The Predator was held in the stasis of a thousand wasted years as he faced his new and unexpected prey. This one was no shrinking, fearful thing. Even across his darkened control room, he could feel the rage—a creature like him.

He dredged up the courage he had last seen generations ago and pulled his rifle down from the wall, his hands uncertain.

His prey huffed at him, “So the brave hunter has forgotten how to use his tools. Murder for the sake of pride and cruelty instead of empathy. Blood for the sake of blood. No true hunter treats its prey as you have done.” Contempt reached across the chamber like a poisonous stench.

Silver advanced into the room, his skin now a swirling pattern of rising and falling waves—an angry sea about to crash upon an unknown shore.

“You are a child pulling the wings from an insect, a bitter and twisted parody of those of us that hunt with honour. I will not mount your head on my wall after I have killed you. Instead, I will spit it out far from the sun, a small frozen death left unmarked and forgotten. Unimportant, unknown and unwanted.”

The Predator watched frozen as the creature raised its weapon and began advancing with some hidden confidence, some certainty that he could not ignore. His long-anticipated victory, all his work and planning and the clever corruption of his ship now seemed to be nothing but the broken toys of a child. Then he remembered that he had never been brave, that his people had driven him away for the very sins called out by this murderous stranger. His mind shattered as he realised that in all the time the universe had handed him, with all the power gifted to him, he had remained a small thing. He raised a bitter grin at the terrible stranger and raised his weapon for the last time. “I will leave you nothing to mount.” He ended his life as he had lived it with self-pity filling his mind even as the plasma evaporated it.

Silver watched the corpse fall. The blade absorbed back into his hand and he took a deep breath, looking at the broken thing. “Sometimes people don’t realise that words are also a weapon until it’s too late.” He let the body sink through the floor to be lost in dark space forever. Then he sent his tendrils out to the blades still roaming around the ship and pulled them into his new body. He didn’t really want the damned things but he could hardly leave them sitting around. Then he called up the Fleet.

------------

First Fleet was still in the controlled chaos of a million things happening in the wrong order. Humanity was good at damage control as space had sharpened lessons learned deep beneath the sea but people still died. Comms was a mess as the ships combined getting-the-fuck-out-of-the-way with recovering those stranded by the destruction caused by the sudden rain of plasma.

Then came an alert that no one had expected to come. The harassed officer that spotted it blinking hesitated and just pushed it directly to the boss. He didn’t have time for amateur hour right now. He simply announced that the diplomat was online and moved on. He sadly remembered how impressed they had all been with the Wisp until they had seen the enemy.

The Admiral opened the Comms with a hard slap, “Silver I don’t have time for goodbyes. I’m sure you did your best but I’m busy. Best of luck in your next life.” He went to cut the connection as his frantic bridge demanded his full attention.

Silver's voice, sounding slightly injured leaked across the bridge, “I won. The ship is mine.”

The Admiral's hand hesitated as his mind tried to catch up and pull away from the chaos. “Repeat that.”

Silver got louder, “I won, the ship is in my hands and I’m breaking down his weird weapons system. Sorry that I couldn’t stop the plasma, it took me a while to persuade the ship to surrender to me. You might want to recall your drones, I seem to recall that they cost rather a lot.”

That made the Admiral suspicious. “Prove it. For all I know this is a trick designed to get us to lower our defences!”

Silver looked around as his new ship bent itself around him. Everything that had been the Wisp was filling every space, binding every network to him. What the fuck did the Fleet think it was going to be able to do against him exactly? Some of the field generation…the scanning systems, everything. He had an entire terraforming system at his fingertips. In his fingertips, sort of. This brought up something important…

‘Admiral, no offence meant but I don’t take orders from you. I’m going to put out the fires on the planet that I am responsible for! I assume Second Fleet is only a few minutes away from you, so you don’t need me here and right now I have forty-odd systems to get through and you won’t be able to keep up. I’ll contact the Quorum directly once I’ve accessed the ship and the situation a little closer.” He cut the call and began accelerating away, abandoning the last wreckage of the weapons for the Fleet to shoot at.

The Admiral was not used to people cutting him off. Then it dawned on him that that was the most human thing the bloody thing could do. No enemy Intel would dream of it. It took an arrogant diplomat with what he saw as a bigger problem to burn those kinds of bridges. Especially while they were still standing on them. He turned to Weapons, “Call back our drones. Looks like we won’t need them just yet.” Then he ordered the Fleet to fall into formation and concentrate on repair and rescue. Second Fleet could go and chase the Wisp or whatever it was now.

He took a moment and filed two things. A complaint to the Diplomatic Service and a Commendation for Civilian Bravery. Then he resumed orchestrating the chaos that is mankind at war.

-----------------

The Director of Earth read the dispatch and summoned his Chief Diplomat. Hopefully, he would bring his ever-welcome flask with him. Then he reread the dispatch again.

When his diplomat turned up he silently passed it to him, “Fred, would you like to explain to me how your branch of my government seems to be in control of a Xeno battleship?”

Fred did his usual sleight-of-hand and produced a flask and twin glasses. He poured without looking as he skimmed the dispatch. He had, of course, read it beforehand but sometimes you found subtle tells in the minor changes in the text depending on the audience. The few he spotted were the Fleet washing their hands of anything this strange new ‘Captain’ did. Short of putting ‘Not One Of Us’ on top of the note, it couldn’t be any clearer.

He looked up and let a slight grin cross his face, “Well, I don’t think you want my people trained in how to start wars. Threaten them, perhaps. Silver is, or at least was, perfect for his level. A troubleshooter, quick on his feet, persuasive and young enough not to overthink the consequences. It would be typical that he would want to go and literally put out fires. His entire professional life has been being sent out to put out fires one way or another. He's also loyal. Not exactly to me, not to you but he is a true believer in the Expansion. A true believer in humanity.”

The Director paused at that one, “Fuck. Were we ever that young?” He took a careful sip and put down the glass. His fingers absent-mindedly rubbed the old wooden desk that belonged in a museum somewhere. A lot of difficult decisions had been made on his side of it and history didn’t always care who was sitting on the chair. “Is that going to be a problem? We have a ship of unknown capacities, with a single person that has been brutally changed by Xeno tech on its way back to a planet that it has already set on fire once. Some of that blood and treasure is looking to try and kill it right now.”

Fred shook his head, “Everything he has done so far is pure him, including cutting off the Admiral. I commend his recommendations, by the way. Tell him my Office will respond appropriately.”

The Director raised a smile at that, “Fred, your solution to someone in a different branch criticising your staff is to promote them. Every single time.”

Fred nodded in agreement, “And the Admiral knows that. He's good. Anyway, I read it as he doesn’t want to throw ships against the Wisp until we understand what is going on. He doesn’t think it's an enemy and probably doesn’t want to turn it into one. His Fleet took a hammering from across the system. I mean, faster than light plasma? Really? How do we fight that?”

The Director picked up another folder. “Ambush.”

Fred sat back and let the problem churn through his mind. “We know where he is going. We know why he claims to be going there. This might be our only opportunity to be ready. I see our masterful military minds have been given new toys and…they want to use them. If I had to go searching for a few fleets I would have to guess that they are currently either in the Forest system or on the way. Intel will be screaming…an interesting problem.”

The Lord of all he surveyed, Commander in chief of the human race and also a rather tired bureaucrat refilled his friend's glass, “Nicely put. You have just summarised several thousand years of military theory. So what do you think? An honest opinion, please. I have an entire office outside ready to tell me I’m a genius.”

His Chief Diplomat took a deep drink from his fresh glass and then seemed to shrug internally. “Well, you are. Technically anyway…although you were shite at sports.” Some dark shadow fell over his face, “Let the Fleets prepare. If Silver doesn’t call this office within… say twenty minutes after he arrives then try and end him. After that, I cannot help you except to send you meat and material until somebody wins. I think attacking him will be a mistake but more because I will mourn the man we may have already lost than because we have better options. If that's a human we face out there then he carries either the death of us all or we have an incredible future ahead.”

The obvious pain on his friend's face brought the truth of the situation home in a way that all the reports could never do. The Director spoke almost for the record, to say the things that just needed to be said. “We will not fail. We may lose but we will not fail. Humanity will be safeguarded.” He prepared two orders and leaned back, “Now we wait for him to arrive.” He pulled open a stubborn drawer and drew out a bottle. “This came with the desk. Today is a good day to open it.”

----------

Silver had little time for the tat that the predator had surrounded himself with and burned it all away, the stupid trophies from creatures long dead, the petty stones that represented wealth. Enough. He burned the walls back to gold and planned how to rescue Forest from the damage done.

Then his mammal brain raised a parade of red flags, all waving in the same direction. This is not how you think. These are not things that you would do. You don’t burn relics, you don’t pick fights with the dead. His almost-forgotten stomach churned at what he had just done. He stopped his headlong rush into solving the immediate problem in front of him.

Something was on fire.

Yes, but he had called for help.

Humanity was there. They would have answered his call.

Whatever he was, he was new. Humanity didn’t always like new.

His diplomatic instincts crawled out from under the manufactured haste and wiped themselves down. With a sullen glare, they presented him with what would happen when a lunatic Xeno battleship punched into a system that it had already burned down and promised to be good.

He held himself still for a moment and summoned Wisp, the Avatar he had been forced to surrender. It took a few moments for the ship to understand what he wanted but then she stood in front of him again.

He felt genuine joy when she appeared. She didn’t seem to share his enthusiasm, “Silver, I thought we were past this. I was busy. In fact, I was busy being the major part of you that runs this ship. I’m trying to integrate several thousand times our original body weight into a functioning ship. What?”

Silver kept the smile, “You missed a bit. I seem to recall that you rebuilt me during panic and battle. You seriously need to turn those settings down or off. Also, I want you around as an avatar…even if it's only the rubber duck protocol. Then I want you to scour that arrogant Predator from our systems. I felt like a God on Olympus and nearly crashed us straight into a shiny new war. “

Wisp seemed like she was about to make a cutting remark but then her eyes widened. “Oh.” There was a distinct pause, “I’m so sorry, those were the commands you gave me when you were dying on the planet…it never occurred to me to change them. Would you like me to return us to human baseline?”

Silver walked over and gave her a hug. She looked like she needed one and he sure as hell did, “Wisp, without you…just thanks. Just chill on the adrenalin and I’ll be fine. That's for emergencies only, okay?” He let her go. “Back to work for both of us, I guess.”

The Avatar nodded and disappeared into the floor. She left a small rubber duck that looked up at him and quacked.

--------

The Admiral had reluctantly taken command of the Second Fleet. The terse command from Earth had informed him that he was now the spokesman and Fleet controller until further notice or he died in the field. His death benefits had been adjusted to reflect his new and apparently invaluable position. His own fleet was to be left to sort out the damage and the dead without him.

He still trailed behind the Wisp despite leaving every damn thing he could behind. He had sent every supply ship or anything without the range behind to help fix the First fleet. Then he began dropping Captains. The ones that wouldn’t run into battle. The ones that either didn’t maintain their ships or just plain didn’t want to take on the Wisp. He didn’t fuck about them and had them arrested and stripped of rank on their own bridge. He could read the same damn writing on the wall. They could all die today but some of them seemed to forget why they would die. What they were dying for. Who they would be dying for.

He personally didn’t think this was an enemy and he certainly didn’t think this was the end of the world but he’d be damned if he had to carry officers like that into any battle.

“Sir, the Wisp has stopped short. It’s orbiting the local sun one jump short of our destination. Do you think he is expecting an ambush?”

The Admiral leaned forward, “I would.” He checked the map, “Tell the ‘Concave Milita’ to enter the system and ask him what the hell he’s doing. In the meantime let’s catch up shall we?”

---------

Concave Milita: Receiving. What's up? Other than the shit show?

Forest Emergency Control: We need you to jump. You’re the nearest ship we have.

Concave Milita: What?? I’m out here throwing ice at the fire! Do you remember the big fucking fire? Because that's what I’m out here throwing ice at. I’m probably the furthest ship in the system from anything…shit”

Forest Emergency Control: The ship that set our planet on fire is next door and Fleet wants to talk to it. Apparently, it's really sorry. Fleet isn’t really big on explanations right now so just jump in, send the fucking message and do the scans. They tell me you and your crew will be well paid.”

Concave Milita: What fucking crew? I’m hauling ice, it’s me and eight bottles of whiskey.

Forest Emergency Control: You probably shouldn’t have formed a milita of one then, I don’t care how much you won on the bet. Fleet owns your ass right now. Go do the thing, if you die I’ll be really sad at your funeral. I’ll comfort your wife at least.”

--------

Silver waited as his systems moved to what he now called the ‘Don’t Panic’ settings and used his brain for the first time in a while. He thought the biggest issue was probably range. He could shoot at them but they couldn’t shoot at him. Militaries always thought that was unfair for some reason. It didn’t matter what he did because they wouldn’t believe him, therefore…

He called the Director.

-----

The Director put down his drink, “He’s early.”

Fred waved his glass, “I told you he was good.”

Silver began by scanning the room. Apparently, his ship held a fuckton of electronic warfare that he hadn’t noticed. The duck glared at him. Fine.

“Director, boss. I thought I should wait here until you have the fleets ready. Let me know when’s a good time to enter the system. I have a plan for ending the fires, cleaning the atmosphere and repairing the damage. I’m sending it now. This ship was built to terraform, cool right? Anyway, I’m staying here until you tell me otherwise. Tell the ‘Concave Milita’ thanks but no thanks. I’m sure his sister is lovely but I’m busy right now. Also what are ‘grits’?”

---------

Silver Wisp emerged in space only to be surrounded by the entire human fleet. If Silver was perturbed his ship certainly didn’t show it. Within hours he had extinguished the fires as his strange drones flew almost to ground level. Then another wave left the vast ship with wide open and gaping mouths, turning the soot and tears into falling dust.

Another wave passed over the burnt remains of so much and began replanting and repairing. Healing. The vast silver moon stood over the planet as the days passed and the Fleet lost interest. All the new technologies that Silver wisp had carelessly spread became the basis of the true Expansion.

It was an old Director, a voice from the past that appointed him to the Quorum of War.

Just in case.