1 10 Years of Raging War

For 10 long years, war has raged while the Galactic Committee held a tight leash on the human, stating we do things a certain way, now with the enemy closing in, the leash comes off.

"For 10 Galactic standard years, the war with the machine has raged." Said the representative of Lequems, clacking its mandibles for emphasis. "We have followed the rule of engagement for we all agree that we do things a certain way, in that time, interstellar civilizations have lost system after system. Single-system species have been wiped out. Our greatest weapon remains effective, but we are outnumbered and outmaneuvered at every turn, it spreads its wings like arms. What other options remain available to us but this... but them..."

The 837 representatives of the Galactic Committee all turned their various sensory apparatus to the 2 humans sitting near the center of the camber, President Kara and Commander Mark.

Mark frowned at the President, he didn't like all this attention and he certainly didn't like being pulled out of retirement for one last job. He'd seen the Hallows, it was certain death. You don't come back for one last job and live happily ever after.

The voice of the Lochems spoke over the murmurs and whispers and suspicious glances. "Yes, the humans devastated the militaries of several member species in blatant violation of many points of the Galactic War Crimes Treaty before making peace and we can understand how hard it can be to trust them, but the humans are the only species in the galaxy that has held their system against the invaders and we ask, we implore the human queen to assist the people of the galaxy by any mean necessary."

Mark could see the President trying to decide whether to comment on that Queen's remark. Humans were the only interstellar species in the galaxy that wasn't a hive mind under a single leader. After a few moments, Mark suppressed a grin as Kara sighed and chose not to correct the Committee with her proper title. 

President Kara stood and simply said, "We accept. Commander Mark, please share our plans and our greatest military secrets with the Committee."

Mark's eyes widened, he didn't expect her to give in so easily without any kind of negotiation for payment or compensation of some kind. What was her angle, perhaps she wanted to overcome the bad reputation, sanctions, and restrictions on humanity's expansion and military. Mark called it the leash, as in it sounded like he was about to be let off the leash. he shrugged to himself, maybe this would be interesting after all.

He stood, adjusting the battle-worn composite armor that he had just brought out of storage, and addressed all 874 Hive Mind representatives. The core intelligence of the species was all on their homeworlds, but each had developed some form of faster-than-light communication that allowed their mind to spread across the stars.

"We, humans, aren't a Hive, our mind works differently than yours. Every individual has their own mind with no communication other than through our physical communication and senses." He waited for the typical wave of shock, confusion, and revelation that always came with the Hive Mind finding out about how humans worked, most of these species had already heard, but maybe 15% expressed the usual horror.

"Our plan to stop the machines is the same as it has been against the member species we encountered before we learned how to communicate properly, we will send a small Elite strike team into the heart of the machines and destroy their central mind." Once again, Mark paused for the expected wave of disgust, this time it was a lot more than usual.

A member species of the Galactic Committee proposes to commit the very highest, most severe, and most destructive war crime of all, Xenocide. The destruction of an entire intelligent civilization, how could any of them agree to this?

Mark put his hands on his armored hips and raised an eyebrow at the President Kara. She gave him a flat stare and shrugged, he told her this would happen.

"Do you want the machine stopped or not?" Roared Mark over the hubbub of the distress, the voices quieted and reluctant acquiescence moved through the sea of strange anatomies.

"That's what I thought." He said under his breath. He waited for the inevitable.

Ah yes, the representative of Kur ERM Mind asked Commander Mark, "How a strike team could possibly dream of penetrating the battle lines of a war mind more sophisticated than any the galaxy had ever seen?"

"We'll stop them the same way we stopped every other species we fought." Said, Mark. "We know how to hear your thoughts."

He tapped the interpreter in his helmet to the higher setting and watched as nearly 1,000 tracking lines erupted into chaos and panic. He pressed another button which sent out a signal on every special frequency and the panic went flat. Mark shut off the system, scratched his chin, and explained, "You all used to communicate over vast distances. To you, it's just how things are. To us, who have spent centuries developing communication technologies to allow our billions of separate minds? to speak to each other over long distances, it was simply another kind of signal to crack. Our communication devices allow us to listen to your star minds and to those of the machines." He paused to let that sink in. His readout showed that it had the desired effect, widespread awe.

"We were able to defect member species and we are able to hold off the machines, simply because we can hear your star minds. We know where you will strike and where you do not expect us to strike. My team of elite human commandos will take one ship to the machine world, sneak into the machine core with a singularity bomb, and destroy it. We can do this tomorrow." Mark sat down and shut off his feed. He didn't care what they said to each other anymore.

He didn't care what kind of extreme measures or sanctions or restrictions, the Committee would place on humanity. After he ended the war, that was President Kara's concern. He was going to save the galaxy and probably die, but he ensured that the machines could never make it to his home, or his family.

They argued for hours. Mark closed his helmet, muted its inputs entirely, and took a nap. When he woke up, they still weren't done. Eventually, finally, they got the go-ahead. If they ever had the slighted hint that he was the one who'd pull the trigger on humanity's early wars before he understood what he was dealing with, they would never have let him in the room or the planet, hell this entire ring of the galaxy. He wouldn't be the one leading the strike force, he'd be made an example of. If the other species could ever wrap their head around how human minds worked, they could understand that each time it wasn't humanity that had made the call collectively, it had been Mark.

As the sole being responsible, the Committee would be free to punish him rather than the whole species. The Committee, after all, did things a certain way. Mark wasn't proud of it and it wasn't a good feeling, but there certainly was a unique feeling to being let off his leash. Not pride, never pride. But Mark knew that one day, he would be the most famous war criminal in the galactic history on his way to exterminate his 8th entire sentient species. At least his family would be safe.