Jack was stretched out on the top shelf of the fifth row of shelving from the elevator, just opposite his Deck Zero office; a box of old journals lay next to him. He’d already read most of them, and they were an eye opening read into Ruk history. The elevator chimed and he rolled over onto his side to watch as two men carrying a very ugly couch emerged from the elevator. Jack waited until they were twenty feet from the elevator before tossing a rock from a bag of rock samples. The bag had a label on it that identified the rocks as samples from some moon the Ruks had sent a geological team to check for possible harvesting of needed metals. The rock landed a few feet from the two men with a loud bang against the metal deck. The men dropped the couch and looked around wildly. “Get your ugly couch off my deck, and don’t come back, this isn’t your private garbage dump,” shouted Jack. “And drop your illegal copy of the pass key in that box next to the elevator.” The two men followed the sound of Jack’s voice and looked up. “And what if we don’t, Aeden scum.” “Gatlu de tanga, Punga’ta,” replied Jack, using the foulest Ruk profanity he knew. “Why don’t you come down here and say that to my face,” one of the men challenged. Jack figured these two dirtbags had probably been hired by someone to dump their garbage here and avoid the absorbent refuse fees for over-sized waste. “If I come down there, it’s going to get ugly. You know, broken bones and hurt feelings.” “We’re waiting, mugle’ne, bring it,” said the more aggressive of the two men. Jack picked up another rock, willed himself into a state of molecular acceleration, the unique and dangerous ability of the Aedens, and threw the rock. The rock broke the sound barrier with a crack and the center cushion of the couch exploded in a cloud of fluffy filling. Jack’s Comm. device beeped. Jack lifted the device and sighed. “Hey Talek.” “I just heard a gunshot,” said Talek, his nearest teammate a few miles away. “I got a couple more punga’ta trying to dump garbage here,” replied Jack. “Jack! Language!” interrupted Sala’je over the communication device. “I’m sending a security detail,” said Talek. “You don’t need to, I’m fine, it’s under control,” said Jack. “No offense, buddy, but we all know what an Aeden means when they say ‘it’s under control’. I’m not sending security to protect you, I’m sending security to protect the punga’ta and keep you from starting a body count.” “Gentlemen, language, please! Talek, you’re supposed to be setting a good example for Jack,” Sala’je scolded. Jack heard the elevator doors close. Talek had taken remote control of the elevator and was sending it up to the security office. Jack rolled onto his back. “Fine, but if they run before security gets here, I get to hunt them.” “Jack darling,” Sala’je interrupted again. “If they run, do not follow them out into the stacks, you’ll only get yourself lost.” Jack rolled his eyes. “Yes, mother.” Jack heard banging and rolled over to see what the two men were doing now. Jack grinned as the two men banged on the closed elevator doors. One of the men was gesturing wildly towards the stacks. “Oh, please do run,” shouted Jack. “I’m very hungry and haven’t hunted for weeks. After all, why do you think Aeden’s have fangs?” Jack, nor any other Aeden, had fangs, but these two probably didn’t know that. The two men hesitated too long and the elevator doors opened. Security rushed out of the elevator and quickly secured the two men in handcuffs. “They’ve got an illegal pass key,” shouted Jack. “Drop it in that box next to the elevator. I’m trying to collect all the illegal keys.” One of the security men looked up at the sound of Jack’s voice, then spoke into a radio. Jack wasn’t on their frequency and couldn’t hear them. Talek’s voice came over the Comm. device next. “Jack, they’re going to take the pass keys you’ve collected already and check them for prints. The two you just caught will get twenty years on the prison ship for breaking into a classified area, but we need to cast a wider net and make enough examples so anyone else with a copy of the pass key might be motivated to toss it into the incinerator.” Jack sighed. “Or, we could just change the lock on the elevator.” There was a long pause before Sala’je spoke. “Why didn’t anyone else think of that?” “I’m calling maintenance now,” said Talek. “Jack buddy, you’re making us look like idiots.” “It’s because we’re stuck in one way of thinking,” said a new voice that Jack didn’t know, but then he’d only met half the team so far. “This is what Master Chief was talking about, we need new blood to bring new ways of thinking. Good job, Jack.” “I’m sorry, I haven’t met you yet. Who are you? asked Jack. “I’m Merak, the Ship's Senior Historian, and third in command of the Survey Team.” Jack sat up. “Oh, good. I have a question.” “Find something interesting?” asked Merak. “Sort of,” said Jack. “I’m only asking because what I found is completely opposite of everything the Aedens know about the Ruk. It doesn’t seem that what I read is who you are, and I’m not judging, okay, I mean… heck… technically I’m one the evil conquering Aeden Over-Lords of the Universe. So, I’m only asking to understand the context of what I read. Can you tell me about Dathatan?” The pause was so long that Jack checked to see if the Comm. device was still on. “Jack, that was a very long time ago, and a very different Ruk culture and leadership,” said Merek. “We’d just finished the longest void crossing we’d ever done. All fifteen of the ocean ships were bone dry, and the crops on the farming ships were mostly dead from the drought. Our live-stock was gone, and our stored food supplies were completely exhausted. We were living on spoiled freeze-dried quarter rations. We’d already lost a half million to starvation. There was only one solar system within range, but it had a civilization that had just reached their space age. We sent a diplomatic envoy to ask for help. They denied us. We sent a total of eight diplomatic envoys begging for help. The Dathians murdered the last envoy we sent.” “I think Jack has already read all that in whatever journal he found,” said Sala’je. “What’s your real question, Jack?” “When the Aedens want to destroy a civilization, we just drop poison gas. The population dies fairly quickly and that’s the end of it, but you used Neutron bombs, and that is an ugly way to die.” “Every civilization has done something in its past that future generations will be horrified at.” Sala’je paused for a moment. Jack could hear the emotion in her voice. “We had begged and begged for help, and they continued to deny us. We even offered to share all our technology with them. We could have helped them advance their species by hundreds of thousands of years. And still they denied us. We were angry. So we used the Neutron bombs instead of gas. It was simple revenge for the million Ruks that held their dying children in their arms when there was a planet below us that could have saved them.” “Okay, I understand,” said Jack. “The part about refusing to help wasn’t in the journal. I’m sorry for asking. I just thought…” “That we were being hypocritical about the way we look down on the Aedens for their brutal conquest across the universe?” said Talek, the anger obvious in his voice. “Yeah, I’m really sorry for doubting you,” said Jack. “You were pushed further than even you could tolerate. “You were hoping to justify the brutality of your species by saying, ‘look, you did it too’,” said Talek. “Talek, that was completely uncalled for,” said Sala’je. “Talek’s right, it’s exactly what I was doing, I’m sorry. Talek, if you want to punch me in the face, I won’t stop you.” “I’m not going to punch you in the face,” said Talek. “Jack, in your lifetime, have you ever heard an Aeden apologize?” asked Sala’je. “Of course not, Aeden’s don’t apol….” Jack’s words trailed off as he realized what he was saying. “That’s right, Jack, they don’t. But you have apologized four times in the last two minutes. Why is that, Jack?” Sala didn’t wait for an answer and continued. “What happened was brutal, but does what happened make us who we are? You said you’re technically one of the Aeden Over-Lords. Is that true, or has your experiences over the last year changed you. Who are you, Jack?” Jack clicked the Comm. device off, he didn’t want to talk anymore. Who was he? Was he still an Aeden, or was he something else? He needed someone to talk to that didn’t make him feel like he was getting beat up. Jack closed his eyes. He knew who that one person was, and he’d been giving him a really bad time lately. Jack started his climb down from the shelves. He needed to apologize one more time today. He needed to go talk with Tan.