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  About an hour later (it didn't need to take that long, but Dirn made certain it did), both Tallest staggered into their personal viewing room aboard the Massive, everything but heads and upper arms covered in ceremonial armor, down to the antigravity generators. Though the familiarity of hovering was a pleasant return for Purple, he was already beginning to miss using his own legs for things. In this leg armor, the most he could really do was bend at the knees --the armor around which was jointed-- but it didn't come in handy for all that much.

  Red and Purple both sported a variety of bandages. Beneath his armor, Red had a brace set around his leg, and Purple had a similar one on his right upper arm, for it really had been broken by that rock. Irken medical science had progressed far enough to where neither would have to wear the braces for more than a few days at most, while nanomachines within their bone and marrow toiled to repair that which had been damaged.

  Dirn had had a fit when the list of injuries was given to her by the medics, insinuating with her subtle coded speech that this meant they wouldn't be allowed any more such excursions.

  But for the moment there was solace to be found in their private viewing room, absent of anyone but themselves and two automated guard bots that Red made a point of dismissing. The far wall was composed mainly of windows, all currently shut save for one, which gave a view of their retreat planet as the ship was leaving it behind. The wall adjacent to it, low and concave, was filled mostly with viewscreens of various locations around the ship, including just outside the door so they would be wary of any visitors beforehand. Some of the larger monitors were also for offship transmissions that were usually first to the bridge and then patched through to there. Aside from a long couch, it was pretty much empty of permanent decoration, though they had in the past occasionally brought in other furniture to liven it up.

  While Red was busy shooing off the rather stubborn guard bots, Purple took interest in their inbox, which was stuffed with reports in a variety of media, from paper-thin roll-out digital diagrams of solar systems to five-disc collections of audio/video logs from invaders, even some reports from the home planet about silly things like the precise percentage of public morale. Purple shook his head at the mess and shoved it back into the box, out of sight. The violet-eyed Tallest left the inbox and hovered over to join Red on the couch, settled down about three feet from his red-eyed counterpart and, reclining so far his antennae hung down the back of the couch, let out a long sigh.

  Red looked over at him, seeming just as depressed. "We could probably just threaten her with banishment again," he suggested, trying to lighten his brethren's mood. Purple rolled his head to the side to meet Red's gaze and shook it wearily. "Yeah, 'guess you're right," Red sighed, shoulders drooping in defeat.

  "She seems to have gotten over that threat. It doesn't scare her anymore. I think we're losing our foothold on her." Purple glanced down at his leg armor, straining to move his right thigh underneath it so much as a centimeter. "Gee, irony again..." he muttered.

  The scarlet Tallest nibbled on a bandaged finger habituously, brow furrowed in thought. "We're gonna need a new tactic, aren't we?" he asked, speech partially impeded by the chewing. Red's eyes narrowed a bit, as if he sensed an idea was about to dawn on him but something was blocking his way.

  Purple edged closer to his companion, leaned over and, with a single finger, prodded a bandaged, swollen cut above Red's right eye. Reaction was instantaneous as the red-eyed Irken broke out of his deep thought and recoiled in pain.

  "That hurt!" he cried, clasping a hand over the wound. Purple's face broke into a wide grin, eyes almost shut as he snickered nearly without sound. "What'd you do that for?"

  "Since when do you care for reasons?" said his violet friend, making a motion with his arm like he was tossing something over his shoulder, as if Red's question was invalid. Purple's face grew serious, grin fading away into nothing. "I still need to ask you about something. Before, on the planet... why did you call me Teir?"

  Red snorted. "That's your name, isn't it?"

  Purple glared. "That's beside the point." He edged closer to Red again, their eyes remained locked. "No one's called me that in... in eons, even you!" His violet eyes grew wider as he shook his head slightly, still amazed. "How is it you even remember it? I'll bet you don't even remember your own old name," he remarked.

  The red-eyed Tallest paused to consider this. "Nope," he said, shaking his head. "That was your job to remember." A harshness laced the edge of Red's tone, a deliberate application of guilt. Purple hung his head, appearing to recall that day in his mind. Seeing this, Red followed up, "You do remember, don't you?"

  It seemed like an eternity as the question hung in the air, going unanswered by even a slight guesture. Red cursed himself as he thought, if fleetingly, that Purple might have forgotten. Finally his better judgment proved correct as Purple gave a brief, shallow nod of his head.

  "Yes, I remember, Sorun," he said, looking up and again meeting the reddish-pink eyes of his brethren. They exchanged small grins. Purple sighed as the name continued to bring memories back to him, flooding into his thoughts. "Sorun and Teir... What's so hard about Sorun and Teir?" he complained.

  Red agreed, but his mood did not better because of it. "It's stupid," he said, shaking his head bitterly. "We're the only two in the entire empire that even know those names, Dirn excepted. The Almighty Tallest Sorun and Teir don't exist, it's Red and Purple. We're not even in the birth records under those original names."

  "Well, it's not like we were known as that for very long," Purple reminded, frowning slightly. Another silence followed. The violet Tallest looked away from Red, down at his leg armor. "Say, Re-- Sorun? Do you remember back then? The old days, back... quasars, I don't even know how many years ago it was. When things started to change?"

  His red-eyed brethren chuckled shortly, slouching down even further in his seat. He looked down at his hands with their two fingers each, half of what a normal Irken would possess. "Teir, I don't remember what I had for breakfast. I don't care for what's already past." Red looked up again at Purple, arching a figurative eyebrow at him. "You're plotting something. Well, not plotting, maybe, but you're leading up to something. What?"

  Purple leaned forward again, eyes wide with eagerness akin to a young invader on his first assignment. "I think I might've forgotten some things. And... well, you know I like my good memory. It's just that I don't want to lose any more than I already have, and I think you remember what I've forgotten. We seem to work that way."

  "Not all the time," said the scarlet Tallest.

  Purple admitted his error and amended himself. "Right, not all of the time, but some of the time, over the really important things... But what I'm saying is that I want the whole story. Just so I can know." He paused, then added, "Come on, please?"

  Red shook his head in sorrow. "Mother of Irk, you've gone and become a historian..." he muttered, then chuckled at his own words. Purple smiled good-humoredly, because he was the patient sort. The patient sort who knew that later on there was always the torture chamber for anyone who ever tried their patience a bit too much. "So, what, Teir wants a long, tedious, boring bedtime story?"

  The violet-eyed Irken's eye twitched a little, but he wasn't looking for an argument at this point, and decided to agree. "Yeah, bedtime story. I'll be telling most of it, since you're too forgetful to, but you can add in your side of the story when you want."

  "Hm..." Red appeared to be considering the proposition, head tilted up towards the ceiling as he stared off into space. He blinked absently a few times while Purple awaited a response. "Well," he said slowly, speaking for the first time in many minutes. Red turned away from the ceiling, head coming down to look his brethren in the eye. "Sure, okay. But you owe me for this."

  Purple was visibly annoyed. "Not this again... What is it this this time?" he asked, looking as though the question didn't really need to be asked.

  "Oh, well... you know..." Red smirked.

  His purple-eyed companion sighed, shaking his head in irritation. "You have a one-track mind, I swear... Okay, fine, I'll go with that." Purple cast his sparkling eyes at Red, twitching anxiously. "So, the story... You know how it began and all, right? I got these tidbits of information off of Dirn and the others over the years. I know how it really starts. You know, before we were even born..."

  Red was uncertain whether to be impressed or scared at Purple's dedication. "Done your research, huh?"

  "I'd say so. And so the story begins... It would be about, let's see... Well, a long time ago, at any rate. Almighty Tallest Rarg was on the wrong side of old age and he was going to retire soon. Dirn was among his advisors, even way back in those days. Of course, the empire was way different back then. We had maybe two or three planets under our control at most, and we weren't doing much of anything with them." Purple stopped, blinking obtusely. "It's kinda odd, telling your history before you're part of it..."

  The crimson Tallest gave a stage yawn to demonstrate his boredom. "Just get on with it. If your mission was to put me to sleep, it's already starting to work."

  "Better stay awake, 'cause I'll be needing you for some of this," said Purple.

  "Whatever, just start already."

  Purple chuckled softly, a small smile across his face as he looked at Red. "Hehe... Sorun, you sound like you actually want to hear this." He sidled up right beside Red and began to tell a story of long ago...