The Martial Unity

Ten humanoid winged creatures hovered in an ephemeral hall with walls and floor woven from solidified clouds. Their wings were checkered with feathers, vibrating slightly as they hovered above the cloudy floor. The clothes they wore were fashioned from similar feathers, creating a thick fabric that draped over their bodies.

Their heads were covered with three eye-like sense organs that allowed them to perceive the entirety of the electromagnetic spectrum. The dessandrites used these to flap their wings not just against the winds of their gas giant planet, but also against electromagnetic radiation itself.

Opposite the ten of them was a projection of a Divine Mother of the very civilization that they had been at war with for more than a decade. Divine Mother ooo—o- of the Pluralist Faction had been aiding the dessandrites ever since the war had begun; she and her cadre of Divine Mothers had been against the war, and had prevented the arakai from gaining too much of an advantage against the dessandrites, much to the contrition of the War and Virus Factions.

Yet, despite being a traitor, the Divine Mother held her head up high, gazing at the ten leaders of the ten clans that dominated Dessandrite civilization.

”So you’re telling me…” Lord Sheshank of the Firebreather Clan’s voice was ultrasonic, inaudible to human ears, but picked and conveyed by their projection sensors. ”…that the Administrator that ambushed a Divine Mother recently was the same Administrator that ambushed Divine Mother o-o-o-o several months ago?”

”That is correct,” Divine Mother ooo—o- spoke in the language of the dessandrites, producing ultrasonic hums that were transmitted to the dessandrites many light-years away. ”This Administrator has, to date, ambushed six Divine Mothers, and has killed three.”

Lord Sheshank sharpened his eyes. ”Divine Mother Web Binder, do you think we are fools? It is impossible for one individual to be responsible for these many attacks in such a short span of time! The price of the Verse would have caused him to disappear for many years after the first ambush!”

The other clan Alphas also nodded. ”Are you trying to deceive us, Divine Mother?”

She shook her head. ”I can assure you that what I’m saying is the truth. I would not lie about something this hard to believe. It is a fact of the matter that one Administrator is responsible for the death of three Divine Mothers. If you had better intelligence gathering capabilities, you would have known this.”

Her tone was subtly accusatory. The Dessandrites didn’t have the most robust inter-civilizational intelligence apparatuses. After all, inter-civilizational information gathering systems were subject to different rules. Things like infiltration, undercover operations, and standard espionage tactics that would work within a civilization would not work within across species.

It wasn’t impossible to masquerade as a member of another species with highly advanced technology, but it was extremely difficult and hopeless to sustain. Something pretending to be a human would eventually be caught because there were too many ways for humans to catch a disguised alien off-guard.

Inter-civilizational intel campaigns were entirely stealth-, surveillance-, and cyber-monitoring-based, which the dessandrites were less than good at.

Lord Sheshank frowned as he stared at the Divine Mother’s six eyes. He didn’t trust the Divine Mother necessarily, they had overlapping interests and thus they worked together. However, it was also true that this was a very strange thing to lie about. If she wanted to deceive them, there were more sophisticated ways of doing it than telling something that beggared belief.

Which meant that she likely was telling the truth, though with this shrewd Divine Mother, she might have accounted that he would have come to this conclusion. The Pluralist Faction was the most clever and wily group of Divine Mothers in Arakai Web Civilization.

”If this alien Administrator truly is responsible for all of these ambushes, then it would mean that they have overcome the price of the Verse,” Lord Sheshank concluded as his three eye-like organs seemed to grow more intense. ”Is that the case, Divine Mother ooo—o-?”

The Divine Mother’s pincer opening simply widened in a gesture that was analogous to a smile. ”I’m afraid I cannot divulge any further. He has requested me not to. He wishes to speak with all of you.”

That made the Alpha of the Firebreather Clan even more curious. ”…About what?”

”About a potential arrangement for cooperation,” she replied. ”The arakai have recently invaded his civilization. They are at war.”

Lord Sheshank immediately understood the purpose of this meeting. ”Have you been in contact with this alien Administrator?”

”I have,” she nodded. ”I have made contact with this civilization and him, its leader, and have offered my aid as I did with all of you. He requested a meeting with you.”

”Where is this civilization located?” Lord Sheshank narrowed his eyes. ”I’m assuming it’s none of the familiar civilizations in the local Orion Star Strand interstellar community. Most of them would not dare launch an attack against the arakai. This must be a new, previously undiscovered alien civilization. Give us the coordinates so we can verify their existence.”

She shook her head. ”I cannot do that. If you are able to strike up a deal with this party, then they may choose to voluntarily reveal their location to you in some kind of mutual agreement, but I am merely a broker for this particular meeting.”

Divine Mother ooo—o- had been quite enthusiastic when Rui had called her to set up a meeting with the Dessandrites. Bringing unknown civilizations to each other and helping create a web of bonds based on mutual interests was a form of creating new webs, and it was the kind of webs that her Pluralist Faction most enjoyed creating.

The wars had been bad for the Pluralist Factions, but they had given them some unexpected good as well.

Lord Sheshank stared at the Divine Mother with an uncertain expression.

”This first meeting is merely to establish contact,” she added, seeing his reluctance. ”You may communicate with each other and investigate whether there is a basis for investigation. Though I certainly believe that there is.”