Silence covered the conference room as the meeting began.

The three dimensional face of seven commander in Alliance stood face to face. With an addition from a short-old-thin man that supposed to be a president of a country.

President Khardav looked at each one of us, one time at a time. He gave us a smile that barely received any positive responses. He looked paler each second passed.

Generalfeldmarshall Azrael smiled at him. [Good Afternoon, President. An honor to meet you finally.]

[The honor was mine, Your Eminence.] The president greeted the highest commando of the Alliance with acceptable manner.

[Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen, high commanders of Alliance. Honor to General and Field Marshal of Alliance.] He bowed a little, a gesture we replied with a slight nod. [It's an honor for me to be able to meet all of you. Thank you for hearing our request.]

[No, not at all.] His Eminence answered. [As a partner, we would listen to all of Yemen's request. You would soon be my subordinates too, President.]

Upon heard those reminder, President Khardav made an uneasy gesture.

It was easy to figure out what he was thinking. Humans had a simple mind when it comes to tactical plans.

He hasn't fully accepted our term. That was the only conclusion of his uneasiness since this meeting. But that also left something strange under our sleeves.

His country was barely living. The climate change because of the nuclear remnants in the atmosphere affected his country greatly, both in the past and the present. Their people dying and unlike us that saved this planet from collapsing decades ago, Human's lifespan were short, it such a nonsense to waste his time here only to discuss about change in promise.

If only he ever thought about his country.

[That's the point I've called all of you today.] The President began. [I want to revise something in our agreement.]

[Okay.] Generalfeldmarshall complied. [We'd like to hear that.]

[First....] The president took a breath. [I want all of my citizens turned into a Proto-Maha with no exception.]

That was a surprise. He used one of verses in Maha's laws: We would not cause harm to any kinds of living organism that have nano-agents from Alliance without reason.

[Fine.]

I stood still, but my mind began to calculating the loss we've gained with just one compromise. Turned into a Proto-Maha means, we couldn't put them in Mars or any other outer planets.

[Then, I want all of us worked in the same field. Maha or Proto-Maha, worked in the same level. With fair share.]

That was overboard.

[As long as you guys met the standard of your bosses, that's it.] When The President seemed objected to such opinion, His Eminence cleverly added. [Job and its wages were not our business, Mr. President. You should make a call to our Economy Department in Mars once everything settled down between us.]

President Khardav seemed displeased

[One thing I would assure you, Presidet.] Generalfeldmarshall added. [There will be no rift between Proto-Maha and Maha. We are not irrational kind, President. Every of your people who have job, would be paid fairly. No exception. No playing favorite. And the most important, no slavery. You can have my word.]

In my table, the recorder was actively recording everything. The rest f meeting was discussing about the economy, agriculture, health, and the after effect of this war.

I must admit, he think about almost everything thoroughly, for a Human, that is.

Almost everything.

[Yes, Mr. President. We would not prohibited all of your religion. And we would help as much as we can to repair your environment. After all, it's a crisis of the entire Earth, not just Yemen or Union of Middle-East.]

President Khardav seemed satisfied. He looked like someone that had been freed from his chain of slavery.

[Thank you for your time, Ladies and Gentlemen, Commander and High Commander of Alliance.] Surprisingly, he said a proper good bye this time.

When the connection to President ended, all of our attention moved to our General and Field Marshall.

[That was a good appetizer. Now for the main course,] His Eminence sighed, but smiled nonetheless. [Up to this day, Yemen's west area was left untouched. Resistance still hold on to it. Securing the only way to transport their resources: red sea.]

Three dimensional map showed before our eyes. The map zoomed in itself to the west area of Yemen, from Sana'a to Hudaydah at the lips of the ocean. Along with that map, the footage of the previous battles were displayed. Humans with their machinery against our nature-breed technologies. Their planes versus our Leviathan. Their Walkers versus our Goliath. Their Humanity against our power.

In the end, this war was about the life we brought upon this dying planet versus the deadly pride of once ruler of The Earth.

[It such unfortunate to let them starve, but they gave us no choice. We couldn't afford to bring more destruction to this pitiful land.] His Eminence looked intensively at the footages. [That's why, Oberstleutnant Uriel, I would like you to take care of that area. Make the casualty less.]

No prisoner. No need for that, anyway. Our prisons were already full and there were more than hundred millions life out there that need to be wiped off.

[Yes, Your Eminence.] Major Uriel saluted, mimicking His Eminence's smile.

The map zoomed out to the region of United Middle East Region. [One more to go. Please let us hear your next plan, Generaloberst Raphael.]

Generaloberst Raphael bowed. [Everything went due to your will, Your Eminence.]

Generalfeldmarshall turned to me. [And you, Oberst Mikhail....] A photo appeared and a middle-aged man with short-cut black hair, yellowish skin, and black round eyes: an Asian appear before us. [Let this man knew our power and make him surrender.]

I looked at the map, instead of the photo. [Pardon for intrusion, His Eminence. But I think we have to take Oceania first.]

His Eminence nodded. [Our ancestors have sacrificed everything to give this planet to us, hide our techs deep inside Mars, gave us sentient organisms to babysit us in tubes, until when the Third War erupted, we were awakened and strengthen ourselves. We couldn't waste their effort and throw a chance to rebuild our civilization for toying with some groups, indeed.]

Everyone listened. No one spoke.

[But before we take this planet,] His Eminence zoomed out the map, showed us the whole Earth. Red dots appeared on the region that we've been taken yet. [We shall planted in their small brains that they are no longer the ruler of this planet, let alone the entire galaxy. When the sky turned red and their land turned white, that was when the promise will be fulfilled.] His Eminence looked at each one of us. [We let them exploited our techs to safe their offspring, heal their sterile women to give birth to our kind, and rebuild this planet as our need. We just take our toll: the promise.]

He raised his hand, as if about to grasp the Earth on its palm. [They can't live without us. Yet they rejected us, called us Maha, chased us away, and even declared a war against us.] His Eminence's smile turned grim. [So take out everything, including their nasty ideals of coexisting with us and even banished us to the outer planets.] He pointed the picture of Rudy Sagara. [Let this man know our pain, let his people know how Mars trained her people. Let him know that he has no other option than surrender, or die.]

***

Those were simple orders. I just have to kill a man and make sure his country suffer. But then, this battle changed that. Only an hour after I got that order.

"You and your troops will help Oberstleutnant Uriel. Your current mission will be on hold."

A deep pain stun my feet. As a response, like a snake, I hissed sharply.

"D-Don't move!" Someone warned me. It was a weird voice, high pitched and smooth like a female. Then, the pain shot me again.

Something—someone—touched my feet.

The wounded feet.

Right at that damn wound.

I blinked in a dark, barely saw anything. But my mind didn't seem so idle. The memories flashed in my mind: the explosion, the battle, Uriel, our troops, orders from Generaoberst and His Eminence.

"No—don't move suddenly like that, Sir!" Strangely, I couldn't recognize her: whether it was female or a woman. Something strange happened to my nose and all my other senses.

There was usually a strange sensation every time I met a female Maha. Like a slight tremble in my nose, but this time, all I could smell is blood and all I could do was just breathe.

"You're scaring me, moving like that so suddenly!" She grunted. "But you're lucky enough to be alive around that madness! Geez, you soldier are really tough!"

The shadowy figure appeared before my eyes as a silhouette. Then a flashlight lit her up, showed her face to me. It was a woman—a lady—with black hair and a face of an Asian, looked down.

When our eyes met, I saw no fear on her eyes.

"Hi! How do you feel, Sir?" As she talked, I could felt something pressed to my arm. Cold and soft. I tried to get up, but she hissed. "I said, don't move! The wounds won't be closed that way!"

Wounds, so I still had them. And moreover, this woman who know a little about me, could judge by looks solely. That means I was really in a mess.

"By the way," The woman kept talking. "I'm Reana Melista. What's your name, Sir?"

***