Transcript [EN]: OP0MTJKRC1A

Quorum of war the shant director of War watched as the last of the enemy ships burned in the vacuum of space he whistled a durge to himself as he watched an entire species fall a people too dangerous to be allowed to live amongst the fearful creatures he guarded his AIDS and crew stood silently as they awaited their orders he nodded to his arms man we obey burn their world and may the goddess keep them safe in their next molting in silence his ships let loose the worst his people had to offer offenses against the goddess and a horror to all the crew watched in silence as the missiles approached the blue and white marble hanging in space his Crest widened when the counterfire from the planet managed to destroy so many of his assets but it was stilled by the knowledge that no planet can defend against an army that holds space within moments his fire began to strike cruel nightmares that ignited the atmosphere and shattered the world itself in less than an hour the fiery Inferno and dust storms had wiped the Planet Clean of 5 billion years of history and rendered it to bedrock out of the flame a hiss Against The Rage of a burning world came a transmission he was ready to ignore it as just another pointless plea for Mercy until it called his name director of War murderer we are dead and we will not see our revenge we have sins that you never saw evils we hid from you and buried in our darkest history today we will let them loose upon you and the cowards that sent you like a knife in the dark you have killed us so at least we will not be here to answer for our sins you were afraid we will show you fear something loomed into the transmission a gray creature a thing of metal its eyes were just dark holes and its face was hidden or warped by the armor it wore we will see you soon director he swore to himself of course these lunatics had a weapon they lived by inflicting death death every day he froze his voice and issued orders that his people had never given before it is not sufficient I want the planet broken we will continue to fire nothing of these people can be allowed to stand we remain on full alert until I am certain that nothing remains His Thousand strong Fleet every Ally and co-conspirator paused briefly before resuming fire on the burning Planet it seemed perverse to many of them beating a ruined corpse but they continued the reign of Destruction until the planet itself surrendered as his missiles breached the core itself and returned the planet to a molten ball glaring at him with hate he had watched silently as his people added crime to Crime piling evil on evil one more last and final sin to be done I want that Moon sent into the remains of the planet who knows what they have hidden there as his first weapon struck they were met with silence then the moon seemed to Glow an ominous orange that quickly became a dark red then the moon shattered into millions of Parts a glittering rain of particles swiftly turning dark in the cold of space he looked at his arms man was that us the arms man looked at the numbers director I have no idea we didn't I've never used these weapons before probably the director watched as the hours passed as the debris from the Moon fell inwards towards the expanding ball of molten rock that had been a planet filled with life he had seen enough he turned to his crew stand down and take us home we have done our duty and we will probably be cursed for it but I never want to see this system again get us out of here the director stayed in his cabin and continued writing his reports so far 11 of his ships had self-destructed for a mix of reasons mostly guilt and some fearing the response of the dead he knew his own people were not the type but his allies were well gutless they had destroyed the humans out of fear and now they had discovered that fear is a deep well with no Bottom now they were afraid of ghosts as the human's last transmission had filtered quietly out to the fleet a simple transmission and they were terrified fools dead is dead and no one has ever been As Dead As the humans within the or cloud surrounding the burning world the shattered remains of the Moon waited for the enemy to leave it made no attempt to rescue the broken remains of the mining ships that had tried to defend the Fallen World it had other priorities slowly they began building a connection with home a summons and a report that would bring retribution for a crime it had sent the warning and now it would let Humanity fall upon its unexpected enemies space is dark and always ready to kill you and soon they would be the face of that Darkness far across space deep in the unexplored edges of a spiral arm a light dimmed and briefly died then revived with an ominous red color the AI responsible for monitoring the systems immediately began reporting the loss of a distant colony and old weapons stirred in their uneasy sleep s Guardian AI alert signal Quantum locked beacon on Colony 30,900 a has reported an extinction level event reports of hostile Xeno action and all inhabitants Lost Planet and Moonbase destroyed nanite Constructors are currently on route to the local ort Cloud to prepare a response monitoring is ongoing I recommend a support Fleet be deployed the creature studying the report was vaguely human-shaped but wreathed in Restless metal a skin that never stopped moving breaking into obscure patterns as he absorbed the details his Humanity was still sufficient to allow him to mourn the loss of so many children so many brave souls that had risked everything to continue the Great Adventure of the human race he summoned his peers this is Commander silverwisp I regret to report that one of our children's planets has been destroyed it was clearly an attempt at genocide they must be considered lost the faces around him were equally strange human now only in name and the ability to interbreed the Only Rule that held the disperate mutations and alterations together as a people one allowed tears to roll down her oen face startling white eyes peering out from beneath a dusting of green lashes who would do such a thing did we engage in some hostile act silver wisp shook his head the pattern swirling quickly across his face they were a first day's Colony seeking out our beginnings on a new world they took little technology with them and only the bare minimum of medical adaptation even our Beacon was exiled to their moon no threat to any space fairing race he softened his voice the people of the forests were very sentimental and easily upset especially if you threatened their arboreal planets Ambassador Rowan we will seek out Justice I called you to ask permission to send a response one of the other members stirred at that this one whose Humanity had been adjusted for the ice moons one of the few types that had almost entirely given up on breathing save for occasional speech Commander wisp waited patiently while the man constructed a painful sentence response permitted Memorial will be built ice will sing for the Lost then he fell silent apparently exhausted by the effort Ambassador Rowan's green eyebrows Rose and fell at that she had never heard one of the ice dwellers make such a long speech before although their strange culture was famed for its Ice music it was entirely instrumental in form another voice spoke one closer in form to the commander Sav that its body was plated in what looked like fine maale rather than liquid metal it was obviously in a gravity-free environment permission granted we must mourn the dead and seek Justice I take it you didn't call me without an actual plan Commander wisp nodded of course I intend to take my fleet and see what happened if I may flatter myself I'm certain that I can obtain Justice for our loss and the murder of a world that created a moment's surprise from the others the old fleets tended to avoid the far points of human space reluctant to engage with unprepared zenos they were fearsome Humanity preferred to let the scientists Rovers explorers and traitors find their way out there they said they weren't diplomats they were the reason for diplomats Commander wisp smiled briefly as he looked around so we we are agreed I will find Justice each of the council nodded and signed their people's support a quorum of war was established and the mission approved Ambassador Rowan added a final comment recover their names if you can I will grow them a forest a silent place for their spirits to rest if they come home Fair sailing Commander Quorum of War part two silver wisp sat and let his body rejoin the ship his skin flowing into his seat and console applications immediately started flooding in from researchers the Curious the angry and the bloodthirsty that wanted to accompany the mission an old Fleet going to a legitimate war on the far edge of human space this would be a research entertainment opportunity of a lifetime he checked the social credit of each applicant crosschecked their references and issued a 100 passes out of sheer perversity he carefully ensured that none of their personalities would mesh so they enjoyed combat no problem he sent a note to the Quorum of war that he had assembled the required Witnesses and would depart once they arrived he had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't going to be that easy Ambassador Rowan felt uncomfortable as she approached the silver wisp common courtesy dictated that the commander was both the man and the ship and you were expected to acknowledge that it was truly vast a gently sloping Dome that only seemed to expand she was aware that he had been construed constructing it for nearly 10 Millennia a labor of love equivalent to her Forest domain a nagging fear of what she had Unleashed on the brute zenos had dragged her from Slumber in the soft greens of her home and into this dark metal strangeness she made a call to the ship and in clip tones announced this is Ambassador Rowen signatory to the Quorum of War requesting permission to board as is my right silver wisp grinned as he answered welcome ambassador your rooms are prepared I'll drop by when you are settled in her needlecraft was taken under autopilot and interrogated then pulled deep into the vast craft liquid metal walls sliding around her ship finally it was gently deposited in a vast Hall even as the walls were sealed without a sign or Mark to indicate a way out beautiful and practical she thought her ship unsealed and revealed a forest she Drew in a breath the sounds and smells of her home World filling her lungs and dappled daylight feeding her now happy leaves she stared about at the tall trees ancient and real this was no illusion this was the work of Ages why had he grown this she had no record of her people traveling with him before she dismissed the why and just resolved to thank him her Terror of space receded among such friendly surroundings in the OR Cloud around a burning world World grew the true dark the side forever hidden the beacon was not just a call for help it was a creature sent to watch record and guard rarely would it need to take form even rarer that it would be permitted Revenge but this time this terrible time there would be no leash and no rules save only one it was permitted to exact Justice from the people that had committed the atrocity not the governments not the civilians just anyone that stood on a ship or pulled a trigger then it had been given the blessing of the Quorum of war from the Ragged and broken rocks it drew what it needed to become the walking nightmare that mankind always knew rested within its figure flickered as it tested its camouflage guns blighted nearby rocks as it refined its techniques plasma picked out specks of dirt from dark space as it rehearsed its algorithms blades were crafted and blackened tested against the stone itself the flickering image it had sent as a warning now become real a face as cold as space and a heart as Stony as the asteroids it was forged from as pitiless as the creatures that had earned its existence Beacon raised his face to the universe fully real for the first time filled with the pain of watching those he guarded die as he was held helpless by their rules the nanites that had carefully built him had finished their job and had left a trail for him lines bright in the dark for him to follow with a final message to the silver wisp he resigned from the human race and went to work he wrapped the dark around him and left his failed post for the last time carrying only weapons and Vengeance onwards the shant Council was as miserable as he expected there would be no heroic welcome for his bloody work just the sickening feeling that the nation his Nation had soiled itself in the name of some nebulous fear a planet-bound species melted into flaming rock a few miners burned from the sky this was not a story they wished to hear nor recount still recounted he must councel on your orders I have destroyed the uncontacted race that called themselves human since they were in no position to do much more than throw a few rocks at us we suffered no casualties he allowed the silence to draw out one of the council shifted uncomfortably and began we gave you those orders because the race was perverse it could not be allowed into space a murmur of agreement came from his colleagues indeed it was at the insistence of our allies it would have been political suicide to refuse the director of War nodded indeed how could we bear the shame of not committing genocide and annihilating a race that was so very different from those that we understand those Spears looked very sharp and those miners were quite difficult to kill thankfully you gave me a thousand ships to do it he slowly peeled his rank from his shell and dropped it on the floor I believe the Galaxy must be free of all threats now since you sent me against such terrifying opposition I hereby resign perhaps the goddess will forgive us she tends to do that I don't he turned and his rank was crushed into the floor as a Curt glance sent the armsmen to open the door the council watched him leave more than one of them feeling the same sensing the mood the chairman snapped we all agreed read we all read the same damn reports a race that hunts as Nomads a race that eats prey hunts as a pack and yet maintains the technology that can build ships to harvest resources in its system never could we allow it to reach us you saw the same projections it would be here in a generation and we would not be able to stand against it it was but the egg of a nightmare a thing best destroyed and forgotten he stood up in any case it is a thing done them and those we called on to do it but it is over the council is dismissed one of the council not willing to be dismissed so easily held up a copy of the warning sent from the beacon that they had officially ignored is it the speaking stick was banged down with unnecessary Force as the council was dismissed the question was left to linger in the air the alliance learned that while fear is a small thing that ghosts are a children's tale best told in the dark and that there are many monsters that can quickly become friends sometimes the true dark gets closer the genocide had quickly become a silent shame the threat of Revenge a slow beat in the creatures that had ordered the deaths of so many questions were murmured sometimes to an empty room what had they done to be so destroyed hidden was the unvoiced fear that perhaps it could happen to them the clips of the fleet melting the world into molten rock of the destruction of the Moon over an offense never even declared or understood they had been given no reason but their very existence and died for it others delighted in the evictory the death of a cancer the destruction of a threat foreseen and dealt with quickly how many would have died if the humans had reached space from out of the dark Beacon followed the fading path laid by the nanites a shipyard loomed ahead of him the obvious destination for whatever ship he had followed he had no information yet he slowed his approach wasting a day to stay out of sight of any sensors and then drifted gently into what seemed to be the normal approach to the stations he left his sensors on passive hunting the right ships and then making his plans in the shipyards the mood was Grim as they returned to Sullen silence and strange rumors the announcement that the director of War had resigned sent another message to the old hands on his ships more than one put down his tools and walked off the ships throwing their military identification into deep space they had heard the threat and they knew what they had done the night seemed darker the world smaller than before Beacon landed Softly on a ship he was waiting for confirmation before he acted but he recognized it this one had fired 8 million kilotons of ordinance at his Planet he drew his primary blade and prepared to meet the Destroyers of all he had been sent to guard Blood for Blood he wanted names because they had never asked he wanted to remember because that tempered his rage they had killed the nameless but he wouldn't no he would kill the known and wear their skin as a trophy a simple torn panel and he dropped silently inside Beacon found himself in a dark vent hearing only the hiss of chilled gas sweeping through the pipes he inhaled a deep breath and analyzed it oxygen was running at nearly 30% he chewed through the numbers running estimates on what that could mean ontera that could indicate large scale creatures or some seriously inefficient design gravity was around 7 so it could be both he would investigate when he had a sample time to begin he punched a hole through the vent and dropped the 3 MERS to the floor a quick scan found several doors nearly one with what passed for security around here he didn't bother with the camo merely moving to his hunting Pace the door was some composite metal useless against him but sufficient to block any any audio a surprise then he forced a probe into the security system and quickly overrode the lock pushing silently to open it now he could hear the mumbled gruning of his enemies so he pulled his blade closer and pushed open the door silverwisp announced to his passengers that boarding was complete he had created 10 different committees each with slightly overlapping responsibilities and had asked them to elect a speaker that should keep them busy with a thought he sent himself hurtling towards the edge of human space weapons Foundry now complete and busily at work probably time to visit the Ambassador Ambassador Rowan was still entranced with her quarters when a low Bell told her that she had a guest the present rushed back in the prospect of a bloody war of Vengeance with her name on it when the door vanished into the walls she saw the commander waiting for her permission to enter she nodded and watched as his body reflected the dappled light taking on a tinge of green and the patterns flickering across his skin becoming almost organic she bowed and said welcome Commander you have made me welcome in ways I cannot explain thank you silver wisp nodded and smiled thank you I had hoped you would treasure this place as much as I do he allowed his glance to wander enjoying the tall and verdant trees and the calls from irritated wildlife and took a deep breath when I was a child I loved the forest even if space called louder I'm old enough to remember the forest burning and I took it upon myself to stand guard over the green places his eyes returned to dark steel I have news Ambassador would you hear it without her even noticing her Roots Began extending deep into the soil below her preparing for a storm she nodded the commander nodded the beacon has become itself it has agreed to my terms and has begun Seeking Justice for our people its children if you are willing to listen I can tell you what I have agreed but Beacon will not change his course he has resigned from Humanity Rowan shivered since when do we allow weapons to resign do axes get to choose if they wish to chop what have you agreed silver kept any sign of humor from his patterns those who live their lives in contented peace tend to look for the sharpest stick When Things become difficult he was a soldier and measured his response with a more professional eye Rowan he is no weapon he is a brokenhearted parent cast in steel and Vengeance he will seek out every Zeno that stood on a ship and destroyed his home while he was helpless to intervene I estimate the most damage he can do is 200,000 casualties possibly a little more but he is content to let me speak for our dead when it comes to the rest she bent as if an ill wind had hit her her leaves furling as if in a frost so many what are we setting upon these people always this too hard hard too soft too much or Never Enough Ambassador that represents less than 10% of the number of families he just lost I would kill them myself for the slaughter of one of our worlds but he will teach them Terror he will remind them that they drove our people to hide and die and then burned their very World Mercy is for those you wish to forgive I will not Grant it and Beacon is merely their first lesson the stain of Steel covered his skin once again the softness of the forest forgotten I guard the green places and our children that play Within and I will see them pay for their cowardice Beacon listened carefully the vents telling him who was hiding and trying to stifle their crying he had sealed the ship declaring a full quarantine and isolating the crew from the Salvation they thought awaited them on the outside of the ship the idiot AI had not even noticed that it was the infection that was the one calling for quarantine he reduced the lights a little more and caught a reflection from one of the panels it was a dark thing spattered with various fluids he was what they had made him a bloodstained shadow of his people a ghost of their ideals he burned off the blood before something could use it to trace him and paced slowly towards the cubicle where he could sense two creatures trying not to sob his blade was sharp he had time before they finally broke into the ship today he would teach them fear even as he had cried out as he watched his children huddled in the dark crying as their world burned around them until the very air was flame Rowan stood in silence as she tried to absorb the situation despite the Commander's words she had the same thoughts just not articulated as easily as a soldier it made sense to her that silver wisp remembered the burning of the forests an attack on her kind of Human by an unthinking machine race long in the past and long extinguished but the first time that the race of man had truly stood in arms together and had decided to face the universe as one a bond now stronger than any steel and is taken for granted even she had forgotten that other men held the skies safe for her and her people careless as they built playgrounds and beauty that enriched them all she pulled up her two Deep Roots and allowed the Vengeance of the forest fill her blood will feed the soil that something wholesome can grow she would not condemn something so broken as the beacon not when they had rendered its people to wretched and broken rock to The Bitter End to Justice if possible but Revenge if that was all that was left the universe had all but forgotten the smell of smoke but she remembered all the carefully buried memories of her tears watering the burned Nursery she attended her choices rang through her she shook slightly a tremble that ran across her leaves she swore silently this was the price of immortality that eventually you could become anybody even a bloody triffid the shant Council was unhappy to be recalled and had yet to appoint a replacement for the recently deceased director it was tragic that his Hearts had failed so suddenly after his retirement but they had given him a state funeral several States had in fact amazing how many people had taken an interest in his sudden end the council was aware that many people were still asking questions the councilman currently stuck holding the speaking stick had been dragged from his home and was not feeling particularly charitable so why exactly are we here in the middle of the damn night he slammed down the stick with enough Force to awaken several of his colleagues that had fallen back into a doze a fleet commander stood to attention in front of the council unmoved by the noise the Zeno was a cold-blooded one stiff in its uniform life support Council I must report that we have lost a vessel the councilman waved the stick what why am I dragged from my home because we lost a ship we have millions of the damn things am I never to sleep again the Zeno seemed to think about that sir that may well be true I know it's going to be difficult for me for a while the ship we lost was in Port The Haven of fire a Corsair class ship with a crew of 80 mixed species it was in for a refit after the human problem was resolved it had expended all its supplies and had served well so frankly no one noticed it went offline we are still trying to piece together how it happened but I must show you what has happened he knew there was no point in explaining so he simply triggered the screens it was obviously the point of view of one creature the council watched as it broke into the ship as it began to hunt down the crew as it broke into a secured room they saw the knife a thing of darkness and then it found a crewman most of the council was still vomiting when he paused the recording Council this was sent to me by name to show you what it was doing it held that ship for 9 hours and recorded every kill every Butchery each crewman was stripped of their face its skin was taken for some unknown purpose it also left a message Written in Blood in excellent calligraphy was a promise you will all fall to me it was signed Beacon he resumed the recording if he had been forced to watch it so could they he added this has been broadcast to the entire fleet and we couldn't stop it in time I believe this is going to end poorly unless we mobilize quickly The Haven of fire was now surrounded by heavily armed Marines following the first investigation a bunch of pale and sickened medical and police staff had left the ship under escort completely silent after that it was armed men in full biohazard suits that sealed the door and were apparently waiting for orders Beacon watched silently fully hidden and hovering 300 m above the ship he could wait he already knew what the next Target was and he was willing to be patient he spent the time going through all the data that he had ripped from the ship and its crew building a map of events and a death list finally a new group arrived stern-faced and coldblooded they arrived at the ship's Port we come from the council no one is to pass this door without my personal permission and nobody and I mean nobody leaves unless I am standing here if they try you shoot and you shoot to kill the creature radiated the coldness only achieved by a lifetime in government service or waitressing and the BIOS suited guards quickly nodded their agreement his face was mostly concealed by The Mask as he opened the door entering now he was running a live feed to his office feeding the darker parts of the council with information in the hope that it might prove useful they were more familiar with the sorts of Damage Done to the crew and perhaps might have some insight three bodies on the right hand side of the door two are missing lower limbs the blood trail indicates they crawled to the door before they were executed tracking the shant Council read the report in silence they had seen it happen but this was something else their experts had mapped the destruction the injuries it was clear this Intruder had overcome and subverted security within the first few minutes it could obviously have killed the crew as quickly but had chosen to do this 9 hours of hellish murder the current holder of the speaking stick offered it to the group but found no takers he sighed and tried to give voice to what he had read we have awakened a demon from old this is beyond anything those humans could have created this is beyond us one of the other council members shook his head this is a new thing thing an attack on one ship this is not a war this is personal we have ships and crew across a thousand worlds I vote to secure the area and hunt this thing down we can evaporate the damn star if necessary the rest of the council nodded in agreement the speaker spoke fine I will appoint the fleet commander as director and instruct him to hunt this thing down he shall have whatever resources are required silence fell in the room no one believed it was over silver wisp summoned the hundred witnesses to watch as he arrived at the graveyard of a human world the walls turned to Steel then pulled open to reveal the burning remains of a once vibrant Planet flaring Rock and shattered hope he addressed his audience a playground we called eru a home to our people for over 5,000 years we crafted it from dead soil and made it beautiful as a gift as a promise all man is man they wanted to explore our beginnings live with the rain and the dirt Hunt and Gather live the life that we were first designed for many of us have grown up in such worlds finding out what it is to be human he closed the walls witness this we stand in arms against such cruelty they have burned our children Beyond recovery and we can only mourn and seek Justice I will be scanning the system to its very edges in the hope that someone survived and in the knowledge that none could have because we must always have hope then I will bring the wrath of man upon the misbegotten bastards that did this until they are sorry that they ever learned how to make fire the cold steel of his eyes met the fury in his voice as he vowed Justice on those that had chosen to burn the green spaces that man had built one of the men stood forward so seen and witnessed he bowed a little and added I will lead the service for those Lost Silver wisp until then the crowd dispersed and left him alone with his pain and his plans Beacon listened as the enemy made all sorts of cunning plans and smiled he had left them his next Target hidden under the thin soil of a half deleted file it had taken them a full day to find it and he watched as they summoned their Marines to guarded the ship the mesp was Battleship class swarming with a massive crew four times the size of the Haven of fire it had immediately launched from the station and moved into a close orbit of the local sun on full alert and full scanners until the emergency drill was over the crew had one way or another found out what had happened to its sister ship and a not insignificant number of crewmen had failed to show military police were pretending to look for them and instead they drank together in silence and they ignored what they had all seen the recording had filtered down to everyone even the barkeep and a sort of strange waiting silence filled the shipyard they watched as the bodies were removed from the Haven of fire sometimes in quite small bags piled together it took Beacon only a moment to track down the Marine Transport that was being sent to defend the Mesa clip it wasn't even worthy of a name simply a serial number it would soon be burned in the memory of anyone that heard of it for the next thousand years after his intervention He Slipped quietly aboard the Citadel class Marine 3008 and waited the ship had a Central Command Post behind the best of armor room for two to 400 soldiers and excellent defensive fire Beacon pulled himself deeper into the vent and waited for it to leave polishing his blades and cleaning his weapons as he waited for the ship to be far beyond help out of the dark and Silence of the bar came a drunken angry voice we should have left those humans alone what the [ __ ] had they ever done to us poor bastards didn't have a chance and I dropped a thousand kilotons of Atmos burners on them the goddess isn't going to forget or forgive me for this one the voice was met with silence the military police just drank deeper and Switched Off Their comms a single gunshot rang through the bar silverwisp stood alone as the witnesses returned to their endless bickering his attention dwelt in the weapons Foundry creating every Nightmare and pondering its use much he sent back to the furnaces careful of the scars he would leave on the future the punishment must meet the crime and he had no mandate for genocide nor the will to carry one out it was like walking through the endless enemies that Earth had faced since the beginning of the expansion nearly 12,000 years ago a mere blip in the existence of mankind but a combination of immortality FTL and goog had created a reservoir of ways to inflict pain and death that included several ways to end the universe itself silver wisp reached into himself and pulled out the Flint arroe head he had found as a child a Talisman and promise he found it strangely entertaining that he would be able to identify with the creature that had made it if they stuck to drinking beer then they might even be able to chat about the properties of Flint he was a fan of CH and greenstone but the connection would be real and then they would have used it to kill any bastard that had burned down a village Beacon began by slipping silently to the Citadel itself it wasn't difficult the troops were lounging around the front of the ship and the pilots hadn't bothered to close the doors this ship didn't truly have a captain just a marine commander and a pilot who pointed the ship it was almost enough to raise a smile as he hit the command to seal the Citadel itself and kick off the alarms then he waited invisible to the crew the two pilots were suddenly surprised by the fall of anti- doors and energy Shields the lights went to emergency as the power plant was locked down and their consoles went to a totally new menu one they hadn't seen since they were boots then the comms lit up sir I don't know I didn't trigger it more mad button pushing sir it needs you to be in here or you need to be well you need to be dead I don't know sir the pilot watched as the ship was slowed to 1/3 speed sir I'm trying to troubleshoot it this is a citadel class ship the whole [ __ ] point is that you can't get in with respect command in here Falls to me look after your men and I'll call you he continued cursing and trying to regain control of the ship Beacon unveiled himself with a grim smile and you can't get out my name is Beacon and you burned my world we need to talk he drew his knife and began the Marines couldn't hear the screaming through the armored doors Beacon pushed the remains of the pilots into a neat pile and and evaporated them with his plasma and then sat down making himself comfortable at the command console he watched the Marines outside run around like some headless fowl as they tried to force open the doors wasn't going to happen unless he let it the whole point of the vessel was that it couldn't be taken while the Marines were busy boarding some other sorry bastard he contemplated his route to the Messa clip estimating he had around 4 hours before he was in full scanner range of the ship time to shut up the squeaking soldiers outside he started by cutting off the grav plates throughout the ship and then immediately put the ship into a spin he sat comfortably as the g-forces built passing beyond anything organic life could withstand and gave it an hour turning the ship into a blender outside the soldiers were being flung at increasing speed into each other into every wall and every fitment he watched with interest until the cameras were blinded by spray then he turned the ground gravity back on and steadied the ship softly whistling he released the defenses the thick door swung open silently leaving a smear across the floor it was covered in Scorch marks and dimples from weapons fire he gazed at the new decorations that the corridors were coated with mostly bits bits and blood it wasn't exactly the personal approach that he preferred but sometimes just making a mess would get his point across he ambled through the ship ensuring none of the bits could speak or move taking the odd souvenir until he was certain no one would be sending out any inconvenient signals he burned off the mess currently sticking to his feet and concentrated on the next part of his plan silver wisp had prepared for the service organizing the witnesses and their requirements now he simply Stood Beside Rowan and readied himself in front of him Sat three altars recovered from the wreckage of the world Stone ice and soil they had been recovered by one of the witnesses a human that had chosen naked space as its environment and disliked Interiors it felt this was a suitable demonstration of its grief and solidarity silver wisp agreed at Rowan's request it was taking place in her quarters and the soft green and gentle breeze seemed to Gentle the mood no one forgot that they were here on a mission of death and Vengeance but it reminded people of their better selves the man that stood forward to conduct the service was tall thin and gray skinned wrapped in a dark robe he stood in front of the altars and paused waiting for the conversation to dwindle when he was satisfied with the Quiet he began welcome to the family of man I'm called seeks Dark Places and today is a dark day I too spent my early life on a children's Planet running with Spears hunting and rejoicing in our beginnings my own children are doing so today to see such a place so brutalized is a horror to all of us but we cannot behave like children ourselves I ask you to reach out to me and let us join in our grief our distaste for what we know must come and seek Absolution from Humanity itself silver wisp closed his eyes and tried to Center himself cionic wasn't something he ever dabbled in he felt his own mind and motivations needed enough work without peering into other people's inner selves still he felt a certain relief when the minds around him were joined and he found himself in the company of his peers once you Stripped Away all the alterations he felt the humanity in the room in a way that mere appearances would never permit the Mesa clip was currently impatiently waiting for the Marine ship to arrive the captain had been provided with the full lurid and confidential description of what had happened on The Haven of fire and the reassuring presence of a few hundred Marines might calm down his crew and himself if he had to be honest he flinched at the memory of the celebrations on board after they had eradicated ated the humans a battle with no consequences or risk it had been a pleasure to use so many restricted systems forbidden by tedious treaties until they had been sent as the Wrath of the Goddess on the perverted creatures now it seemed they had an equally perverted guardian and it was coming for his ship he snapped at his comm's officer where are they I want to speak to the Marine Commander the comm's officer nodded yes sir they're in comm's range hailing now the console started buzzing impatiently as Beacon returned from his walk he grinned slightly the mesp must be getting worried he constructed a virtual environment and allowed the call the comm's officer simply saw the scowling face of the Marine Commander that was currently smeared across three decks like jam what demanded Beacon the comm's officer stuttered slightly surprised by the aggression sir the captain wishes to speak to you putting you through now he hurriedly pushed the call to the captain's cabin with a sigh of relief the bridge crew glanced at each other and pretended they had heard nothing the captain was impatiently prowling his office feeling the hot breath of a predator on his neck in a way that he hadn't in his adult life it was the same fear that had driven his people to destroy the humans in the first place he wanted guns men reassurance finally he was face to face with his protector Commander what is your status Beacon was rather enjoying the opportunity and opened his mouth in a sneer my what are you blind did you somehow miss my ship approaching or did you forget your orders to maintain signal silence until I land he pushed his face closer I know you herbivores don't like to face some death ghost alone but letting the whole system know you need a babysitter won't help your career will it he pulled back I'll be on your ship in two hours shut up sit down and wait until I get there to hold your hand tell your senior officers and staff to meet my ship I don't want to repeat myself Commander out Beacon cut the call that should do wonders for morale the captain stood in front of the blank screen and gently deflated his mouth working soundlessly the service dispersed gently everyone preoccupied with their own thoughts silver Wisp and Rowan remained with seeks Dark Places and let them leave before he spoke the reality of war is never as simple as the idea of it Rowan remarked silver wisp nodded but it is not new to us and I must make preparations he turned to the sear thank you that was very helpful let me know if anything arises that I need to deal with he bowed to Rowan and left they watched him go Rowan turned to the tall gray sear so your verdict I ask as one of the Quorum this is is my War she reminded him he grasped her hand then I will show you the imagery was slightly strange almost like a dream half remembered the sear chimed in your mind is interpreting things for you I am simply sending the raw data she closed her eyes and took the sense of a rough wind blowing through her branches dark clouds and storms on the horizon the smell of burning the smell of dying trees and dead ground the silent weeping and then the rage she felt herself melled with her community seeking blood payment for an atrocity she felt the disciplined Wrath of silver wisp stand out driving the battle and unwilling to see the green places fall again she saw the spear in his hand his shield held high she felt her People wrap themselves tightly around him becoming a banner on the spear a license she opened her eyes and looked at the Seer thank you she bowed and turned away Citadel class Marine 38 requesting docking the captain had remained in Sullen silence until the ship arrived he would have words with the commander on his terms on his ship he hadn't felt so humiliated since he had been a junior officer and crossed a senior NCO he commanded a battleship he went beyond the request of the Marine commander and filled the landing dock with his ship guards and full armor as well as his officers he knew it was childish but he still sent the orders he also scanned the incoming craft until the paint on it started to blister then he decided to wait on his bridge and meet the insolent Marine from his command chair Beacon had stepped off the Marine ship as soon as it had passed through the sensors he chirped out the docking commands even as he made his way behind the assembled crew of the battleship and then he waited he really wanted to see this the ship landed unmolested and unprotecting the troops waited wondering why they had been woken up and sent to the Armory for this it was just the Marines still they held their ground the silence Drew out as no one opened the hatch some uncomfortable twitching and scratching filled the vast room nothing and nobody moved the captain seed obviously the Marine Commander was waiting for him to appear he should have spoken up but the Damned creature had made his point about signal silence he curtly nodded at his Bridge staff and stomped off to meet the Blasted Soldier The Landing dock weren't particularly pretty utilitarian ramps and offices clumped into some sort of efficient machine it did however have the military pump that insists on a proper entrance for the captain his personal guard hurried behind him as he marched to the hatch and waited nothing Beacon grinned the blood and then the smell that's what the crew remembered as the captain had ordered the hatch open a flood of Gore had seeped out of the ship they saw clumps then they saw the walls they saw the captain begin to throw up as he tried to wave them away then the smell a smell that filled the room and entered the vents sharing it with the rest of the ship the captain's guard grabbed him and began dragging him away the second ordering them out and calling for Medics no one moved held by the horror then they remembered that they were military proud upholders of the Empire and Drew their weapons ready for anything nearly anything from the speaker set in the walls from their personal calms and from somewhere behind them came a slow clap the Cadence filled the room until everyone turned searching for the cause it seemed to come from the Shadows Shadows that weren't supposed to be there someone thought to fire or their Trigger Discipline was shot it didn't matter as plasma flew into the dark corner someone had thought responsible mindlessly they all fired until the Clapping stopped the poor office and its inhabitants were blown apart until some semblance of discipline returned the Frozen silence held until the NCO started shouting and they were shuffled off the dock out to spread horror amongst the rest of the crew the Medics had assured him that there would be no lasting side effects it was simply shock a few days rest and some therapy and he would be fine he stared at them rest that monster is on my ship the captain pulled himself away from the healers and began closing his uniform he snarled at the doctors's what I I need his information what happened to my Marines silver wisp let his mind settle he had done all he could to reassure his peers that he wanted Justice not Revenge although the difference wasn't going to be apparent to his enemies he sealed the ship and blended with it becoming his entire self it was a relief to be whole again he aimed at this Council world the primary target of his wrath the council was a shouting match starting with the report regarding C cadel class Marine 38 and working up from there it was one ship now we know where this thing is we can kill it we all knew this was going sideways and one battleship is going to end this one way or another I have Assets in place that can destroy the whole damn system if we need to stop bitching about some Marines goddess knows they're no loss to the genan pool that caused a sudden silence several members of the council had come from the Marines and they didn't appreciate being treated as can and fod the council member waved at them I'm sorry you know what I meant they were Dead on Arrival whatever this creature is used them as propaganda another trick to terrify the fleet I regret their loss as much as you do but it changes nothing about the Tactical situation he paused and threw down the report we can't even bury them properly not with this the council regarded the report one section in particular was causing a lot of noise it is with regret that we cannot assure the council that the Marines fell with honor through the misuse of ship systems they have been reduced to what can only be described as pulp not content with simple murder the alien continued the process until the remains of the Dead were embedded or distributed throughout the ship in our honest opinion there is no further value in searching for a cause of death and that declaring the ship an official graveyard for the crew might be more appropri riate and this creature is now on the Mesa clip what should we expect next what new recordings will bleed into the fleet until we have no damn crew at all the recriminations continued until a senior staffer walked carefully to the stick holder and whispered in his ear security measures not used in Generations suddenly activated and the doors slammed shut the very chamber itself began dropping hundreds of meters below the ground an unfortunate event for all the decorative bobles and treasured portra on the walls as they were suddenly ground to dust much of the furniture also fell loudly and shattered the chairman stood shaky as he was and announced councel we have an incursion into the system we have reason to believe it is hostile he paused for a moment as he tried to recall the words a vessel of some 10 kilm in length and width has arrived in orbit it is unknown to our security or intelligence Community I am awaiting more details he sank into his seat and clutched the speaking stick he nodded to the staffer tell them the staffer wasn't known to the rest of the council but he spoke with a certain gravitas he nodded a vessel a sphere of some kind has arrived and is currently sitting in low orbit over our world anything approaching including the home fleet has been destroyed we have no Intelligence on the species or the vessel all we are receiving is a countdown indicating it will make contact late tomorrow I cannot recommend evacuation as nothing has been permitted to leave the atmosphere I am here to answer any questions I can although I believe that sums it up silverwisp almost felt guilty as the dumb ships attacked he appreciated The Bravery but it was outweighed by the sheer stupidity it took a moment to extinguish the idiot machines and sit quietly in low orbit particularly since a few warning shots had grounded anything leaving the planet he kept a eye on his kill count just to make sure he didn't ruin his introduction the final images of the home Fleet were played for the council the vastness of the alien vessel becoming suddenly real the staffer gentle monotone filling them in it is a 10 km sphere although where it begins is uncertain that was simply its footprint as it entered the system it shows no weapons or propulsion it left no track Beyond its arrival here all our ships that tried to engage it simply exploded with massive internal disruptions that bypassed every defense we have it went straight through our shielding and we have no answer if it chooses to we will be dead tomorrow what I need from you are orders for the rest of the Empire do we surrender do they fight on do we appoint a government on one of the colonies these are questions you must answer tonight Beacon watched the chaos spread through the ship tired angry and Confused crewmen were handed weapons and and told that the orders were to fire at will they were even more confused free fire on a ship was just suicide with extra steps and no one seemed to be in charge the stories of The Haven of fire and the Citadel were murmured but this was a [ __ ] Battleship the decent officers roused their men posted watch and rotated them out but many dragged their men to choke points and then threw weapons in fear at them until it became dangerous to move about the ship he decided to join in he disguised himself as an ordinary crewman and approached one of the most disciplined watches he held up his four Limbs and cwed a simple tune until he was waved to the side apparently they had forbidden crew to pass while carrying weapons in a moment of sheer Genius their Lieutenant had decided that he could simply hand them back once the crew had left his area and arranged Runners to accomplish it no one with a weapon was going through his area of responsibility and it had worked by the time any wandering Soul had got through the checkpoints his weapons were waiting at the exit so far he hadn't lost any of his crew to the fear currently filling the ship that had to stop at the first checkpoint Beacon pulled out his knife sorry does this count the NCO looked at it and moved his hand to the trigger drop it before I drop you Beacon grinned and dropped it straight through the nco's foot and as it screamed he grabbed the creature's gun firing through the man and into his two crewmen before they could react as he stood amongst the corpses he picked up his knife and did his homework he began whistling quietly an old tune from the planet that these bastards had burned he was probably the last person to know it and that fed his anger the council had achieved nothing spending their time looking for a way off the planet and when that had been denied refusing to hand over authority to anyone it didn't matter how unlikely a victory was they would share the spoils of defeat instead barked orders to the military produced nothing since they had read the same reports hours before they reached the council they sat in Sullen silence and waited for the countdown to end for the end to begin the clock ticked slowly down 9 hours Beacon began his plan beginning with the navigation office he knew exactly where this ship needed to go and now the door was unguarded a simple punch and it flew open surprise the six crew stood stunned as a monster broke in a creature as dark as the night outside but the glint on its two blades caught their attention and held it it spoke today is a good day for you although probably quite short I'm going to let you run if you make it to the Escape pods before I count to 10 you get to leave the ship isn't that nice of me it stood out of the way of the door doorway and looked at them run the crew seemed to hesitate for a moment and then Beacon raised his knives and they bolted from the room he pushed the door vaguely back into place and smiled he hadn't lied they could reach the Escape pods if they moved quickly he had programmed them to jettison in 20 minutes and they were all pointed directly into the local Sun but they would have time to feel the pain time to repent of what they had done he planned the same for the rest of the crew today was a day of fire the math was complicated and not all the systems wanted to do what they were told he had to break quite a lot of it before he was happy with the trajectory of the ship the crew had left all their posts without logging off which helped a lot he double checked and now satisfied then crushed all the ship's systems that could prevent it he had whimsically called it his dead man walking strategy and he was looking forward to seeing how it worked now for engineering and the engines the hatch to engineering was a hell of a lot thicker than anything else on the ship and he paused he wanted that door it was a nice door he pulled up his transmission from the captain and modeled himself appropriately the cameras were already his so he simply knocked the squinting creature that appeared on the screen seemed surprised to see him sir you are not supposed to be here like ever what can I do for you Beacon put on on the same scared herbivore face the captain had used when he had been waiting for the Marines to save him and whispered I'm bringing my guard here and we will wait for the fleet to arrive I've ordered us home but the creature is interfering with Transmissions please open the door behind him appeared the image of his armsmen arriving and looking nervous nervous and heavily armed the engineer was not a difficult man certainly not one to pick a fight with his own Captain but this was almost too much then the door began to slide open of its own accord even as the captain stumbled in thank you my men will stand guard outside the door closed silently behind him he began simply wandering around the department and annoying The Crew He asked stupid questions and pretended not to understand the answers he poked at things that made Tails twitch and scales itch he hit buttons that shouldn't be hit he pulled levers that shouldn't be pulled finally the chief engineer had had enough sir can you sit down something is wrong with the ship surely you have better things to do Beacon sat down comfortably at the console he had already accomplished all he wanted to do in this department all that button pushing having done its job he smiled at the engineer honestly I just wanted to see if I could carry it off you creatures you are such a dull evil I wondered if I could send you to your reward without you even noticing and here we are tell me chief when you were powering the weapons that burned my world did you ever ask why you were doing it as he spoke his body got darker and bigger the engineer stuttered what Captain wait what are you oh [ __ ] I'm so sorry we just stay here and take orders I'm sorry he already knew it wasn't going to help Beacon pulled out a small weapon and nodded at the engineer sorry isn't enough he pulled out a pistol this one took a while to calibrate with your Shields but it should be a memorable moment for me anyway your weapon stole all the air on my world and it wasn't pretty so I thought you would like to see it first hand he smiled at the confused crew some of whom were running for the unresponsive door it was a nice door ready he didn't wait simply pointed the weapon at the exterior hle and fired the hole was small not more than 30 cm square but it cut through every Shield until it reached open space and vacuum the atmosphere began to rush out as the crew and random objects were pulled towards the hole he watched as the engineer realized what was about to happen Beacon leaned forward and added go [ __ ] yourself he sat and watched as men equipment and despair were dragged Kicking and Screaming into the small hole no doubt smearing themselves all over the nice clean space outside he had been surprised how long some of these creatures could hold their breath something to remember for the next time then he went back to the consoles and turned off all the stupid alarms and refined his earlier work he wanted to be absolutely sure they got the full benefit of his lesson he had debated staying on the ship but this close to the Sun and with failing systems he couldn't be sure that the rest of the fleet would get the transmission he would have to watch this one alongside them perhaps he could give a running commentary that could be entertaining he expanded the hole in the ship and stepped back into the void the captain was already a mess barely out of the medbay and accompanied by two healers in case he needed to be dismissed for medical reasons or if he completely lost the plot again sir we have lost Navin engines engineering is not responding showing a vacuum in the department I've sent a security and repair section to both awaiting reports the captain was not shaking the ship must be quivering he snapped at the bridge crew stabilize the damn ship this shaking is distracting the crew looked at each other and pretended to adjust some settings sir yes sir one of his crew cursed and stood up quickly moving to another station he waved for support and within a minute the whole crew was desperately hitting their consoles and whispering to each other the captain asked in a wearied voice what what has the creature done to us now the second took a deep inhale and reviewed what the cre crew and screens were telling him this was not going to be pretty sir the creature has changed our course we will be approximately 3 million kilm closer to the Sun than permitted he has also disabled our heat shields and slowed the ship to 1/3 speed he tried to paint the picture sir we are going to slowly fall into the sun with no protection I estimate it will take 9 hours before the situation is fatal to All crew all Escape pods have been jettisoned and our comms are shot we are going to burn in here beneath his desk he had already alerted security to lock down the ship and nodded at the healers to drag the crying captain from his post he took the captain's console and skimmed through the 9 hours deadline the creature had held the Haven of fire for 9 hours he had delayed The Citadel for roughly the same it became clear when he realized that they had bombarded the human world for 9 hours [ __ ] Beacon watched the ship fall into his carefully planned trajectory he estimated depending on how clever the crew was they would begin to fall apart in an hour in the meantime he had been busy punching a direct feed to all the other Fleet shipping that he could reach the console of gray was a frigate just under a thousand crew and with a respectable battle record sharp well disciplined and used to heavy odds it had enjoyed a little planet burning even if the captain had seemed unhappy he was a growly and bloody-minded scour full of honor and regret when his comm's officer pushed his way past everyone to report an illegal stream being pushed into the system he waved him in and listened the Mesa clip is under attack the crewman hesitated for a moment no sir the Mesa clip is doomed the human ghost has seized it and has sent it towards the local son they aren't the ones calling us it's the creature it wants us to walk much the captain seemed to grow older So It Begins the goddess is never going to forgive us he pulled himself straight can we rescue are we close enough the crewman shook his head too far and I'm not sure the crew would even obey the order as I said the Mesa clip is doomed no one is responding I checked and the fleet is abandoning the system and gossip says they are going to use a sunkiller on the system the captain dismissed the crewman and looked thoughtfully into the future the council would fall for this but there was always another Council unless this wasn't the end why just attack the fleet perhaps because the big guns were on their way somewhere else one creature was paralyzing the fleet what would a nation of them do another world of meat eaters he had despised the orders when he had received them but he must be on a list somewhere another of those that had burned an innocent world he scanned the list of the Thousand worlds and picked one that might suit he began watching the stream watching a battleship fall apart and the burning begin he didn't wait 9 hours All Hands new orders are sending us far into the Thousand with little Prospect of return we will be making one stop in he checked the star map 8 hours disembark if you wish he pulled full ship control to his office and sealed the door he was going to do the only sane thing and run inside the battleship the temperature kept Rising it didn't matter what they did and how many men they sent you can't fight a son or kill a ghost the crew heard rumors of a cooler spot and ran towards it issuing weapons to All crew merely turned it into a blood bath the heat sent some mad some literally burst into flame if they touched a wall all sanity was lost until a low voice chirped into the comms remember the Citadel is just sitting there maybe you could escape on that Beacon cackled at that one to use that mess as bait encouraging the murderers to murder better he made sure the cameras covered the insanity that followed as the crew slaughtered each other to reach the ship that only a few hours ago had been a horror pity that he already had a plan for that ship but he wasn't going to be mean about it in fact it would save him a walk he waited until the puking bleeding survivors launched the ship and then made himself comfortable on the hull listening it's done we are out of the gravity well course set for the the station goddess forgive us how many did we kill to get here the older creature now carrying no tags or rank shook his head none we killed none they will be dead within the next few hours and their records with them we were just lucky is all happened to be guarding this ship and fled when all else failed what can they do to us that that creature hasn't already tried to do you wanted to live same as me after an hour one of the the men squirming with discomfort had pulled off his biof filtered mask and endured the smell of cooking meat what the [ __ ] sarge is it getting hotter in here one glance at the grinning thing outside told them the truth they hadn't escaped hell was taking them home [ __ ] emergency broadcast senior rank's only Sun Killer failed unknown interference no alien traces were found declaring emergency missing sunkiller battle ship Messa clip and Citadel recovered no survivors creature unknown hostile entity is assumed to still be active Rowan Stood Beside silver wisp as the timer ran down she was almost sure he had a plan almost she was mostly there to see what happened next 4 km below the surface of the council world the council waited suddenly a dark force arrived it walked to the stick holder ripped it from his hands and then tore his face apart fangs ripped at him as he fell the screams filling the sudden ly locked room then an androgynous figure stood up forgive me I believe this is how you conduct diplomacy perhaps he might need medical assistance all the attending staff that had been waiting including several bodyguards and Medics ran in and saw the damage they ignored the stranger and hauled the chairman away the figure nodded at the support staff my apologies I felt it would serve little purpose in killing them today he seemed to solidify becoming a metal biped an everchanging landscape of patterns instead of a face you declared war and I am here to see you lose he picked up the blood soaked stick from the floor and threw it to a random councilman here you go speak the councilman caught the stick and in a moment of Fury slammed it down you are new to us an aberration we have done you no evil he looked at the blood on the speaking stick he had done you no wrong to die like this why do you speak of War silverwisp turned to his old face his early days Days in the forest as a child days of Innocence until the burning the same face he had shown the Seer you burned our children you burned our green spaces we are human and we are legion he raised a hand and then a finger carefully allowing them to watch as he touched the podium I will send you the terms of Your Surrender he paused I see from your notes that Beacon has been busy he will never stop you probably shouldn't have killed his family he isn't human anymore then the countdown reset and silver wisp returned to himself Rowan was waiting for him a little dramatic wasn't it silver wisp looked at her as if she was from the darkest past finally nodding Rowan I was the one that poured The Healing Waters on your family you have no idea of what I will do to these people he seemed to grow taller darker and fiercer but many of them are about to die and I am not sorry I'm going to burn them out of space he stopped for a moment you were not much more than a child at the burning go to the sear and tell him I permit you to see my memories he can show you what war means to us he said he was one of those damned humans he said we burned their children what the [ __ ] have we done that ship could kill us all in a day the sudden crash surprised them as the podium collapsed the place where the human had touched had burned a hole that had spread reluctantly they looked around and saw the same breakdown spreading small cracks that didn't seem to care if it was steel or plcr paper or wood the human disease was burning through their chamber this then was the countdown 9 hours might I ask what what sentence you have decided upon Rowan and the sear were standing in the doorway and didn't seem inclined to move he saw the fear of genocide on their faces she must have asked the seir about his history well he had wanted her to know he pulled up a map of this now accursed Empire and flashed a feral grin certainly the council complex will fall to dust as will anyone in anything currently standing it I estimate that will kill off central government within a generation those who sentenced our children to death will be wiped from the planet he expanded the map for the rest I am banishing them from space until the newest of their newborns has fallen to old age not a ship not a satellite or signal will be permitted to leave any of their worlds they shall fall into silence until the last of those responsible have died I will be announcing it to them tomorrow and give them a few months to land famine would spoil the point and I already have everything mapped out he added and of course Beacon will cut his way through their worlds as he sees fit I see no reason to stop him they will have learned many valuable lessons such as his voice Rose and sharpened and the barest echo of his rage showed such as don't burn down one of our worlds don't even carry matches near our children Rowan listened carefully and slowly nodded that is remarkably kind of you I might have preferred more fire but I expect Beacon will do that for me the sear nodded seen and witnessed perhaps they will have learned to share the Galaxy when you release them from the prison they have built for themselves he looked sharply at Silver wisp you have grown since the fires I'm proud of you son silver wisp nodded thank you now if you don't mind I have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it Rowan raised a hand peace I asked the sear to show me your memory memories to understand why you became a creature of metal and War you are correct that I was a child although it didn't feel like a childhood I saw Forest burn but I didn't see the War I didn't see the price you paid when you left the green for the black that you broke the bodies of our enemies and used the cold metal to build something better I did not know that this ship was made from the corpses of our enemies so that you could guard our green spaces I simply wanted to say thank you she bowed low and headed towards the great trees that he had grown upon the enemy dead she wondered what she was supposed to feel because she actually felt herself strike the bare metal floor a little harder and smile the faint smell of burning that always seemed to be in the air now explained Beacon got a call from Earth not a call really they had no interest in speaking to him it told him what was about to happen it told him he could continue his work if he chose to and gave him the crew lists of every ship the enemy had sent against his world and where he could probably find them he found himself agreeing with the strange Justice he had never met this silver wisp but he got the sense that he had carried a knife in his day and had become something more for now he had a blade and a battleship to kill silver wisp knelt and carefully brushed the dirt from the fourth altar that had been recovered from the destroyed planet this one had not been blessed it was an altar of metal and that would remain with him and be added to his ship he carried it to the weapons Foundry and watched it melt into the vast reservoirs he maintained soon it would be needed again he began by sending the other three to the Quorum ice to the Musicians Stone to the spacers and soil to the forests to each their own then he began casting the interdictors battleship sized machines that would enforce the sentence he was about to pass he felt having one in orbit over each and every world would make the point faster than a simple message he crafted them carefully and made sure a little bit of the new Iron was included on every ship the council had been recovered from the failing depths of the palace by many sweating armsmen some had not been able to make the climb and all that remained stood in bewildered silence they had ruled a thousand worlds and now it was turning to dust in front of them literally they had seen the cracks spread the fall of much of the edifice and now they found the chamber itself was simply gone now it was in their clothes in their scales and fur the human disease was eating them alive the human thing appeared they had long since lost track of the hours their screens had failed long ago they simply stood in bitter silence silver wisp looked at the tattered remains of this vicious government killers of children he laughed it sucks doesn't it someone you never met never offended suddenly seeks you out and destroys everything you care about it was much simpler when you didn't know we would find you that it was bigger than you could imagine that it could happen to you you have damned yourselves even as you sat and read reports of the strange creatures on the edge of your space and thought to kill them we have done the same each and every one of your people will know of your failure some will even pray that your children die young so that they may return to space no the time is set and we will meet your people when the last of you is gone this time I hope you offer an open hand and trust me on this I will be there to see that day and I will stand in judgment I and the other 85,000 planets that are human the 9 million orbitals fleets and habitats you are condemned to dust and your Empire Empire with you I leave you the full sentence please read it terms and conditions apply he returned to his ship and began supervising his new Fleet as it made its way into the low orbit of every planet of this dead Empire then he set an alarm and went to meet with the witnesses they probably had questions the creature was old scales faded and chipped someone had rough polished them before he had entered the village house but he looked like a lost thing until he found his seat and greedily at the soup so today I tell the tale I will speak of when the stars fell silent and why he coked a little a hem we were a people of Wonder a thousand worlds under our Reign until something came out of the dark for us you have seen what they did the great pit that was our city the single bloody star that watches us and deafens our cries for help one day it will fall and we will rise against them again they called themselves hum and they are creatures of metal and hate long did their god of death walk amongst us with its dark blade they say even the human feared him until he had filled his thirst and returned to the dark the woman was old old as the Rocks as they say but her voice grew young in the song cast down we were for putting fire to a young world all our wealth was cast away in a moment of Madness we sought to destroy our fears for there they all were sitting on a single Rock clever we thought we were cunning and we chose to strike in the dark and kill them we did but bright fires cast Deep Shadows and from the dark came those that guarded them their rage was such that they turned an Empire to dust and sent us back to till the soil their death walked with us looking for his lost children they say but his heavy blade found only their murderers stay silent he said silence until the last of you are passed for the sound of your voice will bring death upon you our rage is too great and we fear what we will do hide until we no longer weep today Rowan was feeling her age her branches stiffening and her Heartwood burdened by Too Many Memories she had pondered on a change but nothing had seemed to pierce her spirit she had been surprised when the sear had arrived calling the Corum of War to witness the end time moved so fast they sat above the sealed worlds the one that had in their long forgotten past dared to burn a human world she felt only sadness how long has it been it seems an age ago the sear nodded to us a couple of hundred years give or take to them an eternity silver wisp sent them back to a new beginning she waved at the scanner where is he he said he would be here for this he even wrote it down somewhere The Seer nodded yes I suspect he is on his way he tends to think hard about these things he has an ending in mind a thousand ships over a thousand worlds watched an old woman die and the sentence was ended blood red went to bright blue and then flickered away a message was sent to those that could hear the stars are open to you again this time come as friends there won't be a next time a thousand ships all one all shattered and waiting watching and unforgiving but the alarm rang and the summons came over the council Planet they met and melded the one that guarded the green spaces was becoming whole once again they watched as a thousand ships collided as the light became greater than the sun Rowan smiled and her leaves rustled wildly and she squeaked he's home she turned with a look at the sear you don't need to tell him I said that the Sear bowed and merely glanced into the future it was good that his son would find such happiness Beacon had had a difficult time finding this one the last Target he would find before silver wisp intervened with Earth sitting in orbit like a sullen star with every ship grounded and every signal silenced he knew he was running out of time in seant senior armsmen last known post the seven Shades Corsair class accomplice to the murder of eru retired and current currently hiding on 320 93 471 07 not hiding anymore in fact the creature had practically shouted from the rooftops that he was here after years of successful hiding that's fine his knife still worked and a century of work had not taken the edge of his desire for Revenge he didn't bother to hide the people knew that the human god of death was walking amongst them after his early work the military and police locked the doors and prayed to their goddess he barely even noticed as the population fled the rules were clear that interfering with his mission carried a heavy price the town was nothing special a once prosperous Hub of Commerce hurled back in time to agrarian subsistence they probably had a king hastily rebuilt infrastructure water and wind now running the planet Beacon grinned he had been pissed with the sentence that had been imposed he had wanted dead he had wanted blood and fire until he realized how angry the qu were the enemy didn't get to die in Fire and heroics they got to bleed out to watch those they loved to die from simple causes to sit in the wreckage of their world while a glaring red eye sat over their home and never let them forget why they had been cursed he cheerfully admitted that silver wisp was probably a bigger bastard than he was and he knew how bad that was you could only call it a homestead it looked like it had been built well built before the energy had run out built by someone who knew that hell was coming someone that had known that he was one of the Damned the walls were solid the gate was tall and heavily built from ship steel and open Curious the path was empty his sensors read the landscape as heavily armed and disconnected nothing wanted to kill him it was an odd feeling but it slowed his pace and he put his knife away that left only a talker some of them got like that usually after the first hour how sorry they were how they didn't mean to drop 800 kilotons of heavy ordinance on some children one Captain had cried that he was only obeying orders that had added a remarkably long time to his pain he hadn't waited until the miserable creature was dead before he took his face and left him to bleed out not even worth the blade some just stood there and nodded the nightmare finally turning up an end to the sweating nights and Broken Dreams those he killed quickly but they both knew that the meeting ended in death some were even grateful today would end it the Quorum had told him that this was the last the last crewman he was allowed to sentence he had made his way over a thousand planets and over A Century Of Human time to track and kill 111,000 murderers it had been easier when they had stayed in their damn ships he had hit such big numbers in the beginning thousands in a day if he got to the reactor and cooked them slowly Good Times the air was clear he could detect one life form the sky was darkening to a deep silver as the human shield blocked the planet banned from even seeing the Stars they had betrayed the more he thought about it and that was practically his only purpose the more he thought humans were bigger bastards than people realized not the shant obviously they had got to meet the sharp end but the rest of the oblivious Galaxy and him of course literally the sharp end the door was open swinging lightly in the breeze a child's toy had been left to keep it open subtle unfortunately he had an tic memory every record of every human child huddling under a bed as the air burned never got better never went away if he was human he would have said he was mad he was grateful that he had resigned from the human race before this started otherwise Justice would never have been done he pushed open the door in a chair beside the Embers of a fire sat a huddled creature it was wearing the remains of a uniform and seemed to be shivering it looked at the door and seemed confused Beacon realized he still wore full camo and silently dropped it inant senior armsmen ah you found me took you long enough what happened stopped to kill a few random civilians on the way I'm dying nothing you can do to me an hour or two won't make a difference Beacon pulled up a seat good I'm not in a hurry you are the last crewman alive so I guess you get a medal I could never find out why you were on the ship you hid your records well a Corvette not exactly my first choice of Target he thought for a moment well definitely not my second the creature cackled and that's where you were wrong it coughed to itself loudly and then resumed I was responsible for small arms small caliber and Ty Personnel anything like that we shot your people like it was a festival we took bets and I won it grinned up at him the Ragged scales showing I could always hit the small ones it was easy when you worked out how they ran and now you are here full of Revenge and your knife I'm not frightened of your blade hum my doctor says I will die in a matter of hours anyway and I wanted to spit in your face Beacon stayed silent for a moment and then spoke you think you were the worst you are nothing compared to some of those I killed you are sad hiding for your entire life under our bloody moon I am here to collect the price for your sins you know them better than I I don't give forgiveness and I'm not here to dispute your evil I'm here to kill you my task is simple and inevitable he reached into his belt and produced a very small blade however I can introduce you to New Concepts of time and pain to admit to me that that you hunted my children and you being my last Target I feel this will take a while and you can tell me all about what you did the screaming began it lasted a lot longer than his doctor had estimated and ended with him skinless and bleeding out Beacon played the sound of the children that the creature had murdered as it died silver wisp watched from orbit as the last murderer fell to the beacon his shattered self would soon reunite and look to the Future however one last task once the creature had died he summoned Beacon and they faced each other for the first and last time he nodded and said nothing Beacon smiled fine I'll say it end me this is over in the dark orbiting a now lonely sun was a strange artifact a thing of horror left to the honor the ghosts of a destroyed world and the Vengeance of man silently spinning in a forgotten orbit it was a crude sphere of faces and limbs Frozen in time and left to Forever stare blankly towards the Sun a wretched Monument to murder as the guilty were left forever circling the smoldering remains of their crime for eternity the shant human war was archived under Quorum for war 188