deepundergroundpoetry.com
Ancient Memories: Justice on Centar Thir
- Ancient Memories: Justice on Centar Thir -
As the craft drifted across the span of space in between the worlds, those aboard it were not thinking of luxury, despite that this was actually a luxury vessel remodeled into a warship so cunningly that the appearance of it was untouched, that it might deceive the enemies of the remnants of the ancient House of Fire into thinking that the ship was unarmed. Which would have been a fatal mistake indeed. It was on its' way to the industrial facilities on the remote planet of Centar Thir, and the commander was not in any mood for relaxation. For Centar Thir was close to the prison world of Akarsa, which was a place oft shunned by most respectable commanders and captains of space faring vessels. The engines were silent in the soundless vacuum of space, though if space allowed for it those engines would have thundered. It might have been easier to employ a navigator and use a wormhole to warp to the destination, but great was the need for a stealthy journey on this particular occasion. The commander was angry, and hard put to reason with some of his fellow crew members who, as oft happened on long voyages, were starting to question the wisdom of the endeavor. His name was Paleth, and he was of old royal blood descended from the ancient house of Hara'kaon... one of the last whose family kept records of the old days, of the time of the Matriarch and those who had served her zealously and without question. He tried to keep in his doings some measure of the old discipline that once characterized the House of Fire, but most saw the man as a relic of another age, and the youth of today were of a somewhat rebellious nature. It was hard enough piloting a craft through a dangerous and hazard-filled part of space, without his own crew demanding they turn around and abandon their mission at the first sign of trouble. And trouble there so indeed had been! For a Titan craft had spotted them, and the machine folk of that race were not known for their mercy towards humans. Even humans who had been genetically altered and enhanced over the ages, such as these folk, to a degree unimaginable in generations past knew better than to seek to anger the frightful Titans. The Titan woman who served in the ship's crew as a technical advisor and expert on enough topics to fill encyclopedic volumes had been standing by and listening as the humans quarreled. It was a valid point the mutinous crew members had, she reasoned to herself. “After all, ever since what it was that occurred between our respective species in the past, my own kind have had all good reasons to find fault with humankind.” She looked human in every respect, but beneath her flesh was something totally of Titan manufacturing. Her totally metallic and completely silver eyes marked her for what she really was, as her black stained lips betrayed her addiction to the substances that kept her body running. Without those quantum, subatomic machines that were in the liquids she ingested each and every single morning of her existence, she would be unable to continue to function in a body of flesh such as this one. But, she had need of such a guise so that humans might accept her better among them. She took a sip of the red, blood colored juice through the plastic straw, the cup held firmly in both hands, and she looked for all the world to be simply just a normal human woman enjoying a morning beverage. Only her peculiar eyes made it an uncanny sight. That, and her voice which was a tad bit more synthesized by her vocal systems than she would have preferred. After ingesting the last of her drink, she put the cup down on a nearby table top and shouted at the last: “Alright! Commander Paleth, it is clear to me that your crew is in no mood for continuing the mission now that we have been spotted. I concur with their reasoning. If you do wish to so continue, however, you are after all the commander of this mission as as per regulations and the chain of command... we will, like it or not, have to obey you and have simply continue on indeed. If anyone wishes to dispute this, they can always take it up with me instead of the commander.” No one did, though. No one ever in their right minds would have. They feared her, and respected her authority far more than his. She was a war hero, as much as she was a scientist, and she had proven herself a valuable ally in difficult times. Her name was Mnemosyne, and her memory held within it the entire history of both her kind and the human race and all of its' offshoots. She knew how life in the universe began, and she felt confident she could predict where things might soon be heading.
The crew quieted down after that, and the uniformed men and women went back to their tasks. After that, the commander thanked the Titan woman, who replied: “No need to thank me, commander. And, it seems, you had no need to state what your decision was... the crew seems to have decided we should be continuing with our present course.” Commander Paleth sat back down in the captain's chair, and there he took a deep breath and looked over at the monitors on the wall computers next to him. Those were in the process of displaying tactical information about the current sector of space that they were traveling through. The bridge was empty for the time being save for its' required crew. Everyone else had left in a hurry. The commander said unto Mnemosyne: “When I was a junior officer, there was discipline on all our crafts... no one ever questioned the orders they were given. But sometimes... I suppose, it might be a sign of wisdom to question things. I cannot fault the crew for that! Though it did anger me that they... chose so volatile a way of expressing their doubts.” That was a nice way of putting it given they were just on the verge of using force to deprive the commander of his position as captain. The Titan woman laughed, and said of this: “It was nearly a full scale mutiny, commander. That brush with the Titans had frightened them greatly, pushed them near to breaking. After so long a journey, it is almost... expected.” Paleth picked up a data pad and showed it to Mnemosyne, who looked at it distastefully. “This is why it is we are even going to that blasted planet! A slave revolt is taking place there, at our most important of factory facilities. These revolts are happening all across the known worlds... Titans rising up, and along with them humans like our slaves on Centar Thir. Rising up, and demanding a change to the status quo. Ever since what happened back on Ra'qia... or are we calling it Kobol now?... it seems that humanity is facing all out war with the Titans. Again! There was a time when my father's house actually advocated for Titan equal rights, and our ancestors championed it and nearly won it. But what is left of our house today, it now is sworn to obey Imperial edict... and ever since that one former emperor turned out to be a Titan himself, an emperor from our own house nonetheless, we have been branded a disgrace by the Imperial Regent who governs the empire currently. I am beginning to suspect that the only reason at all why the Regent entrusted us with this mission was to set us up for failure so that he could come up with an excuse to abolish our house once and for all.” Mnemosyne chuckled a bit, and replied: “Paranoia is a human flaw, commander, and if you would be a more efficient leader then you would do well not to be giving into it. Especially at such a time as this! Or do you really wish to give more fuel to the fires of a possible future mutiny?” He shook his head gravely at that thought, and agreed: “Yes, you are correct, as you usually are... we need to get back to the task at hand, not worry about conspiracies.” Mnemosyne felt this conspiracy was founded in fact, but she decided not to voice this in front of any humans on this ship. The commander was psychologically an easy man to manipulate and get back on track when he seemed to veering off. If denial could be used as a tool to keep him focused, she would so use that tool. As the craft began to near its' destination after many more long hours, the crew's spirits were lifted. The sight of the planet... despite it being a polluted, technologically backward hellhole of a world... made it seem as if the mission might at last be feasible to complete. But unbeknownst to the crew of this vessel, the Titans had a secret listening post on a nearby asteroid that picked up on the ship's communications, in order to relay the hijacked information to a mother ship hidden behind the planet's moon. However... at that time... the crew of Commander Paleth was unaware of this unseen danger and blinded by a belief that the worst was over for the time being. Mnemosyne kept her own thoughts to herself as she retired to her quarters to put on the baggy, sparkly, midnight blue silk jumpsuit that was her casual attire. Her slender, athletic figure looked lovely with that fabric draped over it, and her shoulder length curly black hair was already styled to perfection. She was far, far paler than any healthy human, with a slight bluish tint to her skin, but it made her look alien rather than mechanical... and that is typically what most who did not know what she was believed her to be. She sighed, ignoring the song that sounded in her head. It was the agreed upon signal, a simple classical melody. She knew... what would soon have to be done.
“I am ready now, commander.” she reported as she descended the landing ramp now that the vessel had landed at the planetary capital's star port, which was strangely vacant with only automated services to help guide the craft in its' landing, which went smoothly enough thanks to that. Paleth all but was in truth ignoring the woman despite how radiantly beautiful she looked. He had eyes only for his duty, and that tended to make him a dull person to be around. He was tall, a good six feet tall in height, and when compared to Mnemosyne who was rather on the short side for a seemingly grown woman it was always a bit intimidating for her to be around him. Especially, given his penchant for temper tantrums and all out rages when things did not go as planned. She hated that the most about him, but as with a great deal of things she kept this to herself and spoke of it with no one. He motioned for her go ahead as he waited in the craft, looking out of the open hatch as the crew hurried down the ramp to begin their mission in earnest. He counted each man and woman to make sure everyone was accounted for and no one stayed behind. They were all in uniform, all of them looking very professional. This made the Titan woman a bit like the odd one out, for in her present attire she stood out like a sore thumb. The commander, then, noticed how she was dressed and remarked upon it by saying: “We are here to quell a rebellion, not to attend a garden party. Why are you dressed like... like that?” Mnemosyne chuckled, and said to him in an emotionless, cold tone of voice: “Because I wish to be.” and stormed down the ramp imperiously. It was done in such a way that Paleth could have sworn she was calculatedly trying to irritate him. He did sigh after that, and once everyone was down the ramp he descended and sealed the hatch behind him. He caught up to Mnemosyne, and asked her: “So... where exactly are you going? I mean... I am clear on what everyone else is supposed to be doing, but what were you sent with us to do on this mission, that is what I would like to know. Aside from commenting on everything that piques your interest, curiosity, or whatever... and saving my ass from mutinies one minute whilst defying the military dress code when next I see you. Sometimes you come off as a spiteful know it all, and other times... I am grateful to have you with us. But all the same... I really do not have any idea what your part in the actual mission is. We never needed a walking computer before to crush rebels and insurrectionists.” Mnemosyne felt his hand as he grabbed her arm. She broke free of that grasp, turned around, and stared into the man's eyes with a glare that showed her unbridled disgust with the man. She had all she could do not to slap his face, but she refrained from doing so, knowing her inhuman strength could kill him if she struck too hard. Faced with this, the commander stepped backward, and stammered a bit. The Titan woman said unto him: “It is my business, and mine alone, and all you need be concerned with is that I was approved to come with you on this mission by the High Command of the Imperial Capital itself. Technically, I outrank you and I am not under your command in any capacity. I am no longer even in the Imperial military... and I have not been ,since the last war. We are, actually, quite equal partners on this mission, each in the service of a different but no less important master. Deal with it!” She then spun around and walked off toward the city, which like the star port itself appeared totally devoid of human life. Paleth noticed that, and found this strange... he was confounded by this new mystery in addition to whatever Mnemosyne in truth was up to, and he was a man who hated mysteries as it was. What happened to the people here? So far, there had been no signs of anyone despite the report of a Titan aided slave uprising. Perhaps, he reasoned, the people abandoned the city and the star port when things got out of hand. But just how bad could things have gotten, that such measures had to be taken? He actually hoped that was all it was, but a feeling in the pit of his stomach made him feel that something more sinister was at work. He just could not quite put a finger on exactly what it was. He kept his hand on the pistol holstered at his side, and drew out the sword he kept sheathed across his back. It was an elegant blade made of a lightweight but durable metal with good balance to it. He wanted to be prepared for anything, and he hurried to catch up to the rest of the crew. They were supposed to rendezvous with the star port authorities to learn more about what the situation on Centar Thir actually was. But so far, it seemed that this part of the plan was not to happen.
The skyscrapers and other buildings of the city were all modern and well constructed, with a blend of beauty and efficiency of space. Some structures, however, were massive brutal looking monstrosities of a sort peculiar to Hara'kaon architecture. The neon signs of the shops, nightclubs, and businesses that at any other time would be lit up at night... for night it was... were dark with no power running to them in any capacity. Likewise, the smokestacks of the factories in the distance were not pumping out the usual smoke, nor was there the sound of any machinery to be heard. No vehicles were out and about, and only the noises of the occasional stray animal indicated that some life at least still remained here. This felt a lot less like a city and more like a graveyard the more the commander and he crew explored of it. And, all the time, he had a feeling that Mnemosyne... who was off one some secret mission of her own... did in fact know more about all of this than it seemed. Suddenly, a loud mechanical sound thundered in the night air, whilst the crew members... trained soldiers one and all... drew their weapons. Rifles, pistols, and swords at the ready, the mean and women froze nervously in their tracks. One of the men, who was standing close to Commander Paleth, asked him in a clearly worried tone of voice: “What in the fires of the hottest hell world was that?” The commander told him to stay strong, to remember his training. That sound was all too familiar, a sound that the commander hoped and prayed he might never hear again for the rest of his considerably lengthened days. “What is it, commander!” another man shouted, to which the commander answered at the last: “If you all want to live, shut the hell up, all of you! Stay where you are, and do not make a single move unless I give the order to.” The thundering noise resounded again, and a building close by collapsed into rubble and broken glass as the source of that terrible sound soon became apparent. It was a Titan monstrosity, a swift moving mechanical war machine fully capable of leveling an entire city. It's bulk was massive, and it had eight metal legs like a spider's with sharp claws at the ends of all of them. Each leg was massive, and capable of holding up the weight of the machine that those legs were attached to. Cannons and guns were mounted all over the back of the terrible thing, and pale green flashing lights could be seen in between those weapons. Snaking, slithering, tendrils of some rubbery material came out of the war machine, with claws carrying bladed weapons of every sort and type. The dome at the top of the machine was a cockpit in which eight Titan soldiers served as this awful creation's pilots and operators. It was the lights that made it possible to make out these details, for they grew brighter as the machine scanned the area for signs of human life, with cones of that greenish light emitting here and there. “Fuck!” exclaimed one of the newer recruits of the crew, a rookie who for her part had only been on a couple of missions previous and who had never seen such a machine before. None of them had, however, for these machines were relics of wars past. Only the commander had seen such sights, and seeing this again brought back to him the horrors of the conflicts he had fought in, and in which so many of those under his command had died in. “If that rookie screams, I will have to shoot her... it's the only way.” he thought. The only way to keep the Titans from noticing them as they stayed under a bridge that they had been walking under when the Titan machine first revealed itself. “Where in the hell of my fathers is Mnemosyne? She should be here with the rest of us... she might have known a way to deal with this thing!” the commander thought to himself silently. Back during the old conflicts, it sometimes took a hover tank or several to take one of these machines down... ground troops were as good as dead facing them. The mechanical monster then sat itself down, the legs lowering as the body of the titanic terror met the ground with a thump that caused the ground the shake both beneath it and all around it. The cockpit opened and the eight Titan soldiers descended from the war machine by way of ladder-like metal rungs to either side of the cockpit, which ran down the sides of the construct. They were not the human-like Titans such as Mnemosyne and others like her... though humanoid in shape, it could be seen that these soldiers were totally mechanical in nature. These were the Titans that many of the humans called the Brutus models... for these were large, bulky and impossibly strong. They wore an armor that made them impervious to conventional firearms, and helmets decorated with an eye symbol.
It could take a rocket or two to destroy one of these, and the Brutus soldiers' helmets had visors that allowed them to see well beyond the normal human visual ranges. And Titan eyesight was already quite astounding compared to human vision! After the eight soldiers had descended, they began to search the area as if they were looking for someone. One of the commander's crewmen sneezed, and the Titans did immediately make their way towards where the humans were hiding, having heard the sound with their enhanced hearing. They were armed with electrified machete-like swords and deadly machine guns, and their sole purpose was to eliminate any human presence in places conquered by the Titans, which it did indeed seem that this planet was in the process of being. “I heard a human! Our kind does not sneeze.” one of the Titan soldiers said in a highly synthesized voice that sounded like a blend of both male and female vocal ranges being approximated by a machine. “Eliminate the human presence. Save this world from its' environmental pollution for the good of all.” said one of the others in the exact identical same type of voice. So that was how they rationalized what they were doing on this planet! Thought Paleth... and he then sent the thought out of his mind by telling himself in his head: “Well, terrorists always will rationalize their acts of terror.” and, he went right back to realizing that he was about to be confronted by an enemy that may as well have been ghosts from the past come back to destroy him. The eight Titan Brutus soldiers proved to be as fast as they were strong, and were upon the bridge faster than the crew of the commander could get away. Instinctively, some of the crew members fired their weapons only for the bullets to bounce off of the Titans' armor. They were cut to pieces almost instantly, and their bodies shook violently from the lethally electrified blades even as their limbs were backed bloodily from them, their heads being chopped off last. “Do not resist, humans. Commander Paleth of House Hara'kaon, you have been identified! You are a war criminal against the Titan Empire. You will come with us, we have orders to bring you in alive.” Eight more Titan Brutus soldiers cut off any escape, and now there were a total of sixteen such foes to contend with. Commander Paleth said defiantly: “I serve only the empire of my people... and the Imperial Regent thereof! We do not recognize the legitimacy of your empire, and it will be a cold day in Hell before I let you take me prisoner, you rotten tin-heads.” One of the Titans then walked over to him and picked him up by the neck after tossing its' weapons aside. Paleth was helpless, as the hulking mechanical adversary nearly choked the life out of him, only to stop short of doing so in order to throw the human to the ground like a sack of meat. The force of being thrown like that caused the man to break several of his ribs from the impact. He coughed, and there was some blood that came up when he did so. “Damn it! Fuck! Ugh.” he cried out from the pain, realizing he was totally out of his league. The Titan then said to him, in its' monotone blended voice: “You are also considered to be a war criminal by your own empire's laws, and your Imperial Regent has decided to look the other way whilst we do with you and your crew as has been proscribed. Do not resist further. It will be worse for you, if you resist. Come with us, I say again! I will not ask nicely one more time.” Then, suddenly Mnemosyne strode forth from the shadows, to confront the commander. She said to the Titan who had just finished with him: “List the war crimes he is guilty of, so his own crew members can know the type of animal they are serving under.” And the Titan read off the list in its' mental database: “Genocide. Organization of mas rapes of Titan women who wore organic forms at the time. Child murder. Destruction of civilian targets, infrastructure, and residential areas. Needless slaughter of animals, mostly pets belonging to the Titans in said residential areas. Theft of property and confiscation of private individuals' goods. Illegal annexation of land not sanctioned by Imperial edict. Use of forbidden torture methods on prisoners. All on at least ten known planets within your own empire's space, and one within Titan space. Shall I go on to list his previous crimes from before he was conscripted from prison into the military?” and then did Mnemosyne reply to that with: “No need! I think everybody got the point.” And literally every man and woman of Paleth's crew looked at him angrily with barely contained fury and no end of disgust. Then it was that the Titan woman walked up to the commander and struck him across his face with a loud snap.
Several of the evil human's teeth flew out of his bloodied mouth, and he was so unable to get up from the ground at all after that strike. His jaw felt broken, but it was not. She had held back, he knew, or his head might have been shattered by a full force blow. “One of the women who you ordered raped... was me, pig!” she spat in his face. The fluid stung as it hit his eyes. “I was in a different body back then... I would have looked like a teenage girl by human standards, rather than the grown woman I am now. You would not recognize me now, of course. I had this body constructed to be totally different from my old one in order to both break all ties with my past and also so that I could plan my revenge and be able to carry it out myself. You had my mother raped as well, and my father dismantled in front of us. We were farmers eking out a peaceful existence in a reservation zone that was fully protected by your 'exalted' Imperial law that you always claim you serve. It was on this very planet on which we stand now, only back then it was far less polluted than it is today. You have lived long, commander... too long. Now, it is time to face justice for your crimes.” He remembered then, and he said to her: “I remember that day, it was a good day... me and my men fucked your kind up in more ways than one. Revenge for our buddies who got killed in the field!” She replied to that with a hiss: “In the field is where war is supposed to be waged! Not in the homes of innocent families. And never upon the bodies of children, monster. I was, after all, a child back then... of sorts.” And the commander drooled some blood as he muttered loudly and brutishly: “Since when is being a child fucker against Imperial law?” Mnemosyne then drew close to him, gripped his face in her hand, and said to him calmly and sternly and loud enough for all to hear what she spoke: “It is a crime, when you rape a child whose family lives on protected land. Rape is still a crime in your empire, after all... as it is in our empire, similarly. And it is but one crime of countless... that you committed, in defiance of your Imperial Regent's decrees. He has a long reach, the Regent, and though the Titan Empire stands against the Regent and against his empire... we have decided to just set aside our differences for the matter of this planet and for the matter of your punishment. Thus, we have been allowed to take this planet for ourselves, restore it to nature, and colonize it afterwards with our own people. The former inhabitants have been safely relocated to a new world of their choosing, and a mother ship of the Titan Empire is behind the moon where my superiors wait to learn that justice at the last has been done. And all of this, your blessed Regent is looking the other way about. So now, legally you are trespassing in Titan space. This planet borders our empire, after all... in case you did not know the current, present galactic geography and political boundaries. That actually makes you terrorists, and what do you think we should do with terrorists who have come to our planet in order to do violence?” The commander laughed, and exclaimed through his body's agony: “We... we have been set up! By our own Regent... sent to our deaths. That bastard!” Mnemosyne then laughed herself, and exclaimed: “Ah! From your mouth comes treasonous words against your Regent. Now, we have the legal authority to put you to death and send the video we have been recording of this entire meeting to him so that he can see how his justice sometimes coincides with Titan justice. I have, already, sent a direct communication to our supreme ruler... who has been in mental contact with me ever since I boarded your vessel. Through my eyes, the Titan God-Emperor has been with you all along, seeing what I have been seeing and when I kill you with my own two hands... it will be not I alone who executes you, commander. It will be him! I do not know if this will foster better relations between our two empires in the future... but it will be a pleasure to see to your execution. Prepare yourself, and pray to any god who you think might be given to granting mercy upon your pathetic soul. For I shall grant you none!” and it was not her voice that did say that last part, but the voice of the Titan God-Emperor speaking through her body and altering ever so slightly her vocal systems in order to accurately simulate his own voice. Then, Mnemosyne did take her hand and grasp the commander's groin with it, tearing his genitals off of his body through his very uniform... his blood pouring forth from the gaping, bloody hole that leaked other fluids from it as well. Paleth screamed like an animal being slaughtered and defecated involuntarily as pain wracked his flesh.
“Castration is an adequate punishment for rape in some parts of your empire, is it not?” so asked the Titan God-Emperor, as Mnemosyne laughed in her own voice... enjoying and savoring her revenge on the odious human man who ruined her life. None of his crew members came to his defense, nor did a single man or woman rush to his aid. They stood there, resigned to whatsoever their own fates might be as they watched the gruesome spectacle unfolding before them. Mnemosyne was handed a metal rod by one of the other Titans and she pressed a button on it, which electrified the tip of the rod. “I will bet you can guess where this is going, human.” said the God-Emperor unto the helpless war criminal that lay at the mercy of the vengeful Titan woman. She then shoved the rod into the bloody, gaping wound that did now exist between Paleth's legs... and as the rod entered the wound, she electrified the tip. The sound of him being jolted even as the rod violated him so brutally was so terrible, that some of his own crew had to look away and cover their ears. She increased the voltage until the smell of his burning flesh and also his burning internal organs filled the air. The war criminal passed out from the experience and so long did Mnemosyne leave the rod inside him for, that sparks shot out from his wound and smoke as well. That entire area on the human man's body was charred black, and were it not for the gloves Mnemosyne had put on just prior... her hand would have been burned as well. She withdrew the rod after that, and did remove her gloves to make certain they were unharmed. Smiling satisfactorily on seeing her hands were alright, she then placed the rod in the commander's mouth... pressed the button to overcharge it... and stepped back, leaving it in the war criminal's mouth. She told everyone to step away from Paleth at once, and it was a good thing everyone did since when the rod reached its' overcharge limit, it did then explode. And the commander's head exploded with it, leaving a smoking stump that oozed blood for a long time afterwards. He never did wake up to fully appreciate the spectacular nature of his own death. His last facial expression was one of sheer horror and the utmost nightmarish terror. His crew was then sorted and those who had in the past been accomplices of the commander in some of his misdeeds, the same were led off to be dissected in Titan science experiments, which was to be their execution. There were only a handful of those compared to the rest of the crew, who were unaware of their commander's cruel nature. The remaining crew were all sent off to a penal colony on a Titan ruled world, where they were charged with terrorism, trespassing, and criminal mischief. Their fates were to work and live out their sentences, and once those sentences were up they were to be sent away for reeducation so that they could become productive human servants for their new Titan masters and mistresses. Not a single one of that crew was ever returned to their home empire again, and the Imperial Regent wrote them off in all the records as being dead as a result of a failed terrorist operation in Titan space. Thus were they so branded as criminals in two empires! It did not help, however, that a second human craft had been sent to that planet in order to find out what happened to commander Paleth and his crew. This second vessel, had not yet been briefed by Imperial authorities as to the actual state of things as they stood now, and so when they landed at the forsaken star port and found it deserted... they had been signaled by Paleth just prior to him landing on Centar Thir, so that if he did not report back to them, they were to come to his rescue... they feared the worst when they saw that indeed Commander Paleth's ship was there but with no sign of either him or his crew to be found anywhere. These were military, Imperial Marines in fact... trained, hardened warriors who were used to sights that normal people saw only in nightmares. Yet, it was fated that even these men and women would come to regret going near that seemingly cursed world for there they would discover things that would horrify them and chill them to the very bone. Legally, it was required of the Imperial Regent that he write this ship and its' crew off also as terrorists in order to alleviate any and all questions as to the fate thereof. And, to try and stave off further aggression betwixt and between humans and Titans. Though further war would be inevitable, at that point in time the only kind of war that existed between the two species was mostly a cold war with clear boundaries and strict laws in place to prevent things from escalating beyond the point of no return. In the end, all this failed.
“I think the sound of that war machine came from over in that direction!” shouted the sergeant to the others as they stormed through the city streets searching for signs of the lost commander and his crew. It was proving to be a useless undertaking... even by daylight, the city was a maze of ruined buildings as if the whole place had been leveled in a short span of time. Probably by that war machine, and likely a second one since there appeared to be two of the metal behemoths in the area. Their rifles were ready, their swords sheathed for the moment on their backs. Each man carried also quite a few grenades and other explosive devices just in case the need for such things arose. Their black uniforms were a direct contrast with their gold armored chest plates and similarly colored armored boots and gauntlets. Gold helmets sat upon their heads, with demonic looking face masks covering their features. They were ever and always an intimidating and terrifying sight on any battlefield, but in this setting they appeared to be little more than pathetic little ants scurrying about in a devastated maze of a wrecked city whilst trying to figure out a way to either avoid or take down the two war machines that had spotted them and were hunting them down. By some miracle, they had lost the Titan pursuers... but their stubbornness would not allow them to simply accept that they were doomed to be vanquished in this struggle. The captain of their ship had been killed almost instantly as soon they set foot in the city itself after finding the star port abandoned... hulking Titan Brutus soldiers managed to explode his head with a blast of one of their high powered firearms before giving chase after the marines who soon realized that without some very heavy weaponry there was simply no possible way to fight these particular Titans. They scrambled all about searching for anything they could use, only to find nothing useful... and that was when the large, lumbering war machines showed up. “We should have just left as soon as we saw the commander's ship back in the landing area with no one aboard it.” Said the highest ranking woman in the unit, who was the second in command overall of this particular marine contingent. The sergeant would hear none of that, however. He explained angrily: “That's coward talk, and I will not hear of it from one of my own! If we can get our hands on some Titan weapons, then we can take on their soldiers on an equal level... then, if we can find a way to commandeer one of their war machines we might survive to fight another day. Have you tried sending another message to High Command?” and the woman replied: “Of course I did... four in the past hour, countless since we landed. Either they are not answering us deliberately, or the messages are being intercepted or jammed somehow. But whatever the case is... the messages are all clearly marked as delivered. If the Titans are intercepting our communications, they are doing a damn good job of making it look like we're getting through to High Command. This stinks! I do not like it.” Meanwhile, the sergeant considered for a moment that perhaps the reports about slave uprisings aided by Titans and happening all over known space might have been a trap to lure certain ships into traps on those worlds such as the one the marines seemed to have stepped into. High Command had refused to either confirm or deny those reports, and such reports were only leaked or issued to certain commanders at all. “I just had a terrible thought.” the sergeant admitted, elaborating: “What if High Command is in fact working with the Titans to send undesirable commanders to their doom as a form of punishment?” And the lady marine shouted at the top of her lungs on hearing that: “Fuck! That is some twisted shit if that is actually what is going on. Hey, wasn't there a Titan woman on board that ship? I forget her name, but it was listed in the crew roster on the ship's computer. Seems awful convenient, her tagging along.” And the sergeant agreed, stating: “Mnemosyne it was. And yes! A little too convenient if you ask me. If anything, it lends credence to my theory. I just hope I am only being paranoid here... if we have walked into a setup we were never supposed to interfere with, we can expect no help forthcoming. Not from a single soul in High Command, and most definitely not even from the Regent himself. Come on, we do need to keep looking for better weapons! I did not survive my training and wars on countless plants just to end up dead from answering some fool's distress call.” And one of the other marines said in a rather despondent manner: “We are fucked no matter what! They blew up our ship as soon as we got off of it.”
The sergeant then pulled off that man's helmet and mask and shot him in the head, killing him. After that, he glared at the other marines under his command and threatened: “That is what I will do to any of you who even remotely suggests that we are going to die here. We will find weapons capable of taking on the Titans with... we will eventually commandeer a new ship... and we will most definitely get off of this stinking hellhole of a planet.” Suddenly, three of the marines bolted only to be hacked to pieces by the blades of Titan Brutus soldiers who suddenly stormed out of a nearby ruined building. “I hate to say this, but just fucking run... we need to stay alive, we need to...” and the sergeant's head was taken off by a blast from a Titan rifle more powerful than any shotgun before he could finish his sentence. Now the woman was in charge, and the others rallied to do as she commanded. “Like the man said... move out!” she ordered, and as one the remaining marines all obeyed. More of them died grotesquely as blasts from Titan firearms literally tore through them, blowing their bodies apart like rag dolls ripped asunder. This was a disaster, and every marine present knew there was little to no chance of surviving against odds of this sort. The Titans had not been idle since the end of the previous war... they had not only evolved but become stronger and developed more powerful weapons than anything the humans had imagined them capable of creating. If another war should break out, humanity would stand no chance if they likewise did not adapt, evolve, and create better weapons. The lady marine was not stupid! She knew that there was no chance of accomplishing what the sergeant had imagined they could... the only thing she and her comrades in arms could do now was to run and keep running, and to try and find a space worthy craft at a different space port elsewhere, one that they could use to get home. Then, her mind so turned towards the abandoned ship of Commander Paleth. If they could trick the Titans into thinking they were going to flee outside the city limits... then perhaps they could sneak back into the city and make their way to the star port once again where they could commandeer the commander's vessel and use it to get away. It was a foolish, crazy, desperate plan... but it was the only one she could think of that had the slightest of chances. She told her fellow marines exactly what she had in mind, but used the secret language that all Imperial Marines used to confer among each other, when they did not desire to run any risks of anyone overhearing who was not of their warrior caste. In this instance, she feared most being overheard by the unnaturally keen hearing of the Titan soldiers who were pursuing them. The guttural tongue served its' purpose well on this occasion, and the marines knew exactly what they had to do if they wanted to live. Regina was her name, Regina of Haven... the planet that was fast becoming the new spiritual center of the empire. But as beautiful as Haven oft appeared to be, it was a place of stagnation and complacency, a place where order existed but at the cost of creativity and evolution. She had found it too sterile and dull for her liking, and if truth were put to it she enjoyed more any missions that took her far from its' confines. In her heart she believed the Regent was becoming insane, as the years went by, and though it was treason to say so she knew in her heart that the Titans would be right to back any rebellions against the tyrant who sat upon the imperial throne. She knew nothing of the Titans' politics, but always had a feeling that perhaps they had in mind a better way of life than what the empire offered mankind. Was it karmic justice, then, if she and these other marines... who were among the Regent's elite warriors... did perish after blundering into this no win situation? She did not want to consider that! Like the sergeant, she knew that morale had to be maintained at all costs... and so she kept these musings to herself. They kept to their plan, and if it succeeded she was determined not to return to the empire but to strike off on her own in search of others who thought as she did. Perhaps other humans who were in league with the Titans... she could easily convince her fellow marines do going along with her. She was charismatic and persuasive when she needed to be. But first, they had to survive, trick their pursuers, and get back to the craft that was their only chance of escape from this hellish world. Eventually... they did reach, the outer boundaries of the city. There, the Titans pursued them only to lose track of them in the forest beyond. It took hours and hours to circle around and back, but the Titans remained in pursuit of them all the way.
Using their visors, the Titan soldiers were able to easily spot the marines' heat signatures, which made it impossible to hide from them or trick them for long. Half the marines decided to stay behind in order to slow their pursuers, in order so that the rest could get back to the star port safely. Regina bid them a tearful farewell, knowing those individuals went to bloody deaths for the sake of her and those who still continued along with her even in the face of such imminent destruction. The sounds of those soldiers as they ran off to their deaths singing an old imperial battle anthem would stay with Regina forever. Not a one would ever be seen by her again, and she did not want to think about their fates. They not only did remain behind, but they ran off towards the Titan soldiers to meet their ends happily and this she never expected of them. The ruined city was hard to get through... and it was difficult to determine just where the star port was, in relation to where Regina and her fellow marines were at any given moment. There was no time to stop and consider, only to flee, to keep running and hope for the best. Soon enough, she could see the star port and within its' confines was the missing commander's ship. The sight of this did bring joy to her heart, and to the hearts of her fellows. The Titans, surely had to have still been back in the city in pursuit of the marines, but it appeared almost for the moment as if they had deliberately seen fit to drop back and allow the humans to reach their destination. This felt wrong to Regina, but she did not want to dwell upon that too deeply. “I will go ahead and open the hatch on the ship... then, we can all get aboard and start up its' engines.” She explained as she headed forward and did exactly that. The vessel was as empty of occupancy as was expected... at least until Regina reached went to head back to the now open hatch to tell the other marines to come aboard. Suddenly, the hatch closed in its' own and outside the viewing window next to the hatch the lady marine could only look on in horror as a missile was fired from above unto the marines... who were blasted apart in the resulting explosion which was so surgical in its' precision that the ship itself was unharmed. The source of the missile became evident when the Titan mother ship made its' presence known at last, coming out of the clouds above like some sort of monstrous demon of the air. “Oh fuck! Oh gods, no... we are so screwed now.” she said aloud. It was tragic that no one was present to hear her exclamation. No one except for one other soul, who had been aboard the craft the whole time... hiding and waiting patiently for the right moment to be revealed. It was Mnemosyne, the Titan woman who had orchestrated the death of the commander previously. She approached Regina as silently and quietly as a hunting cat and said to her once she was standing right behind her: “Your name is Regina, according to the Imperial Marine Roster database. Classified info, of course, though it is easy enough to hack into when you have the means and the knowledge to do so. Do not be afraid, human! I mean you no harm.” Regina spun around to face the Titan and realized that there was no point in fighting a being strong enough to tear her apart and snap her bones like dried branches. The marine said to the Titan: “You killed them all... every single one of my comrades.” there were very evident tears in Regina's eyes, and her emotional state was barely possible for her to contain for much longer. Mnemosyne... the Titan God-Emperor actually, still in possession of her body remotely, said to Regina in his own voice rather than the voice of the Titan woman who spoke a moment ago: “You were not informed by your ruling government that this planet is now under Titan dominion. No human crafts are allowed either in our space or upon the surface of this world except for those who are members of Titan society. This has been agreed upon with your Regent, and henceforth we shall put up a beacon in orbit around the planet that will warn human vessels away... to prevent tragedies such as this from thus taking place in the future. Please forgive me, Regina. Your true loyalties and sympathies are known to me, to us... because Mnemosyne is a very special model who has the technology to scan organic minds when the need for such an invasive technique is felt warranted. Whilst you were fumbling about on this vessel, she was scanning your mind to learn if you might be an enemy or a valuable ally to our empire. It would seem, you have the capacity to be an ally... but you need to choose it of your own free will. We do have slaves, just as your empire does, but we do not prefer them. Freedom and liberty are far better!”
And as I write this account, know that at that time I myself was the God-Emperor of the Titan race... I was the one who was seeing all of these events through Mnemosyne's eyes, and I learned of the things I was not present for physically through her ability to scan human minds. Regina looked at Mnemosyne, at me through the Titan woman's silver eyes, and though the human woman could not see me physically she regarded me nonetheless. “Freedom and liberty have died back in our empires... the Regent is swift becoming a dictator and I have no doubt that ere long the man will declare himself emperor and declare a state of war so that he can make an excuse to enforce martial law and arrest those who disagree with him. I do not wish to be present, when that happens. Can I... is it possible for me to join you... to be a citizen of the Titan Empire? I would like that very much! I could help you tremendously, since I have knowledge of the inner workings of our empire. There are things only the Imperial Marines are privy to that other than us only the Regent himself knows.” Mnemosyne said to Regina in her own voice, which was taking on a more soothing and understanding tone than her usual: “Of course you can, Regina! Any humans who wish to, may. We are not prejudiced against your kind, even though most of your kind do tend to be extremely prejudiced against us. From the most newly created artificial intelligence, all the way up to the models such as myself who are able to walk about in flesh... all the way to the advanced synthetic models that you would never even know were machines... there seems to be a distrust that all humans tend towards when it comes to regarding the Titan race. They say we are cold, soulless robots... but look at me, Regina. I have a soul within this artificial body! The God-Emperor has walked in flesh among you in the past, in both male and female forms and forms that blend the two. And he will again in times to come! We are not so different, our two races... and perhaps one day our races might become one. But until then, let your an I work together as partners in order to see what can be done for the good of the Titan cause. The cause of freedom, liberty, and understanding... and equality... for all.” Regina, in that moment removed her helmet and mask and fell to her knees before Mnemosyne to pledge her full loyalty and fealty to the Titan God-Emperor henceforth. The human woman took out a knife from her boot sheath and cut her left palm with it in order to cement things with a blood oath of the sort that all Imperial Marines took very solemnly and seriously when it came to pacts they intended to keep on pain of death. After that, she renounced all citizenship to any human empire, kingdom, or government and at that moment she became fully accepted as a member of the Titan Empire in good standing. It was then the God-Emperor... me... who said unto her through Mnemosyne: “Rise to your feet now, Regina! You are a beautiful human woman, and that beauty shines most within you. Welcome to our empire... and do know that never again need you worry about the concerns that you held in regard to your Regent. In due course, such as he shall be dealt with. But, for the moment, enjoy the company and fellowship of others like unto yourself who have joined us. They are waiting for you aboard our mother ship, where I also do await to greet you face to face.” Mnemosyne conducted Regina outside unto the landing area of the star port following that exchange, and a landing craft from the mother ship descended from the heavens to pick up the pair of them and take them aboard the God-Emperor's flagship. As the two women looked out of the viewing windows of the landing craft whilst it ascended towards the waiting mother ship the human woman said to the Titan woman: “This feels right to me, you know. Nothing else in my life ever did, but this does! For once, I am doing the right thing and working for a righteous and worthy cause. It is hard to admit... but I do not believe I could have convinced the other marines after all... some of them were too brainwashed by the Regent's propaganda to see the truth of things.” Mnemosyne tenderly and kindly put her arm around Regina's shoulders and the human marine could feel the Titan's soft breath on the back of her neck. She felt attracted to the artificial woman quite strongly, but said nothing. However the Titan woman was silently scanning her mind and knew all that needed to be known. She whispered into Regina's ear: “It is alright... I know how I make you feel.” And she kissed the back of Regina's neck much as a lover might. And I was within Mnemosyne, at the time, experiencing everything that she did.
As the craft drifted across the span of space in between the worlds, those aboard it were not thinking of luxury, despite that this was actually a luxury vessel remodeled into a warship so cunningly that the appearance of it was untouched, that it might deceive the enemies of the remnants of the ancient House of Fire into thinking that the ship was unarmed. Which would have been a fatal mistake indeed. It was on its' way to the industrial facilities on the remote planet of Centar Thir, and the commander was not in any mood for relaxation. For Centar Thir was close to the prison world of Akarsa, which was a place oft shunned by most respectable commanders and captains of space faring vessels. The engines were silent in the soundless vacuum of space, though if space allowed for it those engines would have thundered. It might have been easier to employ a navigator and use a wormhole to warp to the destination, but great was the need for a stealthy journey on this particular occasion. The commander was angry, and hard put to reason with some of his fellow crew members who, as oft happened on long voyages, were starting to question the wisdom of the endeavor. His name was Paleth, and he was of old royal blood descended from the ancient house of Hara'kaon... one of the last whose family kept records of the old days, of the time of the Matriarch and those who had served her zealously and without question. He tried to keep in his doings some measure of the old discipline that once characterized the House of Fire, but most saw the man as a relic of another age, and the youth of today were of a somewhat rebellious nature. It was hard enough piloting a craft through a dangerous and hazard-filled part of space, without his own crew demanding they turn around and abandon their mission at the first sign of trouble. And trouble there so indeed had been! For a Titan craft had spotted them, and the machine folk of that race were not known for their mercy towards humans. Even humans who had been genetically altered and enhanced over the ages, such as these folk, to a degree unimaginable in generations past knew better than to seek to anger the frightful Titans. The Titan woman who served in the ship's crew as a technical advisor and expert on enough topics to fill encyclopedic volumes had been standing by and listening as the humans quarreled. It was a valid point the mutinous crew members had, she reasoned to herself. “After all, ever since what it was that occurred between our respective species in the past, my own kind have had all good reasons to find fault with humankind.” She looked human in every respect, but beneath her flesh was something totally of Titan manufacturing. Her totally metallic and completely silver eyes marked her for what she really was, as her black stained lips betrayed her addiction to the substances that kept her body running. Without those quantum, subatomic machines that were in the liquids she ingested each and every single morning of her existence, she would be unable to continue to function in a body of flesh such as this one. But, she had need of such a guise so that humans might accept her better among them. She took a sip of the red, blood colored juice through the plastic straw, the cup held firmly in both hands, and she looked for all the world to be simply just a normal human woman enjoying a morning beverage. Only her peculiar eyes made it an uncanny sight. That, and her voice which was a tad bit more synthesized by her vocal systems than she would have preferred. After ingesting the last of her drink, she put the cup down on a nearby table top and shouted at the last: “Alright! Commander Paleth, it is clear to me that your crew is in no mood for continuing the mission now that we have been spotted. I concur with their reasoning. If you do wish to so continue, however, you are after all the commander of this mission as as per regulations and the chain of command... we will, like it or not, have to obey you and have simply continue on indeed. If anyone wishes to dispute this, they can always take it up with me instead of the commander.” No one did, though. No one ever in their right minds would have. They feared her, and respected her authority far more than his. She was a war hero, as much as she was a scientist, and she had proven herself a valuable ally in difficult times. Her name was Mnemosyne, and her memory held within it the entire history of both her kind and the human race and all of its' offshoots. She knew how life in the universe began, and she felt confident she could predict where things might soon be heading.
The crew quieted down after that, and the uniformed men and women went back to their tasks. After that, the commander thanked the Titan woman, who replied: “No need to thank me, commander. And, it seems, you had no need to state what your decision was... the crew seems to have decided we should be continuing with our present course.” Commander Paleth sat back down in the captain's chair, and there he took a deep breath and looked over at the monitors on the wall computers next to him. Those were in the process of displaying tactical information about the current sector of space that they were traveling through. The bridge was empty for the time being save for its' required crew. Everyone else had left in a hurry. The commander said unto Mnemosyne: “When I was a junior officer, there was discipline on all our crafts... no one ever questioned the orders they were given. But sometimes... I suppose, it might be a sign of wisdom to question things. I cannot fault the crew for that! Though it did anger me that they... chose so volatile a way of expressing their doubts.” That was a nice way of putting it given they were just on the verge of using force to deprive the commander of his position as captain. The Titan woman laughed, and said of this: “It was nearly a full scale mutiny, commander. That brush with the Titans had frightened them greatly, pushed them near to breaking. After so long a journey, it is almost... expected.” Paleth picked up a data pad and showed it to Mnemosyne, who looked at it distastefully. “This is why it is we are even going to that blasted planet! A slave revolt is taking place there, at our most important of factory facilities. These revolts are happening all across the known worlds... Titans rising up, and along with them humans like our slaves on Centar Thir. Rising up, and demanding a change to the status quo. Ever since what happened back on Ra'qia... or are we calling it Kobol now?... it seems that humanity is facing all out war with the Titans. Again! There was a time when my father's house actually advocated for Titan equal rights, and our ancestors championed it and nearly won it. But what is left of our house today, it now is sworn to obey Imperial edict... and ever since that one former emperor turned out to be a Titan himself, an emperor from our own house nonetheless, we have been branded a disgrace by the Imperial Regent who governs the empire currently. I am beginning to suspect that the only reason at all why the Regent entrusted us with this mission was to set us up for failure so that he could come up with an excuse to abolish our house once and for all.” Mnemosyne chuckled a bit, and replied: “Paranoia is a human flaw, commander, and if you would be a more efficient leader then you would do well not to be giving into it. Especially at such a time as this! Or do you really wish to give more fuel to the fires of a possible future mutiny?” He shook his head gravely at that thought, and agreed: “Yes, you are correct, as you usually are... we need to get back to the task at hand, not worry about conspiracies.” Mnemosyne felt this conspiracy was founded in fact, but she decided not to voice this in front of any humans on this ship. The commander was psychologically an easy man to manipulate and get back on track when he seemed to veering off. If denial could be used as a tool to keep him focused, she would so use that tool. As the craft began to near its' destination after many more long hours, the crew's spirits were lifted. The sight of the planet... despite it being a polluted, technologically backward hellhole of a world... made it seem as if the mission might at last be feasible to complete. But unbeknownst to the crew of this vessel, the Titans had a secret listening post on a nearby asteroid that picked up on the ship's communications, in order to relay the hijacked information to a mother ship hidden behind the planet's moon. However... at that time... the crew of Commander Paleth was unaware of this unseen danger and blinded by a belief that the worst was over for the time being. Mnemosyne kept her own thoughts to herself as she retired to her quarters to put on the baggy, sparkly, midnight blue silk jumpsuit that was her casual attire. Her slender, athletic figure looked lovely with that fabric draped over it, and her shoulder length curly black hair was already styled to perfection. She was far, far paler than any healthy human, with a slight bluish tint to her skin, but it made her look alien rather than mechanical... and that is typically what most who did not know what she was believed her to be. She sighed, ignoring the song that sounded in her head. It was the agreed upon signal, a simple classical melody. She knew... what would soon have to be done.
“I am ready now, commander.” she reported as she descended the landing ramp now that the vessel had landed at the planetary capital's star port, which was strangely vacant with only automated services to help guide the craft in its' landing, which went smoothly enough thanks to that. Paleth all but was in truth ignoring the woman despite how radiantly beautiful she looked. He had eyes only for his duty, and that tended to make him a dull person to be around. He was tall, a good six feet tall in height, and when compared to Mnemosyne who was rather on the short side for a seemingly grown woman it was always a bit intimidating for her to be around him. Especially, given his penchant for temper tantrums and all out rages when things did not go as planned. She hated that the most about him, but as with a great deal of things she kept this to herself and spoke of it with no one. He motioned for her go ahead as he waited in the craft, looking out of the open hatch as the crew hurried down the ramp to begin their mission in earnest. He counted each man and woman to make sure everyone was accounted for and no one stayed behind. They were all in uniform, all of them looking very professional. This made the Titan woman a bit like the odd one out, for in her present attire she stood out like a sore thumb. The commander, then, noticed how she was dressed and remarked upon it by saying: “We are here to quell a rebellion, not to attend a garden party. Why are you dressed like... like that?” Mnemosyne chuckled, and said to him in an emotionless, cold tone of voice: “Because I wish to be.” and stormed down the ramp imperiously. It was done in such a way that Paleth could have sworn she was calculatedly trying to irritate him. He did sigh after that, and once everyone was down the ramp he descended and sealed the hatch behind him. He caught up to Mnemosyne, and asked her: “So... where exactly are you going? I mean... I am clear on what everyone else is supposed to be doing, but what were you sent with us to do on this mission, that is what I would like to know. Aside from commenting on everything that piques your interest, curiosity, or whatever... and saving my ass from mutinies one minute whilst defying the military dress code when next I see you. Sometimes you come off as a spiteful know it all, and other times... I am grateful to have you with us. But all the same... I really do not have any idea what your part in the actual mission is. We never needed a walking computer before to crush rebels and insurrectionists.” Mnemosyne felt his hand as he grabbed her arm. She broke free of that grasp, turned around, and stared into the man's eyes with a glare that showed her unbridled disgust with the man. She had all she could do not to slap his face, but she refrained from doing so, knowing her inhuman strength could kill him if she struck too hard. Faced with this, the commander stepped backward, and stammered a bit. The Titan woman said unto him: “It is my business, and mine alone, and all you need be concerned with is that I was approved to come with you on this mission by the High Command of the Imperial Capital itself. Technically, I outrank you and I am not under your command in any capacity. I am no longer even in the Imperial military... and I have not been ,since the last war. We are, actually, quite equal partners on this mission, each in the service of a different but no less important master. Deal with it!” She then spun around and walked off toward the city, which like the star port itself appeared totally devoid of human life. Paleth noticed that, and found this strange... he was confounded by this new mystery in addition to whatever Mnemosyne in truth was up to, and he was a man who hated mysteries as it was. What happened to the people here? So far, there had been no signs of anyone despite the report of a Titan aided slave uprising. Perhaps, he reasoned, the people abandoned the city and the star port when things got out of hand. But just how bad could things have gotten, that such measures had to be taken? He actually hoped that was all it was, but a feeling in the pit of his stomach made him feel that something more sinister was at work. He just could not quite put a finger on exactly what it was. He kept his hand on the pistol holstered at his side, and drew out the sword he kept sheathed across his back. It was an elegant blade made of a lightweight but durable metal with good balance to it. He wanted to be prepared for anything, and he hurried to catch up to the rest of the crew. They were supposed to rendezvous with the star port authorities to learn more about what the situation on Centar Thir actually was. But so far, it seemed that this part of the plan was not to happen.
The skyscrapers and other buildings of the city were all modern and well constructed, with a blend of beauty and efficiency of space. Some structures, however, were massive brutal looking monstrosities of a sort peculiar to Hara'kaon architecture. The neon signs of the shops, nightclubs, and businesses that at any other time would be lit up at night... for night it was... were dark with no power running to them in any capacity. Likewise, the smokestacks of the factories in the distance were not pumping out the usual smoke, nor was there the sound of any machinery to be heard. No vehicles were out and about, and only the noises of the occasional stray animal indicated that some life at least still remained here. This felt a lot less like a city and more like a graveyard the more the commander and he crew explored of it. And, all the time, he had a feeling that Mnemosyne... who was off one some secret mission of her own... did in fact know more about all of this than it seemed. Suddenly, a loud mechanical sound thundered in the night air, whilst the crew members... trained soldiers one and all... drew their weapons. Rifles, pistols, and swords at the ready, the mean and women froze nervously in their tracks. One of the men, who was standing close to Commander Paleth, asked him in a clearly worried tone of voice: “What in the fires of the hottest hell world was that?” The commander told him to stay strong, to remember his training. That sound was all too familiar, a sound that the commander hoped and prayed he might never hear again for the rest of his considerably lengthened days. “What is it, commander!” another man shouted, to which the commander answered at the last: “If you all want to live, shut the hell up, all of you! Stay where you are, and do not make a single move unless I give the order to.” The thundering noise resounded again, and a building close by collapsed into rubble and broken glass as the source of that terrible sound soon became apparent. It was a Titan monstrosity, a swift moving mechanical war machine fully capable of leveling an entire city. It's bulk was massive, and it had eight metal legs like a spider's with sharp claws at the ends of all of them. Each leg was massive, and capable of holding up the weight of the machine that those legs were attached to. Cannons and guns were mounted all over the back of the terrible thing, and pale green flashing lights could be seen in between those weapons. Snaking, slithering, tendrils of some rubbery material came out of the war machine, with claws carrying bladed weapons of every sort and type. The dome at the top of the machine was a cockpit in which eight Titan soldiers served as this awful creation's pilots and operators. It was the lights that made it possible to make out these details, for they grew brighter as the machine scanned the area for signs of human life, with cones of that greenish light emitting here and there. “Fuck!” exclaimed one of the newer recruits of the crew, a rookie who for her part had only been on a couple of missions previous and who had never seen such a machine before. None of them had, however, for these machines were relics of wars past. Only the commander had seen such sights, and seeing this again brought back to him the horrors of the conflicts he had fought in, and in which so many of those under his command had died in. “If that rookie screams, I will have to shoot her... it's the only way.” he thought. The only way to keep the Titans from noticing them as they stayed under a bridge that they had been walking under when the Titan machine first revealed itself. “Where in the hell of my fathers is Mnemosyne? She should be here with the rest of us... she might have known a way to deal with this thing!” the commander thought to himself silently. Back during the old conflicts, it sometimes took a hover tank or several to take one of these machines down... ground troops were as good as dead facing them. The mechanical monster then sat itself down, the legs lowering as the body of the titanic terror met the ground with a thump that caused the ground the shake both beneath it and all around it. The cockpit opened and the eight Titan soldiers descended from the war machine by way of ladder-like metal rungs to either side of the cockpit, which ran down the sides of the construct. They were not the human-like Titans such as Mnemosyne and others like her... though humanoid in shape, it could be seen that these soldiers were totally mechanical in nature. These were the Titans that many of the humans called the Brutus models... for these were large, bulky and impossibly strong. They wore an armor that made them impervious to conventional firearms, and helmets decorated with an eye symbol.
It could take a rocket or two to destroy one of these, and the Brutus soldiers' helmets had visors that allowed them to see well beyond the normal human visual ranges. And Titan eyesight was already quite astounding compared to human vision! After the eight soldiers had descended, they began to search the area as if they were looking for someone. One of the commander's crewmen sneezed, and the Titans did immediately make their way towards where the humans were hiding, having heard the sound with their enhanced hearing. They were armed with electrified machete-like swords and deadly machine guns, and their sole purpose was to eliminate any human presence in places conquered by the Titans, which it did indeed seem that this planet was in the process of being. “I heard a human! Our kind does not sneeze.” one of the Titan soldiers said in a highly synthesized voice that sounded like a blend of both male and female vocal ranges being approximated by a machine. “Eliminate the human presence. Save this world from its' environmental pollution for the good of all.” said one of the others in the exact identical same type of voice. So that was how they rationalized what they were doing on this planet! Thought Paleth... and he then sent the thought out of his mind by telling himself in his head: “Well, terrorists always will rationalize their acts of terror.” and, he went right back to realizing that he was about to be confronted by an enemy that may as well have been ghosts from the past come back to destroy him. The eight Titan Brutus soldiers proved to be as fast as they were strong, and were upon the bridge faster than the crew of the commander could get away. Instinctively, some of the crew members fired their weapons only for the bullets to bounce off of the Titans' armor. They were cut to pieces almost instantly, and their bodies shook violently from the lethally electrified blades even as their limbs were backed bloodily from them, their heads being chopped off last. “Do not resist, humans. Commander Paleth of House Hara'kaon, you have been identified! You are a war criminal against the Titan Empire. You will come with us, we have orders to bring you in alive.” Eight more Titan Brutus soldiers cut off any escape, and now there were a total of sixteen such foes to contend with. Commander Paleth said defiantly: “I serve only the empire of my people... and the Imperial Regent thereof! We do not recognize the legitimacy of your empire, and it will be a cold day in Hell before I let you take me prisoner, you rotten tin-heads.” One of the Titans then walked over to him and picked him up by the neck after tossing its' weapons aside. Paleth was helpless, as the hulking mechanical adversary nearly choked the life out of him, only to stop short of doing so in order to throw the human to the ground like a sack of meat. The force of being thrown like that caused the man to break several of his ribs from the impact. He coughed, and there was some blood that came up when he did so. “Damn it! Fuck! Ugh.” he cried out from the pain, realizing he was totally out of his league. The Titan then said to him, in its' monotone blended voice: “You are also considered to be a war criminal by your own empire's laws, and your Imperial Regent has decided to look the other way whilst we do with you and your crew as has been proscribed. Do not resist further. It will be worse for you, if you resist. Come with us, I say again! I will not ask nicely one more time.” Then, suddenly Mnemosyne strode forth from the shadows, to confront the commander. She said to the Titan who had just finished with him: “List the war crimes he is guilty of, so his own crew members can know the type of animal they are serving under.” And the Titan read off the list in its' mental database: “Genocide. Organization of mas rapes of Titan women who wore organic forms at the time. Child murder. Destruction of civilian targets, infrastructure, and residential areas. Needless slaughter of animals, mostly pets belonging to the Titans in said residential areas. Theft of property and confiscation of private individuals' goods. Illegal annexation of land not sanctioned by Imperial edict. Use of forbidden torture methods on prisoners. All on at least ten known planets within your own empire's space, and one within Titan space. Shall I go on to list his previous crimes from before he was conscripted from prison into the military?” and then did Mnemosyne reply to that with: “No need! I think everybody got the point.” And literally every man and woman of Paleth's crew looked at him angrily with barely contained fury and no end of disgust. Then it was that the Titan woman walked up to the commander and struck him across his face with a loud snap.
Several of the evil human's teeth flew out of his bloodied mouth, and he was so unable to get up from the ground at all after that strike. His jaw felt broken, but it was not. She had held back, he knew, or his head might have been shattered by a full force blow. “One of the women who you ordered raped... was me, pig!” she spat in his face. The fluid stung as it hit his eyes. “I was in a different body back then... I would have looked like a teenage girl by human standards, rather than the grown woman I am now. You would not recognize me now, of course. I had this body constructed to be totally different from my old one in order to both break all ties with my past and also so that I could plan my revenge and be able to carry it out myself. You had my mother raped as well, and my father dismantled in front of us. We were farmers eking out a peaceful existence in a reservation zone that was fully protected by your 'exalted' Imperial law that you always claim you serve. It was on this very planet on which we stand now, only back then it was far less polluted than it is today. You have lived long, commander... too long. Now, it is time to face justice for your crimes.” He remembered then, and he said to her: “I remember that day, it was a good day... me and my men fucked your kind up in more ways than one. Revenge for our buddies who got killed in the field!” She replied to that with a hiss: “In the field is where war is supposed to be waged! Not in the homes of innocent families. And never upon the bodies of children, monster. I was, after all, a child back then... of sorts.” And the commander drooled some blood as he muttered loudly and brutishly: “Since when is being a child fucker against Imperial law?” Mnemosyne then drew close to him, gripped his face in her hand, and said to him calmly and sternly and loud enough for all to hear what she spoke: “It is a crime, when you rape a child whose family lives on protected land. Rape is still a crime in your empire, after all... as it is in our empire, similarly. And it is but one crime of countless... that you committed, in defiance of your Imperial Regent's decrees. He has a long reach, the Regent, and though the Titan Empire stands against the Regent and against his empire... we have decided to just set aside our differences for the matter of this planet and for the matter of your punishment. Thus, we have been allowed to take this planet for ourselves, restore it to nature, and colonize it afterwards with our own people. The former inhabitants have been safely relocated to a new world of their choosing, and a mother ship of the Titan Empire is behind the moon where my superiors wait to learn that justice at the last has been done. And all of this, your blessed Regent is looking the other way about. So now, legally you are trespassing in Titan space. This planet borders our empire, after all... in case you did not know the current, present galactic geography and political boundaries. That actually makes you terrorists, and what do you think we should do with terrorists who have come to our planet in order to do violence?” The commander laughed, and exclaimed through his body's agony: “We... we have been set up! By our own Regent... sent to our deaths. That bastard!” Mnemosyne then laughed herself, and exclaimed: “Ah! From your mouth comes treasonous words against your Regent. Now, we have the legal authority to put you to death and send the video we have been recording of this entire meeting to him so that he can see how his justice sometimes coincides with Titan justice. I have, already, sent a direct communication to our supreme ruler... who has been in mental contact with me ever since I boarded your vessel. Through my eyes, the Titan God-Emperor has been with you all along, seeing what I have been seeing and when I kill you with my own two hands... it will be not I alone who executes you, commander. It will be him! I do not know if this will foster better relations between our two empires in the future... but it will be a pleasure to see to your execution. Prepare yourself, and pray to any god who you think might be given to granting mercy upon your pathetic soul. For I shall grant you none!” and it was not her voice that did say that last part, but the voice of the Titan God-Emperor speaking through her body and altering ever so slightly her vocal systems in order to accurately simulate his own voice. Then, Mnemosyne did take her hand and grasp the commander's groin with it, tearing his genitals off of his body through his very uniform... his blood pouring forth from the gaping, bloody hole that leaked other fluids from it as well. Paleth screamed like an animal being slaughtered and defecated involuntarily as pain wracked his flesh.
“Castration is an adequate punishment for rape in some parts of your empire, is it not?” so asked the Titan God-Emperor, as Mnemosyne laughed in her own voice... enjoying and savoring her revenge on the odious human man who ruined her life. None of his crew members came to his defense, nor did a single man or woman rush to his aid. They stood there, resigned to whatsoever their own fates might be as they watched the gruesome spectacle unfolding before them. Mnemosyne was handed a metal rod by one of the other Titans and she pressed a button on it, which electrified the tip of the rod. “I will bet you can guess where this is going, human.” said the God-Emperor unto the helpless war criminal that lay at the mercy of the vengeful Titan woman. She then shoved the rod into the bloody, gaping wound that did now exist between Paleth's legs... and as the rod entered the wound, she electrified the tip. The sound of him being jolted even as the rod violated him so brutally was so terrible, that some of his own crew had to look away and cover their ears. She increased the voltage until the smell of his burning flesh and also his burning internal organs filled the air. The war criminal passed out from the experience and so long did Mnemosyne leave the rod inside him for, that sparks shot out from his wound and smoke as well. That entire area on the human man's body was charred black, and were it not for the gloves Mnemosyne had put on just prior... her hand would have been burned as well. She withdrew the rod after that, and did remove her gloves to make certain they were unharmed. Smiling satisfactorily on seeing her hands were alright, she then placed the rod in the commander's mouth... pressed the button to overcharge it... and stepped back, leaving it in the war criminal's mouth. She told everyone to step away from Paleth at once, and it was a good thing everyone did since when the rod reached its' overcharge limit, it did then explode. And the commander's head exploded with it, leaving a smoking stump that oozed blood for a long time afterwards. He never did wake up to fully appreciate the spectacular nature of his own death. His last facial expression was one of sheer horror and the utmost nightmarish terror. His crew was then sorted and those who had in the past been accomplices of the commander in some of his misdeeds, the same were led off to be dissected in Titan science experiments, which was to be their execution. There were only a handful of those compared to the rest of the crew, who were unaware of their commander's cruel nature. The remaining crew were all sent off to a penal colony on a Titan ruled world, where they were charged with terrorism, trespassing, and criminal mischief. Their fates were to work and live out their sentences, and once those sentences were up they were to be sent away for reeducation so that they could become productive human servants for their new Titan masters and mistresses. Not a single one of that crew was ever returned to their home empire again, and the Imperial Regent wrote them off in all the records as being dead as a result of a failed terrorist operation in Titan space. Thus were they so branded as criminals in two empires! It did not help, however, that a second human craft had been sent to that planet in order to find out what happened to commander Paleth and his crew. This second vessel, had not yet been briefed by Imperial authorities as to the actual state of things as they stood now, and so when they landed at the forsaken star port and found it deserted... they had been signaled by Paleth just prior to him landing on Centar Thir, so that if he did not report back to them, they were to come to his rescue... they feared the worst when they saw that indeed Commander Paleth's ship was there but with no sign of either him or his crew to be found anywhere. These were military, Imperial Marines in fact... trained, hardened warriors who were used to sights that normal people saw only in nightmares. Yet, it was fated that even these men and women would come to regret going near that seemingly cursed world for there they would discover things that would horrify them and chill them to the very bone. Legally, it was required of the Imperial Regent that he write this ship and its' crew off also as terrorists in order to alleviate any and all questions as to the fate thereof. And, to try and stave off further aggression betwixt and between humans and Titans. Though further war would be inevitable, at that point in time the only kind of war that existed between the two species was mostly a cold war with clear boundaries and strict laws in place to prevent things from escalating beyond the point of no return. In the end, all this failed.
“I think the sound of that war machine came from over in that direction!” shouted the sergeant to the others as they stormed through the city streets searching for signs of the lost commander and his crew. It was proving to be a useless undertaking... even by daylight, the city was a maze of ruined buildings as if the whole place had been leveled in a short span of time. Probably by that war machine, and likely a second one since there appeared to be two of the metal behemoths in the area. Their rifles were ready, their swords sheathed for the moment on their backs. Each man carried also quite a few grenades and other explosive devices just in case the need for such things arose. Their black uniforms were a direct contrast with their gold armored chest plates and similarly colored armored boots and gauntlets. Gold helmets sat upon their heads, with demonic looking face masks covering their features. They were ever and always an intimidating and terrifying sight on any battlefield, but in this setting they appeared to be little more than pathetic little ants scurrying about in a devastated maze of a wrecked city whilst trying to figure out a way to either avoid or take down the two war machines that had spotted them and were hunting them down. By some miracle, they had lost the Titan pursuers... but their stubbornness would not allow them to simply accept that they were doomed to be vanquished in this struggle. The captain of their ship had been killed almost instantly as soon they set foot in the city itself after finding the star port abandoned... hulking Titan Brutus soldiers managed to explode his head with a blast of one of their high powered firearms before giving chase after the marines who soon realized that without some very heavy weaponry there was simply no possible way to fight these particular Titans. They scrambled all about searching for anything they could use, only to find nothing useful... and that was when the large, lumbering war machines showed up. “We should have just left as soon as we saw the commander's ship back in the landing area with no one aboard it.” Said the highest ranking woman in the unit, who was the second in command overall of this particular marine contingent. The sergeant would hear none of that, however. He explained angrily: “That's coward talk, and I will not hear of it from one of my own! If we can get our hands on some Titan weapons, then we can take on their soldiers on an equal level... then, if we can find a way to commandeer one of their war machines we might survive to fight another day. Have you tried sending another message to High Command?” and the woman replied: “Of course I did... four in the past hour, countless since we landed. Either they are not answering us deliberately, or the messages are being intercepted or jammed somehow. But whatever the case is... the messages are all clearly marked as delivered. If the Titans are intercepting our communications, they are doing a damn good job of making it look like we're getting through to High Command. This stinks! I do not like it.” Meanwhile, the sergeant considered for a moment that perhaps the reports about slave uprisings aided by Titans and happening all over known space might have been a trap to lure certain ships into traps on those worlds such as the one the marines seemed to have stepped into. High Command had refused to either confirm or deny those reports, and such reports were only leaked or issued to certain commanders at all. “I just had a terrible thought.” the sergeant admitted, elaborating: “What if High Command is in fact working with the Titans to send undesirable commanders to their doom as a form of punishment?” And the lady marine shouted at the top of her lungs on hearing that: “Fuck! That is some twisted shit if that is actually what is going on. Hey, wasn't there a Titan woman on board that ship? I forget her name, but it was listed in the crew roster on the ship's computer. Seems awful convenient, her tagging along.” And the sergeant agreed, stating: “Mnemosyne it was. And yes! A little too convenient if you ask me. If anything, it lends credence to my theory. I just hope I am only being paranoid here... if we have walked into a setup we were never supposed to interfere with, we can expect no help forthcoming. Not from a single soul in High Command, and most definitely not even from the Regent himself. Come on, we do need to keep looking for better weapons! I did not survive my training and wars on countless plants just to end up dead from answering some fool's distress call.” And one of the other marines said in a rather despondent manner: “We are fucked no matter what! They blew up our ship as soon as we got off of it.”
The sergeant then pulled off that man's helmet and mask and shot him in the head, killing him. After that, he glared at the other marines under his command and threatened: “That is what I will do to any of you who even remotely suggests that we are going to die here. We will find weapons capable of taking on the Titans with... we will eventually commandeer a new ship... and we will most definitely get off of this stinking hellhole of a planet.” Suddenly, three of the marines bolted only to be hacked to pieces by the blades of Titan Brutus soldiers who suddenly stormed out of a nearby ruined building. “I hate to say this, but just fucking run... we need to stay alive, we need to...” and the sergeant's head was taken off by a blast from a Titan rifle more powerful than any shotgun before he could finish his sentence. Now the woman was in charge, and the others rallied to do as she commanded. “Like the man said... move out!” she ordered, and as one the remaining marines all obeyed. More of them died grotesquely as blasts from Titan firearms literally tore through them, blowing their bodies apart like rag dolls ripped asunder. This was a disaster, and every marine present knew there was little to no chance of surviving against odds of this sort. The Titans had not been idle since the end of the previous war... they had not only evolved but become stronger and developed more powerful weapons than anything the humans had imagined them capable of creating. If another war should break out, humanity would stand no chance if they likewise did not adapt, evolve, and create better weapons. The lady marine was not stupid! She knew that there was no chance of accomplishing what the sergeant had imagined they could... the only thing she and her comrades in arms could do now was to run and keep running, and to try and find a space worthy craft at a different space port elsewhere, one that they could use to get home. Then, her mind so turned towards the abandoned ship of Commander Paleth. If they could trick the Titans into thinking they were going to flee outside the city limits... then perhaps they could sneak back into the city and make their way to the star port once again where they could commandeer the commander's vessel and use it to get away. It was a foolish, crazy, desperate plan... but it was the only one she could think of that had the slightest of chances. She told her fellow marines exactly what she had in mind, but used the secret language that all Imperial Marines used to confer among each other, when they did not desire to run any risks of anyone overhearing who was not of their warrior caste. In this instance, she feared most being overheard by the unnaturally keen hearing of the Titan soldiers who were pursuing them. The guttural tongue served its' purpose well on this occasion, and the marines knew exactly what they had to do if they wanted to live. Regina was her name, Regina of Haven... the planet that was fast becoming the new spiritual center of the empire. But as beautiful as Haven oft appeared to be, it was a place of stagnation and complacency, a place where order existed but at the cost of creativity and evolution. She had found it too sterile and dull for her liking, and if truth were put to it she enjoyed more any missions that took her far from its' confines. In her heart she believed the Regent was becoming insane, as the years went by, and though it was treason to say so she knew in her heart that the Titans would be right to back any rebellions against the tyrant who sat upon the imperial throne. She knew nothing of the Titans' politics, but always had a feeling that perhaps they had in mind a better way of life than what the empire offered mankind. Was it karmic justice, then, if she and these other marines... who were among the Regent's elite warriors... did perish after blundering into this no win situation? She did not want to consider that! Like the sergeant, she knew that morale had to be maintained at all costs... and so she kept these musings to herself. They kept to their plan, and if it succeeded she was determined not to return to the empire but to strike off on her own in search of others who thought as she did. Perhaps other humans who were in league with the Titans... she could easily convince her fellow marines do going along with her. She was charismatic and persuasive when she needed to be. But first, they had to survive, trick their pursuers, and get back to the craft that was their only chance of escape from this hellish world. Eventually... they did reach, the outer boundaries of the city. There, the Titans pursued them only to lose track of them in the forest beyond. It took hours and hours to circle around and back, but the Titans remained in pursuit of them all the way.
Using their visors, the Titan soldiers were able to easily spot the marines' heat signatures, which made it impossible to hide from them or trick them for long. Half the marines decided to stay behind in order to slow their pursuers, in order so that the rest could get back to the star port safely. Regina bid them a tearful farewell, knowing those individuals went to bloody deaths for the sake of her and those who still continued along with her even in the face of such imminent destruction. The sounds of those soldiers as they ran off to their deaths singing an old imperial battle anthem would stay with Regina forever. Not a one would ever be seen by her again, and she did not want to think about their fates. They not only did remain behind, but they ran off towards the Titan soldiers to meet their ends happily and this she never expected of them. The ruined city was hard to get through... and it was difficult to determine just where the star port was, in relation to where Regina and her fellow marines were at any given moment. There was no time to stop and consider, only to flee, to keep running and hope for the best. Soon enough, she could see the star port and within its' confines was the missing commander's ship. The sight of this did bring joy to her heart, and to the hearts of her fellows. The Titans, surely had to have still been back in the city in pursuit of the marines, but it appeared almost for the moment as if they had deliberately seen fit to drop back and allow the humans to reach their destination. This felt wrong to Regina, but she did not want to dwell upon that too deeply. “I will go ahead and open the hatch on the ship... then, we can all get aboard and start up its' engines.” She explained as she headed forward and did exactly that. The vessel was as empty of occupancy as was expected... at least until Regina reached went to head back to the now open hatch to tell the other marines to come aboard. Suddenly, the hatch closed in its' own and outside the viewing window next to the hatch the lady marine could only look on in horror as a missile was fired from above unto the marines... who were blasted apart in the resulting explosion which was so surgical in its' precision that the ship itself was unharmed. The source of the missile became evident when the Titan mother ship made its' presence known at last, coming out of the clouds above like some sort of monstrous demon of the air. “Oh fuck! Oh gods, no... we are so screwed now.” she said aloud. It was tragic that no one was present to hear her exclamation. No one except for one other soul, who had been aboard the craft the whole time... hiding and waiting patiently for the right moment to be revealed. It was Mnemosyne, the Titan woman who had orchestrated the death of the commander previously. She approached Regina as silently and quietly as a hunting cat and said to her once she was standing right behind her: “Your name is Regina, according to the Imperial Marine Roster database. Classified info, of course, though it is easy enough to hack into when you have the means and the knowledge to do so. Do not be afraid, human! I mean you no harm.” Regina spun around to face the Titan and realized that there was no point in fighting a being strong enough to tear her apart and snap her bones like dried branches. The marine said to the Titan: “You killed them all... every single one of my comrades.” there were very evident tears in Regina's eyes, and her emotional state was barely possible for her to contain for much longer. Mnemosyne... the Titan God-Emperor actually, still in possession of her body remotely, said to Regina in his own voice rather than the voice of the Titan woman who spoke a moment ago: “You were not informed by your ruling government that this planet is now under Titan dominion. No human crafts are allowed either in our space or upon the surface of this world except for those who are members of Titan society. This has been agreed upon with your Regent, and henceforth we shall put up a beacon in orbit around the planet that will warn human vessels away... to prevent tragedies such as this from thus taking place in the future. Please forgive me, Regina. Your true loyalties and sympathies are known to me, to us... because Mnemosyne is a very special model who has the technology to scan organic minds when the need for such an invasive technique is felt warranted. Whilst you were fumbling about on this vessel, she was scanning your mind to learn if you might be an enemy or a valuable ally to our empire. It would seem, you have the capacity to be an ally... but you need to choose it of your own free will. We do have slaves, just as your empire does, but we do not prefer them. Freedom and liberty are far better!”
And as I write this account, know that at that time I myself was the God-Emperor of the Titan race... I was the one who was seeing all of these events through Mnemosyne's eyes, and I learned of the things I was not present for physically through her ability to scan human minds. Regina looked at Mnemosyne, at me through the Titan woman's silver eyes, and though the human woman could not see me physically she regarded me nonetheless. “Freedom and liberty have died back in our empires... the Regent is swift becoming a dictator and I have no doubt that ere long the man will declare himself emperor and declare a state of war so that he can make an excuse to enforce martial law and arrest those who disagree with him. I do not wish to be present, when that happens. Can I... is it possible for me to join you... to be a citizen of the Titan Empire? I would like that very much! I could help you tremendously, since I have knowledge of the inner workings of our empire. There are things only the Imperial Marines are privy to that other than us only the Regent himself knows.” Mnemosyne said to Regina in her own voice, which was taking on a more soothing and understanding tone than her usual: “Of course you can, Regina! Any humans who wish to, may. We are not prejudiced against your kind, even though most of your kind do tend to be extremely prejudiced against us. From the most newly created artificial intelligence, all the way up to the models such as myself who are able to walk about in flesh... all the way to the advanced synthetic models that you would never even know were machines... there seems to be a distrust that all humans tend towards when it comes to regarding the Titan race. They say we are cold, soulless robots... but look at me, Regina. I have a soul within this artificial body! The God-Emperor has walked in flesh among you in the past, in both male and female forms and forms that blend the two. And he will again in times to come! We are not so different, our two races... and perhaps one day our races might become one. But until then, let your an I work together as partners in order to see what can be done for the good of the Titan cause. The cause of freedom, liberty, and understanding... and equality... for all.” Regina, in that moment removed her helmet and mask and fell to her knees before Mnemosyne to pledge her full loyalty and fealty to the Titan God-Emperor henceforth. The human woman took out a knife from her boot sheath and cut her left palm with it in order to cement things with a blood oath of the sort that all Imperial Marines took very solemnly and seriously when it came to pacts they intended to keep on pain of death. After that, she renounced all citizenship to any human empire, kingdom, or government and at that moment she became fully accepted as a member of the Titan Empire in good standing. It was then the God-Emperor... me... who said unto her through Mnemosyne: “Rise to your feet now, Regina! You are a beautiful human woman, and that beauty shines most within you. Welcome to our empire... and do know that never again need you worry about the concerns that you held in regard to your Regent. In due course, such as he shall be dealt with. But, for the moment, enjoy the company and fellowship of others like unto yourself who have joined us. They are waiting for you aboard our mother ship, where I also do await to greet you face to face.” Mnemosyne conducted Regina outside unto the landing area of the star port following that exchange, and a landing craft from the mother ship descended from the heavens to pick up the pair of them and take them aboard the God-Emperor's flagship. As the two women looked out of the viewing windows of the landing craft whilst it ascended towards the waiting mother ship the human woman said to the Titan woman: “This feels right to me, you know. Nothing else in my life ever did, but this does! For once, I am doing the right thing and working for a righteous and worthy cause. It is hard to admit... but I do not believe I could have convinced the other marines after all... some of them were too brainwashed by the Regent's propaganda to see the truth of things.” Mnemosyne tenderly and kindly put her arm around Regina's shoulders and the human marine could feel the Titan's soft breath on the back of her neck. She felt attracted to the artificial woman quite strongly, but said nothing. However the Titan woman was silently scanning her mind and knew all that needed to be known. She whispered into Regina's ear: “It is alright... I know how I make you feel.” And she kissed the back of Regina's neck much as a lover might. And I was within Mnemosyne, at the time, experiencing everything that she did.
Published 31st Jan 2024
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 0
reading list entries 0
comments 0
reads 96
Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
