There were two of them. They walked on six insect like legs. Their bodies were a large fat white mass. They had a pair of long skinny insect like arms with three fingered hands. Their heads appeared to just sit between their shoulders without a neck. Their heads were large bulbous things. There was a single orifice in their faces. It was a round wet pulsing thing. They each had one large multifaceted blue eye. Kerrigan was following behind them. The aliens entered the common hall. They stopped a few feet in front of everyone.
“Greetings,” they heard a voice echo around them, “we are the species you call the Spectral Horde.”
“We would like to begin negotiations.”
The one on the right had a deep dark voice. The one on the left had a high pitched voice.
“I am Commander Duron Ardiniero. We are ready to negotiate terms to end hostilities between out two worlds. What shall I call you?”
“Oh of course,” said the one with the high voice, “you humans are always naming things are you not. We do not have need for such things.”
“I have an idea,” said the one with he deep voice, “they perceive my voice as being deep and your voice as being high. How about that? You may call me Deep.”
“And you may call me High.”
“Very well then I am pleased to meet you Deep and High.”
“Splendid,” said High.
“What is Kerrigan doing here?” asked Junitha.
“The man with you is supposed to be confined,” said Duron, “he has violated our laws and must be held accountable for his crimes. We know things may be different on your world but we can’t allow him to roam free.”
“We understand the situation,” said High.
“We thought Mr. Kerrigan could help make the negotiation go smoother,” said Deep.
“That is very thoughtful of you,” said Duron, “but he is not in a position to aid in negotiations right now.”
“We disagree,” said High.
“He is a most powerful man on your planet,” said Deep, “we would like him to be present.”
Duron did not want to ruin this so he agreed, “very well then Mr. Kerrigan can stay. Before we go on there is an obvious question that must be asked. Why have you been trying to destroy the human race for the last fifty years?”
“We have not been trying to destroy you,” said High.
“That was never our goal,” said Deep.
“Then why did you attack us?”
“You were advancing too quickly,” said High.
“We could not have that,” said Deep.
“You were well on your way to becoming a powerful space faring species,” said High.
“Our goal was to push back your progress,” said Deep, “we intended to force you back to your home planet then proceed with management procedures.”
“But you proved to be far more formidable in your resistance than we anticipated,” said High.
“What are management procedures?” asked Duron.
“We would have reduced your population,” said High.
“And destroyed all evidence of your civilization,” said Deep.
“We would reduce you back to a pre industrial level of advancement,” said High.
“That way you would be much more manageable,” said Deep.
“Your intent was to conquer the Earth?” said Duron.
“Yes,” said High.
“For the greater glory of the empire,” said Deep.
“Well I am glad that you have decided that peace with us is a better option,” said Duron.
“Peace?” said High.
“We did not come to negotiate peace,” said Deep.
“You misunderstood our message,” said High.
“We are here to negotiate your surrender,” said Deep.
“Son of a bitch,” muttered Ryoko.
“I did not let you board this ship so we could surrender,” said Duron.
“That is unfortunate,” said High.
“Mr. Kerrigan was more cooperative,” said Deep.
“What have you done Kerrigan?” said Janessa.
“They showed me,” said Kerrigan, “they showed me in my mind. I’ve seen why they are doing this. They showed me their masters. We can’t win.”
“Masters?” said Duron.
“The empire we serve is not our own,” said High.
“We are servants of ones far greater,” said Deep.
“There is one among you who knows of our masters,” said High.
“Come forth Zai, last of the Raath,” said Deep.
Zai stepped forward and said, “What do you know of me?”
“We know of you from our masters,” said High.
“Whom do you serve?” asked Zai.
“We are servants of the Veggs Morv’tika,” said Deep.
“Isn’t that the name of the guys who like blew up Zai’s planet?” whispered Zemwell.
“The Veggs Morv’tika came to our world long ago,” said High.
“We chose to submit to their will and aid in the building of their empire,” said Deep.
“These management procedures,” said Zai, “you have done this before? Destroyed civilizations and reduced them to pre industrial advancement?”
“We have,” said High.
“We aid our masters by making future potential subjects easier to dominate,” said Deep.
“You did this to the Miroff,” said Zai.
“Yes the Miroff, we enacted management procedures on them,” said High.
“That was long ago,” said Deep.
“We should continue to discuss the terms of your surrender,” said High.
“Mr. Kerrigan has been most accommodating,” said Deep.
“What are you talking about?” said Duron, “What have you done Kerrigan?”
“They showed me the Veggs Morv’tika,” said Kerrigan, “We can’t win against them. This way humanity will survive. If the Raath could be wiped out by them then we have no chance. They showed me your people Zai, in my mind. You were monsters. You were unstoppable. And the Veggs Morv’tika hunted you all down and wiped you out like rats. We have to do this.”
“Do what?” said Duron, “Kerrigan if they are in your mind they could be influencing you again.”
“We do not need to influence him,” said High.
“Although we could if we so desired,” said Deep.
“Your minds are so different from ours,” said High.
“It was so hard to understand you until Suchin Markjon made contact with us,” said Deep.
“She connected to your hive mind,” said Zai.
“We do not have a hive mind,” said High.
“We do not all think as one,” said Deep.
“But we do all think together,” said High.
“We share everything,” said Deep.
“We have no secrets from each other,” said High.
“And now we know enough about your minds that you can not win,” said Deep.
“What did you agree to Kerrigan?” said Duron, “What are they offering you?”
“They are offering us survival,” said Kerrigan.
“Mr. Kerrigan will be returned to Earth to make the transition go smoothly,” said High.
“If you surrender now we will allow you to return to Earth as well,” said Deep.
“And if we don’t?” said Duron.
“Then you will not leave here at all,” said High.
“None of you,” said Deep.
“You can’t keep them here,” said Zai, “The Daedlus is more than powerful enough to destroy your entire fleet. And your understanding of the human mind is not absolute. You influence is easily resisted.”
“True there is much we still do not understand about your minds,” said High.
“Both human and Raath,” said Deep.
“But this time we don’t need to understand,” said High.
“This time we have the mind trap,” said Deep.
“We had plenty of time to prepare for your arrival,” said High.
“We will study your minds and use what we learn to make management procedures of Earth resume more efficiently,” said Deep.
“You can not escape the mind trap,” said High.
“As long as just one of you remains within the dream none of you can leave it,” said Deep.
As the aliens spoke everyone in the room stopped moving. One by one they were pulled into the mind trap and lost in the dream.
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