CHAPTER 29
Ashby Virtual Hotel District, The Ephemor Federation
2027
0 (L.D.)
Vehru transported back to Iyla to prepare her troops for Liberation Day. She would have preferred to immediately begin with that, but the meetings would not wait. So almost as soon as she arrived, she had to hook up virtually. All the transporting gave her whiplash.
It was hard not to be distracted, as well, after speaking to her Witness for the first time in a decade, and after letting Earthlings lay eyes on her. This would be a hard day for them on Earth.
When Vehru spawned, Morfrain already stood in the conference room of the hotel. He stared at her for several seconds without speaking. "Why did you transport to Earth early?" Her partner had flashed his disapproving frown at her so many times over hundreds of years that each time he did it, she wanted to stab hot pokers into her eyes. It drove her insane.
Vehru managed to keep her glance looking disinterested. "My witness called on me. She wanted me to come."
"You have a soft spot for her."
"You say that about all my witnesses."
He grunted. "It's been true for them all."
Vehru rolled her neck and kneaded her fingers into the base of her skull. Transporting multiple times in one day always left her sore.
"How was your introduction?" he asked.
She held back her sigh at the edge of sarcasm in his tone. After hundreds of years of disagreement in her approach, any comments or jokes about their differences were truly over the top at this point. If it were up to him, they would conquer a world in a day, no matter how many people it killed.
"My Witness told me to shut the fuck up. That was interesting. She's always been so slow to take drastic action. Once she does, though… Well, the kid has potential." Vehru took the seat beside Morfrain, never keen to let him see exactly how infuriating she found him. "I'll return soon. She'll be in a much better state with her memories when I do and we can finally begin."
"You should not have gone until you were ready to stay. These trips are expensive."
"Will you ever tire of telling me?"
"Never." He glanced down her face. "Not when it makes you mad enough to try hiding how your muscles tighten."
"You really ought to adjust your limbic system. Your temperament is very out of fashion."
"I'm a naturalist, Vehru. No reason to change the personality I was born with."
"Keeping your head attached to your shoulders should be reason enough." She twisted to face him, smiling sweetly as she ran her finger along his throat. "Another hundred years of you being an utter prick and I won't be able to control myself."
"Please, come for me, Vehru." He tilted his head back, giving her ample target. "I've been waiting for the day."
"I don't think you'll care for that day once it comes. You have never taken me as seriously as you should."
"I take you very seriously. That's why I join you for all of your conquests."
"Such a good chaperone."
"They're the ones who don't take you seriously." He whispered it as the door opened and the first High Commander entered the room. "Or else, they'd never have let you make it this far."
She paused as Morfrain rose to greet the woman and nodded at another who entered.
"Commanders." Morfrain flashed that grin of his.
Her thoughts lingered on her partner–though she hated to call him that. Chaperone really was much more like it. Despite centuries of service and success, Vehru still wasn't one of them. She questioned whether she ever would be. Morfrain would fight her all the way. She heard the threat in his words. If the war council knew what she was capable of then they would strip her of her duty and power. But Morfrain knew. So, he'd do it for them.
This was nothing new. They'd known each other too long to hide their intentions. This cold war of theirs would never end in peace. What gave her pause was how he'd seemed to especially savor the words. As though he planned to finally act.
Or worse, knew she planned to act.
Now was the time. If she waited any further in her tenure to make a move, it would be obvious that she had to act soon. Slightly more than halfway through her contract with the Federation, there shouldn't be a fire lighting Vehru's ass. She had time. Which was exactly why she didn't have time. She wanted to take Morfrain by surprise.
Except the bastard knew her too well. So be it. Vehru was confident she could take Morfrain down even if he saw her coming.
They stood side-by-side as they greeted each of the High Commanders, as if they'd ever been a team. Morfrain had always been standing at the gate, ready to slam it in Vehru's face once the Federation truly opened it to her.
"Excellent job with your last two conquests, Commander Vehru." This High Commander had often been a critic of her, but even his tune had changed. "You reserved more energy than any Commander has before. We'll be studying your methods for years to come."
Vehru relished the stiffness of Morfrain's smile as he tried to pretend he was too preoccupied with conversation to have heard the praise. That was right, little bitch. She'd destroy him and the door he wanted to shut in her face.
"It's important to prepare a planet for our arrival. The process is delicate. They need to be afraid, but there has to be a certain amount of empowerment, or rebellious spirit. A hopeless planet will not serve its purpose."
"Your success bodes well for other Commanders from the candidate pool."
"It should," Vehru said. "Who better knows how to conquer a world than someone who experienced it firsthand? I highly recommend that you take a chance on more candidates."
"Not all are as qualified as you, dear Vehru. Perhaps once you fulfill your contract, you can train them for us."
"I would be more than happy to do so if I survive that long."
His eyes widened and he chuckled softly, like she was joking, when she most certainly was not. Conquesting would cut Vehru's life in half. Maybe someone like Morfrain who chose to let his primitive limbic system run wild and protect him from the horror of the atrocities he committed would live longer, but Vehru would always be more effective for keeping her synthetic mind sensitive to her own guilt.
"I have been meaning to ask…" Vehru leaned in, voice quieting. "More troops from the Federation would help us conserve more life. Biomechanical bodies are so much more effective than ordinary flesh and bone."
"Spending energy to gain energy defeats the purpose of the conquests."
"In the short-term. For every one percent of the population killed on a conquered planet, it takes an entire generation of births to make up for the energy loss."
"I've seen the figures. The difference is negligible in the long-term. Besides, no one wants to spend their days galavanting around planets like Earth. It's hard enough to find Commanders like you and Morfrain. Who would volunteer to be your soldiers? You need to rely on humans from conquered planets and on the machines your AI creates."
Vehru's smile was becoming difficult to force. "We do give credence to our ethics code, sir. While the energy gain might be small, the suffering we save these people from–"
"It's a noble cause, Vehru. Certainly, one of the reasons you make for one of our finest Commanders." He clasped her shoulder and she couldn't stop herself from calculating how many seconds it would take to pop the bones in each of his fingers. He didn't keep up with war enhancements like Vehru. She could eviscerate his hands in two seconds flat.
"Doesn't that tell you that you should listen to me?" She asked.
Too bold of an argument. His expression soured.
"I do trust it would be for the best if it were possible. You are not aware of everything I manage, Commander Vehru. The answer is no. You will make do with your biological soldiers from Lumiea. If you need more, your Replica can make them. Start prepping your machines sooner if you need more time. Besides, it keeps the conquered planets in line, giving them something to live and die and fight for. There's a reason we have conquered people help us conquer new planets."
Flesh and blood humans were cheaper, in every sense of the word. Was Vehru truly worth more now that she had a synthetic body than when she'd been born of her mother's sweat and tears? Men like him never knew the pain of more vulnerable bodies. He'd been born synthetic. Never went through the painful transformation of becoming that or the even more painful life with a normal, human body.
"They're suffering, High Commander." Vehru said it with a strong voice, so he wouldn't discount her words.
He met her eyes, softening. "Soon, we will ease their discomfort. One day, when we have the resources, we'll give them what we have. Synthetic bodies and a more peaceful world."
One day. The hope that Vehru spent hundreds of years killing for. But while waiting for that day, billions in every world died. Her people died. Vehru had four hundred more years of service before they allowed her world to fully enter the federation and enjoy all the privileges they had. Privileges they had given Vehru and the two lucky souls she had chosen. Her mother and her brother.
The cost of Vehru's choice had weighed as heavily on their souls as it had hers. Perhaps even more. Absolutely more, for her brother at least.
The grief choked her and she had to lower her emotional sensitivity to keep her eyes dry. "Thank you for considering, High Commander."
"Always, Vehru. I will keep your wisdom in mind should things change."
They dined and enjoyed themselves before getting to business. Vehru kept her emotions limited for the remainder of the time, as cowardly as she always found that. She only resorted to it in rare instances, most of the time when she met with the war council.
"How long will this conquest take?" The High Commander directed the question at Morfrain. While Vehru ran the ground operations, he managed the office work. Fine by her.
"Three weeks in the best case scenario, fourteen weeks in the worst. I believe it will be around six weeks."
Vehru sat back in her chair and laced her fingers on her stomach. "Our AI interface–my Replica–has already taken control of ninety-five percent of their internet."
"Are they close to figuring out how to defend against the AI?"
"No. Earth isn't as advanced as the last planet. That's why our timeframe is shorter."
"Good. How many biological troops from Lumiea will you lose?"
"Thirty-five percent more than likely." Morfrain shrugged. "If Earth surprises us, fifty percent. Not bad, considering how much we have reduced troops."
"It simply takes too much energy to continue transporting all these humans."
Vehru pinched her lips together. "If we keep casualties lower than ten percent, it causes far less problems on their home planet. Lumiea is a world of strong-willed people. They're fighters. We need to return the soldiers home to them."
"Which is why we've prepared the population well," a High Commander said. "They are well under our control. Let's move on. Please. You're very difficult today, Commander Vehru."
Not all of them were so heartless. Most of them compartmentalized these meetings, only keeping as much emotion as they felt their decisions required. Although, Vehru argued that as much emotion as possible was required. Seemed she was in the minority, as usual. At home, if the High Commanders let themselves think about this conversation without shutting down their emotions, then they would be horrified to think about what they were subjecting entire worlds to.
Vehru always planned to overhaul the conquest system. She just never knew it would take her so long to figure out how to do so. Not that she could claim it would be a saintly path forward. War was war. She just wanted one with better rules of engagement.
Or did she simply want one she was in charge of?
"Do you think Earth will be receptive to our message?" Another High Commander. Vehru didn't even want to glorify them with names. They cared nothing for the people they conquered. Why should she give them anymore consideration than she had to?
Vehru nodded. "Some people will be. Many on Earth feel like the world is ending and it won't take much convincing to tell them they're right. As many as we can expect will follow us."
Humans couldn't be allowed to destroy their planets, not only because the Federation would lose their investment, but because watching a world end was even worse than conquering one. In her time, she'd seen a few planets survive on their own, only needing monitoring. But Earth had tipped the scales on threat. It was time. This would be a successful conquest. The Federation would continue to receive the energy they'd spent all this time harvesting and Earth would survive. In fact, if Vehru was successful, Earth would be better off. Her Replica would help stop wars and abuse of power. It didn't make up for Vehru robbing Earth of its choice to join the federation or for the bloody war she'd wage to force their capitulation. But she did hope things would be better in the end.
Survival truly was the greatest complexity in the universe.
The conversation continued and turned to their precious energy. The federation hadn't been the one to initially seed life all over their neighborhood of the galaxy. That prime race had vanished without a trace long before the Federation existed–either dead or living in a higher plane they didn't know existed. But the Federation had tended to the planets seeded and abandoned for many reasons. One of the most important was harnessing the human quantum field of consciousness as the ultimate energy source. While the Federation was closed off to other civilizations in the galaxy and had very little contact with other non-human lifeforms, eventually their human existence would collide with another species in a threatening way. When the time came, it was best to have as many humans as possible, so they would survive. Thrive.
But people rarely fought wars for the future. They fought them for things they wanted right now. And human consciousness was the best form of consciousness for humans to harvest.
That was why they waited so long to force planets into the federation. It took a very long time for a world to build a sizeable population. Inevitably, once any planet became aware of the federation, it dynamically altered every aspect of life for the poor people. It was best to let them grow up, from infants to unruly teenagers. Plus, once a world developed something like the internet that connected the planet it became much easier for their AI interface to permeate the world and for them to conquer it.
The business of conquest was booming. Worlds seeded millions of years ago were now ripe. Vehru had plenty of work to keep her busy through the rest of her tenure.
They at least let her have some decision on when to make her conquest. Vehru had worked it out to a science. Too early or too late resulted in far greater loss of life. She had to pluck the fruit at just the right time.
Still, this would be a bloody war. It always was. No world had ever agreed to hand over control to the Federation, no matter how much freedom they promised. It didn't matter that a war against the Federation was hopeless. People always waged it.
Vehru had as well. She'd fought so well against the Federation's conquest of her home planet that it had eventually turned into a job offer for her. The offer to become one of the worst fucking human beings in the universe. She'd taken it with no hesitation and an incredible amount of self-hatred.
"Vehru?"
Morfrain watched her. She breathed in deeply. Had to focus her mind back on the conversation to figure out what he had even asked.
"She will be an excellent witness," she responded. "She's a woman of conviction. Whether she acts as a witting or unwitting agent, I'm confident she'll help us to conquer the planet without crushing the souls of the Earthlings to the point of souring their spirits. Your energy source will be pure. It's all going according to plan."
Vehru had not spent a night in her room at the virtual hotel in a very long time. So when she walked through the doors, she was shocked to see Jynell reclining on her bed.
"Really?" Vehru sighed.
He only smirked and rolled over, naked, making himself at home.
"I fell asleep twice waiting for you."
"Who told you I was here?" She groaned and sat on her sofa rather than joining him on the bed. He knew to ask before coming over.
He came to sit beside her, took her hand in his, and closed his eyes, far too comfortable in her home.
"You're always quiet before. Do you realize that?" He didn't open his eyes.
She smirked. "Are you saying ordinarily I'm too loud?"
"Not loud. In charge." He pushed himself up and nipped her ear. "I like it."
"They call me Death." She traced his cheek. "It's not easy becoming Death."
"Death is a part of life. This is Earth's only chance. Remember that."
"In a few hundred years, maybe I will." She wouldn't. Vehru might, at times, give into the seduction of her own lies, but she knew only to flirt with them, not buy them. Just as she knew to do the same with Jynell.
"You should sleep," he said. "I'll rest with you."
Vehru shook her head. "It's time." Just like it was for her mother. For Earth. For her plan to prove everyone had underestimated her and they'd regret it more than they'd ever regretted anything before. "We should part and enjoy what we had together."
"I'd heard that when you like someone too much you send them away." He ran his fingers through her hair. "You like to hurt yourself."
Vehru let her head fall back, eyes closed. "I have a world to conquer. Now isn't the time for pleasure."
"Emotional pain is far more acute than physical. You're cutting your heart to shreds."
She groaned. "Can you just stop?"
"I thought you would enjoy it, seeing as how you're cruel to yourself for the sake of cruelty."
Vehru glanced down his beautiful, delicate face. "You can kiss me goodbye, if you want."
"You'll be back for more. Better to leave you wanting."
She sighed and watched as he walked away from her, collecting his clothes.
Vehru didn't really have a home anymore. She wandered from conquest to conquest, the planet she grew up on so far away. The few people who knew her had become home.
Jynell managed to make her feel that sometimes. Vehru knew it was only wishful thinking, like telling herself she was actually doing Earth a favor.
