Ravens of Eternity

Chapter 101

101 Terms of Surrender

It was only a few hours later that the Admiral, her brother, Eva, and Miko found themselves on the aquatic planet they had accidentally ported to. The Admiral was originally going to bring her chiefs of security and engineering, but Eva and Miko convinced her otherwise.

“Don’t bring the redshirt,” Eva had argued. “If anything happens, I’m more than capable enough. If I can’t handle it, no way he could.”

Miko echoed the same sentiments about the engineering chief.

Although the Commander didn’t like the idea of putting the two of them in the same room with any enemy of the Federation, the Admiral thought differently. The two of them helped turn the tide of the fight for her. If not for either of them, they would have been in significantly different circumstances.

Their perspectives would have been far more effective.

And so, they found themselves on a beautiful ocean planet, inside of a gigantic domed city. The dome itself was completely transparent, and had the ability to flower open about halfway up. The buildings were rather intricate, and employed beautiful, organic designs.

It reminded Eva of big and bright coral reefs back on Earth. Every building and structure was vivid, colorful, and full of life.

They were also made aware of the fact that each of the domed cities actually had an underwater portion to them. The Drogar were a semi-amphibious species and were able to hold their breaths for hours at a time.

So they often spent some leisure time in water itself. In fact, they played many sports and almost always procreated underwater.

.....

It was simply where they went in order to enjoy themselves.

Not that the four of them got to see such sights – they had been ushered into a large compound that housed a stately-looking building. All including Retholis and his retinue were escorted under armed guard to an officious room.

There, they noted just how much larger the Drogar were from them. Now that they were up close and personal, they were able to much better gauge their physicality.

Eva and Miko had expected them to be brutish and imposing, but instead they were rather lithe and nimble. They often swayed as they moved, as though they swam through the air rather than walked.

The two of them felt clumsy simply watching the Drogar move. They seemed so elegant in many ways.

And their scales were incredibly varied and colorful. Like Retholis, the colors on their skin were a gradient of different shades. Though there were all sorts of colors, the predominant ones were reds, oranges, blues, and greens.

They also wore clothing. Well, their military wore body-hugging light plated armor. There were very few trimmings and decorations, and were rather spartan in style.

The officials and their assistants were dressed in more formal attire – tightly wrapped neutral-colored robes that were ornamented with beads and necklaces made from precious stones.

They were all busy setting up their workspace on large tables inside of the room. There were only two tables, but both were concentric circles. The smaller of the tables sat in the middle, while the larger one surrounded the smaller.

It would have appeared similar to a bulls-eye target if looked on from above, but with gaps in a few spaces to allow people to walk freely.

Their group sat at the smaller table intermixed with each other while a number of officials sat at the outer table. Though the officials were only there to observe and notate rather than participate. This was Swarmfather Retholis’ show, after all.

For the most part, the Admiral and Retholis spoke the most as they laid out terms of surrender, as well as their rights and powers as political prisoners of the Drogar.

Though everyone on Tartarus wasn’t going to be brought to some prison or concentration camp to slave away, they all still had to be confined to some degree. Their movements needed to be dampened, according to their laws and customs. So they were instead remanded to a compound within the city that was specifically built for diplomatic prisoners.

Each of them were assigned quarters in the compound, and didn’t have the authority to leave it. For the most part, anyway.

“What’s your stake in this, Retholis?” asked the Admiral. “I mean, you could have easily just blown us out of orbit and taken everything that we have.”

When Retholis spoke, he still did so in his Drogarii dialect, and it was much more harmonious and melodic in person. In order for them to understand him, they had to install translation nanites to their DI, but that was as easy as their initial install.

Through it, they were able to fully understand him, and all other Drogar for that matter. Translated subtitles simply appeared close to the person speaking. Eva found it incredibly handy as it also translated movements and gestures.

There was more to communication than simple words.

“That was always possible,” he replied. “But you’ve much more value alive than dead. I’ve no real stake otherwise.”

“Alright then,” said the Admiral. “Supposing you’ve got our best interest in mind... What do you want?”

Retholis laughed lightly, which the humans found somewhat odd – Miko was reminded of common house geckos and how they sounded. But deeper and richer in tone.

“Don’t assume I’ve your best interest in mind. But your continued well-being can only benefit the Empire. At least, in the long run.”

“What’s that mean? You’re looking to end our border skirmishes?”

He shook his head with a grimace.

“Of course not! I may even propose extending the conflict zone equally on both sides. No, what I want is to open trade... while still openly hostile as well.”

“Wait,” interjected Eva. “I don’t get it – why extend the skirmishing? Isn’t the end goal to stop fighting so you can trade more?”

“Heavens no,” replied Retholis. “War is both life and death for us. It’s intrinsic to our being, our culture. Just as we trade, we must war. We have to look at it pragmatically.”

“War’s a waste of life. People in power throwing other people’s families at each other. It’s... it’s lunacy!”

“Let’s be real here – war is a part of our nature. So instead of trying to end it, instead we must try to profit from it.

“So making money’s your justification, then?” countered Eva. “Somehow that makes that loss less barbaric?

“Barbarism implies our warfare’s primitive. Would you rather we blew you all out of existence and taken everything? We certainly would have profited. But we can profit more by keeping you alive. And this is the kind of trade I wish to open with the Federation. Not just material goods and technologies, but a standardized wartime trade.”

Eva shook her head at what he was hearing. It made absolute sense, of course. But to accept warring as acceptable in the first place

“So, what? You’re prototyping that trade system with this negotiation?”

“Yes, of course,” he replied. “War and profit are deeply embedded in my genetic material. I won’t deny my nature – neither should you.”

Eva was about to retort, but the Admiral interjected their disagreement.

“It’s the same with my species,” she said. “War’s deeply rooted in our genetic material. We’ve all sorts of species that have a common genetic ancestor to us – chimpanzees for example – many of which engage in tribal warfare.

“Groups of them would raid neighboring tribes and eliminate all its males one by one by one. Viciously. Brutally. Once all the males were dead, that tribe was basically considered wiped out, and the attacking tribe could expand.”

Retholis stroked the spines on his chin as the Admiral spoke. He absorbed every word she said with attentiveness. Well, he afforded everyone the same amount of respect, but he clearly showed more for the Admiral.

They were both military leaders, after all.

“We’ve something similar,” he replied. “Aviici Raptors. Beautiful birds. Also, highly territorial, aggressive, and predatory. They migrate, so every swarm technically owns two patches of land. And they’ll fight fiercely against other swarms for more.

“We’ve even developed a more domestic breed – you’ll see them flying around sometimes. Still vicious creatures, but more agreeable than its wilder, more violent cousins.”

As they spoke, the doors to their hall slammed open.

An imperious, more sinewy Drogar burst into the room. His dark crimson scales greatly contrasted Retholis’ deep blues. Behind him were a handful of aides and personal guards.

His eyes betrayed a fuming anger underneath.

Retholis greeted the newcomer first. Though he sounded genial, there was a clear tone of sarcasm laced all throughout.

“Senator Savoth, how nice to see you. Are you here to observe the proceedings?”

Though Savoth’s speech was harmonious like Retholis, his anger caused his pitch to spike sharply.

“What the hell are these apes doing here?” he snarled. “Only Drogar have the right to be on this planet!”

“Yes, Drogar and their possessions. As they are my prisoners, they’re also under my custody. Everything’s perfectly legal here. If you’ve any complaints about any of the procedures I’ve undertaken, please take your grievances to the Lady Imperator herself.”

Savoth was clearly agitated by Retholis’ provocations, and the spines all along his head flared out slightly.

“They’re bringing in their diseases and filth with them! Do you want that mingling with your scraplings? Not to mention all the resources they’ll be sucking up during their ‘imprisonment’. They need to be moved off-world!”

“You mention resources as though we’ve some sort of shortage.”

“Hmph. Your Clan might be doing well, but not every Clan in the Empire enjoys the same fruit you do. Remember that.”

“A Clan’s success is the responsibility of its leadership. If they’re not seeing much prosperity, perhaps they need to change their leaders.”

Savoth’s eyes narrowed to slits and all of his spines straightened in a single direction. His hand automatically went to the curved dagger that hung on his belt.

“Go on, Senator, strike me,” said Retholis. His voice was calm as a river as he stood up straight, right in front of Savoth. Though Retholis was shorter, his presence was far more imposing. Perhaps it was his military training, perhaps it was just his raw charisma.

Regardless, Savoth backed up slightly, and took his hand off his dagger. Then turned towards the Admiral. His forked tongue flicked a couple of times in the air before he spoke.

“Behave yourselves, apes. I’ve your scent now. If you violate any of our laws while you stand on the Imperial Core World of Taloren Prime, I will know. And I will come for your blood and empty you of every drop.”

The Admiral wasn’t sure how to respond. She was, after all, a prisoner of war. If she offended any of them, it could end up disastrous. Especially if it was someone with enough influence and power to physically threaten military leaders with impunity.

Silence filled the room as Savoth stared down at Admiral Chase. But it didn’t last long.

“Sounds excessive,” said Eva. “I mean, I don’t really know much about you Drogar. Can you clarify if that’s literal or hyperbole? Just curious.”

Retholis chuckled at her brashness, which had sagged the tension in the room.

“All criminals on Taloren Prime are met with either of two punishments,” he replied. “Personal death or death of their estate.”

“As none of you hold wealth here, your only option is death,” added Savoth.

“What, so even if, hypothetically, I stole food for my starving Clan, I’d be killed?”

“You would be commended for your decisiveness and loyalty to your clan,” said Retholis. “Then you’d be summarily executed. Yes. And before you ask, it has happened before, and will likely happen again.”

“Don’t you think that’s excessive? Every little crime?”

“Perhaps, but you should know that this world has almost zero criminals. We haven’t publicly executed anyone in ten years here.”

As Retholis replied to Eva, Senator Savoth looked over the humans in the room one by one, and burned their likenesses into his brain.

Then, he stormed out of the room as noisily as he did coming in.

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