Kim
スター軍の司書
Despite her aide's, Tio's and everyone else in her government's wishes, Prime Minister Tange-Katsura Ayana decided that inaction wasn't the best course of action in staying uninvolved with the new war with the NMX on all sides. Ayana felt that it was completely foolish to ignore the problem, but she didn't want to blindly launch into a conflict either.
The Prime Minister had hoped that since Melisson was willing to talk to her during the disastrous first IRC that it wouldn't hurt her any more politically to try to talk to the... 'woman' again. If nothing else, she held some vain hope that perhaps, she might be able to talk her way out of a conflict but she knew that just talking to Melisson would most likely launch her into an offensive with Yamatai.
It was with this hope in her heart that Ayana had kissed Edmond goodbye and flew her Type 30 Space Yacht to the outskirts of UOC space where the reports of heavy NMX sightings were centralized. If she was lucky, she would find Mel, if not, she was dead. The trip was quiet, as she did not want to endanger any more people than she had to on this errand but she regretted the silence on the journey. She had the helmsman stop the ship and the Comm Officer open up a transmission across all open broadcast channels to send out a short message, "I am Prime Minister Tange-Katsura and I seek an audience with Mistress Melisson."
It took a while to get any kind of response.
A long while, actually. The wait stretched on to more than one hour, which made it an agonizingly long wait.
...Until a Blrakkrashiverinth Battleship folded in and started closing into weapon's range, arming weapons.
Ayana felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck as she saw a battleship start closing in on her ship. This was foolish, but I'd rather die trying to promote my way of life... She thought rather grimly as she sent out her broadcast again, "I am Prime Minister Tange-Katsura, please identify yourself before you open hostilities on me. Please inform me if I am to die at the hands of Mistress Melisson or one of her generals."
Ayana's Comm officer announced the mishhuvurthyar warship was replying to her hails, and put the transmission on display.
The malevolent four eyes of a slimy green carapaced mishhuvurthyar stared back at her. "I AM KATHCHULP, MY SHIP IS THE PHRUMPCHAKHL. SURRENDER AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED."
Ayana's helm officer grimaced. "Prime Minister, the... flushing-toilet-sounding-name-ship just deployed an anti-FTL field. We're not going anywhere - not very fast anyways."
"There has to be a better way of finding Melisson than this," Ayana sighed and smoothed her hair back. "That's just lovely, very well," she looked from her helm officer to the mishhuvurthyar captain on her screen, "Kathchulp, do you know how I can find Mistress Melisson, I have something important to tell her? I have the authority to surrender the United Outer Colonies but I would only do it if I could speak to Melisson. I think it would be a greater victory you and for the Phrumpchakhl to say that it was the vessel that conquered the colonies," she offered smoothly. "If I just die, or become captured, it would only prolong a war and be a further waste of mishhuvurthyar resources."
The Mishhuvurthyar's four eyes squinted warily. After a few second, the creature replied: "VERY WELL. WE SHALL NOW TRANSMIT YOUR REQUEST."
The view of the Mishhuvurthyar blinked to a close. Ayana's bridge staff collectively sighed in relief. The helmsman turned and raised an eyebrow at Ayana. "I'm amazed you could actually pronounce those names and keep a straight face, ma'am."
"I try my best to not choke on my own tongue but my accent is terrible," Ayana replied with a heavy sigh as she sank further into her chair. She might have very well signed her own death warrant at someone's hands by stating that. She hoped that Melisson would hear her out rather than just accept the statement as a blanket surrender, she knew Melisson was smarter than that but she didn't know how selective the interpreter's hearing was these days.
"Ship uncloaking in front of us!" the Jiyuuian woman at sensor operation suddenly announced. "It's close! Putting up on visual..."
The volumetric view screen revealed a view of starry space, with a large nebula being the most noteworthy feature visible at first. The second most noteworthy feature was the black cutout shape in the nebula - that was the new arrival.
By then, Ayana was well familiar with the 3.5 kilometers long monstrosity of a ship that had destroyed Taiie. It hovered silently in front of her yacht, well into visual range, which meant it was only a few dozen kilometers away.
"Identified Shlarvasseroth-class Flagship," the sensor specialist continued. "Though it seems of a different configuration than the two we have on record. I guess they've refitted it since then."
"Peachy," the helmsman glibly commented. "I have some good news, though: the anti-FTL field was dropped... so we can fly away anytime."
"Which would be great news if I didn't intend to stay and talk to Melisson; she let us leave last time unharmed, so we can only hope that she'll do the same again this time. Let's just try not to give her reason to think we're going to insult her? I guess you folks wish that you didn't come into work today?" Ayana laughed weakly at the notion. She kind of wished that seeing that ship didn't spring about a lifetime's worth of nightmares.
Cheapish smiles were her only replies before an awkward silence.
"Why isn't she hailing us already?" The helmsman griped.
The woman at sensor operation frowned. "Come to think of it, she showed up awfully quickly, didn't she? That 'Ketchup' misshu transmits and an heartbeat later - poof - she appears."
"I'd think the idea of a nation on a silver platter was too good to pass up, but maybe she's going for a dramatic pause? But either way, we get to either wait to get fired upon or a hail, we're on their time right now," Ayana replied apologetically as she sat up straighter in her chair, gripping the arm rests slightly tighter as they waited.
A moment later, Ayana's comm officer addressed her. "Prime Minister, the flagship is hailing us."
"Finally!" The helmsman exclaimed.
The comm officer, an older Jiyuuian man, shot the helmsman a disapproving look and then told Ayana: "Putting it on viewer."
Then, Melisson appeared onscreen. She was garbed in a simple white sundress that had faded bloodstains on it. It looked the same Ayana remembered her wearing a year ago. It did not speak well of Melisson's wardrobe.
"I must say, Ayana, I'm very displeased." Melisson began severely. "I wait here for almost an hour with you, waiting to see whom amongst my subordinates was going to disobey me and try to kill you. Just when one of them shows up to threaten you, you charm him into being good."
The interpreter stood and placed her hands to her waist. "It is very off-putting, you know? I cannot rightly punish him now!"
"I've learned from the last time, Melisson-sama," Ayana replied softly, managing to smile weakly. "I'm grateful that you chose to speak with me again." She rose from her chair and bowed deeply to the interpreter, slowly rising back up to look at Melisson.
The Prime Minister carefully smoothed down the wrinkles of her black dress as she retook her seat and tried to figure out how to broach the topic politely, "I see you are well, how has this past year been for you?"
"It has been-" Melisson frowned and then said: "No, not like this."
And then, the communication went dead.
The comm officer blinked, startled, and looked at his instruments. "They've disconnected communication with us."
"No joke, Sherlock," The helmsman retorted, now in poor humor. "What do we do now?"
Ayana's sensor operator jumped up from her seat, pointing down in front of Ayana. "Ma'am, look out!"
In the center of the bridge was skittering a green-shelled bug mishhu that looked like the ugly step cousin of an ant, if ants could be six-inches long!
"Fuck!" the helmsman quickly reached for his sidearm, intending to fry the ugly little thing.
"W...wait! Don't shoot it! Please just wait and see what it does," Ayana jumped out of her chair and motioned for them to stop. "That woman is like magic, she can do almost impossible things, just wait and see what it does," she felt incredibly concerned by this turn of events but magic was the best thing she could come up with to explain how this creature just appeared on her ship.
The helmsman looked petulant, and then dumbfounded and increasingly alarmed as more of the bug mishhu appeared and clustered together.
There were hundreds and hundreds of them, coming out from god-knew-where in their bridge, and gathering into a pile that grew bigger and bigger... until the bugs stopped trickling in.
Then, the whole mass congealed and what was solid inside became viscous. It melded together, distorted into a slimy mass and then it stretched out, branched out.
Ayana's bridge crew shirked slightly as the thing cried out in a gurgling sound that became a glad cry of relief as the 'blob regained consistency into the nearly maidenly form of Melisson.
A very naked Melisson that was languidly stretching vertically in the middle of the yacht’s bridge, her bare skin was pink like a baby's and her red hair dangled, hanging limp from moisture rather than wavy as it usually was.
"Better. Now we can talk face to face." Melisson said, looking satisfied. "If I invited you on my ship, you'd be so distracted we wouldn't be able to have a real conversation."
Ayana blinked a few times, taking a moment to regain her composure. Yeah, magic is a good word for whatever that just was, she thought reverently to herself. "You are most likely correct. I think my crew would've also been highly distracted if I had left to go onto your ship," she added thoughtfully. "Would you like a blanket or a robe? But you were saying that this year has been good to you?"
Melisson shook her head at the offer of clothing - she didn't seem to care. "The Doctrine of Retribution is over. The elder council of my race surveyed my accomplishments after this conference you begged me to attend and our means were found wanting."
"Therefore, an Umbral named Reiaz took over as the overlord of the Mishhuvurthyar that would be operating in your region of space so to apply the Doctrine of Annihilation. My past accomplishments allowed me to retain the command of a battle fleet here under Reiaz' command and so, here I am."
"That seems pretty clear cut, you're here to commit mass genocide then," Ayana replied weakly, "Where do the Outer Colonies fall into this Doctrine since we are no longer with Yamatai and have really no involvement with any of the other nations at the moment?"
Melisson shook her head. "For starters, you must understand that we Mishhuvurthyar see no difference between your colonies and the rest of Yamatai. It is not because you had some political split that you stopped being of the same root and of the same race."
"Your species’ body types change too often for us to really believe you are different just because you had a difference of opinion with your government... or rather, we feel you are no different especially because you split from your former ruling body."
"We're Jiyuuians. We're free from all that now!" Ayana's helmsman protested.
Melisson threw the latter a sneering look. "I will not let you get off that easily. It is not my preferred doctrine I follow, but the united colonies were my preferred target."
"Bitch!" the man snarled and raised his sidearm at Melisson. "You destroyed Taiie! You won't destroy anything else!"
"If she can make herself materialize and dematerialize at will, I sincerely doubt any action we could take against her here will do a lick of good except get us killed quicker," Ayana replied coolly, what the hell am I supposed to do now? "We're trying to go back to being a biological race. Things take time to get going again, but I see the point. I would prefer to not engage in hostilities but it sounds as if you have made your minds up about us. Why are we your preferred target?"
Melisson paid no heed to the Jiyuuian helmsman, whom despondently lowered his weapon. The Mishhuvurthyar interpreter eyed Ayana, considering her question.
Her answer was: "Because the Jiyuuians are the reason why Reiaz is here, wiping out your civilization. We are the ones pressing the triggers, yes, but you are - for all your mewling hypocritical declarations of pacifism and goodwill - the architects behind this conflict."
"How so? What have I done that was hypocritical?" The Prime Minister seemed the more bothered by the notion of being a hypocrite than the notion that Melisson was planning to steam roll her people again.
"You. Your people. Your leaders." Melisson replied nonchalantly. "What one does, we figure others - including your populace - endorse and support. Most especially if they insist to keep that person at their highest level of authority and manifest pride and love in that person."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand. I am the leader of my people and the highest level of authority. I have done everything in my power to be fair and try to bring up the Colonies out of the chaos caused by an infant government. I've worked extremely hard to try to make everything work the way it should have been- the people have a voice and as troubling and bureaucratic as it is sometimes to get the right rules in place to maintain order, I have never threatened violence against anyone or condoned the use of violence unless it was absolutely necessary to the safety of others," Ayana replied in a confused, tone of righteous indignation.
"Not you! Your prince, Tio!" Melisson snarled, briefly baring her two rows of pointy, triangular teeth. "We will not stop tearing into your nation - his nation - until we've exacted retribution upon him."
Spittle got on the interpreter's lower lip. She was fairly venting hatred. "...and when I will get my hands upon him, I will tear his limbs out of their sockets and feed them to him, and then I will tear out his pump muscle from his ribcage..."
Melisson's eyes had a feral look as she finished with: "His last conscious memory will be of his blood dripping down on his face as I hold his muscle over his face. Then I will toss the corpse away - the flesh will be too foul to deserve being eaten."
Ayana looked at Melisson dumbfounded, "This is all because of Tio?" She suddenly felt the onset of a headache. "I'm not even sure where he keeps disappearing to, I haven't seen him in months so I doubt this is truly his nation since he's had no hand in raising it," she sounded a little bitter herself. "What did he do that was so foul?"
Melisson gestured to herself. "You asked me to go to your people! You made me feel they were worthy of a chance! I went... and the cursed child spitefully threw it all away! It was my one chance to save you, to put an end to the Doctrine of Retribution and he totally squandered it!"
"Ayana," Melisson hissed. "I went and when there, I stressed that your people needed to surrender. In his blind pride, he did not try to understand. He was no interested to hear out why or how things would go if Yamatai surrendered."
The interpreter shook her head, hissing some more in frustration. "Your... human family structure includes parents and children. Some children are siblings - some older and others younger. They play and toy with each other... and so the younger ones are kept happier, the older ones sometimes lose on purpose."
"My Mishhuvurthyar needed Yamatai to do this," Melisson said, sounding earnest. So I needed Yamatai to tell them 'alright, you win and we lose'. All that was needed was to fulfill two conditions."
"The first was to tone down by half the usage of aetheric power in the Yamatai Star Empire."
"The second was to tone down the Star Army of Yamatai on a per-holding basis so to not-so-dramatically dwarf the other star faring nations."
"...and guess what? At this time, Yamatai fulfilled both conditions. If your Prince Tio had not, in his blind pride, stopped talking the war would be over! Millions would not have died and billions more would not be condemned to fall to Reiaz's Doctrine of Annihilation."
"Just after I had my forces withdraw, your oh-so-beloved Prince Tio went and decided to sever ties with Yamatai, leaving them to suffer for his action under Reiaz's oh-so-tender care."
Melisson hissed in a breath and added: "I will not let the rest of humankind twist in the wind alone and leave your kind excluded, as if it had nothing to do with them."
The Prime Minister looked stunned by this revelation but remembered the outburst at the conference. She remembered a distinct lack of professional conduct all around, but now, this was all TIO's fault and he was nowhere to be found to be held accountable for this. "How can we stop this? This is a complete waste of lives and resources... Tio needs to be held accountable for his actions then and now," Ayana's mind was reeling. The war would be over, they'd have peace again but Tio... was showing a strong pattern here for abandoning things- her, Edmond, Yamatai and now the United Outer Colonies that she worked so hard to build.
"Your species did us a wrong once. The Doctrine of Retribution was meant to - in the span of eight years - punish you for what had been done. When time started running short, I started involving myself personally in the war."
"I learned of you beyond the veil of my own culture. I tried to find individuals worthy of attention, being I could use as bridges to eventually bring this to a close. The point was to hurt, to punish, but not to eradicate your kind. We tortured, we took slaves and when we killed - yes, but it was to an end."
"Punishing you failed to be corrective. The credibility of the Doctrine of Retribution has gone. Reiaz supports the Doctrine of Annihilation: that you are too much trouble to be worth interacting with and that we should just destroy you and be done with it."
"We are no longer taking the time to hurt your kind and make it suffer." Melisson asserted. "This time, we are destroying you. The methods are different, from corruption and parasitic control to positron cannon-given oblivion... but the eventual outcome is the same: extermination."
Ayana's bridge crew was deathly silent and pale. The staggering implications were now very obvious.
Melisson breathed, slowly. Somehow, Ayana got the impression that Melisson was strained, no longer patient and reasonable, and yet making an effort to be accommodating: "There is one way I can save you and those of your kind, Ayana."
"I must conquer the United Outer Colonies and make it my own territory. If your people are all my slaves, then I can do as I see fit regarding you. There would be restrictions regarding space travel and your military forces; as well as, the allocation of your resources, but it would be possible for your populace to remain self-governed."
"Would this stop the rest of the war against Nepleslia and Yamatai as well?" Ayana asked weakly, thinking of Edmond's future and that of the rest of her people. They'd lose all faith in her ability to look out for their well-being... was there a really good way to not become a martyr for your ideals?
"The obvious answer would be no, seeing that's out of my jurisdiction... but matters are more complex than that," Melisson told Ayana. "The reason I am at all in command here is because of my victories in the last war. My taking of the Bard cluster and I defeated the Second Standard Fleet."
"Few other Mishhuvurthyar overlords had managed to achieve so much, with so few assets and so few losses. It made my voice much louder in the Elder council. It allowed me to go to that conference you ask me to and speak for my people, deciding things for them."
"I am nowhere nearly as much in favor as I was back then... but if I manage to seize hold on the entire United Outer Colonies with barely any losses, my methods in contrast to Reiaz will start looking competitive again. If I have more credibility, then I have more pull in the Elder council."
Ayana looked pale, "This means that I'm never going home again, doesn't it?" She said very softly. She had considered the possibility that she may not see Edmond again but how else could they do this with minimal losses? I am just a fool?
Melisson gave her a scowl. "When did I say I intended to capture you or kill you? You can leave and return home anytime you want."
"What happens to us if Reiaz has his way?" Ayana asked, still wondering how she could make this really work.
With simple frankness Melisson answered: "Then by YE 40, the human race will be nearly extinct. I expect a smattering of survivors but even then most of your cultures will have been wiped out. It is the Doctrine of Annihilation."
Ayana looked at her crew members and thought of them and their families. "Could you please leave me with Mistress Melisson for a few minutes?" She asked softly.
The three officers gave curt nods and filed out... saying that they looked preoccupied was an understatement.
Ayana was soon left alone with Melisson. The interpreter stood impassibly, still remarkably heedless of being in the nude.
"Okay, so you are here to conquer us to save us from extinction. I want to end the war but I know that no one outside of this whole conversation will understand my decision on this. How can we make this as bloodless as possible?" Ayana asked rather meekly again, only feeling slightly more assured that she was going to be making a good choice.
"It's simple, actually." Melisson replied. "I get my fleet at your capital planet and threaten to blow up your sun if your people do not surrender. I did it back in Taiie so my threat should have enough credibility... don't you agree?"
"I agree, you give us nightmares still, any threat you make is credible.," Ayana replied with a sigh. "You have been more than fair to me by answering my questions when you could've killed me a few times over by now."
"I still want Tio. He now has more blood on his hands than any figure you have in your recorded history," Melisson asserted. "But you are promising. You have always seemed like one of the better examples of your kind to me, before. For that reason, I will spare his spawn, as they are also your spawn."
"Thank you, Melisson," Ayana felt overwhelmed by that statement of mercy. It disturbed her that Edmond was that close to being lost for the sins of his absent father but she knew that Melisson was a woman of her word. "I do not have the power to deny you, Tio. I do not wish his fate upon anyone but I cannot let my people die because of him. I do not want to lose my son."
It seemed like Melisson, briefly, was impressed. "I would have expected anger and outrage. Instead, you are dignified. That is good for you."
Then the interpreter asked: "Had you more to ask me?"
"No, with what you are here to do there really is no other way I can think of to end this anymore amiably. I do love Tio but he's abandoned me in a way that hurts me very deeply. To hear what his actions have done pains me greatly but I will not spare him judgment and lose the whole population for it, I do not want to pull a Ketsurui by being too proud to surrender a guilty party," Ayana replied with a deep sigh. "So what now? Do I just go home and what for the end?"
"Not only an end, Ayana. In endings, there are also beginnings." On that note, Melisson's body suddenly lost consistency and in a shower of clear liquid it sloshed down onto the bridge's deck. The puddle it formed seemed ridiculously small, and it seemed to evaporate until there was barely any left.
Soon, it was gone.
Ayana sank back into her chair and felt completely drained. She wrapped her arms around herself and gave herself a small hug to try to control the trembling. Melisson had been fair to her but she was still terrified of that woman. "She's gone, you guys can come back in," she called out to the bridge crew, still feeling completely lousy about the whole matter.
Her staff trailed back in. The helmsman was pale, the sensor specialist tight-lipped and the older comm officer harrumphed uncomfortably as they returned to their station.
Outside, Melisson's blacker-than-space flagship hovered in front of the space yacht, silent.
"Orders, Ma'am?" the Jiyuuian helmsman asked. Anything seemed better than the awkward silence that had settled in.
"We go home and wait," Ayana replied sadly.
"Aye, Ma'am," the helmsman turned back to his console. "Plotting a course back home. Fold Drive online, and charging up."
Moments later, the pilot asked: "Hyperspace Fold drive ready. Ready to jump on your mark."
"Fold Out," Ayana ordered not looking forward to the trying times ahead.
END
The Prime Minister had hoped that since Melisson was willing to talk to her during the disastrous first IRC that it wouldn't hurt her any more politically to try to talk to the... 'woman' again. If nothing else, she held some vain hope that perhaps, she might be able to talk her way out of a conflict but she knew that just talking to Melisson would most likely launch her into an offensive with Yamatai.
It was with this hope in her heart that Ayana had kissed Edmond goodbye and flew her Type 30 Space Yacht to the outskirts of UOC space where the reports of heavy NMX sightings were centralized. If she was lucky, she would find Mel, if not, she was dead. The trip was quiet, as she did not want to endanger any more people than she had to on this errand but she regretted the silence on the journey. She had the helmsman stop the ship and the Comm Officer open up a transmission across all open broadcast channels to send out a short message, "I am Prime Minister Tange-Katsura and I seek an audience with Mistress Melisson."
It took a while to get any kind of response.
A long while, actually. The wait stretched on to more than one hour, which made it an agonizingly long wait.
...Until a Blrakkrashiverinth Battleship folded in and started closing into weapon's range, arming weapons.
Ayana felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck as she saw a battleship start closing in on her ship. This was foolish, but I'd rather die trying to promote my way of life... She thought rather grimly as she sent out her broadcast again, "I am Prime Minister Tange-Katsura, please identify yourself before you open hostilities on me. Please inform me if I am to die at the hands of Mistress Melisson or one of her generals."
Ayana's Comm officer announced the mishhuvurthyar warship was replying to her hails, and put the transmission on display.
The malevolent four eyes of a slimy green carapaced mishhuvurthyar stared back at her. "I AM KATHCHULP, MY SHIP IS THE PHRUMPCHAKHL. SURRENDER AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED."
Ayana's helm officer grimaced. "Prime Minister, the... flushing-toilet-sounding-name-ship just deployed an anti-FTL field. We're not going anywhere - not very fast anyways."
"There has to be a better way of finding Melisson than this," Ayana sighed and smoothed her hair back. "That's just lovely, very well," she looked from her helm officer to the mishhuvurthyar captain on her screen, "Kathchulp, do you know how I can find Mistress Melisson, I have something important to tell her? I have the authority to surrender the United Outer Colonies but I would only do it if I could speak to Melisson. I think it would be a greater victory you and for the Phrumpchakhl to say that it was the vessel that conquered the colonies," she offered smoothly. "If I just die, or become captured, it would only prolong a war and be a further waste of mishhuvurthyar resources."
The Mishhuvurthyar's four eyes squinted warily. After a few second, the creature replied: "VERY WELL. WE SHALL NOW TRANSMIT YOUR REQUEST."
The view of the Mishhuvurthyar blinked to a close. Ayana's bridge staff collectively sighed in relief. The helmsman turned and raised an eyebrow at Ayana. "I'm amazed you could actually pronounce those names and keep a straight face, ma'am."
"I try my best to not choke on my own tongue but my accent is terrible," Ayana replied with a heavy sigh as she sank further into her chair. She might have very well signed her own death warrant at someone's hands by stating that. She hoped that Melisson would hear her out rather than just accept the statement as a blanket surrender, she knew Melisson was smarter than that but she didn't know how selective the interpreter's hearing was these days.
"Ship uncloaking in front of us!" the Jiyuuian woman at sensor operation suddenly announced. "It's close! Putting up on visual..."
The volumetric view screen revealed a view of starry space, with a large nebula being the most noteworthy feature visible at first. The second most noteworthy feature was the black cutout shape in the nebula - that was the new arrival.
By then, Ayana was well familiar with the 3.5 kilometers long monstrosity of a ship that had destroyed Taiie. It hovered silently in front of her yacht, well into visual range, which meant it was only a few dozen kilometers away.
"Identified Shlarvasseroth-class Flagship," the sensor specialist continued. "Though it seems of a different configuration than the two we have on record. I guess they've refitted it since then."
"Peachy," the helmsman glibly commented. "I have some good news, though: the anti-FTL field was dropped... so we can fly away anytime."
"Which would be great news if I didn't intend to stay and talk to Melisson; she let us leave last time unharmed, so we can only hope that she'll do the same again this time. Let's just try not to give her reason to think we're going to insult her? I guess you folks wish that you didn't come into work today?" Ayana laughed weakly at the notion. She kind of wished that seeing that ship didn't spring about a lifetime's worth of nightmares.
Cheapish smiles were her only replies before an awkward silence.
"Why isn't she hailing us already?" The helmsman griped.
The woman at sensor operation frowned. "Come to think of it, she showed up awfully quickly, didn't she? That 'Ketchup' misshu transmits and an heartbeat later - poof - she appears."
"I'd think the idea of a nation on a silver platter was too good to pass up, but maybe she's going for a dramatic pause? But either way, we get to either wait to get fired upon or a hail, we're on their time right now," Ayana replied apologetically as she sat up straighter in her chair, gripping the arm rests slightly tighter as they waited.
A moment later, Ayana's comm officer addressed her. "Prime Minister, the flagship is hailing us."
"Finally!" The helmsman exclaimed.
The comm officer, an older Jiyuuian man, shot the helmsman a disapproving look and then told Ayana: "Putting it on viewer."
Then, Melisson appeared onscreen. She was garbed in a simple white sundress that had faded bloodstains on it. It looked the same Ayana remembered her wearing a year ago. It did not speak well of Melisson's wardrobe.
"I must say, Ayana, I'm very displeased." Melisson began severely. "I wait here for almost an hour with you, waiting to see whom amongst my subordinates was going to disobey me and try to kill you. Just when one of them shows up to threaten you, you charm him into being good."
The interpreter stood and placed her hands to her waist. "It is very off-putting, you know? I cannot rightly punish him now!"
"I've learned from the last time, Melisson-sama," Ayana replied softly, managing to smile weakly. "I'm grateful that you chose to speak with me again." She rose from her chair and bowed deeply to the interpreter, slowly rising back up to look at Melisson.
The Prime Minister carefully smoothed down the wrinkles of her black dress as she retook her seat and tried to figure out how to broach the topic politely, "I see you are well, how has this past year been for you?"
"It has been-" Melisson frowned and then said: "No, not like this."
And then, the communication went dead.
The comm officer blinked, startled, and looked at his instruments. "They've disconnected communication with us."
"No joke, Sherlock," The helmsman retorted, now in poor humor. "What do we do now?"
Ayana's sensor operator jumped up from her seat, pointing down in front of Ayana. "Ma'am, look out!"
In the center of the bridge was skittering a green-shelled bug mishhu that looked like the ugly step cousin of an ant, if ants could be six-inches long!
"Fuck!" the helmsman quickly reached for his sidearm, intending to fry the ugly little thing.
"W...wait! Don't shoot it! Please just wait and see what it does," Ayana jumped out of her chair and motioned for them to stop. "That woman is like magic, she can do almost impossible things, just wait and see what it does," she felt incredibly concerned by this turn of events but magic was the best thing she could come up with to explain how this creature just appeared on her ship.
The helmsman looked petulant, and then dumbfounded and increasingly alarmed as more of the bug mishhu appeared and clustered together.
There were hundreds and hundreds of them, coming out from god-knew-where in their bridge, and gathering into a pile that grew bigger and bigger... until the bugs stopped trickling in.
Then, the whole mass congealed and what was solid inside became viscous. It melded together, distorted into a slimy mass and then it stretched out, branched out.
Ayana's bridge crew shirked slightly as the thing cried out in a gurgling sound that became a glad cry of relief as the 'blob regained consistency into the nearly maidenly form of Melisson.
A very naked Melisson that was languidly stretching vertically in the middle of the yacht’s bridge, her bare skin was pink like a baby's and her red hair dangled, hanging limp from moisture rather than wavy as it usually was.
"Better. Now we can talk face to face." Melisson said, looking satisfied. "If I invited you on my ship, you'd be so distracted we wouldn't be able to have a real conversation."
Ayana blinked a few times, taking a moment to regain her composure. Yeah, magic is a good word for whatever that just was, she thought reverently to herself. "You are most likely correct. I think my crew would've also been highly distracted if I had left to go onto your ship," she added thoughtfully. "Would you like a blanket or a robe? But you were saying that this year has been good to you?"
Melisson shook her head at the offer of clothing - she didn't seem to care. "The Doctrine of Retribution is over. The elder council of my race surveyed my accomplishments after this conference you begged me to attend and our means were found wanting."
"Therefore, an Umbral named Reiaz took over as the overlord of the Mishhuvurthyar that would be operating in your region of space so to apply the Doctrine of Annihilation. My past accomplishments allowed me to retain the command of a battle fleet here under Reiaz' command and so, here I am."
"That seems pretty clear cut, you're here to commit mass genocide then," Ayana replied weakly, "Where do the Outer Colonies fall into this Doctrine since we are no longer with Yamatai and have really no involvement with any of the other nations at the moment?"
Melisson shook her head. "For starters, you must understand that we Mishhuvurthyar see no difference between your colonies and the rest of Yamatai. It is not because you had some political split that you stopped being of the same root and of the same race."
"Your species’ body types change too often for us to really believe you are different just because you had a difference of opinion with your government... or rather, we feel you are no different especially because you split from your former ruling body."
"We're Jiyuuians. We're free from all that now!" Ayana's helmsman protested.
Melisson threw the latter a sneering look. "I will not let you get off that easily. It is not my preferred doctrine I follow, but the united colonies were my preferred target."
"Bitch!" the man snarled and raised his sidearm at Melisson. "You destroyed Taiie! You won't destroy anything else!"
"If she can make herself materialize and dematerialize at will, I sincerely doubt any action we could take against her here will do a lick of good except get us killed quicker," Ayana replied coolly, what the hell am I supposed to do now? "We're trying to go back to being a biological race. Things take time to get going again, but I see the point. I would prefer to not engage in hostilities but it sounds as if you have made your minds up about us. Why are we your preferred target?"
Melisson paid no heed to the Jiyuuian helmsman, whom despondently lowered his weapon. The Mishhuvurthyar interpreter eyed Ayana, considering her question.
Her answer was: "Because the Jiyuuians are the reason why Reiaz is here, wiping out your civilization. We are the ones pressing the triggers, yes, but you are - for all your mewling hypocritical declarations of pacifism and goodwill - the architects behind this conflict."
"How so? What have I done that was hypocritical?" The Prime Minister seemed the more bothered by the notion of being a hypocrite than the notion that Melisson was planning to steam roll her people again.
"You. Your people. Your leaders." Melisson replied nonchalantly. "What one does, we figure others - including your populace - endorse and support. Most especially if they insist to keep that person at their highest level of authority and manifest pride and love in that person."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand. I am the leader of my people and the highest level of authority. I have done everything in my power to be fair and try to bring up the Colonies out of the chaos caused by an infant government. I've worked extremely hard to try to make everything work the way it should have been- the people have a voice and as troubling and bureaucratic as it is sometimes to get the right rules in place to maintain order, I have never threatened violence against anyone or condoned the use of violence unless it was absolutely necessary to the safety of others," Ayana replied in a confused, tone of righteous indignation.
"Not you! Your prince, Tio!" Melisson snarled, briefly baring her two rows of pointy, triangular teeth. "We will not stop tearing into your nation - his nation - until we've exacted retribution upon him."
Spittle got on the interpreter's lower lip. She was fairly venting hatred. "...and when I will get my hands upon him, I will tear his limbs out of their sockets and feed them to him, and then I will tear out his pump muscle from his ribcage..."
Melisson's eyes had a feral look as she finished with: "His last conscious memory will be of his blood dripping down on his face as I hold his muscle over his face. Then I will toss the corpse away - the flesh will be too foul to deserve being eaten."
Ayana looked at Melisson dumbfounded, "This is all because of Tio?" She suddenly felt the onset of a headache. "I'm not even sure where he keeps disappearing to, I haven't seen him in months so I doubt this is truly his nation since he's had no hand in raising it," she sounded a little bitter herself. "What did he do that was so foul?"
Melisson gestured to herself. "You asked me to go to your people! You made me feel they were worthy of a chance! I went... and the cursed child spitefully threw it all away! It was my one chance to save you, to put an end to the Doctrine of Retribution and he totally squandered it!"
"Ayana," Melisson hissed. "I went and when there, I stressed that your people needed to surrender. In his blind pride, he did not try to understand. He was no interested to hear out why or how things would go if Yamatai surrendered."
The interpreter shook her head, hissing some more in frustration. "Your... human family structure includes parents and children. Some children are siblings - some older and others younger. They play and toy with each other... and so the younger ones are kept happier, the older ones sometimes lose on purpose."
"My Mishhuvurthyar needed Yamatai to do this," Melisson said, sounding earnest. So I needed Yamatai to tell them 'alright, you win and we lose'. All that was needed was to fulfill two conditions."
"The first was to tone down by half the usage of aetheric power in the Yamatai Star Empire."
"The second was to tone down the Star Army of Yamatai on a per-holding basis so to not-so-dramatically dwarf the other star faring nations."
"...and guess what? At this time, Yamatai fulfilled both conditions. If your Prince Tio had not, in his blind pride, stopped talking the war would be over! Millions would not have died and billions more would not be condemned to fall to Reiaz's Doctrine of Annihilation."
"Just after I had my forces withdraw, your oh-so-beloved Prince Tio went and decided to sever ties with Yamatai, leaving them to suffer for his action under Reiaz's oh-so-tender care."
Melisson hissed in a breath and added: "I will not let the rest of humankind twist in the wind alone and leave your kind excluded, as if it had nothing to do with them."
The Prime Minister looked stunned by this revelation but remembered the outburst at the conference. She remembered a distinct lack of professional conduct all around, but now, this was all TIO's fault and he was nowhere to be found to be held accountable for this. "How can we stop this? This is a complete waste of lives and resources... Tio needs to be held accountable for his actions then and now," Ayana's mind was reeling. The war would be over, they'd have peace again but Tio... was showing a strong pattern here for abandoning things- her, Edmond, Yamatai and now the United Outer Colonies that she worked so hard to build.
"Your species did us a wrong once. The Doctrine of Retribution was meant to - in the span of eight years - punish you for what had been done. When time started running short, I started involving myself personally in the war."
"I learned of you beyond the veil of my own culture. I tried to find individuals worthy of attention, being I could use as bridges to eventually bring this to a close. The point was to hurt, to punish, but not to eradicate your kind. We tortured, we took slaves and when we killed - yes, but it was to an end."
"Punishing you failed to be corrective. The credibility of the Doctrine of Retribution has gone. Reiaz supports the Doctrine of Annihilation: that you are too much trouble to be worth interacting with and that we should just destroy you and be done with it."
"We are no longer taking the time to hurt your kind and make it suffer." Melisson asserted. "This time, we are destroying you. The methods are different, from corruption and parasitic control to positron cannon-given oblivion... but the eventual outcome is the same: extermination."
Ayana's bridge crew was deathly silent and pale. The staggering implications were now very obvious.
Melisson breathed, slowly. Somehow, Ayana got the impression that Melisson was strained, no longer patient and reasonable, and yet making an effort to be accommodating: "There is one way I can save you and those of your kind, Ayana."
"I must conquer the United Outer Colonies and make it my own territory. If your people are all my slaves, then I can do as I see fit regarding you. There would be restrictions regarding space travel and your military forces; as well as, the allocation of your resources, but it would be possible for your populace to remain self-governed."
"Would this stop the rest of the war against Nepleslia and Yamatai as well?" Ayana asked weakly, thinking of Edmond's future and that of the rest of her people. They'd lose all faith in her ability to look out for their well-being... was there a really good way to not become a martyr for your ideals?
"The obvious answer would be no, seeing that's out of my jurisdiction... but matters are more complex than that," Melisson told Ayana. "The reason I am at all in command here is because of my victories in the last war. My taking of the Bard cluster and I defeated the Second Standard Fleet."
"Few other Mishhuvurthyar overlords had managed to achieve so much, with so few assets and so few losses. It made my voice much louder in the Elder council. It allowed me to go to that conference you ask me to and speak for my people, deciding things for them."
"I am nowhere nearly as much in favor as I was back then... but if I manage to seize hold on the entire United Outer Colonies with barely any losses, my methods in contrast to Reiaz will start looking competitive again. If I have more credibility, then I have more pull in the Elder council."
Ayana looked pale, "This means that I'm never going home again, doesn't it?" She said very softly. She had considered the possibility that she may not see Edmond again but how else could they do this with minimal losses? I am just a fool?
Melisson gave her a scowl. "When did I say I intended to capture you or kill you? You can leave and return home anytime you want."
"What happens to us if Reiaz has his way?" Ayana asked, still wondering how she could make this really work.
With simple frankness Melisson answered: "Then by YE 40, the human race will be nearly extinct. I expect a smattering of survivors but even then most of your cultures will have been wiped out. It is the Doctrine of Annihilation."
Ayana looked at her crew members and thought of them and their families. "Could you please leave me with Mistress Melisson for a few minutes?" She asked softly.
The three officers gave curt nods and filed out... saying that they looked preoccupied was an understatement.
Ayana was soon left alone with Melisson. The interpreter stood impassibly, still remarkably heedless of being in the nude.
"Okay, so you are here to conquer us to save us from extinction. I want to end the war but I know that no one outside of this whole conversation will understand my decision on this. How can we make this as bloodless as possible?" Ayana asked rather meekly again, only feeling slightly more assured that she was going to be making a good choice.
"It's simple, actually." Melisson replied. "I get my fleet at your capital planet and threaten to blow up your sun if your people do not surrender. I did it back in Taiie so my threat should have enough credibility... don't you agree?"
"I agree, you give us nightmares still, any threat you make is credible.," Ayana replied with a sigh. "You have been more than fair to me by answering my questions when you could've killed me a few times over by now."
"I still want Tio. He now has more blood on his hands than any figure you have in your recorded history," Melisson asserted. "But you are promising. You have always seemed like one of the better examples of your kind to me, before. For that reason, I will spare his spawn, as they are also your spawn."
"Thank you, Melisson," Ayana felt overwhelmed by that statement of mercy. It disturbed her that Edmond was that close to being lost for the sins of his absent father but she knew that Melisson was a woman of her word. "I do not have the power to deny you, Tio. I do not wish his fate upon anyone but I cannot let my people die because of him. I do not want to lose my son."
It seemed like Melisson, briefly, was impressed. "I would have expected anger and outrage. Instead, you are dignified. That is good for you."
Then the interpreter asked: "Had you more to ask me?"
"No, with what you are here to do there really is no other way I can think of to end this anymore amiably. I do love Tio but he's abandoned me in a way that hurts me very deeply. To hear what his actions have done pains me greatly but I will not spare him judgment and lose the whole population for it, I do not want to pull a Ketsurui by being too proud to surrender a guilty party," Ayana replied with a deep sigh. "So what now? Do I just go home and what for the end?"
"Not only an end, Ayana. In endings, there are also beginnings." On that note, Melisson's body suddenly lost consistency and in a shower of clear liquid it sloshed down onto the bridge's deck. The puddle it formed seemed ridiculously small, and it seemed to evaporate until there was barely any left.
Soon, it was gone.
Ayana sank back into her chair and felt completely drained. She wrapped her arms around herself and gave herself a small hug to try to control the trembling. Melisson had been fair to her but she was still terrified of that woman. "She's gone, you guys can come back in," she called out to the bridge crew, still feeling completely lousy about the whole matter.
Her staff trailed back in. The helmsman was pale, the sensor specialist tight-lipped and the older comm officer harrumphed uncomfortably as they returned to their station.
Outside, Melisson's blacker-than-space flagship hovered in front of the space yacht, silent.
"Orders, Ma'am?" the Jiyuuian helmsman asked. Anything seemed better than the awkward silence that had settled in.
"We go home and wait," Ayana replied sadly.
"Aye, Ma'am," the helmsman turned back to his console. "Plotting a course back home. Fold Drive online, and charging up."
Moments later, the pilot asked: "Hyperspace Fold drive ready. Ready to jump on your mark."
"Fold Out," Ayana ordered not looking forward to the trying times ahead.
END
