.
A noise, high and penetrating, disrupted his focus.
Voices. Someone was outside the aquarium.
Then the translation.
"Central Gultra, we prepared a rescue transporter for you and your guards. The ship is FTL-capable, so we can bring you out of the system fast."
Gultra observed the Human. His senses told him he had never met this person. He noticed others in the room, all in armor, thin pulses of energy flickering.
Armor to enhance their senses and agility.
Poor gas-gaspers, you will never feel what I feel.
"No, we stay. If Water is destroyed, there's no reason for me to live."
The Human moved from side to side, then asked, "Water?"
How stupid are they?
"My home planet, the planet you call Margresh 3. What do you call your home planet, Sol 3?"
"No, we call it Earth, sir."
What a stupid and unimaginative name.
The ship suddenly thundered. He extended his senses, only to be shocked that the Central of the Human fleet had joined her swarm, not in the center but leading it.
Then he noticed something frightening: the pieces of the Infectors were still glimmering, still full of life. The Infectors were destroyed but not beaten.
And the pieces all moved towards Water...
Infectors...
"Tell Central Sanders the pieces are still alive. They must not make water-fall."
The Human wasted no time, did not ask stupid questions, as gas-gaspers usually did. Like, how do you know?
Then the ship began to thunder again, this time a constant thrumming. With his senses, he witnessed Sanders’ whole swarm veering off towards Water, their secondary guns targeting the ripped-apart Infector pieces.
Glowing streams of metal infused with protomatter, searching and destroying the last remains of corrupting life.
Each piece evaporating under the constant stream of angry, false matter.
Never before had he felt that much protomatter, and never had he felt protomatter used as a weapon.
But the swarm had veered off before it took out its target, with a horrible outcome.
The Infector cut through four of the ships before another swarm lined up and killed it.
Their main guns scratched an ugly scar through space before they tore into the Infector's flesh. The combined power of twenty-five ships punched through its shields like they didn't exist.
Four ships added to the rising and rising mountain of death, caused by my hubris.
He searched for survivors, here and there a glimmer of energy, a spark of life.
"Human, there are still survivors on your dead ships. Save them!"
He was responsible for so many deaths already today. If he could save one, just one.
"Would if we could. Search and rescue in a battle is suicide if you don't know exactly where to look, and the Infectors flood the whole system with radio interference, so we can't locate our survivors."
He had noticed the annoying sound in space. Now he knew where it came from. He had to guide the Humans, but guiding meant leaving the aquarium.
And leaving meant suits...
He had seen the Psstips suits his ancestors had to use. How they had to fight deadly gravity with their limbs, just to crawl.
But if he could save just one, he could stomach the indignity.
The Humans hadn't flinched defending his home, so he wouldn't flinch either.
"Human, bring the suits your Central mentioned. We will guide you."
His outer one turned in shock.
"Central, you can't leave the ship. It's too dangerous."
He slapped the speaker and then addressed them.
"We're not safe here either, but I will swim into a blackwater vent before I show less honor than a Psstips. And they are currently fighting for us, as are the Humans."
The Humans outside the tank signaled his outer ones, and they left the room.
"Sanders will bite my head off if something happens to you, but, what the hell, you're a grown... Flirr, so it's your choice."
The Human's words made no sense. What did his age have to do with what Central Sanders ate? And he didn't believe the Central could open her mouth wide enough anyway.
The Humans' outer ones returned.
The suits they handled felt different from the Psstips ones, but Gultra was convinced this was just because of the different construction methods.
"Quick, Human, pull us out so we can enter the suits."
He had learned to read the abysmally vague body language of Humans, so he was sure the Human was confused.
"Sir, I just put them into the aquarium for you. No need to leave the water."
Well, that was different. Leaving water to enter suits was something horrible. The fact that Humans circumvented that was refreshing.
They are different.
The Human dropped the suits, and the moment Gultra slipped into one, he knew they were nothing like the Psstips slave suits.
He could move in it, swimming up to the surface. The suit didn't stop there; it continued to rise into the air.
He swam in air!
"They are neat, right? Antigravity field, modified from our drones. It should feel like swimming."
Neat? Gultra had never felt anything like this. He regretted that he had declined the suits earlier. He could have swum through the ship instead of being stuck inside the aquarium.
Then he remembered that this wasn't the worst decision he had made that day.
His outer ones positioned themselves around him. He could feel their joy and relief about the suits.
"As long as you're in air, the recycler system will oxygenate the water inside the suit forever. In space you have about nine hours of oxygen. But we haven't had time to add a waste-product filter system, so better to hold your... water. That is, if you pee?"
Gultra tried not to be offended by the Human's open discussion of biological waste. Gas-gaspers were different, but still, he had to stop his fur from changing color.
"Let us rescue your swarm members, Human."
"Pill, sir. Lieutenant Pill Wang-Rodgers, this way."
They were about to leave the conference room when Central Sanders suddenly opened the door.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Lieutenant?"
Central Sanders' energy was not the usual glimmer other Humans had. She glowed. A glow of rage, but also pure energy. This being could move a planet, if given enough time, or if the planet enraged her enough.
"Sir?"
Gultra felt the wave of shock coming from the Human, so intense was his sudden fear. It was the first time he could feel Human emotions as clearly as Flirr ones.
"I said, what are you doing? Zeus informed me you want to leave the ship with the Central for a search-and-rescue operation?"
"Central Sanders, do not consume your outer one here. I pressured Outer Pill Wang-Rodgers to search for your wounded. If someone is to blame, it is only me."
Sanders' whole energy changed to confusion. Gultra knew he had to save the Human's life.
Central Sanders was slightly less enraged now.
"The Infectors hide the energy of your survivors from you, but not from me. I can clearly see them."
Gultra noticed her glow change further, more confusion.
"Central Gultra, the battle is over. We secured your system for now. We would like to send ships and divers to your planet to make sure no Infector material survived entry. I assure you we don't intend to invade..."
"Send whoever you like. If the Infectors have truly been defeated, for now, I think we have an agreement to sign."
Gultra's body almost shook from relief. The Infectors were defeated.
Sanders' glow was now entirely confusion. The anger was gone. Gultra had saved a life. More relief.
"How... How many ships have you lost?"
Pain. The Human Central was now full of it.
"52 Human ships and almost half the Psstips armada. If the Infectors return, we're fucked."