There was a section of space known as the Flower. Between Gastraddar and #71EEB8, a series of trinary systems orbited a bright yellow nebula. Viewed from a distance it resembled the petals of a daisy.
The planets that orbit the nebula hosted a multitude of options in the habitable zone. Life emerged around a yellow dwarf, a red dwarf, and a blue giant star that made up Garuda~Megalara~Vespidae, the Flower's most sparkling petal. An abundance of plant life sprouted producing worlds with high levels of oxygen. The plants grew tall and the insects grew large.
By the time the #71EEB8 clones discovered the Flower's top predators were spreading from planet to planet they had colonized half the system. They were generally intelligent and cooperative but had no technology to speak of. It was another species with a sweet tooth that helped them take wing in space.
An Octahedron Gravimetric Phase Shifter first realized what was going on. The eight-sided triangled scout looked on in awe as two Gastraddar warships fired on each other. The brutish species was warlike but never fought among itself. The #71EEB8s had a non-aggression agreement with Gastraddar so they watched at a safe distance. In the end, one ship was destroyed and the other set adrift.
The four crewmen of the Octa-Grav-Shifter stood before their view screen. The middle-aged men were perfect clones, identical down to a DNA level. They were bald, black-eyed, and silver-skinned. The light of the last explosion faded and with it the orange glow on their matching seafoam green flight suits. One raised his arm and pointed to the surviving ship.
"There."
Crawling on the outside of the stalled Gastraddar battlecruiser were a half dozen Galactic Wasps. They shivered before simultaneously jumping off the craft to free float through open space. Spreading their wings wide, they attempted to slow before they landed on the wreckage of the defeated ship. They disappeared through a large crack in its hull.
#71EEB8 were not aware the Wasp exoskeletons could resist exposure to the vacuum of space.
The Wasps re-emerged from the wreckage, each carrying the body of a dead Gastraddar. They were bigger than the Wasps in their heavy battle armor. Their long black hair floated like halos around dead eyes. The Wasps jumped back to their vessel with corpses in tow and dragged them through a port side hatch. The door closed and the ship began to fire particle cannons at the Octahedron.
The small Grav-Shifter crew silenced them by firing a chemical blast at the adrift ship. They moved alongside and two clones suited up into what could only be called advanced beekeeping gear, slick visored space helmets and blocky arm attachments that looked like they were going to play jai alai.
The two beekeepers exited their ship by putting a magnetic boot on the Gastraddar hull and stepping out. They opened a hatch, climbed aboard, and were met by a Wasp that had somehow merged its exoskeleton with a Gastraddar soldier. Its head was crowned with a steel helmet and its thorax was enhanced with bronze shoulder plates. It balanced a Gastraddar bio-disruptor rifle in its hooklike hands.
The clones raised their chunky arm devices and were fed a translation of the Wasp's secretions through their neural transmitters. They were to follow the soldier to the bridge. Their arm extensions released a scent of compliance and the Wasp led the way.
When they reached the bridge it was a mess. A large fire had recently been extinguished and the smell of burnt plastic hung thick in the air. Most of the computer panels had been removed and Wasps were everywhere tinkering with electronics. On the viewscreen was a course plotted to a nearby pollen moon. Perched awkwardly on the throne like captain's chair was another Wasp with Gastraddar battle armor meshed into its exoskeleton. Its full attention moved to the two #71EEB8s.
Their arm devices picked up the scent, this was the leader, and he wanted their help to reach the moon. The lush world basked in the glow of three suns with endless fields of gargantuan flowers, a spectacular home for the predators. This was how they were moving from one planet to the next.
The clones carefully released a complex set of chemicals from their pheromone-arms. They wanted to know the how and why of what was going on. The leader Wasp jumped off the chair and landed directly in front of the clones. Their green clothing reflected in his huge eyes as he looked them over uncomfortably close.
The Wasp turned and led them down to the lower level. The entire deck was full of insects. Many were wingless females tending to large near human-sized larva, several were immersed in vats of royal jelly, and the rest were consuming the bloated dead bodies of the former crew. Visually, it was something of an insectophobia nightmare. Chemically speaking, the readings in the room indicated a well-managed childhood development center and nursery.
#71EEB8s prided themselves on the celebration of diversity, even though they themselves were all exactly the same. They were able to ascertain that Gastraddar troops had been raiding the Wasp's honeybee fields. The Wasps, defending their food supply, attacked them. This brought out the Gastraddar lust for revenge and with it more warships. The Wasps acquired one and had been fumbling with the technology ever since.
The leader released an empathetic burst that lit up the clones pheromone readers. The species had become interstellar by smiting their invaders and stealing their technology. It was a tough learning curve, but in only a matter of years, they were winning space battles. The problem was they couldn't repair the broken technology. They needed to make it to the moon and join the others in starting a new colony.
"We will help but need to discuss with our commander how." The beekeepers said this by releasing a fine chemical mist.
The leader understood referring to a hierarchy. He led them to the engine room.
With every conversation, the #71EEB8s became more skilled at conveying information. Their arm devices sent information back to their ship, which uplinked it to their collective, and shared it throughout their entire species. They spoke directly with their crew, who reached out to a deep space guild cruiser on the edge of the sector, who consulted with an ambassador from the diplomatic corps. And thus the decision was made to help the Wasps continue their local expansion.
The #71EEB8 had a noninterference policy with regard to a species natural evolution. However, the die had been cast when the Gastraddars invaded their planet. They messed with a species they knew nothing about and inadvertently introduced them to spacefaring technology.
The beekeepers pulled the schematic for the Gastraddar rumble fusion turbo thruster, but when they got to the engine room there was nothing they could do. The core had fused.
The Wasps didn't take this news well. To the clone's surprise, the leader only momentarily took an aggressive stance before asking if there was any other way they could help. The beekeepers indicated they could put them in orbit above the moon.
The pheromone readings of excitement, happiness, hope, and adulation for the beekeepers were all new data sets that began a profound relationship between the two species.
The Octahedron ship created a small gravity well in front of the Wasp's vessel and effectively towed them into orbit around the pollen moon. Another seized Gastraddar, now Wasp ship launched off the planet and began a rescue mission. When the ship was evacuated the clones crash landed it on the moon's surface. It would attract more Gastraddars if they left it in space.
It wasn't long until every habitable planet in Garuda~Megalara~Vespidae became the realm of the Galactic Space Wasp. It would be with the help of a species they called the Beekeepers that they would begin to terraform the more hostile worlds in that beautiful section of the galaxy.
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