Everyone COWERED In Fear, Except The Humans! | HFY Full Story

year 2147 ad Earth calendar when the humans first encountered the galactic Commonwealth it barely created a stir primitive by comparison to the other members of the Commonwealth they were looked upon with pity as they pathetically struggled to expand and create colonies in their immediate vicinity most of the members quickly forgot about the embryonic human Republic While others took an interest in a detached clinical View and studied them in secret hoping to draw par parallels and observations of their own species development into a space fairing civilization Millennia ago my species the elani took a greater interest

in the fledgling Interstellar polity and watched them with benevolent Pride as they took their first steps into the void we felt an immediate kinship to the humans as they were the most Like Us in appearance and anatomy of all the other members with the only real difference being that we still had prehensile tales and Main maintained an arboreal lifestyle we viewed them as cousin kin and children and had a vested interest in their development as we kept tabs on them from afar we watched as they bravely flung themselves out into unknown space to explore the

great wonders at their fingertips undeterred by the loss of ships and lives that are inherent in traversing the dangerous void they seem to have an endless curiosity about anything and everything with human scientists seemingly cataloging everything they could see from the lowliest alien microbes on desolate worlds to traversing dangerous Stellar nurseries to find exotic particles human explorers would pick a random star and head towards it just to see what was there human Traders were found plying the established trade routes selling their Wares and Curiosities to any who would buy them we became enamored with this

new species and after a few years of watching the humans we decided to open official diplomatic channels and engage in first Contact protocols my S father was the first appointed Ambassador and was instrumental in forming a relationship with our cousin kin he quickly became their most Ardent supporter within our government and would tell me many stories of these humans when I was a youngling the one that stuck with me the most was when my father was describing how a zenin ship filled with younglings on a school class trip was trapped by a Subspace Rift that

suddenly appeared along their cour I could sense the awe and sadness in his voice as he described how dozens of human ships answered the distress call Scout ships cargo ships pleasurecraft science vessels even pirate ships all responded he recalled watching the sensor recordings with tears falling down his face as the human ships courageously tried to rescue the Younglings with many being outright destroyed or critically damaged in their attempts it did not matter to them how many ships were destroyed or damaged they just kept trying as even more human ships would drop out of null space

in response to the distress call and join in the efforts they finally rescued the 25 zenin younglings at the cost of 12 destroyed and dozens of damaged ships and over 800 human lives lost you could not but help to be AED by their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the Younglings of another alien species they were undaunted by the dangers and as soon as one ship was destroyed or critically damaged another would take its place it was an inspiring sight to behold my father said after he finished the story it was this incident among other examples

of humans coming to the aid of alien worlds and ships in times of Calamity and distress that finally convinced our government to assist the humans in their development it was strictly forbidden in the Commonwealth Charter to give primitive species technology that they had not yet developed but our government skirted these restrictions by several means such as elani ships disappearing or being destroyed by random anomalies near human Republic space and ctitious being recovered by human agents the zenin went even further and in gratitude for the human sacrifices in saving their younglings sent an unmarked stealthed Courier

ship into human space outfitted with their most advanced technology and a data repository of all their knowledge and technology in the following 20 Cycles the humans Advanced rapidly with access to the Technologies and knowledge secretly provided to them and made a 300-year leap much to the dismay of the Commonwealth hearings and investigations were held at the highest levels but no proof was ever found that any of the members purposefully uplifted the humans and the issue was quietly shelved after a few Cycles the human Republic by this time had greatly expanded in size and with the

infusion of Technology were now considered a middle power and their ships were everywhere engaging in trade scientific Endeavors and exploration our two species became kin friends and together with the zenin we tried in vain to Lobby the Commonwealth to Grant membership to the human Republic which was vehement denied by a majority of the members my sah father was livid but the humans seemed to take no offense and the human Ambassador seem to take it in stride remarking as long as they keep buying our Goods we could care less what they think of us it is

only the elani and the zenin who have shown us friendship and only your opinion that matters to us such was the situation in 2172 ad when the insectoid Empire launched another wave of expansion and encroached on Commonwealth space once again the insectoids were a hive mind composed of trillions of 1.5 M tall wasp analoges with vestigial Wings except for the Queens who could still fly they would periodically expand and engage in short sharp conflicts with the Commonwealth and other non-aligned Interstellar species and seiz territory since the planets the insectoids preferred were considered unfit for terraforming

by most members of the Commonwealth we would simply withdraw and allow them to have those worlds in the hopes of avoiding a large scale conflict it was n impossible to engage in diplomacy or negotiations with the insectoids as their world view was so radically different and we could not bridge the gap between the individual and the hive mind the only communication the insectoids ever had with the Commonwealth was just two words give leave failure to do either resulted in combat and their ships were numerous and exceedingly powerful especially their hive ships which made our largest

battleships seem like youngling toys in comparison the Commonwealth expecting this wave to stop like the previous ones had once the insectoids had the planet they desired was caught completely off guard when the insectoids penetrated the borders and thrust right into the heart of Commonwealth space the Commonwealth fleet was caught out of position and 6,000 insectoid Cruisers swarmed out and raked Havoc they destroyed every ship they came across while 60 of their massive Hive ships glassed entire worlds trapped behind the lines wiping out every living thing on those planets without Mercy within two solar days the

entire outlying border sectors of Commonwealth space were devoid of all life and ships and eight member species were completely exterminated at the cost of over 100 billion dead the Commonwealth fleet was reduced to half of its former strength and issued a call for the remaining members to reinforce the baguer main Fleet with our planetary navies we elani and all the other members sent what we could and hoped that it would be enough the humans having caught wind of the attack sent an official government Subspace communication with an already signed Treaty of Alliance and mutual defense

pact which the Commonwealth government arrogantly ignored and the Ambassador assigned to the humans did not Dain to even respond to their offer of help that was the first and last attempt by the humans to help the Commonwealth in their time of need the Commonwealth Fleet reinforced with the additional memberships now numbered over 2,000 ships of the line and launched a Counterattack initially it met with success and the fleet destroyed over 3,000 insectoid Cruisers before the 60 Hive ships entered The Fray and turned the tide of battle in their favor within 2 hours of the arrival

of the hive ships the Commonwealth fleet was reduced to just under a thousand ships with only an additional 300 insectoid Cruisers and one Hive ship destroyed the surviving ships of the Commonwealth Fleet disengaged from combat and made an orderly withdrawal heading towards the core worlds and hoping to entice the insectoids into following the fleet the core worlds had powerful and massive defensive fortifications and planetary defense grids and the admiralty planned to lure them into a trap and bracket them between the heavily armed defensive systems and the remaining Commonwealth Fleet the insectoids followed them to the

outskirts of the core system the fleet had reformed in and stopped lingering in The Helio pores of the system the fleet sent out multiple squadrons and attacked the insectoids trying to elicit a response to the attacks and get them to chase deeper into the system and within the range of the defense systems after hours of Hit and Run attacks the insectoids did the one thing the admiralty did not plann for and entered null space the insectoids laid in a course and headed towards the untouched periphery of Commonwealth space where another four members resided including the

elani I remember sitting in our dead with s father and birth mother listening to the hollow wave continuously broadcasting our government's plea to the Commonwealth to come to our defense the news organizations had showed us drona sensor recordings of two member systems along the insectoid axis of attack and the aftermath their home worlds and colonies were glassed over 20 billion dead and the insectoid fleet was on a direct trajectory to hit our system next in five solar days our entire world held our breath as we finally received a response from the chairman of the Commonwealth

the next solar day who looked like a broken being as he avoided looking at the hollow recorder and in a shaking voice read from a prepared statement from the data pad on the desk in front of him on the advice of my Admirals and my cabinet I regret to inform you that the fleet will not be able to come to your Aid at this time we will detach what remains of the elani contingent that you have sent and allow them to return to defend your system they will arrive in six solar days and we send

them with our hopes and prayers that you will survive the transmission was abruptly cut off and another video came on the Hol wave screen this time showing the president of the human Republic sitting in her office with a Resolute expression she gazed into the hollow camera as if peering into our terrified souls and in a voice that seemed to promise both death and salvation she simply stated we are the Republic and we will answer the the call hold on we are coming as abruptly as the transmission appeared it ended just as fast the hollow wve

screen returned to the news Studio where the anchors were sitting in quiet shock birth mother fainted while s father seemed not to notice and leapt out of his chair and hung from the ceiling branches hooting and swinging around like a crazed youngling I just sat there shaking overwhelmed by the enormity of our impending doom and could not understand s father's reaction he finally noticed birthmother and leapt over to help her as she sobbed in his arms he looked at me and seemed to notice my confusion you are wondering why I am Overjoyed at the prospect

of our human friends coming to help us I know that in school you are taught that humans are a middle power but have you ever wondered why we have never seen any of their warships in space he asked me and birthmother I didn't answer still wondering what a middle power warship could do against the insectoids while birthmother collected herself he continued speaking I have seen one of their warships and I have seen the records of their history of warfare against each other there is not one single species in the Commonwealth that would be able to

stand against them despite the technological differences he paused considering his next words the nice friendly humans we know have another side to them a side that no one else has ever seen in a space fairing civiliz ization people like the humans tend to destroy themselves before reaching space and Against All Odds they made it through the great filter his eyes took on an Expression I have never seen before and he stood up and grabbed me by the arms the human Ambassador told me a saying after the Commonwealth rejected our membership proposal to grant them entry

the human Ambassador stated there is no greater friend and No Worse Enemy than a human being God help them if they ever attack us or our our allies it was not a boast my youngling it was a truth that was spoken with a conviction I have never heard before from another sentient being you know the sacrifices they made to save those 25 zenin younglings they did not know that day imagine what they would do for their friends and allies he let go of my arms and embraced me fear not our friends are on the way

and they will save us all the conviction in which he uttered these words seemed to reach into my heart and I felt a peace overcome me I quietly sobbed tears of Hope and joy in his arms believing for the first time that we might not die after all for the next two solar days we waited for the humans to arrive as we watched the sensor drones record the inexorable March of the insectoid fleet towards our home World understandably our government would periodically send inquiries every few hours as to when the Republic Fleet would arrive the

only response being a cryp IC one sentence response we are coming finally on the third solar day one solar day before the expected in sectu arrival we received a transmission from the outskirts of our solar system we are here this was followed by a transmission asking our government to Grant permission for the Republic Fleet to enter permission was granted and every news Hollow camera sensor bu and satellite was pointed at the expected coordinates it felt like time itself was standing still and the Very heart of the world seemed like it stopped beating as billions of

elani waited for their last hope to drop out of n space and then it happened first in small numbers then dozens then hundreds of nullspace exit flashes started popping up all around the near space of elenia glittering our sky like new stars even on the daytime side of our world the hollow News Channel we were watching had a Ticker on the side displaying the number of ships and and the estimated classes and tonnage and the numbers ticked upward so fast it was almost impossible to follow s father and birth mother were hugging each and crying

tears of joy while I stood there in open-mouth shock at the numbers being displayed on the screen 3,250 3 1960 4 789 5347 610 6 4556 until the numbers slowed down and finally settled on 6,000 194 ships the cameras panned back to take in the enormous Fleet while sensor drones did flybys and forwarded the visuals down to every Hol wave screen on elania there were dozens of massive carriers with thousands of star Fighters swarming around them over 500 battleships and thousands of Cruisers destroyers and other ships that were classified as unknown since the scanners couldn't

get a reading on them another transmission from the fleet came over the hollow wave screen showing a human male in a military uniform standing on a massive Bridge surrounded by hundreds of humans working on data screens in the background people of elania We Are The Republic Fleet and we have come to help our friends in their time of need we honor our commitments and I promise you that if the insectoids Prevail it will only be because every Republic ship has been destroyed we are humans and we do not run we are here to fight and

win please listen to all orders of your government and find safety wherever you can Good Fortune to you all Admiral Thompson out the transmission ended and returned to the visuals of the fleet which was already spreading out throughout the system in individual tasks forces centered around the carriers while the Destroyers started dropping hundreds of small items that quickly disappeared from view out of their Stern on randomized paths the news anchors started theorizing on what the Republic had planned while retired military bits tried to make sense of the Republic dispositions especially speculating on the unknown ships

that were still defying all attempts at being scanned this went on for hours and we ate a feast of our favorite foods for night meal knowing that it might be our last despite the hope the humans will save us one by one we drifted asleep to the droning of the increasingly urgent news playing in the background a few hours later I was awoken by hands gently shaking my shoulders it has begun the insectoids are here s father stated plainly and went to join birthmother in the den I leapt up and followed him taking my usual

seat in front of the hollowe screen there was a split screen showing live images and video of the Republic and insectoid fleets facing off against each other outside the orbit of the Earth planet while another screen showed a top- down representation of the battle lines in icons listed in the colors of friendly and enemy ships from a sensor drone positioned above the plane of the ecliptic on the Republic side the battle fleets took up their assigned positions while the unknown ships disappeared into null space in hundreds of flashes of light the carriers disgorged their thousands

of star Fighters while entire battle wings of the massive battleships with their cruser escorts blasted their engineers at full power to get to battle speed and heeded to the flanks of the battle lines hundreds of Destroyers screened the battle lines swarming in random patterns and ready with their point defense systems and advanced countermeasure Suites to protect their bigger brein and intercept any sudden attacks the insectoids employed the same tactics they always have which was simple but effective a solid formation with all 59 Hive ships compacted into a rough sphere to provide Mutual fire support while

the insectoid Cruisers provide close cover on all sides as a screening force with a tail end of reserves stretching out behind the formation looking like a medieval Knight's fist covered with a mailed glove in a shocking move the insectoid fleet sent a transmission to The Republic Fleet which was one word leave the Republic responded about a minute later with a video showing a smiling human setting fire to a nest as hundreds of wasps poured out only to be incinerated while a happy jingle played in the background underneath the video in standard galactic text were the

words trouble with wasps no problem call The Republic Fleet to take care of it today the Republic Fleet blasted the video on every frequency bandwidth and channel known to the Galaxy at large and their response was also transmitted on every Hol wave screen on elania as well both s father and I started laughing uproariously while birthmother rung her hands together in apprehension looking at us disapprovingly it seemed like an eternity as the hive mind Pro processed the Republic response the insectoid fist formation suddenly started accelerating towards the Republic battles lines and firing their particle beams

the Battle of elania had begun eth swarming Earth year 2172 ad Queen world of the insectoid Empire The Hive mother raged impotently in her brood chamber as she saw the visual message being played out through the eyes of her millions of worker drones in the Swarm seeing the mocking images playing over billions of faceted images that her mind coalesced into a clear three-dimensional image an unknown animal was burning an innocent nest with fire and grimacing in pleasure a sure threat of what these new creatures intended to do to her swarm she felt disquiet as she

surveyed the massive Fleet AR raay against her unsure of the risks these unknown animals presented my queen daughters were right it was time she thought to herself as she pushed down the rage she was feeling and focused on the chemical processes necessary to continue making more worker drones feeling her body resume the larval impregnation and sending them out of the birth canal a male drone mindlessly creeped into the room following her pheromones and though blind zeroed in on her sex organs and penetrated her as he died after a fleeting moment of ecstasy The Hive mother

glanced back at the pile of male corpses building up behind her feeling the infusion of fresh genetic DNA csing through her sex organs I am so tired she thought to herself tens of billions of daughters have come from me so many mouths to feed she fell into a momentary despondency looking around The Brood chamber she had been trapped in for the last 30 solar Cycles as she made an impregnated new lvi continuously to ensure the survival of the hive I wish to feel the warmth of a sun one last time before I die she felt

new presences make themselves known to her mind and her 12 Queen daughters imbued her with thoughts of love and support we are here with you they thought to her she felt their strength and A Renewed Vigor washed over her mind and she focused her Mind's Eye on a particular daughter Queen the one leading the eighth swarm swarm daughter are you ready The Hive mother sent across vast distances she felt a wave of confidence emanate from the Swarm daughter which she did not share but hid my thoughts and those of your s sister Queens are with

you always the Swarm daughter sent feelings of happiness and anticipation eager to prove herself again after avoiding the obvious trap they tried to lay for her in the animal core worlds a few moments later Looking Through The Eyes of her many worker drones The Hive mother watched as the Swarm accelerated towards the unknown animal ships and found herself anticipating The Clash despite the many new threats facing her swarm daughter as she watched she saw the unknown animals in the center of the formation seemed to panic and Blast Off in all directions in a disorderly fashion

she felt the pleasure emanating from her swarm daughter as she charged into the Gap firing all her weapons as the hive mother shifted her view of the battlefield by simultaneously entering the minds of thousands of drones throughout the battle it was only until she shifted into the Drone views in the reserves behind the formation when she realized with horror that her swarm daughter was heading right for a trap no no no no she screamed in her mind as she watched the Leading Edge of the Swarm formations sail through the Gap and get bracketed with fire

locks from the very animal ships that were just fleeing as they flipped their ships with their thrusters and were now drifting backwards with all their bow weapons pointed towards the Gap hundreds of animal ships fired at the same time and a solid wall of grapeshot rail gun slugs missiles and plasma bolts slammed into the project path of the Fist formation with an accuracy The Hive mother had not seen for a long time the results were devastating as she felt hundreds of thousands of worker drone mines ripped away from her the entire front of the Fist

formation was peeled open and the hive ships were now exposed the same animal ships fired again just before they drifted backwards out of weapons range and another volley of death penetrated the mass of Hive ships destroying two of them outright and severely damaging several more then she angrily watched as those Spirit ships that she couldn't sense and had left at the beginning of the battle suddenly flashed out of null space in the middle of the Swarm formation executing turns and Maneuvers that were impossible for a ship containing animals the spirit ships accelerated to speeds that

defied the hive mother's comprehension and speared right through the center of the hive ship formation firing triple shots of plasma bolts and Powerful particle beams that punched right through the tough or organic hides of the hive ships The Hive ships fired back thousands of particle beams reaching out to hit the spirit ships and most of them missing as the spirit ships jined the target locks with high G evasive maneuvers they continued leaving a path of chaos and destruction until most of the spirit ships flashed back into null space when they got through the formation some

Spirit ships had damaged engines and were unable to make the transition to null space and despite evasive maneuvers were destroyed as particle be found them at the same time the thousands of tiny ships that had poured out from the animal Hive ships hit the now disordered formation angrily buzzing around like the corpse gnats that infested The Hive cemeteries the gnat ships fired penetrator missiles that speared into the hulls of the Cruisers And Hive ships and the missiles final booster stages kicked on penetrating deeper into the ships before triggering their antimatter charges Cruiser And Hive ship

hulls were sucked in and then blown out by the antimatter charges ripping great gouges in the hulls that spewed out thousands of worker drones the Gat ships then targeted the massive Hull breaches firing more missiles and adding in the Firepower of their rotary plasma turrets that shot dozens of bolts a second causing massive secondary explosions deep inside the hulls the Cruisers And Hive ships fired their point defense weapons to great effect and natat ships fell by the hundreds from the Swarm lasers but they kept attacking and destroying more Cruisers And Hive ships oblivious to the

wholesale Slaughter they were experiencing finally out of weapons and low on fuel the remaining guts started executing ever Maneuvers as they retreated the he MOA watched with Glee as the point defenses started getting Target locks to swat down hundreds of more gnats as they fled right before the point defenses fired those cursed Spirit ships flashed back out of null space on the outskirts of the now broken fist formation at full acceleration and drove into the center firing triple shots and targeting ships that still had functional Point defenses with particle beams they seemed to work as

one unit focused entirely on disrupting the target locks and destroying already heavily damaged Cruisers And Hive ships The Hive mother took control of all the weapon worker drones and started targeting all the particle beams on a single Spirit ship and watched as it was speared by hundreds of beams from all directions and exploded unable to jinx hundreds of Target locks she picked another Spirit ship and fired again destroying another Spirit ship the NAT ships took advantage of the cover and fled out of the formation streaming back to their animal Hive ships the spirit ships now

through the broken formation headed towards open space and flashed back into n space as another Spirit ship was speared by hundreds of beams and exploded the high Hive mother took control of a nearby worker drone and surveyed the space around her Hive ship in shock with a rapidly expanding debris field all around her now much smaller formation as many Hive ships listed out of control racked by Massive Internal explosions The Hive mother took the momentary lull in battle to reach out to her swarm daughter swarm daughter are you there The Hive mother thought there was

no answer and she tried again swarm daughter she felt her swarm daughter's presence in her mind mind suddenly and it was full of panic and indecisiveness swarm daughter I will take over sleep The Hive mother sent a mental command that she used to put her Queen daughters to sleep and took over the commander drone of her swarm daughter's Hive ship the Drone didn't resist it couldn't suddenly The Hive ship crew noticed that the commander drone was staring at them with eyes filled with an intelligence that penetrated their minds while releasing Queen hormones they detected the

pheromones accepting the change and went back to their tasks the commander drone gently picked up her now sleeping swarm daughter and commanded nearby worker drones to bring her to her Queen Chambers The Hive mother assumed the Swarm Queen's position on the dis in the center of the command chamber and tried to get her bearings she commanded the weapons drones to start firing all their lasers and missiles at the animal formations in the distance hoping to create some buffer room as she brought order to her rapidly dwindling formation she once again started flitting throughout the formation

and got worker drone views from all angles and realized just how perilous her situation was the animal battleships wings that had blasted off to the flanks in the beginning of the battle were now completing their turns and were maneuvering to envelop her formation while hundreds of tiny animal Cruisers were intercepting most of her missiles and jamming her laser Fire Control causing locking issues against the larger animal ships I need to get this swarm out of here the hive mother thought to herself as she watched an animal Cruiser that was heavily damaged Ram into another Hive

ship causing catastrophic damage as it speared right into its side and the crew of the animal Cruiser overloaded their core The Hive ship disappeared in a mini Supernova that took out another Hive ship and dozens of Cruisers over a thousand animal ships were already destroyed but they kept coming and engaging her increasingly smaller swarm she watched as the incoming animal Battleship Wings entered her formation and engage her remaining Hive ships in a slugging match as they fired massive broadsides of grapeshot and 24-in depleted uranium rail gun slugs less than a kilometer away from the massive

Hive ships as the grapeshot obliterated the point defenses the rail gun slugs blasted giant holes into the hulls with some of the Slugs passing entirely through and creating even more massive exit breaches on the other side of the hive ships the battleships and heavy Cruisers then targeted the breaches with their secondary plasma turrets and thousands of heavy plasma bolts added to the Carnage as they dug ever deeper into the gaping holes in the mortally wounded Hive ships the human battleships and heavy Cruisers looked like a school of fish among a podt of whales but the

ferocity of their assault and their deadly weapons destroyed 11 more Hive ships while leaving the the broken hulks of 42 battleships and 132 heavy Cruisers in the wake of their charge through her formation just as the surviving Battleship wings were flashing back into null space the remaining Spirit ships jumped back in and once again weaved through her formation breaking up her Counterattack and destroying another five heavily damaged Hive ships The Hive mother was too shocked to respond to the spirit ship incursion and they flashed back into null space unscathed no more The Hive mother thought

to herself as she decided to end the battle the remnants of the Swarm were now condensed into a small perfectly spherical formation of 14 undamaged Hive ships and 400 Cruisers and their battle momentum was already carrying them towards the inner system The Hive mother seeing how the rest of the animal fleet was out of position as they flashed out of null space and tried to reorder their battle formations to attack her again felt a fleeting moment of safety the now much smaller swarm headed towards the inner system as she commanded her weapons worker drones to

continue firing in an arc that provided full coverage as she felt the hive ship engines continue to send power to the n space capacitors as the hive mother sensed the capacitors nearing their full charge the Swarm formation passed the orbit of the fourth planet and ran into the stealth Minefield that was laid by the human destroyers The Hive mother watched from the commander drone eyes as thousand of tiny objects started to appear out of nowhere and accelerate towards her remaining ships latching onto the hulls what is this she thought to herself as the first of

the mines triggered their charges and started blasting chunks out of the hulls there were so many of them that Cruisers And Hive ships were suffering catastrophic decompressions as the hundreds of small Hull breaches were beyond their ability to seal as she watched more Hive ships suffer decompressions and eject thousands of more worker drones through the breaches she saw hundreds of the tiny mines heading in the direction of the hive ship she was on no she wailed in her mind as she saw that it was too late to eject the Queen's chamber where her swarm daughter

was sleeping as hundreds of meanies latched onto the hea ship and triggered their charges D it the hive mother couldn't finish the thought and screamed in agony as she was ripped from the commander drone's mind as the hive ship suffered violent decompression The Hive mother felt her mind suddenly rush back into her body in her brood chamber on the queen world and she reeled from the loss of her swarm daughter as she silently screamed with an anguish she had never felt before she immediately started feeling her other Queen daughters trying to comfort her and share

in her pain I must save what remains of the Swarm she thought as she blocked them out she jumped her vision back to worker drones on the surviving Hive ships and watched in sadness as those drones also died in the minefield in the end only two Hive ships and 34 Cruisers were able to make the jump to null space The Hive mother trembled with rage and lashed out at a male drone who chose an unfortunate time to enter her brood chamber lifting him up and tearing him in half at the junction between his thorax and

abdomen she tossed the two pieces of the male drone onto the floor and watched as he twitched in his death throws chiding herself for the loss of the genetic DNA she just wasted in a fit of rage she felt her 11 remaining Queen daughters trying to reach her mind and she lifted the block and let them in as she felt their thoughts and feelings mingle with hers she lamented the death of her swarm daughter and the other Queen daughters joined in flooding her mind with thoughts of Vengeance my daughters not since the great persecution has

a queen been killed in battle and these animals killed your sister before I could take her memories and share them with you she thought to them feeling their sorrow as they came to terms with the loss of their sister mind and the end of a precious genetic line the grief coming from her Queen daughters threatened to overwhelm The Hive mother and she let it wash over her fueling her rage daughters we will swarm decide among yourselves who will build the Swarms and who will stay behind to defend the hives do not intrude on my thoughts

until you have decided she felt her Queen daughters honor her wishes and leave her mind as she sat there there alone she gathered all the thoughts of the drones she inhabited during the battle and with near perfect recall replayed the entire battle from start to finish examining it from all angles as it replayed again and again as the hive mother's powerful brain collated billions of data points and analyzed the tactics of the unknown animal ships she felt a stirring deep inside her genetic memories as her ancestor Hive mothers struggled to make themselves known after centuries

of of Silence one ancient Hive mother reached out and shared her memories from the great persecution and the migration that led them to this area of space as images of ancient battles and entire genetic lines lost from Queen deaths played across her mind she felt an emotion from the ancient Hive mother that she never knew before as she resumed analyzing the battle with the unknown animals she put a name to the emotion and it suddenly washed over her rendering her senseless fear ilani home system Earth year 2172 ad as we watched the insectoids start to

accelerate towards the Republic Fleet C father expanded the hollow wave projection so that it took up almost the entire wall of the den he inputed his retired government credentials into the satellite and drone Network and more projections popped up showing multiple angles of the battle space I watched as the Republic Fleet held its ground with its battleship formations blasting towards the sides and the frig and destroyers assuming position in front of the fleet the sensor Network provided information as it listed and categorized the ship classes and functions and I saw that the unknown ships that

had just flashed out were now listed as null ships I tapped the floating icon and read aloud as the information provided by the Republic Fleet scrolled by these null ships have no Crews and controlled by battle Ai and the hulls are infused with null space particles they are powered by antimatter reactors and are listed as stealth battle Cruisers C father grunted and looked at me I told you these humans are far more capable than the Commonwealth gave them credit for I held my tongue still not believing fully that the humans could win I closed out

the info screen and watched as the insectoids accelerated towards the Republic Fleet closing the Gap the frigates started falling back while the Destroyer squadrons used their thrust and started to head both above and below the plane of the ecliptic the center of the Republic lines seemed to explode in a starburst pattern as the heavy Cruisers that anchored that section blasted out in a frenzy and fled I knew it we are dead I thought to myself as I watched the humans abandon the center of their battle lines I saw birthmother put her head in her hands

and start crying while sarfa still had a stupid grin on his face the insectoids burned their engines and adjusted their course slightly to take advantage of the now completely open center of the Republic Fleet and I knew it was over right then and there as the insectoid fleet headed towards the Gap I watched in confusion as the ships that were fleeing suddenly executed pinpoint flips with their positional thrusters and they were now cruising backwards at 30,000 km an hour all the bows of their ships pointed at the Gap that the insectoids were headed towards what

is happening I yelled out as s father shushed me and the fleeing republic ships fired the hollow wave screen flared brightly before it compensated and I stared in stunned shock as the sheer volume of weapons fire that came from the Republic Fleet smashed right into the Gap now occupied by the insectoid fleet and hundreds of Cruisers protecting the front of the formation vanished in an instant the drifting republic ships fired again and now I saw two Hive ships explode While others were damaged the Republic frigates that had pulled back now surged forward intercepting the tremendous

missile volley that was fired by the insectoid formation with particle beams and plasma turrets that lit up the battle space with terawatts of raw energy and swatted down thousands of missiles the remaining missiles that survived the first layer of Defense then found themselves hurtling towards a solid wall of millions of tungsten ball bearings as the frig shot hundreds of of canisters of grape shot per second the grape shot shredded through the remains of the insectoid missile volley and the remaining ball bearings continued accelerating smashing into the formation and tearing apart numerous Cruisers meanwhile the Destroyer

squadrons that had gone above and below the ecliptic were now in those positions relative to the oncoming insectoid formation they opened fire with their respective ventral and dorsal plasma rail gun turrets and Hyper velocity 30 minut miton Gatling guns as they strafed the formation slicing through the upper and lower shell of Cruisers like a buzs saw hundreds of insectoid Cruisers sloughed off the formation as they were ripped apart by plasma bolts and 30 mm Hypersonic slugs that tore through them and peppered The Hive ships inside the formation the Destroyers finished their strafing run and headed

out to open space leaving behind over 150 broken and exploding Republic hulls as the insectoid formation counterattacked and thousands of particle beams reached out and sliced through them the insectoids fired another volley of thousands of missiles that chased after the Destroyers the screening frigs then leapt forward and activated their countermeasure Suites and point defense systems and destroyed or jammed a large percentage of the volley though dozens more destroyers fell to the onslaught Cy father hung his head down and quietly pressed pray to the maker to preserve their souls as we watched thousands of human lives

being extinguished before our very eyes I started crying in shame and asked for forgiveness for thinking they were cowards as I watched them throw themselves into the battle with wild abandon abruptly hundreds of null space flashes appeared inside the fist formation itself and the null ships appeared rapidly firing triple shots of plasma bolts and slicing through the hive ship hulls with heavy particle beam they were accelerating at speeds that seemed impossible and the evasive maneuvers they employed easily broke the few Target locks that found them as the insectoid beams could not seem to lock onto

the null particle hulls and thousands of beams speared the battle space hitting nothing working in groups of four the null ships targeted specific Hive ships with exquisite Fire Control and as they passed one target another group of four would come from another Direction and hit the same area of the hive ship hulls blasting open great rents that ejected bodies and Frozen fluids the null ships continued moving on through the formation leaving an apocalyptic scene of Destruction behind them as they flashed out with a few of them finally being destroyed as they failed to enter null

space as soon as the null ships flashed out thousands of star Fighters entered The Fray and hit the reeling formation with Fury firing penetrator missiles that dug deep into their tar targets before tearing out huge sections of the holes with antimatter explosions s father yelled out and pumped his fists in solidarity with the starf fighter pilots as he himself was a planetary defense pilot before he went into government Service as we watched The Hive ships being mobbed by the star Fighters we saw dozens of them blinking out every minute as they fell to the point

defenses and continued pressing on despite the Carnage they were devastating the formation as hive ships starting listing rucked with massive interel explosions while Cruisers were being obliterated as the star feers targeted their whole breaches with their turrets the star Fighters finished their assault and fled towards open space having lost over a thousand fighters in their ferocious assault the null ships returned flashing out of null space already at full acceleration and ripped right through the bleeding formation there seemed to have been a change in tactics by the insectoids as their weapons fire was now much more

effective and individual null ships started exploding under an onslaught of hundreds of beams that they could not evade as they weaved through the formation wreaking havoc and finishing off wounded Hive ships dozens more null ships were destroyed before they flashed back into null space the insectoid formation then started to contract in size as it continued onward leaving burning wreckage and exploding ships that stretched like a trail of fire behind it marking its passage like a bleeding Comet entire wings of Republic heavy Cruisers took advantage of the insectoids momentary repositioning and strafed the sides of the

formation with heavy broadsides of 16-in rail guns and secondary plasma turrets smashing through the cruiser screening Force damaged insectoid Cruisers fell out of formation creating gaps that the heavy Cruisers then fired plasma bolts and missiles through as they sailed past damaging and destroying several more hive ships the formaton counter attack it with thousands of missiles and particle beams and destroyed 112 aivi Cruisers and damaged duckon more before they got safely out of weapon's rangi birthmother loudly gasped and I looked at the infographic that suddenly popped up on the side of the hollow wave screen as

the number of republic ships destroyed and damaged were rapidly revised and the killed and wounded tally was already over 200,000 casualties and trending upwards birth mother mother turned her head away from the rapidly Rising numbers and buried her head into s father's chest crying and murmuring all those poor people when will it end as sah father sat there with a grim expression and tear-filled eyes his shaking hands tightly bowled into fists I felt myself racked with emotions and fled outside to the deck to stem the tide I took shuddering gasps as I looked up into

the sky grateful to see only Blackness and Stars unmarred by exploding ships and the drifting corpses of our protectors I took a few deep breaths calming myself and then urinated into the forest canopy relieving my poor bladder that had been screaming at me for over 3 hours since the start of the battle I ran back inside to find only s father sitting there where is birthmother I asked she has had enough her heart can't take any more death leave her be he replied sounding like he was reaching the end of his own limit I sat

down quietly and watched as a heavily damaged Republic Cruiser altered course and blasted towards a lagging Hive ship and rammed right it sinking almost halfway into the hull there was an eerie moment as the two ships silently spun together in a Grizzly dance before the cruiser overloaded their core and blanked out the hollow wave screen it adjusted for the sudden burnout and there was nothing left of those two ships while a nearby Hive ship and dozens of Cruisers nearby were outright destroyed by the core breach then the battleship Wings smashed through the formation and the

sheer violence of their passage seemed improbable considering how small the battleships and heavy Cruisers were compared to the hive ships as the decimated Battleship Wings completed their attack runs and headed towards the safety of open space the N ships flashed back in and finished off any damaged Hive ships that were still functional and flashed back into null space with no loss now the insectoid formation started Contracting in size and rearranging the formation until it was a perfect sphere and accelerated towards the inner system while the Republic Fleet was flashing in and out of null space

trying to reorganize their dispersed formations and pursue as the insectoid formation got near the fourth planet I started getting scared as they seem to be heading directly towards our planet which was the second from our sun a new C countdown appeared in the corner of the screen showing the time before the arrival of the formation at elania the Republic Fleet had left a carrier task force two Battleship wings and several hundred frigs and destroyers to supplement the less than two dozen elani warships we had left in system as a last line of defense a diagram

popped up showing the main Republic Fleet icons and their relative position to the advancing formation clearly showing that they could not intercept them in time since their n space capacitors were not charged enough and their relative velocity was not enough to close the gap in time that's not enough to stop them I yelled out panicking s father just raised a hand silencing me as he leaned closer to the hollow wave screen with a terrifyingly feral expression and simply said wait I felt the sudden urge to urinate again as the seconds ticked by in the formation

pass the fourth planet heading closer to elania all the sudden there were thousands of pinpoint explosions all throughout the formation and insectoid cruisers And Hive ships started exploding and careening out of control and suffering massive decompressions the sensor drones suddenly zoomed in and we could see Tiny objects seemed to Shimmer into existence and suddenly accelerate towards the remaining ships and latch on and then explode now the formation was a mere shell and it seemed to suddenly lose all control and break cohesion ships started drifting and colliding with each other as they lumbered deeper into the

Minefield making no attempt to change course or even save themselves suddenly the last two remaining Hive ships and 30 odd Cruisers flashed into null space and it was over scif father and I sat in stunned silence and he suddenly leapt up and screamed take that you Ki ish katuk I heard birthmother loudly gasp from the other room and she came into the den and yelled nto language as I turned my head head and blushed in mortification at his words he laughed at the admonishment from birthmother and grabbed me and hugged me tightly birthmother came over

and added her arms and we all just quietly wept in relief shaking and exhausted a little while later I was sitting in my chair and trying to keep my eyes open as we waited to hear official confirmation that the insectoid Menace was over and that elania was finally safe when a please standby message appeared on the hollow wave screen an image came up showing a menacing bird of prey with its wings spread out with one foot clutching a type of branch in its Talons while the other was clutching some type of pointed sticks or spears

the bird looked like it wanted to fly out of the screen and tear my face off underneath the vicious bird was a stylized Banner with human words across it libertas oppresses Moors oppressor Reus which our translator rendered into Galactic standard as freedom to the oppressed death to the the oppressors a few seconds later Admiral Thompson appeared on the screen looking Haggard and as if he aged 10 solar Cycles since he spoke to us just 8 hours ago behind him on the bridge we could see damaged consoles and ruptured conduits and there were significantly less humans

at their data screens than before he gazed into the Holo camera and started speaking the insectoid fleet has been eliminated and our long-range Scouts report that there are are no signs of insectoid ships within 100 light years I hereby declare the elani system to be secure we have won a great victory at a great cost we will continue to remain here for the time being as we repair our battle damage and send out search and rescue craft to recover survivors and are honored Dead from the void he paused and his voice wavered slightly as he

continued speaking any civilian ships that wish to help may do so your assistance would be greatly appreciated as time is of the essence to reach survivors before air Runs Out medical personnel are also needed as we have far more wounded than we have the capacity to care for now please coordinate any rescue efforts through your government which is now setting up a link system portal to streamline the process and get you to where you are needed he then took a deep breath and reached into a pocket on his chest and took out a folded Square

he unfolded it and said this was written by President Lopez and it is a message that I was to read to you if we emerged Victorious and saved your world he started reading if Admiral Thompson is reading this letter then that means we have achieved Victory and saved you from Extinction I want you to know that no matter the cost in lives ships and treasure the Republic will always be at your side until The Bitter End you once reached your hands out to us in friendship and good will when we were a young species taking

our first steps into the unknown you helped us grow learn and most importantly of all you were steadfast friends who accepted us for what we are and helped guide us you have shown us that you are a good decent people and you have earned our trust our loyalty and our love any hand raised against you is raised against us now and always we will never forget your friendship and kindness and now we are forever bonded in blood you will never be alone again the Admiral stopped reading his eyes brimmed with tears and carefully folded the

paper back up and placed it into his chest pocket he looked back into the hollow camera and simply stated that is all for now letun get to work people and the transmission ended all three of us were openly weeping and continued to do so for a long time afterwards Queen world of the insectoid Empire 2173 ad The Hive mother concentrated as the glands on her thorax continued excreting silk as she deafly added it to the construct in front of her marveling at the shape that was coming into being as she worked rapidly finishing it she

then willed an organ inside of her to create a specific harmonic frequency and directed it at the construct watching the silk respond to the frequency and crystallize The Hive mother then stared at it envisioning it all the way down to its individual atoms and then focused on imprinting her Essence on it she felt a brief surge of pleasure as she received a thought Echo and then ordered one of her attending worker drones to bring it to a relay ship that was waiting for it she imprinted the spatial coordinates that she wanted the focuser to be

dropped at into the drone's mind and watched it leave she had sent out dozens of relay ships to bolster her thought range in preparation for the swarming with the focuses being dropped deeper into animal territory than ever before she had been forced to make several changes because of the battle with the unknown animals such as no longer placing fertilized L on the hive ships for Rapid colonization and showing her Queen daughters how to build different ships to face the new threat The Hive mother reached out with her mind and entered a worker drone on one

of the Builder worlds and surveyed the great flat expanse that stretched for as far as the eyes could see she watched as millions of worker drones scurried about bringing in materials and fabricating the components for the were the thousands of half-finished Cruisers that dotted the landscape she left that world and entered a drone on another Builder World standing amidst hundreds of monstrous shells that would become Hive ships as tens of millions of worker drones went about their tasks she entered another drone on the other side of the planet and got her first look at the

new ships being built which was a hdisd cruiser hivy that bridged the gap between the two classes in Cay the ancient Hive mother that she communed with provided her with the design for this ancient class of Warship that was the backbone of the hive Fleet during the Great persecution and the following migration The Hive mother returned to her brood chamber and reached out to the ancient one with her thoughts and felt her stirring in response honored mother I need to know more about the persecution she thought to her she felt a momentary wave of fear

and sadness emanating from the ancient one before memories that were not her own began entering her mind the memories flashed through centuries showing a great Hive Empire that spaned many world's rich and resources with great Hive and Builder worlds teeming with hundreds of trillions of workers and thousands of Queens living in a peace that is only known to Sapient species that are alone in their area of space the memories showed their first contact with an animal species that was expanding and had come into contact with the hive Empire at first The Hive mothers tried to

talk to these animals but they never responded they did not know that animals do not share thoughts and they did not understand that the noises emanating from the animal ships were attempts at communicating the memories suddenly turned darker and now the hive mother saw thousands of animal ships entering the hive Empire destroying any ships they found in space and laying waste to entire worlds with antimatter bombs she shared in the anguish as the Ancient One felt trillions of her daughters die and hundreds of her Queen daughters perish as the bombs dropped onto the hive cities

The Hive Empire had no weapons or warships they never needed them as they did not fight Wars amongst themselves and they were always alone until now they fought back by ramming into the animal ships and destroying or disabling them and they learned how to make weapons and null space engines by bringing one of the disabled ships back to their birth world and dismantling it to learn how to construct them over the next cycle as more of their worlds were destroyed they hastily assembled a fleet of their first warships And Hive ships and prepared to defend

their birth world the animal ships entered the system and advanced no further than the asteroid belt lingering there for almost a solar month The Hive mothers and daughter Queens did not know what to do having no experience Waging War so they just waited as their confusion over these animal actions grew suddenly they saw thousands of asteroids streaming towards their Fleet at speeds far faster than should have been possible they fired their weapons for the first time missing many of them as they did not know how to track targets while other weapons malfunctioned they watched in

horror as the asteroids smashed into their Fleet wiping out hundreds of their ships while thousands of asteroids entered the atmosphere and impacted creating shock waves that could be seen from space as massive fires spread out and gigatons of soil were ejected into the atmosphere the few surviving Hive mothers and daughter queens that were in the tattered remains of the fleet were all that remained of their entire civilization and they fled leaving behind their birth world as it was consumed by global fires and rapidly being shrouded in darkness they fled into the unknown for Cycles as

the animal ships hounded them attacking them whenever they tried to establish a new Hive and chasing them over thousands of light years finally the animal ships stopped harrying them but they continued migrating for another 100 Cycles before they felt safe enough to start a new Hive World in an area of space that showed no signs of any space fairing animals The Hive mother reeled in anguish as she came to terms with the near destruction of her entire race and the actions of the first animals they had ever come across thank you honored mother for sharing

with me the hive mother thought as she felt the Ancient One receding from her mind mind the hive mother turned her thoughts back to the unknown animals she fought and the violence of their actions mourning the loss of her daughter Queen She recalled the many victories her Empire had with the animals over the last 50 Cycles as they expanded in search for more worlds to colonize with hives The Hive mother who ruled before her did not want to expand and engage in conflict with the animals but still saw them as enemies even as she avoided

antagonizing them I had to expand there are too many mouths to feed and not enough resources on our few worlds she thought to herself as she once again obsessed over her first defeat these unknown animals are a danger and I must finish off the old animals first and take their worlds for hives if we are to survive the hive mother then recalled the battle as she had done thousands of times already playing out scenarios for what she would do the next time she faced this new enemy she had a sudden moment of inspiration from the

newly acquired memories of the great persecution and reached out to her remaining 11 daughter Queens they entered her mind and waited for her thoughts I need you to find a way to move asteroids and use them as Weapons we do not have enough ships to attack the animal core worlds and destroy their Fleet and the defenses they have we will use the asteroids and bombard their ships and worlds she finished feeling the confusion in her Queen daughter's Minds as they tried to understand what she wanted go and figure out a way to do this before

the animals are strong again the queen daughters left her mind and the hive mother noticing that it was the night cycle put herself into her dormant State dreaming of asteroids smashing into animal worlds helani home system 2173 ad it has been eight solar months since the Battle of elania and I can barely recognize my own home system after the battle ended tens of thousands of of our civilian ships streamed out from our world and their hiding places deep in the system to help the Republic Fleet to search for survivors among the wreckage and bring their

wounded to our medical centers what remained of our contingent that was detached from the Commonwealth Fleet arrived a day after the battle limping into the system and in no shape to fight after their prior combat against the insectoids in Commonwealth space they received a hero's welcome and the Republic Fleet seeing the sad state that they were in and their willingness to confront the insectoid fleet alone rendered them honors the Republic Fleet lined up on both sides of the assigned course for thousands of kilometers and displayed their battle colors and fired training rounds in salute as

the pitiful remnants of our Defense Forces passed through them and headed towards our world many of the republic ships also displayed a hologram depicting a broom sweeping from side to side which we later learned was a human euphemism for a clean sweep a week after the battle a large Convoy of hundreds of Freighters arrived from Republic space bringing much needed supplies to restock and refit their ships there was another smaller Convoy of massive fabricator ships that also arrived and in the span of a solar month they already had three Republic shipyards built in orbit around

our planet the fabricator ships were fed by a continuous stream of ore that was extracted from our two two asteroid belts by automated mining drone ships they refined the ore and fabricated the components that would be used to construct the shipyards and later the defense systems the Republic constructed to fortify our system the damaged ships that were still able to enter null space headed back to Republic space for repair and refit while the more heavily damaged ones that could not stayed in system affecting what repairs they could until the shipyards came online when I commented

on how impressed I was that they could build three military shipyards in such a short time s father dismissed it he told me that the Republic had over 200 such shipyards in their space rendering me speechless I asked him why they would have so many when they haven't fought a conflict in over 100 cycles and he remarked the humans have a saying if you want peace prepare for war I couldn't fathom the vast War Machine they had at their disposal especially compared to the Commonwealth that used to be almost four times as large as the

Republic and only had 20 shipyards dedicated to building warships this was the first time I had a concept of just how little I really knew about Our Saviors after they finished constructing their shipyards they also built two more military shipyards to elani specifications so that we had the ability to create our own warships since we could not count on using the Commonwealth shipyards anymore this caused considerable turmoil within the government and our people as we were one of the the first members and have been in the Commonwealth for almost 200 Cycles the final act that

forever cut our ties with the Commonwealth was three solar months after the battle an official Commonwealth government Envoy arrived at the elani system and had the goal to tell us that we were overdue on our taxes and threatened to sanction us for allowing a foreign military to establish a presence in our system our government dithered seeming to be unwilling to end our membership despite their betrayal and leaving us to face the in seids on our own it was Admiral Thompson who decided the issue for us when he caught word of what was happening and sent

a message to the Commonwealth Envoy the message was just two words get bent and Republic task forces surrounded the Commonwealth ships with weapons charged and locked they escorted the Commonwealth ships under protest to the outer system and told them that any further violations of elani territorial space would be construed as an act of War the envoy threatened dire repercussions to both the Republic and elania before their ships flashed into null space the following two solar months were a whirlwind of activity as hundreds of thousands of humans landed on elania to help integrate Republic systems and

Tech into our own to streamline our Cooperative efforts Republic and eliani scientists were scouring the wreckage of the insectoid ships trying to glean insights into their technology and weapons to prepare for the coming battle and develop better armor and more effective weapon systems CA was recalled back to his old post to serve as ambassador to the Republic as our government started negotiations to determine what type of relationship we would have with the Republic going forward a large percentage of our executive Council and the population wanted to formally join the Republic but surprisingly it was the

humans themselves who quietly rejected this proposal stating that we should know know what it is to be truly free and stand on our own two feet before making that decision president Lopez made her first official visit for the memorial service held on the sixth solar month anniversary of the battle I always marveled at the variety of sizes shapes and colors the humans displayed but I was shocked when I saw her walking down the ramp to greet our Premier she was shorter than most humans I had seen and small framed but her presence and sense of

purpose made her seemed like she was larger than everyone around her I learned later that she served 20 years as a Pathfinder one of the most lethal operators in the Republic military for the ceremony it was decided that the large number of Republic deaths made it impossible to hold a traditional reading of the names instead our government asked for permission to honor them in the Alani way and the humans agreed in the Central Square of our Capital there were over half a million elani and hundreds of thousands of humans while in the surrounding districts there

were Millions more elani the ceremony started and I was enveloped by the loudest silence I ever heard Slowly by the thousands small holographic globers of light rose up and hovered above the crowd the lights got larger and transformed into the shapes of the heeds and the oer torsos of the humans they represented displaying their names ages and the ships they served on after a few moments they returned to being Globes of light and started ascending Towards the Sky until they accelerated and burst into Spears of light that shot into space as if joining the heavens

themselves another batch of thousands of globes arose and then another this continued until the last lights joined the heavens and all 167,50 38 dead and Mia had made their Journey the emotional undercurrent was so strong that you could feel it in the air as the millions of attendees grieved and the Republic and elani delegations openly wept the next day president Lopez addressed the executive Council and laid forth her vision moving forward she called for the creation of a military exchange program to integrate our forces and to train the elani in what she called The Republic

Way by posting elani ship Crews on human vessels and creating an entire class of elani cadets that will travel to Republic space and go through their training program she requested that the executive Council adopt a wartime posture declaring the Battle of elania only the first of many battles to come she then showed the council intelligence from Republic spy drones that had infiltrated insectoid space showing thousands upon thousands of ships in various stages of construction on several Worlds the spy drones also showed that the insectoids still had ships patrolling their space that were equivalent to twice

the size of the fleet that invaded the Commonwealth she waited until the council had a chance to absorb the information and then started speaking we lost more than 1,000 ships and over 1,500 Fighters but we cannot afford to wait the Republic does not start wars but we finish them she paused looking around the council with a penetrating gaze she continued speaking we do not believe in the concept of a defense Ive War once engaged with the Enemy the Commonwealth did and look where that got them we believe in Striking hard and fast and we will

always move forward the only way to win is to drive into the heart of the enemy and destroy their ability to make war finished with what she had to say she put away her papers and opened the floor for questions or concerns none were raised and she then dropped a bombshell onto the chamber before you deliberate I have one good piece of news there is a zenin delegation on its way to elania and they should arrive in 2 days they have decided to end their membership within the Commonwealth when they found out that you were

abandoned and they have seized control of all Commonwealth military vessels within their territory they are bringing those ships with them and they are also coming to form an alliance and to sign a mutual defense pact with the Republic and the elani sovereignty there were loud Hoots of approval from the council in interspersed with laughter as the zenin were well known to be an unruly member and a constant source of exasperation to the Commonwealth president Lopez left the chamber and as the council deliberated s father took me outside for fresh air you will reach the age

of decision in two solar months and go from a youngling to Growing your first gray hairs that Mark a manling do you know what you are to do he asked looking at me earnestly I had already made my decision but I put on a good sh of thinking about it before I answered I looked him in the eyes and puffed out my chest banging it twice with my fists I want to join the cadet class and fight for our world as I said the words I deflated a little as I felt the weight of what

I just said hit me and pull down my momentary courage s father beamed at me with pride and hugged me Whispering into my ear you are the greatest gift a s father could ever ask for I am proud of you he let me go and turned away tears was falling down his face please do not tell your birth mother yet I will break the news to her when the time is right we walked back into the chamber together having passed through that moment when a s father loses a youngling but gains a manling two solar

months later I am now on a republic Cruiser waiting with the rest of my Cadet class to flash out I am looking at a holographic overlay of my home system and I find myself in awe I went from being convinced that we were all going to die to looking at my home system and feeling bad for the insectoids if they ever decided to come back there are hundreds of Warships patrolling the system while hundreds more are patrolling Interstellar space within 200 light years massive forts are littered throughout the system and there are thousands of Defense

satellites and millions of what the humans call mosquito mines because they just come out of nowhere and bite you as I watch The Flash out countdown get closer to zero I think back to this morning and see birthmother ringing her hands in apprehension afraid that her youngling is going to come back bloodlusted I see CA looking at me with pride and gifting me his Pilot wings I look at all the frightened elani Cadets around me that are thinking the same thoughts as I am out of nowhere a human in uniform comes running at us with

bulging veins on his forehead and his eyes looking like they wanted to pop out of his skull he is screaming at us and we Flinch as his spittle sprays across our faces not under understanding what is happening he hits his forehead seeming to remember something and activates the translator device hanging off his harness suddenly his words hit us like a hammer as the translator kicks in I am your drill instructor and you have five godamn seconds to get to your births before I rip your monkey heads off your necks and use your esophagus as a

[ __ ] urinol move move move we scatter and Run for Our Lives not knowing where the hell we are supposed to go uninhabited system three 3.5 parex from the queen World Earth year 2173 ad the queen watched the asteroid start to accelerate slowly as dozens of small Harvesters activated their thrusters and continued mining for fuel the asteroid gained more acceleration as the Harvesters continued to extract the necessary elements as their feeder arms added more ore for processing fed by a constant source of fuel the thrusters continued propelling the large mass of rock and metal

towards it Target a lifeless Planet a few hours later the queen felt conflicting emotions and thoughts fighting a war inside her as the asteroid disappeared in the distance and continued its trajectory now hurtling through space at over 150,000 kilm an hour I have always been different from the others she thought to herself as she replayed her entire existence from when she first emerged from her cocoon till where she was now she did not have the same thought thoughts as her sister queens and the hive mother and she was always ashamed of her weakness and hid

it from them always afraid of being detected she compartmentalized that part of her strangeness and buried it deep inside of her trying to make it go away as she went about her duties as a queen as she retreated into herself she remembered the revulsion and shame she felt when she shared in her sister's thoughts while she swarmed through the animal worlds and killed billions of innocent animals Visions passed through her as she watched entire worlds glass with nuclear bombardments and bodies of water flashed boiled by thousands of particle beams as they stabbed at the planets

from orbit she imagined the terror and pain the animals felt as they died and her Essence recoiled at the want and death and destruction that it was being exposed to you are just as guilty she accused herself as she was the one of all her sisters who developed the Harvesters following the hive mother's command to find a way to move asteroids the internal conflict threatened to overwhelm her and she left the command dis and retreated to her Queen Chambers and tried to assert control over herself the visions of death and Agony now became a tidal

wave that swept her away and she stopped resisting letting herself drown in it time passed and the queen drifted alone in a terrifying darkness that was devoid of meaning and life as she felt the dread Mount inside of her she suddenly saw herself through billions of fractals as she drifted on the surface of a black ocean and realized that others were watching her as the realization that she was not alone came to her she saw a long line of her genetic ancestors stretch away from her to the beginnings of their race The Black Ocean turned

into an endless plane of obsidian glass and she started walking down the line of her ancestors as she felt their thoughts awaken inside of her she Reed herself for the accusations of betrayal to come and curled into a protective ball waiting none came she uncurled slightly and peaked out suspecting a trap when nothing happened she fully uncurled and stood up screaming at her ancestors with her thoughts what are you waiting for I am ready to be judged they looked at her sadly and she felt their thoughts enter her mind carrying not judgment but pity and

understanding she wept as she felt them console her and remind her that she was not alone for she carried them within her they left her mind and she saw one of her ancestors step away from the others and fly over to her she was an ancient Hive mother and she was Majestic a specimen of a Time long ago when her ancestors were larger and still resided only on their birth World daughter of ours you called out to us with your essence and have stirred us from our Slumber the pain you carry has allowed us to

awaken without without you going through the change that only a hive mother experiences when she takes control of the hives she then proceeded to clasp her tassel claws with the queen and they flew off together leaving the black void behind them the queen found herself back in her Chambers as she emerged from her vision and she felt the new presence of all her genetic ancestors within her and they imbued her with feelings of support and love as they receded she became aware of her commander drone outside her Chambers releasing pheromones indicating that she was needed

the queen left her Chambers and followed the commander drone and resumed her place on the command dis The Hive ship had flashed to a stationary position 800,000 kilometers from the lifeless planet and the queen saw the incoming asteroid on the projector screen as it hurtled towards the planet and passed in front of the hive ship a few seconds later it smashed into the planet and released an unimaginable amount of of energy as it impacted there was a blinding light and the shock wave traveled across the planet igniting the methane atmosphere gigatons of soil ejected into

space and the crust heaved up and fractured for thousands of miles from the Impact Zone the planet continued its fiery rotation as it suffered from the mortal blow and the queen imagined what it would be like to be on the planet as the devastation unfolded she felt the hive mother within make her presence known and shared her thoughts The Hive mother felt horror at the devastation she was witnessing and pleaded with the queen to never allow this to happen the queen responded I have no choice I must obey the hive mother she then saw an

image from The Hive mother within showing her entering the brood chamber on the queen world and committing the only real crime in the hive Queen Death the queen recoiled from the thought and the hive mother within pressed further into her mind if you do not stop the hive mother from taking this path the hives will die and all all our memories with them you must assume control of the hives and save our race before we are exterminated by The Animals The Hive mother within her withdrew from her mind leaving the queen reeling from shock as

she looked back to the wounded Planet she felt A New Concept emerge in her mind as she battled against her instinct to obey the hive mother and save her species from Extinction she envisioned herself entering the brood chamber and taking over the hives if she was Hive mother she could try to stop the swarming and the senseless deaths the only thing she had to do was to commit the most terrible sin known to their species matricide helani system Earth year 2173 ad RSS indomitable Republic Flagship the human scientist was sleeping on her desk when a

strident alert pierced her dreaming startling her awake she lifted her head and stared at the screen half awake ready to pressed the next specimen icon when she saw the neural tissue she jerked out her seat and ran towards the table the corpse was on and adjusted some parameters looking at the diagnostic screen as it confirmed the findings who oh boy she muttered excitedly as she keyed the communicator Owen get down here now she yelled as she moved the scanner arm back over the head of the corpse a few seconds later Owen came running into the

lab out of breath what is it Emily he gasped out out as he quickly started absorbing the data that was displayed on the screens oh he whispered to himself as he tried to calm himself down and looked over the scan results again slowly and confirmed what he was seeing Emily pinched the neural tissue display and flicked it onto the Large Hollow screen on the lab wall and they both gasped as details started popping up the scanner continued its deep scan of the insectoid head making thrumming noises as it moved all around around it showed a

3D representation of a folded brain with six loes that rotated while other screens showed nanoscale slices from the side and front as more information appeared on the screens this must be a queen look at the density of the cortex and the size of the mushroom bodies Emily stated as she continued changing the perspectives as she analyzed the brain structures Owen nodded in agreement and tapped an icon on a screen that showed a brain organ that was listed as uncategory IED I bet this is the command control organ that allows them to control the drones he

said and then looked at Emily smiling we are going to get a Nobel Prize for this the next day Owen and Emily were standing nervously in front of a conference table as they waited for the attendees to find their seats Admiral Thompson waited till everyone was settled and then looked at the scientists and nodded that they should begin Emily took the lead and started the presentation I am Dr Emily ariti and this is Dr Owen masiello we specialize in entomology the study of insects she looked at Owen and he started flicking scans onto the hollow

screen on the wall from his data PAD as she continued speaking we have reason to believe that one of the specimens we retrieved after the battle is a queen and these are the scan results that are being displayed she paused as the elen delegation murmured while the humans just sat there waiting Sheed continued speaking I can see from your reaction that this has never happened before so I will go ahead and continue the presentation over the next two hours both Emily and Owen took turns as they went over the scans and presented their evidence as

to why they believed this was a queen they highlighted the differences between the brains of the suspected queen and the drones and outlined their theories as to how the Queens controlled their drones and what kind of command structure would exist when they finished their presentation it was an elani neuroscientist who asked the first question in your opinion what kind of intelligence do these scans indicate to you the cortex seems highly complex and the folds coupled with the six loes indicate a highly evolved capacity for thought and information processing The two scientists looked at each other

quickly Before Emily answered based on our findings we can confidently say that the queen has the process cing power equivalent to 20 human brains possibly more there was a stirring at the table as they absorbed her response and she continued speaking everything we have seen indicates that the queen is a highly intelligent organism with the same capacity for emotion imagination and rational thought as us this coupled with her enormous processing power has helped to answer some questions we had regarding how an insectoid Hive species has developed the ability to create a techn ological civilization such

as theirs she looked at Owen and nodded to him Owen started flicking scans of the Drone brains on the hollow screen and highlighted an organ that was offset from the Drone brain and connected by a thin tube comprised of filaments initially we thought that this organ was how drones received instructions or maybe even possibly was an unused vestigial leftover since it is not part of the brain structure itself much like our appendix however the sheer density of the neurons inside of it doesn't make sense for both explanations unless you throw a queen into the equation

Owen started becoming excited as he continued to talk we now think that this serves a function much like an external data Port that the queen can access to increase her own processing power or to activate it and allow the Drone to engage in complex tasks normally beyond their abilities factoring the ability of this organ to serve both purposes over millions of drones and now you could problem solve and engage in complex tasks on a mass scale with a queen over seeing them Owen flicked some research papers onto the hollow screen and highlighted some parts as

he started speaking we have long theorized on the probability of a Sapient insect species for hundreds of years even the simple insects of our world display intelligence and sentience but we have never seen any evidence of sapience several theories have been put forth out lining how an insect species might create a technological civilization and Achieve space flight though the odds are almost impossible due to numerous factors there are three main theories on how this might be possible first that the insect civilization develops sapience and then slowly advances over millions of years due to the tech

tree bottlenecks they would experience since so few of them are capable of intelligent thought and invention two that they come into contact with another species and either through uplifting or exposure to alien technology they gain a jump start in technological ability and continue to slowly innovate over millions of years Owen paused before he continued speaking looking at Emily who nodded at him slightly to keep going three that the Queens themselves achieve a level of intelligence and capability that far surpasses that of individuals of a species that have an advanced technological Society this super intelligence for

lack of a better description would allow a species that only has a few thousand such beings to invent and innovate rapidly despite there being so few of them it took Humanity almost 100 cycles and the involvement of tens of thousands of scientists working together to create the first successful Fusion reactors if one Queen put herself to the task with a few million drones and activated their processing capabilities it might only take her 50 Cycles even less if another queen was involved Owen finished speaking and stepped back next to Emily waiting for any questions it was

Admiral Thompson who spoke first rubbing at his temples as he formulated his thoughts this is not good you are basically telling us that we are fighting a species of superintelligent wasps with absolute control over trillions of drones what effect will this have for our war effort moving forward he asked as he unhappily eyed The two scientists that had just dropped a huge crap sandwich on his already overflowing plate Emily answered first Admiral we cannot accurately predict what they will do next or what effect our Victory will have on their tactics I can tell you that

there is no doubt in my mind that the Queens have learned from the battle and have probably already run through Millions if not billions of permutations much like your AI waming dos when you run simulations as the human and elani observers start started nervously conferring among themselves Owen stepped forward and pulled up the scans of what he suspected was the queen command control organ and highlighted it I would like to add something if I may he said getting their attention I believe that this organ is what allows them to communicate with and control the drones

and I suspect that it is also the source of their telepathic abilities there has never been any recorded communication or even signal emissions from their ships that would indicate that they talk to each other they must be speaking to each other with their minds at least when it comes to the Queens Admiral Tompson put up his hand to silence The Observers as they started to respond with questions and waited for them to stop talking what are you proposing Dr marello Owen looked back at the scans thinking for a few moments and then turned back around

to face the Admiral I want to capture some living drones and a queen and bring them back here for study if we we can figure out a way to disrupt the communication between the queens and the drones we can severely disrupt their ability to function and basically decapitate their command and control abilities the Admiral sat back and stared at the scientists as he thought about the possible ramifications this would have and the dangers of attempting a Recon and ground operation in insectoid territory as all this new information threatened to make his mild headache turn into

a migraine he made his decision and pointed at the two entomologists continue your efforts and keep me updated no matter how small or trivial the information may seem submit all requests for whatever you need to my office and it will be approved immediately thank you for your informative and in-depth presentation are there any saved rounds he asked looking around the conference table there were none and he stood up indicating the presentation was over he walked over to the two scientists and shook their hands as The Observers exited the conference room when everyone had left he

smiled warmly at the two nervous scientists and simply said Well Done doctors here is my private Comm node do not hesitate to use it if you need me or run into any problems Owen took the Comm node with a sheepish Grin While Emily just stared at the Admiral in barely concealed adoration after an awkward moment of silence the Admiral clapped his hands and in a light-hearted tone said well what the hell are you still standing standing here for let's get to work he smiled to himself as he watched them hurry to the conference room door

and they both tried to get through it at the same time dropping data pads he turned away to save them from the embarrassment of realizing that he saw them and keyed his Communicator to a dual frequency he requested the commanders of the Marine Recon and Pathfinder regiments to meet him in the wardro for lunch in 30 minutes he laughed to himself as he left the conference room as they had both constantly complained for months about how their men were going soft with nothing to do on his ships maybe a prisoner snatch on an insectoid world

will finally shut them up