Author's Preface
The founding myth of the Aligned Systems is that all founding species came together to create a better future for the smaller, newer races. To give the freed Batract vassals a place to call home, to be safe in the dark universe.
I want to show another reading. Something my research uncovered, and something backed by many internal communiqués of the various races.
The founding members were afraid of Humanity. They were afraid that a Humanity without a helping, guiding hand could become unstable — a dark force. Not because they didn't trust Humans, but because they liked, in some cases loved, Humanity.
They saw the endless potential our species holds. The potential to do endless good, or endless bad.
So they decided — some consciously, some not — to help us in our endeavor to do good, and to pull us back when we leaned too far into our more violent tendencies.
The timing was no accident. All of our allies had seen how violent, how gruesome Humans could truly become, in the way we dealt with—
— Excerpt from The Founding Myth , by Reighn-Koh Weng, 243 P.I.
Admiral Sanders opened her eyes and regretted the decision immediately. She was still in one of her dreams. Had to be. Otherwise, why would she see Sleipnirs parked on her ship's hangar deck, overgrown with moss? The whole deck looked more like a field of grass.
And why did her head hurt so badly?
Sleep. She needed sleep. That's it.
It's not moss or grass, it's lichen, Burrow lichen. You've been poisoned with CO2. The whole crew…
She opened her eyes again. The memory hit her like a gun breech gone loose.
"Fuuuck."
The headache had become even stronger.
"You can say that loud, but please don't."
Someone else was awake. The voice was male, but not someone she knew only by sound.
"Who are you? How are you?"
"Medic Kim-Turner. Who's asking?"
"Sanders. Admiral."
"Fuck!"
"Can you move?"
Sanders was sure she would die if she stood up. Her vision was still blurred, and she had pains in muscles she didn't know she had.
"I'd rather not, Sir. It seems we were poisoned by something. I was called here because multiple Marines lost consciousness."
"CO2. Someone manipulated the scrubbers."
Sanders tried to stand up, and fell over.
Fuck, you're weak…
Then she lost consciousness again.
*****
Soft and warm were the first things she registered. And an annoying beeping sound.
"Stay down, you overstressed your system, Admiral."
"Where…" Her mouth was dry. She had a mask on her face. She tried to remove it.
"Sir, leave the BiPAP on, it helps you breathe. You had a severe CO2 poisoning."
"Where!" Sanders forced the word out with more authority.
When she opened her eyes she saw a medic she had never seen before. Her surroundings were a medbay, but one she had never been in. More sleek. More modern. And Niobe was one of the newest ships.
"You're in the medbay of the ASN Gneisenau . We and the ASN Dunkerque were sent to investigate your situation. Captain Abfalter will talk to you shortly."
"Crew? Zeus?" She still felt weak, and so tired.
Where did the Gneisenau come from?
"I don't know about any Zeus, but most of your crew will be fine, as will you. But we weren't in time to save them all. I'm sorry."
Fuck…
"How many?"
Speaking was still hard for her; the damned breathing mask didn't help.
"Fifteen Humans dead, as well as ten Gliders. Plus two Shraphen pronounced brain-dead. We're still trying to figure out how to proceed with them according to Shraphen beliefs or customs."
I'll kill the bastard, and then I'll kill whoever hired him, and everyone involved. Twenty-seven dead…
The beeping of the ECG got faster.
"Rest, I'll give you something to sleep."
The moment Sanders wanted to protest, she felt a deep sleep come over her.
—————
A noise woke Karrn. He didn't open his eyes, but he could feel someone entering his bedroom. Continuing his breathing cycle, he sniffed the air.
Human, but no Human he knew. And weapons oil. An assassin?
The AIN had warned about possible threats, but here? In his home?
The person didn't move, probably unsure which of the bodies on the round bed was Karrn. Anger rolled over him. His wife and their four children slept together in the large bed. Karrn could live with danger to himself. But threats against his family?
He opened his eyes a bit to see the intruder. The gun wasn't AIN, neither was the gear. So it wasn't an Agent sent for help, but a killer.
As he was about to jump the intruder, he heard a deep and menacing growl from behind him. He opened his eyes only to see Mandy, their dog, jump out of the bed and bite the intruder in the hand.
Karrn followed her, and by sheer instinct, he went for the throat.
"Daddy?" Simak had woken up from the struggle.
Karrn bit through the assassin's throat.
"Rosha, grab the children and go into the shelter, quickly!"
Blood dripped from his snout. He hadn't bitten anything to death for ages, even on a hunt for prey animals, but it felt good.
"Kids, here, come quickly."
Rosha didn't ask, didn't argue, herding the children to the hidden door of the shelter.
Karrn had laughed when Jules Hunter from the AIN had told him his house had been equipped with a panic room. Now he was glad they did.
Grabbing the gun, Karrn looked back at the door closing. Only he and his wife knew the passcode. Maybe Hunter did too, but Karrn knew his family was safe, for now.
Gerber's family, on the other hand…
He checked the ammunition, ordinary steel-jacketed bullets. At least something.
From down the hallway, shots were fired. Someone shouted.
"Down, get down!"
Then he heard André's voice shouting something.
Throwing the gun aside, Karrn decided to go frontal again. Running on all fours, he spotted another shooter. He didn't pause to bite him. Earth dogs had no real distinct claws for slashing. Shraphen did.
The would-be assassin collapsed, bleeding from his throat, making gurgling sounds as he slowly died.
No one attacks my home and lives to tell the tale.
Karrn howled as he jumped the next attacker. The woman tried to shoot him, but Karrn had fought too many battles to be hit that easily. He jumped on her chest, toppling her backwards, and broke her neck with a quick grip. A Human was no match for a Shraphen in strength.
"Gerber? Are you all right?"
"Yeah, you?"
"The children and Rosha are in the shelter. Get your family there."
Five shots from below rang out. Then silence.
Karrn stared at André, who whispered to Sladjana where to go. The Human wore only his underpants, but was at least armed with his impressive handgun.
"I'm fine as well, thanks for asking."
Eleri walked up the stairwell, dragging a barely alive assassin behind her.
"Shot this one in the side, in case we have questions. Four more are downstairs, but they won't answer anyone ever again."
Karrn spat out the blood from his muzzle. The whole attack had barely lasted five minutes.
"Who are they?"
"Oligarchy?" Eleri looked at André. "But why attack here, why risk the diplomatic fallout?"
"Because the Aligned Worlds are bringing Shraphen in at every corner to secure the system."
"And I'm the person signing the requests…"
André's stance changed. He had relaxed the last few days, but Karrn could smell, feel the hate radiating now.
"I'm done playing nice, I'm going for the head now, you're with me."
His stare was sharp. Karrn had just killed three men, but he didn't dare to say no. Not that he wanted to.
André walked over to the injured man whimpering on the floor. Without hesitation he shot the man in a knee.
"Who sent you?"
The man screamed in pain. Karrn winced. He could kill almost without regret, but the man on the ground was helpless now.
André shot the man's other knee.
"Who sent you?"
"I don't know, I swear, you fucking asshole!"
Eleri kicked the man's head.
"You try to kill me and my family, but I'm the asshole?"
"The fucking dogs, we're here to kill the fucking dogs, not you."
Karrn's ears rose straight up. Hearing he was the target made him want to rip somebody apart again.
André aimed at the elbow of the man.
"You won't walk, but you can still write, for now… Who sent you?"
"Man, I told y'all, I don't know. We got a mail with the orders and a timetable. And a payment, that's all."
André aimed at the head.
"Then you're useless."
"Wait, wait, wait. We got more targets, now call an ambulance, I'll tell you everything."
André made a show of reloading his gun.
"Speak."
Tears ran down the man's face.
"Triumvir Senator Dela Cruz, Triumvir Dr. Tendai and Jules Hunter."
Eleri laughed.
"You fuckers who botched a simple hit on an ambassador think you can take out two of the three Triumvirs and the head of the AIN?"
The man on the ground spat out blood.
"Different team."
"What teams?" Eleri pressed her foot on the man's wound.
Instead of answering, the man simply passed out.
Karrn didn't know what to feel about the torture. The whole scene reminded him that Humans had a much greater affection for violence than Shraphen did. From the first days of hunting, a Shraphen learned not to make his prey suffer.
He was reminded of their first encounter, and how he had first thought of them. He hated that he saw those monsters now in his old friend.
"André, is torture really the right way to gather intelligence? If that is how you intend to fight this fight, you are not the man I thought you were."
André looked back at Karrn, no emotion, no flicker of regret visible.
"You killed three attackers with bare hands, and by the blood around your mouth, I guess one of them was bitten to death. Your fur is dripping with Human blood, and you try to lecture me?"
Karrn took a step back. If André had shouted those words, it would have shown some emotion. But the cruel, cold way the Human had uttered them… Karrn was now sure. If a good man, a friendly and caring man, could torture without emotion, Humanity's potential for cruelty was something to fear, something that needed containment.
"I killed three attackers, true. And I would do so again. But I did what needed to be done to save my family, my friends, and myself. This man—" Karrn pointed at the unconscious man, who had soiled himself, as Karrn noticed with embarrassment. "—This man was no threat anymore."
Eleri stepped in between André and Karrn.
"Guys, we're all full of adrenaline, don't fight. Okay. I'll call security and emergency services, and you two should check on your families." With a glance at Karrn's fur, she added, "And maybe take a shower."
—————
"—we're switching now, live, to our correspondent Mark Signus aboard the ASN Carpathia, which has just arrived at Titan."
"Hello, Shirley. I'm on the hangar deck of the Carpathia, and you can see Titan behind me. The Navy is frantically evacuating survivors of the blowout. We still don't know if it was sabotage or—"
"Morons, it was sabotage. What else."
Admiral Browner wanted to throw a glass at the screen, but he wasn't in his own office.
"The investigation is ongoing, we don't know for sure, but given the events on Earth—" Admiral Georgiou was interrupted by the doorchime ringing.
"Enter!"
Browner was sure that whoever was arriving at this hour, it was bad news.
"Admirals."
Browner looked up. As the head of Solar Defense, he knew the man, even though he had never met him in person. Jules Hunter, head of the AIN.
"Jules, it's 4 a.m. local, what are you doing here?"
Hunter looked tired. Black rings under his eyes and freshly carved wrinkles on his forehead. Even his suit looked as if the man had slept in it a few times.
No, Browner corrected himself. Hunter needed hours of sleep to be only tired — that man was drained.
"There have been more attacks, Sir. Ambassador Karrn was attacked at his compound. Luckily he, Major Gerber and Lieutenant Davies were able to repel the attackers. Two other attacks were made against Senator Dela Cruz and Dr. Tendai."
"How are they?"
Given the dimensions of the attacks, Browner had the feeling Georgiou was surprisingly calm.
Jules seemed to shrink even more.
"Dr. Tendai died on his way to the hospital. Senator Dela Cruz is badly injured but stable."
Georgiou sat down, shaking his head.
"How could this happen?"
Browner remembered something. In a meeting with Gerber, when they talked about the re-emerging Oligarchy behind the failed coup a year ago—
"Browner, everything leads to one or more Triumvir pulling all the strings, I tell you. That was their plan: take out the government and rule as Triumvir."
He had ignored it as paranoid nonsense. But if those attacks were done by the Oligarchs, and a Triumvir was behind it all…
He didn't dare follow the logical chain.