”As much as things change, some things remain the same. Romance remains a popular subject in all kinds of media, and nearly all races tell stories of love and lust. They all have their own slant on it of course, as their values are very different. A more conservative race might have legends of pure love and courtship, while a less inhibited race might tell legends of their heroes sleeping their way through the galaxy. Naturally, the subject of romance between members of different species also comes up on occasion. The subject remains a popular one in the imaginations of many despite the many hurdles. Perhaps the hurdles are a major part of the fantasy. Forbidden romance has its own charm after all.

Despite the popular theories and the tropes in media, most species are incapable of procreating with other species. Forget the obvious genetic issues, most species don’t even reproduce in the same way. Even if they do, that doesn’t mean their ‘bits’ fit together. The stories of a dashing Captain of a spaceship romancing their way across the galaxy and leaving behind a bevy of progeny is fortunately quite impossible. Even the romancing part is supremely unlikely as the tastes of different races are different and acting on the romance physically would require the person to be able to change shapes. Yet despite these obvious facts, the topic remains a stable source of rumors and stories.”

- High Ambassador of the Mrrroww

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Lilly’s paws were on her face in a gesture of just having found something juicy. It was obvious to everyone that paid attention to her that she had misunderstood Selendil’s gesture completely. Luckily for Lilly, no one was really paying attention to her. Almost no one. With a slightly raised eyebrow, Amaterasu looked towards Selendil. "I'm going to have to ask for a bit of clarification. Do you mean me specifically, and in what context? Your gesture could be interpreted in many ways, and I’m fairly sure your Mrrroww assistant has already developed a rather awkward misunderstanding.”

Selendil chose to ignore Lilly completely. “You are the one who tracked the ship here, yes? I can sense that my assumption is correct, as you’re the only one in this group that has the capacity to come even close to entering the universal consciousness. That means you have abilities that I might find useful.”

Amaterasu noted that Selendil had not answered her questions fully, but now she had even more questions of her own. Universal consciousness? Was that the magnificent thing she had been so close to touching? She pulled out the focus she had used to track Miyo from below her robes and the pendant now hung openly on her chest. “I’m not sure I can take full credit. We did utilize this after all.”

Selendil made a small wave with her hand which caused the pendant’s lock to click open behind Amaterasu’s neck and the pendant floated to Selendil’s waiting hand. This spooked Amaterasu quite badly as she had not felt Selendil’s powers moving around her. She had sensed nothing despite the lock touching the skin of her neck. She had realized that the Dhar in front of her was much more powerful than her, but not being able to sense anything was much worse. It meant that the other party could snap her neck without her sensing anything before it was too late.

“Humm, it seems this is one of the basic focuses we used. Rather good craftsmanship, although nothing too out of the ordinary. It’s damaged though. It would be bad if you used this for too long in its current state.” Selendil murmured. With another gesture, the pendant floated above the table and seemed to come apart as the metal holding the crystal in place bent and released its grip on the most important piece.

Amaterasu felt conflicted as the pendant was one of the relics the Illum held something akin to sacred, but the item had originally belonged to the Dhar. That's what made it sacred in the first place. So it would a bit gauche to ask for it back, especially if Selendil's words about it being damaged were true. What happened next ensured she stayed silent. Suddenly the crystal started peeling off layers like an onion and the inner surface of every layer was filled with small runes. The runes were not visible from the outside; the crystal only seemed a little smoky. As the whole crystal was peeled away, the layers floated in the air above them and seemed to be enough to cover the entire room. There were tens of thousands of runes.

“I see.” Selendil suddenly stated. “Some of the runes are damaged. It makes the power flow a little wrong when the focus is used. Likely damage from time and exposure to elements. It’s easy to fix.”

Suddenly a few dozen runes seemed to start glowing and they seemed to become more defined and sharper in their lines. After a few moments, the crystals seemed to glow as a whole and it started reforming. In less than twenty seconds the crystal was intact again and looked a little clearer. It floated back in place inside the metal settings and the pendant then fell into Amaterasu’s hand. “There. Now it should be safe to use.” Selendil said simply.

Amaterasu could sense Miyo's psionic signature still inside the focus, which meant that Selendil had removed it during the repairs, kept it intact, and then re-inserted it back inside the crystal. Just inserting the signature inside the crystal the first time had exhausted several of Illum’s Deities, and now Selendil had done much more and apparently without much effort. “Thank you, but shouldn’t you keep this? It belongs to your people after all.”

Selendil shook her head. “My people have no need for it anymore. Besides, I have plenty more where that came from. Just my armor alone has a dozen much higher quality foci. Anyway, back to what you said. It is true that the focus made things easier for you, and I accidentally helped you as well, but you made the connection because you have the ability, and it was not granted to you by the focus. I have need for individuals that possess that ability, and I've only met one other being aside from you that qualifies. You have stated what you need from me, and I've stated my condition for that service. Now you're the one that has to decide. It should be obvious though that you stand to gain from this, and not just due to the favor you asked for originally."

Amaterasu knew Selendil was right. She would get to observe Dhar technology from close and even interact with it while it was fully operational. She would also learn many secrets of the universe just by being in Selendil’s company, and that’s even without all she could learn about the Dhar by asking endless questions. The Dhar were important to the Illum as almost godlike figures and serving alongside one was an honor beyond anything she had ever imagined. There was just a slight problem.

"I'm not personally adverse to the idea; in fact, I would be honored," Amaterasu noted that the Mrrroww girl had a weird look on her face for some reason but decided to ignore that for now. “There is a slight issue though. I’m a leader among my people. I would need to make some preparations and I would need to know how long I will be gone.”

“I don’t really care about such ranks, but you can have some time to arrange matters. The ship isn’t leaving quite yet as we need more qualified crew members. We are not planning on staying here for too long though, and I will do my part of this bargain only when you do yours. As for how long it will take, it’s impossible to say. It could be a year or it could be centuries. I would plan for a long stay though. We might be able to allow you to return periodically if we find certain materials, but that’s not something that will happen overnight.” Selendil countered.

Just because this Illum woman was joining them, that didn’t mean all the positions were magically filled. In fact, she wasn’t even entirely sure what position the woman would be a good fit for. The woman had mentioned being a leader, so maybe the first officer? If not, she might surprise everyone and turn out to be a good cook. That would be the next best thing. It might even be better in the long run.

“Boss, maybe a few of her companions could be a good fit? They seem competent and it’s always better to have more than one individual from a race. Otherwise they might feel lonely.” Lilly suddenly suggested. She had noticed how briskly the Handmaidens had responded to Amaterasu’s commands and gestures. That spoke volumes of their training. She was also aware that the Illum were generally quite competent as far as Humans went. If these were the handpicked servants of the Empress, then they must be especially competent. She still couldn’t quite fathom that Amaterasu was actually an Empress, or that she had knelt in front of her employer.

“Ah, good point. If some of your servants are especially useful then they can tag along.” Selendil agreed. This whole process was getting on her nerves and if the new cook, she hoped, could make things go faster, then all the better.

That possibility actually made things easier for Amaterasu. “I’ll see to it. I think we have a preliminary agreement at least. As such, could I ask some questions? It might make things easier in the long run.”

Selendil had expected this. If the other party knew of her nature then of course they would have questions. She wasn’t averse to answering some, while others she would most definitely not answer. She certainly wouldn’t answer them in a way that allowed for eavesdropping though, so she replied in the language that Amaterasu had first used to greet her, the common language of the Eternal Empire. “Fine, but this is not the place or the company. I can answer some of your questions, but your servants and the cat don’t need to know. Come, I’ll take you somewhere we can talk more privately. Tell your servants to stay.”

She got up with Amaterasu, and the latter waved for the Handmaidens to stay while Selendil addressed Lilly. “Keep up with the recruitment. I’m going to give this one a tour of the ship.”

“Hey, I haven’t gotten a tour yet either!” Lilly protested, but before she could say more, Selendil placed a finger on Amaterasu’s shoulder and they both vanished in a bright flash of light. “I knew those two had something going on. My senses are impeccable. There was definite chemistry there.” Lilly continued fully convinced of her own deduction, completely missing the incredulous looks of the Handmaidens around her. This was just like the novels she was always reading! A wandering Deity and a neglected member of some royal family having a secret rendezvous was a popular topic in a certain type of fiction usually not available for children.

--------

Kurnau counted the Shinzen units that were passing below her. The number and the type of enemies were important, as it would determine if she and her compatriots had the power to take them out and disappear within the jungle before reinforcements arrived. It would also be bad if they took too many casualties during the ambush. They were already low on manpower as most of the Mrrroww besides the Panthers had perished in battle.

The jungle was the perfect terrain for the Panthers to conduct guerilla warfare. The whole jungle was filled with life and sources of heat that both confused sensors, and the Panthers were experts in hiding and performing ambushes. It also helped that they could actually fight without mechanized suits. Most Mrrroww used mechanized suits and a certain type of powered armor in battle, which did make them rather dangerous opponents. It didn’t help much when the skies were filled with flying enemies though, and those suits were horrible when it came to hiding and moving in difficult terrain like the jungle. The jungle canopy made flyers rather useless as well.

Most of this patrol was made up of Type-G Shinzen. Type-G was the official designation, while the more commonly used term was ‘Grunt’. They were armored and bi-pedal beings roughly shaped like humanoids. The armor changed color according to the terrain, and the Grunts were usually armed with fairly standard small arms like rifles that fired bolts of plasma or some corrosive substance, as well as grenades. Kurnau liked the grenades as she could trigger them from distance, which always wreaked havoc among the enemy.

Despite their designation as Grunts and their large numbers, these enemies were not easy opponents. They worked together flawlessly and wordlessly, and the bloody things seemed to learn quickly as well. Every battle they fought the enemy got better. They no longer fell for the same tricks either. That didn't mean you couldn't trick the enemy, as you could never prepare for everything, but it was becoming harder every time.

The real problem was their defensive ability though. It was the same with every Shinzen. The armor of these grunts wasn’t anything spectacular. In fact, it would be more accurate to call it a carapace, as it was also the outer layer of skin of these beings and could not be removed. They had dissected a few dead enemies and confirmed that. These were beings bred for combat and nothing else as they would be unable to function in any normal life situations. No, the real problem was that each Shinzen was capable of projecting a field of protective energy around them. They would not be able to keep it up constantly, which made the element of surprise extremely important, but it could be raised in a second and it protected them from a certain amount of harm.

Now having a protective field wasn’t all that uncommon. Most of the more advanced mechanized suits of the Mrrroww had a personal shield and nearly every psion was trained to erect a protective field with their powers. Even those psions that didn’t have the required talent used some sort of focus or an assistant device that granted them the reduced version of the ability. That still meant that these fields were reserved for relatively high-end forces. This enemy broke that rule as every Shinzen had one. And perhaps even more problematic was the fact that apparently the more powerful a Shinzen was the stronger the protective field. When they dissected one of the grunts they found a core of some sort inside. They assumed the core was responsible, but the biology of Shinzen was complex, to say the least. In any case, it seemed that the more advanced the Shinzen, the more powerful their core.

Luckily these Grunts were still manageable and the heavier Shinzen units were unable to enter the jungle. Kurnau gave the signal and simultaneously used her psionics to trigger the grenades the Grunts were carrying. At the same time, dozen of shots fired at the enemy, and almost as many Shinzen fell. Only two of the grenades exploded though. “Dammit, they are learning again. Some of the grenades are dummies!” Kurnau cursed and dove in the middle of the surviving Shinzen patrol and spun around as blades of psionic energy materialized around her, slicing into the enemy. Several mines they had placed also exploded to disrupt the enemy formation.

Despite her efforts, some of the enemies managed to return fire. Most of the Panthers had the brains to move to cover after they had fired their first shots. Any Panthers that were not smart enough had already died. Still, Kurnau saw one of her compatriots fall in a hail of plasma bolts while another got their paw corroded off by a stray projectile. The battle took less than twenty seconds. They had taken down three dozen Grunts and lost two of their own with three more injured. Not a worthy trade. These Grunts would be replaced quickly, but every Panther they lost was one they would not get back. Additionally, they didn’t have too many of the mines left as they got no replacements for their ordnance. They had started out using cheaper alternatives as traps but those no longer worked.

“Carry the wounded and scatter. We will meet back at the camp.” Kurnau gave the order. The trade might not have been worth it but it was one they still had to make. They couldn’t allow the Shinzen patrols to freely range inside the jungle. Those patrols might run into the civilians they had hidden away.

“I still don’t understand why the enemy doesn’t just burn the entire jungle down.” One of the veteran fighters muttered. “I’m glad they don’t, but I’m still left wondering.”

"You don't want to know," Kurnau replied with a grimace. She knew why. Or at least she knew some of the reasons. There were several and she likely didn’t know all of them, but she knew some.

“How bad could it be?” The guy asked.

“Let’s start with the easiest to swallow reason. Haven’t you noticed that the enemy is getting better every time? This despite the fact that we kill all of them. That means that despite the fact that the entire patrol gets wiped out, the rest of the bloody things learn. They are using us for training. Otherwise, they would've sent stronger enemies our way a long time ago. Even if the fliers can't enter the jungle, any of the high-ranked Shinzen could make a short work of our hunting packs. If they really wanted to, they could've killed all of us a long time ago.” Kurnau explained.

“That’s…not very comforting. I’m guessing the things they learn here will be used against the rest of our people.” The guy didn’t ask for further explanation, which was good. Kurnau had been part of an attack on one of the so-called ‘factories' where these grunts were created and the sight haunted her dreams. There was a reason the Shinzen liked to maintain the biodiversity of a planet. It was part of the process of creating more of these enemies.

“How long can we keep this up? How long do we have to keep it up? We aren’t getting any closer to victory if the enemy isn’t even taking us seriously.” Another hunter asked Kurnau. Similar sentiments had started to sprout among the survivors. They were skilled, but fights like this were taking a toll on their psyche.

"We're not fighting for victory," Kurnau replied simply. “Even if the Shinzen packed up and left tomorrow, over 90% of all our military forces and civilians on the planet are already dead or in enemy hands, which might be worse. That would not be a victory. No, we’re fighting for survival, and we’re fighting to buy time. The High Command will be retaking the planet at some point. We have to try and survive until then. Besides, if we go down, I want to take as many of these bastards with me as I can!”

Her words were meant as encouragement and they worked as such. The problem was that they worked only for now. She might have dispersed the negative thoughts for a moment and put some fire in the bellies of these warriors, but how long would it last? She was shocked that the High Command had not already retaken the planet. How did the enemy even get here in the first place? There were too many unknown things. If help didn’t arrive soon, then no speech would be able to help. Once morale was lost, everything would be lost.

Kurnau might be able to survive for a while on her own, but that was only if the enemy didn’t send any of the new really powerful beings after her. She had observed the battle in orbit from the ground and had seen the enemy in action. She had no illusions about surviving an encounter with the handful of powerful enemies she had seen. Even now one of those beings was blocking any attempt she made to contact the High Command using her telepathic abilities. If she was unable to contact the High Command, then no one else would be able to do so either. Maybe the High Command thought everyone on the planet was already lost and that’s why they were taking their time? If that was the case then they would be screwed. Too bad her pep-talks did nothing to increase her own morale.