Southern Cross by Windstar

"Thuva, I know that sometimes you have problems with tactics, but they are fleeing. They will
attempt to distract us with those feints they continue to do, but eventually we will find their home
system."
Thuva hesitated, taking a sip of her own soup before trying to phrase her next question.
"Does it not seem a bit too simple?"
"Thuva. Have we not driven the Tiri from their system and killed nearly all of their Guardians."
She hesitated at that, knowing where this was headed. Thuva had heard it twice now since the
chase after the fleeing Tiri Guardians had commenced.
"Yes, Gallor-Tal."
"Have we not captured everything that was once theirs?"
"Yes, Gallor'Tal."
"Then tell me, Thuva, what difference does it make? In the end we will take care of them as we
have all of the others. Is that all?"
His tone implied rather bad things if she continued with her current line of conversation; the
results would be unpleasant.
"Yes, Gallor'Tal."
If she did not seem as certain as Lortal, he chose to ignore it. She was young after all; this was
her first battle against the Tiri. She would learn soon enough that now the outcome was
inevitable. The Tiri were homeless and they could not have done anything significant with the
small number of them who escaped.
It never even occurred to him that they might have found allies.
-----------
Emily's mind burned with pain. Licking dry lips she forced her eyes to focus. Five jumps in the
past two days had pushed her and her fellow Guardians to the limit. Flesh and machines were
simply not designed to take the kind of stress she was forcing them to endure. It was a small
miracle that everyone had managed to keep up so far.
Angwar and Dr. Miato, North Star's chief medic, were waiting for her when she came out of her
bond. The hypo in his hand hissed as he pressed it to her neck.
"You can not keep doing this, First Guardian."