Mana'aktoo stood outside on the grass of his contemplation yard, enjoying the scent of the flowers, the sound of water in the fountain, and the ease that the landscaping brought to him. He lifted up the flower he was holding and sniffed at the scent of it.

It had been a month since the Terran Confederate Space Force had arrived in the system and conquered it.

He had watched the Terrans closely, as closely as they would allow him. He was a governmental officer for an enemy nation after all. Under house arrest, brought out to allow others to see that he was alive and that the Terrans weren't despots.

Several times the people of the system had demanded 'proof of life' as they had called it, asking the Terrans to allow one of their news reporters to interview Mana'aktoo to ensure that he hadn't been taken out back of his fancy manor and shot in the back of the head.

Still, the Terrans moved quickly. They were going through years of files, digging out secrets, ferreting out information, quickly expanding their knowledge of the system, quickly examining the two races that inhabited the system.

The Maktanan evolved on the system. They were small, hairy, with small wide-set eyes, two legs, two arms, a tail, and plant chewing teeth. They were curious, intelligent, and enjoyed celebrations as well as ironic and juxtapositional comedy. They had managed to create the radio, heard the signals from a nearby system, and talked back to that planet.

Thirty years later they had been conquered by the Unified Council and for the last hundred they had been neo-sapient wards of the Unified Neo-Sapient's Council. They had resisted heavily. Everything from passive resistance where they just did not comply, often laying about their houses all the way to propaganda against the Lanaktallan. They had not engaged in violence, but they were still considered a 'difficult race in need of gentling' by the Unified Council.

This had given the Unified Council a plan. The Carikan were another difficult species. Not because of anything they had done but because their planet had suddenly started suffering destabilization and the entire race needed moved.

The Carikan were another small race, this one a flightless avian with long legs and two different sets of hands. One at the mid-point of the wings and the others, with longer and flatter fingers, at the end of the wings. The Carikan were happy to be moved and oddly enough, got along with the Maktana, their senses of humor matching well.

The two races were still being intermingled when Mana'aktoo had arrived. The system had been in a shambles. The six corporations were screaming about their profits, the military was in terrible condition, resources were not being properly extracted, and the government workers had all been angry at being sent to a system so far away from the Core Systems and were taking out their anger on the dual populace, the military, the corporations, each other, and everyone else they could reach.

When Mana'aktoo had arrived, the petty time servers and clock punchers had dared to march into his office with 'the way it would be' and that Mana'aktoo needed to 'get with the program or it would be worst posting in the universe.'

On paperwork, 40% of the government had resigned and left.

Reality was quite different.

The military had arrived and told Mana'aktoo how it would be. Several of their officers wearing their sidearms to the meeting and tapping the weapons with their fingers.

Afterwards the officers resigned enmasse and left to the Core Worlds.

On paper.

The six corporations had confronted Mana'aktoo.

Two had had gone backrupt and their officers fled. The other four had divested themselves of their boards and executives and swore to that fact to all the Unified Corporate Council inspectors.

Because they knew what was good for them.

Within twenty years the systems was a paradise. The four remaining corporations were not bankrupt according to the Unified Stock Market, but they were close to it. Their stock was bottomed out and they had been forced to purchase it back.

Mana'aktoo had presided over all of it like the benevolent deity he was.

Which is why Mana'aktoo had kept his rear facing eyes on the Terrans even as he trotted about his estate, reading books, watching movies, and helping his mother and sisters plan lavish parties to welcome the Terrans and try to get to know them.

He knew the Terrans would reply to the invitations.

The Terran Legal Code allowed for dueling over matters of honor and pride and insult.

Which meant the Terran officers would be forced to attend his mother and sister's parties to avoid giving any insult.

He loved his mother. He really did. He accepted that society viewed her as little more than breeding stock and her education reinforced that. While she could not discuss the Nine Values with him, her knowledge of societal customs and norms and etiquette was wide spread and in-depth. He loved his mother dearly just as he loved his father, who was often befuddled about how his life's circumstances had been so radically altered by his strange son.

But his mother he loved despite what Mana'aktoo felt had been stolen from her somehow.

His sisters were the same. Their education had been how to be a proper wealthy Lanaktallan's wife and how to be a socialite once he had enriched the family enough to move them to the top rung of society. His hard working sisters who had devoted so much effort to their classes had been moved from technical and labor force training, which they had enjoyed and done so well learning, to how to properly be Lanaktallan upper caste females.

Just the memory of his littlest sister moving from classes regarding computer network systems to 'societal planning' made him clench his jaw for a moment.

Yes, he had hired tutors for his sisters and mother, who had taught them in the dead of night, in darkness and secrecy, as if the female members of his family had been learning to make atomic weapons and planning on...

He pushed his mind away from that thought, sniffing the flower in his hand.

His mother had invited the Terrans, his sister had invited the Terrans, to parties every night for the last month. The Terrans had arrived in full dress uniform with assistants and attaches.

Mana'aktoo had seen how many females were in the Terran military and always made sure the human females were reinvited, always ensured that his sister spoke to them about their responsibilities and their actions and where they had been, what they had seen, and what they had done.

Mana'aktoo was a benevolent deity but, like all powerful beings, he knew that there were others more powerful.

The Terran Admiral had made an appointment to meet with Mana'aktoo and it was time for the Admiral to arrive.

Punctual as an atomic clock, Mana'aktoo thought to himself, watching one of his well paid servants escort the Admiral across the lawn. The Admiral wasn't wearing his dress uniform, but instead his shi-board adaptive camouflage uniform and a heavy pistol on his belt. He only had two warborgs with him, both of them with amber eyes.

It massaged Mana'aktoo's ego that the warborgs were on guard against him and anyone who would attempt to harm the Admiral.

The Admiral moved over to Mana'aktoo, stopped and staring at the manicured green grass.

"We have some things to discuss, System Most High," The Admiral said slowly.

Mana'aktoo nodded slowly. "Indeed we do, Admiral."

There was silence for a long moment and Mana'aktoo knew the Admiral was carefully going over his thoughts.

Terrans were prone to action in words, deeds, and thoughts, but unlike the more impulsive species they were capable of reflection before word or deed.

Mana'aktoo appreciated the Admiral's obvious caution.

"How long until your plan was set in motion?" The Admiral asked.

Oh, straight and blunt and to the point. Like a dagger. Not in the back, not in the dark, but straight and true, Mana'aktoo thought.

"I have many plans, Admiral. I will require a bit more clarification than that," Mana'aktoo said. Outwardly he showed none of the anticipation he felt.

The Admiral turned his left palm up and a hologram was projected above it. Mana'aktoo enjoyed that and wished that he had such a device.

The hologram showed a crescent, the ends narrower than the thick curve at the top, with a sword bisecting the crescent from below, all in red.

"Does this symbol have any meaning to you?" The Admiral asked.

Mana'aktoo nodded. "Why yes, it does. The crescent is my own foreleg hoofprint," he said.

"And the sword?" The Admiral asked.

"To honor Kulamu'u and the valiant effort of the military, of course," Mana'aktoo said calmly. "And, of course, to remind those who come after that what they would have had been taken by the sword and could easily be taken away by the sword just as the red represents the blood spilled to take it as well as how their blood could be spilled to take it away."

The Admiral nodded. "It's not a Unified Council sigil. Nor is it the official symbol of anything in the system registry."

Mana'aktoo shook his head. "No, it would not be. Kulamu'u and I designed it ourselves."

The Admiral nodded slowly. "How many ground troops is this system listed as having according to your reports to the Unified Neo-Sapient's Council?"

Mana'aktoo spread his hands out in a human placating gesture. "Two point five million ground troops, two hundred thousand tanks, one hundred thousand aircraft, five hundred twenty wet-navy ships. A regrettable amount of troops that is a drain upon the system's economy but necessary to prevent any uprising of the local and imported people. It necessitates troops garrisoned in every town, village, city, and corporate facility as well as all industrial facilities."

"And corporate security forces?" The Admiral asked, staring at the sword and crescent icon.

"After the regrettable Corporate Rebellion I do not allow corporate military or security in the system for another twenty years," Mana'aktoo said, shaking his head in sorrow. "So, none."

The Admiral nodded. "Uh-huh. Back to the symbol," he held it up again. "Would you care to give me an explanation for why it is on every military uniform, military vehicle, and on many refineries, extraction facilities, and manufacturing plants?"

Mana'aktoo relaxed for a moment, breathing steadily, and then trotted around to look at the Terran with his forward facing eyes.

"Do you mind if I ask a few questions of you, Admiral, before I answer the question?" Mana'aktoo asked.

The Admiral nodded slowly. "Go ahead."

Mana'aktoo reached into the satchel that hung from a belt across his chest and pulled out a small holodisplay. He slowly set it down and stepped back, activating the interface. He brought up a simple equation, one that he had discovered in school.

"Do you know what that is, Admiral?" Mana'aktoo asked.

The Admiral squinted at it and two of the tiny LED's on his implant lit up.

"It's the formula that describes jumpspace harmonics at higher frequency bands. It's used to allow a ship to use the medium and high bands of jumpspace," The Admiral said.

Mana'aktoo shook his head. "No. It's gibberish. It's flawed, and cannot be part of the jumpspace mechanics mathematics because what it shows is impossible and depends upon a flawed understanding of interdimensional barriers. It is an automatic failure for any advanced physics class."

The Admiral frowned. "It's been common knowledge in my civilization for thousands of years. It was actually discovered before we made our first jumpspace trip."

Mana'aktoo wiped it away. "Do you know, Admiral, how many advancements that the Lanaktallans, and through them the Unified Councils, have come up with in the last twenty million years?"

The Admiral shook his head.

"None, Admiral. Not a single one. In twenty million years not a single scientific, artistic, cultural, or social advancement. I believe that there has been regression in many fields. My race, I believe, has been stagnant for tens of millions of years. For hundreds of thousands of generations," Mana'aktoo said. He felt anger rise up and quickly smothered it, breathing deep a few times till the trembling left his limbs.

"My mother taught me n-Space mechanics when I was a child, Admiral. My older sister taught me to read before my forward eyes opened. Now their entire intellect, their entire purpose, is parties, social gatherings, societal politicking, and social climbing," Mana'aktoo said slowly. "My father is a caring man, who feels deeply, who considers what others must feel and might want. He taught me that the needs and wants of others are just as important to them as my own are to me and to consider others."

Mana'aktoo tossed the flower into the pond and trotted in a slow circle, ending up facing the Admiral, who had been silent the entire time.

"I love my parents. I love my siblings. In school, in my life, I have done everything I can to bring them up with me. Unlike my peers, I have not abandoned them when they were inconvenient. Kulamu'u is the same. His family elders are within this system, Lanaktallan who have difficulty walking at times due to their advanced age," Mana'aktoo stated slowly. "He did not consign them to an end of life facility, he cares for them in his own house. My spies have observed him listening to his elderly patron talking about things long ago to people who are since passed, respectfully."

Mana'aktoo turned slightly to look at the fountain. "Do you understand what I am telling you, Admiral?"

The Admiral nodded slowly. "I believe so. It explains the vast amounts of hidden ships and war machines you have, the fact that the amount of troops you have on record is a fraction of what have reported to the POW processing facility."

"Then say it. I need to hear it," Mana'aktoo said.

"You were going to go to war with your own people," the Admiral said. "I've seen your invasion plans."

It was the Admiral's turn to walk around the fountain before stopping in front of Mana'aktoo.

"Kulamu'u had trained his people, and the two of you made your plans, to accept thirty percent casualties if that is what it took. I've looked over your plans," The Admiral shook his head. "Do not take this wrong, but you would have failed. Like myself, you don't have the troops you need to garrison thousands of worlds, don't have the ships to patrol all the worlds. Your plans also assumed the enemy was going to react the way you theorized."

The Admiral pointed at Mana'aktoo. "It didn't take into account Lanaktallan like yourself."

"Or you," Mana'aktoo said. He squeezed his own hands for a moment then looked at the Terran. "What do you plan on doing about it all?"

The Terran shook his head. "I'm not going to kill everyone and fill up any mass graves," the Admiral gave him a pointed look and Mana'aktoo knew that the Admiral knew what had happened in the early years. "I'm going to put the military equipment in storage, slowly reintegrate your troops back into society after the war."

He sighed. "Your gamble paid off well. I will be remaining here, with a staff and enough naval support to make sure nobody acts up or can easily push us out of the system, but the rest of the Task Force will be proceeding."

The Admiral let the hologram vanish and dropped his hand. "But, I want you to know something."

"What?" Mana'aktoo asked.

"Our war? It isn't against your people. It isn't even with the people who support your government or even with all of your government. Our war is with those who prosecuted this war, who decided that biological weapons were a viable way of attacking us by surprise. We aren't going to mass slaughter you," The Admiral said.

"And the 1% Line?" Mana'aktoo asked. "That policy seems to put your words in doubt."

The Admiral sighed. "That, Governor, is entirely up to your people."

Mana'aktoo turned away from the Admiral, facing the fountain. "Entropy has arrived, it comes not quietly sipping away at everything, but with thunder, lightning, and roars of rage. We have brought entropy upon ourselves and there shall be no-one to weep for us," Mana'aktoo quoted.

The Admiral nodded. "The Previnian. Yes."

It was silent for a long moment before the Admiral slowly walked away.

Mana'aktoo stood and stared at the water.

I am a benevolent deity, but I am capable of wrath. It is better these Terrans, this youthful species, deliver their own wrath than I bring forth my wrath, he thought to himself.

"Manny?" a female voice asked from behind him.

Mana'aktoo turned and saw his eldest sister standing on the grass.

"Yes?" he looked her over. She was trembling slightly.

"The Admiral did not harm you, did he? I find him frightening," she said. Her eyes were wide and guileless, innocent and naive.

Mana'aktoo shook his head. "No, beloved sister, he did not."

"Oh, I'm glad," she said. She turned around and trotted back into the manor.

Mana'aktoo stood in the gathering darkness, trembling slightly in rage.

He wished he was a Terran. He wished he'd been born a Terran.

No, he wished his sisters and mother had been born Terrans.

But the Unified Councils should be glad he had not.

Like all benevolent deities, Mana'aktoo would have been terrible in his wrath.