Krekilesh stood far above the battlefield, observing it with the eyes his subordinates had scattered in the skies above the planet. The heretics were indeed brazen and had organized themselves to reclaim their lost territory. It would seem a minor crusade would not be enough to fell these monstrous xenos. The resources for a second grand crusade just did not exist for now. They would have to stall these heretics for as long as possible. The goal was no longer to win, but to not lose.

Multirole Command Vessel ‘The Gringolet’ in orbit of Kipouen

Admiral Fletcher was exceptionally pleased. The Grand Arbiter had been discovered dead in her bunker, and the invasion of Kipouen was finally drawing to a close. There had been quite the debate on whether or not to cover up the suicide. Seeing as the Fleet had already planned a propaganda campaign around assassination and would need to retool their narrative to fit with reality. The choice had ultimately come down to his decision. He had chosen to go with the truth as utilizing actual truth made lying that much easier in the long run.

Credit for the discovery of the Grand Arbiters’ death had been given to a rebel operative by the name of ‘Joseph.’ Apparently, he didn’t have a surname, and most of his official records had been removed from the planet’s records, so unless he volunteered one, it would remain a mystery. Not that it mattered overly much to the Admiral. He made sure an offer to join the Avalon Fleet was extended as a baseline formality. If he did join, they would find something to keep him off the frontlines, so they could use him as a mouthpiece to up recruitment numbers on this planet later on down the road.

The news of The Grand Arbiter’s death had begun to spread and had resulted in the bulk of Kipouen’s military surrendering and was now cooperating both with forces from the Fleet and rebel cells to execute mop-up operations on extremist holdouts. The planetary government functionally did not exist, so all coordination was occurring through purely military channels, which rather ironically made things easier.

It was good that things were going so smoothly. He was going to leave behind a small patrol force of a destroyer and two frigates to keep the system safe. He’d received news that the previous colony, now known as Hephaestus, had nearly come under attack. The frigate he’d left behind would have been entirely insufficient. He knew now, of course, how that had happened. An infiltrator in the form of one of the Slugs had been aboard one of his vessels gathering information for quite some time. They had no way of knowing how much information was leaked. The officer in question had the knowledge necessary to cover his tracks, and the Slug that had infested his mind had utilized it well.

What’s more is the officer had passed all the standard tests they had to detect the parasites, only the most powerful scans revealed it. Which potentially meant a deeper level of infiltration than previously thought, which would allow for the faking of documents in the system. Investigations of the officer pool had already eliminated the possibility of high level infiltration, which left the unpleasant result of low level scans not being enough to detect the Slugs anymore. They were a troublesome species, and Admiral Fletcher would be pleased when they were eradicated.

He steered his mind away from that particular frustration. He had work to do. The Avalon had put the colony reclamation project on hold for the moment. He’d brought four new systems into the fold, and negotiations with their far-flung neighbors in the Helix Nebula were underway. A ship had been sent to act as an envoy and would report back regularly. All he had to do was finish up military operations here and return.

He’d unfortunately, had to return the POWs to get the military to cooperate, but it was a small price to pay. The mild disappointment at a lack of penal legions from this world was outweighed by the fact that they had an active military with a solid training program. This meant that future talks with their future government would certainly involve a tithe of military personnel to The Avalon to help sustain the war effort.

Speaking of which, the first session of the provisional government council would be happening soon. He’d been invited as a guest, so perhaps he could push for a small donation of manpower. It would certainly help to justify the cost of leaving behind three warships to garrison this system. Though once samples of the unique military technology this planet had developed made their way back to The Avalon, he doubted he’d have any issues justifying it. Their stealth technology, in particular, had diverged onto a different path than what The Avalon Fleet used. It, as well as several other technologies, had apparently been the result of a research lab that had been left behind by the old USA, which meant it would likely be possible to integrate into current hardware standards. He imagined that news would be quite exciting to many aboard The Avalon.

The mind of the Gringolet suddenly brushed against his implant and left behind a file for him. It caught him off guard, and he jumped at the unexpected intrusion. He shook it off, glad that he wasn’t on the command deck, and opened the file. It was of a soldier who had been severely wounded during the initial invasion. He had qualified to be offered a ‘Brain’ position and had accepted. This was quite good news, seeing as the complexities of modern warships required a higher order intelligence to run them. However, Artificial Sentients had proven themselves to be...unreliable. It was a task best left to a human mind, even if they did become somewhat strange after the conversion.

He added the news to the message drone that would be carrying a multitude of reports and data back to The Avalon. He appended his expectations for when he’d be able to leave the system and left orders to send the drone as soon as all the data had been transferred and checked. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a few minutes. He needed a bit of rest if he was going to be talking to politicians.

Kipouen

Dan had hardly been released from the custody of The Avalon Fleet, and he was already back in uniform and on a mission. He had no idea where Kazuo or any of the other members of his old Platoon were. Kazuo, at least, was probably still alive and just getting patched up. As for everyone else, it was perhaps better to not think of such things at the moment. After all, he wouldn’t want to distract himself from the job at hand.

He focused back on the task at hand and peered through his scope. A Colonel who was just a bit too loyal to the regime of the late Grand Arbiter was causing problems. Dan had been sent in to fix that problem. He was positioned on a rooftop just shy of two kilometers away from the base he had in his sights. He had his eye on a particular building that satellite footage had confirmed the Colonel entering. There was only one entrance and, therefore, one exit, so Dan waited.

He waited patiently, only the whisper of his breath to keep him company as the minutes passed. After just shy of half an hour, the door opened. Someone who was not the Colonel walked out. Dan kept his finger close to the trigger and was rewarded for his patience when a second individual exited. The slightest twitch made his rifle buck as the magnetically accelerated hunk of metal shot out at incredible speed.

The Colonel might as well not have existed for all that was left of him after it hit. Blood and gore covered the walls, and spikes of bone had actually injured the person in front of him. A job well done, Dan thought as he quickly packed his rifle and retreated into the building, reporting the successful kill as he did so. The only response was a set of coordinates, his pickup would already be on its way.

Dan hurried out of the building towards the coordinates. He did his best to keep his profile low and away from open areas as much as possible. He darted from alley to alley and finally reached the park that his coordinates led to. An Avalon Fleet shuttle was just landing as he sprinted across the road to reach the park. He got to the shuttle seconds after it touched down and boarded. The shuttle already began lifting off even as he slung himself into a seat and strapped in.

It was strange to be working alongside the military that had invaded his world, but Dan accepted it. He had never been one of the hardline patriots. He’d joined up with the military because he didn’t know how else to escape his family’s expectations. Turned out he had a knack for the occupation, and he didn’t really know what else he’d do at this point if he left. It might be worth thinking about again though. Change was in the air, and that rarely ended well for soldiers.

Dan exited the shuttlecraft leaving that thought behind him. The flight to base had been short-lived. He only hoped his debriefing would be as well. He reported back and found the commander he’d been temporarily assigned to. He was a gruff older man who was on the verge of retirement. He’d been put in charge of a whole mess of returned POWs whose units effectively no longer existed. The war hadn’t lasted long, but it had been more than long enough to make a mess of things.

Dan sat down and went over the mission. His commander asked pointed questions, but by his attitude, it was clear he wasn’t actually interested and was merely doing what was necessary. That was fine by Dan, he just wanted it to be over so he could shower and hit the bunk. He’d been deployed a kilometer away from his sniping position and had to sneak there on foot during the night. Then he’d had to stay on guard the whole night without a spotter to switch watches with. It had not been a pleasurable experience.

The debriefing ended not a moment too soon, and Dan got up to leave, but the commander put up a hand. “Before you leave, take this. New orders for you, they’ll take effect as of tomorrow. You’ll finally be rid of this old coot.” He smiled as he held up a tablet. Dan nodded and took the tablet to read the orders. They would also be sent to his inbox, but it was worth it to read them over with someone of higher rank present who could answer questions.

He was glad he did because the orders were for him to report to what had become The Avalon Fleet’s primary base of operations on the planet. He raised his eyebrow quizzically and looked up, handing the tablet back. “Any idea why I’m being stationed over there?”

The man smiled, “There’s been talks happening among the higher ups. You and a handful of other unlucky souls are going to be serving out the rest of your contracts with The Avalon Fleet. Once you’re finished up you’ll get all the benefits you’d normally get from military service here as well as from The Avalon. That includes a ride back here if you want and dual citizenship with The Avalon itself. The details will be in your inbox. Now go catch some winks, you’ll need them soldier.”

Dan just nodded and left the room. He was perplexed, but he supposed it could be worse. He could have been killed during the invasion after all. Dan decided it would be best to just not think about it too much. He only had two years left in his contract. With any luck, he’d get posted at a garrison or something. And with that, he dismissed the thoughts of his transfer and cleaned himself up before slamming into his bed. Tomorrow’s worries could wait for tomorrow.