"I don't like this. I should be down there with them."

  "Abssssolutelllly not. I ammm your docttttor. And you areeee not gooooing anywherrre until I aprooove it."

  "Fine, fine. I still don't have to like it."

  Two of the most hostile races to the Union are loose on my ship. And I'm stuck on the bridge watching from afar. Not that I would necessarily be able to do much even without these injuries. Compared to Raze and Inanna I'm rather short and squishy. Still, I just don't like it.

  "Can we at least get them more support? How can this ship only spare a dozen troops for something like this?"

  Fairy flips through files I can't read. Low Vixten just looks like claw scratches on paper.

  "We are short staffed on everything. Doubly so for combat personnel. After we made sure all critical sectors were secured this was all we could scrape together. And if I'm honest, some of those sectors could have used more."

  This is really getting old. If they wanted me to fail so bad, so be it. But putting lives under my command at risk is unbelievable. I swear when I find out who put me up to this I'm going to wring their neck, or neck equivalent.

  "Inanna, report. Have you made contact?"

  "Ne----ve. Th- ---nners ar- lo--ng functiona----"

  The screen is mostly static and their comms keep degrading. It's only gotten worse as they near the target. At this rate I'll be blind. Our target is in a Storage area. Lots of space, plenty of hiding spots. If I had to guess, our Knight friend has been raiding our ration stockpile. It takes a lot of calories to regrow an arm and even more to patch up internal organs. When I stopped the internal bleeding it didn't have to worry about the second crisis for a little while.

  Yay me.

  "Vivvian, can we get a clearer signal?"

  "Rain pours no matter how much one asks it to stop."

  "Is the Knight still in the area?"

  "Yesss. Exact looocation is diffficult, but we knnnow it's therrrre."

  "And our Diegiton guest must be near there as well. Clearly they don't want us to get to the Knight first."

  I've been mulling over what the Knight told me. The Metal Beasts lie. I got a broken wrist that says that's true. Still, all these years, all these fights, and they really thought we were animals? They may not see sensors and communication streams the same way we do, but the Union has made contact with esoteric races before. There have been attempts using visual means. I am the first to ever see a Flesh Harvester speak. The first to ever have a conversation with one and live to talk about it. And the fact it spoke human, I don't like it. We are a minor race on damn near the other side of the galaxy. No way they learned that just on a whim. They must be able to speak other languages. I just happened to be the first one worth talking to. There has to be more to this. Something I am missing. And I think I know who can tell me.

  "Vivvian, can we patch into every speaker in that section of the ship?"

  "Echoes shake where nothing rules."

  "Perfect. I want max volume."

  Vivvian presses buttons and flips switches. She turns and gives me a small nod. Everything should be linked to my new Com watch.

  "Diegiton delegate. I know you are in there and I know you can hear me. I ask that you surrender peacefully so we can continue the negotiations. Though I'm willing to bet that isn't going to happen. I'm sure you have some way to communicate with me in the Command Center. So how about before anyone does anything they might regret, we try and talk one more time."

  Intercom off. Should be safe now.

  "Think they'll go for it?"

  My answer comes in the form of text taking over the main screen. Bit showy but it gets the point across.

  "Acknowledgment: Discussion appears pointless."

  "Vivvian, can you track where the message is coming from?"

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "A lake births many streams."

  Tracking data makes Vivvian make sense. The message was routed through almost every sector of the ship before reaching us. Would take days to figure out the origin point.

  "Send a message to one of the major sectors. I want maximum encryption."

  Fairy tilts her head in confusion.

  "Why would you want to make it harder for the delegate to find your message?"

  "I'm not. Our encryptions don't slow it down in the slightest. That's just so they know the message is for them."

  "Stars see all that has ever been spoken."

  "Alright, copy this. I have spoken with the Knight. They have made some claims which I believe change things. Much of what we have been told appears to have been incorrect. Would you care to explain things?"

  Sent. Now to just wait until- and it's here.

  "Interjection: Harvesters untrustworthy. Hostile, feral, destructive. No logical reason to accept anything stated by them."

  "Hmmm. Alcea, you know the Diegiton better then anyone else here. What do you think?"

  "W-well, I'm only guessing. I-I'm not half the expert you, uh, seem to think. That said, it seems they are hiding something. In my opinion. For what that's worth."

  "Send another message starting here. Tell us again and be truthful this time. How did the war between the Diegiton and Harvester start?"

  "Reiteration: The Diegiton have not lied about the conditions of the war's beginnings. A civilian colony was attacked. There were no survivors."

  "And what's the part you have been leaving out?"

  Huh. Didn't get an immediate reply that time. Is it actually being forced to mull things over?

  "Confession: There are details that were not divulged. The colony attacked was not a Diegiton colony."

  Did it say what I just think it said?

  "Historical Context: The Diegiton were once members of an Alliance not dissimilar to the Galactic Union. There were fourteen of us. Now there is only Diegiton. The Flesh Harvesters wiped them away one by one. Their names were lost to our files. Their legacies are now ruins and bones. The Diegiton was the only mechanical race. That is why we survived. That is why we persist, and we shall continue to do so with or without the Union's help. This unit shall personably end the worthless life of this intruder. Negotiations are no longer my concern. Communication terminated."

  Space Jesus in a Pantoonian party boat.

  "I'm not the only one who read that, right? Painkillers haven't made me all straightjacket and padded room yet?"

  "I sawww it as weeell. I am havvving a harrrd time believvving it."

  "M-me too. I have been studying anything, everything I could find on the Diegiton. All my life. This changes, well, everything."

  "Do you think we can trust them on this? They have lied to us before."

  "I..." Alcea takes a deep breath. Trying to collect her thoughts. "I don't know. This would explain a lot. It could also be some kind of ruse."

  "-ontact."

  Shit, I forgot about the squad.

  "Repeat. We have contact. Permission to engage Knight Harvester."

  Signal is coming in way clearer. Crap, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

  "Permission denied. I want eyes on it."

  Inanna's cam dominates the screen. The Knight is hunched over a cargo container. Seems to be eating the canned goods, cans and all.

  "Vivian, I want the intercom again."

  More buttons and a nod.

  "Harvester."

  That got its attention. It's searching all around for the source of the loud voice.

  "I'm giving you one opportunity to surrender. Drop to your knees and put all arms behind your-"

  My booming voice is silenced. The Knight chucks two kilogram cans at the overhead speakers with shocking precision. Wrecking them with brute force and cream of chicken soup.

  "Get me back to direct coms. Inanna, you have full permission. Take the Knight down."

  "Yes Sir. Raze, take point."

  "Finally speaking my language. Don't worry, I won't leave much left for you lot."

  Through Inanna's view I see Raze move out from their cover. From Raze's view, the Knight Harvester is center screen with an aiming reticle pointed directly at its center of mass. That big gun starts to whirl, waiting to unleash a hail of plasma. The Knight faces him. Its hind legs and massive fore claws are all on the ground, ready to pounce or flee as the situation calls for it. Wings fluttering in anticipation.

  "I've heard Knights can dodge almost anything. Time to test that out. Ready or not, Raze is coming for yo-"

  Raze's feed is lit up by a blinding green light for a brief moment. Switching to Inanna's I can see the smoldering hunk that was his rotary cannon on the floor.

  "Second contact. Diegiton inbound."

  Couldn't have waited another ten seconds now could yeah?

  "Disengage. The Knight was bad enough. I do not want you to fight both of them at once. Fall back and let them sort things out."

  "Are you kidding Warm blood?"

  Raze, now is not the time to be a pisser.

  "Fuck this. I'm handling this the old fashion way."

  Inanna is the only one not to run from the room as fast as possible. Her feed shows the stupid lizard with a mace in his hand casually strolling to the Diegiton like it was a training dummy.

  "The Captain gave an order. Fall back now. You could be court marshalled for this."

  "Bite me. After I'm done with these two I'll be getting a medal."

  Raze wasted no time after that, charging directly at the Diegiton. His power mace starts to hum from the increased gravitational fields as he swings with full force.

  I am very glad I have Raze's feed up. Otherwise I would have missed the moment the Diegiton ducked under the mace and followed up with a hook punch straight into his chest. The white armor dented at the sheer force. I hear laser fire as Inanna tries to stop the Knight from charging. Blades poised to strike the Diegiton, who wisely pushes Raze in the way. It's blade piercing his armor like paper, the tip sticking out the other side. That's a sight I needed a little less.

  I can hear coughing and blood coloring his camera. The two more dangerous races retract their blows, leaving the wounds to seep on their own. Raze drops to his knees, face staring at the floor, trapped between hard metal and a carapace place.

  Then two armored claws shoot up. One grabs a mechanical neck, the other an insectoid neck. His feed goes out, but I can still hear Raze's voice.

  "This is going to be a lot of fun."