***Tirnanog, Aerie Flagship***

***Vanya***

I watched with dead eyes as Tianna slammed another pile of reports onto the table in front of me. It just kept getting more and more, but it wasn’t enough. There wasn’t enough detail to predict the enemy’s movements. If I had just a little more accurate information, I could do so much more. Oh, what would I do for a single satellite image instead of these handwritten reports?

“Have we heard anything from the scouts who were headed in Vier’s direction?” I asked, sounding just as tired as I felt.

“Not yet,” Tianna shook her head. “I don’t expect there to be any news before next week. If we expect the scouts to bring back any worthwhile information, we have to give them time to sneak past the enemy lines and return without being noticed.”

“Is there any news of the Caravaners?” I continued, hoping the Northroute family got their act together. The Northroutes were accommodating enough when I spoke with them at Hochberg, but they persistently refused to make any promises regarding the other Caravaner families.

Tianna studied me with a conflicted expression before she answered, “You are well aware that the Caravaners will have to coordinate their families before they can give us any meaningful answer. And even if all of them come together tomorrow, I doubt the Easttrail family would support us. They are deeply tied to the Thich.”

“Traitorous, heartless bastards altogether!” I cursed. I knew this would happen beforehand, but it felt good to vent at least a little. “Can’t they see the situation the clans are in? As if two of the main clans going rogue wasn’t bad enough already. Now the rest of us can’t even make up our minds to join forces. We should present a united front or our ancestors will have paid their blood for nothing during the clan war. It wasn’t just about independence from Earth, but also about our way of living. If Thich takes over, all of that will be in jeopardy. Can’t they see that?”

“They are merchants…” Tianna stated as if this explained everything.

From her limited point of view, it certainly did, but I knew for certain there was more to it.

She sighed after a moment of silence between us. “Look, Vanya, why don’t you go to sleep for now? It’s not like you can predict every little thing that’s going to happen.”

I balled up the report I already read and threw the paper on the floor. “But that’s the problem! Isn’t it Tianna? If I had access to all the information I need, I could end this war before it truly begins! I could save so many lives!”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have killed Greta!” Tianna spat back.

There it was again. The reason for why our relationship had soured.

“Then we would be fighting the Aerie right now while the Vier and the Thich would work out a deal on who got which part of the cake! Greta was a fool for not seeing that. No, she saw it, but she didn’t care about her people!” I balled my fists.

Tianna straightened and took a step towards me, but she stopped herself before going too far. “You are lucky I believe you. Otherwise… it would be so easy to just kill you for what you did.”

I looked at her. “I did what was best for the clan. With Greta, there was no path forward which wouldn’t have ended with our home on the line.”

Tianna snorted. “How boring and bland must the world be to you? I am never quite certain whether you are just an over-confident idiot, but then you go and predict the exact route the Thich took with Gurney as if it were nothing more than pointing out a direction.”

“As long as I have all the pieces to the puzzle…” I mumbled but didn’t finish the sentence.

She stepped forward and stacked the reports to take them away from me. “Sleep now. There is no point in trying to predict every little movement the enemy makes. There is no such thing as omniscience and therefore you can make mistakes, no matter how smart you are. And if you keep going like this you will inevitably make a mistake you will regret at some point.”

“I am already regretting it,” I said.

Tianna stopped and looked at me and I knew I had to clarify my thoughts. “I am regretting it, but I am not sorry for doing my best for our people.”

“Why?” my friend asked. “Why do all this? You are just a child, Vanya. Greta was like our mother and you killed her.”

I glared at the table. “I am doing what Greta was supposed to do! I am doing what she taught us to do, but was too weak to do herself! Do you think I haven’t tried talking to her? I tried my best, but she lost her way. There was no time to change her mind. No time to correct our people’s course without…”

My voice trailed off as I thought of alternative scenarios. “Nobody would have listened to me as long as Greta was still alive. Maybe I could have done something if I realised earlier. But back then when I still had time to change things I was too young to see or understand her. Greta already went down a dark path long before I could have changed her, Tianna.”

Looking up, I made eye contact with her. “Greta killed my parents, you know?”

Tianna shook her head. “Your parents died because-”

“Because they were too weak!” I spat. “Who in their right mind would take a partner with purely psychic abilities? Greta manufactured their liaison because she wanted someone like me. A tool to protect and rule Hochberg. I understood that much early on, but it wasn’t why I killed her. The reason why I killed her, is because despite Greta’s teachings, despite her being my mother in everything but blood, she forgot one simple thing.”

I sullenly pressed my lips together. “Because if I am just long enough with a person, I can’t help but get to know them better than they know themselves.”

***Tirnanog, The Facility***

***The Designer***

Translated transcript: 06-05-3998 065

Designer’s Report_Log 34530-2350:

538 cycles since allowing intentional contamination of environment testing site 35-F-33.

Summary of findings and personal observations.

Please refer to the linked research results for details.

Specimen W254-Asassination-Type was an utter failure in its first iteration. The ability to adapt the genetics of other species was wasted without the intellectual capacity to utilize the full potential of this ability. We decided to initiate a full redesign of W254.

To stay in line with our creator’s guidelines, full self-awareness will be avoided at all costs, but we can’t help that a high level of intelligence and adaptability is necessary to deal with the plague’s preferred hosts. It will be an interesting challenge to design a genome which allows the resulting creature to compete without violating intergalactic treaties.

Acquiring a suitable genome to build upon is already taken care of and the new specimen is expected to hatch soon. The creature’s abilities will be interesting to observe since the genetic donor had a high grade of psychic ability, and as is often the case with such mutations, the results are highly unpredictable.

Since some of the plague’s hosts are also developing worrisome mental powers, learning to fight them on this special battlefield sooner rather than later can only be welcomed. Since there is no need to change the objective, I decided to have the specimen keep its primary goal of eliminating the plague’s focal points in this world.

***Tirnanog, The Old Camp***

***Magnus***

“Curse this!” I screamed and dodged another fireball while Astra did her best to charge up another electromagnetically launched javelin.

I was down to two javelins after the stupid lizard-thing caught and ate the first three like some dog catching treats. Two more were simply deflected by the creature’s protective crest. There was little I could do as long as the firehorn was locked onto me like some homing missile.

“What’s taking so long?” I called out while running circles to lead the beast on a wild goose chase, which was easier said than done. I couldn’t lead the monster deeper into the Old Camp or some weak exiles would be caught up in the fighting. And for some reason, the creature refused to follow me out of the camp and into the woods. It was as if it knew it could force me to get closer to it if it threatened to charge deeper into the camp.

“Just a moment!” Astra replied while taking her sweet time to aim.

If I had known a half-heartedly thrown javelin wouldn’t end the fight, I would have thrown it with my full power. But doing so took time and effort, and I had underestimated the firehorn, naively not believing such a big creature would be fast enough to do anything about being harpooned.

And then it hadn’t given me another chance.

With a little more space, I would have been able to create more distance and give myself the time I needed, but this would also allow the firehorn to rampage deeper into the camp.

Flash-stepping one more time, I guided the firehorn once more into Astra’s field of fire and my partner unleashed a second javelin into the creature’s side.

The first shot she had taken a minute ago was blocked by one of the firehorn’s unexpectedly sturdy ribs, explaining why the bullets shot by the other defenders of the camp were little more than an annoyance to the creature.

Astra's second unleashed javelin hit the creature’s torso and this time it went through all the way, punching entirely through the firehorn and coming out the other side to continue on a path away from the Old Camp. In its trail, the projectile drew a path of burning flames, having penetrated whatever organ allowed the firehorn to launch napalm-like fireballs.

Instead of blood, a thick fluid quelled forth from the wound, igniting upon contact with the air.

The firehorn went on chasing me for a few more seconds as if nothing happened. I was forced to flash-step once more before the creature finally slowed down and stopped.

I watched warily as the firehorn glared its hatred at me before it coughed up a spurt of blood.

At last, it fell over, legs still kicking in a last, defiant reflex before it stilled.

“That took too long!” I complained once I was certain it was over.

Astra flash-stepped to my side. “Excuse me, but I am not the muscle powerhouse between the two of us.”

“It still was quite the fight!” Gunnar ran up to us, carrying a heavy rifle which was on the verge of being mistaken for a cannon. “No wonder Earth wants no part of Tirnanog. If everyone on the planet had the same abilities as you two, staying in control would be much harder for those who support the system.”

I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, not quite ready to face my supposed ‘uncle’ / ‘instructor’ / ‘fellow resistance member’ quite so soon.

Once I felt ready, I took off my helmet and tried not to glare at Gunnar. “Not everyone in this world is quite as powerful as us. There are quite few. The Aerie call people on our level juggernauts and elders and ancients are supposed to be even above that. I have been very lucky to find a partner like Astra. Not only for political power but also for physical abilities.”

Astra cleared her throat and I received a prompt in our private UI chat.

“… and of course, I love her,” I added.

She smiled. “Which shouldn’t have been necessary to clarify, given that we already have three children!”

“I thought as much shouldn’t have been necessary to state explicitly!” I countered.

Gunnar almost tripped when he processed what Astra said. “Wait. Three? You only mentioned one so far!” He scanned Astra’s figure from top to bottom. “How are you doing that, woman? Can you make them on an assembly line?”

Astra linked arms with me and used the other to hook in with Gunnar. “Not quite, but close. Mutations make it possible. Why don’t we go back to the bunker till the next crisis arises? There is a lot you two have to talk about.”

I grunted, not quite convinced, but I allowed myself to be dragged forward.

Gunnar nodded. “Yes, yes. I still didn’t get the chance to make proper amends. Forgive me if I say this in advance, but in my unworthy opinion, Astra is a keeper, Magnus. If you ever let her run off I will be quite cross with you.”