It was often debated what the most useful and enduring weapon amongst the member species was. Arguments would go on and on for endless hours with no resolution ever in sight.

“I believe it is clearly the fangs,” a wolf-like Inuxis declared as he thumped his fist against the table.

To the Inuxis, their fangs were their first and foremost weapons. Their entire culture developed around getting into close range and attacking with them. Even when they developed modern technology, ranged weapons were seen as dishonourable for many generations.

“No, no, no, these are clearly the better weapons,” the Tuk’Nik clacked its pair of mantis-like claws.

Once again, to the Tuk’Nik, their claws were their race’s first and most reliable weapon. They had many other features that would’ve worked just as well, but the range their claws gave them was by far a greater advantage than even the Inuxis fangs.

“For those of us not born with natural weapons, I would suggest the humble club,” a mountain of muscle that was a Grok declared, thumping his fist on the table, this time leaving a deep indent in the metal.

Throughout the Grok’s history, they had been simple brutes who never understood the need for tactics. If a war was declared, the forces would march up to each other in a single long line and hit each other on the head back and forth till one of them died, with the victor being the one with more survivors.

Even after being aided by the more technologically advanced races, the Grok preferred direct confrontation and made heavy use of energised blunt weapons.

“I imagine I could crush both your skull and carapace with one thump,” the Grok declared with a boisterous laugh.

“What of you, human?” the Inuxis asked.

“Hmm… the most useful weapon humanity ever really made was the spear.”

“A spear?” the Tuk’Nik repeated with a dismissive tone.

Ever since both races joined the council alliance, there had been some level of tension between them. The Inuxis and Grok could only exhale a long sigh.

“Yes, a spear, the most versatile and simple weapon humanity can make. You see, we weren’t born with natural weapons like you two,” he explained, gesturing to the Inuxis and the Tuk’Nik.

“And while we did develop the club, it was quickly outpaced by the spear.”

“Why not a sword?” the Inuxis asked, having maintained his family’s tradition of training with the weapon since he was a pup.

“Swords take training to master. But a spear is as simple as a club but a magnitude more versatile. With a club, you have to get in close.”

“Yes, for honourable combat!”

“To thump the enemy!”

“With a spear, though, I can stay a safe distance away from my enemy. Humans naturally don’t like the idea of dying, so if I can stab you from over here, I will,” the human mimed, thrusting a spear to demonstrate.

“What if they are out of reach of the spear?” the Tuk’Nik asked.

“We would just run up and hit them,” the Grok declared.

“Well, we can simply throw the spear,” once again, he mimed the action. “A spear, unlike a club, is aerodynamic. It can fly and hit someone out of reach. But the best part of a spear is not only how simple it is but how much its strength multiplies when you have more people with spears.”

“Like with our club lines?”

“A bit, but with thousands of spears behind a shield wall, humans became an unstoppable force. Even people using swords were left wanting when they faced a spear wall. The best part is you don’t have to train too much to use a spear. Mostly stand here and use the pointy end.”

“I see what you mean. A simple but versatile weapon, and when massed with many, they would overcome a lot of enemies,” the Inuxis pondered aloud.

“I would’ve assumed you would’ve named firearms after all; your race developed them relatively early compared to the rest of us.” The Human chuckled at this observation.

“Ever heard of a bayonet?” The three shook their heads.

“Even when we made guns, we made a blade to stick on the end of them. Because when we could not shoot, we could still use it as a spear. We still keep spears in mind even now,” the human replied as he took out his service rifle.

The three remembered when the humans first arrived, there was a massive stir regarding their weapons. The weapon had a shield generator built into its body. While the shot itself had a magnitude of penetration, even some laser shooters failed to match. Beyond that, the rifle had a hardlight blade that protruded from the head of the rifle.

Even now, many shuddered at the memory of the demonstration where the shields overlapped and made it nigh impossible to injure the humans while they could fire with impunity.

“So that light blade is a bayonet?” the Tuk’Nik asked to which the human nodded.

“Yes, this is the Special penetration electromagnetic acceleration rifle Mk.1… Spear for short, even with all our technology, we do love our spear walls,” the human finished with a smirk.

“That and our military acronyms,” he added before chuckling once more.

Republished with permission from the author, Random3x. Image created using Stable Diffusion.