Naero's Valor

by Mason Elliott

  This was just a regular interstellar war between two competitive species.

  That did not make it any less horrific.

  Any war could be fueled by hate and drive both sides to commit atrocities, beyond merely fighting and killing through military means.

  According to what had been learned through the data files of both sides, these two species had only been fighting with each other for three standard years.

  The conflicts began in their contested colonial regions where first contact was made, and both sides insisted on laying claim to certain valuable systems.

  The fate of four planets led to war, and the militaries of both sides piled in, spreading the conflict among many more once peaceful worlds of the two races.

  Now half of their worlds on both sides had sustained significant damage and loss of life.

  This only intensified the hatreds at work between these species.

  Naero shook her head.

  The absolute stupidity of such wars abounded on their own.

  “Who needs the Great Enemy to do anything,” Naero said in despair, “when such ignorance, violence, and hatred flourish so easily?

  “Should we get involved in the first place,” Poly asked, “or just leave these idiots to themselves?”

  “For their sakes and ours, it would be far better if we ended this madness, and bring both sides into the Alliance fold.”

  Poly stepped back and bowed her head in deference. “You are far more experienced in such matters than I, Naero. I will follow your lead. Direct me.”

  They sent reports back to the Alliance forces, explaining the situation, and requesting assistance when the proper time came.

  By now, Poly was correct. Naero was indeed a leading expert in handling such first contact, pacification, and recruitment situations.

  She had also trained many Alliance Mystics in similar skill sets and sent them out as first contact, diplomatic teams.

  Naero brought them to Magron, the most contested world between the two sides in the war. Battle zones blazed intensely on all five main continents.

  Actually, without the presence of a greater enemy to force the two sides to band together, Naero felt at somewhat of a disadvantage.

  “These two sentient races are going at each other with everything they have, and providing plenty of fodder for raging hatred on either side. To their mindsets, why should either side stop doing what they are already doing?”

  “So where do we begin?” Poly said.

  “Before we can hope to end this war, we must be able to change into either of these species at will. That will require some definite effort and biomancy mastery on our part.”

  At first, it was easy to study the biomechanics of both sides. Both were clearly mammals, and the ongoing war left many of them wounded, dying, and dead on the chaos of the battlefield for study. Then there were the forward field hospitals, set up to process the casualties on the lines of triage.

  Their medical tek, like the rest of their tek, was only slightly behind Alliance standards. Thus it was fairly advanced.

  Yet Naero and Poly also noted that the near-human Zenekians were far more quick to euthanatize their severely wounded than the centaurs of the Chath. They former did so routinely with blaster pistols that all medical personnel kept with them on their belts.

  The favored method was a clean shot through the skull.

  Once Naero and Poly could shapechange into either species, they split up to observe both cultures from within, to learn if there was any possible thought or inclination to end the war.

  All of that took Naero and Poly several days.

  Afterwards, they compared their findings and exchanged data.

  Both sides hated the war, as it turned out, and its terrible waste and high costs.

  The Chath, according to Poly, actively wished that they could negotiate some kind of solution or even a cessation of hostilities in order to find some kind of common ground.

  From Naero’s time among the Zenek, however, that was going to be extremely difficult. Because according to the rigid thinking and mindset of the Zenek, the Chath were more or less bloodthirsty demons that had not only caused the war by their actions, but who must now be obliterated.

  It wasn’t that the Zenek were extremely warlike or interested in conquest that much. But they had demonized their enemy to the point where the only logical solution was to destroy their foe completely, for all time, so that they would never become a threat to anyone ever again.

  That in itself seemed far beyond rational thought.

  Among the Zenek, there wasn’t even any talk or suggestion of diplomacy or negotiations to end the conflict in any peaceful way. Any Zenek individual who even suggested something like that was laughed at, shouted down instantly, or even attacked and beaten for even suggesting such a thing.

  Zenek areas were awash in the most astonishing propaganda, spurring on their self-righteous troops to wipe out the other species without question or hesitation.

  When faced with such fervor, the Chath for their part fought just as hard in order to avoid extinction.

  Who needed the Great Adversary in such a conflict?

  These two species were doing just fine at trying to eradicate each other.

  In the end, the only thing Naero could come up with would be very risky.

  She called in an Alliance Task Force large enough to separate the two combatants and give diplomacy a chance.

  But if one side was hell bent on destroying the other, what could they really do? Left to themselves, one of these species would most likely gain the upper hand and eventually destroy the other.

  Poly asked if they even had a right to interfere.

  Naero thought about all of the innocent civilians on both sides who would die needlessly in the process. For whatever reason or logic, it would be a horrible waste for them all.

  Even a forced resolution might give both combatants a chance to evolve beyond their limited, disastrous positions.

  Then fate forced their hand.

  The Alliance Forces were still a few days away.

  On Magron, Chath armies had just crushed the Zenek military around the large Zenek megacity of Tulvot.

  The remaining civilian population faced certain death against Chath armies fresh from the fight and eager to fall upon them.

  There were still about eleven million half-starved Zenekians cowering in the megacity, out of an original population of twenty-three million. Many of the adults who could join the battle lines had already been wiped out. This left the very young, the sick and the wounded, and the very old.

  It was a horrid situation.

  The Zenek still refused to surrender, and out of the hatred and fear they had of the Chath, they vowed to fight to the last.

  Those trapped in Tulvot hoped in vain that relief forces would come to their aid before the bitter end.

  Yet both sides knew that no such succor by the Zenek was even possible with the current state of the war.

  Then a strange course of events unfolded.

  “The Chath have stayed their hand, Poly–when it was clear to all that they could have butchered those eleven million Zenek over the course of a few days. It would merely take time.”

  On the neighboring contested world of Pelaz, another similar situation unfolded in the reverse. On that world, a Chath megacity of some twelve million souls called Vulind was surrounded and about to fall to the sword. Here the Zenek military prepared to exterminate the remaining helpless population of the Chath.

  Poly checked the progress through military links they had intercepted. “Look at this, N. Again, the Chath have proposed a short truce, long enough for the civilians on both worlds, in both megacities to be evacuated. Then the armies on both sides can resume the war, once the noncoms are out of the way.”

  Naero and Poly monitored the communications of both sides.

  Naero could race through them faster with her superior teknomancy.

  “At first the Z
enek refused,” Poly noted.

  They kept searching.

  “Kkkkkk…” Poly clicked her mandibles absently, as she sometimes did when passing the time. “Then they reversed themselves and agreed to the brief cessation of hostilities, but only on those continents, around those megacities.”

  This seemed somewhat hopeful. “Haisha,” Naero said. “Look at these secret coms. The Zenek still intended to secretly wipe out the Chath in Vulind, but only after they evacuated their own people from Tulvot.”

  “That’s not very honorable,” Poly noted.

  “We’ve been monitoring this situation long enough,” Naero said. “High time for a little intervention on our part, Poly. We need to get to Pelaz and see that the Zenek keep their word not harm the Chath trapped in Vulind.”

  “Naero, I’m not you. No one is. I couldn’t possibly transport that far.

  “I can.” It was only a neighboring system. “Remind me to quicken your transport ability. We can boost it in stages. That’s the best way.”

  Within a matter of seconds they flashed there, just before the massed Zenek forces began positioning themselves for the main assault, as soon as the Chath began to evacuate and were the most vulnerable.

  Naero, I’ll continue to monitor the Zenek military and Intel links closely.

  Good. Keep us posted, Om.

  Om would remained mind linked to both Champions.

  Back on Magron, the Zenek of Tulvot were already being rush loaded onto huge cargo haulers that had come down all across the megacity.

  Both sides were supposed to be watching vids of the progress, but at the last minute, the Zenek military did not allow direct vid feeds of Vulind, “out of concerns for military security,” as they claimed.

  First, Naero had her spyfixer cloud prepared to throw up an impenetrable shield at her directive.

  The Zenek were clearly evacuating their people considerably faster than the Chath.

  They filled freight containers with people and zipped them to the starships in orbit for emergency transport away from the system. An army of troops and bots did so relentlessly.

  As Naero and her people secretly knew, there was a very good reason for their hurried efficiency.

  Poly did not have the talent for creating large number of battle replicants that Naero did.

  Naero had used the hours that passed to create a large host of her own Shetanna reps, great enough to keep the Zenek forces busy for a while, if the matter came to blows.

  Tulvot was nearly empty by then.

  Unaware of their danger, the relieved Chath weren’t worried yet. They still thought they had up to three days to get their people out of Vulind.

  Then coded transmissions came from Tulvot.

  Ninety percent or more of the Zenek refugees were now out.

  To the Zenek, ten percent would be an acceptable loss on their side if it came down to it.

  They had to leave enough people there as a ruse to make the Chath think that the evacuation was still ongoing and proceeding at about the same rate.

  All communications would conveniently break down.

  The attack on Vulind would begin within the hour, as soon as the first attack waves were fully coordinated.

  Vulind would not stand a chance, and the Chath would not find out about the deception and the genocide until it was well under way.

  Naero chose that exact moment to make her appearance before the Zenek High Command on Pelaz, within their safest, most secure bunker, overlooking Vulind and their forces from up in the high mountains overseeing their armies poised to attack, and the doomed city.

  She wore her own form, but made herself by scale about 2.74 meters high–almost twice her normal height.

  To the near-human Zenek she was a gigantic being, glowing with a golden light.

  Her sudden appearance among them startled them beyond words for an instant. She used the voice to stun them further in their own language. “I AM NAERO AMASHIN MAERIS OF THE GALACTIC SENTIENT ALLIANCE. I AM AN EMISSARY FROM A RACE OF ADVANCED ENERGY BEINGS. WE HAVE COME TO INTERVENE IN THIS TRAGIC WAR AND TO HELP NEGOTIATE A BROKERED TREATY OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN THE TWO SPECIES INVOLVED. PLEASE ALLOW ME TO SPEAK WITH YOUR LEADERS CONCERNING THESE MATTERS.”

  At least she got those words out before the Zenek drew their weapons and nearly blasted their bunker to bits trying to attack her.

  She let them blaze away and get their surprise and shock out of their systems.

  Naero merely stood there, towering over them, absorbing their pitiful attacks or letting them pass through or rebound off of her image.

  “HALT. YOUR WEAPONS CANNOT HARM ME. I SUGGEST THAT YOU SEE REASON AND SPEAK WITH ME ON THE WEIGHT OF MY DIPLOMATIC ERRAND. FORCE IS NOT ALWAYS NEEDED TO RESOLVE ISSUES BETWEEN SENTIENTS. LET US TALK AND NEGOTIATE THIS MATTER PEACEFULLY.”

  Another round of frantic blasting followed, but from the looks on their drained, terrified faces, they began to believe her words.

  More heavily armed Zenek troops blasted their way into the bunker.

  A Zenekian battle cruiser dropped down in front of the ops station and leveled is big guns at the structure, and directly at her.

  Naero spoke with Poly telepathically. I’ll take out the cruiser. Disarm and immobilize the High Command and their forces.

  Got it, N.

  Poly had their spyfixers convert all weapons in the bunker to dust.

  Then she paralyzed the several hundred Zenek with Cosmic energy waves.

  Naero turned against the battle cruiser and hit it with energy disruption and depletion beams from her eyes.

  The powerless cruiser fell against the mountain range and slid down a few thousand meters to the plains below.

  It never fired a shot.

  Other hovering Zenek warships around that area quickly retreated several klicks away to form a defensive perimeter.

  From their panicked coms, the Zenek still reeled and attempted to grasp the ramifications of this fantastic situation as it continued to unfold.

  Naero scooped up a few Zenekian generals in both hands and lifted them up before her eyes.

  I DO NOT WANT TO HARM YOU. LET ME SAY AGAIN. YOUR WEAPONS DO NOT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO HARM MY KIND IN ANY WAY. STOP ATTACKING. WE ARE A PEOPLE OF REASON. WE HAVE COME IN PEACE ON A DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO SETTLE CONFLICTS FOR THE GOOD OF ALL, NOT TO FIGHT YOU. TALK TO US AS RATIONAL SENTIENTS. WE HAVE NO WISH TO CONQUER OR SUBJUGATE YOU. THAT IS NOT OUR MISSION. CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT? YOUR WORLDS AND YOUR PEOPLES ARE YOURS TO MANAGE, AS LONG AS YOU RESPECT THEIR RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS OF OTHER SENTIENT RACES AS WELL. WE HAVE NO WISH TO BATTLE YOU; WE ARE A PEACEFUL PEOPLE UNLESS PROVOKED. TRUST ME. YOU HAVE NO WISH TO FIGHT US, EITHER. SUCH A FUTILE CONFLICT WOULD BE VERY ONE-SIDED AND EXTREMELY BRIEF. WE HAVE COME HERE TO REASON WITH YOU. PLEASE TALK WITH US. NEGOTIATE WITH US!

  One of the Zenekian generals regained enough of his wits to talk back. “Release us, invader! How can we speak with you as prisoners under threat? Withdraw from this system and we will arrange for a delegation to meet with you in a neutral-”

  AND ATTACK US WITH THE FULL WEIGHT OF YOU MILITARY, Naero finished.

  She continued using the voice. “YES, IT IS EASY FOR US TO READ YOUR MINDS—ALL OF THEM, GENERAL TEMAERIST DENGRELL. EVEN NOW, VIDS AND ASSESSMENTS OF MY ARRIVAL ARE RACING TO YOUR HIGHEST LEADERS. IN HASTE AND FEAR, THEY ALREADY PLAN TO SEND ALMOST A THIRD OF YOUR AVAILABLE FLEETS TO BLOCKADE PELAZ, AND PUT DOWN THIS NEW ALIEN THREAT ONCE AND FOR ALL.”

  Dengrell remained stubborn, like most generals, playing for time and advantage.

  “If you are as benevolent as you claim, invader-”

  “I AM AN EMISSARY, GENERAL. INVADER IS SO INACCURATE AND INSULTING. CALL ME NAERO. I WOULD LIKE TO CALL YOU TEMAERIST. LET US BEGIN THE NEGOTIATIONS RIGHT NOW, WITH YOU AND YOUR STAFF, AND OTHERS CAN JOIN IN LATER. THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO DO SO.”

  “Emissary Maeris, I am not a diplomat, I am a soldier. My people still need time to-”

  Naero stopped using
the voice. “To execute a show of force, a massive military response to frighten and impress us? I assure you, General. That will end in an equally massive disaster. For whatever forces the Zenek send, even if you send a thousand times the number your people are already gathering, I assure you that naked force and violence will not avail you. Please trust me in this. Any resulting loss of life is not necessary.”

  The general paused for a moment. “This could all be a trick of some kind. How do we know your forces outmatch ours by such a degree?”

  Naero sighed and placed the general on a high platform at eye level.

  She put the others in her big hands down at her feet, and let them go. They scurried away like mice.

  “Seriously, General? Do you honestly believe that this is all just an elaborate trick of some kind? I came here as I have done, just to trick you into talking with us? What sense would that make? If that were the case, you would still have the option to attack us at any time you choose. Think on it. There is no good way to make first contact with new species who are already embroiled in a conflict such as yours. It simply has to happen, and once contact is established, we all proceed forward from that point.”

  “How do we know you aren’t working for our enemies?”

  “General, if we were, your forces would already have been wiped out. Trust me. Once we have your attention, our next goal is to gain the attention of your counterparts among the Chath. From experience, I’m guessing that their reaction is going to be similar to that of you and your people. Believe me when I say that we are here to put an end to this conflict, not to take one side or the other.”

  “I still don’t believe that you are as powerful as you say you are.”

  “General, a single emissary of my species has infiltrated one of your secret command centers, captured all of you with both minimal effort and harm done, neutralized your weapons, and defeated an entire battle cruiser while you looked on. Your weapons are useless against me, a mere negotiator. What will you do against trillions of my kind? What will you do against our actual military, against our warriors who are…well, let us merely state that they are not as diplomatic as I am? You have yet to see the might of our fleets, and what our advanced weapons can do.”