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seemed to take pleasure in
the sound of his own vocalizations. “I rather enjoyed it.” An
uncomfortably pleasant smile crossed Kulcarin’s Eurasian face.
“These humans make such easy sport.” He sneered.
    That she didn’t like. Kulcarin’s disdain for
humanity, it touched something dangerous hardwired into her own
soul. Arshira wondered how Sitara could lately stand her mate?
Certainly Sharr could be given to bouts of ego, but Kulcarin had
grown callous and arrogant. Not only had he become more
overbearing, Aranskrai noticeably had gotten larger, and muscular.
He claimed it to be the result of enhancements his Skatha
developed. A regime of vitamins and growth supplements,
requirements of their training program. The Skatha kept their
secrets, and were allowed to, for they proved very effective in
what they did, killing. Frederika believed they had too much
autonomy.
    “I’ve come to bring you the nuke codes.”
Kulcarin explained. “As well as to tell you that we’ve secured the
nanovirus, along with those who developed it.” Kulcarin
nonchalantly handed her a small locked box.
    Arshira glanced at the inverted thunderbolt
insignia on the Skatha Lord’s left shoulder, part of his oil-black
carapace. A bone like ridge ran from the insignia to conduct energy
down to a retractable clawed gauntlet. The emblem appeared to take
form within the organic armor as a kind of digital creation. Sadly
Arshira took charge of the box that contained the codes for the
nuclear devices which the Skatha Brigade had strategically placed
weeks ago. These were meant to be insurance against the Imperium,
lest they retaliate.
    “For a female,” Kulcarin sneered. “Who just
won a great victory, you look rather unhappy Arshira.” The Skatha
Lord pressed in an attempt to barb her.
    Kulcarin's presumption irked Arshira a great
deal.
    “Do you know what the people call you?”
Continued Kulcarin rhetorically.
    Arshira knew very well the names her fellow
Falcanians bestowed onto her.
    “Katar-J’hiin ‘Sword of Doom’, or ‘Sharr’s
Blade’, and my favorite,” laughed Aranskrai. “‘Rani of
Destruction’.” He grinned. “Many fear seeing you,” continued the
Lord of Skatha. “Knowing that in your wake blood shall flow and
cities will burn.” He laughed a hearty deep bellow. Personally
Aranskrai enjoyed the image of the Bloody Goddess. “You are the
fateful lightening,” he snarled. “That brings complete destruction
in its wake.”
    Indeed, Sharr Khan had done what Oberon
failed to do. The Shotar unleashed Arshira’s innate violence. Her
love for him compelled her to action. “Have you ever considered
Kulcarin that perhaps though we fight a noble war,” Arshira
defiantly stood to face the Skatha Commander, fists clenched at her
sides. “That this preemptive strike could be the cause of our own
downfall? We shed blood indiscriminately, und become the aggressors
we seek to displace. One must wonder if the Falcanian tri-claw is
any less oppressive than the Imperium’s boot?”
    The sudden ethical question took Aranskrai
by surprise; he stroked his forked goatee and contemplated what to
say. “That sounds like doubt Arshira.” The Skatha almost accused
her of being a traitor, might as well have, given the scorn he now
displayed.
    “I am simply asking a question, I even have
asked these things of our Shotar.” Arshira had no problem
challenging Sharr’s choices if she ever thought them unwise. At the
moment, the aggressive stance remained popular among the Falcanian
people, it fit their nature, she knew though that as history had
proven such aggressive action could backfire, even if it arose from
out of a just cause.
    “If you truly have moral qualms about our
mission, then come with me to the laboratory where we found the
nanotechnology virus.” He dryly remarked. “There you shall see the
worthiness of the blood we’ve shed.”
     
     
    Blood, sticky droplets trickled down a
nearby wall, its metallic iron smell