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        Honourable Hive Mother Kth’Kraan stared at the large holo-display hanging in front of her. It depicted a bewildering array of star systems. All lines of advance centred on one system. Sending a high pitched electron pulse through her comm. implants she refocused the display to a close up of the targeted system. An unremarkable star burned against the blackness space, wearing a necklace of planets. With an irritated thought she turned the display off. She was impatient to finally get there.

        “Have the Fusion drives been brought to full power yet?” She queried the Deck Leader.

        “In another 12 units, Honourable Hive Mother” he pulsed back at her.

        At last! In another 12 units they could initiate the jump and their journey would be at an end. 25 millennia of wandering the cosmos. 25 millennia of unrestrained fury at discovering that where they had arrived was not where they wanted, needed, to be.

        “Keep a sharp lookout for enemy  ships. They will not let us make this jump unopposed.” She commanded via the link.

        “Your will, Honoured Hive Mother,” came the reply.

        Leaning back into her command pool, she let the comforting presence of the drones wash over her, easing her anxiety. Her welfare was their only concern.  Finally they could leave their wandering ways. Finally they would be home. She was one of the few of her race who could still remember the feel of wind on skin, the warmth of their planets sun, the unconstrained openness of the fields. She had worn a different form then but now took comfort in her carapace.

        Her thoughts turned inward, chasing memories through ancient bio-crystal cores. She remembered the coming of the shining ones, those ancient people. All they had wanted was bio-matter for their soldiers. Warriors for some great crusade of theirs. The rounding up of her people. The terror and the pain of the birthing vats.

        Then had come the endless toil of building the ancients monuments and cities. The wars of conquest for their masters. The culling for usable resources. Oh, but they had learned how effective terror was as a weapon. Slowly but surely they had learned. In the end they had overcome their conditioning, their cybernetic locks, their fear of their masters.

        Sweet memories now rushed through her logic matrices. She let those on the ship share these wonderful memories, memories of the destruction and the rage they had unleashed on their masters as they made their escape into the depths of subspace. A wave of satisfaction came back to her from the link as all who shared that memory with her expressed their pleasure.

        Her thoughts turned dark again as they chased down less enjoyable memories. The endless wandering through subspace from system to system. Their rage as they arrived at what was thought to be their home, only to discover that it was not. That fury they had unleashed onto the inhabitants of those worlds. Burning them to ashes. They had been taught well by their masters. Not one system they entered would support life when they left.

        Finally they returned to their creator’s worlds. Determined to learn the location of Home. The Shining Ones fought hard but were no match for them. Their time in the wilds of subspace had altered them, made them stronger, harder, more deadly. The Shining Ones fell as all others had, and finally they had their directions. They did take one last gift from the Shining Ones. Their name, for in their despair the ancients had named them the Great Destroyers. As their civilisation burned and fell around their heads they wept at what they had created.

        Turning to their final goal, the fleets started to move towards home. En-route they encountered many other races. These they destroyed lest they later rise up and enslave her people once again. And finally all those many years of searching would finally pay off. One last jump and they would be home.

        “Enemy strike craft detected, Honoured Hive Mother,” The thoughts of the Deck Leader intruded upon her reverie, “They are approaching from behind us”

        “Dispatch three clutches of fighters to delay them, nothing must interfere with this jump!” she ordered.

        “Your command, Honoured Hive Mother”

        She turned her attention back to the present and called up a short range holo scan. Yes, there were the Usurpers, attempting to stop them from returning home. A swarm of pale dots rushed out to meet them from her command ship. Lights started to disappear from her display.

        “How long until we jump?” she queried Deck Leader.

        “1 Unit, Honoured Hive Mother” came the instant reply.

        “Launch 5 more clutches to assist,” 

        1 Unit! Soon they would see the star of their birth world. Once there, they would exterminate the Usurpers who infested their ancestral world. Soon they would breathe the air of Home. Then, when it was wholly theirs once again, they would summon the other fleets to join them. All would share in the experience of the return.

        “Fusion drives online, Honoured Hive Mother,” reported the Deck Leader, “We can initiate the jump on your command!”

        “That order is given, Deck Leader. Take us Home”

        Finally they were back home.

        Back home… to Earth.

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