"Emotions are one of the cores of a living being's existence. Yes, we cannot ignore it, but they often mislead us, tempt us to make wrong decisions, such temptations can be overcome by another one of the cores which had been implemented in species with intelligence. Yes, logic, reason only things worth enough to make decisions. Threads of logic knit into the fabric of order. And Order gives birth to a just society.
Order is just, Order is absolute."
– Supreme Arbiter, 497 A.E. (After Exodus)
Bremos sipped from his Rhantua tea, savoring the salty, spicy taste. It was one of the rarest teas in the galaxy, cultivated only on the planet Rhantua. He always carried a few packets with him. Rhantua's rarity made it a beverage of nobility.
His mind catalogued every detail visible from the glass of the viewport as the Tetrapod started descending from upper orbits onto Aqyski.
He was draped in Arbiterium's green and gold colors, his scrutinizing eyes fitted with lenses that could pierce all veils. Supercomputers hummed in his neural core, parsing every variable. He could never relax — observation and calculation were his purpose, his curse.
His heightened senses picked up on the footsteps.
"You came, Captain," He said, twisting his face.
"I heard you asked for me, sir," said a deep, brutal voice. When Bremos turned his head, he saw a bulked figure covered in white synthetic armor, on its shoulder plates,
'F.K.P' was written in bold letters.
He shared Bremos's hairless, gold skin but was taller and had few scars on his perfect skin.
It was quite unusual for an Aurelion to work in such a low position, and the Peace-keeping Force. Bremos had a rare opportunity to see such muscles on one of his kind; this captain may come in handy later. Bremos thought.
"Are the Bionen units ready, Captain?"
The bigger Aurelion nodded, "800 units, sir, all ready to deploy, and another 1000 in the flagship, which is orbiting around the planet. Enough to kill these chimps." He said, smirking.
"Answer what I ask. Spare me your opinions." He turned his head towards the captain. "Well, Captain Tharmenes, give me the brief on this planet."
"Yes, sir, first the population. It is scarce, around 5 to 8 million. It would only take a few hours to kill these pigs," the captain said, with a grin on his face.
"No, we do not purge! Huskbrai,n" Bremos said, slamming the tea on the table and standing up, "Were you not briefed about the orders from the dome? They clearly stated that all humans must be captured alive and taken to the capital."
Fear flashed in Tharmenes's eyes. "I am sorry, sir Administrator."
"But sir, if I may ask, what are they planning to do with them? Wouldn't killing them be better?" Tharmenes said, looking in the foggy eyes of Bremos to read his reaction.
Bremos sighed and then picked up his teacup again, "I don't know, but the order came directly with lord Arbiter's stamp. The order is directly issued by the lord Arbiter. Lord must have some plans for them."
"Y-you don't know, sir?" Tharmenes stammered.
Bremos shot a glare at the bulky man.
" You huskbrain, supreme Arbitor's intentions are way beyond your pitiful mind, don't try to comprehend them."
The Captain stood there silently,
The captain was not wrong. Why would they send a administrator like me to report on this planet and the expedition happening on it? It was disrespectful for a man in such a position to send me to the gutter of a planet with these-these lesser beings. What does the supreme arbiter hope to find here, in this dusty corner of the galaxy? An unknown variable that he couldn't calculate, that anomaly. Bremos thought.
So he calculated what he could; the planet was eighty percent land, while rivers and enormous lakes covered the other twenty percent. There were no oceans, also the three moons surrounding it, he noted, could be used to mine some luminescent materials.
They penetrated through Aqski's thick nitrogen-rich atmosphere, perfect for nurturing humans. It has been over 10,000 years since these creatures fled the galaxy, but still they are lurking, disgusting.
"Tharmenes," Bremos said without facing the captain, "Continue your brief, tell me about the ecology of this planet?"
"There is a scarcity of wood; only the temperate zones of the planet have the trees, other parts are mostly grasslands, and a few plateau regions. Sir, from the scans we get, metals are abundant here. For more thorough scans, it might require some time." The captain replied.
Bremos nodded and took another sip of his tea. "Send the message to all lieutenants that they should look for a special lineage of humans and send them the genetic data with it that came with the order from the dome."
Tharmenes nodded and whirled inside the ship. And the old Aurelion took another sip from the Rhantua tea.
The Tetrapod lowered to the ground, its magnetic gyroscopes whirring, and the thrusters were switched off. The speed of the ship decreased as it hovered over the ground. All the other Tetrapods went towards their targeted settlements. A circular gate spiralled open. And Bremos stepped out, swaying his gold-green robe, and a golden cube crest shone over his chest.
The men of the Village swarmed them with weapons in their hands, and women and children were nowhere to be seen, but for Bremos's eyes it was a mere distraction, one infrared scan sold their locations, hiding in a room below their houses. Such a primitive way of hiding, it astonished Bremos how this species had once ruled most of the galaxy.
He cleared his throat, "I, Bremos Vestoran, the administrator of their majesty…." He paused, "Captain, start the interpreters or these monkeys won't understand my words."
"WH-Who are you?!" A trembling man said. Licking his lips.
"Ah! So you could understand G.C.T.L., well, let me answer your question."
He started again.
"I, Bremos Vestoran, the administrator of their majesty, the Supreme Arbiter. I have descended on your planet by the resolver's wishes, and I ought to bring order and peace to your world. May you remain in the grace of logic."
All men looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what he had just said. "Order?" said the elder with a frown. And the men closed in on the Aurelions.
Bremos sighed and leaned on the Tharmenes. Formalities are done. Bring out the Bionens, let us get over this fast."
The captain gave the order through C.H.M.S., and two hundred soldiers ramped up in a line.
An amalgamation of flesh and metal, it reeked of death; in a few areas, its bronzy flesh was exposed with violet veins writhed like snakes. Its all-black eyes looked straight in one direction. Other parts of the body were covered by metal.
Each one held a tranquiliser.
Some of the villagers dropped their weapons and ran to their houses. Others trembled in fear.
"Thar! Didn't I tell you I needed them to use rose-batons?"
Tharmenes gulped. "But these are tranquillizers, sir. They won't hurt the humans."
"No, no, you don't understand, that would be merciful for these animals, treat them worse than you would treat living things, these creatures don't deserve anything else.", he said.
Without waiting for their debates to end, a young boy enraged from the crowd lurched towards Bremos from the crowd.
Thar took out his Cloveyatra and, in one shot, dealt with the threat. The boy's head exploded. His body fell on the ground with a thud, fragments of bone melting. The boiling blood flew over other people, burning a few of them, and men ran with all their strength, screaming.
"Yellow devils!"
"Sky monsters!"
"Forgive us, lord!"
The elder didn't run, he fell to his knees beside the body, his tears fell on the still hot blood, he pulled the boy's torso in an embrace, crying, screaming.
That boy was his eldest child, his son.
Both Aurelions stood there, with a disappointed look. With a smirk, Bremos said.
"See? We lost one, Captain. Animal, a dumb one at that, contains them while I finish my tea. Also, if you find someone of the Ancestry that I gave you, report back to my cabin."