Militant Prime Boh-Dak stood on the bridge of the carrier looking at the swirling clouds of the nebulae. His rage at the humans had long since burned cold and been replaced with a tempered steel resolve to eradicate the humans wherever he could find them once the time came. There was no malice or cruelty behind his desire to exterminate them, simply an eye for an eye. His people had once been a powerful empire spanning several systems with dozens of planets and moon colonies, they where now confined to their homeworld forever changed by attempts to kill off the last of the Gargan. However their planet being occupied is why the remnant of the navy are shackled here rather than murauding through human space. Boh-Dak sighed, it was pointless remenicing, he called to on of the officers who was half asleep in the chair. The officer jumped at the sudden order.

"Liutenant! give me a status report on the fleet" Boh-Dak shouted again

"Yes Militant!" he replied and called of the most recent state of the fleet

Boh-Dak read the report, it was less than encouraging, over the last year the makeshift shipyard had managed to produce 25 frigate and 5 cruisers. Over the last year the Empire had destroyed 30 frigates and 4 cruisers. The shipyard hidden in the nebulae could hardly keep up with losses, and harrassing the cargo ships was becoming less and less viable as his fleet shrunk and the Imperial navy's noose grew ever tighter. he read down the list:

1 Hive class Super-Supercarrier
The Forsaken

1 Grand Battleship
Siege Breaker

4 Lance class Battleships
Foe Hammer
Aegis
Mayhem
Skull Cleaver

12 Spear class Battle Cruisers
20 Arrow class Cruisers
40 Needle class Frigates

After studying the list that he already knew by heart he ground his teeth and called up the Secundus, he was training. Which was good, the Infantry had never actually seen ground combat so constant training since their induction was the only way to prepare them to fight vetran troops. The secundus was in a suit of powered armor when he came over and answered the display making him look much larger than even a human. 

"Secundus, Tell me of you troops. What is the status of our invasion force"

"ah, We have 500 suits of powered armor, and about 50,000 droids ready for combat" he replied.

The secundus was much younger than the prime, however his tactical genius was unparalleled within the Gargan forces as far as ground combat was concerned. He did have some difficulty with space combat, while by no means inept he was nothing when compared to Boh-Dak. This is why they complimented eachother so well, the two generals could wage war on the ground and in orbit. At least they believed as such even though they had never fought a true battle other than pirate skirmishes. They where about to go into discussions on erecting a second shipyard to actually increase their forces while fighting the good fight when a message pinged their terminals, an outside message sent from the homeworld. A highly encrypted message message from the Traitor human Jakob.

[quote]
Militant, important news.

A Xenos General, Lucretia, has come planet side and requested meetings with the Governor. No news on the content of the meeting nor the cause. 

End.[/quote]



[hr]
[quote]
Governor Ohr-sah

You are hereby summoned by EoM general Lucretia on the 5th of this Standard Human Month at Capital Time 03h45 for a meeting, a car will insure transport at your office.[/quote]

The governor prime looked over the message that appeared at his terminal and checked the time stamp, only about 2 hours from this compulsory meeting. It doesn't expressly say so, but any meeting with an EoM general is compulsory. He sighed trying to work out why the message was so late in getting to him, surely the humans at the orbital comms station just screwing with him. He glared at the message not recognizing the General's name as one of the planetary generals, [color=a36209]'Lucretia... I know that name... Lucretia, the Xenos general under Korsev.. Korsov? whatever.'[/color] Ohr-sah thought to himself [color=a36209]'Why does this Imperial loyalist want a meeting with the Gargan?.. probably some kind of nonsense about becoming some kind of glorious defenders[/color]. He scoffed at the thought. He has a hard enough time trying to keep the most militant groups from open revolt with the strained relationship already in place much less trying to help protect their oppressors. 

Ohr-sah swipes the message away noting the time, and proceeds to his other work. He sorts through the small mountain of financial reports. Engineers, farmers, chemists, all providing reports of their productivity, nothing about individual factories or fields but over all planetary production. he turns all the planetary production over in his mind, if they where all making bombs and bullets how much they could make if they where in a full scale war. He never thinks the day will come that his species will take the war to the Empire, but it was something he was trained to do by the former Governor. He glances back down to the time, the meeting was soon. He left his desk and marched out the office, adjusting his breathing mask, and goes out front, approaching the only vehicle on the street. He sighs as he approaches the vehicle that was obviously made for someone roughly twice his size. It always annoyed him that his race was smaller than humans, he knew it made believing they where inferior much easier. Regardless of their enduring resistance to their human overlords when most other races had died out or become slaves. 

He paused a few steps from the vehicle and took a deep breath of his personal chlorinated atmosphere, composing himself and preparing for whatever madness the meeting had to offer. Meetings with generals where always so exhausting.

The door opened by the push of a button from the driver, another Crayven, revealing the anti-like xeno inside. Lucretia was in a decently sized black sedan, almost half a limo with seats facing each other on the back, but still sat at the edge of her seat. No matter her size, the insect still had an abdomen attached to her rear. Leaning backward on most seats was impossible and they were always uncomfortable. "Governor Ohr-san. Get in." Crayvens never were ones for small talk. Of course the aim of the meeting was to get this little fellow on her side but one thing she noticed from Tunis and the other humans she met, people that suddenly changed their habits for you needed you. Lucretia wanted to project strength, that it was he who needed her.

She waited for him to seat as he wished, two pairs of hands joined atop of her legs as she looked with her unblinking eyes a possible ally. "My time here is short." On this planet and her lifespan as well... "...So I'll be brief. Grand Admiral Konev knows you are dissatisfied with your situation and offers you the opportunity to better it, should you be willing to fight for new rights. Increased home rule and the possibility to serve in a democratic process for your people, should they serve the New Order in an appropriate fashion. The plan is strategically sound and the future it proposes in the realm of the possible." And now, silence as Lucretia tried to read the person in front of him... rather quite literally as somewhere or nowhere, a puddle of water was being looked into. There was a lot more to this, but Lucretia had to probe him first.

Ohr-sah stared at the general, ensuring his face belied no feeling on the matter. This made much easier by the mask covering the majority of his face. He listens to the short proposal that sounds much like high treason, the idea of the Gargan's being autonomous and having rights is a dream he had always entertained but never one he expected to come to reality. He mulled over the proposal for many long seconds, [color=f7941d]'This must be a trick.'[/color] he thinks to himself [color=f7941d]'baiting the leader of an unruly species into discussing treason, an excuse to execute me'[/color] He looks down at the floor boards of the vehicle and chooses his next words very carefully. [color=f7941d]"General... What [b]exactly[/b] are you proposing, I do not fully understand."[/color] He says trying ascertain the general's true intentions. He simply didn't believe that the general was proposing open rebellion against the empire.


The unflinching alien stare did not falter for a second as Lucretia gave herself a moment to think. "You lie. You fully understand, a xeno race like yours doesn't get to keep a security force and a governor of his own species, being it in name only, without understanding the subtleties of politics. But maybe it is what brings you do doubt my word. Someone used to lie and trick people often fears the same trick being used on himself. I encourage you to think, governor. Assuming I was there to trap you and this worked, what then? My testimony in court would be considered shaky at best as I am not human and then, once you were executed, you'd be a martyr and the fact that it would be proven that you had plans to rebel would only embolden the local population. This would all be extremely counter productive. If the Empire wanted to eliminate you, I would overpower you right now and slightly damage your respiratory gear to leave you to die a slow death before dumping you in a park somewhere, the coroner, a human or a Gargan working for the Empire, would then testify that you had respiratory gear failure as you took a walk. The spymaster in charge, which would have to be the Frodulentus himself as no one else has the authority to make Grand Admiral Konev loan me to the Secret Services, would then silently usher in a puppet of his choice..."

"At this point in time, Governor, humanity does not need an excuse to kill anyone. So here it is. Grand Admiral Konev has ordered me to officially propose you to form Gargan combat and support units under his command to fight the pirates that plague your region. Unofficially, he tasked me to prepare the field for a request that you'd support a Reformation Army to wage war on the Empire in the name of democracy. But you asked me what I am proposing, which is slightly different. I propose that you seize this opportunity, as I will, and back Admiral Konev with all the military power that you can muster. If everything goes well, your species will go from a semi-armed one subjugated by a galactic empire to a militarized one allied to a large but loose confederation of races ruled by humans. At this point in time, you would have many more options to exploit." And if everything went wrong, everyone involved would be genocided out of existence, but it was better to be positive. Lucretia had learned to believe in the very real power of positive thought. 

He was stunned at the General's bluntness, and at the truth. Killing him would do very little but spark a few weeks worth of riots and revolts that would truly not help the empire at all unless they wanted an excuse to finish exterminating the Gargan... Not that they would need an excuse, they would as soon as the decided to. Thoughts whirled in Ohr-sah's head connecting ideas faster than he realized possible. A chance to be independant from humans, well from the empire they would still be under control of this Korsev. Trading one oppressor for another surely, but they would need Gargan military help which would mean they could openly have a military again. Which also meant Korsev could be cast off as soon as he was more trouble than he was worth. This would be open rebellion the exact kind of problem that would have Gargans purged from the galaxy if they lost. 

[color=f7941d]"General, you speak of open rebellion and war if any imperial official heard of this we would both be executed as traitors" he started saying "Which would mean you are at the same risk as I, not to mention your commanding officer who would be ruined if talk of this came out before such an alliance was concrete. So i am inclined to believe that what you are proposing is an honest proposal."[/color] he paused still selecting his words carefully, nothing he had said yet was criminal or treasonous. He could go and report the general to the local officials and leave with his hands clean... probably. He couldn't, no matter how he turned the situation over in his mind the only thing that made sense was that this was a genuine proposal of an allied rebellion. 

[color=f7941d]"You are correct in saying when you say pirates plague this sector of space, but they need not be fought. For they are only pirates because it is vastly more important for them to remain separated from the rest of the Gargan. In truth, they are the remnants of the old Gargan military they have been fighting for the past 300 years trying to dislodge the Empire from our borders. If you are being truthful the pirates would join your cause. I can not say how to reach them, nor where their base is located for i do not know."[/color] he pauses for thought, everything he said was entirely true, some of it unknown to the empire but irrelevant as it still places no blame on him or the planet bound Gargan for their actions. He was politicking and he knew it, but this conversation was a noose around his neck and the wrong word could hang him. [color=f7941d]"you understand the precariousness of this do you not? as Xenos yourself you must understand my skepticism of this proposal"[/color]

The general gritted her teeth in annoyance. Yes, she had considered everything, there was no need to remind her of the risks involved. Gah, if the rest of the universe could be more like the Crayvens under her, shut up and go along her plans. At 6 years of age, she was too old for this. But when he finally got around to tell her useful information, oh it was good. She had suspected there were links between people on the Gargan homeworld and the pirates but if it was the governor himself, it made her work so much easier. "Governor. I believe history has shown that when Crayvens rebel, they are deadly serious about it." Oh yes, in 300 years they had repelled the Empire 6 times, doing more damage than most xenos had done combined in the meantime, but had also come oh so very close to end it all. This time however, it was different. Rather than fight with pure violence, savagery and determination, they were going to surprise the Empire.

"But there is no place for doubt, Governor. For after all, what success did your remnant have until now? None. They didn't even come close to succeed. The truth is that even if all the xenos of the empire rebelled in unison today, we would fail and every passing year, we would fail harder and faster. You know this, humans are replacing you. You might have survived the draining of your atmosphere, but the human penis and human womb is beating you at every turn." Stagnation and decline while the Empire was in a golden age. Even if they waited out the Empire, what would be left of them once the humans finally fell by themselves? "So no, I cannot fathom why you'd be skeptical about this. Plus, this is going to happen with or without the Gargans, Governor. You understand what this means... the Crayvens are at the moment the closest thing there is to a race of xeno held in good opinion by the humans and once we rebel, as believe me this will gain traction and the attention of other races, others will follow. Now imagine if the Empire wins. Obviously, there shan't be a Crayven left alive to try again. And like every time a mass rebellion happened, you will be able to at best, expect several less possible allies and at worst, that the humans will cull you as well, just to make sure."

For effect, she left a silence and shrugged at the Gargan's hesitation. "There is no going on the side lines here. Either you join me, and fight like you've never fought before for the survival of your race... or you go to the Military Governor and tell him everything. That way I'm sure you'll at least be able to keep as things are... battleships flying above your capital, any petty general with a human uniform being able to summon and dismiss you as they please."

Ohr-sah ground his teeth, The General was right and he knew it. If this was a trap it was an elaborate one that did not make sense, if the humans wanted him dead he would simply disappear and it would mean nothing to the Gargan. They had lost many a Governor in such a way. He was unsure what the Militant prime would think of such a deal and he was the real one that needed convincing. The shadow of hope was there, that was undeniable. The craven had been a thorn in the side of the empire for a long time now, as had the Gargan. An alliance between the two would be natural although the alliance being headed by a human still disgusted him, but there was nothing for it. Korsev would never truly be the leader of the Gargan even if he pretended himself as such. 

[color=f7941d]"Very well General, i am taking you at your word. Which will likely be the end of me but i was doomed long before i got into this car."[/color] He said finally and shuffling his breathing tank off his back and disconnecting one of the back up tanks. It was hollow and contained a simple data drive. [color=f7941d]"This is how you will get into contact with the Militant Prime Boh-Dak. He is the true leader of the Gargan people" [/color] His face becomes distant, like reliving a painful truth [color=f7941d]"...something we have not had in far too long"[/color] Shaking his head he dismissed the thought [color=f7941d]"It will not take you to His base of operations or himself, it will take you to an ancient Gargan listening post, Boh-Dak will find you there... i also recommend not firing on any pirate while you are there, your fleet would not survive."[/color] he says smiling, knowing that the general had only come with a cruiser and a few destroyers. [color=f7941d]"oh, and i trust all of the men with you are loyal to this cause"[/color]

There was one thing that resonated in Lucretia's mind. He had lied. He said he had no way to contact the pirates and it was a lie, most likely there was a lot more than this she wasn't being told. People lied all the time of course, her more than others even, but it made an alarm sound in her head that these xenos couldn't be entirely trusted. "I will send other people in due time, I have to live with the fact that the officers in the Navy are still mostly human, even if they are supposed to be on our side. Rest assured I chose my people with the utmost care governor, there shan't be any leak." The vehicle stopped, but the doors didn't open yet. "For now, you will assemble a small group of officers ready to fight for our cause and in a few days, they will be transferred under my command for joint training, it'll allow us to set a framework to integrate your forces in the war effort and see how well we can work together. Expect secret messages that you will have to follow to the letter. I will not tell of the details of the plan at the moment, but its aim is to take out all the forces in the nearby sectors in one swoop. As the Gargans are a credible threat for the empire, you will be a bait to mass the Imperial forces. Do not worry, you will not be sacrificed. The Empire knows the moment they start killing people is the moment the rebellion is official and they have to deal with it the hard way. Since this would be an ugly business, we can expect they'd send the less valuable troops around anyways alongside their less valued general, me." The Crayven looked away from the Governor, signaling the meeting was over as the door opened. "This meeting was satisfactory. May we speak again as Free Beings, Governor."