19. P O W E R : Family

CHAPTER V

Alexis walked to the bridge, where Valafar had taken the others. It was now filled with arthrogons, all manning different stations.

The Chimeros tossed her Trozian captive to the ground in front of her father, shooting a confused and irritated look at Zill, who looked away with a dark expression on his face. "His name is Commander Rezo Atar," she told Valafar. "He's new to the Extinction Protocol, but he has his fair share of medals for the slaughter of our people." She kicked the commander in the side, sending him rolling closer to Valafar.

Valafar smirked and crouched down in front of Commander Atar. "So close, yet so far," he murmured. "You people really thought you'd destroyed all of the Revivers, didn't you?"

The wounded commander lifted his head, but he did not look at Valafar. Instead, he turned to Zill and rasped, "You. Earthling boy. They haven't told you the truth."

Zill looked at the commander, an expression of despair overtaking his visage. "I know," he said, his voice breaking. "And I don't think they will. So..." He knelt down next to Valafar, his eyes full of pleading. "Will you?"

Atar glanced at Valafar.

Valafar snorted and stood up, turning away. "Go ahead. It makes no difference now."

Atar coughed and forced himself into a sitting position, locking gazes with Zill. "Your people... are monsters," he croaked. "Murderers. They conquer planets, remove the inhabitants, and infest the entire world with their kind. They are a race of genocidal maniacs, and have decimated thousands of planets in this manner."

Zill began to shake as the commander spoke, tears streaming from his eyes.

"The Trozians were commissioned by the Intergalactic Council to counter their conquest with a reverse genocide of sorts," Atar went on. "And in doing so, we became monsters. Murderers. Destroyers of an entire species. But we do so in order to spare the lives of every other race in the universe." He fixed his glare of Valafar and concluded, "The goal of Arthrogonia is total universal domination. What they did to Fin Zun, Aur'ret, Nuba... they will do to Earth. They will wipe out everyone on the planet, and replace them with arthrogons. Then they'll move on, and the process will begin again."

Zill gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists, squeezing his eyes shut as his tears dripped to the floor.

"The rest of the Trozian fleet is en route to Earth," Atar muttered, "but they won't get here in time. You've powered the Reviver, and it will soon deploy a destructive wave of gene-seeking energy that will destroy any life form on this planet that is not an arthrogon—plants included. Your world will be wiped clean... and remade in the image of Arthrogonia."

"NO!" Zill suddenly slammed the floor with his fist and stood up, spinning around to face Valafar and Alexis. "You psychos," he hissed. "How could you? Why would you do this?"

"It's what we do, Zill," Alexis replied, her voice taking on a warning tone. "It's our 'Manifest Destiny'."

Zill turned his glare on his mother. "Were you in on this, too?" he snapped.

"I was curious about that as well," Cierra added, glancing at Maricella. "You once said you only wanted to save our people, but seeing you here, working with Valafar... it makes one wonder."

"I didn't have a choice," Maricella whispered. "Valafar... modified my cybernetics. My legs... my arms... they belong to him. He controls them remotely."

"He hacked you," Cierra spat. "BAH! I should've known."

"I'm gonna stop this," Zill snarled, facing Alexis again. "You're not destroying Earth."