Raylah

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Commander Jim Harlowe was once again aboard the Pathfinder, a fact he wasn’t really happy about. The command of the bigger warships has still eluded him, even after a significant number of military personnel decided to retire following the Grand General’s decree. Jim had no such intentions. Being in the army was his life, he couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Still, instead of a posting on one of the Battleships or even commanding his own Cruiser, he was assigned to yet another diplomatic mission. And it was not even his own one, which made matters way more complicated.

She was already waiting for him in the docks when the Pathfinder landed next to its sister ship Chimera. She didn't look happy. Damn. This was something he was trying to avoid, and the fact that it wasn't his idea wasn't going to help him at all. Well, he wanted to be in the big game, now he had to play it somehow.

He walked down the ramp, dropped his bag, and saluted, exactly by the book. The best damn salute of his life. Hopefully not the last one. “Guardian Blackwood, I report for duty, as per the orders of the Grand General.” Yes, it was Pawlowski’s idea to send me here, don’t take it out on me.

“Of course.” Her mouth smiled, but her eyes didn’t. “We’re happy to have you here.” Of course, they weren’t. She had a team of her own choosing here and he was an outsider she was forced to take in. It must have looked like he’s been sent over to spy on her, although his orders didn’t specify anything like that. Yet.

The layout of the Undefeated section of the Meeting place looked like most other bases back on Ellara, which made it easy to navigate. The Undefeated weren’t really the original and creative types. David Parker was already waiting for them in the meeting room and nodded at Jim in a not very polite or respectful way.

Jim tried not to get discouraged by that. “Commander Parker, congratulations on your promotion.”

“Thank you, Commander Harlowe.”

That smug asshole didn’t even try to look friendly. Jim was really angry, he had to work hard for all his promotions. And apparently, all this dumbass had to do was sleep with the right person. Not an easy task though, Jim had to admit. Kelsie Blackwood was no doubt hot, but she was also terrifying.

“Gentlemen!” Kelsie interrupted their angry staring contest. “There will be no dick measuring here under my command. We are supposed to work together, so we will work together. If you have a problem with that, keep it to yourself. We’re supposed to be all professionals here and we all represent our nation.”

Crap. As if Jim needed her pissed at him even more. “Sorry, ma’am,” he mumbled. Even David Parker had the decency to look ashamed and mutter an apology.

“Kelsie did you…” A young girl ran into the room and stopped upon noticing Jim there. “Ah, Commander, you are… already here. Umm, welcome to the Meeting Place.” She was obviously nervous and didn’t know how to act around him. That was no surprise, she was a Rejected and those usually did their best to be invisible around the soldiers, even after being granted full civil rights by recent reforms.

He turned to her and bowed his head in respect. “Miss Petrova, a pleasure to meet you.” If by the Grand General’s orders they should be treated as equals, he was going to treat them as equals. Jim personally didn’t really care one way or another. Fortunately, he has done his homework and read up on all the personnel currently stationed here.

“The pleasure is mine,” she replied, looking anything but pleased by him being there. “Kelsie, did you mute your datapad again?” Jim was really surprised by the familiarity she was showing around such a high-ranking officer as Blackwood, but apparently, that was common around here.

Kelsie fished the device out of her pocket. “What, any news on the White Flowers rebellion?”

“Nope. A new nation has appeared.”

“What?” Kelsie frowned at the small screen and so did Parker. Jim felt a bit stupid because he had nothing to look at, apparently his account wasn’t linked to the local subnet yet and he wasn’t receiving these kinds of messages. Fortunately, the Guardian was a fair woman and didn’t leave him there looking like an idiot, quickly forwarding the message to him instead. “Sorry Commander, we haven’t added you the proper rights in the system yet. We’ll fix that after we deal with this.”

Jim quickly skimmed through the message, ignoring the accompanying files for now. “Simian?” He rolled the unknown word on his tongue. At least he wasn’t the only one who looked confused by it.

“They’re monkeys,” Julianna explained with a serious face.

“Monkeys?” Parker asked with a dumb look but for once Jim wasn’t judging him because he felt the same way. “Weren’t monkeys some animals back on Earth?”

Julianna nodded and swiped over her datapad. Two images appeared on a large screen on the wall. “The left one is from our archives brought from Earth, the right one from the message. It’s called a chimpanzee. They were presumably the smartest animals, close relatives to humans, we even share a common ancestor. But while we kept evolving, they didn’t.”

Jim stared at the images, not really capable of any words. Kelsie interrupted the silence. “They came in a spaceship, I’d say they’ve done some evolving.”

“Natural evolution into this state would take considerably longer than 300 years. They must have been modified in some way.”

“So,” David chuckled, “this is basically just someone’s crazy science project? Perfect.”

Jim couldn’t stay quiet and let them make an idiot out of him any longer. “Okay, guys, umm Guardian, sorry, I mean no disrespect, but… is this some sort of a prank to make fun of the new guy that nobody really wants around?” He could imagine Parker coming up with something like that. Haha, let that guy talk to the made-up monkeys while we do the real diplomacy. Very funny.

“I like your thinking. Really out of the box.” Kelsie turned to him. She didn’t seem angry, which was good, but she also didn’t seem to be joking, which was less good. “But, Commander, I can assure you this is no joke. Welcome to the Meeting Place. We have humans of all sorts, aliens, murdering robots, and also apparently monkeys now.”

Dear god. They were actually serious about this. “So, uhh… How do you make diplomacy with monkeys?”

“Well the message came in several languages including English, so that shouldn’t be a problem,” Kelsie shrugged, looking unconcerned as if she negotiated with a spaceships full of animals every other day.

Parker kept closely examining the pictures. “Guys is it just me, or do these ‘monkeys’ look awfully a lot like…”

“The Screechers?” Julianna interrupted him. “They do. The Screechers are technically primates as well. Not related, obviously, but they share similar characteristics, including great physical strength and agility.”

Jim shivered from that thought, now he could see the similarities as well. “Except these guys aren’t using sticks and stones. They are building spaceships.”

“Yes.” Kelsie turned to him. “Which is why it’s a good thing we are not going to war with them. So, what do they like? Should we stock up on that pink golifruit?”

“Or bananas,” Parker laughed. “I bet monkeys love bananas.”

Julianna rolled her eyes. “You’re both idiots. This is serious.”

Jim had to force himself not to stare at her with mouth wide open. Did that little nobody just call one of the most powerful people in their country an idiot? But Kelsie evidently didn’t mind it at all. “Don’t worry, we are taking it seriously.”

“Watermelons?”

“Shut up, David. If they want to make a performance, we should probably direct them to the neutral section. They can land in the hangar there and everyone can come and take a look. I’m sure it’s going to be a sight to behold,” Kelsie added ironically. “Alright, so. ‘Greetings, representatives of the…’ What was it? Ah, Khanate. ‘We are the Undefeated, the descendants of one of the many human colonies that survived to this day.’”

Jim still thought this situation was beyond absurd, but he came here to do a job and he was going to do it well. “I’d leave out the ‘human’, it might seem offensive to them since they’re not.”

“Good point.” Kelsie nodded at him and continued. “‘The station you see in front of you is called the Meeting Place and it was constructed with joint efforts of all surviving nations. We would love to invite you to visit us in our section,’”

“Would we?” Parker didn’t seem so sure about it, and honestly, neither was Jim.

“Yes, we would. ‘but if you prefer to address all nations at once, we are sending the coordinates of the neutral docking place and common grounds at the center of the station, accessible to everyone. We are looking forward to meeting you and learning more about your interesting nation.’ Hmm, isn’t writing ‘interesting’ too much?”

Parker snorted. “They are monkeys coming to a station full of humans. I think they know they are ‘interesting’.”

“True.” Kelsie made a few more edits to the message. “Fine, let's send it like this before someone beats us to it again. And go put on something fancy, looks like we’re about to see some ‘monkey business’.”

“Hey, why are you allowed to make jokes?” Parker poked her shoulder.

Blackwood smirked at him. “Because a) I outrank you and b) mine are actually funny. Take your pick. And David? I swear that if you try to bring a fucking banana to that thing, I’m gonna kick you out of an airlock.”

“Yes ma’am,” he mockingly saluted her and he and the girl both left.

Jim could only envy how relaxed Parker and Julianna were around the Guardian, joking, even making fun of her. Jim’s position was way more complicated. Speaking of that… “Guardian Blackwood?” He stopped her from exiting the room. “I… may I speak honestly?”

Her eyes narrowed. “If you want to stay here, then that is the only way you should speak to me, Commander.”

Right, she was known to be straightforward. Jim was used to taking a more careful approach with other Guardians, compliments and flattering usually made the communication easier. But not with her. “Ma’am, I realize you didn’t want me here. But I am here and I just want to do my job, so…” Was he really going to say that? He took a deep breath. “I would really appreciate it if you gave me an actual chance. Ma’am.” There. He said it. He probably just screwed himself up monumentally.

But Kelsie laughed. “I knew you had a spine. Pawlowski owes me money.” What? Did she make a bet with the Grand General about him?

“Commander,” she walked closer to him, looking him straight in the eyes, “trust me. If I did not want you here, you would not be here. It’s that simple. Now go put on a fancy uniform. I have to go confiscate all the bananas in the immediate area.”

_@SgtEasy

“Greetings, representatives of the Khanate. We are the Undefeated, the descendants of one of the many colonies that survived to this day. The station you see in front of you is called the Meeting Place and it was constructed with joint efforts of all surviving nations. We would love to invite you to visit us in our section, but if you prefer to address all nations at once, we are sending the coordinates of the neutral docking place and common grounds at the center of the station, accessible to everyone. We are looking forward to meeting you and learning more about your interesting nation.”

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

_{The Meeting Place}

The mornings after a party were always hard. And damn, the Matuvistans surely knew how to throw one. Kelsie didn’t even think she drank that much and still, she felt like beaten up by a pack of Screechers, all complete with a spear piercing through her head. It wasn’t nearly as bad as her last hangover she drank herself to after the Undefeated lost a Battleship over Zeta-5, but it was still damn inconvenient.

She crawled into her office sipping some miraculous bubbly anti-hangover medicine that did nothing more than to irritate her stomach and sighed upon seeing a swarm of red flag notifications on her workstation. Of course, everything happens all at once while she is away. She swiped through the messages, astonished to see not one, but two new nations arriving.

The first ones, bearing a strange name The One, have already left the system and there was no way of contacting them now. It seemed that at least it was an ECU diplomat who managed to greet them first and establish contact. So, by proxy of being ECU’s allies, the Undefeated won that one as well.

Kelsie opened the message from the second arriving nation and a loud voice echoed through the room.

"Greetings fellow 'presumably' descendants of Earth! We’re from New Haven representing the New Haven Directorate! We come in peace with the intention of studying Earth and exploring new strange worlds!” Hmm, so far they sounded surprisingly normal. "To signify our intentions of peace, I shall sing you a song of my people!” Wait, what?

As the loud music blasted out of the speakers suddenly, Kelsie was torn between the desperate desire to cover her ears and the logical choice of finding the mute button, a stupidly tiny thing placed in a corner of a screen.

“WHAT IN THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” The ungodly roaring and screeching stopped, Kelsie managed to find and press the button. She looked up to see David standing by the door, with his ears covered and face twisted by tortured expression. “Seriously,” he continued when it was finally quiet, “are you trying to kill me?”

Kelsie had to laugh when she noticed he looked even worse than she did. Bad choice, since wiggling her stomach in that way made her nauseous and dizzy. “Sorry, that was a bit unexpected.”

“I hate you.” David could barely keep his eyes open and as he sat down he had to rest his forehead against the cold metal of the table. Kelsie seated herself in a comfy chair at her desk, trying to at least look normal, but her pale face and blank stare gave her away.

“Is that some kind of a new hangover shock treatment?” The young scientist Julianna Petrova was watching them from the doorway, trying very hard not to start laughing. “It seems to be producing very mixed results.” She looked fresh and rested, just like any other morning.

“I hate you as well.” David didn’t even bother to lift his head up. “I hate everything.”

Kelsie’s eyes narrowed when she realized something. “When did you even have time to drink? Weren’t you following me all night like an overgrown piece of walking muscle, all glum and frowny?”

“Exactly.” David looked at her, sounding a bit angry. “And it was so horribly boring that I kept drinking the bubbly thing in those tall fancy glasses. I mean one of those girls basically stalked me and every time I finished one glass she was standing there with another. It seemed rude and very undiplomatic to refuse.”

“Undiplomatic? Is that even a word?” Kelsie chuckled and groaned when her stomach protested again.

Julianna’s eyebrows went up so high they could barely see them. “Incredible. You two are supposed to be the elite of our society. We’re doomed.”

“Ugh, look at her all cocky and smart,” Kelsie burped slightly which might have made her look like an unmannered pig, but it actually made her feel better. “I mean a few weeks ago by the law she wasn’t even a proper person.” Kelsie could afford to say such a thing because she has come to know Julianna well enough to be certain she would take it as a joke.

“Yes, and right now I am more of a person than you two combined. Officers,” she added with an ironic smirk.

David moaned quietly. “Why are we even here? How many important things could have happened over the duration of one party?”

“You’d be surprised.” Kelsie quickly eyed the other messages to see if there was anything equally as important as new nations arriving at the Meeting Place. “Two new nations arrived, one has already made contact with the ECU, took their representative on board, and left. The other one sent a message which I will not replay for obvious reasons.”

“Yes, please don’t,” David agreed with a desperate expression. “Just send them the normal welcoming bullshit, I’m sure they are swamped by messages from other nations anyway. See, I’m a properly functioning person. Can I go back to bed now?”

“I’ll do that,” Julianna offered, seeing that none of the other two is capable of swift action.

_{Addressing @Liotrent}

“As the representatives of the Undefeated nation, we are happy to welcome you to the Meeting Place, a space station built by the combined efforts of all nations that rose up from the former Earth colonies. We are sure that you must be overwhelmed by messages from other nations. Whenever you have time, we would like to invite you to our section of the Meeting Place where we could talk and establish proper diplomatic relationships.”

“Right, done. Anything else important happened?”

“Well, things aren’t going well for our allies.” Kelsie scrolled through several reports on the rebellion. “Those White Flowers have apparently gained control of two major cities on New Hollywood. And,” her eyebrow rose in surprise, “other nations seem to be meddling in the conflict. But it’s not our problem.”

Julianna frowned. “Aren’t they our allies?”

“A shitload of good they've done for us,” David grumbled quietly, his head back on the table.

Kelsie shrugged, she didn’t really have a say in the matter. “They issued no request for help, official or otherwise. Plus the Grand General isn’t rushing to involve us in another conflict that could potentially turn into a bloodbath, which is good, I guess. That’s about it from me, so if you guys don’t have anything, I think heading back to bed isn’t such a terrible idea.”

“Amen!” David’s head raised up with a hopeful expression.

“Actually, I think that while you guys have been drinking your asses off… I mean forging diplomatic relationships, I have stumbled upon something. Sorry, Major,” she smirked at David who succumbed back into desperation.

Kelsie wasn’t surprised, the girl's intelligence and resourcefulness were the reason she had her in this private ‘High Command’ of hers. “You found something when sneaking around?”

“I didn’t have to sneak around at all, they weren’t very secretive about it. Quite the opposite actually, they are looking to sell it. It’s something called the lodestones.”

“The load stones? Don’t we have a ton of stones at home?” David murmured.

“The lodestones,” Julianna corrected him. “They are naturally magnetized pieces of a mineral called the magnetite.” David stared at her with a blank expression. “Magnets, David. They are magnets.”

He rolled his eyes. “Why didn’t you just say so right away? Why do we need magnets anyway?”

“Hey, I know that!” Kelsie exclaimed excitedly, feeling like the dumb kid in a science class that actually knows the right answer to something. “The shields operate with magnets, don’t they?”

Julianna nodded. “Exactly, the plasmatic shields we use on our ships depend on maintaining a stable magnetic field. But there are also whispers of some super-secret new project that requires a lot of magnetic materials as well. But I don’t know anything about it except that it exists and that it is led by…” she paused suddenly, looking at Kelsie with caution.

“My mother,” Kelsie snorted. “Of course. I know she is there, whispering into the Grand General’s ears. And for some reason, he listens to her advice.” Kelsie hasn’t spoken to her since she was ordered to do so before the Zetan war. A message popped up in her inbox from time to time that she deleted without reading.

David wisely stayed quiet. Or maybe he had fallen asleep.

“Fine, if my mother managed to convince Pawlowski she needs magnets, she will get magnets. I’ll get in touch with that Luciano guy and see what deal I can get. Now if you guys don’t have anything, I’d really love to get a few more hours of sleep. Julianna? Nothing. David? David’s out. Meeting adjourned.”

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Collab between @Raylah and @Irredeemable

The Undefeated were completely out of their element. The normally brave and dauntless soldiers stood grouped up in one of the hallways, having no idea what to do. The beautiful armchairs and sofas invited them to burrow into the cozy cushions, but they look so fragile and incredibly expensive none of the Reapers dared to even touch them.

“Guys, I think I have it.” Janice was finally done studying the leaflet some little girl handed them at the entrance. Once she got past all the art, music, theatre, poetry and god knows what other exhibitions they had in the program, she discovered something that sounded interesting. “They have a distillery here.”

“Ugh, I bet it’s one of those fancy places where you drink tiny glasses of priceless liquor with your little finger sticking into the air.”

“Who cares,” Janice rolled her eyes. “Booze is booze. And it’s free. What do you think, Lieutenant?”

Alfonso sighed. “It doesn’t seem like there is much else to do for normal people. Just don’t get wasted like last time, dumbasses. Remember what Kelsie said.” He looked around. He had no problems navigating in thick jungles or vast empty deserts, but how does one establish orientation points here? All the hallways looked the same, red velvet carpets, gold lining, some artsy things on wobbly pedestals just waiting for someone to bump into them. Fancy dressed people holding tall glasses and talking about super-important stuff, shaping the future of the universe or something. There was no “ALCOHOL THIS WAY” arrow sign.

Finally, his eye caught a familiar sight - a uniform. It was one of the young recruits that welcomed the guests and handed out brochures. Alfonso headed towards the boy, patiently waited till he finished talking to some Xandalian diplomats about different kinds of music the Matuvistans favored, and then approached him. “Hello, young man. Would you be so kind and direct us to this distillery?” He pointed to the right spot in the brochure, just to make sure they were on the same page.

“Of course, I would be honored!” the boy replied excitedly. “The first distillery on Matuvista…”

“Uhh,” Alfonso interrupted him quietly, “we are not really that interested in history lessons, if that is okay. If you could just point us in the right direction, please?”

The boy looked a bit shamefaced, but the smile didn’t disappear from his face as he carefully explained how to get to the distillery. Alfonso thanked him and the Reapers headed off. “You do know we are not supposed to cause any incidents, right?” Janice hissed into his ear.

“I don’t think we are obliged to listen to every lecture in here. Especially when I only asked for directions.”

“Fine, fine,” Janice raised her hands.

The bar looked almost normal. Yes, there was still a lot of fancy stuff, but no golden statues or crimson red carpets. The Reapers sat around one large round table and a waiter appeared almost immediately. He bowed slightly and handed them large menus bound in leather. “What can I get you, ladies and gentlemen? We have a large selection of various rums, Nuevo Porto, beers and ales, both classic and exotic, plenty of hard liquor, and of course a variety of non-alcoholic beverages.”

“I think we can skip those,” one of the men blurted and Janice looked at him with a piercing stare.

“Hmm, they all sound very interesting. Could you perhaps bring us some tasting samples of the rums? We will leave the selection to the professionals,” she smiled at the waiter. “Could you behave less like some club-swinging backwater idiots?” she growled at the men when the waiter left.

“What good is a party when you can’t have fun at it?”

“I don’t think you are supposed to have fun at this kind of party,” Alfonso sighed. “I don’t think I’ll be drinking at all tonight.”

A couple of men and women appeared with large trays, bringing several bottles of variously colored liquor, each provided with a label with a name and short description, lots of glasses, pitchers with water and even a few plates of deliciously-looking salty snacks. “We have tried to include rums from the most famous brands and eras with the most popular flavors, as well as a few I personally think are slightly under-appreciated. If you require more or have any questions whatsoever, do not hesitate to contact me or any of the other personnel. Please, enjoy,” the waiter bowed to them and left them alone.

“Wow.” Janice stared at the intimidating pile of food and drinks in front of them. “Well, the Undefeated don’t back away from a fight,” she shrugged and grabbed a random bottle. The name didn’t really tell her anything. “... with a hint of pineapple. Pineapple? These people are really weird.” She poured a bit into one of the glasses and took a careful sip, her eyes widening in a surprise. “Huh, this actually isn’t half bad. Here, try it.” Alfonso just shook his head and Janice frowned at him. “Alfonso Rodriguez, I will keep these idiots in line. You live a little for once.”

“If you insist,” he grinned at her and tasted the liquor. “Bah, it’s too sweet. What about that black one? With black pepper,” he squinted at the label, “that sounds like a drink for a real man, not this girly thing.”

Several figures approached the group of soldiers- the security for the event. These were the marines, two ISOCs hanging near the back. Looking at the group of Reapers, the leading man glanced around at all of the Undefeated soldiers, cleared his throat, and asked a simple question.

“Shore leave, eh?” The marine raised an eyebrow. “I hope we can expect a more tempered sort of behaviour than the regular?”

Alfonso raised an eyebrow, looking at the soldiers who approached them. He didn’t exactly appreciate that they expected the Reapers to cause trouble, but then again, a group like theirs getting drunk on such a fancy event… No surprise the security wanted to be careful. “No worries, we’re just sampling these fine beverages of yours. We’ll stay away from your fancy guests and won’t cause any trouble, if that's what you’re worried about.” Alfonso sighed and sipped from his drink. These people might have been weird and a bit rude, but they sure as hell knew how to make alcohol. “Soldier to soldier, we know we don’t really belong here. That’s why we’ve found this little hideout and we intend to stay here ‘till the whole thing is over.”

“Good to hear. Just making sure. The last thing any of us want to do is our actual jobs, I can assure you.” The lead soldier extended a hand. “Sergeant Castille, at your service.”

“Yes, that certainly is the last thing we want,” Alfonso replied with a slight sad tone in his voice. No, he didn’t miss the war and killing and dying. But they had been stuck at the Meeting Place for so long it was driving them crazy, longing for some action. “Lieutenant Alfonso Rodriguez,” he bowed his head slightly and then gestured towards Janice. “This is Sergeant Springer and the rest of the Reapers. So, did you encounter any problems yet? No evil robots gone on a killing spree?” he smirked.

“Alfonzo Rodriguez?” Castille paused for a moment, glancing to one of the soldiers by his side. “Hey, Marco, is your mother so much of a slut she’s managed to fuck someone off-world too?” The other soldier scowled and gave Castille a hard tap on the shoulder, the rest of the marines chuckling to themselves.

“Anyway, no problems for us. And… Evil robots? That’s a real problem out here?”

“Yes, I noticed my name is somewhat common among your people,” Alfonso smirked. “Who knows, maybe we do have some common great-great-great-something-great mother who lived on Earth hundreds of years ago.” He smiled at the idea of being related to some of these people. But then again, they were all originally from Earth, didn’t that make them all technically related?

“And yes, evil robots are a real problem here. You didn’t hear about the Zetans and the war? Right, I forgot you are quite new to this place. If I were you, I’d be extra careful around them. They might look human, but they’re not.”

“We heard about some kind of war that happened before our portal opened, but nothing specific. All I’ve heard about Zetans is that we’ve got some people from a ‘Zetan Consciousness’ aboard tonight. Just thought they were another nation.” Castille shrugged. “But hey, they don’t fuck with us, we don’t fuck with them. We got bigger issues than folks with robots.”

“They might call themselves a nation, but that doesn't really make them human.” Alfonso frowned and looked like he wanted to continue the debate, but Janice interjected.

“Let’s not bother our hosts with philosophical debates. I have heard that your nation is in a war with some alien invaders. It must be hard to live in such a constant threat,” she said and Alfonso raised an eyebrow. He had no idea about any aliens. When did she even find that out? “Is that the reason you start training the new recruits so young? I know some nations around here would disagree with such practice, but there is nothing wrong with teaching the kids some discipline early on.”

“Not just aliens. Fucking rebels.” Castille shook his head, clearly frustrated. “Pirates as well, but the rebels are the real pains in the ass. And, nah, we don’t train kids young. That’s a blue-blood thing. The regular forces start at 16.” He paused for a moment. “Signed up the day after my birthday, but I’d been in the cadets as well.”

“Hmm, rebels? We don’t really have those. I mean someone speaks against the government from time to time, but a couple of public executions and things quiet down. I think people are quite content. We are all equal, all have the same chances of moving up through the ranks.” That of course wasn’t entirely true, having friends in high places always helped. “Can’t imagine someone could give orders just because they were born in the right family.” Alfonso shook his head over such an idea.

“But of course whatever works for you guys, we don’t mean to judge,” Janice added quickly and kicked Alfonso’s leg under the table.

“Yes,” he flinched. “Perhaps your way is better, what do we know? I mean, we are just common grunts, we try to stay away from politics.”

“Public executions?” The soldiers looked at each other, wary. “What is this, 2053?” The soldier that had spoken their mind had his boot quickly stomped on, Castille glaring at them.

“Equally, we try staying away from politics as well. We’re just plebs, we don’t have all the fancy upper senate positions and all that.”

Alfonso laughed. “Yes, it might seem a bit medieval, but it’s highly efficient. It’s not like it is a weekly event though, it is a very rare occasion. To staying away from politics!” He raised his glass and took a long sip. “Mmm, you guys really know how to make rum. I don’t suppose you could join us for a few minutes? You could at least give us your personal recommendations, the selection is so large we can’t really taste it all.”

“Speak for yourself,” one of the men murmured and Janice’s sharp elbow punched his ribcage. “Uh,” he groaned. “Yes, of course we won’t taste it all.”

“To staying away from politics,” Castille agreed with a wry smile, before waving the other soldiers off. “Well, I certainly can’t be drinking whilst on duty, but I could give a few recommendations.” He took one of the drink menus and glanced down at the list, whistling. “Brought out the big guns here. Half of these would cost more than I make in a month.”

“Well then it’s really a shame that you can’t have a drink with us. Perhaps we can sneak one of these bottles out for later,” Alfonso winked at the Matuvistan Sargeant.

“Well…” Castille paused for a moment. “I’ll tell you what. We’ll be done in a few hours. If you’re still interested after that, you can come down to the barracks. Bring some of these bottles, we’ll bring some of ours... Let’s make it a party.” He returned the wink.

Finally they had something to look forward to. “Deal. Good luck, I hope you have a calm night. You know where to find us if you need an extra hand.” From what it seemed the Matuvistans had more than enough hands to go around and the offer was just rhetorical, but Alfonso was trying to be friendly.

When Castille left, Janice raised her glass and gave Alfonso an optimistic smile. “See? They aren’t so bad.”

Frontier of the Damned

Christina was glad that the masked stranger decided to join them, he seemed to be a very skilled fighter. She was considerably less happy about him inviting Fenton to come along. That man scared the hell out of her. The possibility of him leading them into a trap didn’t even occur to her, but wouldn’t it make more sense not to bring him along then? But what did she know about these things? Nothing. Perhaps it was better to leave these kinds of decisions to others.

“Hey, Leary!” she whistled at one of the men in the crowd, a big guy with a wide grin. Leary helped out around the Saloon, mostly doing the heavy lifting and taking care of the horses. He was as thick as a post but incredibly warm-hearted. “Go fetch a horse for our new friend Fenton so he doesn’t have to walk all the way. Look in the stables behind the Saloon, the owners are…,” dead, she swallowed the last word, “...not going to need them any time soon.”

“Aye, miss Emerson,” he smiled at her and ran off.

Christina admired Jack for looking so calm, although she suspected it might have been just a poker face. After all, any sane man would be at least concerned about what was going on. She turned to the masked man, who looked just like that - concerned, nothing more. Not scared, surprised, or angry, just a bit concerned. And the way he spoke to Fenton sent shivers down her spine. Sure, all who traveled the prairies solo had to look scary to deter potential trouble, but for him, it didn’t seem to be just a face he put on around strangers. He was scary. Nonetheless, he stayed to help, which meant there was a bit of good in his heart. Or maybe he just didn’t have anywhere else to go.

“I’m glad you are coming with us,” she told him, trying to be friendly. “We seem to be going to the gates of hell together and I don’t even know your name,” she chuckled nervously. “I’m Christina.”

“Miss Emerson!” Leary was a bit winded running down the street with two horses at his tail. “I didn’t know which one you would want, so I brought both.”

“Any of them would do, thank you.” She smiled at him. He was always so eager to please people and many took advantage of that. She always tried to avoid that, but maybe just this once? “Actually, since we have an extra horse now, why don’t you join us? We are going to the caves west of the town.”

His brows furrowed. “Bad place. You shouldn’t go there.”

Christina sighed. You are speaking my mind, man. “I know, but we kind of have to. We could use a strong man with us.”

Leary grinned. “I am a strong man. I will go and protect you then.” He jumped on a horse and moved next to Christina.

“So, I think we are ready to go unless there is something else?” Please, let there be something else, she prayed in her mind. She really didn’t want to go to the caves.

@DragonofTheWest@RedXIII

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Left foot forward. Right foot forward. Left. Right. Over and over. Walking is a funny thing if you think about it. You have to keep balance on this very small part of your body - at one point only a few square inches of your foot touch the ground, and yet you don’t fall down. Even when you have been walking for days. Even when you are tired. Exhausted. Even when you can’t just concentrate on placing one foot in front of the other, but also have to carefully watch your surroundings to avoid things that want to grab a bite. Of you. Still, you keep walking. Left. Right. Left. Right. Like a machine.

An indistinct path she had been following through the thick forest ended on a small clearance. The way forward was blocked by an impenetrable wall of thorny bushes. “Fuck it!” Yuki stopped. “I hate this stupid planet!” It had been eight days since she left the alien ship and started walking back to the Omega station. Back to civilization. Safety. Hot bubble bath. In an ideal world, she would just need another day or two to reach the oddly silent front. But this was Ellara, not an ideal world. Four days ago, she reached a wide river. The wild stream jumped in cascades and while it was a beautiful sight it quickly turned out to be an impassable obstacle. Trying to cross it directly was a suicide - the rocks were sharp and slippery and the violent streams between them could easily carry her away and push her helpless body around, smashing her against the sharp edges.

Yuki decided to go upstream, following the logical thought that downstream the river would only get wider and stronger. For three days she walked, crawled, climbed across the rocks and through bushes before she finally found a spot where she could cross. Not without danger, but at least with a solid chance to survive. When she pulled herself out of the water on the other side, exhausted, banged up, and gritting her teeth, she hardly felt any relief. So much time and energy wasted going in a completely wrong direction. She was now way off her original course, but it wasn’t such a big issue. If she just kept walking she eventually had to pass through the line of outposts, guard towers, and sensor points that marked the border of the territory the Undefeated had already conquered on this continent. Someone would definitely notice that. The trick was getting there alive.

She rested, ate, refilled her water containers, and the next morning continued her journey. Following a path was risky, you never know who made it or might be using it, but it was certainly better than trying to crawl through thick bushes with ten-inch thorns spiced up by a ton of tiny hooks that tore holes in your clothes and skin. There didn’t seem to be any fresh tracks on the ground, but Yuki was hardly a skilled tracker. She would have probably noticed if an oliphant had walked through there earlier, but anything smaller than that was debatable.

A twig snapped somewhere behind her and Yuki turned around, startled. For hours she had a constant feeling something or someone was watching her and every sudden noise made her jump up. The forest was full of scary unexplainable noises so she did a lot of jumping and turning around.

She sighed as her eyes scanned the impenetrable bushy wall, trying to find some more accessible point. Sadly her compass insisted she had to go that way. Yuki rolled her eyes and in doing so she caught a glimpse of movement up in the treetops. The trees were tall and their thick long branches created sort of an upper level of the forest - if you were tall, strong, and flexible enough you could pass from one to another crossing great distances without ever touching the ground and having to struggle in the bushes. Yuki wasn’t either of those things. Most humans wouldn’t be. Unfortunately, humans weren’t at the top of the food chain in these parts.

Drops of cold sweat ran down her spine as she stood there motionless, carefully watching the trees above. There were two of them. At least two. It didn’t matter really, two, three, twenty. Even one was enough. Her combat suit would make one on one fight equal. If she had her rifle, she could take out three or four before they would even reach her. But now, dressed in a shirt of a dead alien giant and armed with a knife and a sharpened stick… She couldn’t kill a Screecher baby.

They noticed she knew about them and stopped hiding, lazily swinging and jumping from one branch to another to get closer to her. Her mouth was dry as she turned her head trying to keep them both in her field of vision, fingers desperately clutching the handle of her knife. From this distance, the Screechers looked like huge monkeys - the average adults were around 8 feet tall. On the ground, they walked on two back legs, but up in the trees, they used all four limbs equally. Their bodies were covered by short fur that varied in color - the forest tribes were usually various shades of brown or black. Yuki had seen images from the battle of Flat Mountain, the local primitives were plain white and barely visible in the snowdrifts. Her new friends were dark brown, wearing only simple leather waist-cloths and straps across their bodies to which various tools and weapons were attached. Each had several long spears and some knives. Their civilization, if you can even call it that way, hadn’t progressed far enough to make use of metals, so their weapons were made out of sharpened stones and bones. Which of course didn’t make them any less dangerous.

The noises they made would cause any sane person to turn around and flee. Yuki couldn’t even imagine how terrified the first scouting parties must have been. To land on an unknown planet, enter an unexplored area, and then hear the ear ripping wailing, screeching, screaming, and other indescribable sounds. At least Yuki knew where the sounds were coming from. Although it hardly helped.

The first Screecher finally got tired of watching her from a distance and leaped down onto the clearing. He seemed a bit smaller than average, only about 6 feet which meant he was most likely a young one trying to prove himself to one of the tribe elders. Still, he was at least a head taller than Yuki and their muscle mass was incomparable. He let out a long 'eek' and grabbed his spear, waving the ornate bone tip in her direction. The other one stayed up for now, but Yuki had no illusions about them having some concept of a fair fight. If it looked for a second that by some miracle she would be getting the upper hand in this fight, the elder would not hesitate to join in and help his protege out.

“Come on then, you asshole.” Yuki grabbed her weapons, just as primitive as her enemy’s. “I’ll give you a coming-of-age experience you won’t forget for the rest of your shitty life!” The alien howled and leaped towards her. Did he seriously think she would just stand there motionless and let him stab her? She leaned aside to avoid his spear and pointed her own against him. His own momentum worked against him now, earning him a long scratch on the side of his chest. He jumped away from her, staring at the dark blood dripping from his wound in disbelief. Screecher's faces were surprisingly humanoid, but their huge eyes were black instead of white, with large yellow irises and vertical pupils similar to cats. Their noses were bigger and longer to accommodate the increased number of sensory cells for their heightened sense of smell.

“Eeeee-ech!” He spat out furiously.

“Ech yourself, dummy,” Yuki teased him. The Screechers were smart, much smarter than what they looked like, but just like humans, they tended to act irrationally when angry. This one could have just thrown one of his spears at her, she wouldn’t be able to dodge it from such a short distance, but now he was angry and wanted to deal with her from up close. Without a rifle, that was Yuki’s only chance to at least hurt him.

Her spear didn’t do her much good as he sprinted to her, the alien just waved his hand against it, breaking the piece of wood in two, and knocking her to the ground. He landed above her on all four and lifted one arm, the sharp claws ready to rip her throat open. The triumphant smirk on his face quickly turned into a scream of pain when she raised her knife and plunged it between his ribs, right into the spot where she assumed one of his two hearts should be. She must have missed it because he didn’t die. He straightened up instead, trying to grab the small hilt of the knife with his long fingers. The blood pouring from his wound made everything slippery and he was just hurting himself even more. Yuki didn’t wait for him to finish what he was doing and quickly rolled over to her stomach and crawled away from him.

Just as she thought she was in a safe distance and tried to get up, she heard a loud stomp right next to her and a strong kick into her stomach threw her a few yards away. Luckily she landed in a pile of leaves and avoided the stones and roots sticking from the ground, but still, all she could do was curl up into a small hurting ball and try not to throw up her intestines.

“Uk-uk! EEEEE!” The older Screecher turned to the younger one, shrieking at him. They finally managed to pull out Yuki’s knife but the bleeding only got stronger.

“Don’t yell at him. He sucks but that only means you were a shitty teacher.” Yuki laughed and coughed up some blood. That was not good. The older alien hissed violently and walked over towards her. Yuki tried to stand up, she really didn’t want to die on her knees, but her body was not cooperating. He leisurely kicked her again, this time she could distinctly hear a rib crack. She landed on her back and her fingers desperately scoured the ground for anything that could be used as a weapon. A branch, a bone, a stone, whatever. It just felt so lame to die empty-handed. As he leaned over her, she could admire his necklace. The trophies were mostly human ears and noses, but there were some other things that looked like Screecher parts - claws, noses, and something that looked very much like a gigantic penis. She turned her head in disgust as it rocked over her face, determined not to go out with an alien dick in her mouth.

Suddenly, the Screecher let out a quiet groan and wavered. It took a second for Yuki to notice the tip of something bloodied, sharp, and shiny sticking out from the front of his chest. Ignoring the sharp pain in her ribcage, she managed to roll away just in time before the massive alien body collapsed to the ground. She squinted through the tears of pain to see a long wooden handle sticking out from the alien's back. A spear probably, thrown with much greater strength than any human could ever develop. Which only meant one thing - there were more of them around here.

The new arrival was a well-built adult with brown fur, and for some reason had blue stripes painted over his head and chest. Yuki had never seen or heard of anything like that before. He reached onto his back to grab a new spear. “Ek-ek-ek.” He let out a strange whooping noise as he approached the younger Screecher. Yuki’s first opponent was now kneeling in the dirt, his hands pushed against the wound on his chest, unable to stop the blood pouring out. It looked like although she missed the heart, she still cut through something important enough to kill him. A fat lot of good it did for her.

The blue-striped alien came to the young one, watched him for a second, and then mercilessly shoved the spear through his neck. Bending over to the body, he pulled out a knife and started cutting something off. A knife. An actual knife made out of actual metal. Crude and primitive maybe, but still ways off from the sharpened bones and stones the others used. Yuki remembered that the tip of his first spear was also shinier than you would expect from a bone. How was this possible?

Yuki got up on all four and grabbed the hilt of the spear sticking from the dead Screecher next to her, trying to wrest it off his body. When it finally slid out with a loud slurping noise, she couldn’t keep her balance and fell back onto the ground. “Ek-ek-ek.” The alien was standing a few steps away from her, watching her curiously, his ugly teeth sticking out in a wide grin. Yuki stood up, using the spear as a cane, taking her time to look at the metallic spearhead. A low-quality iron, their metallurgy certainly wasn't the state of the art, but just the fact that they had something that could be called metallurgy was a huge breakthrough. Not that it would help Yuki in any way in her current situation.

He made the whooping sound again and Yuki snapped at him. "Are you actually laughing at me?! Come over here, I'll give you something to laugh at."

He stepped closer and she pointed his bloodied spear in his direction. It was merely a gesture, she was so weak she could barely stand unsupported, and the Screecher knew it. "K'eeh rhsh," he snorted and easily knocked the weapon out of her hands.

"Fuck you too." Yuki had to tilt her head back a lot to look directly into his eyes. He looked back at her, strangely quiet and motionless. "So what are you waiting for?" Yuki staggered. It hurt to stand, talk, even just breathe. Darkness slowly crept to the corners of her field of vision. She blinked to get it out but it only got bigger until she slowly collapsed to the ground.

She woke up into a world of cold and pain, lying on wet ground in a very uncomfortable position. An attempt to move revealed her hands are tied behind her back and there is a rope around her neck. “S-shit,” she mumbled through the gritting teeth. The place was unfamiliar to her, there was a small stream running right between two huge trees. How did she get here? The answer was sitting next to her, munching on some pink berries, and digging through her improvised backpack.

The blue-striped Screecher was methodically pulling things out, carefully observing and sniffing them before putting them on the ground. Yuki didn’t gather many things, just a small water canteen she found in the alien shipwreck and some food wrapped in thick green leaves - the remains of a grilled lizard and some fruit she picked because it looked and smelled nice but didn’t have the courage to test it yet. And she wasn’t going to, the Screecher just looked at it and threw it away. Probably a good thing she didn’t eat it. And then, on the very bottom of the bag, there was her notebook. She had grown very attached to it, every evening she drew what she saw on that day, she added notes about peculiar creatures she met, even sketched a rough map of where she had been. A part of her soul was on those pages and now that creature pulled it out with his dirty claws. “Don’t touch that!” Yuki acted before thinking, getting up on her knees and trying to lunge forward. The rope around her neck tightened as she moved, strangling her.

The Screecher got up and watched her gasp for air for a few moments. He laughed and leaned over her, releasing the rope just enough so she could breathe. Then he went back to ignoring her, intrigued by the thing she was trying to protect so much. His fingers swiped through the pages surprisingly gently and he stared at each page, making various humming and growling sounds. Yuki tried to wiggle herself into a bit more comfortable position without strangling herself again and ended up sitting with her back against a thick above-ground root. The pain from the broken rib was agonizing, it felt like being stabbed with each breath she took. Plus she really needed to scratch her nose, which was an impossible task with the hands tied behind her back.

At least those feelings helped her overcome the paralyzing fear that threatened to take over her. It seemed that for now her nose, ears, and other body parts were in the correct position, but for how long? He didn’t kill her right away, which was terrifying - the Screechers rarely took prisoners. And when they did… the rescue teams usually found only bones, picked clean, with distinct claw and teeth marks. Was he keeping her around just to have fresh meat for dinner? Or bringing her home for his offspring to practice killing as the pterroes did? None of the options she could think of were optimistic.

He finished browsing the notebook, closed it, and put it back into the bag along with her other things. After attaching the bag to his belt (Yuki noticed that instead of a simple waistcloth he was actually wearing something vaguely resembling shorts) he walked back to her, extending his hand. There were a couple of the pink berries he had been eating earlier on his palm. Yuki was hungry, but not that hungry. Also, she remembered a story her mother told her, about an old hag living in an abandoned factory in the middle of the woods. The hag captured people, locked them in cages, and stuffed them with food until they were nicely fat. Then she ate them. Yuki was always terrified of that story. Why would you tell something like that to children? Anyway, she certainly wasn’t going to season her own flesh for him by eating whatever that thing was. She tightly closed her lips and shook her head. He shrugged in an oddly human way and poured the berries into his mouth.

He grabbed the other end of the rope that was around her neck, untied it from a tree, and then grabbed her arm to pull her up. Yuki had to bite her tongue so as not to shout out in pain. The rope straightened as he started walking and she had to follow unless she wanted to fall and smash her face. It was a nightmare. Even under normal circumstances, moving through these woods was complicated, having to climb over roots sticking out of the ground, avoiding bushes and low-hanging branches, carefully watching each step, because what seemed like a twig from a distance could turn out to be a poisonous snake when you step on it. With her hands tied behind her back, she had no way to keep balance. Her lungs were on fire and her entire abdomen was pulsing in pain. Yuki wondered whether she had some internal injuries and how long it would take for her to die from them. Plus the Screecher’s legs were about twice as long as hers, so for his casual stride, she would have to jog to keep up the pace.

She slipped on a moldy rock and banged her knee and then moments later she stumbled over a root and fell into a muddy puddle. “Alright, that’s it! I’m done with you!” That was all she could shout before the rope cut off her air supply. She gave up and stayed down, hoping she would just pass out quickly. The alien stopped pulling the rope and went back to her, his huge figure looming over her. “Yea, that’s right,” Yuki whispered in a hoarse voice. “I’m not making another step unless you untie me. If you wanna drag my dead body around, suit yourself,” she spat out and closed her eyes. The mud was surprisingly comfortable, albeit cold.

The Screecher tilted his head back and let out a long loud scream. Anyone and anything in a few miles radius must have heard that terrifying noise. He crouched beside her and hissed violently, but she just raised her brow and continued to ignore him. What she couldn’t ignore anymore was when his knife touched the skin on her throat. Part of her just wished it to be over, but there was a part of her that desperately clung to staying alive at all costs. “Look,” she tried to sound calm, knowing he didn't understand a word she was saying. “You want me to walk, fine, I’ll walk. But it will all go much faster and easier if you untie me. It’s not like I could outrun you.” That idea was amusing. They stared at each other for a few moments before the Screecher finally made a decision and jerked the knife up, cutting through the noose around her neck. Yuki closed her eyes in relief. He helped her up and quickly untied her hands. “Thank you,” she said quietly, rubbing her wrists. The Screecher just snorted and started moving again, easily jumping over a fallen tree and then stopping to see what she would do. Yuki crawled underneath it, she was already covered in mud, putting on some extra didn’t bother her. Her situation still sucked, but at least now she could move freely. Just as she said, she couldn’t hope to outrun the Screecher, but now she was ready to grab an opportunity, should one arise.

It felt like they walked for ages even though it was probably just an hour or two before her captor finally stopped on a small clearing dominated by a tree with a huge above-ground root system that created holes and caverns of various sizes. The Screecher motioned her to stop and Yuki didn't protest, sitting down on a log totally exhausted, and carefully lifted her T-shirt. A huge bruise covered the entire side of her ribcage, black, blue, and yellow spots mixed together like some abstract art. Yuki knew she should wrap her chest in tight bandages to help the broken rib heal, but even if she was willing to sacrifice a part of her huge alien shirt to do that, it’s not like her new friend would just lend her a knife. She looked at him, curious about what he was doing, just to see him quietly creeping around the tree, peeking into the holes, and occasionally poking there with his spear.

Yuki let him do his weird stuff and slowly walked towards a small stream that was running around the clearing. The water seemed to be ever-present in these forests, anywhere you went you eventually came across a river, a stream, a lake, or a swamp. Yuki gathered some water with her hands and splashed it against her face. It was warmer than she expected. Sure, it was strides away from a hot bubble bath, but at least it didn’t feel like her skin was being pinched by thousands of tiny needles. She took off the large shirt she stole from a dead alien and was now using as a cloak, and tried to rinse the stains off as best as she could without an actual washing machine.

When she got back to the Screecher, he was just gutting and skinning an armadillo-looking creature he pulled out of a tree hole, all while carefully watching her, ready to jump at her in case she strode too far off. Yuki hung the wet shirt on a tree branch and started to collect firewood, hissing in pain every time she leaned over or crouched.

“Aren’t we just like a happy couple going camping?” she mumbled ironically when they sat near a small fire and watched the armadillo sizzle above the flames. This time she didn’t refuse when he offered her food. If she was going to be stumbling through the forest the entire next day, she needed to gather some strength. She actually regretted not having her notebook to draw the Screecher the way he was sitting there, staring in the flames and eating, tearing the meat off the bones with his sharp teeth. Despite it being primitive and quite scary, or maybe even because of that, it seemed worth recording. Damn her artistic soul. She should be thinking about how to get out of this mess, not about the influence natural light has on the scene.

Her plans to sneak out at night quickly turned to dust when the Screecher forced her to crawl into one of the empty holes under the tree and slept blocking the only exit. Still, it was better than sleeping tied up which was apparently the other option. The next morning they continued their journey. Yuki had to admit that he knew his way around these woods and was always able to find the most easily passable way. Still, his pace was murderous and she could barely keep up. Just when she thought they would spend another night camping outside, a short screech pierced the silence. It came from somewhere above. Yuki’s ‘friend’ answered with a similar sound and kept going. “Advanced patrol,” Yuki mumbled to herself. That must have meant they were getting closer to wherever they were headed.

Yuki’s heart started racing. She thought she would have more time to escape but right now she didn’t see a way out. Sure, she could try to run or fight, but without any real chance of surviving it would be an empty gesture, a stupid one for that matter.

The forest ended in a small valley and Yuki had to stop and stare at the view. It was breathtaking. There was an azure lake in the center and groups of rather primitive huts were scattered along its banks. The sides of the valley were protected by steep mountains and the further end was closed off by a tall cliff with an impressive waterfall. It was a good place to defend, the only reasonable access was the forest through which they just arrived. Sure, small groups of enemies could cross the mountains or use ropes to climb down the cliff, and of course, it was completely vulnerable to an airborne assault, but all things considered, it was a good place for a village. The Screecher wasn’t of the most patient kind, he pulled out one of his spears and poked her with the shaft.

Yuki had visited some Screecher settlements before, mostly to kill everyone inside and burn it down to the ground. She hated those kinds of missions, killing helpless elders and children was not really her thing, but the locals would hardly appreciate that kind of information even if she had a way to tell them. If angry stares could kill, she would be dead a hundred times over. She kept her head down, not wanting to anger the small crowd that gathered around, wondering what humans would do if the situation was reversed. Would they throw rotten eggs and tomatoes? Stones? Would some wannabe hero just pull out a gun and get it over with? The Screechers just stood there in silence. Ironically, they looked just as afraid of her as she was of them.

Even though she tried not to look around much, she noticed some odd things. The first one was naturally the forge. A large hut built aside from others with smoke and loud metallic banging coming from inside. Primitive, but still ways ahead of anything she had seen in Screecher villages before. The second, and probably the most notable difference was the locals’ fur. Normally, a tribe living together like this would have a similar color but here it seemed like the villagers came from all over the continent, if not all over the planet. Brown and black Screechers were standing next to the beige and yellow ones, even though their original tribes were most likely natural enemies. The only thing they had in common was the blue stripes painted on their chests.

She was led through the village to the central hut and she and her guide both entered it. It was dark and a bit smokey and Yuki had to wait a few moments for her eyes to adjust. Meanwhile, the Screecher approached a figure sitting on a long bench covered in pelts next to a fireplace in the center of the room. He bowed his head and they started a vivid debate full of screeching, growling, and barking. Yuki’s friend was angry but the other voice sounded almost calm, at least for a Screecher. If they were having an argument, the latter was definitely winning. Her guide motioned her to come closer and she reluctantly took a few steps towards the fireplace.

The second Screecher was a female, a very old one, most likely the local Matriarch. The Screechers didn’t really care about their leaders’ genders, they followed the strong for their power and the old for their wisdom. Tribes were led by a council of the elders which was ruled by either a Matriarch or a Patriarch. This one’s fur was bright white, safe for the blue stripes, and she looked almost ancient, her wrinkled skin was full of scars. Yuki looked at some of them more carefully and then gulped audibly. She thought she was in trouble before, but now it became obvious she was doomed. Because those scars, a set of perfect circles around the Screecher’s neck, were caused by humans. And it was not in combat, which at least would be something they might tolerate. No, these wounds were caused by an electric collar, a rather brutal device used in labor camps to keep the aliens under control. Yuki had no idea that some Screechers managed to escape the camps. The thought of being brutally tortured in front of the whole village suddenly became the most probable outcome of this situation.

The Matriarch leaned forward, her eyes carefully studying Yuki’s face. She murmured something and the other Screecher responded by grabbing Yuki’s arm and pulling her closer. “Tak, tak,” the Matriarch clattered, nodded, and got up. She moved slowly, as old people with sore joints did, and Yuki noticed one of her legs was twisted strangely. It didn’t stop her from moving around though, using an ornate spear as a cane she hobbled to Yuki. “See’wah,” she said, pointing at herself.

Yuki stared at her. She expected a lot of things to happen, but this was not one of them. Did the elder just tell her her name? The Screechers have never responded to any attempts to communicate with them or come up with their own. Violence seemed to be their only method of communication, at least with humans. Until now. “Uh…,” Yuki hesitated. “Yuki.” She pointed at her chest, deciding that a small friendly conversation can’t hurt.

“Yuh’kee.” See’wah rolled the name on her tongue while the other Screecher laughed. Great, her name probably meant something funny in their language. The Matriarch turned to him, barked a few orders, and hobbled back to her chair.

He just stared at her in disbelief. See’wah repeated herself, sounding stronger and louder this time, and when he still didn’t react, she smacked his head with her cane. He growled violently, showing all his teeth, but she looked unamused. Snorting, he turned to Yuki. “Gree,” he said, banging his fist against his chest.

Yuki opened her mouth to answer him, but he just stormed out, leaving her alone with the Matriarch. Actually, they were not alone, she just now noticed that there were at least two guards hidden in the shadowy corners. She turned back to See’wah, who gestured to sit beside her. Yuki walked over to her, bewildered. The furniture was designed for 8-foot tall users so Yuki had to climb up and even then she felt like a kid invited to the adult table. They sat there in silence for a moment, Yuki pondering what the hell was happening and See’wah just staring into the flames. “Akh,” she said eventually and pointed towards the fire, looking at Yuki.

Yuki straightened up, prepared for an attack, certain that the Matriarch will have her thrown into the flames. What else would she do with a human? The labor camps were a terrible place, even from a battle-hardened soldier perspective. Screechers were treated as slaves, even worse, as animals, shocked or beaten up at any sign of disobedience. Some of the guards enjoyed themselves so much they would torture the aliens without any reason at all. Yuki couldn’t even imagine what horrors See’wah went through. But nothing happened, the guards didn’t jump out of the shadows to burn her alive.

“Akh,” the Matriarch repeated vigorously, waving her cane over the flames.

A small part of Yuki’s brain operating in a different mode came up with a possible solution. A strange one, but… maybe? “Fire?” she asked, pointing at the fireplace. “Is ‘akh’ fire?” She was sure she pronounced the word wrong, her vocal cords weren't used to making such sounds, but See’wah nodded. Well, be damned. "But why?" She mumbled quietly to herself. The Matriarch grinned and tapped at the scars on her neck. That was not really an explanation, at least not one Yuki was hoping for, but who knows what See’wah meant by that. The brutal torture and death still weren’t completely off the table. It just looked like she was about to receive some education first.

Frontier of the Damned

Christina turned her horse to face the mysterious stranger. The things he spoke of… Just a few hours ago, she would have dismissed them as nonsense, a drunk or deranged man’s blabbering. But now, the army of the dead had swept through the town, the corpses were piled up on the sides of the streets. It didn’t seem like such crazy talk anymore.

She leaned towards Fenton to get a closer look at him. His face or name wasn’t familiar to her, but then again, he didn’t claim to be a local. What little could be seen from his skin showed some serious and no doubt painful wounds, but their origin was not clear. His gaze was urgent, but Christina couldn’t tell for sure whether he was telling the truth.

“Jack,” she addressed him with hesitation. “I think I know what he speaks of.” Was she really going to talk about this in broad daylight, in front of the Sheriff and half the town? Apparently so. “There is a story that’s told around the campfires when the darkness falls. More of a legend, really. A tale to scare the kids.” Christina sighed. “There are multiple versions, but most of them speak of three sisters that came into the town decades ago. The oldest of them fell in love with a local merchant, a wealthy and powerful man. Some say that he had his way with her and then tossed her aside, some that he rejected her straight away. He fell ill and died shortly after that. The locals got suspicious, the sisters got arrested, accused of being witches, and condemned to death. With their last dying breath, they cast a curse on the town and its citizens.”

“The next night, the merchant rose from his grave and returned to the town. He killed those who spoke against the sisters the loudest and dragged the Sheriff away. The tracks led to the caves to the west, but those brave enough to enter were never seen or heard from again.” She shook her head. “Yesterday I would have told you it’s just a stupid story, but now… One thing I know for sure is that there are caves a few miles west of the town. And people who venture there usually don’t come back. I never believed in curses or witches. The caves are extensive and it’s easy to get lost there.”

But it wasn’t just that, was it? She went there once with her brother, a stupid dare. The cave entrance was in a narrow gorge where shadows played even at noon. The dark hole opened like a gaping maw of some gargantuan beast scared her even from a distance. And the wailing… The wind, of course, just the wind running through the canyon. Christina shivered from the memory, goosebumps sprang over her arms. She begged Jared not to go in there, a little girl whimpering resonating through the gorge. He reluctantly agreed to leave, laughing at her for still being a child, but even he looked a bit relieved when they returned home.

“I could,...” she hesitated, “show you the way if you want to go and check it out,” she said, turning also to the Sheriff and the masked man from the Saloon.

@RedXIII@DragonofTheWest@Nobodyman123

Kept In Mind - Arc X: it dont exist yet

Application withdrawn

Frontier of the Damned

Hmm I'd take that last one

Frontier of the Damned

Christina peeked into the Sheriff's office, surprised to see a large selection of firearms of all kinds. But then again, he did confiscate weapons from all the criminals he arrested or shot, so it kind of made sense they would pile up like this. She picked up a fairly modern model of a Remington rifle, the same her father owned and used when he taught her to shoot. How ironic it was that she felt much better holding the heavy weapon in her arms. Normally she was not a fan of violence, mostly because she was the one who had to stitch up people who got in fights over and over. She also grabbed a few boxes of ammunition and put them into her satchel, praying to God it was the right kind. She was hardly an expert in that matter.

“I can handle myself as well as anyone in town, if not better,” she snorted a bit in response to Sheriff’s remark, even though she knew he probably meant well. The men were so overprotective sometimes. “It’s not like running and hiding would help me now.” ’And when your intestines are hanging out from your stomach, you will be glad I’m there to put them back inside,’ she thought, but didn’t say that out loud. Still, the Sheriff was an authority and she had respect for him, especially now after he bravely took the lead in this crisis.

She walked over to her horse and climbed up, which was slightly more complicated when holding the rifle. Wiggling a bit to make herself comfortable, she cradled the weapon carefully in her arms. “So, where are we going?”

@Nobodyman123

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

Collab with Kale19

Collab Between @Raylah and @Kale19

The people from the crashed ship were weird. The injured man seemed relatively normal, but the two big guys… It was as if what they were granted in extra height was taken away from them in intelligence points. Dumb and dumber. The woman hasn’t done anything strange yet, but she was unconscious most of the time, so it didn’t have much predictive value. Jim gave them some space during the flight back to the Omega station and they kept whispering. The big guys whispered loud enough to recognize some words, but it hardly made any sense. Supernova? What were the odds of that?

Immediately after landing, the woman was rushed to surgery. Jim was surprised she had survived this long, the wounds in her stomach were massive and she was deadly pale from the loss of blood. The Sergeant with broken legs was taken to the infirmary and Kfuu and Ralo into an empty storage facility. It was not a great place for guests, but it was the only room on the base where they could stand up right without banging their heads on the ceiling. Jim made sure they were given some food and were guarded, in case they had any ideas to wander around the outpost. These people were still potentially hostile and the Undefeated didn’t want them walking around their military facilities.

When he arrived at the infirmary, the doctor was just finishing up with the Sergeant - putting soft elastic girdles around his legs and administering a bone growth support serum into his IV. It was much more comfortable than the classic casts they used back on Earth. The man still won’t be able to walk for several days, but it should heal fast.

“I hope everything is okay here,” Jim addressed the man as soon as the doctor left. “Your men are safe, they are just in a room that fits their… stature better. And the woman… I am sorry, I’m not sure what to call her? She is in surgery, our best professionals are trying to repair the damage caused by the pterro claws.

So, did you come through the Gateway to discover the fate of other colonies?” Jim pulled a chair next to Rogers’s bed. “I know we were very surprised when the thing reactivated. We sent our first envoys to Earth. Sorry to inform you if you haven’t heard already, but… it’s gone. I mean the planet is still there, but it’s uninhabitable, no trace of humans left on the surface or above it. A lot has changed since then, though. All the surviving colonies pitched together and built a neutral space station above Earth called the Meeting Place. Each nation is free to send their representatives there.

If you don’t mind me asking, where did you come from? And how did your ship suffer such damage? I’m only asking just in case there is some new war going on - we need to keep our people safe.”

~~~~~~~~

“I think they think that we’re dumb.” Kfuu told Ralo, like it was the most crazy thing in the world.

“You are, I was just playing dumb. I’m a guard you realize, I’ve been trained for this.”
“But more importantly I got a message, like the last one it came from the future, supposedly the queen is planning a rebellion on the humans, and expects us to help her.”

“I doubt any of the abberians would commit mass geoncide, even is ordered by the queen.” Ralo told him, casually hinging and unhinging his jaw. Kfuu recognised that stretch, he’d seen guards doing it before they ate corpses. It was pretty grizzly, but the humans never came back for them, and the abberians had no use for them. The stretch was meant to increase your jaw size to be large enough to swallow a human, whole. Kfuu couldn’t think of any reason he’d do that. Maybe to relieve stress in his jaw?

* * *

SGT Rodgers listened to each question before answering. He tapped on his biomechanical leg as he often did when he was thinking. As usual it produced a hollow thumping sound, as his bones still hadn’t grown in since he lost his legs in the ambush with the Abberians. Hopefully these treatments would help.

He thought about the first thing the man had asked. What was his name? Jim? Or was he just guessing.

“SGT Jodie Scott, that’s the woman who got bit. I’d bet she’ll make it.

We entered the Gateway for a way to find peace between our two peoples, but that back-stabbing witch, the Abberian queen had other plans. We were hoping to find a peaceful planet, but look at this,” he gestured around the room, “This looks like a room that’s healing a people at war. Although with all those beasts outside you’d need it.”

“We come from a place known as the dead drift, the name turned literal, that’s all I’m going to say about it. Our ship took damage from a space station long since abandoned, and even as we went entered the rift things still hit us. Our Pilot, Kefp, left his post to warn us about the fighter that you… sent…” Realization dawned on SGT Rodgers face, then it turned to anger. It was their fault everyone had perished, had the fighters not been sent… “That’s all I’d like to say, you can leave now.” He told Jim with mock politeness then remembered something he’d said, “and if you don’t mind, dropping us off at a neutral station would be fine.”

~~~~~~~~

Jim tried to keep his diplomatic face up when listening to Rodgers. “I’ll have to talk to my superiors, but I’m fairly certain arranging transport is not going to be a problem. I’ll let you rest,” he said politely and left the infirmary, heading towards a room that has been temporarily assigned as his office. “What an ungrateful bastard,” he vented as soon as he was sure he was alone. “We come rushing to rescue you risking our lives, losing a soldier in the process. And you are going to frown at me for sending fighters to check an unknown ship in our own airspace? Fuck you, assholes!” He had to grab a drink from the station commander’s secret stash to calm himself a bit before reporting to Guardian Hamonga. “We should have vaporized your ship and forgotten all about you,” he gritted his teeth while activating the comm systems.

An exhausting hour later during which he thoroughly described the mission, everything he knew about the crash survivors and they went through all the data from various scanners and recordings, he was finally free to rest for a bit. He, Hamonga and some other people debated various theories about who these people are, where are they from, and what the hell do they want, but couldn’t really come up with any answers. They agreed it wasn’t some ingenious Zetan trick to infiltrate their planet, but other than that, who knew? The debate revolved around the ‘big guys’ a lot - chief scientific and medical officers invited to the meeting were convinced that they were humans suffering from some sort of mutation. The mutation would have to be artificial, since the human body couldn’t naturally change that much in just 300 years.

All things considered, the Undefeated agreed they didn’t want anything to do with these new people. If they wanted a new planet, they could go look for it elsewhere. A Scout class ship was assigned to transport the survivors to the Meeting Place - none other than the Pathfinder, the ship that Jim used during his mission on New Hollywood and was hoping to never see again. It was decided to wait a few days before the transfer to allow Sergeant Scott to recover after surprisingly successful surgery. It turned out that her injuries, while deep, were not that severe. By some miracle, the pterro talons missed all the vital organs and the biggest threat to her life was the bloodloss. Thankfully, unlike her compatriots, the woman was human and could have been given a regular transfusion.

Jim had one storage facility turned into a nice suite, almost luxurious given the Undefeated standards. The ceilings were high enough for Kfuu and Ralo to stand up straight and move without any problems, as long as they were careful when passing through the doors. One room was equipped with beds and other furniture large enough for the two of them, another room was an improvised infirmary, where Rodgers had been moved and later joined by Scott, as soon as she was stable enough. Medical personnel visited them regularly, but otherwise they were left alone to rest and heal in peace. Jim just assumed that since they came from the same planet on the same ship, they would want to be together. They were offered a large selection of various foods, so even though the circumstances made it look like they were in prison, at least it was a fairly luxurious prison.

---

---

Margaret was sitting on her bunk bed, unsure what to do. It had been just a few hours since the High General’s speech, but the barracks had been in a weird state since then - shock, disbelief, happiness, anger, relief, frustration, fear, all mixed up into one big chaos. Nobody decided to take the General’s offer to leave yet. Some, like Margaret, were considering it, but no one wanted to be the first. Plus there was a crippling fear. What if it was just a joke? An error? A provocation? And those who would dare to ask to be dismissed would get nothing more than a bullet through their heads for being cowards and traitors?

“MAGGIE!” Nadia stormed into the room at her usual speed, grabbed Margaret into a tight hug, and twirled, her tight blonde braids flying around them. “Have you heard?!”

A short sigh escaped Maggie’s lips as she noticed dark stains on her clean uniform. Nadia must have come straight from the maneuvers, still covered in mud and sweat. “Nadezda, you are making a mess!”

“Who cares?!” Nadia laughed and kissed her. “Didn’t you hear? We can go! Finally, we can be free, do all those things we talked about!”

Fantasizing about what they would do if they weren’t in the army was their favorite way to spend time. In Maggie’s mind, there was always a small house somewhere out in the countryside, a garden full of fruits and vegetables, some animals. Kids. “Nadia, that was twenty years ago. Aren’t we a bit too old for such fantasies?”

“Silly,” Nadia scoffed, “we’re 45, our lives lie ahead! Fine, maybe we have missed out on the kids, but what about dogs? And those fluffy brown horsies you love? What were they called?”

“Alpacas. And they aren’t horses, they are…” Maggie sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We can’t just pack our things and start a new life somewhere. We can’t leave.” It was unthinkable.

“That is where you are wrong, girl. We can. And I know what you are thinking, that it’s some stupid trap or a joke or something, but it’s not. You remember Keys, from 46th?” Maggie barely had time to shake her head. “Big black guy with… heh never mind. He left right after the speech, and you know what happened? Nothing! They just thanked him for his service, nobody arrested or shot him. Granted, he did get punched in the face by his squadmate, but I think that was just a stupid way of saying goodbye.” Nadia scratched her head, smearing more mud on her hair. “Someone tries to punch me, it is going to be the last thing they do.”

Maggie shivered. “So you are really doing it?”

“Yes, I’m going there right away.” She stopped and sniffed. “Well, maybe I will have a shower first, I stink like a pig. Maggie,” her tone was urgent and she grabbed Maggie's hands. “Do you really want to die in a filthy jungle somewhere, coughing up your own blood? Or worse, fighting some alien robots in a war that’s not even ours? Please, come with me.”

Maggie smiled, knowing that she would follow her anywhere. Out of the two of them, Nadia was always the more decisive one, and Maggie did her best to protect her from some of those rash decisions, but deep down she felt this was the right one. “To the shower?” she smirked.

A wide grin appeared on Nadia’s face. “If you want,” she winked at Maggie and they both disappeared in the common bathrooms.

~~~~~~~~

Everything felt so different. Her old uniform with the insignia and squad markings removed. The public shuttle that brought them out of the capital. A small bag with what little belongings they had. The constant anticipation of the next order, an order that was never going to come. The freedom seemed terrifying. How do you decide what to do? People suddenly had so many options. After a lifetime of having everything lined up and predetermined, the ability to choose was almost overwhelming. Maggie was glad to have Nadia around, someone who always seemed to know what to do.

The town was called Westbridge. The Undefeated weren’t very inventive or even poetic with naming things, the name was simply derived from the time this was a war front. There was a river running through the town, and decades ago a bridge was built across to allow easier movement of troops and cargo. It was a western front, so it was the Western Bridge. Over the years, the front had moved forward. The bridge and the associated outpost remained, becoming a center of a small agricultural settlement.

The area around the river was lush and fertile, and these days the small town was surrounded by vast fields, greenhouses, pastures, and orchards. It was strangely quiet, compared to the constant noise of the capital. Just a handful of people got off the shuttle along with Nadia and Maggie.

“So, what do you think?” Nadia looked around, smiling as always.

Maggie hesitated. “Well… it’s different. The air is way cleaner here. Let’s look around.”

They wandered around the town, looking a bit strange on the empty streets. As they stood and admired one of the new bridges, a sharp honk sounded right behind them. They both jumped and instinctively reached for their sidearms. It was good they were allowed to keep those, Maggie would rather walk around naked than unarmed.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t shoot the locals,” Nadia smiled and stopped Maggie’s hand. “I think the gentleman just wants us to move so he can ride through.” She raised her fingers to her forehead to salute an old man driving a huge cargo transporter with several wagons filled with grain. The vehicle took almost the whole width of the bridge, practically blocking it. The driver nodded at them respectfully as he slowly passed by, never looking into their eyes. Maggie recognized that subservient attitude, knowing the man was a Rejected. He probably spent his whole life here in Westbridge, plowing, planting, harvesting, being ignored, or even mistreated by the soldiers. Now he was to be treated as equal. Maggie really had no problems with that but knew a lot of others who considered them “subhumans”. No order was going to change that attitude within a few days.

There was some more honking and yelling from behind the transporter. The women stepped aside a bit to see a hovercraft filled with young soldiers. Apparently, they were planning to cross the bridge but their way was blocked now, and the fully-loaded large vehicle barely moved faster than a walking speed. A few of them got off and walked towards the old driver.

“HEY! Move that shit wagon out of our way!” one of them yelled.

The man sighed and turned their way, his head bowed down. “I am sorry, sir, but the transporter does not move any faster than this when loaded. Perhaps you could use another bridge, there is one just half a mile that way.” He waved his hand north.

“What did you just say?! Are you giving me orders, you worthless piece of shit?” The soldier climbed into the cabin, pulling the driver out, sending him flying to the ground. Nadia made a step in their direction, but Maggie grabbed her hand, stopping her.

The old man curled up in the dust, mumbling apologies, expecting to get beaten. If this was daily life here, Maggie didn’t want to stay. On the other hand, perhaps something could be done about it. There was no officer around to order her to start a fight or stand down. The decision would be hers. And so will be the consequences. Nadia’s choice was clear. But Maggie’s?

As one of the soldiers got ready to kick the old man, Maggie stepped forward. “Stop!” she yelled at them. “Didn’t you hear the orders from the Grand General? Leave him alone or I will have you arrested!”

The soldier scoffed. He was barely a man, more of a boy fresh out of the academy. “You don’t give any orders here.” His eyes quickly scanned her uniform, noticing the empty places where the insignia used to be. “Now get lost before you get some too.” He walked towards her and touched one of the vacant spots on her shirt. “Traitor,” hissing right into her face.

Nadia’s eyes widened as she watched Maggie’s stance change slightly. “Oh, boy.” Nadia was fierce and short-tempered, but even on her best days, she could never beat Maggie in hand-to-hand combat. Maggie was always calm and balanced, never getting angry, never making mistakes, which made her one of the best fighters in the unit. The poor boy had no idea what he just got himself into.

Maggie smiled, looking directly into the soldier's eyes, and put her hand over his. “You think you know shit?” Unexpectedly, she yanked his arm forward, stepping aside and punching his jaw with her other elbow. The man huffed and stumbled. “I was fighting in the war before you were even born.” Before he had a chance to regain his balance and stand back up, a military boot firmly placed onto his butt sent him nose-first onto the dirt road. The second man roared in anger and came after her, but not even two seconds later he joined his comrade on the ground squealing, his arm tightly wrapped around his bruised rib cage.

“You’re gonna pay for this, cunt!” The third one stayed in the safe distance and reached for his gun. Nadia leaped forward, always happy to join the fray. She ran into him at full speed, using her shoulder to knock him down before he could unsheath his weapon.

“I’m calling the patrol!” The last soldier moved towards their vehicle and grabbed a radio.

Maggie laughed. “Please do that. I’m sure they will be happy to hear how you are disobeying direct orders from the Grand General himself.” The man hesitated. The others have managed to pick themselves off the ground and hobble away, avoiding Maggie and Nadia. “I think the gentleman already told you that the nearest bridge is that way. I suggest you go there to avoid more humiliation.” The soldiers gritted their teeth but vacated the area, knowing that these days they could really get in trouble for their actions.

Nadia moved to help the old man who took considerably more time to get up. “Thank you, ma’am,” he bowed to her with respect, dusting himself off.

“No problem, friend. We are on the same boat now, aren’t we? Now, you wouldn’t know about any houses for sale around here, would you? One with a garden and some pastures big enough to breed… huh… palcacas?”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “The years of fighting really must have knocked your brain out. For the last time, they are called alpacas!”

~~~~~~~~

Oscar and Claire were sitting in a conference room deep within the Citadel, reviewing the latest data.

“You know I have better things to do than watch you read and sigh?” Claire sounded as prickly as usual.

Oscar sighed again. Looking at the reports, he couldn’t help it. “27 percent. That’s more than a quarter.”

“Congratulations!” Claire rolled her eyes. “You can do elementary school math! Honestly, I expected way bigger numbers, maybe some 40, 45 percent.”

The Grand General’s eyes widened in horror. 45 percent? That would mean he would lose almost half of his entire armed forces? Unthinkable. Even a quarter was more than he would expect in his worst nightmares. Were people really that unhappy being soldiers? So discontent that they would jump the first opportunity they had to leave and do… what exactly? “What are they going to do?”

“That’s a good question. A lot of them will probably want to start their own businesses.”

Oscar smirked. “Yea, that is not happening.”

“Why not? You gave people freedom, let them use it.”

“I didn’t give people freedom to destroy the economy and destabilize the country. Look, I don’t mind when someone wants to open a bakery, but what you are suggesting… weapon factories in private hands? Civilians owning parts of the food delivery chain? Unacceptable.” His voice was strong, this was not a decision he was willing to debate.

“I think your pretty little ex-soldiers would go more along the lines of owning a bakery than a weapon factory. I’m sure there are some rules that can be made to satisfy both sides. Don’t you have some economists hidden away in jail? Or did you have them all executed?”

“I don’t have people executed because they are economists.”

“No, you have them executed for saying treasonous things and being subversive individuals.”

Oscar rubbed his temples, which was a mistake. Moving his right arm still sent sharp pain spikes throughout his body, the gunshot wound on his shoulder didn’t have time to heal yet. One of the orthodox militarists was very unhappy with the changes and got too close. “You give me a headache. I think we can find some non-executed economists somewhere and lay out some ground rules to this madness. Very strict rules.”

“I would expect nothing less from you.” Claire got up and seeing Oscar flinch from pain, she forbore the usual insults, raising her fingers to her forehead to mockingly salute him instead. “I’m gonna go get some actual work done. Don’t worry, this is a good thing.”

The Grand General sat there in solemn silence long after she left. He didn’t really see anything good in the situation.