Khan was already struggling to dehumanize the Kred. He couldn't see them as simple enemies anymore after discovering their sex, and realizing that they had families added blows to his mental barrier.
Khan wasn't only a murderer anymore. He had destroyed a family, just like the Nak had done to him during the Second Impact.
'Concentrate, dammit!' Khan cursed in his mind. 'They have attacked first anyway. Keep your cool.'
Khan maintained a cold expression while the group turned toward him. Raging emotions wanted to fill his brain, but he slowly pushed them back during his silence. His eyes didn't waver during the process either. They remained on the two aliens who had inevitably started to look at him after noticing the reaction of the other recruits.
"Tell us everything you know first," Khan eventually said in a plain tone. "We'll talk about your daughter after that."
The male Kred roared again before turning toward his companion. It was clear that he didn't want to reveal anything about the situation, but the female alien's determination was on the verge of crumbling.
"I ant to see ay dauthel fist," The female alien said and revealed her resolve to share information, but Khan couldn't show any flaw in his pretense.
"Your story first," Khan repeated.
Desperation appeared on the female Kred, and tears even fell from her animal eyes. She turned toward her companion, and sad cries came out of her mouth.
She seemed to beg her companion, and the latter was clearly struggling to preserve his resolve. The male Kred's expression remained stern for a few seconds before slowly relaxing to wear a sad face.
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"Do I have your word that you'll let us talk with our daughter afterward?" The male Kred asked in a raspy voice while turning toward Khan.
A hammer hit Khan's mental barrier and made it tremble to no end. The three Kred belonged to the same family, and the two in front of him sounded quite young.
Khan didn't know much about the Kred's anatomy, but part of his thoughts inevitably started wondering about their customs and growth speed.
How young were they when they set up families? How quickly did they obtain their iconic tall bodies? How old was the Kred that he had killed?
"How old are you two?" Khan couldn't help but ask when one of his many doubts seeped past the mental barrier.
The two Kred and his companions didn't understand the reason behind that sudden question, but the two aliens couldn't remain silent in that situation.
"In Earth years?" The male Kred asked before quickly calculating his age in his mind. "We are both twenty. Our daughter will be ten soon."
Khan knew that his values couldn't apply to that alien species. The three Kred had mature bodies even if they were pretty young. It seemed that they only required ten years to develop completely, which made even the dead daughter an adult.
However, the differences between the two species didn't change the reality of the facts. Khan had taken a life who had barely been in the world for ten years. That realization forced him to fall silent and reinforce his mental barrier again while his companions shot confused glances toward him.
"You have my word," Khan eventually announced. "You'll both see your daughter if you tell us everything you know."
Something broke inside Khan when he said those words, but his mental barrier held strong and kept the part of his mind in control of his actions calm and cynical.
The male Kred appeared disappointed when he inspected Khan's cold expression, but a glance at his tied partner's begging face forced him to pursue that approach. He had to cooperate for the sake of his family.
"The three of us are simple foot soldiers," The male Kred revealed. "We only know that some of the rebellious factions have decided to strike back to restore Istrone's independence."
"Why would you rebel again?" Luke asked. "Didn't you learn your lesson forty years ago?"
"The ground still carries the scent of our fallen," The Kred said as growls fused with his human words. "Humans might be able to move on easily, but our planet doesn't allow us to forget. This debt will remain as long as Istrone lives."
George and Luke exchanged a meaningful glance before turning toward Khan. That story wasn't going anywhere. It explained part of the Kred's mentality, but it didn't help the recruits at all.
"Tell me about your targets and other useful details," Khan ordered. "How many Kred rebelled? How many of you are patrolling the jungle? Why did you attack innocent recruits instead of taking the battle to the real culprits of your suppression?"
"None of you is innocent," The Kred scoffed. "You thrive by feeding on Istrone's natural resources. You pillage our planet and exploit our teachings to destroy nature. This ground is our future, and you are destroying it. We have only decided to pay you back with the same approach."
There was an immense gap between their species. Simple words couldn't make them reach an agreement. The Global Army had a financial approach to war, especially in the last years, but the Kred saw defeats as curses that remained stuck to their very species.
That feeling wasn't reasonable. The Kred could actually smell the scent of their fallen, according to the male prisoner. Istrone constantly reminded them of their defeat, and Khan could relate to that situation. He experienced the same reminder every night.
Khan could understand that the Kred wouldn't stop rebelling as long as Istrone continued to drive them crazy. He wouldn't either if he were in their situation, but his task wasn't to relate with the aliens.
"Targets, number of rebels, and troops deployed in this area," Khan reminded the Kred with his emotionless voice.
"I already told you that we are mere pawns in this rebellion," The male Kred replied as a tinge of anger seeped into his voice. "Our role was to take care of all the human survivors and use them to bargain with the Global Army."
"Where did you have to bring them?" Khan asked.
"Nowhere," The Kred snorted. "There has never been a fixed gathering point. We had to keep an eye on them until our leaders showed up."
"Leaders?" Khan continued to question the alien. "Also, I don't care if you don't know the exact number. Just give me a rough estimate."
The Kred was losing his patience under the storm of questions. His partner was growing worried about their daughter, but the answers never seemed enough to Khan.
"We resemble animals on Earth, right?" The Kred eventually asked. "Those like us are rebels. Our connection with the planet is stronger, so we have it harder resisting the desire to fight."
"Only those that look like you?" Khan asked.
"Yes," The Kred sighed. "We don't have prejudices, but we still divide ourselves into factions depending on our aspect. Some of them knew that the attack was coming, but none cooperated."
Luke and George revealed a grim expression. The situation was worse than they had initially thought. Istrone seemed to have many rebels, and some factions had even decided to remain silent about the attack.
Traitors could lurk everywhere. Istrone wasn't a safe destination anymore. The entire planet had become a battlefield, and the Global Army had yet to learn about that.
"There can't be many of us here!" The Kred shouted when he saw that the recruits were losing interest in him. "I bet that only a few groups of Kred and Tainted animals are patrolling the crash areas. I know that the leaders didn't expect many of you to survive."
"Why are you dodging the questions about the leaders?" Khan asked.
"Because e can't sheak about hem," The female Kred suddenly revealed before receiving a glare from her partner.
"She is telling the truth," The male Kred sighed after staring at his partner for a few seconds. "Recognizing our state as underlings puts mental restraints on our minds. We can't say much about them."
Khan turned toward Luke, but the latter shrugged his shoulder. The recruits didn't know how true those words were, but they had no way to prove them.
The interrogation was over. The Kred had revealed everything they knew. The attack didn't seem to aim to capture specific bases of the Global Army. It was a pure act of revenge dictated by the very planet.
"Can we see our daughter now?" The male Kred asked. "We told you everything we know! Please!"
"You all go ahead," Khan whispered while turning toward Cora, Ethel, and the two new recruits. "I need to speak with them in private."
Cora and Ethel didn't like that decision, but they still followed Khan's orders. Instead, the other two recruits seemed about to complain, but the two girls promptly stopped them and pushed them away.
Khan took a few steps back, and the three boys followed him until they reached the spot with the third Kred. Dorian and Luke's eyes widened at the sight of the corpse, but George's gaze barely flickered.
"We all know what we have to do," George exclaimed while they remained around the corpse. "How long will it take before they free themselves? We can't risk having two angry Kred behind our back."
"Can't we take them as prisoners?" Dorian asked. "They can guide us, and the Global Army might even manage to learn something with proper interrogations."
"How do you plan to convince them when their daughter is dead?" Luke sighed. "They have decided to join a rebellion because the planet told them so. What do you think will happen when they learn about this?"
"There are two of them," Khan coldly announced. "Only two of us have to kill."
Those words forced the three boys to think about the actual act of killing someone. That feat sounded easy in their minds, but the resilient and huge bodies of the Kred told them otherwise.
"I-," George began to speak, but he had to stop and take a deep breath before proposing his idea. "I can fill two branches with my mana and turn them into sharp weapons. That should be enough to pierce their heads."
Luke nodded toward the boy. A clean kill was better than a gory beating. However, they had to decide who would perform the actual deed.
"Khan, did you kill this one?" Dorian asked as a tinge of shame appeared on his expression.
"I'll kill one of them," Khan exclaimed to put an end to the hesitation that was filling his companions. "You decide who has to take care of the other. I won't force this on you."
"There's no need to force it," George sighed. "I'll make the weapons anyway. I'll take care of the other."
Khan and George exchanged a nod before the latter approached the nearest tree. He didn't need to find special branches at that time. Two random ones would be enough for the task.
George ripped two short branches and closed his eyes. The blue leaves on those greenish items fell as his mana flowed inside their insides and strengthened their structure.
A faint dark-silver halo came out of the two branches once George completed the technique. He handed one of them to Khan, who didn't hesitate to wield it, and the duo slowly turned to get back to the prisoners.
Luke and Dorian followed the two recruits out of respect for their task. The Kred began to complain and growl when they saw the group returning with two glowing branches, but the recruits ignored them.
The scene didn't promise anything good, but their words didn't seem to reach the four recruits. The four boys approached the tied aliens with slow but firm steps. There was evident hesitation in their eyes, but they didn't stop anyway.
"Keep their heads still," George ordered, and Dorian and Luke crouched next to the aliens.
The two boys grabbed their heads and made them turn toward their friends. Khan and George could point their enhanced branches at the center of the prisoners' forehead at that point. Everything was ready for the actual killing.
George, Luke, and Dorian began to exchange glances. Their hesitation was about to take control of their actions. None of them had the guts to take part in that execution, but Khan suddenly shouted to restore some firmness in their hands.
"Now!" Khan shouted before pushing his branch forward.
George almost panicked, but he imitated his companion, even if his eyes closed at the sight of the red blood. The other two boys also turned their faces away from the scene, but they couldn't do anything about the disgusting noises that reached their ears.
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