Mother of Stars

To Kill or Not to Kill - Connor

I knelt close to the floor to let Neila off my back, but she didn't move.

"No," she mumbled, tightening her arms around my neck.

I raised an eyeridge at her. "No?"

Her reply was to give me the puppy dog eyes treatment while flattening her ears. My defenses were compromised. I rolled my eyes as I sat down against the wall. "Okay then."

Griff lay against the far wall and slumped to the floor. Another Marine was sitting next to him, his tail bent at a weird angle after trying to fit himself into the passenger seat. The label over his head read "Mike". His maroon eyes scanned me up and down, then stopped on Neila.

"What's up with her?" Mike asked, frowning.

I gave him a sideways warning glance. "Long story."

He nodded and returned to staring at the floor. "Anyone got ideas for a plan?"

"Not until the Defect gives us specifics," Vatria said as she began to pace around on all fours. "All it has told us so far is that we must create as much chaos as possible. I imagine we are to defeat all the defenses without killing the native species."

The Defect spoke up. "By any means necessary, we must create the need for the Fragment to send reinforcements. It values the native species, as the native species provides it with data so it may continue to improve itself."

Vatria had stopped pacing while the Defect was talking. Her muzzle was scrunched in disgust, and her eyes betrayed her horror. "We have to slaughter the innocent species?"

"It is most optimal."

She snorted and began pacing again. I put my fingers to my forehead as panic set in. There was no way I'd be able to make myself follow its plan. And what about Neila, too? She was in no condition to fight.

But the alternative was it turning on us. I was already lucky it hadn't tried to get revenge for what Griff and I had done to three of its bodies.

"Are you sure there isn't another way to draw attention?" I asked, looking hopefully at the piloting Defects at the front of the ship, as if that would do anything.

"Yes."

I moved my gaze wearily to the other Drakes. They returned the same hopeless look. Even Griff's cockiness didn't show itself.

"Barbaric," Vatria muttered. "I would have expected better of a being who is supposedly so advanced."

I tensed up, expecting the Defect to retort, but receiving nothing. Mike glared at her. "I'd keep your mouth shut, Vatria. For all our sakes."

She continued her pacing without a word, staring at the floor as though she could see through it.

Neila's arms constricted even tighter around my neck, making me thankful for my body's inherent strength. She would've choked me to death if I had my human body.

"K-Killing?" she whispered. I couldn't bring myself to respond, still struggling to believe it myself.

The ship cruised along silently for twenty minutes over the desolate landscape. A soft white glow began to creep over the horizon ahead of us. Jagged mountains grew across the entire horizon, each shape dotted with thousands of tiny lights.

The closer we flew, the more I could see. A sizeable barrier stretched in front of the mountains, disappearing behind the planet's curve at both ends. It would've proven difficult for any ground-based attackers to scale it, but we were clearly going to bypass it. Black bumps moved along the top of the barrier. As soon as I saw the motion, my interface went into Combat Mode again. More Shifters.