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There was a bombardment again but Toxlo was not responding. Erica told us that the next phase was commencing. More rock was sent to the planet but aimed at the missile batteries further out to draw their fire. They had been reluctant to shoot before due to their dwindling supplies. They now had to fire or die. When the firing was the heaviest, some of our ships dived through the atmosphere causing as much noise as the antimatter explosions. They swooped low over the ocean and then came to land in the city.

As soon as the ships landed they disgorged the cadets in our hardened armour. Gordo became our local command centre but every piece of information was being duplicated and sent to Walt and to Wesley. If events turned extremely bad then we would know what had happened or the survivors would.

Betts and I used medication to stay awake and alert. The administration building had fallen then the two reactors. While the cadets cleaned up we set up our own missile batteries and tried to get the manufacturing facilities that had served the Aristis working for us.

Betts and I curled up in the administration building and went to sleep. Finding out who died in my family could wait until we woke up.

I woke up holding Betts after coming out of a bad nightmare. All of my family had died and I just sat there and could not do anything to stop it.

There were rations and water near and I had a drink then went looking for the washroom. A guard in armour pointed the way after saluting. Even while expelling wastes, I got Gordo to give an update.

Toxlo had fallen but we were prepared for further resistance. Walt as Rontem gloated over his 'easy' victory and talked of what was going to happen next. A census was completed and Garbo tried to get everybody back to work. We searched for weapons. Those we found were tagged and the owner's name affixed to it. They did not believe that they would get the weapons back when diplomatic relations were normalised. This was all done as we slept.

I waited for Betts to wake up before I listened to the specifics of the bad news. When she did wake up she quickly looked around to find me then smiled. She then saw what was ahead of us. I helped her up and held her to me. "You better get ready for our day. We have some bad news to hear and a lot of work to do." Betts hugged me to her and started to sniffle already. She must have got some of the information already.

Erica was the one that gave us the information. She was not safely in space but here with us and wearing armour. She was difficult to hug but we tried. She was much more careful with us.

Erica said through her external speaker, "You guys did a pretty good job. There was no organised resistance left."

"How many of your cadets died?"

"Three."

"Resistance must still have been stiff if three died when in armour."

"Some of the soldiers had some heavy weapons that should have been in the armoury. The bloody Aristis and there internecine warfare. They are ready to take on a rival faction at any time. I don't know how you are going to control them."

"I'll worry more about that later. Tell us the names of your dead and then ours."

Erica went through the names slowly so we had a chance to bring up the faces of each of them. Every single one of them we knew very well. It was family members dying not unknown soldiers in a far away war. The cadet deaths were bad but my mates hurt worse. I had bonded with them as their husband and father of their children.

We were all holding each other as the names rolled on and on until Sam Lockhart's name was mentioned. The pause told me that there were no more yet. I wanted to know about all of the deaths but I could not take it now.

Erica had come prepared for this, or at least in part. "We are having problems with the rest of the planet Captain. The Aristis have dispersed. I am pretty sure that they have hidden cashes of missiles and manufacturing facilities. The major cities are ours. We estimate that there were forty two thousand Aristis on the planet when we arrived. Twenty two percent of the population are dead and thirty percent more are wounded and waiting more advanced medical attention.

"The male Aristis are put to work even if it is just labour. We gathered up the orphans, injured and the widows and put them to work too. We can look after them better this way. They are free to come and go and we feed them well.

"We are assembling large drones to search out the Aristis that will still fight. Fonduush cannot come near because there are still a lot of missile batteries that suddenly appear. We think that one ship that is severely damaged can still be used as bait when enough repairs are done to it.

"The Fonduush and the other major ships were hit. Our improved shields were more than enough protection for the crews. There was minor damage though that may take a month to repair and another month to fine tune the systems. We are well able to fight now if it were not for our limited supplies of missiles.

"There are still live missiles in space still ready to attack. These are being cleaned up and co-opted if possible. It is likely that a substantial force of Aristis have left the planet as King Rontem had. They may come back when we least expect it or look for another planet.

"Earth had seen no sign of the Aristis. We are investigating the planets that may have been supporting Aristis construction. There has to be small bases there. So far we can only send probes.

"There were Tomma in the cities but most were in the military bases. The latter we hit hard. Those sites are being organised by our people. The surviving Tomma would rather surrender to one of their own.

"Our estimates of the Tomma population, world wide was about right. There are three hundred and twenty million. Casualty figures place the total number of Tomma casualties at 0.09%. The surviving Tomma we have met are not excessively hostile to us. Our family acts as liaison. Most of the problems stem from the indoctrination the Aristis put the Tomma through.

"There are still some hot spots on the planet and these we thought you should look into. Some have sizable Tomma populations."

Erica switched from voice to direct feed through my computer. I saw the damage to the ships and more accurate assessments to their repair. The scene shifted to Cralto. The placement of old and new Aristis missile batteries were shown and also the damage we did to the planet.

The new batteries were mobile and they had to be taken out. They were designed to be not found easily which meant we had to work much harder. Drones were used to find them directly but we also hurried to complete the pilotless ship designed as bait.

Other ships had gone over all the other cities to check on their defences but again there was no activity yet. Some Aristis were very busy though trying to build new defences and we had to take these out before they were completed. If possible I would like to do it without the loss of more life.

Erica was in nominal command of the Fonduush but we all knew that King Rontem chose to do it this way. Walt was paving the way for the king to be deposed instead of his original plan of becoming a kind king. We needed to show that biologicals were taking over slowly while the old king concentrated on affairs that concerned him more.

Erica went back to her post in space and wanted Betts and I to come with her. I couldn't do this for a lot of reasons and we all knew this.

We did get a ship to provide transportation. Betts and I got in with three cadets in battle armour. We went to the nearest city called Dayla to try to see what we could do. It had been hit as hard as necessary but no more. The missile batteries had spewed nothing for a while now.

Dayla was a city of only six hundred Aristis and perhaps a hundred Tomma now. It covered a large area though. It was laid out to be defended but it also looked beautiful. The equivalent of the mayor was at the city centre with two other men to await our arrival.

Our ship circled the city and then circled much closer in to find if there was a team determined to take us out. There were only three soldiers still alive we were told and they were recovering from their wounds. We did see a lot of wounded and it hurt to see children that way too.

Walt had talked to everybody on the planet about me being his only representative now that the Aristis had broken faith with him. When we emerged from the ship the armoured cadets went first then Betts and I. The mayor and the two men knelt to us on the wet stone. I was now dressed as a high ranking Aristis noble and so was Betts. This was in her own right and not as a mate. I knew she would confuse the Aristis.

I heard, "My lord, I wish to welcome you to Dayla. How may we serve you?" By Aristis etiquette he should address only the most important person but he could have phrased his words to indicate that there were two of us.

I waited to let him squirm but he was prepared for this. I could detect nothing in his mind about an attack on us but if he were at ground zero then he might well be not told anything. I read his computer and said, "Hashla, my companion is my mate but also a warrior and a leader in her own right. Humans have instituted some minor changes in protocol. Some females may be the dominant half of a family but this is not the case usually. Address my companion as Mrs Betty Kiefer."

Betts was a little shocked at me giving her my name but she felt good about it too. Having some of my children was more than enough to give her those rights. The Tomma could get them too but they did not have a marriage the same way humans did.

"I am sorry my lord and my lord Mrs Betty Kiefer. I will not let this mistake happen again."

"You are forgiven. Our king had been given details of the damage done to your city. I am doing my own assessment. Our king does not wish any needless deaths. Your food preparation units have been damaged. I know that they are being worked on. I also know that some of your people are only fifty settuse away from here and building a missile battery."

"They are soldiers my lords. I have no control over them."

"For many thousands of years the Aristis have fought. This makes your race strong. It also kills a great many good men. After a rebellious city is captured, there is a good chance that nearly every man will be executed and possibly half of the women. Soldiers are bred to fight. Go to your people and pled for all of your lives. If that battery is completed then this city and the battery will die. Those are the words of our king."

"My lords, I have no way of finding them and no way of convincing them."

"You will have to find a way. The only alternative is to live on this planet as the natives do. Our king will gladly destroy all of the cities now if they will not bow to his will. In two generations of our actions, you will be no better than the natives. You will have to hunt for food with a bow and a fishing line. You will dig in the ground with a stick so you can plant. A few hundred years from now your decedents may be given an option to rise above the mud that they will be living in."

"My lords, I will try but I need time and resources."

"Let's talk to those of the warrior class that are here."

"At once my lord." He got up and gestured in the direction we had to go. The computer on our little ship and the one on the Fonduush took control and the ship shadowed us as we walked to the infirmary. People we passed bowed to us as they would the highest ranking representative of King Rontem. We would be using ground transport but those units were already destroyed.

The infirmary was a low building like all the other buildings in Dayla. It was made to handle emergencies but not of this apparent magnitude. People tried to bow from their sickbeds but I got Betts to say that it was alright if they didn't do it this time. It would not be good for me to appear too nice.

Betts did the asking of questions and she came across as a strong mother figure. We found the three soldiers. They were not mobile. If they were on earth they would be dead by now if not for Aristis medicine. They did lay straighter when we approached. I knew their names from their chips but I had Hashla introduce me.

After this was done I said, "Our king wishes peace. There are far too few of his subjects left for him to throw away their lives. You fought well. Instead of you and your families being put to death, he wishes to offer everybody amnesty. If the launchers your fellow warriors are now making are completed and not under King Rontem's command then the launcher and the city of Dayla will be bombed into nothing. The survivors, if any, would have to live as the natives do."

One of the soldiers by the name of Kaacha said, "We were told, my lord, that you have taken the Fonduush from our king."

"Then you should listen to your king and see who he thinks commands the Fonduush."

Walt talked to Kaacha. He was far from polite. He listed details he knew about Kaacha and Kaacha's family. The king left the shaken soldier and went on to the other two warriors and did the same procedure. We hoped that the Aristis would think that a victor would not keep the old king's memories around. Seeing that I was here in front of them then I could not really be in command of the Fonduush the way an Aristis king would be.

The soldiers had communicators and could talk to their compatriots from their bed but to get a reply would pinpoint the location of the launcher. I hoped a one way communication was good enough to keep us from killing needlessly.

I asked Kaacha, "How did you get your wounds?"

"A building collapsed around me."

"That is no way for a man to be wounded. My family died fighting in ships. That is better but not much. It is best to look your opponent in the eye and fight with hands or knives not bombs or missiles."

"You are on equal footing then."

I told him and the other two soldiers how we got into Cralto then gained entrance to Toxlo. They nodded their heads as if they would use the same technique. They actually liked how I pulled the wool over their two fellow soldiers and a tech then fought them with my hands

"You fought two at once?"

"I did not say I won. You guys can really fight. I might have taken one and the tech but not both."

"How did you survive?"

"The Aristis I fought were honourable men or they wanted to see if they could take me without weapons. In the end they had me down. My mate turned off the security computer. She had to fight a lot of people to get to the disconnect. She found me being beaten and used her dart gun and her hands. Your two friends were kicking me and she walked up behind them and darted both then got mad at me for playing."

All three soldiers broke out laughing. I played to their honour and their sense of fair play and finally how a female defeated both men in the end.

Kaacha said with a smile he did not feel, "What happened to them?"

"Call Tralph Goalsen and Masuuk Threp and find out. They provide security in Toxlo."

"They are not dead?"

"Call them and ask. If they are dead then you may have a difficult time communicating. They will tell you that they knew I was a phoney all the time but I had them fooled at least half the time."

"What about the tech?"

"The same job he did before. I am not angry at the Aristis. They have killed many of my mates, my foster sister, my foster parents and my friends, some that I knew since I was young. King Rontem ordered us to fight and we obeyed the same way you three fought when you were ordered. I just see that Aristis treat each other harshly when there is no need. I interceded on your behalf to get the terms I did. Basically nothing changes except some of the aristocracy get knocked down a peg or two."

"How can I believe you?"

"Rokla went with our king to earth. He saw an opportunity and tried to kill me and then my king. Rokla killed a Tomma woman I considered my mate. To make a long story short, Rokla failed and died for it. I had a long talk to our king and as a favour to me he spared all the Aristis on the Fonduush. The four widows are now my mates and I have taken their children as my own. You may talk to Rokla's widow Lenoor my daughter Latto and son Consa."

"How can I do this?"

I concentrated on Walt and said, "My king would you grant me the time to allow Kaacha to talk to my mate Lenoor?"

"I am not a servant. Find her yourself. I am busy."

"Thank you my king but I only asked so that Kaacha would know that they are alive still."

Instead of a reply I heard, "Yes?"

"Hi Lenoor. How are you doing? Is Mitch feeding?"

"He is always hungry. Are you in trouble again?"

"Only a little. I am talking to a warrior by the name of Kaacha. I want his fellow warriors to stop fighting and start rebuilding instead. He needs to know that our king has spared your lives."

"After you made me pregnant, twice!"

"You had your legs spread if I remember. You did not complain then."

"That is beside the point. Direct me to this soldier."

"Yes, dear."

Kaacha and Lenoor talked for fifteen minutes. Lenoor had been well known and Kaacha was able to see that she was actually the former wife of Rokla. Lenoor quizzed in turn to find out what was happening at ground level in the city. When the two finished talking I saw that the three soldiers were satisfied.

Kaacha said, "Thank you my lord for taking your valuable time to explain all this to me, a simple soldier. I know of very few that would take on the responsibilities you have."

"I have taken on much larger responsibilities, Kaacha. I do not want to see hungry children or destitute mothers. Men can take care of their own families if given the opportunity. The men in the forest risk a great deal for no reason. Our king will only go so far then he will act. Talk to your friends and ask them to talk to those we have already dealt with."

Betts and I walked around to the rest of the patients. The cadets in armour frightened everyone but I was a member of the nobility, they had to remain close if for nothing more than appearances. She caused a stir by talking to all castes as if they were equal. This was not necessarily a good thing to do. Everybody above a servant wanted to hold their position and the status quo. Even the servants did not want to rock the boat too much.

We flew to three other population centres. Some were in very bad shape and we gave out supplies from the ship. Betts and I became doctors and did what we could to save lives. I called for more cadets to help if they were available but I knew that we were already stretched thin. Many patients were simply flown back to Toxlo to get better care. We were not that defenceless during this time but a ship is an opponent that few would care to challenge.

One town was emptied as we shipped everybody to the capital. The next day we did the same process again. I got the hale and hearty from Toxlo to help their own people.

The day after, we had the funerals. Instead of acting like victors I combined everybody that died in Toxlo since we came to Cralto. It made all of us uncomfortable to see all the children and other noncombatants that had died in the fighting. The Aristis usually had a service that allowed them to see the deceased to know deep down that they had died. The Tomma had a more elaborate ceremony with the invocation of their All Mother and a eulogy. Since I was in charge, we used the Tomma service.

The All Mother was invoked and I studied what happened. I had not really been religious on earth but here it was different. I saw nothing but I felt a lot. My mates, no matter what race, seem to feel the same as me. We were wrapped up in love and I could ask for no more.

The eulogy was complex as we thought about those that had died and passed this information to everybody. I pictured Sam as a child and my friend then how he grew in strength of body and mind to what he had been. His mates showed how caring and gentle he was. I pictured his children back on earth and how they would miss their father. Chuck and Jerry gave similar memories.

I went on to others when Sam's turn was over and reminisced on my mates that had perished. I thought about our children back on earth and wondered anew how I would cope with their loss. The funeral was long because every living human or Tomma had to have their say.

It was surprising though to see some of the local natives talk about the dead Aristis. I found that the Aristis were sometimes less dominant and had actually helped the Tomma without being asked.

I felt deeply about the dead and the All Mother. The gathering seemed to link every Tomma on the planet in a subtle way. I sensed that most of them would know of our grief through a vague uneasiness but everybody would somehow retain thoughts of those that died. I could see how the Tomma males were so intimately linked to the planet now.

The king was asked to attend and his message came across clearly that the Aristis had to get back to the way it was before or die. I was much more conciliatory in my speech and talked about how much all of us had lost.

There was a lot of stress from the way the 'king' came across. They were also trying to get over their loss and this way I hoped they would take this as something like an accident or a mistake. The Aristis on the ship came to the planet to show their faces and to help. They could hurt me by mentioning how few we really were but Walt was monitoring them.

The Tomma method of dealing with their grief was similar to the way humans acted. I consoled one that was crying on my shoulder and the next thing I know I am between her legs pumping away to bring the population back into line. When one got something then the rest wanted the same thing. Betts and Erica along with the Aristis woman wanted the same even if they had to wait. None of them were idle doing so. There was a lot of crying and then of joy that night but I was too worn out to do much other than to hold and talk about our loses.

Elaine and Shirley were at a loss after losing Sam. The Tomma ladies took Elaine and Shirley into their group so they could all mourn. The Tomma newcomers took to the two girls. The Tomma males did their part and I hoped the girls would be happy.

I did my best by giving them interesting jobs that would absorb their minds so they could overcome their grief. The rest of us felt almost as bad. Sam was a constant companion that risked his life to help me. He had also stood beside Chuck and Jerry when it got tough. His absence left a hole in out lives.

Many more of the able bodied Aristis were draughted into helping other Aristis and Tomma civilians. The soldiers that found their way into our hands were relatively free to run if they chose. They had no real place to go now.

My Tomma mates were ordered to see their families. They had not seen them since they went to be trained to serve King Rontem. The idea of taking leave was foreign to them. I gave them the job of giving aid to the Tomma that we harmed when we fought the Aristis and this seemed to help get my idea across.

We worked in the destroyed missile launching facilities to get them working again. Our main shield could be raised. A dysfunctional Aristis soldier outside the walls could destroy all of us with just the push of a button. The storm sewer was a mess. The walls were fused solid with the heat but only in some sections had they melted through.

The techs and the cadets began making earth moving equipment that we would need. The shield rested on the edge of the city proper but antimatter had blown away anything beyond the shield and undermined it. We needed to build up the walls to keep the shield from failing in some areas.

We could make food with the synthesisers but usually produce was brought to the city. The Tomma had a difficult time trying to get here with all the trees destroyed and scattered all over. They then had to have a boat to get across the lake that was over two hundred metres deep in some spots. I wanted to connect the new lake to the river we came up so that boats would be enough. A bridge with a causeway would also help for when a road was the logical mode of travel at some time in the future.

Doing all this was satisfying to me personally. We were still living under an ominous cloud. Aristis ships and personnel had disappeared though most had been destroyed. There were still a lot of people hiding out in the jungle though not all of them were building missiles or their launchers.

After a lot of discussion with the computer family, I gathered some of our Aristis soldiers and sent them out to talk to their people. We even pinpointed where they had to go. I gave the number of people and their names. This way they knew that I could have destroyed the camp instead of trying to save them.

I said to them, "This is a dangerous mission. You will be flying and your brothers may shoot you down. If you wish you may bring some back to see what has happened here in Toxlo. There is a good chance you will be forced to come back here with a missile or a bomb. The computer will not allow this to happen."

One officer said, "We could join them?"

"For the most part your families are here. If you want to join them then do so. Living in the forest and among the natives was always an option. Our king wants your assistance but failing that your neutrality would be accepted. Opposing our king a second time will mean your deaths no matter what I say. If you send your family away after such a decision then they will die without you. You could have left your family here and then you would live a shallow life." The officer said nothing now.

The ship left with a dozen soldiers, some supplies of food and some clothing. The soldiers all came back hours later minus the supplies but the Aristis would have to think on what was said a bit longer.

It had been a month since Toxlo fell. The city now had a much larger population than it had before now that people moved in from the smaller towns. Major upheavals scattered people to the wind. We tried to locate family and friends. Some had died in the conflict but other were in the forest still. The ones that had fled the planet were mainly the aristocratic class. They had few techs or servants but they should either adapt or die. Coming back here one day was always an option because that was the Aristis way of thinking.

The Tomma mates started to come back but usually they had a portion of their previous family with them. They were my family now and I had to treat them as such. This was by Tomma standards though and did not require my constant presence. Some of the family were relatives of those that had died. I was now a link to those that had passed on. They came to see why all of this had happened.

There were new problems to deal with. My mates had families before they left this planet usually and the children had grown. None were younger than nine and most were older than me. Some of the fathers had died when I attacked the Fonduush but the great majority had stayed here on Cralto. The older children now had children of their own. Sisters of my mates had 'rights' that meant that I treated them as my mates. It all depended on what the family wanted and if the male could provide his share of the food and the ability to keep the women happy. I was definitely not looking for new mates. I was still upset about losing the ones I had.

The Tomma males just did what they could in a family and usually just took some of the children away from the women when they could. They very rarely went to the male only grouping. Older Tomma males turned crotchety like older human males or chimpanzees. They needed a way of avoiding the stress brought on by the youngest members of the family. The younger males had to provide for this family too. These younger ones had the disposition to be of assistance and still able to take the abuse.

The Tomma females were recovering because they now fought each other for fun. The children started to rebel and the males hid. The males had learned a very long time ago to not try to act as mediator. Even with their size, they were usually fought by both parties they were trying to help.

Maska came to me with fire in her eyes. "Wally, your daughter is not doing as she is directed."

I had no real daughter here and any female was headstrong and not likely to take direction. "What's the matter?"

"I asked Jamma to help remove the rock in the sewer. The girl is big enough and the rest of us are doing this. She refused."

"Does she have an irrational fear of being underground or in a confined space?"

"I did not think that she does." She concentrated a moment and said, "No, she wants to be with those that are not working. She is just lazy and wants to do less work."

"What can I do? Males do not usually get involved if they do not want to be hurt."

"You are the Captain."