Book 2: Chapter 46: Settlement

Book 2: Chapter 46: Settlement

USD: A few days later

Location: Nu Crateris, Dedia IV Orbit, Tears of Fire, CIC

The situation remained tense, to say the least.

The Brigadier had called back his bombers in response to her ultimatum quickly, but he was quite angry at the threats she had made.

She was quite angry at his failure to clear the action with her.

There had been some voices raised. She was afraid she had cursed at him a bit too vividly.New novel chapters are published on

The Governor had intervened. It was not a good idea to piss off someone who had WMDs on speed dial. The colony was poorly protected from threats in orbit. She wouldnt have been surprised if even the IHMC and Thraker were capable of taking over with his older, less capable ship.

Planets were fragile things, and there was little defense in place on the frontier compared to what she had read about the core worlds.

The blame had fallen on the local militia commander, Lieutenant Colonel Wesley, who had claimed that Eliss unit had been taken out in the scouting mission and requested immediate support from a higher command. Then, seeing a critical threat of another hive near Tifara, Brigadier Taverson had acted immediately to destroy it.

Alex wasnt sure how much she accepted that. Elis had mentioned that Wesley hadnt been happy with her, but sending her on the seemingly very dangerous mission seemed like poor judgement. The Governor had sacked him from command.

At the very least, she had wanted Taverson punished as well, but a reprimand for not consulting with her had been his only punishment. She didnt really have any choice but to accept that unless she wanted to use violence. She could have, in a fit of anger, if they had not immediately backed off, but it wouldnt have been a great idea unless absolutely necessary.

The Frontier wasnt that large. Doing something like that carried the danger of being hunted down, and traveling to other less inhabited regions where you might not be considered a pirate required going through more populated systems, some of which even had active fortresses guarding the jump points.

None of which had mattered when they had launched bombers to blow up the nest without even confirming Eliss status.

Alex had a few things that were truly important to her, and Elis was high on that list.

Probably even higher than kebabs. Probably.

She had moved the Tears to a new orbit away from the elevator and above the Hives nest. From there, she could use a high-powered comm beam to punch through the ashen sky to establish a secure comm channel.

Nameless had insisted that the Rexxor Queen was trying to communicate via some sort of quasi-high band signal. Translation had not been accomplished, however, and the colonists, even the Governor, insisted that the aliens be destroyed.

Captain-Major Thrakers words about the Octanis accords were foremost in her mind, and explained that deadly desire, but she would not be party to some genocide.

When she had read the stipulations of the treaty, the reason for their position became clear.

It stipulated the complete removal of the colonists, enforced by all signatories against whatever violator had attempted to colonize the indigenous peoples world.

It didnt prohibit cohabitation per se, but it required a consent by the worlds population, apparently in accordance with the same ratifications that had occurred in the Draconis sector between the Drakarians and the human colonists there.

Unfortunately, it seemed like the Colonists had just blown up the biggest polity, or whatever the Rexxor had. With her help.

Underlining the issue was that the Rexxor had ceased their attacks other than the natural ones that had occurred previously which had been ascribed to their predatory nature as local fauna but now the colonists outlined them as outright attacks that demanded retribution.

A chime in her ear indicated it was time for the meeting to start. Alex was not enthused, and she had rejected any more attempts to get her to appear in person, so she attended via video conference.

Well, it was time to hammer them. The only person who knew her plan was the Captain-Major who had, while not endorsing it, confirmed that it might be effective. At least she had someone on her side other than Elis maybe.

Accessing the comms, the CICs main screen lit up with a square video feed of each member of the meetings face. The Brigadiers were there, the Governor, Captain-Major Thraker, and several civilians that she did not recognize.

Thank for you joining us, Captain Alex. Now that we are all present, I will convene this meeting. Governor Tyler announced.

The first order of business is the classification of the Rexxor and the need to ter

Alex didnt have the patience to not interrupt, talking over top of him and turning her volume obnoxiously loud until he shut up.

Before we get into that, I would like to inform you of several facts pertaining to recent events. First, my crew and our analysis has confirmed with no reasonable doubt that the Rexxor are controlled by sapient leaders. While we could not establish communication, a very basic litmus test was conducted by Master-Sergeant Elis Myers at the Tifara nest, and the queen there passed it easily. I have translators working around the clock now in order to establish a dialogue with her.

Alex paused and took in all the glares and angry looks at her. Yes, this was not what they had been planning, and she felt a cold sort of satisfaction that she had thrown a spanner in their gears.

One of the scientist-looking civilians started to challenge her, but Alex raised her hand and continued.

As the Rexxor population predates the Dedia Prime colony by centuries at the very least, we can confirm that the Solarian occupation of Dedia IV is in violation of the Octanis Concordat. As such, yesterday I dispatched several missives to the Interstellar Forum of Ruling Bodies, detailing events that have occurred as well as our findings. A copy of all missives has also been individually dispatched to the capitals of Drakar, The Holy Ertan Republic, The Sol Imperium, The Corporate Systems, and the Solarian Federation, and all their nearest embassies.

Alex smiled, That packet boat crossed the system jump point four hours ago.

The faces of all the colonists paled in growing alarm.

My ships support contract ended today; I do not intend to renew it. I plan to leave an operational base at the site of the Tifara nest to continue to conduct research and attempt to establish relations with the hive queen there. The earlier negotiations about purchasing the islands north of the colony are shelved.

The resources on the islands would have been of marginal use without access to the space elevator to lift cargo to orbit, and she didnt think the colonists would be very cooperative or friendly to her or Starlight Revolution after this meeting.

What have you done? Brigadier Desersa whispered into the silence.

What you should have done when it became clear that the Rexxor were an intelligent, indigenous species? I find it very hard to believe that no one knew of this before. The attempts to discredit the idea I encountered were all much too convenient.

A scowl erupted on Taversons face. Are you accusing us of purposefully concealing sapient alien life on the planet? Who do you think you are, Captain?

The only conclusion I can come up with is your administration has been keeping it under wraps or you and your predecessors have been completely incompetent. The latter is not impossible from what Ive seen.

Did you get him repaired?

Mostly. He needs a new side mount.

Ill be down with the second load; Ill see you in a bit! Alex stood up.

She was already dressed in a weird combination of naval uniform and her favorite hoodie she had bought on Ackman Station.

Alex crossed from the CIC to the cargo hold and then through the new structural ramp to the loading gantry on the outer hull. It was a strange type of disorientation when she walked down the curved floor that aligned her with the planets natural gravity.

Thats fucky.

[Notice: This is the most effective transition from ship A-Grav to planetary gravity. Excess resources were not available to enclose the space.]

Yeah, ok. Its just a little weird, not actually a problem.

Alex winced as the ground pulled at her. Dedia only had .83 Earth Grav, and yet it was nearly twice as much as she was used to on the ship. Just standing felt like it took an effort, and she could feel her body warming up in response as her nanites worked overtime, adjusting her body to the new stimulus.

The gravity would not hinder her, it just felt tiring. Was this why Elis had always bothered to turn up the gravity plates to maximum when she was training alone? Alex wasnt quite enthused at the notion but made a note that she should probably ask about the effectiveness.

The elevator groaned as Alex and the cargo descended. A warm breeze blew into the open elevator as soon as it passed outside the ships hull, and a layer of ash and dust stung her eyes and lungs.

She had forgotten to pull up her scarf. Elis had warned her shed need some protection, but this was something else! She should have brought her skinsuit and EVA helmet.

The loose cloth of her hoodie flapped in the intermittent gusts of wind, each time adding another layer of ash to the fabric. The smell and taste of something burned bit at her. Shed experienced the smell and grime of Ackman Station, but this was something wholly different.

She had helped cause this.

Nearing the ground, Alex spotted Booper with its floodlights illuminating the area with light that slowly tapered off into the falling ash.

The faint glow from the sky highlighted peaks from the mountain range in the distance, but the light from the sun was feeble under the black clouds above. Alex felt a bit of awe at the sight. Being on the ground felt incredibly different from being in space. Like she was standing on a giant asteroid, but it was so big it stretched underneath her feet in every direction and never ended.

A jolt shook Alex and she had to put a hand on the railing to steady herself as the elevator came to a stop. A newly developed, tracked drone meant for ferrying heavy loads on the surface rolled off the platform with a large container that contained the nanite computronics module, while smaller drones came and assisted with carrying smaller parcels.

Eliss power-armored form waved to her.

Hurrying over, Alexs first instinct was to give her a massive hug, but it faltered in the ash-covered environment, plus the bulky power armor somewhat nullified the effect.

Alex spoke first, Its horrible out here. Is it better inside?

Its a different type of horrible. Im surprised you didnt wear a MK4A or your EVA skinsuit.

I uh, yeah, that would have been a good idea. Are you going to take me down to meet her? What about that breakthrough you talked about?

USD: A short time later

Location: Nu Crateris System, Dedia IV, Near Tifara, Szizsielias Hive

Szizsielia had watched the soft-skin and her metal puppets make their small cuttings on the peripheral of the hive. A few had even dug deeper, finding different types of rocks and collecting them. The hive had little need for such things, but the sudden intrusion of others in her home felt alien.

She would never have permitted one of her sisters workers access to her tunnels, not without fighting tooth and claw.

Szizsielia had concluded that the hard-shelled soft-skin was not in fact a queen, although she did sense that it was female, which was confusing. The thought tendrils only existed for short periods of time, although when it visited the birth chamber, it often sang in the strange clipped on and off tones.

None of the soft-skin things caused any harm to the nest or her children, and Szizsielia found herself having to manage her childrens instincts to rend and tear at them. The concept of neutral or friend did not exist for them. The metal creatures that communicated with the thought waves were not-hive, not-enemy, not-food.

It bothered her as well, but not-fighting and not-competing were better than starfire coming from the heavens.

When the metal sky-carapace fell from the sky, Szizsielia had felt a moment of panic. Did it come to destroy her hive like her mother's?

When it settled on the flat ground that had been cleared on the surface, she felt relief. It divulged more metal worker spawn and things she did not understand, but there was no star-poison.

Szizsielia watched through her childrens eyes as the hard-shelled soft-skin lead another soft-skin into the hive toward the nesting chamber.

But what riveted her attention was the blazingly loud thought-tendril that stretched between the metal sky-carapace and the new soft-skin.

She had the revelation that the metal sky-carapace was a spawn. More amazingly, the thought tendrils went both ways. It spoke back. The metal sky ships were alive with their own thought minds.

Szizsielia felt incredible anticipation for the new soft-skins arrival.

She was not disappointed. As the soft-skin entered the birthing chamber, Szizsielias thought-sight could see in much more detail. The soft-skin absolutely glowed in thought tendrils, so small that she could not even make all of them out individually.

The soft-skin absolutely sparkled to Szizsielias sight. She was certain that this, this was a soft-skin queen. She resembled the sky-gods, but not quiteshe was much too small. Too limited. Why would a sky-god give Szizsielia any attention? Their will and songs were writ across the cosmos.

Willing herself to composure, Szizsielia emerged from her birthing chamber like she had done for each of the hard-shelled soft-skins visits. She reached out with her thought tendrils, gently probing at her new visitor, trying to greet her. The foreign feeling clicks of on and off-ness remained a mystery.

Szizsielias optical vision was quite poor, but she could see the soft-skins facial movements, although they conveyed little meaning. Clittering forward carefully, she extended a feeler toward the soft-skin. It copied the gesture, and Szizsielia inhaled as she could feel all the tiny thought-tendrils in minute detail.

The soft-skin queen lowered her appendage, then the hard-shelled soft-skin approached with the game-stone. It was difficult for Szizsielia to see, so she summoned one of her eye-spawns to come examine for her. It was the same as before, with alternating-colored squares on the large stone. Familiar small circles of red and black were also brought forth from a pouch.

Szizsielia found the game too easy, but she felt a mounting excitement as the soft-skin queen perched herself on a stone seat and placed the stones and made the first move. Even if they could not yet communicate, Szizsielia felt confident they could at least converse with the simple game.