A speech and a meeting

Clearing the temple steps of the bodies took a surprisingly long time. Dustin noted the neat holes piercing each cranium - but opted not to say anything. For starters, he wasn’t sure how Defia would react to being told off, and even if the locals couldn’t understand the language they were using, they could probably tell if his tone was anything less than respectful to the person they considered to be a living god. Additionally, the rogue Fractal had a speech to make, and he didn’t want anything getting in the way of that.

The timing ended up being perfect. By the time the last of the bodies had been moved and the blood washed from the temple steps the first light of dawn was rising over the horizon. Defia ascended back to the very pinnacle of the temple and looked out over the assembled throng - those in the temple complex who had surrendered, visitors from the nearby villages who had answered the summons that Dustin’s allies had put out, and a fair number of travellers who had merely happened to be here at the time of the attack. That last group were the most surprising to Dustin - he’d not realized that the temple complex also contained inns for the purpose of allowing travellers to rest overnight on longer journeys.

In any case, the massed group were a mixture of nervous, defiant and jubilant as Defia’s black and red face turned to slowly gaze across the crowd. For once, her voice didn’t start with one of her vocal tics; she’d gone over what to say with Emely at length and so the only inhuman thing about her speaking was the sheer volume; her voice echoing across the temple complex as if coming from a loudspeaker.

“Children of the air, heed my words.” Defia’s tone was far more caring than Dustin had ever heard it; he wondered just how much time she’d spent with the Feliax woman to coach her sing-song voice into such a clear form. “The false gods, fallen from their place in the night sky have been driven back. Their worshipers have been defeated by those who saw the light of the stars clearly. As a vanishing one, I speak with you now on the eve of revolution. Those who were my kin, gods-who-fell to your world will soon be banished from whence they came. But the future remains uncertain. You must seize the chance you have been given, and work to make this world a place that can be welcomed among the children of the stars. My assistants here will guide you on your first steps before we depart. But today, we mark the dawn of the new age!”

There were a mixture of cheers, some eager, some quizzical, but the general consensus was upbeat as Defia went on to outline an end to sacrificial rites and a few of the technological advancements “she” (that is, Meli and Rye after a lot of discussion with Emely) wanted to put in place before she returned to the stars. As the rogue Fractal reached the end, the rest of the team went into action; Meli and the others having already pinpointed and positioned members of the group they’d led to take the temple among the crowd to lead the thronging masses in separate directions to receive further instruction from Sola’s crew.

Dustin was largely unneeded for the remainder of the day, and so spent it alternating between dropping in on the various workshops, discussing tactics with those among the local population that were to be trained up to act as generals, and napping after the business of the previous night. He wasn’t entirely tired - the combination of combat adrenaline and the news of Meli’s pregnancy kept him buzzing, but he knew some downtime would be needed if he was to be any use later on.

The hardest part of his day was speaking with the families of those that had died. While the two attacking forces had only lost three people between them (with a half dozen or so more nursing injuries), a testament to both Rye’s weapons and the speed of their attack, the guards had lost far more even if you ignored the ones Defia had executed. While the **** loyalists had all been wiped out, those who had just been doing guard work for a job often had relatives or loved ones, and Dustin took it upon himself as both the leader of one of the squads and a child of the stars to speak with everyone he could. Grieving families were not an easy thing to handle, but by the time evening fell he’d managed to speak with all of them and offer if not comfort at least an assurance that time would heal their loss.

Evening fell again with work on repairing the damaged wall well under way and a guard posted. While Sola’s sensors would alert them to any really large troop movements, smaller forces might go undetected, and spies could be a problem. Dustin sighed as he closed the door to the shuttle they’d brought over to serve as a private meeting and dining room for the crew; today they needed to discuss things without even the loyalist of the local elders overhearing.

“So, ya got us all together to talk about what’s next, right Dusty?” Rye said, lounging against one wall before kicking her heel against it and heading toward the automat. “Wish we had some of Nae-nae’s grub right about now, ready meals are really grating after good home cooking every night. So, what’s on the agenda for today, nerd?”

Meli sighed and glanced up from her tablet. “A few matters, Rye. Firstly, we have the matter of our next target - we should have a clear one to present to the elders. Then, there is the matter of Defia’s… tidying up of the residual loyalists last night. We also have to make a clear exit plan to allow us to continue on our mission; the team coming to take over the uplift process won’t arrive for at least two more weeks so we have to decide if we’re rotating to the ship or staying here for the duration. Then there’s the question of the other Fractal base, if and when we should attack that. And finally, there was the question Aricia asked Dustin yesterday.”

At that point, Emely leaned forward and stared pointedly at Meli’s abdomen. “I think there’s another order of business, first, matriarch. You and sir left a very interesting tablet lying around after your little session last night, and I was tidying up and well…” Rye’s eyes widened as she picked up on the Feliax woman’s meaning, and the Rabyth began to glance rapidly between Dustin and Meli.

Defia tilted her head to one side. “Statement. Additional unit production is a cause for discussion?” Her matter-of-fact tone caused the bunny girl to break into a fit of giggles, which then lead to further puzzlement on the part of the Fractal until Yril’k took her to one side and explained. Bleu shook her head at the entire thing, before gesturing vaguely skyward. “Well, that settles at least part of one of the questions on the agenda.” The Queri medic said, her face taking on an amused expression.

Rye blinked away the tears in her eyes and glanced at the azure woman. “What do ya mean, bubbles?” She asked. Dustin was pretty sure he had an idea of the reason - and indeed, was proven correct a moment later when Bleu replied. “I mean, as far as rotating crew goes. Dustin will need to return to the ship at some point in the next week, or we risk Trea’k taking the decision to land it on top of us to get to her mate. Honestly, the fact that she has held off of demanding children of her own so long is nothing short of miraculous given her physiology; she’s going to start going crazy as soon as she hears about Meli’s pregnancy.”

Dustin winced at that, glancing at Yril’k as he did so. The Vex’ess warrior returned the look and then waved one hand dismissively. “I have not yet told my la… the envoy’k of your impending fatherhood’k. She is my friend’k, and she would suffer otherwise’k. I recommend you take Rye’k back with you when you go’k however. For… support’k.” That more or less settled both the matter of the pregnancy and the rotation of crew; there was a little more debate but the remainder of planning for which people would go on and off of the planet would be hammered out over the next day. Similarly, the business of their next target for the revolution was a handled with a quick discussion, while any decisions regarding an attack on the last Fractal facility were postponed until they had better organised their revolutionary army.

That lead to two remaining issues - Defia’s actions, and Aricia’s question. Dustin opted to go for the easier one first - a simple show of hands on whether they felt Defia had acted excessively. To his surprise, only Emely and Meli voted against the rogue Fractal. “It was a clean and efficient **** with no suffering, significantly better than they deserved.” Bleu opined, adding “We’d likely have had to either execute them anyway or the locals would have started building bonfires. It wasn’t just sacrifice they were involved in; I’ve had to treat a range of injuries I didn’t expect among the residents of the complex.” The woman’s azure colour had abyssal strands of anger running through it as she spoke, and Dustin opted not to press the issue.

With that, they decided the matter closed, although Dustin did extract a promise from Defia that she would speak with Trea’k with him present at some point to go over her reasons for the mass-culling of their enemies, more to preserve his own sanity than for anything else. Which just left Aricia’s request to join them on their onward journey.

Emely spoke first, her voice far more contemplative than Dustin was expecting. “When you first told me about it, sir, my default response was going to be no.” She said, to his surprise. “It goes against protocols, she’s from a pre-industrial civilization, she’s also a trauma victim… professionally, my advice is still to let her down gently. However, personally I’d like her to come along. She’s fascinating to watch.” The fox girl’s eyes dilated slightly, her tails twitching in an oddly predatory manner. “I think it’s her wings, they sparkle.”

Opting to take the Feliax woman’s thoughts as undecided, Dustin turned to Meli. “Take her with us” his wife said simply, adding “we are breaking all the rules regularly anyway. And she will benefit more from Trea’k than she will be harmed by the culture shock. Also, you want to take her along in order to help her, which tells me it’s the right thing to do.”

Meli’s words were subject to a nod of agreement from Rye, while Bleu gave a shrug. “Fuck the rules?” The doctor said when pressed, adding “I would prefer to monitor her long term physically; that Fractal pod used a method of suspended animation that I’m still trying to decipher fully, even with Defia’s assistance.” That just left Yril’k, who raised one arm in a vague salute. “I will follow my captain’s orders’k. But I believe’k that the councilor would wish’k to take her with us. Naera’k as well.” Dustin sighed. “So thats everyone either in favor or neutral about it. Alright then, I’ll tell her the good news in the morning.”