Demise

[Boss]

The three of us in the engineering bay got to work cleaning up the messes left by our actions, then resumed operation of the gunboat as if nothing had happened.

For us, nothing had. A more than fair trade. One shell, in exchange for six new ones, and possibly, just possibly, an entire spacegoing city's worth.

**************

A last-second movement pulled the muzzle away from Mason's head and centered the emerging projectile on the ceiling light, which promptly imploded as the superheated plasma burned home. The already-dim room faded into utter darkness as the spent plasma cooled. Two sets of eyes flared, flickering light across the darkness, causing shadows to speculate where they really should be at, and left them constantly darting around. Mason's face was lit in the fearsome glow, his features leaping and changing with the shadows' antics.

They spoke as one. "You died that day, in the face of something greater. You let fear guide your actions. You failed your men. Your House. Your honor. You were set free, but for what? Would you have been a benefactor of humankind? Of course. Would it be right? That is something altogether different.

"You would have hunted beings of great majesty and power. Beings to whom humanity is like nothing more than an incredibly painful and damaging anthill. Dangerous tools. A threat. On that day, that time ago, these beings won, against you and your kind. A small victory, but an important one, perhaps. See now before you the vanguard of a victory against your ship and crew.

"See what you would have tried to kill. Become what you would have destroyed."

***************
Darkness claimed me...