THE OMNI SCREEN was filled with a close-up of the disemboweled horse. Panning back, the scene encompassed a number of similarly treated humans. The effect had been carefully calculated to enrage the estimated two billion Earth citizens who were watching the special Fleet omnicast. The scene faded slowly, lingering just a bit too long, a move calculated to make the omni-conditioned audience even more uncomfortable. The crisply uniformed figure that rose in its stead was as reassuring as the earlier scene had been alarming. His craggy good looks and measured tones inspired almost instant confidence. The crossed-ships emblem of a pilot glinted below a line of decorations. Such a hero would not let you down, or lie.
“Never before has the Alliance faced so vicious an enemy,” the Fleet officer explained for those too numb to have understood the earlier atrocity shots. “One with so little regard for sentient life.”
Rising to reflect his concern, the hero’s face took on a worried look. Spreading his hands, he intoned how the “soulless Khalia have never shown mercy. Our experts, in fact, have determined there is no such word in their language.”