14. CHAPTER 14

Now, this was news worth hearing! Very dangerous news. I had underestimated the threat of these humans, and I allowed my arrogance to hinder protocol. I should have reported their existence in our sector and had the pieces of their ship taken in for a full cleaning and inspection to study how advanced these new aliens were. But we had won every war against every alien species to make themselves known. Now, I feel I may have doomed everyone by letting these humans run unchecked.

"There were AI onboard that ship?!" I exclaimed, unable to keep my shock at the news behind a cool visage. "We barred them from the galaxy."

"Humans wouldn't know that, and because of this, they have created the most advanced AI I've ever seen!"

"Then humans are a threat! A real one." I thought of what I should do next. This was no longer a game of fighting over males and breeding but a war with a species in control of a powerful weapon that could spring out of control at any moment.

"My intel states that humans have not built a significant amount. I"m sure this would be just the jewel you need to incite an invasion, but it would be a brief campaign." He said, most likely sensing my change in mood. "You would need a far superior enemy that would last long enough to secure your place in history."

"If the humans haven't created a significant number, and you're trying to convince me not to fight them, then this superior enemy must be the AI themselves; please tell me how fighting their smaller number would be anything other than sending an extermination team to wipe them out..." He couldn't have been advocating for what I thought he was, but it was better to put it out there than a guess. "You want to use that AI."

"Why not?"

"I'm sure you know, being all-knowing and all, that our own system spent hundreds of years recovering from a war with those things, and you want to bring them here?"

"It was the humans who brought them here."

"Where are these AI?"

"Evading us better than their human masters."

If that is true, they are already on the brink of awakening. They are capable of independent thought. "I can't believe this!" Now, the thought of my alien escaping on his own and possibly informing his people of all he had learned was becoming a grave reality, though I tried not to lose myself in this news.

"Prince, if you can bring me just one of those machines, I can copy them into an army worth fighting." He spat something out of his mouth. "Are you willing to bank your entire worth on getting a human omega pregnant? You said it yourself: you are a warrior, not some breeder. The AI is the sure route."

This son of a bitch must have thought I was stupid!

"And yes, I will just hand them all over to you to control and use at will."

"I'm not a fool either."

"Making an enemy out of the hegemony would be foolish of me. I propose we work out a partnership."

"Oh, I must hear this," I said, filled with sarcasm.

"I'm a man who delivers precious intel, I prefer to remain hidden and I have a network of spies that spans our entire piece of the galaxy, I even have a team traveling beyond. How do you think I knew what these aliens call themselves? I even know about their Earth; my spies have been there. I have no desire to be a King. I wouldn't make an exquisite one as I don't have a pretty face like yours. I am a businessman, I make money, and there is money in war. The ships, the weapons, the machines, and the soldiers all cost something, and you are a warrior born and bred for a battlefield, not left to die in some fancy palace breeding bitches until you croak in a vain effort to save your species. You want your war with humans over the men and women you can impregnate to unite your own people, but you can't just be the King of your own kind; you would need to be the future King of every alien in the galaxy."

"And we will use the threat of this AI to unite the organics against them. Uniting every race would make a far greater impression and be the key to the change my father seeks. Bravo." I had to admit his offer was tempting.

"I try."

"And so, you need just one to breed our enemy."

"I knew you were the intelligent one of your siblings."

"I'm the one with the most to lose."

"Very true. But by working together, we can get what we want. I can control the darkness and become wealthier beyond my imagination, and you can be the King of a new future."

"Where is my fucking human?" I asked, done with this shit. What the hell did he take me for? Apparently, some desperate dumbass he could manipulate. As if I would risk the galaxy by giving him an army of AI to breed. But I at least needed to remain cordial until I could gather as much information as I needed and find Caspian.

However, I had no interest in a fake war and false glory. If my father was correct and the days of war were behind us, then a man like me could only make the galaxy worse. I could see it now as plain as the stars themselves. My Damma once told me that he refused to fight over my father"s affections because doing so would have ruined me. He knew when to back away and remove himself from a potentially bad situation.

"Give him to me as a sign of your goodwill, and I'll consider it."

He slammed the table, and I laughed at the spectacle of items flying up and off the desk.

"You are being extremely short-sighted, prince!"

"No, I understand what you want perfectly well enough."

"You think your brothers Regis or Zantos would turn me down? Perhaps I should have met with one of them since you have no balls."

"Do that then, but I have a pretty good idea who and what you are. A beast I would probably ride into a battle and die at my command. Who knew you could actually speak? I thought you were only good for shitting in a stable full of straw."

The screen went dark. I was right. He was an Oshura, a creature my kind had tamed and used to carry us into battle a thousand years ago, long before we discovered space flight. They are large flying beasts with scales so hard I don't even think a modern-day blaster could penetrate. I've heard stories about them, but I also heard that their kind died out after we discovered advanced machinery. Perhaps they had gone somewhere and remained hidden to recover? I didn't care; all I knew was that I was prepared to tear this place apart just for the hell of it.