Author's Notes/Warning: There will be some violence and blood.
Just like old times, except not really like old times, (I just wanted to say that).
After fighting with the bot scanner for a while, I finally managed to log on!
Apparently I can't tell what a storefront is, therefore I'm not a human.
The Invaders' Secret
Laes huddled in one of the corners of what he assumed to be a small empty closet.
It was darker in here than it had been in the bunker.
The soldier who'd dragged him on board the Massive had tossed him inside. Then the doors closed.
Now he was waiting for something to happen.
The Tallest seemed angry with him for mentioning the Invaders... it was a black spot on Irken history, and as an outsider he probably shouldn't know about it.
This was an understandable thing really... and he should have maybe brought it up with another Irken first before mentioning it to the Tallest to test for this kind of overly-hostile reaction.
He held up the piece of metal that had Bann's data inside. All he needed was a computer of some kind... but even Irkens wouldn't keep that kind of equipment inside a closet.
He had to get out of here somehow.
The door glided open, and Laes fumbled to hide the device he was holding.
The Tallest stood in the entrance and he leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms over his chest. His crimson red eyes narrowed and his antennae flicked back.
"So..." he began as he stared down at Laes. "How do you know about the Invaders?"
"Um... well... Bann told me..." Laes replied, keeping his eyes lowered and his head bowed.
There was a long pause.
"That's it?" The Tallest spoke, interrupting the silence.
"Well... technically he told me and gave me horrible nightmares about it..." Laes admitted. He glanced quickly around the small space. "So um... how long are you going to keep me in this closet...?"
Red sighed and rubbed his temples. "You can come out... I just did that so it wouldn't look like I was showing you any kind of special treatment or something."
"Oh... really?" Laes questioned, glancing up at the Tallest's face briefly. It was hard to tell what Irk's leader was thinking. He definitely didn't have the most readable expression right now.
"Um... so... about the Invaders... I uh, I guess you looked into it?"
"That's what I've been doing for the past week," the Tallest answered.
"And... the other Tallest...?"
Red waved Laes' question away, dismissing it completely. Then he asked, "how much about the Invaders do you know?"
"I..." Laes' expression fell. "I know they were pretty awful... not a lot of people know about them... they're the reason Irkens... why you guys are..." shoot. What was another word for 'paranoid?'
He forced a smile. "Not very trusting of non-Irkens."
"Is that all you know?" Red asked.
"Um... yes," Laes tried to remember what else he'd seen in the dream, but he was pretty sure he'd said about everything. "Oh," hold on. There was one more thing.
"Your people killed off the Invaders right? I mean... it sounded like they did."
Red glanced over his shoulder. His antennae twitched, listening for anyone who might be trying to eaves drop.
"Let's continue talking about this in private," the Tallest suggested. "This stuff isn't exactly talked about in the Empire, or even known about really."
The Tallest turned and began floating down the hall.
Laes rose to his feet and stumbled out of the closet. His legs were a bit wobbly, but he managed to keep up with the Tallest.
Irk's leader led him to a platform that descended to the next level. Once it landed they passed by a few more doors and rounded another corner before Red came to a stop.
Laes stopped as soon as the Tallest did. Irk's leader punched in a code, unlocking the door which slid open.
He followed the Tallest inside, and he flinched when the doors clicked shut behind him. Again he was alone with Irk's leader... it wouldn't take much for the Tallest to kill him really. He wouldn't have a chance to runaway anymore either.
Nervously he began to take in his surroundings.
Oh... his eyes lingered on the couch on the other side of the room. So that's what happened to the Universe's most comfortable couch.
There was a metal coffee table sitting in front of it and a few dim twisted lights coming up from the floor. A couple machines were beside the couch, and there was a big screen taking up most of the wall opposite of it.
Laes wondered if he should start by saying something, but the Tallest spoke first.
"According to our records... the ones written by hand in our older archives... we didn't kill all of the Invaders. One survived."
"Really? But... he would have died by now right?
"It was a she apparently, and yes, she would be dead by now," the Tallest responded, dragging a hand down his face. "Honestly, if I had anyone else to talk to about this you wouldn't be here... but believe me. Vortians and Irkens have a much more interesting history than either of us would've guessed."
Laes blinked up at him. "What do you mean?"
Red let out a sigh, and he covered his eyes with one of his hands and murmured something unintelligible. He sighed again. Whatever he was thinking about was obviously troubling him.
"Vortians have Invader DNA."
"What?" Laes questioned, his eyes widening. He looked down at himself and then back up at the Tallest. "Really? Are you sure? I mean, none of us could ever complete the invader training stuff you do..."
The Tallest crossed his arms and straightened his posture.
"Invaders weren't physically strong. At least none of the records I found said they were. They were smart."
Laes grasped his bad arm and chewed his lower lip. This was definitely a startling revelation.
"But are you sure we have their DNA? None of Vort's history lessons have ever included anything about Invaders."
"I read through some of your history... your people used to believe in a "goddess of knowledge."
"Yeah, but that was..." Laes' mind froze for a second. This was a lot to take in. "That was..." His mind kick-started its self and began wrestling with this new information. "Oh..."
This actually made some sense... His planet's history... everything that made Vortians Vortian was given to them by a more advanced species of some kind. An Invader.
In the early days his people wouldn't have known about other populated planets in the universe, so they probably would have thought that a visitor from another world was a deity.
"Most of you, if not all of you, carry her DNA."
"But that was a long time ago... like thousands of years... and we didn't have a choice..." Laes started, managing a nervous half-smile. "We've worked together to advance both of our societies since then. We don't have to be enemies."
The Tallest sighed, and his antennae fell back.
"Things aren't that simple."
"What do you mean...?" Laes asked.
Irk's leader glared at him, and he flinched.
"Do you know what Irkens were originally programmed to do?"
"Yeah uh, they were supposed to protect the Invaders... but you guys reprogrammed your PAKs. You changed it so your loyalty would be to the Empire and your own people... um... the Tallest, rather than the Invaders."
"Except our current programs are based off of the original program... it's never really gone anywhere because the Control Brains never considered it a problem. It was altered, not erased, and it's especially noticeable when Irken PAKs are coded with what we were originally purposed for: soldiers and guards."
"So there's two programs?" Laes questioned frowning a little in thought.
He rubbed his chin and 'hmmed' to himself.
"There are two sets of loyalties: one to the Invaders, or those with Invader DNA, and one for what we reprogrammed ourselves for," the Tallest explained.
"H-hold on..." Laes raised his hand and his stump defensively. "Are you saying the reason Bann started helping me is because of my DNA? How can your loyalty programs even tell we have it?"
"I don't know how... all I know is that we never had this problem before we conquered Vort."
"Ok, so... I'm just going to go through everything again to make sure I'm understanding things properly..." Laes spoke, lowering his arms back down.
"Ok um, please correct me if I got anything wrong... so uh, Irkens were originally programmed to be loyal to the Invaders, but your ancestors reprogrammed the old program, rather than having it deleted, to be loyal to Irk and Irk's leaders.
At the same time, a surviving Invader started to uh... spread her DNA among my people's ancestors... which sounds kind of... I mean... how did she do that...? Like... is it the same way we..."
"I never found that information, and I really don't want to know," the Tallest admitted, looking away from the Vortian.
That seemed fair enough, so he continued, "the 1st program was pretty much dormant because of the second one, but being coded as a soldier or guard, and being near Invader DNA, somehow works to reawaken the 1st program: to protect Invaders."
He paused for a moment before continuing. This was a bunch of crazy information he was getting all at once... it really was.
"And since Vortians have Invader DNA, this older program makes Irkens want to protect us... but it's an individual program isn't it? I mean, just because Bann wanted to protect me didn't mean he wanted to protect Lard Nar or the Resisty or anything."
Bann wouldn't have helped Lard Nar if he hadn't asked him to. The young guard had made that pretty clear.
"I think the original program was meant to be like that... for most of us... I'm not sure how many crazy experiments they did or what else they might have put in our PAKs back then."
The Tallest continued: "an Irken was only supposed to defend one Invader or one family-unit at a time... at least that's what it sounded like. Maybe there were some who were supposed to protect their whole society too, I don't know, but I would think those ones would have had an easier time transitioning from the 1st program to the second one."
"How can we fix this?" Laes questioned.
That was the real question wasn't it? Somehow in the distant past both of their societies had been manipulated by the Invaders. There had to be away to undo at least some of the damage done to the Irkens.
The Tallest grew quiet. It was a bit unnerving.
Laes stood tense, waiting for Irk's leader to offer a suggestion.
"We could kill all of you," the Tallest responded after a while.
"I'm going to have to argue with tha..." Laes gasped when he found himself knocked onto his back.
The Tallest had summoned his PAK legs. Oh cripes... he scrambled into a sitting position, but the sharp point of the metal limb caught him in the torso and pinned him to the floor.
Staring up at the ceiling, he could feel blood oozing from the wound in his middle. Then came a sharp pain and he could taste the metallic flavor in his mouth. Tears blurred his vision of the ceiling and he let out a small whimper.
He'd been impaled hadn't he?
"I can't let you run around with this kind of information," the Tallest told him in a sombre tone. "Once all of the Vortians are dead, the 1st program will never be triggered again. This is what's best for the Empire."
"I-Is that... that why you left... my people... to die...?" Laes managed to mumble.
Also, how did the Tallest know that would be a permanent solution? What if someday something else caused the 1st program to reappear?
His vision was quickly fading to black.
He tried to help. He really did.
Now he was dying.
Laes... get close... get me to... his PAK.
Bann's voice sounded so far away.
How was he supposed to get the hologram device into the Tallest's PAK? Didn't Bann realize he was dying right now?
He managed to open his eyes. The Tallest's metal limb was right in front of his face almost...
His hand began searching for the hologram device holding Bann's data.
The Irken's PAK leg was right there. It was connected to his PAK... so maybe...
His fingers grasped the device in his pocket, and he managed to pull it out and place it against the metal limb. His whole arm was shaking... He groaned as he let his head fall back.
The device had stuck to the metal like a magnet.
Then everything became quiet as his vision was swallowed up by darkness.
It was the strangest sensation... first he felt like he was thrashing against the waves, just trying to stay floating. Whatever energy he had was being used to fight against the defenses put in place. Everything was trying to force him out.
Next came huge amounts of data... memories, flashbacks, and knowledge from the host. It was overwhelming, coming from every direction and none at all.
Then he could see... he could hear... he wasn't trapped inside a screen anymore as formless data. Everything looked so clear.
His mouth curled into a smile, and he glanced down at his hands. These were his hands now.
The feeling of elation and relief quickly passed when he realized Laes wasn't moving.
He recalled the PAK-leg piercing the Vortian. It was still coated in blood. He withdrew it, but the damage had already been done.
He tried to take a step and nearly lost his balance. Right. He was in the Tallest's body, so he was floating.
Laes needed him. That's the only thing that mattered right now. Whatever new information he just gained could be processed later.
He fiddled with the hover-belt and managed to turn it off. He fell awkwardly onto the floor. Apparently the Tallest's attire wasn't built for mobility.
Laes was bleeding out.
He hurried to the Vortians side and crouched down. He moved some fabric away from the wound.
Blood was pooling on the floor. The metal limb had likely gone through at least one of Laes' organs.
Carefully he drew the Vortian into his arms and carried him out of the room. He needed to find medical supplies right now or Laes wouldn't stand a chance.
Their PAKs could fix a lot, but they couldn't fix everything. There had to be at least one medic on board the Massive.
There was a janitor mopping the hallway, so he sent her to find the medic and have them prepare for emergency surgery.
He ended up following her to the med-bay.
There were two medics and they immediately began rushing around, gathering supplies and sterilizing the metal table. One of them adjusted a light so it was shining almost straight down on the table while the other set out sutures scissors and swabs.
"Keep him from dying," Bann told them as he placed Laes down on the metal table.
He was trying to sound like his leader, but he couldn't hide the concern in his voice. He couldn't even make himself stay to watch the operation.
While he was waiting out in the hallway, he had time to reflect over everything his Tallest had learned.
Apparently his leader had done quite a bit of digging in Irk's old archives.
He would have to tell Laes about it when he woke up.
The Vortian had to wake up. With of the technology at his disposal there was no way he was going to let Laes die.
Squeezing his hands into fists, Bann clenched his teeth in anger.
He was angry at his Tallest for attacking Laes without any provocation.. but he was also angry with himself. He was supposed to protect the Vortian. It didn't matter to him whether or not Laes had Invader DNA or that his programming was probably responding to it.
There was something he could do while he was waiting for Laes to recover.
He uncurled his fingers and flicked the hover-belt back on. His feet rose off the floor until he was floating.
Then he started down the hallway towards the platform that could take him up to the control room.
With his Tallest's face he could order the pilots to do whatever he wanted. He could command the soldiers too.
More Notes: Aaaand Bann 's back! ...Sort of!
True fact: He has no idea how this will impact either him or the Tallest but he doesn't care so..