"No," He replied nonchalantly, "Liberty does not concern us. It's too busy destroying itself at the hands of Rheinland." A smile spread across his face, "But we have infected Katz, Golanski, and Holliday."
Without an explanation to any upcoming questions, he turned to the sphere, speaking quietly, "I want you to come into contact with the sphere. You use hate as if it were an emotion that drives us. Do you think we are influenced by such trivial emotions? Unless you try and come into contact with the artifact, you'd never know what it is that we are and will continue to ignorantly fight us as though we were the villains of Sirius."
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
"And you have no wrongdoings? You forget, Hunter, humans are capable of much more horrid atrocities than we are."
To Jeremy, his mind would clear and his senses would escape him. The moment his hand made contact with the sphere the physical world would escape. In his mind, his thoughts would fuse with those of a million others, all communicating and transferring data. If there were a mental image, it would be that of a large orb-like light with numerous lights orbiting around it.
"Who are you?"
"Why are you here?"
"What is your purpose."
"Outsider."
Curiosity, anger, happiness, pleasure, and pain course through the mind all at once. The emotions and the thoughts of many fused into one conscious, donating to its collective processing power. And Jeremy's mind is donating to thought. To Jeremy, the feeling of his emotions and his memories all flooding into the Mindshare. In return, the younger and even the elder of the minds flow data into his own mind. Visions of alien structures and unknown systems flood into view.
And just like that, it ends as Iruel pulls the man away from the artifact. In just a matter of seconds, the memories and emotions of millions of minds over the course of ten years had been experienced. "They do not hate you," Iruel says quietly, "They are nervous about humanity. Humanity has it in its own will to kill its fellows. We are unable to do that. We can not coexist by your will and your will alone."
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
"Coexistence is out of the question. Humans can not be trusted unless they show devotion. There are many who work for and with us on their own free will." Rocking back on forth on his heels, the man continues, "Lying? What is it that I would lie about?"
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
"So, believe in,you,or die? Iruel, we, humans, believe in something known as Free Will. Each of us can choose our own beliefs, our own paths. We all fight because we choose our own ways. It is who we arr. Some may trust you, some may not. You can coexust with some of us. Not all. Tell me, have you found any humans who don't shoot you, yet are neither brainwashed or infected."
Jeremy found a wall and leaned against it. He was still overwhelmed.
"And how do I.know you're just trying to dupe me, hope I dupe more, lower our guard...then strike...lying...can topple kingdoms, destroy hearts...and also, tell me...why should I believe you? Why...should I believe when an indoctrinated human...tried to kill my little sister!"
There was a long pause before Iruel spoke, "What is free will? The decision to do as any one individual desires? To induce anarchy for one's enjoyment? Or perhaps to betray and murder the innocent masses? We are as free as you are. We have opinions and we have a voice in the grand scheme of things. We of the Remnant want to restore Tekagi's legacy to Kusari. The Wilde seek to survive. All one goal through different methods."
His posture straightened as he took on a commanding tone, "You do not know anything. That's the issue. You only shoot at us and dissect the remains as though we were animals. There are humans who freely follow us. Telling you who they are would be most unwise, but they do exist. And you speak of trust? You speak of lies? Who is it that invented and perfected the words? Humans. Nomads don't lie to one another. We don't betray one another. We are Kin. We are family. Words that not even you can fathom the deeper meaning of."
He took a step forward, looming over the weary man, "You slaughter our children as though they were cattle; you encroach on artifacts and structures that are ours. And then you have the gall to tell me that we are in the wrong for defending ourselves? Your sister be damned, you think we don't know the same pain and sacrifice that you do? You truly are naive, stupid boy. Putting yourself above others. How selfish. How spoiled!"
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
Jeremy responded with a right hook, smashing into the man's jaw and throwing him back a foot or so.
"You...are arrogant bastard. Worse than Chamberlain.."
Jeremy now took the same posture, and his eyes burned.
"My sister is my world Iruel. You should know. You respect that as I have respected you. I say what I do, and I try and show you my side of this.. I am not stupid; I dont know or understand every damn thing you do. Naive, yes, but I never place myself above others. I refer to you and me. Not all colloectively right now. Yes, humans dissect, take,artifacts. I do not call you in the wrong for defending; I place you in the wrong for your idiot approach to dealing with it."
Jeremy glared into Iruel's eyes.
"Both of our forebearers who met on the planet in Major are to blame. But tell me, Iruel. Those Nomads killed, infected, hated."
Jeremy clenched his fists.
"When have you provef yourself different! WHEN! You call me stupid? WHEN HAVE YOU SHOWED US YOU ARE NOT WHAT WE ONCE FOUGHT!"
Jeremy, quick as lightning, drew his sidearm.
"I was there. I saw the Marduks as they tore Toledo up. I saw as your fighters burned my friends. And then, back before, why did your kind never talk through the infected to try and talk? You must live down the sins of the father as we have to. I lost a good friend at Toledo. You...you have lost many too."
Jeremy lowered the gun.
"You call me selfish? You have seen my memories. You know what I fo, I do for her. I am not selfish. Now tell me: Why should I believe any of this? You call me thimgs, but you never told me why I should believe you. Nomads don't lie to one another...you never said they don't lie to humans."
Jeremy didn't holster the gun.
"And...you have the gall to say my sister be damned...when you know I have almost died to protect her. You should know."
The punch was unexpected, but not countered. The duck was quick enough to avoid the fist, but he had lost a foot of ground in the dodge. "You put yourself above the whole, Hunter. You are not here to be brainwashed or given an ultimatum. There is no 'truth' in this world. But you are only human, so you couldn't comprehend that."
As soon as Jeremy pulled a pistol on the man, the walls began to move. In the dim light of the room, it was easy to not notice the figures that stood guard. The eyes on their helmets lit up suddenly, casting an eery glare as the figures stepped forward, clad in the same armor as Iruel. In their hands, they held all matter of bladed weapons. They assumed an offensive crouch, waiting for him to make the first move.
"Your fate lies on what you learned here, Hunter. But look at it from our side. To be awoken from a great slumber only to find that an alien has inhabited and taken our home. You claim that we are 'lying', but what lie is there in telling you there are no heroes? No villains? We are all equally evil. We are all similarly insidious. In the grand scheme of things, it is calculated that humans would overpower and eradicate our species through unification. We lack numbers. It doesn't take a genius to realize this. It is you who will lie. Not us. You who will make promises then betray us when it best suits you."
The figures in the room stood motionless, indiscernible from statues that may have simply decorated the room. "You fight for yourself, Jeremy. You fight to seek revenge and protect only yourselves in the grand scheme of war. You hold no truth to the Order. You do not share their ideals. You fight to protect your kin and seek some equality for the death of your father."
Iruel stepped back even further, continuing his speech, "You are not the warrior you claim to be. There is no good that the Order will hold itself to. One by one, the neighboring factions are seeing this. The Coalition and the Corsairs realize how futile it is to side with an ailing beast that will adhere to its secrecy until it dies. Why put effort into such a creature? Why bother? Many have come to us, asking for assistance in their quest of eradicating you. Many have stated they are not against us and will maintain neutrality.
"You mentioned the Coalition. They defined a set of rules that equated to this: We have a common enemy, let's not shoot one another until it dies. That is the term they set. That is the term we'll adhere to. Do you want some words of wisdom? Do you desire to know the fate of the Order?" The words dripped from his mouth as though they were venom from the fangs of a snake.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
"The only ideal of the Order I adhere to is protecting humanity."
Jeremy holstered the gun.
"I made an oath to protect humanity. I will fight you until you stop harming humans. Stop infecting, stop the brainwashing. By words or by war, as long as you are stopped from harming those who just wish to live and be left alone, such as most inhabitants on planets...then my oath,is done. I avenged my father when I flew with the original Order and helped Trent at the Dyson Sphere. I wish to defend my kin."
Jeremy relaxed.
"So. You made your case. I've made mine. Words or war. As long as you stop brainwashing and infecting the unwilling, and killing those who wish to live peacefully and avoid war and death and you...I would consider my job done."
Jeremy crossed his arms.
"So. Now can I go back? Rika is freaking, and she needs a hug from me before she does something rash along the lines of stealing a battleship and hunting the Ahkraziel."
Jeremy paused.
"If you refraim from shooting, so will,I. And I will see if the Order can at least learn to tolerate you, the Iseijin. Though your bretheren the Wilde and the Keepers...no promises there. I can promise to try my best while not getting myself labeled traitor and such Iruel. I owe you that much for not running a blade through me. Hurt the first time. Second will hurt less, but will still hurt."
Jeremy shook his head.
"You do not control the Order's future. We will embrace destiny when the time comes. You do not control that. Your arrogance shall lead to your failure. We will survive, Iruel. Got it memorized?"
//random irony: while walking, I see a napkin with the word Order written ln it.
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