“Despite the Senate's wish to remain solitary, there is a growing desire among the people to make peace with other races. This unending war is tiresome. For too long, we have allowed politicians to send our children to die on forgotten planets while they sit back and profit. I will change that; I will do everything in my power to make humanity a force for peace rather than conquest. Dear friends, if you would stand beside me in this endeavor, we could change the face of who we are. Isn’t it better to work toward unity instead of division?” — Letter to the Unranked Council, from Albert Mayer.

  Ice glittered like diamonds beneath his feet, filtering the light of a thousand suns through chaotic fractures formed by millions of asteroid impacts. Around him, the corpses of human water miners lay in scattered piles like debris after a storm. Life on The Reservoir was difficult, but a hard life was the price one paid to mine humanity’s most precious commodity. Usually, that only meant rationing food for a few weeks while the supply freighter was stuck on the other side of an asteroid field, waiting for a safe path. Never in the history of human expansion did it mean being attacked by creatures so vile, crafted light couldn’t touch their skin without searing pain.

  The miners had failed to transmit their weekly status update to WaterCo, a company charged with bringing liquid water to barren worlds, but it wasn’t so uncommon for their employees to transmit the data after they’d returned from a dig. So, the executives waited an additional week for confirmation, knowing the miners would submit their monthly shopping cart of food and other supplies. When that transmission also failed to arrive at their home office on Phoenix Prime, they finally suspected something might be wrong.

  It was three weeks after the first missed transmission before WaterCo submitted a formal help request to the United Human Republic. Even then, Albert Mayer and Tobias Ross only discovered the report while searching for potential enemy strongholds. In what was all too common a story, the ineptitude of government and corporation alike would’ve buried this information for a year or more if not for the officer's dedication to finding and rooting out the enemy.

  “Tobias, I won’t wait for the gears of government to grind. By the time they decide to bring a company of soldiers here, these bodies will have faded to dust,” Unranked Officer Albert Mayer said to his counterpart through an optic bond. “We’ve only just begun rebuilding the Senate into something honorable. Waiting for them to make the right choice will only allow the enemy to further entrench themselves.”

  “I do not disagree, but I worry about the backlash of lost patience.” Unranked Officer Tobias Ross replied from the helm of his flagship.

  “There isn’t a company of soldiers in the entire Advanced Human Forces capable of fighting these creatures in large numbers. The only thing they’ll accomplish by sending them here is to ensure the Steel Brigade has a substantial pool of dead to upload into new Steel Casts.” Albert cast out his senses, searching for holes in the eternal tapestry of Light and using them to pinpoint enemy troops.

  “So, what do you suggest we do about it, Albert?” Tobias sighed.

  “I’m going to hunt them down like rabbits in a field and destroy every one I can find. If I can locate their commander, I’ll capture the beast and give it to Benjamin. With his last one dead, he needs another toy to play with.” Albert replied, tapping commands into his Vis-HUD to summon a capture pod. Instead of the pod, Tobias materialized beside him with a pair of skeletal Warrior-class drones powered up and ready for action.

  “I like the plan, but I have information from Ben that you need to hear. The enemy leadership is called the Stygibora, and they have a hive mind. His research also shows the older ones have more access to memory and independent thought, but the extent is still very unclear.” Tobias said, the back of his neck glowing a deep indigo as the ship fired three volleys of drone pods down to the planetoid.

  “We have no way of knowing which one is the oldest, though. Is that the 121st?” Albert asked as a pulse of violet light rippled out from his body to create a topographical map. Confirming his dedication to Albert's invasion of The Reservoir, Tobias closed his eyes and nodded his bald head. “Good. Have them dispatched to areas one through fifty on the map. I would love to tell you they are looking for survivors, but that would be a lie. We need security footage and the last transmitted vitals for the site. You and I will go underground and deal with the threat, I sense a large gathering of Stygibora down there.”

  Tobias copied the map to his HUD and activated the Gate onboard the ship. The air before them warped and shattered as Light between two points merged to create a tunnel through reality. The portal’s surface glittered like the crystalline ice around them, waiting for someone to pass through and restore the laws governing spacetime to their previous state. “After you, my friend.”

  They materialized on the other side of the frozen ocean and immediately went to work. Albert drew his pistol, forged a bond with his enemy, and blindly fired three rounds into the inky black flesh of a Stygiboran guard currently in the shape of a human. Dropping the connection he’d made with the now corpse, the Unranked Officer created new bonds with every Stygiboran soldier within a few miles. They would feel pain from the thread of Light, but that small agony was nothing compared to what they’d done to the human miners who only wanted to feed their families.

  Before the first creature hit the ground, Albert swung his weapon and pulled the trigger three more times. During all his years fighting on the front lines of battles he had no business being part of, he always admired the ease with which Benjamin could dispatch enemy forces. He would never reach that level of competency with a gun or blade, but after a thousand years of watching a dear friend suffer the torments of unending war, he was glad for his incompetence.

  Albert raised his free hand and pointed toward the glittering mouth of a mining cave. “The cluster is down there. Do you want the drones to take the lead, or us?”

  Tobias laughed, “If you and I go first, I’ll never catch up with your body count.”

  “I didn’t know it was a contest.”

  “It’s always been a contest. We just don’t say it too loudly, or Benjamin will show up and take the show.” He replied, the back of his neck glowing indigo as he commanded the Warrior Drones to take point and eliminate any threat they perceived.

  “Yes, but if I don’t know either, how can I keep up with who’s first and who’s last?” Albert said, holstering his pistol and following the drones into the cavernous depths.

  “Because the positions only change when one of us joins a battle. Ben is first, always first. Then Sarath, Theresa, Harrison, you, me, and Frederick in the back.” Tobias explained as his drones dispatched a group of enemy soldiers in the next chamber.

  “Fred is last? I would assume his body count would be higher, considering how easily those shields can crush enemy forces.”

  "You would think, but he makes a conscious effort to avoid causing unnecessary harm."

  That personality quirk spoke volumes about the head of the Aegis Corps. He’d always been more humanitarian than the rest of them. But choosing to save life rather than end it proved he had the right to lead a corps whose job centered on keeping others alive. Was it the reason he could still smile without pain behind his eyes?

  “I think it’s admirable. But I wonder, does his restraint still count if one of us does the killing for him?” Albert asked. The question was a valid one. Was a pacifist still free of guilt if they allowed someone else to come to harm through inaction? Did Frederick have a duty to prevent injury? Albert had questioned his place in the universe for centuries. Ever since the attack on Mars, where they were forced to pick up weapons for the first time, he had wished for a life without war.

  “I think it does. But the person you’re asking determines the answer to that question. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the years, it’s that morality is never the same from one person to the next.” Ahead, the drones located another pair of guards and dispatched them without mercy.

  “Possibly. But shouldn’t there be a moral baseline?”

  “We tried to eliminate religion for a reason. But in the end, we found the only way to create one is for it to be rooted in the fear of a higher power.”

  “Could law become that power?” Albert mused, casting his vision forward into the next cavern. “Careful with the civilians. There are several enemy guards keeping watch over a group of Malektor slaves.”

  “Why do you refuse to call the Stygibora by name?” Tobias asked, indigo light flashing as he uploaded new orders to the drones, instructing them not to harm the Malektor. If everything went well, they would be free to return to their homeland by the end of this battle, if it still existed.

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  “Because they haven’t earned the right to be called by their true names.”

  “I understand they have no honor, but using cute names instead of just saying their actual race makes clarity difficult.” Tobias explained.

  “Fine, I’ll call them by the official designation.” Albert sighed as they crossed the threshold into a large chamber.

  Inside, spider-like creatures with glass exoskeletons operated heavy machinery while others of their kind carved blocks of ice from the walls and loaded them into containment vessels. Even with little knowledge of the species, Albert could tell these creatures had worked past the point of safety and deep into the realm of cruelty.

  His eyes flashed violet as the Unranked Officer of the Optic Corp ripped threads of Light from the world around him and forcibly bound them to the Stygiboran slave masters that dotted the cavern. Enemy soldiers fell, their cohesion lost to the burning pain caused by the Light invading their bodies. Allowing the philosophy of war to fall away, Albert donned a mask of indifference, drew his pistol, and calmly walked into the room.

  Tobias had seen Albert reach this level of fury many times over the centuries; it was something he reserved specifically for anyone who enslaved a sapient species. The Optic's rage was usually directed at others for the way they treated humans, but this was different. The humans here were already dead. And by tradition of conquest, the new owners of this planet had every right to treat its inhabitants however they pleased. Clearly, that law was no longer valid in Albert’s eyes. Injustice was injustice, and it needed to be treated as such. It didn’t matter if the target of persecution was human or not; leaving them to fend for themselves was wrong. For decades, the Optic tried to explain that isolation was not the answer the Senate thought it was. But sadly, the success of their thousand-year galactic superiority had instilled a particular belief in humanity that was hard to shake.

  Albert walked through the chamber, calmly placing the muzzle of his pistol against the dense central nerve core that served as their brain and allowed the Stygibora to shapeshift. Some tried to fight back, using their mass of writhing tentacles and teeth to tear into the Unranked Officer's flesh. But no matter how hard they tried to harm him, Albert simply injected himself with a glowing green syringe that rebuilt his body in a matter of seconds.

  After dispatching the last Stygiboran slave master, Albert drew himself up and cast his senses out once more. There were viewpoints inside the reservoir that would allow him to see from a multitude of angles, but only one interested him. It was the only point where the tapestry of Light was dark; it was where a mortal hid from a god.

  In a dark corner of a sub-chamber, the last Stygiboran soldier held firmly to a human shape despite the pain. It shouldered a rifle and fired a constant stream of rounds as a pair of drones advanced on its position. Each bullet warped the air, their impacts crunching armor with every hit. Behind the light-empowered machines, the two officers approached as though nothing could hurt them.

  A round took Albert in the chest, tearing through his uniform and punching a fist-sized hole in his body. Without staggering, he drew another syringe and slammed it into his leg. As the green light of Theresa’s power flooded through him, he raised his pistol to demand the alien’s surrender. If the creature didn’t drop the weapon, he was prepared to strip it of its immunity to Light and end its life. The Stygiboran immediately dropped the weapon and raised its hands in surrender, allowing the damaged drones to surround it. As Tobias issued orders to disassemble and form a containment unit, the enemy commander smiled as its skin faded to gray.

  “The gift of the Starborn is poison. You will regret accepting their bondage. The only release, the only protection, is to embrace the dark and silence the stars.” It said, its skin graying further as it cracked like dehydrated flesh in a desert. “We have abandoned this husk. The collective will not forget your face. Through pleasure or pain, you will become one with us. Until then, we will pity your existence as servants of the Light.”

  Before either man could react, the creature collapsed. Its emaciated body falling into itself as it turned to dust; a rifle and a faceless smile remaining as the only proof of its former life.

  “The gift of the Starborn?” Tobias asked, poking the pile of dust with his boot.

  “Our power is a mutation of the abilities from the severed hand in Roswell. Perhaps these creatures know more about its origins than we do.”

  “But what makes the power a poison?”

  “That one is easy enough, but I don’t understand how it’s any different from what they’re doing. After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Albert explained, forging a brief bond with the nearby Malektor. “I think it deserves more examination, though. Do you think Benjamin has information he hasn’t reported?”

  “Possible, but unlikely. Ben may be insane, but both personalities are honest to a fault.” Tobias replied as he ordered their ship to lock on to their position and Gate them back. “But we can ask him ourselves. He’s up there now.”

  ~~**~~

  Benjamin waited on the command deck of the Shaka, leaning against a guardrail as he idly conjured and dismissed a screwdriver made of crimson light. He stared at the twisted metal of the arrival gate, studying virtual schematics and adjusting minor parameters in the eternal pursuit of improving efficiency. Inside the ring, reality shattered as the advanced piece of technology connected two points along eternal threads of Light. From the center, motes of energy coalesced into two humanoid shapes before forming into Albert and Tobias.

  “That took you longer than I expected.” Benjamin said, dropping his hand and allowing the shaped power to disperse.

  “There were a lot of Stygibora.” Tobias replied, a flash of indigo recalling the company of Warrior drones from the surface while pulling his consciousness from their processors as they settled back into storage. “Luckily, we have a lot of drones.”

  “Benjamin, you knew we were down there and chose not to join? I’m honestly unsure if I should call that growth or wonder if you’re getting bored in your old age.” Albert remarked, gesturing to a star map in the center of the room.

  “I’m not bored, and The Butcher is certainly not growing. I just figured that by showing up, I would rob the pair of you of much-needed battle practice with your abilities. This is what, Albert, the fourth time you’ve taken the field this century?”

  “Deployment doesn’t become me. Between that and the time I spend excusing your actions to the Senate, I don’t have many chances to join a battle where my skills are terribly useful.” Albert laughed, joy spreading to his violet eyes.

  Long ago, before the government forced them to carry the sword of justice, the seven Unranked Officers were nothing more than scientists called up to serve their country on a mission of exploration and discovery. It wasn’t the first time a group of experts had been used to unravel the secrets of the known and unknown, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

  Benjamin remembered that initial flight to Roswell. They’d crammed all seven of them into the back of an overburdened plane for secrecy, where each complained about the discomfort of the metal seating after several hours of flight time. He even remembered trying to soothe Albert as he sat, doubled over, a fresh wave of vomit greeting the world with every pocket of turbulence.

  When they landed, a colonel threatened them with a life of imprisonment if they ever revealed the truth behind the famous "Roswell Alien" to the public. That threat was ultimately useless after they were told they’d never find another unmonitored space for the rest of their lives. Once they understood the severity of what they would see, soldiers led the seven scientists into a shielded room with a table and a black box on its surface.

  If Benjamin could go back and walk away from the project, he would do so. Instead, his curiosity demanded he look inside and stare at the prismatic light radiating from the severed alien hand that rested on a lead-lined pillow. The others believed their lives changed when the secrets of the Serum were finally unlocked, but Benjamin knew better. He knew everything had changed the moment he saw that appendage.

  “Your skills are plenty useful in battle, Albert. You just try to live a life that was not fated for any of us,” Tobias jabbed. “By the way, Benjamin. Do you know where the Malektor homeworld is?”

  “Vaguely, why?”

  “Because there are a few thousand souls down there that need to be reunited with their families.”

  “That’s highly unlikely. The Stygibora take exactly two-thirds of a population when they visit a world. It allows them to generate a potent slave workforce while still having enough breeding stock to ensure they won't quickly run out.” Benjamin explained, “To get them back to their families, we would probably need to search Stygiboran systems for whichever planet they live on now.”

  “Is there nothing we can do?”

  “I have an option, but it won't make anyone back on Phoenix happy.” Albert said, calculating the number and precise positioning of all planet-bound Malektor on the ground and uploading the results to the ship’s computer. “I say we force the politicians to put their money where their mouths are and accept the Malektor as refugees to be given full citizenship and rights.”

  “The Senate wouldn’t go for it. Hell, many of them still believe an omniscient being created the universe in seven days. Most also believe the same being created it for humans and humans only, with many demanding the extermination of what they call abomination races. Mix those beliefs with the forced reality that our universe is filled to the brim with intelligent life, and you’ve got a true xenotarian crisis.” Benjamin replied, speaking more than he had in months.

  “What about signing a treaty with them first, then worry about how the Senate feels later? It’s the same thing we did with the XanRai’d.” Tobias suggested.

  Albert smiled, knowing that helping these creatures would do more to restore the humanity of the Unranked Corps than anything else. “That might work. Do we have a world that could house them properly?”

  Tobias accessed a racial database, calling up the Malektor to find almost nothing about their people or history. Instead, the only piece of information was a description of the time they’d first met the spider-like creatures. “We’ll need to ask them what kind of world they come from. It’s possible they can help pinpoint a proper biome, but it’s far more likely we’ll need to terraform a world, step back, and allow them to build a home without our interference.”

  “And the official treaty?” Benjamin asked, raising a metallic eyebrow.

  “The Unranked Corps will offer a treaty for now. Once they’ve rebuilt part of their society, we can approach the senate on their behalf.” Albert answered. It wasn’t perfect, but it had the potential to provide humanity with their second true alien ally.

  For too long, the Unranked Officers were a symbol of death and control. Maybe—with enough work and dedication—they could change that. Maybe they could protect more than human life and finally absolve themselves of their sins.

  And maybe the shadows would finally fall silent and allow Benjamin to rest.