All of the town's patrol squads lined up in tight formation, waiting for the Fleet Commander to address them. The three officers who had to leave the human and the traitor who was hiding in the underground bunker were among them.
The three patrol officers were angry. They were enraged because they couldn't kill the two individuals, whom they had chased down into the hidden tunnel. One of the two men had been a traitor to their kind, siding with the human; he should die just like the human he sided with.
The large screen flickered on, showing their Fleet Commander. Smaller screens had a ship captain on each one. Their officers could be seen behind them. One of the screens showed two prisoners of their own kind that they were preparing to interrogate publicly.
On the screen containing the prisoner, they could see a medical officer entering the room holding two injector pods. He stopped near them and stood still. He had the two injector pods grasped in his hand as he waited for the order to inject the two prisoners with the serum.
On one of the screens, they could see the ship's captain looking between the two privates, then scanning his eyes over each of the screens behind him. He began to speak, addressing everyone who was watching.
"These two privates will undergo public interrogation for their crimes of letting a band of humans live as they were seen passing through the town on their patrol," the Captain stated, speaking to the screens behind him.
Silent gasps could be heard around the tight lines of patrol squads as well as from the monitors in front of them. Their orders had been to eradicate them, not show mercy.
Everyone watched the screen with the two prisoners. The prisoners were seated and bound to a chair, waiting for their interrogation. Both men were pale, fear in their black eyes. Their captain nodded to the medical officer, who immediately injected the two prisoners with the injector pods.
The prisoners' faces turned pale, then slack, their eyes glazed over.
Once the serum took its full effect, the Fleet Commander issued the order to the prisoner's ship captain. "Begin."
The screen showed the captain stepping toward the prisoners. "State your name and rank," he ordered.
"Rask, private, patrol officer," the first prisoner stated; his voice monotone.
"Van, private, patrol officer," the second prisoner stated; his voice was also monotone.
They all watched the screen as the prisoner's captain paced in front of them, watching them closely. "Why did you let the humans live?"
The one called Van spoke first. "Our partner Nisa, private, patrol officer, found her mate amongst them. It was a human man. The law states we cannot harm our people's mates or those they love," he stated.
"Rask, how many were among the group?" the captain questioned, turning to the second prisoner.
Rask's voice was even. "There were two of our kind, each with their own human mates. There were also three other humans besides the two mates. Five humans and three of our kind, including Nisa," he said.
More gasps were heard around the tight formation of the squads, as well as from the many monitors.
The captain continued to ask questions. "Who were the other two soldiers?" he asked Van.
"Shelia, private, patrol officer. Shadick, second, squad leader," he states, his voice still monotone.
The gasps around them got louder. Hearing that a high-ranking officer was among the group shocked everyone present.
The captain continued his interrogation. ignoring the gasps. "Why didn't you go with them? You destroyed your coms," he asked Rask.
"After we discovered our people have fated mates with the people of this planet, we destroyed our coms. We didn't want to accidentally harm our mate if she was out there. We went with them at first and decided against it. We needed our people to know that we have fated mates amongst the people of this planet," Rask explained in his monotone voice.
"You came back so that everyone knows that we all may have a human as our fated mate?" the prisoner's captain asked. It sounded like he was in disbelief.
"Yes," Van stated, without hesitation. "Everyone needs to know that our people are killing our fated mates," he said.
The screen showing the prisoners went black, signifying that the interrogation was over.
On the largest screen, the Fleet Commander was seen as he scanned the wall of screens. His eyes made contact with each and every captain.
"In light of the situation, patrols are paused until we can determine our next move. As you have all seen, they spoke the truth. Lying is impossible when using the truth serum. We will reconvene in one hour for your new orders." The fleet commander stated as he peered at the screens. His jaw was tight, eyes narrowed.
ONE HOUR LATER
The patrol squads filed back in their tight lines to receive their new orders. Once everyone was settled, they waited patiently for the Fleet Commander to appear on the main screen.
The large screen suddenly flickered on; shortly after, the monitors for the fleet ship captains flickered on. All waited for the Fleet Commander to speak.
Clearing his throat, the Fleet Commander scanned the monitors in front of him, his eyes meeting each captain.
"Fated mates are a rarity. I cannot condone killing the people of this planet if our mates are among them," the Fleet Commander began. "We needed a new home. We found it here. It appears we should have waited before our attack, perhaps investigated the people prior to invading.
"It is clear that the way we invaded this planet is going to make it difficult for our mates to trust us. You will no longer hunt or kill the humans of this planet. We will help to eradicate the toxic humans that are killing the healthy population in order to protect those that are left from further harm.
"We will also begin to rebuild the cities for them. I know that it is going to be difficult to get the humans of this planet to trust us. We have to try. The remaining humans will most likely attack, thinking we are wishing more harm to them. Try not to hurt any more of them.
"We have a long road ahead of us. Our goal now is to help the survivors and rebuild the cities," he concluded.
The second in command to the Fleet Commander stepped up to the screen. "All squads will be given new orders as well as training to implement their orders as safely as possible. Your supervisor will issue those orders as soon as possible. You are all dismissed," the second in command finished.
The screen went black, and the squad officers broke their tight formations and stood around in small groups talking about what was discovered.
Everyone was fearful of getting killed when they were now supposed to help the people of the planet. They all knew that the humans weren't going to know they were helping them now, not killing them. The squads all knew that they were going to have to be extra careful when they came into contact with the human survivors.
The three officers from the small town that had chased the two down the tunnel stood in a small circle in silence, watching those around them. They could all hear the concerns.
"I think we can try to talk to the two we chased," the tallest of the three stated. His long limbs hugged his chest. "We might be able to get them to help us if they will talk to us."
"I doubt they will listen to us," the female said quietly. "If I were them, I wouldn't listen to us. We tried to kill them. I don't think they will listen. I think they will shoot us on sight."
"If we can get them to listen, they can spread it around that we aren't here to harm anymore. I want to find my mate. Suppose she is amongst the humans. I don't want to have to kill her because she's attacking me, thinking I'm there to harm her," the tallest spoke again.
The second male finally spoke. "I think it's worth trying. If they can spread it around, it may save some lives."
The three walked together out of the large gathering, snaking through the many groups that were discussing the possibility of their mates being out there somewhere. They snaked through the groups discussing the dangers of trying to help people that they had hurt so badly. Not many disagreed with their Fleet Commander about changing their objective. It was the conflicts that they would face in the transition of trying to get the humans to trust them that frightened them.
The three patrol officers had a plan. They might be able to get these two they chased to help them, but only if those two didn't kill them first.