First Contact

Chapter 182: (Telkan - The War)

Brentili'ik sat between Synthal'la and Ilmata'at, holding the excited podlings on her lap while her two broodcarriers held the smaller and shyer ones against their chests and hid them with their fluffy tails. The twelve podlings on Brentili'ik's lap were all adoptees who had lost their parents in what the Terrans called "The Sixth Precursor War" or "The First Telkan War" and had become her responsibility. They were all scarred, emotionally or physically, but had adapted to their new reality quickly.

They were all excited, bouncing up and down slightly even though they were seated.

Several hundred Telkan were in the stands behind Brentili'ik's boxed seat. All of them were excited, although many of them, like Brentili'ik, were slightly worried for what it meant for the Telkan all lined up.

Nearly a hundred Telkans, males and females, were drawn up in a perfect formation. Dressed in flashy uniforms many of them had ribbons for valor and bravery and exertion. Over half had cybernetic implants to replace damaged body parts. They all stood with their backs straight, an inactive chainsword in their right hand, the tip grounded into the earth, wide brimmed caps that the brim was highly polished, and polished shoes.

A Terran General was giving a speech, about today was the day the gathered Telkan became leaders, had stepped forward to accept the burden and responsibility for the lives of their fellow Telkans, to ensure that any loss of life served a purpose and was not in vain. That each of the beings present had completed the long and arduous Officer Training Course over the period of ten weeks.

Brentili'ik wrung her hands slightly as her implant told her that a meme of her husband had popped up and had been viewed over 2.2 million times. She brought it up on her retinal implant and almost burst out laughing.

It was a two panel on top of one wide panel meme. The top left one was of her husband Vuxten and his mantid companion 471 fighting bioweapons at the lake with her husband yelling "THE POOL IS CLOSED!". The next panel had someone asking if Vuxten was paying attention from outside the scene of Vuxten flying through the air yelling "NO REFUNDS!" that was slightly blurry and faded. The bottom panel was of the scene in front of Brentili'ik with the word "...sigh..." in tiny letters over the top of the gathered candidates.

It made her snicker slightly. She wasn't sure why.

The Terran General stepped to the side with the sound of the Terran Marine Corps battle song. It switched to the V Corps battle song and a large insect climbed up on the stand. Several Telkan gasped having never seen a Treana'ad before.

"Look, mommy, Tea-nayd!" a little podling called out, loud enough to be heard. That got a slight giggle from the gathered Telkan. "I love Tea-nayd like my Tea-nayd dolly Klik-klik!"

The Treana'ad adjusted the microphone. "Yes, little one, a Tea-nayd," he said, his alien voice still obviously full of amusement. He looked out over the gathered uniformed males and females in the ranks. "And that, gentlemen, more accurately defines why we fight, why we train, and why we do what we must do and devote our lives to our profession than the speech I prepared."

With that he tossed his notes to the side and drew himself up. "Cadets, attention!" he snapped out.

All of the gathered beings straightened up from where some of them had started to sag during the long speeches.

He waited a moment.

"Fall out, Lieutenants," he snapped.

Caps were pulled off and thrown in the air as the gathered up males and females in their dress uniforms cheered. The graduates were moving around, clapping each other on the back, cheering. As they left the parade ground they passed by several Terrans who handed out rolled scrolled held closed by an ornate ribbon.

Brentili'ik got up, letting the podlings slide down to the ground, and walked slowly to where the new officers were leaving the parade ground. The fact she wanted to run to meet up with Vuxten was offset by the fact that she was the System Director and the pro-tem governor until elections were held and thus she needed to move with grace and poise.

To be honest with herself, sometimes she missed just being a lowly scrubbing maid and wife to a lowly janitor.

"Daddy!" one of the podlings, who was almost old enough for a name, called out, breaking into a run. The other smaller ones who weren't hiding in the fur of Synthal'la and Ilmata'at ran, giggling and following. That seemed to break some kind of dam and the literally hundreds of podlings streamed across the grass, all giggling and running toward their parents who had just graduated the Marine Basic Officer's Training Course. Podlings were scooped up and twirled by laughing parents, carefully held away from the unpowered chainswords.

Brentili'ik met up with Vuxten, reaching out and holding his hands, intending on keeping some public decorum.

Vuxten pulled her into a hug, squeezing her tight. Giggling podlings climbed up them both, hugging and rubbing their noses against the cloth of Vuxten's uniform and Brentili'ik's clothes. Brentili'ik felt her husband heave a large sigh and relax slightly as Brentili'ik rubbed her whispers against the side of Vuxten's face.

When the embrace broke Brentili'ik realized she had been crying and hadn't even known it. She snuffled for a second and wiped her eyes before smiling at Vuxten.

"Is it true your next school is six Terran months?" She asked, watching as Synthal'la and Ilmata'at each took one of Vuxten's hands and leaned against him, holding onto his upper arm with their other hand, the podlings peeking out from behind the tails and giggling.

Vuxten nodded. "Yes. Apparently while we've been in training the Terrans have been building a training base so that beings don't have to go all the way back to Terran Space for training."

Brentili'ik nodded. "It took three weeks to work with the High Elven Queen to decide where to put the bases. I watched as they broke ground three months ago," she said. Brentili'ik snorted. "You wouldn't believe how many classes I've been having to attend."

"I can only imagine, my love," Vuxten said, letting the two broodcarriers lead him toward the ground car that had brought Brentili'ik, Synthal'la and Ilmata'at, and the podlings to see his graduation. "We got lectures from instructors all the war from Mars and Mercury and Venus and even TerraSol itself. There was a few second lag till they got the hypercom set up."

"Another major thing," Brentili'ik said. She sighed again as one of the massive Terran warborgs who seemed to follow her everywhere opened the door. Colonel Harvey was sitting inside the limo, in the front seats, and nodded to Brentili'ik and Vuxten both.

The limo was ground effect, wire mesh tires, flexible but smooth riding. It vibrated slightly as it moved. The podlings all moved down onto the floor, climbing on Vuxten and Brentili'ik, Synthal'la and Ilmata'at, and on the seats.

"They're happy to see you," Brentili'ik said quietly.

"You seem slightly put out, my love," Vuxten said after a few minutes.

"It just seems like we have little time for one another any more," Brentili'ik said softly. She sighed. "Sometimes I miss when our lives were easier."

Vuxten shook his head. "Scraping by? Skipping meals so Synthal'la and Ilmata'at got food? Putting off having podlings of our own in the vain hope that we'd manage to work our way out of debt? Of your hands being red and raw, so chafed that when you tried to hold a spoon or fork your fingers and palms bled? That easier?"

Brentili'ik smiled. "You are correct. It was harder but in a different way. The past always looks and smells better than the present."

Vuxten gave a shrug. "I don't miss cleaning the interrogation cells."

"You used to have nightmares of going into the cell you were ordered to clean and finding me in there," Brentili'ik said. "Or Synthal'la or Ilmata'at or our neighbors."

Vuxten nodded. "Like I found your mother."

And the Overseers recorded your reaction and posted it to GalNet to laugh at, Bentili'ik thought but didn't voice. Instead she nodded. "I try to forget that evening, but I never can."

Ilmata'at moved over and rubbed Brentili'ik's back, making soft noises of comfort. "sad. so sad. we cry nights and nights."

Brentili'ik nodded. "But you and Synthal'la helped me through it," she said, petting the broodcarrier.

They were quiet again for a bit till Vuxten reached out and pulled Brentili'ik against his side. "What is wrong?"

"It just feels like the calm before the storm," Brentili'ik said. "I know the Confederacy has voted to go to war, I know our people voted with the war declaration, but I still feel like... like... like we don't understand how deep the water is."

Vuxten nodded. "It's because we don't," he said softly, burying his muzzle in the fur behind her head. "We are a small people caught up in a large thing."

--------------------

The building looked more like a temple to Brentili'ik than a normal building. Engraved and inlaid walls, strips of parchment hanging from the pillars and the walls inscribed with makeshift prayers, thanks, and phrases taken from what was being called The Book of Telkan.

Part of her quailed at the idea of religion.

"Why design the building in such a way?" Brentili'ik asked Colonel Harvey.

"It gives them a sense of permanency, a sense of timelessness," Colonel Harvey said, nodding at the massive double doors. Copper faced with runes of burning warsteel covering them. She recognized the runes, they had been created by an artist from datafiles recovered by the Terran research scientists who had been examining the files taken from the Lanaktallan. They were supposedly actual runes from before the Lanaktallan had taken over and wiped out the Telkan culture but sometimes Brentili'ik had her doubts.

"Is that important?" Brentili'ik asked. She was nervous just coming here. The fact the doors were slowly opening was just increasing her nervousness. The Warbound numbered six now after the war, four more being added after the terrible fighting at the end.

"Very. The Telkan within are caught in the moment of death," Colonel Harvey said. He gave a sigh. "To be honest, I'm not sure. Nobody has made those since the fall of the Imperium of Wrath and now there's six more in the universe?" He watched as the doors finally opened and flame lit torches burst into life in the hallway inside. "I'm not sure this is a good thing, but it's not my place to approve or disapprove. They gave their consent to have that done."

Brentili'ik nodded, understanding Colonel Harvey's hesitation as she walked down the hallway with him.

The building was only a few months old and it already felt like it had been here thousands of years. Humans clad in robes shuffled by, smelling of ozone and incense.

"You know, you don't see these guys outside of their territory," the Colonel said, nodding at the robed figures. "Be very careful around them. They're... well... it's almost impossible to explain."

"I thought humans could only live about five hundred years," Brentili'ik said.

"There's some questions you don't want the answer to," Colonel Harvey said quietly. He stopped in front of a door that was slightly open. Brentili'ik looked at the doors, which were half carved, showing scenes from the terrible battle near the end of the war. She looked inside and saw the blackened and battered form of the massive Warbound.

Around it were several figures in robes, making low chants that made the fur on Brentili'ik's spine stand up. Black mist moved around the floor and small arcs of lightning crawled up and down the Warbound's chassis. The massive guns were missing, long coils of liquid filled tubes moved down to the central chassis, and braziers of incense hung from the ceiling that did no good in lighting the shadowy interior of the chamber the Warbound was resting in.

It was emblazoned with the rune for "SIGMA" on it.

"I've seen enough," Brentili'ik said, turning away. "Let him rest."

Colonel Harvey nodded, following the Telkan governor out of the building.

Outside Brentili'ik took deep breaths, clearing her lungs of the tang of ozone, burnt warsteel, and incense smoke. She started coughing and the Colonel moved up, patting her gently on the back.

"They consented to that life?" Brentili'ik asked once she had coughed the incense from her lungs.

"No. They consented to serve your people even in death," Colonel Harvey said.

Brentili'ik straightened up, turning back and looking at the "temple" that had been erected to house the six Warbound.

"Service brings citizenship," she said softly as it began to rain again. "And citizenship is a heavy duty."

---------------

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Are you guys sure it's natural for religion to bubble up?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TERRASOL

Yeah.

It's the Dark Days Theorum.

/////////

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Surprisingly, yes. The closer you come to disaster, the more people reach out to believe in something. When they make it through the dark times, those that believed cleave even harder to their belief. Sometimes out of confirmation bias, other times just out of sheer relief, and still others out of genuine belief that it was their faith that saw them through.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

It just seems odd.

I worry.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TERRASOL

Don't worry, kid. I'll tell you if it looks like your starting to slide into Imperium territory.

/////////

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

Sometimes, especially in dark times, people need something to believe in. Trust me when I tell you that trying to suppress it is how you get the Third Chromium Heresy.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Is that bad?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Only if you call a hundred year war across just over a hundred systems bad.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

What caused it?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE

Whether or not the Digital Omnimessiah recognized the existence of Two beyond the code of the Great Corruption.