by Greg Ballan
Kalaak took the crystals and placed them into his processing core. He studied the data and conclusions with several of the other members of their party. The Seelak team walked a small distance away after several minutes of reviewing the provided information. Both Jakor and Sennek could see animated discussions occurring from several of the enemy party.
"They're arguing over our conclusions," Sennek replied to Jakor.
The large Esper soldier grinned at his friend's statement of the obvious. "They will not accept your hypothesis." He looked down into his older friend's eyes.
"They must. There can be no other conclusion, the data can only be interpreted one way," the scientist insisted.
Jakor nodded, but he knew that the data could also possibly increase the enemy's position of mass extermination. "No one can know what the enemy thinks, old friend. Wait, one of them is coming back." The soldier gestured to the scientist.
The Seelak spokesman walked back toward the Espers. "We have reviewed your data, and considered your conclusions. We agree with your data, and your analysis is well thought. However, we do not agree with your conclusions. Evacuation and isolation is not the answer, we must wipe out the primate infestation, totally and completely. A mere cleansing of our territories is no longer enough, we must unite and use our combined resources to wipe out the seed this world has planted everywhere. Then we can take over and make this world our own," the Seelak replied emphatically.
"No! No!" Sennek angrily disagreed, becoming emotionally distraught. "We cannot, we have no right to commit genocide against an entire species. It is not just the primates; it is every living thing on this planet that we are infecting and that is infecting our races. Destruction is not the answer. Killing one species will not save our people, you would have to kill every living thing on this planet," the Esper scientist pleaded. "Right down to the very core plants and fish that we use as a food source. Even the food we eat as nourishment will contain elements toxic to our people. If you waged the type of war you propose, you would sentence our species to starvation and eventual death as well."
Kalaak had folded his arms and shook his head. "You're proposing that we simply admit defeat and run away after a thousand of this planet's years? Abandon all that we have accomplished and isolate ourselves until this world eventually kills us? You ask the absurd, Esper. I cannot bring that kind of decision back to my people. Our Council would hang my head on a pole outside of our gates for even suggesting such foolishness." Kalaak paused, briefly looking back at his party before continuing. "Consider this: These apes are weak, even your scholars are many times stronger than this upstart race that has no real technology. Your genetically enhanced soldier over there." He pointed toward the titanic Jakor. "Could probably defeat thousands of them alone. Is he not engineered to be the strongest and most powerful of your race? Our soldiers and your soldiers could easily conquer this planet and eradicate this planet's infection. We could be the rulers of this world."
"Did you not carefully study the data?" Sennek pleaded. "Did you not see that there are no other possible conclusions! We cannot murder an entire population, let alone several populations and different species. It is the planet waging this war, not the primates, nor the flying creatures or the crawling creatures. The ecological make-up of this world is rejecting us. You must see that truth. Why do you deny it?" Sennek asked, his emotional state becoming even more agitated. "We are the infection, not them!"
"You Espers are too emotional. That is your weakness, and will be your downfall," Kalaak remarked, gesturing. "Our only problem now, as we see it, is you. And we have finally found a way to rid ourselves of that problem."
From behind the Esper party, a portal from Netherspace opened. Darkness spilled into the area blanketing the natural sunlight. Two creatures emerged from the opening. The first was a formidable-looking Seelak, taller even than Jakor. The second was a monstrous creature that was like some cross between a native panther and a Slaka Dragon from their now extinct world. The creature was almost fifteen feet in height and over twenty-five feet in length.
"Meet the products of our scientific technology," Kalaak announced proudly. "Genetically engineered from our best scientist, me; programmed to hate Espers and designed to feed on emotion, the same types of emotion you Espers emit so readily. Prey." He gestured to the Esper party. "Meet your new predators, our key to winning this war, and exterminating the species of homo sapiens. Destroy them all!"
The creatures attacked, ripping two of the Esper scientists to shreds, gleefully feeding off their powerful emotions of stark terror and shock. The Esper emotion fed the genetically engineered monstrosities, making them even stronger. Jakor was struck by the larger creature, the powerful blow propelled the Esper warrior over a dozen feet. Jakor, however, was no normal Esper. His strength, speed, reflexes, and aggressiveness were far beyond normal. He reached inside his tunic and grabbed his Sentient Staff. The weapon expanded and responded to his mental commands. He was now enraged. The Seelak had broken a sacred truce and slaughtered members of their party.
Jakor attacked the large enhanced Seelak. His staff clanged on the skin of the creature. Sparks flew as the sentient metallic weapon impacted with the creature's enhanced metallic shell. The shell cracked, and the creature retreated, and then turned to face him.
Jakor pressed his attack on the huge mutant Seelak. His silvery fists pummeled the armored creature in wave upon wave of sheer ferocity. The Seelak struck back. The power of its own blows was staggering. Its power was enough to kill an ordinary Esper.
Jakor withdrew slightly. He struggled to see where the rest of his party was. He was horrified to see the giant cat-like creature gnawing on what was once Sennek. Jakor howled with rage, his genetically enhanced aggressiveness and anger pushed him to attack. He leapt at the large cat, covering several meters with one bound, his fists raining dreadful blows upon its huge body. The feline roared with distress, and swiped at him with massive paws. Jakor was struck by one of the paws, huge claws left a large gash in his silvery metallic flesh. He responded by slamming his Sentient Staff down upon the creature's front leg and was rewarded with a loud snap as its leg broke from the blow. The creature shrieked with agony and limped away from Jakor. Jakor never saw the boulder that struck him from behind. The enhanced Seelak hurled it from a great distance. The force of the impact caused the Esper soldier to fall and lose consciousness. The Seelak was about to finish him when it was ordered by its creators to withdraw. Both monsters re-entered the portal and it closed behind them.
Kalaak knelt over the fallen Esper soldier and checked his vital signs. "He will live. Let him return to his colony, a disgrace, defeated. We have dishonored ourselves enough with this slaughter, I'll not kill a warrior like this. He deserves a better death. We will return to our people and prepare for the final battle of this war. We will not go quietly. We will conquer this planet and wipe out the ape-like species that grows here like a plague, spreading across this world like a diseased fungus."
* * *
Several minutes passed and Jakor slowly regained his senses. The boulder that fell him still lay perched upon his shoulders. He hefted his arms, propelling his massive frame up and tossed the 800-pound stone to the ground. He walked over to where the lacerated body of Sennek lay. As he studied the mutilated body of his friend, he let out a shriek of rage that was easily heard for miles.
"My dear friend, how could we have been deceived so, under the Statue of Peace?" he whispered. "They will pay for this atrocity, I promise you. They will all pay dearly," he added in a lethal whisper.
He recited the traditional burial prayer for the dead over each fallen body. He wanted to carry his old friend back and bury him properly, but knew time was of the utmost importance, and the time he had left was limited. His arrival, and the news that the sacred truce had been violated, would be the trigger for the Espers to arm for a final assault. The preparation for an attack on his settlement was probably already underway. His people needed to b
e rallied and forces marshaled immediately.
Jakor's anger ran through his body unchecked. He looked back over at the body of his friend and screamed a shout so loud that its echoes reverberated for miles. The massive silver figure walked over to the boulder that had struck him and pulverized it to powder with his fists. His anger slowly faded, only to be replaced with a deep remorse. He knew the days ahead would be filled with the horrors of war.
Jakor pondered the possible reasons that the enemy allowed him to live. They must surely know that he would return home and report the atrocities carried out against their party under the Statue of Peace. Jakor turned and headed home. He ran, faster than the fastest cat. He leapt over boulders and chasms, ignoring everything but the desperate urging in his mind to return home and report, to give his people time to prepare for the upcoming attack.
Jakor spotted the settlement in the distance and he urged his limbs to carry him faster. He sprinted by the armed guards, yelling to them to prepare for attack as he passed by. The sentries sounded a general alarm as he made his way into the Elders' chambers. The door to their meeting room was barred shut from the other side. Jakor drove his fist through the thick wood, forcing the doorway off of its hinges, propelling the splintered wooden barrier into the conference chambers. He did not waste time with the usual formalities, his words were simple as he faced the High Council.
"The Seelak have broken the Statue of Peace, our party has been murdered. Attack is imminent. We must prepare ourselves," he shouted telepathically, and then turned away.
"Wait!" one of the Elders yelled, using his voice instead of telepathy, which was always used inside the chambers. "How can this be?"
"We were lied to," Jakor answered. "This agreement to hear our data was nothing more than a prelude to a trap. They have created monsters to do their fighting for them. These creatures killed our scientists, nearly killed me. We were nothing more than an experiment to see if their creatures functioned properly." Jakor looked back at the Council members who sat in stunned disbelief. "We must prepare to attack our enemy, before they can attack us. We already are at a disadvantage. They are most assuredly marching as we speak." Jakor turned to leave the chamber.
Jakor was conferring with other members of his Soldier clan, preparing strategy and tactics, when the news came.
A scout came into his shelter and reported. "They are coming, Jakor."
"How many?" he asked, still looking at a map of the area.
"All of them," the scout whispered.
Jakor looked up from his map in shock. "Not just the soldiers?"
"No, my liege, There were soldiers, scholars, and scientists from what I could make out. Their soldiers are larger, like us, so they are easy to spot. There are several soldiers in each group, but it appears the entire colony is marching out to do battle, plus some things that are larger than soldiers, unlike anything I have ever seen before."
"Yes, I am familiar with them." Jakor nodded. "Those will be the focus of our initial attack."
"You have come up with a strategy?"
"Yes, the Seelak are not the only ones who are capable of surprises. I have a few of my own prepared. They were foolish to leave the Worldship with us. There were many things that still have some power, even after these thousands of years. Come, let us go to the Council, quickly. We'll have barely enough time to deploy our forces before the Seelak come knocking on our gates."
Jakor addressed his five sub-commanders and his 750 remaining soldiers, along with the rest of the Esper population. The community had crammed into the central square, waiting for their instructions to defend their community and their lives.
"Our timing is critical," Jakor emphasized to the large crowd. "These creatures utilize Netherspace, like the other Seelak, and can disappear at any time, and re-appear just as quickly. It is imperative that those of you who will be firing the plasma streams hit as many of them as you can on your first shot. These weapons we've managed to salvage only have enough power for one or maybe two bursts, then its back to more conventional means. There is also no guarantee that all the weapons will function properly. We have repaired them to the best of our capability, but cannot test them without depleting their small remaining charges. As we all know, our reactor cores were fused when we crashed here, leaving most of our resources destroyed or contaminated. These were taken years ago and hidden in case of conflict with other native species." He paused, looking down at the sleek weapons. "Never did I dream that we would be fighting the Seelak again with them."
Jakor's plan was brilliant, but risky. He would have twenty of his best soldiers take positions in the hills surrounding a large open field. The presence of his small army would draw the enemy into the field. They would march directly toward the soldiers, anticipating a quick victory. The remaining non-soldier Espers would be hiding in various places along the wooded areas inside their own Netherspace portals, nearby, yet undetectable until needed.
As soon as the enemy soldiers completely entered the field, they would emerge from hiding and quickly take up positions behind the enemy. As soon as the soldiers fired upon the great beasts, they would emerge from the enemy's flank and attack. The Seelak would be trapped, forced to fight a defensive battle. The soldiers would then cut a path through the enemy troops, effectively cutting their forces in half. Then, they would engage in hand-to-hand combat with whatever forces would be remaining on both sides.
This was risky, and would ultimately result in a blood bath, since the other Esper forces and Seelak forces that were not soldiers had very little military training or combat experience. Jakor assumed that the Seelak soldiers would be at the front of the army before they attacked, while the weaker non-military sects would be at the rear. By having the two non-military entities combat each other, he hoped to minimize their slaughter. Everything depended on the success of eliminating the creatures and most of their soldiers before they could jump into Netherspace. If the creatures jumped before the battle, all would be lost, and they would be hard-pressed to defend against both Seelaks and their monstrous creations jumping in and out of combat.
The Seelak perfected the use of Netherspace, while the Esper people had shied away from the dangerous life-threatening technology. The portals in Netherspace were easily lost from the dark side. If one lost site of the exit portal, one would be trapped forever on the other side, condemned to eternal darkness.
Every Esper in the colony knew that the fate of Earth's creatures relied upon the successful outcome of their race in this all-encompassing battle. It was worth the risk of hiding in this forbidden space just this one time. Jakor figured, as long as his people stayed by the portal and didn't wander the seemingly endless tunnels of that alternate dimension, they would be safe until their call to action came.
"Proceed, Jakor, the Council will be guided by your leadership during this time of great military crisis," the elder announced, waiting to hear the warrior's plan.
"We must deploy now. Our enemy is already moving into position to strike against us. We must set up around the perimeter of these small hills." He gestured toward a three-dimensional representation of the landscape. "We will draw them into the great opening with our small force. Everyone else must be concealed in the surrounding forest." He pointed to the surrounding growth. "We will have our armed soldiers at these high points. When the enemy has entered into the field, they will eliminate as many of the creatures as possible. The rest we will deal with. Under no circumstances engage the beasts. Let the soldiers do that. Fight the non-soldiers as much as possible, you will live longer," he remarked forcibly.
"I know many of you are not experienced in combat, I regret there is no time in which to even give you the most rudimentary instruction," he added. "Those of you who are armed with a Sentient Staff, listen carefully: The staff will respond to your mental commands. It will react to what your mind thinks and sees, so keep focused on your combat and the weapon will do most of the fighting for you. Good luck, and may our Gods preserve
us. Let us go forth onto victory."
* * *
The Seelak army continued to march forward, a great black mass of bodies some ten thousand strong, including the dozen pairs of mutated abhorations they created to do most of their fighting for them. Each seven-foot-plus Seelak mutation rode atop a feline-dragon, gently caressing the great beasts as they plodded along the grassy terrain.
The great beasts sensed the upcoming conflict, as did their riders, though the riders seemed to relish the thought of vanquishing their foe, consuming every enhanced emotion of fear and terror the enemy would emit during battle.
In battle, all sentients had fear. These feline creatures could feed off that fear and become stronger. It was the intent of the Seelak that their creations rip their enemies apart, piece-by-piece, and feed off the terror of each soldier as they met their horrible death by dismemberment. The fact that there would be weaker, untrained opposition meant that the feed would be that much greater. The fear in an undisciplined mind was far greater than a mind accustomed to combat. The Seelak creations rode on with glee, anticipating a great feed to satisfy their never-ending hunger.
A scout approached the warrior leader and made his report. "They're in the next clearing, waiting for us, but it is only a small force, comprised of only soldiers. The other sects do not come out to engage in battle."
The Seelak leader paused momentarily, and then began to laugh. "The fools are so honor-bound that they assume only soldiers will be fighting this last battle? This victory will be almost too easy. Let us go meet with these brave soldiers, have our beasts take lead. As soon as they enter the clearing, have them charge and attack. We will follow, at a slight distance, to clean up the remaining soldiers, then march on to their encampment unhindered," the leader instructed.
The scout lifted up a small golden horn and pressed it to his lips. He blew one shattering note, and the creatures advanced, moving very quickly. The scout waited thirty seconds and blew another note at a slightly different pitch. The Seelak Soldier clan began to advance. All others formed at the rear and began to follow suit.
