The war had been going on longer than the Ghimderi Wished for it to have. Nearly fifteen years had passed since the first attack which crippled the galaxy economy. Resulting in the removal of Bixel Goldentooth, and the cannibalization of his assets by the rival trade princes. No doubt, the fate of Bixle and his supremely powerful cartel had resulted in far more casualties than the Ghimderi Trade Union was willing to admit.

Despite the fact that the Silber Enclave, and later the reformed Germanic Star-Empire, continued to support the Parvaxians over the past fifteen years. The time of their usefulness had finally come to an end. And thus, Erich had suddenly stopped supplying the insurgents.

After all, they had caused enough damage to the Ghimderi Cartels and Banking Clans, as well as the Galactic economy. Any further damage done to the Ghimderi, and their trade union, might literally collapse. And that was an honor that Erich wanted himself to be responsible for, and not his proxies.

Thus, after driving the last of the Parvaxian race into a corner. The Ghimderi Defense Forces received an anonymous tip of where the leaders of the Parvaxian Liberation Organization were currently meeting. The assault on this fortified position was livestreamed to the galaxy as a display of the Ghimderi’s might, or what was left of it.

Armored Vehicles surrounded the complex, while bombers drooped their payloads atop of it. Artillery continued to pound the position. With the hope of completely killing every insurgent inside of the fortress.

The bombing campaign went on for days, and many believed that the Ghimderi Defense Forces had used the last of their munitions stockpile to thoroughly turn the area into ashes. Yet when the attack finally ceased, and the dust finally cleared, it was revealed that the Parvaxian defenders were still standing, hiding within the rubble of their once mighty fortress. Where they dared the Ghimderi Defense Forces to assault their position.

Whether out of sheer hubris or poor leadership, the order came from the top. Assault the Parvaxian Ruins and kill every last member of their accursed race. Thus, those foreign soldiers who were hired by the Ghimderi Trade Princes to enforce their interests charged into the breach, hoping that they would emerge with the lives intact.

—

Erich watched the assault on his holographic projector. And Tia had ensured that his reconnaissance drones in the region gave him an even better view of the combat. The Parvaxian insurgents stayed behind the ruins of their last fortress. Firing everything they had at the oncoming attackers.

Bodies piled up on both sides. And it became increasingly clear to everyone who watched that the Parvaxians weren’t fighting for their survival, but instead to kill as many of their enemy as possible. When an insurgent ran out of munitions, he would strap suicide bomb the attackers with a variety of potentially lethal munitions.

Some were anti-tank mines that would be used to destroy the armored vehicles that encircled them and led the charge against their position. While others were hand grenades designed to kill themselves and the hostile personnel.

Either way, for each Parvaxian who fell in battle, he would take at least three of the Ghimderi pawns with him. The casualties were increasing to such an extent among the Ghimderi Trade Forces, who had already suffered countless deaths over these last fifteen years, that the commander directly in charge of the assault called it off. Much to the rage of his masters.

Because of this, there was some reprieve for the Parvaxian Insurgents, giving them time to reload and resupply from their hidden caches. Yet, of course, as Erich expected, the order came down from the top once more to begin a second assault. At this point, Erich smirked and asked Tia a simple question.

“Do you have a copy of the communication between the field commander and the man giving him orders?”

Tia nodded her head before playing the recording. Having long sense embedded herself in the network and communications systems of every major civilization in the galaxy, including, of course, the Ghimderi who had long since controlled the galactic economy.

“Give Tia one minute master…”

Soon enough, Erich heard a hideous voice that sounded like a wounded animal snarling at an approaching predator.

“I don’t care how many of you **ing whelps die! You are paid to fight and die for the interests of the Ghimderi! So go out and do your **ing jobs!”

There was naturally a hesitant tone in the field commander’s voice as he denied these orders.

“Absolutely not! If we continue this assault, our entire unit will be annihilated! Either call in reinforcements to relieve us, or you can fight your **ing war yourself! You have not paid us nearly enough to take such a lethal risk!”

This was only a natural response from the field commander. After all, mercenaries were seldom loyal enough to their employer to fight to the last man. Especially since the whole point of their contractual service was based on monetary gain. And the entirety of the Ghimderi Defense Forces was composed of hired mercenaries.

Because, after all, the Ghimderi themselves were not a race suited to the rage of battle. They were miniscule and weak creatures, incapable of the bodily strains that were required to storm a trench, or clear a compound. No, they preferred to pay races that they considered being lesser than themselves to fight and die for them.

After all, from the perspective of the Ghimderi, all life forms other than their own race were little more than livestock, whose entire existence was to serve the Ghimderi. Thus, it was only natural for these lesser beings to throw away their lives in pursuit of Ghimderi interests.

And because of this, the Trade Prince, who had given the order, was quite furious. Thus, he began to threaten the Field Commander and the men beneath his command.

“If you filthy cattle don’t go and storm those ruins, then I will make sure that your family, and those of your men, are rounded up and sold into slavery! Perhaps we will sell them all to the Asuran pleasure houses! Or maybe to the flesh sculptors of Cal’thuan, They, after all, are always in need of a fresh supply of bodies!”

If a life of servitude in sexual slavery was a fate worse than death, then being sold to the Flesh Sculptors of Cal’thuan was hell itself. Their sadism was on a level that sent chills down the spines of even the most stoic veterans. They turned their victims into living abominations, which they referred to as “sculptures” and these sculptures would live an eternity of pain and suffering, carved into a horrific effigy.

This, of course, was not an empty threat. The Ghimderi were a race of petty snakes and rats. They would do whatever was necessary to further their interests. Including condemning an innocent soul to a hellish nightmare, one that would last for eternity. And they might even do so for a quick buck, let alone as a means to compel their “cattle” to fight for them.

Upon hearing this threat, the Field Commander had no choice but to obey his masters. And thus, there was a tone in the man’s voice that clearly displayed his desire to curse out his master, but this desire was suppressed due to the threats laid against him. And because of this, he promised to order another assault.

“Very well… You leave me no choice. I will order the assault immediately….”

And just like that, the attack on the Parvaxian holdouts had begun once more. Meanwhile, Erich smirked. Ghimderi propaganda was immensely powerful, so much so that most across the galaxy considered them victims.

But if there was one civilization that was universally despised by all, it was the Cal’thuan. Once it was revealed to the galaxy that the Ghimderi leadership had threatened the veterans who had been fighting a fifteen long year war on their behalf, with such a cruel fate, and to their families no less. The reputation of the Ghimderi would be ruined forever.

Thus, while the assault was going on, Erich wore a wicked smile as he commanded Tia to release this conversation to the entire galaxy. Which she was quick to do. Not only had she released it to the galactic network on every major site which hosted video and audio files.

But she also hacked every major news network, and dispalyed the footage to them all, with the headline “The Ghimderi threatened their own forces with the unthinkable, after the GDF made a necessary tactical retreat!”

Soon enough the galactic network was filled with comments about the incident, and for the first time millennia, the galaxy began to wake up from the propaganda they had been spoon fed their entire lives about the Ghimderi and their ultimate victimhood status.

With this one conversation being leaked, that the Ghimderi leadership thought was private, their reputation had gone from being the victims of repeated terrorist attacks, and historical displacement. To the most vile species in the galaxy, ones who would condemn innocent souls to the hands of the Cal’thuan simply because their relatives had made a tactical retreat in a bloody battle.

Erich of course stoked the flames of anti-Ghimderi sentiment, by using his advanced intelligent agencies to stir up trouble on the galactic network. And of course, he enjoyed every moment of it. Eventually however, the Parvaxians last stand ended in the complete and total massacre of the last of their species.

And while the Parvaxians had gone extinct at the hands of the Ghimderi Defense Forces, they would not be remembered as murderers, terrorists, or fiends. But rather heroic freedom fighters, who made a valiant last stand against the galaxy’s greatest evil.