Exactly five hours and fifty six minutes later, the High Elder stepped onto the bridge of the Priderender. The Elder was oddly dressed in a gown of vines and leaves. Yvian would eventually realize that the gown was a living thing. Considering the Oluken worship of the Lifestream, she assumed there was some kind of symbolic meaning to it, but Crunch if she could guess what it was.

The other thirty Oluken escorting the Elder were draped in metal. Every inch of them was covered in silvery material. Even their eyestalks. Yvian had never seen Oluken soldiers before, but she new nanotech armor when she saw it. Each of the soldiers had one set of tendrils threaded through an odd bundle of wires connected to a three meter length of thick black cable. The cables looped and coiled around their bodies, swiveling sinuously to follow the gaze of the soldiers as they scanned for threats. The nozzles at the end of the cables glowed with a threatening orange light. Some kind of plasma weapon?

The six armored Vrrl escorting the group came to a halt, forcing the Oluken to stop before the last few soldiers could fit through the doors. The lead Vrrl spoke. "Warmaster, High Elder Feeva is here. Along with her..." The monster regarded the soldiers with amused disdain. "Escort."

"Thank you, Forty-Eighth Hsst." Warmaster Scathach stood in his customary pose, hands folded behind his back. "High Elder Feeva," he greeted the Oluken. "You are just in time. Come join us." He removed his helmet, giving the soldiers a look that mirrored the disdain of the other Vrrl. "Your... escort... will have to wait outside. We do not have the room or the patience to accommodate so many guests on the bridge."

"Is that necessary?" The High Elder's eyestalks quivered, but her voice was strong. "A High Elder is never without escort. I would be much more comfortable if you allowed them to attend."

Scathach looked to Lissa. She shrugged. The Warmaster grunted. "You may bring three. The rest will wait in the corridor."

"Thank you, Warmaster." The High Elder gestured at three of the soldiers. They fell in close beside her. The others filed out of the bridge. Feeva and her three soldiers made their way to the stairs at the bottom of the Warmaster's command pyramid. Yvian had a brief worry that the Oluken wouldn't be able to climb the stairs on their strange, thick legs, but they managed without any trouble.

As the Oluken ascended the stairs, Scarrend leaned closer to Yvian. "The Oluken are herd animals. You never see one operating alone. They consider isolation to be a form of torture."

Yvian nodded her understanding.

When they reached the top, High Elder Feeva bobbed her eyestalks and wiggled her tendrils. "Greetings to you. I am High Elder Feeva." Feeva hesitated, swiveling her eyestalks to look at the three soldiers behind her. They bobbed their stalks in encouragement. "I have come to settle our grievances."

"You have come to avoid annihilation," Warmaster Scathach corrected.

"I have come to settle our grievances," the Oluken repeated. "You have entered our space without invitation, and you have destroyed one of our stations, murdering thousands of my Herdgroup."

"You are fortunate that's all we've killed so far," said Scathach. "You have betrayed us to the humans. We are at war."

"We have betrayed no one," Feeva countered. "The Oluken Herdgroup has always operated in good faith."

"Oh really?" Lissa cocked an eyebrow at her. "So you didn't help the humans ambush us on Tenril station? Or let their flagship attack us once we escaped?"

"That..." The High Elder made a burbling noise that reminded Yvian of a sigh. "That was mistake. You must understand, you were a small power at the time, and the Federation brought significant pressure to bear. We judged it prudent to sacrifice you in order to appease the humans."

"So why should we believe you're not doing that now?" Lissa asked. "You just admitted you betrayed us once, already."

"You should believe me because it is true," Feeva insisted. "Secrets and lies do not serve the Lifestream."

"Secrets and lies are most of what you've given the Empire," Scathach growled. "Speaking of your own virtue will only hurt your cause."

"Oh, and your kind are without flaw?" the Oluken retorted. "Have members of your species not betrayed their principles in the name of survival?"

"No," Scathach said simply.

"Of course not." The High Elder was bitter. "Virtue is the privilege of the strong. You know us Warmaster. The Oluken are not like you. We are not violent or vicious or even particularly brave. It takes years of training to prepare one of my kind to initiate a confrontation, let alone violence. We are forced to rely on soft power to keep us safe." Her eyestalks drooped. "It is a method that is failing us."

"Tell us about the Taa'Oor," Lissa changed the subject.

"The Taa'Oor?" High Elder Feeva looked back at her escort. They crowded closer. "The Taa'Oor were our greatest find. A tribute to the wonders of the Lifestream."

"She meant tell us how they're harboring the humans," growled Scathach.

"I will, I will get there," said Feeva. "To understand what happened, you must understand the Taa'Oor. They are... unique. Their planet, which we simply call Wet, it is a water world. No land masses, very little metal. The Taa'Oor were not the dominant life form, but they were the most... interesting. Our scientists studied them for years before we realized they were sapient."

"That other Oluken said you uplifted them," Mims pointed out. "What did you do?"

"Not what you think," the Oluken burbled. "We are not so foolish as to tamper with the Lifestream. The Varma made that mistake when they created the Vrrl, and look what happened to them. No, we simply... learned to communicate." Her eyestalks bobbed as she warmed to the subject. "A harder task than you imagine. The Taa'Oor have no vocal cords. They sense vibrations, but they can't hear the way you and I do. Their language, their way of thinking... it's extraordinarily complex, and there are no distinct words. It took us over half a century to develop a way to speak with them."

"We learned they were brilliant. Far smarter than we are. Smarter even than the Vrrl, and as curious and creative as the humans. Primitive as they were, the Taa'Oor learned our language, absorbed our science, and surpassed our technology in the span of a single one of their lifetimes. Just over two years."

"They're the ones that made your med-pods," Lissa guessed. "Aren't they?"

"Among other things," the Oluken admitted. "They are the source of the improvements to our ships, and our manufacturing as well. Our partnership with the Taa'Oor has greatly benefited both species."

"Benefited how?" asked Lissa. "From what I understand, their entire species is subservient to you."

"Yes." Feeva's eyestalks drooped. "Or at least they were. The Taa'Oor are completely non-violent. No Taa'Oor has intentionally harmed another in the history of their species. They did not know such a thing was possible until our Herdgroup explained it to them."

"They're pacifists?" Captain Mims raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," the High Elder confirmed. "Biologically so. They don't abstain from violence out of morality or creed. They are simply unable to perform it. As far as we know, the Taa'Oor are psychologically incapable of hurting another living being. They couldn't even bring themselves to fight off their natural predators, and they categorically refused to build any sort of weapon technology." Her eyestalks moved laterally in the Oluken equivalent of a headshake. "It's a shame, really. If they could do for our weapons what they did for our shields, we would be a force to be reckoned with. No one would dare invade us as you have done."

"Or they might have killed you all," Scarrend suggested.

"Killed us?" The High Elder scoffed. "After all we have done for them?" Her eyestalks drooped again. "Perhaps you are right. The Taa'Oor have not appreciated our relationship as much as we expected. It took a mere ten years for them to demand independence."

"I'm guessing that didn't work out very well," said Lissa.

"No, it went quite well for them. They were surprisingly effective." Feeva burbled another sigh. "They simply refused to work. Nothing we did could change their minds. When we tried to force them they expired. We don't even know how. They just... willed themselves to die. Their collective declared it was the end of the Wet Protectorate. The entire species returned to their world, to live on as primitives away from us and the horrors of the void."

"Ah," Scathach grunted. "That's when you involved the Empire."

"Yes." Feeva drooped. "Yes we did. We gave your people Wet's location. Let them fly through our space to get to it. We needed a threat the Taa'Oor could not ignore, and the Vrrl did not disappoint. The Taa'Oor were even more terrified of you than we are. A few years of raids, and the implication that they would be hunted to extinction, and the Taa'Oor were begging for the protection of the Herdgroup. They've been with us ever since. They've been loyal. Until now."

Lissa said what Yvian was thinking. "That's monstrous."

"Yes," the High Elder agreed. "It was evil. But also necessary. Without the Herdgroup, it would only be a matter of time before the Taa'Oor were extinguished. We protect them when they cannot protect themselves."

"And in return you get free labor and high technology," Scathach growled. "You are as bad as the humans."

"Do not be so quick to speak ill of humans," Feeva chided. "When the Droglon came for us, the Vrrl Starfang Empire did nothing. It was the Federation that saved us. They repelled the Droglon at great cost, and fought a war of extinction on our behalf. You all see humans as vicious monsters, but they have dealt with the Herdgroup more fairly than any of you." The High Elder reach behind herself. Two of the soldiers entwined tendrils with her. "Or they did, at least. Until now."

"What happened?" Lissa asked.

"We are not certain," the High Elder admitted. "We don't know if the Taa'Oor contacted the Federation, or if the terrans sought them out. All we know is a Federation Armada appeared in Wet Sector. Millions of them. Then the Taa'Oor sent us a message declaring their independence. They told us they were joining the Terran Federation, and demanded we leave their space."

"When did this happen?" asked Mims.

"Eight weeks ago," Keeva replied. "The humans confirmed what the Taa'Oor told us. They drove us from the sector. Our people saw human stations coming out of the Gate as we were evacuating."

"Eight weeks..." Scathach let out a growl. "And you told us nothing?"

"We didn't know what to do." Feeva said with resignation. "Telling you would anger the Federation. Not telling you would anger the Empire and the Technocracy. Either option could be the death of our species. We could do nothing but wait, and hope, and pray for a solution that never came."

"Or wait, and hope, and pray we never found out," Scathach corrected.

"That would have been best," the Oluken admitted. Her eyestalks quivered. "So now you know. The Herdgroup did not betray you. It is we who were betrayed. You have attacked us without cause."

"Without cause?" Lissa lifted her brows. "You betrayed me to the humans once already, and then the entire fucking species holed up in your space, and you didn't tell us."

"You have failed to earn our respect and our trust." Scathach didn't growl this time. He spoke as if he was reciting a grocery list. "We should scour your wretched species from the galaxy."

"This unit would be happy to assist with the extermination of cowardly meatbags," Kilroy added. His eyes were combat red.

The High Elder quailed, backing away until she bumped into the soldiers behind her. The soldiers quivered, their tendril's unwinding from hers. They gripped their weapons, glowing nozzles swiveling between the Warmaster and the machine as they tried to guess who the biggest threat was.

"Lower your weapons," Mims ordered.

"Please..." Feeva burbled. "No, please... Please don't... You can't... We..."

"Oh for fuck's sake," Lissa put her hands on her hips. "We're not going to hurt you." She scowled at the soldiers. "Put those down."

"If we were going to kill you," Scathach reminded them, "we would have done so already."

"No... Please..." Feeva continued to blubber.

"Feeva!" Yvian snapped at the woman. The High Elder didn't seem to notice. "Feeva! Snap out of it! Feeva!"

A hand clapped onto Yvian's shoulder. "Stop yelling." Captain Mims stepped past her. "She's having a panic attack."

All three guards pointed their guns at Mims. The Captain ignored them. He moved slowly, hands outstretched at waist height. He spoke softly. "Feeva. High Elder Feeva." The Oluken shied away. Mims stopped. "Feeva. Look at me."

Mims murmured, "Voice command, release void armor gloves." There was a slight hiss, and the Captain's gloves dropped to the deck. Slowly, gently, he reached for the High Elder's arm. "Feeva. Feeva, it's alright." His bare hand lightly brushed the Oluken's upper arm. "It's alright, Feeva. Breathe. Just breathe."

The High Elder was still muttering, but most of it was not comprehensible. Her breath was coming fast and hard and shallow. Mims continued to murmur soothingly, lightly touching the woman's arms until Feeva wrapped her tendrils around his hand.

"Shameful," Scarrend muttered. Yvian nudged him with her elbow. Mims shot him a look. Scarrend did not speak again.

It took several minutes for the High Elder to calm down. Well. Calm might not be the word. Her breathing slowed, and her words became more coherent, but she was still begging for the lives of her people. Her panic had given way just enough for dread and terror to sink back in.

Lissa and the Warmaster waited another minute, letting the woman beg. When he judged the High Elder was calm enough to hear him, Scathach spoke. "Enough. We accept your surrender."

Feeva stopped, staring at the Vrrl with quivering eyestalks. "What?"

"We accept your surrender," Lissa backed up the Warmaster. "We're not going to kill the Herdgroup."

"You're... You..." The Oluken slumped in relief. "Thank you. Thank you!"

"Stop that," Scathach ordered. "There are conditions. You will give us all the information you have on the humans in Wet Sector. Also, the High Commander of the human Military has been invited to meet with us five days from now. He will meet us in this sector. We will stay here until he does or the deadline has passed."

"Yes. Yes of course." The Oluken's eyestalks retreated into her head. She took a deep breath. Mims tried to draw away from her, but her tendrils clung to his hands. "I'm sure we can come to some accord."

"No accord," Scathach started. "You will-" Lissa put a hand on his arm. He scowled down at her, but softened his tone. "I mean, you've already surrendered."

"We can arrange the details through our ambassadors," Lissa added. "You can go home if you want. You don't have to stay here anymore."

"Home?" Feeva's eyestalks emerged, still quivering. "Yes. Home. Home would be good." She finally noticed that she was holding the Captain's hands. She made herself let go. Mims stepped back, retrieving his gloves. "Do you know? I'm the first High Elder to leave Oluka in a hundred years." She took another shaking breath. "I'd very much like to not do this again."

"I don't blame you," said Lissa. She turned to Scathach. "Warmaster, can you have High Elder Feeva escorted back to her ship?"

Scathach's scowl deepened for a moment. Then he blinked slowly and smoothed his featured. His voice boomed "Forty-Eighth Hsst!"

The Forty-Eighth Hsst boomed back. "Yes, Warmaster!"

"See High Elder Feeva and her escort back to their ship." The Third Warmaster of the Vrrl Starfang Empire turned from the Oluken and started typing into a holodisplay panel. "I've had enough diplomacy for one day."