On the planet Benton, there is a living weapon of extreme power. The Alliance of Stellar Nations requires something out of the ordinary to take out a terrorist, Lazran Bowman, as all other efforts have failed spectacularly. The creature, Umi, is purchased on the day of its birth and taken to the Temple of the Sacred Gift. They are instructed in two things. One is in Standard, the language of the Alliance of Stellar Nations and ASN Galactic Vanguard. The other is the brevity of their lives. For Umi, there are only two options. If by the time they had reached twenty turns or years and not been purchased as the U’pytr, the living weapon, they would be sold to one of the five pleasure houses on the planet. Either way, they will not live to see their twenty-first turn.

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Before their eighteenth birth year, a fortune in credits is paid to the Bentoness Royal Contingency for an U’pytr. Two ASN Galactic Vanguard officers, Captain Fasham Isman and Captain Ka’Mz zsod, are assigned to acquire the weapon and then carry out the mission. Once they leave Benton with the U’pytr, they have twenty-one days Standard to finish the mission. At the end of the allotted time, completed or not, they are required to kill the creature.

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The End Was the Beginning is a richly detailed science fiction narrative that offers a profound exploration of identity, loyalty, sacrifice, and the ethical complexities inherent in using sentient beings as weapons within the context of a multi-species Alliance of Stellar Nations. The story combines intense personal drama with strategic military operations, underscored by cultural rituals and emotional bonds that challenge traditional notions of autonomy and duty.