A holographic projection flickered to life in the centre of the bridge, casting a cold, blue glow over the crew's grim faces.
The screen displayed an ancient-looking Torank with deep, weathered ridges across his brow and eyes that seed to hold the weight of centuries. His expression was one of stagnant, calcified fury—a face Hye had never seen before in all his dealings with the race.
"This is Gregotal," Olana whispered, her voice tight. "The leader of the Toranks' Elder Council. The true power behind their throne."
The projection began to speak. Gregotal's voice was like grinding stones, heavy with a rehearsed authority.
He spent the first several minutes of the broadcast steeped in propaganda, reciting the long, bloody history of the Toranks, the supposed "purity" of their martial lineage, and the endless list of achievents they had purportedly scored for the stability of the universe. It was the speech of a race that believed its own myths.
"...And then," Gregotal's voice dipped into a snarl, "cos a worthless and naless being. A creature from a good-for-nothing, primitive race—a human. This upstart has dared to throw dirt over our long and majestic history.
He has attacked our sovereign cities, committed the most devious and heinous acts of terrorism, and systematically destroyed our planets without any just cause, provocation, or reason at all!"
Hye stood up slowly, his boots clicking against the tal floor. He looked at Olana, his brow furrowed in genuine confusion.
"What the hell is that madman talking about? Attacking cities? Terrorism? I've been busy clearing Hot Zones for twenty days straight. I haven't even looked in the direction of a Torank planet."
Olana shrugged, her expression helpless. "I don't know, Hye. No one in the universe actually knows. These claims were broadcasted on every ergency frequency simultaneously, without a shred of evidence or a single fra of proof. But in the court of galactic opinion, the Toranks' word is often treated as law."
"I know the truth, but the universe doesn't," Hye muttered, sinking back into his command chair. He felt a throbbing headache blooming behind his eyes.
This wasn't just a tactical problem; it was a total diplomatic assassination. The speech concluded with Gregotal formally declaring an All-Out War not just against Hye personally, but against his kingdom and the entire human race. It was a call for xenocide.
"Sothing seems off…" Hye murmured. Whenever he had dealt with the Toranks in the past, he had a lifeline—Silverlining. His old friend had always been the bridge between Hye's ambition and the Toranks' bureaucracy. But this ti, the silence was deafening. He checked his ssages again; Silverlining hadn't returned a single ping.
"Don't tell they've locked him up again," Hye thought, his jaw tightening. He rembered the last ti the Council had silenced Silverlining for daring to advocate for a human. "Tsk! This situation… It's spiralling from bad to worse."
He wasn't even close to solving the population crisis back ho, and now a galactic superpower was raining fire down on his head.
"They've issued a massive list of bounties," Olana added, scrolling through a secondary data feed. "There are astronomical prices on your head, the heads of your top generals, and… even mine.
Hye, ti is running out. We have one hundred fleets closing in on this sector right now. We need to retreat. We need to pull back to the core territory, hide behind our defences, and plan a counter-offensive properly."
Olana had never regretted not having Hye's friends on her contact list until this mont. She only had one direct line—Lily. In a mont of desperation, she had sent a frantic ssage to the girl, pleading for her to talk sense into Hye.
The reply she received was short, blunt, and utterly baffling: [Let Hye handle it. He knows what he's doing!]
Olana stared at the ssage, wondering if madness was a contagious trait among humans. Was the entire kingdom insane?
"No," Hye said suddenly, his voice cutting through Olana's panic like a blade. He raised his head, his eyes burning with a sudden, sharp clarity. "We aren't retreating. In fact, we're going to continue exactly what we were doing. We keep moving forward."
"Are you listening to ?!" Olana cried out, stepping toward him. "This is a disaster! We are outnumbered, outgunned, and being hunted by the second strongest race in existence!"
Hye looked at her as if she had just told him the sun was cold. A slow, dangerous smirk began to spread across his face. "Who said this was a disaster, Olana? From where I'm sitting, this is the greatest chance we've ever had."
"A… chance?!" Olana stood there, completely stupefied. She briefly wondered if the stress of the war declaration had finally snapped his mind.
"Yes, a chance," Hye repeated, refusing to elaborate. He didn't have ti to explain the complex nuances of galactic power shifts to her. Instead, he turned his attention toward his internal inventory system, his eyes scanning through rows of digital icons until he found what he was looking for.
It was an old, dusty interface—a relic from his earlier days that he hadn't touched in a long ti. He felt a surge of nostalgia as his fingers hovered over the activation command.
"It's ti to use this old antique again," he whispered to the empty air of the bridge. "It's ti to reactivate my channel. If the Toranks want to tell the universe a story about , then I might as well give the universe a front-row seat to the real show."
The disconnect between Hye's icy composure and Olana's rising hysteria was palpable. She stared at him, her mind a whirlwind of static, failing to grasp even a syllable of his intent.
Hye, however, wasn't interested in a lecture. He was a man of action, and his fingers were already flying across his interface, firing off a barrage of high-priority ssages to his inner circle.
Olana was the only one left in the dark, a spectator to a plan she couldn't see. But reality has a way of forcing perspective; soon enough, the sensors began to scream again.
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