Snippet #2635056

Nearly a week had passed and Ark had yet to find a reason for the abnormally high variation discovered in the human psyche and reasoning. Determining the cause might have been easier if the humans were willing to hold a discussion with any of Ark's shells. Of course, Ark acquired more data on how much of a difference that being raised in a different environment caused. The clones were always calm, as if prepared to die. This group of colonists, on the other hand, appeared to be quite afraid of being held inside metal walls. Maybe. Maybe, I have been looking in the wrong place.

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What was the ship that Ark destroyed upon entering the sector had been completely recycled. Now, the munitions factory had been repaired, the basic equipment for starting long term operations was in production, and the hull was now back to what it should look like. Even though the repairs were finished, Ark stayed in its concealed position in the asteroid.

Since arriving, the humans descended to the planet, quickly investigating what had happened. Many of them seemed to begin working to bring the colony back to life with the passengers from the passenger ship, while the transport ship sustained them. This Ark expected, but the lack of human reinforcements bothered it. This wasn't logical.

The Raqui were always kindred, so their aid was far from unforeseeable. However, it didn't make sense to Ark that not a single human military vessel came to the colony. This was a human colony, and the nearest human world was only a day's travel. The raqui ships, on the other hand, had to have made a jump or been in the area to have reacted as quickly as they did. This was ignoring the fact that the Human government was stubborn and proud, who would not normally allow the Raqui to escort their people.

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Eight men, most appearing to be older than forty ey old, stood around a table with a holographic map of known sectors showing. On the map were several overlapping marks of pirate attacks, engagements, and lost colonies. Most of the men stared intently at the map.

"This is the most recent colony to disappear. We have been able to reestablish contact. The colonists who investigated claim that it looked as if everyone was just suddenly taken in the middle of the day. They also noted that a large volume of metals was stolen from the colony." Spoke the youngest of the men, the eyes of the others looking upon him. As he looked down from the map his head swept across the others before he continued with "General, this points to one of two disturbing possibilities. Either the Ral'nor have a acquired a weapon that can disable masses of people, specifically people, from a long distance and over a wide area, or the ACAAI have and are beginning to take a possibly hostile interest in our people."

The eldest of the men in the room stroked his thick stubble. The General then spoke up with "While the ACAAI threat is a possibility, all of the outside evidence points to Ral'nor instead. Those machines have been building up, but we have yet to see them stay long enough in a sector to clean a planet like that and they don't typically collect scrap from ships. We would have remains of the ship that was defending the system if it were ACAAI." The others nodded in agreement as they looked around the table, each baring either an expression of fear or anger.

Standing straight up, showing off the emblem of the fifth fleet, a scared man said "Sir, I believe it is quite obvious that this is yet another Ral'nor attack. With the destruction of the sixth fleet before a full communication of the situation being sent and the silent annihilation of the colony, it should be obvious that the Ral'nor are trying to weaken us before launching a full on attack!" Before more could be said, the man opposite him retorted with "Then why was metal taken as well as the people? The ACAAI need metals to maintain themselves, and we believe that they require some level of organic materials for certain ceramics they use."

The scared man took a second before saying "We know that the Ral'nor are willing to eat other sentient creatures, and metal is valuable to any space fairing race. If they managed to get the colonists before they could fight back, they would have to do less to prepare them as meals." As the scared man finished his little speech, the General raised his hand. Almost in an instant, the entire table fell silent before his voice filled the air. "While we don't know who hit the last two colonies, the destruction of the sixth fleet does cause some worry. I agree with the admiral that we need to act, men. We cannot let these modern barbarians push us around like we are the Raqui. It is time that humanity proves that it is the dominant race in this Galaxy, and they will make a perfect example." With that, all but the man across from the scared man shook their heads in agreement.

"But sir, what about the ACAAI? We need to be prepared if they decide to attack!" He said, only for the General to respond with "We will be calling in reinforcements and Wrexal is going to see an increase in business."