1 Prologue

Slave Kad-dun appeared to be a simple human. Simple even for the weakest species in the Goddess' empire, so he had been told about in mandatory education. According to the education of the Empire, both his species and gender were base and wreaked abuses upon 'the Goddess' Chosen'; females were the superior gender across all the universe and the history humanity meant that he was, therefore, evil.

Just looking at the newly installed holy symbol caused Kad-dun to click his tongue. The goddess was the only deity of the empire and his distaste for her was almost impossible to hide.

Kad-dun honestly wished his species weren't born the way they were. The Empire refused to acknowledge the right to representation for species whose females they considered inferior; owing to the fact that human females became near useless when pregnant by Vanid standards, that was never going to happen for humans. Despite all this though, there was some instinct inside him; some wish for freedom and prominence that he couldn't ignore.

Kad-dun had given up on true freedom early on, but that didn't stop him from working towards his own desires, slowly but surely working his way up to what could be called prominence for a slave. He worked as a house servant for the Golden Arms fleet's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and while he was exemplary in serving the Vanid matriarch of the fleet, it was the only role humans were trained for any more. Their lack of specialization meant they could do every role of a house servant, but nothing else of any competence.

Kad-dun had not only become competent during his work, but near invisible. His actions, whether they were serving, doing his own thing, or even learning, were all either completely innocent in nature or diligent in order to improve his capabilities. He could go almost anywhere in the CEO's quarters and not be interrupted, his pale skin and small countenance almost appeared as a part of the furniture at times with how regularly he would innocently work throughout the CEO's household. 

This ignorance was his strength however, as his guidance would be all but punished. His unseen hand was the reason the CEO had developed a vice for psychedelic drugs; such a vice that although the three greatest fleets in the empire were currently on a campaign to capture the planet of the empire's only enemy-

"Kad-duuuun!" A raspy voice shouted out from the translator of an utterly massive and hairy bipedal brute. This species of creature had evolved beyond the use of legs, so now the remaining limbs were simply vestigial reminders of their kind's past, instead walking on their hands. This one was calling out to the human.

"Thi Keo wishes to heeer moor of yoor stories.''

The species had an issue with vowels that weren't near-immediate in pronunciation, and since humans were an inferior race the translators they got had many problems when it came to most other species.

The creature's words caused Kad to grin, though since most species didn't see humans alongside each other enough to understand their mannerisms , no one could ever tell if his smile was purely happy or devious. "Alright, Tzzum,'' still didn't know if he pronounced that right, "I will head right over."

Kad-Dun would, just like every other day, find the CEO's stash of her favorite drugs, collect a dose for her, and head to her main office.

As he opened the door to his mistress' office he was once again filled with hate. Her black chitinous shell gleamed in the light as her three arms cut choice pieces of some poor person she had cooked up earlier. This woman was a true monster, he had still worked hard to find a way to freedom until he was given to her. This bitch treated him the best out of all her slaves, and even then she was a monster.

"There you are, I am glad you didn't keep me waiting like last time."

Her voice was smooth, felt good to the ear, some would even call it angelic. Her language was eloquent and beautiful, and despite Vanid being the only species able to speak it, all species in the empire were taught to understand it so the Goddess' language would always be understood in its purest form.

"I apologize once again for last time Mistress," was all he could say without incurring her wrath, bringing the dose to her hands. He gave her a far more concentrated dose than he ever had before., Knowing at what point she'd overdose, Kad-dun had watered down previous doses to make her accept doses that looked bigger for this very day. She saw no issue with it, not that she checked hard, and instantly downed the substance.

Kad-dun was put in charge of recording her psychotic ramblings so she could use them as inspiration when she came down from her high, and so was armed with a writing device tapered to a blunt point to write down notes on a pad.

Everything came together when her bloodstream realized there were more psychedelics than her system could handle. The Vanid had a peculiar defense mechanism that would allow them to instantly eject poison from their system even if it was in their bloodstream, but that wouldn't stop the poison that had already taken effect.

Even as the creature was doubled over and doing her equivalent of spewing out the poison; she was still tripping , giving Kad the time he needed to ready the killing blow. Lining up the writing device, Kad-dun shoved it at her open eye. Despite all their biological advantages, Vanid still had weak eyes and so the device pierced it with ease, causing a devastating scream to ring out and be heard in the surrounding area. This instantly set off all alarms and gave Kad a moment before he would be killed for his transgressions, but a moment was all he needed. He reared back the hand holding the pad and swung it at the protruding object, intending to send it so far into her head that it pierced her brain and killed her.

"To think that a mere human could assassinate a CEO, let alone a slave assassinating a Vanid CEO."

Kad felt no resistance as his swing completed its arc, he gave it so much force he was forced to spin a bit.

"What?" Was all he could get out before he came face to face with what could only be described as a fly-headed individual. It's eyes were massive and had the hexagonal, 360°, multi-vision nature that didn't at all detract from the feeling of having it's undivided attention.

"What happened? How am I here?"

"That doesn't matter now!" The thing said sternly and Kad-dun quieted down out of instinct, allowing it to continue.

"We don't have much time before I must convict you, but you helped me leave my position with at least some grace. Do you have any wish?"

This put Kad-dun on the spot. He was still going to die, but if he could have one thing-

"If I have any family left. Can you make sure they're not slaves?"

Gramu was surprised by that in all honesty. She didn't know what she had expected, but for a slave to think about family when they were raised believing their family was worthless was intriguing.

Why would this human care about those who he had been taught to believe abandoned him? She hadn't known that the instinct of a familial bond was even strong in humans, but it caused her to vibrate, once again similar to flies but this was laughter and was translated as such.

"Don't worry, I will make sure your bloodline is free."

The floor lit up with electricity and the human rebel was tazed and incapacitated right before a Gramu recived a comm request. She instantly accepted, leading to the enraged, bloodied, and now no longer exalted face of the Vanid CEO.

"Gramu, what have you done with the slave?"

Everyone knew any instant teleportation came from the Steel Soul fleet due to the precursor relic their capital ship had equipped.

"Right here, incapacitated in as pristine condition as possible so that you may do as you wish with it," was the inferior fleet CEO's reply as the camera panned down to reveal the incapacitated human.

"Is there anything I can help you with to punish his transgression?"

The glint in the Vanid's remaining three eyes gleamed with a look that Gramu could only describe as genocidal.

"Yes, I do not have time but if you manage to find and escort this slave's entire bloodline to my fleet so I may devour everything he could leave behind, I will put in a good word for your retirement's pension."

This however, was what Gramu was waiting for.

The Steel Soul fleet had been under the baleful gaze of the Empire almost since its inception, conducting minor transgression after minor transgression. Even despite the war, the Golden Arms fleet had found a way to liquidate this thorn in the Vanid's side and get rid of it. Gramu had other plans though, plans to shake things up, and with her promise to that slave... Well that was a gambit she couldn't put down, especially since there was already a free member of the slave's family close by that she could easily hide and use.