Memory transcription subject: Recel, Kolshian Liaison

  Date [standardized aurigan time]: Fall 27, 1 AA

  Aafa was in chaos following Nikonus's confession. Like me, the general population was angry, though for all the wrong reasons. They accused their leaders of 'concealing predators' amongst them, and the School of the Flora was practically an active war zone, with kolshian teachers and students harassing and assaulting anyone they suspected of having been an omnivore. It was ironic that the 'civilized herbivores' were the first to throw stones.

  Jerulim had barricaded himself in his office, and ordered his own people to exterminate themselves. Nobody listened, and the news quickly galvanized the krakotl against the Federation. Their generals were smart enough to realize they were more like the aurigans than they previously thought, and that the First Coalition's plan was just as vile as what the Federation had done to the avians themselves.

  Nikonus tried to appease both sides of the uproar, and salvage the situation, but many people, including much of the kolshian military, decided to form a Second Coalition, one that vowed to exterminate all 'predator' species, including the Krakotl. Tens of thousands of ships were already massing on the Kolshian borders, ready to wage a crusade against the galaxy.

  My concerns though were with the undecided species, swaying them to the Aurigans' side was always the intent of my message, and now more than ever I felt the need to change hearts and minds, to make up for the sins of my species.

  The Sulean-Iftali Alliance immediately announced that they were siding with the newcomers, seeing the obvious parallels between their two species and the aurigans. Predator and prey, coming from the same world, collaborating despite their differences. It was well known that the two were already intwertwined culturally before the Federation even stepped foot on their planet, so it was easy for their representatives to come to the decision.

  The tilfish and the harchen declared they would surrender unconditionally after the revelation. Nikonus never named the harchen as a cured species, but it was obvious from his rant about manufacturing beliefs that Harchen folk tales were suspect at best. The tilfish, on the other hand, already had a sixth of their generals oppose the First Coalition, and the revelation pushed enough of them to the other side to sway the vote.

  The representatives from a few of the human-aligned species were currently meeting on an abandoned space station just outside of Aafa's sensor range, with the Mazic, Dossur, Harchen, Tilfish, and Iftali reprsentatives all being present. While Jerulim hadn't graced us with his presence, for obvious reasons, two of his personal guard were more than eager to attend. He was, for all intents and purposes, dead to his kin.

  "So this whole time we've been friends and allies with 'scavenger' species without knowing it. This just proves that the aurigans can be trusted." Quipa, the Mazic Vice President said, drawing me out of my own thoughts.

  "To think that our ancient texts were fabricated. It's insulting, vile! Is any part of our faith real?" The Iftali representative responded.

  "The Federation brainwashed all of us into thinking meat-eaters were evil. They manipulated and lied to us for centuries. Who knows what else they hid from us?" Dwirl, the Tilfish added.

  "We need to stop this Second Coalition, before more billions die needlessly." Cilany interjected. "The aurigans need all of our support, despite our clash with them. We can't survive against both the Arxur and this new Coalition on our own."

  The meeting was interrupted by the door opening, my 'shadows' stepping in with a gaggle of prey behind them. I recognized one as the missing Takkan ambassador, while the others looked like professors and students from the School of the Flora.

  "We rescued everyone we could, sorry for barging in, but we needed somewhere to unload them." The male spoke in a sing-song voice.

  Their entrance didn't do them any favors though, and everyone else there was instantly frightened. "W-What? Who are you? What are you doing here?" Quipa shrieked.

  "We're the Forgotten, kin of the Vaulters... We had to steal a freighter to do it, but we got as many of your people off-world as we could." The male forgotten snickered, addressing the gathered diplomats. I could see members of just about every aurigan-allied species in the posse, minus yotul, which I don't think were yet allowed into the School of the Flora. They were terrified, and mostly hiding behind the Takkan ambassador, which was instead very stoic, despite being bruised and battered.

  Dwirl immediately prostrated himself before the predators, getting down on his front legs. "Thank you for rescuing some of our people, gracious and merciful predators. Please accept our unconditional surrender. We forfeit our military to you and give you free reign of our worlds, we only ask to be spared and shown mercy. Let us at least keep our lives."

  "Oh get up, man. You're embarassing me, and yourself. I'm not an ambassador." The forgotten man said in a low voice, rolling his eyes. It was odd seeing them so up close, with their bodies in a state of limbo between flesh and shadow, and their eyes like pinpricks of light.

  "Y-yes. O-of course!" The tilfish chittered, straightening himself back up, backing away from the aurigan predators.

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  "What are we to do now?" The dossur diplomat asked. "It will be impossible for us to provide assistance to the aurigans with the Second Coalition around. They already threatened to shoot down any ships attempting to enter the Venlil-Zurulian-Gojid section of space. We can't even send a delegation over to talk to them!"

  "You won't need to send any delegations anymore." I spoke up, pulling out my pocket portal device. "This is an instant FTL communication device that relies on aurigan portal technology. You can use it to communicate directly with the Federacy's leaders."

  I placed the device on the table, and activated it. "This is Recel, anyone there?"

  "This is Captain Rill Kata. What news do you have for us, Recel?"

  "I'm here with some diplomats that would like to speak for their species, but they can't send delegations because the new Coalition would shoot them down. I was thinking this device would be best put in their hands. If that's... allowed."

  "Let me see if the First of the Bloodline is available. Give me a few minutes."

  "Good, good... Recel out."

  A few minutes later, Zolya's face was projected from the device. Her expression was dour, as she looked around the room. Especially when she saw the two forgotten in the corner.

  "What are you two doing? You weren't to reveal yourselves." The First asked, sounding more defeated than angry.

  "We had to save Recel's hide. No point in hiding from him anymore." The female of duo spoke up. I really needed to learn their names sooner or later.

  Zolya sighed. "Very well. We'll deal with the aftermath later." She then turned to the diplomats, and many of them shrank away from her gaze, only the mazic staying fully stoic, while the krakotl were looking at each other awkwardly.

  The mezari studdied the gathered group, taking note of who was here. "I'm glad to see the mazics and dossur are still commited to diplomacy. And I'm not surprised that the harchen and tilfish are here, seeing as they were amongst the few to abandon the First Coalition. But I am surprised to see krakotls amongst you. I take it Jerulim's mad ramblings didn't win him any favors?"

  "The old man is a fool! How he can stay loyal to the kolshians is beyond me. I am Guajolim, this is Keljirim. We have no authority, but we're more than willing to defect, and convince others to as well. Those ectolan-headed bastards need to pay."

  "We're not looking for vengeance, we're looking to bring an end to their hostilities, there's a difference. That is our goal. But we welcome your assistance."

  "Excuse me! Oh supreme predator, I beseech your mercy humbly." Dwirl clicked his mandibles with adoration, getting low to the floor again, as he addressed Zolya. "I will see that all 1567 of our ships are turned over to you; anything we h-have, including our territory, is yours. Please accept the Tilfish’s unconditional surrender. Just let my people live!"

  "Your surrender is accepted. You may continue to govern yourselves and your worlds, we don't need your territory, we only ask that you don't attack us again."

  "Y-yes, and we also surrender. Unconditionally. Please just call off the arxur. We beg you." Raila then butted in, and the aurigan leader looked to the side, typing at a keyboard.

  "We'll see what we can do, we don't exactly control them. But we'll put in a word."

  "What do we do now?" Quipa asked, pacing nervously in place.

  "Now we go on the offensive. We'll retrofit allied ships with fold drives, to allow us to co-ordinate our fleet movements, and try our best to 'untrain' the fear response out of allied crews. After that, we go on the offensive, taking the fight directly to this Second Coalition."

  "I agree. It's time we took the fight to the Federation. We are not their playthings to mold to their liking." The Takkan ambassador spat. "We must work together to crawl out of this darkness. It's our only hope."

  "The Sulean-Iftali alliance is working on swaying dozens of others species to our cause." The Iftali ambassador added. "My Sulean brother is meeting with some of them now. We have a lot of work to do, but we hope that we can sway them to see the injustice. You have our full support."

  "Then we shall lend some of our own ships to the aurigans. And smuggle as many allies we can out of Federation space. The Presidium wants nothing to do with the kolshians." Quipa spoke up again. "...Present company excluded."

  I just sighed and walked off to clear my head, pushing past the rescues from the School of the Flora. I couldn't fault Quipa for her attitude towards my people, but it was hard to feel comfortable in my own skin knowing what they did. I wasn't directly responsible for any of it, but I'd unknowingly served their schemes for years, ever since I was a child. I was a good Federation officer. I believed their lies. Had things gone even slightly differently, would I still be like that? Would I be on one of those Coalition ships?

  Just one choice, a single event, could've changed everything. Maybe I never enlisted to begin with. Maybe I never served under Sovlin. Maybe I was off-duty the week he found Slanek. Had a single thing been different up until that point, I would've never gone down this path, and that thought scared me.

  "Are you ok, Recel?" Cilany's voice shook me out of my stupor, and I turned around to see her standing with her datapad close to her chest, practically hugging it. She seemed concerned, so I tried to wave a gesture of assurance with one of my tentacles.

  "I'm fine, yeah... Just needed to clear my head. This is a lot to take in."

  "I can't even imagine. You deserve a medal for all you've done, and a break. When we get back to Venlil Prime, you should request a leave of absence for a week or so."

  "We? You're not going with Raila to Fahl?"

  "No, I've decided to come with you. I want to learn more about the aurigans. They're what the Federation should have been, an alliance of sapients working together for their common good. I want to learn more about them."

  "Well, I'm sure Sovlin would like to see you again... I hope he didn't take poorly to the news. If they even revealed it to the public yet. I should... I should probably speak with him. Despite everything he did, you and I are the only people he still has in his life."

  "That would be a... difficult reunion. Knowing what I know now. He tortured a sapient, and held you at gun point."

  "I know. But I'm worried his guilt will eat him alive, especially knowing that gojids were omnivores."

  "Omnivore? I'm sorry, that word doesn't translate. What does it mean?"

  "Oh, it's an aurigan word, for species that eat both plants and meat. It means 'eats anything'."

  "Hmmm... that actually gives me an idea. I should write a story about how omnivores are like, interview the aurigans on the topic. It might help prey better understand them, as well as help cured species understand themselves."

  "That's not a bad idea actually. You should do that."

  Cilany paused for a moment stroking her lower jaw in thought. "Hmmm... Think you can get me an interview with the aurigan leader?"

  Hah, shrewd as ever.

  "I'll see what I can do, but I make no promises."