chapter 25 Law of nature.

Telling that they needed just a few drones was a massive understatement.

They needed a whole army of different kinds of drones,lucky for them the database had everything they needed.

First on the list were scraper drones needed for dismantling ships,then gatherer droids that looked like a small truck on tracks and with two manipulator arms and their role was gathering the materials that laid loose in the designated area.

Then there were transport drones,repair drones,construction drones,ship building drones,and other kinds of robotic workers they needed. 

Aside from that they needed more fabricators so the decision was made that small and medium fabricators would create drones parts and repair drones would assemble them into new drones and droids.

The big fabricator was tasked with creation of smaller fabricators parts and construction drones assembled them into new fabricators that were put to work as soon as they were online.

The two humans and one lizardman were busy all the time,when they were not transporting the materials they were studying.

Steuner learned how to fly the shuttle and it shocked the humans once again how fast he learned as it only took two days for him to master that skill.

One day they received an alert from one of the scouting drones that there were life forms moving in their direction.

After looking over the footage it was discovered that they were Steuner's people and they didn't look friendly.

-Why would they come here?

Mikael asked.

-I don't know but if i had to guess then they want the shuttle and if they discover all the technology around here then i'm sure that they will want to chase us away.

Steuer answered, ashamed for his people.

-Thats out of the question.

Simon said,there was no way that he would just hand over all that they achieved just because a bunch of lizards wanted it.

-Is there a way to resolve it without a fight?

Mikael asked,not being too thrilled to fight his friends' tribesmen.

-There is none,if they challenge us over the territory then we have to fight, that is the law of my people.

The lizard man explained.

Both humans understood that they wouldn't be able to avoid a confrontation.

-Then we need weapons, as i don't want to fight them bearhanded.

Simon said and went to the nearest fabricator.

Within ten minutes all three of them had weapons.

Steuner had chosen a halberd as it was quite long and didn't require much training to use.

Mikael opted for a battle axe and two hatchets as he claimed that on earth he used these tools everyday.

Simon on the other hand chose two short swords and a bow and arrows as he trained in bow for a short time.

After getting their weapons they decided that as the hosts they should greet their guests.

They used a shuttle as the other lizardmen were still over 50 kilometers away.

After landing they disembarked and waited for the guests to arrive.

There were just five of them and all of them were armed with something that looked like a mace made from scrap.

-What are you doing in our territory?

Mikael asked when they came closer.

-The lizard men were surprised to meet the humans so fast and even more shocked that Steuner was with them safe and sound.

Another surprise was that they had weapons far better then what they had brought.

-We want your shuttle and your weapons.

Answered the leader of the group.

He was especially enticed by Steuner's halberd as it looked like a weapon of a warchief from their planet.

-Turn back, there is nothing for you here.

Simon said in a threatening voice,he was standing with an arrow notched on his bow.

-This traitor should have explained our laws to you already.

-He did but we are not from your tribe so we offer you to turn around and go home.

The only other way for you is death.

Mikael was angered by this lizard calling his friend a traitor just because he had decided that honor was more important than greed.

-Then we shall see who will take it all and who will die.

The leader of the lizardmen said and charged at the old man only to discover an arrow in his chest and lose his head to Mikael's axe a few seconds later.

The rest of his group also charged but they were met with Steuner's halberd and simon's arrows.

All five of them were dispatched without mercy as Steuner had explained that when a fight started there was no retreat, only victory or death for his people.

Both humans knew that it was a fight to the death but it was also their first time killing a sentient being so they had some Nightmares afterward.

Steuner asked the humans to help him prepare a burial for their enemies as it was a responsibility of a victor to take care of the fallen from both sides and so they put the bodies together on a funeral pyre made from whatever flammable materials they found and then they set them ablaze.

Steuner started chanting something in his own language and they later found out that it was a funeral song allowing the spirits of the fallen to reach the afterlife in peace and stand before their ancestors with pride and honor belonging to fallen warriors.

They left the ashes on the spot as it was forbidden to remove them from the battlefield they fell on.

Then they returned home and to the surprise of the humans no one cared that they just killed five other beings on the planet.

It also confirmed their suspicions that there was no one monitoring them or even if there was they didn't care.

Simon and Mikael had some problems after the fight but it got better when they talked about it with Steuner.

-You two need to accept the fact that it's kill or be killed with my people,and also there is no need to think about it too much as this is a law of nature and you didn't do anything bad by killing them.

The lizardman explained his view of the incident.

-On our planet killing is forbidden outside a war and that's what we were taught our whole lives and now we killed sentient beings for the first time.

Simon tried to explain the problem.

-For someone who was thought not to kill you sure didn't hesitate when you acted.

The alien said,puzzled at a contradiction he faced.

-That's probably because our instincts took over and our people are capable of immense destruction but the societal norms on our planet prohibit us from killing.

Now that I think about it, this is most likely the cause that humanity hasn't destroyed itself yet.

Simon explained.

-Your species is strange,my people don't overthink this kind of thing, we just bury the dead and honor them for their sacrifice and skill in combat.

Steuner said.

They discussed the topic for a long time and in the end that helped both humans to come to terms with killing other sentient beings.