Deceit of Humanity

by Arthur McMahon

  Deceit of Humanity

  Shadow Assassin, Volume 2

  Arthur McMahon

  Published by Bald Crow Publishing, 2017.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  DECEIT OF HUMANITY

  First edition. August 30, 2017.

  Copyright © 2017 Arthur McMahon.

  ISBN: 978-1386592013

  Written by Arthur McMahon.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One | WARGAMES BEGIN

  Chapter Two | THE COTTAGE

  Chapter Three | CONCEALED TRUTHS

  Chapter Four | GHOST TROUBLES

  Chapter Five | EMPTY WORLD

  Chapter Six | THUUN SEES

  Chapter Seven | DEEP PRESSURE

  Chapter Eight | UNTOLD HORROR

  Chapter Nine | DARKNESS SETTLES

  Chapter Ten | ROTTEN THOUGHTS

  Chapter Eleven | BREAKING APART

  Chapter Twelve | FINAL DAWN

  Chapter Thirteen | LAST CHANCE

  Epilogue

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  About the Author

  For my family, friends, and readers.

  Thank you for your support.

  Prologue

  “The planet now belongs to you, human. Leave us.”

  The Daemon King sat upon his obsidian throne. The elaborate structure had been carved from the base of a volcano that rose behind the royal courtyard. Black smoke spewed from its numerous vents. Rivulets of magma were channeled into angular designs as they flowed down the mountainside.

  A flight of craggy stone steps descended from the throne, and at its base stood a dark woman concealed in a violet cloak. Gray ash dusted her shoulders and cowl. On her back was the symbol of the Cooperation, an ornate ‘C’ in the color of white. Beside the dark woman stood a man with umber skin who was in a suit of pliable armor, its white surface reflecting the warm colors of the nearby lava flows. The plating around his left arm was fashioned into a small cannon.

  A shadow lurked somewhere nearby in the darkness.

  “What is it you want in return, King Aladon?” asked the woman.

  “No stipulations, Senator,” said the King in a slow growl, each word bleeding into the next through one long, grumbled breath. “Planet Thuun now falls within humanity’s spacial boundaries as was dictated by the Senate. Consider our peaceful acceptance of this robbery as a gift to humanity. Congratulations on joining the intergalactic community, Senator. Use Thuun as a tool to aid in the expansion of your species.”

  “Forgive me for being so blunt,” said the Senator, “but what are you hiding from me? A planet with an atmosphere such as Thuun’s is a rare find. I cannot expect the Daemon to forsake it so easily; to give us a world that you could make use of.”

  “Thuun is uninhabitable by my kind. Humanity, however, will not find its atmosphere a hindrance. Your people are more adaptable than ours. Take the world, Senator Folami. It is yours by decree of the Senate. Colonize it. Harvest it. Sell it. I care not. Use it as you will.”

  “I accept your amicable forfeiture of Thuun with caution, King Aladon. With this you win no favors from my people, only gratitude.”

  “I expect nothing more,” said Aladon. The King paused as three sharp, thunderous cracks exploded from the mountains behind the courtyard.

  “What is this?” demanded Senator Folami.

  The Daemon King moved away from his throne. Aladon’s bulbous body was like a giant ball of dough atop numerous spider-like legs, but despite his size he was able to hustle down the stone steps toward the human Senator in a hurry. “It’s the Ashfallen, savage rabble from the underworld. You must flee.”

  Folami’s bodyguard stepped between her and King Aladon, standing half as tall as the alien being. The Daemon royal guards escorted their leader out of the courtyard and into a nearby corridor as balls of white-hot lava rolled down the slope of the nearest volcano and launched themselves into the air, crashing down onto the obsidian floor.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.

  Beings emerged from the explosions of lava. Hard, black rock unfolded into living extremities that were held together by the molten material that filled in the gaps.

  Folami and her bodyguard ran after King Aladon toward the corridor.

  The Ashfallen followed.

  Two of the Daemon guards turned and held at the corridor entrance, ready to fight. Senator Folami nearly tripped over her own feet as the approaching Ashfallen shook the ground with their every step, but with the aid of her bodyguard she maintained her footing and together they ran into the corridor.

  The Daemon guards lifted their enormous morning stars and swung them at the stone bodies of the Ashfallen. Metal collided with rock, the weapons bashing craters into the volcanic beings. One of the Ashfallen leapt into the air and smashed into the ground between the Daemon guards, sundering the obsidian beneath, splitting the ground like a fractured glacier. The Daemons’ spider-like legs kept them from falling into the crevice, but they were left distracted and open to attack. One Ashfallen punched a fiery fist deep into the fat body of one of the guards, then lifted the Daemon and slammed it into the widening crevice, stomping it down farther with its stone foot.

  The smallest of the three Ashfallen took a fatal blow to the head from the remaining guard’s morning star, causing the other two Ashfallen to become further enraged. Their bodies shimmered as their temperatures rose, the waves of heat distorting their forms. They leapt upon the remaining Daemon guard and ignited its flesh with the extreme heat of their own bodies. The Ashfallen left the corpse to burn as they made their way into the corridor.

  King Aladon continued to flee deeper within the structure as his remaining two guards turned to fend off the warriors of the underworld. Folami’s bodyguard did the same. “Keep moving, Senator,” he shouted. Without hesitation, Folami continued running in the same direction as was King Aladon.

  The bodyguard’s arm cannon whined as it powered up. He raised the weapon and shot energy blasts at the Ashfallen, but the electric blue pulses were absorbed by the red-hot heat of the fire and brimstone creatures. He stepped back behind the Daemon royal guards as they moved forward to attack. The enormous aliens battled as the others had before, clashing metal with stone, but the Daemon’s fleshy bodies were unable to endure close combat with the molten monsters.

  Seeing the Daemons falling in front of him, Folami’s guard fired his energy blasts into the ceiling and walls of the corridor, collapsing the hall on top of the Ashfallen as the mountain caved in.

  “Davi,” shouted a voice from the shadows, “run to the ship!” He turned and ran as he was instructed. Within seconds, the Ashfallen had barreled through the blockage and continued their hunt.

  Davi turned a corner and was able to see the end of the corridor. He noticed that Senator Folami had not yet made it to the safety of her ship, so he turned around and threw everything he could muster at the approaching Ashfallen.

  His volley of blasts was ignored. Davi closed the armored visor of his helmet and charged forward, retracting the plating of his arm cannon to reveal a reinforced fist which he used to strike at the first sulphur-sucker in his path. His punch knocked a chip off of one of the rock bodies, but he was brushed aside by a flaming arm as the Ashfallen ran past him.

  Davi picked himself up and chased after the beasts. It was impossible for him to see around their bodies, to know if Folami had made it to safety. He watched as the Ashfallen reached the end of the corridor and
entered the room beyond where a hailstorm of ice and foam erupted from every direction. Curtains of frozen precipitation fell from the spaceport’s rafters. The fiery beasts collapsed to the ground, subdued by the moisture. Davi caught up to the rock-bodies as their flames extinguished and their molten elements stiffened. One of the Ashfallen already appeared to be lifeless, but the other could still manipulate the fissures which appeared to be its face.

  “Lies-s-s,” it whispered in the steam that escaped from its body. “All lies-s-s. No trus-s-st.”

  “Leave!” shouted King Aladon from a secured platform across the room. “More underworld rubbish may soon arrive. Our dealings are done.”

  Davi opened his visor and watched as life left the last remaining Ashfallen. They hadn’t crushed him, hadn’t killed him like they did the Daemon. They weren’t monsters. The Ashfallen were on a mission; one that they had failed.

  “Don’t dig too deep, human,” growled Aladon, “or else an enemy worse than this may befall you.”

  Senator Folami’s starship buzzed with energy. Davi turned away from the bodies before him and jogged over to the ship’s loading ramp. Inside the craft he saw that Senator Folami was strapped into her seat, and next to her in the pilot’s position was a shadow operating the controls. The dark figure piloted the ship out of the spaceport. Once free of the Daemon atmosphere the shadow peeled off its skin-tight headpiece, letting loose its long, white hair. The young, pale woman turned to Davi and met his smiling face with her striking red eyes. “Good job back there, Davi.”

  “Thanks, sis.”

  Chapter One

  WARGAMES BEGIN

  “YOU’RE MAKING US LATE!” SHOUTED Linn from the living room couch. “Come on. We’re going to miss the drafting phase.”

  “Alright alright,” said Sue. “Let me just make a coffee, then we’ll go.” She grabbed her homehub tablet from the bathroom counter and turned on her autopress. The aroma of brewing coffee began to waft about her apodment. She finished applying her mascara and then walked out into the living room.

  “Stunning,” said Linn.

  Sue had spun her snow-white hair up into a bun. Her alabaster skin was marked with bruises of various sizes and colors, but they were all hidden under her knee-length dress and its three-quarter sleeves. She liked her bruises, but they caused people to ask questions. She didn’t like questions. The deep red of the shimmering outfit matched her eyes. She liked that too.

  “For such a tiny body you’ve got some killer calves,” said Linn.

  “Hell yeah I do.” Sue pulled on her evening gloves. Bruises she liked, but scars she preferred to do without. No one needed to see the radiation burns that had marred her hands.

  Linn returned her gaze to the hub screen which displayed the pre-show to the Wargames Championship.

  “Tonight, we have the final match between Omega Nation and The Dominion,” said the on-screen personality. “This all-out warfare simulation is sure to be the most exciting we have seen this year as the top space fleet takes on the number one ground defense. Will the Omega fleet be able to break through The Dominion’s impenetrable fortifications? Or, as the old saying goes, does defense win championships? It all comes down to tonight’s battle!”

  “This is going to be intense,” said Linn.

  “I thought we were going to watch it in the arena,” said Sue. “Not in tents.” Her lips stretched into a wry smile as she awaited her friend’s response.

  Linn looked confused for a second, then glared at Sue and stuck out her tongue.

  Sue giggled and skipped over to the kitchen where she grabbed her freshly brewed coffee from the autopress. “Come on, dork. Let’s head on over to your nerdfest.”

  “Finally.” Linn grabbed her things and followed her friend out the door.

  Outside of Sue’s apodment a transport waited with its doors open. “A driver?” asked Linn. “Sue, you’ve gone all out for me.”

  “We’ve got to arrive in style. You’re not helping us out wearing that oversized Omega Nation jersey, so I’ve got to pick up the slack.”

  “Jerk.”

  Laughing, they both stepped into the transport.

  The shuttle took flight as soon as they were seated. Having a driver meant they could avoid the AI transport traffic and travel freestyle. The driver took them above the bay, higher than the hovering apodments— the traffic lanes— all of it, and then dropped low between the city’s skyscrapers. They zoomed. They zipped. Then the transport cruised at pedestrian level through downtown until they reached the arena.

  Sue and Linn stepped out into the tailgate party of the year. A small city had popped up overnight around the arena providing everything from Wargames merchandise to alien alcohols.

  “We could have had more time to pregame if you hadn’t taken so long,” said Linn.

  “Yeah,” said Sue. “I guess we’ll just have to postgame hard.”

  The party continued inside the lobby of the arena where a convention of memorabilia booths, discussion panels, and endless advertisements vied for the people’s attention. Few attendees were dressed as elegantly as Sue. The crowd was a mixed bunch as the digital sport appealed to those from all walks of life. Most were in Wargames t-shirts or hoodies while others were dressed in costume as their favorite Wargames heroes.

  The masses were starting to file into their seats as the event was about to begin. Sue and Linn had to walk partway around the perimeter of the arena to find their section, and before they sat down Linn made sure to grab a popcorn and soda.

  The seats wrapped in a circle around the center stage where a holographic video was being projected in the space above. Sue and Linn got to their seats just as the pregame introductions were being wrapped up.

  The room went dark, causing the audience to erupt with cheer and applause. A live feed of The Dominion’s world faded into view, the detailed hologram showcasing a defensive field of expulsion satellites that was being protected by a blockade of battlecruisers.

  The arena shook with the thunderous excitement of the crowd as the image panned over to Omega Nation’s approaching fleet where enormous frigates and a dozen different styles of battleships were falling into formation. The digital war was about to go down.

  “Go Omega Nation!” shouted Linn. “Wooo!” She stuffed her face with a handful of popcorn and gave Sue a big grin.

  Beep Beep Beedee Beep Beep

  Sue’s ocular implant notified her of an incoming message. The Ocu was a common multimedia device installed in eyes all across planet Erde, but hers was capable of more militaristic uses than were legal to install.

  ‘Boss Lady Calling...’ streamed across her vision like a scrolling marquee.

  “Dammit,” said Sue.

  “What?” asked Linn, feigning interest. Wargames was about to begin. She didn’t dare take her eyes off the show.

  “Work is calling.” Sue placed the forefinger and middle finger of her right hand over her right ear, a gesture that was unnecessary for her device, but served as a queue to others that she was busy on a call.

  Displayed in her vision was a transparent visual of Leslie Folami. The stately woman was sitting at a table and drinking tea next to a window that overlooked a peaceful river setting. Folami was important to Sue. When Sue was a child the Senator had rescued her from the shackles of an alien corporation which had enslaved the young girl’s home planet. Folami raised Sue in secret and helped her enact vengeance upon the Burmin menace, bringing freedom to planet Nye and saving the life of Sue’s brother, Davi.

  At the time, Folami was the Presider of an underground effort to unite all human worlds under the banner of the Cooperation. Sue helped her achieve this goal and now Folami retained her title of Presider, also having become the Archon of planet Erde and the lone human representative in the Intergalactic Senate.

  Calling the woman important was a bit of an understatement.

  “Hello, Susan,” said Presider Folami. “I need to speak with you. Bring your equipment to t
he cottage. This is an immediate departure scenario.”

  “Can it wait a few hours? The Wargames Championship is starting. I’m out with a friend.”

  “Those digital simulations will be around when you return. Your presence is needed. Come now. Be ready.”

  The visual disappeared as Folami closed the call.

  Linn was looking over at Sue like a disappointment stick had smacked her across the face. “Always at the worst times.”

  “No kidding,” said Sue.

  The games had begun. Attack ships had moved into position. Suppression fire strobed throughout the arena. The war was on.

  “Here,” said Sue. “Take my card and use it to buy whatever you want tonight. Go all out.”

  “I don’t want your money. I’m happy you got us these tickets and everything, but I wanted to share it with you. I was hoping you’d get excited about it with me.”

  “I know,” said Sue.” I’ll call Meg and have her come take my place. You know she’s just watching this at home by herself.”

  “Meg sucks.” Linn took the card from Sue’s hand. “Some booze will help, though. Don’t worry, I’ll still enjoy the match. I’ve been waiting all season for this.” She reached over and hugged her friend. “How long this time?”

  “I don’t know where they’re sending me. Could be weeks. Could be months.”

  “It’s like you’re off to university again after the summer is over.”

  “But I always come back.”

  “You always do.”

  Chapter Two

  THE COTTAGE

  SUE RETURNED TO HER APODMENT to strip off all of the pretty clothes and accessories she had originally intended on wearing for the rest of the night out. The red dress was left crumpled on the bathroom floor as she undid her hair, and she griped to her mirrored self as she wiped away her evening makeup.

  “Stupid Presider.”