The thing no one tells anyone about space travel, is that living in a ship in space is like living in a dungeon underground, no matter where you are, you are still stuck in a box, with no windows, and nothing but artificial light to live by.

To most Dwarves, this is just life to us, in space, in in subs in the ocean, or in vaults underground, makes no difference.

The Coms open and Ironfirst Graybeard calls for a meeting on the main deck, everyone is to attend.

I love these meetings, it's always good news, more work and less relaxation is always good news to me, there is only so many 20 hour marathon training runs you can before you just have itch to work on the real thing. These last two years in space have made me feel weak, I mean sure, working out, and all that, but, it does not feel real enough, not hard enough, the simulators are good, but there is just something missing about putting in real work, about harvesting the real thing, and seeing progress be made for the Clan.

I have my pick polished and razor sharp, like everyone else on the platform, as Graybread takes his place on the Podium. "Brothers! Sisters! On this Day, E-75,634-Of our King Fellhammer! We have found the mother load planet! rife with ore, and other natural resources! and get this my brethren! We are not on Mining Operation! Our Lord, and King has made it know that we will be colonizing this planet, while there are some indigenous animals, most will docile to our efforts, and none truly delve into the planet itself, so this could make for a wonderful peaceful coexistence, however, the dominate species is as yet unknown to us, so, we are going to take this carefully, in true Dwarven manner, we will attempt to make a deal with them! Be ready brothers and sisters! This will be a New Awakening! A new world! a Next chance at the Great Hold! Blood and Iron forever!"

I love his speeches! Short, sweet, and well, I kind of phased out during his two hour long ramble, but.. Blood and Iron! That is what made sense! YARRR! Dwarfs!

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"Balgor! Are you well my Brother!" I hear the call to me, but, for the first time in a long time, I don't want to answer. My axe coated in blood from these creatures, my armor broken with holes in it, from their weapons, and while I have to give it to them, they had some really powerful weapons, strong enough to break the Drundite plating of my armor, and even now, I feel my life blood seeping out from their attack. But what bothers me the most, is that I am the one that feels remorse for what I have done.

They never stood a chance against us, they never truly set foot off their planet so they had no idea what real war was like, what true battle could mean, they had been confined to their planet for so long they even fought among themselves, with no idea what horrors exist in space, but still they were audacious, greedy, when they met us, even going so far as to use crude atomic weapons against us, little disgusting hairless pink things.

I rise to a sitting position, I am tired, I am worn, and I look at the dead bodies of the, this species that called themselves, humans, scattered around me, like bloody rag dolls littering the floor, and I cannot tell if I have killed males, or females, children or adults, and somehow, that bothers me, somehow, as I look at their dead remains, it pains me in my core for they made us do. We have coexisted alongside the Narvarian, a brutal race of spacefaring worms, and yet these, things, felt that they, and they alone would best us.

knocking the body of a splattered human from my bracer, "I am here Grumdel" I call back. The sky lights up and I brace my shield against the blast, more of their atomic weapons, no doubt their strongest weapons, and about the only thing that has truly managed to injure our shock troops, but it's a such a wasteful tactic, in their last ditch hope to drive us out, these heinous creatures, willingly disposed all their own people just to win a pitiful fight, as opposed to seeking peace and coexistence.

Grumdel grabs me "Come brother! Greybeard has called an extraction of all mining and harvesting troops, they have poisoned the planet with their radiation to the point that it is no longer sustainable for life"

I drop my head "They would rather destroy themselves and their planet then share some ore and grass?"

Grumdel flicked one of the remaining human bodies off my puldron "Most Brutal aggressive little things we have ever faced, The War Marshal has decreed that we will leave a ship to monitor the planet, and come back in 50 cycles, when the contamination has settled, and try again"

Nodding "Alright, lets go Brother"

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It's been 45 solar cycles, and I have come to enjoy and hate watching these humans evolve and grow, but it fun to see that they have named this station "the moon", in 5 cycles the main fleet will return, and sadly, these humans, have learned nothing.

This time however, we at least know what to expect.