Two—
We save the Earth from destruction.
"Why do you need my help?" asked Harry as he followed me out the door and into the night.
"Because the 14th Division of the Guilden Battle Fleet is heading for Earth, and the Guilden Warriors have got it set in their little hearts to destroy said planet."
"Why? Is this unprovoked? Have they been here before?"
"No. Not yet. They were here in the future, when Earth has defences. You lot smashed the whole Fleet, all ten million of the ships. Well, nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine ships. They want to destroy Earth so it never happens. They stole technology from my race, a long time ago, so they jumped back to now and are going to destroy Earth. There's 70 000 armed aliens up there, ready to destroy the planet. The Guilden Warriors were born to fight. That's what they do. They're intergalactic bullies."
"Wait, you said 'your race'. What's that supposed to mean, that you aren't human?"
"Yeah," I said. When Harry looked dumb-struck, I added, "Lots of people I know aren't human. John F Kennedy for one!"
"Wait, JFK was an alien?"
"Of course. He came here to take control of the Earth and sell you all off as slaves. That's why I killed him. God, you're thick. Even as humans go."
"But he looked human! So do you, for that matter."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, humans! You think you're so much better than everyone else, and you assume that everyone in the Universe is copying you. Ever stop to consider that you look Deltan? We came first! Do you know how big the Universe is? The pattern doesn't just belong to you! Now, back to the Guilden Warriors who are trying to prevent Earth from killing all 700 billion of their cousins. Well, six hundred and ninety-nine billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine million, nine hundred and thirty thousand of their cousins."
"That's more aliens than there are people on Earth!"
"There you go again with your human-ness! Never assume that you have the biggest planet. Just be thankful you've got one; I don't." I was running through an overgrown garden to a creepy house with smashed in windows. I kicked down the door and ducked in through the arch of cobwebs.
As Harry ducked through, he commented, "I wonder how long it's been abandoned..."
"Three years. The family who lived here got lucky and won the lottery."
"Doesn't look like anyone who lived here could afford a lottery ticket," he commented.
"Like I said: Lucky." We walked to the largest room where a gleaming silver object stood. As soon as I was three feet inside the door, it started humming. "Hello," I smiled. Harry was hesitating at the door. "Come on, she's not going to hurt you!"
"Who is 'She'?"
"This is FAIPANS."
"FAIPANS?"
"Yes. FAIPANS, F-A-I-P-A-N-S. Friendly Artificial Intelligence Program And Navigation System. She's my space ship. I like to call her FAI."
"FAI?"
"Yes, what's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, it's just... that's a space ship?" he asked doubtfully. FAI only looked big enough to carry me, from the outside.
"Yeah. C'mon!" I walked forward and a doorway opened in the side I stepped through. "You may need to duck!" I called back as FAI deliberately lowered the door frame.
"How...?" he asked, gazing around at the large room they were now standing in.
"Well, as you came through the door, FAI shrunk you and you're now a quarter of the size you were just before."
"Really?" he asked, intrigued.
"No," I replied mockingly. "It's another dimension. Only humans ever fall for that. This technology is way beyond shrink rays!"
"Oh," he said embarrassedly. I pressed a button on the control panel and sat on a chair. Harry went to do the same but FAI moved the chair and he fell down. A sound sort of like giggling issued through the speakers.
"FAI," I said warningly. She put the chair back and Harry sat quickly down.
"So, what exactly do we need to do? Are we going to blast them out of the sky?"
"No. I'm not committing genocide today. Not if I can help it. We're going to apologise."
"And you need me because...?"
"They don't like me all that much. And a human needs to apologise. I'm only the protector of this world. You're the human delegate."
"Me?" he asked, panicked. "Why me?"
"You as good as any other." FAI beeped and I stood up. I walked to the door and poked my head out to see a familiar hall. "Those bastards!"
"What?" asked Harry, poking his head out too.
"You see this hall? This is a hall from the Deltan Empire! No-good, dirty-rotten—," I grumbled.
"Ok, that's enough. Why are we standing in the doorway?"
"As soon as we set foot in this ship, they'll know we're here. They already know we're here, but they don't know what species we are. Well, they know I'm here. Their sensors won't be tuned to human."
"But if they know we're here, won't they be coming this way anyway? Shouldn't we give ourselves a head-start?"
"Good point. You go first, and get ready to run. FAI, stealth mode, alright? Let's go!" I jumped out and FAI immediately disappeared. We ran as the security system announced: 'Deltan life form identified. Deltan life form identified.'
A yell of fury was heard all over the ship as the General in charge realised I was on board. He didn't realise we were here to make peace; he didn't care. He wanted me dead. Harry gasped as we came into view of the three Guilden Warriors guarding the control room. They were an impressive blue colour.
"Halt!" one of them commanded. "You are now prisoners of the 14th Division of the Guilden Battle Fleet. Stay where you are!"
"Go on, scan me then! I'm Deltan! The General will want to see me himself!"
"The Deltan speaks the truth! Take the other for questioning!"
"No," I said defiantly. "He's my delegate. Get your own! He's coming to see the General with me!"
"Very well. You have named your terms."
"Those aren't my terms! They're the laws of the Guilden-Deltae conjunction! My terms are to be told only to the General. Besides, my delegate has his own terms. Don't you, delegate?"
He looked at me oddly, "I'm Har—," he started, but I cut him off with a glare and a shake of my head. "I am the delegate for planet Earth, and my terms are to remain with Kei—the Deltan." I gave him a look that said he needed to add more. "I also have the right to speak directly to the General."
"Agreed," the guard said and placed his palm on the door. It slid open and the other two guards held our hands behind our backs I grumbled something about poor hospitality, but my guard only gripped harder. We were marched into the room and the General turned around.
"Hanna?" I gasped, looking into his face. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry."
"Hello, Key-hah!" he said, pronouncing my name in Deltan. "And sorry doesn't cut it." The guard holding me relaxed his grip for a moment and I pulled free. He reached out to grab me again.
"Get—get off me!" I said, stepping out of reach. "Hanna, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what Earth did. And I'm sorry for what the High Council did."
"Your delegate will speak now," he said angrily. I nodded at Harry.
"My name is Harry Potter, and I am the delegate for planet Earth. I was summoned by its protector, Keira, to apologise for the damage that my race will do in the future. I hope you will accept my apology on behalf of the planet and not attack it."
"Who is this imbecile that you place before me, Key-hah? And since when were you 'Keira'?"
"Hanna, please—,"
"No, Key-hah. I've had enough of your antics. We are going to destroy your planet. What does it mean to you? It's just one less planet you have to protect!"
"Hanna! This is my planet, you know that!"
"General Hanna, if I may input?" asked one of the guards.
"If you must," he sighed.
"Do you know the Deltan, sir?"
"Yes," I cut in. "We were friends, in the days before the war," I said nostalgically.
"Yes, before the war! Now we are not."
"Hanna, I'm sorry! I can't change what happened, so I'm doing the best I can, and I'm apologising!"
"Sorry doesn't bring back my brother!"
"Glem isn't on this ship? He should be with you!"
"He outranked me long ago! He led the mission to destroy this world. And his ship was the first to be shot down by your precious little humans."
"Hanna, this isn't your fight!"
"I'm making it my fight!"
"That makes it my fight too. Please, Hanna, I don't want to commit another genocide. Not after Silin."
"You destroyed the caves of Silin?"
"Yes. And I'm not proud of it. Just like I'm not proud of Gardah, or the Epsilon Belt. I don't want to destroy the almighty Guilden Warriors."
"Key-hah, we are wrong in our claim. We are not the greatest Warriors in the universe. You are. We will do as you say, and leave this world. What is done cannot be undone. As your delegate has apologised for the destruction of my people, I, as the delegate for the Guilden Warriors, apologise for the destruction of yours. Prepare systems for withdrawal from planetary destruction. We're going home. Can we take you anywhere? We are forever in your debt."
"But she didn't do anyth—," Harry started.
I put my hand over his mouth and whispered, "Diplomatic." Louder, I continued, "No, General Hanna, leader of the 14th Division of the Guilden Battle Fleet. Your kindness will not be forgotten." I nodded and he nodded back. The guards escorted us out of the control room and left us as Hanna's voice echoed through the ship, telling everyone that they were returning to Guilda.
"You did it!" Harry smiled.
"No, we did it." We high-fived and walked back to FAI.
"You never told me why they attacked in the first place," he said suddenly. "All those years in the future, why?"
"Because they were chasing me. I escaped, but they have profiles of all their enemies, and there were pictures of me. They knew I'd come here."
"Why were they chasing you?"
"Once, a very long time ago, the Guilden Warriors and the Deltae lived in harmony. Some might even go as far as to call them friends. We co-existed peacefully. We gave them education, they gave us battle techniques. But the Guilden Warriors got greedy and stole some equipment from us. They made crude time-travelling capsules, and when the Deltae found out, they were furious. All links were severed between them and us. The Guilden Warriors took this as a gesture of war. And go to war they did. I did. Everyone was called back to Delta, away from their duties. The High Council suited you up and sent you out to fight against the best warriors in the universe. But the Deltan people are not ones of war. We're more moral than that. Educated people, we were. The most educated in the universe. I'm not a fighter. I survived because I ran. I ran far away to the other end of the universe and I hid. I didn't kill anyone; I never could unless it was destined to be. I went back, on the last day of the war. The whole of Delta was in ruins. Children were screaming as Guilden Warriors swooped in with lasers and gases. It was a slaughter; we weren't meant to fight, we were meant to settle things in a diplomatic way. That's what set us apart from the rest of the universe. We didn't even have our own planet. I couldn't save them. I didn't see what happened to my parents, but I saw them kill my sister."
"Hanna was just trying to bring his brother back. If it pains you so much, why not just go back and save them?"
"Because I can't. Apart from the fact that I was present in the vital moments, I can't go back and see that again. It was very nearly genocide. You've never seen genocide, Harry. I have. I've been the cause of it. And even when they're most deserving, you can't do it. But you have to anyway. And it kills you from the inside."