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The door swished closed, silence washing over Fleet Admiral Estekls. It was a true relief to not be part of the greater Whole at the moment. The psi-matrix, designed to prevent all psychic communication and sensing, enveloped the room. Estekls could finally consider the situation. It had been a perfect operation so far, the crew of the stellar ship had opened the warp point with perfection. The Castigate fleet had entered the system to discover that the galactic empaths had been correct, there was no major enemy fleet units to speak of. Estekls shook his head at the rapturous feelings that washed through the crews and ground troops. To him it was the ultimate in poor strategy, an Alien’s Homeworld and a fully developed system without guardians.

The battle, not that he considered it a battle, was short and swift, a few orbital space yards were taken with ease. General Sasinkth had then begun the drop. There were only militia units defending, Sasinkth had easily taken control, despite suicidal attacks from the aliens. With the planet block-aided and quelled, and no sign of enemy ships, Estekls had a chance to truly survey the Homeworld – ugly, dirty and nothing like the graceful, clean existence of the Dei.

Most disturbingly, the sense empaths, dedicated to detecting and understanding Aliens had to be rotated out of the command centre every few mini-cycles. While no sense empath himself, even Estelks could feel, from 130 psi-bounds above the planet, the hatred of the four billion aliens. What was worse is that their hatred was informed by an overriding belief in religious teachings. Nothing could convince them that their path was ultimately to ruin. They seemed to welcome this thing called matrydom. But still, they existed, they had mental signatures, and even hopes, dreams and drives.

Which led back to the latest thought from High Command. The poor empath that had received the thought, for Estelks mind only, had been like a zombie – the pure shock of such a message too much for him. Which was why Estelks was now apart from the Whole. It was a simple thought: ‘Remove all materials of value, evacuate the ground troops and cleanse the planet of alien life. Renew operations as per plan’. The galactic war had become ugly and cruel, but the Dei tried to capture and subjugate, not kill or more aptly, commit genocide. The allegiance subverter was the crowning achievement of Dei science, a means to stop destruction. The zealots had attacked the Dei for no reason, thoughts of the slaughter of innocents abounded on the one outpost lost to them so far – but still, cleanse?

Estelks considered the imponderable, did the four billion aliens deserve to die? Could there be any coming back from the brink? He now understood why the fleet was called Castigate, they were here to punish the zealots for their foolishness. Analysis of the Homeworld indicated that 24.3% of the minds were young, yet to be taught and informed. How could the Dei destroy such fledgling intellects? Estelks was thankful that those of his line were very safe, behind system shields and massive warp point defences. It comforted him that his fleet, 100 of the finest ships the Dei had produced, would be a mere grain of sand against the mighty wall that was the Dei defences.

The door swished open as the psi-matrix disengaged. A flood of thought and feeling greeted Estelks – ah, the Whole. He felt at peace with so many others around. The welcoming thoughts of the command crew and beyond them all the Dei in system reassured him of this path.

He summoned the command crew and General Sasinkth, a flicker of energy ran through his brain and the order was communicated. ‘General, evacuate your troops and bring anything of value up to the cargo ships. Tactical, plot a fire grid to destroy all Alien life on the planet. Navigation, prepare a sail plan for the next objective’. Slowly the order dawned on the command crew, the shock radiating out, infecting all the Dei.

Estelks stood motionless, mind in perfect harmony and peace. He was now part of that wall. His strength stealing the crew for what had to be done.

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This was inspired directly from what is currently occuring in Space Empires 101. Comments encouraged http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif