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I still have no idea how things came to be this way.
It started a long time ago, I remember that. I had just been promoted Commander after years of training; boarding my very own ship, the Pearl Wings, I soon started exploring nearby solar systems and planting colonies. I was skilled in my art, and in no time I climbed up the ranks, spreading the Serapheim Empire and its philosophy throughout our branch of the galaxy. I met a lot of other empires, traded with them, sometimes went at war with them or allied them. I became one big name on my homeworld, someone people from all species would recognize and greet as I made my way further and further into the universe. And I was proud of it, proud of this network of allies I was building slowly but steadily, of the many treasures that piled up in my ship's cargo, of the colonies I'd raise from the ground at a simple command. Very soon, I was one of the most important beings in this side of the galaxy.
It was a great life. Everywhere I went, I'd be respected by my kin and friends, and thanked so many times for helping them. I was the one to call, the one people would count on. I was powerful, and my beloved ship was becoming more and more of a technological wonder as years passed by. I was unstoppable, reckless, and would always push further.
Despite their respect, people feared me, for my species has always been known to be quite...unpredictable. Our evolution only showed a wavering tendency of amity and conquest, that made us into the Zealots we are today. I was proud of it, and proud of this tendency. I dismissed everyone's complaints and remarks on how my innate recklessness would one day drive me to dangerous choices.
I would never have thought they were right.
As I journeyed ever closer to the center of our universe, driven by a curiosity and a thirst for discovery, I did something that changed my life. In the midst of a thorough exploration of some solar systems, I was approached by ships of a craft I have never seen before.
All my alarm systems had blared out loud on that day. The allied ships I was then traveling with had pushed me to retreat out of here. I didn't understand anything of their behavior, until they explained to me the true nature of these ships with a strange purple aura.
Countless times in my voyage have I been warned of the Grox. These toxic, ruthless brutes that would slay anyone in their path were the greatest fear of all civilized species. They didn't understand friendship, collaboration, and were only moved by war and destruction. Their network of solar systems was so vast that trying to cross it would mean immediate death. Every empire, every culture I've met only spoke of them in those terms: deadly, savage, merciless. They all advised me to stay away from them, at any cost.
No need to say that their warnings only kindled my curiosity even further.
Behind the threshold of the galaxy branch that wasn't under Grox domination, I was carefully setting my colonies, terraforming some planets and bringing life to them. I wanted to be as close as possible to these creatures to study them. The few ships that had ventured behind the massive purple web of their territories had never returned. From what I saw on my radar, their colonies were all posted on planets below terraforming standards. It's almost as if they were making them uninhabitable on purpose. The more I tried to learn about them, the more confused I grew. The more restless too.
So one day, I dived in. I headed to the nearest Grox planet, my two hearts beating with thrill. Excitation. When their ship took off and went to meet me, I almost couldn't start the communication. What if they were to destroy me on the spot? I had to be very careful with what words I used. By safety, I turned off the Auto-DCA and opted for an unusual peaceful approach.
What frail little creatures, I thought to myself when the screen lit up and showed me what these beasts truly looked like. Frail yet feared by trillions of lives across the galaxy. Not feeling like angering these beasts, I offered them a hefty sum of money and promptly left, before they'd decide to attack my ship.
The experience was one of a kind. My mentor strongly advised me not to mess with them, and to stop what I was doing. But deep down, I knew they were as eager as I was. So I kept going.
It took time. It took effort. It took money. But I didn't stop. I wanted to see whether these creatures were truly incapable of friendship. I became their errand bird, gathering samples and bringing back rare items for them. The other empires didn't appreciate what I was doing, but they said nothing. I wanted to see how far I could go, and I wouldn't care about their words. So I kept going still.
Finally, after a long time, the Grox finally showed some faint signs of warming up. I saw their speech pattern change in the slightest of ways, even though they'd still fire at me whenever I came close. I suppose their distrust of strangers was that strong. But I said nothing. I kept my weapons off, repairing my ship without a word and keeping a low profile. Word of my presence in Grox territory eventually spread around, and that's how I came across some clues on how to get their respect.
They were creatures of unspoken evil, that hated every single organization spread in space; including the Galactic Federation. Distasteful of every philosophy out there, they only abode by their own law of destruction and ruthlessness. So if I wanted to earn their trust, I had to do the same. In other words, I had to break the Galactic Code.
The Fanatical Frenzy was a dangerous weapon. During my years of training, I learned that it should never be used, for the children of Spode should realize their mistakes by themselves, and that forcing the true belief onto them was the best way to have them rebel against it. Its use was considered a violation of the Galactic Code in every civilization I knew of.
All but one.
The others started to fear me. I was deliberately breaking the rules everyone abode by, no matter their philosophy of life. I was becoming dangerous. I lost many allies in my plight, but I started not to care anymore, as I converted more and more infidels by force, expanding our empire. By now, I had become obsessed with gaining these devils' recognition. And I wouldn't stop at anything to get it.
Not even outright destruction of a planet.
The moment I escaped from the smoldering pile of rocks that has once been an inhabited planet, I knew something about these purple monsters had changed. I came to them, I offered them my colony to trade with. Surprisingly, they accepted, and I felt unstoppable. I had done something no one had ever managed to do before! It quickly got to me, and I realized I wanted more of this feeling of superiority. Wasting no time in my business, I immediately offered my help, and an alliance to the Serapheim Empire. And to my greatest surprise yet, they condescendingly accepted.
Almost immediately, my screen was swarming with war declarations.
It took me by surprise. I looked at the data with a horrified growl, an only saw red. My reputation amongst other empires had plowed to the ground. Word had spread as fast as a shooting star, and before I knew it, I had become public enemy #1. My homeworld was becoming the target of so many assaults and raids, and I regret quickly caught up to me. I had doomed my people to certain destruction.
But from the corner of my sharp eye, I saw something. A new ship had been added to my corps. A ship not unlike those who just tried to shoot me down.
The entire universe had turned against me, but now I had the most powerful of allies by my side. And I didn't know how I was supposed to take it. But the more I thought about it, the more it sounded like a good idea. I could get to the core of the galaxy without a trouble now, and with the help of the Grox, I could crush everyone who wanted to fight me.
And I honestly liked this idea.
Revving up my engines, my new ally following me, I made my way through the thick purple web of friendly planets.
~~~~~
“So...you're rather dense, aren't you?”
Nestled at my post, I was idly correcting the course of the ship with a few wing tugs at the steering wheel. Nothing had shown up so far, save for distant war declarations that I chose to ignore. They couldn't legally attack me unless I answered them, so I was more than happy to throw them all away.
Generally, when travels between stars would grow long and boring, I'd turn on the short-range communications and have a chat with whoever was accompanying me. Some empires were better at this than others, hence why I liked taking Bards along to get some good jokes, or Shamans to have nice conversations; and of course, fellow Zealots. There was a bit of everything that could be talked about, with every kind of alien species in the galaxy.
Or should I say, almost every kind.
“Come on. Don't tell me you don't like talking.”, I teased again into the vocal input.
But all I got replied with was silence. These tight-lipped mammals likely weren't ones for small talk. So I sighed, giving up, curling back into the nest as I watched stars go by. I corrected the course again, a little more to the left, heading towards a blue giant.
For one who dedicated years of their life to understanding the Grox, I wasn't much wiser than before. I knew almost nothing more of them. If anything, now that they weren't shooting at me whenever I only seemed to breathe in their direction, I have learned a little about their building structures and ships. But not much either. Which meant almost nothing at all.
I started to wonder if this was all really worth it. But just as I was about to give up, the small light of the communication device turned on.
“Interest rate in 'casual conversation' is currently at 0,5%.”
I gave out a little chirp at this. So these folks could talk! Well, it was more of a voice synthesizer thing, but it counted as a voice. I grinned to myself, coming closer again.
“It's better than zero, at least. C'mon, don't you want to boast at me about how great you are?”
“We do not have any qualms to 'boast'. Only inferior species brag about themselves. We do not need to.”
Talk about arrogance. But something in these guys just suited my liking. Maybe it was their constant superiority complex, or their odd garbled accent, or the fact any metaphors seemed to fly straight over their heads. Had they not been murderous conquerors bent on destruction and rampage, I could have liked them. For now, it was mostly fascination that kept me going.
Plus, now that the Serapheim were the one species in the universe to eliminate...maybe we'd get on common grounds?
“We still have 78 parsecs to go before reaching our destination. What do you folks do on long trips?”
The answer took some time.
“The Grox are above the need for distraction. We do not allow such lowly tendencies.”
“Then why do your cities have enrichment centers? You sure do something in your spare time.”
Nothing came this time, for a long while. I groaned, letting the course take place while I headed to the back of the ship to grab a bite. Just a bit of red Spice on meatloaf, since I had a lot of the stuff from previous colony visits. I should resupply soon, by the way. The Spice trade would become much more difficult now, since no other empire wanted anything to do with me, and the Grox simply refused to trade.
When I came back to my post, however, I found a message on my screen. Opening it, I saw a picture of a Grox-o-Plexx entertainment center. Curious, I read the description underneath.
“It is here that Grox citizens are rewarded for hard work with exhibitions of righteous slaughtering of lowly creatures. Once a year, a citizen from a foreign system is put against our most modern drones and mechanical fighters under the eyes of thousands. The sacrificed victim is then torn to shreds and ground into additional rations.”
I felt a shiver run down my thorny spine. “Righteous slaughtering”? These folks had a very, very twisted idea of fun! Was that how they spent their days? Was this why they asked me to bring back citizens from other planets, under the guise of study?
“The All Powerful Serapheim's convictions seem to be wavering.”
The garbled voice startled me. I closed the file which has likely been sent on purpose, and tried to keep a friendly profile.
“Convictions? My convictions are fine, promise.”
“Could it be the All Powerful doesn't believe in Our cause?”
“I never said that. I...I do believe. We only have different...cultural backgrounds, that's all.”
“The All Powerful is weak.”
That taunting annoyed me to levels. After all I did to be their friend, they still didn't bother with consideration. At least they had their goals set; but it felt annoying all the same. I didn't answer, pretending to be busy checking my starmaps.
Although I was a little fascinated, I admitted. Not as much by their practices as by the fact the pilot had been willing, even just for a moment, to share something of their culture with me. It was a bit odd, but I wouldn't complain. It was a good result, if anything! That proved there was still hope. Now, I had to cultivate it.
“Our species is much...much younger.”, I said after a time. “We are but children in the vast family of the universe. But we could learn a lot from you.”
Again, no response. I pondered over the thought of the Grox teaching anything at all to other species, wondering whether this could be an actual possibility. Likely not, seeing how they hated the mere thought of anything that wasn't of Grox nature. What a bunch of megalomaniacs.
“So the All Powerful wishes to be taught our ways? They should know that the secrets of the Grox aren't to be shared with meek mortals.”
“I don't want to become immortal or copy your technology. I just...”
I sighed.
“I just wish to know you some more. To know what motivates you. What philosophy, what principles you live by.”
There was a long, lasting radio silence as our ships kept flying towards the blue giant. I feared I had said something wrong, and that war would be upon us any minute now.
But then, the reply came.
“The Grox Empire has consented to your request.”
I smiled with both my beaks.
Now that would be an experience!