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CHAPTER 10 Inevitable fate

More than a decade had past since Retcans and Evocanis met for the first time. That day changed both species' fate permanently. But very few know that it was almost never intended to be that way...

Exactly thirteen years ago, the hardest decision fell into the hands of R105's Captain...

"Captain, they have breached the perimeter of the colony!" Bo, the first assistant to Captain Silver yelled. There was no response from Silver as they watched everything through the main screen of R105's control bridge.

"Silver, we need to do something!" Titan desperately tried to convince his sister. Silver just watched; her jaw clenched as she desperately fought with her thoughts.

Many days ago, R105 had crossed paths with an immense space ship of undetermined origins. They had interest on who was in control of this apparently massive ship as well as with their intentions. To find a ship colony of these proportions drifting in the darkest sectors of the universe was not common.

The R series Retcan Cruisers had only one mission: To permanently scout space in search for intelligent species that eventually might turn into a threat to their planetary system. R105 had the task to monitor a very vast sector of space; task that would take them approximately 50 years. The encounter with this colony was unexpected, but it was their duty to investigate, without making any contact though. Their rules were clear.

Many probes were sent to monitor the outsides of the colony, as well as some infiltrator probes scanned the interior, hacking the internal cameras. They were intrigued on what they found. These creatures seemed to be very similar to them, yet there wasn't any clue of where they came from or their purpose.

"Silver, please!!" Titan screamed furiously as he yanked Silver from her shirt. "Those monsters are killing them!!"

"Stop, Titan!" She demanded. "NOW BROTHER!" She growled when Titan continued on pushing her to take a decision. Silver now also grabbed Titan from his shirt as both had a struggle. Retcans almost never showed aggressive behavior towards their own species.

Every single muscle on their body was tightened. Because male and female Retcans didn't showed any differences in their physical characteristics, their physical strength was almost equal, but they wouldn't do anything to hurt themselves.

"They have no weapons! Don't you see what's happening? ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM DIE?!"

"You know we can't do anything!" In one last forceful yank, Silver managed to free herself from her brother's grip. "Let me remind you Commander Titan of who's in charge of this ship. Another insubordination and you WILL be discharged back to Lusceonis!"

Both of them had tears flooding their bluish silver eyes. The mental struggle that they where going through was too much.

"Very well... Then I won't be part of this anymore, even if it means breaking the promise that we gave to our friend Kassaar... I know what he would've wanted, so I will do what I have to do before I leave." Titan said, now being unable to hold his crying. "Bo, get in touch with Shadow. I need an armor suit and a ship prepared, and I n..."

"Bo, NO! The only one giving orders in this ship is ME!" Silver jumped aggressively.

"But, Silver..." Bo didn't know how to react. He was also devastated. "Please Silver, I know you better than anyone in this ship. You are not like this..." He added.

"Do I have to remind all of you what happened many decades ago? How we were invaded and almost extinguished? That happened because we were so naive to think that we could make contact with every other intelligent life forms that we encountered. We can't trust anyone. We have a mission to comply with!"Though very aggressive on her words, there was a lot of hesitation on Silver's tone.

"We are doing the exact same thing, Sister." Titan said. "Don't you see it? We are still in look for intelligent species, somehow convincing ourselves that it's for 'monitoring' purposes to avoid future conflicts. Our paranoia has blinded us!" Titan yelled.

"No! This is different. Yes, we are looking for intelligent species, but not to make contact with them. We need to make sure there is no one that can threat our existence again... Bo, inform the crew to get ready. We are setting course to our previous objective!"

"And what are we going to do if we eventually find a civilization that we consider a threat? Attack them?" Titan continued on confronting his sister, standing between her and Bo. "We are not like that! And because of that paranoia, we are letting those peaceful creatures die! We Retcans have changed a lot since the Invasion War, and I don't like it."

"Silver... They are dying." The young male Retcan, Bo, added in effort to convince his Captain. "Titan is right; we are not like this... And you know that." Bo's was also desperate. The young white Retcan cried as he just sat in his control panel refusing to comply with the previous order.

Silver didn't react anymore. She looked at the screen, seeing how those machines eliminated the peaceful creatures one by one.

"... I... I can't... Bo, set course to our designated mission..." There was no more strength in Silver's words. It was no surprise that Bo didn't comply with that order.

Silver fell on her Captain's chair... Struggling with her desires, she just fell in tears.

"Sister, please... Let's do something. We have the power to save them." Titan kneeled before Silver, and hugged her tightly, resting his head on her lap. "Don't do this to us, baby." Titan broke...

"Titan, but..." Silver desperation was obvious. Her intentions weren't bad. She just followed what they were supposed to do. But as she continued on seeing what was happening on that colony... She just couldn't hold it anymore. It was either turn away and never look back, or break the rules to do the right thing... She grabbed her ComPod quickly and made a call.

"General Zonda..." She said. Her hands were shaking profusely.

"Captain?"

"... I need..." She hesitated. "I need all of our troops inside that colony. ALL OF THEM! Even reserves. Let not a single more of those creatures be killed. Do I make myself clear!?"

"Acknowledged, Captain... You are making the right decision. They will be saved." Zonda didn't loose time and cut the communication.

It didn't take long until almost ten thousand Retcan warriors and fighter pilots surrounded the massive ship. Not an hour passed and the machines were eventually exterminated. Most of them unfortunately had retreated, taking with them a large quantity of these peaceful creatures that once inhabited the colony. Retcans swore to the creatures that they would never suffer an event like this again. They also promised them to help them find their comrades that were abducted that day, no matter how difficult it would be...

Nowadays, Silver still was haunted by the way she doubted that day. She couldn't help to feel responsible for the deaths and abduction of many.

She was alone in one of the resting areas of R105, meditating as she contemplated the stars. She had a glance of a barely visible Canis Major and smiled. So many years had passed and everything looked so peaceful now.

Retcans and Evocanis eventually turned into one. The relationship between both species had grown to be vey close and intimate. She would dread the moment that both species set on to separate ways.

"Here you are, Silver." Titan approached her in the large, silent room.

"Hi, brother." She smiled.

Titan got close and held a warm hug on her.

"What?" Silver giggled.

"Nothing... I just remembered how much I love you, sister." Titan replied as he kept hugging her... "But anyway, I wanted to inform you that we are about to start with Phase 2 of the reconnaissance mission."

"Have you spoken with K9?"

"Yes. They are ready and actually very excited to do this."

"What about the pressurized armor suits that we promised them?"

"All Ready."

"Great!"

"The D.E Development Team is arriving at any time. I told them to meet with us here at R105 instead of us taking the armors to them. That way we will leave together."

"Aww..." Silver grunted. "I wish I could go with you." She then sighed in disappointment.

"Why don't you come with us then? I can tell Cobalt and a few others to stay and monitor everything from here."

"No... Oh, no. Cobalt must be very excited to do this with you. I can't take this away from her. Beside, I would only be 'extra luggage'. I don't think I would be helpful at all." Silver let out a mild chuckle.

"Very well then... As you wish my dear and beautiful Captain." Titan gave her a last squeeze and licked her sister in her cheek in the tenderest sign of love.

"I love you too little brother. Now get your tail into that comet before I change my mind on this."

"LITTLE? Let me remind you that I'm 22 years older than you, my dear."

"Just get out of here, Titan! NOW!"

Both laughed playfully. Silver and Titan never forgot that they were brothers. When alone, they always found the time to play around like little ones. They loved each other very much, although they might seem very serious and emotionally blank most of the time. This was proof of how similar Retcans and Evos could be when showing affection.

After giving herself a couple of more seconds to relax, contemplating the soothing scenery of space, Silver returned to her duties. Walking to the control bridge, she was called by Bo, her first assistant.

"Captain... The Council is waiting for you." He said, somewhat concerned. Silver felt her stomach twitching. She didn't expect a live message from Lusceonis. Silver felt afraid of what could come up from this. "I will be there in two minutes."

Complying with her timeline almost perfectly, Silver made herself into the bridge, walking at a strong pace, with her arms behind her and a penetrating gaze as always.

"Should I leave, Captain?" Bo asked.

"No."

"As you wish."

Silver took a seat on her Captain's chair. Taking a very straight posture, she rested her arms on the armrests.

The main screen that previously showed an image of the comet, suddenly showed a white Retcan with blood red eyes. Various yellowish metallic ornaments adorned his arms, wrists and ankles. He wore nothing but a small loincloth that appeared to be made out of a very fine fabric held by an almost invisible chain of apparently the same yellowish metal that adorned his limbs. His neck was adorned by a choker and a large collar that covered a good portion of his chest. He sat in almost the same way that Silver did.

"Captain... It's good to see you." The male Retcan saluted with even a more majestic stance than Silver.

"Haro... It's a pleasure." She responded.

"You might know the reason why I'm communicating with you at this precise moment."

Silver just nodded before finally responding. "...Yes."

"We need to know when R105 will resume its duties. It is imperative that we continue with our plans in order to ensure the security Lusceonis." The Retcan talked with a deep voice, at a very paused pace.

"I have made calculations, and I think that in around two months we will be heading with our mission."

"The sooner the better, Captain."

"Yes, sir..." Silver replied, almost forced to say what she really didn't want.

"What is the matter, Silver? I sense doubt in your response. Somehow I feel that your leadership has decreased in strength."

"No Haro. It's nothing..."

"Your intentions of hiding your true feelings are failing to be effective on me... I sense that you do not wish to comply anymore with your obligations; obligations that were assigned decades ago when you and your ship departed from Lusceonis."

Silver was overwhelmed by the ability of Haro to sense her feelings, even though they were millions of A.U away. Some Retcans surely had stronger senses.

"Haro, I..."

"It is because of these creatures; the Evocanis." The white Retcan interrupted.

"..." Silver was no longer looking at Haro to the eyes. Her strength was completely overwhelmed by this Retcan.

"Please, do not hide the truth..." Haro commanded. There was a pause before Silver reacted.

"Yes... It is because of the Evocanis."

"The council will never look down on you, Silver. The decision you took a decade ago was the correct one. But we already have done all that we could. The Evocanis are able to look out for themselves now."

"Haro, but we promised that we would find their lost brothers and sisters."

"That was discussed already. That is something that is not possible, I'm afraid. Not only because those machines left no trace, but because those Evocanis might not be alive by now, and you know it. Those machines are weak, and because of the damage that they suffered by our hand, their demise was inevitable. I'm sorry, but that's the most logic possible situation. Helping the Evocanis with this will prolong R105's digression from its duties. Besides, the Evocanis have the tools to embark on that duty by their own."

"Sir, but what if..."

"We once again pushed our luck beyond the limits, Silver." He interrupted again, raising his tone of voice. "We have not only made direct contact with another intelligent species, but we have gone as far as sharing our technology with them. That is more than we can give. And you should feel accomplished of that. Now it's time to continue with your mission, Captain. If you do not wish to comply anymore, then I will have to order you and your crew to return to Lusceonis immediately and have another R series to follow with what you were assigned."

"You know what Haro? I also sense doubt in your words." Suddenly, a defying Silver stood up from her chair and walked towards the screen.

"Please have a seat, Captain." The Retcan ordered. Strangely enough, he never denied the accusations. "After working hard to restore the colony where these creatures live, we discovered their possible origin, due to the information held in the old archives of the ship. Although it would be after seven generations that you would be born Silver, you know what happened in the past, when we Retcans were curious of other intelligent life forms. You know of that species we found in that watery planet in the Milky Way. You also know how we shared our customs and knowledge of the universe with one of the most powerful civilizations of their planet. They even copied our attire."

"Yes, I know Haro."

"But what happened decades after, taught us a very important lesson."

"I know... They eventually turned against each other."

"Yes, Silver. We shared important knowledge with a species that grew into one of the most violent. Over millennia, they fell into wars between them and developed weapons with the only purpose of pointing them towards each other."

"But it was not our fault, Haro. They did it on themselves. That's why we left to never cross paths with them again. And what has this have to do with the Evos?"

"They come from that planet; from that civilization... We made a pact that we would never enter into contact with anything that came from that planet, yet once again we risked ourselves. It seems that we never learned our lesson. Even after witnessing how that civilization from the Milky Way turned against itself, we still continued on making contact with other species. It was not until almost a century ago from this day that we almost got exterminated because of it. Again we trusted blindly in another species that eventually did not turned against themselves, but against us. This can never happen again, Silver..."

The moment that Silver and R105 always dreaded was finally before them. Would this be the moment where Retcans and Evocanis finally would separate from each other?