Upon Defiant: Chapter One

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Meetup place for all sorts of families! Also a good therapist is here.

"That is why I did not call them gods," Tala said with a shrug. "There is only one true god, and It sleeps within my homeworld."

"The Imperium don't have gods" Swarm told Tala. "They're an athiestic culture."

Esk nodded. "One of the few aspects of my homeworld i've ever been able to agree with. " He shrugged. "They're still superstitious and still believe in demons though, so they're a bunch of hypocrites really. No gods but demons? How does that make sense?"

Swarm bobbed, a sort of weird bird shrug. "Easier to believe in malevolent forces than cosmic creators?"

"It's stupid." Esk remarked.

James kept his thoughts to himself. He didn't really feel like weighing in on this topic, he'd wait for something less meaningful to come around.

"Rituals and traditions are important to the protection of the universe and the individual," Tala said. "They give us the strength of ten minotaurs in battle, and the luck to not die as a species."

"Amazing what mass delusions can do." Esk commented.

"Oh yes, the power of belief is a very strong force." The swarm told them. "Many find great solace in their faith and great strength. "

"I find strength in knowing I have a gun and my opponent doesn't." Esk smirked.

"And when they are also armed?"

"I have a better gun." Esk shrugged.

Vicky sighed, staring at the counter. "They did it because Avia was a threat, between a higher being living their and a group of Avians like Acus able to become weapons with a gentical flip of a switch they knew that for their plans to work they had to be removed. Plus it gives out a message to any of the other empires to bow down or die." She looked at her half empty bottle of whisky.

"They're not gonna do that, no decent empire just rolls over because some psychos pull out a doomsday device." Esk told Vicky.

"What plan?" Swarm asked.

Tala's ears flicked back. "It is not a delusion, but you are entitled to your incorrect opinions. We are the guardians who protect this universe."

She looked at Esk, "A empire will do anything to protect it people, even if it means playing submissive to a cult. How else do you think they gotten as many numbers as they do? My source admittedly couldnt talk well after a few broken teeth but pretty much this is boiling down to a full out galatic war. There going to be those who side with the family because of the pure strength they have alone." She said dryly, "Only a handful of other species had that power to completely destroy a planet, and about 90% of them are dead or will be soon."

"The Terrans are too idealistic to side with false gods. " Esk told her flatly. "And the Imperium too proud." He shrugged. "All the more reason to get as far from this as possible. Not our problem, let them all kill each other. We just have to keep out of it and hope when the dust settles there's some universe left."

"Weren't you a soldier?" The swarm asked curiously.

"Yes. Doesn't mean I have to fight some pointless and hopeless war though. It's not cowardly to run when you're outgunned, it's prudent."

Rigel ordered another beer for himself and nursed it for a while "Not every powerful being is a god, but there are many gods out there." He said, stating his opinion on that.

"Saying there are many gods, means your definition of 'god' is too wide," James commented, despite his earlier resolution to be a silent observer. "If you define 'god' as 'someone who created a species', then even humans would qualify as gods, what with their genetically modified livestock and plants, and possibly sentient computers."
He fidgeted with the seam on his forearm, "Personally, I would define 'god' as 'the being who created the universe'. It's simpler that way."

Rigel looked to James and smiled "Possibly, or perhaps that god of the universe simply uses different faces on different planets. Not everyone likes one particular set of characteristics after all." He said then shrugged

James thought about that for a bit. It made sense, in a way. If there was a god, and he figured there must be, then maybe it did appear to different cultures in different forms.
"Fair enough. Do you have a god?" he asked Rigel curiously.

"Pandorans do, though we do not place any name but god on that being." Rigel answered then shrugged "Not all believe in his existence, but most do"

"AIs in general aren't a very religious bunch," James said. "Either they're apathetic on the subject, or they have a hard time worshiping something more, because we were already created, and look how that turned out." He smiled a bit, "It must be nice to trust a god though."

Rigel shrugged "Yeah, it's hard to trust in a god, but hey, I prayed to be free and here I am. Gods like to work through other beings, or so I'm told. Ours used Dawn, Esk and Hytar's crew. Hard to not believe after those particular set of circumstances and coincidences."

James looked at Esk, and had to make an effort to not laugh. It really must take a miracle to make that guy do something helpful, he thought humorously.
"Or Dawn is just that awesome," James suggested lightly. He was growing pretty fond of her, despite his misgivings.

Rigel laughed and shrugged "Maybe she is, but how do you think a farm girl who likes to dabble in everything managed to get a high powered guy like Hytar to do as she wanted, even if it was only in part? Something had to help her and set up the right circumstances to make it all happen."

~~~
Elsewhere on the station, Dawn had gone to window shop, looking at things she would never be able or in some cases willing to buy. She paused by a weapon store then went inside to see what they had that she could use.

"Maybe," James said. He shifted uncomfortably; even an android like him knew that getting into religious conversations was a stupid idea, but he couldn't stop himself from asking, "If it was a god answering your prayers though, then what does that say about the lives that were lost? I wasn't there, but I heard that Hytar killed a lot of people that day, and they weren't just slave owners."

Rigel looked to his cup then drank some more of it as he thought about that. "Fate and balances" He finally said after a moment then shook his head again. "And free will"

James frowned and sat back on his stool. "Kind of stinks for all the slaves who prayed for rescue, but got death instead."

Rigel nodded then sighed "Yeah, it does. It could easily have gone the other way if someone else had gotten to Hytar and his crew first, but then, death does beat living in those conditions." He said then shivered and turned to the bartender to order whiskey. He wasn't drunk enough to be thinking of that place again.

James patted his shoulder. "I'm sorry, man. I can't say I know what it was like, because I don't, but it's not something you want to think about." He scanned his ID to pay for Rigel's whiskey.

"Yeah, those memories are ones I would rather forget, but that is all they are are memories." He said though he was glad James had paid for the whiskey. He frowned at a thought then went ahead and paid for his earlier drinks so he wouldn't forget to do that later.

"Only thing you can do is try to move on, at least that's what I try to do," James agreed. "And hey, Silver Devil is a surprisingly nice place, all things considered."

Rigel nodded and returned to looking over the other customers "That she is, nice little ship" He said and smiled again "Glad I get to fix her up a bit."

Esk snorted. "Talking about fate and destiny, you sound like my foster brother. Only reason my asshole father helped is because he hates slavers, he'll do just about anything you ask if it means he gets to slaughter a few of them. No mystery about it, no greater power. Only reason he didn't fuck us all over was because he wanted a chance to murder people, i'm sure he'll come looking for a favour in return at some point though. You can't make deals with Tanaari and not expect them to come shiv you in the back at some point." He sighed. His hatred for the man was pretty clear.