Kael Cor: A Vampire’s Awakening - Chapter 365 Nirtan I

“Commander Slade, what’s the information about the planet?” Baeki asked a squared jaw middle aged human, with full goatee of grey hair, and a body of chiseled muscles.
“Based on the information our scouts have given us, the atmosphere of the planet has oxygen and all of the necessary elements to support life. However the air is a bit too thin and very dusty due to it’s desert terrain. But beyond that, the air while breathable seems to have a foreign element introduced to it that would cause hallucinations and eventually cause a severe chemical reaction within the body that would cause the cells to break down and attack itself. We don’t know what it is, but we’ve lost three men to it after prolonged exposure to the planets atmosphere. The first symptoms of hallucinations began within the first 45 minutes of exposure to the planet’s atmosphere. We had to use special breathing apparatus to circumvent the issue.”

“Someone knew we were coming, or rather they expected us to come and prepared accordingly for it. That’s the first trap that was set, there are probably more, did you guys encounter any other problems?” I asked the general with a focused look on my face.
“No other problems your majesty, it seems the planet on it’s own is incapable of supporting any sort of life. There are no species of animals or monsters, known or unknown, except within the camp of the enemy. The planet is truly for all intents and purposes, dead.”
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For a planet to be dead, there has to be a story behind it, what that strong was, none of us really knew, and to be honest I don’t think that I care, since I would have to destroy it once we’re done looking for the key. But either way, this place doesn’t seem to be really simple, and whatever it is that made it special, excluding the fact that one of the literal keys that to the universe is buried somewhere on it, we’ll find it.
“You mentioned the enemy’s camp; what were your scouts able to find out?” Baeki asked, focused as always on the fight and the enemy.

“The Enemies are a little bit hard to describe, but they’re a variety of races, each of them weird and diverse in a multitude of ways. Some of them we recognize, others are complete strangers to us. The only thing they all have in common is that fact that they have a reddish black substance covering or growing over their body, kind of like an Exo-skeleton. And none of them seem to be in control of their actions, their eyes are dead, their actions monotonous and repetitive, like some sort drone! I’ve never seen anything like it your Majesties.”
The collective! So far what I’ve understood about it, is the fact that it’s made up of hundreds of thousands of planets that have been assimilated by the devourer, at first I didn’t understand how the devourer worked, but from this, it would seem it worked in some manner as mind control, or rather a hive. But all these didn’t matter at the moment; at least not until we went down there and were face to face with them. But this report has me wondering if the people that have become a part of the collective are able to retain any remnant of who they were before they lost their sense of self and being to a universe devouring entity.

“We’ll deal with them once we get down to the planet. However for now commander Slade you should speed up the construction of the forward base, ready or not, we’ll be landing in that planet in one hour. However tell me something, how much of these drones are there on the planet?” Joshua asked with a pensive look on his face, his thoughts obviously very far away at the moment.
“We’ve not been able to make an estimate as it seems most of them are mining and excavating a ruin, however those that we’ve been able to see and evaluate puts their number at no less that 30 thousand. In essence they are hundred times more than we are.” Joshua raised an eyebrow and turned to me.

“That’s too many, what do you think we should do?”
“The key is too important, and I have a feeling we can’t spare any troops at the moment, we will be spread too thin considering we’re fighting wars on other fronts. This means we can’t approach these planet with the intention of a prolonged fight, which means we need to get that key and blow the place up fast. We need a loud distraction, we have no idea how powerful these drones are, so it has to be one of us who faces them before the troops take over while we find the key. As soon as we get the key we all have to evaluate and blow this place to kingdom come. No questions asked, not a single one.”

As soon as finished saying those words, both Baeki and Joshua looked at me even more closely, they knew exactly what I meant by no questions asked. The species and races that belong to the collective might in some way or another, still alive and conscious, there’s a possibility that they could be saved, but going down that road might mean putting not just ourselves, but our own people in danger. Plus we’re pressed for time, we might lose out on the key if we spent too long looking for a way to save people that may or may not be alive. It might seem cold, but this was the most rational choice to make right now.
“You’re a cold hearted bastard aren’t you?” Baeki asked me with a raised eyebrow.

“You know that he’s not, but this is just the choice that has to be made Baeki. This is war, and we’re short on time. We save those we can along the way, but in the end we didn’t get this powerful just to find a way to save our enemies, we’re meant to destroy them.” Joshua answered Baeki as he folded his hands over each other.
“Since when were you too so close? So much so that you would both condemn entire civilizations in a bid to complete your own mission.”

When she put it like that…then Joshua and I really seem like cold hearted bastards without a care in the world. But Baeki was driving at something here, that much I can understand. And yes there might be another way, but I’m not sure we had enough time to find it.
“We’re not just doing this for the mission Baeki, it was never about the mission and you know it. We’re doing this for our people, for our world. We’re put in the position we are now, along with the power we wield so that our people won’t have to make such decisions. We have to put our home and our people first, and as cold as it sounds, that’s the truth, not when our family’s safety would be jeopardy. We can save as many as we can in the process, but this is war, and we’re the dragon kings. There’s no good or bad for us, there’s just the choices we make, for the people we love and are supposed to protect. That’s the burden that comes with that title.

So put your moral compass aside Baeki, we have a key to retrieve, and a planet to destroy. If there’s an consequences to be hand from such a scenario, I’ll bear it all on my shoulders. After all…….that’s why I’m High king.”